Story Telling Unit- Production Schedule

Tuesday 12th November

• Pick camera up from Maidstone studios

Wednesday 13th November 

• First shoot 
• Matthew Johnstone 
• Danny Hewitt
• 10:00-14:00

Thursday 14th November 

• Second shoot 
• Matthew Johnstone
• Danny Hewitt
• 13:00-16:00

Friday 15th November

• Return Camera

Story Telling- Casting and Crew

For my character I asked two people I know and believe to have some of the characteristics that my characters have. The similarities in the two looking like brothers is not perfect but I believe that they both act close to my characters and present them selves in such a way as well.
Peter played by Matthew Johnstone
Jed played by Danny Hewitt
There are no other actors needed for the two roles as they are the only ones featured, I may bring in a few extras to make the setting seem more realistic.

For my Crew I have myself and Chris Sarmieto. I will be working the camera, Chris will be on the audio aspect. I am signing the camera out with Chris therefore we are trying to help each other with the work to make it a easier process.

Story Telling Unit-Trailer

The trailer I would create would be set in the public park and would be the build up of the brothers meeting and part of the talk between the two brothers. I would try to include dialogue but this would be minimal and would feature from the script. I would use the public park in Rochester.

Story Telling Unit- First two minutes

The first two minutes of my film at the moment would be a phone call and the meeting. I could do this by filming the phone call in my location of a clean and perfect bedroom and a messy bedroom. Then the meeting in the public park. This would not include music and would be the set up for the main conversation of the meeting.
I would be using the locations of:

Story Telling Unit- Trailers

Trailers need different aspects to make it grab the audience and peak their interests. A trailer should always have;

• A clear genre
• A unique selling point 
• A mood (happy, sad) usually relating to genre
• The enigma 
• Fast moving action
• The title (at the end)
• Building a climax, to then end the trailer 
• Music to help the mood setting
• Some times Montages

My trailer would have to show my genre of a drama. The unique selling point of being about a cult/commune, the mood would be serious. My enigma would relate to the James Johnson character, but my enigma would not be portrayed by a physical person, but the name. I am unsure of the music I would use for my trailer at the moment. 

Story Telling Unit- Research in to trailers-Old Fangs Trailer

Old Fangs trailer- The trailer introduces the three main characters, it changes from the real world to a cartoon version, shows a short version of the car journey. The music in the trailer is also featured in the film, it is music I would associate it with a thriller. There is a small amount of dialogue that is also in the film. The trailer features basic versions of film clips, if not the whole clip. Ending with the title of the film.

Story Telling Unit- The name of the Church

After many trips to google as to not offend other Churches by using their name in my story I have decided to call it The Church of Our People. It's a made up name and applies to my story, Jamestown has the congregation of The Church of Our People living there. The congregation are followers and believers in James Johnson, he created the Christian church in 2010, James Johnson travelled around England to find the right place to settle his church. He settled on Swindon in 2011, he used the local community hall to host his masses, at first they were not well attended until James Johnson went out to find his "lost souls", he did this by going to AA meetings, holding small conferences around the Swindon area. He posed a new lifestyle for all this that believed that they were alone in the world.

Although not married when he started the church within a year of starting the church he found a wife devoted to Christianity even if slightly lost. He decided to marry Lauren and take care of her and her two children, Hailey and Madison. The family lifestyle and look was good for James Johnson as it made him seam more approachable, this helped him attract families to the congregation. James Johnson did not marry for love, he married for convenience.

Story Telling Unit The Meeting Draft 1

The Meeting Draft 1- My first complete attempt at my script. The story follows two brothers and their struggle to leave a commune. 

The Meeting Draft

Story Telling Unit Film Research: American History X Trailer

American History X is a film based around two brothers and their life in a gang. The gang can be stated as skin heads, they see Hitler as a idol and believe that anyone that is not white is their enemy. The story follows the two brothers as one is in jail and the other younger brother is now joining the group that the older brother Derek was apart of. Derek was sent to prison for killing two men after they tired to steal his car, he was sentenced for three years. Danny was apart of the group with his brother Derek but when his brother was sent away the leader of the gang decided to involve him more in the activities of the group. The story follows the two brothers when Derek gets out of prison and how he tries to distance his family from these people.

This story relates to how my characters are struggling and wanted to be apart of something larger. It also relates in the way that the older brother sees the issue with the group and tries to remove the younger brother from the group that can be described as poison. I believe the group they were part of in American History X can be related to a cult if they had a religious aspect to the general following, without this I would call them as being a large hatred group. The idea of my commune is related to a cult due to the idea due to the base of a religious aspect. As the group I have created is based on fundamental christianity.

StoryTelling Idea 1 for Location of Public Park

Story Telling Unit-Further Research

This book is tells me about the Cult and what the cult began as and how it developed. Some good quotes include "anytime someone destroys your free will, when they take away your mind and your natural ability to think, they have destroyed the person". I believe this helps with my story as Peter is unwilling to listen to anything bad about the leader of the cult therefore it could be interpreted that he is not able to think for himself.

Story Telling Unit- Escaping a cult research

A documentary telling of how two families had different cult experiences but both horrifying. Do not watch if you get upset easily. There is child abuse involved so some viewers may find upsetting. I have written an overview for those who would like to know what it is about.

Brett is a man in a cult that's based on the idea of Polygamy. The leader of the cult abused children and kicked men out as he saw them as competition. Brett was abused in the cult but when he left he realised along with his brother that they were not the only ones to be abused, this caused his brothers suicide. Brett's older brother died of a drug over dose after leaving the cult. Brett sued Warren Jeffs for rape, he won the law suit, many law suits were then put in place by other former members. Warren Jeffs is now on the run for not coming to court, he was captured two years after a warrant was put out. At court Warren stood out of the room when Brett was on the stand in court. Warren is serving life in prison.

Rebekkah and Maura became part of a cult made by Lila and Jim Green, this cult wanted to control all of their lives and imbedded thoughts such as "doubt comes from the devil". The cult in Jim and Lila's eyes was God's army.
Rebekkah is a women brought up in a cult, she snapped out of the "brainwashing" when she was told to spank her young child. This caused her to leave the cult with her child and find her mother who had been previously kicked out. She left with her assigned husband, she believed that they could not have their own thoughts their for up until the point of leaving.
Maura, the mother of Rebekkah that had been treated very badly sued the leaders of the cult and won, they then tore down there compound. Children were beaten in the cult due to the Green's view that children should not make noise and should be beaten if they do so. The Green's still lead the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps.

While watching this I have managed to find some idea's of brainwashing and how it can happen. Also how people can be influenced by fear that they may not go to Heaven. Such quotes as "love bombing" as a way of brain washing, "doubt comes from the devil" imposing the idea that doubting the cult that can cause you harm is letting the devil take over you. This documentary also tells of techniques of breaking a person such as not providing much sleep to the people as to help control how they think and what they do. The documentary also shows how a compound helps the leaders control their followers, they can portray that the rest of the world has the devil where as those in the compound can go to heaven.

Story Telling Unit- Screenplay Scene 1

The Meeting

Written By
Roxanne Meats

Draft 1

INT. BEDROOM, FLAT, DAY

A room with a large wooden desk, single bed pushed against the wall, a small book shelf above the desk filled with books. The room is plain. A large man with dark brown hair and pale skin, dressed in jeans and a top both dark coloured, Jed. Jed pulls out a phone, he dials, we hear the dial tone and it ring.

INT. BEDROOM, FLAT, DAY.

A room with a large wooden desk, single bed in the middle of the room, the desk is covered with dirty plates and cups, newspapers are spread across the floor. We hear a phone ring. A young tall man with dark brown hair, wearing dark jeans and a top under a half untucked shirt, Peter. He slams the bathroom door behind hime as he searches for his phone.

Peter
Hello?

Peter sits on the bed, throwing a handful of the clothes off the bed before he does.

Jed (V/O)
Peter, where are you?

Peter
I am in my room in Jamestown. Why?

Jed (V/O)
I need to see you it's urgent.

Peter
I have a meeting with James today, so I can't well not today.

Jed (V/O)
Forget James, come meet me in the park at twelve hundred hours.

Peter
I just can't cancel on James Johnson himself, and twelve hundred hours, really brother? You are no longer a Sargent, you need to stop talking like that.

Jed (V/O)
Just meet me.

We hear a dial tone. Peter puts the phone on the bed next to him, he puts his head into his hands. Peter picks up his phone we hear a ring.

Story Telling Unit Locations 1

The Meeting- Locations

Location 1-
Bedroom on commune site (all areas would look the same)-everything in place, clean, organised with books, plain walls, empty desk, no photographs.

Linked up by phone call

Location 2-
Bedroom on commune site- messy, empty boxes everywhere, news papers everywhere, desk full of dirty dishes, one photograph of the two main characters. Clothes spread across the floor.

Location 3-
Public park- busy public park, dog walkers, groups of people sitting on the grass, yoga class in the background.

Story Telling Unit-Cult Documentary - Evil Cult Leaders

This documentary talks about cult leaders and the psychology about cult leaders and how they control the mind of others. The documentary works on a system of a scale of "most evil", the scale weighs the criminal mind and the crime. Between serial killers and impulsive murders, the scale is 1-22. This documentary tells of leaders that commit crimes and how they manipulate others to commit acts of murder. The scale tells the difference between killers of minds are over taken by madness and those who are in control of their actions. To place each cult leader on the scale, the Dr Stone assess the cruelty of their acts and the evolution of their beliefs. They provide a scientific explanation of the cult leaders and why they may hear voices. They start with the crime of Shoko Asahara. The second Aldofo Constanzo. Next there is Charles Manson. Then Jim Jones of Jonestown.

From this documentary I have learnt about cult leaders and the psychology of how the leaders actions can be explained in different terms then just good and evil. Also I have learnt from a criminal perspective how the cult leaders can be classed as more evil than others.

Story Telling Unit Research into Cults

This documentary assess the cults and their leaders. It also gives aspects of how the government may be hiding how dangerous the cults are to the public. This documentary  is mainly based on different conspiracy's, and how they can be related to these cults, it provides examples of cults and how they can be related to real stories and tragedies.

Story Telling Unit- Script Writing Practice

THE JOURNEY

Written by
Sophie Marriott AND Roxanne Meats
Draft 1
Tuesday 8th October 2013

Flat 16, Sedge Moore House, Doust Way
Rochester
ME11HH

EXT. BUS STOP - DAY
A BUSY bus station, buses pulling in and out of the station. A small group of UNIVERSITY STUDENTS standing at a stop, waiting for a bus. ELLIE the 21 year old, straight edged student. A happy, outgoing 19 year old with long blonde hair named HAILEY.

ELLIE

What time is the bus coming?

HAILEY

It will be here soon.

As Hailey stops speaking a black mini bus pulls up to the bus stop, the bus has no other passengers on it, there are words on the side of the bus but they are no longer clear. The group of students SLOWLY approach the bus.

ELLIE (V/O)

I wonder if this is the right bus

it does not look the same as normal.

 The bus doors open with a BANG. JIMMY, the tall masculine leader of the group, steps on to the bus. The BUS DRIVER is a tall bald man with a long grey beard, he's wearing all black with heavy boots. 

JIMMY

Where is this bus going?

BUS DRIVER (blunt)

Maidstone.

Jimmy turns to the fellow students. The students look PUZZLED. A timid young man, smartly dressed named James.

JIMMY

This is the bus, lets go.

ELLIE (V/O)

What the hell is going on, no one

else is getting on the bus.

HAILEY (V/O)

This seems weird, I don’t like

this.

JAMES

I don’t want to get on this bus.

JIMMY (angry)

Get on the bus we are going to be late.

All the students follow Jimmy on to the bus....

I/E. INSIDE BUS AND ROAD - DAY
We see the bus driving down the road missing the turn off for Maidstone, gaining SPEED. The direction of the bus is not recognised by the students, and suddenly is changed from being on a road to a dirt track, surrounded by trees and no other vehicles. 

JAMES (V/O)

Where is the bus driver taking us?

We’ve missed the turning.

JIMMY (V/O)

We are going too fast, this wasn’t

a good idea, maybe I should’ve listened to James.

Ellie exchanges a look of CONFUSION to Hailey. Jimmy and James notice their expressions. Ellie approaches the front of the mini bus.

ELLIE 

Where are we going?

BUS DRIVER

 (uninterested)

We will be there soon?

James walks to the front of the bus to join Ellie.

JAMES

What’s going on? Where are we?

EXT. ROAD - DAY
The bus pulls over. And opens the door with a BANG, the driver steps out of the bus onto a driveway, a large, dark building in the background, the building had darkened windows and doors covered with wood, the group look at him with dismay.

JIMMY

Lets get off the bus.

The students step off the bus and take in their surroundings. Ellie and Hailey move closer towards each other, linking arms. The bus driver turns around, steps back onto the bus and SPEEDS off away from the building.

HAILEY

Where are we? This is really

strange.

JIMMY

 Everything’s fine, stop worrying.

The students do not recognise the building and start walking towards it...... 

Story Telling Research into Cults

Cult Conflict

Uganda, Jonestown, and other cults in history

by Elissa Haney

Murder and Suicide in Uganda

When 530 members of the Ugandan sect the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God died in an intentionally set fire on March 17, 2000, it was labeled the second-worst mass suicide on record, after Jonestown.

Upon further examination of the cult's compound in Kanungu, however, officials decided instead to handle it as a murder investigation. The bodies of 388 additional people—many clearly stabbed or strangled to death—have since been found buried in several mass graves on property owned by the sect.

Police have speculated that the Movement's leaders were systematically killing off members in the months leading up to the deadly blaze. Sixty-eight-year-old Joseph Kibwetere, the top leader, had prophesized that the world would end on Dec. 31, 1999. When this did not happen, Kibwetere changed the date of impending doom to Dec. 31, 2000. Some investigators believe that members of the cult were killed for expressing their disbelief or for requesting that the possessions they surrendered upon joining the cult be returned to them.

The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was founded in 1994 by former prostitute Credonia Mwerinde. Mwerinde and Kibwetere are believed to have fled the Kanungu compound before it was destroyed by the fire.

Story Telling Research Cults

Ministry of Terror

The Jonestown Cult Massacre

by Elissa Haney

The vat containing Jones' deadly concoction sits amid the bodies of his followers on Nov. 20, 1978. (Source/AP) Cult leader Jim Jones.

Two decades ago an unusual series of events led to the deaths of more than 900 people in the middle of a South American jungle. Though dubbed a "massacre," what transpired at Jonestown on November 18, 1978, was to some extent done willingly, making the mass suicide all
the more disturbing.

The Jonestown cult (officially named the "People's Temple") was founded in 1955 by Indianapolis preacher James Warren Jones. Jones, who had no formal theological training, based his liberal ministry on a combination of religious and socialist philosophies.

A New, Isolated Community

After relocating to California in 1965, the church continued to grow in membership and began advocating their left-wing political ideals more actively. With an I.R.S. investigation and a great deal of negative press mounting against the radical church, Jones urged his congregation to join him in a new, isolated community where they could escape American capitalism—and criticism—and practice a more communal way of life.

In 1977, Jones and many of his followers relocated to Jonestown, located on a tract of land the People's Temple had purchased and begun to develop in Guyana three years earlier.

Relatives of cult members soon grew concerned and requested that the U.S. government rescue what they believed to be brainwashed victims living in concentration camp-like conditions under Jones's power.

The Visit of Congressman Ryan

In November 1978, California Congressman Leo Ryan arrived in Guyana to survey Jonestown and interview its inhabitants. After reportedly having his life threatened by a Temple member during the first day of his visit, Ryan decided to cut his trip short and return to the U.S. with some Jonestown residents who wished to leave. As they boarded their plane, a group of Jones's guards opened fire on them, killing Ryan and four others.

Some members of Ryan's party escaped, however. Upon learning this, Jones told his followers that Ryan's murder would make it impossible for their commune to continue functioning. Rather than return to the United States, the People's Temple would preserve their church by making the ultimate sacrifice: their own lives. Jones's 912 followers were given a deadly concoction of purple Kool-Aid mixed with cyanide, sedatives, and tranquilizers. Jones apparently shot himself in the head.

Story Telling Unit Character profiles 1

Main characters:

Jed-
Age-28
Job-Maintenance Engineer for the Hilton Hotel
Family- One brother, two parents, a ex-wife and a son.
Personality- Kind, Smart, Reliable.
Back story (highlights)-
After having problems while serving a tour in Afghanistan he left his military career. He came back a different person and this lead to his divorce from his wife Jessica, his son Bradley lives with Jessica in the house him and his wife shared. Jed now stays in a room provided by the Hilton Hotel where he works in Swindon. He attended AA meetings with his younger bother Peter as to make sure he was on a full recovery, this is where he met James Johnson during a convention he was running and then later at a AA meeting with is brother. Jed was taken in with the charismatic man, Jed believed that the community that James Johnson would except him for the person he had become.

 Peter
Age-26
Job-Sales Advisor for T-Mobile
Family- One brother, two parents and a nephew
Personality- Easily lead, aggressive, can be known to act out for attention, does not feel that he fits in his family dynamic, although always wants to be around his brother and nephew.
Back story (highlights)-
A recovering alcoholic that can not keep down a job for long due to his alcoholism, he joined the commune with his brother to feel that he belongs in a group after meeting James Johnson at a AA meeting held at the hotel Jed works at in Swindon. Peter had never been religious before meeting James Johnson but the charismatic leader provided a goal for Peter that did not end at the bottom of a bottle, it ended in Heaven with his brother.

James Johnson-
Age-47
Job- Self proclaimed prophet
Family-Unknown
Personality- Charismatic, confident, acts omnipotent (all knowing), can be aggressive when feels his way of life questioned or threatened.
A charismatic person that started a commune because he believes he can create a better life style for all that follows him. Therefore all believers will be accepted into heaven. He pitches his new lifestyle and commune idea at AA meeting, churches and conventions often held at hotels.