The Bones Of It (Part II)

 Our tutor for this unit, Sharron, gave us a proposal sheet about a month ago. Basically, it's asking us about the key features on how to structure our film. Here's mine, although bear with me that it's in mostly note form:

• Original Thought (Initial Idea)

Use of unreliable narrator - narrator/voice over; Visual contrast between reality and imagination by playing with the codes and conventions of the pioneering genre of French film noir by employing a pastiche approach to neo-noir;

• Characters (names, descriptions, personal profile, sketches, etc.)

Barney and Candid as the protagonist and deutagonist respectively. Their character structures stem from inspiration drawn from Victoria Lynn Schmidt's book on 45 Master Characters. The character archetypes employed for Barney is The Artist, based on the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon. Candid's character comes from a supporting archetype known as The Shadow, who is used to personify the troubles of the protagonist.

•  Story (start, middle, end/conflict & resolution)

(i) The situation and fantasy aspect in regards to the character of Barney is establish, where we find out his setting, his aspirations, and generally how he reacts and deals with people and his demons;

(ii) Barney gets himself into a secret casual relationship that he tells us about, but believes it will hinder his future prospects and thus it begins to deteriorate. Between this and hiding away from Candid, he pushes everyone away, too self-centred to care how he affects those around him. It only takes so long before it all takes its toll on him;

(iii) Barney, upon pushing everyone he cared about away from him, reflects on himself and his life, his actions, his feelings and emotions. He acknowledges that it is probably too late to fix what he has just ruined, but takes it upon himself to learn from this experience and use it to better guide him for his future. He ends his story on a bittersweet note with a glimmer of hope.

•  Genre

Neo-noir pastiche; comedy-drama 

•  Audience
• Why You Think This Is A Good Idea

Can easily relate to the protagonist involved; a message that we should thrive to be the best that we can be, and to not allow our insecurities to consume us until it is almost too late just as Barney did.

The Bones Of It (Part I)

After about fifteen posts, I think it's about time I told you what my short film will entail, eh? I'm pretty good at elongating this process, although I've put a lot of thought and research into my sub-themes, so it's certainly worth nailing it down now and sharing the idea.


 It's always been hard for me to talk about my ideas without dancing around the point (nothing new there, really). I often feel very uncomfortable and lose confidence that it will ever form into something more solid and grounding. I guess they're always quite personal and it can be rather intimidating to share it. Of course though, you fictionalise it, giving it a nice, good balance between real life and imagination.

 What it boils down to, my protagonist, Barney, has to learn to face his fears. He's too scared to fight them off and is reluctant to do so because facing them means admitting that there is something wrong. For years I struggled to admit to myself that I had insecurities and woes that needed addressing, and it's still difficult. The personal aspect that the film holds to me, I suppose, makes it hard to try to discuss in this way but, at the same time, a fair few who have read my character profile on Barney could relate quite well to him, even asking me if I had based him on them.

 Nobody wants to admit that they are in a bad place mentally. In the short term, it's easier to just brush them away and ignore them. In the long term, however, it begins to take its toll on us, and we take it out on other people in some form or another. What we need to realise is that we should work through it, not ignore it, because it only gets bigger then, and will take control of us. And we end up losing everything eventually, whether it's people or our ourselves, and ultimately our mind.

 Often, we either try to shut ourselves out completely, or fantasise about a more ideal us. In this case, Barney, who takes great joy in writing short stories when he isn't too busy, imagines himself as a more confident and more in control individual. Big and in charge. He soon adopts this mental alter ego as his own little facade, but ends up highlighting a more prideful and self-centred version of his admired character to everyone else around him. The ones who know him well soon catch on and are infuriated by this as he begins to treat them poorly. Soon, they leave, forcing Barney to actually face his demons.


 I'm going to be posting more research I've done to go towards this, as well as expanding on certain aspects of it, such as posting the character profiles, the beat sheet maybe, and looking into films that I want to gain inspiration from in regards to codes and conventions of its genre. Speaking of which, I'll have to go into detail about why I chose the genres that I did.