The Script - 1rst Draft.

SCENE 1
INT. BARKING ABBEY SCHOOL, SCIENCE LAB. EARLY EVENING.

The camera opens the scene with a few shots of MARIE and JOHNNY, getting a bit too intimate and slightly sexual. A sense of panic overcomes MARIE as she starts to worry about her boyfriend ALFIE.

MARIE
JOHNNY babe, we’ve got to stop now. It’s getting a bit too much. Imagine if ALFIE finds out, he’ll kill me.

JOHNNY smiles and goes to kiss her neck and MARIE pushes him away.

MARIE
JOHN, honestly you don’t know what he’s like when he loses it, I don’t know if I can deal with it anymore.

JOHNNY
Babe, stop being so worried about him all the time. The kid’s a pyhsco I don’t know why you’re even with him.

MARIE
Listen, it’s not as easy looks ok. Sorry, I’ve got to go now.

JOHNNY makes his way towards the door, seeming rather frustrated. He goes to open it to find it has been locked. He shakes it and tries to open, still with no luck.

MARIE
Stop messing with me JOHNNY.

JOHNNY tries to open it again still with no luck. He shakes the door and then the lights trip out. (Both JOHNNY and MARIE let out screams.) You can hear the taps start to drip and the chemical trays start to shake. The sound of footsteps can be slightly heard.

JOHNNY
MARIE stop moving we need to think of something ok.

MARIE
Sorry I’m just trying to find another light or something.

Footsteps sounds are heard slightly again.

JOHNNY
MARIE I said stop moving for a minute ok.

MARIE
JOHNNY that wasn’t me, I haven’t moved.

The lights flicker and come back on. JOHNNY and MARIE look at each other with a confused look over their faces. They both start walking around the classroom in a stressed daze, looking for anything.

MARIE
JOHNNY!

JOHNNY shoots MARIE an unimpressed expression and casually strolls over to where she is standing in the door way of the cupboard. He looks over her shoulder to see a can of petrol and matches lying across the floor.

JOHNNY
(Speaking to MARIE like she’s a child) We are in a science lab. Ever go through your head it’s probably one of their stupid experiments they haven’t put away properly.

JOHNNY shakes his head and walks off, leaving the scene to fade out.

SCENE 2
EXT. SCHOOL PLAYGROUND. DAY

ALFIE is sitting on the bench looking extremely upset and mournful.

VOICE OVER
Barking Abbey School went up in flames last night after fire, took a blaze to the school science labs. Sadly, two pupils of the school’s sixth form died in the fire, yet are still unable to be identified. It is thought this fire could have been a planned arson, according to reporters on the site this morning….(Fades out).

SCENE 3
INT. BARKING ABBEY SCHOOL, CORRIDORS AND CLASSROOMS. DAY.

This scene shows multiple flashbacks of JOHNNY and MARIE innocently flirting and spending time together, whilst ALFIE looks on a distance.

SCENE 4
EXT. SCHOOL PLAYGROUND. DAY.

ALFIE and MARIE are walking across the playground together and an argument is beginning to arise.

ALFIE
I don’t care if all the girls are going your not. Why do you wanna go out if I’m not there anyways you no that club is always full of boys.

MARIE
But Alf…(He interrupts her).

ALFIE
Not a chance MARIE, if I can’t go nor can you.

MARIE’s phone begins to ring and she answers it.

MARIE
Hey babe….. (Giggles)…yeh I’m fine…I’m just a bit busy at the moment ok babe, I’ll call you back! (Giggles and hangs up the phone).

ALFIE
And who was that?

MARIE
Just one of the girl’s babe. (MARIE looks in her bag and realises she has forgotton something.) Ah crap! Babe take my bag I just gotta run back and get my book I left in class ok.

MARIE passes ALFIE her bag and runs back. Once out of sight ALFIE goes into her bag and pulls out her phone. He goes to the latest calls were he see’s the last received call was JOHNNY.

SCENE 5
EXT. SCHOOL PLAYGROUND. DAY.

ALFIE is still sitting on the bench looking distressed now, (same as SCENE 3) and holding the picture.

Cast, Cast, Cast!

Finding cast is a crucial part of our pre production planning as we need to make sure the actors we cast display the personalites of our characters effectively. Therefore we thought it would be best to hold auditions to find the best suited actors, and then rehearsals running up to the filming. So far, we have asked the drama teachers to make announcements to their year 13 and 12 pupils, as a maturer cast is needed for our film due to the sexual implications. They have passed on the message to let any members of our group know we need efficient, reliable and skilled students to act on Alfies, Maries and Johnny's role. We have also made announcements in the common room and put up notices on the common room notice board to both year 12 and 13 students to ask anyone if they would be interested in playing the roles.

The World Of Our Film - Image Board.

In our image board we can see many images for character development as well as those that are clear in the world of our film. The first clear image is of Cheryl Cole, which represents a part of Alfie’s character as someone who has been publicly betrayed and cheated on. Another celebrity image used to reflect elements of our characters is Chris Brown. After being branded a “physco” for beating his girlfriend for being over protective we thought this could be reflected in the way Alfie acts towards Marie. The intimate friendly pictures of couples represent the relationship of Johnny and Marie, and also a link to red through sexuality, whereas those of the couples arguing or distant from each other represent the relationship of Marie and Alfie. The images of the phone and schoolbag and key items within our film which help to move the narrative along, as Alfie goes down Marie’s bag to get her phone, where he finds Johnny on her call list. The images of Alexa Chung and Taylor Swift in evening gowns represent Marie’s interest in fashion whereas the lap dancing and sexual images show Johnny’s interests and an aspect of his womanizing character. The shadowed models face shows a fixed intense expression, which looks quite evil, which we felt would be an appropriate facial expression Alfie would pull when he see’s Marie and Johnny together. The bottle of vodka in the image is a part of Alfie’s past as his father was an alcoholic, and possibly one of the reason’s why Alfie is so possessive over Marie. The voodoo doll is sometimes seen as a typical prop in a thriller/horror genre and also the image of fire suggests our colour and also our key theme in the story.
Alfred Hitchcock is probably a big inspiration to the world of our film as his movies focused on the thriller genre. He uses pace to build suspense such as the “Physco” shower scene, and we feel pace could help us create suspense and tension in the audience in our film.

Cinematography & The Inspirations Behind..

Cinematography is combining art with the image of the shot to bring it to life. Through the use of lighting, mise-en-scene and camera, the world of the film can be created. Through the cinematography the tone of mood of the shot is created. It is translating ideas into images and expressing a story within a space. Krzysztof Kieslowski says of his film making that it is interesting but hard work. In his trio of scenes, “Three Colours” he uses a key element in each to keep the scenes connected. He keeps the source of sound in the scenes, for example the flute in “Blue” and the harmonica in “White”, ambiguous until the action of the scene finishes to suggest the character is brought into this world through the action. Kieslowski also uses close ups frequently in his work to show the action through the characters eyes. The close up shows what they are concentrating on and what within the scene is important to them. We could use this technique in our film to show the main focuses of Alfie’s world which can also show his revengeful motivation. A close up of Marie and Johnny holding hands could be his main concentration as this is the only thing he is bothered by in the scene as it angers him. The close up rejects everything surrounding in the scene and brings us into the characters world as we see things from their perspective. Also, from Kieslowski and his example of “the sugar lump shot” we see the importance of detail in cinematography. Even if the minor details are shown on screen for a minimal time they need to be perfected to create the best effect. In our film, we can use this detail for when Marie finds the matches and petrol lying on the floor, by making sure everything is perfected correctly, and is shown for the right length of time.
A respected cinematographer whose very un-Hollywood approach has come under hot demand is Chris Doyle whose films include “Bare Witness”, “2046” and “In the mood for love”. Doyle believes western cinema is for people who cant understand film so it is shown step by step in an idiots guide, whereas in his films he prefers for the audience to discover what he is saying. Doyle uses the mood of his film in the setting, like in “2046” when the cracked, ruined, textured walls represented the loneliness. In our film, our main use of setting is the science lab. This setting matches the thematic unity for our mild thriller and also matches the isolated, suspecting mood we want it to create. A key technique Chris Doyle uses in his cinematography is “the dance”. Filming without a tripod he uses the dance between the camera and the actors to engage the audience. There is no set rhythm which allows the scenes to be more intimate with the actors. It would be effective if we opened our film using this style of camera work when we film a flirtatious, sexual scene between Marie and Johnny. The intimacy of the filming can be reflected in their actions. Colour is also a way which cinematographers can suggest emotions. A red mist can be used to create a sense of anger, which would be effective if we put this in our film when showing Alfie’s anger and frustration, and also through make up and costumes as colour can effect the mood of the scene.

TV Drama Inspiration.

Within this trailer there is many inspirations we can use for our short film. Firstly, the love triangle can be reflected through Marie, Johnny and Alfie, and especiall the jealousy which can be displayed through Chuck Bass's characters facial expression, body language and dialogue, which can be paralleled with Alfie's character. Also the style in which these scenes are shot, for example a shot of Nate and Blair with Chuck looking on, or vice versa, would work very well in our scene as it would display a clear character motivation for Alfie whilst being simplistic, yet effective.

TV Drama Inspiration.

Johnny's Character Profile.

Johnny Smith


Aged 17


CHILDHOOD
- lives in a nuclear family
which consists of: his mother
his father and his younger sister
-has had everything his way
-spoilt by his parents (this is what he thinks makes him superior to others)


SCHOOLING
-intellectual
-passed GCSE’s
-works well particularly with people on his own level or as an individual
-Johnny also gets outside school tutoring to help gain more knowledge
-passed AS levels
-popular and gets on with every girl

LIKES
-music
-going out
-football
-fashion (up to date on his fashion, very trendy)
-girls
-raving/partying
-driving
-out late
- people that want to be his mate because he is rich and popular
-money
-likes to talk about himself

DISLIKES
-people that copy his style
-people who beg
-being told what to do
-not getting what he wants

DREAM
His Dream Is To Live Off His Parents Wealth And Be A Millionaire By Just Sitting Around!

ATTITUDE
-confident
-brave
-bubbly with the ladies and the teachers
-lives for himself
-selfish
-flirt


BELIEFS/VALUES
-believes his parents are the 2 best parents you could ever have
-values his mother the most as she always gives him what he wants and somehow manages to convince his father too and she supports him through thick and thin
-believes inheriting his fathers wealth would help him through life
-values money
-has faith in God

STRENGTHS/ WEAKNESSES
-his mother and fathers support
-excellent with playing football
-working as an individual

-he has no weaknesses as he believes that nothing can bring him down

Marie's Character Profile

Marie Delarosa



Aged: 17


CHILDHOOD
-Lives with her mum and dad
-her dad ran away with his girlfriend when she was 3
-has a step sister aged 8, all the attention from the parents has been focused on her so Marie looks for love, affection, attention from the opposite sex (boys).
-she feels rejected by her dad so she wants male attention

SCHOOLING
-popular, well known
-has 2 best friends
-passed her GCSE’s
-intelligent
-bright student
-works well
-had a good educational life

LIKES
-music
-going out
-recording films
-reading
-always up to date with fashion
-retail part time job
-T.V soaps (Friends, Hollyoaks)

DISLIKES
-Step dad and sister
-the change in her mother
-two faced people
-cheese
-fears the dark

DREAM
*Wants To Stand Up On Her Own Two Feet, Go To University, Get Married Work As A Journalist And Bring Up Her Family And Live Her Life

ATTITUDE
-very bubbly/talks to everyone
-kind/down to earth however ambitious
-Creative likes to use her imagination, escape from reality
-confident
-a great sense of humour

BELIEFS/VALUES
-hard work pays off
(Key to success)
-values her cat
-has faith in God
-believes her dad is going to come back for her.
-values friendship the most

STENGTHS/WEAKNESSES
-dedicated/focused
-able to communicate well with others
-intelligent
-an understanding person
-loves to read and write

-can not let go of the past
-finds it hard to express her emotions

Musical Inspiration.

This song, "Sex on Fire" features two of the strongest red themes and was a main part of our inspiration on which themes to use. We mixed the sexual element of Marie and Johnny's relationship and then the idea of fire to create a plot twist.

Film Inspiration.

Obsessed, is a film which is based on a flirtatious affair turning extremely pyscho. One character becomes obsessed with the man she fancies, and won't leave him alone, always getting jealous of him and his wife, and later on in the film tries to hurt his wife. This can be mirrored in how Alfie is so jealous and obsessed with Marie and how he causes physical revenge to express his anger and emotions.

Second Pitch SlideShow.

Second Pitch Slides

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Our First Pitch & Feedback SlideShow.

Pitch & Feedback Slides

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Inspirations For Our Film.

The song is based on a boy who's obsessed with a girl, where the theme of obsesivness can be reflected in Alfie's character towards Marie.

Inspirations For Our Film.

It's typical of ALFRED HITCHCOCK to use the "thriller" genre for his films, and we used this genre to help create our red story.

Inspirations For Our Film.

This image is taken from the film Prom Night Directed by, Nelson McCormick. I feel that the theme of the film and the psycho teacher obssesion with his pupils link in with Alfie's character and his obssesion for Marie.

Second Pitch Idea.

Our story starts when, one night after school Marie and Johnny, two school friends who have always had eyes for each other, slip away to the science labs and have started to get a bit too close. However, Marie starts to worry thinking her high-school boyfriend Alfie will find out. She tells Johnny how her relationship is not how she wants to be and is ruined with his jealousy. This conversation will be kept simple, but she will confide in Johnny how it affects her. She knows he will go insane so she suggests to Johnny they make a move. As they retreat Johnny finds they have been locked in. Marie thinks he is messing with her until he starts to panic and shakes the door. Suddenly the lights black out, the trays of the lab start shaking, and the taps slowly begin to drip. The couple start to be become more and more curious as Johnny swears he hears footsteps. It’s then when Marie finds something as she walks into the cupboard. An open box of matches and can of petrol are lying across the floor. She begins to freak until Johnny reassures her they are in a science lab, and it is probably the part of some experiment. The story then skips to the next morning where newspaper headlines are flashing. A voice over will then play to tell that two school children were killed last night in the suspicions of a non-accidental fire whilst a very mournful looking Alfie is sitting in the playground holding a picture. The camera will zoom into his eyes and then a flashback scene will start. Different clips of Marie and Johnny innocently spending time with each other, for example walking to class, will show and then cut to Alfie looking on, with his angry and frustrated emotions clearly on show. The flashback will then show Alfie and Marie walking along together, bickering that Alfie doesn’t want Marie to go out partying the weekend especially because he can’t go, when Marie’s phones rings. She talks on the phone laughing and giggling and then hangs up. Alfie asks who that was and she says one of the girls. She passes Alfie her bag to hold while she runs back to get something that she’s left behind in class. Alfie waits and once Marie’s out of sight he looks down her phone, to see her last received call was Johnny. The story then jumps forward to the present where Alfie is still sitting holding the picture.

First Pitch Idea.

Our story starts when, one night after school Marie and Johnny, two school friends who have always had eyes for each other, slip away to the science labs and have started to get a bit too close. However, Marie starts to worry thinking her high-school boyfriend Alfie will find out. She knows he will go insane so she suggests to Johnny they make a move. As they retreat Johnny finds they have been locked in. Marie thinks he is messing with her until he starts to panic and shakes the door. Suddenly the lights black out, they trays of the lab start shaking, and the taps slowly begin to drip. The couple start to be become more and more curious as Johnny swears he hears footsteps. It’s then when Marie finds something as she walks into the cupboard. An open box of matches and can of petrol are laying across the floor. She begins to freak until Johnny reassures her they are in a science lab, and it is probably the part of some experiment.The story then skips to the next morning where newspaper headlines are flashing. Two school children were killed last night in the suspicions of a non-accidental fire. A very mournful looking Alfie is sitting in the playground holding a picture. He looks lost in between two worlds. A friend comes over to console him. He confides in his friend finishing the story by telling him at least this way Marie will always be his.

Feedback From The First Pitch.

1)How did your story link towards your theme colour red?

Our story linked in with the colour red firstly through the theme of lust and sexuality. This is shown in the relationship between Marie and Johnny’s characters. The fire that takes place is also key to our “red” theme. Also, the aggression and anger of Alfie’s character and his motivation to seek revenge also expresses our “red” theme.

2)How do your characters develop throughout the story?

Even though there are three characters in our film, the only character will really see develop is Alfie. The story seems to be about Marie and Johnny at first yet as the plot unfolds we realise it is Alfie’s character seeking his revenge. His jealousy has caused him to act this way, and his obsessive love for Marie and insecurities drive him to start the fire.

3)During the flashback are you going to show Marie and Johnny together?

In the flashback we will see Marie and Johnny together so the audience gets an insight to how their relationship progresses. We will show them walking to class together for example or talking in the playground a little flirtatiously, so the fling is a prompted idea for the audience yet not a definite.

4)Is there going to be character motivation for Alfie’s character?

In Alfie’s background he has been lied to and betrayed before so he feels like he can trust no one. We show this through the way he acts towards Marie. He is jealous of the attention she gets from other boys, especially Johnny as he knows he’s a flirt. He see’s Johnny’s flirtatious action towards Marie, like always making a beeline for her as an example, and this angers his insecurities causing his jealous actions.

5)During the flashback are you going to show the audience how Alfie’s character finds out about the secret love fling and how will you do this?

Like said before we will show shots of Marie and Alfie walking to class together etc, and then a shot of Alfie looking on to suggest he suspects something. Through his frustrated body language and facial expression we can see his anger boiling up. We could then show him finding a letter from Johnny in Marie’s bag or texts from him on her phone.

6)How are you going to be able to get your cast members to show the physical affection that Marie and Johnny share?

To show the physical affection between these two characters we decided it would be more able to achieve if we cast a couple who are already in a relationship as there wouldn’t be no awkwardness for them to film. If not, casting actors who are willing and confident in a very slight “touchy” scene. However, if we can’t find actors who are comfortable to film this we will use dialogue to show a flirtatious sexual element to their relationship.

7) How are you going to give audience insight into characters personality and background?

The key to showing Alfie’s character will be through the flashbacks as his jealousy will show the motivation for his actions. We get an insight to Marie’s character in the opening scene when she is talking to Johnny about Alfie’s possessiveness. From this we learn of her need for independence and some freedom, as her cheating shows her rebellious side towards Alfie. Johnny’s character is seen as womanising and moral-less through the way he acts towards Marie, showing his selfishness, suggesting he is used to getting his own way.

8)When filming the scene where lights blackout how are you going to still film in the dark and be able to show audience the action is still taking place?

As the scene is filmed after school there will still be some natural daylight, so the blinds can be opened. If there is not enough light to see the action then we will add to the scene that the lights only trips out for a minute or two and then comes back on.

9)Is there enough dialogue between Johnny and Marie in the first scene to show scene progressing and action taking place?

We don’t have enough dialogue in the opening scene to show the style of Johnny and Marie’s relationship. The dialogue we add in this scene could be for Marie to tell Johnny about Alfie’s pyhsco ways and how it affects her. However, we will not get to in depth as we don’t want to use too much dialogue and keep the story simple.

Red Moodboard.

This is a moodboard I made whilst I was brainstorming idea's for our initial story. Each group was assigned a different one of the school's colours(red, black and gold)to base their short film upon and therefore my group was assigned RED.
Emotions was my initial reaction to the colour Red as very strong emotions such as LOVE, ANGER, & PASSION all relate to Red. It is commonly associated with actions that "stir the blood".
Fashion is another key element of Red, with designers like Christian Louboutin being famous for the "red sole", and films such as "The Devil Wears Prada". Rubies are the most popular red gem and the birthstone of July aswell as representing the 40th Wedding Anniversary.
Music also links to our colour, as songs like "Love, Sex, Magic - Ciara Ft. Justin Timberlake", "Red - Daniel Merriweather" "Ruby - Kaiser Cheifs", "Lady In Red - Chris De Burgh" and most famously "Sex On Fire - Kings Of Leon" and the lyrics feature to of Red's heaviest assocciations sex and fire.
Red catches people's attention, and is often used either in a negative way to indicate danger and emergency, such as sayings "caught red handed", or in a positive way in advertising to gain more viewers, or in nature, as a ripe fruit announces its readiness with its red color. Because of this, scientists have repeatedly recommended red for warning signals, labels, and signs.
Red is one of the most common colors used on national flags throughout the world. The use of red has similar connotations from country to country: the blood, sacrifice, and courage of those who defended their country; the sun and the hope and warmth it bring; and the sacrifice of Christ's blood (in some historically Christian nations) are a few examples.