Grief and Loneliness

Because the film deals with grief and loss, I thought I would look into various links about grief and coping (or not coping) with the loss. The story looks specifically at dying of a broken heart and the build up to the moment of death for the main character (see earlier post), but several factors have to be looked at first. For example, how the main character doesn't bother about his health and living conditions, as well as the effects of his mind. There is also the link with the title 'Impression' which looks into the other facts of his partner's lack of presence.

What I thought would be a good idea is to emphasise both characters in their unique way by establishing their dress codes. For example, in photographs around the house, there is a theme surrounding the character's styles, where the main character is more modern and his partner is more into vintage fashion. One of the most outstanding features of their dress sense is the single scarf which makes it's presence known quite early on in one of the photographs. The main character's partner is wearing it despite it not going with his outfit. He is smiling near-laughing in the photo and looks happy to be wearing it. This would highlight the couple's closeness and how they enjoyed the other's dress sense despite them not wearing it.

The house they live in would also be developed through the film, where it would get increasingly messier (due to lack of upkeep) and how the main character reflects this in their own care. It would also lead up to the main character's death.

Another thing I wanted to do was to almost make them complete opposites, so the main character would be more modern and his partner would be more into vintage fashion and decor. This is also a good way to increase the main character's personal loneliness, whereby his phone would be full of messages only from his partner. This allows the audience to see his dependency on his now deceased partner and the way in which he is completely alone in his life.

I also just wanted to add here that because of his age, there is an area which isn't largely researched about broken heart syndrome where the person who develops symptoms is quite young. An article I found suggests that there are cases where the widow(er) can die from a broken heart as young as 30 years old. This is a good way to express just how much he depended on his partner to develop so much stress that it lead to an early death. It could be also that his childhood background wasn't as kind as his partner's and therefore there would have been an early increase on his mental psyche about death and loneliness, that it was almost inevitable.

Links

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/emotionalhealth/Pages/Dealingwithloss.aspx

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7771452
http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/loneliness/#.VPNMPPmsWSq
http://www.newhopegrief.org/stories-of-hope/
http://www.recover-from-grief.com/effects-of-bereavement.html#CRAZY
http://www.gingerbread.org.uk/content/2045/Bereavement?utm_source=google-grants&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=Bereavement&utm_campaign=plat&gclid=CIrdyraKj8QCFQrpwgod2QkAag
http://www.funeralplan.com/griefsupport/griefsteps.html

http://janderson99.hubpages.com/hub/Can-you-Really-Die-of-a-Broken-Heart

Character Development Part 2

For the main character, I thought I would make him an introvert, so this meant looking into jobs he could be comfortable doing.

• http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/best-jobs-introverts
• http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/best-jobs-for-introverts#.nuwb5zjwL
• http://www.rd.com/slideshows/jobs-for-introverts/
• http://lonerwolf.com/jobs-for-introverts/

One job i thought would be good for him would be an Archivist. This would link in well with the main character's partner's enthusiasm for Railways (which is current through the story).

• https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning/jobprofiles/Pages/archivist.aspx

However, as the above link shows, there is required people skills and a high qualification. The main character is supposed to be a low-level achiever in terms of a job, where he would be more comfortable doing something that doesn't require having to be around people often.

I think of him being a manual, hands-on guy who would rather be 'doing' something rather than wasting his time speaking to people.

Someone I base him on is a mechanic, but he's pretty free-lance and gets call-outs instead of having to work for a company. This is something I can imagine him being. This also ties in with his partner's railway enthusiasm because he becomes more interested in railway mechanics and engine operation.

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As for the main character's partner, his development will still be important, as it circulates the main character's personality.

The partner I see as someone who is more extroverted, which would be opposing the main's introverted. So I began thinking about him being a photographer, as he would be likely to be taking photos of trains and stations, so his skills of photography would come in handy. If this is the case, then he would probably be a professional wedding photographer, or one who specialised in photographing a certain topic such as wildlife or even, perhaps, trains!

Then I thought that perhaps this was not a stable job and began thinking about what else would link both men together in their professions. The key was the railway, the linking of two seemingly different personalities.

I then thought about him being a History Teacher, someone who was keen on history (specifically railways) but in a stable job. It is also a polar opposite to a Mechanic, but both are a balance to the other, and therefore, the two are in harmony learning the other's knowledge on the subject.

Story

I have thought about what and when my characters will take place, thinking about the idea of homosexuality, male in particular, that sparks the idea for prejudices in society at different times.  For example, the Sexual Offences Act was passed in 1967, which meant that many LGBT persons no longer had to feel as much of a threat of being arrested.

http://www.lagna.org.uk/exhibitions/1967-and-all-that#b4

This would allow for a period drama that is closer to modern life to allow less restriction on language terminology.

Idea and Script Development

While I haven't quite finished developing the story (there are still some elements that need tweaking), I have written and re-written three scripts.

The story is about a man in his 30's (this could be altered to late 30's to early 40's) who is going through grief after the death of his lover who died in a car accident when a lorry collided into the car. It centres around how some people can't cope with loss, and in this case, the main character dies of a broken heart. The first half deals with how he has secluded himself in his house, not taking care of his health or hygiene. At the end of the first half there begins a transition into the second half when a scarf makes him go outside.

During the second half we see the other man that the main character lost. He comes in the form of a spiritual vision (or so he thinks). The man appears very real to the main character, that it will question the audience on whether the 'apparition' is simply living in the same purgatory field as the main character (who has by then already died).

The film incorporates a railway theme, as books, posters and a derelict station all contribute. The dialogue gives clues to this as well, when the main character suggests that the other man missed his train so as he could be with him. The idea behind this is to symbolise a romance, as a line often quoted is the 'romance of the steam (railways)'. It is also a nod towards Brief Encounter, a favourite film of mine which is centered around a railway station. I haven't quite yet decided whether I want to use a derelict station or one that is still used but not very busy. To me, I would quite like to keep the derelict one, as this holds a symbolism towards death and loneliness.

So I looked into locations I could use to film at outside. I had to consider locations near Lincoln as any actors I used who lived in or around Lincoln would need to be transported to the location via my car. With the story in mind which I have stated has an unused station/railway line, I looked on Google Maps and found a place which has a tarmac'd railway line now used as a public footpath. The station is still there too although it is privately owned.

Here is a link to the location

This location is not set in stone and could very well change, but I shall investigate the place first before coming to a decision, as I have to see whether there is a bench along the footpath and how far down it is from the station. It could well be that I follow the main character as he passes the station so as to establish where he is, and also the continue the emphasis on the railway theme.

Character Development

I thought I would try to build my character(s) by using a 'Character Development Questionnaire'. This is by composing a list of questions that help you to look into your own character's life and help to develop the story in return.

Here is a link to the website I found which has all the questions I used to develop the character(s).

Film Inspiration

Here are some films that have inspired the idea for my film.

'P.S. I love you.'

'A Single Man'

Both films are good at expressing how someone copes or doesn't cope with the loss of a loved one. Only 'P.S. I love you' has a happy ending, but 'A Single Man' deals both with a homosexual relationship and how they are trying to kill themselves. My idea is a combination of both, how after a time, their health declines, and even if they wanted to keep on living wouldn't be able to. The idea behind it is that there is a theme of loneliness relating to the main character, no one calls to ask if he is alright, or whether there is anything they can do, there are no messages on his phone or answering machine, and that is the key difference with the story, because in both films mentioned above, the main characters have other people who come and try to help cope with the loss.

Thinking about this, the main character may have only been able to get along with the one person who is now no longer there, such as in 'Downton Abbey' when Matthew Crawley dies, Mary believes that he was the only one who knew her true nature, so this could help build the main character's personality.

There are many more films which have dealt with grief and loss, and a website I found has a list of films which I will try to watch some of to get a bit more inspiration.

Links:

http://content6.flixster.com/movie/11/17/00/11170048_det.jpg

http://media4.popsugar-assets.com/files/ons3/166/1668379/51_2009/6fc4b9dd4fca2aa8_a-single-man-poster-1.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/09/12/article-0-1BC34CFF000005DC-918_634x521.jpg

http://www.whatsyourgrief.com/64-movies-about-grief-and-loss/

Further Development of Ideas

I wanted to do a story about death and the effects of death at one point in my life, as this is a huge issue for me. Many times when I was growing up I would look at photographs of close relatives who should have been alive no longer with me.

But because I am a spiritual person who has  grown up around people who believe in the supernatural and ghosts and the afterlife, I felt I wanted to create a story based on that, and the response to grief in relation to the spiritual.

There is a band I'm currently listening to called 'The Irrepressibles', who mainly write songs around the subject of homosexuality, and the love between two men (one of their songs is called 'Two Men in Love'). But one song is quite powerful in how it encapsulates the feeling of loss, whether it be a break-up or death, the song is relevant to each. The song is 'In This Shirt', and it has been used for a number of Media projects, from feature films to Russian adverts (which I find fascinating giving the situation in Russia at the moment).

Here is the song, and it's best to try and listen to it all the way through.

But the idea I had was to use inspiration from films like 'P.S. I love you' and other films which have themes of loss, and also a story which involves homosexuality. There is no reason why my story couldn't be heterosexual, but I feel a need to make a story that will add to the ever-growing number of films and TV series which are solely about LGBT couples, and try to bring a sense of normalising them, as society changes, it's becoming clearer that people in that community are feeling much more comfortable, and it's only through music like The Irrepressibles and films which allow gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people to feel as though they are not outside the 'box'.

With an issue like grief, it's easy to make mistakes when researching how people deal with it, as there are many ways in which people deal or can't deal with the loss of a loved one.

One of the interesting things about grief in that it can sometimes lead to extraordinary things. I read a while ago about how an elderly man had 'died from a broken heart', which I thought was sad, yet also incredibly romantic. However, it is a scientific thing, as experts have discovered that people can physically died from the loss of another, as their health declines, their immune system weakens, and the heart fails to function properly. The grief leads to the person not caring about their own life, so failure to eat, drink, sleep, and live as they had when their loved one was alive, meant that they literally, couldn't go on living.

As this is a feeling I know about, and have relatives who have gone through partners who have died, I feel compelled that a story line like this is right for me. Many other films and TV series have covered this topic, but I wanted to commit to a subtle way of telling it. and through subliminal imagery, dialogue, and scenery, which would all lead to a spiritual climax, the story would be on a personal level.

One of the other things I will need to look into is the religious side to it, as there are different variations of the 'afterlife', and so researching into those will benefit the story, whether it will be a strong connection to religion or not will depend on the characters and their beliefs which I haven't yet built upon.

Links:

http://www.thegrievingheart.info/thoughtsofsuicideletter.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2120137/Broken-heart-kill-Losing-loved-really-CAN-make-die-broken-heart.html

Development of Ideas

The first lesson where 'Fiction' was the topic of discussion found us learning about how to create completely unusual fictional ideas that work.

The Ideas Generator

Character | Locations | Problem/Goal | Obstacle

This chart helps to generate ideas when facing a difficulty trying to build the plot or story of your initial spark. For example, a Character could be a Railway Porter, who works at the Location of a Station, and if faced with the Goal of a promotion to become a Guard, but this Obstacle is his dyslexia is holding him back. The bold words are in order to the titles in the table.

This idea would then be written in the form of a 'pitch', where the ideas of character, location, problem/goal, and obstacle are put forward in a short but simple pitch. The template for the pitch is short and covers the key areas of the story.

• This is a short  (genre)  set at  (location)  about a  (short character description)  who because of  (obstacle)  can't  (achieve end goal).

An example of this pitch template using the Railway Porter would be like this:

• "This is a short drama set at a Railway Station about a Porter, who because of his dyslexia can't be promoted to Guard."

This method of generating ideas will help, not only in initial idea development, but also when pre-production is underway and when script writing is evolving. It will also help when explaining to cast and crew when/if they ask what the film is about, and the short description will be blunt but providing of the information for them when it comes to their role.

Links:
http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html