Filming!

This weekend me and my group began filming for our CAP Hollywood project! My friend Allison is playing the main character, and she is perfect for the role. We began filming downtown Silver Spring and proceeded to the metro, which incidentally had some track maintenance problems, so we had to get off before DC. Now we will have to finish shooting next weekend, and hopefully the metro will be A-OK then.

In case anyone would like to read it, here's our script:

MONEYGIRL SCRIPT ©

Act I

EXT. CITY STREET

Kitty walks down a wide and busy street, clutching a purse.

Kitty rummages through wads of bills in purse.

Kitty looks around, paranoid.

Kitty looks and walks out.

RADIO BROADCASTER

You are listening to WEQ  AM Radio. My name is Chris Tanner, and I’m here with breaking news. Over 100,000 dollars worth of counterfeit money has been introduced into the United States economy, from the DC area in the past two weeks alone.The perpetrators have been traced back to several organized crime syndicates. Police also suspect the involvement of a teenage girl, approximately fifteen years old.The girl who has been sighted...(Fade out).

Goes down an escalator to the metro.

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I love: Tomato Soup. Newspapers. Windows. Red Lipstick. Teeth. Pockets. Trains. Bathrooms. Lists. Teacups. Apples.

INT. METRO STATION

Kitty standing and waiting for a trian

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I hate. Pencils. Doors. Radishes. People. Eyes. Crying.

INT. METRO

Kitty boards metro

Kitty sits on metro writing in journal

Kitty reads in voiceover as she makes a list:

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I've never had: Chicken pox. A bulletin board. A dress. A dad. A TV. A pet. A home. A phone. Someone to call.

A man sitting behind Kitty watches her intently

Kitty glances over shoulder and notices the man watching

Act II

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I hate: Eye contact.

Kitty turns back to her journal but is suspicious and scared. She continues to watch him through his reflection in the train window.

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I Hate: Men in suits. Men in general.

Kitty exits the train at the next stop.

The man follows her off the train.

Kitty looks over shoulder at man.

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I don’t need: him.

Kitty runs up the crowded escalator, pushing someone out of the way as she runs. The man follows behind her, pausing to apologize to the person she pushed

EXT. CITY STREET

Kitty runs down the city street, the man chasing after her.

KITTY VOICEOVER
Things I love: Running

Kitty takes a sharp turn at a corner and some money flutters out of her bag.

Kitty panics and stops to frantically gather up the money.

The man catches sight of her and speeds up.

Kitty notices and speeds up as well.

Kitty ducks into a restaurant and runs into the bathroom, slamming the door.

Act III

Kitty accidentally spills her purse into the sink and looks into the mirror.

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I hate: me.

KITTY

What the hell is wrong with you?

Knock on the door. Kitty jumps, startled.

MAN

Hey, c’mon, open the door!

Pause

More knocking, but quieter now.

MAN

Come on Kitty... I just want to help you.

Kitty grabs the letter opener out of her purse

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I don’t need: a dad.

Kitty slowly walks toward the door and lets the man in. He walks up to her.

MAN

Let me look at you...Kitty, living like this isn’t healthy. The money game is no place for someone your age. Look what it did to me. Please, just let me help you...

KITTY

I’m nuts, why would you want to bother with me again?

Kitty breaks down crying and man hugs her.

KITTY VOICEOVER

Things I love: Money.

Things I need: Dad.

Things I hate: Giving up. Growing up. Money.

Who I am: Moneygirl.

Things I love: Running away.

CUT TO BLACK

End

Hopefully it will turn out well! I'm excited, as are my group mates!

Thoughts about Destiny!

Something I've been wondering about lately is just the path of life, whether we choose our destiny or it's written in the stars as the Centaurs in Harry Potter suggest.

Famous passages have been written about this, which is particularly evident in Shakespeare's writing.

Cassius' speech from Julius Caesar, ""The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,But in ourselves, that we are underlings." shows one opinion, or maybe that was just a lie Cassius used to convince Brutus to kill Caesar. 

Then again Shakespeare references this in Romeo and Juliet  by calling them "star-crossed lovers", as does Suzanne Collins in The Hunger Games dubbing Katniss and Peeta the same. Why is this? Because star-crossed means the stars are working against the couples, that their fates are not meant to end well or together. 

So obviously this theme is evident in literature, and it can also be related back to religion and philosophy. 

For example, Budhism, which has three accepted answers to "who conrtols destiny". 

"Theism believes in God or a supernatural power. It attributes our destiny to God’s power. God is the one who creates our life and designs every event that happens in our life. Therefore, whatever happens in our life, whether is good or bad, is God’s creation or God’s will. Only God has the power to change our destiny. We, as human beings, have no power to change our life or our destiny. We have to rely on God to change our destiny. It is this reason that we must pray God for his mercy."

"Fatalism upholds that our present life is predetermined. They believe that every event that happened, is happening and is going to happen is absolutely predetermined. It is fate whether one is rich or poor, fortune or misfortune. Under this view, we have no hope to change our destiny. What we can do is just to accept our life because that is our fate."

"Accidentalist promulgates that everything that happens is all by accident. There is neither God’s will nor fate. Just as leaves that fade during the autumn. When the wind blows, some may fall in the middle of sweet flowers whereas some in the stinking pit. Whether in the middle of sweet flowers or in the stinking pit, they all happen by accident. So is our destiny. By chance, some may be luckily born in the noble families and some may be unfortunately born in the humble families. In a word, fortune or misfortune is just by accident. There is no other power behind them. Under this view, we have nothing to do with our destiny."

-http://edge.jadebuddha.org/2009/03/buddhas-perspective-of-mans-destiny.html

Does whether or not our destiny is predetermined fit into other religions too? 

Catholics don't. They believe that whatever actions we do or don't do will determine where we go in the after life, heaven or hell, or somewhere in the middle. 

So what do I think? 

I'm not really sure. I think we may have been sent into the world for a purpose, but we have hundreds or maybe even thousands of decisions to make each day. They range from what to eat for breakfast, to what question to bubble in on a test, to things that really reflect our character like whether or not to help someone in need or whether or not to cheat. I think some things have to be coincidences because so many people sway our decisions or are the reasons we made them in the first place. If our life really is predetermined, the story of not just my life, but everyone in the worlds lives are intertwined and relate to eachother. 

This concept is so complicated, and as someone raised catholic I'm supposed to believe in certain things like how I'll either go to heaven or hell. But how could I, if all of  my life was preset? My actions or decisions would be preset. It's most certainly complicated, which is why it is such a great precedent for literature, film, art, and maybe even religion. It's nice (and confusing) to think about all these different view points.