Sticks and Stones

Sticks and Stones was a fictional story that we had to read and interpret as part of our assignment. We also had to make up our own script for the story line.

Whilst reading the story i took these notes;

Analyze and adapt / write screenplay

NOTES:

Set of 3 test shots

Reproduction pack

Film

Sticks and stones – story :

Mum sick

Letter

Bullied

Dream

Fell off a cliff

Jumped of a cliff

Running away from bullies

Girl named Ana

Obsessed with another boy

Gay?

Lewis

Might admire Lewis’s lifestyle

taking notes

Paul fry

licked a pebble

pebble symbolizes his mum

into nature

smells letter

suicide

depressed

set up.

Sticks and stones

Bits that could be used:

Dream/ hallucinations

Questioning himself, confused,

Coming to terms with his past

Revisiting the past

Obsessed with Paul Fry

Ideas:

Different points of view.

Anna’s – her and the letters, narrating

Anna could be his conscience – in his mind

From Lewis’ point of view – he is the camera, the camera is him

Voice be Anna

Mum’s point, worried about her son, but also distant and hurt by the way her life has turned out.

Paul Fry’s view, looking at Lewis and narrating the story. Lewis cared and he appreciated him for that.

Paul was Lewis’ alter ego. He created him to get away from himself. To help him manage his emotions and to give him someone to share affection he never got and to gain that sense of responsibility.

Sticks and Stones Analysis

Sticks and Stones is the type of story that needs your full attention. It has its twists however if you pay attention the story line is easy to follow.

In my opinion i think that unless you fully focus on the actual point of sticks and stones then your perspective of the story could be a whole lot different to what its meant to be.

You have to think of both sides of what it could be to understand the depths and strengths to the meaning of the characters.

At the beginning its confusing to focus on the characteristics of the main characters however getting deeper into the story you start to expand your ideas of what makes them who they are and the reasons to why they act like that.

Sticks and Stones Structure

Set up

The scene starts off with Paul sitting on a ledge looking dodgy staring at the ibis.

It then drifts back into a memory of his past reminiscing with flashes of faces and places of his past.

It starts off with him sitting at his desk writing a letter, his mum comes in and he hides it.

Conflict

He sees someone getting bullied, he goes to the toilet and he tells himself to ‘fix up’.

His mum’s more interested in alcohol and men instead of her only child. She verbally abuses him and puts him down.

He finishes the letter on the room of an estate and he tries to burn it but it misses and he puts out the fire. He then gets shot and dies.

Resolution

His mother reads the letter and quits drinking.

Sticks and Stones treatment

Title: Sticks and Stones

(The letters are in indigo against a black background.The color indigo represents focus on personal issues, develop intuition,

To step outside of everyday life for a new and interesting way of viewing a problem, solitude and inner communication)

EXT: fades into the daylight of outside.
The camera angles lowers to show the size of the estate.
Entrance: The view of the estate from a distant shot.
The view of Paul's block. The atmosphere is dirty, typical council estate with blue and red lights coming from police cars.
[The opening scene is Paul sitting in his room reminiscing (saying still).
This forces the audience to pay close attention to the images flashing through Paul's mind on the screen. The other characters are not seen yet.]

INSERT: Paul's mum
A strange hand turns the door handle to Paul's room and enters suddenly. [This concentrates the audience's attention. The person isn’t seen yet.
So who are they? What's going on? All that is seen is their disruptive behavior whilst entering the room]

EXIT: Paul gets rudely interrupted and fades out of his flash backs

INT: camera is focused on the TV that’s playing in the background.
There are sounds of water dripping and shouting. The audience can hear name-calling and smashing (this makes it obvious there’s an argument happening)

EXIT: left the house.
A group of youths sitting together on a wall. Suddenly, they see Paul approaching, and then the main boy smugly walks up to Paul and uses offensive language towards him.
The audience can then hear a dog barking in the background then the camera concentrates on the two dogs held on thick chains amongst the youth.
[This sets up the prop of the bad tension signifying anger, danger and tension.]

EXIT: Paul leaves the group of youngsters
Paul heads towards the shops to try to avoid any unnecessary argument's\fights. However Paul knows full well that he wouldn't dare to argue back or throw the first punch.
He wouldn't even hit back if they jumped him.

INSERT: HILLTOP: NIGHT

Paul stands alone on a hilltop as he stares down at estate hooligans below. He stands there thinking.
wishing.

EXIT: HILLTOP

INSERT

SUNRISE:

With puffy red eyes, Paul heads home.

To find his mum backing a bottle of alcohol.

This is where the trouble begins.

ENTER: PAUL’S ROOM

Paul sits on the end of his bed with his hands covering his face.
Paul's Mum suddenly bursts into the room tumbling side ways with slurring speech
Paul automatically flinches and jets backwards
As his mum falls into the room Paul attempts to run out.
Failing to leave the room as his mum slams the door shut and Paul drops on the floor.

EXIT:
His mum finally falls asleep on the floor

Paul sneaks out and goes to the roof top to have some reflection time.

By the time the sun set, Paul made his way home hoping his mum would have sobered up.

SCRIPT:
Title: Sticks and Stones

(The letters are in indigo against a black background.The color indigo represents focus on personal issues, develop intuition,To step outside of everyday life for a new and interesting way of viewing a problem, solitude and inner communication)

EXT: fades into the daylight of outside.

The camera angles lowers to show the size of the estate. Entrance: The view of the estate from a distant shot. The view of Paul's block. The atmosphere is dirty, typical council estate with blue and red lights coming from police cars. [The opening scene is Paul sitting in his room reminiscing (saying still). This forces the audience to pay close attention to the images flashing through Paul's mind on the screen. The other characters are not seen yet.]

INSERT: Paul's mum A strange hand turns the door handle to Paul's room and enters suddenly.

[This concentrates the audience's attention. The person isn't seen yet. So who are they? What's going on? All that is seen is their disruptive behavior whilst entering the room]

EXIT: Paul gets rudely interrupted and fades out of his flash backs

INT: camera is focused on the TV that's playing in the background.

There are sounds of water dripping and shouting. The audience can hear name-calling and smashing (this makes it obvious there's an argument happening)

EXIT: left the house.

A group of youths sitting together on a wall. Suddenly, they see Paul approaching, and then the main boy smugly walks up to Paul and uses offensive language towards him. The audience can then hear a dog barking in the background then the camera concentrates on the two dogs held on thick chains amongst the youth. [This sets up the prop of the bad tension signifying anger, danger and tension.]

ext. Estate car park.

A group of youths sitting together on a wall.

Suddenly, they see Paul approaching, and then the main boy smugly walks up to Paul

Jerome

OI!!!

Paul hangs his head down as he tries to avoid the group of youths.

whilst walking past he's intimidated by the dogs barking in the background held on thick chains amongst the boys.

Mohammad

OI! can't you here the boy calling you!?!?!

Paul attempts to keep walking.

Jerome then stops directly in front of Paul, followed by Mohammad and couple others circling behind.

Paul

please, I don't want any trouble

JEROME

we ain't troubling you don't make up lies

MOHAMMAD

In it we ain't done Nada to you, why u such a wimp for. MAN UP!

PAUL

please just let me pass

The boys stare in his face whilst giving Paul smug smiles trying to use that to intimidate him.

EXIT: Paul leaves the group of youngsters and heads towards the shops to try to avoid any unnecessary argument's\fights. However Paul knows full well that he wouldn't dare to argue back or throw the first punch. He wouldn't even hit back if they jumped him.

INSERT: HILLTOP: NIGHT

Paul stands alone on a hilltop as he stares down at estate hooligans below. He stands there thinking. wishing.

EXIT: HILLTOP

INSERT SUNRISE:

With puffy red eyes, Paul heads home.

To find his mum backing a bottle of alcohol.

This is where the trouble begins.

ENTER: PAUL'S ROOM

Paul sits on the end of his bed with his hands covering his face. Paul's Mum suddenly bursts into the room tumbling side ways with slurring speech Paul automatically flinches and jets backwards As his mum falls into the room Paul attempts to run out. Failing to leave the room as his mum slams the door shut and Paul drops on the floor.

EXIT:

His mum finally falls asleep on the floor

Paul sneaks out and goes to the roof top to have some reflection time.

By the time the sun set, Paul made his way home hoping his mum would have sobered up.
Wishing his mind was paralysed from the confusion and hurt his life had come to, he entered the
house with an empty feeling in his stomach.
With great regret he calls out for his mum to see if she was still conscious and in the house.
Paul calls out a numerous amount of times and no answer. He wasnt sure if he should be relieved or worried.
Was this his escape from his pathetic excuse for existence? or was it just a trap?
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Movie Dream sequences

Fritz Lang – Woman in the Window

In this video clip from ‘The Women In The Window’ the narrator speaks about why Fritz Lang has used the window display.

From roughly about 0:26 to 0:45 the narrator mentions about dreams. I quote “made during the depression and the all contained scenes with window displays with characters; usually young lovers, gazing longingly at what is on display, and perhaps dreaming of a time they’ll be able to settle down, make a home and require what is in that shop window, although society has other plans for them”

In my opinion i think that Fritz lang directed that scene with reason. Since they was in the depression when the film was made, he could have been trying to inspire hope. By having an image that creates a comforting thought and happiness, it gives them something other than the depression to think about, leaving them to dream and imagine their fairytale ending.

Hitchcock’s Spellbound

This is a Dream Sequence from Spellbound. From 1:50 to 1:55 the women says “you’re trying to tell yourself something, what it is we’ll figure it out later”. Alfred Hitchcock directs this in a way where you can visually see what he is dreaming However the meanings are left to your personal opinion.

In the sequence (2:10 to 2:21) he speaks about seeing a man with a beard fall from a roof. In some research i done i found that a person having a dream where their falling is because their feeling insecure or lacking in support in their waking life. These dreams often occur when you are overwhelmed in life and feel ready to give up’ (http://listverse.com/2008/10/07/top-10-common-dreams-and-their-meanings/) However in the clip, he is watching someone else fall and also there is someone else on the scene which could contradict the reason to why the person is falling.

When he realised that there was another individual other than the person who fell from the roof, he noticed it was the man in the mask.

I researched about people wearing masks in dreams and it gave me this conclusion ‘ Masks hide things. They can often link to devious and manipulative behavior. Yet they can also show that you are hiding and pretending that things are going well when they are not.’ (http://www.unclesirbobby.org.uk/dreamdictionarymask.php)

This could link to why he is then suddenly running “with something beating over his head” He then made clear that the thing chasing him had wings which possibly could be an animal.

Dreaming of being chased can be horrifying. Most often the chaser is a monster or some person that is frightening, and occasionally it may be an animal. The meaning of these dreams is that someone, something (possibly something as obscure as an emotion) is making you feel threatened. It is also worth noting that sometimes this dream is a replay of an actual event in your life. (http://listverse.com/2008/10/07/top-10-common-dreams-and-their-meanings/)

I found this video on youtube which is similar to a slide show of the art work by a painter called Salvador Dali. His art work is based around Symbolism. I thought this was a great video to relate dreams too because the paintings represent and symbolise what most people dream of, everything has a meaning in his work which could also be said about dreams.

The Wizard of Oz

This is a Video clip from The Wizard Of Oz when Dorothy is waking up from her dream when she wished she could return home.

Whilst Dorothy had been in The Wizard Of Oz she made a couple of friends. Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow.

In dreams we usually reflect on hidden emotions that we’re unsure of, or emotions that we havent surfaced yet. By finding out more about The Wizard Of Oz, the story gets deeper into Dorothy’s state of mind and emotion.

I found that ‘ The theme of self contradiction in The Wizard of Oz. Victor Fleming created characters who — like humans—have complex, contradictory natures.The Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion all lack self-confidence. The Scarecrow believes that he has no brains, though he comes up with clever solutions to several problems that they encounter on their journey. The Tin Woodman believes that he lacks a heart, but is moved to tears when misfortune befalls the various creatures they meet. The Cowardly Lion believes that he has no courage even though he is consistently brave through their journey. “These three characters embody the classical human virtues of intelligence, caring, and courage, but their self-doubts keep them from being reduced to mere symbols of these qualities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz#Themes

http://dreammoods.com/cgibin/dreamdictionarysearch.pl?method=exact&header=dreamsymbol&search=scarecrow

http://dreammoods.com/cgibin/dreamdictionarysearch.pl?method=exact&header=dreamsymbol&search=lion

I personally believe that this could have all been Dorothy’s state of mind so she created them characters in her dream to help individually manage and face her own fears.

The scarecrow indicates some sort of depression which could have been why the scarecrow thought he had no brain because he felt useless. His self-esteem was so low he couldn’t see how intelligent he was.

The Tin Woodman reflects feeling like a robot, he believes that he didn’t have a heart because of locked away emotions. Dorothy could have created him as a barrier of her own heart.

A Lion is a Symbol of strength, courage, aggression and power However dorothy used such a strong character to present a coward. Dreaming of a Lion could mean overcoming some of your emotional difficulties, which is why i think dorothy created these characters. Lions also represents dignity, royalty, leadership and pride yet in The Wizard Of Oz the Lion seemed like such a weak character until he found his strength.

A Nightmare On Elm Street

Nightmare on elm street is a film based around dreams. You die in your dreams, you die for real.

Nancy Thompson and a group of her friends are being tormented by killer in their dreams named Freddy Krueger.

Every time they went to sleep they would be living the nightmare. In the film, as soon as they would close their eyes they would be asleep so the moment they open their eyes the nightmare began.

When he has you in your sleep, who is there to save you?!

Gutterballs – The Big Lebowski

Most dreams can be interpreted as metaphors for the human condition, or perhaps fears deep-seated since childhood.

Playing the lead in his own bowling-themed porno (Gutterballs, complete with phallic ‘pin and two balls’ logo), Lebowski struts wide-eyed through his own Busby Berkeley-esque creation, rolling to the tune of Kenny Rogers and listening in bliss to the sound of clattering pins

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2010/05/17/greatest-movie-dream-sequences

I did a bit more research into dreams. I decided to compare the differences between dreaming and death. I chose those two topics because i found it facinating that whether your dreaming or dead your in a complete different world.

Monuments and Dreams on Death

Dreams about Death:

Death dreams generally mean that you are anxious or worried. Having a dream about death is similar to having a wake up call. The stress you go through for someone dying is a traumatic experience in which case could be the reason to why your mind is trying to make you come to an understanding about how u realistically feel. In most cases, people block out what they don’t want to feel, so the only way for your mind to get through to you mentally and emotionally is to create a scenario in your dreams to highlight your main concern.

Death alone can cause such a big impact on you so by dreaming of death is a way of your mind telling you how much strain and worry your under.

However this doesn’t nessassarily mean that in reality someone is going to pass away, it could just only be your minds way of telling you to relax but on the other hand it could possibly provide warnings and admonitions.

Grave stones:

Grave Stones usually have the individuals date of birth, date of death, inscription and occasionally a decoration engraved on it.

The decorations vary from different things. However the symbols to do with death compared to the meanings in dreams could have two opposite meanings.

Examples;

Anchor – Hope

When it comes to death, some people choose to have an anchor engraved on a loved ones grave because anchors represent hope or eternal life.

Even though anchors are seen as a heavy stable object, In dreams anchors represent seeking security or having something negative hold you back and restraining you from what you really want.

Angel of grief – Sorrow

The angel of grief is placed leaning over the tomb or headstone covering her face to make it obvious that she is crying. This statue represents sorrow from the individual’s death.

The angel of grief probably won’t be seen in dreams unless the person is remembering or having a flash back of seeing one, This doesn’t necessarily mean grief since your mind has other ways of approaching that type of agony. However to dream of angel (not any in particular) means to have a strong desire of guidance, strength and friendship. To dream of a fallen angel shows that there’s change which requires a lot of effort, or something difficult that you are struggling to overcome.

Birds – The soul

Birds represent the ‘Soul’ within death however in dreams birds have different meanings.

For example;

Bird attacking: Fear of going beyond your boundaries. Which in other words is letting you know you need to face all of the restrain that is holding you back.

http://www.graveaddiction.com/symbol.html

Dreams bibliography

http://www.askastrologer.com/Dreams.html

http://decodedscience.com/dream-interpretation-myth-or-science/7885

http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/

http://www.dreammoods.com/

“The essence of dream interpretation is not to take things literally. Dreaming about death does not mean you are going to die. Instead it may represent the end of an era or part of your life.

Dream analysis is symbolic – because that’s how the subconscious mind works.

The human brain thinks and learns in neural patterns. If you fall off your bike and cut your knee, you will associate your bike with pain. Your subconscious then creates a “rule” to avoid falling off a bike in future. This is a neural pathway; a link between neurons in your brain. It is learned through experience.

Neural pathways become more complex over the years. They apply to every kind of experience in life. Your subconscious mind uses these associations in dreams.”

http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/meaning-behind-dreams.html

How to Interpret Dream Symbols

You have a unique understanding of the world around you. As you grew up, your subconscious learned about friendship, love, loneliness and betrayal. It made up rules about every human emotion and how you should feel about life. These “rules” are reflected in your dreams each night.

But equally, we have all grown up in the same culture, the same era, and we are all human. So it’s no coincidence that we all make the same conclusions about life, subconsciously. That’s where a dream dictionary comes in extremely useful.

are a very interesting feature of the human mind. Every dream you have ever had has the very same roots, causes, and components that, if you are aware, can be seen and traced back to your daily life.

PURPOSE: The major purpose of dreams is to resolve unfinished thoughts left over from the day before. They occur every night, but we only remember certain ones for their strange nature, desirable experience, or fearful story lines.

CONTENT: The content of a dream is mostly determined by the unfinished thought processes left over in your brain from the day before. For instance, a dream about a brown cow riding on a boat, may have derived from a commercial you saw on TV that day about a brown cow and from watching the movie Titanic.

conclusions about life, subconsciously. That’s where a dream dictionary comes in extremely useful.

http://www.highexistence.com/the-real-meaning-behind-your-dreams/

http://scientificdreaminterpretation.com/MeaningOfDreams.html

http://facts.randomhistory.com/interesting-facts-about-dreams.html

Dreams occupy a prevalent role in movies, including Fritz Lang’s Woman in the Window (1944); Hitchcock’s Spellbound, Psycho, and Marnie, and Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz.

http://facts.randomhistory.com/interesting-facts-about-dreams.html

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