Screenplay and Pitch Idea

I have thought about a range of ideas for the storytelling brief of 'The Meeting'. My first idea involved a married couple finding out they were twins, something i had read about previously that had actually happened to someone. However after further thought I have finalised a different idea.

Title - Revelation

Brief Overview of the Story - Amanda has recently moved into a new house, she is very happy and content with the life that she has made for herself, everything in order - no disruptions. However she finds out she has moved in opposite her father, who due to her mothers secrecy doesn't even know she exists. The story picks up right when Amanda has discovered about her father, she is angered by her mother and cannot handle such a big change and disruption to her life. Despite this, she is immensely intrigued and wants to go and reveal herself to him. She decides to go over and introduce herself and his new neighbour, he invites her in and she has to consider whether to reveal herself as his daughter. 

Main Characters - Amanda - a young and career driven female. She is very clean and tidy, prefers order and is often seen wearing a suit due to her job. 

Dave - Amanda's father, a middle aged man, looks very typical of a man who has children, had Amanda at a very young age but is unaware of her existence

Location - a normal community street, main location Amanda's house and then her fathers directly opposite

Conflict - Amanda has moved into a new house of her own, to find out her neighbour is the father who is unaware of her existence 

Change - Her life has become hugely disrupted, something she doesn't like and struggles to deal with

Goal - Introduce/meet her father and hope to have the father she has always wanted

Whilst I am still thinking about a good pitch for this, the one pitch I have immediately come up with is - 'The most important thing in Amanda's life are order and organisation, but how will she cope when she moves in opposite the father who is unaware she even exists'

FINAL PITCH IDEA - "A controlling and obsessive young women struggles to cope when she moves into a house opposite the father who is unaware she exists" 

Analysis of Simon Ellis' Short Film - Soft

We looked at Simon Ellis' short film 'Soft' in order to further understand the idea of a pitch, in aid of developing our own ideas for our screenplay. Simon cleared up for us, the main point of a movie/tv pitch. A pitch for a tv/film needs to tell the audience the best part of the narrative, describing the best moments that will make the audience want to watch.

Ellis' Soft is an effective film in portraying the internal conflict of a father wanting to protect his son. After discussion we came up with these key points about Soft:

Genre - Drama (linking a lot to social realism)

Setting - Urban Estate 

Key characters - father and son, gang of youths 

Conflict - Physical and violent threat of the gang

                Father and son; domestic conflict

                Internal conflict of the father

Key Themes - Fatherhood, respect, fear, independence, attitude, and role reversal 

General Notes

- The father is seen perfecting the parking of his car, he is visible wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase

- Very much has a routine; he comes in and makes a cup of tea almost instantly

- The mother is a very integral part of the narrative, though she is never heard and never appears

- The only time we see the father shout and try to exert authority, is at his son rather than the gang of youths that are vandalising his car and house 

- throughout the film we see the cricket bag of the son multiple times, leading up to the son using his bat as a form of defence to stand up against the gang 

Using the ideas that we had discussed, we paired up in order to attempt to create a pitch for soft, this helped us by having further practice of creating pitches, something we are in the process of doing for our own stories. 

Pitch for soft - Boy becomes man in this coming of age drama where masculinity, respect and inner strength are put to the test

Steve Coombs - Screenwriting Talk

On the 26th of September, we had a session with Screenwriting Steve Coombs. The talk was very inspiring and effective in the further development of our ideas

Steve introduced to us, the four golden rules of screenwriting;

1 - Need to Know - only include in your script what the audience need to know for the             purposes of the narrative

2 - Don't tell, show

3 - Think about structure as a joke or a metaphor; the example Steve cited was Orwell's Animal Farm and its similiariity to the Russian Revolution 

4 - Know your ending - before you start to write, know your ending, know where you want the story to go 

Steve talk helped us with our current brief of storytelling, by introducing new terminology to us, such as a longline; a summary of a film/TV pitch or bible; a bigger piece of writing illustrating further narrative ideas and character developments. 

Storytelling Unit - Group Story Project 21/09

Today we were in a group of 4 and were given three bits of paper, with 2 characters and one location. Using these bits of unconnected information we had to come up with a brief for a story

An Assumption

Location: Nightclub

Characters:

-Actor (Tony) (young) - failing and drowning his sorrows. Timid and as the story progresses, his confidence exceeds higher.
        - shirt, top button un done and loose tie, smart trousers and shoes

Bank Robber (Marc) (young)- at the night club to share his plans to break into bank

        -jeans, t-shirt and smart jacket. also has a bag (for change of clothes) 

developing idea- 

Actor and the bank robber are at the night club. Tony is at the night club due to drowning his sorrows because he’s a failing actor. He’s already been drinking when Marc approaches him. Marc was at the club waiting to meet his companion for the robbery, who he has only spoken to over the phone and believes he is talking to the right person. Tony fits the description of Marcs companion, however he is 'meeting' the wrong person. Marc offers to buy Tony a drink which will engage the conversation. As the night continues, Marc confides in Tony about how the plan of the robbery is going to go ahead. Then Marc's actual companion phones him, asking him where he is and Marc realises he has confided in the wrong person. After an explanation from Tony about who he really is, Marc provides him with an ultimatum: 

Is Tony going to go with Marc or do the right thing and speak to the police?  

ending quote:                 "now you have a choice to make..."

Goal= meet his companion and share his plans 

Conflict= meets the wrong person 

Change= (open ending) Tony changes from actor to bank robber OR Tony goes to police.

Day One of Uni - Storytelling Brief

The first real day of university, where we physically started our journey on the course, consisted of us receiving our brief for our first unit; Storytelling. The most striking thing that I have learn't so far, is the amount of time and effort that coming up with the story, the characters, themes, ideas etc should take. Simons brief and workshops have changed the approach I and many others would normally take to come up with an idea for a story. Rather than going straight into writing, Simon showed us to think about the characters, what they would like how they would act, think about the location and the setting, before going straight into coming up with a story that has a beginning, a middle and an end.

To summarise the work we have to do and objectives of the unit we ha
ve to produce the following:

              - a 10 page screenplay based on the idea of 'The Meeting'

              - a 2 minute opening or trailer based on the screenplay

Immediately after hearing the brief for this unit, an array of ideas come to mind. We have to choose the genre we would like to create, a drama, a comedy or a thriller. As the actual idea and story will take some time to decide on and come up with, one thing I have decided is that my project will be a thriller. In terms of film and TV, thriller is one of my favourite genres. It is a genre that requires thought and has the most potential for complex characters. I have begun brainstorming ideas for characters and themes in order for me to come up with my 25 word pitch for Friday 30th September.

My First Video - UCA Summer Project

I had to make a short video introducing myself for my first year at UCA Summer Project, i decided to film some of my most favourite and memorable places from the town I grew up in. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02gMMoCd684&feature=youtu.be