LINK TO MY SCRIPT (I DON'T WANT TO PRINT OFF WASTING PAPER IF I HAVE TO EDIT AND CHANGE IT)
Script:
https://www.celtx.com/auth/public/resource/a2z1tn91
Aims and Context:
'Quick Shot'
- Script
- Urban Story
- Target audience of 18-year-old, males
- Film festival ( e.g. Toronto Urban Film Festival)
- Apply cinematography techniques developed for Urban Stories
- As the writer, I took inspiration from Tarrantino's detailed description of characters, settings etc in particularly the 'Jackie Brown' script
Thea Barnes- Reflective Analysis
For my A2 Film coursework, I
decided to create a screenplay within the Urban Story genre, focusing on two
Latino characters, Paavo and Alonzo, whilst living within the poverty
stricken areas of New York. I chose to focus on the opening scene of the
movie, as I believe it allows the reader to clearly see that the socio-economic
difficulty (dominant theme within Urban Stories) that is experienced in Alonzo
and Paavo's everyday life. If I were to focus on a key scene during the middle
of the film readers may not get the sense of entrapment the characters experience
and the sense that their situation has no potential to change.
My storyline is inspired by the
films my class have studied this year, especially City of God by Fernando
Meirelles and Kàtia Lund, which depicts the struggles of growing up whilst
surrounded by poverty, drugs and violence which I have tried to adopt
throughout my script. Unlike City of God, which is set in Brazil, following
Brazillian citizens, I have chosen to follow Alonzo and Paavo's Latino roots
despite being set in New York City to further heighten the sense of alienation
and the oppression immigrants tend to experience as a result of culture
differences. Ideally, the target audience would already have a pre-existing
appreciation for the urban story genre and understand the conventions that this
genre tends to follow, regarding the portrayal of a different culture that is
different from their own. By adopting Tarantino's extensive description evident
throughout his scripts, I have tried to depict their socio-economic difficulty
through the way in which I have described the misè-en-scene and their
surroundings. My character, Alonzo, was inspired by Rocket out of City of
God as his mentality was vastly different in comparison to the other characters
within the film, shown through the fact that Rocket was the only character who
managed to gain a job he had a passion for instantly opposing the attitudes of
the general population living within the favela. I wanted to portray Alonzo as
a young adolescent who is stuck in an unfortunate predicament unjustly due to
his postcode and lack of money.
In hindsight, I feel as though
the depiction of my story could've been executed much clearer especially
regarding the settings. Throughout my script I focused a lot on the characters
and their actions in response to their surroundings however I feel as though I
could've created a much clearer idea of their surroundings which would allow
the reader to truly 'feel' the setting. However, I do feel as though I used
particular aspects of the misè-en-scene within my script to create symbolism
and connection to my intended genre. For instance, two scenes parallel each
other, just as Alonzo leaves his apartment to catch his early pickup, a crowd
of thugs sat upon metal trash cans make numerous racist remarks and then when
Alonzo tries to run after the thug who has just shot up Paavo's shop, he
notices a number of children onlooking the situation whom are also sat upon
metal trash cans, mirroring the prior scene, clearly showing the way in which
the lower class follow and a cycle which is almost impossible to escape.
However, I still believe if I added more detail regarding the misè-en-scene and
the surroundings, the position of the characters would be much clearer. Also,
considering the context of my story focuses on the underclass whom are
surrounded by drugs and violence, I feel as though my script would’ve been much
more effective in portraying this if it were to have been set in Paavo and
Alonzo’s native country. Although, by setting it in New York, I was able to
portray the issue of race and immigration and the troubles immigrants deal with
when attempting to integrate into a foreign community. Within my script this
was particularly clear when the thugs shout “What’s up cherry picker” this
snippet of dialogue clearly suggests the racism but also hones in on the specific
racism that Hispanics experience as a result of their culture, because Hispanics
are often limited to low paying jobs, such as picking fruit in particular
cherries.
I find that the limited dialogue
I chose to include worked successfully because the story isn't contained within
the character’s interaction but rather the life they are trapped in ultimately
found in other aspects like the misè-en-scene. I believe the lack of
dialogue allowed the other aspects to speak more and create a more profound
meaning achieving my intention for this script to only insert dialogue at the
right moments, not just for the sake of it or just including having meaningless
dialogue. The dialogue between Alonzo and Paavo, I believe, gave enough insight
to their relationship, allowing readers to see the close bond between the two
making the shooting even more unfortunate. By using words such as, 'Hermano'
and 'Papi', popular Latino lingo, clearly showed the level of their friendship,
and that they cared and respected each other.
I attempted to adopt the cinematography
style/technique often seen within urban stories however, whilst I intended to
do so I don’t believe I wasn’t successful mainly due to the fact that I wasn’t
too sure on how to translate it throughout my writing. Although, one
reoccurring shot used within urban stories, is the fact that there is never an ‘Establishing
shot’ of the city the film is set in because the director intends to bring their
audience to the true nature of the city, the experiences that the underclass
citizens endure day-to-day rather that the built up tourism that fabricates
real social issues. Within my script, I haven’t used any famous New York
landmarks as ‘Establishing shots’ or as a part of my setting, in order to
distinguish audiences pre-conceptions of the city that in essence may not be
true, but instead introduces Alonzo and Paavo’s experience of New York, one
that is inevitably difficult. Upon reflection, I feel as though I successfully
met my aims and stayed true to my intended genre. Regardless of the fact that I
would've added even more detail to the misè-en-scene I do believe that my
script clearly depicts the life of Alonzo and Paavo through the use of the
misè-en-scene clearly adopting conventions of the Urban story genre.
