It’s the final week and I’ve been planning how to get the game finished over about 4 days of continuous work.
Drawing on learning from previous large creative projects, I know that I work best when I have a sense of the whole picture and what tasks I need to do. Also having a place to tick things off helps stop me feeling overwhelmed.
I started by creating a table in word where I could list out the scenes needed with the various assets and actions that I also needed to plan.
Developing the Script
I thought it best to start with the dialogue which I could then use to plan the next iteration of the images and to plan the music.
Ideally the dialogue would also be read out as a voice over but I’m not sure if I’ll have the time to do this.
I decided to use a large language model (chatGPT 4o) to generate the baseline text for the dialogue which I would then edit and personalise.
I started by writing a prompt:
“generate a monologue with the following conditions:
– it is for a male character who is about 25 years old in 2025
– his story starts with him leaving a work party at a pub in a big city, late at night to catch the last train. The style of the dialogue is a film noir thriller.
– I need the following scenes:
1. him talking about the work party as he walks to the train station
2. him waiting at the train station, which is quiet, feeling a bit drunk but happy, looking forward to resting on the train back
3. him getting on the train and choosing a seat in the empty carriage
4. he sits, looks at the table and notices that someone has drawn a penis on the table in biro pen, the train is quiet and he feels drowsy. As it enters a tunnel, he falls asleep
5. He wakes up with a start and the train is at it’s first stop. A man gets on the train and sits on the seat on the opposite side of the carriage. The man cracks open 2 cans of beer and spreads out in the seat. Our character thinks the man is looking at him but does not want to make eye contact.
6. Our character gets up and walks to the toilet. He feels a bit unsteady but when he gets there he sees the toilet seat is wet with urine. He tries to pass urine while standing trying not to get the seat wet.
7. He comes back to the seat and tries to ignore the man. He looks out of the window and tries to focus on the lights passing in the night.
8. The train stops at the next destination and another mans gets on. He walks down the carriage to join the man sitting opposite. They seem to be friends, greet each other and open a few more cans of beer. Our character wants to be left alone so puts his headphones on.
9. 10 minutes pass and the men are obviously more drunk. Our character starts to feel nervous as they start to get rowdy, talking louder and playing loud music. He can hear bits of their conversation and they seem to be talking about sex and who they are going ‘bang’ later. This passage needs to build tension. The character can talk about similar situations on trains where he’s seen men get drunk and violent and he doesn’t feel he can move seats as they might follow him.
10. He feels them staring at him, and things it’s better if he tries to look like he’s asleep. He feels increasingly tense but tries to close his eyes. Without intending to, he falls asleep.
11. He wakes with a start as the train guard walks through the carriage saying it’s the final stop. The men have left but their table is covered with empty cans and a few plastic bags. It’s very late and he rouses himself. He zips up his jacket, steps off the train and [I need a suitable ending here where the character tries not to think about what just happened. He tries to put it out of his mind and convince himself that it was just men being men and probably nothing was going to happen anyway]. “
The Output:
“Here is the monologue rewritten as a screenplay, film noir thriller style, with scene headers and voiceover narration from the character:
TITLE: Last Train
GENRE: Film Noir Thriller
CHARACTER: Male, 25, mid-level office worker, dry wit, mildly anxious, observant.
EXT. CITY STREET – NIGHT
The glow of pub signs flickers on wet pavement. Late-night traffic hums. Our protagonist — JACK (25), coat collar up, hands in pockets — exits a side street and walks alone.
JACK (V.O.)
They called it a “team social” — which means: drink until you forget you hate your job. I left before karaoke. No one should have to hear Steve from finance attempt Mr. Brightside with tears in his eyes.
He walks briskly, dodging puddles. The city is alive, but indifferent.
JACK (V.O.)
Big city at night — smells like beer, fried chicken, and someone else’s dream dying quietly.
INT. TRAIN STATION – NIGHT
JACK stands on the nearly empty platform. The lights buzz overhead. The screen shows the last train.
JACK (V.O.)
I had just the right amount of lager in me to feel soft around the edges. The last train home — always feels like slipping into something familiar… and vaguely threatening.
The train pulls in. JACK boards.
INT. TRAIN CARRIAGE – NIGHT
The carriage is deserted. JACK slides into a table seat by the window. He drops his bag and sits, relaxed.
JACK (V.O.)
Empty. Like it was waiting just for me. The train hums, the lights flicker… perfect place for a nap.
He looks at the table. A crude penis is drawn in blue biro.
JACK (V.O.)
Classy. Nothing says “public transport” like teenage hieroglyphics.
The train slips into a tunnel. The world outside disappears. JACK leans back, eyes closing.
INT. TRAIN CARRIAGE – LATER
JACK jerks awake. The carriage is still dim. A STATION SIGN flashes past. A MAN (30s, unshaven, bulky) steps aboard.
He plops into the seat across from JACK. Cracks open two cans of lager. Sits back like he owns the place.
JACK (V.O.)
I woke up and gained a roommate. He had the look of someone who talks during films and starts fights in kebab shops.
The man glances at JACK. JACK avoids eye contact.
JACK (V.O.)
Rule one of night trains: don’t look them in the eye. That’s an invitation to chaos.
INT. TRAIN – TOILET – MOMENTS LATER
JACK walks, slightly unsteady, to the toilet. Opens the door. Grimaces.
JACK (V.O.)
Seat’s wet. Of course it is. Nothing says ‘welcome’ like anonymous piss.
He awkwardly urinates, trying not to touch anything. It’s a struggle.
INT. TRAIN CARRIAGE – RETURNING TO SEAT
JACK returns to find the man still sprawled, sipping his beer. JACK sits, glances out the window.
JACK (V.O.)
I focused on the lights blurring by. Little bursts of civilization streaking past like missed chances.
INT. TRAIN – NEXT STOP
Another MAN (late 30s, leaner, louder) boards. Walks down the carriage, joins the first man.
They greet, bump fists, open more cans. Laughter erupts.
JACK (V.O.)
Great. He brought a friend. And beers. And noise.
JACK slips on his headphones.
INT. TRAIN CARRIAGE – LATER
The men are louder. Drunker. Music blares softly from a tinny phone speaker.
JACK (V.O.)
Ten minutes in and they were talking about who they were going to “bang” later. Real charming. One of them said he liked ‘em drunk and desperate. The other laughed like it was gospel.
JACK keeps his gaze forward, still, silent.
JACK (V.O.)
I’ve seen this play out before. Trains, late night, drunk men with nothing to lose and too much to prove.
He looks toward the next carriage. Doesn’t move.
JACK (V.O.)
I thought about leaving. But sometimes leaving makes you the target. Better to blend in. Look invisible.
INT. TRAIN – SAME
The men stare now. JACK doesn’t return the look. He closes his eyes slowly.
JACK (V.O.)
I could feel their eyes like static. So I pretended to sleep. Played dead. Maybe they’d lose interest.
He breathes deeply.
JACK (V.O.)
And then I really did fall asleep.
INT. TRAIN – FINAL STOP – EARLY MORNING
A GUARD walks through.
GUARD
Final stop. Let’s go.
JACK wakes with a jolt. The two men are gone. Their table is a wasteland — beer cans, torn plastic bags, cigarette wrappers.
JACK rises, slow and stiff. He zips up his jacket.
JACK (V.O.)
They were gone. Left behind the usual wreckage. Like animals shedding their skin.
He steps onto the empty platform.
EXT. FINAL STATION – PRE-DAWN
The sky is purple. Cold. Quiet.
JACK (V.O.)
Nothing happened. Not really. Just noise. Just men being men.
He walks down the platform, hands deep in his coat pockets.
JACK (V.O.)
But there was a moment back there — one moment — where I didn’t know if I’d get home in one piece. And that… sticks.
JACK disappears into the early morning light.
JACK (V.O.)
Still, I tell myself it was nothing. Probably wouldn’t’ve gone anywhere. Just lads, right?
(beat)
Yeah.
Just lads.
FADE OUT.
Would you like help adapting this into a short film script format with more direction cues or keeping it minimal for voiceover focus?”
Reflections on this first attempt
In our class this week on AI prompts and creativity, the lecturer encouraged us to be specific in our requests to AI and also to not worry about iterating until we get what we want.
I like the fact that ChatGPT has given me a structure, which it has turned into a screenplay style (helpful for planning the images) but the dialogue feels flat. I will need to edit it to get the tone and content right. My preference at this stage is to do this editing myself as I think I would end up wasting more. It’s a relatively small amount of writing and I think trying to edit via ChatGPT would probably take more time and effort.
Next steps
Now that I have a text narrative for the story, I can develop the images
