WEEK 6
Beat Sheet Below
- Two individuals Oxley Scott meet in the alleyway of a post apocalyptic city You can tell they are of great importance through the way they discuss the affairs of two large groups of people who divide the city (apparently this happened two months after the collapse).
- It has been almost six months since the catastrophic event happened (we don’t find out what this event was) and the rations of the city are now in critical supply. Scott claims his people are going to move to rural areas to try set up civilisation.
- Oxley respects his decision and assures him her people will be advised not to follow as they made their choice to stay in the city
- 13 years later Liza an 18 year old woman trains to fight in a war that has been threatened against Scottsville by Oxland. It is clear that Oxland aims to take over the whole region of Scottsville for their farm land and possesses a much larger army than originally thought. Eliza lives with a family that took her in and sticks close to their daughter Carter, continuing to search for her family that she supposedly lost on the journey out of Oxland back 13 years prior.
- Liza forms a romance with Eli on the side of her training. Scottsville stages an attack on Oxland and is critically unprepared. Carter is publicly tortured to death infront of Liza’s squad to intimidate and get answers from them.
- A second wave of attack helps Liza’s squad escape but Eli is injured and the army of Scottsville is incredibly shaken as they receive new threats of Oxland wanting to infiltrate their farming district.
- Liza finds some concerning information in a note sewn into her clothing she wore as a child explaining the reason her family were not present during her childhood. She discovers they were trapped in the city of Oxland and knew she needed to get free. She finds out she is technically a citizen of Oxland. She burns the information and swears her life to Scottsville in an initiation ceremony for her squad.
- In an overnight battle between both the city’s Liza comes face to face with a man who looks incredibly similar to her and discovers he is her biological brother Hade. He explains the role their parents held in the city of Oxland and how they were spies for Adam Scott the founder of Scottsville. And eventually torchered to death.
- Liza’s biological brother leads his men to join Scottsvilles side mid battle and they prevail. Scottsville expands after Lady Oxley (original Jane Oxley) is taken prisoner along will all her advisers.
- Liza, Eli and Hade climb to leadership positions after helping to conduct the battle between both countries.
- The movie ends with Hade revealing his plans to overthrow the city of Scottsville to his fellow soldiers converted from Oxland.
REFLECTION:
When developing my beat sheet, I got a bit confused and struggled to write one that made sense. I found I got very lost when it came to creating all the different parts of a story such as conflict and the way it would be resolved and adding the correct aspects.
A text I found helpful when making my beat sheet was Paul Gulino’s text that focused on the 8-step sequence. This gave me a good template to work through because I often struggle knowing at what steps to incorporate different dilemmas and resolutions.
The 8-sequence structure was interesting to me as it allowed me to get my head around the importance of movie sequences and how they work together. The sequence A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H approach aided my ability to understand beating out scenes in depth. I found that the quality of my beat sheet is slightly not as good as I would have liked because I struggled to write an entertaining story, this will hopefully improve with time. Gulino explains that “Over the curse of a typical two-hour movie, the eight-sequence structure… will serve as a starting point” Gulinio (2014) I don’t think what I have created has the bones to be a two hour movie so am wary of that fact but also enjoyed trying to base my idea off a group of other movies. Something I did want to look at in depth a little more is the importance of “everything in the first two acts leads to the final, essence-confirming transformation of the central character” King, J (2022) I became aware that viewers need someone to root for and the importance of both the first acts building up an understanding of the world, the character and the importance of overcoming the conflict. King highlights the importance of the “climax of Act Three’ and how it “emblematizes the (usually aspirational) transformation of the central character so that the story can wrap itself up”. King, J (2022) I struggled with finding a way my character could change and evolve over the course of the beat sheet.
Overall, I’m a little disappointed with the outcome of my beat sheet and am inspired to try and make a couple more to try figure out how I would improve their quality.
Gulino, P (2014) Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach, Vol 1, Bloomsbury Publishing
King, J (2022) Inclusive Screenwriting for Film and Television, Routledge, London England.