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Screenplay Complete Draft

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 This was my first complete draft of a screenplay, completed in early December. I felt as though I had most of the broad storyline down and it was mostly dialogue and more specific elements that would be worked on before filming. UNTITLED SHORT FILM EXT. ABANDONED PLAYGROUND – MORNING Grey skies. Scattered around the floor are what appear to be human bodies, yet they don’t look like dead bodies, they seem to be still conscious and alive, yet somehow unhuman at the same time. A scruffily clad teenage girl steps backwards into frame and slowly backs into the open space ahead of her, she has a panicked expression and seems to As she backs up slowly, a news report suddenly breaks the silence. At this point two other figures break into the frame, slightly stumbling forwards and mumbling quietly, seemingly in English but impossible to properly make out. The path of the girl is followed as she backs up into a set of swings, into a corner and it is presumed that she cannot es...
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Sound/score plan

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 In terms of the score/soundtrack to go alongside my film, my brother is a composer and so after filming is completed, I am going to ask for his help, alongside potentially using royalty free sounds/score to build on the sense of isolation and edge that I am hoping to construct in filming. Another option that I have is to ask my friend, Albert, if I can use samples from some of his published tracks in certain sections - like the weapon building montage etc. - as I think that some of his guitar riffs encapsulate the mood I am trying to convey in my film.
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Actors, costumes, and props

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Actors: The roles that I have to cast: Tash - lead girl, 18  Jake - her brother, 18 - will not feature as heavily, but will need to feature both at the beginning and the end. Two parents News reporter Extras - survivors, zombies - no more than 7, extras will never need to feature as both in a scene. In all likelihood I am going to be casting my friends from a theatre group outside of school, from school, and potentially my siblings. They are all incredibly talented and mentally I have based these characters off how I think any of them would rationally react in a situation like this in the real world. Costumes: The costumes would be very simple, and likely involve simple exercise gear and coats, of which I can supply, or actors supply their own. For the zombies, and the news reporter, these would likely be the same, and given the 'conscious zombie' approach, there will be no need for extreme, gory, makeup. Props: The only prop I have detailed in my screenplay so far is a taped u...
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Narrative/Plot Sequence (Draft 1)

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  NARRATIVE D1 ·                     SET UP: o    Need to introduce some concept of how the zombies have come about – virus/rising from graves – VIRUS more likely as they can be more human like in aesthetic o    Alternatively, could take a different approach in which the zombies are actually conscious and deceptive – Birdbox type inspiration – easier in terms of aesthetic because my zombies can now just look like humans o    Establishing shot – opens with a wide, low angle shot of a desolate playground (greyish filters over the shot creating apocalyptic feel) – then the lead character steps over the camera walking into the space. §   In the background – a script of a news report plays (read by someone maybe me idk) detailing the outbreak of a brain eating virus spreading rapidly from the centre of London and reaching more suburban areas of the country. §   Intercut with earlier scene...
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Location Plans

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 A lot of my filming, as is detailed in my screenplay, is going to take place on streets and given the nature of my film, they will need to be nice and quiet streets with ideally no/very few cars and people for a long enough time to get the right shots and create the isolated, desolate aesthetic that I am trying to achieve. As a result, some roads in Dulwich, as well as Herne Hill, will be the right level of quiet for this. These roads (street view and map view) are detailed below:
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The Arrival

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 The Arrival is based off a photograph of a young girl in a coffee shop, and we can clearly see the influence of that photo in the mise-en-scene, which, given that it is a single take film, is very important. The mise-en-scene has an old fashioned/vintage style, which is due to the fact that it is filmed on a set as oppose to a real place so there is lots of intricate detail (e.g. clocks in the back when she is talking about time etc.). Narratively, she begins with ordering a normal coffee, because she is seemingly sure about not keeping the baby, but then her choice of getting a decaf coffee at the end tells us she has changed her mind. It is a circular structure – she begins talking about caffeine and ends in the same way. This is reflected in the cinematography – as the camera slowly zooms in and then zooms out and we end in the same place that we started. There is also pairing throughout – when she talks about her biological clock, an older woman that looks quite like her walks...
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Over

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Over uses a very interesting reverse narrative structure, as well as having lengthy shots that give us very little information about what we are watching. The effect of this is that we are led to make out own assumptions and decisions about what we think is going to have happened. As such, everything that comes into frame, we begin to assume that it is related to the death that we eventually learn about. For example, when we see that there were muddied up shoes in the evidence, we then assume that the death could somehow be related to the boy we just before saw playing football with his dad.  Another aspect of this film that is very interesting is the fact that we get the perspective of the British suburban population, as oppose to the point of view of the Angolan character that has fallen from the plane. The simple answer is that the audience of the film is supposed to be the British suburban population – it is a more understandable story for us to see the aftermath from an outsid...
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