If adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones – one poet’s quest for the ultimate tag-line

As part of our re-drafting session on the Sunday, we used the idea of movie ‘tag-lines’ as a route in to understanding the core of our pieces more clearly. A tag-line is essentially a shorthand method of expressing the central theme or appeal of the film – coming up with a tag-line for a poem you are writing means you have to think about what the most important elements of it are; and also about your aims for the piece, both in terms of content and style…

Also, it was a good excuse to read through a few classic movie tag-lines , some of which are below – can you match the tagline to the movie?

TAGLINES:
“In space no one can hear you scream.”
“Houston, we have a problem.”
“They’re back.”
“We are not alone.”
“Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.”
“Who ya gonna call?”
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”
“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
“One dream. Four Jamaicans. Twenty below zero.”
“The list is life.”
“Earth. It was fun while it lasted.”
“Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.”

MOVIES:
Cool Runnings (1993)
Alien (1979)
Apollo 13 (1995)
Poltergeist II (1986)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Ghostbusters (1984)
Jaws 2 (1978)
Star Wars (1977)
The Fly (1986)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Armageddon (1998)
Shawshank Redemption (1994

Have we missed any other classic taglines? Add your favourites as a comment if you’ve got a minute…

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The classic ingredients!

In our first session, our writers put their heads together to compile a poetic list of what they feel are some of the key ingredients for a family gathering. If you think we’ve missed any out then feel free to add your own suggestions in a comment!

Cooking for hours and eating in minutes.
Cross-generational wii tennis tournaments. Photos. Photos.
All possible combinations of everyone present for photos.
Then looking at photos. The ones you’ve just taken.
A 6 week monopoly game. Cards, scrabble,arguments, cards.
Overstayed welcomes. A very intense game of trivial pursuit.
The traditional Christmas pizza.
Chaos in the kitchen. Naps. Awkward silences,
or everyone talking at once.
Buffet banquets. Obligatory charades.
Way too much food. The huge tin of sweets
that only comes out when everyone’s full.
And gets wolfed down in seconds.
Underlying tension diffused by bad jokes.
And a grandma with total, absolute control of the tv remote.

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Introducing #1: the blog!

Hiya, Simon here…

The idea for the blog is to introduce you to the brilliant local writers involved in the project (who I met for the first time at the weekend) and give you a taster of the type of stuff they’re working on with me. We’ll also be documenting our creative process more generally as we move towards the performance events – hopefully offering out some interesting insights and opportunities to get involved along the way…

As for me, you can find out plenty more than the average person would need to at my website, but as a starter I used this poem as part of my introduction to the group at the weekend, mainly because the incident it describes is one of the proudest moments in my life!

You can check out a video of me performing the scratch to the show on the ABOUT page, but most importantly keep tuned to this blog to watch the project develop!

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