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Idea for a small good script?

N

Nicwillu

Hey, we have a little film project going on at my school, and my group.. we can't come up with any good scripts.It all comes up rubbish..I am basically asking for an idea for a good movie script?

Gonna last between 2 and 7 minutes, it depends. We are gonna film inside a small school building, may also film outside. We have 4-5 actors aviavable.

I am just asking for an idea to get us going, not like a full script.

Any help appreciated!

Thanks,
Nicolai
 
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Kid listens to a boring teacher. He falls asleep. Dreams about zombies chasing him in the school. Then he wakes up with the teacher shaking him. It's all a dream until he finds a severed hand inside his desk.

** No snarky comments from the rest of you out there lurking! This is serious business helping to twist, err..., shape young minds!
 
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Maybe center it around a fight. Two kids are going to meet in the gym for a punch on. We get to know them a bit before the fight, see their nerves, and their fear, or bravado. Then we see the fight, and then the aftermath of the fight. It could be a comedy, or a thriller.
 
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So.. You want us to do the assignment for you? ;)
Go on YouTube or vimeo and rip somebody video off..

Ideas are hard to hunt for. Come up with most ridiculous ad go with it

Students are scrapped in a room after a nuclear bomb and the only food they have is a gold fish. Or they try to decide who is the biggest a&&hole from four of them and who they should eat
 
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dlevanchuk said:
So.. You want us to do the assignment for you? ;)
Go on YouTube or vimeo and rip somebody video off..

Ideas are hard to hunt for. Come up with most ridiculous ad go with it

Students are scrapped in a room after a nuclear bomb and the only food they have is a gold fish. Or they try to decide who is the biggest a&&hole from four of them and who they should eat.
Click to expand...

We are free to use any method to get a basic script :) Good idea going on youtube to find inspiration.


maralyn said:
Maybe center it around a fight. Two kids are going to meet in the gym for a punch on. We get to know them a bit before the fight, see their nerves, and their fear, or bravado. Then we see the fight, and then the aftermath of the fight. It could be a comedy, or a thriller.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will have to present these ideas to the rest, hear their thoughts.
 
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I've been thinking about "just a dream" type ending, and specifically, why audiences tend not to like it. I think it boils down to a grounded belief that if it isn't real, it doesn't matter (something I don't agree with, but that's a different story). So how do you avoid that; use that sort of twist without the audience feeling cheated?

Something needs to change in the waking world, more specifically, something has to change TO THE CHARACTER who experienced the dream.

I could go on and on about this, but I don't want to hijack your thread with a dissertation ;-) So for example: kid falls asleep in class, encounters zombies, wakes up, and is able to answer a math question based on something he learned in the dream. Another twist, same idea, shy kid, first day in a new school, has a zombie dream, wakes up and now has the confidence to talk to people and meet new friends. That adds a little growth to the character, and validates (to the audience) the dream experience. It's no longer a cheap trick, it's character development. This particular take has been done plenty of times before, but I'd wager it ends with a more positive response than just a dream and leaving it at that.

Another idea (much smaller cast for you): student arrives at school, running a bit late. Halls are empty as he goes to his class. The classroom is empty. Worried, he goes back into the hall and hears a creepy noise. He runs to the principal's office. No one is there, hears the noise again. Checks the doors; they're now locked. He runs and hides, trying to escape the noise, until he's backed into a classroom, and the noise is getting closer. He then notices a calendar. It's a holiday and there are no classes, and the noise reveals itself to be the janitor, using noisy cleaning equipment.
 
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Nicwillu said:
And by the way, these actors aren't very skilled :)
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It would help a great deal if we had genders, ages, and a few genres you're interested in producing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_genres

I/we don't know if you want to do light drama, teen dilemma comedy, action, horror, (God forbid, another [expletive]) zombie film?
What?

Knowing your talent resources is equally helpful as knowing your equipment and location resources.

It doesn't do any good to think up a story requiring on camera crying or screaming if none of your inexperienced talent is willing or capable of doing it.

I'm going to assume that the school principal isn't going to support a bloodbath horror, drugs and alcohol skit, or teen sex scene story.
Unless you Norwegian folks are considerably more liberal over there than us uptight Yanks are.

Whaddayagot?
Three guys and a girl?
Five jocks and a fat chick?
Ten nerds and a sexy Mac Airbook?
What?
 
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JoshL said:
Another idea (much smaller cast for you): student arrives at school, running a bit late. Halls are empty as he goes to his class. The classroom is empty. Worried, he goes back into the hall and hears a creepy noise. He runs to the principal's office. No one is there, hears the noise again. Checks the doors; they're now locked. He runs and hides, trying to escape the noise, until he's backed into a classroom, and the noise is getting closer. He then notices a calendar. It's a holiday and there are no classes, and the noise reveals itself to be the janitor, using noisy cleaning equipment.
Click to expand...

Good idea! I will look into this.

rayw said:
It would help a great deal if we had genders, ages, and a few genres you're interested in producing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_genres

I/we don't know if you want to do light drama, teen dilemma comedy, action, horror, (God forbid, another [expletive]) zombie film?
What?

Knowing your talent resources is equally helpful as knowing your equipment and location resources.

It doesn't do any good to think up a story requiring on camera crying or screaming if none of your inexperienced talent is willing or capable of doing it.

I'm going to assume that the school principal isn't going to support a bloodbath horror, drugs and alcohol skit, or teen sex scene story.
Unless you Norwegian folks are considerably more liberal over there than us uptight Yanks are.

Whaddayagot?
Three guys and a girl?
Five jocks and a fat chick?
Ten nerds and a sexy Mac Airbook?
What?
Click to expand...

Thanks for responding, from the start we had an action/comedy style film in mind, with VFX etc (Have a lot of experience with it) .But basically yea Action or Drama combined with some comedy. We are in total 5 guys (15-16 years old), and at least 1 has to be the cameraman.
 
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Action running around with cars, no cars? Bicycles?
Just running up and down hallways and outside?
Just punching and kicking?
Stealing the MacGuffin sort of story?

What sort of SFX?
Pistols and rifles requiring AfterEffects muzzle flashes or wizards shooting lightning and fireballs?

Action comedy like a Jackie Chan sort of sequence?
 
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rayw said:
Action running around with cars, no cars? Bicycles?
Just running up and down hallways and outside?
Just punching and kicking?
Stealing the MacGuffin sort of story?

What sort of SFX?
Pistols and rifles requiring AfterEffects muzzle flashes or wizards shooting lightning and fireballs?

Action comedy like a Jackie Chan sort of sequence?
Click to expand...

Right, I have to give some more details.

We wanted to have some shooting with guns, I have the required software to edit muzzle flashes etc. And I have a huge sound FX/music library, so we will not have any problem with that. Only problem is that I have all the camera gear and guns, a bit to much for me to carry, so we have to do it without guns. We are allowed to do the filming inside the school apartment and we can move outside, just not to far away. So no cars chases or bicycles or anything fancy like that. But we are gonna try to stick with JoshL's idea and see what happens.
 
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JoshL said:
I've been thinking about "just a dream" type ending, and specifically, why audiences tend not to like it. I think it boils down to a grounded belief that if it isn't real, it doesn't matter (something I don't agree with, but that's a different story). So how do you avoid that; use that sort of twist without the audience feeling cheated?

Something needs to change in the waking world, more specifically, something has to change TO THE CHARACTER who experienced the dream. ...
Click to expand...

I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek suggesting a "then he woke up" (THWU) ending. In other threads, I've spoken against it as unsatisfying. In an professional screenplay for a short or feature, you would want to avoid THWU. Given this is a 2-7 min clip school project, it fits that whole middle/high school video class shoot without extensive dialogue or scriptwriting filled with action, gore and special effects. ;) However, I really like Josh's ideas if you can make them work in your limited amount of time. Given this is a school project, I think your group has some good suggestions to work from.

Beside it's the gory hand that makes it. Especially if he lowers the desk lid and now the teacher and his friends are all zombies and attack him! It's so bad that it can be fun. Pure shlock! :D Have fun!
 
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FantasySciFi said:
I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek suggesting a "then he woke up" (THWU) ending. In other threads, I've spoken against it as unsatisfying. In an professional screenplay for a short or feature, you would want to avoid THWU. Given this is a 2-7 min clip school project, it fits that whole middle/high school video class shoot without extensive dialogue or scriptwriting filled with action, gore and special effects. ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I did get that :) I was digressing a bit because I've been putting a lot of thought towards that lately; why I like it more than others, and where the middle ground that a wider audience would appreciate an alternate-reality/dream story. Again, discussion for another thread maybe...then again, at the end of the day, I think I'll STILL be in the minority on that one ;)

FantasySciFi said:
Beside it's the gory hand that makes it. Especially if he lowers the desk lid and now the teacher and his friends are all zombies and attack him! It's so bad that it can be fun. Pure shlock! :D Have fun!
Click to expand...

Can't go wrong with proper application of gore and schlock! :yes:
 
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Nicwillu said:
Hey, we have a little film project going on at my school, and my group.. we can't come up with any good scripts.It all comes up rubbish..I am basically asking for an idea for a good movie script?

Gonna last between 2 and 7 minutes, it depends. We are gonna film inside a small school building, may also film outside. We have 4-5 actors aviavable.

I am just asking for an idea to get us going, not like a full script.

Any help appreciated!

Thanks,
Nicolai
Click to expand...

A young man goes to extraordinary lengths to hide his erection in class.

I'm sure the guys on here can give you some anecdotes to work with ;)
 
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Dreadylocks said:
A young man goes to extraordinary lengths to hide his erection in class.

I'm sure the guys on here can give you some anecdotes to work with ;)
Click to expand...

Haha! :P

Yea that would turn out good.

Anyways, thanks for the ideas and tips everyone. Starting planning, and perhaps shooting tomorrow. Will get back if I need some more assistance
 
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