Monday, December 19, 2016

Other Senior Film Idea: The Conquistadors

Senior Presentation 


It's about your idea of who someone is being warped by uncertainty, fear, mistrust, and irrationality.

STORY ARC

In basic terms, the story is about two conquistadors who are lost in the New World. With a map, they are on their way to reconvene at the base. The inciting incident is when their efforts are complicated by torrential downpour that renders the map nearly unreadable. With their little knowledge of the land and their limited supplies, reaching base seems impossible. Tension rises, and as these two men succumb to fear and hopelessness, their image of each other warps and takes the shape of their own diminishing rationality.


CHARACTERS

Abelardo
-Somewhere late/early in his thirties, Abelardo has not handled many responsibilities and has recently been appointed to spearhead a scouting mission for his extensive knowledge of maps and geography. His partner, Valdez, is mostly unacquainted with him, but is jealous of his position. Abelardo doubts his abilities and questions whether it was worth it to travel to the New World. He is book smart, but in the face of real adversity, he lacks the life experience to maintain confidence and focus.

Valdez
-Older, somewhere in his late 40s, Valdez has had much more life experience than Abelardo. He is jealous of his superior position, believing him unworthy and unequipped to lead him. He doesn't know Abelardo personally, but as the film continues, he decides himself that he would be more qualified for his position, and loses respect for him.


SCENES

The Rain -
The film begins with a downpour of torrential rain. The map is ruined and both characters see this at the time. Abelardo claims he can still take them back to base, but hope quickly diminishes.

The Aftermath -
After the rain, the two men go over the supplies they still have. It's not much, enough for only a few days. They make sure to check the gunpowder in their pistols. Abelardo checks his pistol to find that the rain has rendered it unusable. He asks Valdez if he's experiences the same, and Valdez confirms that his is also useless.

The Pistol -
Abelardo can't find Valdez and begins to panic, which is stopped dead when the loud crack of a gun is heard. Unmoving, Abelardo waits and Valdez emerges from the trees with a dead animal over his shoulder.

LOCATIONS




12 Shoots

Shoot 1 -Lex Allen's "Cream and Sugar" Password: lxart
https://vimeo.com/180374855

Shoot 2 -"Waiting for Lefty" Password: DFW
https://vimeo.com/195429371

Shoot 3 - "Weekly Footage 2"
https://vimeo.com/189894476

Shoots 4 and 5 - Auditions and Callbacks.
https://vimeo.com/189868914 Password: senior
https://vimeo.com/187937154 Password: reap

Shoot 6 - "Reap"
https://vimeo.com/185597529 Password: senior

Shoot 7 - "A Letter"
https://vimeo.com/196334390 Password: ladybug
I used the footage from "Weekly Footage 2" and some other footage I shot to combine it into a new project, hoping to juxtapose footage I already had with something new to form a new meaning.

Shoot 8 and 9 -"Sofar Sounds"
I shoot videos Sofar Sounds which puts on monthly concerts in intimate spaces to showcase talented musicians around the world.
Oketo - Vogene
Daniel Champagne - Nightingale

Shoot 10 -"Pridefest"
https://vimeo.com/191551850

Shoot 11 - "Bar Mitzvah"
https://vimeo.com/196338856 Password: ethan

Shoot 12 - "Guiding Light"
https://vimeo.com/196345829 Password: lanternshootblog


























Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Film Ideas

A group of women in the 1930s who form a secret boxing club.

Jester:
A film about a jester named Bartholomew who as a young peasant boy was lucky enough to make a nobleman passing through his village laugh. The nobleman proposes, on the spot, that the child should be taken to the court to live his life as a jester. His family accepts the proposal realizing that his quality of life will be much better there, even though they may never see him again. The jester grow up to be the King's favorite and is considered a prodigy. When he is much older the King sends the Jester off to accompany the army as they march to entertain them when they make camp. He has no idea the horrors of war and has led a very sheltered and lucky life so he goes along. The camp is invaded and he is thrown into battle, taken prisoner, and everything changes. The film would really be about how the Jester begins to use his comedy and his voice to criticize monarchies and corruption and how his identity is changed by what he's put through. He begins to doubt his calling and the symbol of the jester changes for him personally.

The Inventor:
A film about a young child who has a passion for inventing. He/she enjoys finding spare points around and building something with them. The setting is in an impoverished village and the the main character grows up wanting to invent machines that help people perform the needed tasks of the village. These people live in a dictatorship and are oppressed. A rebellion rises and the main character isn't interested until the militarized police harm members of his/her family. They become consumed with this cause, this rebellion. The only thing worth doing is to help the rebellion succeed at any cost. They lose sight of what they really loved and build war machines to help in the war effort. The central idea of the story is about how this main character allows their passion to become something ugly because of good intentions and how far they're willing to go down the wrong path.

A film about an attorney(lawyer?) whose self proclaimed purpose is to keep children from being tried as adults in court for heinous crimes. The story is about a young boy whose father owns guns. This child was asked by another boy to be his valentine. The boy comes to school the next day with his dad's gun and shoots the other boy. The film centers on the lawyers efforts to not have this boy be tried as an adult. His claim is controversial and many parents and people are against him for defending this child but he is dedicated to keeping him out of being tried as an adult. It's a heinous crime, it's murder, but he's still a kid and he wants him to somehow, someway still have a chance.

A family of gang members led by the oldest brother. He is a liar and manipulator. The film's central character is the youngest sister who's idea of what's right and wrong is skewed by her oldest brother and the watch he keeps over the family. It's about how the sister gradually see's her family for what they are and begins to undo the manipulation that's been done to her.

A story about two brothers trying to figure out how to bridge the gap of their broken relationship in the wake of their aunt's death who was the only real parental figure in their lives. One of the brothers being a self destructive and impulsive outgoing criminal and the other an indecisive emotionally reclusive and passive aviator enthusiast. Both dealt with neglecting parents and moving from town to town growing up in completely opposite ways, but had one thing in common- their Aunt Zooey. Sam takes off at the age of 18 leaving the other brother to his own devices. A few years pass without word from Sam until Zooey dies and Sam shows up without warning on the other brother's doorstep. On the way to the funeral they're not welcome at, they hash out their broken relationship and finally find each other while stealing their aunt's ashes.

Short film about a couple driving at night in the middle of winter. They see a stray dog and try to chase him down to keep him warm until they figure out what to do but he keeps running away. The failure of trying to find this lost dog who won't last the night causes the couple's insecurities and weaknesses to surface and they face it in the freezing cold in the wake of losing this dog.

Someone coming home to their door broken open- not knowing if anyone is inside.

A film about a spoken word artist turned musician whose drug is the adrenaline of performing and neglects his personal life in pursuit of his craft. Animations in the vein of Don Hertzfeld pepper the film during his spoken word.

A very Lynchian short film about an office worker in a jump suit waiting for his Boss to give him his evaluation. His boss is an overweight red headed man who remains deadpan as the main character becomes more and more anxious. The red headed man calmly looks over the evaluation and remarks how they don't seem to make sense as he slowly slides the papers off the high table their sitting at in the middle of a dark office. All the while a small goblin like creature tugs at the main character's jump suit from under the table which the red headed boss doesn't recognize. Periodically the main character violently hushes the creature trying to keep it together for his boss. A bright light almost like a light house turns on somewhere far away in the distance, further away than what seems possible given the space their in, and when it turns on it's the only time the main character is still. He looks at it very intently and it turns off and he returns to being an anxious mess. He is the only one that recognizes the light.