I am Evangeline

Background: This work sits within the growing space of micro-budget filmmaking practices that seek to tell unconventional yet compelling stories that are difficult to develop and produce through traditional means of funding. Through a successful crowd funding campaign, the writer/director was able to make her first feature film that tells a thematically personal story. My role as script editor was to combine expertise in story development with research into theme and protagonist arcs, drawing from work undertaken in my PhD (2005-9) to influence the shape of the story and its thematic resonance with an audience. Contribution: Working closely with the writer/director to develop 5 substantial drafts over a 12 month period, I worked in a highly reflexive way that influenced not only the screenplay but also my story development practice. My existing research base informed early re-drafting, but I was then required to undertake new research to respond to questions posed to me as a story developer. This included textual analysis of produced films in similar genres, further reading of texts about character and theme, and research into the practice of story development itself. What resulted was a dynamic and responsive process of research for practice, research about practice, and research through practice. Significance: The resulting screenplay demonstrates a deep understanding of protagonist arcs and how they can be structured on the page for performance on the screen. Specifically in the context of the micro-budget sci-fi film, where genre expectations usually outweigh deep thematic concerns, this includes macro structure, inter-scene causality and intra-scene emotional rhythm. The film has screened at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (Winner, Best Use of the Guerilla Aesthetic), the South Texas Underground Film Festival, the Sydney Indie Film Festival (Winner, Best Cinematogrpahy) and was reviewed favourably by the Sydney Morning Herald (September 16, 2015).