Outlining The Story

 "Plan for what is difficult while it is easy, do what is great when it is small"

-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Now you may be thinking, "John, why are you starting off your media blog with the wisdom of an ancient Chinese general? Why would you do this??"

In a sense, every great project is somewhat like a war- a massive undertaking with no room for error, one that must be planned to a great extent if one wishes to succeed in their goals.

... I'm also just a bit overdramatic.

    Getting back to the point, planning is what makes or breaks the future of a project, no matter what kind it is. Without a plan to guide your steps through your progress, you move forward blindly and will likely fail in your execution for your project. Therefore, I took the time today to set some basic, but important groundwork for my short film. While this isn't anywhere near a fleshed-out full script for the film, I'd argue its just as important to have the loose guidelines in place before delving into the scriptwriting process. The following sections may appear like half-baked ideas regarding my script, but bear with me as I work through my creative process.

THE PLOT:

(What follows is my basic breakdown of the film's plot, with minor details sprinkled in.)

    The film will open with a gathering of family members, all mourning and dressed in black, at a funeral outdoors. They range from mildly upset to visibly distraught. As the family members greet each other and exchange pleasantries, they begin to refer to the deceased by listing off qualities and bits about them that add to the tragedy of their death (They were so young… etc.) It should never be revealed that they are talking about a computer however, since that reveal is shown when one person breaks off from the group to lay flowers across the open casket, only to reveal that within the casket is a battered old laptop, damaged beyond repair.

    After this shot, the following sequence will involve several eulogies delivered by different family members, each giving an account of how much the computer meant to them, and their unique relationship with the device. Each family member should represent a different demographics’ common use for technology, and illustrate a degree of dependence on the device to the point that its pathetic and unhealthy. An example of this could be a teenage boy sheepishly alluding to his viewing of pornography through the device, and saying how the computer “kept his secrets”, or an older man’s dependence on the computer to remind him to do even the most basic tasks, since he can no longer remember to do anything without the computer’s aid.

    After several eulogies illustrating unhealthy dependencies on technology, the family closes the casket and buries the computer. They share a brief moment of silence in grief of the loss of their beloved computer. After this moment, however, they all turn around, get in a car, and drive to a Best Buy, presumably to immediately replace the computer, since they can’t live without the presence of technology in their lives.

(Keep in mind this is a rough outline. All plot points/ details are subject to change.)

THE CHARACTERS:

(The following list of characters are only concepts, which are still subject to change.)

Dad character- Illustrates addiction to news/ fake news- politics and conspiracies (think MAGA boomer covid denier)

Mom character- Illustrates dependence on internet knowledge

Old man character- Illustrates dependence on reminders

Teen boy character- Illustrates addiction (gaming or pornography)

Teen girl character- Illustrates unhealthy social relationships (parasocial w celebrity? Need to update life on social media?

THE ISSUES (?):

The following paragraphs illustrate a few thoughts that came to mind while outlining the plot that gave me a bit to chew on mentally... I'm copy and pasting them directly from my planning google doc so they're not worded the greatest... Essentially these are ideas I'm going to revisit over time and debate whether they'll make it into the final script or not.

1) Among my main cast of characters, each representing a different aspect of dependency or addiction to using the computer, should I also include the presence of a “straight man” character to voice how silly the family is within the film? Or would that be considered too condescending to the audience, spoon-feeding them the idea that this is all bad behavior? Is it lazy writing to include this character, in fear that the audience won’t be able to reach the conclusion themselves?

2) Do I want to include a scene of how the computer got to such a destroyed state? Or is it best left to interpretation- maybe it would be nicely ironic if, for as dependent the family was on the computer, they didn’t take care of their tech, leading to general ruin? Or maybe it would be a funny cutaway gag to show one family member destroying the computer in frustration? I’m really on the fence about this one.

To wrap up this post, I'd say that this sort of brainstorming session was very productive (for me at least), and that you should look forward to a more fleshed out story, script, and characters very soon! See you next time!