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.