Short Film Proposal

Title: City Drama

Length: 8-10 min

Genre: Narrative drama, Love, (Art film?)

Setting: A modern, large city that is fictional: Jingzhou

Actors: Two

General Idea:

My idea for the short film production is based on five observations I’ve done for the past two weeks, reflecting the psychic world of two souls: a young woman and a young man who happen to reunite by the seaside after years of friendship. They lost contact for so long but there’s still chemistry. The whole idea is a made-up one after being inspired by a heart-warming moment I saw in the library.

It sounds like a romance, but it’s not quite one because the overly simple plot would be too dry for a love story. The short film mainly concentrates on the interesting dynamics of the characters’ inner worlds: the differences and similarities in dispositions, emotional states, opinions on various subjects. For example, their lives they lead are quite different. The female, being sometimes less aggressive and firm in herself, lives quite peacefully. She will give in to cooperate with others if possible. Whereas the guy, working as a software developer, going for work everyday, is the opposite who finds himself always less successful when working with others. Here are some of their voices that show their characteristics:

#1 Young woman: 

Sometimes I think we are afraid of solitude not simply because we cannot stand it. Human is a solitary species. There isn’t one species on Earth can do what man can do; there isn’t one in any other planet in the solar system; there even isn’t one in the Milky Way or the entire universe, yet (to be found). We are anxious to think that out of such an immense spacetime, we are the only ones, like the dust in the corner—too tiny, too helpless. I suppose that’s another way to define solitude.

#2 Young woman:

I never didn’t enjoy wandering mindlessly in the city—it’s a great way to look for inspirations. When doing this, I try to immerse in my psychic world and avoid making decisions about where to wander or go. It would be a bad habit for a practical person, but I’m not. I am too ideal. I am a writer. I, who create art out of languages, note down useless reflections about life, pondering insignificant subjects and matters that involves sentiments. “Art is useless,” Oscar Wilde used to say this. I can’t say that I agree with this completely, but occasionally I do find them useless in the way that it never did motivate me to do anything. Art just “sits” there, quietly, usually not even beautifully but peculiarly, being there, for us to observe and applaud for the innovative yet odd themes that are fixed upon it by the artists.

#3 Young man:

What a beautiful day today! I’d love to draw anything that I see today. The clouds are of amazing shades; the pretty young girls are of such enchanting smiles; the city is in full power, operating. How lucky I am that I still breath the air, walk the Earth. The thought once came to me, “what if I just die someday soon?” I used to be driven by the idea, seeking work, love or pursuing dreams so actively that the stories got all tangled up, some of which I cannot remember. However, I did love every one of them, except that I only did ever truly loved several. For that, lovers, I am sorry. My vigorous feelings couldn’t be suppressed when they came, yet with some they died quickly.

#4 Young man:

I remember once I got diarrheal from dining at the other chain street shop of Shaxian in a smaller city. I was travelling with one of my girlfriends I had about four years ago, who, I met at work. She was always very sweet, thoughtful and attentive. She loved pinkish clothes and horror movies, sometimes a bit sporty, a bit quiet when giving presentations at work. We split up after about a year because of her indecisiveness and my impatience. Nevertheless, she took really good care of me when I got diarrheal during the trip. Everything was perfect except for my illness.

Both of them are complicated characters. They have contrary qualities within themselves and they are also different from each other. I want to ask: Why can’t an artist love science? Why can’t one be described as sentimental and logical at the same time? At the end of the film, the young woman and man reunites by the sea, where they first went together as university students. Ultimately, the film can be about how the opposites can co-exist. It is like the Yin-Yang idea: the union of the opposites.

After the reunion, they decided to leave the city together. The thought of leaving the city has came across both of their minds in the story. The female character is reluctant because she doesn’t want to be weak and retreat from this big city; the man, however, decided to resign and leave his job behind to become an artist in another quieter city. Their action can reflect how some people are escaping from the busy, big modern cities to look for a more comfortable life in the smaller ones where there’s less pressure. (This theme is only touched on as one interpretation of the film. ) The phenomenon actually can be seen, in a small scale, around China in cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

There will also be random ideas, opinions and questions worth exploring shown in the characters’ thoughts. It will be really interesting to think about the mentioned questions of relationships, dilemmas, love, art, solitude, society, nations or anything that may be related to life. I won’t assign any specific meanings to the short film, but the ones mentioned are some different perspectives to look at (;or you can see it simply as a love story).

Approach and Form:

Basically, the film tracks both of the character’s thoughts and a day’s life to present two lost souls in a big city. It’s like an art film without the traditional narrative structure because there is only a little story progression—the characters are not specifically goal-driven at first, only living their lives, yet from time to time they come up with an objective or make a decision. The “climax” at the end is when they both find a clear direction only without knowing how life will be afterwards, which is actually quite like real life.

Visuals:

  • No shots of their faces, but only parts and their backs.
  • Interweaving the lives of both characters by editing them together.
  • Female: shots at home, shots on the street following up to the seaside, shots by the sea.
  • Male: shots leaving the office, shots at the small restaurant, shots of him drawing, shots getting in his car, shots by the sea.

 

Audios:

  • Dialogues and voiceovers will be utilised throughout the film with a percentage of 5% and 95%. The latter is for thoughts and the former will only appear at the end of this movie.
  • Incorporate music soundtracks to create moods.
Challenges: 
  • To really grab the audiences’ attention with the voiceovers.
  • To come up with a deeply reflective and informative script that can successfully deliver details of their thoughts and feelings and make story progressions.
  • To record the voiceovers with good acting.
  • To find the suitable sound track.
  • To finish filming exactly as planned in a month.
  • To not confuse the audiences with the many thoughts and ideas mentioned in the voiceovers.
Example Demonstration: 

Here’s an example of how might the voiceover will sound like. The visuals are just there for a demonstration of feelings. [ Password: 233 ]