Script draft 1

Idea 1

By

Steven Hubbardo

“Idea 1”

FADE IN:

Ext. Location #1 – Day: Mixture of opening shots on the main characters lane (Happiness lane).

Narration over the top (main character is the narrator).

Stanley

“There is an age old question that everyone has asked themselves once in their life time. Some more than others, but still, everyone at some point in their life have asked themselves… When are they going to die… and how? It’s rare that anyone can credibly state the day… location…hour…even the minute you are going to die. Fortunate or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it… my name is Stanley Walnut… and I am that rare occasion.

INT. LOCATION #2 – DAY: In the house, bedroom, above shot looking down at Stanley

Stanley

“My name is Stanley Walnut… and I am that rare occasion” (smug).

SHOT: (Series of various shots of Stanley, his daughter/boyfriend and his wife getting ready in the morning)

Stanley Walnut

(Walking down the hall to wake his daughter up)

“The pain of my life, waking Suzie up every morning…sadly I couldn’t see other things in my future”… (Opens the door to see her own her knees with her boyfriend standing up in with her blocking the lower part of his body)

Stanley

”Suzie wake… oh wow… (Shuts the door fast, close up of his face)

Suzie shouts through the door “Have you never heard of knocking?!”

Stanley

Stanley shouts back “What is wrong with you… at such a young age!”

Suzie

Suzie replies “I am 18 Dad… if you were a good father you would know that!”

Stanley

“A good father” It only seems that way because I have terrible Daughter” (walks halfway up the hall in anger, looks back, realises he took things to far but his stubbornness forces him to carry on walking) “If only I would have listened to Suzie… all this time… she was right”

INT. Location #3 – Day - in Stanley’s bedroom, wide shot of the room. Stanley and Grace in the room (Grace is Stanley’s wife). Grace overhears the argument between him and Suzie and decides to confront Stanley about it.

Grace

“It’s like you want your daughter to hate you!”

Stanley

“It’s like you enjoy arguing with me!”

Grace

“It’s always about yourself” Do you ever consider how other people feel Stan?”

Stanley

“Really” (Pause, heavy sigh) “What is wrong with us lately? All we ever seem to do is argue?”

Grace

“We” More like you! It’s always you! You just don’t care anymore”

(Grace storms out of the room)

Ext. Location #4 – Day – Outside of Stanley’s work Suzie sees him harmlessly getting close with another women, then linking arms, she connects the dots with the arguing between him and Grace to Stanley having an affair.

Int. Location #5 – Day – Morning, Stanley is seen leaving for work. Shot of Stanley driving away then the Gardner arriving around the corner. Cuts into the house, hallway, only natural light from the gaps in the blinds shining down on the pair (Gardner and Grace in the same room) Grace walks to the blinds all the time looking at the Gardner, as she twists the blinds she checks out-side to make sure it is “clear”. Shot from the outside of the blinds closing then fade out.

Meanwhile Stanley is seen pulling up on the road, rushing out of his car as rushes to open the front door, walks around gets right next to the living room door but quickly turns around to pick a folder off from the table in the hall. As he picks up the folder he hears a noise, as he is walking to the living room one foot at a time he opens a draw and pulls out an old looking revolver and a right handed black leather glove, then slowly creeps towards the door. As he is about to reach the door the cat rushes out from the stairs, Stan laughs to himself, looks at his watch and in a panic puts the gun and glove on the side and rushes outside.

Ext. Location #6 – Late Afternoon, Stanley arrives back from work to see the Gardner still there doing the job, zoom in shot of the Gardner and his bright green/orange gloves. Walks into the door staring like a hawk at the Gardner who resists raising his head. Stanley looks at his watch then realising he is three hours overtime.

Stanley

“I hope you don’t expect me to pay you for over time” (In a comical manner)

Gardner

“You don’t have to; it’s the least I could do, after-all your wife is very generous”

Stanley hesitates… ignores the comment and carries on walking. As he reaches the door, about to open it the boyfriend opens it; with a big hand gesture he signals Stanley that he has the right of way with his right hand. On his right hand a black leather glove.

Int. Location #7 – Morning, Grace and Suzie in Suzie’s bed room. Suzie call’s Grace in to discuss what she saw with Stanley and the other women, but she manipulates it to go against Stanley.

Grace

“So what is it you want dear?”

Suzie

“Well, I was off on my lunch break walking past dad’s work... and I saw him with another women... they were holding hands, he even gave her a quick kiss before they crossed the street...”

Grace fuming with rage ran out of the room to see if Stanley was there but Stanley had already left for work. She then runs to the draw Stanley had visited previously to get the gun, she pulls out another one of the two identical handguns but finds one was already missing. There was also only one glove so she picks it up and puts it on her left hand. Still shot of her looking at the gun... fade out.

Int. Location #8 – Late afternoon – Stanley appears home after work, he enters the house to find all the lights off, walks to into the living room and stares at the family picture, remembering how close they were.

Shot’s of the mother driving aggressively with the gun by her side, then to another shot of some unknown character holding a gun walking through the hall way.

Stanley

“They say just as you are about to die you’re life flashes before your eyes in a few seconds. First of all that is not true, it is much longer than a few seconds, in fact it drags out for quite some time... for me I saw many things, the first time I built a tree house with my dad on a bright summers afternoon, the first time I met Grace in a local co-op... She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen... But it was family photo that remained in sight for the longest, remembering how happy we were together, how excited the family were to get our first picture together as one... My heart filled up uncontrollably to the point that I felt it was going to burst. I had so much anger that it went so wrong... but all I could see was the beauty in life, the breath-taking beauty... I couldn’t help but smile... my heart, my soul, and my body... all overflowing with gratitude... one day you will realise what I mean... One day...

Unknown character seen holding the gun behind Stanley’s head...

Bang! Gunshot fade to black hear body hit the floor.

Shot to shot list

Opening shot- Planning to have a shot of the sky, wide shot, setting the scene. Then to slowly move down to reveal the protagonist of the film
Second shot- Straight into the house, close from behind shot
Next shot- quick shots from different angles of putting suitcase down and unzipping, POV, over the shoulder and many other shots.
Next shot- from behind man walking to the window
Nest shot- POV shot looking out at the children
Next shot- POV and over the shoulder shots of the man in the shed
Next shot- All close up shots on the build up to the hanging

Brain Storming for Ideas

Decisions

Ben Willingsworth, boy who could never make his mind up, from big to small he could never make a decision… he would outline 5-10 pro’s and con’s each way for every single choice, whether it is selecting what kind of chocolate he wants or buying different clothes. It got so bad his mum had to pick and lay out his clothes to stop him being late every morning. So ideas of him making choices… picking what clothes to wear, what food to eat, what drink to consume all of that shizen, so think of a script, write it and go with it, build it up for the car hitting scene, sees the man is red but needs to get home, decides something this big will help him improve himself so decides to cross and bam…car hits him…

“There is an age old question that everyone has asked themselves… some more than others, but still, everyone at some point has asked themselves… When and how are you going to die…? It’s rare that anyone can credibly state the day… location…hour…even the minute you are going to die. Fortunate or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it… my name is Ben Willingsworth… and I am that rare occasion” fade in on face lying down on the bed.

“My story if quite a simple one, I live in a four bedroom house, oldest sibling with two annoying little brats”

Kid one “Hey Ben…

Ben: “what?”

Kid one “What clothes did mum pick for you today hahahaah”

Ben “And that is what I deal with… pure immaturity… and I know what you’re thinking… I am a teenager and my mum still picks my clothes… but there is a reason for it, I have been born with this problem where I can’t make decisions”

 From an early age I had this thing; some people call it a problem but I prefer a thing. Either way I was soon to realise how problematic it could be. When I was younger it was deemed as cute… (Shots of him at a young age not being able to decide what packet of crisps to eat, mum thought it was funny so decided to film some amateur footage of me and my problem). Looking back on it, it was rather cute, however as I started to reach my teens the problems started. I could not make a single decision. I was supposed to be entering the age of independence… I couldn’t even decide what food to eat before school. I would end up sitting there for hours just looking at the cereal boxes. My mum attempted everything, buying only one brand… but it just kept getting worse and worse. 

How film posters are represented in popular culture

Film posters can be represented in popular culture in many different ways. Obviously you will see film posters in the area of a cinema, they advertise their goods to attract people to come and watch the movies. But do all the big hit movies get that place on the wall around the area of the cinema's. As the cinema's are businesses they aim to attract as many customers as possible, to do this they must feature the most attractive or most popular films within the showcase of film posters. You will always see the most attractive, big budget, hollywood block-busters in the showcase for film posters. This is just the way they are represented in popular culture. Sometimes the film posters will be accompanied or integrated with cardboard cut outs of the main characters of the movie.

This is an example of a cinema displaying film posters.

However film posters can be represented in different manners, they are also on sale to the public enabling the public to appreciate and buy their favourite films posters. They can use this to serve as a reminder to the feeling's felt whilst watching the movie, it is also used to appreciate a certain actor/actors with posters dedicated just to them in the feature film. Stars such as megan fox would be seen in a seductive pose to seduce and attract consumers to watch the movie and buy the film poster. 

If you look at this film poster you can see that Megan Fox is used as the protagonist in this poster, it is appealing to the people that appreciate the beauty of a women, along with the seductive post and slight view of her breasts, it all add's up to be a successful attraction to see this movie or buy this film poster. Some people will buy posters like this to both appreciate the movie and appreciate the actors involved (Megan Fox's breasts in this case) this is smartly "abused" by the film as they know people (in particular boys) like to see this kind of semi-nudity in a film and film poster.

There is still other ways that film posters are represented in popular culture, they are printed on to t-shirts so you can wear, show and appreciate the film poster and serve as a reminder to the love of that film. It is particularly successful when the film poster represents some sort of comic outlook. Or in the case of transformers, an attractive actress on the front revelling slight semi-nudity. As a young teen, having a well renowned attractive figure with partial breast showing is a popular choice. For this reason it makes it successful in the popular culture. However they are not always in production, the most popular is that of movie super heroes. Everyone appreciates their childhood superhero on a shirt, it is seen as comical and dare I say it "cool".

What are the common conventions of the film poster?

A common convention to do with film posters would usually include a clear conveyed message to the audience, its basic aim is to attract and appeal to the audiences interests. It will usually combine an appealing picture with a key phrase or word in the movie, some movie genre's give clues to the plot in the film poster, to interest people that see it as a challenge. However many film posters also play on the actors they have in the movie, they will put emphasis on big and famous actors. For example, if you went to see a John Wayne movie, you would go because of John Wayne, sometimes you might not even know the name of the film but the shear fact that John Wayne is starring as the lead role is enough to convince you to go. There are some basic rules for when it comes to designing a poster. Too much text is not advised, an overload of information will be ignored by audiences walking by, you need to attract the audience with a gripping picture or big feature actor. The most text used should usually consist of a key phrase or key words and the usual credits along with the name of a big actors is they are present. Unclear structure. If key elements such as objectives, approach, conclusions, or perspectives are missing, everyone who is not an insider on your subject will not understand why your poster is relevant. The poster has to be relevant to the genre to theme of the feature film. Inappropriate structure. Many people blindly apply the standard structure of a written report, thereby using their poster as a sort of miniature article, which almost automatically leads to a lot of text. There is no standard structure for a poster, but the normal conventions use only necessary text. Poor figures. Some figures may be real puzzles, with incomprehensible legends, secret codes, small lettering, and cryptical captions, etc. In the terms of common conventions you would try to use readably font and figures.vInformation overload. Many presenters overload their posters with too many data, and greatly overestimate the time that the average visitor is willing to spend on the poster. A common convention is too only use necessary phrases and words, you need to attract your target audience, making them read long sentences will not do the job, visual attraction is the easiest and most effective method for increasing interest in the certain feature film. The common conventions attempt to attract the audience without having to explain what is featured on the poster, no one is there to present the information so you have to make it clear, attractive and stand out compared to the rest.

Progression of my Idea's

Idea 1
Okay...... one boy, one girl, wife and husband, potential neighbours and a Gardner. Boy in the age bracket of 18-20.. girl younger, about 16-17. Wife and Husband have a clear problem in their marriage. Very evident when you look at how they get ready for school/work. Boy and girl talking over skype or  in person, undecided as of yet! The girl shares all her problems about their family breaking down, and has suspicion of her dad cheating on her mum, when in-fact it is the other way around. suspscion first arose when she saw her dad leaving work early with another women linking arms, but she does that with everyone and nothing was meant by it, children are known to have minds that start to kick in, and imagination linked the linking of arms with the hostlilty at home.. the only possible outcome was an affair ( In her mind that is) She will show this by talking to her boyfriend about it, and generally being negative towards her dad. The wife is then seen with the gardener, she is seen to eye him up and down and attempt to suduce him with various poses and pouts. Or conversly the gardner is seen to make gestures that would suggest an intrest her, long stares waiting for eye contact with a cheeky wink. Something a long them lines to enforce the potential for an affair. With all the attempts seeming to fail she gives up. A scene of her by herself in her room, talking in the mirror telling her to invite him in, have an "innocent" drink, when in fact she know's that will develop into something else. In terms of the gardner, he decides to approach the wife, ask's for a drink smoothly and politely. After that he goes in to return the cup, they stare at each other for a few seconds.. then rush in to each other, very fast and swift movements, picks her up and carry's her into the bedroom.. fade out. Fade back in to see them out of breath covered by bed covers, reasonably sweaty, she looks so satisfied as if she had been depreived, the lack of intercourse between the wife an husband  is suggested at the start when he woke up early to masturbate in the toilet when his wife was asleep. There needs to be a shot of the gardner at work, with stand out gloves, trimming the plants with a close up of the draper, this will become important furthur down the line. The connectiona and emphasis of these items are key to understand the final plot, the boyfriend and the gardner have the same gardening equipment, I may do introducing shot's, one shot being a dicsount offer of the gloves and drapper together in a buy no one could resist, introduce the main items early on. Anway the two people will wear and use the same gardening tools, the boyfriend will wear them when using them to practise his favourite hobby.. gardening.. and obviously the gardner will use them when working at the main house. The daughter tells her mother about her theory of her husband cheating on her.. in a fit of rage either steals the gardening equipment off the gardner, or they agree to deal with him, she maybe gives the gardener a propostition, if she kills him they can be together.. either way it looks like the husband is going to die.. the question is how and who? I may use the gloves as the main item, they both think to use that to prevent finger prints, I am still debating whether to use a gun or the draper, the draper would seem to be more messy, and the gun is a bit to cliche, but the gun seems easier to use and create on screen, with the help of some effects, it just needs to be believeable. I also debating on having a narrator, like the husband speaking from hindsight, knowing that his deaf is near and speaking about it. At the moment it seems like all my ideas are muddled up, I need to lay and plan out all of my ideas and make some sort of achievable but effective storyline.

Idea 2: Quite simply, and old man reflecting back on his life, seeing all his mistakes, all of his moments of "glory.. but one mistake that stands out, one mistake that changed his life completely.. one mistake he can apoligize for as much as he likes but never can the damage be undone. He will narrate that opening something a long them lines, then it will fade out. "But before all of that, I was living quite a good life, I had an alright job, loving family life, in an average 5 bedroom house" A girlfriend for 3 years, 3 months and 15 days. It was her/ his birthday, she on the over hand was not as rich, in fact she lived in a bungalow 2 bedrooms, just her and her mum. To make matters worse her and her mum never really saw eye to eye, they would fight and argue all the time, the anger caused by the family problems reflected on to the realtionship until it got to a breaking point, it just built and built up, usually the boy could take it but on that day he found out he didn't get into the uni he wanted to go to, and he missed out by 2 marks for one of his subjects, he tried and tried but the university would not accept him. He felt like all his hard work was for nothing, he had never had such a bad feeling, it slowly turned into rage, his girlfriend came round to try and comfort him but he had gone to his quite spot near a local stream, he saw it as his only safe place when his anger built up, his girlfriend turned up as he saw it rudely, it was his spot and he was not happy about it, he tried to walk away as he could feel his anger building up, she grabbed his arm to hold him back and try to talk to him, in his fit of rage he pushed her, not that hard but hard enough to make her stumble backwards, as she was stumbling she trips over a low part of a bridge and back flips off the bridge.. the boyfriend races over to see if she is fine.. to be greeted with her empaled body lying still on the streams bed, a metal pole has pieced through her abdomin, as she layed there all you could see was the water slowly turning red with one tear falling down her right eye. The shot will then fade out back to the old man.. he will also have one tear coming down the right eye, "I could always deal with the life sentence... I could always deal with the pain of letting people down.. I could always deal with the hatred forced upon me for what I did.. but I could never deal with the image of her.. laying there.. so still... the one I loved for so long.. just laying there.. all because of me.. how can you learn to deal with such a thing? Still after all this time.... how many times I have sorry will never make up for what I done...I can only see one way out of this..." camera slowing zooming out to see a noose.. then him standing on a chair.. then him wobling the chair until it falls.. he just hangs there... fade out.