A
coming-of-age drama about a boy in his late teens (Charlie) who suffers from Fantasy Prone Personality yet aspires to become
a writer. He lives with his family in Oxford. His brother, Dion, has taken the
duty of having his brother be friends with his own friends due to his condition
making it hard to make friends. His brother is a few years older attending a
local art college and has friends who live locally in a student house with many
of them sharing. Dion offers Charlie drugs that will ‘augment creativity’ as he
is having problems writing. When taking the drug this proves to be correct, yet
his condition enhances the surrealism of the drug thus often making it
difficult to differentiate with reality and his trips. Charlie becomes more
indulged in the drug as it does in fact make his writing better. One trip Charlie
sees Dion in harm, leading him to depression, yet this is just a faction of
surrealism/FPP condition creating this alternate reality. Concluding the narrative,
Charlie realises that the drug is dangerous and writes about his events of the
drug, making a successfully selling story - 191 words.
Thursday, 31 January 2013
Monday, 28 January 2013
Character Development
Daedalus Family (Name comes from the Icarus myth) :
Rob - Rob is the father of Dion and Charlie. Rob works at the local council as part of the treasury team. This is his second job in the year as he recently became redundant as an accountant at the bank. Rob doesn't have a significantly strong relationship with his two children due to his high amounts of hours working.
Jude - Jude is the mother of the two boys and wife of Rob. She works as a part-time nurse at the local hospital. She has a close relationship with the boys as she spends more time at home, yet it is evident she shows Charlie more affection due to his condition.
The family live in a fairly large three story house in Oxford due to their stable financial status. The houses in the area are all terraced with some students at the local collages and university living in the same area. Dion has a close relationship with a group of students that live in the area, who all have a great involvement in music and the Oxford music scene.
Charles/Charlie - Charlie is the protagonist in
the narrative. He is in his late teens and recently finished college. He
suffers from Fantasy Prone
Personality (FPP) which is a personality/psychological condition that causes
the individual to suffer from extensive involvement in fantasy and surrealism.
I have named the protagonist Charles after Charles Dickens, the famous British
novelist, because it was believed that he suffered from the same
condition. Additionally, Charlie also aspires to be a writer and has an extensive imagination due to his condition.
Dion - Dion is Charlie’s older brother of his
early twenties. Dion is a Fine Arts student at one of the colleges in Oxford. He takes drugs as a creative influence on his art, yet this is unknown to his father. However, within the narrative Charlie finds out about his drug usage due to Dion telling him to take them. Dion is an abbreviation of Dionysus of Greek Literature who is the son of Zeus, known as the 'merrymaker' as well as the God of wine and fertility.
Rob - Rob is the father of Dion and Charlie. Rob works at the local council as part of the treasury team. This is his second job in the year as he recently became redundant as an accountant at the bank. Rob doesn't have a significantly strong relationship with his two children due to his high amounts of hours working.
Jude - Jude is the mother of the two boys and wife of Rob. She works as a part-time nurse at the local hospital. She has a close relationship with the boys as she spends more time at home, yet it is evident she shows Charlie more affection due to his condition.
The family live in a fairly large three story house in Oxford due to their stable financial status. The houses in the area are all terraced with some students at the local collages and university living in the same area. Dion has a close relationship with a group of students that live in the area, who all have a great involvement in music and the Oxford music scene.
Story Type
In terms of McKee's genre/sub-genre categories, my film would fit into the 'Maturation Plot' which is the narrative type for the typical coming-of-age story. The story type for my film will be the 'Rite of Passage' as the theme of the narrative will be the transformation of a child into an adult life, again typically that of a coming of age narrative movie.
Levi Strauss' invented the concept of binary oppositions in a narrative. Using a youthful character in my narrative, coupled with another character, either a brother or close friend, then I can make these oppositions prominent through the characters. Here are some of the opposing concepts that i wish to include within my narrative:
- Known - Unknown The idea of uncovering the unknown and first time experiences are typical embedded narrative points of coming-of-age films.
- Reality - Surreal The contrast of reality and surrealism comes from the drug use in the film as well as the protagonist's condition.
- Past - Present Constantly reinforcing the idea of maturity in the narrative will allow flash backs or forwards and cataphoric and anaphoric references in the narrative.
- Legality- Illegitimate/Illegal Throughout the film elements of illegal activity and legal activity will occur. This is another convention of the coming-of-age genre, where the protagonist must decided on a moral and ethical scale what is correct.
Structure - Todorov:
Todorov gives the theory of the conventional linear narrative structure of a movie. I will give these stages of the theory in context of my film:
Stage 1 - State of equilibrium is defined.
We see the family's lifestyle: Charlie is at home reading/listening to music then writing, Dion as an art college student, Rob and Jude (father and mother) go to work on a daily basis. There is also evidence of the friendship with the other students that live in the area and are friends with Dion which Charlie is also friends with.
Stage 2 - A disruption occurs to the equilibrium in the form of an action or crisis.
Stage 3 - The progagoinst and other major characters have recognized a disruption has occurred and set goals to resolve the problem and restore an equilibrium.
Stage 4 - The characters attempt to repair the disruption which resulted in the disruption of the narrative to occur.
Stage 5 - A new equilibrium has been installed to the narrative and the conclusion is announced.
Structure - Todorov:
Todorov gives the theory of the conventional linear narrative structure of a movie. I will give these stages of the theory in context of my film:
Stage 1 - State of equilibrium is defined.
We see the family's lifestyle: Charlie is at home reading/listening to music then writing, Dion as an art college student, Rob and Jude (father and mother) go to work on a daily basis. There is also evidence of the friendship with the other students that live in the area and are friends with Dion which Charlie is also friends with.
Stage 2 - A disruption occurs to the equilibrium in the form of an action or crisis.
Stage 3 - The progagoinst and other major characters have recognized a disruption has occurred and set goals to resolve the problem and restore an equilibrium.
Stage 4 - The characters attempt to repair the disruption which resulted in the disruption of the narrative to occur.
Stage 5 - A new equilibrium has been installed to the narrative and the conclusion is announced.
Genre Adaptation for My Screenplay
- Genre/sub-genre:
Drama/Coming-of-age following the plot line of Icarus with the two brothers,
where Icarus attempted to fly using feathers and wax, caught up in his
excitement eventually drowned in the sea after the wax melted. This Greek myth
has the idea of ESCAPISM and FASCINATION. Their fathers name was Daedalus
meaning ‘hard worker’ who constructed the wings.
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER/2012/STEPHEN CHBOSKY
ALMOST FAMOUS/2000/CAMERON CROWE
- Conventions of coming-of-age: Personal growth and change is an important
characteristic of this genre, which relies on dialogue and emotional responses,
rather than action. The main character is typically male, around mid-teen and
the story is often told in the form of a flash-back. Themes of developing sexual identity, personal philosophy, and political
opinions are often featured. Sexual
themes are often presented in a comic or humorous manner. The character or
social groups of characters are often deemed as the lesser respected and peculiar
personalities that are expressed and explored throughout the film.
- Examples of coming-of-age films: Here are the trailers of 3 films that fit into the Coming-of-Age sub-genre of film. The similarities between these three films are that they all have a mentor or influence upon the protagonists actions. Between these three films there are the mutual theme of musical interest, which is popular with the audience. Additionally, all three of these films are retrospective of a certain generation that is significant to music: On The Road looks at the Beat generation and Jazz age, Perks looks at the up rise of the indie music genre with bands such as The Smiths being a prominent part of the narrative and Almost Famous revolves around the idea of a young music journalist who tours with a rock band in the Hippie era of the 1970s. To accompany the theme of music there is a shared interest of drug use in these three films. These films share the protagonists interest in literature or writing, for example On The Road is a biography of Jack Kerouac's journey across America which can be seen in the film when he is writing the printed versions of the events; Perks has Charlie aspiring to be a writer who shows a knowledge of famous novels and literary works; William in Almost Famous has just become a music journalist and the narrative of the film is based around this career.
The protagonist and social groups that are seen in all three of these films are considered as 'social outsiders'. This is often played upon in the narrative, giving opportunity for sub-plots to elaborate.
ON THE ROAD/2012/WALTER SALLES
- Examples of coming-of-age films: Here are the trailers of 3 films that fit into the Coming-of-Age sub-genre of film. The similarities between these three films are that they all have a mentor or influence upon the protagonists actions. Between these three films there are the mutual theme of musical interest, which is popular with the audience. Additionally, all three of these films are retrospective of a certain generation that is significant to music: On The Road looks at the Beat generation and Jazz age, Perks looks at the up rise of the indie music genre with bands such as The Smiths being a prominent part of the narrative and Almost Famous revolves around the idea of a young music journalist who tours with a rock band in the Hippie era of the 1970s. To accompany the theme of music there is a shared interest of drug use in these three films. These films share the protagonists interest in literature or writing, for example On The Road is a biography of Jack Kerouac's journey across America which can be seen in the film when he is writing the printed versions of the events; Perks has Charlie aspiring to be a writer who shows a knowledge of famous novels and literary works; William in Almost Famous has just become a music journalist and the narrative of the film is based around this career.
The protagonist and social groups that are seen in all three of these films are considered as 'social outsiders'. This is often played upon in the narrative, giving opportunity for sub-plots to elaborate.
ON THE ROAD/2012/WALTER SALLES
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER/2012/STEPHEN CHBOSKY
ALMOST FAMOUS/2000/CAMERON CROWE
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Brief
Create a film sequence that demonstrates how the micro features of film construct meaning.
This is to be completed in three parts:
1) Aims and context - A clarification of the aims and context of the sequence
2) Film Sequence (40 Marks)
The film sequence will be an extract from a longer film that the students will develop. The emphasis will be on visual communication rather than dialogue.
3) Reflective Analysis (750 words & 10 marks)
The reflective analysis should select key micro features of the sequence and discuss how they make meaning and aim to provoke responses in audience.
This is to be done as a continuous piece of writing and can be supported by illustrative material.
This is to be completed in three parts:
1) Aims and context - A clarification of the aims and context of the sequence
2) Film Sequence (40 Marks)
The film sequence will be an extract from a longer film that the students will develop. The emphasis will be on visual communication rather than dialogue.
3) Reflective Analysis (750 words & 10 marks)
The reflective analysis should select key micro features of the sequence and discuss how they make meaning and aim to provoke responses in audience.
This is to be done as a continuous piece of writing and can be supported by illustrative material.
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