Research Dossier

After looking at many screenplay competitions, I have decided that  if I were to enter my short into a competition I would chose the BlueCat Screenplay Competition. Although the final deadline to enter a screenplay is now over, the competition opens again next year. The deadline for next year is October 15th in which people are able to enter a feature film or shorts. People of any age are able to enter this film competition. Even though you have to pay to enter this film competition, you receive an analysis of your script, two analyses for the feature film.
The requirements to follow for this competition are:

• All entries must be uploaded in PDF format.
• Previous winners of this competition are not eligible.
• Screenplays that have previously won any contest etc. are not eligible. 
• Screenplays submitted under a pen name will be immediately disqualified.

There are many more rules to follow which you will able to see here. 

Annotation of a script:
This is part of a script from a TV show called Rizzoli and Isles. I have labeled the script and this is to show my understanding of script conventions.

This is an extract from the third series of the hit sci-fi TV show Doctor Who. This extract, although very short, we are able to establish outer and inner presence through the context. We are able to see how she seems to be a 'normal' business person because she is described as 'just another face in the crowd'. This may also tell us she sees herself as no one special, just a piece of furniture.

This is an extract from the first season of Glee. This is a good example of dialogue as you are able to see the difference in personalities. Emma is obviously is the most positive of  the group as she says "not to give up" which contrasts to the others attitudes. Rachel seems to be self centred and thinks a lot of herself as she says "I cannot carry this choir by myself" showing her personality in one line. Mercedes seems to be doubtful and pessimistic as she says "you saw vocal adrenaline right", she is comparing herself to others.

This is another extract from the second season of glee. To me this is a good example of scene direction because it has details of the prop Rachel is using. This also helps to understand the characters personality. By giving her a 'to-do list' it shows that she is organised and possibly over-organised as it is taped to her locker door. 

Shorts
An example of a 10 minute short that I enjoy is 'The Come Up' which is written by Christoper M. Boyd and Kirk Sullivan. I enjoy how it is about a film being made and the action behind it. There wasn't a lot of dialogue used but when it was, it was useful and the whole short was enjoyable. The idea of it was original.

This is a short which is just over 10 minutes called 'Andy Made a Friend' by Scott Lendzion and Ashley Lendzion. I enjoy this film as the screen direction says more rather than using dialogue to squeeze it all in. The parts where looks are exchanged as well as using the cutaways of waterfalls is a good use of screen direction. 

Audience Research
The primary audience for my short would be teenagers around 16 and above. This is due to horror being most popular with these ages and therefore I have made my main character, Rachel, around this age also so the audience will be able to relate and maybe feel sympathy for her. My secondary audience would be people in their early twenties and maybe older. I have created and survey to send out to people, however not many people answered to liking horror films the most which could hinder the popularity and the amount of people which will watch it. Nonetheless, I asked the questions "Do you enjoy supernatural horror films?" and all but one answered to yes. I also asked if they would enjoy watching a film about a doll coming to life and the majority answered yes. It seems like my idea would go down well with the majority of my target audience and possibly older.

Theme Research

I have researched into the theme, location and characters which will help with my script. I have researched into the holiday, Thanksgiving to get a better understanding of the holiday. Thanksgiving is celebrated at different times in Canada and the United States. For Canada, Thanksgiving is held on the second Monday of October and for the US, it is held on the fourth Thursday of November. Thanksgiving is about giving thanks to the recent harvest and the current year. The main food of Thanksgiving is turkey, along with fall vegetables and pumpkin pie. The colours used are mainly oranges and reds, the colours of fall. This will help me with the mise-en-scene in my script as the first shot is the family gathered around a table eating Thanksgiving dinner.

I imagined the house to be an American suburban household set in a quiet town. Something along the lines of this:

 

This also goes well with the Thanksgiving theme as it is a typical American holiday, however many families in England are known to celebrate it. This would help in filming due to the location and access if it were to be filmed in England. The second house also looks like a haunted house. To me it looks too nice and prissy to just be a 'normal' house and I could imagine my short being shot here.

I have researched into horror and the types of this film. The type of horror this film is supernatural horror as it involves a doll 'coming to life' and the use of an Ouija board.

I have also researched other existing media texts which deal with the theme of a possessed doll. Films that are similar to my chosen screenplay idea are the 'Child's Play' movies and 'Curse of Chucky'. These both involve a doll that 'comes to life' and cause death in a family. Although the doll used, Chucky, is creepy looking, I imagine the doll I would use to look innocent as it would make the whole thing eerie. Another similar film with the doll and evil spirit is 'The Conjuring' and the house used is very similar to the ones above. Another movie which involves creepy dolls as such is 'Amityville Dollhouse'. This is where a child receives a dollhouse with dolls, which are possessed with an demonic spirit. There are many other films which the theme is a creepy doll, as this is very popular. The 2002 psychological horror film, 'May', has a girl around the age of 20 who is friends with a doll in a glass case. The doll turns out to be messing with the girl, May's mind.

All of these films, in some way, relate to my screenplay as they include possessed dolls and young girls, no older than 20.

Amityville Dollhouse

References
BBC Writers Room - Doctor Who script for analysis, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/
[accessed November 2013]

IMDB - Child's Play
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094862/?ref_=nv_sr_1
[accessed December 2013]

SurveyMonkey - Survey for short film, 2013
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L3N29CQ
[accessed December 2013]

Tumblr - Glee script for analysis, 2013
http://gleetranscripts.tumblr.com/
[accessed December 2013]

Wikipedia - Thanksgiving, 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving
[accessed December 2013]

Youtube - various short films watched, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/
[accessed December 2013]