Introduction
The Senior Narrative Unit expands on last year’s Narrative Unit. In Film, there’s quite a big difference between the two. Film 1 students create a short film with no dialogue, the whole story is told visually. Film 2 students create a dialogue driven film, and learn to use new equipment (boom microphones, lights). Since I’m a Senior, but also in my first year of film, my project was a hybrid between the two. My film had no dialogue, but I got to use the same tools the Film 2 students used.
Pitch/Logline
A guys night spirals out of control on a typical laundry run.
Synopsis
Car pulls up to the laundromat, and car parks. John gets out of the car, grabs his baseball bag, and walks into the laundromat. He sets the bag down, and begins putting his clothes in the washing machine. He pulls out his Walkman, clicks play, and begins listening to his music. He hears the door chime over the sound of his earbuds and turns to see who it is. John does a double take. It’s a girl! She’s really pretty. John slowly takes his headphones out, as she walks closer to him. She chooses the machine next to him, and sits down. After glancing at his Walkman a couple times, she finally asks why he has one. They share some dialogue, and some awkward spaces in between. He hands her an earbud, and right as she’s about to take it, she gets a phone call. Her face changes, she’s not scared, but her eyes harden. She exits the laundromat, walking to the right. As she reaches to put her phone in her pocket, something falls to the ground. John goes to inspect it. It’s a flashdrive. He tries to get her attention, but she’s already gone. He puts the flash drive in his pocket, and sits back down. John pulls out his phone, and types in “How to talk to girls”. He begins reading it, when his machine beeps, his clothes are ready.
He’s loading his clothes back into his bag when he hears the door chime. Is it the girl? He turns, but instead the girl, it’s a man. He’s wearing all black. There’s something sinister about him. He begins methodically searches around the room, looking down the aisles of washing machines. He starts yelling at John, but he has his earbuds in. John looks confused. Who is this guy? He grabs our protagonist and throws him against the machines, screaming at him. Our protagonist is frightened, he’s not able to get his words out properly. From his jacket pocket, he pulls out surveillance photos of the girl. Is this guy a spy? Frightened and unable to speak, John points in the direction the girl left in, hoping that gets the guy to leave him alone. The guy leaves the store. Our guy sits there in shock for a couple of seconds. He’s glad the guy is gone. The girl is in danger. He realizes what he’s done, and frantically runs out the door, towards them. He grabs his baseball bat on the way out.
Protagonist gets to the corner of the building, and feels someone grab his arm. It’s the girl, and she pulls him to where she’s hiding. He pulls back, and motion to her that they need to leave. They start walking together. They turn the corner, but the antagonist is there waiting for them. He walks up to our protagonist, and punches him. John drops the bat, and falls to the ground. He hits his head on the curb, and passes out. The spy grabs the girl, and begins pulling her away. Suddenly, the girl knees him in the stomach, and a fight ensues. Both seem trained in fighting, and it’s an even match. For a split second, John regains consciousness and sees the fight. What is going on? He passes out again. The spy punches the girl, she falls to the floor. As he begins approaching the girl, she gets up, elbows him on his left side, then punches him in the face. He falls, she runs inside the laundromat. She begins frantically looking through her laundry bag. A shadow falls over her, in a figure of a man. It’s the spy. Just as he’s about to grab her, he clutches his left side, and doubles over in pain. He turns around, and his head gets knocked back. He falls, and we see John standing there holding his bat. The girl gets up, grabs his hand, and they run out together. They get into his car, and leave the parking lot. As they’re driving, John reaches into his pocket and gives her the flash drive. She takes it, and a small smile can be seen from her face. She reaches to turn the radio on, and it’s the song from earlier. They share a moment, laughing at the serendipity. We see the car drive off.
Production Shots
Narrative Trailer
Narrative Film
Acting Scene
In-between the Reflections Unit and the Narrative Unit, there was this Acting Unit. It was a short unit, only two weeks, but we learned a lot. The point of thi
Dialogue Scene
The purpose of the dialogue scene was to practice using new equipment, specifically the Boom Mic. We were learning how to pick up good audio, and how to not get the boom in the shot. We made mistakes here so we wouldn’t make the same mistakes in our film. Our actors were fellow film students Arabella Boljonis and Jordan Sharkey, our Boom Operator was Owen Pustell, and I was operating the camera.
Light Scavenger Hunt
Similar to the Dialogue Scene, the Light Scavenger Hunt was designed for us to practice using lights. Jordan Sharkey was our model, Arabella Boljonis was working the camera, and I was operating the lights.