Commissions | Scripts and Transcripts (+ Utilising Google Drive)

I took on the task of writing the bulk of the script, and in order to keep the rest of the group in-the-know, we opted to use Google Drive as a platform for sharing our documents.  This meant that we could each work on the same document, at the same time over the internet, making a lot easier to collaborate when we were not physically in the same place.

In the shared folder, we also stored the edit files as backup, and all our research so we could refer to it at any time, no matter what system we were using.  I would highly recommend using Google Drive, or a similar tool when working on a project such as this.

Back to the script, I decided to stand up as lead script writer - since I was presenting he documentary, I felt that I would be able to write the commentary how I would naturally say it, hence why I seemed most suitable for the role.  That being said, Katie, Jason and Sonia each contributed their ideas for the pacing and content of the script, and when it came to transcribing, Katie and I split the transcripts, with Sonia helping to pick out parts for the sync assembly as well.

I began by typing up the basic structure of the documentary in paragraph form in the aptly named 'Script Vomit' document, which I would use as a very basic foundation to develop our ideas into written form:



I then set about typing this into a sort of script, although the formatting needed a lot of development:



After speaking to Helen, she demonstrated what needed to be improved from this initial script: generally speaking, I was being too descriptive about the shots and visuals, and nowhere near specific enough about the sync.  She gave us an example of what a documentary script usually looks like, and so I reworked the script into the second draft:



This version of the script gave us a much clearer idea of the overall structure of the documentary and the formatting was much closer to what it should be.  I had yet to add some of the finer details and had left some placeholders in there to be added or changed later, for example, I did not script what I would be saying in the pieces to camera as we had not conducted the interviews yet and I felt that in order for the commentary to make sense, it needed to flow naturally from what was said in the interviews.

At this stage, we were also still planning on adding the challenge element to the doc, following me as I get around without my car.  We decided against this idea as it would make the overall narrative lose form and make it seem disjointed as there would be no natural way to introduce the interviews.  We also had not worked out the situation with our contributors yet, so we were planning for scenarios with or without the driving instructor, student and my dad.  This led us to the next version of the script which we used whilst  shooting:



In this version of the script, I colour-coded each segment to make it easier to track what had been filmed and what had not been filmed.  Green represented what was yet to be filmed, yellow marked what had already been filmed, and blue was used for the commentary, which would be recorded at a later date.  We did not manage to shoot everything on the script, largely due to member of the group having prior commitments which meant they could not help with shooting, but I feel we had enough footage for the rough edit, and if we needed any more footage, we could get these shots fairly easily.

Now shooting had concluded, we had to transcribe the interviews so that we could start on the sync assembly.  Katie transcribed the interview with the insurance broker, whilst I transcribed the interview with Aidan, and we both worked on transcribing the interview with my grandparents as this on was the longest:







This seemed a very laborious task, but would prove to be very useful once it came to the edit.  Every member of the group went through printed versions of the transcripts and highlighted the parts we felt would be most important for the narrative:

then put the sync into the script, cutting out parts we thought we did not need, but there is still more to be cut during the edit:



After hearing the feedback from Zoe, we decided to restructure the documentary so that the narrative was more non-linear.  Therefore, we interjected parts of Samantha's interview throughout.  Here is the final version of the script:



I found the whole process of writing the script very different to what I am used to with drama scripts, mainly because I was editing it before during and after the shoot and edit periods.  The transcripts, whilst tiresome, were incredibly useful during the edit and it really helped having a text version of the documentary to help make the actual one.