New Ideas

I've decided that I wanted my film to have a new dimension to it. As I have said previously I wanted my film to deal with strong emotions and I felt that three of the strongest emotions one can deal with in their lifetimes in Anger, Love and most importantly Grief. I have been recently inspired by a book I have been reading called 'The LovelyBones' by Alice Sebold. A 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story from the place between Heaven and Earth, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all while attempting to get someone to find her lost body.
The emotions portrayed in this novel were very raw and beautiful, they are what I want tocommunicate within my film.

Animatic/Storyboard

How I am Engaging With Theories

Autuerism

Autuerism considers directors being the 'Author' of their films. With that said, this was the main theory that i want to connect with as i take the majority of my inspiration from Autuer directors such as Sam Mendes, Darren Aronofsky, Jan Svankmajer and Ang Lee. I also want to make my own style in my short film rather than exactly mimic things i'd seen before.

Narrative

I really wanted to engage with this theory as i have such a strong story to communicate to my audience and if done correctly - could be really moving.

Roland Barthes 'Enigma Code' ( when a puzzle is set up to engage the audience and hold interest.) is something i wish to incorporate in my film as i want the story to gently unfold and for the audience to get to know and love the characters before they go through the heavy subjects with them.

I liked Claude Levi Strauss' theory on binary oppositions. I think the characters of Emma and Olly are just this. It also coincides of the age old saying of 'opposites attract'. I think in the case of my film however, i want them to clash, expressing lots of emotion to one another is important to show how much you care, it will also express to my audience how close they are, and how hard it is for them when they know each other so well but have different views and opinions on life.

I think the use of binary oppositions is common in most films anyway - you need conflict to create a relationship with your audience and to engage them.

Genre

I didn't really agree with the concept of genre in my film. This is due the the realistic nature of it - something which you would never see in hollywood films. However - with that said- certain indie films have displayed things of this and a more crass nature. For example 'Candy' (2006, Neil Armfield) displays the miscarriage and still birth of a child a drug addicted couple have lost. The scene where Dan and Candy mourn for their child is one of the most moving things i have ever seen. You could argue that a film like Brokeback Mountain (2005, Ang Lee) even though a hollywood film, really shows grief in realistic way, especially when the character of Ennis is clutching Jacks shirt in the closet. However, who can act a film better than Heath Ledger could, eh?

Film Planning - Story

The story depicts a teenage girl. We don't know her back story but we do know (within the first few shots that is) that she is deeply upset, however we don't know the reason/s until later on.

I aim to make the film seem as if the audience is walking through a gallery of moments in her life. I intend to do this by mixing fast paced flashbacks then slower edits which differentiate her past with her present. Also i feel the tranquility of one of the locations used will help juxtapose her past with her current situation as well as its to show she is more at peace now.

The theme of this film is a social realism view on strong emotion. I feel in the majority of hollywood films I have watched, many of them don't show the real pain people go through and I feel its a very important thing to show, especially as society today is affected a lot by what they see on screen to see something real, and raw if you will, being shown in the light of day would be an interesting thing for an audience to see. Hopefully because of this reason the audience will feel a connection with some of the emotions conveyed in my film.

"It's so curious: one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses.". This quote by Collette is heavily related to the subject matter of my film. Grief is such a powerful thing, and the way in which people deal with it is incredible. One surpasses any idea of the strength they though they had, which is a curious and beautiful thing to me.

I rejected the idea of an linear narrative because I felt it would be better to engage my audience into the story if i gave them 'bite size' pieces. Moreover, I wanted the audience to be really moved, so I thought a sudden climax of my story would be best suited to the subjects I chose to present.

Film Planning - Character Profiles

Name: Anonymous - Male

Personality Traits:

- Incredibly cryptic

- Smouldering

- Split Personality

- Always guarded

Bio:

Always seems like there is a lot more to this character than they let on. They are always protecting themselves for unknown reasons. He gets himself into a lot of situations which do not serve him well.

Name: Anonymous - Female

Personality Traits:

- Cautious

- Naive

- Alluring at times

- Ignorant

- Emotive

- Very Caring

Bio:

Very guarded, always one to pick her words carefully even if she wants to shout her opinions to the world. Always in some kind of dream world.