Project Proposition Decision

The group collectively decided to choose 'Driftwood' as the film we would attempt to create a Trailer, Radio Ad, Magazine Cover and a Website Front Page for. The following is the original proposition, the original (but later changed) script and links to Google Documents pages displaying a Dual Column Script (again, this was changed later) and a SWOT Analysis of our group presenting the strengths and weaknesses for our group during the task ahead.



Proposed title: Driftwood
Genre: Quirky indie comedy/ drama
Target audience: Late teens/ Young adults

‘DriftWood’ is the ‘Nicholson-esque’ tale of one eccentric, neurotic, teenage insomniac’s attempts to escape from Dorset and do something with his life. He’s got everything that society told him he needed: a job, an education, a girlfriend who loves him and a family who, even though they’re hugely dysfunctional, stick together through whatever life throws at them. However, his life still feels incomplete.
The protagonist, Charlie Wood, is a 19 year old, cynical beyond his years, disinterested in his life and full of inner turmoil which he finds he is only able to vent through being increasingly passive-aggressive and sarcastic to those around him. To Charlie, life without music is incomprehensible and he is constantly seen sporting his ‘eternal soundtrack’. However, due to a lack of motivational drive, he is incapable of playing any instrument, much to his disdain (though he did once fill in playing the triangle for the school band in Year 4. He was appalling). Charlie uses films as means of escapism and, as far as he’s concerned, real-life is convoluted enough, so Eighties martial arts flicks inject some much-needed simplicity into his ‘complicated’ life.

One night, after creating an argument with his girlfriend over a miniscule issue, Charlie hits the drink hard and finds himself opening up to an as-of-yet undecided film character (though this is in fact a hallucination caused through a combination of too much Jagermeister and an increasing loss of his grip on reality). During this discussion, he realises the reason he has been feeling so incomplete is that he has allowed himself to be carried on life’s current and has not ‘seized his destiny’ or been achieving his ‘potential’ for the past 6 years.

Upon waking up with the inevitable mother of all hangovers, Charlie takes it upon himself to do something with his life which he believes he cannot do whilst he remains in Dorset. It should be noted, however, that although he wants to ‘do something’, he is unsure what, and rationalises to himself that he’ll figure out his plan as soon as he gets away from Dorset.

He then sets about attempting to plan his departure from Weymouth and acquiring temporary residence in Oxford. As he does this, he also sets about ‘freeing’ himself from his ties to Dorset, breaking up with his girlfriend and telling his friends and family that he plans to leave. When attempting to reveal his plans to his family, he gets into a heated argument and ends up telling them how he feels that they are holding him back. His family, particularly his father (Charlie’s only present parent after his mother’s departure when Charlie was twelve), are clearly hurt by this and Charlie becomes conflicted about his actions, shambling awkwardly away. The rest of the film will follow Charlie’s development into a more sympathetic character as he realises how important those close to him really are and how much they care for him.
He then sets about trying to win back his devastated ex-girlfriend, Megan, who despite all his best efforts will not take him back. Charlie tries to tell Megan how he has changed, how he knows he was a poor boyfriend and that she deserves better, how he wants to have one last opportunity to be the boyfriend she deserves. However, Megan doesn’t want to hear any of it, slamming the door in a flood of tears, telling Charlie through the door how she loves him, but doesn’t want to love him anymore and that if Charlie really loves her, he should never try to contact her again. Charlie is distraught by this and sets about finalising his plans to leave.

This film will be highly stylised, with reality and Charlie’s imagination often clashing. At times, the film will adopt a dreamlike style, especially during scenes where Charlie’s daydreams are most frequent, such as at work and at pivotal moments in his life which he should be paying far more attention to. The film will conclude with one last day-dream sequence, as Charlie is finally able to come to terms with reality. Charlie will still move away, leaving to travel the world for a year, which he only achieves through the support of the same people who he thought were keeping him trapped in Dorset. Before leaving, he calls Megan and she hints that she is having doubts about their split after hearing from Charlie’s best friend, ‘Flik’, how much Charlie has changed. However, she still wants Charlie to have his trip to Europe and have his freedom. It will then be heavily implied that she will get back with Charlie after his return from Europe, closing the film on an optimistic, if slightly ambiguous, note.

For this film, the protagonist will come across to some as a bit of a ‘prick’, with many audience members predictably feeling very little empathy for him in the early stages of the film due to the way that he doesn’t appreciate what he has got. However, this is not an issue, as I intend this to instead be a piece which shows Charlie’s development as he realises that his life isn’t as bad as he perceives it to be. Indeed, this film will portray the people who make Charlie’s life so ‘difficult’ in the most sympathetic light, as it is revealed that they are the ones truly looking out for Charlie, which he will not realise until the film unfolds and events accumulate to make him realise how important they are to him. It is only after this realisation that Charlie will be revealed to be vulnerable and a source of empathy for the audience.

The main source of inspiration for this film comes primarily from American indie comedies, which often deal with the issue of teens feeling restrained by their hometown, while inspiration was also found in ‘Orange County’, ‘Superbad’ and, to some extent, my own personal experiences.






Early Script

Camera placed at the end of a row of street lights, Charlie walks towards the camera and each time he walks in between the street lights a flash of either an image or burst of film.
First person narration with brief clips of dialogue.

[Charlie at the end of the road walking towards the camera placed around 7/8 street lights away]
[As Charlie walks through the first light, he hits the darkness]
[A sudden burst of film showing Charlie’s girlfriend sitting with her hands on a table leaning forward]
Girlfriend: Charlie, why are you acting like this?!
[Flash back to Charlie stepping back under the next street light, then hitting darkness again]
[Another film flashes up of Charlie’s best friend pointing at the camera as if through Charlie’s eyes]
Best Friend: What is your problem man!
[Cut back to Charlie continuing his walk through the street lights, same pattern again, as he hits the darkness there is another flash of film, this time a man in a suit who we are to believe is his boss is holding papers in his hand and looking upset]
Boss: Charlie, you’re heart just isn’t in this anymore!
[Cut back again to Charlie continuing his walk and now each time he hits the darkness between the lights, the clips are the same, yet the people in them appear to be more afraid and are shouting louder]
[As Charlie moves through all of this without flinching, he finally reaches the end of the street and is stood close to the camera, looking straight in to the lens. He continues to stand for around 5 seconds, when a loud noise signals the change in scene to just the credits scene, showing the title ‘Driftwood’ and underneath the production credits and release date]

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AWYIpkGOXYE4ZGRrMm56dnpfMTVmNWR4cXZjYg&hl=en Dual Column

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AWYIpkGOXYE4ZGRrMm56dnpfMTZmZjVqcnFocA&hl=en SWOT Analysis