REFLECTIVE JOURNAL SCRIPTWRITING

This weeks lecture was very interesting and helped me a lot in how I plan on pitching my idea. I am currently writing an outline for the entire film, and also researched into what makes a good log line for a feature film. The video we watched in the lecture was very useful, and gave me the technique of using, 1) Problem and a Hero, 2) Wild Factor, 3) Irony.

I also found this video which has really helped me in the structure of my log line and the keep it captivating and interesting:

After making notes whilst watching these videos I decided to write the log line for my idea. This is what I have so far:

“A Sci-Fi/Thriller about a lonely train assistant wants to escape his downbeat life and decides to get on a train to Edinburgh, which suddenly becomes attacked by an unknown force. Will Rick manage to finally escape? Or will he finally fight his problems”

I wanted my main character’s home setting be based in a rough area, so I took it to the internet and researched the worst city in England. I found this website: http://www.ilivehere.co.uk/top-10-worst-places-to-live-in-england/10 which suggested that Grimsby was the worst place to live in England. I then looked at image of Grimsby and it perfectly suited my vision of the home an work setting for my protagonist:

The time I wanted this to be set in was Modern Day, shown through trends and dialogue.

I’ve been thinking a lot about influences of my idea of the Alien Attack. A couple films have come into my mind, films such as:

Non-Stop (2014) – Written John W. Richardson.

The 5th Wave (2016) – Written by Susannah Grant and Akiva Goldsman.

Alien (1979) – Written by Dan O’Bannon.

In terms of ‘Non-Stop’ which features Liam Neeson, I am inspired by the type of character development and the main characters character arc in the film, I feel that my character will be able to go through a huge development with this idea. Alien and The 5th Wave have inspired my plot and the themes of my feature film. I haven’t seen The 5th Wave as of yet however from reading up on it I feel that the themes of ‘loss’ and ‘courage’ are a huge similarity to my idea.

I have had another idea for a plot outline that I could research into. This idea was influenced by the 1985 film Clue, written by John Landis. This film is inspired by the board game Cluedo and shows a classic comedic crime film. This gave me an idea of writing about something similar:

8 people are gathered by the government for what they think is a job interview. They are all placed in a room and are made to fill out application forms. They are then locked into the room and the lights go out. When the lights come back on, one of them is dead. This happens a couple times. (Twist in the movie: Unbeknown to them, they all have crossed each others passed, which will be revealed later in the film) The film continues with the people who are left trying to figure out who is doing this and why its happening.

I’ve not thought too in depth with this idea as I’m feeling confident with my idea in the last post, however I will use this idea as a back up if my previous idea isn’t working.

My final idea for my individual proposal came from a visit to the train station at around 9:00pm. I arrived and it was completely empty despite from four people who I thought would make good characters in a film, these were:

1. A middle aged train assistant. He looked bored, however kept alert in his body language.

2. A elderly, homeless, trainspotter. He accompanied the train assistant and was clearly passionate about Englands football team as he wouldn’t stop talking about it. His voice echoed in the station. He struggled with his grammar and he would only go silent when a train would pass, so he could concentrate on writing.

3. A young girl, she looked around 17/18 years old. She was moping the floors.

4. A man in his late twenties. He was wearing an orange hi-vis outfit, he was removing a billboard poster from across the tracks.

While I was waiting for my visitor to arrive, I thought that one of these four characters would make a great protagonist in a feature length film. I was already set that I wanted to use the train station as my setting and location for my proposal, and I started to think of a couple of film ideas, these were my strongest two ideas:

1. The middle aged train assistant or the trainspotter, who works/ spends their nights at the train station. He wants to escape as he doesn’t have a very good life, he lives rough, alcoholic and lonely. They sneak onto a train that pulls up a midnight, heading to Edinburgh. He meets a woman on the train, possible love interest. An hour and a half passes and the train stops suddenly, in the middle of nowhere. The train then gets attacked by Aliens. The protagonist becomes a hero. Genre: Sci-fi/ Action/ Horror.

2. The young girl (17) works late nights as a cleaner at the train station. She also wants to escape due to the fact she has a lot of problems at home. She meets a strange man at the station who informs her of the train that pulls up at midnight but isn’t scheduled on the stations rotas. (This strange man is a key character and will appear later in the film). She gets on the train, which takes her to a fantasy land. She becomes a likeable girl, however the Queen of this land doesn’t want her there. Genre: Fantasy. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland / Harry Potter.

I asked a couple people which idea was strongest and I think I am going to write about the first idea with the Aliens. As I feel I can talk a lot more about it and I can add more character development into it.