This week I watched two films, one from 1903 and the other from 1968 and looked out how the screenplays for each changed and evolved alongside the final product. I plan to do further research by watching one more film from the late 80’s or early 90s as I find the screenplay’s journey over time fascinating.
Price’s A History of the Screenplay gave many examples to look into and inspired me to create my own collage of examples for my project. Non-commercial, independent film sounds suitable for my film as it engages in ideas that the mainstream media prefers not to cover and can be made at a low cost. Although after meeting with my tutor I realise I still have a lot of editing to do, mostly based on making my protagonist more interesting and helping the second act to be less static.
Screenplays evolve along with our technology and what was once a template of scenes now has many other components. As we look ahead to the technology of the future I may suggest that the depth a scriptwriter goes into could increase dramatically with the incorporation of film and computer games.
We’ve seen this in some ways with Balderdash, Brookers interesting attempt at letting the viewer choose the story in the style of the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books. With the advent of VR headsets and 3D films I see these intertwining eventually, maybe with the help of an innovative scriptwriter.
