Scripting

Originally we scripted a monologue for the start of our film which would be over the music in the background whilst Barry is walking home from work. However when we recorded this it was hard to balance the two together and also it took away some of the effects which the non diegetic sound gave because the audience would focus on either one and if they did not focus on the monologue it would make the whole plot of the film unexplained. We found this out from feedback from other students when we had the monologue in place.
We needed to think of a way to explain the plot whilst keeping the music in to add effect and keep the viewer gripped during an otherwise boring scene of our hero walking down the path just building tension.
We decided that we would have the monologue come up on screen as text like the titles instead of having it a spoken monologue. This would work in our advantage as it explains the plot, doesn't interfere with the non-diegetic sound and also we could use a font to our advantage. However it wasn't all good because at this point our monologue was a good paragraph at least long so we had to once again figure something out to counter this. The decision wasn't that difficult though, we had a working explanation to our plot all we had to do was shorten it into two lines. Therefore all the unneeded information needed for our opening was cut, mainly details of Barry's life, how he obtained the curse and what his life was like (e.g how he lived , who he lived with and where he worked.) This was all information we deemed we could explain later on in the film if it was made and also unnecessary for people watching it now as it is, just an opening to a film.
However the monologue was not the only thing we scripted, we also scripted the small amount of dialogue in our film despite there being only one or two lines through the opening we wanted to make sure the conversation would reveal as much as it could about the two heroes personalities. So with that in mind we deliberately have Gregg's small part say "You want a Pot Noodle, mate?" This shows two parts of his character. The fact that the first thing he does in the film involves a Pot Noodle really gets across that he is a lazy slob that doesn't really enjoy cooking for a long time and much prefers something quick that does not require much effort at all in making. It also shows that he does not regard his own health that highly and really is living it how he wants to (Accompanied with his "Official Beer Tester" shirt.) However the other part of his personality it gets out is that he addresses him as "mate" we scripted it like this deliberately to show that he is a caring person and that his friends mean a lot to him. This contrast shows that he may not look after himself with much respect but he cares for his friends a lot and this is something that would be a theme throughout our whole film. It's a shame our opening couldn't be longer because it is a very fun character to develop. However back to the real stuff, we also did this because it also shows that he may be lazy but he is generous and rates his friends highly that he still gives and sacrifices stuff for them, that he wants equally as much himself.
The final part that we scripted was eventually cut from the film very late in the editing process. Originally in our first draft and through out the planning phase we had it down that Barry would look at the TV and then look back at Gregg as his vision starts again. So when filming this was an actual part of the film so the end of our film for the majority of editing had Gregg shouting "The end is coming...." obviously the choice of words here is pretty self explanatory in that we wanted to provide one last message to the audience about what our film is about in case the message was too complicated to get across. Also we did this because we thought it would be a good way to end our opening, as the tension builds through out the whole film it comes to a dramatic climax of Barry realising what his visions are showing. It all sounds quite good there but when we got to the editing phase we grew increasingly unsatisfied with the ending and that part in particular. Originally the plan was to add some kind of sound effect to the original film soundtrack at that point however we could not find a way of doing this well and the effects were not what we were looking for. After debating wether we should record one of us saying his dialogue then use a different programme other then GarageBand or IMovie to edit it we decided that it would be better if that part of dialogue wasnt in our film as the line was fairly cliche and cheesey. To counter this then we needed to think of something else so what we did was use sound to create a better effect which then led into the ending of our film with the movie sound motif to end. The sound works well as it is quite awkward to watch as Gregg leans back speaking but the viewer cannot hear what he is saying. It also works well with the visual effect we have at that point. As the screen becomes darker and more complicated as to what is happening the sound increases before the whole screen goes black as the short sound ends.