Moving Narrative Evaluation - 18th May - BAFI102

Wednesday 18th May 2016                              Moving Narrative                                Alistar Gall

Written Evaluation - Bloody Stake Out

For this module I had to create a 6-10 page self-contained script, correctly formatted. I decided to research into existing scripts to help format my script, in my case I referred to “The American” which was a screenplay written by Rowan Joffe, based on the novel “ A Very Private Gentleman” by Martin Booth. 

I participated well within the lessons and the exercises that were set. They enabled me to create a protagonist with a goal i.e. Paddy wants to find out what his neighbor Cameron was up too. I then created a protagonist with a setback i.e. Cameron was always on the move, acting shifty and carrying black sacks, a shovel and rope from his house to his car. From the character bio’s I was able to create a dramatic situation using Aristotle’s theory.

I thought about how the beginning, middle and end could be storyboarded for my short film script, possible camera angles, sound and additional dialogue for the content which were developed as the exercises went on i.e. dramatic situation, monologue, 2-3 page script as well as a presentation which I thought was useful as it helped to engage my peers with my idea, deciding around what I could add to make my content a lot more interesting for the reader. The mood Reel helped me to visually portray how I wanted the scenes to look and feel – wrote my script with words that could be seen and heard.

I tried to bring the reader into my scenes as late as possible and finished them as early as possible to make them want to carry on reading. The majority of dialogue can be found at the end of my script, where the protagonist and antagonist finally crossed paths.

Reading back on my character bios I have noticed that I have developed my final script a lot when compared to my first drafts, I have changed the ages, even tinkered with the characters descriptions. I feel like the reading of “Walk the Line” script has played a part in the style of my writing as I feel like I have set my main characters apart, given my script a sense of loneliness, just like in Walk the Line where Joaquin Phoenix’s life continuously goes from good to bad due to the excessive drug taking and drinking, while he’s on tour with his band, he becomes further apart from the other main character Reese Witherspoon.

I now understand how much crafting that a screenwriter would have to do; it takes a lot of time to generate a correctly formatted script, a lot of proof-reading to make sure that everything has the correct punctuation; grammar is the key to a good script as well as the format, a perfectly formatted script will be given a lot more attention unlike a sloppy script - “The script, I always believe, is the foundation of everything.” – Ewan McGregor.

On reflection I think it would have been a good idea to get one of my peers to proof-read the script, as feedback has been the key throughout this module to develop my scripts structure.

Here is a link to all of my blog posts for Moving Narrative BAFI102.
http://lukecurnopca.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/BAFI102%20Moving%20Narrative

References

Walk the Line: (2005) directed by James Mangold. 20th Century Fox

Admin (2015) 35 Screenwriting quotes from the masters. Available at: https://screencraft.org/2015/03/28/35-screenwriting-quotes-from-the-masters/ (Accessed: 18 May 2016).

Moving Narrative - 10th March

Thursday 10th March 2016                     Moving Narrative                     Lecturer: Allister Gall

Exercise 5 - Write a 2-3 page script for our script idea

Hobbies Apart

By

Luke Curno

EXT. Looking up the lane, car advancing down the track – Early Dawn

Paddy: Nearing the destination Paddy switches off the engine and cautiously rolls the car along the path to a clear vantage point, glancing in the rear view mirror to check all is clear, he manoeuvres himself into a suitable position for a clearer view through the windscreen. He opens the window to listen out for any noises in the vicinity, after a short while he is startled when he hears the crunching of leaves, the sound is becoming louder and closer to Paddy’s car. Suddenly Paddy hears a loud crunch as Camerons Friend (Phil) trips over a large tree branch and rolls into the middle of the path.

Paddy

That was too close for comfort

Paddy looks all around him to discover what the noise was, he notices Phil getting up off the ground through the rear view mirror, Paddy watches as Phil starts to near the back of his car, Paddy turns to look out of the left wing mirror, Phil casts a shadow over the car as he walks past, Paddy shrinks into his seat as he see’s Phil walking very close to the car window. Phil starts to whistle to himself before disappearing out of site further down the lane.

Paddy reaches for the glove compartment, he pulls out a pair of old binoculars and slowly but quietly opens the door, he walks around to the boot where he finds a mac, placing the tracker into the boot of the car he pulls the jacket over him, zipping it all the way up to escape the cold air and shuts the boot (leaving the tracker in the car).

Paddy

Bloody weather! Last I heard it was summer round here.

The wind picks up and a few leaves slap into Paddy’s face as he walks around the corner, sticking to his chest for a few seconds before he brushes them away, he notices two cars up ahead, he positions himself behind a tree, looking out through a gap in the oak with the binoculars, once focused he notices Cameron’s car as well as the car that dropped Cameron off a few days before, making Paddy question who he came into contact with earlier.

Scanning the area with the binoculars, Paddy notices that one of the boots of the cars is wide open, next thing he sees is someone wearing a snoot, covering their face, wearing camo gear, they are walking out of the woodlands towards the scene, he watches as they remove a mallet from the boot and close it over, before heading back into the woods.

By this point Paddy’s heart is racing, quietly getting up of the ground, he cautiously makes his way to the entrance where the camouflaged man entered into the woods. Paddy wants to follow them into the woodlands; he turns to look at both cars and then thinks to himself perhaps the mysterious man was Cameron.

Paddy enters into the woodlands making his way through the crunching leaves, across the river and down beneath the ground into a dark cave. Out the other end of the tunnel, he notices the camouflaged man at the top of the hill waving the mallet he retrieved from the car earlier. Paddy can’t work out who the man is and so scans the area to try and find out who he is waving at, could he be trying to signal the fact that Paddy has been following him. By this point Paddy has taken cover behind a granite rock, he pokes his head up to check out the area but he’s too late, the man has disappeared.

Paddy

Where did they go?

Paddy thinks to himself that the mysterious man must have headed over the back of the hill, perhaps that is where some suspicious activity is taking place, he starts to become puzzled asking himself about why they would need a mallet in the woodlands. He starts to climb the hill, at the top he spots smoke rising out of the treetops, this arouses Paddy’s suspicions thinking, could they be burning evidence of something illegal.

Paddy’s mind starts to work overtime; he wants to get a closer look, travel through the woodlands to find out where the smoke is coming from. He comes across a small clearing positioned a few hundred feet from the bottom of the hill, shaking but aware of his surroundings, Paddy overhears chatter further up the valley.

Cameron’s friend

Whack the head… pack it a punch

Cameron

Ouchhh, stop what the hell are you doing

Cameron’s friend

You asked me to whack the head, my fingers slipped

Started to think about the frames for the opening, middle and ending

Beginning Shot

Middle Shot 

Ending Shot

References:

Image 3: http://mtjs.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hammering-with-gerber-bear-grylls-survival-knife.gif

Image 2: N/A 

Image 3: N/A

Moving Narrative - Monologe 3rd March

Thursday 3rd March 2016                                Moving Narrative                                Allister Gall

Monologue - Exercise 3

Exercise 3 This week, using your characters developed, create a 1-2 page monologue scene, in which only one character speaks. Remember, this doesn't mean the script has to be only dialogue.

Paddy (Ex-detective and Cop) observing suspicious activity.

Woah that is bright, where the hell is that light coming from, I better run upstairs to get a closer look out the window. Ah look there is Cameron’s friends car, oh wait I can hear something being said, perhaps I could open this window, could I hear better, c’mon you stupid handle why don’t you budge. Wow I haven’t cleaned my windows in ages, look at the state of them, I can hardly see anything perhaps it was my imagination. I’m sure I had some window lean on my bedside table; she must have moved it from the top, silly bitch. Wait, no I put in the cupboard the other week, oh what am I like, I better go and fetch it, but... this kitchen floor is freezing, where did I put my slippers, I’m always losing things, I need to be more organized.

I thought I left the heating on, it's so cold here, might as well get a drink while I am downstairs, that’s much better. Ah ha there it is, goodness my picture frame, I didn’t leave the window open did I, and no wonder it's so cold. Better find my slippers and head back upstairs, I'll have to buy some more window cleaner, there’s hardly any left in this bottle. Right ok I better be quiet so as to not wake up the household, better still, to not attract any attention to the window, it's completely open, I’ll never be able to reach that handle now, unless I lean out on the ledge, but what if Cameron or his friend notice me, what if I fall, better still if that window swings open any further it could small against the wall.

(Enters back in the window)…That was close, nearly lost my footing, at least the window is shut, didn’t make too much noise either, what was that noise, that sounded like a car door, I better crouch down, wouldn’t want to be seen.

Cameron… it has to be, what an earth is he doing at this time, oh he’s putting his rubbish out haha, but I haven’t put ours out, guess I should probably check my phone calendar, just as I thought it isn’t for another few days, better get back to the window, lets see what he is up too, he did place them in the recycle, I wonder if I was to go around, open up the lid, I have to find out what's in those bags, but what if he spots me, argh dilemma…

Okay it's late and Cameron has just driven off, where has he gone, let's take a look at these recycling bins, it could just be household waste but why was is he carrying the same 2 black bags with him the day before, he could have just dumped them while he was out. I need to be sneaky, if I get caught how the hell am I going to describe my actions, I was hungry haha.

There it is, okay the light is on, is someone home, does he live with someone else, I have never seen anyone else come out of that house, he doesn’t even let his friend in. Would he let me in if I asked, he has a shovel though, wouldn’t want to mess with him, perhaps he is digging a grave for a body, I need to get out of here quick, I can feel my body shaking, but I need to open this lid (opens the lid). 

Moving Narrative - Updated Script - 28th February

Sunday 28th February 2016                    Moving Narrative                     Allister Gall

Updated Script

Blue indicates camera angle // Green indicates sound

SCRIPT – The Meeting of Two Minds / Hobbies Apart

EXT - Wide angled shot of garage door opened – Night - INT.  Shot from Paddy’s point of view to show the mechanics of the bike. Sound: Radio tuning in, hear tinkering.

Right from the start, there was a disagreement between these two neighbours as Cameron complained about Paddy working on his bikes late into the night, revving up engines.

EXT. Tracking shot to follow Cameron as he leaves his house, walking towards Paddy’s garage. Background noise of footsteps, radio and mechanics

INT. Paddy’s Bedroom – Mid Shot to show Paddy and the Coffee mug on the bedside table. Bed and floorboards creaking.

After tossing and turning for most of the night, at about 4AM Paddy decided to get up and make himself a drink.

ENT. Kitchen – Long shot to show Paddy walking through the kitchen.

Mumbling to himself (Can’t sleep again, what’s that noise).

On entering the dark kitchen, he notices headlights through the window. He decides to get a closer look, only to discover it's his neighbour loading his car, with the same black bags, which he had noticed being unloaded 2 days previous.

INT. Looking through the window at his neighbour, jump cut to a close up of the bags being loaded. Sighing, car doors being opened.

EXT. Outside the Window – Early Dawn – Boot and car door being slammed, starting up the engine and driving off.

The re-occurrence of this early morning activity lead him to become suspicious as to what his neighbour was up too. Paddy decides that he is going to keep a closer eye on the comings and goings of his neighbour.

 EXT - Wide angled shot of garage door opened. Changes to a wide angled shot from Paddy’s point of view. Tinkering, car engine, wheels screeching.

A few days later when Paddy was working on his motorbikes, the chance arose for him to confront Cameron when he saw the neighbour’s car pulling up. Once again Cameron starts to unload the bags from the boot of his car.

EXT. Mid Shot to reveal the two characters face to face, looking at each other. Paddy Sniggers- thinks to himself, if only he knew).

Paddy sarcastically gets up and shouts "Had a good day poaching”, to which Cameron replies "I could have you for that mate" Paddy heads back indoors.

INT. By the Window – Daylight – TV blaring in the background.

A few minutes after Cameron has taken the black bags in…

INT. Close up looking out of his window, EXT. Cameron holding the objects in his hand. Drags the shovel along (scraping noise along the pavement) – Paddy mumbling to himself.

Paddy noticed him returning to the car and removing a coil of rope and a shovel and he heads back inside, arousing Paddy's suspicions even further "thinks to himself - what is this man up too".

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INT. Shots of Paddy’s plans, various drawings, notes, on the website researching the manual for the device. Computer typing, drawing and scribbling.

Paddy comes up with the idea to fit a tracking device to the underside of Cameron's wheel of the car, he is going to give this some serious thought.

INT. Standing at the window with a cup of tea, watching as Cameron gets into someone else’s car – Car engine, slurping, microwave pinging.

Having hatched a plan, his chance to do so comes three day later when he see's Cameron going off in someone else's car, as soon as night falls and still no sign of Cameron, Paddy seizes this opportunity and rushes out to fit the tracker, taking the chance to peer in the car windows to see what lies within.

INT. Paddy’s Bedroom – Dark – Looking down on Cameron – Car pulling up on Cameron’s drive, Paddy running up the stairs.

An hour or so later, Paddy watches from the upstairs window as Cameron is being dropped off outside his house. A few minutes later Cameron reappears placing 2 black sacks into his recycle box, before heading into his car and driving off.

EXT. Outside – Dark – We see Cameron walking with the black sacks

EXT. Low angle shot to see the rubbish waste dropping into the bin with the lid shutting. Lid being lifted off and slammed down, rustling of the bags.

EXT. High angle shot – Over the shoulder as Paddy rummages through household waste in bags. Pinging of latex gloves being put on, rummaging through bags.

During this period, Paddy becomes even more suspicious since it's not bin day, he uses this opportunity to search through the recycle bins wearing ordinary latex gloves, to his disappointment he discovers that the bags are full of household waste (Cameron's created a diversion) and nothing suspicious was found as he was hoping to give him a lead, he returns to his house.

EXT. – Tracking shot to follow Paddy as he walks around the side of his house and gets into his car. Walking, birds singing and car engine being started up.

Paddy thinks he would be more discrete by using his car rather than his motorbikes to follow Cameron.

EXT. Montage of clips showing Paddy’s route of travel to find Cameron. Lots of car noises

EXT. Long shot of the country lane // INT. Show Paddy’s hand as he turns of the engine. – Engine dying, getting lower and lower, car wheels crunching on gravel.

On approaching his neighbour’s destination, Paddy switches the engine off and rolls forward down the country lane, keeping a discrete distance between him and Cameron (following the tracker).

EXT. Establishing shot from inside Paddy’s car to see two cars up ahead. – Gravel crunching.

At the end of the lane, with the aid of the tracking device he spots Cameron's car and also the car that dropped him off a few days before.

INT. Inside Paddy’s car – Looking through the windscreen, his eyes fixed on Cameron’s friends movement. Close up of the Mallet. Birds calling, walking, heart pounding.

He notices Cameron's mate returning back to his own car and taking out what appeared to look like a mallet (used to bang down the tent pegs), he then heads back into the woodlands.

EXT. Paddy’s car boot – Day – Reaching in for his sons binoculars and putting on the waterproofs. Opening the boot and rustling of the waterproofs.

Paddy discretely gets out of his car, he remembers that his sons binoculars are in the boot of the car and so he takes these thinking he can use them to keep a watchful eye on his neighbour from a distance, he also finds a pair of waterproof trousers and jacket, he places the tracker into the boot of the car and starts to put on the waterproofs, he then shuts the boot and adventures into the woodland.

EXT. Woodlands POV from Paddy as he ventures into the woodlands – Foggy atmosphere. Treading on soil, leaves and rustling of waterproofs.

He moves slowly and quietly through the woods whilst using the binocluars to scout/scan the area, he notices Cameron’s friend at the top of the hill, with his back to him swinging a mallet above his head, rousing Paddy’s suspicions once again.

EXT. High Angle Shot to see Paddy as he reaches the top of the hill.

Treading on Soil, panting and chatter up ahead in the background.

Paddy continues to venture through the woodland, making his way to the hill to search and investigate what this pair are up too. Once reaching the hill, he notices a hide up ahead, to which he can hear talking. Paddy listens and gets anxious towards what he over hears

Possible Dialogue

Cameron: Did you get it!

Cameron’s friend: Here it is, hit the head this time!

Thinking something serious was about to happen, he slowly creeps downwards to confront the men, who are located at the bottom of the hill.

On approaching the men, he notices the black bags scattered around the tent, ripped up and full of what appeared to look like cloth and mesh, he hears more banging and someone shouting this time “Ouch” which he fears the worst. He scampers around to the side where he see’s Cameron’s friends hand bleeding and Cameron holding the mallet.

Paddy asks, “what is going on here” and Cameron replies “what an earth are you doing out here, how did you know I was here.

Paddy replies “I could ask you the same question.

Cameron’s friend: We are trying to put up the tent, would you mind giving us a hand, Cameron holds out the mallet to Paddy, Paddy panics and grabs the mallet as a form of protection. Cameron notices that Paddy is wearing waterproofs and has a pair of binoculars around his neck, “I never knew you were into the countryside Paddy, “I’m not” replied Paddy as he lifted his hood off, I came out here too see what you were up too. “You mean to say you have followed me all this way into the woods, Cameron’s friend grabbed the shovel and cable tires whilst staring at Paddy. You couldn’t help us dig a hole to place a trap could you, Paddy got really anxious and replied “A trap, what an earth do you want a trap for”, Cameron reaching inside a trunk and pulling out a suspicious device, “Yes a trap” he said and handed to Paddy, we have been arriving to the woods early every morning to collect and set up our camera traps to record suspicious animal activity in the woodlands. Paddy: That still doesn’t explain the black bags that I saw you putting into your car on multiple occasions, Cameron replied they were full of mesh and my waterproofs… Cameron and the shovel would be used to dig a hole in the ground for the camera traps and the rope was to tie the camera trap to the tree.

(All stood around laughing together, sharing a flask of coffee in the tent awaiting the glorious wildlife).

The end - They tolerate and respect each other’s hobbies and interests. Paddy goes out on the very rare occasion bird watching with Cameron and Cameron lends a hand with fixing up Paddy's bikes.

ENDS BOTH OUT IN FIELD WITH CAMERAs, paddy gives Cameron the bike that he has helped him fix up and get back on the road.

23/02/16 - Moving Narrative - Script Development

Session 2 Notes                          23/02/16  Moving Narrative                    Allister Gall

Cinema is much more driven, from the camera.

Brunel got together with Dali to create a film with no meaning.

Pure film without dialogue! Makes you think more about the types of conflict that could happen between the characters, start to think about how they can link together

Robert Bresson - French film director

Use what you already have, make your own film in your own way, don't try to mimic other people's work, help you stand out. Thinking about sound for your scripts are important, helps to bring the visuals to life, gives a different perspective

Close-ups are the difference between cinema and theatre, you can skip straight to a close up, restricted to camera direction within cinema as oppose to theatre.

Use this module to focus on drama or narrative - Explore these ideas Aristotle wrote stories 2,000 years ago, his theory of drama contained 6 aspects - he believed the most important aspect of action was the plot.

Session 2 - Set Task

Developing the story further, thinking about the types of shots, whether they are internal or external, choosing a film of my choice to analyse the first 10 mins of the film and the script, see how scenario have been filmed once they are described in the script, have they achieved what was intended.

My chosen short films for next week's lesson are

How Wolves Changed Our Rivers: https://vimeo.com/86466357

What's he Building in Their: Tom Wait's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaLjwSpZ6Cs

Alone in the Wilderness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss&feature=youtu.be

The Lunch Date: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epuTZigxUY8

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Walk The Line - Chosen Film and Script to analyse

The chosen script and Film that I have decided to analyse below is that from "Walk The Line" 2005 film starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.

I have watched the first 10 minutes of the film and read the first part of the script, from what I can see in the film, at the start we hear the band playing at Folsom Prison for the prisoners to listen too, the script is written from the same starting point, annotating what we can see on screen in front of us, using adjectives and verbs to describe what is going on within the frame, types of movement on camera, the script helps to set the scene by describing the conditions of the prison.

Next we see a shot of the saw machine and we hear someone calling “Mr. Cash onto the stage, I know from watching the film that the shot cuts here and we see the band playing in the prison right at the end of the film, Johnny performs live with June up on the stage, singing their songs, especially A ring of Fire. However, when reading the script it annotates that we see the saw machine, Johnny gets called on stage and then it says that Johnny plays right away to the prisoners. Going back to the film, I know that we have a cutaway shot as Johnny is called to stage, we are taken back to the year of 1944 when Johnny and Jack his brother are living on the farm with there mum and papa. They appear to be working hard for their dad to receive money to support the family. We then get a cut away shot where we see the same type of saw machine, which JR uses to cut the wood for his father, Johnny decides to go fishing, when he is walking home his father picks him up in anger and takes him home, Johnny finds that JR has been injured from the Saw machine and he sadly dies whilst Johnny and their mum and dad are in the room.

This particular scene was not in the script at the start, however when Johnny is in the prison looking down at the saw machine, we can hear a VO over the top which sounds like there Dad calling JR, which then cuts to the farm scenario of when they were children growing up. I guess you could argue that the film has been shot in a non-linear fashion at the start.

The script has been used as a way to annotate what goes on in each frame, used as a guideline for the director and cinematographer to make everything work whilst on set. The script helps to space out the whole project into scenes, sections used to tell the story from different characters point of views, the script is obviously used to narrate the dialogue for the scenes, camera angles, duration of clips sometimes, possible sounds and of course the names of who will be speaking.

References

Short Films: 

Sustainable Human . (2014). How Wolves Changed Our Rivers. [Online Video]. N/A. Available from:https://vimeo.com/86466357. [Accessed: 28 February 2016].

Kuro Groves . (2007). Whats He Building In There. [Online Video]. 22 August. Available from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaLjwSpZ6Cs. [Accessed: 28 February 2016].

Swererbob. (2009). Alone in the Wilderness. [Online Video]. 27 January. Available from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss&feature=youtu.be. [Accessed: 28 February 2016].

Springboard Schools . (2008). The Lunch Date. [Online Video]. 14 July. Available from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epuTZigxUY8. [Accessed: 28 February 2016].

Analyse Film 

Walk the Line: (2005) directed by James Mangold. 20th Century Fox 

Introduction to Moving Narrative - 16th February

Tuesday 16th February 2016            Module: Moving Narrative        Lecture: Alli Gall

Introduction to Moving Narrative

Today we went through the project brief, started to understand what we would be required to submit and work on throughout this unit, the fact that we would have to create a 8 - 10 page script, we were told that it would have to be formatted correctly, how it would have to be submitted, the fact that it could be about anything we wanted, told to reference it as much as possible, our idea that we had chosen, told to think and talk about our decisions.

Creating a character task:

Here is my character bio for my Protagonist

Character Name: Paddy Cliff 

Appearance: Black hair, clean shaven, glasses, clean/casual biking gear, 42, athletic build, tall (5'9). 

Backstory:  Ex-detective/police officer, taken on tough cases in his career, good investigator, lives with his wife and 2 teenage children, passion for tinkering with his motorbikes, has a collection of classics.  

Present Situation: Works from home, doesn't like where he is living, very little to do around his area, he gets enjoyment from the freedom of his motorbikes. 

Accent: English, Norfolk

Politics: Politically he leans more to right (more Tory than labour). 

Values: Been promoted in the police force as well as been given an award for his detective skills which he was highly commended for and it hangs up on his wall (proud of this and has pride of place).  

Beliefs: Wants the best for his children, wants to lead a good life.

Imperfections: Thinks of himself a lot, out on his bikes, wife thinks he could spend more time with the family. 

The goal for Protagonist - To work out what his neighbour is up too, he wants to also travel all over the country on his motorbike and he wants to carry on his bike collection, perhaps fix some of them up so they are ready to ride or sell on. 

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Here is my character bio for my antagonist

Character Name: Cameron Chapman

Appearance: Grey Hair, Full grown beard, wearing camo Trousers, scruffy T-shirt,  Wearing Baggy Waterproofs, coat zipped up, tall, 36, drives a black Corsa.  

Backstory: BAFTA award winning cameraman, worked on Blue Planet, Life In The Freezer, up and coming cast for Life Story. He's had trouble with his wife at home, been set aside from his children, his life revolves around nature, he spends his sleepless nights outside listening to the calls of the woods and is always seen placing black sacks, containers into the back of his car. 

Present Situation: Working on a local wildlife film which he plans to pitch in Vienna, why he loves where he lives, giving an insight into nature's traits.

Accent: English, Norfolk

Politics: Left Wing - Doesn't agree with persecution strategies on wildlife, he has his own outlook on life - wants to look after wildlife. 

Values: Naturist, been out in the field on NatureWatch, set up his own company who specialise in wildlife around Norfolk, feature like minded peoples footage, viewers of the programme.

Not afraid to experiment, creates own rigs, constructs own lenses, uses what he has, comes to appreciate what he is surrounded with. 

Beliefs: You have to be patient, enthusiastic, open minded, professionalism and organisation are key. a bit of a loner and be discrete. 

Imperfections: Knows what he wants, has set goals but he's only travelled so far, wants to experiment more and become an idea maker as oppose to the technical side.

Set back created by antagonist 
Suspicious activity, carrying black mysterious bags and placing a coil of rope and a shovel into the boot of his car, these activities take often noticed taking place late at night or early hours of the morning. 

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Create a dramatic situation as a short story/treatment between two characters. Include both the concrete goal of the protagonist desired and the obstacle supplied by the antagonist - involving tension, conflict and action - but with no dialogue. 

My idea for the story/short synopsis. 

Right from the start, there was a disagreement between these two neighbours as Cameron complained about Paddy working on his bikes late into the night, revving up engines.

After tossing and turning for most of the night, at about 4AM Paddy decided to get up and make himself a drink, on entering the dark kitchen, he notices headlights through the window. He decides to get a closer look, only to discover it's his neighbour loading his car, with the same black bags which he had noticed being unloaded 2 days previous. The re-occurrence of this early morning activity lead him to become suspicious as to what his neighbour was up too. Paddy decides that he is going to keep a closer eye on the comings and goings of his neighbour.

A few days later when Paddy was working on his motorbikes, the chance arose for him to confront Cameron when he saw the neighbours car pulling up. Once again Cameron starts to unload the bags from the boot of his car, Paddy sarcastically comments "Had a good day poaching"/"Did you ought to have SWAG written on the front of those bags mate", to which Cameron replies "I could have you for that mate" (Paddy Sniggers- thinks to himself, if only he knew).

A few minutes after Cameron has taken the black bags in, Paddy noticed him returning to the car and removing a coil of rope and a shovel and he heads back inside, arousing Paddy's suspicions even further "thinks to himself - what is this man up too".

Paddy comes up with the idea to fit a tracking device to the underside of Cameron's wheel of the car, he is going to give this some serious thought. Having hatched a plan, his chance to do so comes three day later when he see's Cameron going off in someone else's car, as soon as night falls and still no sign of Cameron, Paddy seizes this opportunity and rushes out to fit the tracker, taking the chance to peer in the car windows to see what lies within.

An hour or so later, Paddy watches from the upstairs window as Cameron is being dropped off outside his house. A few minutes later Cameron reappears placing 2 black sacks into his recycle box, before heading into his car and driving off.

During this period, Paddy becomes even more suspicious since it's not bin day, he uses this opportunity to search through the recycle bins wearing ordinary latex gloves, to his disappointment he discovers that the bags are full of household waste (Cameron's created a diversion).

Paddy thinks he would be more discrete by using his car rather than his motorbikes to follow Cameron.

On approaching his neighbors destination, Paddy switches the engine off and rolls forward down the country lane, keeping a discrete distance between him and Cameron (following the tracker).

At the end of the lane, he notices Cameron's car and also the car that dropped him off a few days before. He notices Cameron's mate returning back to his own car and pulling what appeared to look like a mallet (used to bang down the tent pegs).

Paddy discretely gets out of his car, he remembers that he has one of his sons cricket bats in the boot of the car and so he takes this as some form of protection in case he needs it. He moves slowly and quietly through the woods following Cameron's friend, with the cricket bat in one hand and the scanner in the other.

The end - They tolerate and respect each others hobbies and interests. Paddy goes out on the very rare occasion birdwatching with Cameron and Cameron lends a hand with fixing up Paddy's bikes.

Ends with both characters out in the field, Paddy gives Cameron the bike that he has helped him fix up and get back on the road.

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What ideas are important to you as a screenwriter!

As a screenwriter you have to know your characters, you need to know about their lives, you need to be able to relate to what they like, how they are going to act within the script, come up with the types of body language that they show, the types of dialogue that they are going to use which can link back to where they are from. You need to know about their background, yes okay you create all of this yourself but you need to have a clear understanding of their hobbies, where they live etc. so as to work with other characters i.e. how do they meet or interact with one another, is there a particular scene where a dramatic situation occurs.

You need to know about the types of music that you want to use and whether they are fit for purpose, you need to think about setting a mood for the script, can help to bring the visuals alive but it will predominately help to give atmosphere and build up tension to the main actions that happen within your script.

Creating a location is key, you need to help to set the scene, all of the above will help the rest of the crew to achieve the camera angles that you and the director want to achieve, the types of music or sound effects that you think would be required to fit your script, the kinds of props that the designers will need to get (clothing) as well as the types of movements that the actors will perform in front of the camera for the shoot.

It helps to let others listen to your ideas, it helped myself to generate a concrete idea for my script, it can help to add additional parts to your script, fill any gaps that you may have and make you aware of anything that you haven't linked up, perhaps you forgot a key part to the characters or perhaps you could be more specific with the dialogue but obviously don't copy word for word as that is plagiarism.

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Ideas for shots: 

Beginning - Wide angled shot in the workshop of bikes, zoom into the bike that the two characters end up fixing at the end of the script. The noises that I could use here would be a radio being listened too in the background, noises of an engine being revved up to set the scene of the motorbike, have a noise of someone tinkering with bike parts on top of that.

Middle: High Angle shot looking down on Paddy as he rummages through the neighbours black sacks, but all he finds is Household waste. I thought I could have a fast tempo tune playing as Paddy leaves his house and approaches the bins, a loud creak when he takes the lid of the recycle box and when he places the lid back on. Noises or rustling as he rummages through the bins and perhaps a sigh as he is disappointed that he hasn't found anything.

Ending: Close up shot of the two characters out in the field together, chatter in the background to set the atmosphere and the noises of camera shots being taken.

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Additional Ideas for the script

Cable Tires, Shovel to dig holes to place camera traps.

Cameron thinks that paddy is a very nosey inter-fearing neighbour or is there more to him than meets the eye.

The goal for the protagonist would be to work out what the antagonist is up too, looks suspicious and shifty.

Paddy realises that Cameron must be somewhere in the woodland, to draw him out he reaches into the glove compartment and pulls out his son's bird whistle which echoes throughout the trees.