LOGLINE
Alice Duggan suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She is obsessed with the number five. She struggles to live a normal life without her mental illness taking over.
Short Synopsis
A small portion of a short film. A day in the life of Alice Duggan. She discovers she has been accepted to a number of universities but worries about how she will tell her mother. She seeks the help of a friend and her physiologist in the process.
CHARACTER PROFILES
ALICE DUGGAN
Aspiring Modern Art Professor Alice Duggan (19) is quiet, intelligent and shy. She enjoys reading, writing and drawing. She has few friends and spends most of her time at home. She still lives in her childhood home with her mother but wishes she could move away and have her own space. She doesn’t remember her father.
She suffers from OCD which she was diagnosed with at the age of seven and is obsessed with the number five. Things such as light switches cause a lot of difficulty. Her disorder frustrates her and is the main focus of her life despite her yearning for normality.
She has a petite frame and wears simple clothing and little make-up. Dark hair, shoulder length, fringe. Brown eyes.
JULIE DUGGAN
General Practice Doctor Julie Duggan (45) is an over protective single mother. She and her husband separated soon after their daughter Alice turned three. She has had no significant relationships since due to Alice’s disorder. Her daughter’s welfare is her top priority. This causes tension between herself and Alice because her daughter often complains that she is feeling suffocated.
She relies on facts and figures. She is well informed in OCD and uses her medical knowledge regularly when dealing with Alice’s condition.
She has a group of friends who she sees but not often. She works three days a week.
Julie has an average build, dark hair and dresses smartly. She takes pride in her appearance, perhaps to create the illusion that her life is under control.
JESS PARKER
Best friend to Alice, Jess (17) comes from a large family. Her life contrasts vastly with Alice’s. She gets little attention from her parents due to their busy work lives. She is two years younger than Jess and is in her last year of school. She cares deeply about her friend but the two girls don’t often discuss Alice’s condition. They have known each other since primary school and live on the same street.
Jess is average height and build, she has blonde hair and green eyes. She despises school and looks forward to the day she can leave. She doesn’t have any particular plans for her future, she admires Alice’s passion for art and wishes she could find something she could be equally animated about.
Aspiring Modern Art Professor Alice Duggan (19) is quiet, intelligent and shy. She enjoys reading, writing and drawing. She has few friends and spends most of her time at home. She still lives in her childhood home with her mother but wishes she could move away and have her own space. She doesn’t remember her father.
She suffers from OCD which she was diagnosed with at the age of seven and is obsessed with the number five. Things such as light switches cause a lot of difficulty. Her disorder frustrates her and is the main focus of her life despite her yearning for normality.
She has a petite frame and wears simple clothing and little make-up. Dark hair, shoulder length, fringe. Brown eyes.
JULIE DUGGAN
General Practice Doctor Julie Duggan (45) is an over protective single mother. She and her husband separated soon after their daughter Alice turned three. She has had no significant relationships since due to Alice’s disorder. Her daughter’s welfare is her top priority. This causes tension between herself and Alice because her daughter often complains that she is feeling suffocated.
She relies on facts and figures. She is well informed in OCD and uses her medical knowledge regularly when dealing with Alice’s condition.
She has a group of friends who she sees but not often. She works three days a week.
Julie has an average build, dark hair and dresses smartly. She takes pride in her appearance, perhaps to create the illusion that her life is under control.
JESS PARKER
Best friend to Alice, Jess (17) comes from a large family. Her life contrasts vastly with Alice’s. She gets little attention from her parents due to their busy work lives. She is two years younger than Jess and is in her last year of school. She cares deeply about her friend but the two girls don’t often discuss Alice’s condition. They have known each other since primary school and live on the same street.
Jess is average height and build, she has blonde hair and green eyes. She despises school and looks forward to the day she can leave. She doesn’t have any particular plans for her future, she admires Alice’s passion for art and wishes she could find something she could be equally animated about.
Treatment
Alice wakes up, brushes her teeth and goes downstairs for breakfast. She s greeted by a pile of letters addressed to her. Her mother Julie has prepared her food and is about to leave for work. The two exchange pleasantries and Alice’s mother is clearly worried about leaving her daughter alone for the day due to her obsessive compulsive disorder. She urges Alice to take her medication and leaves for work. Alice opens the letters one at a time and is shocked to find that they are acceptance letters to several universities. She applied to them without her mother’s knowledge due to her over protective tendencies.
Alice rushes out of the house and runs down the street to her best friend Jess’s house. She hysterically tells Jess her news and the girls celebrate together. They go inside for a cup of tea. They discuss the acceptance letters and the issue of Alice’s Mum. Jess gently brings up Alice's condition, showing concern. Alice gets frustrated at her friend’s fussing.
Jess has so leave for school so Alice returns home. She showers, dresses and tidies her bedroom.
She tries to avoid taking her medication, convincing herself that she doesn’t need it but eventually does.
She has a counselling session with Dr. Fry during which they discuss her difficulties and her university places. Dr. Fry convinces her to tell her mother. She returns home and awaits Julie’s return. The door opens and she greets her mother.
Alice rushes out of the house and runs down the street to her best friend Jess’s house. She hysterically tells Jess her news and the girls celebrate together. They go inside for a cup of tea. They discuss the acceptance letters and the issue of Alice’s Mum. Jess gently brings up Alice's condition, showing concern. Alice gets frustrated at her friend’s fussing.
Jess has so leave for school so Alice returns home. She showers, dresses and tidies her bedroom.
She tries to avoid taking her medication, convincing herself that she doesn’t need it but eventually does.
She has a counselling session with Dr. Fry during which they discuss her difficulties and her university places. Dr. Fry convinces her to tell her mother. She returns home and awaits Julie’s return. The door opens and she greets her mother.
Script
EVALUATION
I wrote my script using the online program Celtx as it automatically puts your text into a screenplay format. Before this I had started on Microsoft Word and was just using the Courier font and the tab key, (Three times for character name and once for dialogue.) This was a very longwinded process and in the end decided to use Celtx instead as it saved time and looked a lot more professional. When using the program I learned about Parenthetical (action or attitude direction for a character) and various other things such as how to format a scene heading, where to add 'MORE' and 'CONT'D' as well as putting 'FADE IN' at the top of the first page.
I think I made good use of the parenthetical and was also able to show that I understood extensions such as 'o.s' (off screen dialogue).
In terms of other script functions, I think I should have used transitions to explain certain editing instructions and perhaps if I had wanted to experiment further I could have used intercuts to create two parallel scenes in different locations.
In terms of the narrative of my script I think I could have done much better. I was more concerned about the format and the pitch pack on a whole but I would have liked to have spent more time on the story. I think my characters were well developed and I definitely found writing the character profiles beforehand useful. However when it came to actually writing my script I think I should have written my treatment first so I had a clear structure to follow. Instead I just started writing and found that I went off on tangents a number of times and ended up with a lot of excess script and dialogue. I think my script needed more drama and suspense, I definitely started to ramble and I think this made the script a little dull. I think the original idea was strong but I didn't plan well enough and didn't give myself a huge amount of time to complete the script.
Having said this I think that there are certain parts of the script which are quite well written such as the opening scene and the closing scene, both of which use a sound bridge over a black screen which I think added suspense quite well.
I think I made good use of the parenthetical and was also able to show that I understood extensions such as 'o.s' (off screen dialogue).
In terms of other script functions, I think I should have used transitions to explain certain editing instructions and perhaps if I had wanted to experiment further I could have used intercuts to create two parallel scenes in different locations.
In terms of the narrative of my script I think I could have done much better. I was more concerned about the format and the pitch pack on a whole but I would have liked to have spent more time on the story. I think my characters were well developed and I definitely found writing the character profiles beforehand useful. However when it came to actually writing my script I think I should have written my treatment first so I had a clear structure to follow. Instead I just started writing and found that I went off on tangents a number of times and ended up with a lot of excess script and dialogue. I think my script needed more drama and suspense, I definitely started to ramble and I think this made the script a little dull. I think the original idea was strong but I didn't plan well enough and didn't give myself a huge amount of time to complete the script.
Having said this I think that there are certain parts of the script which are quite well written such as the opening scene and the closing scene, both of which use a sound bridge over a black screen which I think added suspense quite well.
Overall I think I could have done better as I have already written number of scripts in my spare time which were more successful than this one however I think the idea was strong and if I had taken more time and planned better I think I would have had a really good final product.