You completely missed the time constraint there. Good luck introducing characters and fleshing them out whilst still maintaining that elaborate linear storyline that is really unworthy of a script.
Did I mention I have fake science? You can't use someone's DNA to turn yourself into a physical copy of them!
Ok, first things first, my post was not flippant, contrary to the tone implied by your reply. I do however have no experience in this field, so listen to me at your peril.
I'll try and answer your cleverly hidden questions, and explain to you my thought process, as I genuinely believe there is some mileage in my idea. Whilst it may not be what you are looking for, I feel compelled to explain this out.
1. "Introducing characters and fleshing them out" - Personally I wouldn't really worry about 'characters' as you only have fifteen minutes. I would have thought three figures would have been ample.
2. "Elaborate linear storyline" - You only have fifteen minutes. Elaborate storylines will not work very well, in my opinion.
3. "Fake Science" - This is a metaphor for the lengths the guy will go to to replace the life of the other man. Easily done with no effects. Can just abstract this out with some bandages whilst he sleeps, or preferably some other, better idea.
Do you feel confident with dialogue? When it's not done well it can be really bad. I tried to avoid a dialogue heavy situation.
Some issues to cover and possibly explore that I can think of, and some that I did think of whilst posting first time round. Maybe they would even add some sort of depth to the idea (but I thought that was what you were going to do 
):
- The two scenes, outside at a landmark and inside in the tourists house / flat would be the key scenes. This gives a great opportunity for exploring different lighting options (natural and artificial). Also get some good shots of people vs. landmark. Play with focus, pan through crowds etc. Get a knackered flourescent tube to introduce the old buzzing / flickering light in the apartment corridor.
An exercise in continuity would also be to shoot the first scene in the morning, have the film last a day, and shoot the last scene in the evening. Will give some excellent varying colors with the natural light, and perhaps show an attention to detail which may be appreciated by your teacher.
- Why does the tourist obsess about the woman?
- What about the life the tourist is happy to leave behind? Some clues could be introduced in to the script, maybe have him answering his answering machine when he gets back in to his flat, deleting all the messages after a cursory listen?
- Why does the tourist see the woman as 'property'?
- Why is the woman happy to take on the new man as hers? Clearly he would have a totally different personality, maybe the woman is insecure? Why? Commentary on loveless / empty relationships?
- Strangers could be thinking all sorts of things about you, maybe try and make the viewer paranoid?
- What about the mans life? maybe nobody misses him, and some visual (or otherwise) cue implies that the tourist is actually the 'Hero'?
uh ... I can't think of any more.
Maybe this helps anyway. If not, ah well, I had fun analysing my own stupid two-bit idea for some semblance of depth.
I set forth to try and write a first stage script from your story there and it went quite well. Do note that it is heavily modified.
Your post had no effect other than making me consider your story again. Your original story wouldn't have worked, but it inspired me to modify it and make it work. I managed to write a first stage Act I and explain a bit on why it worked and stuff, BUT THEN FIREFOX CRASHED! Normally, it would save all I wrote and it would still be there. BUT FOR SOME REASON, the forum gave me an error! So all that is lost! I remember it in my head though, but I don't feel like typing it up again.
To give you the gist of it, I established the Man and Woman in a romantic relationship and the Tourist as somebody who transforms himself into the Man. That's the end of Act I in a cleverly disguised turning point.
Act II would include the Tourist seeking his target. Something the Woman is hiding from him. The Woman could be a lot of things. A top secret researcher, a spy, a foreign criminal in charge for the recent credit crisis (I set the timeframe in the period after the crisis when things got a little steadier. As in,
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture but with no brand new tech. Only secret tech.
The Woman may be hiding something crucial for the Tourist's mission. The Tourist could be a government agent, an industrial spy, a rich money grubbing company owner looking to raise profits, (Best one, because it fits the timeframe the best.) Etc.
Two possible endings came to mind. A "good" one and a "bad" one.
I will list the endings. Do note it will sound a bit off. Trust me. Act II will set this straight. The Woman will have a reason to suspect and a reason to be in the location when it happens. I'd explain better, but I honestly don't feel like giving you the gist of a series of chapters in the book I read.
Good ending would be this:
The Woman catches the Tourist stealing whatever it is he's supposed to steal. The Tourist attempts to kill the woman, but she bests him and manages to restrain him. She knows that she can't call the police, because then the tech the Tourist used to assume the identity of the Man will become public knowledge. So she searches him for another of those devices he used to make the Man disappear (So the Tourist could assume his identity. Not have two Mans running about. (Lol, Mans.))
She finds it and uses it on the Tourist. The Tourist vanishes. Along with his clothes.
The "Bad" ending would be the Tourist achieves his objective and manages to kill the woman in a normal fashion. He lets police find her body and all the clues point to the Man. But the Tourist escapes and stops looking like the Man because he can control who he looks like. The Man vanishes effectively. Nobody suspects what actually happened.
This sounds VERY shitty, I know. But I can't really write it in this fashion. It would sound WAY better in script form. Trust me on this one.
Mendonca, your post made me do ONE thing. Reconsider your story. Your original story hardly worked at all. It was, to put it bluntly, terrible for a short script. It would make a good movie, a good book, novel, whatever. But not a short movie.
However, after I modified it a bit, it suited much better. It COULD work and if I don't get any better ideas, I will use my modified version of your story.
Do take note that I am unable to give credit to you, as you are not somebody ANYONE in my school knows. Including my teachers. They will not allow me to use a story written by someone else. The loophole here is that you did not give me a story, but an idea.
So the credit must be this post.
If the script gets a good grade then you will have another thanks.
Like I said. If this turns out to be the best idea, I'll use it.
Author
Topic: So I need to write a script... (Read 5623 times)