Research Dossier

DETAILS OF COMPETITION
I have firstly researched some short film/screenwriting competitions, and I have chosen to research more into a screenwriting competition called 'Shore Scripts'. The next open competition for this is the 1st of March 2014, and you can submit to the 'feature' competition or the 'short' competition. The short competition is the one I would apply for.
The requirements I would have to follow for this include the fact that you have to send the entry by email, for example, in a PDF format. The screenplay itself must be 3-20 pages long and they must be the writers original work, which means that my screenplay is appropriate for this competition as it is all my own work and 10 pages long. All ages and all genres are welcome and it is also mentioned that the script "should be formatted at size 12 Courier." The winners are also allowing Shore Scripts to use their name and script title on their website, and that you "will not attempt to claim against Shore Scripts, or their associates and judges, at any time."

ANNOTATED SCRIPT
To show that I understand script conventions I have labeled an existing script. I found this script on the internet and it is from the film 'Coraline'. 

Scene Direction The scene direction shows us exactly what happens in the scene with detail. It describes the setting and atmosphere of the scene while also telling us what exactly the character does (movements etc.) It overall provides directions for the cinematographer.
Slug Line The slug line lets us know whether the scene is interior or exterior and also where exactly the scene takes place. It also lets us know what time of day the scene should be in, such as 'evening' or 'afternoon'. 
Character Cue The character cue is above the dialogue and helps the actors know which lines are theirs. They are placed in capitals as it's easier to read and is more noticeable for the reader. 
Actor Direction The actor direction is placed in brackets underneath the character cue and it provides the actor with simple directions or explains briefly how they should deliver their line. 
Dialogue Unlike the actor direction, the dialogue tells the actor exactly what to say at that particular point. The dialogue can help the reader understand the characters outer and inner presence. 

EVALUATION OF SCRIPTS

This script extract is from a film named 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind'. The genre of this film is a romantic, comedy-drama science fiction film written by Charlie Kaufman. I find that this part of the script shows great development of a character through context and his outer presence. this is because we can clearly imagine the surroundings and atmosphere. For example, "his hair a little messy, his suit is either vintage or just old and dirty..." shows us that he doesn't care much for his appearance, and is either quite lazy or isn't bothered. He also fits in with the colour of the surroundings, which is "gray" and "almost seems as if it's a black and white shot". 

I found another extract from this film and I believe that it shows a great use of dialogue and also helps us understand the differences in the characters personalities early on. For an example, the character Joel, just from his dialogue, is seen to be shy, embarrassed and awkward as it seems that he doesn't often speak with people, especially with his hesitation etc. for example with the line "I don't really, um...". In comparison with Joel, Clementine seems to be much more confident as, for example, she makes the move to sit closer. There is great contrast between the characters and this is shown through just a couple of lines which I think makes it a strong script. 

I believe that this is a good use of scene direction as in my opinion we are able to tell the characters personalities and this helps the audience understand their development. To back up this, the line "Joel drops the gaze first." which means that he has trouble keeping eye-contact which links to the fact that he is a shy person or he is possibly nervous. The line "he considers, slows, rolls down his window" shows that he is considerate and helps the audience understand he may like Clementine and helps start the story. 

TWO 10 MINUTE SHORTS

This first short I have found is named '4960'. I really like this from a screenplay perspective mainly because of the way that they have decided to use narration from the woman's side. Even though sometimes using narration isn't the best way to write a script, I felt that for this short it was very powerful and this helps the audience engage with their lives more. I find that the whole short is very strong with it's dialogue and also is very unique and clever. This is my opinion especially with the opening lines, "suppose there is a point A and a point B. To get from point A to point B, you have to pass through an exposed space. The faster you run, the more likely you are to stay alive." which I find makes the audience think about what is being said and makes them curious about what is happening. 

The second 10 minute short I have found is called 'Off Season'. Even though the dialogue is very simple between the Dad and the son, you can see that the family has suffered. This even includes the way that they share eye contact and how their body language, especially when he returns home nearly the beginning. He tries to make contact with his son about talking about the TV show, but the son is only interested in the 'car crash' which overall seems to hurt the father, already suggesting to the audience that something has happened. We can also tell by the fathers dialogue and actions that he is somewhat awkward in character. By the time they arrive at their grans house, you are able to tell more by their lack of dialogue that something has happened within the family to make them act in that way, which I think makes the overall short very powerful and clear about the fact that they are suffering from a loss.


THEME, LOCATION, CHARACTER RESEARCH

I have researched into the theme and location/characters which will help me with my script. The genre of my short is a drama with hints of comedy. The location for my short is London, in a small yet two-story house. Since my character is showing the possibly outcomes of people in the future, I decided to do some research on some statistics and see how many adults currently are using the internet compared to previous years. I managed to find a statistic and I quote, "In 2013, 36 million adults (73%) in Great Britain accessed the Internet every day, 20 million more than in 2006..." and this shows how fast the rate of internet uses is growing. 

I have also done some research by watching an episode of "Newsnight" from the 2nd December 2013. One part from this was a news story researching into the fact that social networking/phones are taking over our "sanity"- basically saying that phones and social networking. A couple of points (quotes) that I got from it was "...just two decades ago this would all seems utterly bizarre." and "to seek out what's going on in the world and so we can't be blamed for wanting to pull our phones out every 5/10 minutes what we need to do is become more aware of why we're doing that". 

I have gone on to then research more about the debates about the internet causing social isolation on google. From this I have found that there are many different views about what the internet causes. There have also been significant rises in the amount of people using the internet as quoted from this website, "nearly 90 percent of American adults now use the internet... up from 66 percent in 2005 and a mere 14 percent in 1995." Something else interesting that I found from an article from the dailymail said that "messages sent electronically can be misinterpreted, a lack of face-to-face communication can foster loneliness..." and I personally agree with this, but I think it depends on the person and how much time is spent. It is said that the longer someone spends on the internet, the more likely they are to become addicted, and to back this up it is said that the average American spends around 23 hours per week online. Looking up these debates will help me make my screenplay more realistic and will possibly help the audience connect with the character more. 

Overall, there are MANY stories and evidence on the internet itself which shows us the effects of this particular addiction and how it effects people. Firstly, by just typing in 'internet addiction' along with a popular newspaper, the results are huge and I have managed to find many stories that show evidence that my idea is really realistic and good for a 10 minute short, as I believe it can relate to a wide audience. 
Firstly, I have found a story from The Dailymail which links internet addiction with being a serious mental illness (source) with children. Although I personally think that the points made in the article could also relate to addicted adults too. A quote from the article, "...70 percent of his clients were children and teenagers... (they) have difficulty in being able to tolerate distress without zoning out via the internet..." shows that being addicted to the internet can have a range of big effects. This overall means that I should try and show my characters addiction by making her seem distressed when she is doing something other than using technology, as this seems like a realistic symptom.

Here are some other screenshots of stories I have come across which link to the same point, from a range of different newspaper websites such as The Guardian and others:

These also all show that the internet is causing many social problems too, as proven in the last screenshot where it says '...feelings of anger, tension and/or depression when the computer is inaccessible...' which shows that people with this 'problem' are not even thinking about social interaction as all their need is for technology. This is overall a huge problem even if the internet can be useful to us. This links to my script and helps me be more confident on my theme because I need to be able to show my characters addiction strongly to make it realistic enough for the audience to enjoy.

There are overall hundreds of articles online that link to my theme, as mentioned, with practically all of them being negative. A lot of them link internet addiction to drug addiction too, which shows the scale of the problem even though generally I believe that the internet isn't looked at in a negative way at all. But, really, it should be. There are many articles which show and state the changes in the brain if being addicted to the internet- such as below. 

In conclusion, I think choosing this theme was reasonable because currently there are most likely under 10 films which show relate to this theme. This means that my film would be original and show the seriousness of the issue well. It surprises me that there is so much on internet addiction in the news yet there are not many films or even shorts that represent this issue to an audience. This is why I think my idea will work well and would be popular and striking to the audience. 

AUDIENCE RESEARCH

This research also links to some audience research. I believe that my main primary audience would be people who have grown up with the dramatic change in technology, so this would mainly be late teens. Even though my main character is female I believe that my short would appeal to both male and female equally because of the content. 
I have made a short survey on SurveyMonkey.com to gather some responses and this will help me identify my audience demographically and psychographically and it will also help me with the viability of my idea. Here are some screenshots from the results:

With these responses I can confirm that the internet has a big effect on teenagers and is used almost everyday. I can see that drama is rather popular with the teenage age group and therefore I think that my product will be successful and interesting. It also seems that the target audience (teenagers) will be interested to watch this kind of short film. 

The genre of my short is a drama. The location for my short is London therefore I have used the internet to try and find a setting that is similar to the one I imagine. Since this is set in London this also means that this links to the background of Jane, my main character, and also the other two characters Jamey and his mother. 

SIMILAR EXISTING MEDIA
I also have researched into existing media texts which have influenced and have similarities to my idea, which will help me on terms of theme, location, genre, character and the narrative. In class for research at the beginning of this unit, we read the script and watched parts of 'What Remains'. The overall setting of this drama series is similar to mine because it isn't set in a rich or even necessarily clean place seen in the picture. 

I have researched some similar films that have a concept that can relate to mine. The first film is 'Cyberbully' which is about a 17 year old girl who ends up getting bullied online. This media will help me influence my piece because it is showing the effects of the internet and it will also help me understand how the character should feel after the internet effects her life. After watching the movie it helped me understand how much something on the internet can change your life and overall how dangerous it is despite the fact about how many people use it daily.

The second film is 'Chatroom' which is British and was made in 2010. This film is about 5 people who meet over the internet and then go on to encourage each others behavior. Researching this film has, again, just like 'Cyberbully' has helped me gain knowledge on how the internet can change people's lives. It will overall help me with writing dialogue and the correct actions for my character on how people respond to internet issues.