Starting Screenplay

 Screenplay Outline

I am back and better than never! You know what that's not true but I'm just going to rant for a second, but this week is going to be so exciting but so nerve-wrecking with all I have going on, but we got this! I am just trying to make myself feel better but that's okay.

I'm not going to lie, I have been behind my intended schedule with my storyboard and screenplay. Honestly, I've had so much other work to do, and I have been subconsciously, or very much consciously, putting this one off because I am a perfectionist with the things I care about most BUT I am working on that.😐

Anyways the real question is, 

  

HOW AM I GOING TO RECOVER FROM THIS??

Welllll, I am starting now. To be frank, one of the main reasons I have been putting off completing assignments that finalize or confront the specifics of my film opening is because I didn't really know where I wanted the details of my opening to go. I had a vague idea of my plot that I was confident and excited about, so I felt comfortable and intimidated to move past that point. But what I've learned, especially from this project-based class, is that you have to move on at some point so don't have it be at the last minute. So, instead of trying to attack the task of completing all the script and storyboard in one go, today I broke up my script writing process into two parts and completed one. 

To give some context, two classes ago my teacher explained the process of screenwriting and went over how to start writing and how to develop characters and their dialogue. Here are the notes:

 When thinking about characters and dialogue, I think having an intention or a "spine" to why they do things is very important, because ultimately its how humans work. There is always a deeper meaning to why we do things and that usually always deals with our subconscious, it has a lot to do with psychology which I am interested in and learn about. Anyways, remembering that these characters I am writing about can relate to being real, human people is a necessity when writing my script and their dialogue. So, I created an outline of the characters and their characteristics, ranging from innate personalities to physical traits:

For my main three and only characters in my film opening, I started by including each character's personality description, for example, my main detective, Parker is someone who I really wanted to be deeply passionate and serious about the investigations he does. I pictured him being confrontational and a go-getter. But, I asked myself, why does this character deeply care about his work and want to, in my film opening's plot, catch this child murderer so badly? So, I created a background story for him that not only made me understand this character and his actions but helped me develop an entire movie plot. I decided that Parker's need to rescue people was motivated by his own unfortunate experiences. Parker would have had a daughter that at 11 years old, got kidnapped and he never was able to find her. This idea develops throughout the entirety of the film and is one that made it clear to me that his innate necessity to save others is due to his fear of letting others down. He still has a part of himself that feels like he let his daughter down so now he needs to save others and stop those in danger from getting murdered or kidnapped.

I approached this method with all three characters and then created a full movie plot. I did research on the importance of having a full plot when making a part of the movie, and it supported my opinions on it. Having a full movie plot allows for you to know where the film is going and to make smart choices to develop the movie and the movie's characters and themes correspondingly. So, I created the full movie plot which can be seen in the notes above (in blue).

Overall, I think making an outline on needed aspects of my film opening is a good start to delving into the specificities, but moving forward I am going to try to start working on and FINISH my script by maximum Tuesday. I also plan on finishing the storyboard by MAXIMUM Wednesday just because I plan to film on March 9 and it is March 3 so I need to start getting everything ready! I also plan on watching more videos on eccentric types of shots so that I could infuse them with my ideas and create nonconventional placing of my camera!