Week 3 - Comedy

Funny haha?

This week I stumbled across a few interesting ideas from Mcgee; he says that all stories are essentially the same: the Quest, and that between the 'slice of life' and the 'sure-fire commercial hit' lies a story worth telling. Obviously a requirement for the assessment is that our idea can be filmed with the facilities and equipment available to us. Sadly this means no Godzilla like imaginings should be appearing in my script but it's worth keeping in mind that balance is important; sometimes the most despairing situations are resolved in funniest ways (The Silence of the Lambs macabre “I’m having an old friend for dinner” springs to mind).

This weeks brief is focused on the character of someone interesting we know but others in the class don't. I have done character biographies for past scripts and find them a useful tool when gauging reactions and shaping my chosen details into a realistic persona.

CHARATER BIOGRAPHY

name: Jessica Blyth

age: 24

family: Nicole (Mum), Martin (Dad), Holly (Eldest Sister), Emma (Middle Sister)

where they live: Lives with Holly & Alex (Partner) and their son Oliver

how they survive: Works in BHS Colchester in the underwear department.

what do they most want in life: To be able to afford the life she desires

what do they most fear: Never having a long term partner and all that comes with it.

In the lecture we discussed primary emotion and it's use as entertainment, to link people through universal common experiences and to teach, advise or warm others. It's useful to be aware of how powerful situational emotions like compassion, love, guilt, lust, jealousy can be. In the seminar to convey how important a memorable incident is to a narrative we each told the group an memory that was in some way emotive. People told the usual first day at school, along with more intriguing recollections about giving birth, kayaking and fist fights. After we had to remember as many as we could individually. The exercise was effective in highlighting how everyday events become memorable if told by a good storyteller. It's the details that make a character resonate with an audience not just the obstacles they overcome, this creates depth. As Chatman states in Story and Discourse, "The horizons of personality always recede before us."

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Brief for Week 4

Recall an incident that made you feel a strong emotion (happy, sad, angry, afraid). Consider how it looked (colour, shape, size, etc), sounded (resonance, tone volume, etc), smelled (strength, quality, memory, etc), tasted (texture, quality, temperature, etc), felt (texture, sensation, temperature, etc). Think about your point-of-view of the situation at the time. How do you now see it? How did the incident change you? In 300 words, recount the incident chronologically. Do not analyse it but recount it in words: show, don’t tell.

Week 2 - Personal experience and memories

Now the work begins...

I've started doing bits and pieces of research trying to seek inspiration. I've begun reading Writing the Short Film (Cooper & Dancyger) and was intrigued by one of their examples of journey structure. Going to Work in the Morning (Messina) is about a man who doesn't want to go to work and the events that happen to him along his travels; it's the kind of archetypal journey that is strongly character driven. I find that I am very imaginative with character building and crating a sense of realism within my dialogue, so this type of story may work to my strengths.

I struggled to come up with an interesting idea for the brief. I talked to my Mum (but she waffles and her stories never really go anywhere) and friends but nothing but the usaul mundane stories were told to me. So I widened my viewpoint to my house-mates and hit gold (well romantic comedy gold anyway). One of them had a friend (or maybe she was talking about herself?) who double booked herself with two different dates in one night. This girl apparently had to swing back and forth between the guys who never realised. How much of this is true is debatable but there is an intriguing premise and watching the comedy unfold would be enjoyable with the right set up. After writing the pitch I lacked a punchy title so checked out http://www.urbandictionary.com/ and found the word Clockrupt which means "Having more time commitments than one actually has time for".

Clockrupt - by Tom Stock

20 year old Taylor receives a text from a guy she fancies called Rich in which he asks her out for a drink that night. She accepts his offer and he arranges that they meet at the local pub at 8pm. She then looks at a photo in a frame of her kissing a guy and then places the photo inside a draw. Later that same day she gets a call from Mike her ex-boyfriend. He tells her that he is missing her and wants to talk. Finding this unexpected she tells him that she looked at a photo of them together earlier that day. He says he’ll meet her that night outside the local pub at 8pm, she says yes without thinking but after realising she’s double booked herself, suggests another pub. Her phone then runs out of battery and she discovers her charger is broken. It’s 8pm and Taylor meets Rich first. They chat and get on very well. After 10 minutes she pretends her Mum is calling her and says to Rich she won’t be long. Taylor runs up the road, meets Mike and they are soon acting like old times. She then makes the same excuse with Mike and goes back to Rich. As the night continues she gets tipsy and starts calling both guys by the wrong name. In the street between pubs she bumps into Mike (who’s looking for her) and Rich (who’s followed her). They are visibly hurt and emotional by her deception and leave her alone in the street. She begins to walk home upset but then realises her bag is in the first pub and coat in the second. After going back to get them she walks past a restaurant and sees both Rich and Mike, back to back, sharing desserts with their dates.

In the lecture David H brought up some interesting ideas from Robert Mcgee regarding story structure and the three levels of story types - the intra-personal, the inter-personal and the extra-personal and that a good story should work on all three of those levels. I intend to use Mcgee's ideas in developing my ideas over the next few weeks.

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Brief for Week 3

Think of a person in your life whom you find interesting, and who isn’t known to others in the class. Write a character biography of this person. This should include name, age, family, where they live, how they survive, what do they most want in life, what do they most fear? Bring to class next week. Maximum length: 300 word

Week 1 - Incidents, anecdotes and stories

Introduction to MDA2100 Screenwriting: The Short Film

We were given the course outline and examination criteria which is a portfolio containing:

Screenwriting (50%):

the production of an 8-10 page script for a short dramatic film.

Critical Essay (50%):

1500 - 2000 word reflective critical analysis of this script, contextualising it within an understanding of the short film form and demonstrating an awareness of the process of development, writing and re-writing.

I have a few script ideas rattling inside my brain. I'm edging toward narratives that explore human relationships and how people are affected by their wants and desires.

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Brief for Week 2:

Find an incident or anecdote which is not based on your personal experience and transform it into a story suitable for an engaging short film script. Write up the story in prose – not in screenplay format. Maximum length: 300 words