Film Blog Five

29 – 10 -10 Meeting

Today we scheduled a meeting in the group study room so that we could further discuss our script ideas. We each rewrote the script, writing it how we think it should be. We began by reading through the script, and then we read the scenes that we had changed. When we got to David’s version of the script, he had made the most dramatic changes to the script. This included changing the time line, adding more definition and personality to the characters and changing the ending with the ideas we had previously discussed in mind. It worked brilliantly. Everyone in the group agreed that it was a huge improvement and that there wasn’t anything we would change about David’s version of the script.

His changes include starting the script not at the beginning of the plot, but at an important part in the near the end. This I thought was a really effective and interesting way to intrigue the reader and keep them watching. He also further developed the character Greg, who in the original script seemed very much to be a tool used to influence Dan’s decisions. Now, he has more depth and we see much more of his personality while keeping his strong influence on Dan. In the last meeting we had discussed Dan leaving Greg behind at the end and escaping in a more imaginative way. David used these ideas and wrote an amusing but believable ending. We were all really impressed by David’s script. For the next meeting Dan will edit the script and make all the necessary adjustments. Overall I think this script is much more suited to us as a group, it has elements of comedy and I hope the final product will be as entertaining as we imagine it will be.

In David’s script there is a scene where Dan is day dreaming about Olivia and what would have happened had he saved her. I came up with the idea that they should kiss at the end of this scene, and that it should be a really over the top, cheesy moment as it is Dan’s imagination and therefore gives us leverage for some comedy. Everybody seemed to really like this idea and we came up with some further suggestions. One of these was that the lighting and colour of the scene should be really bright and vivid to further enhance the idea of the day dream. We also thought about music, and that it could be quite funny to have some typical romantic music playing in the background. It was also suggested that Dan wears a tuxedo, as he seems himself as the smooth hero in this day dream, and for Olivia to be dressed glamorously.

This reminded me of a scene in an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. In season six there is an episode called Once More With Feeling, where the entire town is under the power of a musical loving demon. At the end Buffy shares an over the top dramatic kiss with a vampire, as loud overture music plays and the credits appear.

The scene I'm referring to is 7 minutes in to the clip below:

 

This is the sort of vision I have for the day dream scene and think it could work really well in our new, edited script.

We then moved on to discussing casting. Kay brought in the character profiles she created and read them to us.

The profiles Kay created are as follows:

“Dan

·         Laid back

·         Easily swayed

·         Not very tall (average height)

·         Not very strong

·         Quiet looking

·         Sheep like character (not a leader)

·         Brownish like hair

Olivia

·         Pretty

·         Blonde

·         Bright eyed

·         Looks out of Dan’s league

·         The pretty and smart girl of the university, wanted by all the lads

Rosie

·         Red faced

·         Big mouthed

·         Red hair/dark haired

·         Bossy

·         Might have braces

John and Ryan

·         They are like one (Ant and Dec)

·         Both silly

·         Both lazy

·         Both crazy

·         Star wars fans

·         Hate Rosie

Greg

·         Black/dark hair

·         Feisty

·         Flirty

·         Better looking than Dan

·         A bully character

·         Cocky and confident

·         Flirty with the girls

·         Rude

·         Not that muscled but has a strong mouth

Mike

·         A little like Greg in confidence

·         Less cocky and rude than Greg

·         Likes Sophie (might go out with her)

·         Bigger

Sophie

·         Bubbly

·         Blonde

·         Simple minded

Guys bullying Olivia

·         Rugby players

·         Big

·         Grunty voices

·         Some facial hair

·         Look like they’re on steroids

They are all around 19-20 years old. “

I have asked Kay to arrange a casting for next week. We decided that 2pm – 4pm on Thursday would be best because we can all make it for at least some of the time. Hopefully Kay will arrange this and we can confirm the casting on Monday, including where it will be held. We can also make copies of the new script to give to the actors. Kay also suggested that I play Olivia, as she thinks I would suit the part. I think it would be best to hold the auditions first, to see how that goes and if we can’t find the right girl to play her then I shall step in.

Ed shared his ideas on location, and we had a talk about where we could film the house scenes. Dan suggested his house as he has quite a large living room and we would need as much space as possible. He also has a male and female bedrooms which we would also need. Ed and Dan will sort this out later on. We also decided that it may be better to film in the SU rather than a pub, as it would be easier and would work just as well. Ed will be in touch with the SU manager to see if this would be possible. Ed will also try and create a list of locations and a filming schedule, which will help us organise our shooting weekend and what scenes to film in regards to location and time.