Choices, Choices

     I finally have some ideas for narratives I would like to make. I do not have fully fledged stories to pair with the ideas I have, but I am going to detail them and offer the potential pros and cons of running with these stories. 

(By the way, the tonality post I made last week has not aged well with my ideas.)

I. Gluttony

Genre: Psychological Horror(?)

    This film would be told from two perspectives and would be more of a symbolic representation of a greater concept of being addicted to consuming media. The film would open with a man who is cleaning his empty living room with a very depressed or stale look on his face. After a few shots of him doing this, he would sit down with a bag o chips and start watching tv. Then, the shot of the man on the couch pulls out to reveal that his life was playing on a video entitled "24 HOUR DOING NOTHING LIVESTREAM" and we also see that another young person is watching. The viewer's room is drab and dank, giving the impression that this is all the person does. After a few shots developing this idea, the person's sibling would walk in(assumedly from a family gathering in the house outside the door) and have a dialogue with them, and through this dialogue, the idea that the viewer watches what she does to feel less lonely. The sibling would reply with something along the lines of "how could you be so lonely in such a crowded home?" and the viewer would reply with something like "This is the only thing I can define as real." I imagine whatever followed this line would be some Lynchian-type imagery of the sibling vanishing and the viewer walking out of the room to reveal the same couch and empty living room as the man from the beginning, and it ends with them sitting down on the couch in the same way as the man from the beginning(maybe another pull to reveal the same live-stream?) The point of this idea would be to be a symbolic representation of this normalized gluttony in absorbing media common of today's kids. 

Pros

• Very little actors
• Can be filmed at my house or a friend's house
• Would not need a big crew
• The living room i visualized was mine, and the spacious layout alloys for many shot types behind and around the subject.

Cons

• The message could be much dumber and less deep than I expected
• May not be scary whatsoever
• Commentary is either too straightforward or not straightforward enough

II. House Invasion

Genre: Dark Comedy

Much less deep than the last idea, but possibly a bit more fun to film. The story would begin as a standard yet sloppy house break-in, and the house owner would the upper hand when he has the burglar at gunpoint. After either shooting the burglar or recognizing the voice of the burglar after confronting him, the house owner would come to realize that the burglar was an old friend of his and the two would immediately act like there was never any immediate danger or threat in what they were going to do to each other. The two would have a fun dialogue by the kitchen counter, possibly showing the burglar congratulating the house owner on his gunmanship and the house owner accepting the compliment and telling the burglar that he learned his skills from a class he took his wife and kids to(a throwaway line meant to pay off later.) When things seem great and all seems to be good for the two of them, blood would suddenly splatter all over the burglar's face in slow motion to reveal that his partner who was waiting outside came in and shot the house owner. The main burglar would freak out and feel bad, but suddenly be reminded that the whole point of the visit was to rob the house. As they are about to walk out the door, they would suddenly be stopped by a little girl with a nerf gun. The two would think it was cute and the main burglar would greet the girl kindly (implying that he knows her already from knowing her dad) and before he could finish the two would be shot by the little girl(real gun.)

Pros

• Funny, possibly more fun to watch than the first idea
• Can also be filmed in one area
• Minimal props needed

Cons

• Hefty reliance on the script
• Lighting could be awkward
• Are guns allowed??

    I have other ideas, but I think these are the two that show the most promise. I'm leaning a bit more toward the first idea because I would rather work with cinematography than work my writing chops, but I will make a decision by the end of the week.