Competition Details:
London Film Awards offer a 'Short Screenplays' catergory where the screenplay has to be under 75 pages.
https://londonfilmawards.com/screenplay-competitionRules
- Scripts have to be in PDF format under 10MB.
- Font size should be 12 point and in Courier type.
- Screenplays should be formatted according to current industry standards.
- Screenplays must be original work of the applicants.
- Each entry requires an application, payment and script.
Script Annotations
Good use of dialogue example
This piece of dialogue comes from the first episode of Being Human (UK version). It is a good example of a good use of dialogue because of the tension and mystery it is able to create in very few words. The narrative doesn't give too much away, but it is extremely poetic in what is describing, without the visuals it may not be realised that the character Annie is talking about vampires, werewolves and ghosts. It is a clever way of setting up the story, we know who it is about, who they represent and how they have met in a few moments.
Good use of scene direction example
This is a good use of scene direction as it tells the actor exactly what is expected of her for this scene. It has parentheticals to describe the emotion in her acting and a paragraph of description on what she is doing in the shot.
Good use of inner presence example
This is a good example of inner presence as while it describes the character John Watson it doesn't describe him physically in great detail. The description focuses on his emotions, 'pained', 'dazed' and 'weathered'. The actor knows that John Watson is carrying some baggage. There is quite little physical description, we don't know the colour of his hair or eyes, his build or how tall he is for example.
Good use of outer presence example
This is a good example of outer presence as it describes how the character presents himself rather that how he is feeling. We know that this man cares about his appearance and takes time to look groomed. What tells us this is that he oils his skin for a 'smooth finish', his tie is 'perfectly tied', he dresses in a 'crisp, perfectly ironed white shirt' and there are other indicators through out the text.
Good use of context example
This is a good use of context in script writing as the text points things out to us that tell us about the character John Watson. For example, from this we know that he lives alone because he has a single bed in a dull/plain room. There are also not many personal belongings in the room which suggests that he doesn't like owning much or hasn't had a chance to own much, because of the neatly folded clothes these two points together indicate he could have recently returned from service in the army. There is also a walking cane, which tells us that John suffers from a walking difficulty of some kind.
Short Film Examples
I chose these two short films for different reasons. I like 'Downward Dog' because it tells a narrative from an unusual perspective, the voice of a dog. Because of this I imagine it must have been quite challenging coming up with a script that would be both comedic, fit the narrative and be possible. I also found it interesting because it is also unusual for a film to have no dialogue and just a voice over, which 'Downward Dog' does successfully.
I like The Proposal as it takes an unexpected turn, there are lots of comedic aspects such as his hating of creme brulee. Also the script would be interesting to read to see how much scene direction the writers gave the actors.
Audience Research
Demographic: A way of classifying people with similar characteristics into a category to help companies know their target audience. The table below shows the six, main categories that are used.
A similar existing text to my film idea would be The Martian. If I look at this films target audience I can see it is from 17 to around 45. While this is a large range I would argue that the age rating itself is 15, however the film deals with multiple mental issues as well as scientific issues. Young adults are also greatly attracted to films set in a fantasy or sci-fi world. As for the older side of the target audience, they are the ones who are more likely to have read the book as that holds an older target audience. Given that my idea wasn't a book to begin with it is likely that a good audience to target 'A Little Light of Mine' at would be young adults. Men also tend to prefer sci-fi but I believe the romance aspect of my short film could be targeted towards woman very easily. Because of this I wouldn't want to limit my target audience my targeting it towards just men, especially as more woman are starting to enjoy sci-fi in recent years.
Psycographics: Similar to demographics they divide people even more but more by their personality and choices than their age or career.
I personally think my psychographic would be mainstreamers. I have chosen this category because I believe that my film would attract family oriented, sentimental people.
Here is the link to the survey a conducted for my short film idea: https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-QX2WP5J38/
Seeing how my short film will contain someone entering a coma I have conducted as much research as I can on; how people enter comas (severe head trauma), how long they normally last if the person will wake up (4-5 weeks), ways to diagnose a coma (unresponsive, ct scans, x-rays) and what can be done if someone is in a coma (turn off life support). It is up to the next of kin to decide whether life support is turned off or left on. If a person is in a coma for 5 weeks doctors say it is unlikely that the person will become conscious, or if they do they will not be able to function like a normal human being. However there are some rare cases where patients who do return only suffer minor permanent injuries.
A film that influenced the ideas for this screenplay is Avatar. The way in which the characters travel between their body and their avatar is what gave me the idea for connecting two consciousness, as it is very similar to how Jason leaves his body and enters May's subconscious. The main character Sully also describes the feeling of being in his avatar like a dream.
As for the idea that the subconscious is represented by a landscape is quite common so I decided to stick with conventions and represent May's subconscious with a forest.
I also researched different forms of adrenaline, another name of the drug is epinephrine, this will be the name of the drug used in my script. If injected with adrenaline it takes a few moments for the effects to take place and lasts between 3-5 minutes.
Another area I researched were case studies from people who had experienced comas themselves. One of the experiences I found is a woman called Claire Wineland who during her coma imagined she was in Alaska.
People who were in a traumatic brain injury induced coma seem to have experienced things differently than those who were in a medically induced coma. Some can feel touch but not hear, see, move or respond. Some can hear what is going on around the, some people even say they see themselves in an out of person experience.
Bibliography
NHS Information on Comas - https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coma/ - Accessed 29/12/17
Mayo Clinic Information on Comas - https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coma/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20371103 - Accessed 29/12/17
abc Coma Survivor Case Studies - http://abcnews.go.com/Health/teen-explains-life-coma/story?id=32473542 - Accessed 29/12/17
Coma Survivor Case Studies - https://didyouknowfacts.com/13-survivors-reveal-really-like-coma/ - Accessed 29/12/17
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