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Final Major Project

Final Major Project.

For this project, I'll be developing a pre-production package to begin my final project of 3rd year. I will need to develop a pitch, script, budget, schedule, casting, locations, and possibly a trailer.
I will be working with Esme as a pair, because we know we want to work together on the final project and we make a Director and Showrunner team.

Ideas

The ideas that we have considered are all revolving around a short film platform of 15-20 minutes. We have both put forward ideas for the plot that generally focus on human interaction.

Podcast

One of my ideas was focused around a plot device. I was curious about a character that keeps a podcast (which could be used as a voiceover) that narrates the plot. I didn't have much of an idea for the plot and so this quickly went down the drain, although I'll keep the plot device idea in mind.

AI

Esme had the idea of an AI character and their human counterpart living through the end of the world. This interested me because I wanted to write about how people interact, and it reminded me of one of my favourite films, Her by Spike Jonze.

Heartwarmer

Inspired by Shaun Meadows' Somers Town, I was interested in writing a heartwarming story of 2 characters. I didn't know what the conflict or resolution would be, but I was drawn in by the idea of writing about the connection between 2 people in the most realistic way that I could manage. 

Chosen Idea

The idea that we decided to go with after a meeting and some plot development is the 'heartwarmer' idea. One initial idea that we discussed was a photographer taking a photo that they shouldn't have. This was an interesting idea but for me it was verging too much on the thriller side which I'm not interested in writing at this stage. Esme then mentioned the idea of someone being in prison. All within the meeting, we had gone from only knowing that the production would star 2 characters to the idea of a father leaving prison and the son having to deal with this life change. 
This is something that we can both relate to in some way which will make the development of the story easier. Although it's a tough subject, we are both able to talk about it without hesitation, which will mean that we can develop a confrontational story without being invasive to real stories.

Project Goals

I want to achieve the following from this project:

  • Maintained organisation
  • Engrossing script
  • Work well with the director (Esme)
  • Professionalism/ organisation
  • Realistic story
  • Clear and developed characters
  • Develop my confidence
I'm eager to make this project one of my best, and so I need to work on my confidence in my projects. I often worry about things too much, and so I'm planning on working with a little more (reasonable) risk in this project in the hope that it makes for a more daring project.
Esme and I have been working together on projects for all of the 3 years and so I'm confident in our team. I just want to make sure that for this project, our ideas stay in line with each other and we both feel the freedom to make creative decisions and agree on them together or work professionally around any obstacles together.
We also may be working in locations that require participation from local businesses for sets. This will require us to make a very good impression on them and to have organisation skills down.

Possible Obstacles

I need to prepare myself for the following:

  • Casting
    • For this project, the chemistry between the actors is absolutely crucial. This could potentially prove to be a difficult task, that I haven't really worked with before. Esme has tasks in place that will hopefully make this process easier, but I'm still a little nervous to see how this will go.
  • Time-keeping
    • In past projects I haven't been very good at keeping to a schedule and have a bad habit of doing things last minute. I'm hoping that through this project I can train myself to get out of that habit and work hard through the whole project.
  • Script
    • I'm not the biggest fan of writing scripts (yet here I am, writing one for my final project...), however I really enjoyed the whole process of production for the Transition unit, so I'm hoping to hold onto that enthusiasm for this project and write a script that I'm proud of.
  • Location
    • For this project, both Esme and I have imagined it to be shot in a seaside town. We will make every effort to make this project everything we want it to be, but working out of town for a lot of the project may prove an interesting and potentially expensive process.

Action Plan

At this stage in pre-production I'm focusing on the story development and beginning the script process. I need to develop the idea into a much more fleshed out plan which I can then start developing a plot from. Once I have made a steady start on the script, Esme and I will begin the pre-production paperwork process. We are planning on a location scout that will include photography and test shoots along the Kent coastline. This will also make the plot easier to develop as I will be able to write to the location.
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