Project: Structuring Outlines: beginnings, middles and ends

Project: From story event to outline

Exercise: Analyse an Outline

(1) Missing mother Philippa Bainbridge (40) re-appears after 8 years.  Her husband Frank (43), an English lecturer specialising in Jane Austen (2) thought she was dead and is relieved and happy when she turns up - but there are problems.  (3) Philippa’s younger sister Jenny (26) is now Frank’s live-in partner, and very pregnant.  (4) Philippa’s daughter Anna (15) hates stepmother Jenny and is overjoyed that her real mother is back.  (5) 11 year old brother Carl, by contrast, is devoted to Jenny who is the only mum he has ever know, and is suspicious of his returning real mum.    (6) Frank says he’s still in love with both women and doesn’t know what to do.  (7) So when Philippa suggests they all live together Frank agrees and Jenny, albeit with great reluctance, assents.  At this point (approximately 15 mins. in), we have established an unsettling undertone associated with the mystery

of Philippa’s absence: she claims she was kidnapped and locked up for all those years by as man from whom she eventually escaped; whilst

up-front we are (8) exploring the comic possibilities in the emotional and sexual difficulties of the unusual situation.  How does Frank deal with the two live-on lovers and how do they deal with each other?  Do they sleep together, separately or in turns?  Who wins the power struggle between the two sisters for control of Frank and the kids?  How does Frank stop the two women in his life swapping notes about his intimate sexual peccadilloes and domestic feelings?  (9) Meanwhile the kids are more concerned with the excruciating embarrassment involved in their schoolmates finding out about their bizarre home situation.

Then, 25 – 30 minutes in, things turn darker. (10) The police find no evidence of a kidnap or kidnapper. (11) Step-mum Jenny secretly suggests to Anna that Philippa wasn’t kidnapped at all: she just ran off with a man she was having an affair with, and only returned when he dumped her and is now deliberately trying to undermine Jenny with the children and Frank. (12) Philippa in turn insinuates to Anna that her Auntie Jenny is a troubled and dangerous fantasist who, as a teenager, had been in and out of mental and young offenders’ institutions; that Jenny had always fancied Frank, hated her better-looking and cleverer sister Philippa, and probably arranged for her to be kidnapped by one of her mentally unstable cellmates.  (13) Frank dismisses Anna’s warning of trouble brewing partly because he’s utterly absorbed in research for his latest book (Meta-Fiction and Comptemporary Gothic Parody in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey) and partly because he’s well aware that his daughter’s vivid imagination and love of shock horror films makes her as capable of self-delusion as Austen’s Gothic-obsessed heroine, Catherine Morland. (14) Anna thinks that all her adult carers are behaving irresponsibly but, when accidents start to happen, she decides that one of them (not excepting her beloved Dad) could in fact be a dangerous pyscho – but which one?

It is all narrated – unreliably – by Anna.  We cut from her diary blog to dramatisations, and back again; the soundtrack uses spooky music and effects from Anna’s favourite horror films and, as we edge towards the climax, our certainties crumble alongside Anna’s. (15)  She goes to the police to try and explain that one of her family is a maniac (but she’s not sure which) who is probably going to kill at least one of the others (but she’s not sure who).  (16) Unsurprisingly, the police dismiss her story, so she decides she will have to kill the family maniac herself in order to save the family victim (once she’s decided which one is which).   (17) While she’s trying to decide, a further possibility dawns on the listener: might the dangerous fantasist be Anna herself who, like Catherine in Northanger Abbey, is having trouble distinguishing between reality and her favourite dark fictions?  But there is a difference between Anna and Catherine.  Anna is about to put her Gothic fantasies into a gory practice with her step-mum’s brand new electric carver…

This outline is packed with story events causing dramatic effect, of which I counted 17.  However, I imagine that there are actually many more story events tucked away within.  This outline gave us more of a feel for who the characters are and enabled the audience to question, suspect and detect as the storyline unfolds. 

I found the obstacles in this outline very interesting.  At many turns the character was ‘blocked’ for achieving their goals, i.e. Anna’s attempt to involved the Police. However, these obstacles were not merely physical, as explored before, but we began to encounter the psychological barriers, i.e. Carl’s inability to trust and welcome his mother. 

There seemed to be very little in the way of stage directions in this outline, however there were some sections that I felt provided a story event and stage directions at the same time (highlighted in bold and underlined).  These sections, such as  ‘exploring the comic possibilities in the emotional and sexual difficulties of the unusual situation’, tell us that this is a story event, something interesting MUST occur in order to make this a feature of the story.  However, at the same time, this gives the actors and directors the direction of the ‘feel’ of the piece.

Exercise:  Write a draft outline

Below is my first attempt to write a full outline for a play.  There were a number of inspirations that lead me to this idea.  Firstly, I wanted to explore the growing uniformity of youth through Pop Culture and secondly, following the death of Margaret Thatcher, I wanted to incorporate the themes of patriotism, possibly taking it a step further into the realms of xenophobia. 

The various characters and story events have been a long time ‘growing’, but these are the first ideas of my storyline.  I must admit, at this stage, I’m still a little unsure of what should, and shouldn’t, be included within this style of initial outline.  I am concerned that I may have included too much ‘background’, but will endeavour to further improve this throughout this section of the course. 

Sally Wenton (22) is a reserved and mature young woman, heavily into classical music and piano.  Living in a tiny hamlet in the rural regions of Cornwall with parents, George (62) a retired History lecturer and Velma (54) a retired flautist, Sally has very little access to friends or ‘youth culture.’

After a piano recital, Sally waits for a lift from her father, but he doesn’t arrive – forcing her to take a bus home.  Whilst on the bus she notices that all the passengers are young people, staring blankly and wearing headphones.  When she arrives home she find her parents, deeply Catholic, hanging from the rafters of their cottage.  After receiving a strange thumping tone from her landline, Sally rushes to the police station to find it entirely manned by young staff, blankly ignoring her and listening to their iPods.  Desperate to uncover the truth, Sally stumbles upon a meeting in the woods where hundreds of young people, arranged in a military formation, listen transfixed to Pop songs and speeches made by cloaked individuals about ‘taking control’ and ‘fixing Britain’.  Sally witnesses a young woman being dragged to the stage and being taken off for a process of ‘conversion’.  Noticed by the group who begin chasing her through the woodland, Sally stumbles and trips down a steep riverbed, banging her head and knocking herself unconscious. 

Coming round, Sally finds herself in an abandoned building where she meets Tara (38) and Blaine (21), two individuals who have also been through trauma.  They explain that Pop music contains subliminal messaging, rendering younger generations into a state of psychopathic trance, and causing the older generations to commit suicide.   The three 'friends' watch the emergency broadcast of the Prime Minister, unsure of why they remain unaffected.  The trio investigate further by kidnapping one of the young people, Brandon (14), a boy from Sally’s village whom she used to teach piano.   Convincing themselves that the headphones and technology manufacturer ‘PEAR’ are behind the attacks, Blaine kills the boy and begins to show signs that he is ‘infected’ (unnoticed by Sally and Tara).

Arriving at the heavily guarded PEAR HQ, they discover a way into the building only to find it entirely empty.   Upon returning, they find their hideout surrounded and, as they look for somewhere else, the sense of widespread destruction dawns on the characters, as they discover bodies littering the streets, fires all around and Pop music pumping from every window.  As they explore the empty buildings they find bodies and rooms littered with books and paperwork, linking back to PEAR. Each character begins to show slightly uncharacteristic traits, explained away by their shock.   In an abandoned library they find a safe shelter and Sally begins obsessively researching PEAR and the ‘power’ behind it.  The next morning Blaine takes Tara to get supplies but upon return Tara has disappeared, leading Sally to the realisation that Blaine has ‘turned’.  A violent fight breaks out between Blaine and Sally, who shows a darker and more ferocious side, seemingly desperate to ‘restore’ the country.  

Sally makes a link between the current Prime Minister and PEAR, uncovering the story that the PM was a genetic scientist previously called Peter Ellison, a radical theorist shunned from the Science community for his radical experimentation of Advanced Re-Animation (Peter Ellison’s Advanced Re-Animation).   The PM had devised a plan to ‘re-educate’ Britain and return to the time of the Empire.  This experiment caused an almost instantaneous reaction in the under 21’s, but took a little more time for the brain to ‘re-adjust’ and ‘make sense of the changes’ in the 22 - 40 year olds.

Outside No.10, as the PM delivers a speech to a group of people, Sally is armed and prepared to kill him.  Sally notices Tara amongst the crowd, who blankly smiles at her and listens to the PM.  As Sally listens to a little of the PM’s speech, we move to the moment of realisation, in a sequence of projected montage events, when it dawns on her that, all along, she has been ‘infected’; that her research and change in character traits are symptomatic of the infection in the 18-40’s and she had become ‘obsessed’ with the PM.  As tears stream down her face, she sings the words of a Pop song, puts the gun in her mouth and pulls the trigger.

Exercise: Revise Your Draft Outline

Coming back to this piece after a number of days gave me a fresh perspective and, although I am still pleased with my original idea, I was able to make a number of small changes in order to provide more detail to my intended story.  I also changed a section when Sally is knocked unconscious as I felt that this was slightly too clichéd.   

Of course I will undoubtedly continue to make more and more changes to this outline, but at this stage I have identified around twenty story events, which I believe to be a good starting block.

My revised draft can be found below with story events underlines and numbered and changes and additions highlighted in bold. 

           

Sally Wenton (22) is a reserved and mature young woman, heavily into classical music and piano.  Living in a tiny hamlet in the rural regions of Cornwall with parents, George (62) a retired History lecturer and Velma (54) a retired flautist, Sally has very little access to friends or ‘youth culture.’

After a piano recital, ⁽¹⁾Sally waits for a lift from her Father, but he doesn’t arrive – forcing her to take a bus home.  ⁽²⁾Whilst on the bus she notices that all the passengers are young people, staring blankly and wearing to headphones, ignoring any interactions from Sally.  ⁽³⁾When she arrives home she find her parents, deeply Catholic, hanging from the rafters of their cottage.  ⁽⁴⁾In a frenzy, Sally receives a strange thumping tone from her landline and rushes to the police station.  ⁽⁵⁾The station is entirely manned by young staff, blankly ignoring her and listening to their iPods, despite her making a large scene in the lobby.  Desperate to uncover the truth, ⁽⁶⁾Sally stumbles upon a meeting in the woods where hundreds of young people, arranged in a military formation, listen transfixed to Pop songs and speeches made by cloaked individuals about ‘taking control’ and ‘fixing Britain’.  ⁽⁷⁾Sally witnesses a young woman being dragged to the stage and being taken off for a process of ‘conversion’.  ⁽⁸⁾Noticed by the group who begin chasing her through the woodland, Sally hides behind a tree before being drugged and snatched. 

Coming around, Sally finds herself in an abandoned building where she meets Tara (38) and Blaine (21). ⁽⁹⁾Initially angry, she is eventually ‘talked down’ by the two individuals who have also been through the trauma of losing their families.  ⁽¹⁰⁾They explain that Pop music contains subliminal messaging, rendering younger generation into a state of psychopathic trance, and causing the older generation to commit suicide.   ⁽¹¹⁾The three 'friends' watch the emergency broadcast of the Prime Minister and Sally is shown the ‘subliminal message', but is unsure of why they remain unaffected.  The trio investigate further by ⁽¹²⁾kidnapping one of the young people, Brandon (14), a boy from Sally’s village whom she used to teach piano.   Convincing themselves that the headphones and technology manufacturer ‘PEAR’ are behind the attacks, ⁽¹³⁾Blaine kills the boy and begins to show signs that he is ‘infected’ (unnoticed by Sally and Tara).

Arriving at the heavily guarded PEAR HQ, ^{(14 )}they find a way into the building to find it entirely empty. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Confused, they return to find their hideout surrounded by a violent mob of ‘youths’ who throw and beat them with large books, chanting what seems to be a coded message.  ⁽¹⁶⁾The three manage to escape and as they look for somewhere else, the sense of widespread destruction dawns on the characters, as they discover bodies littering the streets, fires burning and Pop music pumping from every window.  As they explore the empty buildings they find bodies and rooms littered with books and paper work, linking to PEAR. Each character begins to shows slightly uncharacteristic traits, explained away by their shock.   In an abandoned library they find a safe shelter and ⁽¹⁷⁾Sally begins obsessively researching PEAR and the ‘power’ behind it.  ⁽¹⁸⁾The next morning Blaine takes Tara to get supplies but upon return Tara has disappeared, leading Sally to the realisation that Blaine has ‘turned’. ⁽¹⁹⁾ A violent fight breaks out between Blaine and Sally, who shows a darker and more ferocious side, seemingly desperate to ‘restore’ the country. 

⁽²⁰⁾Sally makes a link between the current Prime Minister and PEAR, uncovering the story that the PM was a genetic scientist previously called Peter Ellison, a radical theorist shunned from the Science community for his radical experimentation of Advanced Re-Animation (Peter Ellison’s Advanced Re-Animation).   The PM had devised a plan to ‘re-educate’ Britain and return to the times of the Empire.  This experiment caused an almost instantaneous reaction from the under 21’s, but took a little more time for the brain to ‘re-adjust’ and ‘make sense of the changes’ in the 22 - 40 year olds.

⁽²¹⁾Outside No.10, as the PM delivers a speech to a group of people, Sally is armed and prepared to kill him.  ⁽¹²⁾ Sally notices Tara amongst the crowd who smiles knowingly at her and listens to the PM.  ⁽²²⁾As Sally listens to a little of the PM’s speech, we move to the moment of realisation, in a sequence of projected montage events, when it dawns on her that, all along, she has been ‘infected’; that her research and change in character traits are symptomatic of the infection in the 18-40’s and she had become ‘obsessed’ with the PM.  As tears stream down her face, she sings the words of a Pop song, puts the gun in her mouth and pulls the trigger.

Project: Structuring outlines: beginnings, middles and ends

Exercise: Identifying the Setup

I decided to the use the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as it is a classic tale that everybody is familiar with.  When considering the setup of this story the following elements are laid out within the first few paragraphs:

·      We find out that a baby daughter was born to a king and queen

·      The queen died

·      The King remarried an evil woman, who becomes queen.

·      The King dies

·      The evil queen locks the child in a tower, never to see the light of day.

This introduction tells us a number of things that will later become relevant. However, until the story unfolds, the audience are unable to fully understand the character’s past and are left with questions, wanting to know more about the why’s and how’s of the story. 

Research: The Set-up

I wanted to spend some time looking at a some different forms of writing to enable me to better understand how a novel, film or play might use different methods to ‘set-up’ the characters and setting. 

For the purposes of the set-up, I chose to start by looking at J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye (1945).  As this is written from the perspective of Holden Caulfield, this style of narration makes the text very informal and allows the author to easily ‘slip’ in details without giving too much away.  The first lines of the book, “If you really want to hear about, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like.” This tells the reader immediately that Holden has been exposed to a hard childhood, but the details of which we are yet to find out.  Of course this not only heightens the tension for the reader, but also gives a deeper level to the character of, not only Holden, but also his family. 

In contrast, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (1957) uses the scenery to help to give the audience some of the background information.  Within the first description the writer has already set out the location, New Orleans, and gives us large clues to the period due to the placement of a ‘Negro Bar’ within the scene, thus visually giving the audience the set-up about the location and gives clues to the theme of racism.  Of course, the character ‘set-up’ bleeds through as we hear more dialogue and witness physical clues through the character directions and interactions, e.g. ‘Blanche sits in a chair very stiffly’.

Exercise: Setting up your own story

After a break of a few days I went back to my original outline, bearing in mind the ‘set-up’.  Whilst trying to ensure that my outline in concise, I plan to re-edit the opening paragraph to give us more information.  For example: does Sally have a job?  What was her upbringing like?  What enables her to not be affected by the music straight away? 

Below are the original first paragraph and my re-edited version.

Original

Sally Wenton (22) is a reserved and mature young woman, heavily into classical music and piano.  Living in a tiny hamlet in the rural regions of Cornwall with parents, George (62) a retired History lecturer and Velma (54) a retired flautist, Sally has very little access to friends or ‘youth culture.’

Updated

Sally Wenton (19) is studying classical Music at the University of Surrey. As a child, Sally was home-schooled by her father George (62), a retired history lecturer from Bristol, and her mother Velma (54) a semi-retired flautist from Italy. Sally spent her much of her childhood in adult company, with very little access the friends of popular culture. At this time, Britain is in economic decline causing a widespread feeling of distrust in the government.  A new, charming Prime Minister, Geoffrey Soillen, has just been elected. 

During the summer holidays, Sally returns home to her family in a remote hamlet in South Cornwall to attend a piano recital…

Research Point: The Inciting Incident

Much as I did regarding the ‘set-up’, I chose to use Alan Bennett’s The History Boys (1988) and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) as a point of research, specifically looking for the inciting incident.  I chose to use these two pieces are they are vastly different in there themes and settings. 

In Jaws, the inciting incident happens almost immediately with the shark attack on a swimmer in Amityville Harbour.  This instant sense of tension gives the audience both dramatic tension and a clear idea of what to expect from the film.  However, The History Boys inciting incident seems to slip through more seamlessly as we learn that the headmaster is pushing for the boys to succeed in their exams to push the schools up the league tables.  Jaws uses the inciting incident very quickly as a tool to enhance the tension, whilst The History Boys seems to opt to allowing the audience to ‘get to know’ the characters a little more.

The ‘inciting incident’

Following my reshuffle of the set-up I wanted to look at the beginning of the story to ensure that my ‘inciting incident’ is dramatic enough and that my description does not contain too much detail.

During the summer holidays, Sally returns home to a remote hamlet in Cornwall to attend a piano recital.  Sally notices that her parents are absent from the recital and, after waiting for a lift from her father, who doesn’t arrive – she is forced to take a bus home. When she arrives home she find her parents, deeply Catholic, hanging from the rafters of their cottage.  In frenzy, Sally receives a strange thumping tone from her landline and runs to the police station, screaming for help on the way, but is ignored by bystanders with iPods.  The police station is entirely manned by young staff, acting in the same manner. Sally questions whether something is affecting the young people? She stumbles upon a meeting in the woods where hundreds of young people listen, transfixed, to Pop songs and speeches made by cloaked individuals. Sally witnesses a young woman being dragged to the stage and is noticed by the group who chase her through the woods. Sally hides behind a tree before being drugged and snatched by an unknown figure. 

I removed large sections of the detail from the beginning and stripped it back to the most dramatic events, as I wanted to ensure that my outline remains brief. However I wanted to include the questions that Sally would be having i.e. is there something affecting the young people?  And where are the older generations?

I have highlighted the two sections that I consider to the ‘inciting incident’, the suicide of Sally’s parents, and the next ‘peak’ of the storyline, the abduction of Sally.  Although there are a number of story events in this section, I will aim to include all of this detail within the first 10 -15 pages of the screen play, using large visual imagery as opposed to dialogue during this section.   Although the suicide event is one of huge emotional significance, really the abduction is the ‘inciting event’ as it is the place where we begin to uncover the deeper twists and plot of the story.

At this stage I am still a little unsure of the level of detail to include.  For example, in the beginning section on Sally’s bus journey she notices young passengers, transfixed on their iPods, who subtly stare at her. However, I envisage this being very subtle and possibly unnoticed by the audience until later, so I decided not to include it as a dramatic event.  Also, this is the point in the story, unknown to the audience until the end, that Sally becomes ‘infected’, which is seen through a very subtle tapping of her fingers whilst on the bus.  However, as this is more of a clue to the resolution, I felt that this might be better placed in my treatment or final screenplay as opposed the outline. 

I feel that by this point in the story, at the forefront, we have learnt some detail about the character of Sally; felt tension, emotion and a distinct desire to understand more about the story.  Of course, there will be underlying clues in the script at this stage too, to give the audience the opportunity to start ‘detecting and deducing’. 

Although I have made suggestions about the ‘infection of young people’, and the relevance to music and politics, the beginning only hints at these themes and it is not until the middle that these things become more apparent. 

Research Point: Progressive Developments

Nagy’s The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) contains a number of progressive events leading to the moment of climax.  There are number of ‘dramatic’ events such as Dicky’s realisation that Tom didn’t go to Princeton University. However, some of these events are seemingly ‘ordinary’ such as the ‘separation’ of the two characters when Tom wants to sightsee in Rome, but Dicky’s priority is eating.

Christie’s Moustrap (1954) contains a huge number of complications and progressive events to both suspend the audience's knowledge of ‘who done it’, whilst giving deeper insight into the story and characters.  The developmental progression in this play, such as the realisation that one of the guests must be the murderer, and the disappearance of the two siblings, all serve to not only move the story forward, but also give vital suspense and clues for the audience to solve. 

Progressive Developments – the middle

I have continued to try to update and reshuffle the middle section of my piece, once again, to ensure that not too much detail is given at this stage.  

Sally finds herself in an abandoned building where she meets Tara (38) and Blaine (21). Initially uncharacteristically angry, she is eventually ‘talked down’ by the two individuals who have also lost their families and are seeking answers.  We learn a little about their past as they explain that Pop music contains subliminal messaging, rendering the younger generation into a state of subservient trance, and causing the older generation to commit suicide.  They watch the emergency broadcast of the Prime Minister and Sally is shown the decoded ‘subliminal message’, but is unsure of why they remain unaffected.  They kidnap one of the young people, Brandon (14), a boy from Sally’s village.  Convincing themselves that the headphones and technology manufacturer ‘PEAR’ are behind the attacks, Blaine kills the boy when he discovers Brandon was behind his parents murder, and begins to show signs that he is ‘infected’ (unnoticed by Sally and Tara).

Arriving at the heavily guarded PEAR HQ, they discover a way into the building, only to find it entirely empty. Confused, they return to find their hideout, which is surrounded by a violent mob of ‘youths’.  At this stage we see the uniformity start to appear with all ‘youths’ dressed identically. The three manage to escape, and as they look for somewhere else, the sense of widespread destruction dawns on the characters as they discover bodies littering the streets, fires burning and Pop music pumping from every window. Each character begins to show slightly uncharacteristic traits.   In an abandoned library they find a safe shelter and Sally begins obsessively researching PEAR.  Sally continues to question why she remains unaffected and who is controlling this change?  And what for?  The next morning Tara disappears, leading Sally to the realisation that Blaine has ‘turned’. A violent fight breaks out between Blaine and Sally, who shows a darker and more ferocious side, seemingly desperate to ‘restore’ the country.  Sally kills Blaine and returns to her research, seemingly unaffected by the trauma. 

As this section makes up a large chunk of the screenplay (around 20 pages), I wanted to ensure that there were many progressive events that keep the audience interested.    This is the part where the audience find out what is happening with the population and discover the link to Pop music tracks.  However, this section contains only one main aim for the protagonist, the desire to ‘find out more’.  Each time Sally tried to find out more information about who, why and what, she is confronted with some form of barrier, be it physical, social, psychological or personal.  For example, Sally is lead to the PEAR HQ, only to find that it is empty.  On returning to the base to carry out further research, she is confronted with a large mob of violent youths.  I wanted this entire section to reflect a growing sense of tension and despite the limited ‘character objectives’, I believe that the story events cause plenty of interest and intrigue to keep the audience gripped and empathetic to the protagonist. 

We also find out a lot more about the different characters in this section.  We begin to see Sally, Tara and Blaine lose their moral convictions as they kidnap the boy.  As Sally has a personal connection to the boy, we also begin exploring the personal conflict and Sally’s decision-making process of what is right and wrong.  When Blaine kills the boy, I plan to have a sense of dramatic irony as the audience find out that he is ‘infected’.  Sally and Tara’s reaction to the murder will subtly reflect that, they too, are infected, but I hope to cleverly disguise this twist by explaining away their empathy due to Blaine’s family’s murder. 

The setting of the library and the secondary base is one chosen to reflect the overall theme of ‘technology and uniformity’ by providing a contrast and adding a slightly lighter, more comedic element, reflecting the underuse of libraries in today’s society.   It’s status as a ‘safe place’ from the young people not only reflects this deeper theme, but also, on the surface, provides a perfect setting as Sally’s desperation to ‘meet the maker’ becomes apparent.  The visual imagery of the destruction of the towns will, I hope, help to bring a more realistic element to the screenplay, gripping the audience with empathy for the characters so that they are unable to notice the clues throughout which tell us the final answers.  For example, whilst they are exploring the devastated town, I plan for there to be many references to the Prime Minister, PEAR and scientific research, but will use dramatic dialogue and physical conflict and barriers to detract from these obvious clues to the resolution. 

By the end of this middle section, I would envisage that the audience will be questioning why Sally is not infected.  Is she immune due to her dislike and lack of access to Popular music?  However, at this point I hope to have built up such a strong empathy with the character, that the audience would not be willing to consider her ‘infected’. 

Research Point: The End

I chose to start by looking at Christopher McQuarrie’s script for The Usual Suspects (1995), as the film's epic twist ending is something I am hoping to replicate in my own piece.  In this instance, the end sequence is reserved for the final seconds on the film when the Police Detective realises that Verbal has been feeding him a story throughout the whole film.  The power of this ending is that there were no instances of true dramatic irony throughout this film.  The viewer is lead to believe that they are ‘getting closer’ to the truth through Verbal’s story, but only the most astute of viewers would have noticed the clues ‘underneath’ the story.  This technique does, in fact, trick the audience, which ordinarily would be something to be wary of. However, by adding subtle clues to the final resolution throughout the film, the viewer is actually clearly given the opportunity to see past Verbal’s lie. 

In contrast to this I wanted to look at a piece with a predictable ending to see how the closing sequences are achieved.  Vince Gillian’s highly successful TV series Breaking Bad (2008) provides a very unusual technique of delivering the ending to the audience in the opening scene of each episode.  In some instances this would feel as though the ending had been given away, but bearing in mind the ludicrous theme of the show, each ‘ending’ is so highly dramatic and often unbelievable, that it puts the viewers on the edge of their seat from the beginning; wondering how the storyline will lead them to the final point. 

Developments – The End

To continue the redevelopment of my outline, I am keen to apply the same analytical process to this section as I have done with the set-up, beginning and middle. Whilst I think that the original ending that I drafted is still relevant, I wanted to make sure that I have included all relevant details relating to the climax, falling resolution and the final scenes.

Sally finds an old film and makes a link between the current Prime Minister and PEAR, uncovering the story that the PM was previously an unstable genetic scientist called Peter Ellison.   His theories of Audio Re-Animation, aimed at created a uniform dictatorship, had been discounted by Geneva as ‘against human rights’, causing him to create a new identify in order to complete his work.

Outside No.10, as the PM delivers a speech to a group of people, Sally is armed and prepared to kill him.  She notices Tara amongst the crowd who smiles knowingly at her and listens to the PM.  As Sally listens to a little of the speech, we move to the moment of realisation, in a sequence of projected montage events, when it dawns on Sally that, all along, she has been ‘infected’, and her research and change in character traits are symptomatic of the infection.  As tears stream down her face, she sings the words of a Pop song, puts the gun in her mouth and pulls the trigger.

Whilst writing and editing this section, I had a clear idea in my mind of those key details that bring the whole story together and resolve any unanswered questions.  In this scenario, Sally has a major moment of realisation where she find out, hopefully at the same time as the audience, that she has been infected from the very beginning of the story.  Of course, to ensure that this ‘twist’ is successful, I will have to ensure that by this point, the audience’s sense of empathy for Sally has reached a high point. Therefore, I will need to be careful not to hint to the audience of any possibility of a ‘twist’.  Up to this point in the story, the script will have to make very subtle references to the final resolution, much in a similar style to the ‘whodunit’s’ made famous by the likes of Agatha Christie. 

Although the closing section should be used to ‘tie up’ any loose ends, I wanted to make sure that the closing continues to provide the audience with a number of dramatic interventions.   I envisage Sally’s ‘light bulb’ moment to be portrayed using a variety of visual elements as opposed to dialogue; retelling the story to the audience with all subtlety removed from the clues. 

Sally’s final act of suicide continues to demonstrate the personal conflict that she suffers throughout, as she strives to do the right thing, only to realise that she has changed from a conscientious young woman to a uniform clone without her knowledge.