I’m going to be doing my writing piece on the opening scene of a life event that I’ve already written about for my creative writing course, which you can see here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18wUJ_8wgDkQYODJXAoOpJnNB940S1um7D-aXkhpjavM/edit?usp=sharing

Story Summary: We tried going geocaching, where you try to find boxes in the woods using GPS coordinates. This hidden box had a puzzle you needed to find to get the correct coordinates. We spent the morning solving puzzles in a Dunkin Donuts trying to figure out where we needed to be. One of the members of our group made a mistake on the puzzle, leading us out into the middle of the woods. We walked about a mile into the woods, spent a while trying to find the box, and then totally forgot which direction we had come from. After someone’s shoes fall apart, someone falls into some mud and we almost wander into someone’s backyard, we find our way back to the car to discover that the geocache was actually at the Dunkin Donuts we had spent the morning at.

This story overall takes place in five-ish different settings, the Dunkin Donuts, the car, the road the car was parked on, a forested area, and a more swampy area. The Dunkin Donuts is where I’d want the opening scene to take place. The opening shot would look over the table we were all sitting at, looking down to establish where everyone is sitting, where the overall setting is, and to draw attention to the pile of papers on the table. This is where we’d introduce each of the characters, with the camera looking at each character as they have dialogue from the point of view from the center of the table. The camera would pan from one character to another as they had dialogue. As characters would talk about particular features of the puzzle, the camera might tilt downward as a character talked to reveal something in front of them that might clarify the plot, like coordinates written on a napkin or a GPS with a particular location marked. I was also thinking about potentially including an over-the-shoulder shot where a waitress offers a coffee refill, not adding much to the story but giving the scene a little more spacial awareness.
The four characters would be loosely based off of my own interpretations of my friends. One character would the driving force and “motivator” to actually keep the group looking for the box; walking first into the woods, driving the car to particular locations. A lot of shots would be centered around him or seen from his point of view, trying to push that he is the main character. He would be an average height, a cheesy beaten up t-shirt, a pair of already dirty jeans and a backpack. The second character would be a tall girl wearing basketball shorts and a tank-top. Her role in the story would be to be someone that the main character could talk to about the “how” we were going to find the box, while eventually creating some discourse and drama once the group gets stuck in the woods. She would sit in the passenger seat of the car, and probably have more dialogue than the other characters. The third character, a shorter blonde boy wearing cargo shorts, a grass-stained t-shirt and thick rimmed glasses, would act as unworried comic relief throughout the film. He would walk a little slower, be a little more curious than everyone else, and have very little dialogue, although his dialogue would have a large impact whenever he spoke, whether that be comedy or importance to the plot. The forth character would be a well-built guy, taller than the rest of the characters. He would also wear cargo shorts, a t-shirt, and flip-flops. The flip-flops would eventually be plot relevant, so we might have a couple shots of just the characters feet walking through the forest. This character is meant to be the driving force behind wanting to giving up and creating obstacles. The longer we stay in the woods, the worst it gets for him. This is the character I refer to as “John” throughout my short story above. You should be able to see him give up as his posture and pace gets more and more tired as the film continues.

At the end of the opening scene, I’d like it to cut to a bell on the door, signifying that the characters are leaving, followed by the camera looking at a beater car at a 45 degree angle so you can see the car’s interior. The characters start getting into the car, maybe one or two pause outside the car to exchange some foreshadowing dialogue while getting a close-up shot of their face, and then they all pile into the car and take off.

I’m not quite sure what we’d need exactly for equipment, although we’d definitely need at the very least at least one camera, at least one tri-pod, and a boom mic.

• Saved: Lab2, W1