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Script Writing

Script writing workshop

During the beginning of the Major Collaborative Project, we all participated in a script writing crash course so that we could begin the notes, the treatment and therefore begin the script writing.

Notes/Treatment/Script writing/ title development and characters

Firstly, to begin our notes and ideas for our scripts, we had to research our inspiration and what we want to base our script idea around, for example The Inbetweeners. This would help include character personalities, outfits, hairstyles, location, what year it is and relationships. Moreover, using our notes would help format the first treatment so that we can begin creating the title, e.g magic marvin and begin writing the summary of the episode. This would also include a list of characters such as the main character, Marvin, his bestfriend and girlfriend and finally his mum, with the descriptions and bios for each character. Once the treatment for the script was created, we then began to look at story structures such as the 5 point structure so that we could work together and produce the script with all of our notes and treatment.

Working collaboratively during this task was very successful and beneficial for all of us as we were able to include and express everyones ideas when creating our notes and treatment so that our script could be the best it could be and also give credit to everyone involved. For example, a individual action that I suggested during this task was that for our title in the treatment, I recommended that we have a short and snappy title for the script so that it pulls the viewers in quickly and keeps their attention.

Improvisation

This script wrirting crash course was very beneficial in the short term and long term affect of writing our scripts as it allowed us to come up with as many ideas as possible and enabled us to think out of the box and more with our imagination by improvisation.

For example, a improvisation technique that we used to create a more of a idea around the initial characters was hot seating. Using this technique allowed us to gain more in depth details about the characters that we created in the first treatment so that we could then learn more about each of their personalities and therefore enable us to begin writing character profiles for them.

Using improvisation was very beneficial for us all as it helped us to create a more organic and raw character, someone who we could connect to personally and physically so that we could therefore create a real script and really show each characters emotions indepth so that we could create a bond between the characters and the audience. As a result of this, it would make the audience feel more connected to the episode whilst watching it.

First Individual treatment

Furthermore, once I had finished looking at the initial characters for the Magic Marvin script, I began wiring my own indvidual treatment.

Firstly, I started off with creating my own mind map filled with information such as the plot, location, characters and the genre. Having this information on a mind map would help me to explore different ideas and look at my options for this script. As a result of creating these notes, this allowed me to write my logline for the episode so that I could show my idea of the overall plot for the magic marvin episode which highlighted important information that would happen in the script. Moreover whilst writing my first treatment, I was able to use my information from the character profiles we created in groups earlier on to write the descriptions about the characters in the treatment, giving in depth facts about each character.

Writing out this treatment for the magic marvin episode was very beneficial and important as it enabled me to test out my initial idea for the episode, which was basing it around the idea that Marvin was a bad magician but wanted to proove that he was the best. This allowed me to present my idea to the class and recieve any feedback from anyone so that my idea can become better and so the script can progress in a postitive way in the future. It also allowed me to gain any more ideas for the script which i could add in so that the plot could become more interesting and enticing for the viewers.

Individual script writing

In todays session, we focused on individually writing the first draft of our scripts which mine was for the Magic Marvin episode.

Whilst writing the first draft of my script for Magic Marvin, I had to open the first scene with an intresting introduction to Marvins character to show the type of person that he is to the audience so that they get a clear image of a needy, weird but funny teenage boy who loves to do magic but is shown in the first scene that his family do not support him and think he is a failure which can be seen when he has an argument with his sister at the beginning. Moreover, opening the episode with this scene also shows clearly the type of relationship he has with his family and how they act as obstacles towards his goal- becoming a magician.

Moreover, I worked collaboratively with others for this task, by helping each other with new ideas we could use for our script writing, as earlier on in the week we collectively made mind maps for us to gather as many ideas as possible that we could use when thinking of plot ideas and scene ideas. This was very beneficial as I was able to use these notes when writing my own first draft.

An individual idea that I suggested during the collaborative task was to also add more details about the characters we want to have in our scrips so that we get a better understanding of their motivations and helps us write more about them and how they would react to certain things.

However, during the collaborative task I felt that I felt that not many ideas were flowing as we all had a mental block in the beginning, so moving forward, I believe we should do some acting exercises to help our creativity.

Writers room

In todays workshop, we participated in a writers room where we got to share all of our scripts with ideas and feedback.

During this session, we came together to read everyone's individual scripts that we have been working on for the past couple of weeks. This was a highly successful writers' room as each person\group was able to get some feedback on what to improve on to make their script even better. For example, one thing that we needed to improve on was that we needed to add more jokes to the script so that we get mockumentary effects for the viewers.

Moreover, I have worked collaboratively during this task, as were helped improve each others scripts during this session by giving feedback or any other ideas that would benefit the script and help bring out the Mockumentary side to it, for examplefeedback that I recieved from others was to add more intwerviwers for the side characters so that the audience can get to know them too.

An individual action that I suggested for my script during the writers room to add more clocking to the camear from the characters in funny or awkward moments so that the viewers can get a better insight to how that character is feeling during that moment, making the audience feel more engaged and experience how they are feeling with them.

On the other hand, I felt that the collaborative task was time consuming as it took a while to go through everyones scripts and then have to go through a lot of feedback at the end which slowed down other groups from sharing their scripts, so mving forward, I recommend that we all have joint feedback at the very end so that we do not waste time.

Improvisation duologue scenes (Acting Attack)

In todays session we looked at improvising some scenes in our scripts to see how they would turn out after being written.

Although we struggled with creating a scene with our characters that we created in the script at first, we were able to put something together in the end. For example, we created a scene set in a classroom where there is a show and tell and Marvin (the magician) is showing off his magic tricks and all the students have different perspectives on his performance, some judge, some love it and others do not care. This was highly successful as this performance gave us inspiration for what else we could add to our script. However, in the future, we need to work more on our characters in the script by doing techniques such as hot seating so that we can build a lot more character development and therefore create better improvisation.

Furthermore, I worked collaboratively with others during the improvisation task as we all worked together too help put in ideas fo how we should improvise this scene. For example, before improvising the scene, we helped each other out by helping to get know more about our characters we were about to perform so that we could create a more stronger performance when improvising it.

A individual action that I suggested was that we looked over any notes we made from our character profiles so that we didnt waste time in the collaborative task trying to help each other figure out more about our characters, when we could quickly look at our inital notes from previous sessions that we made together about the characters.

Directors notes

In todays session, we fortuantly got the chance to recieve notes from the director to help improve our scrip.

A piece of directors note that I recieved after showing my script in the writers room and improvised a scene from it was to do more research on British mockumentarys. Doing research on different British mockumentaries, such as this country and the office, has given me a lot more inspiration on what to add to our first draft of the script that my group and I are writing. This was highly successful as we were able to generate more ideas from the inspirations and create more scenes which we got valuable feedback on.

Moreover, I worked collaboratively with others during this task by helping each other create a powerpoint and moodboards filled with information and inspiration about different British mockumentarys so that we could use as much notes and facts as possible to make our scripts much better by giving that mockumentary effect. A individual action that I recommended during this task was to watch some Mockumentarys and indentify any camera angles they use so that we could use them to put into our script to get a clearer image of how we want the scene to be planned out.

However, during the collaborative task, I felt that it took up a lot of time creating power points, so moving forward I beleive we should create mind maps and diagrams with our notes so that it can be done more efficiently and quickly.

Plot points

During todays lesson, we looked at putting plot points into our script writing to improve the storyline and make it more interesting.

In order to begin adding plot points into our script, we had to make sure that we had a conflict in one of the scens that has an impact on the protagonist and causes some sort of conflict that we can add to the event to make the plot move forward so that the main character can eventually achieve their goal .For example, a plot point I added was when Marvins mum doesnt support his magic and wont let him do the talent show at his school as she feels to embaressed an refuses.

Furthermore, I have worked collaboratively with my group to create significant plot points to make impacts to the protagonist as well as the other characters in the script. For example, a plot point that we contributed to was when he performed in the talent show at the end of the episode. This helped to show the viewer's how hardworking Marvin is, which showed everyone who did not believe in him that he can do it, which was phenomenally successful in showing a different side to Marvin and the other characters in that scene.

An individual action that I suggested when creating the plot points in the script was to add them when the tone of the script changed and we needed to show that change in emotion through the characters too so that we could get that full effect from the plot point and so that it shows a purpose to the viewers, making it more impactful and powerful.

However, during the collaborative task, I felt that not everyone got to share their idea of what point plot we could use in the script, so moving forward, I recommend that we should all go around individually and share our ideas so that everyone gets the chance to and so new ideas are explored.

Scene- by- scene notes

In todays workshop we focused on our scene-by-scene notes so that we can ammend them and make the script much better.

In order to make sure that my script so far for the Magic Marvin episode was perfect and did not need much editing, I went through my scene-by-scene notes from my director and pupils and make sure they were edited into my scrip. For example, a note that I had for one of my scenes was to have more zoom in's with the camera on some lines to make a more impact and create that sense of awkwardness. Another note that my director gave me for one of my scenes was to have an interview with Marvins sister to see more of her character and show that she does support him deep down because she loves him.

Furthermore, I worked collaboratively for this task by helping each other find ways to ammend the notes given on some seans in our scripts. Working collaboratively with others helped make our scripts much more funnier as we were able to suggest acting techniques that we have learnt such as the double take into our script to make it more enjoyable and interesting for the viewers.

Moreover, an individual idea that I recommended was to add more scenes where the protanganist speaks directly to the camear even when its not an interview. I felt that having this in some scenes would be beneficial as it would enage the audience more and feel like they are with us right now, grabbing their attention throughout.

However, during the collaborative tasks I felt that there was too many conflicts among everyone when deciding how we can go around them notes and make them better, so moving forward I believe we should come up with as many ideas as possible and allow the director to choose the best possible idea so that everyone has a fair chance.

Group second draft and editing

In our last session on our script writing for our Mockumentary series, we focused on finishing our scripts in groups and editing them for the final time.

In order to make sure that the script for the Magic Marvin episode had finished with all of its edits and emmedments, we read through the script as a group at least three times, highlighting any spelling corrections, punctuation and where we can add any pauses whilst saying it out loud as we can see when they feel more natural to add them into. Reading through our script allowed us to make sure that all of our scenes work and see which bits seem un-natural so we can quickly ammend them and help the scene flow more.

Moreover, we also worked collaboratively as a group whilst writing the second draft of the Magic Marvin script as we all looked through our notes that we made in our comedic John wright workshop and used everything we learnt such as his techniques like the comic stop and how we can add them in certain bit of our script so that we can show a variety of skills in our performance as well as give that mockumentary effect to the audience.

Furthermore, an individual action that I suggested during the final edits of our script was to try and act out some scenes where we feel it seems unrealistic or not natural so then we can think about it physically and how they would say it emotionally so that we can get a more impactful performance, rather than one that feels unnatural.

However, during the collaborative task, I felt that it became time consuming having to read through the script a couple of time, so moving forward, I feel that we should read the script many times at home before coming to leason with all of our ideas prepared to discuss straight away instead of wasting time and having to read through it multiple times.