I’ve been working really hard on my screenplay over the past few days. It seems to have taken a long time to actually get to the point of writing it, but I think the time that I spent planning out the bones of the story has really been worth it. The screenplay isn’t quite finished because I don’t yet have an ending – I’m finding that part really difficult because I don’t want to give it a cliche ending or have it be a let down. It really needs to do the story justice.
To start with, I thought this story would be a drama, but through the process of writing it, I think it’s turned into more of a thriller.
There’s minimal dialogue which isn’t what I originally intended, but it serves the story far better this way. I think it’s quite an emotionally driven story so it doesn’t need dialogue to convey how the character is feeling. I imagine this being shot so it almost feels as though the audience is seeing the events unfold through the character’s eyes, so they experience it themselves, like POV.
Just because I don’t want to spoil the story, I’m only going to include a short snippet of the screenplay as it stands.
In other news, I have hit a little bit of a speed bump. I am meant to shoot this weekend (7th, 8th, 9th October), but the weather looks really wet for those days and since my shoot is all outdoors, I can’t do it. Instead, I have postponed my shoot and it is now happening on the afternoon/evening of the 18th October and 23rd October. These days aren’t consecutive because I have to work around everyone else’s days since they had already booked.
I’m hoping and praying that the weather on these new dates will be dry!
On Thursday this last week I went to Parks and Reserves to get location release forms signed. Before hand, I went with Josh for a drive to Sandy Point to see if we could find any alternate locations to Thompson’s Bush. I was a little reluctant about using Sandy Point as a location because, even though it’s a beautiful location, I feel it is almost becoming her used in student films. The reason I am going to need to use it is because it is quite, unlike Thompson’s bush where there is a lot of traffic and industrial sound since it is right in the middle of town.
I do have permission to use both Thompson’s Bush and Sandy Point, but I have permission for my original dates. In the next day or so I will need to go back to Parks and Reserves and ask for permission for the new dates.
My cast and crew are confirmed! Lily will be played by Chanelle Hammond, who I met during this year’s 48 Hour film challenge, and the boy will be played by Taylor Clive, Josh’s younger brother. I’m really stoked with this cast (small as it is), because I had Taylor in mind while writing the story, and Chanelle perfectly fits the physical image I had of Lily and I know she will do a great job.
I have a great crew on board for this project. It’s a relatively small team, but I know they are all really hard workers and will work well together.
In some ways I’m quite happy I have an extra two weeks to organise for this project. I had been feeling very stressed about getting everything sorted (including finishing the script!), but now that I have this extra time I think I will be able to run a much smoother set.
One of the things on my to do list is organising a small photo shoot for the photos Lily finds in the film. I am currently organising a day and time with Chanelle to do this as she will need to “model” in the photos. Thankfully I have the extra time for this as Chanelle is away at the moment and wouldn’t have been back in time if I had been shooting this weekend.
In the next few days I will be working on Josh’s shoot, but once that is finished, or when I’m not needed, I will be finishing up this script and then starting on shooting scripts and shot lists.
And in between that time I will be organising short photo shoots for a photography project that I will be entering into the Southsure Emerging Artist Awards along with this film.
Yohanna Jambler 
Great – thanks, Johanna!
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