Story Telling: Development [Inspiration & writing notes]

 My main source of inspiration for 'The Other Side' came from my friends. The characters of Will and Jack are also very closely based on my friends of the same name.
 I was particular during writing to try and capture realistic dialogue for the two characters and also based this on my friends. I paid close attention to small phrases and specific pieces of slang each friend used and tried to apply it to my script where appropriate. 
 The ending that appears in my draft script was not the original ending - the original ending involving Will and Jack tricking Will's lecturer and escaping. However, I felt this ending did not seem natural enough to the plot or pacing of the script and decided for something less dramatic and unnecessary.

Story Telling: Devlopment [Production Blog Update and Location Recce]

Pre-Production has begun. My shoot is planned for Wednesday 16th November, the cast is aware of the date but I must quickly decide on my crew. The cast is being given the first draft of the script to begin going through later today.

I went up to Jackson's field earlier today to get an idea of how easy filming would be. One major concern is of lighting - the tree is in a heavily shaded area. However, I did not perform my recce at the same time that I plan to be shooting so I shall return tomorrow so see if this is still a problem. If it is then I shall alternative filming locations.

Story Telling: Development [The Other Side PITCH]

On The Other Side 

Comedy

Will needs a way to get his bag and skip the rest of his lecture.

Too tired for lectures, Will and Jack decides to blow off the rest of the day for relaxing in bed. However, Will’s left his bag in the lecture he’s trying to skive and can’t go home without it. 

Will (20) Laid back, friendly and taking life as it comes. Will tries not to plan too far ahead and take any opportunity for an "adventure" if it means he's busy. Unchallenged by his first year of university, Will skips a lot of lectures to work in the comfort of his own room.

Jack (19) Always too tired for his own existence. Whether he's been studying, partying or wasting hours smoking and talking to friends, he's always up past his bed time. Always tries to try but finds himself walking home during a break.

Setting: 
Tree / Park / University.

Story Telling: Development [ It's Always A Bus Stop PITCH] X CANCELLED IDEA X

IT’S ALWAYS A BUS STOP

Characters

Mike

22, student, overworked and over stressed. Spends too much time in his own head overthinking and over complicating. Stuck in a routine and feels like every day just repeats.

Barbara (‘but everybody calls me Barb’)

83, happily enjoying her relaxing later years with minimal trouble. An independent and adventurous lady, Barbara struggles to admit that her body is slowing age.

“I’ve been retired for a good bloody lot of my life and I’ve done it from the comfort of my own home. They may have plans to change it but I don’t!”

Pitch

After missing the bus, Mike isn’t keen to escort 83-year-old Barb home. But maybe it’s not always bad to be slowed down.

Synopsis

Mike (21) has missed his bus on the day he’s supposed to hand in his final piece of university coursework. Barbara (83) fell asleep on the bus and ended up getting off at the wrong spot. Running on his final energy reserves and running late, Mike begrudgingly accepts to help Barbara carry her shopping home on his way in. Pleads to hurry fall on (not yet) deaf ears as Barbara adamantly takes her own pace home, just as she’s taken her own pace with life.

Key Ingredients

Goal

Mike wants to get to uni on time.

Barbara wants to live independent and carefree. She doesn’t want to move to a retirement home.

Conflict

Mike has missed his bus and must help walk a slow, old lady home.

Change

Mike realises he needs to start trying to live more and not spend his entire life stressing.

Barbara begins to admit that her age may finally be catching up with her.

Story Telling: Contextual Research [Luther – An exploration into conflict through character]

Luther – An exploration into conflict through character.

A look at how the opening sequence of ‘Luther, Season One – Episode One’ creates builds drama through the use of main character John Luther.  

 There are very few modern TV series that have more drama and conflict than BBC’s crime drama ‘Luther’. As such, I thought it the perfect place to look for inspiration in finding the drama in my ideas. I have decided to focus only on the

 From the very beginning, Luther is filled with tension as we see a scared man running through a factory setting, being chased by a much larger man (whose face is obscured by a hood.) The hooded man walks quickly, immediately displaying a physical prowess that the scared man does not, even when the hooded man speeds up he seems to only need take larger strides in order to catch up. Once the frightened man is cornered, audiences discover that the imposing, hooded man is protagonist, John Luther and the man he is chasing is Henry Madsen, a serial kidnapper and murderer. The show immediately defies audience’s expectations by defying two major crime drama conventions: hoods being worn mainly by criminals and the scared, running character is normally the victim.

 Henry Madsen immediately finds himself in a situation where his life rests in Luther’s hand. Without hesitation, Luther begins taunting and questioning Madsen without mention of saving him. This very subtly establishes Luther as a character who may not always play by the rules in order to get results and foreshadows towards his character’s later moral dilemmas. After obtaining an answer from Madsen, Luther continues to question him further, showing his character’s distrust as well as a past with Madsen’s character. Luther’s dark side is revealed further; he violently shouts “You lied. And lied and lied” hinting at his anger issues which becomes one of the journeys Luther’s character undergoes throughout the season. The sense of tension is also built trough camera work, using a harshly differently angled tilt shot on each repetition of the line “you lied.”
 Luther continues to leave Madsen’s life in his hands until he is assured that Madsen’s recent victim, a young girl, is alive. At this point it becomes more clear that although John Luther’s character is the protagonist (and as a police officer we should believe he is a high standing character) he is morally ambiguous to the point he is willing to play god.

I believe that one of the most subtly defining moments of John Luther’s early introduction comes through a reaction shot of DCI Ian Reed, who is at the scene where the victim is and conversing to Luther via mobile phone. Reed hears Madsen’s character screaming at Luther, begging him to help through the phone and hangs up. There is an implication here that Madsen’s character may be used to Luther’s reckless behaviour.

 From here, Luther continues to stubbornly refuse to help Madsen, questioning him further despite him being on the brink of death and even seeming to begin his power. Luther mentions that he dug one of Madsen’s victims out with his own hands and audiences begin to sympathise with Luther’s character. This is contrasted by a shot of Madsen’s slipping hands and Luther’s shoe inching closer. Madsen’s character loses his grip and falls to his death. Editing plays a big hand here in further increasing the tension as Luther begins to break down. Through a few choppy cuts, audiences become disorientated, similar to how John appears to feel. This forces audiences into sympathising with Luther through editing alone.

 It was very insightful to see how scripting, camera work and editing can display a large amount of information about a character in such a short amount of time and in such subtle ways. 

Story Telling: Development [Production Blog Update]

 I’m trying to get back into the habit of casual writing and trying to clear some of my writer’s block by searching for writing prompts online. I plan to spend 30 minutes on each story and use it as a chance to write without overthinking, just following whatever comes to my head.

 I have also been working on a few more ideas for my main production as I have been feeling less and less passionate about my current idea.

IDEA ONE [Untitled]:

Michael gets punched on a night out. Him and friend Alex end up sat outside, Alex wanting to go back and fight and Michael just wanting to forget it happened.

IDEA TWO [The Flat Above]:

Two girls trying to have a quiet night in but the flat above keeps making too much noise.

IDEA THREE [Untitled]:

(An advancement on a previous idea.)

3 parts, split over time.

Shows the growth of a relationship between 21 year old Alice and 72 year old Tom. They meet in a laundromat and immediately dislike each other. Over time they let go of their judgments and discover an unlikely friendship.

IDEA FOUR [Untitled]:

(Inspired by ‘Welcome to Night Vale, Episode 6 – The Drawbridge.)

My horoscope said I’m going to die today and I’m starting to believe it. There’s only one item left on my bucket list and I need your help.

IDEA FIVE [2am]:

After a night out, Amy goes into an off-license for tobacco, milk and chocolate. She ends up talking to the man behind the till and discovers that not everybody is what they seem.

IDEA SIX: [Untitled]:

After Lucy comes home fed up with college, she confides in her father and he reminds her of times this has happened before.

~I’m not like your mother. I don’t always know the right words to use, especially in situations like this. But for once I think I have the perfect idea. Do you remember when you were 5 and I came to pick you up from school to find you crying?

-That was the day Mr.Matteson shouted at me and you told him he was unfit to teach.

~I still stick by that but yes. And do you remember what we did after that?

EMILY THINKS FOR A MINUTE BEFORE SMILING AS SHE REMEMBERS.

-You took me to that ice cream place and let me get the biggest ice cream I wanted.

~And then you threw up all over the car on the way home.

-I did? I’m so sorry.

~Don’t you remember?

-I don’t remember puking.

~As soon as you’d thrown up you began laughing. I was so surprised. Everything stank, everything was covered in vomit but you just smiled and began laughing. I didn’t know what to do at first but you just kept laughing, all of this stringy vomit was hanging from your lips but you just laughed and laughed.

EMILY SUDDENLY REMEBERS.

-Then you started laughing too.

~We must have been sat in that car laughing for 20 minutes.

-Do you remember how mad mum was when we got home?

~Can you blame her? We couldn’t get the smell of vomit out of your hair for a week.

-Do you know what’s funny? I don’t even remember why I was so mad at everyone.

~Of course not. If we remembered everything we got upset over, then nobody would do anything. We pick ourselves up, brush ourselves down and get on. It’s a natural part of life and you can’t fight life.  It’s when you try to move against it that it bites you in the ass. Everybody has their ups and downs and you’ve just got to go with it. I’ve found that as long as you’re surrounded by positive people that bring out the best in you then things get a little bit easier. 

Story Telling: Development [Edit Workshop]

I started using Adobe's Premiere Pro today for a small editing workshop. We were given a selection of multimedia footage and prompted to create a short scene. Although I struggled greatly (as I think might be evident based on the rough cut I produced), I hope that with time I'll become as adept at Premiere as I was at Final Cut.