Final scripts and story's evaluation

After finishing the unit of scripts and story's I feel as though I have learnt a lot of information and have put that into my work. I will be going over and reviewing my development of skills used.

Firstly looking at theories used to create a piece of media, I researched about the use of three act structure, conflict, stereotypes, genre and representation and how they are used in scripts and story's. I looked at what the three act structure was and how it is used to create a story. I used this in comparison to the operator and then used this in my coming of age script. By researching this I was able to learn about how a set up, hook, inciting incident, midpoint, climax and resolution. I put this to use in my coming of age script by representing the hook/inciting incident as my character has failed her past exams and needs specific grades to get into the course she wants to get into. I then showed my mid point and climax as her having a panic attack in her exam. However, I then left the ending open ended so did not follow the typical structure of the resolution (all characters are happy and every thing is okay) this was done so that the audience could interpret the ending themselves. I followed the three act structure as this is needed in script formatting to create the story.

I looked at genre in The Ellington Kid work. I did this by looking at what aspects of genres could be in the short film, I represented this in my work by showing screenshots and doing a write up on comedy scenes and drama scenes. I then wrote up how The Ellington Kid could be made into a horror film - changing the genre. I took this forward and used my genre and conventions work to write my script. My script is a coming of age script, showing a young girl and the brief challenges she faces at her age (GCSEs), this incorporated using conventions such as drama, conflict and development that are commonly seen in coming of age movies.

I produced a piece of work on conflict whilst looking at the opening scene in Game of Thrones. I watched the scene numerous times and took notes on what was going on, how that might pose threat to the character and what inner and external conflict the character might be facing. By doing this I began researching and analysing the social and historical context that could link to the scene and its background. I took conflict on to my script by developing what the character is going through and what they might be thinking about - for example, how my character does not believe she has done well in her exam and how she needs it to get into the course she wants to do and currently has no other plans.

Finally, looking at stereotypes and representation, I created a blog post on how different types of people are represented in films and how this can be a stereotype. This was interesting to look at as it can often show socially incorrect and outdouted ideas, whilst reseaching these stereotypes, I compared the stereotypes to how they have been represented in film and TV. I took this forward within my work and compared these ideas to the film Stand By Me, The Ellington kid and later thought about it during my script writing. This could be the case due to my main character in my script being a teenage girl during a taking her GCSE's and reciving her results, this meant that I made her slightly emotional and stressed and had her show emotion a number of times throughout the scrpt/shot film. I was able to do this well as I understand that position myself and also had carried out the reaseach and thought process of looking into sterotypes.

I found starting my script quite difficult as I wanted to make a good script but did not know where to start. I had many ideas but also wanted to think hard about how to show them and also fit them in with the scrit needing to follow the threeact structure in three pages of writing. When creating characters and scripts/stories, it is best to write what you know as you can understand the situation on a better front. For example, having my character be a 16 year old girl awaiting her exam results is something I have only experienced within the last year so understand the character and the plot well. However, when starting to write my script, I started it off with my character at the table revising, but when I edited and changed my script to make it better, I changed it to emphasise her stress by having her look at the past years grade boundarys/mark scheme. I also think this helped add to the coming of age genre as this is typicaly when a transition of a teenager to "adulthood" is shown.

I also found out lots about script formatting over the unit. I learnt different parts of the factors that go into writing scripts - for example, action lines, character lines, dialogue and sluglines. I showed this in my "Script Formatting" work looking at scripts themselves and them comparing the Stand By Me script and book. I used this when writing my own script. After completing my first draft I went back over my script and corrected any mistakes/changed my script to make it better.

Whilst doing my script formatting, I also learnt what creates a good screenplay by using formatting. For example, action lines should realistically be around 3 lines and should only talk about relevent information, I broke this rule as for parts of my script there was no dialoge and things were only shown/represented by the actors doing something or a camera movement/shot type revealing it. I also looked in action lines showing what the audience see. In my script, I used an action line saying "FADE OUT", showing a transition of the scene. In my script, I used this for showing a time jump. I found it interesting looking into other scripts and screenplays as it gave me more insiration with what might work well.

Over the whole unit, I think I developed my skills well as I was inspired to learn and wanted to do my best in my work. I think over the unit I grew my confidence as I felt like I understood what I was doing more and was also able to ask for help when I needed. Communication was a big factor of my work as I was able to talk to people around me what they had done, what I had done and why we had done them. This also links to teamwork as I felt as we worked as groups often and also bounced of eachother with ideas.

Overall, I would say that I developed my skills in the scripts and stories unit well and worked hard to do this. I also would like to grow my ananlysis of my work by thinking harder about the historical and social context aswell as going into more detail of something that I am analysing.