Storyline

We have decided to take a storyline from a book and twist it to fit more around our genre and the style of film we want to create. We like the idea of the storyline of this book as it not only has a genre similar to ours but it is aimed at people our age which we think would is good as it would be easier for us to change the storyline and make the opening 2 minute of the film.

The book we have chosen to base the storyline on is Illuminated by Erica Orloff.

This is the blurb of the book:

‘Some loves are not made to last . . . Like Romeo and Juliet, Heloise and Abelard were doomed from the start, and their romance was destined to pass into history. Yet when sixteen-year-old Callie Martin discovers a diary hidden within an antique book, their story—and hers—takes on another life. For the diary leads Callie to the brilliant and handsome August, who is just as mysterious as the secret the diary hides. Their attraction is undeniable. As the two hunt down the truth behind the diary—and that of Heloise and Abelard’s ancient romance—their romance becomes all-consuming. But Callie knows it can’t last . . . love never does. Will their love that burns as bright as a shooting star flame out, or will these star-crossed lovers be able to defy history?’

We have chosen to base our film around the storyline of this book for a number of reasons. Firstly, the blurb doesn’t give too much away about the full storyline, which would give us room to add in our own twists and allow us to be creative with the opening two minutes perhaps taking a section from the blurb and using that as our opening rather than struggling to create a opening that could fit in with the rest of the story.

We discarded the other books that we looked into as we felt that they were too deep for us to be able to make the film about and that we wouldn’t be able to portray the full storyline in the first 2 minutes.

One of the books we discarded, as the base of our storyline was Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler, originally we thought that the storyline was good and that we would consider it as the base of our storyline but when re-reading the blurb we decided that we wouldn’t be able to create the emotions that are meant to be being felt by the main character and therefore discarded this book.

The blurb for Twenty Boy Summer:

            ‘According to Anna’s best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there’s a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie–she’s already had her romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

TWENTY BOY SUMMER explores what it truly means to love someone, what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every beautiful moment life has to offer.’

The final storyline that we looked into was Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay. We thought that this story was too deep for us to recreate in a film and definitely too much for us to handle in just the first two minutes. We felt that we wouldn’t be able to show all the different aspects of the storyline and that we haven’t been given enough space to be able to put our own mark on the story or add our own twists. Therefore this story was discarded and would not be used as the base of our storyline.

The blurb for Love and Leftovers is;

            ‘Marcie has been dragged away from home for the summer—from Idaho to a family summerhouse in New Hampshire. She’s left behind her friends, a group of freaks and geeks called the Leftovers, including her emo-rocker boyfriend, and her father.

By the time Labour Day rolls around, Marcie suspects this “summer vacation” has become permanent. She has to start at a new school, and there she leaves behind her Leftover status when a cute boy brings her breakfast and a new romance heats up. But understanding love, especially when you’ve watched your parents’ affections end, is elusive. What does it feel like, really? Can you even know it until you’ve lost it?

Love & Leftovers is a beautifully written story of one girl’s journey navigating family, friends, and love, and a compelling and sexy read that teens will gobble up whole.’

We looked at a number of different books as well as these but decided that these would be the final storylines that we could base our film on, our final decision was to use the storyline from Illuminated.

Our Final Storyline:

·      Letters rather than a diary.

·      Main characters; Harper Adams and Drew

·      Heloise and Abelard letters

·      The secret is that the relationship of Heloise and Abelard wasn’t true, it was all a story created to hide a murder which was committed by the pair when they met, it was their way of coping with the guilt that lives with them forever.