Pre-production for 5 minute segment of screenplay

Mood Board for script writing research dossier

Single camera screenplay, final

Research Dossier (screenwriting unit)

It can be very difficult for younger, less experienced writers to get into the industry, there are a range of competitions that are accessible, in one country or internationally, that give young writers opportunities, some examples of these are:

BAFTA Rocliffe Competition

They have different competitions for different genres that run throughout the year, for example, Drama, comedy, writing for children etc. The competitions are only open people who live in the UK. all entries receive feedback. Although the entry fee is £42.
BAFTA. 2020. BAFTA Rocliffe Ne Writing Competiton. http://www.bafta.org/supporting-talent/rocliffe. [accessed 3rd April 2020]

Channel 4 Screenwriting Competition

This contest is run by channel 4, 12 writers will get an idea of how the TV industry works. The prize is to develop your script with a professional script editor. After developing your script Channel 4 may option it for 6 months, this contest is free to enter.
BBC. 2019. Channel 4 Screenwriting Course 2019. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunities/channel-4-screenwriting-course. [accessed 3rd April 2020}

The Script Room

The Script Room takes in unsolicited scripts from the public. It isn't really a competition, it's a way for the BBC to discover new talent. They're not looking for a specific genre, they're just looking for original scripts. Submission are open in December and January to the public. They're not looking for any kind of adaptations, they want purely original scripts, they're much more likely to get produced.
thescriptroom. 2020. Welcome to the Script Room. https://thescriptroom.com/ . [accessed 3rd April 2020]


This is a short example script of different terminology often used.

There are many different places you could find inspiration, there aren't any limits, for example many movies and TV shows take inspiration from news and real events, for example, actual events from the Normandy beach landing in world war 2 was referenced to make Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg. 1998). IMDb. 1998. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/. [accessed 3rd April 2020]

Games are also another avenue that have inspired many films, for example, it's clear that Sucker Punch (Snyder, 2011) was inspired by action games, although nothing specific, the imagery looks heavy inspired by over the top action games. IMDb. 2011. Sucker                 Punch. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978764/. [accessed 3rd April 2020]

 Life experiences also heavily influence films, it would be hard to not have your life impact a project at all. For example, Boyhood (Linklater, 2014) was a retelling of the life of the director, the whole film was influenced by their life. IMDb. 2014. Boyhood. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1065073/. [accessed 3rd April 2020]

Also paintings have influenced a lot of film makers before, for example, this painting by Edward Hopper influenced the classic Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960). Dusty old thing. 2020. The Fascinating Story Of The House Behind The Bates' Mansion In Hitchcock's 1960 Classic. https://dustyoldthing.com/hopper-house-hitchcock-psycho/. [Acceseed 3rd April 2020]

There are many different types of primary sources that can be used to gather information about an idea for a script, for example, you could conduct a survey about what people think about your idea, if your survey consists of yes/no or 1-10 questions you'll gather a lot of quantitative data which is very good for analysing and putting into graphs and charts, although this is very limiting and doesn't really show peoples opinions on your idea. If you ask more opinionated questions (this is called qualitative data) you'll get more opinions which could be useful, but you wouldn't be able to see this data in graph or charts.

Taking pictures is also a good primary source because you can visualise where scenes could possibly take place. This could possibly be extremely helpful in describing to people your idea.

Making a mood board is also a good way to visualise what you want the project to look like, this method is useful because it doesn't take much time but could generate a lot of ideas and inspiration.

I will take pictures of potential shooting locations, this will help me visualise what the finished project will look like. This is good because I can decide where I'd like to shoot my short film.

I will also give people surveys to fill out to see if they would potentially like my idea, the themes and ideas included. This would be good because it allows me to see generally what the public think about my idea.

There are many different types of secondary sources for example, reviews on other films, reading these could be useful because they could give you an idea of what to do, things to avoid and generally what the public like and dislike.

Watching similar films to your idea is a good source of secondary research, this is a good way to gather ideas and figure out what you actually want to happen in the project, although it is very important to not copy and films, or other peoples ideas, this would be plagiarism and against the law.

reading books that are similar to your idea could also be a helpful form of secondary research, because they could give you new ideas of things to include in your own idea, although, the same goes for when you're watching a film, you can't completely just make the same thing.

I will watch similar films to my idea for inspiration, and to see how the pacing is (although with my idea being a short film the pacing would have to be different). This would also help me seeing all the different styles and themes used in similar films.

I will also research different reviews for films like these, this will help me see what these films did right and what they did wrong. When doing this it is very important to look at multiple reviews because some websites may have a biased opinion on them.

The advantages of primary are that, it is very trust-able because you conducted it yourself so you know exactly where it came from, this can't be said for secondary sources, they most likely are true, but there's a chance it's completely fake. Although it is much easier to gather secondary sources, it is also much quicker. Primary research takes much longer to gather because you have to go and conduct it yourself, which is usually very time consuming.

The bit of information that has been most useful to me has been the box office figures and budgets for the movies that are similar to mine, this is because they showed me that these kind of movie can be very profitable and successful. A good website for this is imdb.com it has a lot of box office information available.

 I haven't disregarded any information I've found, it's all been useful to me and has helped me develop my idea. I thin disregarding facts could possibly have a negative impact on the finished product. If you're disregarding something just so you don't have to take something into account it could have a negative impact.







I'm mainly managing all the information I've found using cloud storage, this has worked really well for me because it's easy to access any of it where I am I don't have to carry a USB drive with the files on. I've got all the research in one folder on my one drive account. I also have a PowerPoint I used for my pitch which contains a lot of the information that I've found.

Sherlock character description

Sherlock Holmes: An extrovert, he's not shy although the way he talks can come across very robotic and rude. Justs like he's trying to gathr information instead of actually have a converstion with someone. He calls himself a 'consulting detective' so the police can consult him when they need to. Although he doesn't get paid so everyone he works with are a bit suspicous of him. He's a high functioning sociopath, although often mistaken for a psychopath.


John Watson: Balances out Sherlock, he's considerate and respect full, this is why they make a good duo, they're very different from each other so their personalities balance each other out. Watson is an Ex military doctor, he was diagnosed woth PTSD from being in the war, although it's later found that he misses the thrill and danger of it. This is part of the reason he teamed up with Sherlock.


Detective inspector Lestrade: Is one of Sherlock main police contacts. He's honest and he respects Sherlock, (unlike some of his co-workers). Although he does have a level of respect for Sherlock we can tell he does get cery frustrated with him quite often.


Mycroft Holmes: Sherlocks brother, made to seem like an enemy of his at the start of the episode, but at the end of the episode it's revealed that he is actually just looking out for him and wants to help him. He works in the UK goverment, this is how he got access to the CCTV cameras that saw Watson.

Script proposal

The crazies questions

The plane crashing is an example of something that happens before the film starts, but causes events to happen in the film,  another example of this is Davids wife being pregnant, this happened before the film started although had major affects on the film.

The first shot of the film, where the town is completely on fire takes place in a different time and place than the film. Also right at the end of the film there is a shot of a news studio. which is completely un attached.

Act one: The equilibrium, shots of the town, everything is in order.

Act two: a baseball game is interrupted by a man wielding a shotgun. David is forced to shoot him because he drew his gun, posing a threat to everyone at the game.

Act 3: The bomb was set off in the town, David and his wife are waking towards cedar rapids. The viewer thinks normality has been restored, but a twist at the end that shows that cedar rapids is getting bombed too. 

Narrative Structure: Battle Royale (Fukasaku, 2000)

Synopsis 

Japan has a widespread issue of children not respecting authority and adults. The government's response to this issue is to have one 9th grade class, picked at random, to fight to the death on an abandoned island for 3 days. Class 3-B were told they were going on a school trip, and when they were on the bus they were gassed and brought to the abandoned island. 

When they wake up, they are greeted by their old teacher, Kitano, he explains the concept of battle royale to them and then sends them on their way. The first day sees many deaths, a few by suicide, many by one of the transfer students, Kazuo Kiriyama, who had joined the competition voluntarily. The movie mainly follows two students Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa. After the first night they team up with Shogo Kawada. Who is the second transfer student from the class. Shogo Kawada tells them he knows a way off the island because he’s been there before, but for their safety he can’t tell them about it. 

While they are hiding, they get attacked by Kiruyama, Nanahara distracts him so the other to can make a quick escape. Nanahara narrowly escapes Kiruyama by jumping in the sea. Later, HE wakes up in a lighthouse being taken care of by a group of girls. After one of them trying to poison him they end up shooting each other. Nanahara meets up with the others again and they kill Kiruyama. Shogo Kawada pretends to kill the other two so they can all get off the island. Although Kawada dies on the way off the island.

Logline

40 children, 1 island, 1 winner.

Main characters

Nanahara: 

age: 16

gender: male

Dramatic motivation:wants to protect  Nakagawa

Nakagawa:

age: 16

gender: female

dramatic motivation: good friends with Kitano

Kawada:

age: 18

gender: male

dramatic motivation: wants to know what his girlfriends dying smile meant.

 Battle royale is a thriller/ action film, there are many different themes in this movie, it's mainly thriller but the are elements to comedy. It is also very emotive at times.

This film differs a lot from the typical hollywood narrative, although you do you a protagonist, there are more than one antagonist, Kitano and Kiruyama. There is a climax and a resolution. The film has a similar narrative to a typical hollywood film, for example, the movie starts off with an equilibrium, there is a hero (Nanhara) who is given a quest, goes on an adventure, and in the end there is a different established equilibrium. Although this is very similar the way it's told it very different, and could be a bit confusing for some viewers.

The Dialogue can seem a bit weird and unnatural, which could possibly ruin the immersion, although most of this is just lost in translation. Maybe language specific to culture is used. 

The commissioning process

Job roles in the commissioning process. 

Scriptwriter:

The scriptwriter writes the script for a project, sometimes communicating with the director.

They need to be very creative and be able to translate ideas to scripts. They also need to be able to produce a script in a professional way. The qualifications for a script writer will vary a lot because it is a freelance market there aren’t set qualifications a person will need to become a script writer. They just need to have a good, creative idea. The script writer will be the first person to get their hands on the script (because they’re writing it). They will have the most involvement in the script out of everyone. Info from: ScreenSkills. Screenwriter. https://www.screenskills.com/careers/job-profiles/film-and-tv-drama/development-film-and-tv-drama-job-profiles/screenwriter/ [accessed 5th January 2020]
-Aaron Sorkin. A very successful screenwriter.
Wikipedia. Aaron Sorkin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Sorkin [accessed 6th January 2020]

Script editor:

Script editors will read the script the writer has written and point out weak points and potentially harmful material. They must be able to thoroughly read through the script that has been and be able to make accurate in-depth criticisms. Script editors must be able to communicate clearly with the other people producing the film. It would also help if they had experience in the film industry. They are probably (depending on production) the second person to see the script thoroughly. There entire job is to edit the script, so they are heavily involved with the script.
Info from: Guru. How to be a Script Editor. http://guru.bafta.org/how-to-be-a-script-editor [accessed 5th January 2020]njnmh

-Blogger. Script Marked for Editing. http://frankiechildsediting.blogspot.com/2014/06/script-marked-for-editing.html [accessed 5th January 2020]

Commissioning editor:
Commissioning editors advise what pieces of work to publish and pieces of work that shouldn't be. They need to be very good at communication with other people around them. previous experience in the industry would be good so they know what to look for in projects. Depending on the project they may or may not see the script.
info from: Wikipedia. Commissioning editor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissioning_editor [accessed 5th January 2020]

- It's Nice That. Film: Meet commissioning editor of AnOthermag.com Laura Bradley.https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/film-meet-commissioning-editor-of-anothermag-laura-bradley-in-between-the-lines [accessed 5th January 2020]

Agents:

Agents are people that are hired by various kind of talent, (actors, writers, etc.) their job is to find jobs and work for their clients. They need to have lots of contacts within the industry, and they must be able to find a lot of opportunities for their clients, they also need to be very good at communicating with people in the industry. You could become an agent with very few qualifications, although the more the better in this case. They could not be involved in the script they could just get the job for their client and not do anymore, or they could be a bit more involved.
- Ari Emanuel, Co CEO of William Morris Endeavor.
 Info from: Wikipedia. Talent agent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talent_agent [accessed 5th January 2020]
-Wikipedia. Ari Emanuel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Emanuel [accessed 5th January 2020]

Producers:

Producers look over the whole filming process, they supervise everything, (preproduction, filming. They will also pick the talent for the film, they must be good at talking to people, making sure the talents are okay, communicating with the director. No qualifications are entirely necessary but would be helpful, producers often work free lance, so they would have to have some experience, and be looked quite highly of in the industry. They will be involved in the script a bit.
Info from: ScreenSkills. Producer. https://www.screenskills.com/careers/job-profiles/film-and-tv-drama/development-film-and-tv-drama-job-profiles/producer/ [accessed 5th January 2020]
- Steven Spielberg. Famous director and producer.
-Wikipedia. Steven Spielberg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg [accessed 5th January 2020]





Director: Directors are the people who make the scrip come to life, they decide what everything will look like on screen, where everything will go, where the actors are positioned etc. Directors have to able to easily communicate with the whole crew to make sure everything goes smoothly. they also need to make sure everyone on the team listens to them. No qualifications are needed to become a director, good contacts in the industry would help, but anyone could become an independent director. They have a very close relation to the script generally, this depends on the production.
Info from: ScreenSkills. Director. https://www.screenskills.com/careers/job-profiles/film-and-tv-drama/development-film-and-tv-drama-job-profiles/director/ [accessed 5th January 2020]
-Martin Scorsese. Very well known director.
- Wikipedia. Martin Scorsese. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Scorsese. [accessed 5th January 2020]



www.screenskills.com/

Optioning: is when a company buys your idea for a certain amount of time, they do this with the intention of producing it but that’s not always the case. Sometimes they'll just option an idea so no other companies can legally make it.

Commissioning: is when a company or a person pays someone to complete a piece of work. Production companies usually go through agents to hire talent, that's why it's important to have an agent to represent you.

There are a few things you need to do to have agent representation from Knight Hall, for example, initially it’s good to write to them explaining a bit about yourself and your work, it’s also okay to email them. Sending them emails with attachments would be a bad idea as they may contain viruses.

3 things writers should never do to an agent are: 

• Never call after sending a letter, it would just annoy them. 

• Don’t do anything to annoy them, try and leave a good impression 
• Don’t sound desperate. 
• Knight Hall Agency. Knight Hall Agency. https://www.knighthallagency.com/ [accessed 5th January 2020]
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It would be easier for an independent director to produce their own screen play rather than getting commissioned because they wouldn’t have to follow someone else's rules, everything is your responsibility. Which can be a good thing and a bad thing. You would get a lot of freedom in how to do everything although everything is your responsibility, you’re the one to answer everything. You must control the budget, you must make sure everything is going to plan. 

Script factory is an organisation that helps young writers find work and help them improve their writing skills. They don’t finance screen plays for ideas. They also help young writers' scripts get noticed by production companies. 

Bluecat is an organisation that holds a writing competition, which involves sending in a script and receiving written analysis, which would hopefully result in winning a cash prize. Winning would help young writers greatly in getting seen by production companies and getting their ideas and scripts optioned. Winners and finalists have been signed to major talent agencies in the past. So even if the writers that enter don’t get anywhere at least they’ll have their work marked by a professional which would be useful for self-improvement. Info and picture from: Bluecat. Bluecat. https://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/ [accessed 5th January 2020]

There many legal and ethical problems that need to be considered when developing a screenplay/ media production.

Copyright is a massive thing in terms of media productions, people creating productions need to be clear on the copyright rules to make sure they don’t break any of them, for example, writers need to be very careful when writing a script to not steal ideas from an existing production. This can happen accidentally if the writer is taking too much inspiration from somewhere without realising it. There's a fine line between copyright/plagiarism and just taking inspiration. If the production company gets sued in this early stage of the production it would be a massive hit, especially for a small production company, getting sued could put them out of business.
-Wikipedia. copyright. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright [accessed 5th January 2020]
The 1979 genre defining film Alien was taken to court by aspiring screen writer Jack Hammer, who claims that the idea for the movie was stolen from his unproduced screen play: Black Space. But he was unable to convince the court that this was true so the case was thrown out.
Info and picture from: Taste of Cinema. 20 Famous movies accused of copyright infringement. http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2018/20-famous-movies-accused-of-copyright-infringement/ [accessed 6th January 2020]

Bias is when the producer/director wants to push a certain message through a production. This is very common in factual programs, (documentaries) to make the viewer agree with the presenter. This would typically be done subtly, maybe by not explaining the opposing argument fully. An example of this would be the very famous, Bowling for Columbine. Although mostly accurate, the scene where Michael Moore (the presenter) goes into a bank that gives away a complimentary rifle when setting up a bank account with them, this is true, but the way it was filmed makes it seem like he walked in and a couple hours later he left with a gun. But in reality it takes a number of days.
IMDb. Bowling for Columbine. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310793/ [accessed 6th January 2020]

It’s very important to consider bias when researching because sources could be bias and not completely the truth. Therefore, it is very important to look at many different websites when research to make sure what you’re reading is true. It is also important to not take everything you see in documentaries at face value, it’s very unethical to lie about something in a documentary, but a lot of the time the documentary will be made in a way to make the viewer agree with the presenter. 

Censorship is a massive thing in the films industry, if a project is very explicit it will have a higher rating. The ratings are: U, PG, 12A ,12, 15, 18. These ratings are very important because they determine how young someone can be to view it in a theatrical release or purchase it. Big production companies will tend to want to get their films as low of a rating as possible to make it more accessible, thus making it more money. Once a film has a final draft it must be sent of the BBFC it has an age rating paired with it. The film company will get it back and have the chance to make changes to lower the age rating. Info and picture from: bbfc. bbfc. https://bbfc.co.uk/ [accessed 5th January 2020]

Watershed is the time on British television (9pm) where programs are gradually allowed to show more and more explicit content, e.g. swearing, nudity etc. This is to not expose young children to inappropriate language/ visual hence why it's 9pm). The things they can show progressively get more explicit as time goes. Programs are not allowed to have a lot of cursing and full nudity just as it turns 9. Info and picture from: Ofcom. What is the watershed? https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/advice-for-consumers/television/what-is-the-watershed [accessed 5th January 2020]

Libel is when someone publishes something untruthful and damaging to someone's reputation, this is a very similar thing to slander, although slander is spoken, and libel is written. Therefore, if someone’s producing a media project and basing it on a real person in a negative light, they need to change their name to something else. This would be to avoid being libel, this could result in being sued by the person who was mocked, which could have a major impact on the project in the making. Info from: Wikipedia. Defamation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation [accessed 5th January 2020]

Plagiarism is when someone's work is copied or very heavily inspired from, so much so that it goes past copyright laws. This is a very important thing to consider when developing a script because it could get you in a lot of trouble. It is possible to do this by accident as well, so it is vital to do research before starting a project to make sure that you’re not plagiarising anyone's work, this could result in a lawsuit, which could heavily damage the project. Info from: Wikipedia. Plagiarism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism. [accessed 5th January 2020]
-Grammarly. 5 most Effective methods for avoiding plagiarism. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/5-most-effective-methods-for-avoiding-plagiarism/ [accessed 5th January 2020]