Film Idea

I've decided I'm not going to give the story a prologue, explaining to you how arduous this pitching process has been, how many ideas I've trashed or even if I like it or not anymore. I figure with all of my new readers, I'll just tell you as best I can about my story that I've spent the past 2 and a half months sculpting, churning, burning in my mind every day until this exact point in time. All I will say is that I think I'm finally done spending hours awake, mulling over the characters of a father and a son, their relationship, their actions, what works and what doesn't, questioning my myself and my ideas to their very core. Anyways, before this get's out of hand, here it is scene by scene.

SON comes home after a school day to find his construction worker father sitting in the kitchen smoking a cigarette, his hard hat resting on his knee as he sits and appears to be relaxing for the first time in years. They discuss how the son's day at school went, which proves to be a disappointing one as the son got second chair in his violin section, though he really wanted first. It comes up that Pavel, the first chair recipient, has begun taking private lessons and the son can't compete with that, no matter how much he practices independently.  He asks his father if he can take lessons too, though indicators throughout the scene represent the poor financial situation these two are in. No food in the fridge, father working tough hours, etc. However, the father is bent on providing for the son, who doesn't ask for much, indicating how important these lessons are to him. The father tells him he may need to take on more hours to pay for his lessons, but it's no problem as long as he can help his son pursue his passion. It's a sweet moment that represents the supportive nature of this father-son relationship.

The next morning, the son wakes up to find a note from his father taped to the fridge: "Went out to find more work, you'll have to take the tram to school -- Dad". The son reads it inquisitively and carries on with his morning routine.

After school, the son and his two friends are walking down the street, shooting the shit, joking and laughing at each other while discussing their day. **A little context: there are thai massage parlors seemingly everywhere in Prague that always have some guy standing in front wearing a silly ogre mask, a green robe and an undersized umbrella handing out flyers. I'm not sure why, but it's a thing here** They see one of these ogre guys standing outside a parlor and proceed to mock him, calling him a clown, taking his umbrella, and making snarky remarks about how desperate a person must be to work that job. The son even says to him "Get a real job!" They laugh as they walk away down the street.

Cut to: Ogre man, still wearing his mask, opening a car door and getting in. He sits for a few seconds before taking off his mask, revealing it to be the father. The father lights up a cigarette, takes a few puffs, then quickly shoves the mask into the glove compartment and drives away.

Son is in the apartment, playing a song on his violin. The father walks in the door, looking very tired and subtly upset. The son asks him how his day was and if he ended up finding any new work, though the father responds shortly saying that he's just working in some convenience store. Before the son can ask any follow up questions, the father walks to his room and shuts the door, noticeably upset to the son's surprise. Son asks if he's taking the tram tomorrow or if his dad will drive him. Through the door, the father yells in response "Driving!"

They are in the car on their way to the son's school. THe father decides he needs to stop at a nearby mini mart to pick up some cigarettes. While he is inside, the son sneezes into his hands. While searching the car for a napkin or kleenex, he stumbles upon the mark in the glove compartment. He realizes with shock and horror that it was his father behind the mask yesterday, or else he wouldn't have had any reason to lie to him. Obviously the father is very prideful and ashamed to admit to his son the true nature of his new second job, but it becomes clear that his father was upset about how his son and his friends treated him more than his humility. The father gets back in the car, which leads to a terribly awkward and dramatically ironic convorsation in which the son pries the father for more information about his new job. The dad keeps lying, to the son's dismay, which only adds on to his now mixed feelings of shame and guilt. He is unsure whether or not to come clean to his dad about his discovery or find a new way to cope with this now unfortunate situation. Ultimately, he decides not to come clean.

Son and his friends are sitting in a diner. His friends are discussing all of the great things that they are planning on doing with their family during winter break. One is taking a cruise across the adriatic sea while the other plans on going to his dad's ski house in Switzerland. This makes the son feel very uncomfortable and he is unsure how to handle himself in the situation, so when they ask him what his plans are, he lies, saying that he found the new violin his dad bought him and that they are planning a trip to Rome. It's a questionable response, as his friends know that he isn't wealthy enough to buy this. The response signifies the son's shame in his father's new job and his newfound humiliation which accompanies his clearer understanding of how poor he really is. The son decides to leave his two friends at the diner abruptly.

Son is walking down the street, deep in thought and obviously conflicted emotionally. He turns a corner to see his father, or at least some guy in the same mask standing out front the same parlor. It's on his way home from school though so after a brief hesitation, the son keeps walking. As he passes the man in the mask, they both make a direct, analytical but uncomfortably long eye contact. The son, unsure of how he feels, afraid of confronting his father for his actions as well as coming to terms with his own unstable life, turns and runs away, leaving the man in the mask to watch him go, alone and dejected.

So that's it. It's so meticulously thought out because that is how my program works, really. The professors hear your pitch twice every week and criticize every single beat of the story that could potentially skew reason or leave gaps in the traits of the characters. Anything that strays from a solid, three-act structure gets trashed and you're left with a shell of a story once again. I'm sticking with this story because it makes sense. It's not too outlandish and can be completed within an 8 minute time frame, though we may need to do some cutting still. I think this story could be successfully shot as a silent film, which is always a good indication because it shows that the characters are properly fleshed out and that action tells the story more than words or subtext. I've found FAMU and its professors to be very stifling, as I don't really ever feel the freedom to explore my own imagination and trust my intuition with my characters. However, through a lot of thought, this is what I'll be shooting come the end of this month, and I grow more and more excited every day. I'll be director on set so I'm working very hard to plan out every little detail that I'll need to relay to my actors and director of photography. I think this will end up being a great film though, which makes me happy that I've reached that mindset with the end of pitching classes (yesterday was our last session). We finished draft 6 a few nights ago and have storyboarded the diner scene, with more getting done every day. This has taken me literally two and a half months to create, which sounds kind of sad seeing as how all I have to show for it is 8 paragraphs, but rest assured, it's going to become something certainly special. I can feel it, and soon you can see it. Stay tuned.