My Proposed Film Narrative Ideas

Katie Halfyard

The Blind DateA couple meet up for the first time, after being set up on a blind date by their mutual friend. The organisation of the date will never be shown, but it will be implied in the character’s speech.They meet at a fancy restaurant. He is 20 minutes early, and she is 20 minutes late. They are both polite about it, but everything that they do ends up being a contrast, and everything they believe is a complete contrast of opinion to the other. He’s a meat lover, whereas she’s a vegetarian. He loves the fancy venue, but she thinks it’s over the top and too flashy. He’s got a great etiquette, whereas she lacks table manners. They both become very fed up with the situation, and when asked if they would like desert, both jump in to say “no thank you” at the same time. Following this is an awkward good night, with no stereotypical kiss. A small portion of their journey home is also filmed, where she appears angry, whereas he appears fed up and confused by her. These emotions will be depicted through facial expressions filmed in close up shots. Only one main location would be needed, as well as two actors – a male and a female.

The Abusive BoyfriendThis narrative focuses on the way that mental illness is treated differently to physical illness, and how mental illness is often perceived as being much easier to overcome than physical illness, if even recognised at all. This is not the case, and I want to show this in my short film. A teenage girl is being abused by her teenage boyfriend, so she decides to run away. She feels like she can’t take it anymore, but she doesn’t want to be judged by her friends and family, or found by her boyfriend (as she’s so scared of him), so this seemed like the obvious solution. The abuse will never be shown, but it will be depicted in other ways, such as through stage makeup and the actress’s behaviour. Some of the first shots will be of her rushing to pack a bag and leave, in the middle of the night.During the period that she’s on the run, she meets a series of people, who are all trying to help her. They all provide her with food and shelter, and clean up her wounds – they help her physically, but non offer emotional support for the depression that she’s accumulated throughout the relationship. Nobody understands why she cant ‘just cheer up’ now that she’s safe and on the mend, yet nobody expected her to see through her black eye, or run on her bruised legs.