Mother! Review

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Director, Darren Aronofsky, is vocal about his ambitions to elicit great emotion from his audiences. Whether to good or bad effect, his films debate ego’s contribution to creativity; continuously placing the audience in provoking positions, he questions through excess, how much is too much? And whether our reliance on convention dictates taste or erodes it.

 

Mother! is no exception. Starring Jennifer Lawrence as an overlooked, underappreciated housewife, Mother! portrays what it is like to be an extra within your own film, metaphoric no doubt to domestic slavery felt by women within their own homes. Dictated by the love for her famous and agitated poet husband, Javier Bardem, Lawrence justifies submission through love’s supposed selflessness. Exploring the traditional arc of a relationship breakdown, the magnitude of emotional erosion that surrounds us is transmitted to the audience. Merging cinematic and genre elements together in an attention grabbing portrayal of the combustion of humanity, it is impossible, due to Aronofsky’s sheer desire for reaction, not to be entertained. However, focusing on his desire to provoke overlooks the sincerity of narrative. Ironically, framing him as the director with Bardem’s self-absorption as a poet, meta-theatrically sacrificing his integrity as a director for the gluttony of his cinema.

 

Thematic and allegorical messages are explored through Aronofsky’s demand for connectivity, consequentially demonstrating how everything is lost. What we think is solid can be destroyed, our sense of security is an illusion. Released the same week Hurricane Irma hit the coast of America, and the worst recorded fire season in British Columbia, gave Mother! an eerie edge of synchronicity. Cemented by Lawrence’s fabulous, fraught performance, the film prophesizes hardship, making it an ode to mankind our self-destruction, and the destruction we impose on Mother! nature herself.

 

Word Count: 289

 

Sources

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2225369/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000849/?ref_=nv_sr_1

 

A Cheat Sheet to AVST Principles (expanded)

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MUSIC

  • Diegetic or diegetic sound
  • Diegetic sound means sound that is visible on screen. The importance and power of diegetic sound is that is illuminates to the audience the reality of the fictionalised world. Further, diegetic sound adds to the construction of the world as it exemplifies the characters mobility. Lets say you have a character who is walking down the street, the audio you choose for them to play via their iPhone communicates more about the character and less about the world. Thus, the reality of the situation becomes more believable, as the audience travels with the character through an ‘unconceivable’, premeditated world.
  • Non-Diegetic sound refers to sound that within a film that the character cannot hear. A classic example of this is the James Bond soundtrack, which although is inherently ‘Bond’, actual James never hears. The significant of non-diegetic sound is that it guides the audience through the narrative, communicating with the audience how and what they should feel. Unlike diegetic sound, which invites an individual interpretation of that scene, non-diegetic sound illuminates to the audience the construction of the film. Therefore, raising an awareness of its ambition and ultimate message.

STRATEGIES USED TO DEPICT HIGH STAKES SITUATIONS in reference to 12 Years A Slave (2017)

  • Building intensity from the framing of a shot
    – Contrasting close up shots to far away shots. This emphasises the idea of perspective, simultaneously merging all characters within the scene even though all characters come from different ideologies and backgrounds. 
  • Shorter and more concise sentences between ‘cuts’
    –     Sets pace in the cadence of the writing. Also, the cuts mimic attention span and character emotion. If you have a singular long shot it demonstrates awareness and concentration, usually specifically towards another character or tension moment. However, if you use an array of short shorts it communicates the passing of time and multiple happenings and perspectives.  
  • Physical reactions from characters
    – One of the easiest ways to communicate the progression of a script. You hardly ever have a character, whether it be in literature or real life, moving through life completely untouched by other members of a society. 
  • Use of symbols and motifs
    – Expands the world and its intention. Symbols and motifs also communicate to the audience subjects within a script that perhaps the author does not wish the character to be aware of yet. Symbolism is one of the most powerful tools in filmmaking, as it enables the audience to reference the character and their world. Therefore, affiliating their own world to the one that is being portrayed.

Audio Visual Story Telling Techniques

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Today in class we all brought forward a small example of audio-visual story telling. The variety of content, and content matter that is, that was showcased was impressively diverse and fulfilling. To think that this many narratives can exist, all of which touch on different emotions and environments is one of the aspects of film i find most thrilling and amazing. Students’ content ranged from comedic and heart felt anime – In A Heartbeat (2017) – to Dario Argento’s 1977 horror film, Suspiria.

This exercise really showcased the communication of emotion, and the importance and impact of audience awareness and empathy. This was demonstrated in Steve McQueen’s 2013 drama 12 Years A Slave, where a prolonged, quietened scene emphasised the humanity (or lack therefore) of the situation presented. The scene was focused around the unfair punishment of an African American persons in the early to late 1960’s. McQueen purposefully paints an intimate picture through the painfully dulled, driven by heat, hazey American scene. Juxtaposing images of the ‘great American lifestyle’, eg. scenes of children running and laughing, veranda sitting and ice tea drinking, with the uncomfortable and suffocating imagery of a chocking man. This scene highlights importantly the humanity of character, along with the inhumanity of the situation. Contradicting, to directors such as Quentin Tarantino whom have previously used the atrocities of mankind to fuel the stakes of his own entertainment.

I

PICTURE THIS! ASSESSMENT 2

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  1. Drawing on your audiovisual storytelling explorations so far, discuss this quote from cinema scholar Chris Dzialo: “screenplays should be experienced […] as a form of cinema itself” whereby “both, although via opposite polarities, are audio-visual (the screenplay cueing the images and sounds in our mind)” (2009, p. 109).

‘Screenplays should be experienced […] as a form of cinema itself’ whereby ‘both, although via opposite polarities, are audio-visual (the screenplay cueing the images and sounds in our mind’ (Dzialo, p109). Simply put, the act of reading a screenplay is similar in experience to watching cinema. This is can be understood and elaborated on by using Robert McKee’s (1999) understanding of ‘vividness’. Amalgamating Dzialo’s image and sound experience with screen’s internalized ontology and ‘absolute present tense in [the] constant vivid movement’ (Mckee, p395). Therefore, extending further the experience of audio-visual story telling. Thus, deconstructing the physical (sight and sound) and the internal (vividness) in efforts to understand how a screenplay creates the singular image of a readers’ internalized ‘big screen’. Demonstrating why ‘screenplays should be experienced […] as a form of cinema itself’ as they utilize on both aspects of its media: screen and text, in a perfect equilibrium.

Complimentary nature is a strong theme throughout audiovisual story telling. Ranging from the beginning stages of the literary process, which according to Claudia Sternberg can be categorized into three classifications; development by property reader (buyer or investor of screenplay), blue print reader (interacts with screen play), and reading stage reader (audience interaction with screen play) (Sternberg, 1997), to the team-work mentality of a set. This uncommon industry centered commonality is due to the unique process in which audio-visual story telling is developed. Symbolized in the literal execution of a screenplay, its technicalities, terminologies, and received experience present us with four worlds: the internal-internal, internal-external, external-internal world, and external-external. Or, as Dzialo puts it – ‘opposite polarities’. Achieved via screenplays’ impersonal fiction (Ingelstrom, p38) the internal-internal world and external-internal worlds are realities presented within the screenplay and audience member themselves. Whereas, the internal-external world and external-external world are realms presented to us by extra-fictional’s implication of shots, camera angles and audiences’ physical reality. These distinctions work simultaneously and are demonstrated by Sternberg’s example of Spike Lee’s screenplay Do The Right Thing (1989). Where a screenplay’s discourse refers to its internal-external, and external-external actors by ‘double meaning; [as] it ‘comments’ on both the fictional and the real world’ (Sternberg, p85).

               Radio Raheem, like many Black youth, is the victim of materialism

                        And a misplaced sense of values.

Thus, as ‘the film novella, as we understand it, is essentially a future audience’s anticipated story of the film that has captivated it. This is the presentation of the material in the stages and rhythms of the captivation and excitement with which it is to ‘capture’ the audience. We do not recognize the limitations of the visual exposition of the facts’ (Eisenstein, p134). Credentialing Dzialo’s understanding of audio-visual story telling as the act of reading a screenplay presents you with its own ‘captivating’ experience. As screenplays communicate both image and sound (narration), in their ambition ‘to communicate the potential of a film’ (Ingelstrom, p31) they also communicate both internal and external worlds. By assimilating Dzialo’s notions with McKee’s ‘vividness’, we are able to begin to deconstruct these realms. Exploring further that screenplay’s are not only experienced like a film, but are their own enunciating subject (Branigan, p87).

Bibliography
Branigan, E (1992) ‘Narrative Comprehension and Film’ Routledge, London p.87
Dzialo, C (2009) ‘Frustrated Time’ Narration: The Screenplays of Charlie Kaufman’, in W Buckland (ed.), Puzzle Films: Complex Story Telling in Contemporary Cinema, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, p109
Eisenstein, Sergei M. (1929). ‘The Form of the Script’ In: Sergei M. Eisenstein. 1988. Selected Works. Vol. 1: Writings, 1922-34. Transl. and ed. by Richard Taylor. London: British Film Institute; Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press p 134
Ingelstrom, A (2014) ‘Screenwriters and Screenwriting: Putting Practice into Context’, Craig Batty (ed.), Palgrave Macmillan, New York pp. 31 & 38
McKee, R (1997) ‘Story: Substance, Structure, Style’ Chapter 18 – The Text. Harper Collins Publishers, New York p. 395
Sternberg, C (1997), ‘Written for the Screen: The American Motion-Picture Screenplay as Text’ Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag p.47
Upload a piece of writing you completed during a studio task/activity/workshop. Write a post reflecting upon a) what you think works with the piece and b) how you think the piece could be improved. You will receive feedback on both the reflection and the creative work..
Conny’s on his way to his leaving party at work. He has mixed feelings about it – the work is boring but he likes his colleagues. He’s not sure if he’s made the right decision. 

The screen is black accompanied by the sound of a car travelling.

Open to a left hand side view a suburban main road. Lit only just by remnants of the sun.

Passing rows of similar looking terrace houses all have their rubbish bins placed out the front waiting for collection tomorrow morning. Every third or forth bin has an inconsistency from the last, some being over filled, tipped over or not present.

A buzzing suddenly cuts through the silence.

Conny, 35, nice eyes looks over our line of vision. The vibrating sound continues before we see him blink back into awareness.

Reaching inside his blue corduroy pockets he pulls out a Samsung phones and opens a message sent to a group chat titled Ryan smells like farts.

Opening the message a photo appears of an old 50-something year old man, passed out next to an office table that has cakes and drinks placed on top of it. Both of which still remain in their packaging. The old man wears a party hat on top of his head. His belly stuck and legs stick out.

Accompanying the photo is a message saying ‘Joe couldn’t wait for you to arrive to your good bye party, so he proceeded to tell everyone about his kids college debts before becoming intoxicated on his self imposed boredom’.

Conny smiles and locks the phone. Raising the phone up to his face to cover his grin as he looks out the window

A) The objective of this task was to construct as much ‘world’ as possible without the use of dialogue. Objectively, this piece achieves that, as it does not use verbal dialogue whilst simultaneously introducing a world that houses multiple characters and their relating arcs. Corey’s physically isolated position of being ‘on his way to his leaving party’ was capitalized on as an opportunity to submerse the reader into the complexities of the character’s life and surrounding world. Sitting alone in a car whilst on route to a farewell, the script attempted to demonstrate the contemporary zeitgeist of feeling alone, despite the continuous technological perpetration of privacy. Thus, redefining Corey’s classically somber situation by adding a modern scene that challenges traditionally ‘trope-full’ conventions. Symbolized through the character of Joe, who in attempt to show and relate to his coworkers, ends up becoming physically and socially isolated due to his generation difference,

Further, whilst completing the writing task I kept aware of Claudia Sternberg’s discussion regarding ‘the stylistic license of the screen writer’ (Sternberg, p87). Confining directive language to that of informal fiction; ‘describing scenes, actions and objects in specific ways to achieve visuals (Ingelstrom, p38), and consciously excluding extra-fictional; implies shot by stating clearly what has to be in the frame (Ingelston, p38) tendencies

Bibliography
Ingelstrom, A (2014) ‘Screenwriters and Screenwriting: Putting Practice into Context’, Craig Batty (ed.), Palgrave Macmillan, New York p 38
Sternberg, C (1997) ‘Written for the Screen: The American Motion-Picture Screenplay as Text’, Tübingen: Stauffenburg-Vel p. 87

B) One really interesting problem was made apparent whilst reading over my initial description of Corey. Demonstrating a symptomatic mannerism that needs improving not only in my writing but also within all aspects of my creative. A characteristic I sadly adopted, and was navigated into and therefore navigates throughout my own conscious.

After having just listened to an episode of Phoebe Robinson and Jessica William’s comedy podcast Two Dope Queens, which prioritizes Women of Colour voices, issues surrounding individual rhetoric were at the forefront of my mind. The episode interviewed Zoe Kravitz on being an actress, women of colour in Hollywood, and white complacently. Serendipitously, Kravitz spent a segment of the episode discussing screenplays and her experiences with them. Raising injustices created by character descriptions, particularly regarding characters of colour, stating how when a person of colour is included in a script (we’re using the italic ‘included’ as people of colour hardly ever get lead roles) their ethnicity or aesthetic will be mentioned. Therefore, exposing Western society’s preconceived notions that the characters read on script are of white descent. This action of compliancy reminded me of an interview I read by James Robinson (an Australian-Asian film maker from Melbourne) in Liminal Mag – https://www.liminalmag.com/blog/james-robinson, about the faux security of ‘the changing film industry’. Describing previous experiences at Swinburne University, where student and teachers rebutted to his suggestion of a lead Person Of Colour by claiming ‘it doesn’t really, you know, suit our story’.

Reflectively, I read my previous creatives works. Finding that within this task I had assigned Corey, whom in the given description had no character requirements except a name, with ‘blue eyes’. This dumbfounded me, as I a) didn’t remember even giving him that description, which meant b) its creative unimportance. Ultimately, exposing my own lack of awareness and inherited compliancy.

 

Reflect upon an influential text (e.g. a reading, or a screening) you encountered during the studio, and discuss it in terms of your own developing practice. This might be (but not limited to), how it introduced you to new ideas. Or, how it changed or reinforced your previous ways of working. Or, how it inspired you to begin thinking about your ideas for the final project.

Philippe Orreindy’s short film J’Attendrai Le Suivant (2002) was one of the most influential pieces of work I have been exposed to in the studio thus far. Provoking three ideals I have been grappling with in regards to my final project: authenticity, the potential of simplicity, and the euphoria of entertainment. Stationed (quite literally) on an underground metro train in Paris, Orreindy’s text seduces its audience through its appellation to the heightened convention of love. Capitalising on Western society’s cinematically explored convention and disrupting it by leaving empty armed in its conclusion. Ultimately, shattering screens’ illusions and exposing our reliance ‘loves’ false hug of hope. Seemingly metaphoric in emptiness to that screenwriter’s profound blank page, the text reminded me that a ‘screenplay imagery generally [and most successfully] assumes the form of simple, easily decodable constructions’ (Sternberg, p87).

 

Consequently, my final project’s objective is similar to that of Orreindy’s, in its ambition to disrupt our reliance on learnt truths. Recently, there has been a growth in popularity of microcosm scripts, as they are able to encapsulate miniature characteristics of our ever growingly ‘grey area’ society. Effectively portraying personal insights and allowing exposure to worlds outside of the possibilities of culturally divided audiences. Allowing for an inclusionary space as screenwriters incorporate ‘their own [contextual] vernacular’ (Sternberg, p83) onto the multichannel possibility of screens. Thus, Orreindy’s appeal to the united theme of ‘love’ served to us on the symbolically contemporary and mundane realism of the Paris metro. Exemplifying further, the magnitude of what can be said with very little at all.

 

A theme investigated in class through ‘seeing sound’ discussions demonstrated the power of visuals by interpreting segments without narration. We explored how when processing visuals audiences resort to fragmental perceptions of reality and memories to guide their understanding of an unguided situation. Thus, when exposed to moments where narration isn’t guiding plot, audiences are able to comprehend the sequences intended meaning due to their received knowledge of what elements in a shot represent and mean. This is demonstrated by montage editing now being coined as transformational scenes. An editing technique pioneered by Sergei Eisenstein, who’s statement about film novellas (an “emotional screenplay” (Sternberg, p86)) encapsulates my final projects ambition to ‘not recognize any limitations of the visual exposition of the facts’ (Eisenstein, p134).

In conclusion, as a screenplay allows the reader to experience ‘vivid action in the now’ (McKee, p395), I want to capitalise on a screenplay’s activeness to fool intended its audiences. Hopefully, using humour’s timing and strength to inspire and activate a conversation between the viewer’s between subconscious and consciousness. Similar in theory to Jennifer Moon’s The Process of Writing Reflectively (2004) where she states ‘you will learn not only from the ‘in the head’ reflection but also from the process of representing the reflection itself’ (Moon, p187). Exposing through a microcosm script relying satirically on the tropes of a genre or narrative, our submersion within our own conventionally applied contextualised narrative.

 

Bibliography
Eisenstein, Sergei M. (1929). ‘The Form of the Script’ In: Sergei M. Eisenstein. 1988. Selected Works. Vol. 1: Writings, 1922-34. Transl. and ed. by Richard Taylor. London: British Film Institute; Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press p 134
McKee, R (1997) ‘Story: Substance, Structure, Style’ Chapter 18 – The Text. Harper Collins Publishers, New York p. 395
Moon, J (2004) ‘A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning: Theory and Practice’ New York: Routledge Falmer p 187
Sternberg, C (1997), ‘Written for the Screen: The American Motion-Picture Screenplay as Text’ Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag p.47

 

 

Creating Visual Narratives

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In this class’ Practical we formed into groups of 4 – 5, then went out of the classroom to find a story to tell within the constraints of 6 – 10 frames. An exercise that although sounded quite simple in its execution, was really interesting to see develop.

My own group decided to test the RMIT cohort by placing an empty coffee cup on the floor near a bin. Documenting students as they stepped over the cup, avoided the cup, and pretended not to see the cup in an effort to not gain the responsibility to pick it up. Amazed and in laughter about the extent to which people will go to achieve an act that would have been less resourceful, it wasn’t until a student who was skating down Grattan St and nearly had a collision with the cup decided to put it in the bin.

Coming back to class, my group was all excited by how these events unfolded. Feeling a sense of achievement from the documentary style of our exercise, we were able to apply ourselves more so to it’s creation then what we initially thought. Similarly, other groups’ exercises when shown to the class were also impressively sophisticated. Demonstrating through the developed and original narratives that came out of the class, our maturing and blossoming as screen-writers.

Template!

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In a world surrounded by clutter, who will pick up the last piece of rubbish? A question no longer simply answered by whom anymore, but ‘whats’. As audiences stand witness to a typical pass-a-byer, and her transcendence of human decency this film sees objects fight back. A classic dismissal of consideration, gives catalyst to a visual ode for war. As one bin, takes on the embodiment of human indecency in what will be talked about as the political thriller of our times. As Bin fights back, and girl becomes victim, we see now the human species, and those litterers within it, become the runt of the pack. Suffering a slow demise as bin shows for once, and now for all and ever, that their moment is now.

Picture This! PROMPT THREE

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Reflect upon an influential text (e.g. a reading, or a screening) you encountered during the studio, and discuss it in terms of your own developing practice. This might be (but not limited to), how it introduced you to new ideas. Or, how it changed or reinforced your previous ways of working. Or, how it inspired you to begin thinking about your ideas for the final project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqwgeZooUm

Philippe Orreindy’s short film J’Attendrai Le Suivant (2002) provoked ideas regarding screen writing’s authenticity, simplicity’s potential, and the euphoria of entertainment. Stationed (quite literally) on the metro in Paris, Orreindy’s text seduces its audience by appealing to the heightened spectrum of love’s convention. Leaving us empty armed in its conclusion’s false hug of hope. Metaphoric, to that of a screen writer’s experience whom grapples with the profoundness of a blank page. J’Attendrai Le Suivant related to my creative pursuit’s marketing to an internalised audience as I imagine a magnitude of possibilities from the blankness of a screen. Thus, making J’Attendrai Le Suivant the wake up call all creatives sometimes need as it reminded me that screen writing does not always have to be about the cause, but sometimes even more so about the effect.

Whitted in dark humour regarding love’s, at times, delusional transfixion, the text reminded me of my interest in convention. The film itself is not theatrical in its delivery, but instead uses the audience’s strong dependence and comfort with hollywood ideals of love to credential itself and its effect.

Seeing Sound

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Week 3’s Practical constituted a discussion regarding the role of narration on screen, and in moments of its lack thereof, how narrative is portrayed. Each member of the class brought forward a cinematic sequence without narration, ranging from detective forensic scenes from The Wire to short animations about first love – In A Heartbeat. Usually having a duration time of about 8 minutes, the class dissected each sequence after watching and discussed not only how the scene’s narrative was demonstrated but the overall tonality, character and world was portrayed.

One of the most common things I saw whilst this exercise, that in commercial texts, usually no talking scenes are during a montage sequence. Whether this be transitional (make over scene), reminiscent (nostalgia over a character’s past), or inquisitive (La La Land’s ending scene), the montage sequence was used to portray elements of the film in a fast-forward, summarised motion. Paired usually with a non-diegetic score, the accompanied piece of music more often then not used lyrics to expose the interiority of a character’s, or their environments, feelings and happenings.

On the contrary to this visual and musical ‘swaying’ of emotion was texts like Elephant, and Suspiria, which used only diegetic sound in their sequences to enforce the reality and ‘thriller’ aspect of their thriller/horror genre. Similarly, 12 Years A Slave also only used diegetic sound to communicate the ‘realness’ of its situation. Using instead visual motifs made through cuts to denote perspective, social hierarchy and the passing of time. 

 

 

 

 

PROMPT ONE:

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  1. Chris Dzialo: “Screenplays should be experienced […] as a form of cinema itself” whereby “both, although via opposite polarities, are audio-visual (the screenplay cueing the images and sounds in our mind)” (2009, p. 109). Reference: Dzialo, C 2009, ‘“Frustrated Time” narration: the screenplays of Charlie Kaufman’, in W Buckland (ed.), Puzzle films: complex storytelling in contemporary cinema, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, pp. 107-28.

 

Ingelstrom Exercise

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Exemplified below is a writing exercise completed in week 2’s Practical. I enjoyed the exercise as it allowed me to employ notions introduced to me from Ingelstrom’s readings into my own writings. Ingelstrom discusses the nature and relationship screen play writers’ have of their work. Arguing both the screenplay as a tool of research, which grants the films developmental process. Or, the screen play as a text type that is an ‘enabling document’ that is ‘necessary for the production of the film’ (Prince 2010). This viewpoint argues that the objective of a screenplay is to be read as a film, therefore making a script catalyst to the film’s creation and/or existence. This is achieved through the way a screenplay grants a vision, created by combination of extra-fictional and impersonal fiction.

Thus, below is an example of how a screen writer may change an idea from a piece of tradition literacy to a screen play. Whilst doing this exercise I attempted to use Master Scene Technique. A template of screenwriting advocated by Mckee that uses mini paragraphs, as it ‘leads the readers inner eye through a pattern of action to reaction’.

  1. Kate feels annoyed with her aunt who never listens to her. She wants her to know how hopelessly old fashion she is, and how superior Kate feels.
    A pair of pink converse floats above a checkered faded green rug, rubbing the rubber-toed area of their shoes together. Scraping the off dirt from either shoe, the shoes then move in a manner similar to Dorothy’s ‘there’s no way like home’.Kate, late 20’s, too darkly lined eyes roll. Biting her lip and cocking her chin in a way that mimics interest, she cracks her neck.

    Lifting a hand up towards her mouth to cover a yawn. Kate picks the gaps in between her teeth we see her retrieve remnants of old food. Moulding it on her fingers, she positions it with her French tipped manicured before flicking it.

    Following the flick, the piece of food lands on the knee of woman’s cream white pant suit. Her hands are gesturing as if she’s talking and she too has white French manicured nails.

    Kate’s eyes widen, before they fall to the floor in unison with a smirk.

  2. Conny’s on his way to his leaving party at work. He has mixed feelings about it – the work is boring but he likes his colleagues. He’s not sure if he’s made the right decision. 

    The screen is black accompanied by the sound of a car travelling.Open to a left hand side view a suburban main road. Lit only just by remnants of the sun.

    Passing rows of similar looking terrace houses all have their rubbish bins placed out the front waiting for collection tomorrow morning. Every third or forth bin has an inconsistency from the last, some being over filled, tipped over or not present.

    A buzzing suddenly cuts through the silence.

    Conny, 35, blue eyes looks over our line of vision. The vibrating sound continues before we see him blink back into awareness.

    Reaching inside his blue cordoy pockets he pulls out a Samsung phones and opens a message sent to a group chat titled Ryan smells like farts.

    Opening the message a photo appears of an old 50-something year old man, passed out next to an office table that has cakes and drinks ontop of it. Both of which still remain in their packaging. The old man wears a party hat on top of his head. His belly stuck and legs stick out.

    Accompanying the photo is a message saying ‘Joe couldn’t wait for you to arrive to your own good bye party, so decided to proceed to tell everyone about his kids college debts before becoming intoxicated on his self imposed boredom’.

    Conny smiles and locks the phone. Raising the phone up to his face to cover his grin as he looks out the window.