Final Ideas and Screenplay Beginnings
The next stage in development was the writing of a coherent screenplay - naturally, this needed practise and some guidance even despite my (albeit limited) previous experience, as this piece was to be assessed by professional standards. Taking three primary ideas (a nightmare narrative, a dark comedy of natural vengeance, a schoolboy drug kingpin), I evaluated each and essentially decided to begin to write the beginnings of each, with a mind for available resources, to decide which I would pursue in a creative and organic sense.
By far the most vexing to write was the darkly comedic story; I found it almost impossible to relate the boy's body language and actions in a way that wouldn't come across as cheesy or cartoonish and at every turn, I doubted the abilities of myself as a director and of my friends as actors to pull off the subtle comedy that would be required. Blending the aspects of characterisation with moments of slapstick violence also proved difficult and as such, I drifted away from the idea fairly naturally, more interested by the other prospects.
Second, I looked towards the idea of a schoolboy running the errands of a drug lord within the halls and classrooms of his school. I had a more distinct vision of this one, as it played in my head distinctly along to the soundtrack of Gold on the Ceiling by The Black Keys - the storyboard of my imagination was thriving on the idea of a story without dialogue, that simply showed the cutthroat ventures of a semi-sociopathic teenager. This momentum, however, was tragically undercut by the news that copyrighted music was likely to attract unwanted attention; I thought of alternative solutions to soundtracking the piece which had so much form in my head, but with this doubt came realisations of practicality also: where would I film it? I would have to get permissions from a school, certainly, but then how many dozens of extras would I need? How many days shooting would it be, and when? It dawned on me that I just couldn't do the idea justice with the resources available to me, so I set it aside - perhaps for another time.
Lastly, I came upon the idea that had least manifested itself cinematically in my head - it was a story which I picked from the paragraphs of a dream log I keep, one that disturbed me enough for me to remember it, certainly. It's worth mentioning that I don't remember my dreams often, so not only did this story of a decapitated chicken and a ghoulish spectre surprise me (eat your heart out, Freud) but left a distinct impression on me for a few days afterwards. What surprised me most, however, was how easily it dripped from my imagination onto the page - obviously, I reduced the more open-ended and conceptual nature of a dream down to something tangible and more importantly, finite; but it came incredibly easily. After only a few lines I knew that this was what I wanted to pursue: something indefinite, unnerving, intriguing and subversive - but most of all, original.
Further than any of this, we pursued some guided practise for general screenwriting forms: some technical quizzing, dialogue practise (in a charming cowboy accent, to boot) and the portrayal of a folk tale in screenplay form - these proved great practise and a bit of fun, but I find myself wanting to dig into HEADLESS CHICKEN as soon as possible. Onwards.
By far the most vexing to write was the darkly comedic story; I found it almost impossible to relate the boy's body language and actions in a way that wouldn't come across as cheesy or cartoonish and at every turn, I doubted the abilities of myself as a director and of my friends as actors to pull off the subtle comedy that would be required. Blending the aspects of characterisation with moments of slapstick violence also proved difficult and as such, I drifted away from the idea fairly naturally, more interested by the other prospects.
Second, I looked towards the idea of a schoolboy running the errands of a drug lord within the halls and classrooms of his school. I had a more distinct vision of this one, as it played in my head distinctly along to the soundtrack of Gold on the Ceiling by The Black Keys - the storyboard of my imagination was thriving on the idea of a story without dialogue, that simply showed the cutthroat ventures of a semi-sociopathic teenager. This momentum, however, was tragically undercut by the news that copyrighted music was likely to attract unwanted attention; I thought of alternative solutions to soundtracking the piece which had so much form in my head, but with this doubt came realisations of practicality also: where would I film it? I would have to get permissions from a school, certainly, but then how many dozens of extras would I need? How many days shooting would it be, and when? It dawned on me that I just couldn't do the idea justice with the resources available to me, so I set it aside - perhaps for another time.
Lastly, I came upon the idea that had least manifested itself cinematically in my head - it was a story which I picked from the paragraphs of a dream log I keep, one that disturbed me enough for me to remember it, certainly. It's worth mentioning that I don't remember my dreams often, so not only did this story of a decapitated chicken and a ghoulish spectre surprise me (eat your heart out, Freud) but left a distinct impression on me for a few days afterwards. What surprised me most, however, was how easily it dripped from my imagination onto the page - obviously, I reduced the more open-ended and conceptual nature of a dream down to something tangible and more importantly, finite; but it came incredibly easily. After only a few lines I knew that this was what I wanted to pursue: something indefinite, unnerving, intriguing and subversive - but most of all, original.
Further than any of this, we pursued some guided practise for general screenwriting forms: some technical quizzing, dialogue practise (in a charming cowboy accent, to boot) and the portrayal of a folk tale in screenplay form - these proved great practise and a bit of fun, but I find myself wanting to dig into HEADLESS CHICKEN as soon as possible. Onwards.
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