This week, my group came to Monday’s class with some writing to share, all with similar takes on our outline for the project, but through varying formats. Most of us envisioned having an episode of self-contained scenes, following a non-linear progression, but through discussion and an attempt at merging everyone’s strongest ideas, the current script reads like a linear short film. A couple weeks ago, I put my name down to write up a final draft, but I’ve been working with Harper this week on the write-up and I think we’ve been successful in Frankenstein-ing the group’s writing into one. We were able to plug some of our group members’ writing directly in, but we had to rework most of it to suit the progression of the script, with some original writing from the both of us.
When writing collaboratively and notetaking, the “shit sandwich” method is one I’ve tried adopting, by stacking all “negative notes between two positive notes” (Trapp 2022). I’m fortunate to work with a group of some very funny people, leaving little room for negative notes in terms of comedy. The suggestions feature on Google Docs has been incredibly helpful. I’ve noticed myself paying close attention to grammar and script formatting, which is the least of our concerns and probably a result of taking Stayci Taylor’s screenwriting studio, but I’m looking forward to hearing her feedback (as well as Hannah Camilleri’s) at the panel on Monday.
In regards to location scouting, we’re leaning towards Harper’s share house, being the most central location for all of us, and one that exudes the most ‘sharehousey’ vibe. For the café and convenience store scenes, Daniel’s workplace is, conveniently enough, a café with a convenience store attached, so if we get the thumbs up from the owner, we’ll likely be filming there. As for the montage sequence in the park, we had our eyes on Fitzroy Gardens, and will be contacting the council for their approval to film. Matylda has also started drawing a storyboard, so if we keep going at this speed and all goes to plan, we will probably be filming later next week.
References
Trapp, M. (2022), “How to Give Notes Without Being a Dick and Get Notes Without Getting Upset”, Chuffah, <https://chuffah.substack.com/p/how-to-give-notes-without-being-aLinks to an external site.>.