C.O.N.F.L.I.C.T is a book written by the Author Robert Thirkell and published back in 2014, he guides people through what it takes to create a good story in Factual/Reality TV and Film. He goes into great depth of how he gives the information all separated by subtitles with names such as People Skills and Twist and surprise. The first one to catch my eye was ambition he goes to talk about Jamies School dinners and how you need to drive to make something great at the beginning so it can be successful in the future, this was a good example because of them creating this show they were able to change school dinners all over the country. I then started to read about how I can go about getting into contact with people to be in my story, relating this to my project I have emailed people asking for their stories about drug abuse so that I can get more of an idea what my story can be. For actors, I have been in contact with a local Theatre and I have a young actor to play in my 3-minute pilot, as Thirkell would say you have to ‘jump at any opportunity’ and also that it can take time to find the right person so don’t jump at the first person that gets back to you.
Going more into depth about my story as he talks about how every fairytale needs a hero, so, within my story, the young boy that is battling the drug problem would be my hero because he is going through hurdles even when it gets tougher to try and succeeds, Thirkell says this is what is needed to create a going hero. He also makes a really going point when he says that ‘the audience see the end before they start’, my understanding of this is that they may know that ending but by using misleading content they could be led to believe something else.
Something that I have heard before is that the first 2-minutes of a show are the make it or break it point if I haven’t given the audience something to make them carry on I could lose their interest. The point that he made was to introduce them to the hero at the beginning so they can get an idea of how the show is going to go.
A very simple but right to mention would be who is my film about? I need to make sure I tell my story so that the audience know and make sure that I don’t have too many stories, for my show I would be using a minimum of 5 characters in the whole 5 minutes.
When it comes to the production of the show I need to keep in mind that as a producers/ director I need people skills, so I keep people happy and make sure that it all runs smoothly, when I am creating my pilot I need it all to run smoothly by being on time make sure I know what has to be done. As well as this when I am on location things can change and I need to keep that in mind if I were to change I need to edit in my head that the story still makes sense.
Once Upon a Time…
Once upon a Time in a land not very far away, there lived a young boy called Jack and his parents that always fought. He would hide away and wonder what he had done so wrong, blaming himself for the shouting. He grew older and older and the shouting got louder and louder, he started to notice that his Father would disappear for a long period time maybe a day, even a week. His Mother was stressed and then one day he walked in and his Father was lead there knocked out called and tablets on the floor and alcohol dribbling down the olf rotting couch. He rushed around not knowing what to do, nobody else around and only aged 10, he rang 999 and his Father was taken away in the ambulance leave little Jack all on his own.
This was one of many times that Jack had to save his Father, as he grew older this seemed light second nature to him until one night when Jack came home there was an ambulance outside he ran in, his Mother was there bawling on the couch. As he ran outside to see if his Father was alright and he saw was a body bag being lifted into the ambulance. Jack drops to the floor not knowing how to handle this situation.
Jack then felt lonely like he had no one, his Mother to traumatized stayed in bed all day. He turned to the only thing that he knew, drugs. He got worse and worse to the point that he couldn’t even stand to be in his own house anymore, he ran away with no one and no were go he only had the option of living on the street. Jack was now at his worst and didn’t know what to do with himself, then one day as he lite a cigarette sat on a street corner he was hit by a puddle drenching him from head to toe, as he was shouting at the car he turned and looked at his appearance and it even made him flinch because it reminded him of someone…. his Father. Something clicked in his brain, this isn’t what I want, I want a family a life. With only one person in the world left he know where he needed to be, home. He ran and ran until he reached his home the light was on just how he left and in the corner of his eye he saw his Mother. He ran to her, gripped her and said he would never leave again.
And they lived happily ever after…….
Samantha Hull- BATAR Blog 