In preparation for our idea pitch we watched 2 short films by Simon Ellis, the first called 'Soft' and the second called 'Stew and Punch'. After watching the first we were given the task of making a 25 word pitch to best sell the film. My pitch was:
"When the home is threatened, can a Father push back his fear and defend his family or let his Son see the coward he is"
Was to get across the story but not explain it completely, add mystery to the pitch which would interest the audience. Playing with words rather than lying. As the story is about a young boy who gets beaten up and his Father is then beaten up and can't defend his Son because he's too soft. Selling this but making it much more exciting was tricky but interesting and has given me ideas towards my own pitch as well.
After this session we went over and worked with Steve Cooms on screen writing. Steve has been screen writing for over 27 years. Steve explained to us that a 1 hour screen play is made up of 12-16,000 words. A 30 minute screenplay is made up of 8,000 words and a 8-10 minute screen play (which will be our aim) would be around 2,000 words. Steve went on to explain some of the terms in screen writing such as:
Log line - A one sentence pitch which explains and sells the idea quickly and successfully
A Treatment - A 10 page (or less) document which outlines the entire story of the screenplay
The Bible - This is what screen writers will write if the project gets green light. This explains everything about the series and story. Where the plots are going, character developments, story change. Anything that has happened, is happening or is going to happen in the story will be written in the bible. This is written up before the screenplay.
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After discussing this, Steve went on to tell us the 5 Golden rules of screen writing.
Rule 1 - 'Need to know'
He explained that a screen writer is like the CIA and the audience of the production is the President of the United States. When you finally get a chance to speak with him, you don't want to waste is time. This is the same with the audience. Only tell them what they need to know to keep them entertained and interested.
Rule 2 - 'Show, don't tell'
The audience came to WATCH your production. They don't want to sit there and read or be told whats happening. They want to be shown it. What cannot be said shouldn't be said. You can show them all these things through actions, character developments, speech, tone, attitude, etc.
Rule 3 - 'Structure your screenplay like a joke'
The structure of a screenplay is important. Using a jokes structure is the same. The structure is:
1. Set up
2. Distraction
3. Punch line
This structure is the same for a screenplay. Set up the world and the characters, bring forward the story and distract the audience, attack them to the story and then BANG, bring in the conflict or plot twist as the punch line to really bring the excitement or emotion out of them.
Rule 4 - 'Know your ending'
Since you're taking your audience on a journey, you need to know where you're going. You can't write a screenplay unless you know how it's going to end. You can't tell a story unless you know how it finishes. There isn't any point in writing a screenplay if you don't have an ending for it.
Rule 5 -'Count your moments'
Every screenplay needs to have moments. Moments are those parts of the film you talk about after you've watched the film like "Oh remember that part where he jumped between the building" or something along the lines of that. Moments that will bring emotion, trill, tension, etc. to the audience and make them enjoy the production all the more.
Those rules have already helped me in planning my screen play and has already helped me to decide to drop the idea which I had about Irfon and his story about battling because I don't really know how I could end it and can't decide on a ending for it at all.
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