Long over-due was this meeting. Finally managing to find a time when everyone could make it, we settled at Costa where there were no distractions. We now have a basic outline of the storyline and have assigned roles within the group and different jobs that we need to take care of before our next meeting.
It was surprisingly easy to get settled on the storyline once we were all in the correct frame of mind. It goes as follows:
A brief run through...
• Main guy wakes up next to his girlfriend.
• Looks at time, looks at calendar. Job interview! Running late.
• Goes to take a shower and the water doesn’t run. Flannel wash.
• Picks up dirty clothes and does some unorganised dressing.
• Goes downstairs, lots of bills clutter the floor.
• No food in the fridge, milk gone off.
• Goes out to his car, won’t start properly, finally does, woohoo!
• Stops at a garage to get some food. Old lady at the counter taking ages counting pennies.
• As this happens, he’s looking out the window and sees the ticket man approaching his car.
• Shots of him looking very angry and indecisive as to whether he should ditch the food or not.
• He opts to take the ticket. Not happy. But eating.
• Starts the car, it stalls again.
• Then gets it going.
• Can’t find a parking space, parks in a disabled spot.
• Rushes into the building, into the interview room.
• A very intimidating businessman sits at the head of the office table.
• Main guy very nervous, very flappy and flustered.
• Shot of interview check list: Appearance, fail. Punctuality, fail. ETC
• Doesn’t get the job, heads back to the car. Has another ticket.
• Then bird plop on his head.
• Gets home to find his wife in bed with another guy.
• He smashes a picture of them together.
• He screams, which fades into a yawn and him waking up, lying next to her.
• The picture is still smashed on the floor, giving the impression that although it was a dream, something has occurred...
The End
The endless bad situations reminded me of the film Acid House based on a collection of short stories by Irvine Welsh. This one inparticular focuses on 'Boab' who one after another loses his job, his girlfriend, his house and much more.
He ends up being turned into a fly and gets his revenge on everyone who made that day his worst. Although we are not following the same conclusion I think that the audience really starts to feel for Boab. Although you are kind of aware of how ridiculously bad this guy's day has been and it is quite unrealistic, you do still empathise with him.
One of the ways we figured that we could get around this endless bad luck is to film in a comical, almost slapstick manner. The target audience would be around 16-24, the type of audience that would be interested in the drum & bass genre but also who like the slapstick style. So this may appeal to young men more than women.
While researching slapstick comedy I came across a very early short film by Buster Keaton, The Boat, which demonstrated some classic 'Everything that could go wrong, does' ideas which we are interested in portraying in our film.
Looking over slapstick over the years with The 3 Stooges, through to Frank Spencer of Some Mother's Do 'Av 'Em to Bottom, to Men Behaving Badly, I would say that the audience is primarily male, so I feel that we ought to target that specifically but give it a modern day edge.
I have decided to take on the role of producer, so have specified different jobs for the rest of the guys to do in regards to shot-lists, shooting scripts and storyboards.
In regards to casting, we have specified that we would like Tom to play the main character and have Rachel Sowden as the girlfriend. Edem has also said that he will be happy to play the job interviewer. So we are currently on the lookout for someone to play our old lady and the guy who is caught in bed with the girlfriend. I personally don't think the latter will be the problem but I am going to send out a few emails to see if we can find an old lady,or old man if need be.
We also need to organise a location for the interview and the shop scene and to make sure all permissions are granted in time.
I have asked my landlord if we can film the interior shots in my house and I am currently awaiting the reply. However, my housemate has filmed in our house last and permission was granted no problem.
I would like to start filming the week starting 7th February so would like to have cast and locations confirmed by Sunday 30th January. I am suggesting that we log photographs of locations a couple of days prior to confirmation and also have some back-up suggestions in case any fall through. I would like to have shot lists and storyboards done by this date so that we have plenty of time to discuss as a group any changes we need to make. I would also like to have all equipment booked out prior to filming days, probably Friday 4th February.
Once all actors are confirmed I can draw up a call sheet and once all equipment and locations are confirmed I can get on with risk assessments.
I have asked the rest of the group to research any material that may be of use to us and bring to the next meeting so we can discuss the aesthetics of the film at the next meeting which I have proposed to be in a weeks time, 23rd January.
