Planning: Final Idea (Mr. S)

Planning: Final Idea

Our final idea is very similar to Fatma's. This is because during the process of initial planning, we already had a vague notion on which idea would make a breakthrough. It is pretty much identical but in order to respect the thought that went into any other ideas, we asked each member of the group if our final project is okay. Everyone agreed, and so we are following through with this set-up:

"There is a professor in a dimly lit office area observing his laptop. Around him are photographs of a woman looking quite deranged. We are shown the laptop and the footage on it, by zooming in so far that the visual eventually transmits inside of the footage - which is discovered to be the same woman. She is acting crazy; pulling her hair, jumping around, rocking back and forth, whispering in unintelligible phrases. Ultimately the professor is trying to fragment her history as to why she has become like this. As time progresses she gets more hysterical, because she experiences three flashbacks: the first one showing a pregnancy test. The second one showing her lover's wife discovering them. The third one consisting of this pregnant woman killing the wife so she can't intrude in on her pregnancy and new love. She feels an emotional response to these flashbacks and her actions become more extreme and exaggerated. The plot then twists. She looks up because light is being filtered into the room - the dead wife has arrived. This will be made clear because we'll use the same woman acting as the wife and the ghost being. However, a new perspective forms; the professor and what he sees on the laptop. There will be two main shots, one of what the woman sees and one of what the laptop shows. The laptop shows the dead woman not really there, so the professor feels confused. To contrast, the woman's point of view includes the woman walking toward her with her hand outstretched. The pregnant woman is now out of control, backing into a corner, shivering, crying. The opening ends with a profile shot of the dead hand hovering in front of the stomach and the baby giving a kick in response to the presence. 

Title: Psycho-ology, Insanity
Subgenres: supernatural, psychological, mental health
Settings & Iconography: hospital/office/bathroom, weapon/pregnancy test/laptop/photographs/doll
MES: low lighting in office & hospital, top lighting for first two flashbacks, pregnant woman wearing neutral but ripped clothing, dead woman wearing a long white dirty gown, professor dressed neat and smart, wife and husband dressed neutrally
Cast: professor, husband, pregnant woman (protagonist), wife (victim because she dies, but also antagonist as a ghost?)"

With every plan there are some issues that need discussing though. A big issue with ours is timing. There is a lot going on for an opening of one minute, and we are not sure if we can pull it all off successfully in time while also taking the time to inform the audience of exactly what is happening. I think confusion is a key part of this idea, but things get revealed, and we want to draw the line between present time and flashback time. This could be achieved by camera effects, lighting, and the appearance of the character. Also, post-flashback she should already be reacting to what only she can see so that the audience is aware of something about to happen. And after, for example the pregnancy memory, she could clutch her stomach screaming in hysterics. In my head, all of this happens within 10 seconds. But a scene that takes 10 seconds to film may only be reduced to 5, or something else may be added in, affecting our time frame. This is why we need to work equally on each part of our production to ensure that problematic tasks are dealt with by everyone's consent. If someone thinks something is wrong, they have to be heard because that could be the difference from a B to a A.