(#4) a story about us, but bigger than us

I mean, when Luis pitched the competition for valedictorian, we both knew we had a great story on our hands.

As high school seniors in the largest high school in Florida, we constantly find ourselves in a competitive environment where hundreds of students aim for the highest GPAs, most difficult classes, and higher class rank. The metanarrative society has imposed on students tells us we need these high scores in order to attend prestigious universities, receive a degree for a well-paying job, and make allot money in order to happily retire. Constricting young people with developing brains to adopt this mentality when approaching their education has ultimately lead to the prominence of depression and other mental health issues among youth. This film will question why society places pressure (or students perceive pressure) on young people to be top of their class.

Additionally, as members of Generation Z, Luis and I want to showcase representation of the new teenage stereotypes. Traditionally, jocks and cheerleaders have been the conventional stereotypes of pop culture. Luis and I aim to re-evaluate the prominence of different social groups and how they are represented in the media.

So, onto the actual storyline. The competition (as it would be unethical to actually have students fight for their lives like in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire) would take place in a virtual reality game, where the students would compete in competitions about anything but academics. This would allude to how one's academic prowess alone doesn't guarantee success in life. The competing students (all from various social groups/backgrounds) would compete in these competitions; upon elimination, they would simply be kicked from the simulation. Luis pitched that the winner would be determined by a student body vote, which would be cool, but we still don't know if we'd want the academic character to succeed or a more well-rounded character. We will save that for a future brainstorming session that I'll blog about.

For the upcoming week, here's what my next blog posts will be like:

(#5) —> character selection (brainstorming 2) / gen Z case study

(#6) —> the valedictorian competition (brainstorming 3)

(#7) —> full character breakdown (I hope)

(#8) —>  my conflicts (part 2)

That's all for now. I's stoked for this project: Luis and I plan on making a more concrete schedule which I will post once it is made.

Have a great day,