Monday 31st January
Today we were given back our scripts which had been marked by Mike and we each had a tutorial with him to discuss this. My mark was 62% which I am quite happy with. Mike said it could have been improved by more things happening in the pub which would make the couple uncomfortable. He suggested they had little money on them, and so could only afford one drink which would make the land lady annoyed. He also suggested that the couple were on the way to the wedding, not the rehearsal dinner. That way there would be more of a sense of emergency for them to get somewhere. Mike said my script was visual, but with plenty of dialogue. He also said he enjoyed the character of Jack, that he was odd and “also slightly creepy”. Unfortunately Mike was able to guess the plot twist when the taxi arrived, and so perhaps I could have concealed this more. I feel quite happy with the script overall and enjoyed writing it.
In the lesson we were told to get into the groups we wanted to work in and discuss which scripts we might like to produce. I was happy to stay with my group from last time and we had previously discussed this. Today however only myself and Dan were present and so we discussed script ideas together. I will email the rest of the group later to confirm that they still want to work with us and to show them out notes on the scripts.
Dan and I particularly like;
* The Other Woman
* Take Care
* Heads or Tails
* The Good Listener
Mike posted thirteen different scripts on Minerva and these were the four that Dan and I think may be the most suitable. We discussed the themes of the scripts and came up with the following ideas:
* The Other Woman – Jealousy, suspicion, trust.
* Take Care – Karma, comeuppance.
* Heads or Tails – Freewill, fate, luck.
* The Good Listener – Assumption, Trickery, ‘boys will be boys’.
We then began talking about what may be easy or difficult to produce in each of these films.
-The Other Woman needs a more mature cast and particularly at the end of the script there is a party scene which would need a fairly number of mature actors. This would be more difficult for us to cast as we would have to find older actors and many of the drama and performing arts students at Bath Spa would be too young for the role. This would involve us going to drama groups in Bath and Bristol and seeking actors, however actors from established groups or workshop may not want to work for free which would be a problem on our low budget.
Location, costume and props wise The Other Woman would be easy to film. It only requires a house, a party room and a couple of outdoor scenes. There are no special prop or costume requirements.
-Take Care would also be easy to film location wise; it only asks for an office room and a house. However the final scene involves the room being turned upside down. This would be difficult, but not impossible to film. We could, for example, create a fake upside down room by lying on a smooth white surface and placing a light in the middle of it. This may not look too effective, but it is something that we could discussion in pre-production.
-Heads or Tails would be simple to cast as it only requires a few student characters, it has simple locations such as university, a cafe and a student house.
-The Good Listener would also be easy to cast and find locations for. However, the main character uses sign language several times in the script. This would be difficult but not impossible to work with. We could research the phrases online, print off diagrams of how to sign them and would then keep this information to hand on set in order to help the actor with his “lines”. We would also need a hearing aid, but we could probably find one of these in we look in the right places, perhaps a demonstrative hearing aid or one that doesn’t work anymore from a doctors surgery or hospital.
The Other Woman and The Good Listen interest me the most, as I think these could be interesting and fun to create. These are also the two stories that appeal to me most, although I don’t really like the ending of The Good Listener. Still, this is something that could be changed.
