mi6013davidmcdermid

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Reflection

Overall, I think that the script that I have produced is something that I am happy with. I am glad about how everything has turned out in the end and I think that the script that I have produced is based heavily on the initial idea that I had. There have been some changes towards it and these changes that I have made have been made purposely from a realistic point of view as the previous ones made would not sit well with an audience. I still think one main area that a could have improved on was relating the ending to the beginning as I was not 100% sure that the link between the two could be seen. The link being the knife that was used the previous night and him looking up towards it when he is in bits on the floor at the kitchen.

I have learned a lot through writing this module, the main factor for me was learning how to write something like this that was not an essay, or a piece of descriptive writing. The temptation to go overboard and write too much about something was an area that I had to stop myself from doing. Making short snappy sentences that allowed for visuals more so than descriptive pieces was much harder for myself. Script writing, I did find was hard to do, and the formatting of the document proved to be a little difficult at the beginning. The hardest part however I think for me was having the correct amount of dialogue to action ratio. I think in some places perhaps the excess dialogue was not needed however, trying to interpret what to place there instead to get across the message that I wanted too proved to be difficult. In the end leaving the pieces of dialogue there created the message and meaning that was intended.

The audience that I intended to aim my script too were teenagers and adults. Teens rely heavily on their phones and can become obsessed with them. Having new features built into iPhone's, it has allowed any user to see the time that they are spending on their phones and which applications you spend so much time on. Although the script is one extreme of how it could affect someone, I do not believe it to be unrealistic at all.

Now that my script has been written I would love to show it to other people and see what they think about it, having recently removed myself from a few huge social media companies I feel a lot better in myself and believe that the message behind the script could be quite useful. People do get obsessed with their phones, and when they disappear we don’t know what to do.

In conclusion, I do wish there was more room to have more pages in this script, as there is lots of gaps that were filled quite quickly because we only had a 5-page limit. If I was to go back to it again I would investigate extending this having more detail in areas and try and condense perhaps some of the dialogue. I think that this script would have lots of atmosphere is there was almost no dialogue at all.

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Draft link

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CGp4WbAh94giCq6JlO0e-rIm6zK3-ZhC?usp=sharing

Above is a link to the first draft that I have done so you can see where I have done some mistakes.

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Draft Feedback

The feedback that I received from this piece that I did first time I found to be very helpful. The first piece that I got told to look at was the structure of the script and make sure that it is correctly formatted. The main things that were picked up on was the way that each line was spaced out and making sure that this is done correctly for each part for example the character spacing is much different to the spacing for action parts. I was also shown that I should make all the thought parts physical as thought processes cannot be shown through script, if I could try and change these so they are actions it would be possible to include them still. I also need to try and fill the full 5 pages and not just half of the 5th page. Having thought about this further though I have managed to think of ways which I could include more action in some gaps between scenes. I also need to try and link the ending scene back to the starting scene. I have got a good idea about how I could do this however through some thought on how the knife could be shown much earlier in the script. 

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Narrative Device

The 2 tools which make the narrative device up, are relaying information to your audience and developing it further in order to make it more complicated, interesting and complete. The narrative device includes theme, message, subtext, symbolism, setting, dramatic irony, pathetic fallacy (when the mood of the character is reflected by the weather) and anthropomorphism (applying human like instincts to animals or objects). All narrative devices should be considered very carefully with each device having the capability of taking away from something rather than adding to it. Make sure that style contributes to substance.

My Theme

How could forgetting something could lead to bad decisions?

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Research into my Own Work

Looking at my own work and trying to break it down into a script format I thought was very useful and helpful. I looked at how certain pieces of my work had clear theme’s through them while as some of them not so. I liked the idea of picking up on theme straight away. With most of the work that we get set there is a topic that we need to go through and there maybe is some leniency but not loads, so theme tends to be almost set through it. 

Moving back 2 years ago, I was doing a script for some of my own work in visual language 2. The script that I wrote however did not reflect the principles and formatting required from a script and strictly speaking it was just a list showing what was going on where and did not have any clear movement in it. Nevertheless I looked at where the shot would be set and how it would be composed. 

I did use capital letters when I was looking at characters and although I didn’t have a lot of knowledge there was definitely some understanding into the processes of it. In the first 3D module that I did I was looking at machinery and fabrics and the combination of them both. I really wanted to create some quite abstract where engine parts have the sort of movement that would occur with different fabrics and materials that could be seen in fashion. 

Shown above is a mood board that I did for it, I liked the idea of destructive methods also being used to create fashion, with mud and muck being used all over them too. The initial theme was the destruction of clothes and how machinery could influence this. However as I moved through this unit I started thinking about how interesting the concept of having an engine wrapped up in these materials used for clothes. So the theme changed yet again

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Narrative

Character Bio

16 years old, studying gcses, keeps up with trends and is well groomed, popular in school. He is very good at concentrating on what is in front of him however does not achieve very well in school as he tends to get to get easily distracted by things. Having had so much fame and popularity on social media he requires constant attention towards his phone. This has led to problems however when it comes to being without his phone for a period. Tends to be nice towards his friends quite considerate and helpful. Being quite close minded he finds himself not really seeing what is going on ‘in the big picture’ so to say. Throughout the story line he finds himself learning more about how much he relies on his phone on a day to day basis.

Outline

Beginning

George wakes up on a morning and finds that he does not have his phone unaware of where this phone is he goes downstairs to ask his mother where about’s his phone is. His mother says that she does not know and is very firm about how she says it and goes off to work. George returns back to his room and turns his room upside down trying to look for it. After checking all over his room he comes to the conclusion that he does not have it.

Middle

A hour passes by and still no sign of his phone, after getting ready and running downstairs to eat something he realises the time and forgets that he is going to meet his friend. Quickly running out the house he runs around to his friend’s house. Along the way there he keeps getting distracted by advertisements and another colleague who ignores him because of their phone, he eventually knocks on the door and they hang out. He tells his friend about how he has lost his phone and asks if he could log into his social media and check on everything. After paying no attention to his friend after being on the phone for a while George’s friend starts an argument with him, George retaliates and ends up punching his friend. Confused, he returns home crying and upset. Going into the house he moves into the kitchen and a voice in his head starts asking him questions and playing with his mind. How will I be able to contact my following? How do I text the girl I was talking to? Where has it gone? Has it been stolen? What if I have been hacked? Slumped in the corner the kitchen shivering, George looks up at the knife block and the scene ends.

End

The scene cuts back to where George and his mother are sitting at the table eating some food the night before. The topic of conversation being about George’s revision tomorrow, he tells his mam to come in his room in the morning and without waking him up to take the phone from him, he also says that under no circumstances for his mother to let him know where his phone is and that she has it. Cutting back to the live film the mother walks in the house and goes to check on her son upstairs upon approaching the room she gasps.

 Step Outline

-          Wakes up realises that his phone is missing

-          Mother reacts saying that she does not know where it is

-          George washes cutlery including knife from night before

-          Searches room and cannot find it

-          Remembers about meeting friend and rushes to meet him

-          Gets tormented all the way over to his friends house by adverts and seeing others on their phones.

-          Ends up in George punching his best friend due to his friend wanting his phone back after George lent it.

-          Returns home and panics overthinking things he looks towards the knife block

-          Scene returns to the night before when George’s mam is carving the meat and throws the knife into the sink

-          George asks his mam if she can take his phone off him

-          Returning to present day, shows George’s mother returning home and gasps when she walks in her sons bedroom

Logline

What extremes would you go to if you didn’t have your phone for a day?

Plot

understandably the plot is quite a cliffhanger at the end. There is no reason for you to believe he definitely has done something really devastating as if you remember earlier on in the script it does talk about how he destroys his room looking for his phone so the mother peering in the room could just be gasping at that. 

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

My Theme

What would we do without our phones, how would the world cope without having these bits of technology in our every day lives. How would a teenager who relies heavily on their phone cope. Why do simple tasks that should be easy enough to do seem so hard to do without the access to our phones. How does this effect you mentally. 

These are some of the questions that I was asking myself when I was thinking of the idea and how I could have portrayed it in the actual storyline. When I was thinking of the story that I was going to be writing about I was not sure on the theme of the story however, when looking back at what I have wrote and how I have came up with the story these were some of the themes that I came up with. 

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Potential Breakdown

- wakes up realises that he has lost his phone 

- panics and thinks how to contact people

- goes round to friends house asks if they want to come out

- sees them on their phone and asks if they can lend it for a bit 

- ends up staying on this phone and not giving his friend any attention

- friend then causes an argument with him and takes their phone back and goes home

- decides to do this again and looses another one of his best mates

- goes back home and thinks further about how he could could contact people

........

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

How could I Improve my story

Since looking into more detail about the story and getting some feedback on it. I have realised that there is some areas to it that I need to address and look further into. The main one being the fact that he would have no way of knowing his followers numbers and addresses to write them letters, as no one is likely to keep that sort of information in the 21st century based on the age range that the character is in.

I thought it would be best to ring family members for this so that I could get a understanding on how this would work. I first rang my mam and she said that she would either use the house phone saying do you fancy meeting her for a certain time and if not then she would make plans while she was out with her friends so that she could see them next time. After speaking to one of my friends about this they said that their parents usually had a spot of which they went too and if their pals were not there for that time then they would just leave without them. As well as this there is also the option of going round to their houses and knocking on their doors so that I could see them.

I now need to figure out some sort of way that I could in-cooperate this into my narrative.

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Conflict and Dialogue

Conflict should be there throughout your story and should consist of around 50% of the total narrative, it should cause challenge and make every scene much more interesting. Conflict is important for debate and debate requires someone to see more than one side of things which in turn leads to perspective and each opinion driving a debated conflict. It is everything that happens from the start to the finish as the initial question that I ask at the start of my script will be something that will be debated and resolved at the end, one way or another. The character is also drawn through conflict, as it becomes clear throughout the narrative what their drive and goal is and the decisions they make reveal the character. When choosing how to paced conflict, it is important to bare in mind that this will create fear and suspense throughout so making sure that the obstacles that the character comes across are believable and relatable to the audience. Strictly speaking there are 7 different themes which generalise the conflict paths those are;

(wo)man vs. machine

(wo)man vs. man

(wo)man vs. self

(wo)man vs. society

(wo)man vs. nature

(wo)man vs. paranormal

(wo)man vs. fate or destiny

Exercise 

A woman wins the lottery and marries a bank robber

- She never had anything in life, worked hard for what she got, unlucky

- Found out she was bi polar, just before she won the lottery

- Ran out of money and craved more

- Started running drugs

- Found and arrested

- Met a female bank robber inside and ended up marrying her.

Dialogue in films has 4 purposes, these are to reveal the character, advance the plot, express the subtext and to entertain. It is useful to use however should be only used secondary to action. When planning where to add dialogue it is important to avoid centering any plot points around it. When writing about the script think and write visually before adding any dialogue to it and finally when going back to editing the script think about ways that you could remove dialogue instead think of descriptive action ways that could instead describe it. Dialogue should not be used to narrate the story and it should feel natural to the characters for them to say something like that. Dialogue should intrigue the audience, be subtle and avoid saying exactly what characters mean, audiences are clever and like to participate in conversation. Repetition is boring so it is good to go over certain areas and think about where you could change certain bits so that you can cut it down as much as possible. Making sure that I do not describe what is happening, however providing further understanding on what is happening and their perspective of things as long as it is relevant. 

DIALOGUE EXERCISE: Write a scene where a couple is buying a mattress. They are only allowed to speak about the mattress, but through the subtext, we learn of their marital problems.

”I’ve always wanted a firm mattress, what with my back problems and all. I need a nice hard lay, don't I John?"

John - “Do you?”

“What do you mean ‘do you’, you know this!”

John - “Well I can’t remember! You know I have that short term-memory loss thing”

“I told you ages ago, so you have no reason to forget at all and whatever that short term memory loss thing is, its a loads of bollocks that you have just made up yourself”

John - “Well I’ll have you know-”

“I’M NOT INTERESTED JOHN, can we leave it at that before I loose it again?”

John - “Fine”

“Good”

(Small Pause)

John - “Right”

“What”

John - “Was gunna ask what was for tea”

“you just don’t care do you?”

John - “care about wha-”

“ME JOHN, this is literally why we are on such thin strings! Can you not make tea for yourself, why does it always have to be me?”

John - “You know I don’t even know what I do wrong half the time, you’re just as bad”

“How?”

John - “Well the other day, when a asked you not to move something and you moved it and a was late for work because of it, yea that”

“Don’t be so ridiculous, how does that compar-”

John - “because you never listen to me!”

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Structure

Structure is a way of ordering information in a way which makes sense to us and allows us to communicate it effectively. Narrative script follows the structure and form of that similar to a essay or some sort of debate. The first act starts by asking the question, the second act is where the question is looked at from more angles and the third and final act is where the question is answered or not. Acts are built from scenes and scenes are built from beats, using this analogy in essay writing you could call chapters, acts, you could call paragraphs, scenes, and then sentences you could call beats. This is interesting way of breaking everything up as it allows the writer to make sure that the correct amount of information is condensed into each designated area. There must be some sort of equilibrium throughout the story line for example someone may ask is everything going alright to the character where things are starting to fall apart for them. Once this is broken to the point to the point of seemingly no fixing it and then restored at the end you will be able to see a successful structure. Good story telling is the effective way of controlling suspense through emotion. The best way of doing this is creating fear and uncertainty which in turn creates suspense and emotion. This focuses the audience attention due to a release of cortisol in brain. Turning points cause the character to think and make decisions which drive the story line, they will always cause consequences as it is a choice on what the character decides to do. There should be at least 3 turning points in my script. The plot is conflict and this is what joins all the narrative together. There is said to be only 7 plots that most narratives are based of and it possible to class any one story into one of these plots. Cause and effect is something where the audience needs to believe that the decisions that the character makes are believable, decisions that are not believable or are not realistic will lead the audience to switch off. For example if your character is given something specific which you make note of it must come into play later on. Its important that I make sure that I do not include too much detail in the script and that I am clear and concise, not including too much information when it is not needed. I also need to make sure that I am writing in a ‘active voice’ and not a ‘passive voice’ the narrative is meant to be a set of instructions for the actors and production team to follow. An example of this would be ‘George poured some coffee’ which would be an active voice as opposed to a passive voice which would sound like ‘the mug was filled up by George’. Below is a script format on how it should look.

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

How does this Relate

As I was studying and looking further into the work that he teaches and learned the story physics. I started to realise that some of the stories that I had started to write actually have this sort of structure to them. I think that what I have learned from him will be points and areas that I am going to go back on and make sure that the narrative that I do covers all of these.

What I found most interesting however was his focus on characters and how little we publically display our true personas, or at least some of us don’t. I found this really quite clever and thinking about it further in films and other narratives you can get to see where this comes through. I really loved the idea of having a character truely come out of their shell when they progress further into the story.

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

John Yorke

Story Writing is based on something called Story Physics.

John Yorke worked at BBC writers academy teaching people how to write and there was ten questions that he would ask throughout to understand a story and those are;

Whose story is it?

Whats their flaw?

What is the inciting incident?

What do they want?

What obstacles are in their way?

What is at stake?

Why should we care?

What do they learn?

How and why?

How does it end?

These questions apply to scenes as well as stories. So there is a pattern for both characters when applying to a scene if there is multiple characters in the scene for instance then these questions can be answered once you understand the scene

Opposites attract everything, every character is thrown into a scene where there is a complete opposite, star wars for example where his step parents were murdered.

So why?

Syd Field was the first person to write about the modern three act film structure which has existed since the beginning of cinema, this structure is set up, confrontation and resolution. between each stage there is a turning point at each act. However this book still does not say why.

However there was breakthrough made and this seen that there was a pattern based on how we perceive the world. Therefore the way which we see understand something is broken down into 3 stages, we find something new we explore it and then we understand it. So what we are doing is turning the world into a narrative, if we did not do this then the world would be a scary, terrible, terrifying and confusing place to be as we would not understand the simplest of things that we can comprehend now. In a typical Hollywood film there is usually a character flaw in act one and then in the next act they are confronted with there opposite and in the 3rd act there is usually a combination of qualities to create a balance.

So something that before was even wrote about was happening well before its time, storytelling is the code of a essential method based upon which we learn and this is seen through the three acts I have mentioned above. Act 2 is usually double the length of the first and last acts, the closer you look the more this applies, however there is one area that is a bit unwrote about which is character and characterization.

We all live in the same society yet some of are capable of rationality, to survive and live with other people. Some people have to control their needs and for the most part people manage this, however there is some who do not. Internet forums allow the absence of identity or allow ‘animals of their leaches’, to express their feelings online that are harmful and otherwise behaviour that you would not expect to see in a everyday caring person. Rage and shame is hard to show publicly. For example when starting a new job you want to make sure that you make a good impression about how you come across to your colleagues and over time you learn to relax around them and become more comfortable opening up more and allowing a different side of your personality to come through. Another way of putting this is a saying ‘what is Facebook but an advert for how we’d like to be seen?’ and this is very true, as we know now that most employers look at this beforehand to see what sort of person they are either interviewing or hiring.

Characters can be seen to have these opposites throughout them, where how they appear is completely different to the reality of them. Not just through narrative however but also history and actual real life examples of people often seen in the public eye. Conflict is at the heart of each character and as well as that ourselves too. What is interesting about this is there is a pattern to this, take a storyline from start to finish. At the start the character has a front which they put on however towards the end of something this depreciates to its lowest point, as well as this the flaw which the character starts with is at its lowest point at the start of the story and then at the end you can see the flaw reach its peak where it is clear what this is. There is a crossover between the two in the middle point of this story too, this is known as the midpoint.

So why is this a pattern then? and it comes back down the physics and specifically newtons third law, which talks about when one body exerts a force on a second body the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite the direction on the first body. There is exceptions however, but this fundamentally comes back to the original theory of narrative and we can recognise these properties from the explanation above.

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Characterisation

Characterisation defines itself as the way that the writer creates, reveals and develops the character towards the audiences throughout narratives. If for example I had a great story line but the characters were dull and had no engagement behind them then this would effect the whole story, however if I had a strong character base but no story line then the characters would in fact lead the story line for me based on how strong they are. When thinking about characters and what roles they play in my script I need to think about how they react with on another and also what choices they make when faced with conflict. Leading them to becoming more developed as characters and allowing audiences to see what they are like. Characters reveal themselves through the choices and conflicts that they face. The characters or character that I am writing about should be on a journey otherwise why else would I be telling the story as there would be no purpose towards it. They should learn something about themselves or possibly experience or resist a change. This journey is linked to the structure of the narrative arc and is called the character arc. These start in act 1 where there is reason for change, act 2 where the learning occurs and act 3 where the change occurs. I should give my character difficult choices throughout the story so that you can see the truthiness of the character. There needs to also be some sort of motivation for my character and why they are on the journey that they are on. Everyone has some sort of weakness and in story writing this is called the fatal flaw. The main character will need to face and overcome this at the climax part of my script which is in act 2. If main character does not overcome this flaw then you have a tragedy, where something awful may happen at the end.

First Exercise 

George is well groomed, polite, thoughtful, organised and has stable relationships with all his friends and family.

Flipping this around George could be messy and does not look after himself, rude, not thoughtful at all, unorganised and have shaky and unstable relationships with both family and friends.

- A Preacher that George met on the street

- Unthoughtful and rude

George sees a Preacher talking about Religion

‘I wish someone would tell me why he is just standing there talking a load of nonsense, like who wants to hear about religion on the streets anyways its just a load of shit. Believing something is up there is just beyond me and I don’t see how anyone could want to believe it when there is absolutely no proof of God or any of that other stuff existing.’ 

‘I remember once my mam was trying to get me to go to Church because gran had passed a week ago and she took this religious surge all of a sudden, she said it was just out of respect to come with her and support her. Can she not support herself when she goes there? Shes a grown woman with adult responsibilities am sure she can take herself there sit down by herself, watch whatever they do, sing a hymn and head back home without me babying her all the way through it. She was adamant that I was being unthoughtful and I really could not have cared less, until the day I die I am not going near a Church or any sort of religion.’

- To connect with others but is a compulsive liar

George sees a Preacher talking about Religion

‘I quite fancy joining some sort of religion actually, I wonder how accepting they would be of me though. I am pretty confident talking to others and sitting in the house all day by myself doing nothing but look at a screen and talking to no one is just not for me. I seemed to loose so many friends so quick after that incident with Tony, even though it wasn’t even my fault. He knows that too, must have just told everyone. I’ve stopped letting it get too me now though, just a misery if a keep thinking about it.’

‘Mam thought I was going to school today, just like everyday, but I've just came to town instead, she’s so thick sometimes, literally told her I got A’s in all my mock GCSEs, well what do you think I got. Yeah not that. I also found myself telling my friends, or so called friends, what made up grades I got only for them to ask to show them and I said that I threw the bit of paper out instead. It just makes life so much easier you know, don’t need to worry about getting told off for something that I didn’t do or getting picked on because I didn’t get as good grades as my ‘friends’. I have even heard about people making up their grades on CVs to get a good job because they don’t even check them anymore. Sounds like a damm good idea to me like.’

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Characters

So far from the script that I have so far with my main idea I know that there is going to be 2 characters that I need for it. Those are the mam and the son, here are some descriptions and key character traits.

The mother works a 9-5 job and is around 5 foot 8 in height, divorced and living by herself she works flat out to make sure that she can provide a roof over her and her sons heads. They both live in a suburban area surrounded by friends and family. Dark facial features and otherwise normal features. Her eyes are the colour of oak and she has a facial shape that reflects her tiredness towards her lifestyle; thin and well structured. Body shape compares to this well with her slim physique showing she does not have a lot of time to eat. Her personality reflects of a kind thoughtful and appreciative parent. Dressing rather casually, she often wears clothes that are very fitting, mainly black in colour. Although she does not have any main she enjoys gardening and spending time with her family wherever she can.

The son similarly reflects these personality traits and is often told that he looks like his mother. A little taller in height and having the same build and facial features, apart from the odd hair starting to appear where his beard will grow out fully. Trying to keep up with trends he grooms himself well and makes sure that he looks after himself for his following that he has. Unlike his mother he has a small scar above his right eye that appear when he fell over on ice and hit his head of the ground. Not noticeable as such but almost identifiable by this.

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

History and Audience

Humans have always been hardwired to try and understand things that we cannot understand. Some questions may never be answered however for our own safety we need to have the knowledge about something, this in turn leads to our survival as the safety of something creates the awareness of risks attached to this. Like all animals we are constantly evolving and changing, some much quicker than others granted, but we are continually learning from these mistakes and adapting them to our approaches later in life. For example, if an extreme natural event occurred that governments thought would they would be prepared for at any moment and time but caused multiple fatalities. We would look at what has went wrong for this to happen. Why, how, where and who are just some of the questions they would ask before going back to design and conceptualize something that would prevent this happening again. Fear and stress comes from not being in control of a situation. 

Story allows us to record these failures and from there allows us to tell audiences how we succeeded in and where to learn from them. So how do we tell these stories, well there is 2 main emotions attached to stories these are empathy or distress. It is said that there is a limited amount of stories in the world that we can tell each other, as there underlying values correlate with one another when they are stripped back. There are some rules to creating story and although they can be broken, knowledge of them beforehand is necessary. There 5 areas, these are the set up or the beginning, the turning point, the peak conflict, the 2nd turning point and the ending. Assuring that my script includes all of these points is essential in order to create something which could be seen to be engaging and professional. All points play major areas in film and script writing and when watching films it is relatively easy to pick up on these points providing that this is something that you are looking for. 

[mi6013davidmcdermid]

Initial Ideas

When in lectures there was a few pointers that I did take note of more so subjects of stories. Often stories are inspired by something that you have witnessed. These influences however can be almost too influential to the point where it looks like a blatant copy of someone else’s work. 

I wrote down two main pointers at for this and they were ‘dyslexia’ and ‘technology’.

Dyslexia is something that I have seen first hand through my summer work and I can understand how difficult it can be for certain individuals, with some people unknown the fact that they even have it. The idea of seeing a word and spelling it how you think that it should be spelled or read and for it to be seen as incorrect I think could make quite a interesting story line. There are obviously certain areas that I need to be careful on when writing about this and make sure that I am being sensitive around the topic so that I do not effect anyone. 

The main idea I had around this, (although both of these are both very basic ideas) was to have someone almost going through life unknown to all of this and being very confused about where they are going and what they are doing. However this all happens in one day, it takes till the end of the day to realise that everyone that he/she is surrounding themselves with is dyslexic though as opposed to him/her. The tail could have a few emotional parts towards it, with the thought of it playing on his/hers mind and causing problems at home as well. The narrative needs padded out however so that it can make more sense and that there is a clear beginning, middle and end towards this.

Technology is such a massive area and this comes from inspiration from watching Black Mirror. I have often thought about this area and how it even effects myself. I do think we live in a world where technology is such a massive thing that it can almost have too much involvement in our lives to the point where it becomes obsessive and unhealthy.

My idea around this piece was to narrative something about someone who is around 16 years of age and is obsessed with popularity on different social media forms. One day they wake up and see that they cannot find their phone anywhere at all. Being a young teenager they starts to panic thinking where is it where can it be etc. It gets to the stage where they goes downstairs and asks their mother if they have seen it and she replies with no. So the young person makes their way back up the stairs and searches the room by flipping it upside down trying to find it everywhere. At this stage they are starting to worry about their instagram and snapchat, thinking how am I going to reply to everything what can I do to make sure that I can get in contact with people. With their ‘dms’ potentially blowing up they come up with the idea of writing to these people, most of the followers that they have they have been in close contact with in the past and he/she knows where they live. Having not a lot of money as it is and not being able to afford another phone they go down the post office and collect sheets of paper and letters as well as stamps, using their last £20 to get as many sent off as possible. They go back home thinking that everything is solved, however they start to think about more and more applications that they need to keep updating people on and they go into a complete meltdown, at this point when you can see the meltdown really happening. The scene cuts back to last night with the family sitting around the table eating dinner. The mother tells them that she is going to be taking their phone of of them before they wake up so that they can get as much revision done as possible for upcoming exams. The young person insists that if they are going to be doing that then if they ask for the phone make sure that they do not answer to where it is or do not acknowledge that it is missing. The scene cuts back to the current day with the mother shouting up the stairs saying that they can come and get their phone back now, however there is no response the mother walks up the stairs into the room and gasps this is where the story ends.

The story has quite a lot of darkness behind it and I think that this would make it really interesting, I just need to figure out how to word it all properly and add some detail into some areas as well as making sure that everything makes sense.