Scriptwriting Task 3

THE WAYS OF TWO
Synopsis:

3 teens named Jade, Ricky and Oliver are average teenagers with secrets and a thirst for adventure, however this will come to haunt then forever as they stumble upon bloody rocks in their usual place to hang around, they observe a person dragging what appears to be a body and after the person spots them, they have to fight and navigate their way to safety.



My idea:

The idea was inspired by 2 completely different sources, the idea for the plot was inspired from the movie "Scream" whereas the inspiration for the maniac came from the popular survival game "dead by daylight" and is based on the killer known as "the legion", the legion .is multiple people who take on the role of 1 killer.

Selling point and target audience

 

The unique selling point of my film is the concept of a murderous, masked person who commits his acts in broad daylight and is caught accidentally by a group of friends, the target audience will be 16+ due to the inclusion of blood and possible strong language. Slasher films are most popular with young teenagers and I hope to stay true to the slasher genre with a few twists of my own.

Character brief: Jade (protagonist) is an 18 year old girl with confidence issues who relies on the others to keep her from making her usual irresponsible decisions, she recently quit smoking and still craves them. She constantly tries to fend for herself as she feels bad about replying on everyone else but she can never quite escape their shadow.

3 act structure:

ACT 1- The story starts with the trio walking down a dirt path like they usually do to get to their usual spot, they exchange jokes and other comments, the backstory of each character is revealed through a flashback,  as they approach their usual spot, they find that the area is covered in red splodges that seem to leave the area in a trail so the teens follow it to find a person dragging a body, Jade pulls out her phone to record the scene and Ricky takes pictures on his Camera but the person notices them quickly and begins chasing them.

Jade gets hit in the side with the Bat resulting in her phone being smashed and Ricky comes back to help Jade while Oliver continues running. Jade and Ricky lose the maniac after a chase scene and suspenseful hiding scene, however they don't know where Oliver is either so they get worried.

Jade reveals her smashed phone to Ricky while attempting to call the police and this makes Jade starts to panic, but Ricky holds her together and they try to find Oliver.

ACT 2- Eventually Oliver runs in to the others and has blood on his face, Ricky and Jade are worried in case he is injured but he assures them he is fine and that it's just a scratch from a branch he clipped, Jade and Ricky walk ahead of Oliver and his scared expression becomes cold and emotionless, they decide to search the previous body to see if they had a working phone on them.

After searching, they find no identity or phone but the maniac has returned to the scene and is observing in the shadows, while the trio think of what to do the maniac emerges from the bushes and walks slowly towards them, before they can run there is a POV shot from Jade's perspective, she is knocked out and collapses.

ACT 3- When Jade and Ricky awake, they are kneeling in front of Jamie and Oliver with their hands tied.  It is revealed that the maniac is actually Jamie, Oliver's older brother and it is clear the Oliver was helping him, they reveal their motives and it's clear that Oliver is being manipulated and Jamie is taking advantage of Oliver's emotional and psychological state. There is a flashback which explains Jamie's motives before Jamie turns on Oliver and smashes him over the head with his bat, Oliver is still alive but on the floor, Jamie raises his Bat in a position to strike Ricky, Jade screams as the Bat comes down. A thud is heard, Ricky and Jade hesitantly open their eyes. Jamie has struck next to Ricky and begins laughing and taunting him.

Jade notices Ricky’s Camera recording the encounter on the floor next to her, Jamie is not aware of this, Oliver gets up and begins fighting with Jamie, Ricky’s camera continues recording as they struggle on the floor. Jade and Ricky stand up with their hands still tied and begin cutting on nearby branches, once they are free, Ricky grabs Jamie’s bat and starts pummelling him with it, not killing him but severely injuring him.

Jamie begins laughing and explains that they will be arrested because he covered his tracks on the murder earlier, but the trio searched him leaving finger prints and such on the body, and that since Ricky has just grabbed Jamie’s bat, there are now finger prints on it, he frames them. The trio argue that Ricky’s camera was recording but upon inspection, it is shown that all that can be seen is their feet and Oliver overwhelming Jamie, Jamie can say it was self-defence and that their lives are over.






The age demographic for my short film is between 16-19 due to the graphic content (blood) and strong language, I gave my script to a few colleagues for review and they all like the idea, Thomas said "The idea is interesting but the dialogue is a bit iffy" which I can agree on and I will make minor changes before production.
I interviewed 5 people of whom I had given my script to read for review and they all agreed that the script and plot was good, 2 of them agree that doing a slasher film during the day may be weird but it can be done well if done right.
Everyone I asked was between the ages 18-20 so I have an idea of what this demographic likes in a film script, since this film is written for their demographic, I can expect success if I manage to do everything correctly.