Lochlan Morrison BTEC Media 1: Research Dossier

Research Dossier

The competition

The competition i have selected to enter my created short film into is Blue cat screenplay competition. As i am aiming to make this short around 10 minutes long, it will fit the rule specifications for length. (Short films must be between 1-50 minutes long). The film will be produced in 2018 so it fits the rule that states when the film must be made after (Films must be produced after January 1st 2018)

Script conventions analysis

Examples of existing scripts

Good development of character

Edward Scissorhands (1990) Peg Meets Edward

This extract shows good development of character especially in the character of Edward. His outer presence is making the character look seemingly harmful with his appearance however his speech of very basic words and always under one sentence. The context is a large Gothic house so the character of Peg really contrasts to this as she is an Avon representative who are all about beauty and good looks. The character of Peg also shows strong inner presence that even though she originally seems afraid of Edward she still asks to treat him and make him look more presentable.

Good use of dialogue

500 Days Of Summer (2009) Toms monologue

In this scene from 500 days of summer the main character suffers a harsh breakup and returns to his work at a card factory only to be annoyed at everything. it shows good use of dialogue. The way he speaks with a sarcastic tone in the first two paragraphs then after he sits back down he begins to blame himself more and more by blaming it on the bigger picture with saying "They're responsible" then he narrows it down to his work by saying "We're responsible" until he shifts it all onto himself by saying "I'm responsible" and starts making everything about what happened to him recently and it really shows emotion through how his speech is.and how hurt he is through the speech he gives, you can really sense his pain when he has the card and makes the sarcastic comment about "Ain't love grand"

Good use of scene direction

Whiplash (2014) Band Rehearsal

In this scene from whiplash during band rehearsal it uses strong scene direction and since it's directing music in the film it has to be more precise. The section where it directs about Andrews playing i can visualize well with only seeing the scene directions and for the actors performing this it would be incredibly easy to act out this scene.

10 minute shorts i liked

SIGNS - Directed by Patrick Hughes - 2008

This short follows the story of a man communicating with a fellow office worker through words written on signs, They then form a bond through chatting with signs. I particularly like this short especially from a screenwriter perspective because throughout the whole film none of the main characters utter a single word this allows emotion to be conveyed through character movements as well as the signs so the script would mostly be all scene directions which makes it a more powerful screenplay.

THINGS WONG KAR-WAI TAUGHT ME ABOUT LOVE - Directed by Alic Dallow - 2004

This short is inspired by the themes expressed in the films of Hong Kong director Wong kar-wai. It follow different characters in 8 different scenarios, Each scenario corresponding to the "Things that Wong Kar-Wai taught me about love" it has the voice over for one of the things that is taught about love and plays out what the Voice over talks about for example the first one goes "You will fall in love only once. The rest of your life is spent recovering" and in the film the scenes play out with a woman seeing a couple and reminiscing about the love she used to have. I think this film is strong in screenwriting similar to how the other is with no real dialogue being spoken by people besides the voice over which leads all the emotion to be conveyed through scene direction.

Audience research

For my film the target audience is teenagers particularly interested in films or romance.

I created a survey about my ideas for the film to see how audiences would react to the viability of the idea

as can be seen in the chart there is an interest in my film idea as there is 0 no comments surrounding the film.

As can be seen, over half of the people I decided to ask aren't a big fan of romance films so if I sway it to more of a comedy side it would possibly attract a wider audience.

As can be seen from the results more people would prefer a happy ending which is good because that aligns with my initial ideas

Theme/location/character

Theme: For the theme of my film it centres around love and film production similar to films such as "The Disaster Artist" or "Sunset Boulevard"

Location: For location I would really like to have film sets and for when the main character is at his house it'll be a standard house.

Character: For the main characters personality I decided to make him a perfectionist and that's why the problems arise when his film starts going wrong and that creates the argument which begins the films plot in motion

Existing media texts research

For inspirations I looked at Whiplash, The film about a jazz drummer and the specific part i focused in on is about how the main character cannot handle having to pursue his passion and keep his girlfriend at the same time this is reflected in my main character when his girlfriend argues to him about his seemingly more dedication to his films rather than her.

For another inspiration i looked at a recently released film called The disaster artist which follows the creation of one of the worst films ever made. I used this inspiration to create the concept as in the disaster artist they blend aspects of love into the film too.

For the final inspiration I looked at Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. in which the main character attempt to remove his memories of a past girlfriend but halfway through doing so he releases he would be lost without her. i took the idea of memories to make someone realize something that they didn't see before so my main character in the beginning doesn't see that his girlfriend was the person who encouraged him to go on and make films but upon looking back through memories he does realize this and changes his way of thinking

Bibliography

http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/2018-rules-guidelines/ Date accessed 29th November 10:17

http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Star-Wars-The-Force-Awakens.html Date accessed: 28^th November 12:12

http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Edward-Scissorhands.html Date accessed 29th November 10:21

http://readwatchwrite.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/500DaysofSummer.pdf Date accessed 29th November 10:43

http://www.sonyclassics.com/awards-information/whiplash_screenplay.pdf Date accessed 1st December 2:20

http://shortsbay.com/film/signs - Date Accessed 1st December 2:40

http://shortsbay.com/film/things-wong-kar-wai-taught-me-about-love - Date Accessed 1st December 3:03

WEBB, M.W, FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES (2^nd SEPTEMBER 2009) - 500 DAYS OF SUMMER

BURTON, T.B, 20TH CENTURY FOX (26^TH JULY 1991) - EDWARD SCISSORHANDS

HUGHES, P.H, PUBLICIS MOJO PRODUCTIONS (2008) - SIGNS

ABRAMS, J.J.A, LUCAS FILMS/ DISNEY (17^TH DECEMBER 2015) - STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS