Blog 7: Planning, Script & Storyboard

cyxarthur
- 已讀 9 分鐘

Initiation: Oct. 19th

• I started learning Media Studies in October, 12th 2021, and joined Richard Zhang and Bobby Hua’s group.

• I wanted to film a opening of drama/thriller genre, which was the same as Richard’s plan.

• Richard told me that their initial ideas involved a suicide, so my initial ideas included the protagonist committing suicide using a pistol in a dimly-lit room at the beginning, and cutting to a compact action sequence of the protagonist opening his eyes, waking up and quickly prepares to go to school / work.

The aim of this was to create the climax at the very beginning of the film (opening) to create a strong sense of dramatic tension, and flashback to narrate the beginning of the story after the climatic event.

First Discussion: Oct. 21st

• I discussed my idea of suicide using a pistol with them, and also discussed their original idea.

Richard originally raised the idea of the protagonist jumping off a building to Bobby, and Bobby created an outline:

• The protagonist stands atop the school building, about to jump off.

• The protagonist is doing so because he failed an exam.

• Crowd actors standing below are shouting ‘don’t jump!’

• The crowd eventually catches the protagonist using a giant cloth with an ambulance symbol on it.

We evaluated the idea, and I was inclined against this proposal out of these considerations:

• The school building was not high enough to create a realistic effect.

• A drone would be highly useful in filming this scene, and could be used to create a overhead establishing shot, as well as high, eye-level and low angle shots of the protagonist standing on the ledge. However, drone flight is strictly prohibited in most urban areas in Beijing. Being unable to employ a drone could potentially have a large impact on the scene’s overall quality.

• The protagonist’s motivation to jump off the building because he failed an exam seems overall unconvincing. It may create a comedic effect which would be greatly undesirable, as it would undermine the drama/thriller genre focus on realism, plot and tension.

My reasons for choosing the gun suicide + action sequence beginning:

• The gun is a powerful symbol for spontaneous violence and death, often used in the thriller genre. The action of firing a pistol creates more dramatic tension than most other forms of suicide. Alternative choices may include hanging oneself or jumping off a building, but both are relatively more difficult to film.

• Including a tight action sequence would further build tension, which would attract the audience and create anticipation for further development.

• The gun scene could be filmed in a small room, which makes it easier to create a convincing mise-en-scene. Low-key lighting could be used to further ambiguity and suspense.

General concerns:

• If the gun prop looks unrealistic, it would fail to create the tension required for the scene.

• Using a gun may be too stereotypical, and could be difficult to develop. Nonetheless, it also means that plenty of technical reference can be found.

My revised ideas by the end of the discussion:

• Start the opening with the climax of the movie, which suggests that the protagonist ultimately underwent a breakdown. After the climax scene, flashback to a highly compact action sequence, which is the chronological beginning of the plot and suggests the initial inner disposition of the protagonist. More environmental and background information can be introduced after the action sequence.

• If we choose to continue developing the idea of suicide using a gun, details in the climax could be made ambiguous through editing.

• We could use a point-of-view shot looking at the gun, then present the gun pressed to the temple, give an extreme close-up shot only showing the protagonist’s eyes, and blackout as the gun fires, ending the scene with a shot of flowing blood.

• Details concerning the gunshot could be withheld or presented as misleading, for example, there may in fact be two characters in the scene instead of one (another character could be holding the gun and holding it to the protagonist, or vice versa). Although not revealed in the film opening, it could be encompassed as part of the larger plot design.

Plot Development & Brainstorming: Nov. 4th-10th

Nov. 4th

• We decided that the film opening should be filmed at our homes and in school.

• Home was chosen because it is a familiar environment for the protagonist, making it a suitable setting from which the story could begin. Filming from home is also easy to setup and free from time constraints.

• School serves as an ideal setting for the plot to play out, and since our actors would likely be high-school students, setting the main events of the story in school would make the plot seem more convincing.

• The beginning of the opening would be in reverse-chronological order, because the suicide chronologically takes place after most of the story has unfolded. After the suicide scene, the plot returns to chronological order, bringing the audience back to the start of the story.

Nov. 8th

• We read a few short comics which I previously saved out of personal interest. I suggested to Richard that we read these comics because they might provide inspiration regarding how to establish setting, create story arcs and build tension within limited length.

• Main sources of inspiration include:

• 破壊された原スープ by 遥川潤

• I am Nobody by 平庫ワカ

• We discussed the film Inception about how reverse chronological order was used and how setting was established, and the Netflix series The End of the Fxxking World about how narration and music was used to establish characters and meaning within a short period of time.

• We decided that the storyline should start with the protagonist waking up in bed to music or an alarm clock in the background. With background narration by the protagonist, he would get dressed and take a car ride to school.

• After arriving at school, the main event takes place: in The End of the Fxxking World, the main events would be James stabbing the professor dead under dubious circumstances. In I am Nobody, the unnamed protagonist discovers that his employer has been shot dead by the employer’s wife, who kills herself shortly afterwards.

• Our thoughts were similar in the sense that the protagonist may have accidentally killed someone, or encountered a murder scene, which sets the plot into action.

• Nonetheless, I realised that our ideas for the chronological beginning of the storyline had many elements which coincided with I am Nobody, and the story in general also seemed quite heavily cliched. This led me to consider how we could set an original main event which could avoid further coincidences.

Nov. 9th

• We created a preliminary storyboard (shown below) regarding how the opening scenes should be filmed.

• Nonetheless, our teacher Mr. Wunker suggested that we should first establish the plot before going on to plan how our shots would be filmed, because having a complete plot would provide clear directions as to what should be included in the film opening and how it should be filmed.

• With this in mind, I continued to brainstorm what main event could be powerful enough to provoke the protagonist to commit suicide.

Nov. 10th

• I conducted individual brainstorming for plot inspiration, again reflecting that running into a murder scene alone would not be powerful enough to provoke our protagonist into committing suicide. On the other hand, the idea of the protagonist killing someone else led me to consider where the gun could have came from: unless if the film was a crime thriller set in school like Brick, we would have difficulties giving a plausible explanation for where the gun came from.

• At this point, I considered the possibility of a supernatural influence or power as a driving force for the story. In Macbeth, the witches bestowed Macbeth with a prophecy, which caused significant changes in his inner disposition and provoked his desires, which eventually led to his downfall.

• Inspired by Macbeth and previous ideas I came up with whilst trying to write short stories out of personal interest, I considered the idea of the protagonist gaining a supernatural ability in the beginning of the story, setting a series of events in motion which eventually leads to him losing the power and provokes him to commit suicide.

Main Plotline Completed: Nov. 11th

• The new ideas which I formulated in the previous day gave me a strong basis to build upon. I figured that the devil could be a character who tries to strike a deal with the protagonist, personifying the supernatural temptation which the protagonist faces. Through presenting the devil as an actual character, we may also avoid some technical difficulties regarding how to present the supernatural without sophisticated props and effects.

The devil would be played by Richard (who seems naturally capable of giving off a cool ‘devilish’ vibe), and would be presented as a modern character dressed in a suit without tie and a shirt unbuckled at top and bottom, also wearing a watch, belt and leather shoes (ideally, cufflinks could also be included). This could create an impression of the devil as powerful and refined by modern socio-economic standards whilst not particularly caring about social norms and rules.

In class, I was sharing the idea of ‘the devil offering the protagonist something in the beginning but revoking it by the end’ with my group, but at the moment I was uncertain of what exactly the devil offered. At this point Richard mentioned a gun, which I immediately jumped at, both because we had considered the element before, and because a gun would provide a highly volatile and effective plot element that could be used to create tension and story progression.

Mr. Wunker suggested us to write a short and persuasive elevator pitch that would help ‘sell’ our idea, which could help us consider the key elements and plot of our film.

This gave me an unexpected inspiration for the setting of the opening. The gun scene could take place in the elevator, which is a enclosed environment with automatic doors, which can help create suspense and tension. Moreover, the school elevator would make it convenient for us to film the scene, and the brushed steel panels of the elevator would contribute towards a cold, serious tone which furthers our thriller genre.

Here’s what we came up with:

The protagonist wakes up, and goes to school. The devil appears on the car, and gives him an offer: pull the trigger of the gun at sb. And he’ll be able to know what the subject is thinking.

He arrives at school, and runs into the girl whom he likes in the elevator. He points the gun at the back of the girl’s head and pulls the trigger, killing the girl. He tries to hide the body, and in his frenzy he points the gun at himself and pulls the trigger.

He wakes up again, going through the morning from the girl’s perspective. He finds that the girl is surprisingly similar with himself, and that she actually admires him in secret as well. He sees the devil smiling at him in the car, feels the barrel of the gun being pressed to the back to his head in the elevator. Time to die.

At this point, we had a good rough idea of what the film would look like, but we still needed to work out a number of plot details and make sure that the characters have believable motives.

We decided that three sets would be enough for us to film the entire opening: Bobby’s bedroom for waking shots, a compact hatchback car for the devil shots, and the school elevator for the gun shots.

Script

As the scriptwriter & producer of our group, I was responsible for writing the script for the film opening. When I wrote the initial script, my primary focus was to keep it short and concise to suit our shots. I wanted to immediately pull the audience into the mood of the story without overloading the dialogue with too many plot details, which should help us avoid making the film opening look like a trailer.

First Draft

Day 1:

Devil: Love issues? (curious)

Bobby: 妈? [Mom?] (distressed)

Devil: She can't hear you. Maybe we can help each other out. (confidently)

Bobby: I, I don't trust you. (alarmed)

Devil: Maybe you will, we can help each other out. Call me if you've changed your mind (amused/slightly impatient)

Mom: 没事儿吧？[Are you alright?] (concerned)

Bobby: 没事儿... [I’m alright…] (feverishly)

Day 2:

Devil: I'm glad you've made up your mind. (pleased)

Bobby: What's the deal then? (uncertain)

Devil: You my friend, get a good ending, and I get a good laugh. (amused)

Bobby: But how? (alarmed)

(Devil hands Bobby the bat)

After filming our initial draft, I received feedback from my teammates and made some changes. The story progression in the first draft was slightly rushed, so I altered the dialogue from both car scenes in order to make character reactions sound more natural, and also to improve the flow of shot transitions and suit Richard’s editing needs.

Second Draft: Retake (changes highlighted in green)

Day 1:

Devil: Love issues? (curious)

Bobby: 妈? [Mom?] (distressed)

Devil: She can't hear you, you know. I'm here to give you an offer. (confidently)

Bobby: Who are you? (alarmed)

Devil: The point is, we can help each other out. Call me if you've changed your mind (amused/slightly impatient)