Writing Script idea?

[DaSilva]

So I'm a film student, and I have a script due on Wednesday. It's a 3 minute film with no dialogue that can't have weapons, alarm clocks, explosions, flashbacks, cliches, or dream sequences. Every time I try to think of a story, I just draw a blank. Any ideas anyone?

[Zanate]

Write a story about 2 people who can't speak and are trying to communicate with each other in other ways, ex. writing or dancing or something ;D

[PiroMunkie]

[color="#006400"][font="Arial"]What exactly does it mean by it can't have cliches? lol ... Seems like a pretty broad statement.

When I was in high school I took a Multimedia class where we were split into groups and had to make a short movie. A guy in my group said his dad does theater in the city and had a sort of "tin man" costume. So I basically took that idea and made a silent, black and white movie about a robot being in school (being shunned, picked on), and at the end he runs into a girl (the other person in the group) who's wearing a shirt that says "I <3 Robots."

I, of course, had to include an obligatory subliminal frame of "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" during the credits.[/font][/color]

[Delta]

[COLOR=#35425e]Maybe you can turn this rut you're in into a project!

Film yourself as film student with a pad in hand, looking for inspiration. And everytime you look down to your pad to write, something really exciting happens behind you (marching band passes by, marriage proposal, a Trojan invasion).

Let us know how your project works out yeah? Tell us about it after.[/COLOR]

[Heaven's Cloud]

[quote name='Delta' date='30 August 2010 - 08:02 PM' timestamp='1283212920' post='700046']
[COLOR=#35425e]Maybe you can turn this rut you're in into a project!

Film yourself as film student with a pad in hand, looking for inspiration. And everytime you look down to your pad to write, something really exciting happens behind you (marching band passes by, marriage proposal, a Trojan invasion).

Let us know how your project works out yeah? Tell us about it after.[/COLOR]
[/quote]


[color=indigo]I had a similar thought. I was thinking that he should write it in a time elapse manner, just slam the eight hours spent not coming up with ideas into a three minute span.[/color]

[The Spectacular Professor]

[quote name='Delta' date='30 August 2010 - 05:02 PM' timestamp='1283212920' post='700046']
[COLOR=#35425e]\
Film yourself as film student with a pad in hand, looking for inspiration. And everytime you look down to your pad to write, something really exciting happens behind you (marching band passes by, marriage proposal, [b]a Trojan invasion[/b]).[/COLOR]
[/quote]
[font="Comic Sans MS"]Preferably, actual citizens of Troy, but there's an alternate interpretation of this part that would also be very distracting.

Anyway, my suggestion is to come up with your characters first. Every good plot revolves around the needs of the characters. So let's say you decide to go with [b]Zanate[/b]'s suggestion (not that you have to, just the easiest example I can think of). The first thing you'd need to do is decide who these two characters trying to communicate are and why they can't just speak to each other. Maybe they're monks? Maybe they're just shy? Maybe they don't speak the same language?

Whatever the reason, what they're trying to tell each other is probably connected to it. For example, perhaps they don't speak the same language because they are the generals of two warring countries trying to come up with a treaty. The problem with that is it might be a bit too extravagant for you to squeeze into three minutes of filming, though, so you might want to go with something a little more simple. For example, maybe one of the two is a foreign exchange student staying with the other one's family, and let's just say they're trying to decide what to have for lunch. This is a simple concept that can probably last about three minutes without getting stale.

After that, plot out the progression of events. This shouldn't be too hard, since there would be little to no dialogue. Just find a setting and come up with a way to communicate to the audience what the premise of your story is. Allow the story to progress, and then resolve it when it's gone on long enough. After that, you'd just have to film it. Is it just the script that's due or the whole film? Either way, it shouldn't take too long to do one or both.

Anyway, that's just my suggestion. Good luck with your project, whatever you decide to go with. Remember; Characters first, plot second.[/font]

[Zanate]

Or maybe they are both too far away from each other. I saw two short films like that. One was animated, it was called "draw with me" or something like that. Two people were at two sides of a big umm... I don't know how to say that, glass wall? I don't remember second one very good, but they were neighbors talking through window by writing messages on pieces of paper. I'm not sure about neighbors However, foreign languages are also good idea. Also maybe one of them could be deaf or mute?

[Mr. Maul]

[quote="Delta"]Maybe you can turn this rut you're in into a project![/quote]

[quote="DaSilva"]It's a 3 minute film with no dialogue that can't have weapons, alarm clocks, explosions, flashbacks,[b] [size="4"]cliches[/size][/b], or dream sequences.[/quote] Edited August 31, 2010 by Mr. Maul

[CaNz]

harsh...

here's an idea.
do a pardoy of something you found that fits the rest of the guidelines.

since you dont have much time now, may as well take an easy way out and just put your twist on someones work.