Concept Shortlist

When trying to come up with ideas for the narrative, we came down to 5 concepts we like that all refer back to the theme of 'It's Over', them being Life, Dreams, Phones Calls, Childhood and Time. Since there were 5 people in our group, we assigned each person a theme for them to come up with a basic plot. The way we did this was through using the basic method of applying the 5 'W's, Who, What, Where, When and Why. Once that was complete, we would then reconvene and choose one of them for our final idea.

The 5 ideas are as follows:

Life

Who: Old, clearly fragile, dishevelled Man (At the end of life? Walking stick?) - His past selves and people close to him.

What: Old man, sat on a park bench/going about his day, as he does he sees his former selves chronologically - young to old, clearly shown to be nostalgic and somber about what/who he sees, goes from being grumpy/upset to happy/appreciative of his life as he remembers.

Where: Park Bench, around his home town, shop, house, etc.

When: Modern era, set throughout a day as he thinks back on his life

Why: He’s old, he knows life is coming to an end, decides to think about his past - feeling melancholy/somber.

This idea is one I personally really liked, a simple and easy plot to follow that wouldn't require any difficult or too complicated camera/sound work. There are plenty of ways we could have taken this idea, we could of displayed various themes and feelings through this old man's memories, resulting in a piece that had the ability to both illicit empathy and joy from the audience. One similar real life example of this is that of Robert Zemeckis' 1994 epic, 'Forrest Gump' [A], of which has the title character sat on a bench, retelling the story of his life, therefore showing us his memories.

A - 'Forrest Gump' (R. Zemeckis | 1994)

In the end, we didn't choose this due to one major factor - casting. For a four minute student film without a budget, acquiring the correct actors, including children, adults and the elderly, would be an incredibly difficult, if not impossible, and complicated task, one that, with the time frame we had, we didn't we didn't want to tackle.

Dreams

Who: Person dreaming

What: young person, possibly a little restless sleeping in bed, flashes back to their past with this person who isn’t in their life anymore; each scene is moved by the music we can essentially feel their connection and then they fade out… the person is woken up by their alarm which has a reminder that says ‘it’s been a month’ (or something close to that). Someone following.

Where: bedroom, outside walking PW trails, library

When: modern day, flashing back to a couple weeks ago

Why: recent breakup/possible loss of friendship (death?) This idea has the potential to be both aurally and visually interesting, as we could really play with the dream aspect, showing unique visuals through using weird and wonderful colour palettes, aftereffects, recordings etc. It is also an idea that we could leave open to interpretation for the audience by leaving plenty of room for ambiguity. One real life example similar to this is that of 'Inception', a film made by Christopher Nolan in 2010 [B] - the film is constantly playing with the audience, forcing them to guess whether or not what they're seeing is real or not.

B - 'Inception' (C. Nolan | 2010)

We ultimately decided not to use this idea due to the complicated methods we would need to use, of which could prove to be very difficult with the limited resources we had available.


Phone Calls

Who: A husband.

What: A man is on the phone to his wife, they discuss how their child is missing.

Where: In a workplace/office.

When: Modern day, morning.

Why: The child has been missing for 5 years now and the police are starting to drop the case. Again, I really liked this idea, we could explore jump cuts and crosscutting between those on the phones, while slowly leaking information visually and aurally to the audience about their situation. Not only that, but it would be an interesting story to tell, albeit a short one. Another film that successfully uses phone calls in this manner is that of 1994's 'Speed', directed by Jan de Bont [C]. The film has the main characters in almost constant contact with either the villain or the Police through the use of phones or Walkie-Talkies.

[C] - 'Speed' (J. Bont | 1994)

Similar to the first option, the main reason we didn't choose this was due to the fact that it required us to cast adults, of which would prove to be quite difficult.

Childhood

Who: A middle aged man in an office job

What: Has a superhero figure on his desk. Fiddles around with it for a while, posing it in various different ways. We cut back to him and in his place is someone who looks considerably younger, wearing a superhero costume, holding a figure of a man in office attire. The younger person leaves the office with the figure and runs around playing with it doing various things. Ends back where it started.

Where: Office and woodland areas.

When: Afternoon, modern era

Why: He mourns the loss of his childhood.

This is an idea that could come across as both charming and heart wrenching, as it's clear that the main character is trying to escape from his life and return to a at time when he was younger. It shows how life is fleeting and that sometimes growing up isn't all it's set up to be. One film that covers similar issues of the downsides of growing up is that of Peter Docter's 2009 animated film 'Up' [D], of which centre's on an old man, who desperately tries to cling to his past.

D - 'Up' (P. Docter | 2009)

Again, using this idea required us to not only cast an adult and a child, but also get access to an office space, of which, as students, would be difficult to organise, we therefore decided against it.

Time

Who: A dancer, preparing for a show/recital     

What: We see the build up towards a show/recital through the viewpoint of a dancer, switching between shots of them practicing and going about daily life, before ending up to them just about/walking into the spotlight. 

Where: Various places, practice room, shop, home, backstage 

When: Set throughout a month/week as the dancer practices - modern era 

Why: She/He wants to do well - can see the determination through the practice shots Last, but not least is the idea for time, of which focuses on the build up to an event, and then the start of said event, hence the link to 'It's Over.' This is an idea we all took a shining to, as it meant we could cast someone our age, and not have to worry too much about locations and equipment as everything we had would suit the style and plot of the film. Although simple, it's a perfect idea for the length of film we have planned, and would also be simple enough to film and record - due to the use of music. One similar film is 'Billy Elliot', a film directed by Stephen Daldry in 2000 about a young boy with a challenging home life that uses dance to escape [E].

E - 'Billy Elliot' (S. Daldry | 2000)

In the end, this is the idea that we decided to go with, having realised that it's not only an idea that would be simple enough to film, but also an idea that we would all like to explore further.

Bibliography

- Forrest Gump. (1994). [film] Directed by R. Zemeckis. Paramount Pictures.

- Inception. (2010). [DVD] Directed by C. Nolan. Warner Bros. Pictures.

- Speed. (1994). [film] Directed by J. de Bont. 20th Century Fox.

- Up. (2009). [film] Directed by P. Docter. Walt Disney Studios.

- Billy Elliot. (2000). [film] Directed by S. Daldry. Universal Studios.