Screenwriting - Week 7


25/03/2019

Stake Out is something I would continue to watch because they are in mini-episodes and 2 minutes doesn't seem to be enough to tell a fulfilling story. It did manage to set up the story and end with complications, as a hook to make you watch more episodes. 
However, I did find it to be the weakest out of the web series I had to watch this morning.

 FLAT3 is something I would continue to watch because it hints at the job-seeking character attracted to that young guy that was interviewed for the flat. I also want to see how she deals living there and if she gets a job. Like the pilot episode for Curb Your Enthusiasm, it took a while for the episode to get funny. At the start I thought it was going to be like that movie, Unfriended, where the whole story is around a computer screen and social media.

Facebook graphics in this web series looks really dated after six years. I also the think there are going to be developing character arcs throughout this series.

 Auckward Love is definitely something I enjoyed watching this morning. It's a funny slice of life comedy and the character remind me of my sister and her friends back in Timaru. 
At first, I thought the character of Grace was played by Jacinda Ardern because she looked like her at first glance. The first episode is essentially about setting up the character, which is supported well by narration and motion graphics.

 Someone I know was the script consultant for this web series, Miranda Harcourt.

 Darryl. An Outward Story would have to be the strongest out of the web series I've had to watch this morning. Like a lot of television and web series, this first episode is essentially about setting up the characters and story. I like the clever writing and use of narration as Darryl's conscience / mind. 
The engaging and life-like Kiwi characters are what hooked me into this series and wouldn't watching more episodes of this web-series. It took a while until I was hooked into this show.

We were given advice on loglines that Patrick got from Steve Barr, a New Zealand-based American screenwriter and script consultant

Bulid your genre into the title
  • Sci-fi (Alien, Star Wars)
  • Mind boggling (Inception)
  • Disaster (Titanic)
  • Action (True Lies, 2 Fast 2 Furious)
Logline template
[Title] is a [genre] about
An interesting character in compleeling circumstances must do something difficult to achieve something worthwhile

BIG WHY? Why do you want to tell this story and to whom?
It's really about [theme] and I'm excited to work on it because [personal connection]

Class notes
  • If you're struggling with writing a film, you must really have good reason to continue on.
  • You speak with more heart and honesty if you have a personal stake in the story you are writing
  • A story with a theme is just a series of events
  • Satire can help bring a theme through more clearly e.g. South Park movie - censorship, Philadelphia - AIDS discrimination 
  • You connect better on a personal level with an individual, not a group of people when collating a logline
  • An individual in a logline is more sellable in a pitch
  • We do need referencing at the end of our slides
Logline practice
Alien is a sci-fi horror about Ripley, a space trucker who encounters a dangerous alien and must gt her spaceship to self-destruct in order to get rid of the alien she has encountered

Theme - Survival


Wizard of Oz is a family adventure about Dorothy, a young girl who is transported to the magical land of Oz and must go on a journey to find a way home

Themes - Escape, coming of age


Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope is a sci-fi fantasy about Luke Skywalker, a farm boy called to adventure and must destroy a space station that can destroy planets in order to try and end a galactic civil war

Themes - Hope, evil 


Jaws is a horror about Brody, a big-city cop on an island where a shark is terrorising its people and must work together with a shark expert and an eccentric fisherman in order to kill the shark

Themes - Power of nature, capitalism


Titanic is a historical epic about Rose, an upper class young woman who is in love with a starving artist, but must find a way off a sinking ship to survive and live a life

 Theme - Greed, young love, nature vs technology
You include the title and genre part of a logline if it is a written logline

 Beyond that part is for verbal loglines

 Examples for presentation - Chaplin

29/03/2019

I worked on the presentation for the next class. It was hard for me to get much done because I had mental block, but I managed to get a good start on it.

31/03/2019

Animark. (n.d.). 4K Overcast Sky. Retrieved from https://motionarray.com/stock-video/4k-overcast-sky

 Fitzgerald, C., & Burger, P. (2003). Turangawaewae / a place to stand [Motion picture]. New Zealand: New Zealand Film Commission.

 Fitzgerald, C., & Gardiner, A. (2003). Two cars, one night [Motion picture]. New Zealand: New Zealand Film Commission.

Giovanni Brianda. (2018, May 28). Charlot. con robert downey jr. dan akroyd e anthony hopkins [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w_qDZsW4es

 NZ On Screen. (n.d.). Turangawaewae / a place to stand [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/turangawaewae-2003

 NZ On Screen. (n.d.). Two cars, one night [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/two-cars-one-night-2003



Today was simply completing what was left to be done for the presentation, in which I sorted out the influences and APA references. I noted the references above from when I was working on them.













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