(#2) a phone call

As you already know, this year I am not alone in my endeavors. My best friend Luis and I are a team this time, and I trust we will find success when producing our short film.

We recently had our first phone call. For about three hours, my parents watched me saunter around my backyard swimming pool brainstorming storylines for our short film. Numerous thoughts came to mind. I had previously pitched him an idea two months prior about a social media influencer going through a breakdown, taking influence from celebrities like Logan Paul and Britany Spears. I'll delve more in-depth about this idea in the next blog post, as I fully conceived the narrative for this film.
(DISCLAIMER: Despite the inclusion of this photo, depicting a sensitive moment in Logan's life, I have the utmost respect for him and the life choices he has made since his incident in 2018.  I'm citing the fallout of this event as inspiration for the social media influencer story.)

After analyzing this idea with depth, viewing it from different angles, Luis and I pondered more about what film we wanted to create. When we initially decided to work together, we established that this film was to be something we were proud of. Not for a letter grade or a college credit, but to be insightful and entertaining for viewers. This guided us as we brainstormed three more storylines, ensuring we wrote down these ideas on a Google Document (cited at the bottom of this posting) for future reference.

Luis and I had pitched two ideas each; I gave the ideas for the influencer film and another about a taxi driver. The arrival of the taxi driver at one's house would be a metaphor for death arriving to transport you into the afterlife, wherever that may be. A Christmas Story-esc narrative would ensue, with the driver guiding the victim through their life to determine what their purpose on Earth was in order to peacefully pass on. Luis was immediately reminded of a poem by Emily Dickerson called "Because I could not stop for death". Themes for this film would include the grapple with themes like mortality, and what intent one should have throughout their life. We determined that without an actual taxi, this film would lose its legitimacy. Luis nor I know anyone who owns a taxi, making this idea unappealing, but intriguing.

Pondering on the color yellow, Luis and I were reminded of a past media project we worked on and the character we had created for it, Garrett. He is the lead singer for a band called GLOWE and is very urban, insightful, and perceptive of himself and his future. Luis suggested a story following Garrett as he dreams, and my mind started running a mile a minute. I suggested that Garrett could experience an Alice in Wonderland story where he interacts with fantastical creatures. This would be a character study into Garrett's life, describing his past and what lead him to create his band and start singing. For the music video we had created for GLOWE, Luis and I created props out of cardboard, creating a "home-made" aesthetic for his environment: this element could be extrapolated in the Wonderland Dream World he'd explore.


We agreed this would be an awesome continuation and exploration for Garrett, most importantly that we would have fun putting on this production. Not to mention, I would be playing the featured role of Garrett, putting the glasses and yellow turtleneck back on, bringing my theatre skills to the screen once more as this character. Luis and I shelved this idea.

Suddenly, Luis proposed that we should discuss something that we were knowledgeable of. I chuckled, as the only thing we fully understood was a school: it's the only activity we've endured for over a decade at a time. My phone mumbled, "Well, what if we made a film about students competing for valedictorian?" "Like The Goblet of Fire?" I asked. Luis, understanding my Harry Potter reference, excitedly replied, "Yeah. A commentary on students competing for valedictorian at their school".




I'm pretty confident this is one of, if not the longest blog post I've ever written. That goes to show how Luis and I work together. One of us has an outrageous idea, and the other runs with it, creating a whacky and insightful story with a powerful message tying it together. With four very appealing ideas, we knew there was a lot of thought that needed to decide which avenue we would pursue: exploring the mask celebrities put on for their fans, the purpose of life, the fantastical telling of someone's life, or the competitive nature of the modern schooling system.


Damn, I'm excited for what comes next.

Here is the link for our notes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CdJdWqn1D5eeyklJ5VVW9gQ5h8E0KFXL4s1DQFID82k/edit?usp=sharing

Till next time,