At the tail end of today’s studio class we began to think about the writing process and ‘new’ – or maybe less conventional ways in which we can write for film. Recently I’ve become more interested in the writing process as it seems like a very important skill to develop (even in a somewhat basic sense) if I plan to work somewhere in the creative industry. We were encouraged to think very loosely during this exercise and draw themes, characters & ideas from our personal life experiences as well as the experiences of our friends, family, etc. I spent quite a while trying to collate a range of my more interesting life experiences as well as some of the fictional ideas I have had over the past year or so. Below I’ll try and summarise the content of my brainstorm – and explain the ideas I formed in this quick idea-forming exercise.
1. My Year 11 Film Disaster
In year 11 I made a somewhat ambitious decision to try and create a 5 minute action short as part of my Media 1/2 assessment. While it was a fairly big undertaking, I was confident that I could pull off most of the scenes and action sequences (it turned out reasonably well but was certainly very ‘student film-y’). I made one crucial mistake however, and this resulted in some less than ideal happenings. In a 6 second shot which takes place early in the film, 2 ‘security guard’ characters approach a house and enter it in search of an unknown character. After we got this shot we went on to film other scenes but soon after I learned that APPARENTLY, when you have two 6 foot dudes approaching a house (in an apparently suspicious manner) people will call da police on you.
I was thinking of ways to transform this personal story into a fictional narrative. I thought it’d be cool to go meta and have a film about a bunch of young filmmakers trying to make an ‘against the system’ film in a dystopian/broken society. These characters would also have the police called on them HOWEVER in their society the consequences would have been far more severe, thus resulting in the group having to escape the police. To me (and perhaps my friends from year 11) this narrative might be quite humorous – as my year 11 film centred on a character in a dystopian city having to escape capture by police/security guards. The film would be referencing my year 11 production in a number of ways and I think this would be an entertaining idea to experiment with.
2. The Beatles Never Broke Up (thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com)
Last year I stumbled across an amazingly written and executed story on the internet. According to a man who goes by the name of ‘James Richards’ – during a drive through the desert he experienced inter-dimensional travel and was taken to a reality in which The Beatles never broke up and continue to release albums. Interestingly, the story is accompanied by an alternate reality ‘Beatles’ album titled ‘Everyday Chemistry’ – this adds a really amazing layer to the story and makes me almost wish the story was true.
After reading about James’ travels, I began to think how cool a film adaptation of his ‘story’ would be. In today’s class I thought about different ways this film could be made – perhaps as a first person experience OR as a series of flashbacks seen through the POV of a recovering psych ward patient (definitely a darker idea). The ‘Everyday Chemistry’ album is actually really well made and has some creepy and psychedelic themes – this would be the perfect soundtrack for a film like this.
3. Underground Caves (experimenting with conveying feelings of panic and relief)
When I was in year 9 I went on a 10 week leadership camp which was based in the Victorian alpine region. One of the most exciting activities we completed while we were there was titled ‘Underground Caves’. We were taken to an underground cave system and were navigated through some very tight, claustrophobic and largely water-filled spaces – having to squeeze through tight gaps and climb slippery and rocks (in the dark with only headlamps) until we reached the exit point of the maze of cracks and darkness.
While i’m not really a claustrophobic person this activity was really intense and quite stressful at times. I’m not sure how I came to remember this experience in our 10 minute brainstorming exercise but I thought the location of a cramped and dark cave system would be an interesting one to use in an exploration of emotions (panic, stress & relief in particular). Perhaps in a more experimental style; a film that builds up panic and tension in the audience and then suddenly releases those emotions might prove to be a strong experience.