Seagulls and Sunsets

It is an ancient art. The oldest trick in the book. Screenwriting 101.

Conflict.

Raymond Chandler once made an incredibly concise observation on writing, part admission and part confession, “When in doubt, have a man walk into a room with a gun in his hand.”

Philip Marlow would, I am sure, agree to the increase in adrenaline whenever the action includes the above reference. Whatever gave me the false hope that a dreamy video slide show of my ten days on the road could take the place of the guy standing there with a (suitable for the time) snub-nosed .38, defies all sensibility. But, I will likewise observe that my intentions were never to mimic anything close to, even in the same ballpark, or even in the same freaking zip code as the dramatic pulp fiction from the Carvers, Chandlers, or Tarantino’s of the industry. My intentions were to tell the story of a bucolic road trip in my faithful utility vehicle, outfitted for adventure and toting my bike, video and camping gear.

The fact that I was primarily taking a working vacation along 800 miles of Pacific Coast beaches with the secondary objective to research the backstory, shoot b-roll footage and talk to locals in Brookings, OR about their involvement with an intriguing WW II incident (they were bombed by the Imperial Japanese Navy) never seemed to be a mission that was bereft of excitement.

But maybe I am easily amused.

In retrospect, as I scramble to tweak the video’s audio track one last time before the 1900 debut tonight, I can honestly say that by that one simple unit of measurement (the prosy slide show of uncle Kevin’s vacation) I succeeded. I like the seventy minutes and borrowing liberally, albeit unauthorized, from some of the finest musicians ever assembled, feel that tonight’s premier will be fine. And maybe that is the problem.

Nobody wants fine anymore. Fine isn’t good enough. It’s like fair, OK or meh. With the myriad opportunities to be wowed by entertainment available today at any time and anywhere, who would sit on a stationary bicycle and watch road trip video for over an hour even if it was free and door prizes offered upon completion?

Maybe the reason is that I have no one walking, or riding, into the room with an AK-47. Metaphorically speaking of course.

Conflict could be in other, less violent or political ways. The time element is always good, here to there as fast as possible. There could be emotional issues, the loss of love perhaps. There could be a bet, a challenge, to induce some drama. Someone could come of age. As we discussed yesterday, and this is an extension of that idea, one could get totally off the documentary trail and shift genre gears climbing the mountain of action thrillers! Give me the chase scene! Somebody chasing somebody else as if there’s no tomorrow. Gratuitous explosions, fireworks, automatic weapons, and blood everywhere! Martial arts and knives, swords and sirens, car crashes, broken bones and broken dreams. Money stashed and precious stones flashed. Bad girls!

Or I could do another bike ride video. With seagulls and sunsets.