Pre-Production
Coming Up With Ideas
For this project, there was three different themes we could choose from:
- Covid-19
- Killer Teddy
- Space (any interpretation of the word allowed)
- spaced out
- needing space
- large amounts of space
- someone obsessed with space- wants to be friends with the stars
- hear an asteroid is coming to ruin the world, five minutes to live, follows 4 people and how they spend their last minute
- someone scared of space
- telescope across the street
How to spend your last minute on earth:
- astronomer- too infatuated with the asteroid to notice his pets desperate to say goodbye (obsession)
- writer- finally finishing the last sentence of their life-long novel (completion)
- mother- plating up her children’s final meal (their favourite food) for the last time (denial)
- robber- trying to grab their stuff to go rob (greed)
Telescope:
- boy clearly obsessed with space, has no friends
- looks at the stars every night
- notices a telescope in the window of the house opposite (inciting incident)
- writes a letter, want to watch the stars together? and puts it through the letterbox, no reply
- sits and waits, no reply
- writes another letter
‘you want SPACE?’
- a fight between a couple over the phone
- Mollie and Sam are long distance and haven’t seen each other for months, he now calls saying he wants some ‘space’
Writing a Synopsis
Now I had an idea for my space themed drama (click here for more on that) I needed to write a synopsis to present my idea.
This is what I had so far:
How to spend your last minute on earth:
- astronomer- too infatuated with the asteroid to notice his pets desperate to say goodbye (obsession)
- writer- finally finishing the last sentence of their life-long novel (completion)
- mother- plating up her children’s final meal (their favourite food) for the last time (denial)
- robber- trying to grab their stuff to go rob (greed)
It’s on the news, it’s all over the news, it’s all over everything. NASA has announced a meteor is soaring through space in a direct line with earth. This is the end, and there’s only one minute to go.
Edgar is an astronomer, obsessed and infatuated with the stars. Here, through his telescope, is a front-row seat to the most awaited scene of the century. He spends his last-minute gripping his telescope and gazing into space. His dog cowers at his ankles. He ignores the end with obsession.
Lisa is a 35-year-old single mother of two, she is tired and worn out. As far as she is concerned, this Monday night is the same as any other. She pulls the chicken nuggets out the oven and plates them up with peas, placing them on the table in front of her children for the last time. She fights the end with denial.
Miranda is a writer, dedicated to her life’s work. She sits at her desk, the news blaring in the background, scenes of space on every monitor. Her fingers continue tapping away at her keyboard. With each click she is closer to the end, her novel open on the screen. She taps the final full stop with hesitation and sits back. She faces the end with completion.
Billie has never played fair, yet he has never had it easy. With the announcement of what was hurtling through space, he fumbles in a panic, grabbing at bags and his keys, avoiding the texts and calls blowing up on his phone. Watching the scenes outside with glee. Everyone is distracted, no one is paying attention. There are no rules. He neglects the end with greed.
Four friends, each too distracted with their own compulsions to say goodbye.
Writing the Script
After writing the synopsis and being placed in a group my next task was to write the script. As the idea was my own, the group decided that I should write the script as well as direct.
To do this, I primarily used my previous experience in the different script writing modules (COMM2655, COMM1890). In these modules, I had a lot more pages to construct the three-act structure and as this film is only 4/5 pages I realised quickly that I would not be able to do this effectively. Furthermore, as my idea is essentially four narratives in one story (view my synopsis here), I decided I needed a slightly different approach. After discussing with my group, I decided to write the four narratives almost as their own stories and intertwine them with one continuous motif- a photo.
For inspiration for the writing, I thought about the dystopian show Black Mirror which not only covers similar topics such as the ending of the world but also has self-contained narratives in the episodes, acting as more short stories than long form television. In the show, they often force the watcher into the world straight away, emerging them and allowing them to work out the rules of this new reality. As I only had a short amount of space this is something I wanted to do. As a result, my characters have little introduction and the focus is more on how they react to this inevitable death. Their personalities are presented to the audience straight away through the tasks they are doing- obsession with astronomy, caring for their children, dedication to finishing a novel and living rough alone in the park. These characterisations, then, impacted how they responded to the situation at hand.
Moreover, we also decided to include a quote in the script, as suggested by another member of our group. I was struggling with how to round the piece up and felt this was the perfect way. The quote is:
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