Story Telling Unit Introduction
Monday 19th September 2016
Today was my first official lesson, where course leader Simon discussed the details for our course and the first unit. We were also lectured on the process of story telling in script writing which I found to be particularly useful given that I was unaware of the detailed 'ingredients' of a good script:
Whilst this list is fundamental, it was also important to include change somewhere throughout the plot. This may be a change within the character(s), usually the protagonist. An example of this was with Walter White, protagonist in what is now one of the most successful television series. His character changed, in his original intentions. He started off wanting to raise money for his cancer treatment and his family, but in the end he discovered it was about having the respect, which producing and selling crystal meth gave him.
After this lesson my thoughts and ideas had changed. I had an initial story which was based on a vulnerable elderly man who gets scammed by the fake 'Microsoft engineers'. This story came from when I myself received one of these calls, and to test the water, I gave the scammer a sob story, pretending to be a vulnerable old man and yet they still proceeded to try and con me. It made me think, this could really have a hugely negative impact on someones life, both financially and socially. Whilst I still think this would be an interesting plot, I feel I need something with a thicker plot.
However, another idea I have is a modern day Jack and the Beanstalk. It will be the story of a struggling family (single parent), where the mother gives her son £10 to pay an electric bill; the electricity is needed to power a sewing machine to mend clothes and earn money. However, rather than using this money practically, Jack buys a lottery ticket with the money instead as its a big rollover. He gets these numbers from what he sees walking around in the street. E.g. 48 bus, 1-2 for football results etc. The meeting here is the press conference when they eventually win. The ending could be that winning the money was just the start of their problems not the end with people sending in begging letters etc. it may even reveal a dark side to his mother, where she had a bad history. She worked as a nurse on a hospital ward surrounded by the suspicious deaths of numerous babies.
Another idea I had was to have a returning war veteran , who now suffers from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). His family are trying to help him get his life back on track after facing such traumatic events. He meets therapists to try and put him back on track but this is a struggle. He and the characters surrounding him feel the goal is to recover from the PTSD whereas in fact it was finding him something else to occupy his time; a counter worry. He needed something else in his life to give him a level of satisfaction.
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