Work-in-progress

Draft Script

Since writing a brief run through of the story I want to explore my world with, I began writing the first draft of my screenplay (the first few scenes at least). I think the main problem I’ve found with writing my screenplay, is that it doesn’t quite capture the essence and style I want to convey. Because my world is so heavy on it’s visuals, just reading the screenplay, it comes across as quite dry. I don’t have a great deal of experience in writing screenplays, so this probably is one of the reasons why I’m not exactly happy with it. When I’m talking about my world to other people, I feel like I’m able to really explain the rules and the world itself, but when it comes to defining it in a screenplay I’m not quite sure how to get there. Reading this first draft, I know that I need to work on describing the setting. I tried to give little details like the sounds of popping from the popcorn machine, but I’m scared to add in too much of those sorts of details, but then again, how much is too much? I’m not sure yet. I feel like I’ve got the basics of each scene down; I describe the characters (not in too much detail) and the motivation of the protagonist and the action that occurs from that.

Initially my aim for the ‘proof-of-narrative’ was to finalise a screenplay, but after writing this draft, it’s made me realise that to really communicate the world and the style, I will probably need to accompany it with visual and audio components. I’m not saying that I’m going to try and make this short film, but maybe more of a mood reel. I’ve never made a mood reel before so that in itself will be an interesting task for me. I think a mood reel may actually be more difficult to create than a scene from the screenplay, but I think I need to challenge myself and try and create this visual world that I have in my head and have tried to put on paper.

Inspiration

There are three films that have been really inspiring me during the creation of my world, and they are: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, David Lynch’s Blue Velvet and Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers. These three films also all share quite dark tones due to the genres (mystery, horror, crime), which also lead to inspiration for my project, as I see the world to have quite a creepy feel to it.

I’ve written earlier in the semester about how I have been inspired by the world created in The Shining, and how the isolation of the world can create such a haunting mood and drive the narrative. But even though the film has such dark tones, it still is visually stunning in it’s use of colour. You’re so submerged in this world of colour that you almost forget the looming danger and insanity that runs through the halls of the Overlook Hotel. The colours are used in juxtaposition to the drama occurring, which is something I want to explore in my film, by using bright colours and somewhat darker tones and moods.

(The Shining, 1980)

David Lynch has always been a great inspiration for me, but Blue Velvet in particular is my favourite. There’s a certain ambiguity that comes with Lynch’s work. He doesn’t aim to explain to the audience, but more to show them something. One scene in Blue Velvet, covers a completely unexplained music number:

(Blue Velvet, 1986)

The scene beautifully fits in because of the world Lynch has created for the film. Simple moments of ambiguity like this can be accepted by an audience, because they are expecting this sort of happenings by now. And having an unexplained dance number in my story, really motivates me to create a similar solid world like Lynch.

Another film that has inspired me visually is Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers. The drama in this film for me is extremely heightened by the use of colour and neon lighting. The visuals of the film are quite experimental to me, matching the narrative structure. Not everything needs to make sense and not everything needs to be explained. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the experience and the journey that the filmmakers taking you on.

(Natural Born Killers, 1994)