Analysis of Interviews on Script Draft 2 !

I questioned 3 other media students in my class about the second draft of my script. At the start of the interview I asked a few demographic and pychographic questions. !
Age

Grace

Will

Jay

4.25

8.5 Gender

12.75

17

Male

Female 0 0.5 1 Area of Living 1.5 2

Caterham

Epsom

Banstead 0 Yes 0.25 Occasionally 0.5 0.75 1

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33%

I also asked how many short lms they had seen. The answers I received were 11, 15 and about 1 a week. !

67%

From the interviews I gathered key information about my script and how I might be able to change it in way stat would either improve the writing or the story idea in some way. !

! ! Setting and Meaning ! !

When I asked about setting none of the participants picked up on the area I was trying toy represent. The are was supposed to be decidedly middle class, a leafy suburban area. Yet all interviewees didmt mentioned this when asked about the setting. One participant used the phrase working class environment. He said this was because of the broken window on the street with the shops on. The other two participants gave similar answers. This leaves very me with very little comparison to make between each of the answers given. Although some of them may not have said working class area, none of the said middle class or something along those lines. This answer does give me a lot of insight into how people may perceive my lm took look when its written on paper. Because I have had to make where Sam goes to get the shopping an area that would sell cigarettes to a 9 year old the readers have gotten confused and thought that this new area that Sam has to travel to is where he lives. This also tells me that the reader may not be understanding the length of Sams journey either. The idea was that he would have to travel quite far to get the shopping and have to go out of his own town. If you apply Milgroms theory that unity of time, place and action is extremely important when writing a short screenplay then this leads me to believe that my script may need a serious change. This is because the audience may be missing this unity slightly because I have had to make Sams long journey to the shops very short to t the rest of my story in the time constraints I have. Overall missing the setting that Sam lives in makes the reader lose the meaning of the lm. The main meaning is that abuse can be done by and happen to anyone in any setting, even a very nice, happy urban area. From this I will try to make the descriptions of the two different areas (Sams house area and the shop area) distinctively different so that the reader is clear that Sam lives in a well kept suburban area. I will also work on making Sams journey seem longer so that audience understand Sams journey. In turn this will hopefully make my lms meaning clearer. !

! Explanation ! !

I asked if all parts of the script are clear and if the script had enough explanation and intrigue. Everyone said that the script was clear to read though out. One of the participants said It was a bit confusing at the beginning when the boys is playing with the toys but by the end you understand that. However another said that Its all clear just the end need to by slightly more clear, he had made a point about the ending having more explanation so you can see what is happening in Sams life more. When you compare the answers given I realised that the only problem with the explanation of what is happening in the story is at the end. The interviewees also said there was a good amount of intrigue in the script. Overall these answers give the insight that my script is clear and has a good amount of explanation to intrigue, this is until we get to the end where there is a little to much intrigue leaving the audience with not enough insight to satisfy them. However lm maker Neil Hunter says that the a good bit of advice for a short lmmaker is to end it before they expect you to. Overall I have to nd a balance between satisfying the audience with the mystery and the understanding of how Sams life may change. From the information given I feel I will change the ending in some way to enhance the audience understanding of the journey Sam has been on mentally through the lm. This might be by making his social problems more prominent or clear in the script so that when he does nally speak at the end it really has meaning. Or I could change the ending itself so that Sam does something more drastic and therefore satises the audience more. !

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Character!

I asked what the impressions the interviewees had about Sam, and if I was trying to represent any type or group of person in society. All of the participants said that I was trying to represent a child of abuse, however only one participant noticed that He has no voice, because he cant stand up for himself. This brings the insight that maybe Sams problems as a result of the abuse he receives more clear. When I wrote Sam I wanted him to be completely socially inept, and I wanted this to be clear as this make the reader think about what else is happening in his life. Is he going to school? Does he ever leave the house beside to run errands for Charlotte?, these are the type of questions I wanted the audience to be asking. From the answers given I can see that I may not have made his social problems clear enough. If we compare the answers given we can look at things two ways. I could say that the participant that noticed Sams problems was a more sophisticated reader and more of the audience Im looking for. Or I could say that all the readers are the same it was just my writing style didnt make it clear for the two other participants to notice the problems. I choose to look at things the second way as all participants were from the same class and I dont believe that one is more sophisticated than the other. Overall I feel like I didnt make Sams problems clear enough as only one out three noticed them after reading the script. This is huge part of the story so I need to make sure that all readers and viewers understand the issue. So I plan to change the way Sam acts slightly more drastic, so it is clear that he has a complete lack of social skills. I can do this by changing his reaction to the boys when the try and speak to him and the Sam acts around them. Hopefully this will emphasise one of the main issues in my lm which is the mental problems abuse can cause. !

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