Initial Short Film Idea Plus Evaluative Notes

WillJ Initial Film Idea

Assessment Feedback: The themes in my initial draft are written very literal, they need to be more abstract. Death relates to religious, and secular ideas, with links to the question of an afterlife. Disease can relate to weakness or strength, mortality or immortality. It is also interesting to think about the tree, which starts to grow before the character is born, and continues to grow after he dies (this also gives the audience a bigger sense of a time scale). Death and Disease together can also be gone into deeper by thinking about the character's coming to terms with his terminal illness, his loss, and grief. The theme of loneliness can be expanded by including things that go into this theme, such as isolation, and aloneness. The fact that people are 'moving away' from the character links to the idea of identity; how does that make him feel? It could give the character a certain desperation, it could affect his esteem, and it could give the character a silence (silence could be portrayed through the sound scape). Homosexuality goes into ideas of orthodoxy, heterodoxy, unorthodox behaviour, independence, freedom and liberation, appearance vs reality, and nature (as natural as anything else) vs nurture. A problem with using AIDs as my terminal illness is that it is no longer terminal. Also it is the subject of many full length dramas, short dramas and black comedies, for example: Brass Eye-Good AIDs vs Bad Aids, Philadelphia and the subject of AIDs in Soap Operas. Therefore it is on the verge of becoming benign. To solve this problem the exact terminal illness will not be revealed, thus losing the taboo, but gaining stigmatism of disease, and it becomes more relevant to this time period. The theme of obsession has two sides that can be explored. On one hand obsession can be a good thing, leading to determination, energy, and commitment. However, obsession can also be an unhealthy fixation. Therefore, the theme of health vs unhealthy comes into play. As my short film can only be 5 minutes long, i have to think about whether or not i have enough time to show everything, such as people moving away from the main character. In my characterisation i have connected the mini-parts of the characters background to his reason for climbing the tree. This would work better for a longer drama, however. I have not stuck to the unity of time, place and action in terms of my characterisation, and i need to build the dilemma into this unity. It also seems to move into more slapstick comedy at the end, this becomes a problem as i don't want to mix two types of comedy because it may confuse the audience. The predicament will change: the main character knows what tree he wants to climb (he isn't searching for it), but he can't without risking his health. The dilemma will also become more serious: by climbing the tree the main character risks what little life he has left, but if he doesn't then his last desire will go unfulfilled. This adds to the tension, as well as the sense of his terminal illness making his health and appearance worsen (my film will be made very visual).