New Idea

After starting from scratch, Faye and I were a bit stuck. I will admit, in lack of inspiration, I tried to use a story prompt generator as way to just throw ideas out onto the wall and see if any of them would stick. However, not much inspiration was being drawn from "they had been together for 25 years" or "she was carried along by the crowd." They were... okay prompts... but it wasn't what we wanted or original at all (because it is quite literally generated by a computer). 

Bless her heart, Faye offered up one of her ideas that she was hoping to develop into a 10 minute stageplay, but was willing to give it up for the sake of this project. The story would follow a young lawyer meeting Death, and seemingly attempt to bargain with him. 

Immediately I jumped into the idea, beginning to imagine what a meeting with Death looks like:

We imagined a scene with low but dramatic lighting, similar to that of a detective interrogation.

The ideas were starting to form and we began making plans. Faye's dad could possible play Death, as he already owns a large hooded Grim Reaper costume, while Faye could play the young lawyer. Since the meeting needed to be filmed in a dark area, we thought about clearing out Faye's garage and setting it up with a table and a light. We were imagining our own take on the afterlife, considering ways to make the background look completely black, almost as if the two characters were suspended in mid air, floating in a void, as this lawyer tries to bargain for their life.  

In terms of opening the film opening, I wanted to establish this young lawyer as very successful, working in a city, and clearly going places with their life (which would give reason for why the lawyer wants to bargain with Death later). I talked to Faye about potentially opening with a short sequence or montage of a city, where we could begin the credits, and it would establish the setting, then focus back onto the main character. 

While business and legal attourneys are different jobs with different moods, I did imagine a big city office bustling like Wall Street, and the opening of 1987 Wall Street establishes that in its opening by clearly identifying the city of New York through its long shots of skyscrapers and monuments.

Of course, we don't have a drone or crane that can get aerial shots, but I wasn't opposed to shooting skyscrapers from a low angle as it adds to the colossal heights of these buildings. I proposed that we could drive to Fort Laudedale or Miami and realistically get enough shots for a short 20 second sequence in the beginning, however, I could tell Faye wasn't really loving the idea. Driving out to the city didn't seem like something she was that fond of, especially because we scrapped the old idea partially due to the fact that we wanted to film inside in a controlled environment. 

However, we decided to refocus and work out what exactly the story was. Originally, we discussed that the ending of the opening would find that the lawyer has found a way to come to a compromise with Death, or a challenge where they try to switch jobs. The lawyer would agree to having to reap souls all day, while the arrogant young lawyer challenged Death to deal with one day in the law firm. Though, this got us thinking that maybe we could introduce Death's job earlier, alongside while we introduce the lawyer's job, and cut back and forth between the lawyer's office and Death's office, until the lawyer ends up in Death's office after dying. But incorporating the city sequence would have to be scrapped if we wanted to compare and contrast between the two character's jobs since we need enough time for a scene with dialogue during their meeting. This is where that two minute limit constricts us and has us pick and choose. 

Anyway, we weren't able to discuss much after that, but we have yet to commit to the idea fully, as I can see that there's doubt in Faye's eyes when it comes to "the vision." We'll see if this is the one that sticks.