FM3 - The Creative Project

Screenplay: ‘It’s A Woman’s World’

1. INT. INSIDE A CAR ON A NEW YORK STREET. DAY.

MAX looks out of the window of his car profoundly, and is constantly checking the time of his expensive watch.

2. INT. MADAMES DE L’AMOUR GENTLEMANS CLUB. DAY.

RENEE rushes around her small dressing room, adorned with vases of lilac and white lilies. Quickly checking her face and hair, she dashes out the door and through the dimly lit, skinny corridor to reach the side of the vast stage. She smoothes down her lilac sequined corset with fringed skirt, her signature colour.

3. EXT. NEW YORK SIDE STREET. DAY.

MAX chucks a 10 dollar note at the driver and dashes out of the cab, making a fast pace towards a rundown building, noting the poster on the side advertising ‘Viola, a beauty from within’, making a slight nod to the grubby looking doorman.

4. INT. MADAMES DE L’AMOUR GENTLEMANS CLUB. DAY.

RENEE enters the stage to cheers from her audience, a large amount for a daytime show. The room in which she is about to perform in is dark, coloured in deep reds and purples. The chairs adorn velvet covers, and the men that perch on them are just as dark and sultry as the room they sit in. The music kicks in, she is introduced as VIOLA, and she begins her burlesque act. The audience looks on, entranced by her.

MAX slowly walks into the room and instantly realises what the fuss was about. He takes a seat in a dim corner booth and is captivated by VIOLA, as she sensually dances to the music.

RENEE finishes her act to loud applause, and sashays off the stage to her minute dressing room. She slips out of her stage costume and quickly throws on a purple wrap dress, pushes her large tortoise shell sunglasses onto her face, and places the large black floppy hat on her head. She throws her black cape over her shoulders. RENEE picks up her handbag and briskly leaves the room, walking quickly towards the back exit of the club. As she is about to leave, she is approached by a man in a suit; the manager of the club, BURT.

BURT: Here’s your tips doll. You’re the hottest piece of ass I have managed to find in a long time, you’re bringing in the big bucks baby!

RENEE: Um, thanks.

RENEE accepts the cash, and watches him walk away before she leaves. She mutters to herself as she leaves the club.

(Note: This is an extract from the completed screenplay of 1,800 words)

Film Studies: Screenplay Reflective Analysis

For my Film A2 coursework, I decided to create a Screenplay based around two characters, Renee and Max. I chose to do the opening scenes to the movie, as I thought this would give the reader a taster to how the film would play out if further developed, and can really leave the screenplay open for exploration to the reader.

My storyline was inspired by the film Belle De Jour, as I was interested in showing a glamorous side to an industry which is usually perceived as seedy and trashy. One part I was interested in was carrying a French theme throughout the film despite it being set in New York, as I am particularly interested by the French New Wave, and wanted my work to have some form of influence from this era, and from films such as Breathless. My audience therefore would be familiar with both the technical and narrative aspects of the French New Wave and understand the approach to the subject matter that I’ve used. Viewing my character from a more personal perspective is something that I wanted to convey and I believe that this has been achieved, to a certain extent, as Renee/Viola is never portrayed as one-dimensional, an approach that is a significant New Wave component.

The relationship between Michel and Patricia in Breathless was particularly inspiring, as it had a dark meaning behind it, and that was the kind of image I was considering when creating the character of Max, as I wanted him to be a mysterious, shady type of person. When imagining the character of Renee, I actually based her on both Patricia in Breathless, and Severine in Belle De Jour. I loved the idea that Renee would have similar attributes to Patricia, in that she would be a very aspiring and ambitious woman, yet easily seduced. My influence for Severine drew the idea of Renee’s stage name and alter ego; Viola. Viola is a much more classy version of Renee, an elegant and sexy woman. I was inspired by Severine as I feel Belle De Jour is a much more reserved film, more classy in its interpretation of women, and ultimately as escorts. My audience may see the similarities in the portrayal of these characters and would be able to appreciate the subtle hints and possible intertextual references involved in the narrative and characterisations employed.

I think one factor I feel could have been developed on is the fluidity of my screenplay. When read, my screenplay would have been quite a small section of the film despite the length of the text, as I chose to focus my screenplay mostly on the mise-en-scene, to ensure the script could really ‘play out’ in the readers mind, and so an image could be created from my screenplay rather than heavily featuring dialogue. I think that because of this however my script suffered in its fluency. I could have rectified this by perhaps adding more, short scenes rather than such lengthy ones like I did. This would have made my screenplay a lot more fluid, rather than written in blocks, which is how I perceived it. It would also have greater resembled a New Wave format in the way it progressed at pace. Nevertheless, as New Wave films are generally heavily spontaneously composed, when directed and edited these elements could be further enhanced.

I was happy with how I chose to focus on mise-en-scene throughout my text, as I think this really broadened my script. By focusing on the description and exploration of the mise-en-scene, I think that it helped give a deeper feel to the text, and contributed towards my text really being as detailed and intricate as I believe it is. Audiences would definitely be able to feel the ‘seediness’ I intended to include in the scenes to create a more complete atmosphere.

My intention for this script was to insert dialogue at the right moments, and I think this was important as a script without dialogue would have been unrealistic, and would have become more of an essay than a screenplay. I think that I used an appropriate amount of dialogue in my script, as it is enough to understand what is happening in my text, yet not so much that it becomes too much. The dialogue that is used is mostly between Max and Renee. I thought this was really important to ensure a connection is made between the pair right from the beginning of my film. This is also important as I did write this as if it would be a very long film, and it is important that the viewer would grasp the relationship and the chemistry between Max and Renee right from the very beginning. I think this has been achieved successfully as the scene and the language used function to set up their characters extremely well.

My mise-en-scene is used in the correct places to not only help describe the places in which the film would be set, but also helps create a persona for Renee, and really helps to symbolise what her character represents. I think that it contributed to presenting the character in such a feminine way, and by describing things such as the clutter of her house in so much detail, I think this helped to show how I envisaged the character of Renee to be, and how catastrophic and energetic her life could be.

Overall I feel I succeeded in creating a detailed yet fluid screenplay. Despite there being a few things I could have perhaps improved on, overall I am happy with how my screenplay has turned out.