Writing a (dun dun DUN)... SCRIPT.

The time had come.

We had made our first blockbuster movie, and now, it was time to move on to new things.

Writing our own scripts.

Task number one was coming up with ideas.

As a creative writing student, I have been taught many methods of coming up with ideas, from people-watching to writing down dreams, and luckily I was brimming with ideas. I do NOT believe in writer's block - there is ALWAYS a way to come up with ideas. It just so happened that I had one idea in particular that had been brimming under the surface of my skull for a number of months.

I had been wondering for a while how to get this idea on paper. It did not work as a short story. It certainly didn't work as a novel. It didn't work as a play, or as a poem. And as I was set with the task of writing a script for a short film, I realised that this was the perfect medium to write this piece.

The idea in question was about a student house that was attempting to kill its inhabitants. It was totally based on my experiences of student housing in Manchester, where my house did indeed try to kill me. If you know anything about Moss Side, you might understand some of the trials I faced.

Here is the area in question:

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The script was also influenced by a little film that I included in one of my earlier posts entitled 'The Furniture'. Here is a different version of the same film (just for the sake of variation... us internet entertainers must keep our audiences riveted):

I wrote a list of all the little things that had happened in Manchester. The script was entirely based on real-life events (apart from the end of the script where the house actually collapses).

It was a tricky process writing in a new format - there are so many rules and guidelines for writing for film, but I think I managed it as best as I could.

We shall see when the mark from the first draft comes back...!

My Wonderful Team

I could not have asked for a more wonderful team to have worked with on this project. We all got on swimmingly, other than the one time we had to lock Josh in the bathroom. Out of necessity.

There were a few issues in the whole process that did not go swimmingly, unfortunately.

One unforeseen issue that certainly was swimming was the weather. However, we quickly adapted our script on the spot to work with the rain, and have learnt that for future endeavours, our scripts should be adaptable to whatever weather the skies might decide to throw at us. Fortunately, the rain only added to the romance of skipping through the park with the boots.

Transport was also an issue. With only one driver in the group - yours truly - getting from location to location, then from location to chip-shop to location was a slight issue. We have figured out that for our next project, we will either ensure we have enough drivers in the group so that everyone can be ferried to and from locations in one journey, rather than waste valuable scheduled time making journey after journey. Either that, or make sure the location is near a main bus route. And, more importantly, near a good chippie.

A highly important issue is continuity. This is something that we did not even realise was an issue until we got round to the edit. Some scenes were extremely tricky to edit, due to the fact that arms or hair were positioned differently in two shots that needed to be put together. Thanks to the remarkable skills of Annabel, we managed to get through this due to her clever and canny editing imagination. However, we know for the next film, to keep a very focused eye on exactly - EXACTLY - what is happening in each and every shot, and how everything needs to be placed for continuity to work.

We were enormously proud of our finished product. According to Youtube statistics, it is now not only popular in the UK, but also highly popular in the USA and... Saudi Arabia.

The world awaits the next masterpiece from Team BAM.