Georgia Newman Film Studies

She enters the room and crosses go to work of her to-do list and then heads to a closet. When she opens it, you see it’s actually full of fairy lights and cushions not clothes. She turns on the fairy lights, sits down, brings out a book and starts reading. She is content and somewhat happy.

4 – INT – DAY – OFFICE

MAYA sits at her desk looking bored and defeated. She sifts through work and aimlessly clicks things on her computer. She’s given up. The BOSS walks past and waves. She gives a small wave back.

5 – INT – DAY – CLOSET

MAYA turns on her fairy lights and proceeds to sit down and read again. After a while, she looks away from her book too busy thinking.

[IMAGINING] MAYA hears a strange noise from outside the closet. When she opens the door, the room is blue and there is a DVD on the floor addressed to her, with a light up arrow pointing towards it. MAYA picks it up and heads downstairs to the living room.

6 – INT – N/A – LIVING ROOM

MAYA places the DVD into the player and sits and waits patiently. It begins to play.

MAYA FROM THE FUTURE

Hi, I’m Maya, from the future. I’m you from the future. I get it’s a bit weird, but you’ll have to get passed that to listen to me.

MAYA smiles lightly to herself.

MAYA F

I’m not going to tell you were we ended up. I don’t want to mess anything up. But it went well, really, it did. I learnt along the way that what we decide to do matters much more than we think. Not just to the people around us, but ourselves. I wish I learnt that sooner, and now I guess I have. You’ve got strangers to meet and places to leave. It’s all waiting for you. Good luck.

The DVD ends. MAYA smiles.

7 – INT – DAY – CLOSET

[END OF IMAGININING] MAYA is smiling. She puts her book down and leaves the closet, adding ‘Quit job’ on her to-do list. She then goes back inside her closet.

8 – INT – DAY – OFFICE

MAYA

I quit, I’m giving you my three weeks’ notice

BOSS

What?

MAYA

I’m leaving

BOSS

But you were voted least likely to leave

9 – INT – DAY – PICTURES ON A WALL

Staff pictures hang on a wall with descriptions of each employee. MAYA was voted ‘least likely to leave’.

10 – INT – DAY – OFFICE

BOSS

Why are you leaving?

MAYA

I have better things to do

BOSS

Like what?

MAYA

I don’t know for sure yet but anything. Maybe I’ll start writing.

BOSS

I can’t believe this. (he sighs) Good luck then.

The BOSS gestures for her to leave. She does.

11 – DAY – OUTISDE

MAYA is happy. She leaves the workplace building.

Short Film Plan

Posted on September 17, 2019 by georgianewmanfilmstudies

Outline:

Starts off with Maya at work. All her efforts have amounted to nothing.
She goes home and crosses work off her to-do list. and head straight to what appears like a closet, but is actually a reading space filled with fairy lights
She reads her book, the fairy lights reflect in her eyes
She’s upset as she goes through her day, aimlessly flicking through TV, cooking or something. She gets an unfortunate text/a text that means she has more work to do.
She goes back to the closet and turns on the fairy lights and reads. The book prompts her to imagine something strange.
A DVD has appeared outside the closet. She goes downstairs and plays it. It’s a tape from her future self, telling her about how decisions she makes matters and that life gets less overwhelming. She looks in the mirror and the smiles?
She’s back in the closet, leaves, and add quit job to her to-do list
She’s at work. The boss is surprised. She was voted least likely to leave.
She leaves the workplace.

Themes and Ideologies:

Slight Sci-fi theme
Determinism
The power of creative things e.g. books and film

Inspiration from other Films

Posted on September 17, 2019 by georgianewmanfilmstudies

Guillermo del Toro films:

Guillermo del Toro is known for his coloured lighting. One of the colours he uses is blue, such as in Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devils Backbone. I would also like to use blue lighting to emphasise the sci-fi theme as well as to seperate the imaginary world (blue) to the real world. I used coloured lighting in my AS short film because of the connotations of the colour red and it as one of my favourite parts of mise en scene and cinemtatohgraphy that I used and so I would like to use it again. Plus, my love for the use of lighting specifically coloured lighting in movies.

Birdman and Beasts of the Southern Wild :

I’d like to use fairy lights as I think they evoke a lot of emotion as well as being beautiful to look at. Some films that does this are Beasts of the Southern Wild and Birdman, they can engulf the screen, I would like that in my film. I plan on using it to make it seem magical like, as I want to deck her reading closet in fairy lights where she imagines herself watching a tape from her future self after being prompted from the book. I’d also like to use fairy lights on the stairs when she is walking in the imaginary world to the TV because of the magical and hopeful theme it provides.

Good Time:

I’d like to use the device of a close up/extreme close up of my protagonist’s eyes to open and close the imaginary sequence in order to show the audience that it’s imaginary. Plus, there’s the meaning around eyes being ‘the windows to the soul’ and so using her eyes emphasises her desires that she has for life. Good Time uses specifically two eye close-ups to evoke particular emotions as well, I think it was really well used to sum up the reality of the scene.

Some Ideas of Possible Influences from the Short Films – Draft 1 (not complete)

Posted on June 28, 2019 by georgianewmanfilmstudies

Night Fishing

night fishing

One of the things that I found interesting about ‘Night Fishing’ was the upside-down shot. I would like to incorporate an upside-down shot into my film as I think it’s jarring for the spectator and forces them to consider the meaning of not only the shot but the scene.

nf 2

‘Night Fishing’ involves narrative repetition of the use of bells, both the sound of them and the sight of them (mise en scene). I would also like to incorporate narrative repetition into my short film but instead of the bells, it would be the mise en scene of the fairy lights which I’d like to incorporate in several scenes. The use of fairy lights in both the reading space and the imaginary world will emphasise the power that art has on our decisions.

When the Day Breaks

fygvkgv

‘When the Day Breaks’ also uses narrative repetition (opening the blind both at the start and the end of the film) which I would like to include in my short film. The use of the narrative repetition in this film provides a sense of hope at the end, but mine is to show the power of creativity and making decisions (going against nihilism).

when the day breaks

This short film manages to tell an emotional and meaningful story, while using mundane and everyday actions which I also plan to do like going to work, reading, watching a film. I think it grounds the film and this way the viewers have a higher chance of relating to the protagonist of the story.

Meshes of the Afternoon

Capture

This short film also uses narrative repletion, which I plane to use in my short film.

guviug

This short film uses mirror as a symbol which I would also like to use in my film during a pivotal moment in which the protagonist decides to take control of her life.

This short film also uses non-diegetic music, which I have considered doing in my short film as well to help convey the emotions of the scene, especially in the imaginary section as I could use the non-diegetic music to emphasise that it’s not real and to emphasises the sci-fi theme.

La Jetee

5d rftyfyt

This short film is bookended by the same place (mise en scene, set) which I am planning on doing in my film as I want to open and close with the workplace, specifically in the boss’s office. However, I will open with the boss and close with Maya to show how she now has found the control.

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