Lewis's NEA Blog

The film is going to be about a young person who one day starts being informed of the number of people they have saved based on the decision they make, whether it be by message or subliminal, such as house numbers, prices etc. They start testing how far they can go whilst saving lives which then causes them to one day get a message signifying that they have cost people's lives with their decision. The character then has to deal with the consequences of their actions.

My main character will be someone aged between 20 and 30 who one day receives a message telling them that a decision they have made has saved X amount of lives. They then have to deal with this as they receive more messages telling them about the lives they have saved. They then start to test the limits seeing what happens when they try more risky activities until they receive a message telling them they have cost people's lives. They then have to deal with the consequence of this.

The narrative of my film is likely to be linear for the most part although there may be flashbacks in some scenes. This means that it is going to stick to Todorov's theory of equilibrium as the flashbacks will mainly be used to establish the initial equilibrium. In terms of binary opposites, I doubt many will be featured as I am planning on having one character and I don't see how I could intentionally fit them in.

Lighting - The lighting in my film will be very natural as I will be shooting on location Character expression/movement - This will be natural and appropriate for the scenario the character is placed in. Props - The main prop will be the character's phone although they will receive messages in other ways as well. Hair/makeup - This will be natural as will the costumes, typical of the setting and time period. Costume - See hair/makeup Setting - The setting will be urban, in a city. It will feature non-descript locations like cafes, shops, streets.

In my coursework film, I am planning on starting with an opening monologue, possibly presented as a voice over as the character explains their situation and the context around it. In terms of dialogue, I am not planning much as I feel the story could get confused with multiple characters and stray away from the message the film is meant to convey. I quite like the idea of using ambience to break up the talking as it could allow the audience to consider what has been said during the film. However it would have to be structured correctly as to not cause them to lose interest. I may recreate some of them using Foley but I would prefer to get the actual sounds. I may also use contrapuntal sound as diegetic sound for dramatic irony.

My coursework idea is about someone who has to deal with the consequences of their actions as they find out after random decisions, the amount of lives they have saved by making that decision. After having this happen for quite a while, they start testing the limits and how far they can go whilst savings lives. Whilst doing this, they get a negative number, indicating they have caused someone to die because of that choice.  The decisions range from smaller everyday events to more dangerous activities.