My Pitch / Presentation

Yesterday I did my pitch at 11 0'clock. I felt my pitch went okay, however, I got very nervous. I feel like I could have prepared more for the presentation by practising in front of an audience beforehand. I do feel like the presentation has helped me with my confidence and I feel I have  gained more experience of presenting in front of a big group which will help me in the future.

Another Scene in iClone - 1 Minute

This is the winter season where Jenny comes to a point where she doesn't like receiving the gifts from Benjamin. One cold afternoon, Jenny is standing by the lake with her dog and she turns around and sees a blanket left under the oak tree. She sees Benjamin walk away so she walks after him. She then tells him that she thinks it's inappropriate to keep leaving gifts and that she feels like he is watching her all the time. She then walks away and leaves Benjamin standing confused.

 

After using iClone for my other 1 minute example of a scene, I found that the second time round using it was definitely a lot easier. I felt that I had learnt more skills so I was able to build this set a lot faster and make it look better. The camera angles are still not what I would have liked but It was tricky moving the camera in iClone.

 

 

iClone - First 1 minute Scene

I created this scene on iClone when Benjamin leaves a foldable chair under the oak tree for Jenny. Benjamin says she can use it to sit down and enjoy the summer weather.

 

I found iClone very difficult and confusing at first but as I spent hours on the software I was able to teach myself more and more. I thought it was very time consuming, however, I think it's a great way to plan out a scene and show a vision.

 

In this minute example the iClone the camera moves around a lot, this is not what I wanted, I was just experimenting using iClone and I wasn't completely sure how to use the camera.  Realistically I would like wide camera angles to show the garden, close ups when the Benjamin and Jenny are talking and the use of long shots.

 



  

 

 

 

 

Development From Rough Script 2 to Final Idea

 I have really struggled to continue to write my script. I sat down with my friends and tried to talk about my idea for the script, as I know I have it in my head but I'm struggling to write and talk about it.  However, after discussing it with my friends I felt more comfortable with my idea.

 

These notes below are points I wrote down to help me re-write my script. I want the film to follow the different seasons, from spring where Jenny visits her husbands buried ashes on his fourth year anniversary. After Benjamin and Jenny first meet, the film will follow how Benjamin attempts to make Jenny feel happier by leaving gifts under the oak tree through the months. However, Jenny pushes Benjamin away in winter when she's in a dark place. Jenny then realises, she is lonely and the she subconsciously did enjoy the presence of Benjamin around her.

 

This happens over a course of a year, at the end in Spring. Jenny and Benjamin friendship comes back together (Spring as to start of a new beginning/ life).

 

 

 

 

Rough Script 2

 

This is my second rough script, again it's only the beginning I have produced. This beginning is also different to the last first few pages of the last script I began. I feel like I keep coming to a stop as I am finding it difficult for the story to flow. 

 

 

 

Rough Script 1

I have decided that I would like the whole duration of my script to be shot in the burial garden. So the two characters only ever meet in the garden. However, I'm finding it difficult to move the story on in the same place as I don't want it to be boring, I want to make their meetings over a long period of time but in the same place.

At this point I'm still struggling on what to write about for the middle and end of my script.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first writing and further development of idea - ROUGH

 



I thought it would be best if I just started writing, I know my basic story line but I'm struggling how to write the beginning, the middle and the end. Therefore, If I start writing I can slowly but surely keep developing my writing.

 

Below are a few pages where I started writing the beginning. This is a very, very rough way of helping me plan and sometimes I like writing in pencil because I can freely scribble that's why the writing is in a mess. But I felt that as I wrote, my mind just gathered more ideas as I went along and I just carried on writing until I came to a stop.  

 

These pages are ideas of how I could start the beginning of my script. I had the idea of the gardener, Benjamin, leaving Jenny notes but as I wrote this very short rough draft I changed this idea and instead after they meet he starts leaving her gifts.

 

Through this writing exercise I have a had a few more ideas for my script:

• Jenny visits the garden everyday and walks her dog.
• She sits under a large oak tree where her husbands are buried under a square plaque on the ground.
• As she sits under the oak tree she stares at the beautiful, sparkling lake opposite.
• The dog is used as a sort of 'ice breaker' in the script. In some way the dog is a tool to get the two characters talking and meeting.
• After their first meeting or several meetings he starts leaving gifts for her under the oak tree
• These gifts are yet to be known.
• I need to write more about how she receives these gifts, does she appreciate them? Or does she refuse them?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Film P.S I Love You

So far I have made notes on :

• A woman (Jennifer) visits her husbands buried ashes
• The gardener/ maintenance man bumps into her one day and realises she comes everyday
• They talk to each other and see each other more often and he starts leaving notes by where she sits
• The notes ask Jennifer to meet him at different places.
• He helps her to over come her fear of being lonely and sad.
• Do they just build a friendship?

 

 

 

P.S I Love You - Film Similarity?

The last few days I have been thinking about my storyline and the film P.S I love You (2007) directed by Richard LaGravenese. I read the book written by Cecelia Ahern a few years ago before the film was released and I absolutely fell in love the story. It's a romantic story about a young widow who loses her husband to cancer and when he passes she discovers that he has left 10 messages over the course of a year to help ease her pain and help her move on. When I read the book and watched the film, the storyline had such an effect on my emotions, I cried hysterically, I was laughing and at the end of the film I was smiling. It is a lovely story that really touches the audience.

 

 

 

 

I thought of this film because it made think of how I would build the relationship of  my two characters. I thought of the gardener leaving messages by the spot where the widow goes to visit everyday and eventually this helps her to come out if the shell she is hiding in. In my mind I can imagine Benjamin the gardener is a bit more forward and talkative whereas, the widow, Jenny is shy, uninterested and lonely.

 

Target Audience

The film P.S I Love You targets an older female audience as it's heavily romantic and about AN adult woman who fights through her struggles of losing her husband. However, it's also comical therefore, I would say it's a lovely film to watch as a family.   

 

I think the target audience for my film would be older teenagers, adults and possibly older adults too as the story I am planning on writing a script about is about moving on in life after the death of a loved one, therefore,  older people can relate to this. 

 

This is also the reason for why I have chosen to make my characters older in their 50's to appeal to an older audience.

 

Questions for myself...

What I need to think about more is, does Jenny push the gardener away? Is what the gardener is doing inappropriate towards her? Is there a problem between the two characters before the ending. And how will it end?

 

 

Developing my idea - Characters

 As I feel I have a good setting for my script, I started to think about my characters as this will help me develop a narrative. My initial idea that came to me is two people meeting at this beautiful place. I had this idea of a woman going to the cemetery to visit her husband often and she meets the gardener / maintenance man of the place. I started to branch other ideas out of this idea I had, would they become friends? Do you become lovers?

These are notes I made:

Characters are Jenny (Jennifer) and Benjamin, a widow and the gardener of the burial meadow, both in their fifties.

I'm not sure how I would like to structure this story or how it will end. Part of me doesn't want the two people to fall for each other, I would like the gardener to help Jennifer  try and move on from mourning her husband as it has been a few years. Maybe throughout the script they develop a friendship that helps her overcome her fear of being a lone. As I think more about this idea, I want the outcome of the story to be a happy one, a feel-good feeling for the audience / readers.

Inspirational Photographs

These photographs below are ones I have taken myself of Clandon Natural Burial Cemetery in Surrey. The photographs inspired me to think of have a setting like this in my script.  

I have actually done research online to see if there are other natural burial gardens like the one I have visited and there are so many links to websites of the places. I looked at photographs on these websites and they are very similar meadows to the photographs I took, fields of grass, trees and flowers. I feel I can really picture the garden in my head where the two people meet and I could be quite creative when creating my two minute animation in iClone.

Another Idea - Inspiration for a setting

The last few days I have been thinking about a storyline for my script. I have actually struggled a lot more than I thought I would. However, the fact that I new I wanted to write a quite realistic story made me think of things that have happened the past few years to me. There were points that I thought of that I might want to write about such as, two people meeting and building a friendship or relationship.

 

A few days ago I was looking through old photographs on my laptop and came across these absolutely beautiful photographs of a natural burial cemetery close by to where I live in Surrey. This cemetery is a beautiful meadow that has grown naturally with a large lake sitting in the middle, a peaceful place where people bury their loved ones ashes.  

 

I go there often to visit, it's a happy, peaceful place where people can walk around, take family, friends and their dogs and feel the loving atmosphere. I took a few photographs in the summer for my family when we last visited as it's absolutely stunning in the summer, the meadow is covered in flowers and tall green grass and the lake sparkles in the sun.

 

 Looking over these photographs again made me remember how beautiful this place was and made me think of possibly having this as the setting in my script. As I new I wanted to write about two people who met, I thought I could use this as the setting in my script, as visually in my mind I could picture two people meeting in the calm, sad but also happy and loving place.

 

Lecture - Contextual Research for Creative Practice

This lecture really got me thinking about how I would go about forming an idea for my project. Although I wrote notes on a small idea in the seminar, I don't want to work too deeply into this as it's just an initial idea, I know I will have other ideas but I feel at the moment I need more inspiration, something to give me a big push.

I learnt from this lecture that "practice does not exist in a vacuum", we need to experience things around us to be inspired to write. Starting with the context of the practice; is it based on tradition, technology, reality, the past or the future?

I realised when thinking about books and films I enjoy more realistic storylines. Therefore, I want to start picking up ideas from events and things happening around me. Sitting in this lecture actually made me think of past stories I have heard and situations I have been in that I could write about.

These are notes I made from the lecture, when I left the lecture I started to brainstorm.

Ideas - Seminar

Today, I got put on the 'hot seat' to talk about my idea. The past few days I have struggled to think of a storyline or any characters. From help with my tutor and peers, they helped me form a basic idea to start from. My peers asked me questions about what films I liked and what genres I am interested in. As questions were asked and answered, I formed notes on a short story, I built the idea from my peers asking me who the characters are, where the story is set, the themes and problems the characters have to overcome.

My notes from this seminar :

• A 31 year old woman called Grace who works at a very posh restaurant.
• She is self-conscious and lacks confidence.
• She was never interested in being in a relationship but hitting the age of 31 she feels time is ticking.
• She works very, very hard and only has two days off a during the week and often finds herself working overtime on her days off.
• Benjamin, a rather good looking banker often comes to the restaurant after work with his friends and other times with women on dates.
• He's served by Grace a few times and finds an attraction to her.
• Do they get together? Does she fall for him and realise he's not a nice person? Does she realise she's actually into women and not men?  -- The ending is yet to be sussed out.

I have realised from being put on the spot that you can creatively think of a small and simple idea and work on it. It really helps when you sit with people and talk about an idea, as I have learnt from this seminar - you can really bounce off each other to develop a story.

Objective and Goals

I've decided I would like to take on the script project as I am interested in doing something new. I have a great interest in films and books, however, I would say I'm a more hands-on and practical person. At this point I don't have a solid idea for a script, however, I have a sense of what style I would like to aim for and genre. I'm more interested in romance and comedy films, so I see myself going down the route of a romantic story.

I love the sad, dramatic and romantic films that have an effect on me, for example, P.S I Love You (2007), Dear John (2010), The Notebook (2004) and A Walk To Remember (2002). I would love to write a screenplay that makes the audience laugh, cry and smile.

My next step is to start looking at photographs, reading articles in newspapers or magazines and getting inspiration from my surroundings.

 

Fictional Screen Narrative Brief

• Write a 10-15 minute drama based script.
•  Produce a short two-minute sequence using iClone software to represent your ideas and present this.
•  Do a 10-minute presentation to sell your idea to a commissioning editor.