Research Dossier
Competition
The competition I would like to enter my script in is the Blue cat screenplay competition:
"Since 1998, the BlueCat Screenplay Competition has developed and discovered thousands of writers through our commitment to providing written feedback to all entrants and substantial cash awards to their best screenplays:
- Each Screenplay Receives Written Script Analysis
- Feature and Short Screenplays Accepted
- Over 40,000 in cash awards
- Early Deadline Analysis: All submissions received by October 15th will receive their written analysis by November 10th.
- All October 15th entries are eligible for Resubmission
- All entries received after October 16th will receive their feedback by February 1st."
We provide each writer who enters BlueCat one written analysis while supporting screenwriters of all levels and stages of development with the constructive feedback all writers require.
I thought this would be a good competition to enter as it specializes in giving unknown screenwriters a chance to get their work out there. also it gives big opportunities to people.
Examples of existing scripts
This is part of a script I got from the BBC writers room. The script is from the TV program 'Restless'. the script introduces us to a young woman-RUTH. In the first sentence there is a lot of outer presence description such as;'very pretty','wearing sunglasses', 'Thick blonde hair' and 'a tie dye shirt'. these outer presence descriptions help build an image in our mind of exactly how this woman looks. there is also slight inner presence here, it says she is a 'clever person'. you cant really properly tell if someone is clever just by looking at them, so we get told this because it is relevant to her character.
Annotated script
Ten Minute Shorts
The first short I watched was the one called 'sniffer' I really enjoyed this short as i thought the idea is very good. Society being trapped in a situation that they cant get out of. Everything is very bland in this short and this reinforces that feeling of emptiness. there is no dialogue at all, but there doesn't need to be. everything is said through the acting, the mise en scene, the cinematography and the editing. i like the dystopian effect that the film has and the black comedy elements of it. i am a fan of black comedy and i thought that this film relied heavily on it to keep the viewer engaged.
The second short I watched was one called 'Beat the devil' It is part of the BMW series of short films. This is my favorite of the series. Tony Scott is one of my favorite directors and i love his fast paced directing methods and his kinetic style . The writing is very comedic and like the other short film i analysed,'sniffer' it relies heavily on dark comedy. the script is fast and witty and kept me engaged throughout. The performances form Gary Oldman Clive Owen and James Brown are very good and make the story even better.
Theme, Location and Character
For my short film I went to the holiday camp that inspired the location where my character (Danny) finds the briefcase full of money. I was walking through and I thought that i should make a character in a story that had the personality and the characteristics of the lonely depressing holiday camp. The setting is my village Hopton-On-Sea as I thought write about things you know. The film that i got the idea of Danny's character was the 2010' Richard Ayoade directed film Submarine. The character Oliver(played by Craig Roberts) is physically and mentally how I envisioned Danny. The dark features and the dark personality where exactly what I thought Danny should be like.
Existing Media Texts
I drew a few inspirations for my screenplay from existing media texts. one film hat inspired me was the 2014 crime thriller Cold in July directed by Jim Mickle. This film blew me away in terms of capturing the atmosphere through the use of the mise on scene. The genre is also what I was going for in my screenplay. That balance of crime and drama is another massive inspiration. In my screenplay the finding of the bullet is one of if not the most striking moment, so i looked for films that had some object that connoted a meaning. the one film that really thought does this like i do is the Godfather part 1 the scene in witch the horse head is found in the bed. The horse head is such a famous scene in modern cinema and holds a lot of gravitas and is what i was really going for in the scene where Danny finds the bullet. The film that i got the idea of Danny's character was the 2010' Richard Ayoade directed film Submarine. The character Oliver(played by Craig Roberts) is physically and mentally how I envisioned Danny. The dark features and the dark personality where exactly what i thought Danny should be like.
Audience Research
For my primary audience research i got some friends and family of mine to look at the first draft of my script. reactions where mixed as there where still a lot of formatting errors and so on. three people I asked thought that the voice over was not necessary in my firs draft and though it was a bit too much so I decided to get rid of it as i learned that it can be a cheap way to convey what your protagonist is thinking to the audience. some other friends thought that if Danny was to lose his parents then this should be a punishment. in my first draft he doesn't really do anything bad he just takes something that doesn't belong to him, so in the second and third draft i make him witness the death of The dropper and not do anything about it. i thought that this action would deserve comeuppance rather than just taking the suitcase. I also decided to get rid of the shootout at the end as my tutor didn't think that it fit well with the pace of my short and, on watching ten minute shorts myself, i decided that a guns blazing shootout isn't really a convention of the ten minute short!
Bibliography
- Information on Cold in July, submarine and the godfather
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/?ref_=nv_sr_1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440292/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179031/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Date(s) accessed: 19/12/14, 23/12/14
- 10 Minute shorts: The Sniffer and The Hire- Beat The Devil
http://shortsbay.com/film/beat-the-devil
http://shortsbay.com/film/sniffer
Date(s) accessed: 16/12/14. 17/12/14
BBC writers room script- 'Restless'
Date(s) accessed: 14/12/14
Blue cat productions
http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/2015-bluecat-screenplay-competiton-call-for-entries/
Date(s) accessed: 3/1/2015
The second short I watched was one called 'Beat the devil' It is part of the BMW series of short films. This is my favorite of the series. Tony Scott is one of my favorite directors and i love his fast paced directing methods and his kinetic style . The writing is very comedic and like the other short film i analysed,'sniffer' it relies heavily on dark comedy. the script is fast and witty and kept me engaged throughout. The performances form Gary Oldman Clive Owen and James Brown are very good and make the story even better.
Theme, Location and Character
For my short film I went to the holiday camp that inspired the location where my character (Danny) finds the briefcase full of money. I was walking through and I thought that i should make a character in a story that had the personality and the characteristics of the lonely depressing holiday camp. The setting is my village Hopton-On-Sea as I thought write about things you know. The film that i got the idea of Danny's character was the 2010' Richard Ayoade directed film Submarine. The character Oliver(played by Craig Roberts) is physically and mentally how I envisioned Danny. The dark features and the dark personality where exactly what I thought Danny should be like.
Existing Media Texts
I drew a few inspirations for my screenplay from existing media texts. one film hat inspired me was the 2014 crime thriller Cold in July directed by Jim Mickle. This film blew me away in terms of capturing the atmosphere through the use of the mise on scene. The genre is also what I was going for in my screenplay. That balance of crime and drama is another massive inspiration. In my screenplay the finding of the bullet is one of if not the most striking moment, so i looked for films that had some object that connoted a meaning. the one film that really thought does this like i do is the Godfather part 1 the scene in witch the horse head is found in the bed. The horse head is such a famous scene in modern cinema and holds a lot of gravitas and is what i was really going for in the scene where Danny finds the bullet. The film that i got the idea of Danny's character was the 2010' Richard Ayoade directed film Submarine. The character Oliver(played by Craig Roberts) is physically and mentally how I envisioned Danny. The dark features and the dark personality where exactly what i thought Danny should be like.Audience Research
For my primary audience research i got some friends and family of mine to look at the first draft of my script. reactions where mixed as there where still a lot of formatting errors and so on. three people I asked thought that the voice over was not necessary in my firs draft and though it was a bit too much so I decided to get rid of it as i learned that it can be a cheap way to convey what your protagonist is thinking to the audience. some other friends thought that if Danny was to lose his parents then this should be a punishment. in my first draft he doesn't really do anything bad he just takes something that doesn't belong to him, so in the second and third draft i make him witness the death of The dropper and not do anything about it. i thought that this action would deserve comeuppance rather than just taking the suitcase. I also decided to get rid of the shootout at the end as my tutor didn't think that it fit well with the pace of my short and, on watching ten minute shorts myself, i decided that a guns blazing shootout isn't really a convention of the ten minute short!
Bibliography
- Information on Cold in July, submarine and the godfather
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/?ref_=nv_sr_1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440292/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179031/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Date(s) accessed: 19/12/14, 23/12/14
- 10 Minute shorts: The Sniffer and The Hire- Beat The Devil
http://shortsbay.com/film/beat-the-devil
http://shortsbay.com/film/sniffer
Date(s) accessed: 16/12/14. 17/12/14
BBC writers room script- 'Restless'
Date(s) accessed: 14/12/14
Blue cat productions
http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/2015-bluecat-screenplay-competiton-call-for-entries/
Date(s) accessed: 3/1/2015
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