I’ve been sharing my FMP concept more with Nick (tutor) and classmates and it has made me realise that I really need to take some time to think more about the ending of my film and the character’s arc as a whole. So far I have settled on an outline and start to my story:
A young person sits alone in their garden during the early night, distracted as their small, home-made cupcake gets covered in blood-red wax from its accompanying candle. Later, we watch as they go about what seems like a normal routine, cleaning up around their kitchen, sorting their freezer, and occasionally having another one of the sweet treats. Throughout the film, we notice questionable and creepy items laid about as well as actions of the woman that seem odd. We grow increasingly suspicious, linking the character to the horrific news being played on the radio. Feelings of guilt, mania and validation later, a good friend falls victim of an avoidable accident.

It has been difficult to fully wrap up my plot to create a cohesive storyline. What has helped me is watching other films of a similar genre, such as the office fight scene in Mayhem 2017. For my own film, I don’t intend on having a lot of gore like in ‘Mayhem’ however, the low amount of dialogue in this scene as well as the somewhat symbolic props or surroundings is something that I will be delving into more. For example, stacks of unopened letters would imply that the character is distancing themselves from socialising or really anything from the outside world, maybe they’re depressed or angry.

To make the process of storytelling easier for myself, I have been watching helpful videos such as Film Riot’s ‘How to Build your Story Structure’ which has lead me to list each point in my story that something happens in a sequence. Listing down the main plot segment then linking my own storyline to each of them has really helped me with making my film move forward and not have basically the same scene extended for too long:

After using the video to establish the structure often taken on by films, I followed that to write what would be happening in my own story, relating to each point. For example, setting up the world and normality, I linked to my main character, Noi, to be ‘tidying up’. My intention is to show them doing something normal and build up to something that makes the audience question what’s really going on, and by writing out the plot points like this, I can keep track of order in which the character’s actions are carried out, so I can rearrange them in a way that suggests a rising feeling of mystery and possible worry in the viewer as they uncover the truth about the character (they are covering up and tidying up after a murder they committed).

The point of ‘change of scene’ intrigued me when writing this. At this point, we know the truth about the character and situation, but, like a song’s bridge, there is a change of scene that keeps the story fresh and the viewer’s attention captured. As the majority of my film up until this point will be inside, in the kitchen, bringing it outside again including more of Noi and another character, their co-worker and friend, Barry, it’s something different to the shots of the kitchen environment. We will be able to connect more with the main character and drive the story forward.