The film I am shooting for this project is a macabre representation of one aspect of my childhood.  It follows one child as the child tries to make the best out of a hard situation.  It starts with a shot of the child playing with a brightly colored toy, however, the child’s play is interrupted with a strange noise coming from the bathroom.  The child goes to check out the noise, and finds a dead person in the bathtub.  With only the best intentions, the child tries to wake the person, feed the person, and brush the person’s hair (all in vain, as the person is dead).  Finally, seeing no other solution to the problem, the child gets in the bathtub with the person and wraps his/her arms around the body as a last attempt to fix things.  This is where we fade to black. 

            The purpose of this short film definitely serves as a metaphor for feelings I had as a child and exemplifies traits I’ve come to find in almost every child.  Children are eager to please, and eager to love.  There is no expiration date or qualifier for affection.  This film aims to shed light on the way children embrace horrible situations or things that would normally be considered wrong or bad, and they show all their love for it.  They take everything that’s wrong and just love it and that’s beautiful.

            The biggest emotion I want to convey with this film is uneasiness.  In order to shed light on how important the decisions the child is making in the film, I think it needs to be widely accepted by the audience that the situation the child is in is uncomfortable. That allows for more of a shock or surprise within the audience when the child is so eager to help.  Discomfort and unease needs to be prominent throughout.

            This scene is very personal to me because my childhood was good, but also shadowed.  I had friends and had fun, but I was forced to grow up before I think I was ready.  My family moved a lot, and I have two younger sisters and a really irresponsible older one, so I constantly had to be the bigger person and to make a good example of myself and to adapt to new environments all the time.  I was a little adult in a kid world, and I remember having a good attitude about it the entire time.  That was what life was for me: responsibility.  I want to make this short film because I want convey to people how important a childhood is, and how important children are.  They are impossibly strong and courageous and know more than we give them credit for.  That’s what I want mostly for people to take away at the end of the film: that children see the good in everything and also that they are strong. 

            Two visual elements I will use to convey my emotion are color and space.  The colors within this film will be very desaturated to convey the grim undertone of the film.  I’ll use a strong key light and weak fills to create harsh shadows.  There will also be a lot of extreme close-ups which will get rid of a lot of the open space around the location.  I want things to feel claustrophobic and unnatural.  However, there will also be moments when the child is lost in extreme wide shots, to emphasize the isolation the child feels.

            I think the most obvious and biggest possible complication with shooting this scene is the child.  I’ve never directed a kid before and I am nervous to try and nervous to keep the child on schedule.  Even to get the reaction I want out of the child.  If I can shoot quickly and get the performance I want out of the child actor, I will have done something right, I guess.