Documentary Unit - Start of editing process

Yesterday, we went to the studios in order to start our editing process. We managed to make our opening sequence, but the rest of the time was mostly spent organising the clips which were scattered across harddrives and computers/laptops, and getting them in to one place. We have our script, which will be very useful in the editing process as well.
We also started to name each of our clips, to make it easier to filter through what we need, rather than having to click each individual one hoping to find the clip that we need.
I have also started to transcript each and every interview we have (which will be posted up here), so when we come to do more of the editing, we are able to pick and choose what bits of what interview we want, in order for the best results!

Sam

Documentary Commission Unit - Filming Cont.

So on Tuesday we were relatively unfortunate. We had planned to meet with Graham at his store at 2.30pm. He told us to arrive there for 2.00 so we can get an interview with Craig, a guy who works for him. After doing so, Graham failed to show, and after waiting a few hours, we decided to leave! We have reorganised to do the rest of the Graham interviews and the interviews with his customers at a later date!

Sam

Documentary Unit - Filming the Hammerlock event

On Saturday the 10th November, we went to Tonbridge at the Angel Centre to film the Hammerlock wrestling with Graham. This is an event that he has regularly attended since he was a young child, and in the recent years since he has owned the Grinning Demon, he has become actively involved with it.

We filmed 3 of the 6 matches, which we can use some of as establishing shots. We filmed these on 2 cameras, one in a fixed position and the other was handheld. Part of this was also doing a favour for Graham, as he requires whole matches to be filmed to eventually place on his website (which is one place you will be able to find this documentary online when complete!)

We did interviews with Graham after the event, talking about his involvement in it, and how he came to get involved and what he does, as well as talking to Dean Champion - one of the main organisers of the event.

Dean spoke about his involvement as well as Graham's, and how having Graham help promote these events has helped the event in general.

Overall, it was a very good day, and very useful, even though this sequence will only take up about 1/2 minutes of the film, we got what we needed and are pleased with the results!

Sam

Documentary Commission Unit - Script for Saturday

SHOTS	QUESTIONS/DIALOGUE
Establishing Extreme WS of Angel Centre from Outside with/without queue	V/O: today is the day of the Hammerlock wrestling event, which Graham sets up stall at.
Sped up tracking shot of queue and inside event, showing everything around. Still shot people coming in filling stalls, sped up.	V/O: it’s a very popular event for wrestling fans and comic book fans alike, Graham is invited to these events to lend a hand and help out.
Interview Graham:	When did you start going to the Hammerlock events? Why did you start going to them? What is your role at them? Or are you just an onlooker? What do you enjoy about them?
Interview with Organiser/other people involved with event who know Graham:	How long have you been doing these events? What has Graham offered to the events since he has been helping out? What do you think of Graham? What is your role at this event?
Establishing shot of Wresting going on Establishing shot of audience MS of Audience	These will be cutaways in actual interviews, normal and actuality
Sequence from other script of Graham locking up, walking down the road.	V/O: Graham is locking up for the day as he is on his way to the Angel Centre for the Hammerlock wrestling event

Documentary Commission Unit - Hammersmith Wrestling

On Saturday, James and I are on our way to the Angel Centre in Tonbridge with Graham, in order to film the Hammerlock Wrestling event - an event which Graham always goes to.
While this is not essential to the documentary idea, it is an interesting location and place that we are able to film, and show part of what Graham does as part of his life of running a comic book store.
It also will give us an insight and chance to interview other people that know Graham, who can let us know how much of an asset (if at all) Graham has been since he has started helping out at these kind of events.
Sadly, we can not film at Graham's own event named Demoncon, as this was held back in September, before this unit even began, and the next one coming up is in March. However, this is still very interesting and as Graham has an interesting role to play within the event it should make for good filming and add a dynamic depth to our documentary.

Sam

Documentary Commission Unit - My Pitch

So, my pitch got chosen! I have been commissioned to make my documentary I have given the working title of 'Grinning Graham'.
I am working with James Ogden, and we have many good ideas and the such which can be found on:
http://grinninggraham.blogspot.co.uk/
This will keep an up to date story of our process of making this documentary. Every time we do something, be it little or small, we shall add it directly to this blog for all to see our progress as we delve deeper into Graham's comic book world.

Documentary Unit - Pitching Idea

The name of the Documentary Commission unit series was 'The Day that Changed my Life'
For my idea i decided to use what we had from our business in Maidstone interview workshop, and use the owner of the Comic Book Store "The Grinning Demon" Graham Beadle, for my documentary.
It turns out, that after having ran pubs for 18 years or so, his local comic book store (of which he was a regular at) the owner offered him the business. Graham decided he would in fact like to do this and so spoke figures with him and ended up the owner of the comic book store.
Since the 7 years in which Graham has been running the Grinning Demon, he has become a lot happier in himself. He stated how he can now be himself a lot more rather than not, where at his pubs he did find it a bit uncomfortable to work at, having to boss people around and the like (seeing as he does suffer from a mild form of Asperger's Syndrome).
Whereas now, he is with people that are around his own wavelength, and he can be himself, talk to people about what he loves.
The only problem in which he has encountered is money issues. He earns a LOT less than when he ran his different pubs.
The idea for this documentary is to show the story leading up to Graham having bought the comic book store, and then how it has changed his life since he has owned it, but also outlining the problems he has faced a long the way...

Documentary Commission - Getting Businesses for Interviews

Today in my group we went out to find local businesses to interview for part of our exercise for tomorrow.  We need to find businesses to interview about being a local business in the Maidstone community, and why Maidstone is their choice  of city to set up a business in etc.
We succeeded, after speaking to Six different companies.
The first, "The Grinning Demon" agreed to let us interview them.
The rest we got however were maybes. We went to a Cornish pasty shop, they gave us the email of the people higher up to them, they gave us the go-ahead in store, but said we just need permission from the big dogs, if it were.
Otherwise we went to the fancy dress shop, who agreed if we catch them at a time they are not busy, they will do it for us, which went the same for a pawnbrokers and a music store.
So hopefully we can get some good interviews, and test our new skills that we have learnt!

Narrative and Genre - The Story of Narrative - Breaking Bad

In our lecture the other day, we learnt about what is known as "The Magnificent Seven". These are the stories that are used to communicate the whole picture in a television series or a film. A writer and theorist named Christopher Booker, argued (along with many other theorists) that these stories can all be broken down into 7 different main plot lines. These include:

1. Tragedy
2. Comedy
3. Overcoming the monster
4. Voyage and return
5. Quest
6. Rags to riches
7. Rebirth

When applying this theory and looking at Breaking Bad, i realised that it can fit into about three of these different categories, being Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches and Rebirth - I shall go into more detail about them now.

Overcoming the Monster - In Breaking Bad, the main character Walter White is battling inoperable lung cancer. The story throughout the series shows his ongoing struggle with the illness. While at one point, it does seem he has beaten it, as it goes into remission, but as the series progresses, in very minor ways it catches up to him. Now, having reached the final series (the second half of which is being aired next year), it does hint at the cancer maybe properly taking over again. Obviously in this example the Cancer is the "Monster". I also had another idea, being that the "Monster" that Walter White faces, from around the middle of the third series and progressing onwards, is in fact himself. He goes from being a small time, nice, chemistry teacher, to a proverbial "God" in his drug manufacturing business. He becomes darker and darker going to more extremities as the series progresses, becoming a completely different person as the world around him changes, and he adapts to fit this. It shows that the Monster he has to overcome, is in fact himself.

Rags to Riches - Walter goes from having nothing, to eventually becoming one of the wealthiest people imaginable. In an iconic scene in the most recent episode at the end of the first half of season 5, Walter's wife takes him to a storage facility, and reveals a mountain of money the size of a small car, under a giant sheet. (He has been giving her money to launder, but it has become too much for her so she ends up having to take it to this storage facility). This is rags to riches in the literal sense. Usually there is an antagonist in this story line, who moves in the opposite direction mirroring this. A character named Gus Fring in BB fills this role. As Walter becomes higher up in the business, Gus ends up losing everything.

Rebirth - I mentioned this in Overcoming the Monster. Rebirth story lines show the character finding a new reason for living and turning their life around. Essentially, the drug trade does exactly this for Walter White, who goes under the name "Heisenberg" when he gets deep involved in it, and he turns into a completely different person, not necessarily for the better!

Narrative and Genre - Breaking Bad Heroes

The main character of the breaking bad series is Walter White, who goes by the alias Heisenberg. He is the main hero of the series but it is relatively difficult to decide what kind of hero he actually is. In many respects he is your typical antihero. He displays many of the characteristics you would get of an anti-hero:

• He is selfish and cares only for his personal well-being.
• He will harm anyone who comes between him and his personal happiness.
• He is a wanderer.
• He tends to favor violent acts.
• He does not care who gets hurt as long as he benefits.
• He has a general negative attitude towards life.

Narrative and Genre - Breaking Bad Genre

When talking about the Genre of Breaking Bad, you could consider it quite a difficult one. Whereas its main genre would probably fall under the category of Thriller and Crime. These would be classed as the main genres because a) the show is entirely about crime, and b) a thriller because all the conventions of a typical thriller can be seen in it, including tension/suspense, it takes place in a mixture of urban/suburban areas and there is a fair bit of violence which most thrillers tend to adopt as one of their conventions, though that can be mixed in with the Crime genre as well.
There are a few more sub-genres involved within it as well, such as some black comedy elements, and it could also be considered a serial drama as well, as it uses some of the conventions shown within all of these as well, but mainly it is a Crime Thriller I would say.

Narrative and Genre - Chosen Tv Series

The T-V Series I have chosen to use in my Narrative and Genre piece is Breaking Bad. I thought this would be a good series to use, as I know rather a lot about it, with it being one of my favourite television shows ever made.
The basic premise of it being, that a Chemistry teacher is diagnosed with in-operable lung cancer, and decides to team up with his ex-student to start cooking Crystal Meth, so he can come up with enough  money to support his family when he is dead.
I know I have a lot to say about the series, and the idea of heroes/genres and the narrative used within are rather interesting as it is not your usual kind of show, with a distinct proper Hero that necessarily matches with the themes involved with in it.

Work Experience - Take Me Out!!!

On Friday I did my work experience on take me out, and had a very good day!
There was a fair bit of waiting around at first, but then the day was mostly filled with being a stand-in for the girls, during the Paddy rehearsals and the Boy rehearsals. This involved pressing buttons, and answering questions the boys, or indeed Paddy gave to us! I also got a chance to sit in and watch the Girl rehearsals, which was very fun to say the least!
I also met these 2 ladies who had come down for the day, named Samantha and Noelle. They work for a production/media company in London (I did not catch the name of it) but they are directly involved with all the large entertainment programmes, such as X-Factor and Britain's got Talent, as well as Take Me Out! They were down for the day, from their base in London, to see how the filming of Take Me Out was going, and to see what they do to prepare for the evening show in the day. They did the same as me, standing in for the girls. After getting into talking with them and spending the whole day with them, they gave me an opportunity I could not turn down! They both gave me their names, and told me to add them on Linkedin. They said that I was free to get into contact with them whenever I wanted, and they can find me work experience or part-time work. They also said that once I graduate, even if I haven't been in contact with them for a couple of years, remind them who I am, and they could very likely hook me up with a permanent job! It was very exciting - I chose a very good day to do my work experience!

Ciao for now!

Direction Unit - Revised Idea

So after the Group Crit session we had last Tuesday, I have taken my story into consideration and I have made some considerable changes to it, whilst also keeping the premise relatively the same.
I am still going for an internal fight within the female crack addict character, but removing the physical violent act of the drug dealer at the end, and focusing a lot more on the struggle with the girl. It has also given the piece a lot more depth and makes it seem like I'm telling a story rather than having a random act of violence committed at the end.
To start off, the girl walks in the park, in order to clear her head, and get away from everything as she attempts to battle her addiction. Once again, she will still be dressed the same, messy hair, no make up, bags under her eyes, with large over-sized dirty clothes. As she is walking along she picks up a wooden stick and starts mindlessly playing with it. A short ways down the path, she gets the stick caught up in the tire of the bicycle of a passing cyclist. The man on the bike falls off the bike, knocking the bike and the girl down. As they tumble, a small bag of drugs (crack) falls out of the mans hoodie's pocket. As they get up the man checks his pocket in a fluster, as if he is looking for something. As the girl stands, she picks up the bag showing it to him. He quickly takes it off her as she asks "is that...?". The man reluctantly nods, and looks at the girl, and asks her if she wants to buy some. Tempted, but trying to resist, the girl reaches for it, but shakes her head and runs over to a nearby bench. The man smiles to himself, as if he has come up with a scheme to make some money off this girl. He cycles over to her and the bench, and sits down next to her. He slides the bag of drugs to the middle of the bench, saying "If you want it... take it" implying to leave money as well, but he stands up, and cycles slightly further away, so he can not see what she does. As she looks at the bag, she does not know what to do, scared and confused, she doesn't know whether to take it or not, and is really struggling with the choice. After a short amount of time, she tells herself "one last time" and grabs it and takes some immediately. The man returns to find her on the floor, clearly having had an Over dose. He panics, see's the bag is open, and tries to find a phone on the girl. Finding one, he dials 999 before pocketing the bag and cycling off in a panic, leaving her on the floor.

It DOES seem like a lot, and like I might not be able to fit it into 3 minutes, BUT i have just got into vast amounts of detail there. In reality, not that much happens visuallywise and it can be done, I have it all planned out. I have very nearly completed my shot list and my script, ready for my shoot on Thursday, of which I am certain will run very smoothly as I know exactly what I want, know what locations I shall be using.
My crew has already been assembled as well
Myself - Director
David Anga - Camera
James Ogden - Lighting

And my cast:
Girl - Tory Stewart-Wooler
Man/Dealer - Jamie Shaw

I am very excited to shoot it, and to edit it, and if all goes to plan, the finished production should look very good!

Ciao for now!

Direction Unit - Developed Idea for Park Life

For my Direction Unit I have been given the theme of 'Fight' and the prop 'Bicycle'. Getting a bicycle in my short film didn't seem like too hard an idea, it could be easily incorporated within my piece, but it took me a while before I managed to think of what I could do for a fight. I was debating with myself whether to go for a full on physical fight, or a passive-aggressive/emotional fight OR whether to portray the fight having already happened at the start of the piece. I figured with only a maximum of 20 words of dialogue, it might be rather challenging to display a verbal/emotional fight, so I decided to use the theme fight in two senses.
My story is simply about a young lady who is addicted to crack-cocaine. She looks a mess from the start; no make up on, scruffy hair, dirt on her face and clothes. She will be wearing ripped jeans, also dirty, and a slightly oversized jumper or hoodie, that looks very old and worn. She has an old rusty bicycle (yet to be obtained - still wondering where to get a bike from) and she cycles in to the park to a obviously predetermined place to meet her drug dealer. While she cycles to this bench it will cut between shots of her cycling, and a man (her drug dealer) who is just walking through the forest. As he is walking towards the meeting place, he spies a metal pole on the floor, and picks it up. As he is walking along he will be dragging it across the floor, against trees etc. before hiding it up the sleeve of his hoodie. At this point you only see him from behind. He wears track suit bottoms, a hoodie with the hood up, and a flat peak cap underneath the hood. He wears the cap in a way that you can not see his face.
When they meet at the bench, a brief acknowledgment of each other is given, and they sit down. The girl hands him some money, and he gets out a small bag of something (the crack cocaine) and passes it to her, before standing up and walking off. Eventually the girl gets on her old bike to go, and as she is cycling along a path, the dealer suddenly appears directly in front of her forcing her to stop the bike.
"What do you want?" she asks, which are the only words of dialogue in the whole short. A close up of the dealer's face is seen, though all is covered up by hood and cap apart from his mouth, and he smiles sinisterly. The pole drops out from in his sleeve to his hand, and he smacks the girl with it, knocking her off her bike. He proceeds to hit her a few more times, before taking back the drugs that he gave her, and jumping on her bike and cycling off, leaving the girl in a bloody mess on the floor.

The theme fight works in two ways here:
1. The actual physical fight at the end where the dealer attacks her
and
2. The internal struggle and 'fight' with herself against the drugs. Yes she submits to buying, but I will make out during her walk and the way she looks and when she's on the bench, that there is a fight within herself going on.

<<< This is the kind of bicycle I would like to try and acquire. Old and worn - obviously the girl spends her money to get her fix, which is why she does not have nice clothes or a nice bike.









<<< The look of my drug dealer...

<<<  ... and his weapon of choice

Direction Unit - 1 Minute Video

We started back at Uni not too long ago, and we have started our direction unit (the unit I have been looking forward to the most!)
Last Thursday we did an exercise where we split up in to groups of 4 and were given a set of stage directions (featuring no dialogue) featuring two people, who meet and hand each other a note. In our groups of 4 we had to come up with 4 1 minute long videos with each of us taking it in terms to be the director, using the other 3 people in the group as our performers and our cameramen.

Here is my finished product:

As Live - 2nd Year Production

So for the past couple of weeks, we have been going in a couple of times a week to help out the 2nd Years with there As Live studio production. I was selected as a camera operator for them, which i really enjoyed. It was very interesting seeing just how everything slowly comes together in order to make a great production that it was. I had a lot of fun being a camera man for them, and I feel it has helped me for when I come to use a camera again in the future, i have a better idea of what looks good and what doesn't look good!
Seeing everyone pull together was inspiring too, and it really did give us a taste of what is to come for when we do this project next year, which I am now very much looking forward to!

Ciao for now!

Story Telling Unit - The Meeting Synopsis and Trailer

So after months of hard work, I have finally completed my first project in its entirety, and am hoping it is up to standard. I believe I have done quite a good job for it! Here is the synopsis offering a bit of insight to my short film, and the trailer that I have created for it!

The Meeting is an action drama following the events over a couple of days of a young man in his 20’s, Sidney Ferris, set in a small suburban council area just outside a major city. Despite being quite physically fit, Sidney has nothing going for him in life. He has no job and very little money. The story follows his unlucky meeting with an international criminal Edmund Cortell. Cortell is in his late 50’s and is a very dark and deceitful man, showing no remorse to the actions he takes. He is always seen with his right-hand man, a man with no name and little personality, who is always referred to simply as The Associate.

The story begins with Sidney and Cortell holding guns to each other, in an old fashioned Mexican stand-off situation. We then hear a voice over of Sidney, as he tells the story of how he got into this out of the ordinary situation. While out jogging one day, a car pulls up next to Sidney. A strange man gets out of the car and places a bag over Sidney’s head, knocking him unconscious and driving off with him in the car. When he comes to, Sidney is tied to a chair in a small office, and he meets the criminal Cortell. Cortell offers Sidney a substantial amount of money to do a job for him; robbing an old client. He is told that if he does not perform the job, then Cortell would kill him. Sidney then proceeds with the job and is successful. When he meets with Cortell again, it is revealed that Cortell is not going to pay him, and instead kill him, resulting in a tense stand off between the two central characters.

Despite being only a short, ten minute long film, The Meeting is a dark drama filled with action, that at times, will have you sitting on the edge of your seats.

And the trailer... Enjoy!

Story-Telling Unit - Trailer/Storyboard and Script

So I've now finished my Story board and I feel it expresses the first 5 pages of my script rather well!
My script is completed and has been for a while, I haven't updated in a while so didn't say that I had finished it, but I feel I managed to get out of the 'Scooby Doo' phase part of it was facing, and it now works really well as a piece and I am rather proud.
As for my trailer, I have 1:30 of it done at the moment. Going to finish it off with the last 30 seconds tomorrow or tuesday with any lucky, so it should be up here and on youtube when I get it finished. I shall post it as soon as it's done. It is looking pretty good. I have experimented with different backing tracks for it, and unless i find a better one, I think I may stick with what it is currently, which is the instrumental to the song 'Mad World'!!!

Media Strategies Unit

Found a website with a paper I found quite useful. Anyone else take a look if you fancy...
Just click here!

Sound Unit - Main Idea & Workshop Video

So for my sound unit, I have decided to tell the story of a lonely heart. A girl who meets a man she met online, and has him round for dinner, but things don't go entirely to plan, and she ends up alone once again. I have set up two fake online dating profiles which will be used briefly within the project, and the pictures all work and look good, I feel I could make something really interesting out of it. I have a good idea for the sounds and pace of the piece, so when it comes to uploading and editing, I hope the result will be as good as I am planning!

Also, last week, as part of getting us ready for this project, we were given a short 2 minute clip and asked to put sound to it. This is the resulting piece that Sam Creamer and I came up with...

We did not go as daring as we could have, using different noises in place of the more traditional noises, but I feel it still works rather well, flows quite nicely and does sound good!

Sound Unit and a bit of Story-Telling Unit!

So we started our Sound Unit last week. Last week we learnt about the use of different microphones, in case we wanted to record any sounds for our project, and just for general future use for any work we may do in the future.
We learnt how to use a blimp, a boom and even radio mics, as well as the external microphones for the Sony Camera's we use, we were given a bit more information on them. I found the quality of sound coming out of these to be incredible, so I have decided that I shall probably attempt to record the majority of my sounds for my project myself, as I know I can get some very high quality sounds now.

I have begun the editing process of my The Meeting Trailer today also, and it is going rather well. It should be complete and up on this blog by Friday at the latest. It's getting exciting!

Story Telling Unit : Soft Trailer Number 2

So we decided to go for the complete polar opposite in our second trailer. This time we show the perspective of the Father. Hope you enjoy!

Storytelling Module - Soft Trailer Number 1

Today, we were put into pairs and told to make trailers for Simon Ellis' short film "Soft".
Sam and I decided we would make 2 trailers. One from the point of view of the character aptly named ASBO and the other from the point of view of the Father and Son. We have not yet made the latter but we shall be doing tomorrow.
For now here is our first advert. Enjoy!

Storytelling Unit - The Meeting Character Profiles

Here I have attempted to give shape to the 3 characters within my story. The main protagonist is Sidney, the antagonist Cortell, and his associate. Being the central characters and the only ones that appear with speaking roles, I felt it necessary to only write about them.
I have also come up with a new idea to add to what I have written in my previous blog. I have decided to make the first part of the story a narrative of Sidney's, starting at the stand off at gunpoint between Sidney and Cortell. Sidney will ask the question "How did I end up here?" and he will tell his story. But anyway, below are the characters for my piece:

The Meeting - Character Profiles


Sidney Ferris - Sidney is the central character and protagonist to the story. Unemployed, no family, no friends, he is your average nobody. Despite all this he is an intelligent and quite athletic young man, he has just never received a break in his life. He struggles to find work for his lack of confidence in himself. He knows this, knows that he does not have the social skills needed to get a job, and make something of himself. This is why when the opportunity to join "MI6" comes along, he jumps at it and strives to do his best in the task he has at hand. He hates it when people shorten his name to Sid, in his eyes, he is just Sidney. He always corrects people when they do call him Sid. When he gets kidnapped however, with the opportunity that comes up, he does develop some confidence in himself, which lets him stand up to the crafty Mr Cortell, resulting in a struggle for his life in the end.

Edmund Cortell - Cortell is the central antagonist to the story, shown at the beginning in a stand off with Sidney. He is a dark and deceitful man, who shows no remorse to any of his actions, he is in fact an international criminal mastermind. He enjoys conflict (subtly put across by the way he constantly calls Sidney, Sid) and hurting people. He is a very powerful man and can come across as quite influential and convincing in his lies. He likes being a figure of authority, getting Sidney and his associate to call him Mr Cortell. He believes he is the best, and that his plans and ideas cannot be matched by anyone. He is very proud and once he gets an idea in his head, there is nothing that can stop him from going through with it, and whatever anyone tells him, he will not back down. However his confidence is thrown in the stand off with Sidney. How can a man that has never amounted to anything, be the one who possibly stops him for good?

The Associate - A man with no known name, always referred to as "My Associate" by Cortell. He is a big man, with very little to say. Very much like your aver thug, goon or lackey. He always listens to and does with Cortell asks with no hesitation.

I hope this gives a better insight to the story and idea I have come up with. The time span I am planning to use for the story is over a few days. I have also broken it down quite suitably I feel, into a decent beginning middle and end, though I shall get to that later!

Ciao for now!

Story Telling Unit - The Meeting Ideas

I had a couple of ideas, well mainly one which I developed into something bigger which I shall share with you all now. It's a little rough and ready, and seems like a bit much, but I am almost certain I can fit it in to a ten minute slot.

Ideas for “The Meeting”

Initial idea, a man badmouths his boss at work, and has to have a meeting with him. He goes to the meeting and his insane boss ends up promoting him instead as he likes the attitude of the man.

Revamped idea, an athletic young man who works as a <insert some form of job role> is spotted by an older man and his associate. On the younger mans way to work the next day, he gets abducted with a bag put around his head by an assailant you do not see the face of, and placed in the back of a car which then drives off. When he awakes and the bag is taken off his head, he is in an office, tied to a chair. He sees the older man who then orders his associate to untie him, on the condition that he stays calm. After agreeing to do so, he is untied. The man introduces himself as Deputy-Director of MI6, and he is looking for a new young up-coming agent to join the agency. The guy is slightly taken aback, and doesn’t know what to believe; after all, he has been kidnapped. The older guy tells him if he changes his mind, to call a number (written on a piece of paper given to him). After a short amount of time and thinking, the young man calls the number, and the minute he dials he is abducted with a bag placed over his head again. This time when it is pulled off, he is in the same room but not tied up. The agent gives him his briefing, of which he must pull off solo if he is to get the position as an agent himself. The task involves breaking in to the back of a warehouse and stealing a flash drive, with no casualties to occur either.  He is given the security codes and told once in he has 15 minutes to get the flash drive, and get out. After successfully stealing the flash drive, he gets to a said meeting place to meet with the DD. The DD then takes the flash drive, and pulls a gun to the man’s head. Confused, he backs him into a corner and tells him that he isn’t the DD after all; he was just playing the young man.  He tells him he needed to use him and play him so he would steal it for him – he needed a nobody who no one would miss or relate to the crime scene. The young man then pulls a gun himself on the criminal. They have a short stand off before a gunshot is heard and there is a black out. FIN.

Storytelling Unit - Prewriting Practice

We were placed into pairs and told to come up with ideas for 10 minute stories, using newspapers for inspiration. Here's what we came up with in my group.

Title:  Spoilt

Genre:  Drama/Crime

The Idea: A 17-year-old girl accuses her brother’s friend (24) of raping her, when it is in fact a lie. The story focuses however on the brother’s friend and his struggle with being accused of rape when he is in fact innocent.

Theme: The film is essentially about the repercussions of false accusation and lying. It also highlights the prejudice on men with ‘guilty till proven innocent’

Characters:  Mikey – 24 years old. 6 foot 2 inches tall. Blonde long hair.  Middle class, quite trendy, good-looking. His peers all love him and find him funny, a genuine nice guy. He is the victim of the accusation.

Madeline (Maddy) – 17 years old. 5 foot 4 inches tall. Long dark brown hair. Middle class and the sister of Mikey’s best friend, Patrick.  Spoilt and has everything she has ever wanted with the attention always focused on her, when her brother gets engaged, the attention is driven away from her, so she tells an elaborate lie (the rape) to bring everything back on her.

Patrick (Paddy) – 24 years old, 6 foot tall, the brother of Madeline. Suave ginger hair. He has just recently become engaged and received a very high profile job. He loves his sister but does often call her a ‘brat’, although obviously he does still love her, so sides with her over the accusation against Mikey.

Setting: Set in Canterbury and in the current time (last couple of years etc.)