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Day 1 Assignments
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CONTAINED STORY IDEAS – BEVO BEAVEN – 2/14/2022
1. LAST PASSENGER – (THRILLER/HORROR) It’s 2 a.m. and the last passengers on the bus are TWO 10-YEAR-OLD BOYS running away from home. The boys are hiding, so the bus appears empty when the DRIVER pulls up at a strange place and parks. Several other buses are parked there. Another driver drags a DRUNK 20-SOMETHING FEMALE off his bus. STRANGE PEOPLE come out of a building, stand in a circle around the drunk female and begin chanting. They pull off their human masks and they jump on her like animals and devour her. The boys peep through the bus window, watch this and are terrified – they’re stuck hiding on this bus with human-eating aliens all around.
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT – the BUS, PARKED OVERNIGHT.
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: TWO TEN YEAR OLD BOYS. They are locked in, can’t get out, but they have to escape or face being eaten by the alien monsters.
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: they don’t want to be eaten, how do they escape, what will these creatures do next, how long can they stay undetected?
D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: as hiding last passengers, the boys were locked in the bus.
2. DOUBLE THIS – (DRAMA) – A gentle, art-focused, non-competitive young man is forced by his tough hedge fund-owning dad to compete against him in an all-or-nothing stock trading battle, starting on the boy’s 21<sup>st</sup> birthday. He has to earn a place in his dad’s firm or be tossed on the street. So the dad signs over a $1 million stock trading account to the son to double in 30 days OR he’s on the street. DAD to SON: “find a mentor–a stock trader– and I want you to live how he lives, eat what he eats, and breathe what he breathes till you’re a money-loving, ruthless, trader like me.” The son sees a homeless man living in A TENT CITY who does very complex math with chalk on the sidewalk. He enlists his help, tells him he has to move into the tent with him. Homeless man takes the laptop and soon he is outtrading AI or any human trader every night. After the 30 days, the million-dollar account is worth $1.2 billion.
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT – TENT and TENT CITY. You can look up and see the high-rise where the dad’s office is from outside his tent, or look down from the dad’s office and see the tent city.
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS – the SON, HOMELESS MAN. THE DAD up in the office, BRIEF VISITORS to the tent (DRUG DEALER, WOMAN SELLING SEX, ANOTHER HOMELESS GUY).
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION – for the SON, he’s trapped in a tent/tent city with drug addicts, bums, dirty homeless folks, scary people. HOMELESS MAN GENIUS is trapped with an unwanted, forced roommate, a squatter. No privacy. The SON won’t let him move out of the tent, until the 30 days are up.
D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: DAD’S rules of engagement, son chose the homeless guy to live with.
3. WHEN JOSIE COMES HOME (COMEDY) – TEEN H.S. GIRL finds a large bag of money on the curb – $3 Million in 20s and 100s. A YOUNG, CLEAN CUT, NICELY DRESSED 20-SOMETHING MAFIA GUY comes to the house the next morning after school has started. Mom answers the door invites him in, he calmly discusses the situation, shows her a video of Josie her daughter Josie taking the large bag, explains very politely he wants the bag back. They look for it but it’s nowhere. “Nobody leaves this place till Josie comes home.” Mafia Guy unintentionally collects more people throughout the day– when the MAID shows up for work, POOL BOY comes, teenaged SON comes home early, a Jehovah’s Witness… so HE COLLECTS THEM ALL while they wait for Josie.
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: JOSIE’S HOME.
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: TEEN GIRL JOSIE, HER MOM, THE MAID, CUTE POOL BOY, the BROTHER, A JEHOVAH’S WITNESS.
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: disparate group of individuals stuck in this house with a tough looking, albeit handsome young mafia guy (almost like a trainee – very polite but determined). All these people with keys come in further complicating his goal, except the Jehovah’s Witness who is a young man on a mission literally, football lineman type, but he’s smart, figures out something is amiss. AS THE DAY GOES ON, FIND OUT MANY SECRETS: Pool Boy is having affairs with both the Mom and Josie at the same time—he comes in assuming it’s just him and the mom there—regular appointment. Brother figures it out – wait…so you’re boinking my mom and my sister? Cool dude. Everyone chimes in on all the conversations, all personal matters revealed, help the maid solve her personal problems, etc., ‘till Josie comes home—then the s— hits the fan.
D.REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: He has to hold all these people hostage till Josie comes home (so he can get the $3 million that belongs to the Mafia back to the owner).
4. YOU CAN’T SAY THAT – (DRAMEDY) – Carrying a portable RV toilet and a case of water in plastic bottles, A WOMAN KICKBOXER marches into a radio station talk show studio in a small town where the young arrogant host is on the air, calmly blocks the studio door with a chair and duct tape, and sits across from him. She tells him here’s what’s about to go down: that she’s sick of him cutting off callers, all points of view are good, no censoring, and here’s how we’re gonna do it.” She takes over the studio for 3 days – invites the public to call in – sets off a shitstorm of politically incorrectness and positions all over the book, makes so many people mad.
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: Small Radio Station building/studio in particular.
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: KICKBOXER, TALK SHOW HOST, STATION MANAGER, PRODUCER, THREE “INVITED GUESTS” WHO GIVE THEIR VIEW (could be a racist, a far left liberal, a transgender individual, etc.).
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: The host is stuck in there with this “crazy woman.” Producer stays too but behind the glass – this is talk radio gold; she’s holding the station hostage. Kickboxer = her choice. End of 3 days, she ups and leaves.
D.REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: Woman takes over the studio with host and other staff who stay there to try to figure out how to get her out, don’t want to cut power to the station. Ad sales are terrific.
5. UNMARKED INTERSECTION – (MYSTERY/ROMANCE): a young woman wakes up confused, head on the steering wheel. Car is stopped on a freeway ramp intersection way out in the middle of nowhere. She sees a small, cheap motel down the road. She gets a room from an odd male clerk. “Where ya headed?” – “I don’t know, I just need to sleep.” It’s 3:18 a.m. on her bedside clock. Wakes up a 3:41 to the loud sounds of people in the next room having very loud sex. Again at 3:59. She can’t remember anything, goes outside beside her car to smoke. She opens her trunk – there’s a dead body in there.
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: INSIDE HER CAR, MOTEL, her ROOM.
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: YOUNG WOMAN, MOTEL CLERK(S), PEOPLE IN THE ROOM NEXT DOOR, the MAN SHE RECRUITS TO HELP HER.
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: WOMAN is stuck in a 100% unknown situation – she doesn’t remember anything – where she drove from, where she is headed. She’s stuck in this motel room – doesn’t know who she is, why she is there, why she is so tired, why a body is in her trunk, who the body is in her trunk, why the person is dead. She finds a young MAN that she recruits to help her.
D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: Total amnesia is a problem; but she’s got a bigger problem (who is the body in the trunk/why is it there/did she do it?). How does she get out of the unknown to figure out the answers?
6. THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR – (THRILLER/MYSTERY): A single MOM with one bored TEENAGER BOY moves into a new town/new neighborhood/new house. The first night the BOY can’t sleep, goes out into the back yard at midnight, walks around in the moonlight, hears something being dragged – sound coming from next door. He peeps through a knothole in the fence: MAN NEXT DOOR is dragging a body to a big hole dug in his back yard. It’s pre-dug awaiting delivery of a pool to be lowered in the next day. BOY sees him push the body into the deep end side of the pool and then go down with a shovel. The BOY sneaks over the fence to go have a look down into the pool hole, sees the body clearly and the man pushing it into a shallow hole down at the bottom of the big hole, then he covers the body with dirt. A car horn blows out front. The man has to ladder out of the hole. The boy has to hide. He hears the man greet another MAN and their conversation: “So you did it?” “Yeah, he’s down in there.” “When’s the pool coming.” “Eight a.m. sharp. They lower it down with a crane. Fill it with water. That’s that. No one will ever see that bastard again.”
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: BOY’S HOUSE and the HOUSE NEXT DOOR.
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: TEENAGER BOY, MOM, MAN NEXT DOOR, GIRLFRIEND.
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: Teenager Boy knows what the man did – buried a body under his new pool. He meets a girl at school, brings her home. He tells her there’s a body under the pool next door. She says prove it. They go knock on the man’s door. Boy says, “I know what you did… I saw the body under your pool.” MAN: “you shouldn’t have told me that.”
D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: Man Next Door captures the Boy and his Girlfriend and holds them in his house.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Bevo Beaven.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by
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Renee’s Guidelines for
What I learned doing this assignment is how to look at an idea and figure out a what you need to do to make it into a contained, COVID friendly production.
Movie Idea
• A. Contained Environment: SpaceCraft
• B. Contained Characters: All-civilian crew
• C. Difficult Situation: they’ve lost their navigation system
• D. Reason for the Containment: They’re in the middle of space.
TITLE: Take Shelter
AS THEY DID IT:
A. People: the protagonist and his wife and daughter, friends of the couple,
B. Stunts: aren’t any stunts
C. Extras: flea market lady and background characters, coworkers, wife’s family, pharmacy technician, coworkers, doctor, insurance adjuster, protags mother, banker, counselor,
D. Wardrobe: minimal
E. Hair and Make-Up: minimal
F. Kids and Animals: the family dog, the kids of the friends, the other kids at the ASL class.
G. Quarantine: There’s a large cast of secondary characters and locations.
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A. People: Any character that isn’t essential to the main storyline or that only appears once could be removed and the movie would still work.
B. Stunts: nothing needs to be changed.
C. Extras: most scenes not at the home or the work site could be cut or be done over the phone.
D. Wardrobe: nothing needs to be changed
E. Hair and Make-up: nothing needs to be changed
F. Kids and Animals: the dog could be removed from the storyline and all the kids, but the daughter could be cut.
G. Quarantine: all the scenes that aren’t at the home or the job site could be changed to telephone conversations, the scenes at the flea market could be cut.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Renee Miller.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by
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TITLE: THE NEW EVE
CHARACTERS: Isabelle, Paul, Rasa, Paul, and Fleur.
CONTIANED AREA: a 2122 CA riverside cottage, solar spa, AI studio, and Artificial Womb Lab.
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Contained Screenplay Ideas:
Concept #1:
A terminally ill, devoted mother/wife finds herself in Limbo negotiating terms with GOD to let her spirit stay earthbound until she fulfills her promise to her family. But then she begins to have a contentious debate with GOD about her life experience, the numerous injustices, and literally puts GOD on trial. Location: Green Screen + any large room + stock footage
Concept #2:
A grieving father and scientist obsessed with helping his slain daughter; creates a time machine to travel back to her wedding day to warn her that the groom is a psychopathic killer. He will retry until he convinces his daughter to head the warning before it’s too late. Location: Family home and Daughter’s church dressing room.
Concept #3:
A mourning widow in severe depression looks for a way out. A friend invites her to an online meeting that she attends. The meeting turns out to be a paid scientific study that specifically focuses on the manipulation of her memories to help her manage her depression. Her goal is to spend one more day with her deceased husband telling him all of the things she never got to say to him. Her depression’s root was just the fact that she took him for granted. Location: A Beach House interior and exterior that includes a beach.
Concept #4:
A 6-year old, inquisitive, sharp-witted child and her pet dog stumble onto an ancient mirror within a forest part of her family’s mountain property. The dog begins to bark incessantly at the mirror. Right then the child turns to identify someone approaching, and when she turns around… He’s gone? She scratches her head because she can still hear him, but cannot see him? After several minutes of searching, she realizes that the bark is coming from the mirror. She slowly places her hand onto the surface to find that her hand penetrates a translucent-like surface; somewhat like water. She quickly pulls her hand back out fearing the worst. She musters up the courage to stick her head through the magic mirror and spots her dog lounging on a big bear rug, next to a roaring cabin fire. She commands him to come back, but he’s not going anywhere. She finally relents and steps into the room where he is. She grabs him, turns to step back into the magic mirror, but can’t because the mirror is now a regular mirror? Location(s): Exterior forest location, Interior of a Swiss mountain cabin.
Concept #5:
A 13-year old scientific genius stumbles onto a device that will replicate anything captured in a picture. His laboratory is in his parent’s basement. He tries to keep this finding a secret. Later that week his mother goes to clean up down in the basement, finds several expensive-looking pieces of equipment, and begins to interrogate the young genius. Mother being the community gossip mentions her findings to a girlfriend whose husband is a US government Intelligence Officer. Now he must find a way to hide this replicator out of sight before the US Government goons find it. Location: Family Home – Basement.
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PS: REASON FOR CONTAINMENT: An INFANT MORTALITY CRISIS is threatening the future of the human race.
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Cheryl,
Is this all for today’s assignment? Please advise. Thank you.
Ed O.
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Auguste Dinoto 02-14-2022
ASSIGNMENT 1 – PART ONE
1.
A. Of the five ideas I came up with, two of them can easily be made into a contained film.
B. They can easily be pitched in one or two sentences.
C. Yes
ASSIGEMENT 2 – PART TWO
2. I picked the movie, The Sixth Sense.
A. Lots of people.
B. Crowded restaurant scenes.
C. Kids
D. Extras
E. Many locations
Covid guideline version
A. A college football player has a head injury and is sent to a mental institution when he begins to see dead people.
B. Bruce Willis’s part starts the same, he comes in to the ward to talk to him.
C. Eight people in the ward, where the whole movie is shot.
3. What I learned is a lot of movies could filmed in this way.
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Peter Ferguson’s Guidelines for Billy Jack
What I learned doing this assignment is by tightening up locations, cast and crew, an opportunity appears to increase the tension levels of interaction, create opportunity for actors to enhance characters’ responses, expressions, etc. within the contained parameters, and involve new conflict opportunities between characters.
TITLE: Billy Jack
AS THEY DID IT:
A. People: Indigenous/native school students, native school administrator, half-native korean war vet, wealthy businessman, sheriff, deputy, indulgent son of wealthy businessman,
B. Stunts: fighting, car chases, gun shooting, car actions, road blocks, stand-offs
C. Extras: huge crowds, townsfolk, range hands, police/swat teams, classroom members, courthouse witnesses, buses filled with students, extensive locations, etc.
D. Wardrobe: native clothing, police uniforms, malt shop uniforms, establishment styled clothing, judge / courtroom professional clothing styles, youth styled clothing
E. Hair and Make Up: various sixties styles, long hairs, short hair, native hair styles basic
F. Kids and Animals: multiple horses, kids, dogs, farm animals
G. Quarantine zero
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A. People native school administrator, half-native korean war vet, wealthy businessman, sheriff, school janitor, one-two students, FBI officier on remote communication
B. Stunts handgun of businessman, hand-to-hand combat within admistrator’s office of vet and businessman, office products incorporated in fight/tussle scene, phone call/web-based negiotiations
C. Extras everything happens within the school, one location use of
administrator office, hallway, entry, second room as FBI office
D. Wardrobe all modern, current attire, possible indigenous jewelry use
E. Hair and Make Up basic, current make-up style minimal
F. Kids and Animals elimated
G. Quarantine Can easily meet guidelines to contain the essence of the movie and increase the psychological narrative to make-up for the multiple action
scenes, higher tension regarding loss of school to development proposal,
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5 Contained concepts
Idea 1: Title-Backwoods Fryers
A. Contained Environment: Isolated cabin in the woods
B. Contained Characters: 3 males, 4 females, local woodsman, redneck hunters
C. Difficult Situation: maintain mental stamina as thin veil of society collapses around them and becomes chaotic, try to get out of woods to known authority
D. Reason for the Containment: plague breakout during camping trip keeps them limited on options to escape the woods and return to safety.
Idea 2: Title-The Transfer Station
A. Contained Environment: Country Roadside Motel
B. Contained Characters: 3 college girls on spring break, motel owner, motel maid, motel handyman, drug dealer, human trafficker, girl being traded, next-level handler, Jewish mechanic
C. Difficult Situation: Caught in the middle of a known drug/human trafficking transfer location, the two college students must try to avoid becoming property as the day escalates
D. Reason for the Containment: Car breakdown Saturday and they need to wait out the Saturday Sabbath for the Jewish Mechanic for repair
Idea 3:
A. Contained Environment: Mansion with pool, office location
B. Contained Characters: 2 burglars, homeowner’s son, girlfriend, delivery man, home owner,
C. Difficult Situation: Burglars must decide next steps after simple break-in becomes increasingly more complex
D. Reason for the Containment: Burglary turns home invasion then kidnapping for ransom
Idea 4:
A. Contained Environment: Camping site within private park
B. Contained Characters: park owners, 4 guests, local ranger, maintenance person
C. Difficult Situation: Park owners are part of a community of opportunistic cannibals
D. Reason for the Containment: Park gets locked at night
Idea 5:
A. Contained Environment: local dive bar & cellar
B. Contained Characters: long-time patron/butcher, bartender, bouncer, 3 regular patrons/delivery persons , 2 new patrons-(body parts providers)
C. Difficult Situation: After taking a break from the road, two passing by patrons awake to find themselves locked in a cellar and must recount the night’s activities to try and understand how another watering hole stop turned to lock-down
D. Reason for the Containment: Locked in cellar for use as illegal human organ sales
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Assignment Part 1: Select Your Project
Late Night Calls
A. Contained Environment: Home office.
B. Contained Characters: Sign Language interpreter/operator on one end of a video call, killers on the other.
C. Difficult Situation: She witnesses a murder on the video call, and the murderers are looking for her location.
D. Reason for Containment: The murderers threaten to kill others if she hangs up. She hopes the police can locate them before the killers locate her.
Assignment Part 2: Adjust a Produced Movie to Covid Guidelines.
Title: The Guilty
As they did it:
People:
Jake Gyllenhaal as the main lead, a 911 dispatch operator, few other operators, random bathroom scene.
Stunts: None.
Extras: Office employees.
Wardrobe: One outfit.
Hair and Make up: One look as it takes place during a work shift.
Kids and Animals: Kid voices heard over the phone
Quarantine: The movie takes place in an open office environment, they have multiple employees in the background.
Covid guideline version: (I think they did follow Covid guidelines for this movie but I’ll make it even more dense)
People: Just one person on screen, Jake Gyllenhaal, cut out all people in the office, make his character stuck in a claustrophobic cubicle.
Stunts: None.
Extras: Only voices from the calls.
Wardrobe: Same.
Hair and Make up: Same.
Kids and Animals: Same.
Quarantine: As mentioned before, turn from an open office environment to a single cube.
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I’m still working on ideas 4 and 5 but here’s what i have so far
Idea 1:
• A. Contained Environment: An Abandoned Textile Mill in the middle of nowhere.
• B. Contained Characters: Amateur Ghost Hunters making a movie.
• C. Difficult Situation: They must find the ghosts, otherwise they give back the money they already spent.
• D. Reason for the Containment: Their Producer locked them in after they took his money: now he wants the footage.
Idea 2:
• A. Contained Environment: A Castle.
• B. Contained Characters: A group of Students.
• C. Difficult Situation: The Castle is rumoured to be haunted, and they can’t get out without triggering an alarm call to the Police.
• D. Reason for the Containment: A bet to prove the Castle is haunted.
Idea 3:
• A. Contained Environment: A Castle.
• B. Contained Characters: A group of Tourists.
• C. Difficult Situation: Someone is reenacting historical clan rivalries with brutal consequences.
• D. Reason for the Containment: A bet to hide in the castle overnight.
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As I clarified in my Introduction, I’m going to do my best to respond to the assignments. Here are five ideas that might make contained stories:
IDEA 1: CHRONIC PROBLEMS OF A DEEP-SPACE WAREHOUSE MANAGER (sci-fi/stoner comedy)
A. Contained Environment: Space station warehouse/interstellar customs on the edge of the solar systemB. Contained Characters: a skeleton crew
C. Difficult Situation: This facility is close to shutting down as shipping lanes have changed. Under limited supervision, the manager has been engaged in black market deals & bribes, but now finds his facility under attack by a vicious species being smuggled into the solar system.
D. Reason for the Containment: space station
Idea 2<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>: Courier Logistics (dramatic comedy)A. Contained Environment: mainly one pick-up truck/van, limited outside environs as needed
B. Contained Characters: a delivery driver
C. Difficult Situation: day In the life, being sent with a delivery to a remote area
D. Reason for the Containment: it’s a lonely profession
Idea 3: 5 Part Series (thriller)
A. Contained Environment: An apartment/house
B. Contained Characters: one TV viewer
C. Difficult Situation: Returning home from a trip, while catching up with a recorded news magazine feature that unfolded in a 5-part series, a viewer slowly realizes the subject of the feature – an infamous killer/criminal law enforcement is looking for – might just be their next-door neighbor.
D. Reason for the Containment: Watching TV in the living room, looking out the window at the neighbor.
Idea 4: Eminent Domain (horror)
A. Contained Environment: Ranch house
B. Contained Characters: Old Man and Investigators
C. Difficult Situation: Old Man who owns the ranch property never takes visitors. In reality, he is hundreds (thousands) of years old, cursed to never die but under the watch of a demon who slaughters anyone Old Man speaks with. Destined to live eternity alone. Now the government wants to force a sale of the property. As investigators go missing, more come.
D. Reason for the Containment: Cursed to live alone.
Idea 5: Godwyn’s Stump (horror)
A. Contained Environment: A country house
B. Contained Characters: A husband & father
C. Difficult Situation: Man buys a house with a stump in the back yard. He moves in several months before his family will arrive, as they wrap up the school year, the old house sells, etc. and he starts his new job. Then things begin to appear on the stump. Items. Bits of clothes. At first, he thinks it’s a prank but soon realizes that it’s a supernatural phenomenon. And these items start coming soaked in blood—wherever they come from, they’re the belongings of people being killed.
D. Reason for the Containment: Phenomenon confined to the yard.
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My 5 ideas for contained screenplays are:
Title: ICE-O-LATED
CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT – a remote farm in northern Iceland
CONTAINED CHARACTERS – 2 Maids, a farmhand and the farmer
DIFFICULT SITUATION – farmer is a tyrant
REASON FOR CONTAINMENT – they need the work / farm miles from anywhere
Title: CAUSEWAY CRISIS
CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT – Small hut on the causeway to Holy Island (island off north east coast of England)
CONTAINED CHARACTERS – a married couple
DIFFICULT SITUATION – they hate each other
REASON FOR CONTAINMENT – the sea has risen and trapped them in.
Title: TANGO TRYST
CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT – a Bar in the back streets of Buenos Aires
CONTAINED CHARACTERS – a couple and the former sweetheart of the girl
DIFFICULT SITUATION – a classic love triangle
REASON FOR CONTAINMENT – Sweetheart is not leaving without the girl
Title: THE GARDEN OF DIFFICULT PEOPLE
CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT – a lush garden (later to be revealed she has died / it is heaven)
CONTAINED CHARACTERS – a woman and 4 friends
DIFFICULT SITUATION – she must listen to unpleasant truths before she can leave
REASON FOR CONTAINMENT- the friends have the keys to the locked gates.
Title: THE PERSECUTED PRIEST
CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT – a church
CONTAINED CHARACTERS – priest, 3 members of the congregation in bible study
DIFFICULT SITUATION – 3 friends want to sack the priest
REASON FOR CONTAINMENT – they won’t leave until he agrees.
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Heather Esancy
Assignment 1:
What I learned doing this assignment is that a small or solo cast of well developed, intriguing character(s) on a compelling journey is the hook to a successful contained story. A concept is more marketable confined to one location with a limited cast and low budget.
I realized that maybe 2 of my concepts may be more difficult to make sense of in confinement, based on these guidelines.
My #1 concept is based on the unfortunate true events from my mother’s experiences during the first two weeks of quarantine, March 2020. You can’t get more covid friendly than that.
Containment Concept 1: Psycovidia
A. Contained Environment: a modest garden level apartment
B. Contained Characters: female, mid-60’s.
C. Difficult Situation: a perception of covid seeping through the walls.
D. Reason for the Containment: psychosis
Assignment 2: Guidelines for The Green Book
TITLE: The Green Book
AS THEY DID IT:
A. People- Tony, Don, Dolores, band members and club owner, club goers
B. Stunts – fight scenes
C. Extras – many extras involved
D. Wardrobe – 60’s attire in various styles. Elegant dress wear
E. Hair and MakeUp – 60’s glam – minimal
F. Kids and Animals – Tony’s children
G. Quarantine – lots of crew and extras to be concerned with
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A. People – Tony, Don, keep the cast as small as possible. Create a bubble for actors with regular testing protocol. Use phone conversations or split screen when applicable instead of 1:1 interactions.
B. Stunts – n/a
C. Extras – few. Perhaps rely on CGI and OS sound for crowd reactions. Maintain a small group of extras but change up wardrobe to act in other scenes.
D. Wardrobe – 60’s attire, without being too elevated
E. Hair and Make Up – Very little, These characters can elect to do their own hair and makeup or bring their own kits.
F. Kids and Animals – none needed
G. Quarantine – adhere to local regulations. The multiple locations can be shot with a very limited crew. Maintain as many scenes as possible outside. All concerts could be moved to patios and open air venues – potentially they could be shot to give the illusion that the club is indoor.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Heather Esancy.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by
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Diana’s Guidelines for Jaws
What I learned: While watching the contained movies for the class and coming up with ideas of my own, I am liking the simplicity of the concept, because it seems to create a more intimate experience for the audience. It’s inspiring me to create really unique characters and stories. I started out as a playwright, so this comes kind of natural to me anyway. I feel more comfortable with less, so I’m really looking forward to working within the parameters of the contained script. Also, while coming up with ideas for a contained film (I came up with ten), I found one that actually works better as either a TV series or a non-contained movie, so I’m going to set that one aside for later.
2. Pick a movie that is outside the Covid Guidelines and give us your thoughts on how they could make it in the current production environment.
TITLE: Jaws
AS THEY DID IT:
A. People: Extras, animals, kids, bigger cast; three key actors
B. Stunts: Mechanical shark; action scenes on boat
C. Extras: See above. On the beach.
D. Wardrobe. Simple.
E. Hair and Make Up. Simple.
F. Kids and Animals. Both.
G. Quarantine. All the extras, large cast.
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A. People: Just have the three people on the boat.
B. Stunts: Keep as is.
C. Extras: Don’t use.
D. Wardrobe: Fine as is.
E. Hair and Make Up: Fine as is.
F. Kids and Animals: Remove.
G. Quarantine: Much easier, since just three people.
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I’m not sure why, but my post didn’t post, so this is a test one.
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Anyway, I picked The Lost Boys (1987). I’ll try and re-post it tomorrow… sorry about that.
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I figured out why… should be all good now.
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What I learned doing this assignment is that 99% of what I watch is seemingly contained. It was hard to even pick or find something applicable.
TITLE: THE LOST BOYS (1987)
AS THEY DID IT:
PEOPLE: 2 main characters (brothers), family (mother, grandfather), The Frog Brothers (vampire hunters), plus the vampire gang (6 more characters, including a kid) and the family dog. Also a million extras in numerous scenes.
STUNTS: Fairly minimal minus the final confrontation when the family house is absolutely destroyed and the vampire gang is killed off.
EXTRAS: Many, many, many. Boardwalk, video stores, comic shops, concerts…
WARDROBE: Very 80’s but I think it would be fine.
HAIR AND MAKEUP: Vampires, so makeup is a definite. Plus gore scenes.
QUARANTINE: Too many extras for sure.
ANIMALS AND KIDS: Of course, there’s both.
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
PEOPLE: I’d say you could eliminate some of the vampire gang and maybe one of the hunters.
STUNTS: Minus the final confrontation, there isn’t a whole lot.
EXTRAS: All of these would have to go. So no Boardwalk scenes or any of the other heavily populated scenes like in stores or concerts. Not really a big deal though.
WARDROBE: This could remain unchanged.
HAIR AND MAKEUP: I suppose you could tone down the vampire look to make the application go quicker and with less people needed to apply it.
QUARANTINE: So, with no extras that’s going to be a huge improvement and also limiting the vampire gang and potential makeup artists.
ANIMALS AND KIDS: Both need to be eliminated.
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Bevo Beaven’s Guidelines for Eagle Eye
ASSIGNMENT 2 – BEVO BEAVEN
PART ONE: SELECT YOUR PROJECT
WHAT I LEARNED DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT
(Part 1: select which story idea to focus on): it was pretty easy coming up with ideas for what felt like a group of stories that could make cool feature films, but when you put the various ideas into Covid lockdown restraints you are forced to find the best concepts to (1) fit the “contained” rules/protocol, but (2) they also have to fit a kind of story type as well so you don’t bore the audience to death– need to land on a concept that permits miles of freedom to open up the plot without breaking Covid protocol. Will the key character have a crystal clear mission that puts him/her on a pathway toward some very clear goal? (Is it within a big enough plot that will allow almost unlimited opportunities to foist bigger and bigger obstacles and key reversals in his or her way, all the way to the goal—and successfully do that within the Covid protocols? (And therefore in a lower budget way that could be easy for a producer to sell). So I eliminated ideas with children/teenagers, or ideas that just seemed too restrained by a single location or wouldn’t work with limited characters in a single limited location.
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(Part 2: adjust a produced movie to Covid guidelines)
TITLE: EAGLE EYE
AS THEY DID IT:
A. People – two main characters, 2 main people chasing them, staff of people in HQs, but several dozen others and hundreds of extras
B. Stunts – loaded with stunts, explosions, car crashes, chases on foot and in cars.
C. Extras – hundreds on the streets, in airports, packed security lines, in tour bus, trains (Chicago)
D. Wardrobe – pretty contemporary, nice suits for FBI and DHS, guard and cop uniforms
E. Hair and Make Up – big stars, so yeah.
F. Kids and Animals – small scenes with her young boy on tv screens, voice mail to her, cell phone photos too so that is a good Covid trick to remember.
G. Quarantine – so many people—extras, stunt teams, hair and makeup, extra wranglers, guns being fired, exploding cars and buildings, it would be overwhelming.
H. LOCATIONS: Huge number of locations – on trains, train stations, airports, runways, stores, malls, crowded streets, etc.
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A. People – keep the principal cast, move scenes inside offices where passersby aren’t needed – use ambient office noise of people out in the central areas working, chattering, phones ringing, etc.
B. Stunts – limit to one big stunt sequence for the climax
C. Extras – if you ditch them all it will change from a blockbuster action flick to boutique thriller with limited running and shooting sequences for emphasis and maybe a big action climax.
D. Wardrobe – need for the big stars
E. Hair and Make Up – need it for the big stars
F. Kids and Animals – for the boy use the cell phone photos and video screen technique (no live shooting till the climax and denouement); no animals
G. Quarantine – well, for climax, need big action sequences – so stunts, hair, makeup – yes.
H. LOCATIONS – Limit to stock outdoor establishing shots showing crowds for reality, or drone aerials, or very long shots of stars walking on crowded street – to make the crowd look more dense than it is—long lens from far away; just pick the main key locations (should be less because we’re deleting most of the action sequences – car chases, crowd scenes in streets, drones chasing them in the car in a crowded tunnel, etc. – since the overreaching computer that sees you everywhere is what they are running from, need to establish that it sees and knows all early on, but could be done in mystery/puzzle/thriller style rather than huge budget full on action sequences as the movie did them in 2007. Big climax action sequences were 1:35 – 1:48 +/- , CROWDS, STUNTS, EXPLOSIONS, DRONES FLYING THRU TUNNEL, ETC.
ALTERNATIVES – use of dark indoor sequences with scary music (mysterious/suspense), two-shots, close on a helicopter taking off in foreground to intro a scene, CUs-finding the clues, etc., still adds to tension as a thriller in the absence of big, wild action sequences all the time. See 1:15 – 1:20 – string of these kinds of lower-key sequences that work for Covid rules.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Bevo Beaven.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by
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<div>What I learned doing this assignment is that there are many things to consider in focusing on a contained screenplay. Especially if you’re trying to create a story with limited resources and budget, you have to think about everything from setting, to number of people on set, to stunts, and anything else that will drive cost and complexity.</div>
ASSIGNMENT PART 1: Select Your Project
1. Go through your five ideas and determine which of them can easily fit the Covid-19 guidelines. For the moment, don’t list the ideas. Just tell us your experience of evaluating them based upon the guidelines.
A. It can be done as a contained story.
B. You can write a pitch in one or two sentences.
C. There is something unique about it.
I came in with no preconceived ideas of stories and started off brainstorming contained locations. I have a few ideas that I can do, but still need to pick the “best” for what I’m trying to accomplish. I further limited myself by only considering stories that I think I can produce myself. This made the brainstorming more difficult because it forced me to think of locations that were accessible (or possibly, maybe accessible). I found that this takes a little bit of fun out of the process, but knowing that it has a real chance of becoming a produced project makes it more satisfying. After picking each location, I considered characters and contained situations that would fit in a way that led to natural conflict and entertainment. I have a couple that could definitely work. I may end up taking two through the process, since I have at least two very different types of stories and don’t want to pin myself down just yet. I think they can be pitched in one or two sentences and have something unique.
ASSIGNMENT PART 2: Adjust a Produced Movie to Covid Guidelines
2. Pick a movie that is outside the Covid Guidelines and give us your thoughts on how they could make it in the current production environment.
TITLE: Die Hard
AS THEY DID IT:
A. People: John McClane, his wife, the workers in the building, cops, and lots of bad guys
B. Stunts: Lots of action: guns, fights, falls, explosions
C. Extras: Lots of office workers and cops
D. Wardrobe: Cop uniforms, office attire
E. Hair and Make Up: People in the office who need to look professional
F. Kids and Animals: None (thank goodness!)
G. Quarantine: Tons of people in confined spaces
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A. People: Stick to the main characters, maybe isolate them from the others and imply larger crowds of office workers or cops. We can be led to believe they are there without showing them or showing very many.
B. Stunts: Stunts are pretty important to this movie, but we can cut down on big, expensive stuff like explosions and gun battles. Be more inventive with conflicts, confined spaces, and psychological warfare.
C. Extras: Remove all the office workers and keep a small core, perhaps focusing on John’s wife and a couple more for effect (like the slimy weasel). Cut down the number of cops.
D. Wardrobe: If you limit the workers and cops, you reduce the impact of wardrobe. There’s really nothing fancy here so people can bring their own clothes for the office. Cop uniforms are the exception and are needed.
E. Hair and Make Up: The scenes lend themselves pretty well to people doing their own hair and makeup since they’re expected to look pretty “normal”.
F. Kids and Animals: N/A
G. Quarantine: Most of the action happens in the building, so it is well set up for a contained environment and control of people coming and going. Ancillary scenes in other locations (e.g. airplane) can be scaled down, played as close-ups, or eliminated in favor of a more isolated setting.
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Jay’s Project and Guidelines for Ocean’s 11
ASSIGNMENT PART 1: Select Your Project
1. Go through your five ideas and determine which of them can easily fit the Covid-19 guidelines. For the moment, don’t list the ideas. Just tell us your experience of evaluating them based upon the guidelines.
A. The idea I selected can be done as a contained story in one location – Mars. B. While establishing a colony on Mars, a faithless doctor struggles to survive against nature, monsters, and man. C. All sources of antagonism are fueled by events described in the Book of Revelation.
ASSIGNMENT PART 2: Adjust a Produced Movie to Covid Guidelines
2. Pick a movie that is outside the Covid Guidelines and give us your thoughts on how they could make it in the current production environment.
What I learned doing this assignment is that there are many ways to contain scripts.
TITLE: Ocean’s 11
AS THEY DID IT:
A1. People: The 11 good guys; the mark; his goons; the love interest
A2. Locations (added): Many
B. Stunts: Two major ones: 1) the use of the “pinch” to knock out electricity; 2) the heist itself
C. Extras: Actors learning/playing poker; circus patrons; betting track patrons; casino staff/guards; casino patrons; boxers; extra’s in flashbacks showing previously failed casino heists
D. Wardrobe: Nice clothes/suits; casino staff/guard uniforms
E. Hair and Make Up: Negligible
F. Kids and Animals: None
G. Quarantine: Many extras in casino scenes throughout
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A1. People: Cut the good guy team in half
A2. Locations (added): Cut all locations except in and around Vegas
B. Stunts: Cut part about stealing and using the pinch; maybe just one quick scene somehow overloading the electrical grid
C. Extras: Cut all those outside Vegas; cut number of scenes in people heavy locations
D. Wardrobe: No changes
E. Hair and Make Up: No changes
F. Kids and Animals: N/A
G. Quarantine: Cutting number of good guys and extras limits the need for this. Removing all scenes outside Vegas scenes reduces the number of shooting locations.
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1. Root Canal-(Thriller) A female patient visits the dentist for her root canal. After she gets put to sleep to avoid the pain, she wakes up in an empty office. When she looks at herself in the mirror her face starts to melt. She wakes up in panic to find the dentist standing above her, now a zombie. She escapes the office to open the front door. Her boyfriend is standing there also a zombie.
A. Contained Environment: Dentist Office
B. Contained Characters: Female patient, Dentist and patient’s boyfriend
C. Difficult Situation: Patient wants to escape office after it becomes post apocalyptic during dream
D. Reason for the Containment: Patient trapped inside office only to escape into the arms of her boyfriend who is a zombie.
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Barbara Gilmore’s ideas brainstorming to continue…
Idea 1:
• A. Contained Environment: An Abandoned Textile Mill in the middle of nowhere.
• B. Contained Characters: Amateur Ghost Hunters making a movie.
• C. Difficult Situation: They must find the ghosts, otherwise they give back the money they already spent.
• D. Reason for the Containment: Their Producer locked them in after they took his money: now he wants the footage.
Idea 2:
• A. Contained Environment: A Castle.
• B. Contained Characters: A group of Students.
• C. Difficult Situation: The Castle is rumoured to be haunted, and they can’t get out without triggering an alarm call to the Police.
• D. Reason for the Containment: A bet to prove the Castle is haunted.
Idea 3:
• A. Contained Environment: A Castle.
• B. Contained Characters: A group of Tourists.
• C. Difficult Situation: Someone is reenacting historical clan rivalries with brutal consequences.
• D. Reason for the Containment: A bet to hide in the castle overnight.
Idea 4:
• A. Contained Environment: A remote tunnel.
• B. Contained Characters: A family.
• C. Difficult Situation: If the animals see, hear or smell them they die.
• D. Reason for the Containment: Injured after a car accident.
Idea 5:
• A. Contained Environment: A bridge.
• B. Contained Characters: A nuclear waste convoy.
• C. Difficult Situation: If radioactive material escapes it will explodes killing everyone and everything within a 1000 km radius.
• D. Reason for the Containment: The bridge collapses as they are crossing it.
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CONTAINED SHOW IDEAS – Gary Sheehan – Feb 16, 2022
WHAT I LEARNED – I felt an aversion to boxing existing ideas into a claustrophobic format, yet the assignment inspired thoughts and possibilities.
PRINCE OF THE PAUPERS
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: Small village in 18th-century Hungary and surrounding landscape.
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: Villagers including the chieftain and his daughter, and Ferenc II Rakoczi, the reluctant deposed Prince of Transylvania, and the spirited ragtag band who will be the army to fight Rakoczi’s War for Independence.
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: Villagers are under constant danger of attack by enemy forces as Rakoczi recovers from a serious wound.
D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: Prince Rakoczi has been mortally wounded and Mary, the chieftain’s daughter, attempts to nurse his wound and save his life.
ICE GAMES
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: – Desolate outpost in the Pleistocene (Ice Age).
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: The village chieftain and his down-to-earth daughter, and the impetuous and unproven orphan dwelling in a household of powerful girls.
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: Disruption as outlanders arrive daily to watch and gamble on a new game, the village’s temporary prosperity, and devastation as the ice begins to melt.
D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: Living isolated in the far north during the Ice Age.
HAVE ONE HEART
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: The catacombs beneath the Castle Carcassonne in 19th-century France, and a farm in the Pyrenees to the west.
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: A young orphan boy from the catacombs, a crippled inventor in the foothills, a well to do couple and their ravishing daughter on holiday.
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: An orphan boy searching for his mother in the depths of the catacombs is captured and fostered into the employ of a demanding and crippled rural inventor.
D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: An orphan is sent to help an old man on his remote farm.
APOLONIA
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: A 19th-century Hungarian village and the nearby district of Lake Balaton.
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: A young maiden from a tiny 19th-century village in Hungary, her five haughty sisters, and the schoolmate the older sisters despise and ridicule.
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: The maiden is forced into servitude while sought as a wife by the older and despised schoolmate.
D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: Small village dominated by older sisters.
BUTTERFLY CREEK
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: A depressed town in the ravaged hills of Pennsylvania.
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: The disenfranchised, including an enterprising boy with a new vision no one believes in.
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: The town hospital is to be shut down at month’s end, a final blow to the boy’s dream of bringing back his lost love.
D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: A former coal town’s trout waters ruined by acid mine drainage.
DOUBLE DEALERS
A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: A TV studio.
B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: Four unpredictable panelists on a new reality TV show to rival Shark Tank.
C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: The panelists have to pick the winner while the audience heckles relentlessly.
D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: Reality TV show.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Gary Sheehan.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Gary Sheehan.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Gary Sheehan.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by
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Assignment #1:
All five of my ideas were written with a single-location in mind so it is possible to tell any of them as contained stories, but after working on Assignment #2 it was becoming clear to me that certain stories to lend themselves to a “contained” structure better than others.
In terms of being able to write a pitch in a sentence or two I have that usual problem where the idea I’m most infatuated with is the hardest one to encapsulate in one to two sentences because it’s kind of all over the place. But a handful of these could be expressed that succinctly I think.
Initially when I asked myself if there was something unique about any of my ideas my first response, after reading through the examples of “Alien” and “A Quiet Place,” was “no.” But after thinking about a bit I think posing this question has helped me shape how the uniqueness of my short list of ideas might be more clearly expressed. So, I guess, yes, there is something unique.
Assignment #2:
TITLE: Wag the Dog
AS THEY DID IT:
A. People: Several white house staff, a Hollywood producer, musicians in Nashville, a maximum security prisoner, secret service, and others.
B. Stunts: Nothing really. Someone gets shot but it happens off-screen so it’s a sound effect.
C. Extras: A medium amount to fill out certain locations (e.g.: restaurants, airports, etc)
D. Wardrobe: Mostly professional / business casual / travel-wear, a few unexpected costumes (e.g.: quirky musician outfits + a prison jumpsuit)
E. Hair and Make Up: Nothing crazy, very natural.
F. Kids and Animals: Nope.
G. Quarantine: I’m not sure exactly what to put here to be honest.
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A. People: The main characters could stay the same (though I’d pare the cast down a bit). You could have a political consultant, someone who works for the president, a Hollywood producer, musicians, etc.
B. Stunts: No stunts, just sound effects.
C. Extras: If the entire thing is set in a warehouse of airplane hangar or some office complex the need for extras could be entirely eliminated.
D. Wardrobe: We could cast according to personality. Most people have business-casual wear and for the quirkier outfits we could cast musicians who dress quirky in their every day lives, and we can probably acquire a fake prison jumpsuit.
E. Hair and Make Up: No serious needs.
F. Kids and Animals: No serious needs.
G. Quarantine: No serious needs.
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My very sketchy idea for a contained screenplay. I haven’t worked out the details.
Contained Environment: An abandoned riverboat in a secluded area of a Southern bayou.
Contained Characters: A group of ill-prepared urban explorers.
Difficult Situation: Surrounded by gators, short on food and water, resentful exes with their new paramours.
Reason for Containment: Once aboard the abandoned riverboat, their canoe drifts away, leaving them surrounded by gators.
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What I learned by doing this assignment is that Contained movies and COVID guideline are naturally compatible.
Idea 1:
• A. Contained Environment: An Abandoned Textile Mill in the middle of nowhere.
• B. Contained Characters: Amateur Ghost Hunters making a movie.
• C. Difficult Situation: They must find the ghosts, otherwise they give back the money they already spent.
• D. Reason for the Containment: Their Producer locked them in after they took his money: now he wants the footage.
Idea 1:
• A. It can be done as a contained story – Yes
• B. You can write a pitch in one or two sentences – Yes
• C. There is something unique about it – needs more work.
Idea 2:
• A. Contained Environment: A Castle.
• B. Contained Characters: A group of Students.
• C. Difficult Situation: The Castle is rumoured to be haunted, and they can’t get out without triggering an alarm call to the Police.
• D. Reason for the Containment: A bet to prove the Castle is haunted.
Idea 2:
• A. It can be done as a contained story – Yes
• B. You can write a pitch in one or two sentences – Yes
• C. There is something unique about it – needs more work.
Idea 3:
• A. Contained Environment: A Castle.
• B. Contained Characters: A group of Tourists.
• C. Difficult Situation: Someone is reenacting historical clan rivalries with brutal consequences.
• D. Reason for the Containment: A bet to hide in the castle overnight.
Idea 3:
• A. It can be done as a contained story – Yes
• B. You can write a pitch in one or two sentences – Yes
• C. There is something unique about it – needs more work.
Idea 4:
• A. Contained Environment: A remote tunnel.
• B. Contained Characters: A family.
• C. Difficult Situation: If the animals see, hear or smell them they die.
• D. Reason for the Containment: Injured after a car accident.
Idea 4:
• A. It can be done as a contained story – Yes
• B. You can write a pitch in one or two sentences – Yes
• C. There is something unique about it – needs more work.
Idea 5:
• A. Contained Environment: A bridge.
• B. Contained Characters: A nuclear waste convoy.
• C. Difficult Situation: If radioactive material escapes it will explodes killing everyone and everything within a 1000 km radius.
• D. Reason for the Containment: The bridge collapses as they are crossing it.
Idea 5:
• A. It can be done as a contained story – Yes
• B. You can write a pitch in one or two sentences – Yes
• C. There is something unique about it – needs more work.
ASSIGNMENT PART 2: Adjust a Produced Movie to Covid Guidelines
2. Pick a movie that is outside the Covid Guidelines and give us your thoughts on how they could make it in the current production environment.
TITLE: Nightmare Alley.
AS THEY DID IT:
A. People: 5 to 6 big name actors in close quarters.
B. Stunts: Some.
C. Extras: 100 – 200.
D. Wardrobe: Takes place in a circus and so costumes are tailor made.
E. Hair and Make Up: Required.
F. Kids and Animals: A few.
G. Quarantine: Would be challenging.
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A. People: build in a reason why the actors are isolated from the crowds or CGI the crowds in.
B. Stunts: CGI or without a crowd around.
C. Extras: None change the story to take out the extras…or CGI them in.
D. Wardrobe: The wardrobe was integral to the movie not sure it would work other than to ask the actors to consult with the costume design folks, costume design could make the costumes and Fed Ex to the actors, and actors could bring that wardrobe.
E. Hair and Make Up: Same as the wardrobe.
F. Kids and Animals: Reduce the number of kids and animals or CGI the crowd scenes.
G. Quarantine: reduces the number of people who need to quarantine.
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Joanna’s Guidelines for “Unstoppable” Assignment
What I learned from doing this assignment:
I learned that there are a lot of extra people involved than I ever imagined. I also learned that a good script doesn’t need extra bells and whistles. Suspense can be conveyed in other ways through the writing and the acting.
Part 1:
A. Each of my five ideas can be made into contained stories.
B. They can be pitched in one or two sentences.
C. I have some struggle trying to find something unique about them. However, one of my stronger ideas does not require stunts but can invite good set ups, pay offs and twists.
Assignment Part 2:
I picked the movie “Unstoppable”.
AS THEY DID IT:
A. People: there were several groups of people in different locations. Two are on a train, two more are in a control room, several are in a board room, a few more are in a staff room watching the news unfold.
B. Stunts: Plenty of stunts, including people landing on the train from a helicopter, and people hopping on and off the train from a car. Train goes by narrow bridges knocking down large objects and flattening some cars.
C. Extras: There were crowds drawn around the train tracks watching the runaway train, there were extra cops and cruisers, there were children aboard a nearby train and crowds congratulating the heroes at the end of the movie.
D. Wardrobe: Not outrageous, regular clothes and some safety uniforms.
E. Hair and Make Up: Not much special attention to hair, but make up was needed to show burns and scars and blood.
F. Kids and Animals: As mentioned earlier there was a scene with a class field trip on a nearby train that briefly passed the runaway train. Also a horse was on the loose that had to be removed from the train tracks. The horse was anxious and needed calming down in order to move to safety.
G. Quarantine: None needed at the time, Unstoppable was filmed several years before Covid started.
Covid Guideline Version
A. People: I would lose the people in the staffroom and the crowds at the tracks. I would keep my focus on the two main characters aboard the train and the two in the control room.
B. Stunts: The characters could display their reactions to the people using the helicopter to lower a man to the train or just get rid of the scene altogether. The movie is still suspenseful without that scene. Stunt people may still be needed to climb on and off the moving train.
C. Extras: The movie can still be interesting without the people standing by the tracks looking on at the train. Also the field trip of kids is not necessary.
D. Wardrobe: Leave as is. No extra attention needed.
E. Hair and Make Up: Leave as is. The blood was not entirely on the actor’s face anyhow, it was his foot that got mangled. It can continue to be wrapped in bandages.
F. Kids and Animals: Lose the horse and the field trip. Those scenes added extra interest, not they are not necessary.
G. Quarantine: The make up artist and stunt actors would need to quarantine.
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Matthew Frendo’s Guidelines for END OF THE GUN
What I learned doing this assignment was how to evaluate how well a movie will do in a contained structure and what that includes. I also learned how to change a movie to work in a a contained structure.
As far as finding my own story, I went through the ones I had listed and picked one that was already fairly contained. I then made sure it was a high concept idea that looked marketable and went with it!
END OF THE GUN
AS THEY DID IT:
A. People A fairly large cast.
B. Stunts Some in the beginning and some at the end, with only a few spattered in between.
C. Extras Some in outdoor café and stores. Some no name bad guys.
D. Wardrobe Basic suits. Maybe for female.
E. Hair and Make Up For female and males, hair. Some makeup required for seduction scenes.
F. Kids and Animals NA
G. Quarantine Not too bad, some actors and extras.
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A. People Cut cast down to fewer gangsters in fewer locations.
B. Stunts In this case, up them because it is supposed to be an action film.
C. Extras Cut out outdoor / store / bank scenes and make them either after hours or somewhere smaller.
D. Wardrobe About the same.
E. Hair and Make Up About the same.
F. Kids and Animals NA
G. Quarantine Removing some locations and bad guy extras will keep the number down from what it was.
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Contained Scripts/ Karen Crider
#1. Contained environment: A woman with two young girls cannot meet her mortgage payments and they must live in their car.
Contained characters: Two young, girls eight and ten, who want their home back, live with their mom, in the back seat of their car.
Reason for containment: Burdened with her husband’s hospital bills, and the loss of their mom’s job after their father dies, they lose their home…
#2. Contained environment: A covert alien in college meets his microbiology professor, who after following him to a cave, realizes he’s an alien.
Contained character: A microbiology student, who is an alien himself.
Reason for containment: They both need a place to hide from humans to accomplish they agendas.
#3. Contained situation/environment: (Sins of the Father) An Indian boy, seeking a vision to become a man, gets lost in the South Dakota, Black Hills.
Contained character: A twelve-year-old Indian boy, whose great grandfather is guilty of murdering the chief’s daughter, cannot become a man, unless he finds a way to put her soul to rest…
Reason for containment: He cannot become a man until he fulfills the vision.
#4. Contained situation: During a blizzard in the Montana mountains, a man decides to take his alcoholic brother to the hospital; the cabin’s door locks as they leave, but his car battery’s proves to be as cold and dead as his brother– and he’s next.
Contained Character: A brother who fights for survival during a blizzard in the Elk Horn Mountains of Montana.
Reason for Containment: The blizzard in the remote mountains keeps him there…
#5. Contained situation: A transient lives in a secret room, inside a haunted mansion, and wants to be left alone, but hears people break in, stealing whatever they want, unaware they’re ghosts.
Contained Character is a transient, living in a condemned mansion, unaware he lives with ghosts.
Reason for containment: A transient has nowhere to go, and is as much a ghost as those he forbears.
#6. An Indian, falls through a pot hole inside a time warp, on a South Dakota back road, where he fights to survive in the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Contained situation: An Indian caught in a time warp, and a heavy bottle of booze, goes back in time to the glory days of the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Reason for Containment: A need to rise and return to the glory days, above the hardship and poverty of living on the reservation.
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Stacy Martin
Part One: Select Your Project
(Rom Com) The ghost of a widower’s husband is stuck in between life and the after life and will not move on. She is battling a ghost that will not leave, her anxities and her desire for love and a new life.
Contained Environment: the stoop, fire escape and interior of a brownstone in NYC. Possibly a side walk cafe or park/courtyard also.
Characters: 4-5 characters, 2 are main
Difficult Situation: He won’t go away, she can’t move onReason for Containment: she has extreme agoraphobia. He is bound to the 1 block that surrounds the house where he died.
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Stacy Martin
ASSIGNMENT PART 2: Adjust a Produced Movie to Covid Guidelines
What I learned doing this assignment is that there is more than one way in which to tell the same story. I also learned what it means to take each of these parts and exam them to see how they are or are not absolutely necessary to the story. Also, how a film could be changed to fit different restraints from needing to cut down the budget to now having to quarantine everyone associated with making a film.<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>TITLE: This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
AS THEY DID<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”> IT:
A. People-10 main characters, several secondary characters (over 30 in all) plus extras
B. Stunts- 16 stunt people. Watching the movie, I would have thought there might have been one or two stunt people (minor, slappy fist fights, Porsche driving scene). Was very surprised that there were so many stunt people in this movie!
C. Extras- a LOT of extras-NYC street, funeral, shiva, in temple, office
D. Wardrobe-nothing unusual in dressing. Everyday clothes, suits and dresses, but there were 4 wardrobe people
E. Hair and Make Up-again, nothing unusual in hair and makeup, but there were 3 hair stylists and 3 in makeup
F. Kids and Animals- no animals but several kids from babies to toddlers and up
G. Quarantine- was filmed in 2014, so no quarantine. Would have been massivly expensive to quarantine a cast and crew of this size. This movie appears to have been shot almost totally on Long Island with some locations across the sound in the City of Rye, but there were several different locations (main house, NY street, girl friend’s house, Temple, ice skating rink, Linda’s house, a bar, and the sporting goods store).
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A. People-family could have been smaller with no wives or husbands. Perhaps they could have been closer to college age, not married
B. Stunts- still not sure what the “stunts” were, lol. Cut out the driving, at speed, scene. There was a fall into a glass table that really did not add to the story a lot although it did redirect the action in that scene. Fights were pretty minimal already. Could have been less involved.
C. Extras-NYC street scene could have been deleted. Office scene could have had fewer people. Same for funeral and shiva scenes. Temple scene could have been a smaller group. Some of these showed that the deceased was popular and loved in the community. Perhaps the same ideas could have been shown a different way.
D. Wardrobe-let those actors dress themselves! A smaller cast would certainly not require 4 wardrobe people
E. Hair and Make Up- actors could put on their own makeup. Nothing out of the ordinary in make up that was worn. Was a small cut on one actor that I assume would be done in makeup? Smaller cast would not need 6 hair and make up people.
F. Kids and Animals- No animals. Kids were present throughout the movie. Main characters could be written as not having had children yet.
G. Quarantine- A smaller cast, fewer or no extras and a smaller crew would make quarentine less expensive and much easier to pull off. Locations could have been all in the same town. Some locations, like the girl friend’s house, could have been cut out altogether.
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Day 1, Assignment 1:
A) An pernicious teen and her dog fall into an ancient
mystical mirror, back in time landing at the feet of [T]he Nostradamus.B) Yes it can be a Contained Movie. Location(s): Family attic, darkly lit room made to look like something from Nostradamus time, 2 actors & a trained dog.
C) DIFFICULT SITUATION: After having an amazing meeting with Nostradamus, they try to go back, but the mirror has changed back to a normal mirror?
Day 1, Assignment 2:
What I’ve learned from this exercise is how to write and think with a Producer’s eye. The ultimate objective is to make it easy to collaborate with a top-notch production team.
TITLE: The Cloverfield Paradox
The human race has 5 years of energy remaining on earth. The powers at be organized an experimental mission named “The Cloverfield Project” to find an energy solution using the Shepard Particle Accelerator. If successful, the earth will have an unlimited supply of energy. After over two years and 46 attempts; the crew determines they have 3 tries left. The 47<sup>th</sup> attempt causes a collision between two dimensions, several fatal events, and a female astronaut from another dimension. The Protagonist and one other crew member left to successfully get back home only to find that things on earth have changed for the worst.
AS THEY DID IT: Paramount Studios $45 Million Budget (Full Movie Crews & Departments)
A. People (7 Crew + 1 Crew from Other Dimension (OD) + Command Control Voice + Molly + Protagonist’s Husband & 2 kids, Newscaster) / I would cut Molly and 1 crew from the script.
B. Stunts (Ext. 3 crew fix component of their ship, Captain sacrifices himself and is thrown with faulty component into space, miniatures used to cut to the second part of the sequence. 22 Member Stunt Team)
C. Extras (Minimal <10)
D. Wardrobe (Simple Space uniforms, actor’s casual nighttime clothes.)
E. Hair and Makeup (Full Department)
F. Kids and Animals (Kids’ ages seem to be about 4 yrs. old, and then teens.)
G. Quarantine None-2018
COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:
A. People (6 Crew + 1 (OD) Crew + Husband + use stills of younger versions / 2 Teens + 1 (V.O.) Command Control, Newscaster (V.O.),
B. Stunts (Use creative editing, stock footage & CGI in lieu of most of the stunts)
C. Extras (None)
D. Wardrobe (Keep Astronaut uniforms, and have actors use their own casual clothes.)
E. Hair and Makeup (2 Hair & Makeup, Actors/Actresses did their own H&MU with acceptations to Special Effects)
F. Kids and Animals (Do stills of younger versions of kids, teen versions used in critical look back scene near the end.)
G. Quarantine (Everyone on set has a mandatory 14-day quarantine before
filming.)
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