Screenwriting Step 6

Evaluation

I have finished gathering all of my research for this screenwriting unit and i think that it's safe to say that it will and has helped me tremendously.

It all started of with just brainstorming for ideas and then i came up with my final idea and i looked at all of the key elements in my final idea to research, i researched drugs, conspiracy theorys and charity's and i had a questionaire with a police officer.

Overall i think the two most reliable sources of information i gathered was the questionaire with the police officer and researching on the FRANK website.

The questionaire with the police officer was the most helpful because i went over to my local police station myself and asked the questions and got the answers which means it's 100% reliable information as its primary research i know for a fact its true because the police officer i interviewed was obviously a proffesional at what he does as he has had years of training on drugs, were as you can get secondary research and it could be false and on some unreliable websites most of the time it is false or twisted slighly or mininmal information.

After the questionaire with the police officer it should help me to develop my idea as i know exactly what could happen if someone was caught in possesion of drugs and i can make my screenplay as realistic as possible.

Researching on the FRANK website was a huge help also as this website was professionally made by people who are very knowledgable in drugs and they get all of there information from primary research, asking scientists, police officer and former addicts etc.

The thing that i liked about researching on this website is that it was easy to get around i could easily research what the most addictive and cheap drugs where and after researching drug information on this website, it allowed me to develop my idea as in my final idea its about a homeless person who is infected with HIV and he is a drug addict but i didnt have an idea on what drug he was addicted too but reading some information on FRANK i found that heroin is the most addictive drug in the world and it can be obtained cheaply and on the FRANK website it stated that it's very dangerous to share needles when injecting heroin as it can cause a risk of catching the HIV virus which was a perfect fit to my final idea.

Researching conspiracy theories was also a good attribute towards the final idea.

I started off by researching the most famous conspiracy theory which is 9/11 and from researching that i found a link to another conspiracy theory about a cancer cure which yet again i though was perfect towards my final idea as my final idea is specifically about somone who finds a cure too HIV and the goverment try everything in their power too take it away from him and after researching this cancer cure conspiracy theory it gave me a general outlook of why the goverment could be trying to take the HIV cure away from him in my screenplay.

Reading existing screenplays and screenwriting literature was a very good attribute to this unit as it helped me alot in understanding what too do when it comes to actually writing my screenplay.

Reading existing screenplays was the main way i learned how to structure my material, i leart how to introduce a scene and charecter, I also learnt when too add actions and the editing and that was the main help of reading existing screenplays which is a very good attribute as i wasnt very good atall at formatting my screenplays, all i knew i what font to do and the rest seemed abit haisy to me but now i understand it.

Also after reading existing screenplays it helps me understand how much work and effort is acctually put into the writing prosses as the screenplays i read where very long and obviously i didnt read all of them but you can scroll down and see how long they were, also the punctuation and spelling in the existing screenplays i read were very accurate and well done which i shall keep in mind when i am writing my own.

Reading screenplay literature was very good at giving information on structure and narrative and what to do with your screenplay depending on what genre you use.

I learnt alot of the structure from reading existing screenplays already but obviously the literature gave it too me in alot more clear way as with reading existing screenplays i had to realise the patterns that were made  too know how the structure worked but when i read the screenplay literature it just straight up told me how to structure it.

The most i learnt from reading literature was how the genre's work, it had alot of different information on what the narrative should be like with different genres, for example with an action genre it should be fast moving and sudden with less narrative but you still need to make room for the narrative but dont over do it were as with a horror the narrative is near enough vital and the screenplay needs to be spooky and sudden and the narrative need to be very clear and spoken out so the story is getting across to the audience therefore overall reading screenplay literature was a big help to me aswell as reading existing screenplays.

Overall the research that i did was very neccasary and very helpful, without the research i wouldnt of been able to develop my final idea and make it as realistic as i can now.

I can also make my screenplay perfect format and make sure the genre suits the narrative and performance, overall the most help to me was the questionaire with the police officer and researching on the FRANK website and reading screenwriting literature for the reasons that i have explained above therefore overall research is very important for the screenwrting process.

Screenwriting Step 5

Screenwriting literature.

I have read some screenwriting literature and i would say that it helped me alot if i had read it before reading existing screenplays but i can only say it helped me slightly as it gave alot of information on the format of how a screenplay is produced like when to use INT & EXT, Location and timing which i already learnt from reading existing screenplays as i read the existing screenplays i realised as each scene changed it would give the information on where they are and what time it is but obviously formated as i just explained.
Screenwriting literature gives information on how to format a script when a certain charecter makes a certain action and when editing should be input which i again already learnt from reading existing screenplays.
Although reading screenwriting literature i obviously more helpful then reading existing screenplays because with reading existing screenplays i had too realise the patterns to know how its formatted but with the literature it just straight up tells me what to do really simply therefore i thought that reading screenwriting literature is helpful.
I also learned alot of different genre element from reading screenwriting literature for example it said that if you are doing a screenplay with an action genre then it should be fast moving quite alot of the time and always going, obviously you dont have too write the screenplay without and sort of sitting down, talking moments but it cant bore someone for too long as it is an action movie but you can still give a narrative base towards it but you dont have to go too much into detail with the narrative were as with a horror movie it has to be sneaky and tense and the narrative base of the screenplay has to be clear and put across well.
There is information on most genres with was the most helpful for me in my personal opinion, there was alot of other elements that was really helpful aswell such as structure and introduction but i already knew about them before reading some of this literature but i didnt read all of the literature, i only read a few segmants and the amount of information i got out of it was phenominal and it makes me think about ordering my own screenwriting book to help me with the screenwriting unit as i already know how helpful they are just from reading a small amount.

Screenwriting Step 4

I am going to read some existing screenplays starting of with "Lock, stock and two smoking barrels", written by Guy Ritchie

Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels.

http://sfy.ru/?script=lock_stock

This screenplay was written by Guy Ritchie, I have learned quite alot from this screenplay, starting off with some simple things, when a charecter speaks, there name always has to be in capitals were as i thought there name only had to be in capitals when they are first introduced.
I have also learned that you only have too give the details; "INT" & "EXT", Location and Day & night at the start of every scene and i did'nt exactly know how that worked until i read this screenplay.
In this screenplay the spelling and grammer is perfect which i shall make sure i do in the future in my own screenplays also at the end of the scene it has in capital letters what the editing will be at the end of each scene which i didnt know before i read this.
I have learned quite alot from this screenplay and i did'nt even need to read that much to see how he did his writing, this screenplay is an inspiration to me because it is one of my favourite movies and now i see whatever film it is, you always need to have percise and perfect screenplays before they go into production and just after reading this screenplay i realised how much work is really involved in it and how prepared i should be.

I am now going to read another screenplay called "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski.

The Matrix

http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Matrix,-The.html

I read a few segmants of this screenplay and i cant honestly say that i have learnt much more because i had already learnt alot from the first screenplay that i read although i think that in this screenplay the timing for when something happens is alot more specific and the structure is basically the same but the space margins are very well done although the spelling and grammer was alot better in the Lock, Stock and two smoking barells screenplay.