'Black and Blue' Script

Now that we had decided on the plot and the title of the film, it was time to write the official script, and so Elliot took up the job.

CUT TO:

1    INT. REHEARSAL STUDIO - DAY                                 1

Open in on THE DANCER, a plain looking girl whom is uncharacteristically dressed in flashy and elegant dancing attire. Her hair is tied back with a few hairs seemingly out of place, as if it was prepared in a hurry. She is heavily panting in front of the mirror, and always slightly out of shot. The dancer has been attempting the same move for a while now and with each attempt, her frustration grows. The music from her headphones echoes through the room. A series of intimate close ups permeate the scene as she presents her craft, until finally unveiling the dancer in full costume/makeup. Some time has passed, the dancer is sat on the floor, exhausted, she picks up a drink to refresh herself. She then looks to the clock on the wall which reads: 16:49. The dancer then picks herself backup, gazes into the mirror, staring herself down, searching for the motivation to carry on. After calming herself, she puts her headphones back on and the music fades in, playing throughout the remainder of the film.

                                                     

CUT TO:

2    EXT. STREET - EVENING                                2

The dancer is making her way home, she is now in a much rougher looking outfit, ill-fitted and out of style. The street she walks down looks neglected and down beaten, rubbish lines the roads and graffiti decorates the houses. The dancer has her headphones in, ignoring the world around her as she practices the moves in her head with some leaking out into the real world whilst she walks.

There is a drug deal taking place between THUG 1 and THUG 2 across the street from the dancer, the scene doesn't linger on them.

The dancer continues down the street.

A TEENAGE MUM with a pushchair barges by the dancer, whilst chewing gum and on the phone. 

The dancer continues down the street.

The dancer then passes a HOMELESS MAN sat by the road, asleep and sheltered only by a long piece of card.

The dancer continues down the street.

  CUT TO:

3    INT. REHEARSAL STUDIO - DAY                                 3

Continuing from where we left off in scene 1, the dancer is back into her dance. Although she is struggling to maintain her breath, the dance itself increases in scale as she starts to bring it into more areas of the studio .

                                                      CUT TO:

4    EXT. DANCER'S HOUSE - EVENING                        4

The dancer enters her house.

5    INT. DANCER'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - EVENING                5

The dancer's house is a complete mess, tracking her through the house as she walks in, it's a hovel. There are lots of empty beer cans, dirty clothes and rubbish scattered across the floor. The dancer makes her way through the living room, where it appears that the FATHER is sat slumped in an armchair pointed directly at the TV, he doesn't seem to be awake as he does not react to the dancer's entrance. The TV is on in background, out of focus as the dancer walks upstairs.

                                                      CUT TO:

6    INT. REHEARSAL STUDIO - DAY                            6

The dancer is continuing the piece, yet seems distracted. There is one move in particular she keeps trying over and over but every time she appears dissatisfied.

                                                      CUT TO:

7    INT. DANCER'S HOUSE - DANCER'S ROOM - EVENING            7

The dancer is sat on her bed with her knees tucked in and in tears, gazing out her window as rain drops run down it. We hear inaudible yelling from FATHER (O.S.). She then turns and faces her bedroom door. The yelling stops before immediately picking up again. The dancer suddenly throws the lamp on her bedside unit across the room, screams, picks up her coat and goes to leave the room.

                                                      CUT TO:

8    EXT. DANCER'S HOUSE - EVENING                        8

                                     

The dancer exits the house, slamming the door behind her.

                                                      CUT TO:

9    INT. REHEARSAL STUDIO - DAY                            9

The dancer is in mid-rehearsal, staring down at the floor as tears drizzle down her cheeks. She wipes them away in an attempt to compose herself but cannot. She finally stands up straight, her eyes suddenly intensify and the most impressive section of the dance commences although it is clear the grief is still staying with her.

                                                      CUT TO:

10    INT. STORE CUPBOARD - NIGHT                            10

In the poorly lit and cluttered store cupboard we see the dancers possessions and some empty food packets lining the shelves, implying that she has been there for some time. We then reveal the dancer angrily dancing, as if trying to hold back her rage. She grows frustrated with herself as she struggles with a move, until she finally lashes out throwing a nearby mop to the ground and screaming into the wall. We stay on her for some time as her anger, turns to sadness. She then looks up and takes a deep inhale.

                                                      CUT TO:

11    INT. REHEARSAL STUDIO - DAY                            11

And exhale, the dancer is back in the studio again and is now determined to not let her past get the best of her and continues the dance, now with nothing but determination written across her face. The dance is a spectacle to behold, and ends triumphantly, with the music stopping with it. The dancer is breathing heavily and pats the sweat off her face, when the COMPETITION COORDINATOR enters the room.

COMPETITION COORDINATOR

You're on in five.

The dancer shows no reaction.

                                                      CUT TO:

12    INT. BACKSTAGE - EVENING                            12

The dancer walks behind backstage to behind the curtains.

                                                      CUT TO:

                                      

13    INT. STAGE - EVENING                                13

The curtains draw in front of the dancer as the lights spill out onto her face, her eyes are closed and her face expressionless. She takes a deep breath.

CUT TO BLACK.

We have all read the script and think Elliot's done a fantastic job, it's exactly the kind of thing we were going for, and I can't wait to get started.

Deciding on a Title - 'Black and Blue'

Arguably the hardest part of a creative process is deciding what to call it, should you go simple? Or perhaps go for something more extravagant? For the first time so far, this is something we couldn't agree on, some people liked some ideas more than others, and some people hated those ideas. It wasn't an easy task, so we decided to leave it until we knew more about what our film would look, sound and feel like. Along the way, if we came up with an idea, we would put it on a list on our shared word document.

As you can see, we came up with quite a few possibilities in the end. I particularly liked 'Chrysalis', as it related to the idea that the Dancer is evolving - pushing herself out of her shell in order to be free, all through the art of dance. Others however didn't agree and wanted something that was more directly linked to the film itself. Just as we were about to fall out over it, I came up with the title 'Black and Blue', of which relates very well to not only the story - in dancers often push themselves to the point of injury while doing what they love - but also is a direct link to the colour motif of the film. After all, half of the film is going to be coloured with Blues and Purples, and the other will be in Black and White.

Stylisitc Choice & Colour Palettes

For the film, we want it to have a certain look to it, and by that I mean specifically in the colour area. We feel as though a story which, in a nutshell, consists of a dancer rehearsing while thinking about her life could be a bit bland, especially if every scene simply rolls into the next with little to no thought behind how it looks. We therefore tried to think of ways to separate the rehearsal sections and the flashback sections in the film, and we realised one way that could look particularly effective was by having one section in black and white and the other in colour.

The segments that are her memories will be in black and white, of which has connotations of aging, the past and 'dullness' - all of which relate well, especially with these flashbacks being ones that are meant to be unhappy, or to show that the dancer has had a hard time leading up to now.

This of course left us with the rehearsal segments, of which were to be in colour. However, we didn't want these segments to look any less interesting than the flashbacks, so again we turned to colour and thought of what we could do to truly emphasise the emotions and theme of the scenes, along with deepen the contrast between these parts and the flashbacks. We then came to the conclusion of using blue and purple tones, of which relates well to the melancholy and somber feel we want in those scenes, and will help to emphasise the 'performance' element of the film with artificial lighting. All in all, we wanted to provide a vivid and unique visual experience for the viewer, beyond that which the plot gives.

To anchor in on what kind of colour palette we wanted for the rehearsal scenes, Amelia decided to do some further research and try and find some interesting film palette's online, in order to see if any of them matched the theme we wanted to deliver.

These are some of the palettes we looked at while trying to decide, in the end though, we decided not to use any of these, for various reasons, some were too warm, others were too dull etc. In the end though, we did find one that we liked:

We felt as though this palette would work very well for the rehearsal scenes as it matched the 'vibe', if it were, that we were going for. We wanted a purple/blue palette that had a certain sadness to it, as opposed to coming across as joyful or too bright. Going forward, we will therefore attempt to use this palette with our lighting during filming and after effects during the editing phase.

Further Exploration into our Chosen Idea

Once we had decided on the basic plot of the film our next move was to flesh it out a bit. We therefore firstly tried to think of how we could develop the idea both from a technical stand point and from a  creative standpoint. We assembled some of our initial ideas and justifications into our shared word document:

Once we had a better image of what the piece would be, we wanted to decide on some sort of obstacle for the dancer to fight against, or to use dance as an escape from. We came up with many ideas, work, abusive parents, school, a baby, etc. We settled on an idea however that, we believed, would result in a truly unique piece of film - that the dancer was Deaf.

This would of course be a challenge not only for the character, but also for us from a narrative point of view - how would we show it? Then we came to the realisation, why should we show it? Why not keep the audience guessing? - Why are they working so hard? What drives them? Why go through all this? Then, at the very end, through a reveal of her not hearing someone, or having to put on hearing aids etc, the audience would see why she tries so hard - she's attempting the impossible. It would be an emotional and impactful moment of revelation, and then the audience are rewarded with the dancer having pushed through her hardships and made it to the show/recital that they'd been practicing for.

None of us however were very familiar with being deaf, seeing as neither we nor the people we know suffer from being deaf, so we decided to research into it, and more specifically, those working in the arts who are deaf and came across some interesting finds. One of which came in the form of a video on YouTube about a deaf dancer called Shaheem Sanchez, and how he 'feels' the music to counter the fact that he cant hear it when he dances.

This video, among others, showed us how people such as Shaheem can push against what society and people tell them they can and can't do, and succeed in inspiring and wonderful ways. Therefore, using this and other sources, such as the video below, we started working on the script.

However, this is where we found an issue. Elliot, who was in charge of writing the script, found it exceedingly challenging to come to grips with the 'Deaf' concept, and therefore was struggling to come up with a plot for the dancer when we see them in the flash-back sequences. After much deliberation, we came to terms with the fact that this idea, although interesting, may have been too ambitious with the limitations we had on the film. So we sat down and tried to rethink it, and decided upon a simpler, albeit more cliché, idea - rather than being deaf, the dancer has to deal with a less than ideal home life. They live in a down-trodden area with parents that constantly argue. They have little to no money, and so can't afford to go to a fancy dance school, buy decent equipment or use a real rehearsal space - and yet they work hard and keep dancing, due to it being their passion. This plot is somewhat similar to that of 'Billy Elliot' (S. Daldry | 2000), and we realise this, and so will choose to embrace it, and use it for inspiration.

In order to further grasp our plot, we decided to try and outline the scenes, a synopsis if you will, not in the form of an official script - at least not for now - but just in a way that helps us to understand what it is we're doing.

Scene 1 - Opening Scene - (Jarman) ~ 50 Secs

Open with black, fade in sounds of heavy breathing, shuffling, “tinny” headphones can be heard etc., occasional flash of close up shots of dancer - teasing her/him. Dancer is practicing in front of mirror, trying to get a move right but can’t. Sequence goes on. A plethora of intimate close up shots are shown as she dances, attempting to perfect her movements, revealed to be in full costume/makeup, clearly preparing for something. Hard Cut to her on the floor, panting, taking a drink. She looks up at the clock, see’s the time, puts headphones back in - starting the music of the piece - and gets up to get back to practice.

Scene 2 - First ‘Life’ Section - (Various Places) ~ 20 Secs

Dancing on way home in different dingy, downtrodden looking places - behind buildings, parks, near bins etc.

Scene 3 - First ‘Rehearsal’ Section - (Jarman) ~ 20 Secs

More shots of them practicing, slowly building up the tension and intensity.

Scene 4 - Second ‘Life’ Section - (Parkwood Home) ~ 20 Secs

Disorderly parents homelife. Tracking shot through house as she walks in, it's a hovel, tv on in background out of focus as she walks upstairs. Lots of empty beer cans, dirty clothes, rubbish.

Scene 5 - Second ‘Rehearsal’ Section - (Jarman) ~ 20 Secs

More shots of them practicing, slowly building up the tension and intensity.

Scene 6 - Third ‘Life’ Section - (Parkwood Home) ~ 20 Secs

Crying in dingy looking bedroom, maybe yelling coming from downstairs (father?) starts to trash room. Ends with them slamming door and leaving home.

Scene 7 - Third ‘Rehearsal’ Section - (Jarman) ~ 20 Secs

Cut to them mid practice, tear rolls down and they shake off the past determined to move forward. More shots of them practicing, slowly building up the tension and intensity.

Scene 8 - Fourth ‘Life’ Section - (The Vortex - Aphra) ~ 20 Secs

Dancing in store cupboard.

Scene 9 - End Scene - (Aphra Backstage + On stage) ~ 50 Secs

Having practiced hard and having fought through her/his past experiences, the dancer is finally shown to have overcome their difficulties with both her/his life and her dance - showing her in a triumphant manner - the music stops. As she/he finishes,breathing heavily, she realises that someone has entered the room, she/he turns to them in time for them to tell her that it’s time. She/he takes a deep breath, composes herself and follows them. Tracking shot of them walking backstage, and onto stage, into the spotlight. The audience is shown, cut to three official looking members of the audience, each with clipboards and stern faces. Cut to a close up of the dancer, she/he lifts her/his head up and opens her eyes, shown to be smiling/determined, titles appear, cut to black, credits roll.

Bibliography

- YouTube. (2017). How This DEAF Dancer HEARS the Music | The Happiness Stories. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0IYSKpADMM&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 4 Dec. 2018].

- YouTube. (2013). Physically Being Me - Six Stories from Deaf and Disabled Dancers by Foundation for Community Dance. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FevlnDRrWSU [Accessed 4 Dec. 2018].

Concept Shortlist

When trying to come up with ideas for the narrative, we came down to 5 concepts we like that all refer back to the theme of 'It's Over', them being Life, Dreams, Phones Calls, Childhood and Time. Since there were 5 people in our group, we assigned each person a theme for them to come up with a basic plot. The way we did this was through using the basic method of applying the 5 'W's, Who, What, Where, When and Why. Once that was complete, we would then reconvene and choose one of them for our final idea.

The 5 ideas are as follows:

Life

Who: Old, clearly fragile, dishevelled Man (At the end of life? Walking stick?) - His past selves and people close to him.

What: Old man, sat on a park bench/going about his day, as he does he sees his former selves chronologically - young to old, clearly shown to be nostalgic and somber about what/who he sees, goes from being grumpy/upset to happy/appreciative of his life as he remembers.

Where: Park Bench, around his home town, shop, house, etc.

When: Modern era, set throughout a day as he thinks back on his life

Why: He’s old, he knows life is coming to an end, decides to think about his past - feeling melancholy/somber.

This idea is one I personally really liked, a simple and easy plot to follow that wouldn't require any difficult or too complicated camera/sound work. There are plenty of ways we could have taken this idea, we could of displayed various themes and feelings through this old man's memories, resulting in a piece that had the ability to both illicit empathy and joy from the audience. One similar real life example of this is that of Robert Zemeckis' 1994 epic, 'Forrest Gump' [A], of which has the title character sat on a bench, retelling the story of his life, therefore showing us his memories.

A - 'Forrest Gump' (R. Zemeckis | 1994)

In the end, we didn't choose this due to one major factor - casting. For a four minute student film without a budget, acquiring the correct actors, including children, adults and the elderly, would be an incredibly difficult, if not impossible, and complicated task, one that, with the time frame we had, we didn't we didn't want to tackle.

Dreams

Who: Person dreaming

What: young person, possibly a little restless sleeping in bed, flashes back to their past with this person who isn’t in their life anymore; each scene is moved by the music we can essentially feel their connection and then they fade out… the person is woken up by their alarm which has a reminder that says ‘it’s been a month’ (or something close to that). Someone following.

Where: bedroom, outside walking PW trails, library

When: modern day, flashing back to a couple weeks ago

Why: recent breakup/possible loss of friendship (death?) This idea has the potential to be both aurally and visually interesting, as we could really play with the dream aspect, showing unique visuals through using weird and wonderful colour palettes, aftereffects, recordings etc. It is also an idea that we could leave open to interpretation for the audience by leaving plenty of room for ambiguity. One real life example similar to this is that of 'Inception', a film made by Christopher Nolan in 2010 [B] - the film is constantly playing with the audience, forcing them to guess whether or not what they're seeing is real or not.

B - 'Inception' (C. Nolan | 2010)

We ultimately decided not to use this idea due to the complicated methods we would need to use, of which could prove to be very difficult with the limited resources we had available.


Phone Calls

Who: A husband.

What: A man is on the phone to his wife, they discuss how their child is missing.

Where: In a workplace/office.

When: Modern day, morning.

Why: The child has been missing for 5 years now and the police are starting to drop the case. Again, I really liked this idea, we could explore jump cuts and crosscutting between those on the phones, while slowly leaking information visually and aurally to the audience about their situation. Not only that, but it would be an interesting story to tell, albeit a short one. Another film that successfully uses phone calls in this manner is that of 1994's 'Speed', directed by Jan de Bont [C]. The film has the main characters in almost constant contact with either the villain or the Police through the use of phones or Walkie-Talkies.

[C] - 'Speed' (J. Bont | 1994)

Similar to the first option, the main reason we didn't choose this was due to the fact that it required us to cast adults, of which would prove to be quite difficult.

Childhood

Who: A middle aged man in an office job

What: Has a superhero figure on his desk. Fiddles around with it for a while, posing it in various different ways. We cut back to him and in his place is someone who looks considerably younger, wearing a superhero costume, holding a figure of a man in office attire. The younger person leaves the office with the figure and runs around playing with it doing various things. Ends back where it started.

Where: Office and woodland areas.

When: Afternoon, modern era

Why: He mourns the loss of his childhood.

This is an idea that could come across as both charming and heart wrenching, as it's clear that the main character is trying to escape from his life and return to a at time when he was younger. It shows how life is fleeting and that sometimes growing up isn't all it's set up to be. One film that covers similar issues of the downsides of growing up is that of Peter Docter's 2009 animated film 'Up' [D], of which centre's on an old man, who desperately tries to cling to his past.

D - 'Up' (P. Docter | 2009)

Again, using this idea required us to not only cast an adult and a child, but also get access to an office space, of which, as students, would be difficult to organise, we therefore decided against it.

Time

Who: A dancer, preparing for a show/recital     

What: We see the build up towards a show/recital through the viewpoint of a dancer, switching between shots of them practicing and going about daily life, before ending up to them just about/walking into the spotlight. 

Where: Various places, practice room, shop, home, backstage 

When: Set throughout a month/week as the dancer practices - modern era 

Why: She/He wants to do well - can see the determination through the practice shots Last, but not least is the idea for time, of which focuses on the build up to an event, and then the start of said event, hence the link to 'It's Over.' This is an idea we all took a shining to, as it meant we could cast someone our age, and not have to worry too much about locations and equipment as everything we had would suit the style and plot of the film. Although simple, it's a perfect idea for the length of film we have planned, and would also be simple enough to film and record - due to the use of music. One similar film is 'Billy Elliot', a film directed by Stephen Daldry in 2000 about a young boy with a challenging home life that uses dance to escape [E].

E - 'Billy Elliot' (S. Daldry | 2000)

In the end, this is the idea that we decided to go with, having realised that it's not only an idea that would be simple enough to film, but also an idea that we would all like to explore further.

Bibliography

- Forrest Gump. (1994). [film] Directed by R. Zemeckis. Paramount Pictures.

- Inception. (2010). [DVD] Directed by C. Nolan. Warner Bros. Pictures.

- Speed. (1994). [film] Directed by J. de Bont. 20th Century Fox.

- Up. (2009). [film] Directed by P. Docter. Walt Disney Studios.

- Billy Elliot. (2000). [film] Directed by S. Daldry. Universal Studios.