Here is the assignment, to be carried out in groups of four (4). Once you are in your groups, you may divide the labor any way you wish among your members. Due the final day of class.
For this assignment, groups will collaborate on a filmic short story, scene, or sequence of scenes that dramatizes an encounter between two or more characters from—or inspired by—the works we have studied. Your scene may be serious or parodic, but it has to incorporate elements of effective storytelling, and be relevant to the themes we have explored.
Here are the basic considerations for getting started:
Decide on a setting. Your setting can be borrowed from, or inspired by, the settings of the prose and films and other media productions we have studied. Or, it can be an original setting, in the past, present, or future.
Make sure you understand the rules of the world you are setting your characters into. Is it similar to our own? Does it contain distortions or absurdities? Does it have its own set of rules, as in horror, science fiction, or manga?
Write a script. It didn’t need to follow the standard format. But it should set the scene, describe the characters and action. If your characters speak, the script should have dialogue– or at least guidance for the dialogue that takes place.
Film and edit. You are free to divide the roles of each member of your team in whatever way you see fit.
Here are a few examples to get you inspired: You could “discover” a lost, or cut scene, craft your own scene, or adapt an existing scene, such as a sequence from the terraces. Feel free to stick with one world, or blend the characters. (For example, Don Draper meets Daphne and they talk about what it’s like to have a double life.)
Your stage can be work, the “street”, home, in a bar, a speakeasy, a garret scene, a dream scene, a flashback to childhood, a therapy session. You can imagine a science fiction scene where the Kodak “carousel” is suddenly a real “time machine.” You can do a talk show, a game show, a TicTok, a religious revival, an auction, a court trial, a news report.
You will have complete freedom. Just make it entertaining and have it reveal something about the plots, the characters, the worlds, that we can be thoughtful about.
You will present your scene to the class. Presentations must be creative and original. Feel free to recruit actors from the class, or from outside of class, pets, brothers and sisters, if you need.
The film should be under 5 minutes. Your group should be prepared to give a brief explanation of the concept behind your story or story scene. Afterwards, you will field questions from the class.
A successful performance must take RISKS! You’re using your creativity to make people think about an element of film and/or storytelling.
EACH GROUP WILL HAND IN A ONE-PAGE WRITE UP EXPLAINING WHAT THE CONCEPT OF YOUR PRESENTATION IS DESIGNED TO SHOW, OR HOW IT ILLUMINATES OR COMPLICATES THE THEMES YOU CHOSE.
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1. Jim, Arya, Mayukh, Krishna
2. Diana, Stephania, Asmaa, Riley
3. Pranav, Schlok, Ernesto, Ashvin
4. Travis, Jared, Sydney, Jingwen