Cha-cha-cha-cha-changes

What I have learned first and foremost about the creative process is one dominant lesson: things change. Since I have always been the obsessive student with a type-A personality, it is difficult for me to accept the fact that not every aspect of this project will turn out how I initially planned. While my group began to sit down and develop the real plot of our story, we noticed some holes. What prompts our character to go on this journey? Does he have a love interest? Why is he in a shopping cart? It was clear that these questions were easier to ask but not very easy to answer. Naturally, we turned to our teacher for guidance. She made us take a step back and look at our project with fresh eyes. We were convinced that the idea of using one actor to play every role was pushing the crazy envelope for a film that was already entitled "The Shopping Cart Diaries." So we scratched that idea. She also suggested that we were asking too many questions and needed to decide first and foremost what type of film we wanted to make. Did we want to make a very quirky, funny film that is reasonably nonsensical? Or did we want to make a quirky film that has humorous elements but is taken seriously? I decided to watch the trailers of two films that represent both ends of this spectrum. First up was the 2010 film, Rubber.

My initial reaction to this trailer was one that I imagine most people had: what the heck did I just watch? Despite the fact that this story made absolutely no sense to me, I actually liked it. It was weird, nonsensical, and entertaining which are all characteristics my group members possess. I kept this idea on the back burner as I moved on to the next movie entitled Frank.


Now this movie seemed much more realistic to me (relatively). Yes, the main character is wearing a giant mascot head, but for some reason it makes sense to me. I felt that we were getting warmer with the type of movie we wanted to make but still weren't quite there yet. My group member and I began watching short films for inspiration and came across this short entitled "Foureyes." This film was not only adorable, quirky, and charming, but also made sense to me without having to explain every minute detail. After watching this short, our ideas began to flow more easily and I could a taste a plot arising on the tip of my tongue…


Foureyes [Motion picture]. (n.d.). Brudder Films.