MDA2900 - Assignment 01 - 'The Unwanted' Adaptation

Here is our film which we made for the first assignment, based on a scene taken from the play 'The Unwanted', by Walter Wykes.

https://vimeo.com/57633696

One of the main problems in this, is an issue with the sound, as several sound files shot for one of the camera positions became corrupted, so we were unable to use them. This resulted in having to use the sound recorded into the camera, as we didn't have the time to organise voice-over sessions.

Our sound technician managed to take-out the background noise in the clips we used, but unfortunately a difference in sound quality is evident, which takes away from the believability (for audiences) of the film.

Despite this, I have, however learned a lot about how better to organise myself, were I to produce a project again, and to have more back-up plans, as chances are, something will go wrong at some point on the project

MDA2100 - The Next Step

This is the final version of 'The Next Step', which I have submitted for the MDA2100 Screenwriting project.

The Next Step - Final by

MDA2100 - Idea Change

After trying to redraft the story of 'One Night Only' I have decided to redraft and write the script for another idea I had early on in the project.

My reasons for doing this are that I feel, due to parts of the story being based on personal experiences of myself and friends, too personally attached to certain parts of it, which is, in my opinion, inhibiting me from changing too much of it and carrying on writing to the best of my ability. I do enjoy the idea, but I feel that right now, I am unable to make it a better script, and still keep some of the essence of what I enjoyed about the story in the first place, so I feel it is better for me to start afresh with another idea which I still feel for and which I believe has the ability to be an entertaining and suitable script.

The new idea with the working title 'cold feet' is a story involving a young couple, moving to the next stage of their relationship and spending their first night in the new flat they recently bought.

Returning home from work, the man finds that his girlfriend has cooked a meal for them to celebrate, and is wearing conventional, feminie clothes. This is unlike their real personalities (the conventional, 9-5, working couple), as they are much more bohemian and still young at heart, and neither express their fears of changing and maturing into the real world.

In the night each partner has a dream which explores their unexpressed fear and as they awake the next day, each partner's actions indicate that perhaps a part of their younger self still exists in them.

While I feel the above description doesn't do the story justice, I feel the completed script will be an intriguing story of how people, especially around my age group, are afraid to face the fact that one day they must grow up, and enter the 'real world' and how some people do it even though they are not exacty ready. I plan on using surrealist and almost avant garde ideas and techniques in the dream sequences, which will draw parallels to the now-mundane lives of the couple, and also to use the actions and visuals to express to audiences the character's individual fears which they are too scared to express to one another.

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.