RESEARCH

 CAMERA LIGHTENING AND EDITING TECHNIQUES 
FOR THRILLER

PLANNING OUT THE CAST

 since we all know due to the pandemic we were strictly given rules to do social distancing and were unable to properly hold audition however our last option was to text our friends and different people on whatsapp or instagram and ask them if they were interested. Even though we made flyers but we have to send them to everyone through message.

FINAL DRAFT SCRIPT

 SHORT FILM BY GOLDEN SCRIPTS PRODUCTION 

CHECKMATE

Scene 1: setting: living room/kitchen, coffee table

Scene starts with a mid-shot of a guy (Jonathan) sitting at a coffee table with chess in front of him. He’s holding a pawn and looking at it intently with a sense of aggression on his face and soon the scene moves towards a flashback with a transition.

*overall complete flashback starts*

*flashback 1of 10 years ago (time lapse clearly mentioned on the down-right corner of the scene)*

Scene starts in a kitchen: two boys, one of age 14 and the other around 17, playing chess on a dinner table. An aura of stress and confusion surrounds the room as both have immersed themselves in the game, and this is quite evident as they’ve clearly ignored their mother calling them down for dinner.

Mom: “SAM COME DOWNSTAIRS AND BRING YOUR LITTLE BROTHER WITH YOU”

Sam: Just a minute mother.

Both the brothers, Sam and Jonathan carry on with their moves when finally the ending point arrives. Jonathan looks at his brother (Sam) intently trying to figure out his next move. Soon Sam picks up the pawn and knocks down the king. And say this dialogue in between his actions.

“Once you reach the core, the lives lost don’t matter anymore”, “checkmate”

Jonathan boils in anger and flips the chess board. And looks at him in anger, sound of his heavy breathe echoes in the room. Sam not taking his useless tantrums slaps him on his face. Jonathan looks up in shock and looks straight into Sam’s eyes. Sam exhales, a long deep sigh and puts an arm on his brother’s shoulder softly and says:

“Stay calm brother and plot even after you lose or be a slave to your opponent”                                            

Sam gets up and leave. Jonathan looks up his direction with anger and hatred and says “I sure will plot dear brother”

*childhood flashback ends*

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Scene 2: “PRESENT”: Setting: cemetery

10 years later (time lapse clearly mentioned on the down-right corner of the scene)

*flashback of the present day 2*

It’s the same once again. Both of them standing side by side but all grown up. But it’s not just the age but that tragic car accident of their parents that left them all alone in this world, no one but them looking out for each other. Yet still not clear if both of them wanted to look after each other or it’s just a one sided approach.

Both dressed in black suits, their heads down and white flowers in their hands. Jonathan picks his head up and looks in the direction of Sam- who’s forehead is bandaged- with all the hatred and the feeling of vengeance. The scene transitions into the flashback of the memories that run through his mind adding fuel to that hatred and lust for vengeance.

>flashback i: shot of young Sam playing chess with his father. Young Jonathan approaches his father on the coffee table, pulls his arm to make him pay attention to the drawing he made but father brushed him off and cheered and congratulated Sam for making an amazing chess move. Their Mom also enters the room with a pride quite evident on her face and hugs Sam and kisses him on his forehead. Jonathan looks at his brother with hatred and leaves while Sam watches him with kind eyes. 

Accident flashback ii (a day before the funeral):

Mom: I’m sorry we had to leave you behind cuz you had work. 

  A shot of Sam and his parents leaving the house together, closing the door while Jonathan stays back looking at them with tears in his eyes with books in his hands. He had to stay back due to his work so Sam and their parents decided to go on vacation on their own, which didn’t set well with Jonathan but he couldn’t do anything about it. 

Then the scene moves forward showing Sam driving the car with his father sitting on the passengers seat and his mother at the back, the car stops immediately indication that there s is some kind of problem with in the internal parts of the car. As sam gets out of the car and opens the bonnet to see whats wrong, a car comes in the direction of sam and the parents, sadly sam gives in the fear and confusion and runs away from the car falling down on the ground at a distance while the car crashes sam's car. The impact is so severe that the parents don't survive.   

*flashback from the present day ends*

Sam places a hand on Jonathan's shoulder and shakes him as he seems lost in his thoughts. He calls his name to bring him back to reality so that they can leave.

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Scene 3: lately on the funeral day, setting: parent’s house

Both brothers are sitting in the TV lounge, Sam has his arm around Jonathan.

Sam: “it’s just you and me, eh buddy? We gotta look out for each other and keep each other safe. Right? I promise I’ll take care of you.”

Jonathan: “No brother.”

Sam looks at him in confusion. Jonathan takes off his elder brother’s hand and places his own hand over Sam and continues…..

“This time I’ll take care of you”, and smiles looking straight into his eyes. Jonathan slightly applied pressure over his hold on his brother’s shoulder in between delivering this dialogue. Sam noticed it as he looked over to his shoulder, where Jonathan’s hand as placed.  There was a bit of mischief in them but Sam didn’t quite understand for a moment, cuz in those eyes he didn’t see his brother, it was someone else whose intentions were unclear , but not his brother.

Sam looked away as he couldn’t hold that unfamiliar gaze and took a sip of the wine placed in front of him and says:

“Old monk, eh? Good choice”

Jonathan takes a sip of his drink and rests his back with sofa’s arm. And replies

“It sure was a good decision, hard but good”, Jonathan says slowly, taking time between each and every word.

In between him saying this dialogue Sam opens up his shirt buttons as he feels suffocated, sweat drips down from the sides of his forehead and his vision blurs and his stomach feels like it’s being stabbed again and again with a dagger. He looks at his younger brother in disbelief while Jonathan sits their laughing. Sam continues to struggle as his airways feel like they’re blocked and he's being choked.

Jonathan grabs Sam who is already struggling with his life and whispers in his ears:

“This is for what you did to me all my life, how you made me feel unwanted by being mom and dad’s favorite. Pity them for having so much faith in you, and then you killed them. If you hadn’t asked them to go on a vacation with you they would’ve been alive, wish they had trusted me so much instead of you”

During this dialogue above the elder brother struggles with breathing and falls down from the sofa on his knees and then lies down on the ground as white substance drips down his mouth, pain clearly evident from his eyes. A drop of tear falls down his eye as he takes his last breath.

The younger brother stands up, takes out a handkerchief and throws it on his brother’s face from right where he’s standing and says “Good bye dear brother, I won’t miss you” and leaves the room.

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Scene 4: Last scene:

 * Overall complete flashback ends* “continuation of the first scene’s beginning”

Chess board on the same coffee table as the first scene and Jonathan is sitting on the same chair he used to sit on when he was young, while playing chess with Sam. But this time things were different. It was as if they had been revolutionized.

“Checkmate”, he declared with pride in his tone and arrogance in his posture. He reached the core easily this time because he plotted and was patient, only to not become a slave to his winning opponent but to become a winning opponent instead. He sat alone today on that chair but HE who always overpowered him, his only brother, was not there, he lied beneath the dark soil, defeated and perished.

His eyes blazed with fire as the thought of his brother crossed his mind and the memories flew by, but this time it wasn’t out of jealousy but because he had won. For the first time it was him to end the game and declare “Checkmate”.

PLANNING

 VIRTUAL MEETING WITH TEAMMATES 
due to the pandemic schools were closed so we decided to have our meeting on whatsapp call
points were discussed and those who couldnt join the meeting due to internet issues were communicated through whatsapp group chat

PLANNING

 SECOND ROUGH DRAFT OF SCRIPT SHARED BY SCREENWRITER 

Script: Checkmate

- Chess

- Genre: Drama-Thriller

- A story between two brothers, the younger one develops jealousy over time.

Characters:

- Elder brother: Sam

- Younger brother: Jonathan

- Parents