When I started my screen project, I wanted to try to push the idea of having some form of narrative framing the non-linear or more ‘artistic’ sequence. This would have been a framing device of a dystopia, where a girl is walking past the poor maltreated masses on her way to a test that will determine whether she fits into this society or not.
While this would give more gravitas to the test – and therefore her determination to complete it – I realise that it is also eating up precious screen time. Each moment I spend with the society outside is a moment less I can spend with the girl in the test. Even if I have someone being dragged out of a testing room and into the homeless masses – ergo stating that she will be condemned as well if she fails – it is a little on the nose and will defy the purpose of the film, as it is now distancing itself from the audience.
(Though, I could potentially have her walking past homeless people, who are a part of today’s society – but not have the literal dystopian cages like in Children of Men).
I think I can word that better – Dystopias rely on plot, they are an allegory for the modern world, and need to be analyzed on a different intellectual level as an experimental film. They do not have the same ability to impose emotions, as they rely on the audience to associate with the character rather than their own emotions. So if I have a framing device with people in cages, then the audience will not truly relate to the content of the test as they will be thinking about the consequences of the character, rather than how it relates to their own experiences.
James floated the idea of just having one girl in the room, taking a test, and her panicking. While I like the basis of this idea, I also think that there should be some other images – say ones that are associated with childhood – over their fearful reaction. I want to assert that school destroys creativity, and that it is a machine that stamps people out to all be the same. This is due to my own experiences with school.
