MDA2100 - One Night Only - Full Draft

This is the first fully completed draft for One Night Only.

One Night Only Draft01 by amini93

After presenting the script in University, I had class feedback and received the following tips:

• Dialogue needs to be more subtle, it is too expositional and bulky
• Too much of the story is in the past, brought up and not a major part of the film
• Need more drama - perhaps 'Harry' makes an appearance and adds more of a dramatic climax and adds more to Sean's development
• Perhaps turn the melancholy around in a more obvious way
• Not the best idea to have the feelings shown relying on Sean's explanation of them
• Micromanaging - Too much direction in action and parenthesis
• Actions need to be more succinct, it is too cluttered and slowed down - I need to only mention what is essential to forwarding the story in the script
• Why does this happen to Sean today? - So far it is dramatic convenience
• Nothing in the script so far seems strong enough to 'tip' Sean to change
• Dialogue is too on-the-nose
• To many elipses, hesitations and pauses

MDA2900 - Assignment Update

After a couple of setbacks (leaving it too late to book a room for auditions, mainly,)  we managed to find an actor, an actress and film!

The actor, also called Adam, was great to work with and the actress, Ellie, also was lovely.

I was nervous at first, having never worked with actors whom I had found via a casting before, but they were both eager to be part of the project and we managed to wrap up filming in one day!

I remember before when Eddie had said that you'll know if a producers job has been done well, because shooting will be the easiest part of the project for the producer. Personally, I had quite an easy day, the location was close to University, and we stuck to the schedule, finishing on time!

I'm excited to look over the rushes, and start to sign off on the editing process, and now I have time to be busy with my other assignments.

MDA2300 - New Ways of Storytelling

We have now been considering not only how technology has been innovating peoples' experiences with films, but how the ways in which people approach narrative and the ways people tell stories have been developing.

One particularly interesting example, is the idea of an interactive narrative.

Examples of this include online point and click games, in which a person views an animated film while interacting with the world, locations, items and characters (i.e. 'A Case of Crabs').

I find it interesting that I had never thought of video games in the sense of an 'interactive narrative', when that is pretty much what they are - you control a character, who experiences events and plays out a story in a visual medium.

We also looked at interactive DVDs, which blurred the lines between a film and videogame, including a narrative, the fact that it was a filmed, visual medium, shown as a video, and also several of them had multiple outcomes depending on the ways in which a person had responded to the events and the choices they had to make within the story.

I found the DVDs (most of which were students' past work,) very entertaining, and enjoyed how the fact that the medium of film had become interactive almost made you connect even more with the characters.

We have also been asked to start to think about what we want to create for our final portfolio piece, and to think of a topic on which to write our final essay about.

MDA2100 - Script - First Scene Draft

This is the first scene draft for 'One Night Only':

One Night Only Scene 01 by

After getting feedback I was pleased with the desired effects: Using minimal dialogue, I had portrayed the fact that the Character of Sean is not living well: he is in a rut and something (related to sleeping with and/or relationships with other men,) is causing his almost-depression.

I used repetitiveness in the characters apathy to portray the rut, and the imagined quick cuts to portray how he seems to be doing the same thing every day.

As shown by his actions with the phone, the story starts 'in the thick of it' meaning that the exposition is implied by the onscreen visuals and not explicitly stated.

I feel happy with the results and hopefully the rest of the story will be as strong as I feel the opening is.

MDA2100 - Treatment

This is the page-long script treatment I read in class, based on the idea for 'One Night Only':

An untidy Central London apartment.

After having his heart broken twice in a short period of time, Sean Ryan has resorted having many meaningless one-night stands with random men and drinking heavily to escape the fact that he hasn’t moved on from his previous heartbreak.

Sean sits in his bed, reading sadly through a text from one of the aforementioned unsuccessful relationships, as an unnamed man leaves his apartment. The state of his apartment, (discarded cans, bottles and plates litter the rooms,) reflect his current lack of passion for anything, or anyone. He looks melancholic, evidently ashamed of what he has done, and dwelling on the sender of the text message. He remains in bed for most of the day, seemingly apathetic to everything.

As darkness descends outside he has a shower and starts drinking, preparing himself for another night, and another meaningless fling. He stands in the shower, as lethargic as he was while in bed. He finishes getting ready for the night out, and after making a downcast toast to his own reflection, he finishes his drink and leaves his home.

Sean returns sometime later, drunk and in the company of Jonah, an Australian tourist he met on the night. They sleep together, and afterwards Jonah falls asleep while Sean lay awake.

Eventually, Sean leaves his bedroom and goes into his kitchen, and after pouring himself another drink, breaks down into tears. Hearing this, Jonah wakes up and comes into the kitchen. He comforts Sean and asks him what is wrong.

His genuine concern throws Sean off his guard, and he begins to talk about his recent heartbreaks and how he’s been having meaningless encounters to cover up his fear of having his heart broken again. At the end of the conversation, Jonah says that it’s a shame he has to go back to Australia soon as there could have been potential in their relationship, had they gone on to get to know each other.

Upon returning to the bedroom the two sleep together again and unlike before, Sean falls asleep afterwards, no longer regretting the encounter.

The next morning, after a pleasant yet nonetheless awkward goodbye, Sean sits in the kitchen, looking at his phone. He picks it up and almost goes to read the messages, as he did at the start, but stops, and puts his phone back on the table. Looking around the apartment, and seeming less apathetic than before, he opens the blinds letting in the morning sun, and revealing a view of the Central London Skyline. He surveys this for a moment, before starting to pick up some of the discarded bottles littering his home. 

The main criticism for this idea is that the ending seems to upbeat, and not realistic enough for the timeframe of a short film (as it seems resolved). A resolved ending, however, was not my intention, and I now agree that the treatment makes the ending seem a lot happier than it should, as I only imagines Sean considering how he could change and maybe making a minor change to represent this.

I will consider this while drafting the script. 

MDA2100 - Step Outline

This is the step outline I have written to go with my pitch idea, 'one night only'.

‘One Night Only’

1.       Sean lies in his bed looking at his phone as an unnamed, man leaves his bedroom, he re-reads the text he received, stating the end of a relationship, and with an almost resigned reaction, closes his eyes and tries to sleep.

2.       Sean is in the shower, vacant look, as he gets ready for another night out. He contemplates texting the boy who broke up with him earlier, even starts writing a message, but he deletes it and continues getting ready.

3.       He comes back from the club with Jonah. They passionately kiss and drunkenly start to sleep with each other.

4.       Waking in the middle of the night, Sean goes into his kitchen, and has a drink, starting to cry, as he thinks about how the meaningless encounters aren’t helping him.

5.       Hearing the crying, Jonah comes in and they begin to talk about Sean’s history with men and why he has so many meaningless, drunken encounters.

6.       Towards the end of the conversation, Jonah says it’s too bad he has to go back to Australia, as after getting to know Sean more, he sees they could have been good together.

7.       Jonah leaves and Sean sits, contemplating recent actions. He slowly starts to clean his messy flat, tidying away bottles and seems more hopeful, and happier as a person. 

MDA2100 - Pitch Idea

This is the pitch idea I read out in class as part of our assignment:

‘One Night Only’

                ‘One Night Only’ is a romantic drama detailing the start of the repair of a heart, not the usual two hearts joining together.

                Almost a cross between 2011’s ‘Weekend’, with certain, more serious elements from the rom com ‘Friends with Benefits’

Sean, the protagonist, is a single, 21 year old Gay man who lives in London, who after having his heart broken twice in the past year has resorted to drinking and meaningless flings to get the attention he craves. His main goal is, actually to find someone who will love him and treat him with affection. His obstacles are the fact that as a person, he puts more into relationships and gets feelings for others quicker and more than they do, even if they aren’t usually 100% into the relationship like he is. This being why he gets heartbroken in the first place, he tries to deal with it by having meaningless flings, (his situation during the start of the film), though this is an obstacle, as while he gets ‘attention’, he doesn’t get the love and emotional attachment he really wants.

                It is only when he meets Jonah, an Australian 23 year old, travelling in London and they share one of Sean’s usual nights together, that they start talking about Sean’s life, and how he doesn’t, once they start talking, seem like the person who would usually do this. After talking they begin to share a bond, and it is when, during the next day, that Jonah declares it’s too bad he has to go back to Australia, because they could have had something special, that Sean has a revelation about his life, realising that the meaningless flings are only giving him short-term satisfaction, and not the emotional love he really wants. Realising he shouldn’t be doing this as it’s not helping him, he starts clearing up his flat (and life), leaving the prospect open that while not having meaningless flings, he will look for something more serious and perhaps take things slower and differently than he usually does.

                The story is more the Ritual Occasion structure, because while Sean seeks meaning flings, his obstacles were initiated mainly due to having his heart broken by somebody else, not something he directly did, and it is only the events initiated by Jonah which bring about the small realisation about what he has been doing and leave the future open for change.