From the reading, Johnson (2020, pp. 1) discusses how thinking about the films we love help us understand the kind of films we want to make. When thinking about adapting the script from Homicide episode “Kill or be Killed”, I thought about my previous projects and the type of style I enjoy writing. As a student, I relate to coming of age stories. I understand my emotional connection to the genre and how the genre conventions can assist me in writing a script through following stylistic cues (Johnson, 2020 pp.2). Working with Cecilia and James and discussing our different genres was helpful in seeing them come up with ideas for their comedy and horror style scripts. We discussed our genre adaptations and discovered whether our scripts fell into the expectations of our particular genre. When writing coming of age there are expectations from audiences. My script ‘A Small Note’ aims to begin the journey of a trouble student who learns from mistakes and begins moral growth. As Johnson describes, the important thing about genre is creating emotions and ties between the audience and the film (2020, pp 6). Audiences can feel disappointed when a genre expectation is not met, so when adapting the script to a completely different genre to crime, I had to challenge myself to think of a similar scenario that could replicate the segment. I learnt that mixing genres can provide a fresh innovative story (Johnson, 2020 pp 9) which is how I blended the crime investigation from the Homicide “Kill or be Killed” script into a principal office interrogation with a troubled student.
REFERENCE LIST
Johnson, C. (March 26 2020). Crafting Short Screenplays that Connect. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Crafting-Shor-t-Screenplays-That-Connect/Johnson/p/book/9780367338190
Minter, D. (Writer), Emanuel, A. , Miller, G. (Directors), (1970, February, 10). Kill or Be Killed (Season 7 Episode 3) [TV Series Episode]. In Crawford, I. (Executive Producer) Homicide. Crawford Productions.