Plot Summary for Short Film

As mentioned in an earlier blog post I created this rough illustrated storyboard along with some key ideas for the film and shooting. In this post I will explain the story I created and why I made certain choices for how I want the film to turn out, plot wise.

Plot Summary

There is only one character throughout the film which is not a conventional choice, and she is unnamed. She is supposed to be mysterious and confusing, very much like how my relationship with this girl was in real life. For the sake of referencing the character I will refer to her as Jane, which is what I would call her in the film if for some reason I had to name her. More info about specific choice that later on.

The main character, Jane, has a restless sleep and cannot sleep. She wakes up to check her phone and go through some messages from her lover. She reads something that shocks her, so she gets up out of bed, grabs her coat and goes for a walk within some woods. It appears to be aimless, but she uncovers a necklace. She digs it up, and the second she holds it, she has a flashback to when she put it around her neck for the first time. She hesitates, and she remains there deep in thought. Eventually her flashbacks in her mind overwhelm her, and she takes her own life.

What It Means To Me

To me this video is all about the feeling about loving someone so deeply it affects your life and changes it irreversably. Not much happens in the video, which is the way I intend it to be as the focus should be on the feeling of attachment and how it can make a person feel.

Thinking Process for the Plot

The plot I came up with for this short film however, on the surface it seems relatively simple, but actually required a lot of thinking as well as brainstorming about how I was to convey these feelings throughout our relationship in the form of events that happened on screen; that were metaphors for all the events that happened in my relationship in real life. In other words, I wanted the narrative to be simple but reflect how relationships work nowadays to some extent.

Some parts of the plot allude to themes about modern relationships in real life; for example in the beginning, the character lies alone in the dark, scrolling through messages on her phone. A lot of relationships nowadays are online, and it has become more prevalent in society.

The difference between online and real life relationships is probably one of the most important messages I hope to send with this plot (the numbers on the left refer to the storyboard panels).