Wednesday 17 January 2018

Scrip to screen project ideas


Character: Robot
Setting: Greenhouse
Prop: Telescope



1) A robot is working in a greenhouse but wishes to see more of the world. At some point they either find or assemble a telescope and use it to look out of the greenhouse windows. It might be looking at other planets/stars, or it might be able to see trees or mountains in the distance. Enamored by what it sees it forms a plan to escape (maybe even using the telescope to start a fire?).
I don’t quite know how I would end this story. It depends whether or not the robot escaping is a good payoff but this idea seems a bit simple at the moment.

2) As part of an interplanetary colonization program a robot is sent of to a distant world to set up a suitable environment for humans. The animation would start as the robot lands on the surface and starts setting up the equipment. Over a long period of time it grows a variety of plants to make the planet/area habitable. Due to a love/fascination with mankind coded into it the robot watches the skies each night, eagerly waiting the day humans come to settle the home it has built for them
As time passes the robot visibly ages, worn down by the environment it is creating. Decades after it first touched down the robot goes out to tend the plants when it sees a light descending into the forest. On rusted joints it hobbles to where the light landed where, in a clearing, sits a gleaming spaceship. As the robot approaches it’s battered systems start to fail. It falls down in the grass, it’s last sight being a group of humans coming down the ship’s ramp.

3) An old inventor has built a robot to tend to his large greenhouse but doesn’t provide it the means to leave. One day the inventor’s grandson visits and catches a glimpse of the robot out of his window. He brings out his telescope and leans out of the window to get a proper look. Noticing the light glinting off of the telescope the robot looks towards the house, adjusting its lenses to get a better view. They both see each other and the child waves. After a pause the robot awkwardly waves back.
They go on for a little while exchanging messages (possibly holding up signs). Then, the child disappears from the window. He checks to see if his grandfather is busy and sneaks out the house. He runs down to the greenhouse and opens the heavy door. The robot is beside itself with excitement, sliding back and forth on it’s tracks. They play together for a while, the robot giving him a rid around the greenhouse. Soon however it’s the afternoon and the child has to go home. They say goodbye and the robot watches the car leave.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Ciaran,

    Idea 2 has the most going for it in my opinion!

    You need to make sure that there is a logic behind how the 3 elements are incorporated into the story, and number 2 does that for me. In number 3 for example, the greenhose is largely irrelevant - the robot could be in the garden washing the car, or mowing the lawn.

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  2. Hi Ciaran - while this isn't an OGR exactly, I think Idea 2 has bags of potential - I love the pathos and tone of it - and your premise here reads well and I can really see the ending - I love the ending! What's important however is you set things up so we are shown that the robot's programming is such that it is compelled to wait for the humans to return - you'll need to get that info on screen and into our heads so we can 'feel' the ending of your film when it comes. Please now develop this idea into a more concrete premise as per the original guidelines of the OGR.

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