Scriptwriting

Originally, I was going to post one massive entry covering three huge topics I have yet to touch on, but I decide to break them down into three posts. Before I begin discussing scriptwriting I would like to make two comments:
1- I am not a professional filmmaker nor even claim to be a good one. This is all new to me. I do not claim to know all there is to know.
2- I know that the last post was marking the first planned day of filming and discussed soundtracking, but I realized I skipped over the most important part of filmmaking: SCRIPTWRITING (you can't make a movie without one)

When I decided that I would create a film, I thought it would be so easy and stressfree. That's not to say I didn't have fun, I had a blast, but for me the most difficult part was writing a script. When I interviewed a local film professor for the research paper part of my project, he stressed the importance of having a concept. I struggled with coming up with a concept for days. I wanted to create something that was believable, intelligent, unique, etc. I didn't realize that in trying to force my script to fit certain adjectives, I preventing it from being just those exact same things. I have lead a very interesting life up to this point and hundreds of people have told me I need to write a book based on it (which I plan to at some point). The problem is, when you write creatively to make something believable you have to write what you know, what you feel. It is very hard for me to put myself on display like that. It makes me feel self-conscious and I worry about being judged. It has taken me a long time just to be able to talk about my mother's illness and I can't discuss it most of the time. I didn't want to write something that could be connected to me because I didn't want to deal with my life and I didn't want to allow anyone else to either. I would sit in front of my computer for hours trying to come up with something, but nothing would come out. I had a story to tell, one I needed to tell, but I chose not to tell that story and I have regretted it since.
I knew that I wanted my film to be a sort of romance. The subjects would be love and loss and the major theme or concept would be: love has the power to transform even the most stubborn or unwilling. I would like to say that I don't think that love is singular. I don't subscribe to the theory that love only happens once--you only have one "true" love, one soulmate. Is there one love that fits more comfortably than the rest? Yes, but love is like a good pair of jeans, there are plenty out there, it just depends on your preference. This, being my belief, plays into the end of the film.

I wanted my main character to fall for someone unlike her, so that he could teach her something, but I didn't want a fairytale ending. I don't believe happy endings are entirely realistic. I also didn't want to be very specific. I find that when you are too specific with a character it becomes harder to write anything that might bring them harm. It is like once you name something, you are connected to it (i.e. a pet or stuffed animal).

I found that in trying to protect myself and express myself, my film has two distinct and very different sections of dialogue--the opening scenes and the ending scenes. The opening scenes contain a dialogue between the two main characters, Cally and Dan, and I find that it is the weakest part of the film. After showing the film to my AP European history class and my family (at two different showings), both agreed that their least favorite part was the beginning. It just didn't connect well to the rest of the film. I was trying to be witty, but the dialogue ended up being more disjointed and almost nonsensical. The closing scenes are a monologue from Cally speaking to Dan after their relationship has ended. To me, this was the most important part of the film because it was bringing everything together and I worked the hardest on it. I rewrote the monologue three times, the last time being on Tuesday night (May 6th) at about midnight. I needed to write something that would make me proud, so I stopped pretending like the film had nothing to do with me and I just wrote and this is what came out:

"Dan, Dan, Dan.
Where are you now?
Are you happy?
Why can't I stop thinking about you? There's no use in being upset, in being irrational. I keep telling myself that thinking about it won't bring you back. I can't bring you back. I can't retrieve you like a misplaced sock or some momento that was put in the wrong box. I expect to see you everywhere, smirking at me, laughing at me--school, the hallways, the parking lot, the park--all those places we used to go and you're not there. It doesn't matter whether or not you left voluntarily--you're gone and I'm still here. I'm here, stuck in the moments we had, haunted by the lesson you taught me, the lesson I've paid so dearly for. I'd give anything to give it all back. Whoever said its better to love and lost was a liar, an idiot. Before you, I only knew the mechanics of life--the technical aspects, the hows, the functions, but you taught me what living really is, to appreciate whats around me. I let my guard down and you showed me how beautiful life is and how painful it can be. Its like I've been sleepwalking for 16 years and finally I've woken up. But, I don't know what to do now. You woke me up and then left--I've got no instruction manual, no plan, nothing to guide me. But maybe that's the point. Maybe that was the purpose. Maybe life isnt something quantitative after all. Maybe I should just jump right in and worry about the rest later, after all, isnt that what you always did?"

After my two showings, this was everyone's favorite part. If I had been this honest throughout the whole of my movie, I think it would have been phenominal.

A few technical notes on scriptwriting: there are several scriptwriting publishing programs that format it correctly for you, but for my purposes and because time was a factor, I did not use one of these programs. Also, I find that if you incorporate the scene direction and the camera angles and shot descriptions into the script it makes filming easier because the actors know exactly what is going on.

Just to wrap this post up: when writing anything, just be true to yourself.