(#6) the competition

Alrighty, folks!! 

Luis and I have made advances in structuring our narrative. During a brainstorming session at one of our favorite local restaurants, we constructed an enticing structure for the valedictorian competition as well as some key narrative points we aim to hit. I also came up with the idea that there is a glitch in the system that some students can take advantage of. I'll elaborate at the end of this post!!








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Challenge #1 (Mental) - Scavenger Hunt

[The film opens in the middle of this challenge. Participants are split into pairs. SETTING: House (not explained to the audience that it is a virtual house, but the characters are aware). GOAL: search for the hidden item.]

- The scene opens in a panic as The Outsider is shown being kicked out of the simulation after touching the water.

- An ominous voice alerts the students that the simulation can not replicate the touch of water and that if they were to engage in touching it, the system would crash and kick them out.  

- As the scene progresses, The Brat and The Celebrity are also kicked out respectively.

Challenge #2 (Physical) - Obstacle Course 

[The participants work on this challenge independently inside a VR park. GOAL: Have more endurance than other competitions.]

- The same ominous voice briefly explains the challenge.

- The participants being the obstacle course 

- The participants all run from the start line except The Stoner, who appears to be extremely clueless as to what was going on. Shot counter shot of the participants in the challenge and The Stoner chilling out in the starting line (with reggae music accompanying his shots) is shown. Eventually, the first participant to be eliminated is The Stoner. 

- The Thespian is also shown being eliminated, as they struggle with one of the physical challenges and fall out of the game. 

Challenge #2 (Emotional) - Moral Challenge 

[The participants work on this challenge independently on a VR beach. The participants are presented with a screen that has their names a timer running and the instructions to “Press one to eliminate”. This is a moral challenge.]

- The participants appear around a table where there is an iPad that has their names on it. The iPad reads “Press one to eliminate” with a timer and the participants look to each other as they become aware of what they must do. 

- The Activist is the first to speak up, who suggests they eliminate The Teacher's Pet

- The Independent defends Teacher's Pet and tells Activist to back off

- Athlete tells them all to stop arguing, they have to “figure it out together”

- Activist tells Athlete to drop the team captain act, that “There is only one valedictorian and that’s me [him]”. 

- Athlete confronts Activist revealing that he is “fake” and that his achievements are empty. Getting worked up as Activist attempts to calm Athlete down with petty arguments, she blows up and presses his name. 

- Athlete is then eliminated. (Because the challenge was a moral challenge meaning the only way they all moved onto the next challenge was to let the timer run out). 

Challenge #2 (CONTINUED) Emotional - Social Vote (2 Finalists) 

- Angry that Activist pushed Athlete to the limit, Academic charges at Activist.

- Independent stops Academic but he is also visually angry and slowly they both begin to back Bryce up into the shoreline of the beach. 

- Activist stumbles and falls into the water, getting eliminated by the system.

- The Activist can be seen pissed off taking off his VR glasses back at the real school and angrily walking past the rest of the eliminated participants who appear to be watching the competition on a screen (or projection). 

- Back in the simulation, the ominous voice explains that the final challenge is a vote of the student population. 

- Students inside a classroom are seen watching the competition, shots of their phones show them voting between Academic and Independent

- Back in the simulation, Academic and Independent are talking.

- Shots of the students voting on their phone show that Academic has a significant advantage over Independent.

- The scene ends with a two-shot close up of Andrew and Miles as the ominous voice says “The next Stok High valedictorian is…” then the screen goes black. And the title appears.

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As one of my favorite childhood book characters would say: Zoo Wee Mama! this is a lot to unravel. First off, we determined the film would set the stakes early on with the quick elimination of one of the characters by interacting with water. This was my ingenious idea to create a kink in the system, alluding to how many students do take advantage of the schooling system to rank higher among their peers. This element works well because I wanted to have a scene on the beach (because it looks very pretty and would make for some great key art for our website), and it would be karma for the Activist character who lied to become an officer in his school's Student Government. 

I have some additional ideas for how to show these elements, but a huge weight has been lifted off of Luis and my shoulders as we have the outline for our film. 

During lunch today Luis and I are going to dive deeper into developing our characters, there will be a posting about it tomorrow (I'm unsure when because I have a rehearsal for my school show, but I will find the time and work around it!)!!

Have a Great Day! Till next time,