I'm rather liking this new potential idea I have; it's certainly more engaging and interesting than 10 minutes of three people insulting each other.
I think I'm going to go with this idea instead.
So what about the 3 story ingredients?
Goal - Father wants Accused to confess and to give him the location of his son.
Problem - Accused protests his innocence.
Change - Father's son is found but Father is arrested.
Pitch:
An accused kidnapper gets an unexpected visit from the victim's father at a public park.
(15 words)
Friday, 4 October 2013
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Story-Telling Unit: Project Update
On one of my train journies I got thinking about other ideas and the idea of an interrogation cropped up: inspired by watching a lot of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
I worked with it and came up with basic premise:
A police detective is interrogating a criminal who is a strong suspect in a missing persons case. The suspect doesn't give anything away and just when we think he's won: he slips up. Accidentally saying something he couldn't have possibly have known unless he was guilty.
This then morphed slightly into the missing person being the detective's son. I then looked at it from a family perspective, a parent having to come face to face with their child's kidnapper/killer.
After a little more tweaking; I ended up with this:
We learn that a fathers’ son has gone missing and that the prime suspect is released due to lack of evidence. The film starts with the released man in a public park, the father approaches him and a heated discussion is had. After a short while the father draws a gun on the suspect and drags him to the nearby public toilets. An eyewitness calls the police and soon it becomes a standoff between the father and the police.
I worked with it and came up with basic premise:
A police detective is interrogating a criminal who is a strong suspect in a missing persons case. The suspect doesn't give anything away and just when we think he's won: he slips up. Accidentally saying something he couldn't have possibly have known unless he was guilty.
This then morphed slightly into the missing person being the detective's son. I then looked at it from a family perspective, a parent having to come face to face with their child's kidnapper/killer.
After a little more tweaking; I ended up with this:
We learn that a fathers’ son has gone missing and that the prime suspect is released due to lack of evidence. The film starts with the released man in a public park, the father approaches him and a heated discussion is had. After a short while the father draws a gun on the suspect and drags him to the nearby public toilets. An eyewitness calls the police and soon it becomes a standoff between the father and the police.
Story-Telling Unit: Research
We paired up and chose two types of people from a box and then chose a location, all of which was from random.
We got an actor and a single mum. The location was a library.
With the same title as our project: The Meeting, we had to come up with a 10 minute short film about these two characters set in the location we picked.
Below are the notes I made:
Possible romance? Chance encounter?
Single mum - Might work there
Actor - Researching role, role is of single mum, plot twist!!
Actor's role: Gay man/married man, so into the role he stays in character as much as possible. She's heartbroken when she asks him out. She see's his film realises the truth.
Single mum's kid - See's film, tells mum.
Main Characters: Timid, shy, too afraid to ask guy out, gentle, soft spoken, caring, passive, middle aged 40's.
Actor: Mid 30's, appears to audience as gay but is just in the role, confident, passionate about career, up and coming actor, well dressed, fits sterotype.
Every now and then we see subtle clues suggesting that's he actually gay.
Kid puts mum on a dating site.
Her friends are pushing her into finding a guy.
Problem created when someone wants to date her. "Gay" actor see's her on one of these.
The gay character actor is playing, needs a profession.
Doctor? Curator? Historian?
Something that gives him reason to go to a library.
Changes to characters:
Actor - Focuses less on work and more on the single mum and kid. No longer selfish or rude to P.A, he realises what people do for him.
Single mum - Becomes confident, cares more about her appearance, change in career? Has ambitions.
Pitch: When a chance meeting evokes an unlikely attraction; exploration of self will either bring them together or push them apart.
(20 words)
Story Idea: Single mum likes history, she works as a librarian. Actor goes into library; he's rude, selfish and mean to P.A. He's researching history-related. She, being a history nut, approaches him. They learn that they like each other, but because he's rude and selfish; single mum is put off a little. Actor, blowing his chances, is told by P.A to be happy he must better himself.
We got an actor and a single mum. The location was a library.
With the same title as our project: The Meeting, we had to come up with a 10 minute short film about these two characters set in the location we picked.
Below are the notes I made:
Possible romance? Chance encounter?
Single mum - Might work there
Actor - Researching role, role is of single mum, plot twist!!
Actor's role: Gay man/married man, so into the role he stays in character as much as possible. She's heartbroken when she asks him out. She see's his film realises the truth.
Single mum's kid - See's film, tells mum.
Main Characters: Timid, shy, too afraid to ask guy out, gentle, soft spoken, caring, passive, middle aged 40's.
Actor: Mid 30's, appears to audience as gay but is just in the role, confident, passionate about career, up and coming actor, well dressed, fits sterotype.
Every now and then we see subtle clues suggesting that's he actually gay.
Kid puts mum on a dating site.
Her friends are pushing her into finding a guy.
Problem created when someone wants to date her. "Gay" actor see's her on one of these.
The gay character actor is playing, needs a profession.
Doctor? Curator? Historian?
Something that gives him reason to go to a library.
Changes to characters:
Actor - Focuses less on work and more on the single mum and kid. No longer selfish or rude to P.A, he realises what people do for him.
Single mum - Becomes confident, cares more about her appearance, change in career? Has ambitions.
Pitch: When a chance meeting evokes an unlikely attraction; exploration of self will either bring them together or push them apart.
(20 words)
Story Idea: Single mum likes history, she works as a librarian. Actor goes into library; he's rude, selfish and mean to P.A. He's researching history-related. She, being a history nut, approaches him. They learn that they like each other, but because he's rude and selfish; single mum is put off a little. Actor, blowing his chances, is told by P.A to be happy he must better himself.
Story-Telling Unit: Project Update - Quotes
Quotes for idea
Character names:
James
Matt
Joe
I wanted the comedy in this idea to be slightly mature; not rude or adult but not too childish either. Witty remarks are sought after as well.
Having conversations with friends is an almost guaranteed way to get decent one liners and insults. Here are a couple that stood out for me when chatting to some of my mates:
"Dibs ____ shares a bed"
"Dibs ____ has to sit outside the plane"
"I don't care where I sleep"
"50 miles from us!"
"Doubt my luck's that good mate!"
"I'm either blind or stupid"
"Try both"
One I came up with:
"[about a hotel] How about the bell?"
"I know what sort of bell you'd be!"
I mentioned a possible prank war between Matt and James, we see two aspects of that in the first scene:
James is removing screws from Matt's chair whilst he's gone.
Joe (the boss friend) enters
"Where's Matt?"
"Gone to the toilet"
"And what are you doing?"
"I...(stands up) am rigging said Matt's chair"
More examples of their prank war are given in a later conversation during the planning of the holiday:
[James has just been insulted by the other 2]
James: "Great, gang up on me"
Joe: "You deserve it"
James: "What've I done lately?"
Matt: "Ketchup in the coffee; ketchup in the soup"
James: "[Shrugs] I like ketchup, but you give as good as you get!"
Matt: "Such as?"
James: "Stapling my tie to the desk"
Joe: "What's wrong with that?"
James: "I was still wearing it!"
Matt smiles to himself in a satisfied way
Character names:
James
Matt
Joe
I wanted the comedy in this idea to be slightly mature; not rude or adult but not too childish either. Witty remarks are sought after as well.
Having conversations with friends is an almost guaranteed way to get decent one liners and insults. Here are a couple that stood out for me when chatting to some of my mates:
"Dibs ____ shares a bed"
"Dibs ____ has to sit outside the plane"
"I don't care where I sleep"
"50 miles from us!"
"Doubt my luck's that good mate!"
"I'm either blind or stupid"
"Try both"
One I came up with:
"[about a hotel] How about the bell?"
"I know what sort of bell you'd be!"
I mentioned a possible prank war between Matt and James, we see two aspects of that in the first scene:
James is removing screws from Matt's chair whilst he's gone.
Joe (the boss friend) enters
"Where's Matt?"
"Gone to the toilet"
"And what are you doing?"
"I...(stands up) am rigging said Matt's chair"
More examples of their prank war are given in a later conversation during the planning of the holiday:
[James has just been insulted by the other 2]
James: "Great, gang up on me"
Joe: "You deserve it"
James: "What've I done lately?"
Matt: "Ketchup in the coffee; ketchup in the soup"
James: "[Shrugs] I like ketchup, but you give as good as you get!"
Matt: "Such as?"
James: "Stapling my tie to the desk"
Joe: "What's wrong with that?"
James: "I was still wearing it!"
Matt smiles to himself in a satisfied way
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
Pitch for a news headline
We were given homework to do overnight: find a news article and write a pitch for it as if it was a new film.
Name: The Hacker
Pitch: Police face an incredible challenge as they hunt for a mastermind teenager who steals money through internet hacking.
Real story: An Argentinian teenager was arrested after stealing £30,000-a-month through hacking websites and having money sent to his bank account.
Name: The Hacker
Pitch: Police face an incredible challenge as they hunt for a mastermind teenager who steals money through internet hacking.
Real story: An Argentinian teenager was arrested after stealing £30,000-a-month through hacking websites and having money sent to his bank account.
Pitch for Soft
We watched a short film called Soft Directed by Simon Ellis. Afterwards we were tasked with coming up with a pitch for the film.
My Pitch for Soft:
A quiet family's fears come true when a group of violent youths gather outside their home
(16 words)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og1w2KrEgVg
My Pitch for Soft:
A quiet family's fears come true when a group of violent youths gather outside their home
(16 words)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og1w2KrEgVg
Story-Telling Unit: Project Update - Idea Suggestions
Idea #1
Story - 3 men in a car or sat on a bench; waiting to carry out a deal.
Plot - Three men are sat on a bench/in a car. We learn that they are here to carry out a drug deal. Whilst they are waiting boredom begins to kick in and they trade insults on subjects such as intelligence levels, jibes at family memebrs and whatnot. Finally one poses a question: do we have the drugs ready to sell? As it turns out; no-one remembered to bring them, one final, but brief, arguement is had.
Pitch - 3 best friends are waiting to carry out a deal, however they're not as well prepared as they imagined.
Pro's - Very simple idea, easy to produce, has potential for great one liners.
Con's - Big chance that jokes are either hit or miss, too simple, 3 protagonists instead of two, no actual meeting is witnessed.
Idea #2
Story - Several office workers are in a meeting
Plot - 3 friends are called into an important meeting by their boss; who is also a friend. This group, however, are notorious for not getting much done/achieved. Going off into a tanget, trading insults and generally behaving like teenagers. The boss friend tries to keep everyone on topic but is fighting a losing battle. The meeting is dismissed after getting only one small area covered.
Pitch - An important meeting is called between 4 friends at their workplace. However they're notorious for not getting much done.
Pro's - Like the first idea: there is some potential and simple.
Con's - Hit or miss jokes, 4 protagonists all as important as each other.
Idea #2 does attract me to itself though, if I can think of jokes that will get laughs then I may be onto something here.
What if, instead of an important meeting, they're organising something?
A holiday perhaps?
And what if 2 of the protagonists have some sort of prank war going on?
Start the film in the 'main' office, protag 1 setting up a prank, they're called into a meeting, post meeting the characters return to the 'main' office, protag 2 suggests calling a truce on the prank war, to which he then springs the trap protag 1 set up at the start.
Rigging his office chair? Removing the screws?
Story - 3 men in a car or sat on a bench; waiting to carry out a deal.
Plot - Three men are sat on a bench/in a car. We learn that they are here to carry out a drug deal. Whilst they are waiting boredom begins to kick in and they trade insults on subjects such as intelligence levels, jibes at family memebrs and whatnot. Finally one poses a question: do we have the drugs ready to sell? As it turns out; no-one remembered to bring them, one final, but brief, arguement is had.
Pitch - 3 best friends are waiting to carry out a deal, however they're not as well prepared as they imagined.
Pro's - Very simple idea, easy to produce, has potential for great one liners.
Con's - Big chance that jokes are either hit or miss, too simple, 3 protagonists instead of two, no actual meeting is witnessed.
Idea #2
Story - Several office workers are in a meeting
Plot - 3 friends are called into an important meeting by their boss; who is also a friend. This group, however, are notorious for not getting much done/achieved. Going off into a tanget, trading insults and generally behaving like teenagers. The boss friend tries to keep everyone on topic but is fighting a losing battle. The meeting is dismissed after getting only one small area covered.
Pitch - An important meeting is called between 4 friends at their workplace. However they're notorious for not getting much done.
Pro's - Like the first idea: there is some potential and simple.
Con's - Hit or miss jokes, 4 protagonists all as important as each other.
Idea #2 does attract me to itself though, if I can think of jokes that will get laughs then I may be onto something here.
What if, instead of an important meeting, they're organising something?
A holiday perhaps?
And what if 2 of the protagonists have some sort of prank war going on?
Start the film in the 'main' office, protag 1 setting up a prank, they're called into a meeting, post meeting the characters return to the 'main' office, protag 2 suggests calling a truce on the prank war, to which he then springs the trap protag 1 set up at the start.
Rigging his office chair? Removing the screws?
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