BLOG NO.7 Script, Storyboard, Shot List

Narrative

October 2021

Original plan:

Initially, before Arthur Chen Joined Me&Bobby's group, our idea was to create a suicide scene which fits with the drama/thriller genre.

I originally raised the idea of the protagonist jumping off a building to Bobby, and Bobby created an outline: • The protagonist stands atop the school building, about to jump off. • The protagonist is doing so because he failed an exam. • Crowd actors standing below are shouting ‘don’t jump!’ • The crowd eventually catches the protagonist using a giant cloth with an ambulance symbol on it.

When Arthur joined our group, he evaluated our original idea, and he was inclined against this proposal out of these considerations: • The school building was not high enough to create a realistic effect. • A drone would be highly useful in filming this scene, and could be used to create a overhead establishing shot, as well as high, eye-level and low angle shots of the protagonist standing on the ledge. However, drone flight is strictly prohibited in most urban areas in Beijing. Being unable to employ a drone could potentially have a large impact on the scene’s overall quality. • The protagonist’s motivation to jump off the building because he failed an exam seems overall unconvincing. It may create a comedic effect which would be greatly undesirable, as it would undermine the drama/thriller genre focus on realism, plot and tension.

Among our discussion, our aim was to create the climax at the very beginning of the film (opening) to create a strong sense of dramatic tension, and flashback to narrate the beginning of the story after the climatic event.

After the discussion, Arthur's initial ideas included: the protagonist committing suicide using a pistol in a dimly-lit room at the beginning, and cutting to a compact action sequence of the protagonist opening his eyes, waking up and quickly prepares to go to school / work. At this point, me&Bobby have realized that Arthur is stronger at developing plots for stories, so from now on, a more significant amount of narrative is handed to Arthur.

In our next discussion, we discussed his idea of suicide using a pistol, Here are Arthur's reasons for choosing the gun suicide + action sequence beginning: • The gun is a powerful symbol for spontaneous violence and death, often used in the thriller genre. The action of firing a pistol creates more dramatic tension than most other forms of suicide. Alternative choices may include hanging oneself or jumping off a building, but both are relatively more difficult to film. • Including a tight action sequence would further build tension, which would attract the audience and create anticipation for further development. • The gun scene could be filmed in a small room, which makes it easier to create a convincing mise-en-scene. Low-key lighting could be used to further ambiguity and suspense. General concerns: • If the gun prop looks unrealistic, it would fail to create the tension required for the scene. • Using a gun may be too stereotypical, and could be difficult to develop. Nonetheless, it also means that plenty of technical reference can be found. Arthur's revised ideas by the end of the discussion: • Start the opening with the climax of the movie, which suggests that the protagonist ultimately underwent a breakdown. After the climax scene, flashback to a highly compact action sequence, which is the chronological beginning of the plot and suggests the initial inner disposition of the protagonist. More environmental and background information can be introduced after the action sequence. • If we choose to continue developing the idea of suicide using a gun, details in the climax could be made ambiguous through editing. • We could use a point-of-view shot looking at the gun, then present the gun pressed to the temple, give an extreme close-up shot only showing the protagonist’s eyes, and blackout as the gun fires, ending the scene with a shot of flowing blood. • Details concerning the gunshot could be withheld or presented as misleading, for example, there may in fact be two characters in the scene instead of one (another character could be holding the gun and holding it to the protagonist, or vice versa). Although not revealed in the film opening, it could be encompassed as part of the larger plot design. November 2021 Plot Development & Brainstorming: • We decided that the film opening should be filmed at our homes and in school. • Home was chosen because it is a familiar environment for the protagonist, making it a suitable setting from which the story could begin. Filming from home is also easy to setup and free from time constraints. • School serves as an ideal setting for the plot to play out, and since our actors would likely be high-school students, setting the main events of the story in school would make the plot seem more convincing. • The beginning of the opening would be in reverse-chronological order, because the suicide chronologically takes place after most of the story has unfolded. After the suicide scene, the plot returns to chronological order, bringing the audience back to the start of the story. • Arthur read a few short comics which he'd previously saved out of personal interest. And he suggested to me that we should read these comics because they might provide inspiration regarding how to establish setting, create story arcs and build tension within limited length. • Main sources of inspiration include: • 破壊された原スープ by 遥川潤 • I am Nobody by 平庫ワカ (Add screenshots of these short comics) • We discussed the film Inception about how reverse chronological order was used and how setting was established, and the Netflix series The End of the Fxxking World about how narration and music was used to establish characters and meaning within a short period of time. • We decided that the storyline should start with the protagonist waking up in bed to music or an alarm clock in the background. With background narration by the protagonist, he would get dressed and take a car ride to school. • After arriving at school, the main event takes place: in The End of the Fxxking World, the main events would be James stabbing the professor dead under dubious circumstances. In I am Nobody, the unnamed protagonist discovers that his employer has been shot dead by the employer’s wife, who kills herself shortly afterwards. • Our thoughts were similar in the sense that the protagonist may have accidentally killed someone, or encountered a murder scene, which sets the plot into action. • Arthur realized that our ideas for the chronological beginning of the storyline had many elements which coincided with I am Nobody, and the story in general also seemed quite heavily cliched. This led him to consider how we could set an original main event which could avoid further coincidences. • We created a preliminary storyboard (shown below) regarding how the opening scenes should be filmed. • Nonetheless, our teacher Mr. Wunker suggested that we should first establish the plot before going on to plan how our shots would be filmed, because having a complete plot would provide clear directions as to what should be included in the film opening and how it should be filmed. • With this in mind, Arthur continued to brainstorm what main event could be powerful enough to provoke the protagonist to commit suicide. Arthur: • I conducted individual brainstorming for plot inspiration, again reflecting that running into a murder scene alone would not be powerful enough to provoke our protagonist into committing suicide. On the other hand, the idea of the protagonist killing someone else led me to consider where the gun could have came from: unless if the film was a crime thriller set in school like Brick, we would have difficulties giving a plausible explanation for where the gun came from. • At this point, I considered the possibility of a supernatural influence or power as a driving force for the story. In Macbeth, the witches bestowed Macbeth with a prophecy, which caused significant changes in his inner disposition and provoked his desires, which eventually led to his downfall. • Inspired by Macbeth and previous ideas I came up with whilst trying to write short stories out of personal interest, I considered the idea of the protagonist gaining a supernatural ability in the beginning of the story, setting a series of events in motion which eventually leads to him losing the power and provokes him to commit suicide.

SCRPIT

First draft of script

Day 1:
Devil: Love issues? (curious)
Bobby: 妈? (distressed)
Devil: She can't hear you. Maybe we can help each other out. (confidently)
Bobby: I, I don't trust you. (alarmed)
Devil: Maybe you will, we can help each other out. Call me if you've changed your mind (amused/slightly impatient)
Mom: 没事儿吧？
Bobby: 没事儿...

Day 2:
Devil: I'm glad you've made up your mind. (glad)
Bobby: What's the deal then? (curious)
Devil: You my friend, get a good ending, and I get a good laugh. (cleverly)
Bobby: But how? (afraid)
    (Devil hands Bobby the bat)

Final Script of retake (changed part written in green)

Day 1:
Devil: Love issues? (curious)
Bobby: 妈? (distressed)
Devil: She can't hear you you know. I'm here to give you an offer. (confidently)
Bobby: Who are you? (alarmed)
Devil: The point is, we can help each other out. Call me if you've changed your mind (amused/slightly impatient)
Mom: 没事儿吧？
Bobby: 没事儿...

Day 2:
Devil: I'm glad you've made up your mind. (glad)
Bobby: What's the deal then? (curious)
Devil: You my friend, get a good ending, and I get a good laugh. (cleverly)
Bobby: But how? (afraid)
    (Devil hands Bobby the bat)

STORY BOARD&SHOT LIST

For storyboard/shot list, I've drawn and annotated them according to our script, where Arthur had later on added some minor details.