1. Reflective Analysis of my screenplay- ‘One Man Road’.
Brett Egan
Prior to writing my screenplay, there were many things I had to think about and how I was
going to incorporate them into it.
First of all, I decided on a chosen genre that I favour and I decided to create a hybrid genre
through drama, thriller, Neo-Noir and surrealism. The surreal aspects of my film was picked
up in my peer assessment feedback as the assessor stated there was many surreal elements
and that the influences could be clearly identified. This was because I was influenced by all
of these genres in some way throughout my two-year film course. Film such as ‘Se7en’ and
‘Identity’ inspired me through their Neo-Noir style and intense thrilling narratives.
A film that inspired the drama aspect to my film was ‘In The Name of the Father’. This was a
film I studies for my AS year and I found the themes that it raised questions about, such as
questioning society and touching on the darker side of people reality such as IRA bombings
and corrupt police, very inspiring. This led to my input of portraying my main characters
darker, personal issues such as coping with the loss of his wife and son and suffering from
insomnia. As a whole I was aiming to employ the theme of loneliness, as the main character
lost his family in an armed robbery shooting.
Christopher Nolan’s film style inspired me as he tends to direct thrillers whilst employing
dark, sinister stylessuch as Inception, The Dark Knight and Memento.
The location of my screenplay was something that I considered in depth as the setting
would be the base for the surreal elements, particularly in the dream sequences. The
locations therefore would need to encode meaning for the target audience to be able to
intelligently decode them. Feedback from my peer assessment showed that they took in this
preferred reading from my screenplay as they thought the dream sequence was a ‘good
idea and very expective of the genre’.
Locations were set up to compliment the conventions of neo-noir as the long, lonely stretch
of Lake Herman Road represents the main characters loneliness and alienation from society.
Similar locations which inspired me are those in se7en, where Somerset and Mills are taking
John Doe to the last spot of his crimes. They are all in a car and the camera zooms out to
establishing aerial shots to show the landscape is desolate and unrepaired.
I took slight inspirations from other characters when creating the main character in my
screenplay, John McGrady. I was inspired by characters such as Teddy Daniels of Shutter
Island, Leonard Shelby from Memento and Detective David Mills from Se7en. Daniels and
Shelby are both inquisitive about everything and are very analytical with everything, right
down to the last detail; this applies to McGrady as we see is very analytical and aware of
everything in the crime scene.

2. David Mills has a more psychological similarity with McGrady as both are sarcastic and
undermine their colleagues- (McGrady with Shelley Moores and Mills with Somerset). Both
Mills and McGrady have temper issues, this portrayed when McGrady is riving all of the
documents out of his glove compartment.
I created John McGrady with the theme of creating an emotional response in mind. The
narrative of him losing his wife and son in a past incident meant that the narrative could be
disjointed so that the character could evolve from his mysterious interior and reveal himself
to the audience so that an emphatic bond is created between them and the character. The
importance of John McGrady was highlighted from the feedback of my peer assessor as they
stated that McGrady was ‘the most developed character as he is who we get the most
information about’.
The narrative structure of my screenplay was inspired by other movies of similar genre. For
example, the opening sequence is based on a dream which has originated from a flashback
of happier times. This allows the base for the non-linear narrative and echoes the beginning
sequence of Inception as Leonardo DiCaprio wakes up on a beach inside of his dream.
I also took inspiration of the ‘kick’ factor in Inception, as the telephone ringing helps to
bridge the scene over into the phone ringing in his flat; this mirrors the sequence in
Inception when DiCaprio is woken from the dream by being kicked into a bath filled with
water and the water enters his dream to act as a transition from the dream state to reality.
I think I managed to stick to my aims and contexts as I did use the surreal elements and non-
linear narratives as the film opened on a dream and then transitioned to McGrady waking
up. Also at the same time, this referred to my target audience as the dreams meaning and
significance needed to be interpreted by them. I also stuck to the idea of using lonely
locations, such as the location of Lake Herman Road. The location was also one of the spots
were the Zodiac killer murdered two victims; something which I took inspiration from and
hopefully the audience got the link.
I also applied my aims and contexts to the screenplay as I hinted on to possible use of sound
in certain scenes, as well as suggesting a slow-motion editing technique.
I managed to capture the 90’s time scale by not including too much technical CSI equipment
at the crime scene and instead showed the main character taking a manual, ‘old-school’
methodical approach to working out the killer’s route. I referred to the Neo-Noir elements
by including a retro car in the mise en scene such as a 1969 Ford Gran Torino and a classic
Cherokee Jeep. Also the setting was always dark and rainy which confers to the pessimistic
pathetic fallacy of Neo-Noir; something which is clearly evident in films such as ‘Se7en’. My
peer assessment feedback showed that the link between the mise en scene and Neo-Noir
was recognised- ‘very effective, the props you used related into the neo-noir conventions’.

3. As I usually take a preference to directing and editing films, I found it incredibly hard to stay
within the boundaries of screenwriting. Not being able to include any shots or editing
techniques was very difficult and I found it restraining to be only able to hint onto or suggest
certain camera and editing techniques, through describing it from a perspective. However, I
think screenwriting leaves the imagination to the director and I can see why different
directors may get their own unique perception for how the film will look. Screenwriting also
made me realise that the directors hold any authority over a screenplay, they may change
editing transitions when they please which can create a totally different mental image to
what the screenwriter had imagined.
The feedback from my peer assessor showed me that they believed I should show more
development on other characters instead of focusing so much on McGrady in the opening
sequences.