Prophecy*: my short film

Interesting idea; when I gather more time, I'll give a quick rundown of recommended additions/changes.

You've managed to keep the silly "guns and deceit" aspect that so many of the amateur writers here find so vital, and I applaud you for that.
 
aspiring director said:
i wanted a character that some can relate to. Like he's just like you and me with his problems. And he's not some kid way out there. The audience needs to feel kinda connected to him.... (and he's parents didnt die when he was a baby, I was using potter as a loose example)
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Your character's central flaw and the humanity with which he handles the situation is what will make him relate- able.

Goodwill Hunting is about a guy that's such a genius he eclipses his quantum physics professors at a prestigious university.

Most of us can't even really explain what quantum physics is, let a long identify with grasping it at that level.

Same with A Beautiful Mind. Most of us aren't brilliant schizophrenics ... but we can understand being at a loss of control and being frightened, so we do not find the character alienating - we find them to be enough like us to let us in and so uniquely different that we are fascinated to know "what it would be like" to experience that and to uncover some new truth about human beings expressly because it is a fringe truth, it is exotic and outside our normal experiential sphere.

Also look at Memento. A guy that wakes up and has to start over from ZERO memory EVERYDAY. And yet it is engrossing movie and we empathize with the main character because he is afraid and confused and misses his wife. "How horrible" we think "would it be to wake up everyday with no memory." And we are interested in seeing an OTHERWISE normal human being like us experience this and deal with it and get through it.

I said it before but I will say it again -- What will not work is wishy washy or vague. Do not be afraid of making his situation and problem VERY different from "ours". Being different or "out there" may in fact be the hook, the "high concept" that makes your movie interesting.

I don't want to say you shouldn't do a quiet character piece with a more everyday life scope of problems or situation, I just want to say you should not be afraid of an impulse to go for extreme situations or seemingly out there problems or obstacles for you character. It's how he handles those situations that will make him relate-able and likable.

StefanHaynes said:
Interesting idea; when I gather more time, I'll give a quick rundown of recommended additions/changes.

You've managed to keep the silly "guns and deceit" aspect that so many of the amateur writers here find so vital, and I applaud you for that.
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Well there is a hidden past and someone that shows up to try to keep it hidden. Sounds like deceit to me.

Also remember that a few authors like Patricia Highsmith and Truman Capote have made fairly literary careers (and fairly complex movies) with some guns and deceit peppered about.
 
Or he's sitting in class one day and passes out. When he wakes up, he doesn't know who he is or where he is... maybe he's got some sort of disease? Maybe he's got a tumor? - It's not a toomah! - sorry, couldn't resist... :)
 
UPDATE: OK so I decided to start with the end, and do that first because I had the idea of what the ending would be. Now I just gotta get the beginning together and I kinda got the middle figured out. Just thought I'd let ya'll know. =)
 
The approach to screenwriting should always be nonlinear. In order to know where to take your story, a screenwriter always works out the ending first. Once you know how those last few minutes will go, you will then know how the final showdown will go, which then will explain the second act adventure which then introduces you to the first act.

Cause & Effect.

Last scene-->battle scene-->middle part of second act-->second part of second act-->first part of second act-->first act
 
Last scene-->battle scene-->middle part of second act-->second part of second act-->first part of second act-->first act
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yeh that's what i did but i never thought of it like that. Thanks. It does seem easier that way. go figure.
 
Charli said:
The approach to screenwriting should always be nonlinear. In order to know where to take your story, a screenwriter always works out the ending first. Once you know how those last few minutes will go, you will then know how the final showdown will go, which then will explain the second act adventure which then introduces you to the first act.

Cause & Effect.

Last scene-->battle scene-->middle part of second act-->second part of second act-->first part of second act-->first act
Click to expand...

I've never written a script in such fashion. I'd venture to guess that not all screenwriters have. Not that it isn't a valid method, but I think "a screenwriter always works out the ending first" is a bit of an overstatement.
 
ibe - if not all, MOST work out the ending. Think of your script as a road map, a journey map, you must know where you are going in order to plan out your trip. Most writers that you talk to, donedealpro, absolutewriter, etc. will tell you that they knew the ending before they ever started the beginning.

Even at writer's bootcamp (a starting place from many professional writers from shows like Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Sex In The City, Friends, O.C., and movies such as Ocean's 13, Freaky Friday, and even the latest Blades of Glory) when I expressed to them that I wrote the script starting from the back, third act then second act, they told me that's exactly how they teach their students. A nonlinear approach starting from the tail end and then work solidly in the middle.

I personally have not met a writer, a SCREENWRITER, not a filmmaker, a screenwriter who doesn't know how his/her story will end BEFORE they even write FADE IN. That's just my experience.
 
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