Summary
Role: Screenwriter
Smart Goal: By (the deadline for the Cfp), as an IB film student, I will work in conjunction with my peers to produce a seven-minute film that emulates and expands upon the creative directing choices of Dan Harmon’s “Community” while instilling the expertise and knowledge gained over the course of our collective film career.
The idea and inspiration for the writing of this film came to our team during a brainstorming session in which a simple friendly jest among teammates blossomed into a solid idea for a story. The original outline (Link later) consisted of a very rudimentary story about the effects of bullying with a somewhat light premise that served as a more serious allegory for social alienation as a result of personal or cultural practices. We felt that being ridiculed to some degree for something you or your family hold dear is something many people can relate to, and the more light-hearted premise allowed for the message to get across without having to attempt replicating a real and potentially triggering struggle. The idea for the script to center around one character and his interactions with a single bully would provide a chance for characterization and development as the film progressed. The intention from the beginning was to have the story end on a more upbeat note, although there was a prototype outline in which the narrative ended on a much darker note,. We felt that this would clash with the tone of the premise so the idea was eventually scrapped. Later on in the development cycle, the implementation of a flashback sequence was tossed around and eventually decided as a way to exercise our ability to push beyond the limits of what we had attempted before. This also led to us writing a script that serves as a great example of Non-linear storytelling, which was the most effective way to expand our character’s background and mental state in a more visual way. This led to a very surrealist mood being present in this part of the film, as the writing was left intentionally vague to cath the audience’s attention and force them to draw their own conclusions
Characterization
Pineapple boy: Beginning with the very first scene, we can see that our protagonist is very timid and introverted in nature. This is somewhat par for the course in terms of how victims of bullying and ostracization are depicted, but establishing the character in a way the audience expects allowed for a deeper subversion of the trope. Throughout the montage elements and flashback, our protagonist becomes more and more reclusive and distraught, yet still finds enough anger to denounce what was once important to him. The cold hollow anger that the character feels is unstable, and volatile, and creates tension for the audience. This tension comes to a relieving conclusion as the protagonist begins to show signs of trust and connection with his former bully. This fulfills the general outline of Dan Harmon’s story circle when applied to a single character’s journey, as the protagonist ends the movie with something they didn’t have before.
Outside influence/Inspiration
As an accomplished producer and screenwriter, Dan Harmon has produced a number of some of the most popular and memorable shows of the 2010s, that still serve as excellent case studies in their own right even today. One of Harmon’s most notable contributions to the world of film is his “story circle”, in which he condenses the classical “hero’s journey” structure into its simplest form, aiding tremendously in the process of scripting and directing any type of film. While this structure can be applied to feature-length films with tremendous success, it’s how Harmon applies it to each episode he writes and produces that makes it so valuable to an IB film student. Much of our curriculum focuses on analyzing and deconstructing a feature-length film, often taking a small chunk and analyzing it as its own “movie”. While this is generally very helpful to learn all of the important components required of a film, it can sometimes be hard to translate into the short films we produce as part of the program. Studying short films and any form of shorter media allows the student to more easily understand how to convey and implement the important aspects of film in a short time period. It is for this reason that our production group has chosen to draw influence from Dan Harmon’s style of writing and filmmaking in order to apply it to our short 7-minute film. The pacing, story structure, and creative setting choices that coalesce into memorable mise en scene components will serve as a creative reservoir from which we intend to draw inspiration from throughout our production cycle.
Treatment
Sausage. Pepperoni. Even mushrooms! When you think about all of the different things one can put on a pizza, one might think that there’s nothing that could surprise them anymore. That is, until someone suggests PINEAPPLE on their pizza. Pineapple boy tells the story of a young adolescent who wants nothing more in life than to keep to himself and partake in his favorite culinary delicacy: pineapple pizza.
Act 1: Our story begins with our main character, a transfer student, on his first day at REDACTED High School (home of the fighting N/A’s). As students flock to meet the supposed “fresh meat” as he begins to take in his surroundings, our protagonist is served a slice of classic high-school cruelty as his peculiar taste in pizza becomes the reason for his ostracization.
Act 2: After enjoying pineapple pizza for as long as he could remember with his family, our protagonist finds it hard to grapple with the ridicule and harassment he receives at school. As his situation worsens, culminating in a single act of cruelty, our protagonist loses the will to partake in his favorite pizza.
Act 3: After not showing up for days, the protagonist returns to school visibly disheveled and in a state of anguish. His bully begins to question the way they treated the pineapple boy, and whether they put him through the roller a tad too many times. Will enemies become friends?? bullies become compatriots? We’ll just have to see how everything shakes out in the gratifying resolution of the film
Costuming/Props
The costuming is meant to be very realistic for what high-schoolers in the early 2020’s would wear. Each character is costumed to represent their character and what they would wear. Pineapple Boy is dressed very muted and more leisurely, indicating a habit of sleeping in their school clothes. This conveys that they are very introverted and tend to prefer the comforts of home rather than school, so they dress to return home as soon as possible.
What I learned
Plan
-January 19th: Pre-production completed
-January 23rd: filming begins
-January 31st: filming and audio recording complete
-February 5th: editing complete
-Feburary 10th: final cut complete