PD4C - Assignment - Screenplay Changes

I decided to change certain parts of the script that was given to us. Here is where:

1. The name of the character was changed from Bogdan to Neil Down. There was no major reason for this change.

2. In scene one, Neil stands by a pond instead of by the roadside. This is because it was difficult to find a safe roadside to film at that had a grass verge nearby. Cars are still clearly visible behind him, so that part was kept in-tact.

3. In scene five, Neil is sitting another room within the ‘government office’ to count his money instead of on a bench. This was because I couldn’t find a suitable external location where a bench or some form of seating was available with an amateur football game (or something similar) was being played behind. Filming indoors would eliminate this problem yet would still achieve the same effect.

4. In scene nine, instead of showing Neil swimming underneath the water, I decided to show him doing weights in his bedroom. This was due to required equipment being unavailable to me (waterproof video cameras etc.) and it still showed him doing a general activity he enjoys and partakes in to relax him and relieve his stresses.

5. In scene ten, we return to the location that was used in scene one. This was changed to convey continuity and impact of the film and shows how the beginning and end of the story has changed.

The rest remains unchanged, however.

PD4C - Portfolio Exercise - Seeing The Story: Working the Script

I have decided to complete this journal entry about Dress To Kill (1999), a stand up comedy by Eddie Izzard.

1. Possible floor plan…

PD4C - Assignment - Script Decision

I have decided to focus my film on the script 'Holding Pattern'. I felt it was the most feasable and fun script of them all and I am looking forward to filming in the next few months!

PD4C - Portfolio Exercise - Seeing The Script: Premise

Armageddon premise:

After New York is damaged by hundreds of small meteorites, NASA formulate a plan to send a rocket up to a large asteroid heading to destroy Earth and blow it up from the center outwards, therefore sending the two halves and releasing the planet from being obliterated.

Armageddon point of view:

What belief or outlook does the story seek to express?

Audience point of view - The story is out to show that this planet is not invulnerable and although one unavoidable event from space (such as an Earth-bound asteroid) can destroy everything, there are forces out there (NASA etc., in this case) constantly on the look-out for such threats and plans are ready to be made to try to remove those dangers in extremely quick time. It also shows how mankind, no matter what background, religion, color etc., can work together and provide evidence that we can all work together and aim for the same thing when we really need to.

From whom or what does this thematic concern emerge?

Authorial or storyteller’s point of view - The thematic concern emerges from the discovery of an asteroid that is heading straight for Earth that is large enough to destroy everything living on it. Throughout the film, the narrator explains the events, from the realization of the threat at hand through to the climax of the film and finally, how it all ends.

What is the main character and what makes him or her important?

Authorial or storyteller’s point of view - There are seven central characters (five on the rocket, one daughter/love interest and one main NASA staff member), although one of those five on the rocket could be considered the main character. He can be thought to be the main character for a number of reasons:

1. After the asteroid is discovered, NASA sends out men to pick him up from an oil rig that he own/where he works to get his assistance.
2. Once agreeing to go with the NASA workers, he tells them he will only go if he takes some of the workers from the rig with him (that are his best friends and turn out to be some of the central characters throughout the film).
3. He is the character that keeps the other characters sane whilst in space.
4. He is the father of one of the central characters (who is brought along when the main character goes with the NASA workers and is dating on of the rig workers (who is also brought along when the main character goes with the NASA workers)).
5. The detonator to set the bomb off to destroy the asteroid is damaged and he stays behind when several of the central characters are on the rocket to head home to manually detonate the bom