PRE-PRODUCTION; SCREENWRITING FORMATS AND DRAFT 3

As I am currently in the middle of drafting script number 3, I wanted to brush up on my knowledge of the formats of scripts so that I knew I had this right.
Parenthetical - Used to direct an action mid-dialogue for a character
Scene Heading - At the top of each scene to describe where the scene is taking place and also if it is day or not
Characters Names - Within an action, the character names should be capitalised to emphasise the character
Transitions - Use terms like 'fade out' 'dissolve to' at the end of every scene to indicate what is happening for the editor between scenes - also can discuss this with editor
O.S - On Screen to show that the voice will be heard on screen but not the actual character
Subheader - For when a scene changes location slightly but you do not want it to go to a complete new scene

With the script, I have just finished writing up the 3rd draft. So far I have been really surprised by how many drafts I have done, however I keep making changes to certain scenes because I am overall not happy with them. The focus of draft 3 for me, was the ending. Since the start I haven't liked the ending, I think it came to a resolution too quickly and didn't stress the important of talking about your feelings/mental health issues as much as I would have liked. Simon also gave me lots of feedback from draft 2 which allowed me to think of and make a lot of changes for draft 3, changes that overall I am really happy with.

Now I have decided that I wanted to focus a bit more on guilt. Our main character Marlo, feels guilty because his girlfriend Nova died from a car accident whilst visiting a university open day for him, so he feels that he is to blame for the death of Nova. I have changed mainly two things -

1) I wanted him to hear someone say 'It was all your fault' because it demonstrates the paranoia that Marlo is feeling and also I think it lifts the narrative a lot more by creating a narrative enigma. The audience are going to be wondering if someone actually said it and if they did what was his fault? as well as questioning if he imagined it all

2) I also completely changed the last 2/3 scenes. Originally Marlo went straight home, saw his mum with a therapist which made him run to Nova and subsequently decided to say goodbye to her forever after a heart to heart. Now, I decided to change it so Marlo sees Nova first, has a heart to heart about what happened and how he feels, then he runs home and sees his mum with a therapist. I think this is effective because it piles on for Marlo the realisation of needing to get better, seeing all of this in succession with each other will make him see the reality of what he is feeling. Following this he goes back to Nova one more time to say goodbye. I really like this last bonus scene, it feels a lot more natural and progressive in terms of the narrative. I also wrote this scene with heavy dialogue just from Marlo, Nova now posing as more of a ghostly/silent figure sits and listens to Marlo as he opens up about how he is feeling and ultimately says goodbye

3) After getting feedback from Simon, about draft 2 of the script, he suggested that I have written certain words too much. For example I say, 'He is distressed' rather than showing it. I went through the script and changed all of these to action as much as I could. I added in two re-occuring elements to try and emphasis the character more. The first was an engraved pocket watch, Marlo was gifted this by Julie and it is important to him, in the script he holds it and looks at it intensely in times of hardship, I wanted it to portray motivation to the character, he is trying hard to be okay for his Mum who he cares for, but his conflicting feelings means he cannot. Secondly, I decided to give Marlo a tick of some sort, he taps his finger on sides, or his leg when walking, this signifies the anxiety that he goes through and is somewhat of an emotional tick.

PRE-PRODUCTION; JORDAN PEELE

Jordan Peele is an American filmmaker, actor and writer. He began his career with acting, appearing in 5 series of Mad TV, as well as being known comically for the sketch show Kay and Peele. From around 2010, he was began to produce and star in his own productions such as Keanu, The Last O.G and Wanderlust.

His biggest success of his career so far has been 2017 film Get Out, which Peele wrote, directed and produced. The writing of this is what I am looking at here because I would like to see what ideas I can link to my own writing ethos
-Get Out was extremely different to anything Jordan Peele had done before, due to his previous work in comedy
-He began writing a horror because it was a genre that he enjoyed and he had fun whilst writing it, however the story about race came along and he released the empathy he could make the audience feel but using the race issue with the protagonist
-Peele was worried that it would be a divisive film in terms of audience reaction, due to depicting black people as the victims and white people as the villains, however he found that the audience managed to relate to the character regardless of pre conceived ideas
-He said it was about bringing 'representation' in terms of ethnicity, to the horror genre
-Wrote in the inclusion of 'the sunken place' to include the audience in the film, perhaps make them question if they are the bad guys also
-Wanted to give a film where a character, who you think has a minor role, is saying what the audience is thinking. The main characters best friend was a funny character who said the obvious, but by the end of the film is proved to be right
-For him, the 2 main characters chemistry was most important because at the heart of the horror, was a love story, the audience needed to believe this love story in order to believe the horror that comes with it.
-Feels within the horror genre, that ethnicity isn't ever covered and his goal was to bring this topic to light with Get Out
-Pacing of the film was an important part of the scriptwriting journey, you know you're heading to a twist, but you have no idea what it is until you see it. Also when you see it, you realise it was obvious all along
-The ending became very important, he originally wrote the police turning up and stopping the narrative, but he changed it to give the audience a hero character, the protagonists best friend turns up and saves the day, this was Peele's way of suggesting the audience save the character, because the character who saves him represents the audience.

For me, I am writing a plot twist at the end of my script, Peele's writing technique of making it completely unknown throughout but obvious by the end is something I would really like to create. I am going to ask some of my friends to read the script, people who are completely new and know nothing about the script will be able to help me in terms of if my twist is obvious or not. Based on this feedback, I will then adapt it further as I really want to create this completely unexpected and shocking twist. As Peele notes, the pacing of a film is really important as well, whilst researching this I came up with an idea that my main characters, Nova and Marlo will have a fun filled time, they will do things together that make the audience see how in love with each other that they are and how much they like each other. At the end of this day, they will have a crashing argument which will bring all of the issues and arguments suggested throughout, to the forefront of the film, leading to a frantic and dramatic rampage of Marlo which reflects the plot twist that will be coming.

Jordan Peele is a very interesting and complex writer, he enjoys dark comedy and focuses on issue based stories such as representation. His work, I think, is very inspiring because it connotes issues and societal problems, shocking the audience but also serving a purpose to the story. The protagonists best friend, mentioned above, is a perfect example of a funny character that doesn't really go with the theme of the narrative, who unexpectedly solves the entire film and saves the day.

PRE-PRODUCTION; BUDGETING

As we are getting further into our pre-production, as the producer I need to start thinking about the budget for our film. The reason we have been holding back is because we aren't too sure about where the cast are going to be coming from, as we have started looking at that we know that our cast is most likely going to be coming from around the London area, so we can start to look at the budget now.

Example Budget 

Before I look into our own, I wanted to research what budget is, what the people in films who work out the budget think about and what they have to consider, as well as any problems they come across, so that I can better prepare myself.

-Know the story and script before considering the budget
-Know how much things cost so that you can apply a balance to each department, anything you haven't had before in a shot make sure to research and now how much they cost
-Make phone calls! When you know what you want call the people who can get it done, this applies to locations as well as other things
-Balance the money! If you know one department needs more money you have to discover what department loses the money, it's all about making it work across ALL departments with the set budget
-Always falls on the producers head
-Don't forget to budget POST PRODUCTION; things like sound/colour costs money
-Don't forget food for the cast and crew
-Remember there is no department better than the other, you have to make sure that if you take more money from one department for another that it doesn't compromise that department
-Serve the story well with the budget

The things that i know I need to include in my budget is
-Travel/Accommodation
-Food
-Location Allowance
-Props
-Possible crew costs (if we need to hire a DOP etc)

One thing I am not entirely sure about is how I am going to format our budget - was thinking about using microsoft excel because the budget is going to be something that changes all the time, it will need to be updates as much as possible so I would like to use a programme I am familiar with as well is something that is easy to access on multiple devices (eg laptop and phones).

I have started a preliminary budget by looking at travel, at the moment we are looking at having our main characters to be in for shooting on the following days -
- Marlo x3 days
- Nova x2 days
- Julie x1 day
- Mr Shipman x1 day
On the assume that our actors will be coming from the London area (as the beginnings of castings have taken place and that seems to be where they are located), I have found some example train ticket prices and started the budget with this.

Start of our Preliminary Budget

PRE-PRODUCTION; PROJECT UPDATES

Test Shoots

We undertook test shoots across two days with some stand ins. Laura, director, wanted to film multiple scenes (no dialogue) so that she could try out the fig rig for the first time, as it something she has never used before but does want too, so it helped her to visualise where the fig rig would work best in terms of what scenes to use it on. Laura also wanted to try and film on the panasonic camera, a canon 700D as well as her phone, an iPhone XS Max. This phone films in 4k and it looked very professional, we were really happy with the footage that came out from this.


On our second day of test shoots we tried to test out the montage scene, where Marlo is going to be sitting in his classroom, emotionless and distant while other students come and go.

Script Rewrites

I have also made some changes and finalised the 2nd draft of the script. The first thing I knew I needed to do was to go through it page by page making sure all of the grammar and punctuation was correct. After this I went through and re-worded certain pieces of dialogue; for example the mother character originally said 'you best get cracking and get them grades then', Laura noted that she thinks this is a bit too colloquial and should be changed, so i changed it to 'you must work hard and get those grades then'.

Also with the script i changed a scene around, Laura thought it would be better if when our main character Marlo, comes home from school that he is greeted directly by his mum with a therapist, rather than the original scene where he has been home for a while and finds his mum downstairs with the therapist. This is because it creates a chain reaction. Marlo has just been frustrated at school so he is already in a sensitive and frantic mood, if he was to sit in his room for hours before the next event happens (his mum asking him to speak to a therapist) he would have a chance to cool down and maybe not react as intense as we would like him too in the narrative.

PRE-PRODUCTION; RESEARCH

As I have now written the first draft of the script, I am beginning to make some changes suggested to me by director Laura. I found an article that explained the things that some films covering mental health did right, as it is such a sensitive topic in the media it is always faced with heavy criticism. I wanted to summarise some of the films that showed positivity and shed light to the issue of mental illness in a perfect way.

Black Swan (2010) is a psychological film directed by Darren Aronofsky and it covers several themes of mental illness. However the film is important because it applies the issue to a certain world. The main character is a professional ballerina, she suffers with chronic hallucinations as well as an eating disorder. Eating disorders within professional dancers is an extremely common issue because it is all about the dancers wanted to achieve the somewhat unattainable and stereotypical representation of the female body. This received positive criticism because of the fact it was a specific representation of an eating disorder that was factually correct.

The Machinist (2004) is another thriller that focuses on a character that is suffering with extreme insomnia, and as a result, hallucinations too. The positive criticism that this film received was down to the accurate representation of how such illness affect the characters everyday life. Main character Trevor is a factory worker and he suffers with his hallucinations mainly at his work place. He becomes distracted and because of this one of his co-workers loses an arm in the manual work that they do and Trevor is blamed solely for this accident, leading to further alienation from his coworkers. The effects that mental health issues have upon someones life is something that isn't documented as much and the chain reaction it causes in Trevor's life is what received the best feedback from the audience and critics. The Machinist did receive some negative feedback, as Trevor managed to solve his extreme insomnia but owning up and confronting a guilty act he had previously committed, however in reality this isn't something that would cure this illness.  

A Beautiful Mind (2001) is biographical drama that documents main character John's development of paranoid schizophrenia. This is one of the films that received major positive feedback for the accurate take on mental illness. The main character is relatable for the audience, many schizophrenics are depicted in films as monsters, which John is not. He is a smart man who experiences a lot of hurt due to the illness that he cannot control. Also, there is no cure for schizophrenia, the ending of A Beautiful Mind was praised because it depicts John as living the best life he can whilst dealing with the effects, demonstrating an understanding for the character

Finally, Shutter Island (2010) is another psychological master thriller directed by Martin Scorsese. It shows the main character played by Leonardo DiCaprio as a US Marshall sent to investigate a psychiatric institution, however it is later revealed that he is a bipolar disorder sufferer who is actually part of a 'role play therapy' which allowed for his work as a US marshall. This is very different from other films that have touched upon this topic because it shows how badly people with these disorders were treated in the fifties, the poor conditions of mental facilities as well as how inhumane patients were treated.

For me writing Unspoken, I still am looking to add something to our final scene to make it different and more interesting and engaging. This research is something that can help me because i wanted to explore the different ways in which films represent mental health as an issue. As i see on many of these films they show a form of therapy, presenting a character trying to develop and get better from the illness they suffer (even if they do not know about it). Unspoken is more issue driven, presenting how it effects a young person in their everyday life and documenting their struggle to open up and accept that they are indeed suffering.

PRE-PRODUCTION; INDEPDENT FILM PRODUCER RESEARCH

An independent film producer is the same as a normal film producer, they just jump onto a project independently. Feature-length films are very expensive to make, they have to make a huge turnover for a film to be profitable, understandably because of this studios will only make films they are certain will generate this profit. If a producer cannot find a studio willing to make their movie, then they can always make it independly, some producers prefer to work this way because it means they have more control over budget the script and the final product. Independent producers also receive a larger amount of the profits so their is an opportunity to earn more money. Independent producers have to complete the same roles as a studio film producer, as well as finding investors for the project. They have to find people who want to invest in a movie, either because they want to make a profit or truly believe in the project itself. Some investments can be extremely successful, one of the most famous examples is horror film The Blair Witch Project, which made over $100 million dollars.

Jeff Sharp has been an independent film producer for 20 years, he is the president and CEO of Sharp Independent Pictures, he is responsible and has produced films such as Boys Don't Cry and You Can Count On Me. He was interviewed recently at a film festival and he spoke about what it means to be an independent film producer and how much the industry has changed. The following is a summary of the points that Jeff made that I think are notable and I need to consider;

-For his most recent film, The Yellow Birds, he was there from the start of the development process right through to the release date.
-Jeff likes to look at underlying 'intellectual property' or source material as the basis for a new feature
-The riskiest part of a film financially, is the beginning development process, it is the one time of a film making process that isn't bring in any money whatsoever, it a time where the production team are unsure if the film is actually going to be made because whilst the screenplay is being written, no studio/casting or production decisions are to be made.
-When adapting something from a book Jeff likes it when the author of the novel that is being adapting has a heavy role within the film production, Jeff sees that as a great asset to a production
-Jeff notes that the way in which audiences view things have changed with the introduction of online streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Instant Video

For me the most important part that i will take form Jeff's interview is the taking of an issue or source material and turning it into the basis of a short film. I think that is really important because it shows real passion for a project because of the work involved in adapting it for the big screen. With our short film, we picked our topic of mental health and trauma and I created a story around that, which means as a group we are both knowledgeable about the topic as well as passionate, and I think for any project that is really important.

PRE-PRODUCTION; RESEARCH SPLIT ANALYSIS

Split is a 2017 psychological horror film written, co-produced and directed by M.Night Shyamalan. It stars James McAvoy who plays a character with multiple personality disorder, the character has 23 known multiple personalities with the film revolving around McAvoy's character abducting 3 teenage girls and holding them hostage. The reason I have decided to look at this film, from both a writer, producer and overall analytical perspective, is because the main character Kevin was abused as a young child; this traumatic experience is what has caused him to have these mental health issues.

At the centre of this film is death, one of the teenage girls in the film is quiet and detached, she doesn't fit in with the other people in her school, this is because she lost her father when she was really young and this has affected her to become this person in her later life. Shyamalan is interested to see how people react to lose and his films, including this one, reflect that. This film is interesting in terms of the locations that it uses. Films such as 10 Cloverfield Lane who have similar narratives (two people being held against their will) take place solely in the place of captivity, providing an intense and claustrophobic feel for the audience. However Split switches between mainly two locations, first of all the place where the main character, Kevin, is holding the girls captive, and secondly Kevin's therapists office. This allows for the narrative to move much smoother, we as in audience get to see the intensity of Kevin and his multiple personalities through the young girls but we also get reasoning and thought from the therapist.

One of the girls, Casey, is a really interesting and complex character. At the start of the film, she has a chance to escape from the clutches of Kevin when he knocks the other girls out in the back of the car, but instead she stares at him, frozen, for 20 seconds before he knocks her out. When looking at reviews for the film I have often seen people write about why she did that and why she didn't run. A lot of the audience believe she is on a journey throughout the film, her past is helping her to get through this and help others and maybe even become a better person by the end of it. The trauma that she has experienced in her past is turned into a positive rather than a negative, it helped her character become somewhat of a hero within the film.

Something that we are trying to make sure we get right in our own short film, is the portrayal and accuracy of mental illness. Split did receive a small amount of backlash for the character of Kevin and his 'dissociative identity disorder'. Many argued that the representation of this character and his mental health issue, 'reinforces a harmful notion that people with mental disorders and beyond human'. The intense reality of the disorder is obviously something that can shock the audience, but the portrayal of a characters real personality, who only briefly appears, is what causes the misunderstanding. The real Kevin is hardly seen or even spoken about by his therapist, this is something that was critiqued because it undermines the humanity and the realism of the character, people who suffer with this disorder are still real people with real human emotions; this seems to have been lost throughout Split.

The writing of Split is really interesting; some scenes are particularly no dialogue and focus purely on the action that is going on in a scene. Mysterious characters like Casey are perfect for these intense, more silent scenes. Whereas other characters Dr Karen Fletcher, are perfect for the dialogue heavy scenes that are there to be informative and move the narrative along. This goes in hand with the cinematography that is used also. The shots are more standard and rigid when Kevin is with his therapist in the office, they are normalised. Whereas when he is in the basement with the young girls, the shots are more dynamic and unique.

Overall, Split is an interesting film that has a unique portrayal of mental illness. I think the writing is really innovative because of the adaptability between the different personalities within Kevin's disorder. The way in which the language changes between each disorder is perfect in differentiating between the personalities.

PRE-PRODUCTION; SCRIPT WRITING DRAFTS

Over the last week or so of this project, I have solidly been working on the first draft of our script for our drama 'Unspoken' (working title). The script at the moment, is the key to the other aspects of the project that we need to get done, such as the director doing the storyboard as well as cast auditions etc. I was quite apprehensive about starting the script at first, because I wasn't sure how to start it; after the research that I undertook, most advice was to just start it, regardless of the quality of what you write, because you can always just go back and change it. 

The way I wrote it was pretty much in chronological order, I used the treatment that I had already written, to work through scene by scene as to what it would include. Overall I struggled the most with the actual dialogue that i wanted the characters to say, i knew where they were starting and i knew where i wanted them to be by the end, in terms of the narrative, but what they had to say during was what i struggled with. It was hard to phrase what i wanted them to say because i felt like I was writing it in the language that i personally would use, instead of what i wanted the characters to be like. 

I'm happy with the result of the first draft because I'm glad i managed to write the story from beginning to end without having to miss any out. I think I underestimated how hard it would be to write a script, having and creating a story is one thing, but having to write an entire script is something that is completely different. Having to know where each scene is taking place, which characters are involved, describing the action that is going on in the shot/scene as well as the standard dialogue. When I finished the draft, i have read through it and identified points i am unhappy with or would like to change, I will then sit down with Laura (director) and discuss with her any changes she suggests as well. The points I identified were as follows - 

-Few spelling and grammatical errors

-Improve the adjectives used within the action (e.g. downcast, distraught, frantic etc)

-Something missing in the last scene; perhaps the resolution happens too quickly

PRE-PRODUCTION; JERRY BRUCKHEIMER

Jerry Bruckheimer is a very famous film and TV producer. He is nicknames 'Mr Blockbuster' because of his immense success in producing extremely famous and finically successful blockbuster movies. Overall his films have earned over 13 billion pounds, as he helped to launch the careers of many famous actors and directors. In terms of TV, he is best known for producing all of the different CSI series that are still currently airing. Furthermore, in terms of TV he is known for producing many different film franchises, such as the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Bad Boys and National Treasure.

He worked and had a long term partnership with the Disney production company. This is where films such as all of the Pirates of the Caribbeans, National Treasure and The Prince of Persia were created. These films helped to prove Bruckheimer's worth as one of the most lucrative film producers ever. he was also known to collaborate with Michael Bay many times, a director who is also known for his big blockbuster movies. In addition to this, in more recent times Bruckheimer has moved away from the Disney production company's to work with others such as Paramount and Screen Gems. After watching an interview of his, he explained that he wanted to try different genres and different scripts. He wanted to step away from the traditional franchises he was doing with Disney and create something new and different. His first being horror film Deliver Us from Evil with Screen Gems in 2014, which equally was a success bringing in near 90 million dollars. In terms of his future works he is producing a Bad Boys revival, as well as some new Sci-Fi films with Paramount.

3 Tips from Bruckheimer's work -
1) Place an immense importance on forming contacts within the industry. He started out making films with his director friend Don Simpson. Simpson was known as 'Mr Inside' because of the contacts he had in the entertainment industry, whereas Bruckheimer was known as 'Mr Outside' because of his filmmaking experience. The amalgamation of the twos skills and experience is what made them such a successful pair.
2) Keep asking - no matter how many no's you receive this is an industry that you have to keep going and going with until you get what you want, Bruckheimer originally worked in advertising before giving up and pursing a career in TV.
3) As a producer - only do what you're good at, and find other people to do the stuff that you're not. Bruckheimer once said he was interested in acting, however because he knew he wasn't very good at it, he moved onto producing because that was where his skills lie best.

Notes from Interviews with Bruckheimer
-The biggest challenge in producing any film, is creating the characters and making sure you know the themes that are going to flow throughout and has meaning, because they are the most important
-Give your cast creative freedom to expand further than the role you create, it builds rapport between you as a producer with your cast
-Being a producer is a lot about SELLING, you have to sell yourself to the cast and crew to get them to come onboard, as well as selling to a studio

Bruckheimer is the most successful producer that I have researched, I think the most important thing I can take away from his work, is that he produces things he likes. The way in which he chooses what films he will create, is based on his opinion and whether he likes it or not. I can see this in my work already, as when I am producing a scene I may not like it because the location will not feel right, or the characters do not flow together. Bruckheimer notes that you have much more interest and passion in a creating a film if you really like it, in turn this will help massively to make the film a success.

PRE-PRODUCTION; SHOWRUNNNER RESEARCH

The term show runner is a person who oversees the writing and production of each episode of a television series and has ultimate managerial and creative control over a series. Whilst we are creating a short film, I am the writer and producer of the film so I think it would be extremely beneficial for me to research a show runner and their methods of working, in order to aid me with my work. Firstly, I looked at an article that detailed what the roles of a show runner concern. These include:
-Amalgam of a creative job and a management job
-Most show runners start out as writers
-In charge of making the most of a budget, how to balance the amount of money that you have, the time you have to do it and making sure you get the best product that you can out of what you have available
-Making sure everyone feels valuable, they aren't dictators, they're curators, you have many creative people around you and you need to make sure they feel valuable and are being used in the production
-Show-runners help to protect the creative vision of a show, if monetary issues or logistical reasonings mean certain things can't happen and need to be changed, a show runner is the person who makes sure the shows vision is protected and remains the essence.
-Responsible for every aspect of a show

For me a show runner sounds very similar to someone who would be a writer and a producer, as I am the writer of the show I will be wanting to make sure the essence of the story is always thought of throughout, as well as organising the schedule and budget etc. The main different I see between a show runner and what I am doing on Unspoken, would be that I have a director on board who would have a greater influence over the creative decisions that go into producing a show. For example with cast, I will be facilitating the director in making sure they have choice and communication with potentials, allowing this director to choose the perfect cast.

I thought I would look more specifically at a show-runnner to see how they work. Greg Berlanti is a perfect choice for me to research because whilst the extent of his work is on television programmes, both producer and writing, there is also a lot of films that he has produced and written. Berlanti made his debut with a directorial effort, before moving into television as a writer and executive producer on Dawsons Creek in 2004. His career rocketed from there and he wrote/produced the Green Lantern in 2010, before moving onto a lot of CW based TV shows such as Riverdale and Supergirl in more recent times.

-His most recent film effort, Love Simon, was casted based on the chemistry between the cast members, as it was a film about a group of friends it was the chemistry between the actors that Berlanti used as his reasoning for casting.
-Focus on locations as a method to ease production, for example in his film Life as We Know It, he chose to film in Atlanta because it was one of the only places he could see a bit of each season, without it being too cold or too hot at any point of production
-In terms of his writing style, he likes to create notes and draft scenes which he then hands over to an official scriptwriter who would draft a screenplay
-Likes issues led stories
-Constantly fighting for change, but also striving to keep essences of scripts, keeping the basis of a script the same, always

Through my research of a show runner,  I feel the biggest thing I can take from this term is the knowledge to keep the essence of a story the same. As a show runner, you can kind of have conflicting interests because you could write something or come up with an idea that the budget or the schedule, which you are also in charge of, won't allow anymore. I think it is really important for me that throughout the script changes and story changes, the essence of the story I wanted to tell, is still there.

PRE-PRODUCTION; WRITER RESEARCH

A Quiet Place

A film that I really wanted to research was 'A Quiet Place'. It is a horror film released in 2018 starring John Krasinski and Emily Blunt. It revolves around a family who are living in a world where they can make no noise; and if they do, the beasts/aliens that have taken over earth will come for and kill them. The most interesting and different thing about this film was that there is next to no dialogue, a few scenes toward the end and flashbacks show minimal dialogue but most of the film is told through the action that the characters take, i wanted to know the approach that the writers took with this because for he lack of dialogue involved. The film was written by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, with the screenplay being edited slightly by director and lead of the film, John Krasinski. Through my research these are the main points that the writers had to say about the film

- Bringing on Krasinski as a writer (as well as lead actor and director) added an extra, more personal layer to the script; he had just had his second child at the time of writing so he made it more personal to his own experience in terms of the character/family relationships
- The writers found it really fun to write because they got to dream about what it would be like to live in a world where you can't make any noise; to help them they spend days living like this, making minimal noise and discovering how they communicated differently with each other in silent ways
- Within the film, the mother played by Emily Blunt gave birth; she had to go through that whilst being as quiet as possible, the writers were unsure whether this was too far for the audience, but they wanted to place that sequence involving a fairly real human experience into this strange world
- They believe that the characters should always be smarter and one step ahead of audiences, thats where plot twists and other narrative devices come from
- They made the daughter deaf, because it means the family had somewhat of an advantage when they were thrown into this world, they were already used to communicating with their daughter in silent ways so this gave them a slight edge for survival because they were somewhat used to this way of life already

- The writers were unsure if they should have a musical score in the film, however they ultimately decided to have one because they used it as something to help tell the story, they watched a rough cut of the film with a score on it and they believed it made the story clearer without having to change anything about any of the scenes
- They noted how when writing the had to think a lot more visually and directionally about how it would be brought to life
- A big topic between the writers was when to let the characters speak, they wanted to make sure that any dialogue used was about emotion, character relationships and how this family is affected by their loss
- They really like original ideas, things that have never been done before, they site M. Night Shylaman as  a big inspiration for this
- When they took it to the studio, Paramount, they wanted to make sure the script really tracked the characters, and that the rift shown between daughter and father was a huge talking point
- In terms of the ending of the film, they considered others but ultimately§ wanted to end with somewhat of a cliffhanger, but also provide a satisfaction that the characters are okay, and that they have accomplished what they need to
- They describe sound as 'one of the greatest tools in a filmmakers toolbox to generate suspense and horror'

The script that I am writing for our major project, we are trying to include as least dialogue as possible. Not in the same was as this film, but the character we have created is alone with his own demons so we want to really emphasis this by having a lot of scenes that focus only on this visuals and sounds rather than the dialogue. Through my research of the writing aspect of A Quiet Place, i think there is a lot that i can take from it. Firstly i know that sound is really important, but the way the writers of this put themselves in the position of the characters to get ideas for what to write is really interesting. I think that to help me with the sound I could use the locations we may be using, go to them myself and see what i hear and see and then write that in to the script. Also, the way in which they think more visually and directionally is again something i feel i need to take on, as I'm writing i know i need to be really detailed with the actions that i explain and then places i describe.

PRE-PRODUCTION; SCHEDULING

I have produced a schedule for the group containing the main goals that we need to begin and complete leading up to the deadline, as we go through things may be added to this but i have included the main aspects of both the pre-production of our major film, and our package, that we need to make sure we complete.

PRE-PRODUCTION; THINKING ABOUT PRODUCING

Within this project, I am acting as both the writer and producer. So far, a lot of my research and work has been geared towards the writing aspect of my role. It is a role that is newest to me and i want to make sure it is right, and its also very important. The other roles depend so far on the writing been done, and being done well, which is why I've had quite a heavy focus on the writing aspect of my role. Now however, I think it is time i start to look more at the producer role. As the time goes on i will be writing the script, and any research i do will still be equally geared toward my role as a producer and writer.

Previously, I have been a producer twice; i produced 2 VT's in our Steal the Style unit as well in the transitions unit. I believe the previous times I have done well at the role, but there are some aspects i think i could do better in which i will be making sure i do this time around

- Paperwork; being ready and up to date with all forms including call sheets and release forms
- Dates; making sure that all the dates and other forms of communication I have with cast and            crew are correct                                            
- Make sure to set up a firm budget and stick to it!

To make sure I know the role inside and out, i am watching a few videos from experts in the field about what the role actually is and what a producer mainly contributes to a production
- Maintain a budget
- Keeping talent and crew up to date
- Locations; both sourcing and agreeing to
- Casting; auditioning and aiding
- Responsible for the film financing and logistically
- Raises the capital to make the film happen
- Hires the crew

Jason Blum

Jason Blum is an america film producer, he founded and maintained the success of production company 'Blumhouse Productions'. He bang his work as an executive and independent producer at Warner Bros. He didn't produce his own film until Steve Martin endorsed a script, which gave Blum the confidence to send it to hollywood executives who eventually gave Blum financing to get the film done. In 2000, he founded 'Blumhouse Productions' which specialises in producing micro-budget movies that give directors full creative control over their projects. The films produced by Blum have been highly successful and profitable, Paranormal Activity was made on $15,000 but made a profit of $200,000. Blum produces very successful horror movies, with name attached to many franchises that have already been released; as well as many more to come. 

Blum has been described as one of the most influential producers of all time, at a time when horror films were less successful and the release of such films were very limited, until Blum had a hand in helping to resurrect the genre into something extremely profitable and highly successful. Blum always sets his films with as little budget as possible and he asks that the directors try to use as little locations and extras as possible to limit the budget. Also unlike most producers, Blum gives the director full creative control, using the rules with budget etc to boost creativity in ways that appeal to a nice audience. Combining the rules with a slight risk, Blumhouse has become one of the most lucrative studios out there today. The company has earned Blum a worldwide acclaim through this work. 

One of Blum's biggest advice is 'Don't force creative decisions on a filmmaker, essentially when you clear a path for them, get them all the materials they need and leave the creative driving to them, they'll listen to you more closely'. Other advice that he gave includes

- Don't be overly passionate about one project

- Don't take it to heart when you get a no 

- Don't make your movie too expensive

- Don't just judge a project by the script

Blum's way of producing is different to ones I have looked at before, I think that his style is very unique; many producers dreams are to work on big budget hollywood blockbusters that bring in a massive return. Blum brings in this massive return but on an incomparable budget and that is what makes him, and his films, so successful

PRE-PRODUCTION; 5 STAGES OF GRIEF

After showing my group, Katie and Laura, the basic idea i have come up with, i am happy that they both like it. Straight away when showing Laura she expressed interest in particular scenes and says she instantly had ideas on how she would shoot certain aspects. It can be quite daunting to show other people your ideas, especially when it is to people that will be helping to develop and eventually bring the idea to reality. Obviously as the project goes on, changes are going to be made and the story we eventually make will probably look a lot different to what it is now, but i am really happy that they like the preliminary idea.

An observation that Laura made, was that she saw a lot of the 5 stages of grief within this story. She had done some research on this topic and believed what i had written linked quite closely to this, so i thought i would research it for myself now. The five stages of grief are a framework that makes up our learning to live without the one we lost. They are tools to help us frame and identify what we feel when losing someone. What is important to note is that the 5 stages can happen in any order and are not constricted to a linear timeline. 

1) Denial is what helps us survey the loss, within this stage the world becomes meaningless and overwhelming, the mind and body is in a state of shock. Denial helps a person pace their feelings of grief in a way that it can be dealt with, described as 'natures way of only letting in what we can handle'.

2) Anger is a stage that extends to any member of family, friends and strangers. A person may ask 'where is god in this' questioning to everyone why it happened and trying to blame it on other reasons, becoming a distraction 

3) Bargaining is the stage of 'if only', in order to deal with it a person may question whether they could have done something to stop it, whether their actions could have changed the fact. 

4) Depression is when our attention moves to the present. Feelings become empty and this is the stage that feels like it lasts forever. 

5) Acceptance is the final stage, when a person finally overcomes all of their emotional and traumatic feelings and accept what actually happened. 

5 Stages of grief is a really important topic, the fact i wrote something that portrays practically all of these stages of grief without knowing what is was just shows the lack of understanding within the world that we have on these topics. My research thus far has been geared toward mental health issues/symptoms as a reaction to trauma, the reasons i have now looked at this is i believe that we could now weave this into our story in the development stage. 

I feel now i have a good basis of research across the board, my research will obviously continue throughout the unit/project but now is a good time to be exploring the actual idea in more detail. To do next for me is 

-Beginning work on the greenlight pitch for next week

-Contacting charities that may want to be involved/be able to help make sure we are being factually correct
-Starting to draft out a script

PRE-PRODUCTION; IDEA ROUGH TREATMENT

From the start of the research that myself and my group began, i knew i wanted to write a story around trauma and mental health. It wasn't until I began to do my research that i realised how closely connect trauma and grief really are to mental health. I note that the effects of trauma often create these mental health issues within a person, or at least bring them out. In terms of a narrative structure, i knew that i wanted to create something that begins half way through a problem, I'm not interested in showing a traumatic experience and watching a character go through it, I am more interested in the long lasting effects of these. After my most recent tutorial with Simon, he suggested that i think a bit more smaller and perhaps look at how these mental health symptoms affect a characters everyday life.


I wanted to look more into male mental health and the statistics that come with it, i found the following link to be extremely helpful and i will highlight some of the most shocking statistics that i found. (https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/key-data-mental-health)
- 34% of men in a study admit to feeling overly stressed due to work
- Just over 3/4 suicides are men
According to the article, men are frequently less likely to access help through therapists or anything else that is on offer if they feel like they need too, only 36% of referrals from doctors to psychologists therapists are men. This leads me onto the topic of the reluctance to talk about and understand what a person is going through. The low % of men who see therapists in comparison to the high % of men committing suicide is most definitely linked. The reluctance to talk about their issues is something i would like to explore within my story also.


Previously, I had 3 potential ideas for our drama, after further research and discussion with my group and Simon, there is one I would like to look at further. I am going to write a small treatment of the idea that I have been developing for the drama. A treatment is a draft screenplay of a drama, it is a piece of prose that outlines the narrative of something.

A teenager, named Marlon, is in his last year of studies at sixth form, he is 18 years old and is being pressured to make decisions about his future. His dream was to always go to Loughborough university to study engineering and is on track to getting in, but as exams loom and the time to confirm his place gets closer, the more unsure he gets. Marlon is dismissive and angered when his parents begin to question him over his plans, his parents worry that recently he has become detached and he communicates much less with them now. On his walk to school through the long path in the park, he sees and speaks to Millie, he tells her how he doesn't want to let her or this place go, he is scared and the closer the time comes the more he knows he just wants to stay where he is. As the day goes on, he struggles to get through, constant reminders such as UCAS brochures and hearing talk of job prospects. After a hard day at school, Marlon speaks to Millie again on his walk through the long path in the park, he opens up more by telling her how he doesn't want to go home because he knows there are questions that needs to be answered and things he needs to talk about, but he isn't ready to talk yet. He spends the rest of the evening in his bedroom, only leaving to retrieve his dinner plate silently from his concerning mother. Through the night he has a bad dream, the dream is him in a dark and empty room, wearing a constricted straight jacket screaming. He wakes up the next day and leaves for school without speaking to his mum, we see his mother call out for him as he slams the door shut but he doesn't respond. As he walks to school with Millie again, she begs him to speak to someone, tells him that he needs to explain how he is feeling and what is going on because if he doesn't, something bad could happen. He looks into her eyes and tells her that its her, if it wasn't for her he'd be able to live his life to full extent that he wants too, but he cannot leave her. He rushes off in anger into the school gates and is immediately greeted by his teacher, who tells him the deadlines for UCAS is tomorrow, so he needs to confirm his application immediately. He blows up shouting at his teacher, explaining that he is sick of everyone getting involved, and he's decided for himself that he isn't going to university and he will stay right where he is. He runs off outside for some air, by this point he is extremely distressed and erratic. After sometime his teacher comes out to softly speak to Marlon and calm him down, he pulls out a GP leaflet on mental health and who to contact, advising Marlon to go and see someone, immediately after seeing this Marlon screws the leaflet up and runs home. As he arrives home his mum is sitting there with a man in a suit, his mother explains that the man is here to see and speak to him. Marlon begins to look down, as if he is about to burst into tears, his mother says to him calmly that she knows why he's upset, and that the only way he can get better is by speaking to them about what happened to Millie. Upon hearing her name, Marlon runs from his house leaving his mum in distress, he runs back into the long path in the park and sits on a bench, crying. After a distressing and intense conversation, Marlon says a complete goodbye to Millie, he speaks of her death with her and shows an understanding of what he is going through and how he is suffering. We end on a goodbye note as Marlon walks back into his house to see his mum and the doctor.

The above is extremely rough and by no means a finished story, for me when formulating ides it helps me to write them down because I can adapt it much easier, as i found from my previous research when writing, you just need to start with whatever you are thinking at the time.

PRE-PRODUCTION; MAINSTREAM WRITER RESEARCH

Before i begin to write/formulate a script for our idea, it is useful for me to look at particular writers and their works, looking at how they write and at any tips they may give that i can use when writing.

Aaron Guzikowski

Firstly, i would like to look at the writer of 2013 dark thriller film Prisoners. This isn't a film that focuses too much on the themes of trauma and mental health that I am looking at, but it is quite a complex narrative and dark film that i think it would be interesting for me to look at the writer. Guzikowki began writing the script in 2007, and completed the final draft in 2009, once sold to the production company it got stuck in development until its eventual release in 2013.

- He thought when he wrote it that it was too dark to sell, let alone even be made
- As it was his first film that he had wrote that had been developed, the caliber of people involved (such as Hugh Jackman) was amazing
- He was very sure of himself in terms of what he wanted to stay in the script, certain aspects were pressured to take them out because they were too dark or too intense
- Some of the plot points were questioned, for example when the killer is revealed, she is almost instantly killed, which is rare in terms of lacking the dialogue with the killer as we know it, he notes how in his head when writing it was 'get the girl' the dad would have wanted to just do whatever he needed to do to save his daughter, he didn't need to have any long conversations.
The most interesting thing about the writing in this for me, is sometimes the lack of dialogue, i like the fact that their are many scenes that are more subtle drama and action, with very few words. It builds the tension and makes it a lot more interesting. This is something I think is really effective and this stems from Guzikowki's experience as a 'visual storyteller', using pictures to tell a story rather than lots of heavy dialogue. The very last scene in particular shows the detective stands at the crime scene, he almost appears looking satisfied because the case is solved, but in the very last moment you hear a sigh from underground, meaning there is more to the story.

M. Night Shyamalan

The next writer that I am looking at is M. Night Shyamalan, there are multiple reasons why I have researched Shyamalan, this includes the fact that a lot of his films he normally directs, produces, writes and sometimes even appears in. This multiple role is something that is seen a lot more in recent times so it is helpful for me, as a writer and producer, to research this as well. His most recent release is Split (2016) starring James McAvoy. The focus of the film is around McAvoy's character Kevin, he is diagnosed with having multiple personality disorder and the narrative is around how these multiple personalities differ and affect the characters life. There are many distinct ways that Shyamalan writes, as well as certain process he takes before, during and after.

- Every film he writes he likes to have many plot twist, but usually one toward the end that you never predict and always shocks the audience as well as building the tension; for example in The Visit the grandparents turn out to be dead with imposters pretending to be them for the entire film and in Split where at the end a character from Unbreakable (one of Shyamalan's films from a long time ago) linking them together making Split a sequel
- His actual writing process begins with months of outlining, getting to grips with how the characters and the story before setting himself down to complete the script
- Shyamalan has a notebook with him a lot, and the way his stories start are usually from a visual scene or a character that he thinks of, he will then develop a film or narrative from these ideas
- In order to make sure he was being factually correct in writing mental health issues into Split, Shyamalan met with therapists and he put them into extreme scenarios and discussed with them what their reactions would be, he read many books written by psychologists and mental health experts to make sure he was correct in everything he put in to the script

I really enjoy Shyamalan's films mainly because of the plot twists that are delivered, i really enjoy the shocks created and i don't think there is anything more thrilling for an audience than to be shocked. If there is anything i will be taking from Shyamalan's work it is this.

Tips for writing a short film;

I have also watched a few videos on youtube around script writing and i have summarised the key points that i have found from these

1 - Start it; so many people struggle to start with an opening and it never gets started, get something to paper and got through rewrites and rewrites until you get to your finished project
2- Keep it short for a short film; means that you don't end up putting in dialogue that doesn't add anything to the story
3 - Bare in mind the budget when driving, IE don't plan to film in a place that you know costs a lot of money to film in
4 - Bring in a theme for the story, make sure their is a meaning to what you are writing that the audience can take away from the story
5 - Write something you know about it; RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH
6 - Make the films unique
7 - Take your time with the writing and the research