Wednesday morning consisted of a couple of brief talks from Laura Coull and Simon Welsford before moving onto story-telling workshops.
Laura's talk was extremely helpful as it provided information concerning work experience and placements that could enhance our learning experience as TV Production students. Other beneficial information such as how to fill out risk assessment forms and where to find more inside information about TV Production was provided.
I learnt of the website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy which can be used to find more inside information about TV Production and how shows are made.
Simon's talk helped to cover some of the basics to do with story telling. Here are some of the things I learnt from the lesson:
Key story ingredients:
- character
- goal (something they haven't got / need to solve / need to find)
- conflict (equilibrium needs to be broken [then maybe rebalanced])
- change (the protagonist must be different in some way by the end)
The idea:
You should be able to answer the following questions about your idea:
- who is it about? what? when? where? why? how?
- is it dramatic? / can it be dramatised?
- is it unpredictable / original / unique?
- do I care about the character / story?
Story - the chronological series of events
Plot - how to tell the story
Theme - what the story is really about
The theme gives the script emotional depth
The building blocks of a script = character + structure
Characters:
- who are they?
where do they come from?
- beliefs?
- flaws?
- wants / needs?
- what are they risking?
After these brief talks we then proceeded to participate in story telling workshops. One aspect of these workshops was speed pitching. During this session we were given limited time to come up with 25 word pitches for 3 different scenarios using articles from newspapers we had brought in.
1. Big budget Hollywood thriller with big star
(News article used - Curtis Hanson: Oscar Winning writer and director dies aged 71)
Initial idea:
71 year old man (Robert DeNiro) gets murdered by government spies but leaves film for son to find.
-The idea was too vague and confusing so we decided to give more context and detail. We also decided against the man being murdered as the race to find the unfinished film would be thrilling enough so the murder felt unnecessary.
Final idea:
Director Robert DeNiro dies and leaves note for son about unfinished film (containing secret information). A race occurs between son and government to find film. (25 words)
2. British comedy for late night channel 4
(News article used - Jet 2 bans six 'drunken' passengers after trouble on a flight)
Initial idea:
A group of teenagers create a character who then moves in the next day.
- We liked the idea but again it lacked detail and also didn't feel like a late night channel 4 programme. To make it fit the scenario better we took inspiration from channel 4 shows such as The Inbetweeners and Glue and added things like alcohol to the mix.
Final idea:
Group of drunk students create character who then moves in the next day and has to be taught how to live in the real world. (25 words)
3. Low budget short film set in council estate
Initial idea:
Girl's mum meets a man who turns their life around. The pair get engaged but the man starts to pursue the girl.
- Again, we liked the idea but it just didn't feel right. Therefore we decided to switch the roles around a bit.
Final idea:
Girl's mum meets a man who turns their life around. The pair get engaged but the daughter starts to pursue the fiancé. (22 words)
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