'Struggle' Evaluation
- 1. ‘Struggle’ Evaluation
Isaac Reeder
Student No: S166317
Fda Visual Media
UCS
Module Screen Writing
Struggle is a story based a young teen named Alex who has his only form of transport, a bike,
stolen by another boy named Jed who drives a red van.
It tells the story of how Alex fights to try and retrieve his bike back and how he struggles to find
his long way journey home.
Throughout Struggle I wanted to try and provoke a feeling of sadness and for people to side with
Alex as the better character of the cast. I wanted people to relate to the feeling of being stuck and
not knowing what to do or how to get home, so they could relate and understand Struggle better.
The style of Struggle was directed with an informal approach in mind. I didn't want it to come
across so serious that people would wonder what the message of it was and for people to over
analyse it. I opted for showing emotion through actions rather than words, using minimal
dialogue throughout.
I wanted to show a chain reaction effect of how doing something to one person can affect
another and so on, and how the littlest of things can change someones path. My example being
that Alex’s bike being stolen leads him to try and steal someones skateboard, something out of
character, but necessary to find his way home. Also leading to him getting into a fight, also out of
character.
An example I was looking at before I had written the script for Struggle was Bicycle Thieves
written by Luigi Bartolini and Directed by Vittorio De Sica in 1948. It shows the journey of a man
and son search for a stolen bicycle that is vital for his job. Whilst putting my own spin on the
story I wanted to follow the guidelines of this with Struggle , making the job role his task to find
his way home. Having an example helped me create some guidelines of where to start thriving
for ideas and which routes to head down.
Struggle features three characters. Two of the three are the main characters, Alex and Jed. The
other character is a bystander who has his skateboard stolen by Alex. Alex and Jed are the
complete opposite of blends. Alex is a very quiet and socially awkward person who keeps
himself to himself, whereas Jed is a loudmouthed thug with a big personality and ego.
For the context of Struggle I wanted the red van to form the setting and wherever the van went,
the scene was set. I wanted it to become this mysterious set of wheels, causing a scene
wherever it went. To make a statement that it was bad news. I wanted to make the red van seem
- 2. as if it was a character itself, and not just a car, something which would make a statement.
The locations I had chose were very basic and built in mind to reflect the type of areas that the
characters were growing up and living in. The opening sequence was designed to show the
damaged and uncared area that they live in, it wasn't included to justify the reasons that people
should steal but to show the effects that an upbringing in different neighbourhoods could have.
The whole of Struggle was located outside.
The plot of Struggle was to show the struggle that Alex had to go through without his bike, due to
Jed. I didnt want to follow the normal storyline of a film with Equilibrium being included at the
start, with controversy in the middle and Equilibrium being restored at the end, I opted for the
good character to have to deal with the fact of his transport being stolen and having to make best
of what he had, Avoiding equilibrium reappearing.
Overall I was happy with the outcome of Struggle . The storyline wasn't what I first had in mind
and took a few changes for me to feel comfortable writing about it and being able to relate to
some of the situations I wanted to put Alex and Jed through. I wouldn't change the lack of
dialogue in it because thats how I wanted to portray the story through actions, I feel that it was a
lot more powerful than talking the audience through what they were feeling and doing. People
can relate to the characters better, which was a factor I wanted to include. If I could change
anything I would of liked to include more controversy, but being capped to three minutes there
was only so much I could include.
