2015 - STORYBOARD THE MANCHESTER WAY
1: Leaves blow through screen.
Narrator sat at Bus/ tram stop shelter. On the Shelter we read the titles: LIFE: THE MANCHESTER WAY
The tram/bus arrives and the narrator gets on.
2: On the bus with the narrator, as if sitting next to them, we see what they see out the window. As voice over we hear the thoughts in their head...it’s a stream of consciousness about the future.
She has headphones on. We hear samples of ‘her soundtrack’ as the journey continues.
3: (see 4/5/6*) The narrator’s journey into the city is inter-cut with lots of imagery including: landscapes of the city from different perspectives, signage, etc
NARRATOR VO: (with journey)
Wonder where we’re all going...
(looks around the bus)
...we’ve come along way...that’s for sure...
4/5/6:
Intercut imagery of progress outside the city centre itself; The Commonwealth stadium, the B of the bang, universities, the skyline including Beetham tower, planes and vapour trails
...looks like the city’s going straight up to the sky...straight to number one...(*visuals skyscraper skyline)
...10 years from now...
wonder where we’ll all be then?
I wonder if we all get to be part of it?
Do we all get to ‘move up’ with the city...?
7: (Camera moves around faces on the bus/tram)
...wonder if anyone else thinks about this stuff...?
must do...
...it’s our city...
It’s our future...
Everyone has a story...a part to play
CONSECUTIVE SUPERS:(EMBEDDED IN STREET SIGNAGE) YOUR MANCHESTER. YOUR FUTURE. YOUR STORY.
8: The Narrator is looking out the window thoughtfully as the Tram/ bus arrives at a stop.
9. A man in his 60’s (FRANK) waiting at the bus stop and as he moves away from the shelter get on the bus he reveals the title: WHERE WILL YOU BE IN 2015?
10. He gets on the bus nods hello to a few people then camera follows him as he sits down and looks out the window.
A TITLE APPEARS ON SCREEN: ‘BEING FRANK’
CONSECUTIVE SUPERS THROUGH SEQUENCE:(EMBEDDED IN ENVIRONMENT)
GIVE. EDUCATE. BUILD. MAKE BETTER
I had to take early retirement at 60...because of my angina, but I wasn’t up for just sitting in a chair all day...I’d always worked, it wouldn’t suit me...and I felt I had something to give back to Manchester as much as I anything, I’ve had a good working life in the city...
It’s important to feel that life is still up for grabs whatever age you are and I knew there was a city & gilds course in plumbing at the 6th form tech’ so after doing a part-time course in presenting I started lecturing there in the evenings ...I’ve had to stop driving now...
But with GMPTE putting on an extra bus for the evening it makes it’s no problem to get the college and back...
And now that they re-done the street lighting at the bus stop and by the flats it feels safer.
The local kids aren’t such a bad lot really...they just need a bit of a positive direction
...I got involved as a community guardian, on the youth justice board...to try help these kids make something of themselves, to make them feel proud of where they come from and where they live...
the first thing we did was have them tidy up - it really seemed to help...things started to turn round from there...it’s about respect isn’t it, about trying to make you’re community a better place to live...
the kids seem to have a grasp of that a bit now, we’ve got a row of new benches where the old timer’s like me can sit and talk...and some new grassed areas and flower-beds and this is all down to the local kids and the community regeneration project...there’s hardly any trouble now around our way now, it reminds me of how things used to be...
...it’s about showing a bit of respect for your city and everyone in the community...that’s just great I think, it’s a lot of what Manchester’s always been about for me, coming together to look after each other
12: SCREEN FADES TO BLACK, TYPE ON SCREEN.
MANCHESTER HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT ITS PEOPLE, LET’S MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE, RESPECT AND BUILD UPON OUR UNIQUE HERITAGE AND DIVERSITY.
13. Leaves move through frame.
14. The bus moves on and then comes to another stop on the journey, a man in his 30’s gets up and swings a sports bag onto his shoulder, before jumping off the bus...our narrator watches him go past the window...
15. Leaves blow through frame and another title appears on the window itself or as super:
PETE’S STORY: GETTING UP AND NOT GIVING UP...
16. Pete’s story is narrated over a sequence shot at a swimming pool.
CONSECUTIVE SUPERS THROUGH SEQUENCE: (EMBEDDED IN THE ENVIRONMENT/SIGNAGE OF THE POOL)
MAKE IT HAPPEN.TAKE PART IN YOUR FUTURE.
MALE VOICE OVER:
...I thought I was pretty much washed up two years ago...
Before the accident I’d only ever done construction...
when I broke the leg that was the end of that I just signed on the sick...
I did a fair bit of drinking at first...it felt like a way of passing the time whilst I was waiting for something to turn up...
but the more I drank the more I stopped wanting to do anything...
‘course nothing turns up without ‘you’ doing something to make it...
things started to change when I went to the doc’s for a sick note.
Rather than just signing me off again for the incapacity benefit they made me go for a meeting with an employment adviser
I wasn’t to happy about it at first...but looking back I can see this was the bit of a ‘push’ I needed to start sorting myself out...
Straight off he asked me ‘What I’d most like to be’ -
He helped me see that my life wasn’t over, that the accident wasn’t the end of the story.
He referred me to the Job centre to get some help with re-training, I started doing free IT courses, and eventually managed to get a job working in IT part time, my employers were really good about giving me part-time hours, so that I could get to me re-training and advice sessions...
I got some free health living advice, y’know eating better and exercise stuff...and with the lunchtime health programmes. I went swimming instead of drinking, the more I went the more I enjoyed it and...once I’d got fitter, I had the energy to sort out the garden at home...
that got me chatting to the neighbours ..
they’re a good bunch...number 32 told me to speak to the council about a loan to do some improvements on my house...
we all started getting together once a week around each others houses to talk about the stuff we could do ourselves to improve the neighbourhood...
...once I got involved again...I found I had a lot to contribute y’know...a lot to look forward to...
17/18: SCREEN FADES TO BLACK, TYPE ON SCREEN:
OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS AS THE CITY CONTINUES TO GROW AND CHANGE, OPPORTUNITIES FOR A BETTER LIFE ARE AVAILABLE FOR EVERYONE.
19. Leaves blow through the frame.
20.We return to the narrator...still looking out the window,
21. Close up and freeze frame on lad.
Cut back to NARRATOR:...Wonder where he’s going...?
22. Title appears on screen in graffiti-tag style:
LIAM’S WAY: CHANGING THE SCRIPT
23. Liam’s story is voice-over with imagery at skate-park it’s abstract, colourful, urban cutting through rolling wheels, graffiti tags, etc.
CONSECUTIVE SUPERS EMBEDDED THROUGH SEQUENCE:
COMMUNICATE. CHANGE. CONTRIBUTE.
(YOUNG) MALE VOICE OVER:
...I took it quite hard when mum and dad got divorced, I wasn’t interested in school, I was bunking off all the time, I wasn’t having it with exams or that, like everyone I used to just hang round on the street corners, smoking fags and getting in to bother...
I was well on me way to being the ASBO kid y’know
but somehow I knew that it didn’t have to be that way...that I could change it...that I had to change it ...I just didn’t know how...
My teacher had spoken to my mum about me truanting...and that was the start, I realised that someone was actually looking out for me...
I started listening to people and accepting the help that was there..
my mum’s not had an easy time of it, with depression and stuff and I said I wanted to help people like her...they got me started doing some vocational work as a mental health worker, I did my NVQ, and because they let me spread them out over different times I even did OK in my GCSE’s...
Mum got help too... some counselling through the local community programme and parenting classes organised through school...we’re getting on much better now, looking out for each other...
I quit fags too...got free nicotine patches...
There’s been a bit of tension at the centre before y’know
but once we got regular five-aside going, the whole vibe started coming together...you can’t beat football to bring everyone together...it feels like we’re all a bit closer now...it’s not about us and them, it’s just about ‘us’ our youth centre and our footy teams
y’know...it’s all our future...an’ now mine feels like somewhere I wanna be,
24/25: SCREEN FADES TO BLACK, TYPE ON SCREEN:
OUR YOUNG PEOPLE WILL HAVE ACCESS TO THE SUPPORT AND OPPORTUNITIES THEY NEED TO HELP THEM MAKE THE MOST OF THEIR LIVES
26. Leaves move through the screen
27. Return to bus/tram narrator just getting off the bus. She walks through a park
28. Cut she goes to the playground. There’s a young mum and dad there with a young child and another child they’re giving a go on the slide. Our narrator is having a chat on her mobile whilst going round on the roundabout...
29. Next we see on a swing...she continues her headspace narration
NARRATOR: I know where I’d like to be in a few years...living in a nice flat...in a nice area, y’know the sort of place that has a real community feel, somewhere where you know the neighbours, somewhere with a quality school, day care centres, a good doctors and that...
Yeah, cos I definitely want to have kids eventually...
(Quick cut back to the young family)
I wonder if they’ll still be living round here when my kids are ready for school?
30. Title appears on screen in kid’s handwriting chalk style:
MO & CASS IN THE CITY
31. M&C’S story is voice-over with imagery at kids playground/park there are lots of trees and blue-skies.
CONSECUTIVE SUPERS THROUGH SEQUENCE:(Embedded in the environment)
BELONG. GROW. LIVE
FEMALE VOICE OVER:
I came to Uni’ in Manchester, and I just fell in love with the place, of course like any city, it’s got it’s problems, but there’s definitely something special about it, something in the air, in the people, in the humour, the music...the atmosphere...and well I guess meeting and falling in love with Mo had quite a lot to do with me wanting to stay too...
After Uni a lot of my mates headed down for jobs...but we really wanted to stay...for the ‘something in the air’ yeah, but also because Manchester just seemed to be really buzzing, if anything there seemed to be better opportunities up here...
When we thought about having kids we thought about maybe moving out to the suburbs somewhere but we didn’t want to leave the city really...and with the East Manchester housing revival kicking off we decided to stay put for a while...
I’m really glad we did...
We’ve just moved into one of the new energy efficient homes in New Islington it’s got a garden and a real feeling of a growing community here...new people moving in...different languages bubbling in the background...it’s great we really feel that we’re part of something, that we belong...
Tessa’s just starting primary school...of course like every mum you’re worried...you want your kid to be happy and confident and have a good start...and I know that some of the kids have a tough time growing up around here...but there’s seems to be such a lot of support and help out there these days that it feels like our kids have a real chance to make something of themselves, like they all have a real future...
The schools run after school homework clubs and a breakfast clubs which is really helpful for working mums and I know that if we need to know anything we just have to ask, the school is really great,
...of course now we’ve got little Mikey too, I was a bit worried about childcare but Surestart has a Children’s centre here so I might be able to go back to work soon
Mo’s made up our move...he works for engineering firm in Central Park, again it seems like a really forward thinking place,
...We can’t believe how much the city’s changed in the last 10 years, what a buzz there is...I think we’re all feeling it...like we’re going places y’know’
32/33: SCREEN FADES TO BLACK, TYPE ON SCREEN:
TOGETHER WE WILL BUILD COMMUNITIES IN THE CITY WHERE EVERYONE HAS ACCESS TO THE LOCAL AMENITIES, TRANSPORT, SCHOOLS, HEALTH CARE THEY NEED TO HELP THEM GROW AND PLAY IN SAFETY
34. Leaves move through frame.
35. We see a sequence of imagery of our narrator in the city.
36A: INTERCUT IMAGERY OF CITY CENTRE SUCCESS STORY: THE BIG WHEEL, URBIS, TRIANGLE, ST. ANNE'S SQUARE, PICCADILLY GARDENS, AN OPTIMISTIC WHIRL AROUND A BUZZING VIBRANT EUROPEAN CITY CENTRE.
As part of the above sequence we may see our narrator looking in shops emerging with bags etc...
37. The Northern quarter at dusk, she comes out of Afflecks and stand beneath the mosaic...
AND ON THE 6th DAY GOD CREATED MANCHESTER...
38. She’s walking towards St Ann’s Square...her narration continues...she delivers this direct to camera.
CONSECUTIVE SUPERS THROUGH THIS SEQUENCE: (EMBEDDED)
HOPE. AMBITION. OPPORTUNITY. EQUALITY. COMMUNITY
NARRATION...thing is though it’s not finished...Manchester’s isn’t fully ‘created’ yet...it’s still growing and changing all the time...
And the next part of the evolution is all about...ordinary Manchester people and their lives... everyone one being able to find decent housing, health care and schools and buses...
....everyone having a decent quality of life, and having enough opportunities in education and training...to make the most...
a city where people want to stay and play and live...
...when everyone feels optimistic about their lives in the city...
41. Cut as a group of her friends rush up and grab her ...
and mostly that’s about everyone taking part...about us all rolling up our sleeves...
...to change things...to make a difference together...
it’s about getting respect by giving respect...it’s about being proud of your city and your place in it...
42. she turns back to camera
Face to camera.
So, where are you gonna be in 2015?
how are you going to make it happen?
SUPER: WHERE WILL YOU BE IN 2015?
they go into the Royal Exchange Theatre