Today I spoke to Connor about my project for the ten minute, short drama that will be our next task in college. Although I have ideas, I did not go into detail about these with him as it is something quite close to me, and I want to make sure that I get it right.
The idea for my ten minute drama is something that has been in my mind for quite a few years now. It was originally inspired by a music video that was created in 2011, and although the story behind the music video is quite light-hearted and bright, my drama will be something of a much darker version of a similar storyline.
Although they are not identical to each other, both my short drama and the music video will have aspects of a post-apocalyptic scenario, where what remains of the world is run by a strict and controlling government, and anyone who steps foot out of line is killed, or forced into exile and hunted down. I'm planning to have my story follow two brothers who are on the run from this government, however they have been living like this for many years and therefore have become well-known to both the government and other exiles alike. This has made them a big target for the government, but also an inspiration and a role model to other exiles.
The main focus on this story, however, is the daughter of one of these brothers. Her mother, and his wife, was killed by the government a while ago, which has only made the family more determined not to live by the strict laws that have been laid down, and to try and somehow destroy this oppressing government. However, just a little while before the drama begins, the three become involved in a fight with forces from the government, and the daughter is kidnapped, although it is unsure what they are trying to use her for. The only thing that's for certain is that the father feels the need to get her back at any cost. This is all recapped through a flashback in a nightmare that the father has a few days - or maybe even a week - after these events happened.
The fight left the two brothers injured, however, and they need help from other exiles to even come close to getting the daughter back. Many advise the father to wait a little while - the government clearly aren't going to kill the girl any time soon, and they are in no condition to fight. He ignores this, however, and plans to go into the heart of the city and the government to get his daughter back.
That is the main focus of the drama - the two brother's attempt at a rescue mission. However, the mission is both a failure, and a success. They manage to free the daughter, but at the cost of their own lives, leaving her in the hands of the other exiles to raise and care for. With the story being extremely character driven, I plan for the deaths to come as a surprise to the audience, and hopefully play with their emotions towards the end of the film, having an ending that is something between a transcendent and a existential ending. They don't live, but it's not necessarily a tragic ending as their daughter survives, and that was the entire purpose of them infiltrating the city in the first place.
The only issues I feel like I would have for this is locations. I know the characters extremely well in my mind, so writing a script for the story would not be much of a problem for me in the slightest. Finding locations that suit the idea of the film that I can get permission to shoot on is a different problem, however. It would need to range from abandoned, run-down locations that look like something that would exist after a disaster, to a clean city/office environment that looks like something an oppressing government would have created. I'm currently unsure how I will get locations such as these, but I am planning to keep looking and try my hardest to get something that fits.
I already have a number of people who are familiar with the storyline, and have stated that they would be more than willing to be extras in the film - as both members of the government, and also some of the exiles. Because I am planning to have the 'bad guys' wearing masks that makes them all unidentifiable from each other, they would be able to double up as both the government and the exiles, which makes things a little simpler for me. All that I really need to focus on is getting actors for the main characters, as I need people that can pull off the roles well in a believable way. I am thinking of asking the acting department in the college to see if anybody is interested in taking any of the main roles in the drama.
The only other problem is fitting the story within ten minutes. I'm hoping that I'll be able to do so, but I know I'll need to sit down and properly plan the idea out and script/storyboard it so that I can see exactly how long it'll last, and how long it will take me to film and edit the drama.
With these issues aside, I'm pretty confident with my idea. Having something that I've been thinking about for years means that it's extremely familiar for me, and I know all details of it extremely well. I'm actually rather excited to finally be able to script it and make it into a short film, and I'm hoping that it will turn out decent.
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