Screenplay 2nd Draft

 Procrastination

[Establishing Shot: Zoe’s House]

[Scene: Zoe’s Kitchen, Zoe is stood making herself a cup of tea, takes a sip and then she walks into the living room]

Zoe: hey guys, have you done any--

[Zoe looks around and sees the room is empty]

Zoe: guys? [Zoe looks suspicious and then sits on the couch to watch the TV but it’s nothing but static, she changes the channel and it’s still static] what? [She hears a crash and car alarms from outside, she goes to the window and looks outside she then grabs her coat and walks away]

[Scene: Outside Zoe’s house, Zoe runs out and looks around with car alarms blaring off, she then turns to her left and see’s something, the camera then fades to white]

[Scene: Living room, Chris is sat by his computer with his fingers on the keyboard but not typing anything, it is dead silent apart from the sound of a clock ticking, he brings his hands up to his hands, briefly puts his fingers back on the keyboard as if he’s about to type but then brings his hands back to his face, he then looks at the clock and see’s that the time reads 10:20, he then looks back at his computer with the page remaining blank, it then cuts to that night with Chris lying on the couch asleep and the computer still on]

Mysterious Voice: Chris…Chris…Christopher!

[Chris wakes up and sits up and see’s the lead character Zoe on his computer screen]

Zoe: hi

Chris: Zoe?

Zoe: yep

Chris: …am I dreaming or am I losing my mind?

Zoe: doesn’t matter--

Chris: --for me it does--wha--what are you doing here!?

Zoe: what am I doing here? It’s been 12 hours! How come you haven’t finished writing the episode!

Chris: I-I just haven’t been able to come up with a good way to end it; I mean it’s the final episode, how can I end it?

Zoe: you’re a writer! Think of something dumbass!

Chris: now there’s no need to behave like that

Zoe: bite me frog face!

[Chris taps the computer and it changes to his YouTube with Zoe gone, he then sits back and sighs, until Zoe shows up on screen]

Zoe: still here!

[Chris sits back up]

Chris: wha--leave me alone!

[Chris taps the computer several times changing to Wikipedia, Twitter and Google]

Zoe: you can press that button as many times as you want Otacon, you’re not getting rid of me, at least not until you write the episode

[Chris rubs his eyes trying to wake up]

Zoe: hey, have you ever googled “do a barrel roll” it’s really cool

[Chris shuts the computer to turn it off]

Chris: …time for bed

[Establishing Shot: Chris’s house at night and then fades in to morning]

[Scene: Kitchen, Chris walks downstairs looking really tired, he pours himself a cup of tea and takes a sip, he then turns around and see’s Zoe stood behind him and makes him jump]

Chris: AH!

Zoe: did you write the episode yet?

Chris: How are you here!? You’re not even real!

Zoe: I told you last night that I’m not leaving until you write the episode

Chris: why is this important enough for you to give me a mental breakdown!?

Zoe: you’ve been writing this episode for weeks and haven’t thought of anything, and I’m sick of waiting; so I’m here to make sure that you finish writing it

Chris: …you’re not gonna leave me alone until I finish are you?

Zoe: unlikely

Chris: one minute

Zoe: okay

[Chris Leaves]

[Scene: Hallway, Chris enters and pulls out his phone and calls someone]

Dan: [Over the phone] hello?

Chris: hey Dan it’s Chris, listen I don’t think I’m gonna come into work today, I think I’m having a mental breakdown; you see Zoe has come to life and is haunting me until I write the end of the script

Dan: …you know Chris most people pretend to have the flu to get off work

[Chris hangs up and goes back into the kitchen]

Chris: alright then, we’ve got the whole day, let’s get to work

Zoe: okay then

[Chris and Zoe walk away]

[Scene: Living Room, Chris and Zoe sit down on the couch and Chris turns the computer on]

Chris: Alright, let’s get to work

[Cuts back to outside Zoe’s house, repeating the scene from earlier with Chris talking over]

Chris: how about as soon as she leaves the house, she turns to the left, and gets hit by a car!

[Cuts to black as a car crashes, cuts back to the living room]

Zoe: that’s terrible! I don’t wanna die in a car crash! And not to mention the fans would tear you apart

Chris: [Sarcasm] strange, I didn’t think my hallucination would care for my health

Zoe: shut up

Chris: well then you think of something better

Zoe: okay

[Cuts back to the final scene with Zoe talking over the scene]

Zoe: I come out of the house and it turns out that I’m all alone; and then it turns out my house is on an island and I’ve been dead all along!

[Cuts back to the living room]

Chris: …you know for a figment of my imagination you’re not very creative

Zoe: screw you

Chris: okay then well [They start talking over with the footage of what they’re talking about] maybe it ends with the police arriving and you being sent to jail

Zoe: or it ends with a spaceship showing up to take me on adventures

Chris: or maybe you are an alien

[Cuts back to the living room]

Zoe: and my dog is an alien as well and speaks fluent Japanese!

Chris: …we’re not very good at this

Zoe: yeah, you probably are insane to think up these things

Chris: well we’ve gotta do something, I mean it’s not like we can just end it like The Sopranos and cut to black mid sce--

END

Annotated Catalogue 1st Draft

Annotated Catalogue

Item 1

Film: The Breakfast Club (Universal Studios, February 1985, John Hughes)

This is the focus film of my work; I chose this film because it is one of Hughes’ best and most famous, as well as containing and exploring all 4 key elements that I have chosen: Representation of Teenagers, Use of Music, Stereotypes and Representation of Authority; so I will have more to write about this film than any of the others and it has a lot of evidence within the films to help with my points. I have also seen this film more times than any other Hughes’ film and I know it better than any other, so it seems ideal as my focus film.

Item 2

Film: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Paramount Pictures, June 1986, John Hughes)

This is one of the supporting films for my research project; I chose this because it does use most of the elements that I will be exploring, but not all of them. The only element that it doesn’t focus on is the representation of teenagers or their place in society; however it does focus mostly on the other three, but not all four so so it doesn’t seem best suited as my focus film, but there is still plenty within it that would be useful. It is also one of Hughes’ most well-known films and so there is a lot of research information at disposal for this film.

Item 3

Film: Pretty in Pink (Paramount Pictures, February 1986, Howard Deutch)

The third film that I will be using and the second supporting film, I chose this as my third and final film because while it does still follow the themes I will be focusing on, it is also very different from the first two; firstly, it’s the only one not directed by John Hughes, only written, so there is a lot to be discussed on what differences are there, what elements of a Hughes’ film comes from his writing and what comes from his directing. Also, while Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller try to explore all 4 elements, this one focuses heavily on stereotypes, so there is a lot to talk about on that subject with this film more so than the other two.

Item 4

Book: John Hughes and 80’s Cinema - Thomas A. Christie

While this book only helped me with research on two of the films, it still gave me plenty to think of on those two. Even though the book discusses the majority of Hughes’ films, there was nothing in Ferris Bueller that connects to my four key elements. However, it did give me plenty for The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink; for Breakfast Club, it talks about how the rigid social system within High School and for Pretty in Pink it discusses a lot on social class and even makes a comparison of the teen life to politics. So there are a lot of interesting ideas and theories discussed in this book that could be helpful.

 

Item 5

Book: Don’t You Forget About Me – Multiple Writers

This book heavily focuses on how Hughes’ films represented teenagers, as it was written by multiple writers who saw the films when they were teenagers and their reactions towards each of the films. While this item is very helpful for that aspect, as for the other three elements I’m focusing on, maybe representation as authority could be talks about as that is in contrast to representation of teenagers, so while they don’t focus on that, I could discuss the implications made. Also the use of stereotypes used in Hughes’ films and which ones were accurately represented or are even relevant to teenagers still.

Item 6

Book: You Couldn’t Ignore Me if You Tried - Susannah Gora

This book focuses on the “brat pack” the group of actors, who famously collaborated together often, especially with John Hughes films, and while this book includes all three of my chosen films, it doesn’t focus that much on Hughes. However, it still helps me with one of the key elements, the representation of teenagers, by focusing on the actors playing them and what they went through to make sure that they were accurate in their portrayals. However it has been the most helpful so far for Pretty in Pink, as it has a lot more relevant things to say about that than it does Ferris Bueller or Breakfast Club. Such as the casting of certain characters goes against the stereotype they were hoping for, and what restrictions of authority Hughes had to face in real life trying to make this film.

Item 7

Website: http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/08/best-80s-movies/

This is a list of the top 50 80’s films of all time, with two of my selected films appearing on the list, The Breakfast Club at #17 and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off at #5, another Hughes film that was on the list but was not selected by me was Sixteen Candles at #31. This shows just how popular Hughes films are with three of them written/directed by him to be considered some of the best of a decade out of hundreds of films. They also write about each film and why they are in there, and they do relate back to what I am discussing about the films. In the description of The Breakfast Club they mention how the stereotypes and representation of the characters are still relevant today nearly 30 years later. While for Ferris Bueller it brings up an interesting point of the film not being a representation of teenagers, but a representation of what every teenager wants to be; this is a very good point of could be interesting to discuss.

Item 8

Website: http://www.cinemablend.com/reviews/The-Breakfast-Club-440.html

This is a review of The Breakfast Club, and is very positive on the film yet is still able to discuss both the positive elements of it and the areas that need improving, so it goes into a lot of detail which is helpful. The reason why I have chosen this is because the review heavily focuses on the use of stereotypes and the representation of the characters, not just the teens but the teacher as well; and how this film has been able to get right what many films get wrong and it understands its audience and how to properly write teenage characters. There is a lot here that would be perfect for me to talk about while before I saw the representation of authority as how the antagonists are represented, I never thought about them being as complex as the protagonists, which is what this article brings up with the principle being more than he appears to be.

Item 9

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H6ay-dZtvY

This is a video on YouTube called “Top 10 Movie Theme Songs” and Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget about Me” from The Breakfast Club places #5 on the list. The reason why I have used this is because it is very helpful in terms of the use of music, as it discusses the effect the song had on the band’s career and how originally they weren’t even going to record the song and it ended up becoming their biggest hit.

Item 10

Website: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/ferris-buellers-day-off

This is a review of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, it is brief yet talks positively of the film and the reason why I am using this is because a focus of the review is the defiance of authority and whether or not this film is a bad influence on kids. This is interesting for my “representation of authority” point, especially considering that Ferris Bueller has different representations of the authority in Ferris’ life; they’re either bad people or stupid.

Item 11

Website: http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/john-hughes-in-memory

This is an article by famous film critic Roger Ebert writing about the (at the time) recently deceased John Hughes, and discusses what an impact he has made for both the industry and on teenagers. The reason why I am using this is because it doesn’t just discuss how one of his films represents teenagers, but how they all do, and how they compare to other teen films at the time.

De-Selected Items

Website: http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=14432

This is a review of The Breakfast Club from Empire, the reason why this is a de-selected item is because while the review is positive on the film, it is very short and doesn’t go into very much detail on the film, nor does it help me with any of the four key elements that I am focusing on. So although the topic is related to my research project, there is nothing in detail that could aid me in my project, so I deselected it.

Storyboard

 

Short Film Examples (Incomplete)

Seeing as I am doing a comedy short film, here I will be showing five examples of other comedy short films that I will be taking inspiration from. The first of which is called "Coming Out" by Tom Ridgewell.

The reason why I have selected this as one of my examples is because it is obviously a short film and is a comedy, but also is a surreal comedy about a man who can't help but say he's gay when saying hello. Also it is an independent production and is amateurly made; similar to how mine will be made so it is also good for filming techniques and what I can do without professional equipment. In terms of the micro-features, the two that stand out are the use of sound and editing, and how well the two work together, using a lot of editing techniques including montages, sound bridges, and one interesting transition of using a wipe to change the scene. The effect that this gives is that it keeps the short film at a good pace and helps improve the humour, as the director Tom Ridgewell (Known also as TomSka) is famous for making quick sketches on YouTube and his style is usually fast paced and this is actually one of his slower paced sketches. As well as this, timing the music so it happens in between the dialogue and cuts out just as it changes scenes; which is an interesting use of sound bridges connecting the scenes, even if they do seem unnecessary. In terms of cinematography, one noticeable thing is in the majority of shots, the character of Jack is framed in between people or on their shoulders, this could be because he is the focus of the short film and tells the majority of the jokes.

These would all relate to the language of the short film; in terms of industry, I already mentioned that TomSka makes plenty of independent comedy films similar to this and he commonly posts them on YouTube, which is his source for his audience, similar to the majority of these examples. This is becoming far more common these days, people who produce short films, especially those that are comedies are posting their films onto YouTube and are gathering very large audiences and are able to continue to make short films. The ideology of this text is different from most of TomSka’s films by actually having a message in it (if told in a very strange manor). In this case it would be that the film ends with the message “Support Gay Marriage” so that would be what the text is trying to represent and the values of it.

As for this short film, this is more of a satire comedy, based around a secret agent trying to save his partner from the antagonists; however, instead of using regular spy equipment, they use filming equipment, such as a camera, boom mic, etc. The reason why I have chosen this as one of my examples is because it doesn’t follow the conventions of a comedy, but actually uses the conventions of a spy film and then parodies it by replacing the items they use, making it a comedy. This is interesting because even though they follow through the conventions thoroughly, by simply replacing a gun with a camera it is turned into a comedy. The conventions that they follow are the man saving the damsel in distress, high tech equipment, big fight scene with the antagonist, etc.

In terms of cinematography, an interesting technique that both the protagonist and his weapon are concealed at the start, filming him from behind or from a low angle or extreme close-ups, all to avoid his face, this creates a mystery surrounding the character. The same happens with the weapon, we have a lot of extreme close-ups of it being built and then showing the weapon and the protagonists face at the same time. The reason why it is shot like this is because the reveal of the camera as the main weapon being the punchline to the joke on how obsurd this is, this is enforced when the next shot shows the settings on the camera "Photo, Video & Kill". In terms of Mise-En-Scene, as I said previously, the humour comes from replacing spy equipment with camera equipment, so the props create a lot of the humour, such as using cameras as guns, light reflectors as shields etc. This is how the film creates comedy as the rest of the film uses conventions of spy films, but replacing the props suddenly turns it into a satire of spy films.

As for Editing, the first edit in the film is the use of a swipe edit, with the character moving across the camera and changing the scene, this is an interesting technique to use, however it doesn't have all that much meaning to it apart from it is a commonly used technique by the director TimH who uses this technique in a lot of his short films. Another technique they use is an eye-line match, when the protagonist looks down at the camera and it shows that he's setting it to "kill" and then he looks at the antagonists. This is used to develop the narrative, it shows was his intentions are (to kill someone) and then it shows his targets (the antagonists). Finally, for sound, there is very little dialogue within the majority of the film until the end, so for a majority of the film, the atmosphere is made through the music.