Making a Scene Out of Misunderstandings

To begin my journey of an amateur filmmaker, I thought of an exercise.  There are many little quirks that come from everyday life.  Noticing the daredevil trapeze acts squirrels proceed to do as you approach them with just a little curiosity or the annoyed smile of a customer as an employee at a restaurant asks "how the food is" while the customer has food stuffed in his face.  I am trying to take notice of these little things, capture them in the moment, recreate them through writing and then in video.

So my little notable scenes, that could show up in a short of mine in the future, would be of misunderstanding.

Your Change Is...

Working drive thru at my local Culver's, I come across a lot of people.  A lot of emotions come through the sliding doors, but one that I wasn't ready for was misunderstanding.  An older gentleman of an age that crosses between 60's to early 70's,  drove up to the window to get cashed out.  I asked for $ 12.57 and he gave me $20.35.  I felt bad to give him all that change back and so I went back and told him he gave me three nickles and two dimes.  He looked embarrassed and said he thought he gave me quarters instead of nickles. Chuckling he gave me another nickle.  Looking down at my hand, I was at the point of becoming flustered for having to tell the man he is wrong again.  Looking at him and telling him he goofed again, he searched his coin crevice in his van, and pulled out a dime. At this point, this was going nowhere and I plugged in the now $ 20.50 and gave him the chunk of change.  He smiled as I handed him his cash, and he noted that we just couldn't get it right.  Was it ill on my part for not waiting for him to hand me the right change or his for not understanding that he was coming up short through every exchange.  No matter who's at fault.  I thought it was hilarious after the fact.

Her Roommate's Dead!

I was making breakfast in the morning and my mother was watching a film, Time After Time starring Malcolm McDowell.  Suddenly, the phone rings and she picks it up, it's grandma.  As I stir away on my scrambled eggs, I hear my mom jab politics with her mom and then move onto talking about the state of where all the family members are. Of course, I am away from Madison and right when she gets to my story of how my first half of my freshman year went, she screams "Oh my god, her roommate was murdered!" Note, I could hear my grandma scream "what happened?" from in the kitchen. My mom laughed as she realized she said that out loud while reacting to the movie.  I wonder what my Grandma must have thought happened to my poor roommate. In any such case, it came straight out of a bad timed joke from a lower status sitcom (King of Queens territory), but I loved it.

Movies I Have Recently Seen:

• Anomalisa 
• Sherlock: The Abominable Bride
• Electric Boogaloo: The Wild Untold Story of Cannon Films
• Time After Time

- Kristen Johnson: a person who likes little quirky items

A New Years Restitution

There my sister and I were, sipping our drinks while listening to the Pretty Much It commentary of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D which is the quintessential film to watch on any New Years Eve.  While watching, I decided to share movie pitches to her.  She also had a few ideas listed on her phone and that had my mind wondering.

Why didn't I make any short films last year.

I had a goal to make a new YouTube channel where I would post my shorts and other nonsensical videos, but I never did.  I even had an idea for a short film that I was setting up to write and shoot, but it slipped through my fingers as I prepared to enter my freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Fuck! I realize how irritating it is to stare in the face of great ideas and when the free time arrives, you just go:

So instead of a resolution, it is a restitution.  A restitution of how I wanted things to go last year but was preparing for the experience of moving away from home and learning new things about myself at Madison, that I lost my concentration. 

Maybe going to the Sundance Film Festival at the end of the month will revitalize me.  Cheers to future projects.

Movies I Have Recently Seen:

• Hateful Eight
• The Two Faces of January 
• Charade 
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens (third time)
• The Star Wars: Holiday Special

- Kristen Johnson: a filmmaker in progress