The Story

I have been thinking about my film opening for a while now, so this post will be relatively easy. I know my genre, plot, and character so now I will describe each a little more in depth.

The synopsis of the entire movie is "After waking up one day and realizing there are no humans left on Earth, Collin Bryant must overcome the elements, loneliness, and intense mental conflict to survive and discover the reason for humanity's disappearance." The opening starts with a slow heartbeat while scenes are shown from a first-person point of view. As the heartbeat picks up, the "memories" pick up to, both in speed and in the action depicted in the scenes. Suddenly, it cuts to eyes opening and a gasp. The boy sits up, rubs his face, and looks around. He gets concerned and steps out of his bed. He pops his head out of a door, looks around and slowly comes out. He walks out to into his living room and asks "Mom? Dad?" He looks around and stops on his alarm clock. It reads 13:00. He mutters aloud why the clock is in military time. He looks outside and down at the clock, muttering why he would sleep in so late. He looks at the clock in the corner and it also reads 1. He panics and runs to his parent's room, only to see it empty. Now he is really freaked out and and runs outside and collapses to his knees and screams. 96 hours later he is bored on a couch, upside down, talking into his phone saying "It has been 96 hours since I last encountered a human. Sometimes I wonder what will get to me first, the loneliness or the boredom. The electricity will surely run out soon and I don't have much food left". I wanted to demonstrate the confusion of the boy and show how he knows something is wrong. When he mutters while looking at the clock, I hoped to clarify that the boy is confused, and that something is not right. I want to use advanced camera shots to show his confusion, like a vertigo shot when he goes to his parents room. Also, I want to circle around him with the camera to give a spinning affect to the boy, as if he is dizzy and confused.

I have always been a fan of science fiction and mystery. It only made sense to make my film opening a mixture of both. A good science fiction film has, according to filmsite.org, are "usually scientific, visionary, comic-strip-like, and imaginative, and usually visualized through fanciful, imaginative settings, expert film production design, advanced technology gadgets (i.e., robots and spaceships), scientific developments, or by fantastic special effects." I certainly intend to make this opening imaginative as I explore the storyline "What if everyone disappeared from the Earth?" Science fiction has always intrigued me. Some of my favorite movies include the Marvel/DC movies and the Star Wars saga. I feel like I can use my love for science fiction to appropriately drive this film and produce something that I as a sci-fi fan will enjoy. Additionally, I added some element of mystery because some of the best science fiction movies have had some mystery, like Alien and E.T. (I don't know why the first ones I thought of were both about aliens, but they are pretty good). Through advance camera techniques and realistic reactions from the actor, I hope to fully capture the mystery and suspense that a science fiction film like this should possess.

The character's name will be Collin Bryant, but viewers will not know that from the film opening. I want a strong, young teenager to make the audience feel a connection. I want a male because of the dominant male stereotype. Most good movies have a central lead character being a male, as griid.org reported that out of 67 of the best movies according to a poll, 55 had a male lead character. They say that women are generally viewed as "soft", and for my film I want someone viewed as strong and independent. That way, the character can more easily overcome this dilemma. Disclaimer: I view mean and women as equal, but for the cinematic purposes, I must follow the stereotype of a dominant strong male as the lead character.

"Science Fiction Films." Genres: Science Fiction. FilmSite, n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2017.

Dunlap, Geoff. "Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy." Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2017.