Screenplay Research Dossier.

Research Dossier.

Competition:
The competition I would like my 10 minute short screenplay to be entered into is known as BlueCat Screenplay. The requirements for my screenplay to be entered into the competition are the following: All submissions must be original, all entries must be in English (or subtitled in English for film submissions.), shorts films must be between 1-50 minutes, all script entries must be uploaded in PDF format, and finally, all films must be produced after January 1st 2018. 

Annotated Script: 

Examples of existing scripts with:

Good character development:

This is a scene from Star Wars: A New Hope, in which a character known as Han Solo is having an argument with an alien called Greedo. At the end of the argument he quickly shoots Greedo without thinking twice and without a care. This shows good character development because Han can go from a talkative guy, some a ruthless killer with no care in the world. At the end it says that he slips the bartender some coins as he leaves and apologizes for the mess. This shows how smooth he is and that he thinks is incredibly cool. 

Good use of dialogue: 

This scene is from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. This is good use of dialogue because it shows how Anakin went from the light side to the dark side and has given up everything that he has ever known and everyone he has ever loved. He even strangles Padme with his force choke, and this also shows how he doesn't care about anyone or anything anymore. Obi-Wan Kenobi is trying so hard to convince him to change his ways but he is unsuccessful. All of which eventually leads into them fighting to the death.

Good use of scene direction:

This scene is from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In this particular scene there is a lot of good scene directions and scene descriptions. There is a lot of description of Rey's surroundings and everywhere else she visits. This is good use of screen direction because it gives the viewer a really good idea of where she is and what she may be looking at.

Examples of ten minute shorts, and why I like them:

This 10 minute short is called 'Ticker'. It is made by the company known as RSA USA, INC. It is directed by Joe Carnahan. I chose this 10 minute short because I believe that this piece has a well written script and really good screen play. In Ticker, someone has been tasked to deliver a top secret briefcase to a military base. Throughout the film you wonder what is inside this case, but nothing is revealed. What I like even more about this screenplay is that you are led to believe that this briefcase contains something like a bomb, or a dangerous weapon of some description. But at the end of the film, the man carrying the briefcase was actually delivering a human heart, that was going to be used for a heart transplant to save a president so that the country would not go to war. On top of this there were opposing militant forces trying to stop them from delivering the briefcase, doing everything they can to stop them. 

This is called 'Validation'. This short film is about a man who gives free parking to everyone and in doing so he gives everyone compliments to make them smile. I like the screenplay of this short because even when the police try to stop him, he just goes and gives them compliments and they stop trying to tell him off and they begin to laugh and smile. The story is also really well written because he always wants to make everyone he meets smile but he meets this one girl who would never smile and he tries everything in his power to get her to. Eventually he does and there is a happy ending.

Audience Research:
For my audience research I have created a survey asking people what they think of my idea and have asked them if they would like to see this film be made, I have also asked them their own opinions of my idea. Here is the survey and the results:
Create your own user feedback survey

Theme, Location and Character:
The theme of my ten minute short is going to be about conflict between two guys. This conflict will start because this class bully has stolen a gift and the only way to get it back is for the protagonist to ask out the girl of his dreams and for her to say yes, all before the end of the college day. I have looked into many different films that have bullies in them and I have based my bully off a few of these. For example: Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter franchise was one of my inspirations because he has a hatred for Harry and they are always arguing/fighting. This made perfect sense because The bully in my film also hates the main protagonist. I also looked at The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Greg's brother, Rodrick, is a bully in this film because he is always picking on Greg and is always teasing him and his friends. I also looked at the bully called Flash from the first set of spider man films, I believe that he looks like a typical bully and would fit well into my ten minute short. For my bully I thinking of creating him to have the physique of Flash, but not as aggressive. The bully will act and behave a lot like Rodrick from diary of a wimpy kid. In terms of location, I will be filming this film in and around East Norfolk Sixth Form College. I will also film in a shop and also a diner or some kind of restaurant.


Existing media texts:
I have had some inspiration for my ten minute short, it is not completely an original idea. My idea is highly based off 'The Diary of a Wimpy Kid'. All of the story is completely different but the setting, concept and ideas are very similar. For example: In the film the protagonist known as Greg is just an ordinary boy who doesn't think he is very special and this is what my protagonist thinks in my film. Secondly, my protagonist is trying to ask out the girl he loves and in diary of a wimpy kid this is the same concept. Greg really likes this one girl and wants to ask her out. There is also a bully in the film, although the bully in my film will be a class mate of the protagonist and in diary of a wimpy kid, the bully is Greg's brother. But they both teasing the main characters and bully them all day and whenever they can. My ten minute short is going to be college romance/comedy and the diary of a wimpy kid has this same theme.

Bibliography:

http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Star-Wars-A-New-Hope.html Accessed on the 28^th of November, 2017 at 12:15pm.

http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/2018-rules-guidelines/ Accessed on the 29^th of November, 2017 at 10:07am.

http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Star-Wars-The-Force-Awakens.html Accessed on the 5^th of December, 2017 at 12:05pm.

http://shortsbay.com/film/ticker Accessed on the 5^th of December, 2017 at 1:05pm.

http://shortsbay.com/film/validation  Accessed on the 6^th of December, 2017 at 09:55am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWCi9Bxu1pk Accessed on the 8^th of December, 2017 at 2:45pm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKkrgiTpj1c Accessed on the 8^th of December, 2017 at 2:50pm.

Spider-Man (2002) – Directed by Sam Raimi. MARVEL STUDIOS.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2011) – Directed by David Bowers. Fox 2000 Pictures.