Second structure for my short film

1. UPDATED STRUCTURE
Unlike the previous document, this one will have a cleaner description making it easier to
understand what I am going for, as I now know myself what that is.
Beginning:
Mary Ann Cotton is seen walking into court, no dialogue at all other than the muttering crowds will
be used. She makes her way onto the dock and observes those around her with the camera. The
audience don’t know who she is or what she is being trialled for, and that’s the how I will captivate
those watching.
Middle:
This is where the audience finds out. Her story is shared visually and clearer to the audience rather
them having to listen to a court case and see seconds of flashbacks. But only the important sectors
and in a way it all makes sense without resulting rushed with missing chapters.
End:
Back in court, they announce her guilty, and we cut to the morning of the execution. Ending once
the leaver is pulled.
Laid out like this, there is more time for the audience to watch what happened more than just being
told through the characters in court. Especially since I am aiming to make this as accurate as I can
but not having a real idea as to how court works, what was actually said, who said it and when
throughout the three-day period of the trial.
Separating it into four chapters, in a little more detail than above this is the structure I will be going
off for the script:
Day of the trial
Mary Ann is brought into court by the two wardens. Being the last ones in, there is a rise of
muttering between the witnesses who are squashed onto wooden benches. She observes her
surroundings and the scene cuts as the trial begins.
The story
Mary Ann travelling from her first husband to killing her last victim.
Final day of the trial
“GUILTY!”
Execution day
Mary Ann walking out of her cell praying as she heads over to the scene of the hanging. We see
them prepare the execution and the scene cuts as the leaver is pulled. Only hearing the hanging, not
seeing it.
Although, I have hit a slight bump with the middle part. With the beginning and end part of the
script written up, I hoped I would know by now what to do exactly with the middle and how I was

2. going to go about it. For this story, I am expecting to go between ten to thirty minutes for the
duration giving myself less of a tight limit.
But when I think about sharing what had gone on before the trial, I am stuck trying to figure out
what it is I just add in and how. It seems really that I would be repeating the actions of Mary Ann
murdering these fifteen people, and although I need to tell the audience what she did and how the
story would start to look rushed going from victim to victim.
There is also the idea of starting in the middle and sharing what happened from her second or third
husband, but what about the unspoken previous events?
Another way to go about this included scripting from the only murder she is being trialled for,
Charles Edward Cotton. Her last victim. But again, I am unsure as I would only be sharing a small
section rather than the full story. But that might be my best option really. And since I am planning on
adding newspaper articles at the end of the full sequence, this will tell the audience of what more
she has done.
Going with that final idea, this is a brief description of what I have to stitch together:
Kicked out of the Robinson household in the November of 1869, Mary Ann went to work at a
workhouse in Wisbech where she goes on to meet Margaret Cotton. 1870, they become good
friends and Margaret invites her new friend to the home of her and her brother’s, Frederick Cotton.
Margaret fall’s ill, and whilst being a substitute mother to the Cotton children, Charles Edward and
Frederick JR, Frederick is in distress as his sister passes away. Consoling him, Mary Ann falls pregnant
around April-May time.
Using the surname Mowbray, Mary Ann doesn’t tell of her marriage to Robinson and claims to be a
widow. September, they are now married and their son, Robert Robson Cotton, is born on the
following January.
September 1871, her new husband had died within a fortnight of falling ill.
March 72, Frederick Jr passed away due to gastric fever followed by Robert by the end of that same
month leaving Mary Ann with one child left alive and pregnant.
Helping a nurse who had fallen ill with smallpox, Mary Ann complained to the parish official, Thomas
Riley, requesting for the boy to be sent to a workhouse. Suggesting for her to remain with the
stepchild, she responds with “I won’t be troubled long. He’ll go like all the rest of the Cottons.”
The boy falls ill and a few days later dies. A week from their last meeting, Mary Ann Cotton tells
Thomas Riley of the death where he visits Doctor Kilburn and makes the request of a further
investigation.
Expecting the insurance, Mary Ann is arrested.
SECDOND UPDATE, I HAVE A NEW STRUCTURE THAT I WILL BE STICKING WITH SO THIS IDEA HAS
NOW BEEN SCRAPPED!