1. Development of your Long Form Narrative Idea
Title: Carp under the ice
Format ： feature film
Genre： narrative type（Third person point of view）
Main Character bio： The main character is a little boy named Joe. His journey is to go through his life without the care of his parents. He wanted to return good for bad by his actions and gain his parents’ love. The obstacle Joe needs to overcome is his own. He needs to put up with his stepmother’s bad behaviour. He will learn to return good for evil, although others treat him badly he cannot do so to others. As he grew older, he became more understanding of his stepmother’s behavior and did not hold grudges.
One paragraph synopsis： Joe Smith’s mother died when he was three years old. His father married a new wife. The father and the wife had two more sons. The father worked outside the home all year long, and the stepmother not only treated him as a bull but also frequently abused him in the family. But when his stepmother fell ill in her later years, he still chose to use his own body to melt the ice and fished out a carp from the river to stew soup for her body.
Development research： I decided to use the technology of digital “underwriting” script development in the age of media convergence, using mobile phones, cameras, and social media to record and pre-select actors’ ideas during workshops (Dooley 2017). Use visual and auditory data as a form of development, and invite the audience to participate in the production. These improvisations can enrich my character. The actors’ behaviors and actions combined with the opinions of the audience can make my works more popular after the release. The process of recreating the character also allows the actor to become more immersed in the character. By setting the keywords for the actor’s role, such as wooden, introverted, forbearance, etc., observe the voice and expression of the actor in the role. I put these instinctive improvisations into my work to improve my character. Film-makers naturally write a lot of written work during their creative life, as a form of generation and exploration (Dooley 2017). And the high-tech of modern society just transformed the written to digital, creation is no longer limited to written expression. My whole movie has a dark tone because my main character Joe has been growing up in a very depressing environment. There is a large amount of literature that shows that images of suffering may arouse the sympathy of the audience. I hope to build a bridge between the film and the audience through the “social empathy” in people’s hearts (Roberts 2021). Audiences’ emotions about movie content are of great concern, not only because the human information ecosystem is more crowded, complex, and faster than ever before, but also because emotional responses can guide behavior (Roberts 2021). However, there is a limit to this visual impact. If the painful scenes are repeated, the audience will suffer from “compassion fatigue”. Just like the reading of Understanding Characters in the third week, characters are the lifeblood of scripts (Waldeback, & Batty 2012). In all stories, they are the characters used by the audience to understand the content the author wants to convey and experience the plot. Using modern technology to record the overlap between the actor and the character, the resonance between the actor and the character is very important for the audience and the filmmakers. The most intense exercise between the audience and the film is through whose eyes the audience sees the whole storyline. Therefore, it is important to choose the main characters wisely. Maybe the filmmakers are very subjective, and the opinions of others become more important.
References List:
Dooley, K. ,2017. Digital “underwriting”: A script development technique in the age of media convergence. Journal of Screenwriting, 8(3), 287–302. https://doi.org/10.1386/josc.8.3.287_1
Roberts, J. ,2021. Empathy Cultivation through (Pro)Social Media: A Counter to Compassion Fatigue. Journalism and Media, 2(4), 819–829. https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia2040047
Waldeback, Z., & Batty, C. ,2012. The creative screenwriter: exercises to expand your craft. A & C Black Publishers Ltd.
2. Development of your Proof of Concept Idea
Title ：A Gray childhood
Format ：short film
Main Character ：I would use the same character, Joe. The long film portrays Joe’s life, mainly Joe’s performance in the face of outsiders and external things. For the proof of concept, I wanted to use a montage to create an individual piece of Joe’s thoughts and thoughts when he was alone. Let everyone in contact with the whole movie before, can more understand the protagonist itself some character color.
One paragraph synopsis：Joe was dealing with domestic violence from his stepmother and her sons every day. He tried to communicate with them, but it didn’t make any difference. So one night he killed his stepmother, who had been his evil growing up.
3. Justification and Rationale for your Proof of Concept Idea
As far as I am concerned, short videos are both audio and picture forms that are easy for the audience to have sensory impact, and they are more able to bring the audience into the idea that the author wants to express. And short video at present is very popular, in recent years the development of the network can be said to be very rapid, short video in a short time to attract the eyes of most people. People are no longer addicted to reading a lot of newspapers and websites, but prefer to get information quickly through short videos. Short video is an epitome of long video. For viewers, many people first judge whether they are interested in the matter through short video, so as to conduct deeper research.
I think my long form idea can be very challenging to sell to a producer because we can’t tell if the producer we’re dealing with is interested in my idea. If he happens to be interested in my idea, then he’s on the same wavelength, and if my idea doesn’t go over well with the producer, then I need to change my mind and try something else. And in some cases, we can’t just say what we want to say, but we also have to go with the producer and the prevailing opinion.
But I firmly believe that my proof of concept works, and that my short video format fits right in with the current pandemic trend. It also doesn’t require a huge budget, so it’s very easy to implement. I think my content can also attract a lot of viewers, children are the future of the motherland, everyone attaches great importance to the development of children, it is easy to get everyone’s reason. And this is a very realistic problem. We can really help some vulnerable groups in need of help through our own strength. Even if we don’t earn money after the film is broadcast, it is very meaningful. Perhaps my expression form can not be recognized by the audience, but what I want to express will also attract a lot of attention from the society.
I think my proof of concept can make investors feel that my long idea does not require too much money, it is very easy to shoot, and it is very cost saving. Long concept challenges are feasible if they can get the attention of government investors. Children’s mental health during the growth period is conducive to children’s cognition and thinking in a healthy state, unhealthy state will make children appear psychological distortion, affect children’s future study and work. When he enters the society, there is a great possibility that he will have a negative impact on the society. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to children’s mental health from childhood.
4. Reflection
In this exercise, I learned to integrate the character with the actor at the creation stage, and record some of the actor’s temporary creations. All kinds of auditory or visual information are recorded to generate more inspiration for the producer. For example, during my proof of concept, I would go to welfare homes and observe the behavior and language of children with psychological problems themselves. And then help me to better depict the image of my hero Joe, so that he just add close to life. Since my proof of concept is about showing Joe’s mind, I also listen to what they have to say. Only by truly understanding the behavior and language of the characters themselves can they be portrayed more naturally. I overcame the challenge of character perception throughout the process, and kept thinking about whether the proof-of-concept should be used with the same protagonist as the feature-length. As for the portrayal of characters, I also told my ideas to my friends and parents again and again, so that they could give me more suggestions for improvement and make my role more complete. I also looked up the experiences and inner world of many characters similar to my protagonist in real life. This exercise made me more determined that I want to be a good filmmaker. I decided to use my existing resources to contact some filmmakers and learn from them from now on. I know so little now, and I have much reading and appreciation to make up for it.