Existence? Identity? Schizophrenia? A loss in the family? Stuck in the past? Crimescene?

Goal= to find his identity

Obstacle= the past

• make the character make choices
• if nothing changes in the scene then nothing has happened in the scene
• create the illusion of life and plot
• be unpredictable

—-

BEV (bird’s eye view) shot of man lying right back on a couch with head his head facing the ceiling and his arms extended out clasping the couch as if he was being crucified.

Cut to Flicker of half a second flashback to close-up birds eye view shot of man’s face submerged in bath water opening eyes and staring at the camera. Cuts BEV shot of man lying on couch looking up at the ceiling. Cuts-back to one second flicker of close-up birds eye view shot of man’s face submerged in bath water opening eyes and about to scream. Cuts back to BEV shot of man lying on couch looking up at the ceiling. Cuts back to three second flicker of close-up birds eye view shot of man’s face submerged in bath water opening eyes and screaming—simultaneously the kettle starts boiling (whistling) for several seconds and we see a close up of this. The man drops his gaze from the ceiling to the kitchen. Mid-shot with flowers in the foreground looking at the profile of this man sitting on the couch (pull-focus). He hastily gets up and attends to the kettle in the kitchen.

He pours himself a tea/coffee then hastily makes his way back to couch. On the coffee table in front of the couch there is a series of photos (Close-up pan of the photos). The man is comparing the photos against each other and begins quickly rustling through them as if he has come to some sort of realisation(Over-the shoulder or POV shot). (POV) He holds one photo up in the air and the camera shows the photo, the photo is still raised in the air by the man whilst the camera shifts to the left slowly (and slightly) to an empty picture frame on a wall full of pictures.

The man walks towards the wall and realises there are more empty picture frames everytime he keeps looking. He is confused and quickly makes his way back to the coffee table, grabs the photos on the coffee table and scatters them on a rug in front of the coffee table. Shot looking up at the man’s face through the scattered photos. He scuffles through the photos on the rug as if his life depended on it. He stops on one photo and slowly raises it. He looks at it for a moment not before checking his surroundings as though he is being watched.

Cut to a handheld (Shaky?) voyeuristic shot peeping into the family room from the backyard of the man getting up slowly and walking towards the bathroom. The camera follows the man into the bathroom. As the camera enters the house, coming from the bathroom we hear the sound of a running tap.

Cut to split shot of family room and bathroom. In this shot we see a blank photo frame resting on a chair in the background of the family room and the reflection of the man’s face in a mirror in the bathroom.

The man is splashing water on his face in the sink (or bath?) repeatedly. Cut to close-up shot of him staring at himself in the mirror with water dripping down his face.

Cut back to split shot capturing an empty mirror in the bathroom and a picture of the man in the picture frame resting on the chair in the family room.

END SCENE/TEASER…COULD END IT HERE?

<<<ALTERNATE ENDING>>>

From the split shot, the man enters the bathroom, lays down in a half-filled bath. The camera moves towards the man until the shot is BOV looking down at the man’s face submerged. He screams with his gaze looking into the barrel of the camera.

END SCENE/TEASER—

Could put close ups of the kettle boiling as little flashes in between, particularly at tense moments.

Also could put more flashes of the man’s face in the bath shot, particularly in the last part where the camera follows the man into the bathroom.

Potential shot along the pictures on the wall.

Mid-shot (Close-up?) of man splashing water on his face however we see the man’s actions upside down as the camera is actually focused on the mirror. The man’s gaze is forwards and the shot flips to a extreme close up of the man looking down the barrel of the camera.

Written by Dion Kaliviotis