first half of 10 point plan

This film ‘The holding pattern’ to me represents a subjective view of an immigrant’s struggles and life after having come to Britain seeking asylum. It could quite easily have been directed so as to appear the complete opposite way very easily, but the subtle undertones of the piece suggest that the person who wrote the script was merely attempting to spread a message against the prejudices. To me personally it represents a different and un-usual side to a very important story, which some people might be so stubbornly decided already that they pay no attention to any varying opinions, such as the subtle ones in this script.

I would say that the life needs for our character Bogdan are very simple, I imagine him to be not so much scared, as you would assume he was after having immigrated to a different country for whatever reason made him leave Romania, but he seems lonely. The script doesn’t show any attempts to conquer this however, giving the slight idea that the man feels he doesn’t deserve to be accepted into the community and society so much as to have friends and people to communicate to and with, possibly that he was, at the end of the day, forced to come here, and after realising that he’s not welcome, feels he doesn’t deserve to have a life just like everybody else, so in that sense he appears to need someone to tell him its ok to interact, he doesn’t have to sit in the shadows.

Each scene plays a very similar, monotonous role in the script, a lot of them are very mundane activities which come across as possibly even being a ritual or routine which Bogdan does to pass the inevitable time. Its very slow moving and repetitive, for example there’s a section of the script which reads;

Scene 6. Int. Library. Day.
Bogdan is writing an email.
Scene 7. Int. Living Room. Day.
Bogdan is reading an official looking letter. He uses his Romanian to English dictionary to translate the occasional word.
Scene 8. Int. Government Office. Day.
Bogdan stands in a queue. He holds the letter tightly in one hand and his suitcase in the other.
Scene 9. Swimming Pool. Day.
Bogdan is swimming underneath the water.
Scene 10. Ext. Grass verge. Day.
Bogdan stands by the roadside on a grass verge. He holds a suitcase. As cars whiz past he takes a seat.

Its very un-interesting series of events which fill the guys day, just amplifying the monotony that is his life.
The only real insight into the guys personal life or indeed what the actual script is about is this very vague suggestion that he intends to be granted asylum or the permission to live and work legally, he is an example of the side to immigration that genuinely needed help when they came here and are doing everything above board to achieve this. Its still not shown in any great detail though.

To be continued.

films im feelin at the mo

old vid

got a new bike!

well happy!

Script change

After giving it some thought I have decided to change the script I’m going to use from ‘The selfish cut’ to ‘The holding pattern’. I never really gave the holding pattern a chance to begin with because I am very easily put off things if I’m not immediately impressed or interested. I read the holding pattern again and got deeper into the script, understanding it better this time round, I feel it will be easier to create something more interesting with this because there’s more leverage to change things with its simplicity, its like a blank canvas in terms of script which has merely the outline and leaves me to fill in the blanks, blanks which will give it its identity and individuality in terms of filmmaking, directing and producing.
The script obviously focuses on immigration into Britain which is for some people a very important subject, I think our main character ‘Bogdan’ is represented in a very subjective view here, he is shown to be everything that no-one takes the time to learn about immigrants, he isn’t causing any trouble, he’s just existing, in a society that although hard, is probably miles easier than what he escaped from. He’s not out stealing jobs, or mugging old women for crack money, he’s just existing, writing emails, going swimming, sitting in the park.
Instantly I see this piece being very visually focused, with very little dialogue or music, a lot of diegetic sounds. The reason for this quietness is representative of our characters loneliness, he doesn’t appear to have any friends or family with him, he does everything alone and doesn’t complain about that, I see Bogdan being content with what he has, not complacent or greedy. With this film I’m going to create it in such a way that it might appear to be a promotional advert if you will, showing a side to him that goes against the stereotypes and prejudice that immigrants are labelled with in this country.