During this project I have learned the process of script writing including workshopping.

At the start of this project we looked at loglines for film in which we had to partner up and pick 5 films to read the loglines from without giving anything away as the other person has to guess what film its from. We also looked into loglines for news articles and rewrite them. Both types of loglines are very similar to each other as they are there to Draw you in with little information as possible as a way to make you open up the article and read it or go to the cinema to see the movie. From this I learned that to make something interesting and intriguing I would also need a logline that tells so much information but so little at the same time to get people interested.

Leading on from loglines we had to pick out a movie and rewrite the plot by changing its style and the genre. I chose , ‘The Lion King (1994)’ and changed the title to Exile and turned it into crime drama. I rewrote it so that the premise is the same as the original film itself except its more adult and dark. In this version its all about human beings. Scar pushed Mufasa (his brother) off a building but blamed Mufasa himself that he died causing his son Simba to run away in fear. Scar was also apart of a massive drug ring as he was the leader. Doing this task helped me dive into more genres and styles of writing this prepared and helped later on in this project because we had to write a short film script.

After this we looked into the three act structure and different script writers. Learning about the three act structure was really helpful as its treated like a blueprint and an outline for different scripts. However a lot of scripts won’t have the three act structure implemented, this is common for most musicals whether its a movie production or a stage production. This isn’t saying they don’t follow an act structure at all, they mostly follow a two act structure. For example the ex Broadway show ‘In The Heights’ follows a two act structure, in the first half its all light and bubbly but in the second half its more hard hitting as the characters go through a lot of grief, obviously this isn’t the same for all musical and broadway shows. Going through this was very helpful because even though we had only a 10 minutes timeframe for the film itself we could structure it in a way that it would include the three act structure.

The Script

The process of writing the script itself wasn’t difficult and it didn’t take me that long. I had the idea of doing it in a documentary style but it didn’t know what It would revolve around. From scriptwriting I have learned how helpful workshopping a script is because you listen to the script being read out and you can pinpoint big and little changes wether is a small little bit of stage directions or a big chunk of dialogue that needs improving. I have also learned how to write the script in the time length of a short film so thats it flows well and its not too clunky and messy.

This helped me get the script together and work on improving the overall flow of everything including the dialogue and the stage directions. My script itself is supposed to be fast paced so the flow will be a little bit faster, however this could have been a problem as it might seem too quick and everything is happening at once which wouldn’t be too fun to watch as the audience might feel lost in the chaos.

If I were to do this again I would focus on a different genre and maybe delve into something more personal so its more relatable and write things from others peoples points of view. I would also include social issues in my scripts.

Character profiles

James Elliot Riley is a 36 years old male from Devon in the UK. He is on only child with two parents; Maureen and Gary.  His parents both had full time jobs so they could never really spend time with him.  James was born on May 15th 1984, he was always a weird child, he tended to isolate himself because he thought he wasn’t important enough and his parents didn’t spend enough time with him because of there busy lives. By the age of 17 he started taking drugs (LSD and Ecstasy) to deal with the amount of stress that was put on him by his parents and the school that he went to. By 19 he was diagnosed with depression, which he is taking pills for and still is currently. He had dealt with this part of his life for 8 years and went to rehab many times through this time period. At the age of 25 he got a pet dog named Bryan which gave him a different perspective on life. He has been sober for 11 years. James went to uni to study business and then became a lecturer in the same uni a few years later. He landed  his job at the age of 34 and he’s loved it ever since and he is in a much happier place now, which has given him the will to live.

Holly Eliza Berry is a 19 year old female from Plymouth, UK. Holly has one brother and one sister (Harley Berry and Hannah Berry), she lives with her mum (Linda) and her siblings. They moved to Devon after she go into uni. She was born on February the 27th. She studies at ‘The Devon University’. As a child she was obsessed with organising big events. She was a perfectionist.

Vanessa Lily Smith is a 18 year old female from Devon, UK. Vanessa has one brother (Simon Smith)

Act one: Act one is normally the set up for the conflict

Act two: Act two is normally where the conflict takes place.

Act three: Act three is normally the resolution.

‘White Lily’ is a sci- fi short film based in space. It opens with two characters talking to each other and a ‘white lily’ is mentioned. Throughout the film there is tension between the two characters and their relationship with each other which may be romantic. However towards the end there is a twist where one of the characters is revealed as a hologram that needs rebooting.

Mockumentary

• Two students get handed a work assignment
• They have two weeks to pull off a concert, this means they have to scout for bigger names and smaller names to perform
• They also have to find a big enough park to set it on, which they would have to get permission from
• Surprisingly they pull it off.

Two students (Vanessa and Holly) get handed an assignment by there lecturer (James). They have to set up a mini concert/ festival, in which they have two weeks to do so. Vanessa and Holly meet the park manager (Mikey) as they want to set it up in a park. Mikey ends up helping them out by striking up a deal after founding out they are under a lot of pressure and not funded. Holly and Vanessa update James on what they’ve done so far, James gets really excited and starts talking about microwaves and all the weird things he’s put in them. Mikey meets up with Vanessa and Holly at the park to give feed back on getting the performers, he gets the performers. Flash forward to day of the festival, it goes well.

• Blue print
• Paradigm – Three act structure

Act 1 – Set up, first 15 minutes

Act 2 – Conflict (something happens) , 45 mins – hour

Act 3 – Resolution

• Conflict between protagonist and antagonist

Script writers

Christopher Nolan

Kevin Smith

Quentin Tarantino

Lion King (1994) to Exile (2019)

A sociopath kills his brother to get what he wants followed by the apocalyptic destruction of his home town

Mufasa an unknowing father of Simba, his 10 year old son, is murdered by Scar, his sociopath brother for his own gain. After Mufasa’s death, Scar informed everyone that it was his fault that he fell to his death. Everyone then held a special memorial in his honour Following the tragic news Scar self appointed himself to king, he then assigned three hitmen to find and kill the his son hours after he told Simba to leave. Little did everyone know Scar is a drug ring leader for class A drugs. During Simba’s exile he meets two older teenagers ages 16 and 17 Timone and Pumba who take him under their wing and raise him for the rest of his childhood. After a time jump of 12 years Simba decides to return to his hometown hoping that the past is in the past, However that is not the case, when he returns he see’s his hometown in total post apocalyptic mayhem.

Headline- Retailers shut 2,870 stores in the first half of 2019:

Logline- In the UK, retailers shut 2,870 stores, Fashion retailers take the biggest hit causing more openings of takeaways.

Kinky boots

Logline 2 – A fashion retailer teams up with other retailers to get their stores back by destroying who they was before

Headline- Homophobic hate crime charges fall despite soaring reports:

Logline- Homophobic abuse in the UK have been ignored despite the rising number of victims due to lack of evidence and CCTV.

Logline 2 – A young boy suffers a homophobic in the park, a police officer who heard this reports helps him gets the justice he deserves

Headline- British Australian woman and Australian man ‘held in Iran’

Logline: A couple held captive in Iran are trying to find a way out if they are caught they face the consequences

Headline- Channel migrants: Rise in crossings 

Infinity war : yes

• Thanos a clever and powerful being plans the destroy the universe. The avengers and their associates team up to defeat him.

The maze runner: yes

• Thomas and a group of boys have to figure out a way out of the maze after they are sent there with their minds erased 

Mission impossible: no

• An agent must expose the real spy, however he has to do it without help from his organisation 

whiplash: yes

• An aspiring drummer is accepted in an intense music course. His extreme mentor will stop at nothing to help him achieve his dreams  

Love actually: yes

• In London, 8 couples are facing challenges in their relationships during the most stressful time of the year.