Daniel's Idea

Hey guys! I am sorry for the late post because I initially had difficulties with accessing the blog and then we needed to complete our treatments and essays. So I have had time to recover this weekend and I am ready to get started on our project. Which reminds me - I wish to thank you guys for choosing my idea to pitch in our first meeting at The Globe last Wednesday which I think went down really well on the Thursday. Cutting to the chase - here is my idea:-

In hope of overcoming his tolling heroin addiction, one night, a painter ¬¬decides to go cold turkey in his secluded studio. But what he does not realise is if he’s prepared to sacrifice his drug fuelled profession for his life or vice versa. An issue many people have to face at some point in our lives. On account of this key theme of self-destruction the film is titled Obscure Obsession.

The film will open with a display of a syringe conveniently placed upon what seems to be some sort of workstation appearing as though it has encapsulated the painter who can be seen slumped in a foetal position on the cold hard floor afar at the corner of his studio. This will enable the audience to fully understand and appreciate the controversial issue of which they are about to explore and the protagonist’s current situation.

Its content will focus on highlighting the particular symptoms of heroin withdrawal as he experiences the shakes, beads of sweat profusely pouring down his face, violent vomiting and cries of agony.

The climax or anticlimax rather will be the precise and concise moment in time he makes a fatal decision of sacrificing his wellbeing in favour of his profession as he desperately crawls to his workstation reaching out to seize and inject what has now become his sole inspiration to produce his most masterful piece yet only to overdose in the process and collapses to the ground unconscious leaving the audience with the enigmatic conclusion of whether he is ead or alive.

Due to the lack of dialogue in the film in pursuit of conveying its rhetorical question it will have to rely entirely on lucid imagery. Therefore the beginning and middle of the film will feature, desaturation in some shots in order to create a melancholy feel, numerous close-ups, Dutch tilts from various angles sometimes breaking the 180 degree rule and stop-motion to portray the intoxicated release of creative ideas from deep within the protagonist’s corrupted mind to impose the feeling of claustrophobia and anxiety, emphasise the his excruciating pain and drug induced genius, transcending the audience into the his shoes, feeling what he is feeling, empathising with him. The beginning and end will in and out to black to accentuating this melancholy feel to it and signify to the audience that he is most probably dead.

The audio will primarily consist of non-diegetic sounds of water droplets, a clock ticking, nails scratching a blackboard and the omniscient whisper of his conscience. This will also act as an aid in placing the audience in an anxious mood. The only diegetic sounds required to maintain this effect are the ambient sounds of the studio, his cries of agony, his body brushing against and collapsing to the cold hard floor and the bristles of a paintbrush against a canvas.

I think the finished product will be most appreciated by artists of any field, whether it is painting, writing, music or even filmmaking and attendees of art-house cinemas such as Sheffield’s own Showroom Cinema as I believe that as a whole they will be able to relate to the protagonist and the themes and issues it explores him facing and have the open minds the film will demand so as to avoid misinterpretation of its subtle speculation.