Roses are Red (2017) is a short, fictional drama/comedy film that follows a couple whose 'romantic' meal turns sour. Whereas, Strike Two (2017) is a short, fictional action film about an experienced thief who informs his partner about how to commit the perfect theft.
World of the Story
Roses are Red
My initial idea for the setting was a meal in a fancy restaurant. However, after developing the idea with the director; we agreed that it would add to the comedic value if Elliot's idea of romantic meal was a kebab shop. In this way, the setting is showing that he is dismissive of what Victoria wants and is only thinking about himself. Actions such as Elliot continuing to eat the kebab even when he is confronted by Victoria, show him as a careless character who struggles to see the seriousness of the situation. Victoria and Elliot are clearly unhealthy for each other thus the irony of the kebab shop.
Strike Two
Strike Two takes place in an alleyway and a convenience store. I wanted to move between the different locations when Tyler begins to talk about a plan because I wanted to give the audience a clear visual of Tyler's thought process, rather than attempting to imagine it for themselves. The change of location makes Tyler's explanation easier for the audience to follow and understand, as well as showing how the action on screen coincides with the plan.
Characters
Elliot and Victoria
Elliot and Victoria are based on two characters that I had already developed for my Year of the Dragon (ongoing) series. I had already written a short scene for these characters that focuses on how toxic their relationship is in 2015, but decided to delete the scene as the narrative within the story shifted. However, I decided to use the scene as inspiration for the one minute script project. I changed the dialogue and setting, but kept the relationship between the characters the same.
My intention was for Elliot to be a selfish character that disregards Victoria's feelings even after she calls him out for sleeping with her sister. For example, he calls it an 'accident' and shrugs when Victoria questions him showing that he does not feel guilty for what he did.
At first it seems like Victoria is willing to forgive Elliot's behaviour and she even apologies for apparently 'ruining' the romantic meal. I wanted to imply that Victoria's apparent submissiveness in this scene is something that Elliot has been used to throughout their relationship. However, Elliot has crossed a line in their relationship in which Victoria refuses to accept his behaviour. Therefore, she decides to play into his gullible nature by starting to address him sweetly before finishing with the final line in which Elliot receives his comeuppance.
Tyler and Brody
I used Tyler and Brody because I wanted to create two characters in which one of them has the upper hand over the other. Tyler is arrogant and has a lot of knowledge about thievery, whereas Brody is inexperienced and is following Tyler's lead. Therefore, Tyler tries to act like Brody's teacher by telling him what to do.
For instance, the audience see that Brody is anxious as soon as the two men reach the alleyway. Whereas, Tyler appears relaxed and tells Brody to calm down.
Due to Tyler's experience, he is able to take Brody's wallet from him without him noticing. In this way, he is teaching Brody the lesson that he has been attempting to teach him all along about thievery.
However, my previous draft of the script had a slightly different ending. For instance, even though I did not shift the character dynamic around between Tyler and Brody, I decided to have a twist at the end. My idea was that even though Tyler is the one teaching Brody the lesson, that Brody has been a lot more observant than he thought and is able to get the upper hand on his experienced companion. Therefore, the previous draft had Brody stealing Tyler's wallet from him.
It was a challenge to create one minute scripts that had a clear start, middle and end. A lot of the writing process involved experimenting with different ideas and seeing what would fit into a one minute script and what would be too ambitious for one minute. As challenging as the project was, I am glad that I was able to create two short films that I can look back on and be proud of.