-Scriptwriting-

Whiplash analysis

-Attack on block"

Task 1 :

What is the main conflict of the film? Are there any other conflicts going on throughout the film?

Are they physical, ideological, political? Are they reflected in any of the elements of film form?

The main conflict of the film is the alien invasion, however there are other aspects of conflict such as gang culture, and stereotypical masculine behavior that contributes to the disequilibrium within there society. Its evident that there is growing tension between the young gang boys and other residents within the block who hold more middle class values. The film demonstrates the struggles some face as well as the way gangs operate, for example the main gang leader manipulating younger children in order to export his goods thus making money illegally.

Furthermore conflicts linking to parent child relationships are explored in the film, as its portrayed that under class parents seem to have less control over there children as there children are integrated into the norms and values of the area in which they live in. The film further follows the police brutality against black boys which is another underlying conflict.

Other aspects of conflict are the multiple antagonists that are used in the film in order to create growing tension; be engaging as well as giving an element of surprise as the audience try to pice together where the villain would next pop up. The film has 3 major antagonists being the aliens, Hi-Hatz (the drug boss) and the police.

Task 2 : narrative theories

Attack on the block follows a certain structure.

todorov theory of a story starting at equilibrium.

In the opening scene the state of equilibrium seems to be establishing the uneasy atmosphere due to the mugging and makes the nurse called sam appear to be the protagonist. the scene also delves into a young gang which are mischievous but also partially likable as there seems to be more to there character - as the audience later learn to sympathize and grow closer to them. this state of equilibrium represents how society functions on a day to day bases.

however there is a disruption to this state of equilibrium as more on-screen violence -from the police is exhibited. Not to mention the literal falling aliens coming from the sky and attacking people. The main disruption to the state of equilibrium is the female alien catapulting from the sky and crashing onto brewi's dads car which is where the tension and problem begins. Later we find that the sent from the female was left on moses and causes the rest of the male aliens to chase after him - this leads to the tragic death of two gang members (dennis; jerome) as well as others. these deaths are essential as they causes Moses to be even more remorseful for hs actions.

Furthermore there is then a recognition of the disorder that has occurred and sam agrees to work with the young gang to almost mend the problem. this recognition occurs in the (weed room) on floor number 19 where zoologists brewis uses his knowledge to crack the key to why the aliens are so keen to follow Moses. They now understand through the use of uv lighting that moses carries the female seant. Once Moses realises this he reflects on his actions, and his remorseful attitude further encourages him to apologies to (sam) fro the mugging which occurred in the first scean. Moses then returns the symbolic ring and offers himself as a sacrifice.

now as the battle the aliens they work collectively to repair the damage by louring the aliens into one room where Moses would then use himself as a sacrifice to blow up the apartment- here there is uncertainty if moses would make it out alive but he still plays this heroic figure and continues with the plan. everyone anxiously waits below the block; the final antagonist (the police) begin arresting the young gang members as well as other key characters such as brewis; ron. however sam is not arrested and is instead put at ease by the police especially with the line "don't let him intimidate you" from one of the officers - this exhibits the stereotypical view of this young black boy to be violent and always causing trouble.

finally we know moses makes it out alive and is greeted by great applause from the people of the block- but not all is well as the antagonists (the police) arrest moses and use physical restraint to get everyone into the police cars blaming them for the whole incident. Although this happens the story still returns to some sort of new equilibrium as the aliens are defeated and the civilians are safe, not to mention the people from the block; sam cheering mose's name as they stick up for him. this leads the audience to believe that there is still hope and maybe the gang would be released if people continue to protest.

-propps character types-

The hero in "attack on the block" is Moses because he is the main protagonist who although starts the problem by attacking the female alien - he also resolves the problem by repairing his wrong doings from the mugging and bravely sacrificing himself in order to defeat the aliens. He soon becomes recognized as someone who saved and cared for the people and became well acknowledged by the block as a true hero.

This film has more than one villain as portrayed through the continuous attacks on the gang from Hi-Hatz ( the drug leader); the police; of course the aliens who all interfere with the equilibrium represented at the start.

Our helpers can be seen as the civilians within the block who later stand up for our hero's release from the police, not to mention the girls who have close connections with the young gang.

It can be argued that the mentor is Moses himself as he is the leader for the young gang and makes most of the big bold decisions which causes big shifts in the narrative and guide the story along.

The blockers are the antagonist mentioned earlier - they seem to try deter the plan of everyone being safe.

of course our prize is defeating the aliens and re-gaining some sort of new equilibrium where everything has returned to a new normal.

In some ways the dispatcher can be seen to be Hi-Hatz as he was the main person recruiting these young boys around the block and getting them involved with many illegal activities - because of him there is a group of mischievous young boys who get themselves into a difficult predicament in the first place.

The Social Network - Aaron Sorkin

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - William Goldman

Adaptation - Charlie Kaufman

task 3 :

-Task 4-

- Task 5 -

link= https://www.stagemilk.com/

link =

https://www.studiobinder.com/

- Demographics vs Psychographics -

-Task 6-

For my primary research i chose to do a survey using google forms, so that i can collect data from individuals quickly; effectively. I made my own questions, mixing both multiple choice responses and short paragraphed answers providing more qualitative data.

summary:

After taking a look at the responses, i gathered that modern drams is where i should get some inspiration from. I also found that individuals are more drawn to a characters thoughts which is something that i can really describe in detail when writing up my script. Something else which i found important is that 100% of my respondents prefer to figure out a story-line rather than it be handed to them on a plate. In addition the dislodge that sticks with people the most seems to be short lines that are fairly sinister. To conclude my research i'm now aware of some of the key elements which are needed in order to grab the attention of my target audience (16-40).

- TASK 7 -

RANGE OF STORY IDEAS:

Idea 1 : An insight into a young girls mind coming to terms with no longer being loved by her ex who she grew unsafely attached to.

idea 3 : after being smothered in love during their childhood, the protagonist now finds it difficult to deal with any affection from others.

theme: romance/love

Idea 2 : a distant relationship between father and daughter portrayed only through a card game that cuts off to her being a abandoned loner.

final concept -

Teenage relationships are described as the period in life where you believe you would spend the rest of your future with that individual, where your brainwashed into this ideology that nothing or no-one can rip away the love you share as if your on a battle filed guarding each others hearts. but after being warned numerous amounts of times that teen love never lasts people expect and listen to what there told. so all we can do is sit around and wait until the final crack in the glass shatters their whole relationship to smithereens. the protagonist in this "story" is coming to terms with no longer being loved by her ex who she grew infectiously attached to. this character finds herself gradually learning to accept and move on without the painful memories hitting into her like a truck of concrete. we delve into her thoughts; feelings but never quite grasp the full story for this is a scrip that reveals miniature clues into her brain. the reader never understands whether or not her perspective can be trusted due to the fact she is struggling mentally and her brain as she points out "cannot be trusted". the genre is romance and my idea is to use descriptive narrative to bring the audience along for the journey.

main prop-small diary thin and baby pink.

narrative -

beginning (introducing the setting with overboiling mug and dripping water in a house) this introduction sets the tone for the rest of the film. then as the scene progresses we meet our protagonist as she reaches out for her hot mug from the microwave her hands are revelled. there would be descriptive detail about the setting+ character.

middle = more is being revealed about our character through her thoughts which are both outlined in her dialogue and action lines. however things get more intense as we get quick cuts of how the protagonist is struggling mentally carrying the weight of her past. the reader picks up on her unstable "untrustworthy" brain which misleads her and causes her to have panic attacks.

the ending = the protagonist learns to face and embrace her past by learning from her mistakes. at the end of the script however there would be a single line of dialogue which hints that the protagonist is still struggling "its all good - at least for now anyways".

-Scriptwriting final draft-

https://app.studiobinder.com/shared/636a5645e64ef21e81a66510

-scriptwriting evaluation-

How did the previous opening tasks and research brief help you develop ideas?

One of our tasks was to create a range of story ideas, which allowed me to not feel pressured to stick to one idea if I felt it was not well fitted. In addition, I carried out primary research using google forms - this was very informative as I used a range of both multiple-choice questions and formatted the responses to be both short; long. This supplied me with responses to better improve my approach to script writing in the drama genre. From the research i mainly found my target audience are more drawn to characters thoughts; attempting to figuring out parts of the narrative.

Furthermore, we researched advice using different sources to help develop more knowledge; incorporate it within our script's. Not to mention mind maps on our chosen genre, which acted as a reminder of key elements that are associated with the genre itself. Another task we did was annotating scripts to recognize how to appropriately format. Moreover, the narrative theories task gave a starting point for scripting, (for example Todorov's theory on a story starting at equilibrium). Lastly watching "attack on block" demonstrated sub-genres and how conflict is vital.

evaluate which research aspect was the most effective? why?

The research aspect that was the most effective for me was secondary qualitative research as it provided a in depth account, as oppose to using a quantitative approach. I discovered utilizing secondary data is easily accessible as i can refer to a variety of websites conveniently.

was the primary research you did on the research brief any more useful or less useful than the secondary research? explain how/why

The primary research that I carried out on the research brief was slightly less useful than the secondary research. because the secondary research allowed me to gather information from broad range of people who are well experienced, not to mention it being less time-consuming. However, I still feel my primary research allowed me to understand more about collecting data; information about my target audience.

reflect on the quality of your script. are you happy with how it turned out?

Overall, for my first attempt of writing a script I am satisfied with my final draft. I believe that there is always room for improvement and I will continue to go back to script in my spare time to re-draft. Nevertheless, I think that the script is of good quality and I've learned valuable lessons about script writing which is a topic that i initially had little knowledge about. I also believe i was able to stick to genre conventions for drama by ensuring my script has some of the elements that i discussed in the drama mind map i made for one of the opening tasks.