Scriptwriting Task

Our task today was to write up our script for our opening sequence. We spent a lot of time coming up with a opening to hook the audience in, our initial ideas in the beginning can be seen a lot through our script; this element made the writing of our script a lot easier and more enjoyable to create. Our protagonist is 'Charles', we decided to name him this because it's a comfortable, easy name that fitted our vision of him well.

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INT. CHARLES'S KITCHEN. NIGHT.

Scene 1 - Black haired, bearded 21 year old Charles of average height and build; wearing comfortable clothes is standing in his kitchen over the basin. He's washing his hands looking troubled and thoughtful. Charles flinches suddenly and then glances at his hands, his vision blurs and a flashback begins. He's washing his hands panicking. His visions blurs back revealing clearer sight; bringing him back to present day. Charles flinches once more, his face looks disgusted from his recent flashback.



Charles grabs his coat and begins to exit his house, as he does so, his expression is still edgy. Just as he walks out he senses something behind him. He turns abruptly and sees nothing. He shrugs it off and shuts the door.

EXT. CHARLES'S FRONT GARDEN. NIGHT.

Scene 2 -Charles walks to his car and gets in, but his movements are still quite edgy.

EXT. INSIDE CHARLES'S CAR. NIGHT.

Whilst Charles is driving, he's once again thinking of his flashback; constantly fidgeting and wiping his brow. It blurs back to another flashback revealing a scene where his is arguing with a young woman.

INT. INSIDE CHARLES'S LIVING ROOM. LATE EVENING/NIGHT.

Y.Woman: (Shouting) "It's your fault we're in this mess! I've had enough. I'm going to tell her, Charles." 

Charles: (Stern/harsh tone) "Don't you dare say anything. If you say something, I'll kill you."

*This scenes dialogue is still need of editing. Most would probably be improvised during filming.*

Blur then shows present day again. The arguing from flashback fades out.

EXT. INSIDE CHARLES'S CAR. NIGHT.

Wiping his brow once again, Charles expression is anxious. He brings the car to a fault and exits the car to go for a walk.

EXT. ROCK BEACH. NIGHT.

Scene 3 - Charles's walking along the beach when he begins to sense something/someone is watching him. He takes frequent glances, scanning his surroundings. This follows with another blur to flashback where Charles and the young woman are still arguing.

INT. CHARLES'S LIVING ROOM. NIGHT.

Y.Woman: (Scoffs) "Kill me? Well, I'd rather be dead than live a lie. I don't care anymore! Charles, I'm going to tell her and that's that!" 

The young woman goes to leave the room, Charles stalks behind her, grabbing the kitchen knife left on the counter and grabs a hold of her.

EXT. ROCK BEACH. NIGHT.

Present time is once again on screen and Charles is still walking along the beach looking nervous. Flashback occurs once again.

INT. CHARLES'S LIVING ROOM. NIGHT.

Quick, black flashing occurs between shots as Charles lunges himself towards the young woman trying to kill her. Lots of blackouts are appearing as he's attacking her. Charles reaches for her throat and begins to strangle her; the young woman is panting and gasping for breath. He stops and realises what he's done but it's too late as the young woman is motionless on the floor.

EXT. ROCK BEACH. NIGHT.

A quick flash brings present time back. Charles stops abruptly, his breathing quick and heavy from his visions. He's looking out towards the sea to calm himself. He hears a noise suddenly behind him. He turns slowly and sees the young woman he assaulted. His face is horrified and puzzled as she is supposed to be dead. He yells but then quickly turns around again and she's gone. Charles is shook up, he's unsure of what he just saw so he rushes back towards his car, slamming the door behind him.

END OF OPENING SEQUENCE.

Who will distribute our movie?!

Pathé

Pathé UK's productions range from Aardman's "Chicken Run" to Stephen Frears' "The Queen" to Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire".
(Information taken directly from the Pathé official website: link HERE)

Film Structure: 3 Act Structure

Today we was talking about film structure and it's importance in movies. Although it may not seem particularly obvious as films are made to look so realistic but the film stories are not about relating to real life experiences exactly how they happen. As an audience we'd find it very tedious and boring watching actors/actresses get up and do daily routines such as eat breakfast, brush teeth ect. We already know these things happen but we don't always need to see it. Usually activities as minuscule and average as these are only placed in the storyline if it has some meaning or value to the scene being filmed.

The process of structuring a storyline for the big screen is about making the right creative choices on which actions, events and characters that would be the best ones to tell the story. The word story, also known as premise, is the actual content of the movie and the structure is the form or the way in which you tell the story. Screen stories can be structured into three distinct 'Acts' that have the following features:

• Act One - This introduces the main character(s) and sets up the conflict that is the story of the film. The end of Act One is the moment in which something significant happens; changing the course of the story.
• Act Two - This is when the catalytic consequences are explored, raising such questions as What happens? What complications arise? How does it affect the character(s)? What are the possible outcomes?
• Act Three - This is the part of the story that tells us the outcome and tie up all the loose ends and should ensure that the audience understand what the storyline was all about;answering all questions in Act Two. By the end of the film the theme should be clear so that the audience understand that the story is thematically about 'love' 'justice' or 'growing' ect. However this can already be clear from the start but often we find the real meaning behind the story is in Act Three, the end. 

As part of our task we we're told to choose 2 films and apply the 3 Act Structure to demonstrate how they are applied to actual movies. My first choice of film is the horror flick Dead Silence.  Sticking with our ideas of possession and psychological hauntings. A little about the movie taken from IMDB:

"A widower returns to his home town in search of answers for his wife's murder, which may be linked to the ghost of a murdered ventriloquist."

• Act One - The movie starts off introducing the main character, Jamie Ashen(Ryan Kwanten)and his wife Lisa(Laura Regan)in their apartment. That same night they receive a mysterious, unmarked package. Inside it contains a ventriloquist doll named, "Billy". Jamie and his wife disregard the package and Jamie leaves to get their dinner for the evening. On his arrival home he finds his wife murdered, sat upright in their bed with her tongue ripped out; also to see Billy, the ventriloquist doll, lying next to the bed. At this point in the movie the catalytic moment has struck and has signified the change the course of story has taken. This is also where plot one raises it's head as it's opening the doors to many questions and no very many answers, although it may seem obvious the audience do not know how or why this murder of Jamie's wife occurred. 

(Mary Shaw with puppet, Billy)

(Ravens Fair town welcome sign)

(Jamie's father with new wife, Ella)

• Act Two - This leads nicely to Act Two where the questions are getting more and the audience are hooked into the plot. Jamie later then discovers that the doll, Billy, was once own by ventriloquist, Mary shaw who resided in his hometown Ravens Fair. While in his home town Jamie visits his father and his new wife, Ella (Amber Valletta)who speaks for his father as he is very old and wheelchair bound. This in itself poses a lot of questions and Ella is always standing behind him at the times of his speaking, he doesn't talk when she isn't. The outstanding question is 'Who is Mary shaw?' and Jamie soon finds out she was a famous ventriloquist who's ambition was to create the perfect puppet. After a lot of investigation Jamie soon discovers that Mary Shaw is behind all the deaths; she was murdered by the towns folk and she has taken her revenge out of the towns people's relatives ever since. This is where plot two crops up and leads up to Act Three.

(Ravens Fair Theatre)

(Inside Ravens Fair Theatre - 100 Puppets)

(Detective Lipton and Jamie Ashen)

• Act Three - This is the part of the storyline when the protagonist resolves the issues and tells us of the outcome. Through their journey they tie up all the loose ends and ensures the audience has the correct understanding. For Dead Silence, Jamie explores around the old theatre with Detective Lipton and discovers all of Mary Shaw's puppets, over 100 all in glass cases against the wall. They are soon greeted by Mary Shaw's ghost who jumps out at them and Lipton fires his gun at her, but goes straight through her. Jamie soon comes to the conclusion that the dolls are her only weakness and by destroying them he will ultimately destroy Mary Shaw. This is known as the 'climax' in a movies storyline. Where the protagonist and the main villain fight it out between each other. With the knowledge about destroying the dolls, they decide to light the theatre and the dolls on fire, but this leads them into being chased by Shaw and Lipton ends up dying. Jamie escapes and the building is engulfed in flames, finally destroying all of her dolls. But, Jamie remembers the only doll left is Billy that he earlier received in the mail. Jamie retraces his steps back to where he last left Billy and was told to go to his father who had not long taken the doll. When arriving at the house he sees his dad emotionless in his wheelchair and Ella nowhere to be seen. He soon discovers his fathers back had been carved out and replaced with a stick like a ventriloquist dummy. Ella then enters the room and says "Who's the dummy now?" Jamie regrettably screams and Shaw's ghost comes through Ella and takes his tongue. 

For my second film I've chosen to look into the movie The Uninvited, starring Emily Browning. This movie has been one of my favoured horror/thriller films and it holds a strong physiological plot within it. 

Act One - You're introduced to the protagonist, Anna (played by Emily Browning) who has recently been discharged from a psychiatric institution. We learn a lot about this character in act one and find out she is very unstable and has frequent nightmares of her late mothers death in the boat house. This is the build up and where questions start to form. Anna is then startled by a talkative, disturbing patient who is staying in the room across from her. She soon after leaves with her father to their home. When at home Anna is reunited with her sister, Alex (Arielle Kebbel) who has a mutual dislike for their fathers girlfriend, Rachel (Elizabeth Banks.) This is the setting of the conflict. The audience realize at this point that something is unsettled within the story and things will begin to unravel.

(Anna being discharged from the institute)

(Alex and Anna with dad's girlfriend, Rachel in the background.)

(The sister's dad and his girlfriend, Rachel)

Act Two - Anna begins to get these 'visions' from her dreams happening while she is awake and informs Alex of these happenings. She starts to believe that the hallucinations are messages from her dead mother. Here is the catalytic moments when her 'dreams' are being explored and Anna is searching for answers. During this act lots of questionable events occur leaving the audience confused yet wanting more, answers. Anna then starts to question Rachel's background, as her previous occupation was a nurse and was looking after the sisters late mother; but research could not be found raising more questions as to who she is. The girls then start to conflict with Rachel, leading to Act Three.

 (Police informing Alex and her dad on the body of Anna's friend found that day.)

(Body of the boy; Anna's friend.)

(Anna and Alex discussing Rachel's background.)

Act Three - The outcome. Tying up all loose ends and wrapping up the story for the audience. In this part there should be no one left with questions, unless intentionally so. The Uninvited ends with Anna and Rachel at feuds. She believes Anna is a nanny named Mildred Kemp who murdered three children and has an unhealthy obsession with their father. Anna makes a run to the local police station to inform them of her theory and they don't believe her, thus asking Rachel to come and pick her up. Anna is put to bed by her. Anna sees her sister in the doorway with a knife and indicates to be quiet; she then soon passes out. Anna awakes to find out Alex killed Rachel and hid her body away in the dumpster. Relieved the girls run outside to find their dad arriving home. Anna informs him of Rachel and what Alex did to protect them, but her father is puzzled and tells Anna that Alex died in the fire along with her mother. Here the audience are fooled and immediately hooked back in as Anna remembers what actually happened the night of the fire. She is left holding the bloody knife in her own hands instead of holding her sisters. The audience find out here she has severe schizophrenia and dissociation identity disorder. Police come to take Anna back to the institution where the patient from before is. We see the name on the door labelled as, Mildred Kemp. Anna smiles vaguely and the film cuts to credits.

(Anna after realizing what the truth is.)

(Video clip of the end scene where the audience see who Mildred Kemp really is.)

Conclusions:

Although the story line for the movie Dead Silence wasn't a typical happy one, it describes and shows the classic 3 Act Structure which movies surround their plots with. I enjoyed this plot and structure as it was yes, linear structure but understandable and easy to follow. However, The Uninvited, although following the 3 act structure is had it's elements of non-linear structure with the flashbacks towards the end and mysterious story line. Out of both movies I enjoyed The Uninvited more, the psychological sub-genre always hooks me in and I think this element is what movie goers, horror enthusiast especially love most. 

Audience Research: Profile

 
 (photo image provided by Google search)

Above is Jason. Jason has recently turned 20 and currently studying Media Scriptwriting at Bournemouth University. He's a stereotypical man; loves cars, good food, football and movies. His favourite genre of movie is Horror/Thriller and his preferred sub-genre is psychological. He prefers to watch horror/thrillers in the comfort of his own home with a friend or relative. However he occasionally takes a trip to the local cinema to revel in the cinematic atmosphere. Usually this is done alone as he gets more scared and enjoys the suspense. 

Jason would be an ideal audience member for our film opening/title, The Untold, as it has elements of everything he enjoys. He also fits nicely into the age bracket we have set and understands the film industry. Although these are great advantages his critics would bring in move movie goers like his friends or relatives who aren't as movie based as he to come watch our movie. 

Audience Feedback

A few lessons back we were sent out in our films partnerships to interview random members of the college, asking them questions on our specific genre. Unfortunately our footage was lost and the cameras were all misplaces so we took it upon ourselves to head back out and ask a whole new bunch of people the same questions.

Later the same day we went out of class in search of people to interview and ask questions about horror movies and what their opinion was on our 25 word pitch. We got around to 3 people in the short space of time given and asked them 7 questions:

1. What would you expect in an opening horror sequence?
2. How often do you watch horror movies?
3. Who do you enjoy to watch horror movies with? (Please specify ages)
4. What conventions do you look for in a horror movie?
5. What are your favourite aspects of a horror movie?
6. What's your favourite sub-genre of a horror movie? Comedy? Psychological? Action? Gothic? Zombie? Or slasher?
7. What do you think of our 25 word pitch for our horror movie?

Their answers were very positive and gave us a lot of insight into the type of movie opening sequence/title to create. Feedback   on our 25 word pitch included "That's cool, interesting and not typical. It's different" from one boy also "quite good!" and from the only girl we got round to interviewing she said "Pretty good! Depending on the plot and how it plays out it could be good!"  

Below is our miniature interview of 4 people who kindly answered our questions on horror/thriller conventions, our pitch and other media bitsys. We interviewed people of varied age, college students and a teacher; each person with individual tastes and preferences. We found their feedback really useful and their tips will come in handy when filming. Enjoy! 

Scrap that, here's the plan...

NEW MOOD BOARD: Since partnering up with Farhath I've had to change some of my initial ideas to fit both mine and her thoughts. This process was a little troublesome but none the less fun and coming up with a new mood board to fit out fresh new vision was something I was looking forward to most. As said in a previous post about initial ideas we came up with our high concept idea, also known as the 25 word pitch. In this pitch we decided to grasp the idea of a paranormal element and also the psychological levels most. 

"A man who thinks he's run away from his past, finds himself reunited by an unwelcome presence. Secrets don't always stay hidden."

I think what's important to include in my mood board is these two elements, the hidden secrets and mysteries of the unknown that frighten the audience so much. We also recently have come up with a title for our opening sequence/title and are very happy with it. It's called The Untold. A simple, to the point yet questionable title to hook in the audience. So without further a due, my mood board.

My moodboard concentrates souly on the mind and unknown and hopefully this shows through. The movies that inspired me are Se7en, The Number 23, The exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister and Macbeth. They all include the sub elements of paranormal, mind tricks and possession of the mind from another unknown or just general insanity. They have been the foundation to our plot, mine especially.

Audience Research Tasks

Today we're research our specific audience for our movie idea, looking into who will watch it, gender, age and status. Our age certificate is 15 as we feel the content of our movie has minimal bad language and actions. It is also an age where anyone can view the movie and gives us a broader market to research and advertise too. I think the certificate appeals to most people, perhaps not the 40-50+ age group because of the fact the certificate is so young they might feel it isn't for them. However we've stuck with this age as the pros outweigh the cons and is most suitable for our genre.

I did a little research on the types of movies that are horror and rated 15 and also how the audience felt about them, whether it is too scary, not scary enough or just the right amount of scary.  From the feedback on our interview we found out that a lot of codes and conventions of a horror/thriller movie are as follows:

• Tension, sketchy events occuring
• Jumpy and scary
• Dark and gloomy setting

We also discovered that for this type of genre the people interviewed didn't watch horror/thriller movies very often. We found this interesting because usually it's people in their 16-18 age group that I would of originally thought to watch that particular genre the most often.

While looking on the BFI (British Film Institution) I came across the age distribution of cinema-goers during the period 1997-2011.

As you can see, the majority of cinema-goers are between the ages of 15 and 24 years. This is our prime target audience as it is the largest and being the most popular will accumulate the better success. This also relates to our own individual research while interviewing people around the college. Although they didn't watch the genre we chosen often they do watch a lot of movies and are between the ages of 16 and 18. 

Some films similar to our chosen story line are 100 Feet.

After Marnie Watson kills her abusive husband in self-defense, she is condemned to house arrest... only to discover that the house is possessed by the enraged and violent spirit of her dead husband.

The Possession:

A young girl buys an antique box at a yard sale, unaware that inside the collectible lives a malicious ancient spirit. The girl's father teams with his ex-wife to find a way to end the curse upon their child.

The Shining:

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.

Although these aren't the exact story line they both have influences of paranormal and possession of the body which our move also holds. The movie 100 Feet is similar in the way that the protagonist has committed a crime and the victim has come back to haunt her, and our story follows a similar path.

Partners In Crime - New ideas.

The 25 Word Challenge.

We were given the task to come up with a 'high concept' movie description, otherwise known as 25 words. A quick summery describing the events that will occur in the movie without revealing too much information. Previously I was working individually but today decided to partner up with fellow media head, Farhath. My original idea was to create a new psychological thriller although we are sticking to the horror/thriller aspect it won't be a psychologically based. I think the partnership is much better than my individual input as Farhath is very energetic and has lots of great ideas! 

We spent the given time chatting lots about possible opening sequence/titles and jotting them down; however we wasn't able to finalise it into a 25 word description and pitch it to the group. Our chosen genre is horror as we both originally had this in mind and we mutually feel that it's something we can achieve successfully with the resources we have. We decided to mind map a lot of our initial concepts for the opening sequence/title and they are as follows:

• Location(s): The old pier in Weston-s-Mare - Birnbeck Pier, end of the beach leading to Sand bay.
• Shooting duration: For now 2+ days day and night shoots.
• Storyline idea(s): 1) Young girl possessed stranded at the old pier from a unfortunate death. 2) A murder rediscovered through a group of teens/young adults hanging out at the beach. 3) A parody twist, similar to the Scary Movie franchise. 
• Influences: Macbeth end scene (see below), Number 23, Sinister, Se7en and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

After a long discussion we finally came up with our 25 word pitch, capturing the storyline and hook without revealing too much.

"A man who thinks he's run away from his past, finds himself reunited by an unwelcome presence. Secrets don't always stay hidden."

"What were you thinking?" - Mood board.

The genre I've chosen to do is Psychological Thriller. I've always enjoyed these movies and no matter what they immediately hook me in. I love the plot twists, the stories and the mental journey they take you on while watching to bring you to surprising results. 

A typical psycological thriller movie is combined of several eliments, a hybrid genre, if you will. They usually consist of mystery, drama, horror and/or action. Some of the themes for this genre are as follows:

• Reality: A character seen questioning what is real and what is not.
• Perception: The way in which a character percieves the world around them and often wrongly so.
• Mind: Characters of this genre are often seen 'battling' with their own minds, to reach a new level of understanding.
• Existence/Purpose: The characters are found usually trying to find their purpose in life, the reason for being there, doing what they do ect. We see this through the narrative's conflict and the character's lives.
• Identity: The characters in psycological thrillers are often doubting who they 'really' are and then go upon a psycological journey to find out.
• And finally, Death: Sometimes character's in this genre have a fear or a fascination for death, resulting in bad conciquences.

I want my opening sequence/titles to be mysterious and pose lots of questions. Like in Jared Hess's Napoleon Dynamite, I want to have a title that doesn't show the persons face only objects and order minor body parts (hands, feet. Because I've decided to do a Psychological Thriller it needs to be appealing and hook into the audience quickly. It can't be boring or give away any answers.

David Fincher's Se7en title sequence is almost spot on to what I've envisioned for my own. It holds all the elements that I like but more darker. Below is the title:

Below is my moodboard. I collected several images relating to my desired genre as well as movies that inspired me. They're all stereotypical codes and conventions of a pyscological thriller movie which I also feel reflect my idea for the opening sequence/title.

My initial ideas before pairing up with Farhath for location and story line we're some what different yet had aspects of similarity to them. In the beginning I wanted to shoot a scene with a group of young adults/teenagers exploring the rural woodland area in the hope to find the mysterious creature known as The Herne; a human form with a deer head that haunts the forests of Wales. This story was told to me by some friends who I know up in Wales and it captured my attention. Initially I wanted to have something along the lines of this but getting to the locations and the expenses would be our of reach.