The journey of a Script

For this blog post I will be talking about the journey of a script and all the process it goes through from idea to screen. First I will talk about how a writer writes. Then who can commission a script, then finally the job roles a writer could have once the script is complete.

Agent Representation

Writers try to have an agent representation because it makes then look more professional and it gives your work more of a chance of being seen. This is because the agents have contacts and it makes your work look better if you have their backing. An example of a writers agency is Capel & Land Ltd, they specializes in script agents.

Optioning/royalties

Some writers never get their work made or seen by a production team. Sometimes their scripts get bought by an individual or a company and never made. They buy the script and keep it in case they want it made, after that the writer can't sell it to anyone else. Some writers make money buy people using parts of their script. For example Evan Daugherty sold Snow White and the Huntsman for $3.2 million.

 Time management

Some writers limit them selves to when they can and can't write. Some writers make themselves get up early and and write all morning and others don't limit themselves and write whenever than get inspiration. Some writers even set themselves targets and have to write a certain amount of works a day. An example would be Lee Child, he sets himself a 1,500 word target per day, but 2,000 if hes in a rush for a dead line.

Legal and Ethical Issues

When a writer is writing a script they have to do research into similar ideas. Not only to get inspiration and to figure out what happens next but to make use they haven't crossed any legal or ethical boundaries. Copy right issues are a problem because if any part of their scripts have too similar parts to someone else's script then that could get into legal problems. For example they could be sued. To avoid other people from using their ideas, writers email themselves a copy of the script so they have a definite starting date for their ideas. The scrips can't include bias either. This is because the writer could get in trouble for putting across their opinions on a sensitive subject. The writer should also consider who their writing for and what audience. For example if they are writing for a BBC drama that's gonna be aired during the day, they can't have swear words or graphic violence because it would have to be censored or put on after the watershed. Writers can't put false facts into their scripts because they would get in trouble with the law. Plagiarism is also a big factor when writing a script. This is because you can't go around steeling peoples work and passing it of as your own, you'd get in trouble for it. You could ask the person who wrote it in the first place if you could use parts of their idea, or buy it off them.

A competition could commission a script. A production company could set up a competition to find a script that would be good enough to get made. The production company would commission it because they have the means to make the script. An example of this would be Writers Room. They accept some scripts a certain time a year. They would then select the best ones. They would be able to commission the script because they are part of the BBC.

A corporation would be able to commission a script because they have the means to produce it. They would buy the script for either production or just to own the rights. An example of this would be Warner Bros. They have the means to commission the script because they are a production company.

An independent director or producer could commission a script because they could have the means to turn in from a script into a film or TV series. They could either buy the script and pitch it to a larger production company. Or they could put together their own production team and make it themselves. An example of a producer is J.J Abrams. He produced Star Wars The Last Jedi, Westworld and Super 8.

Once the script has been commissioned and is being made the writer could be leave it alone and let the production team make it. Some writers stay with the production team and becomes a producer or even sometimes a director. It all depends on whether they want to stay on or not. They could also help out with the per production process. This could be in a number of ways, this could include anything from producing a story bored to finding locations to film.

A director for a film would drive the whole process from beginning to end. They'd also visualize and define then style and structure of the film. They'd help out with casting, scripts editing, shot selection and editing. They would also be the link between the production and creative teams. An example of a director would be Edgar Wright. He has directed films like Scott Pilgrim Vs the World, Shawn of the Dead and TV series like Spaced. 

A producer would find a script and turn them into profitable films. They'd be responsible for finding the right cast and crew to bring the script alive. They would also overlook the whole production to make sure the film is going in the right direction. An example of a producer is Jerry Bruckheimer. He has produced films like Bad Boys and Pirates of the Caribbean. 

A writer would write the script. They would either write the script because they had a good idea. Or because they are contractually obliged to. A writer would also need a good understand of how to write a scripts and need good storytelling ability. An example of a writer would be Ricky Gervais. He wrote scripts for projects like The Office, Extras and Derek. 

A Script Agent would be the middle man between the writer and their script and the person or company who wanted to buy their script. They would have to have good contacts within the industry so that their clients could get their scripts bought. An example of a Script agent is The Agency. They are a company that represents writer in all areas of screenplays.

Websites where I found my research - 

OFCOM Broadcasting code
BBC Terms and Conditions for a Script
Creative Skill Set - Director
IMDB - Edgar Wright
Creative Skill Set - Producer
IMDB - Jerry Bruckheimer
IMDB - Ricky Gervais

Revenge of the Clown - Draft Two

James Paget Corporate Video-Nursing

Revenge of the Clown - Draft One

Pre-production for corporate video

Types of brief

For our brief from the James Padget University Hospital we has quite a lot a room to negotiate. We sat down with people from the Padget. They knew they wanted a corporate video that showed potential employees what the nursing and midwifery departments were like and what it is like to work there. But apart from that we have to come up with the rest. As a group we shared thoughts and ideas around, trying to find out different people to interview and the cutaways to support that.

Within the media a certain level of discretion has to be maintained. This is because the subject of the corporate video might not be public and only meant for certain people. This means that the media company will have to keep the subject of the video private. Also the media company couldn't film what ever they wanted. They'd have to get permission from everyone involved. For our corporate video we couldn't just walk into the hospital and film anything. We had to get our interviews arranged for us because they were at work and were really busy. Also we had to get permission for where we could film in case we came across anyone or anything that couldn't be on camera for legal reasons.

You might face constraints when filming a corporate video. This is because interviewing someone is very personal and they might not want to share everything. You could film something the interviewee doesn't want and get into legal trouble for it. Also the interviewee could reveal something that clashes with your ethics and you might not want to post it. The whole brief might clash with your ideas and views which means you might not want to create the product. Because we filmed in a hospital we couldn't just walk around with a camera. we had to be told where, when and who we can and cant film. This is because some people and places couldn't be on camera.

We had to change our final product because are interviews got cancelled and rearranged a lot. So by the end of are filming period we only had one interview and 3 cut aways. We shared all the footage between all the groups so everybody had enough footage. We also shortened the length of the video. it was supposed to be 3 minutes but they aloud us to shorten it to 1 and a half minutes.

When the JPH people came in and reviewed our product they asked us to change the music and a few of the shots. They asked us to change the music because it clashed with another groups and they wanted something more up beat. The shots they wanted removed were of people smiling showing a happy and fun work environment. But because the people we showed weren't part of the nursing for midwifery department we couldn't have them.

Amendments to the budget might change because a location might be more or less expensive than first thought. Or hardware or software might be more or less expensive that originally thought so the budget would have to change accordingly. Amendments to your fees might change because to might have to work more hours or more do more challenging work. You might have to amend conditions outline in a contract because when you get to location something drastic might have happened like injuring crew or even the interviewees. If the contract is an informal contract and either the production team or the client changes their mind about something then there is no contract to fall back on. an amendment to the contract would then have to be made. Briefs can change for a number of reasons. These being the work the media company is making isn't very good so the client cuts the funding for the budget or how much your getting paid. The conditions of the contract might also change because the client might suddenly want something or someone else.

Someone might respond to a brief because there could be a reward involved. This could be money or a full time job. Or they take the work because it will look good in a portfolio. Or they could respond because they simply like the idea and feel passionately about the clients work and want to promote it.

Throughout the process there were many opportunities for self-development including becoming more comfortable and confident with the camera, thinking about what to film and also how to edit more efficiently. It also gave me a better understanding of how the industry works in regards to a brief and creating a product for a client.

Throughout the project I learnt new things. For example a learnt more about planning a shoot. All the way from talking to clients to filming on location. I also learnt about editing techniques to do with interviews. For example how to edit a cutaway so it fits within the timeline and makes sense in regards to what the interviewee is saying.

Throughout the project i didn't have to multi skill. This is because there were enough group members to distribute the tasks equally. This meant that the tasks could be completed by a capable group member and each member only had one task at a time.

I mostly helped out with the editing. But I also had to think about the cutaways and what would work and which ones didn't. I had to multitask between thinking about what to film for the cutaways and how to edited them so they fit within the video. At the start of the project we all bounced ideas off of each other to try and come up with a few ideas that we could use.

JPH Brief

Research Dossier for screenplay

The competition i would like to enter my screenplay into is the Bluecat screenplay competition. Each entry costs $35 and must be in by January 7th. The winner of the short film script will receive $10,000 and the 3 finalists will receive $2,000. Every script will get feedback which will be included in the entry fee. Also the script can be resubmitted once feedback has been given.

Inner presence is the dominant attitude of the character. This is things like intelligence, personality, likes and dislikes, fears, goals, self-image, knowledge and temperament. An example of this is  Sherlock when he complains that there's no shopping but won't go and get any.

Outer presence is the dominant impression created by what the character looks like. This includes age, sex, mannerisms, gestures, expressions, physical appearance. clothes, grooming. movement, style of speech and language. An example of this how the script describes what the Sikh warrior is wearing.

Context is the world that the character lives in. This is created by their home environment, their work, relationships with other people, cultural background, class, education, where they were brought up, their back story. An example of this is when the scripts describes the home environment.

Dialogue is the speech between two or more people. This is an example of good dialogue because it shows how the character John is getting increasingly angry at the machine. 

 

Scene direction is the part of a screenplay which describes whats going on in the scene. This a good example because it describes whats going on within the scene and paints a clear picture. 

The plot point one for this 10 minute short would be them being picked up my the man in the car offering them work. This would be because this event triggers them not being paid and then the police being called which is plot point 2. There is a limited number of characters, the plot is quite simple and there is a definitive ending which gives it a satisfying ending. 

Plot point 1 would by the voice starting to talk. This is because the voice talks about each person and their secrets and intentions. This then triggers the gun fight which is plot point 2. Again their are a limited number of characters and only one location. The plot is really simple and there is limited effects. This would minimize costs by quite easy to minimize cost. There are a few more characters in this short film but we don't know anything about their background. This Mise-En-Scene is simple and easy to achieve for a low budget short film.

I think the demographics for my short film would fit into any of the sections. This is because thrillers appeal to a wide audience. The psychographic would be explorers. This is because they value difference and adventure. This fits with my short film because the clown goes on an adventure to try and get his life back on track. I think males between 15-30 would enjoy this film because it has a little bit of gore, and a good narrative that isn't to hard to follow.

I handed out my questionnaire to these specific demographics and psycographics. I received mostly positive results about my film, saying they would watch it.

The main theme of my film is revenge. How the Clown can get his life back on track by tacking revenge on the family his wife left him for. The film 'Taken' has a similar theme. Within the film the main character has to find his daughter and he takes revenge on the underground ring that has sold her. This is similar to my idea because the Clown tracks down his Ex-wife's new lover. The first part of my film will take part in a run down, old, damp flat. The film 'A Flat' takes place in an old run down flat. This is similar to my idea. The main character in my film will be a clown. The are lots and lots of films with clowns. For example the film 'Stitches' is about an unfunny clown that is bad at his job. He died at a children's birthday party and comes back to kill the children from the party. This is similar to my film because they both involve clowns that are bad at their job and revenge plots. My initial idea come from that clowns that were scaring people in major cities. This gave me the idea about how regular clowns were being affected.

'killer clowns' were all over the news in 2016. This is because people were dressing up like clowns and scaring people. I thought about the normal people that our clowns as their profession and how this craze was affecting them and their lively hood.

Similar media texts that are already out there -

The killing joke, has a clown that isn't very good at his job going crazy because of one bad day.

Another film is Terror on Tour. This is about a clown who is framed for a crime by people dressing like clowns.


IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/list/ls000097000/ 05/12/16 - 20:37
IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2126362/?ref_=nm_knf_i2 05/12/16 - 20:49

Screenplay - Gf breaking up with Bf

Screenplay - Coming out as gay

Screenplay - Friends making up

Screenplay - Asking someone out

Nursing and Midwifery

Fargo Dialogue

Creating characters using slug lines and scene direction

Current Practices In Corporate Video

A corporate video is a audio or visual product that promotes a company organisation or business. In this essay I will talk about copyright, privacy, defamation, courts, ethical and technologies.


Copyright is the exclusive right to use material. It is given to the creator of the material for a number of years. They can do what they like with the material like publish it or sell it. If anyone would use the content without permission then they would get into trouble. Legal action can be taken against anyone who uses someone else's content  without permission.

A famous case of copyright infringement is Star Wars against Battlestar Galactica. The studio behind Star wars which was 20th Century Fox sued Universal studios (studio behind Battlestar Galactica) because they had 34 similarities that were basically the same. For example Battlestar Galactica had the character Skyler and having the name Star Worlds, which is too similar to Sky walker and Star Wars.

For corporate videos copyright must kept in mind the whole time. You must either use footage you've shot yourself, or buy copyright from someone else. For are video we shot and filmed everything ourselves. 

Privacy considers someones right to a private life against the media's right to freedom of speech. This area of law and grown since 1998. It affects reporting stories about people's personal or sex life, finances, someones health or filming in someones house without their permission. It also includes filming outside like at a funeral.

Corporate videos must consider privacy laws. When filming a corporate video you have to make sure you don't break these laws. For our corporate video we arranged interviews which everybody agreed on so we that we didn't break any privacy laws. We also only filmed in places that were agreed.

The law about defamation allows individuals, groups, firms or companies to sue if their reputation is damaged. You can defame someone by publishing numerous forms of materials and people can sue so long as the material is undoubtedly  referencing them. Changes to the act have been made by the Defamation Act 2013.

Corporate videos mustn't break these laws because if they do then they could face legal action against them. For our corporate video we didn't break these rules because we didn't defame anyone. No one was talking about their personal life or anything personal. Just if they liked their job or not.

Ethics are a system of moral principles. These tell us whether to do something or not. It is concerned with what is good or not for a persons behavior. Ethics would stop a media company making a corporate video if it clashed with their ethics.

An example of this is ABC news being slammed for sending a helicopter over Robin Williams house just after he was reported dead. The also dove really deep into his personal life by interviewing a person who went to alcohol anonymous with Robin.
To make a corporate video you must have the right equipment. Here are some examples of equipment used to make corporate videos.

- Manfrotto MVH500Ah Pro Fluid Video Tripod. They are $150, very light weight, has a wider platform to support HDSLR, spirit levels and a quick locking system.

- Canon EOS 5D Mark III. They are about $3,000. It has 6 frames per second continuous shooting and a 1080p recoding capability.

- Sennheiser ME66 Short Shotgun Capsule Head. They are about $200. They has low inherent self-noise and high sensitivity and are highly directional.

- Zoom H5 Four-Track Portable Recorder. They are $270. They have 4 track simultaneous recording and interchangeable input capsules.

- GLS Audio 12ft Mic Cable Patch Cords. They are $12. They are heavy duty and flexible and give a high quality noise free performance.

-Neewer® 700W Professional Photography 24"x24"/60x60cm Softbox. These are £60. They give you perfect lighting. They operate at a lower temperature so they don't over heat and they are heavy duty.  

Group Corporate Video Prezi - Code, Conventions and Current Practices

We all worked on each slide together



Mid shots - 21 seconds in the video uses a mid shot to show a few words written in the surroundings. This is effective because you can see all the words and it lets the viewers understand what is going on.

There is a lot of tracking within the video. This is because the video seams like it is one big shot. The first example of this is at 14 seconds. 

Different angles are used to show different words written in the surroundings. For example 32 seconds in, a high angle is used to show 3 words on blocks on the floor. 

A low angle is used at 1:40. 

Pans are also used to go form one shot to another. For example 5 seconds in the first pan is used. 

 

Zooms are also useful . They are used to go in closer and pull out from various shots to show other points of view and to get a closer look on a subject. For example of 2:19 a zoom is used to show a word within a letter of a different word. 

Long shots are used to show a large object with one shot. But for this example at 2:46, a long shot us used to get a general view of a subject before going in for a close look. 

It is mostly the same pace but it does speed up and slow down at certain places. For example the first time it slows down is 11 seconds in. 

The first time it speeds up to go from one shot to the next is 14 seconds in. 

Group Corporate Video Prezi

We all did everything.

Hitchiker

My First Screen Play

Local Production Companies

East Coast Production

East coast productions - They are a production company based in East Anglia. They have different people is various areas for all kinds of jobs. This includes:

Production Management, Location Scouting, Creatives & Crew, Casting, Travel, Accommodation, Catering, Equipment, Props, Photography, Design and Video.



Curveball-media

Curveball-media - They make videos or animation for companies. They specialist in animation.

Local Production Companies

East Coast Production

East coast productions - They are a production company based in East Anglia. They have different people is various areas for all kinds of jobs. This includes:

Production Management, Location Scouting, Creatives & Crew, Casting, Travel, Accommodation, Catering, Equipment, Props, Photography, Design and Video.



Curveball-media

Curveball-media - They make videos or animation for companies. They specialist in animation.

TV analysis task

This ad introduces a new deodorant from the brand Lynx. This deodorant in unlike their other ones because their motto is' bring the quiet'. This means that instead of, unlike their other products being in your face and promises to make your life so much better, this one is subtle and quiet but still smells appealing.

The target audience is young males who just want to get on with their lives and attract girls. The pyschographics for this advert would be succeeders. This is because these people are confident already without having to buy the latest and strongest smelling deodorant. They would buy Lynx black because they go for a high quality of their product.

This advert is a stand alone advert because the advert isn't part of anther one. But there are more than one Lynx black adverts, but they don't link together.

This advert has intertextual references because the camera zooms past the businessmen in their suits throwing their money around, suggesting that throwing money at something gets you what you want. But the man with the Lynx black is just happy doing what he's doing.

This advert uses persuasive techniques which follows AIDA because firstly they have a dramatic, attention grabbing start. They also state that it was created by the world's best perfumers which grabs the viewers Interest. The audience desires to be like him because he is confident doing his own thing and not interested in everyone outside. This advert tells the audience to 'bring the quiet'. This would promote action for someone who has a busy life and just wants to relax for a bit.



Advertising by association -

Happy families:

Glamorous places:

Rich luxurious lifestyles:

Success in a career or job:

Art, culture and history:

Successful romance and love:

Nature and the natural work:

Important people, celebrities and experts:

Beautiful women:

Comedy and humour:

Self-importance and pride:

Attention: This could be any demographics because something grabs the attention of anyone. This would be aspires because they seek status keep up their appearance.

Interest: This could be by the advert saying the product is low priced. So anyone who isn't earning good money would think this is a perk. This could be D and E. This would be explorers because the advert could be set in a exotic location.
Desire: This also could be any demographic because everyone have friends they want to impress. This would be the strugglers. They would believe that the product would solve all their problems.

Action: This could be any of the demographics because anymore could buy a product on impulse. This would also be aspires because a attractive packaging is more important that the product.


Mise-en-scene is everything that makes up a scene. For example the costume, the props, set and personnel within the scene.Iconography is when we expect to see a certain prop or costume within a film or scene. For example we would expect to see a cowboy hat or saloon in a western film.

Lighting is how much light we see in a film. Lighting is very important because it controls what we see and what we don't see in a film. This is used particularly in horror films.