Change of Plans

So, it looks like we are changing our short film idea. After having a one-on-one discussion with our teacher, she explained to us that our idea is too similar to an episode from the Netflix series “Black Mirror.” Thus, she highly recommended that we change it. Hearing this is definitely frustrating because we were so close to actually filming and start the fun part of the project. However, it was good she mentioned this now so we can make the necessary changes to get a better score on our project.

My group and I have been discussing and we agree that we want to keep our characters and the idea of the simulation the same within our short film. With this in mind, we came up with a different idea. The story will still include a couple that has problems and takes couple therapy. Our short film will open with the couple in their last session of the therapy process in which they are given the opportunity to go back in time at whatever point in their relationship. They chose to relive the memory of their first argument. In order to demonstrate that they go back in time, we will show a clock going backwards and include a graph match to the time in the next scene. The following scene will be the couple arriving at the house after a long day of work. The couple will start arguing throughout the night about little problems each one has about the other. The fight becomes an all night argument in which gets more intense each time and opens doors to other problems they’ve been having. They decided that no one will leave until they have settled everything. However, after hours of fighting and not coming to a resolution, Penelope will storm out and head to the cafe shop where they first met. Simon will then chase after her. He will sit with her at the table they had their first date. As they are remembering their happiest day, they soon realized that they haven’t had a moment like that again. They grab each others hands and tell the other that it was over between them. The two jumped too quickly in the relationship and believed that their problems would be fixed with couples therapy, but in reality, they just didn’t love each other. Immediately, we would do another graph match to their hands back to the psychiatrist scene. The psychiatrist will ask if the simulation helped them. However, they don’t say anything, look at each other, and that’s where the short film ends.

Our theme for the film will demonstrate how sometimes one needs to stop for a moment and look back at to why things may not going the way they thought. Many times individuals tend to blindly jump into things, like relationships or jobs, that they won’t be happy in. This then causes one to feel as if they were in a trap that they can’t get out of because they believe this is the only option. Thus, at the end of the short film, Simon and Penelope realized that they were never in love. They felt they owed it to one another to stay in the relationship in order to make the other happy, but in fact, they were both miserable.

Finally, with the new idea, the scenes are limited to a few locations which is easier for us to film and the story will now be demonstrated through the dialogue of the characters and the mis-en-scene of the settings. Our next steps are to create a whole new script, find our locations, and start filming by spring break.

Wish us luck!