Production Schedule

Focus Group

Social Media Research

To help get more responses for our schizophrenia questionnaire I posted it to my Facebook and Twitter pages.

Screenplay Draft 1

Screenplay: ‘Of Unsound Minds’

Characters:
Main protagonist (Rob)

Doctor

Personality one (Drug Abuser- Army veteran) (Daniel)

Personality Two (Young girl) (Lily)

Words in red overlap between characters.

Set in a small dark hospital psychiatric room.There are 4 chairs set in a circle with the main protagonist facing the doctor in the room- lit lightly by the spotlight. The other personalities are sitting either side of the main protagonist.
Doctor is wearing a smart shirt, jumper and smart trousers and is sitting upright in his chair with his legs crossed. The protagonist is sitting with bad posture and scrunching himself up in his chair, is also wearing a suit in order to show the role he has in society.

The 1st personality- Daniel is wearing a military outfit and is sitting with both feet on the floor with his back straight and hands on his knees. Lily is wearing typical young female clothes and has a band in her hair- she is sitting with her legs crossed at the bottom and twirling her hair.

Dip to Black and cut slowly to the establishing shot of the room.

Sound fades in slowly- starts off quiet and becomes gradually louder.

(joins the treatment in media-res)

Doctor:

What do you mean?

Rob:

I’ve been struggling, I’m worried. I've been talking with Daniel a lot too- he’s been telling me that nothing will be the same again.

Daniel:

It won’t- it was never the same for me. The world don’t accept me anymore, it never accepted me!

Doctor:

Daniel, you have nothing to worry about. We are all here to help you, we are here to make you feel welcome. I believe that the issues are with the other people, not you- they have the problem.

Lily:

Daniel, has been speaking bad about the world. He says that everyone is out to get us. He say no one want us here. He scare me, he make the world scare me.

Rob:
Scare me.He says that we aren’t normal, that people are scared of us. Daniel thinks that we don’t fit in. I don't think we fit in, anymore. Did we ever really fit in? Was we ever really normal? I was always different, but no one ever wanted to accept me. The neglect I felt hurt, do you know how that feels?

Doctor:

Lily, Rob, you are not neglected I am always here for you to talk to, Daniel faces a problem different to the rest of you- he’s still suffering. It will take him more time to recover than you two.

(Daniel sits rocking his chair in fear)

Daniel: There’s nothing wrong with me- it’s the world around me, that’s the problem. It just doesn’t accept me no more. It doesn’t accept anything that challenges the status quo.

(Daniel jumps out of his seat and crouches into a ball on the floor- he has heard a loud bang like a gunshot)  

RETREAT! RETREAT! UNDER FIRE, REPEAT WE ARE UNDER FIRE!

Doctor:

Daniel, listen to me, listen. It’s okay you don’t need to worry you are not back there- you are here with me and we are here to help you. Talk to me Daniel. What are you seeing?

Lily:
Daniel stand up, stop being silly Dan.

Rob:
Dan. Daniel you are scaring me- get up Daniel. What are you hiding from?

Daniel:
The shooting, they are shooting. It’s her (points at the doctor) she is trying to destroy us.

Rob:

Us. Why would she do that? She wouldn’t do that would she?

Lily:

No! She wouldn’t. She’s a friend, she help us. Daniel, stop being silly it’s not her fault. IT’S NOT!

Doctor:

Lily do not worry. Just stay calm- Daniel is just having a moment, he will see that the people here are here to help. He knows this is just a blip.

Daniel:
That’s your problem. You don’t understand me- you don’t understand what I went through- you don’t understand anything about my life, but you feel like you can help me. What do you really know? How do i know I can trust you? I‘ve got no reason to trust you.

(Pause)

I’ve got no reason to trust anyone. I was abandoned at 16 by my parents- the disappointment of the family. None of you have seen what I’ve seen- you don’t know the truth about the world like me.

Rob:
Me. The truth of the world is that they don’t really understand any of us! We are labelled as ‘ill’ because we aren’t normal to our society. Daniel has seen the dark truth, but I know the real truth.

Lily:

Dan, Rob (pause) stop being silly, you do not know the truth- how would you ever know the truth, I never told no one the truth.

Doctor:

What truth Lily, what’s your truth?

Lily:

What? What are you talking about. I never said nothing silly.

Rob.

Silly. (Pause) Lily you better not have told anyone the truth.

Lily:

I just told you I never told no one. Why do you never believe me? YOU NEVER BELIEVE ME!

Daniel:
Shut up Lily! Do you ever stop moaning?

Rob:

Moaning? Guys be quiet. Just be quiet for one minute please. I can’t even gather my thoughts properly.

Doctor:

Do you have anything you want to discuss guys? It seems like you all have something on your mind and I really don’t want you to suffer on your own.

Rob:

No, we have nothing to tell you. Even if there was, what evidence is there to tell me that you can do anything for us? It is best we just leave everything be.

Lily:

Be. What use is it doing keeping secrets anymore? Everything is found out somehow. Like when them people at school found out about my illness- they had no way of finding out, but they did.

Daniel:

Well you should know that nothing stays secret, it’s better to just get it over and done with. I know the best that there's always a way of discovering everything.

Rob:

Everything. No we don’t need to say anything, why do we have to say anything. If they can’t accept us then they have to deal with the consequences.

Doctor:

Nobody has to deal with anything. Theres plenty of help for everyone. The worst way that you can suffer is in silence.

Lily:

The truth is, there is no truth so really no one is suffering at all (Lily giggles nervously)

Daniel:

The truth is that doc will find out anyway- we just need tell her so you get in less trouble.

Rob:

The truth is that no one needs to know anything, what is there to know anyway? It's not like they would believe anything WE would say is there

(Camera pans round back of main protagonist- Rob and fades to black. As the camera begins to pan out into a wider angle shot the room now only has two chairs remaining- one empty chair and the main protagonist)

(Rob is the only remaining character in the scene. He gets up and walks off through a set of doors. He enters a small room- which appears almost like a closet. As he enters the room you can see a young male tied up in the corner- he appears ill and weak. He shows no signs of trying to battle against Rob)

Rob (speaking as Rob):

No one will ever need to know- this is how it has to be done.

Rob(speaking as Daniel):

They were always going to find out (pause) it’s better this way.

Rob (speaking as Lily):

I’m sorry, i’m so sorry, but telling the truth now would just be silly.

END.

History of the Drama Genre

When speaking about drama the main genre is usually split down into many sub genres e.g. Political dramas, historical drama or even sometimes comical drama. These sub-genres usually mean that the drama has a specific setting or subject-matter. 

History of the horror drama:
Horror films are made in order to target the part of the brain that creates a less logical sequence of events. They can tell dark stories about the unimaginable or target the realistic anxieties that we have in life.

The first known horror film is a film called 'Le Manoir du Diable'- which was produced in the late 1890's. Japanese horror is one of the first sub genre of the horror genre to be created. The earliest films date back to 'Bake Jizo' and 'Shinin no Soseis'. 

Many books turn into horror films such as the first adaptation of Mary Shelley's book 'Frankenstein' was made in 1910 which followed in the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson's book 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' made in 1908.

During the period of 1930-1940 Gothic horror took off with films such as Tod Browning's Dracula and another adaptation of Frankenstein this time by James Whale in 1931. During this period Gothic horror films were sometimes infused with the science-fiction genre to create films such as: 'The Invisible Man' which featured a mad scientist.

During the 1950's-60's the Gothic horror was surpassed by sub genres such as the Demonic film. The film production company 'Hammer' was created during this era. Also the events of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan led to the creation of 'Godzilla'. Peeping Tom made in 1960 was the first of the slasher genre which cemented place as a horror sub-genre with the film 'Psycho'
The 1970's-1980's was the development of the low budget gore films. The 1990's was very similar to the previous years and followed the same genre. Many of the films created during the 70's to 80's got their sequels in the 90's.

During the modern day period of the genre a lot of film companies focus on producing remakes of popular horror films and the production of horror T.V. series such as 'The Walking Dead' and 'American Horror Story' have become ever prominent.

Many horror dramas focus on imperilled characters dealing with an emotional struggle which is very realistic to them. Many often involve dysfunctional family relations, shown within a horror environment. The horror sequence usually unravels against a dramatic plot. This would be good for our film as the horror element of the mental illness could compliment the dramatic sequence of the man having the conversation with 'himself' which the audience doesn't know and therefore are waiting and listening to the conversation.

History of the Thriller genre

The thriller genre is one of suspense and excitement. Tension is built by delaying what the audience sees to be inevitable but is built through situations which are seen to be inescapable. Thriller films are usually hybridised with sub genres such as action thrillers or sci-fi thrillers. For example ours will be a psychiatric thriller.

1920's-30's
In this era producers used to constantly regurgitate common ideas at the time with the instalment of long running franchises with each film ending with a cliffhanger that sees the hero in great danger. The 30s was the age of witty gentlemen detectives who constantly used one liners rather than violence to get out of a tough situation. Sir Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" was seen as setting up the template for exotic action action-adventure thrillers. The film was filled with chase sequences and a constant exchange of innuendos between Robert Donat and his leading lady.

1940's
In this period the genre toughened up with a flourish of urban crime in which there were fedora, trench coat wearing figures stroll through the cities late at night in order to solve mysteries. The plots were dense and the mood was hard bitten which went perfectly with the weary post war period. George Cukor brought in a psychological thriller in 1944 called "Gaslight". It was about a husband who plotted to make his own wife go mentally insane in the hope that he would gain her financial inheritance.

1950's - 60's
Alfred Hitchcock made a dramatic change to the thriller genre but bringing in the use of colour so that they were no longer black and white. Glamour was also added to his famous thrillers with the introduction of  'icey blondes' in the casting of his leading ladies. The first of these was "Strangers on a Train" in 1951. Constant repetition in thriller films in this period lay down the basic building blocks for creating a thriller film. "Peeping Tom" was a 1960's psychological thriller which featured a serial killer cameraman - the film was seen as controversial and received and extremely harsh reception.

1970's
This period brought in a increase of violence and horror to the thriller genre. There was almost an overlap between the horror and thriller genre with films such as "Wake in Fright" and Hitchcock's "Frenzy" which received an R rating for its vicious and explicit strangulation scene.

1990's
Thrillers began to have recurring elements of obsession and trapped protagonists who struggle to escape the clutches of a villain. Then the detectives who chased down a serial killer seemed to be the next trend for thriller genre. "The Silence of the Lambs" is a famous example of a thriller film in which a cannibalistic psychiatrist engages in conflict with an FBI agent whilst she hunts down a transgender serial killer.

Character Analysis

Main Characters

Main Protagonist - Called rob works in the city as a stockbroker 8am-6pm. Rob doesn't get enough sleep as he gets home at 8pm and continues to work at home until 1am  because he feels he isn't as successful as everyone else at work and feels if he does extra work he will be on par with everyone else as he is having a rough period and only gets 5 hours sleep as he has to get to work at 7:30, making him stressed because of the environment he works in is very fast paced and you can't put a foot wrong as the whole businesses reputation is on the line. - Wearing full 2 piece suit

Therapist - he is doctor trying to comfort in rob and help him get over his mental health issues, very intelligent, cool, calm and collected and handles intense situations with ease and really tries to get to the bottom of Rob's problems and brings the truth put in him as he knows that he is the only person Rob can confide to  - Wearing a shirt with black smart trousers and smart shoes

Personality one (Little girl) - Is called lily, young innocent 12 year old meaning she isn't very intelligent, naïve and relies on other people to help her all the time as she was spoilt when she was younger and got everything her way meaning she lacks independence - She will be wearing a white dress which shows her innocence

Personality two (drug abuser/hippie) - Is called Daniel and is Being rejected by society, not doing well in education and not being able to fit in or find illegitimate ways to make money (known as double failure) leading him to turn to drugs. - Wearing a floral shirt with socks and sandals and shorts

Vladimir Propp's Character Theory

Propp was seen to analyse hundreds of fairy tales over the years and he came to the conclusion that every one of them tends to contain the same 7 characters. This still applies with characters in modern day films.

Hero - seen as the main character who looks to travel on a journey seeking a reward
Villain - referred to as the antagonist is seen to struggle with the hero
Princess - can be seen as the victim or a reward for the hero
False Hero - attempts to steal he limelight of the hero and take the princess for himself
Helper - supports the hero throughout the story and saves the hero just at the right time
Donor - supplies the hero with something special such as a weapon
Dispatcher - sends the hero on a quest at the start of the film

Schizophrenia Personality Case Study - Split

The film Split (2017) uses a character suffering with schizophrenia who has 24 different personalities each individual to there own. Not all of these characters are shown in the film but those that are can be used a great examples for similar characters we may use.

Kevin - this is the original personality who is suffering from the illness and he is scared of the actions of his other personalities
Barry - this is Kevin's dominant personality who spends the majority of the time in control and speaks to the therapist who looks to help. He is a flamboyant fashion expert
Jade - she is a diabetic who must take insulin shots which helps us to recognise the differences in mental and physical attributes between all of the personalities
Orwell - seems to be a scholar Central Asian history who brings up facts about the Ghurid Empire in a video log on Kevin's computer
Dennis - he suffers from OCD and has sexual impulses which include a desire to watch young girls dance naked. He is the kidnapper of three young girls however he is orchestrated by Patricia
Hedwig - he is a 9 year old boy who is emotional and totally obsessed with Kanye West and drawing. He is scared and excited by the idea of a scary character called the Beast who is soon to join the personalities and is also stuck between whether to help one of the girls escape or not
Patricia - an older lady who is softly spoken and is believed to be from the middle or upper class of society however is mentally unstable. She is pivotal in welcoming the beast and dominates characters such as Dennis and Hedwig
The Beast - this is the 24th personality and appears at the end of the film. This character is beyond human and looks to kill anything or cause suffering to those that haven't experienced severe suffering.

Questionnaire

Short Film Budgets

       The majority of short films are kept to a low budget and are often financed through people's personal savings. This is because the films last a short period of time and usually don't require much financial backing. The directors and cast are normally just experimenting and are not looking to make any financial gain or get any awards. However some budget is usually required for props, clothing and to rent out particular scenes for filming. Of course this cost is usually limited depending on the financial resources available.

Examples
http://filmmakermagazine.com/96844-10-lessons-learned-while-making-my-first-short-film-budget/#.WbpbebKGPcc

Schizophrenia Research

Symptoms of schizophrenia

Symptoms of schizophrenia include: 

• hallucinations – hearing or seeing things that don't exist
• delusions – unusual beliefs not based on reality 
• muddled thoughts based on hallucinations or delusions
• changes in behaviour

Some people think schizophrenia causes a "split personality" or violent behaviour. This is not true.

The cause of any violent behaviour is usually drug or alcohol misuse.

Causes of schizophrenia

The exact cause of schizophrenia is unknown. However, most experts believe the condition is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

It's thought that some people are more vulnerable to developing schizophrenia, and certain situations can trigger the condition.

Treating schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is usually treated with a combination of medication and therapy tailored to each individual. In most cases, this will be anti-psychotic medicines and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

People with schizophrenia usually receive help from a community mental health team, which offers day-to-day support and treatment.

Many people recover from schizophrenia, although they may have periods when symptoms return (relapses). Support and treatment can help reduce the impact the condition has on daily life.

Living with schizophrenia

If schizophrenia is well managed, it's possible to reduce the chance of severe relapses.

This can include:

• recognising the signs of an acute episode
• taking medication as prescribed
• talking to others about the condition

There are many charities and support groups offering help and advice on living with schizophrenia. Most people find it comforting talking to others with a similar condition.

Question and Answer

How is the film going to start? Is it going to start in Media res in a counselling session?The idea for the start of the film is that the audience join in the middle of the counselling session in order for the audience to see that they are unable to be treated properly by doctors, as they will be having the counselling sessions, but the hallucinations will still be happening around them.
Is it going to be a documentary style?The film will not be in a documentary style. Even though the film has an educational message the film will take the shape of a drama in order to show the mental illness in a real life situation.
What different schizophrenic personalities will the character have?The different schizophrenic personalities we believe  will be portrayed are: a young girl, an elderly man, a younger male who is a drug user/hippie and a person from an ethnic minority group. This is done in order for the personalities to both contrast and compliment each other due to them all living in one society, but all having contrasting beliefs on the world they live in (so that the main protagonist is unable to actually collect his thoughts.

Idea Proposal