#1 Script Writing

Link to my script: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N_zoiuKicxFk0A4bGU-s8QLdi0NAaxd_/view?usp=sharing

Honestly I did not expect there to be a script writing exercise in this studio, and I may have taken the subject too lightly before, so I think that I should write a post to reflect the matter.

First, I realized that there is importance to format the script properly because it is a industry standard, but also I will not always be the only one reading my script, it will be easier for the others as well if an universal procedure is followed. Besides this, I shall reflect something about my writing.

As Paul pointed out , there was an issue with my script. He does not think it is a good idea to get halfway into a scene and then realize something. In my script, I first create an awkward atmosphere around the two characters by contrasting their eating habit, then I reveal their relationship as brother and sister. Paul says that information should not be withheld unless it’s important to the story, so I went back to examine the choices I made when writing.

How helpful is keeping the fact they are the siblings from the audience? When I was writing, I simply wanted the audience to guess their relationship while watching the two characters interact with each other. It can be seen as a way to raise some attention from the viewers but more likely this idea is interesting to me more than anyone else, maybe I enjoy the feeling of knowing who these characters are while other people don’t. I, as the creator of the story, was partially blinded by the joy of knowing and manipulating but neglected the fact that my concern should be the viewers.

Secondly, does it have the potential to be a twist, plot-wise? Reflecting this from the audience’s point of view, at first we see two ‘supposed’ strangers who have different types of lunch, and one of them feels guilty because his meal is a lot unhealthier than hers. Then when their relationship is revealed, it does not seem to affect this sense of humor that the story contains, therefore again withholding the information is not contributing to the story. Instead of feeling surprised that they are siblings, the audience will mostly feel indifferent.

However, I did feel if I want to introduce the relationship between the two characters, other plots have to change accordingly as well. The most concerning issue for me is the constraint of only writing two lines for each character, that leaves very little room for me to introduce them to the audience and complete a story at the same time. So I changed the dynamic of the two characters, the sister who eats healthily becomes the one irritated and tempted by the unhealthy meal her brother has. The humor of the scene is still in the contrast of the diet but only the initiative changes.

There is another ‘epiphany’ that just occurred to me, when we edit videos, we are taught in the studio that every time we have a different idea that we are not sure of, it is always a good idea to duplicate another sequence to test it out. I now think writing is similar, maybe when I write a scene, I can try several different approaches then I lay them out side by side, and pick one that works better.

 

#2 Sound Animatic

I have never been too thorough with sound. Usually I would value the quality of the dialogue, but leave everything else captured with the video by the camera or the phone where they are. When I work on this sound animatic exercise, I realize that there are details in sound that I overlook when I make a video.

Starting with marking up the script, I tried to consider all the sound elements that could be included in the scenes. I even enriched some details that are not in the script. However, when I put the sounds together in the sequence, it was clearly things were still missing here and there. Without the association of the visual, very often two pieces of sound just do not link with one another, resulting the actions not continuous. Just like listening to the audio clip of In the Line of Fire (1993), without the ‘click’ sound made by the remote control, the listener will not know where the music come from or whether it is diegetic or non-diegetic; even though the ‘click’ sound is highly artificial and no remote control in real life has such a sound. In the script I chose, there should be sound of getting off the bed and getting dressed between turning off the alarm clock and checking the calendar; after Maggie says “come out”, there should be sound of opening the door before the dialogue continues; so that the audience can hear a continuous series of actions happening in the soundscape.

An interesting observation I made when recording the foley sound is I have to be careful with how I recreate these sound. While I was recording opening and closing the door, I found that it sounds very different from a narrow space (for example, in a bathroom) and a place wide open (outside of the bathroom). On different sides of a door can make a big difference. Recorded in a narrow closed room, the closing sounds a bit muffled, and it comes with reverberation, while the sound recorded from the outside is quite neat. It comes to me that when people close doors on the inside of a narrow place in film or TV, would the crew use a sound like that? Maybe they will ignore the difference and choose a general, standard sound of closing the door every time it happens, because the sound recorded from the inside does not sound authentic, or because it is too authentic to sound good enough. I think the same scenario can apply to many occasions, when what is real does not look good or sound good in a film, an choice of aesthetic has to be made to sacrifice some “realism”. Again, like the ‘click’ sound from In the Line of Fire, there is rarely a remote control makes that sound, but it has to in the film, because it shows action, and it shows causality, it completes the film as a whole.