Embedded Files
For the planning stage of the documentary, I, as director, steered the group to think along a certain line in an open discussion to pin down our idea and Vi, as our producer, took the lead in organization and writing/ drawing the plans which would be distributed later on so we all knew the exact plan.
Story Boarding
Story Boarding
We began the planning stage by sitting down together and discussing what story we would like to tell. The dangers with making this documentary were balancing out the information of our topic and a story through which we see this told. The approach we landed on was that the documentary would follow a new Dungeon Master as they go about gathering information about the game through to finding players, playing a session and the community that is built from that experience. We split this initially into 5 sections and Vi drew up a story board which allowed everyone to get a better gist of the situation.
I wanted to complete a second story board on my own as the director to put I alongside some notes which would make the overall story, camera angles and framing far easier to understand. At the beginning, as we hadn't devised names to each section yet, we simply put them into phase which was very useful when organizing timings and the location of footage.
Script Overview
Script Overview
The initial script below was written by Vi and assisted by the rest of the group saying what they saw fit, almost like a dictation. We decided to use everyone's real names in the documentary as otherwise we would feel more fictional and the story wouldn't come across in a natural non-fiction light.
There is then a second script where it goes into each character individually was written by me for a lengthier interview section on each person. At first I had written mine as a form of essay script to dump any information we felt was necessary and following this there are a series of bullet point notes for everyone else. I wrote these following the completion of my interview to get an idea of what worked well and landed on writing a set of notes rather than a fleshed out script. This meant that everyone knew what to say but were able to play around with it more, following the mockumentary type style.
Vi's Overall Script
Vi's Overall Script
INT.C025-DAY
NICK and JACOB(filming)run up to a group of students.
NICK:
Do you guys want to play DND?
The group look confused, one of them speaks up
STUDENT ONE:
What’s DND?
NICK turns to the camera, deadpan.
???.???-???
A collection of images plays, depicting climatic moments from various fantasy stories, as a generic youtube voice narrates.
(VO)GENERICYOUTUBERIG:
DND is a tabletop role-playing game that takes players on epic quests through fantasy worlds, led by the Dungeon Master, or DM. It’s a game through which strong friendships are formed, and-
INT.???-???
The video continues playing on NICK’s laptop until he closes it, getting up and leaving the room.
INT.EDITING SUITE
JACOB sits alone in”NICK’s” Room adjusting the camera, the door opens, and he turns to see NICK enter the room.
NICK:
Have you got it working ye3t
JACOB:
Yeah but what's this for?
✨PHASE 1✨
EXT.”MAX’” HOUSE-DAY
NICK (filming) approaches his friend’s house and knocks on the door. MAX answers.
NICK:
Teach me how to play DND
They enter the house.
INT.”MAX’” HOUSE
House tour ig of all “MAX’” DND stuff, MAX shows NICK the video from the beginning
MAX:
*Explains DND*
NICK struggles to pay full attention
PHASE 2-Getting Players
INT.C025-DAY
NICK and JACOB are standing with the group of students from the start of the video, and this is a continuation of that scene. NICK walks towards JACOB disappointed.
INT.COLLEGE-DAY
NICK and JACOB(filming)run up to the Popular Kids™
NICK:
Do you guys want to play DND?
They do not. Vi is listening in. NICK and JACOB walk away, VI appears ig.
VI:
I heard you were setting up a DND group.
INT.CANTEEN-DAY
JACOB and NICK are sat at a table, NICK is on his phone.
JACOB:
Who are you messaging?
NICK:
Josh
CAI comes up to them.
CAI:
By the way I am kinda interested.
NICK:
Nice
PHASE 3-MAKING the campaign
INT.”Nick’s” Kitchen-DAY
JACOB and NICK are sat at a table, again, NICK is mumbling to himself about ideas for the campaign and trying to figure stuff out ig
JACOB:
What if you did this?
NICK:
Get the frick out.
PHASE 4-Characters
INT.CO25-DAY
JACOB and NICK are sat at a table once again srsly can you go somewhere else pls, JOSH shows up
NICK:
Wait ur Josh?
CAI and VI show up as well, and so it begins.
PHASE 5- Actually playing
INT.”NICK’S” HOUSE-DAY
NICK lets JACOB into the house and gives him the tour of the living room and yeah. Insert doorbell noise here cause my doorbell does not work
INT/EXT/IDK.”NICK’S” FRONT DOOR-DAY
Short montage of NICK opening the door to JOSH,CAI(+Tilly?) and VI.
INT.LIVINGROOM-DAY
JOSH,CAI and VI (+Tilly?) are sat on the sofa, NICK is sat in the fancy chair thing idk what it’s called, while JACOB focuses the camera. JACOB goes and sits down, and the game begins.
CUT TO BLACK
CREDITS ROLL
INT.LIVING ROOM-DAY
JOSH:
I seduce the door.
Ect ect bloopers ig between credits
0-1 minute
1-1 minute
2-2 minutes
3-10 seconds
4-2 minutes
5-2 minutes
Leaves 2 minutes extra if things are longer & stuff
Interviews:
Character + why you've joined
Thoughts,feelings and friendship
Nick
-Just Moved therefore no friends(Except Jacob and Max)
-
Josh
-Has existing friends
-Is a nerd but doesn’t want friends to know
-It was kinda awkward ig
-Know Nick through online idk
Jacob
-Only friends with Nick
Cai
-Judgy friends
Vi
-No friends
Nick's Interview Script
Nick's Interview Script
Hi my name’s Nick and I’ve been interested in playing Dungeons and Dragons for a while. Dungeons and Dragons or DnD is a table top role playing game where people sit around with their friends and make a collaborative story, run by the dungeon master. The game involves dice to see the success of certain actions attempted by the players and is a great game for socialising and meeting new people. I’ve only played in a one off session run by my friend Max at my old school but that was as a player so I now want to give it a go as the Dungeon Master. The Dungeon Master, or DM, creates the world and stories for the players to take and respond to. It is an excellent game for community building and expands people’s creativity due to its imagination based premise.
Recently, I decided to move schools and start afresh on a course that seemed interesting to me and what I want to do for a career. This meant leaving my old friends behind for day to day life. A group of them play DnD and I joined in once but have been unable to continue with them due to timings. At my new place, I’ve found it a little difficult to connect with people but thought I could try and form a group as a DM to build new bridges. The community and fandom of DnD is a wide spread culture that has only got larger with time. These days, due to changes in the world such as the pandemic, it has taken on a greater online presence and it has never been this easy to get into it, using websites such as DnDBeyond, a digital toolkit, to assist with creation to maximize play.
DnD campaigns can go on for extremely long times and in doing so form everlasting friendships sometimes between people from completely separate backgrounds and experiences. These days, with platforms such as YouTube and Twitch, people have become even more involved in the community through streaming. DnD streamers are amazing storytellers willing to open their home games to the community to observe, giving DMs and players’ greater ideas to share and outsiders watching truly get invested in these characters. This has skyrocketed in recent years with now companies such as Critical Role who have developed a community with such genuine support that they have been able to create their own animated series telling the story of one of their campaigns.
I’m very excited to DM for the first time but it also comes with a lot of pressure. Introducing a group of new players with a new DM is scary but thrilling as we are all learning together and at the end of the day we’re just there to have fun and build new relationships. I only really knew Jacob going into this game but from talking to the other guys they seem like a really great bunch of people and I can’t wait to get stuck in.
Nick's Interview Note Scripts
Nick's Interview Note Scripts
Vi Script: Community and acceptance
- Having a group to turn to outside of the table that aren’t just online/ realizing there are people with this interest all around who don’t advertise themselves in that way naturally.
- People online are able to express themselves without boundaries of race, sexuality, interests. Taking a step away from reality to truly be relaxed
- Talk about how people didn’t particularly take them seriously away from the table because of their bubbly personality but at the table this is more than welcome
- As well as channelling what people want to be like into their characters, people can try out things that they know they naturally aren’t and will be accepted.
- Websites such as DnD Beyond, Roll 20 and World Anvil are great entry points for the game. Since the pandemic, DnD has been more digital which has encouraged communities to come together. People who don’t have the money to buy lots of dice and source books can find them online and share them between players.
- Online, you can also find maps, stories and sourcebooks that other people have made and aren’t published by Wizards of the Coast (the company who controls DnD). Gives the game more dimensions away from the core content if you want to go that way
- Lots of rules and regulations but the fun is you don’t have to use anything. Fluid game with fluid community that can do whatever makes things fun
Jacob Script: Friendship (knowing previous friends better)
- Realise how much I have in common with Nick that we never talked about before.
- Not the best at making friends but found it easier to understand people when they are being their true selves at the table
- Spends more time with Nick and that gang outside of college to truly know them and share experiences.
- Experiences at the table are referenced as ‘remember that time when we…’ rather than the characters.
- Got on even more with people other than Nick, such as Josh who is now his best friend and they spend a lot of time gaming online together.
Josh Script: Outside perception (realising how much he already knew and shift through time)
- Realisation of how much he actually knew about DnD before playing.
- Had seen Stranger Things and not really thought about it and Nick got me watching other fantasy shows and films such as the Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones which are great storytelling outside DnD but are very useful
- Helps him with ideas and structures to use in college in my film and TV course
- Nick has also got me into the show Legend of Vox Machina which was based on a DnD campaign
Cai Script: Streamers and online presence (watching streams and shows)
- Has been watching DnD streams online in my spare time such as critical role, Dimension 20 and Black Dice Society
- Watching to escape usual friends as they can be quite demanding. I love my friends but sometimes I need a break and can’t always play DnD with that group
- Watching the streams are long but freeing and I get very invested in their characters which sometimes influence character building choices I make.
- Characters that people make don’t always need to be original and can have parts from well-known fictional characters as long as the player is happy.
Production Plan
Production Plan
Vi did an excellent job as our producer and was able to create a google drive for us to store all information regarding shots and folders for footage. They drew up a series of spreadsheet focusing on different aspects of production including a timetable of stages, locations, equipment and people. I wrote out a shot list from the information on the storyboards in my directing vision, which I gave to Vi to display in the same format as the rest of the production. So far, Vi had been doing most of the heavy lifting, which in the pre-production phase what what they wanted to do, but overall everyone was working well to generate ideas and bounce things off each other.
Page updated
Report abuse