Our Second Film.

We have now started work on our second and final film of the course. I'm working with Lyndon, Luke, Patrick and Adam and we've selected a script by Myles McAuliffe called 'The Hippophant'.
The original script is about a man who decides to try and make some money by scamming the National Geographic and claiming he's discovered a new species of animal which appears to be a hybrid of an elephant and a hippopotamus. Despite the fact that the character, Konrad, has created the taxidermy animal himself using parts of other animals, the scientists sent to his house to conduct tests on the animal find that it is real. Konrad is heralded as having made an amazing discovery and a party is thrown in his honour in which he is to be presented with a cheque. During the presentation however, Konrad begins to notice that the Hippophant that he's sewn together is starting to come apart revealing that he's a fraud.
Due to the practical difficulties we encountered when considering the original script, for example, the possibility of putting together a realistic animal as well as convincingly depicting the main character practicing taxidermy, we decided that it would be easier for us to come up with a new idea as a group that still had the basic premise of the original script.
In the end we landed on the idea of replacing the Hippophant with a miracle cure for a hangover, taking advantage of the fact that we're surrounded by university students, we felt it would be easier for the main character to be a student who stumbles upon a hangover cure which he then tries to sell to his fellow students despite experiencing bizarre side-effects.
Lyndon and I worked on the re-write and I put together a shot-list as well as a storyboard to ensure that everyone in the group has a clear idea of what the film will look like.
Despite the fact that we're filming this weekend, we're still facing issues with confirming cast, as well as locations due to being so pressed for time from the beginning. However, we're all working together to get everything sorted for the weekend, and so long as we have enough extras and actors on the day then we should be fine.

Script: Second Draft

After receiving feedback from several people I decided that it was important to make my script more visual. In my first draft there was very little action, each scene was just a sequence of interview answers and as a result it seemed as though the film may not be that interesting to sit and watch.
In the second draft I inserted four small scenes in which the viewer is able to see examples of what was going on on the set, rather than just hearing about it through the actors, they are able to experience what Hugh is like for themselves. Hopefully these scenes will add to the visual look of the film as well as keeping viewers interested.
I also think that there was an improvement in the script because after I wrote the second draft, a group of students decided that mine was the script that they wanted to turn into a film. I'm interested in seeing the changes that they make to the story and where they go with the style of the film. It will be nice to see how their version compares to how I imagined it turning out.