A strange thing occurred the other day. I’ve been slightly aware of it before but it's never been as strong as this.
A writer creates characters (to an extent) and creates or portrayals the world they live in. So we give life essentially. But I’ve never had the realisation that it's actually the other way around. Its these scripts, characters and stories that give life to us. It may sound strange but it's true.
It's down to my upcoming war drama feature script for my major in the third year.
It feels good to say that because I know it's true and that’s part of my theory. The script is set during the Second World War and is further from anything I’ve ever written or would attempt to think of writing. But somehow I am. It demands an amount of research that I don’t even want to think about. But at the same time I’m excited about it because it’s a challenge.
I’ve never had this kind of feeling with a script before. I’ve had big feelings but this is the strongest and it's hard to explain. It just feels more right than anything. My instincts tell me that this story is something special and the challenge I’ve set myself up for is without a doubt worth it.
This script has given me more confidence than anything and it seems to be sticking, which is good. For the first time in a while I’m actually happy to be at university and all the things I worried about before and that got me down have just disappeared. I’m now thinking forwards and about making progress instead of the opposite, which is rather cool.
'The writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master- something that at time strangely wills and works for itself.'
-Charlotte Bronte
Showing posts with label WWII Drama Screenplay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WWII Drama Screenplay. Show all posts
Monday, 3 March 2008
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
A World War II Drama.
The genre of a feature script contender for my third year. It's further from anything I’ve written or thought I’d ever be interested in writing. The only reason being, I don’t think I’m good enough.
At first I was intimidated at writing a war piece because I didn’t think I’d be able to achieve it. It would take a lot of research and the quality and level of detail would need to be perfect. But then I thought the backdrop of the war does bring a nice contrast and unusual twist to this type of story. Not to mention the story itself, which is really moving and hopefully an original side to the war.
I’ve had the title and a story idea for years. But it was an idea that I knew would have its time 'much later' when i actually had a career rather than 'much sooner' when i don't.
Initially it was a novel idea with a brief description but a year or two later it turned into a film. That story idea was only a page which consisted of a few characters and the main character's story development. That still stands but the setting has been shifted from the present day to the past and actually during the war.
This idea is a significant development in my writing and attitude as a writer and has opened my mind to many possibilities in terms of genre and setting. Before I limited myself to a few specific genres and was mainly interesting in contemporary dramas about people. They were the scripts I would be comfortable with writing and didn't look in the direction of the others because they were far from what I thought I wanted to tell or could tell. But at the core the same always remains; people and their dramas. So it doesn't matter where its set or under what context. It's still about people and what its like to be human. But the challenge in a script shouldn't just be in the emotional story but also in its arena and setting and how that's used to enhance the story and its characters.
Overall, this script has taught me to avoid what is repetitive and easy in a story and go for the challenge and originality in every script.
At first I was intimidated at writing a war piece because I didn’t think I’d be able to achieve it. It would take a lot of research and the quality and level of detail would need to be perfect. But then I thought the backdrop of the war does bring a nice contrast and unusual twist to this type of story. Not to mention the story itself, which is really moving and hopefully an original side to the war.
I’ve had the title and a story idea for years. But it was an idea that I knew would have its time 'much later' when i actually had a career rather than 'much sooner' when i don't.
Initially it was a novel idea with a brief description but a year or two later it turned into a film. That story idea was only a page which consisted of a few characters and the main character's story development. That still stands but the setting has been shifted from the present day to the past and actually during the war.
This idea is a significant development in my writing and attitude as a writer and has opened my mind to many possibilities in terms of genre and setting. Before I limited myself to a few specific genres and was mainly interesting in contemporary dramas about people. They were the scripts I would be comfortable with writing and didn't look in the direction of the others because they were far from what I thought I wanted to tell or could tell. But at the core the same always remains; people and their dramas. So it doesn't matter where its set or under what context. It's still about people and what its like to be human. But the challenge in a script shouldn't just be in the emotional story but also in its arena and setting and how that's used to enhance the story and its characters.
Overall, this script has taught me to avoid what is repetitive and easy in a story and go for the challenge and originality in every script.
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Feature. Early Thoughts.
Probably way too soon to be thinking about it. But I have been. I’ve been thinking about the types of things I could do for it. It's a big undertaking and will need a lot; story and character-wise to carry the weight of ninety-minutes.
Initially, like I thought with the one hour drama, I’d do something different. Sinking (Narratives) and Marlow Road (Audiences) are in the family-drama arena (from the parents point of view) and I thought I’d challenge myself for sixty-minutes and do something in a different genre. But that didn’t happen - although the main focus in Requiem (One Hour Drama) is a teenager and only child. So something did change.
So now I’m thinking that for my feature I’ll do something different. But now I know I won’t.
Initially I thought: A feature. Cool, I’ll do one of my sci-fi films. I had one in mind, which is essentially a futuristic cop conspiracy/thriller but with a twist and is pretty straightforward. But then I thought: Sci-fi?
I know I want to write sci-fi someday but my main passion and one of the big things I want to write is the offbeat family drama or Indie drama as it may be better known as. The dysfunctional family is my calling. There's something quite remarkable about these films, which are essentially dramas but offer so much more about life and what it is to be human. Its often presented in black comedic form and that's the beauty of it.
It's the comic relief from life that keeps us alive (mentally & physically) and no other film highlight that importance. Similar examples to my own aspirations are cult films like; The United States Of Leland, The Squid And The Whale, Imaginary Heroes, Igby Goes Down, Thumbsucker, Storytelling, American Beauty, etc. Although they're not exactly what I want to do they are the closest examples. (It's this type of storytelling that's missing from the small screen. Hello Mr. T.V Executive!)
Anyway, getting back to the point- I thought it would be more useful writing something in the vein of what I wanted to write feature-wise (after I left uni) than something that‘s limited to something that I want to try someday. So that got me thinking and a few existing coming of age-like features came to mind. There’s a main bunch that I’ve been developing over the years and I‘ll probably choose one of those. But by having to pick one (if it works out) I feel that I’m choosing ‘to lose it’ - because I know if I write it for the university then there’s no chance of it existing outside - not to say that it's amazing and will be sold. But it's nice to know that every idea you have has a chance.
But the way I’m looking at it is that a) it can be used as a spec-script and b) it will give me experience of not only writing a feature but one in the vein of some of the serious projects that I want to write in the future. So I hope it will give me enough experience and knowledge and push me to write the others. On the other hand I may not even choose an existing idea I might even create something afresh, which would be pretty cool. But I think it is worth considering testing and fully exploring one of them.
Initially, like I thought with the one hour drama, I’d do something different. Sinking (Narratives) and Marlow Road (Audiences) are in the family-drama arena (from the parents point of view) and I thought I’d challenge myself for sixty-minutes and do something in a different genre. But that didn’t happen - although the main focus in Requiem (One Hour Drama) is a teenager and only child. So something did change.
So now I’m thinking that for my feature I’ll do something different. But now I know I won’t.
Initially I thought: A feature. Cool, I’ll do one of my sci-fi films. I had one in mind, which is essentially a futuristic cop conspiracy/thriller but with a twist and is pretty straightforward. But then I thought: Sci-fi?
I know I want to write sci-fi someday but my main passion and one of the big things I want to write is the offbeat family drama or Indie drama as it may be better known as. The dysfunctional family is my calling. There's something quite remarkable about these films, which are essentially dramas but offer so much more about life and what it is to be human. Its often presented in black comedic form and that's the beauty of it.
It's the comic relief from life that keeps us alive (mentally & physically) and no other film highlight that importance. Similar examples to my own aspirations are cult films like; The United States Of Leland, The Squid And The Whale, Imaginary Heroes, Igby Goes Down, Thumbsucker, Storytelling, American Beauty, etc. Although they're not exactly what I want to do they are the closest examples. (It's this type of storytelling that's missing from the small screen. Hello Mr. T.V Executive!)
Anyway, getting back to the point- I thought it would be more useful writing something in the vein of what I wanted to write feature-wise (after I left uni) than something that‘s limited to something that I want to try someday. So that got me thinking and a few existing coming of age-like features came to mind. There’s a main bunch that I’ve been developing over the years and I‘ll probably choose one of those. But by having to pick one (if it works out) I feel that I’m choosing ‘to lose it’ - because I know if I write it for the university then there’s no chance of it existing outside - not to say that it's amazing and will be sold. But it's nice to know that every idea you have has a chance.
But the way I’m looking at it is that a) it can be used as a spec-script and b) it will give me experience of not only writing a feature but one in the vein of some of the serious projects that I want to write in the future. So I hope it will give me enough experience and knowledge and push me to write the others. On the other hand I may not even choose an existing idea I might even create something afresh, which would be pretty cool. But I think it is worth considering testing and fully exploring one of them.
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