Final Narative

Below Is the narrative that I have decided upon.....

No One Likes A Hero

 The short film will begin with the titles. These will be presented diegetically, by having the camera focussing upon a tee shirt which has the title of my film printed upon it, which will be applied using spray paint.It will then zoom out to reveal the central protagonist in a Spiderman costume, creating narrative enigma as the audience will ask why the character is dressed in this attire. I chose this as it goes against the stereotypes you find in most short films of plain white text presented over a black background entitling the film name.

 

After this the narrative then starts in the morning at around 7-9 am; this will be denoted by lighting. This will allow the time of day to be anchored. After this short period of exposition, it then cuts to the character waking up, using close ups to track his movement as he awakes from his slumber.The character then gets out of bed and then walks over to a wardrobe, perhaps using a first person shot of the characters feet and then panning up and zooming out to an over the shoulder. Not revealing the characters face the entire time. He will be wearing either traditional style pyjamas, boxers and a tee shirt or themed pj’s. Boxers and a tee would be the best option and is the option that I will opt for. The outfit will also help to anchor the time period which will be present day as it will be the easiest time period to re create. When the character (who is the central protagonist) reaches the wardrobe, he opens the door to reveal that he only has one item of clothing, which is a super hero outfit. I was going to have the wardrobe full of costumes, however, as this is only an A level production I am providing my own budget and this would have proved too pricey.

When he opens the door ideally an over the shoulder shot will be used (as previously mentioned) with a gradual zoom out to reveal more of the character. Another concept would be just to have one outfit to add a bit of comedy to the scene. A costume will have to be created or an outfit could be rented or bought, the outfit I’d probably choose would be a Spiderman suit or a pair of Y fronts with an added logo. The Spiderman costume would be preferable as it would provide an inter textual reference. From feedback I’m most probably going down the Spiderman costume root as the audience will instantly recognise the character, as well as this it will help to draw in fans of the Spiderman movies. And producing a superhero concept and outfit would take time that is very limited throughout the project. After this the protagonist will turn around after putting on a mask with a close up emphasizing this. I was going to use a long shot using an ellipse effect (time lapse), to show him trying on combinations of outfits however I feel this would cut too much into the main narrative, and relates back to why I chose to use only one costume.

Another media convention that will be created due to the costume in the wardrobe will be narrative enigma, as the audience will hopefully ask the question who is that character? Why don’t we see his face and why does he only own one super hero outfit? As the character gets dressed he looks down to find a phone number written on his stomach, he then calls this number and a phone goes off in the same room. This then reveals another character in the bed, as he is awoken by the phone. The two characters will then undergo some brief dialogue resulting in the central protagonist leaving the room abruptly. The scene then ends and cuts to another setting, perhaps using a spiders web effect as an editing style to fit in with the inter textual reference to Spiderman etc. This effect is still in speculation, as I have not yet experimented fully with final cut express, but I have posted some links on my blog to tutorial videos. However I prefer an un tuned television as it gives the sense of confusion, and links into the Spiderman movie references.

This brief first sequence unfolds the rest of the narrative, which is that a young teen male wakes up and believes that he is a super hero. With this vision in mind he attempts to solve crime however in his random acts of kindness gets denied as he get the wrong impression of the crimes. Character will be a male, aged around 17-18 years of age, who will be Caucasian, able bodied and with either brown or blonde hair. He may also be called Peter to create an inter textual reference to Spiderman. As well as this the character could be linked into Superman/ Clark Kent also. As I have stated, the costume that the character selects will be a Spiderman one, as it will link into certain editing effects that I have in mind.

For the setting in the morning scenario a male teenager’s bedroom would be used, preferably in a mature colour scheme. But with posters on the walls of cartoon characters and superhero’s, which will help to signify the characters obsession. Filming of this particular section can be under gone at either my house or a fellow peer or group members. Audience is a key factor I will need to take into account with my ideas. The theme of superhero characters and inter textual references will help draw in fans of this area. Also if the character in the bed was to be a female it would portray a heterosexual stereotype, where as if the character was also to be male it may aid to draw in the pink pound. This would be an issue that I would take into account later down the line.

Moving on from this preparation sequence the setting cuts to outside, either to a built up urban area such as certain parts of Burley-In-Wharfedale, Ilkley or Leeds. A city location would be priority however; it seems to be the least achievable. As no filming would be able to be under gone during lesson times, so a lot of lesson time would be wasted and out of schoolwork would need to be put in. The actors involved in the short film may not feel comfortable performing in this circumstance. To get around these issues I am going to use a point of view shot around the city, which will create a sense of what the character experiences in terms of looks as people will be looking at the camera, and won’t require the actor to do anything as the rest of the scene can be filmed elsewhere. These scene film be presented in a grid, split into quarters and interlinked with this first person footage will be sequences of the protagonist getting on the train and doing mundane tasks such as shopping and attempting to have a drink.

An idea for this third of the sequence is that the protagonist attempts to stage random acts of kindness (wanting to rein act his favourite superhero’s), which results in him getting rejected. Or perhaps having a crime for him to solve which instead of being rewarded for solving is blamed for. An example of some of the crimes could be someone running with a bag, the male protagonist senses that this is the opportunity to pounce. The character is then denied as he finds that the bag was being given to someone else. Using final cut express I may be able to create an affect similar to Spiderman’s spider sense which would create another inter textual reference. This would be incorporated into the point of view shot when the protagonist appears to be patrolling the streets. Another less ambitious option that I will most probably follow is that the protagonist spots a pair of suspicious youths exchanging a bottle shaped package/bag. Our leading character presumes that this is an illegal exchange either of drugs or alcohol. He goes over to one of the teens who is walking away with the package, confronts him about the issue and then finds out that he was in the wrong as it would be something such as a soft drink or chewing gum. To conclude both of these scenarios the character gets into a fight and this results in him becoming knocked out. An interesting style to use for this confrontation would be pop art style, with speech bubbles and action words. From feedback I think I will continue this style throughout the entire short film. I will also include boxes in the corners to explain what is going on during the scene and will opt to use a washed out colour scheme instead of the pop art aesthetic. I’d prefer the washed out effect as it would create a graphic novel effect, which makes the narrative seem more mature and the pop art style may appear distorted and difficult to depict with moving images.

After looking into these effects though I think it would have a much more pleasing aesthetic if it were simply left alone.

After producing an animatic and showing it to the class I gained some feedback, which will influence the crime situation. Overall the mugging concept appears to be more popular, as it will produce more action-based sequence typical of superhero movies. Also the use of the illegal substance concept may be unclear to the audience and may look suspicious when acting it out in public. Also one very useful point that was pointed out was the inclusion of extras. Initially I didn’t plan to include them, as there will be pedestrians around during filming. However it was suggested that some extras could wear superhero costumes so this appears to be the social norm. I personally think this a very interesting concept, and typical of a short film. Taking one aspect of life and tweaking it slightly. So this is where handmade costumes would come into play as not everyone owns their own costume. However this may distract the audience from the narrative.

The final decision for this sequence though is to follow the bag concept. Using slow motion when the character is hit, to emphasize the assault. When this fight is undertaken I don’t think the cartoon violence words should be included as It would give the film quite a childish feel. When the character is rendered unconscious, I want the camera to zoom in on the logo on his chest and then slowly zoom back out to reveal that the character is in a different scenario. Using the un tuned television through out this to give a disturbed vibe. During this sequence it was going to project the title sequence for the Spiderman cartoon, but due to copy write reasons, I thought it would be best not to.

 The genre then shows aspects of binary opposition switching from a light-hearted comedy/drama to a mysterious thriller. As the character then awakes to find himself in a corridor, setting this in a mental hospital which will be denoted by the use of a voice over saying ‘what are you doing out of your room’ . He will still be wearing the costume  to retain narrative enigma. I will use an extreme close up to show the characters facial outline expression through the mask. He then runs though a set of doors to find him self in the same corridor, the character then panics, removes his mask and the production cuts there. So basically the narrative is based around self-delusion and how people can be easily led on. Through out this sequence I will try to incorporate a Sin City style, only having certain colours present, to signify that a majority of happiness in his life has been removed and In mentally he is not all there, creating a polysemic meaning. As the film ends the last scene will be completely monochromatic to signify that the entire of central protagonists mind has been lost. To round of the film, it will abruptly cut to the un tuned television effect with the voice over, overlaying. To anchor the setting and to signify that the character has something wrong with him mentally.