The Distressed Damsel

Having reconsidered my original wolf screenplay, It became time to write another short fairytale piece, one that would be simpler to produce, and utilise the limitations of the assignment; one that would take advantage of my need to shoot this entire short film on a mobile phone. As the original one page challenge had produced me a workable screenplay last month, I decided to set myself a similar set of limitations for this new piece, as a method of controlling my urge to write a longer, more dramatic piece of work.

The rules I determined the screenplay should abide by were as follows:

1. The script should feature no more than two characters (preferably just a single lead if possible)

2. The script MUST fit within three pages (and not a single character more!)

3. I should aim to set the piece within a single, easy to source, Interior location.

4. Whilst not compulsory, I wanted to limit the amount of dialogue within this new story.

5. Finally, the script should feature moments that I could film in ways that a traditional camera would not allow, either by placing the phone In a smaller space, or by virtue of a moment that could be best filmed from multiple vantage points.

I still like the concept of having my film focus on Mr.Wolf as the protagonist, but the character study I intended feels too dialogue heavy to fit within the confines highlighted above. For this reason, I have taken the decision to highlight a different fairytale, and aim for a somewhat different tone than previously planned. I mentioned In my post on Thor: Ragnarok that I would be interested in writing another comedy piece, and so decided that to outline an idea that would take a more humorous look at a traditional story; Snow White, with focus on the magical mirror.

In keeping with the twist of my wolf story, I wanted to pitch this interpretation as a dark comedy, with the mirror being less of an aid to the princess, and instead (remember that the story has to be modernised), a camera, delivering footage of the protagonist to a shady figure on the other side. The original Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) film begins with a storybook describing the powers of the looking glass, and I decided to parody that in the opening of the short film.

As you can see above, the film builds up towards two particular jokes. The opening gag, about the magical mirror now offering Wi-Fi, and the eventual reveal that the mirror is a trap provided by the protagonist’s slightly creepy uncle! The dark nature of the piece isn’t revealed until the final moments, and this choice was inspired by a short film called ‘Crocodile’. I saw this short in 2015 at the Cannes Film Festival, and have always seen it as an inspiration for how to construct a short, effective comedy piece.

<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/118819016″>Drama: Crocodile</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/xfilm”>xFilm</a&gt; on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Like Crocodile, the early stages of my film are relatively upbeat. I intend to use a subtle, yet electronic score for the bedroom scene, and keep this as an upbeat, fast piece of music to guide the audience into a false sense of security. The editing during these moments should be fast, and I possibly want to use fast camera movements too as the girl tries on all of her outfits (I may add more of these on the day). Moreover, I wish to include shots where the camera is situated within her wardrobe, something that would be harder to achieve with a traditional shooter, and cut between multiple viewpoints when possible too.

I feel that this screenplay fits all of the criteria I set above. The main bedroom location can easily be sourced, and the other two scenes could be shot in many different places, so I’m confident they’ll be easy to produce. The mirror/uncle character would only be needed for half a day at maximum, and most of his lines would be recorded in a V/O booth. I was initially concerned about the final shot of the princess, where she is to appear naked to the mirror. The solution to this shot, is to have the princess sit down on her bed, and to have the camera track behind her as she moves. On set, this means the actress can be clothed as we only need to see her shoulders, and she would then block her reflection in the mirror. I want this moment to be subtle and tasteful, yet obvious. The reveal of the uncle will need to be a rather fast punchline, and I feel a gratuitous shot of the naked protagonist would cause too much of a tonal shift for the comedic moment to really work.

This screenplay has received positive feedback, and I hope to film it over the coming weeks. I can see it being simple to edit, and and hopeful that the reduced dialogue means that sound on set will be easier than shooting the wolf story outside. My only remaining concern is the moment with the book, however do not see this being too difficult to produce in Photoshop, and I can always coffee dye the paper to give the impression of a classical tome. I am confident that this film will fit the brief, and just hope that the intended audience will find it amusing!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. (1937). [film] Directed by D.Hand. United States: Walt Disney Pictures

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