(Artistics concepts without a storyline attached)
1 ) (Suggested by @RRRR) Something particular and something generic which ties it all together. The particular could be a sheet of paper (although this would have to be made particular - by it's colour, a print or something else - as described by palalias), it could be the lead or whatever one comes up with. The generic could be coffee, a certain type of clothing, work, cars, food. The point about both the generic and the particular “Common” is introducing some kind of meaning - the main point, the antagonist or simply introducing a different theoretical dimension to what the story does, both types can also be in conflict with each other.. it's all up to what you come up with as an idea for a script.
+1 (Driftwood) I like the idea of a unifying 'connector'. I ike lolo's voiceover connector or with in tight on mouth or eye with words/without words - or sound such as a telephone ringing across scene changes...
^!^ [Paginate]: I like the idea of something particular to connect all these locations and talents. Like a copy of one thing (i.e. 8 tickets to the same show/ spectacle/ event in 8 cities); or just one thing
moving around the world (i.e. a screenplay or book; a photograph; a "message in a bottle"). The object then has a linking feature. It's important that it not be random at the end, however -- but can tie into the
total story. ^!^ [by Paginate]
2) (Suggested by @Aksel) “The workflow choosen will became the story”
a) Have just one script, and all the Directors around the world will shoot his or her version of the same script
it's not our strongest choice. Beyond seeing the same story three times it would be asking a lot from the audience. The novelty of the convention might wear off by the fourth time? ^!^ [by Paginate]
b) No script, just a word such as: Love, Hunger, Crisis, Happiness, Shit, Fear… etc .After we decide which topic we like, each Director will write his or her script and shoot it.
^!^ Just jumped on board here, and am hoping to contribute some value to this wonderful production idea. I'll be pondering your posts over the next day or two. I've seen some wonderful ideas, at first glance. ^!^ While I'm considering how to respond, please meditate on the following: (1.) Why? Why will "we" do this? Is it only to show off our cameras and shooting skills? Period? Is it also only to entertain? (I've read some very entertaining ideas about the mob, and shadows and ghosts and what not). How about the "why"? Why not the "why" being to strongly present to impact——perhaps to impact for the purpose of change——maybe social change? Imaginate cited Italian Neorealism of 1945 (its inception being the famous film, OPEN CITY, 1945, as the Nazi's exited Rome) as one style example, but why did they go after such realism? I don't want to give a pat answer here, but prompt each of you to search yourselves. However, I think Roberto Rossellini (1906–77) and others like him wanted to elicit social change, and do that by first emotionally moving the people and stirring their hearts, and illuminating their minds. And dispelling the suspicion of artifice was a key method in Rossellini (and Visconti) doing so. Let's consider genre and style as we settle on the one or two "whys" that we can all agree on. I think for this big idea to work, the group has to agree on some of these fundamentals——especially with so many artistic contributors from around the world. (2.) Who? Who is our audience. Think age, nationality, sex, social class, religion, etc. Narrowing down our audience may also help us answer the "why?". Are we trying to only make a few youtubers laugh or cry or be afraid? Is that good enough for all this collective work and sweat?? And if we want it to go viral, who will make that happen? Take note, some of the most viral links on YouTube are about domestic animals. LOL Obviously, everyone has been dealing with the "what" and to some extent the "how" and "when," but dealing with the WHO, and especially the WHY first, may make those other three easier to agree on. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute... [by Paginate] ^!^
^!^ I think examples of something important to write for (the WHY) could be: - to influence the largest Western audience possible to stop thinking about self, and to start thinking of others instead - to expose the chink in the armour of corporate corruption so that even the little man can effectively shoot arrows to wound the larger enemy - to expose technology as a device-of-distraction so that people break its hypnotic spell that makes them insular - to rescue the child victims in our countries from the clutches of pornography and prostitution - etc. etc.
Something noble to work on. Should we be pitching these first, finding one that the majority agree on, and then find the story that accomplishes this best!? [by Paginate] ^!^
1) “Reality Unveiled Fiction (Original by @thepalalias)
Production Restrictions: a) Protagonist must remain completely covered by the sheet at all times so they can be portrayed by many different actors. (by @thepalalias) b) Protagonist must not speak in any of the productions so that a single actor can provide a unifying voiceover in post-production. (by @thepalalias) c) Each director should mention their preferred lenses before they pick a section, so that movement from softer to sharper (or from other “subjective” to “neutral” lenses) can be used as a deliberate part of the film's construction, rather than seeming to flit about from shot to shot. (by @thepalalias)
Main artistic concepts:
Storyline:
Either
A) One man's journey through memories or realities as vignettes, giving us his thoughts as we start to hear other voices, with the recurring name “Samiel” being called over and over again.
OR
B) What if it`s not “one” unifying voice, but a voiceover conversation between an older criminal, trying to recall events as he talks with a D.A. or police. The “variations” in style between the segments would serve the purpose of conveying the lack of specificty in his memory, as the police/DA question him about particular details. (option B suggested by Emile Nelson to @thepalalias)
C) *B3Guy* What is the Police trying to figure out? This could provide good plot.
2) “Stowaway” Fiction (Original by @atticusd)
Production Restrictions: Avoid the use of VFX, especially CGI. The supernatural elements should be depicted through good acting and clever camera work, and when necessary, voice-over.
Main artistic concepts: An ordinary story with supernatural elements in the background. This guy can jump from one body to another at will but this is not a movie about that ability but about the man himself. It’s about how someone under extraordinary circumstances deals with ordinary, everyday conflicts.
Storyline:
Peter has long forgotten his real name and his background. He’s also unsure about his actual age. Looking at himself in the mirror doesn’t help because Peter doesn’t inhabit his body anymore. As long as he can remember (a few years, he thinks), he’s been jumping from body to body, borrowing the lives of random people for some time. Those jumps could take him just around the corner or across the ocean. He hasn’t got much control over that. He can only choose the when, not the where or the who. One thing he knows for sure is that whenever he stays too long in one body, the life of that person takes an irreversible turn for the worse. So, he doesn’t stay for long anymore. After all, being a stowaway doesn’t mean you’re the bad guy. Or does it? (by @atticusd)
B3Guy: What if, to complicate everything, each person he inhabits is somehow also named Peter, so when he tries to tell others that his name is actually Peter, they look at him like “duh . . .”
3) “The world as a small town” Documentary (Original by @andres)
Production Restrictions: a)There is no three act structure. something like Nine Lives structure http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420015/ Filming must reflect documentary characteristics of the place but staying away of location cliches/city icons. Wide perspective of the world. Asia, South America, Africa, Oceania, Europe, North America, Anyone at Antartida or in a boat. c)All filming done the same season. (World Contrast)
Main artistic concepts: a)People talk in their own language (lots of subtitles needed) b)At the end all characters are connected between friends of friends. c)Fact: internet people are 3.7 degrees apart.
Storyline: a)very important help needed maybe connected to something in the news and we see each different perspective/ point of view.
Procedure:
a)Organize the possible teams and locations.
(We don´t need 3 cameras on a shot but an assistant, producer, actor, audio, car, is welcome.)
b)Depending on how many teams there are available there will be a number of stories/locations.
Example: If we have 20 teams we could make 4-6 minutes per story.
c)Choose an idea or several and join them together and start developing the script, each director with their own location/actor/budged.
Music could help a lot with the editing. That would be the hardest part, to finish it. Lot a editing time needed. Research needed.
4) “Cogito ergo sum” Fiction (Original by @lolo)
Production Restrictions: a) unifying off-voice in first person (I), this is the voice of the toughts in real time of the main character
Main artistic concepts: a) it goes by stages, wich are different realities, in wich the main characters doesn´t know what´s going on and gets increasingly confussed, b) with the constant being the chase of a shadow (please brainstorm the chase of the shadow plot, as i don´t think is up to other concept of multiple realities)
Storyline (haha per stage :D, is under creative commons already, so no evil corporation can steal it for profits): A man walks on the street, he feels someone is chasing him, the feel continues in his home until he falls sleep, he wakes up, and everything on his bedroom (furniture, etc) is hanging from the ceiling, he gets frightened, a shadow appears in a wall and goes after him, he runs away fast but hits a wall with his head. The main character is now a woman in a psychiatric hospital (only in one white room), she is being treated for squizophrenia, a nurse forgets her cellphone, the shadow appears and the main characters tries to defend herself with the cellphone (is the only thing that has at hand), the shadow tries to eats her, she closes her eyes. She appears now inside a videogame (because of the cellphone)… Then the main character appears in a world made like in the matrix, so he gets unplugged from a computer, the shadow appears and chases him, he runs towards a door, he opens it before the shadow reaches him, He appears now on the stage of a theatre, they are rehearsing a play, and the main character is the main character of the play, he doesnt understand, but stills tries to perform, but he gets the shivers, the director calls for a break, the main character takes a sit on a sofa from the theatre set that is old and grungy, he gets itchy, he starts to scartch himself with the palm of his hand hitting his chin as a cat would do The main character is now a cat, he enjoys the sun, he feels that a shadow is chasing him, but he catches the shadow first, he plays with his shadow, the shadow was his own shadow all along, the cat is happy
And after the credits we see an alter ending, when the main character in a creepy set drinks tea along with his shadow, and the shadow controls him as a puppet with black fishlines
(B3Guy) this end image is really good. I like.
License
Licencia Creative Commons
5)“Headless man” (working title) Fiction (Suggested by @RRRR)
Production Restrictions: a) 15 ~10 min short stories where the following parallel stories take place -
Main artistic concepts: a)In each episode a photography of a headless man figures in post-card size, or inside an envelope which can be recognized as containing the same photo. (same size, similar envelope seen in other episode or whatever - the photo should be easily distinguishable as the same, worn, aged) In each episode the lead character finds an object, sort of a ceramics shard piece or something along those lines - it's use unrecognizable by the piece itself - though all objects look like pretty similar.
Storyline The events in each short story revolve around time travel or dimension travel (actual, or the want to) - it could be due to topic elements like:
death, sorrow, doing drugs, watching film, swimming, birth, sex, extreme endurance, extreme sports and so on..
In the end the characters gather and assemble the objects they've found - the headless man. Someone takes a photo of it.
6)“OCCUPY” (original by @Imaginate)
LOGLINE: A working class man desperate to provide for his family betrays his friends in a secret organization that is bent on killing bankers and corporate directors by supplying names and locations of the targets to mobs. His life turned upside down when he helps one of these hunted men escape a mob. In a twist of fate his betrayal might just save his friends lives as he discovers the Bankers have a list of their own. The two must work together to stop a series of killings scheduled to take place around the globe.
Production Restrictions:
Main artistic concepts: Genre: INSTITUTIONALIZED: The question is whether there is a group with its own rules and norms that the protagonist, usually underdog and naive and is pitted against “The Company Man” exploring the costs and benefits of membership in — and ultimately deciding whether they want to be a part of it or not. It’s about deciding who they want to be in relationship to it, and the risks and reward of same. Think Full Metal Jacket, Goodfellas, Office Space, The Devil Wears Prada, or Crash.
Storyline
We follow 4-5 intercut stories of heroes and villians that emerged in those days of the 'Occupy' movement and the global chain reaction ( butterfly effect ) that set off the first of the banker killings. And true to the Neorealism movement, less about the bankers and more about the working class people effected by these global events.
( One of the 4-5 mini stories focuses on the working class man who saves the banker, the other three to four stories are shot in different cities but all connect with each other around the theme of GREED / EXPERIENCING LOSS of JOB or finances or home/ Providing financially for loved ones. )
Possible Shooting Techniques/Style: Italian Neorealism ( eg. staging scenes around larger events happening in your cities like the OCCUPY movement, or other mass demonstration that can be used as larger than life settings while shooting Guerrilla style. The Italians shot movies during Nazi occupation etc and featured troops etc within there films for backdrops. This doesn't necessarily have to be done at the same time… you can use preexisting stills or video footage that has already been shot in your location and use those as background plates.
7)“Patient Zero” Science Fiction tagline 'A Traveler with a Conscience' (original by @L1N3ARX)
Production Restrictions:
Main artistic concepts:
Storyline Style:
Setting: Very near future. A recent discovery into consciousness has led to the most significant experiment in neuroscience. After it was revealed that comatose patients are very much cognitive but unable to interact with the world around them (a play on this recent article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111109193646.htm), a first of its kind neuroscience experiment is attempted in which a “cognitive bridge” between the consciousness of a comatose patient to a volunteer host body is realized. The experiment was intended to allow a previously “trapped” consciousness to interact and be an observer within an interactive host / body and nothing more. The experiment goes horribly awry. Upon linking, the patient gains cognitive control of the body, and the original host is seemingly gone. What's more is that, the patients body has deceased upon linking into the volunteer host body, and without access to prior memory and experience, “patient zero” has no frame of reference… for anything. He / She doesn't even know what it is that they “are”. A chain of events is set into motion where his/her consciousness starts to link into other conscious hosts at unexpected intervals. Each time leaving the host body deceased / severed from their prior occupying consciousness. The story continues in this fashion where “patient zero” is an almost permanent state of global amnesia taking over host bodies around the world unable to piece together what is happening. An emergency global task force is put into motion to not just catch patient zero, but to kill on sight.
(B3Guy) This is good, there seems to be the start of some tension between the bad that happens to the “host” people and the helpless struggle of the possessing consciousness. I wouldn't write off the efforts of the consciousness as completely hopeless, though. Building some sympathy, perhaps even a tiny bit of hope for the consciousness could make this pretty good. Combine that with experts who want to kill it versus those who want to help it and you've got tension and complexity on several levels.
8)“Peter: Patient Zero” by @B3Guy (originals “Stowaway” and “Patient Zero” by @atticusd and @L1N3ARX respectively) It is long, I know, but give it a read and let me know what you think. Plenty of credit due to the other two inspirations as well.
Story Progresion:
Working off @atticusd’s “Stowaway”, we have a structure connected by people named X (let’s just say Peter), who at first do not seem to be connected. Let’s start with two, in very different places, unconnected. One Peter (the “possessed” one), begins to have flashbacks of previous “lives” as other “Peters”, and of strange and painful experiments in a sterile hospital-esque environment. Let us call this person Peter Smith, and the film is essentially the increasing frequency and potency of his flashback occurrences.
The flashbacks begin simply with the lives of other “Peters”, but progress to include the same events happening to each, to their being hunted by various top-secret world task forces (think CIA, MI6, etc.), ending in their death and move to another random “Peter”.
Peter Smith is special, though in that this is the first transfer in which the consciousness has been able to remember being hunted. Peter Smith is facing the knowledge that there are powerful forces searching for him at this very moment, and he must now decide what to do about it. He researches the demise of his previous “Peters”, trying to figure out more about what is up.
Something is clearly different in the information he finds regarding his most recent existence, but he cannot get to the bottom of precisely what happened. Clearly the powers at be were thwarted somehow in his last existence, and the change to his current self (Peter Smith) was unique.
Now, remember the TWO “Peters” I mentioned in paragraph one? One is Peter Smith, but the other one, we have been following the whole time as well, but he has not been in any flashbacks, nor is he in any way aware of any of this other business. He is an “average joe” going about his own mundane life. We slowly gain knowledge, however, that the secret agency of his country is monitoring him closely, and is in close contact with the other agencies around the globe, and that they think he is somehow connected to the other “Peters”.
As Peter Smith is investigating his own past “lives”, and the most recent one in particular, he is approached or contacted in some way by “The Sympathetic Scientist”. The Scientist informs him of the experiments that were done involving him, and how it all went terribly wrong. REMEMBER he knows up to this point only about the past lives, and that he is being hunted. Up until this point, Smith knows nothing of the specific experiments. The scientist explains that he is “Patient Zero” (by @L1N3ARX). This all is the big reveal, the “oh snap I get it now” moment. From here, the film progresses quickly, as Peter Smith is hunted, the Scientist outlines a means by which Peter Smith can be transferred in an untraceable manner, and the secret agency monitoring the thus far unconnected “Average Joe Peter” mobilizes in on the unsuspecting commoner.
Just as hostiles close in on both Smith and Average Joe, the process for untraceable transfer is successfully completed. Here we use some sort of intense flashback quick blender or other visual effect to indicate the transfer, as well as to hold suspense over what will happen next. Perhaps even going to black for a breath. Suddenly, we realize Peter Smith has been transferred to “Average Joe Peter”, and that the “friendly scientist” had set him up, transferring him live and apparently freshly oblivious into the hands of his hunters (there should be subtle clues in the flashbacks that the Scientist is not altogether on Peter's side, but not too obvious). Peter Smith is confirmed dead by the scientist, and “average joe Peter” is quickly sedated and blacks out. The scientist converses with the agents at the other location, “he’s dead. You got him, right? Then I’ve fulfilled my part of the bargain. You’d better uphold yours. Set him comatose and don’t you ever bring him out again.”
Here there is a respite. Some scenes of Average Joe Peter unconscious being put back in some sort of hospital-esque facility, or other controlled looking environment. We see the scientist arriving at home and unwinding.
Then the scientist enters their dark basement. We see medical equipment, hear a flat line tone from a hear tare monitor, and there is the original body of Peter’s consciousness, looking for all the world to be dead. The scientist begins to start up machines, glancing occasionally at the body. This scene begins to cut between the scientist’s basement and the facility where “average joe Peter” is lying comatose. Average Joe Peter begins twitching and waking, attendants come running as indicators go off, the body shakes violently, then stops and everything flat lines. Back to the scientist, the machines spool down, and there is a moment of suspense as the room goes silent. Then the heart rate monitor goes from flat line to beeping. Original Peter wakes, recoils, and then embraces the scientist.
They pack him a bag quickly, he is shown a forged passport, given a plane ticket, they are scrambling to get him ready to leave. Local agents mobilize, converge, and arrive at the house only to find the scientist alone. They begin to interrogate to no avail.
Final epic shot with awesome music of Original Peter happily in some form of transportation, having escaped successfully.
practical considerations: Naturally, this script lends itself to having a minimum of two fairly dedicated crews. One (obviously) must deal with Peter Smith, the Scientist, agents, and Original Peter (because Original Peter's comatose state will undoubtably involve the same scientist in the flashback as well as in the final scene). The other main crew will need to be capable of handling “Average Joe Peter” and the agents involved there, which also involves a hospital-esque environment.
From there, it is quite flexible in terms of additional crews at various levels of involvement. While the final scenes will focus more on these two “non-flashback” crews, the critical beginning of the film will essentially be a lot of flashbacks, each providing pieces to the puzzle that Peter Smith is trying to make sense of. The information that Peter Smith gains from flashback could be divvied up among any number of crews, the more the merrier. The film should quickly progress into almost perpetual flashback, with all the flashback stuff making up the bulk of the middle of the film. It is only after this increasingly chaotic deluge of flashback information that the two “non flashback” crews chime back in to tie things together with a smashing end. I have not dealt with additional layers of complexity in the flashbacks, as I wanted to keep this short, but it would be awesome if we had different languages going on, as well as good variety of individual stories for each “life of Peter”, to add to the confusing nature of the flashbacks. The flashbacks would be best if done as detailed and complex as possible in their individuality.
Indeed, this would actually work quite well written by a team. One head writer would handle the overall organization and the Peter Smith storyline, working carefully with the writer of “average joe Peter” and both of their crews to keep the non-flashback groups in good harmony. The main writer would also develop a list of facts that Peter Smith will uncover in the flashbacks, and will assign these facts to the flashback writers. Each flashback writer is then given considerable freedom to write the tale of their individual “Peter”, requiring only that within their tale, the assigned detail is given good attention. (For example, in one flashback, the Peter might overhear an agent talking about “experiments”, or perhaps a fortune teller calls him a “wandering soul”.) Small crews could film shorter, more basic flashbacks, and those wanting to do more can easily do more. In editing, the flashbacks should become coherent thanks to the “non flashback” scenes, as well as from their clue content and identical endings (death by agent).
9)“lalaland” (working title)
(Original by @Lolo)
Production Restrictions:
Main artistic concepts: Diferent styles, one per recording team, but with unifiers along the way, like three or four gestures, in the same scene setups (like someone in front of a computer, writing and drinking something in the same way, that someone being the main character of every team story) that all the different characters repeat, to say that we all fell the same.
Storyline Write something about what are the political local consecuences that internet has on the traditional human social structure, that can be attached by the local groups to their local/regional conflicts, and to be focus on the human consecuences of that.
10) “We”
by @lolo (Based on an original idea by @Reckless)
Production Restrictions:
Global technical settings of the camera must be agreed previously (by: @lolo)
Main artistic concepts:
Every team will develop their story to get culture difference, and how this difference makes them behave in a different way to a global event, all the stories will have unifiers to get a cohesive full-lenght piece, and all the stories will be related to that unique global event, all the characters will have some type of human relationship among them.(by: @lolo)
Storyline
About the script structure:
11) “IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT A TRAVELER” (temporary, hommage to I.Calvino; original by @Elenion)
Main artistic concepts:
We have a story that is characterized by the ACTION UNITY and carried out
through different situations and by different subjects.
Every fragment
continues the story from the point where the precedent fragment stopped,
flawlessly and gracefully.
One story that goes through different people, places, events, relationships.
Then, the unity is given by the ACTION: the protagonist (different subjects)
has only one and precise AIM and many antagonists (one for each subject):
This antagonist obstaculates/helps/stimulates the protagonist's path, and it
is the typical human issues that interest the narrative: like solitude,
love, friendship, spirituality, death, fear, money etc (these should be
subjected to poll).
I think that 'the construction of a family' fits perfectly for the role of
AIM, because it is a good representation of one of the universal RESOLUTIONS
of life and can fit well our complex project.
5 acts structure:
- Introduction/OPENING
- BREAK
- Body/MAIN TENSION
- 2nd break/CLIMAX
- End /RESOLUTION
Production Restrictions:
No repetitions of gestures, movements, actions, situations that give the
idea of 'restart' because it is damnly boring, it brokes the magic of
cinema, and seems like a gross attempt to give unity and to mask some
inability.
Aesthetics continuity.
Storyline (example, just to explain):
Aperture act:
A man suffers from solitude –> we show his situation and the conflict that
is going on (from acceptation and inevitability to pain to refuse - now we
go to the BREAK).
The conflict brings him to search for a change, for a woman.
He goes to a bar, finds a woman, he approaches her, he drinks a coffee with
her: detail of the cup –> from the detail of the cup it BEGINS the story of
a girl, at her first date with a boy, in a bar, drinking coffee. She continues the story, pursuing the
same AIM of the precedent fragment, but she has 'LOVE' has an antagonist and
not the “SOLITUDE” like the man. And so on through all the dramatic iter of the five
acts until the pursuit (or the failure) of the AIM that is the resolution (the construction of the family).
(ok maybe these are already 4 fragments, 3 for the part of the man and the
SOLITUDE (first act) and one for the girl and LOVE. We go through drama/horror to
dramatic comedy to love comedy etc. I was just exemplifying)
12. “Human Trafficking” ( working title )(original by @Imaginate)
Logline: Five strangers who've been kidnapped for prostitution devise a rescue plan for themselves before being shipped out to various destinations globally. This plan might be the only thing that will save them from the ruthless organization exploiting them but it will require absolute trust which is the one thing they don't have.
Story Notes: This story might go under the genre of “Rites of Passage” where each of the women have to change the way they are dealing with the problem they are in. They start out making the wrong choices but in the end have to confront something within themselves as well as the external antagonists. The theme probably about TRUST or TRUTH LIES DECEPTION. Each of the five protagonists will experience either a positive to negative or negative to positive change in regards to these themes as they try to work out a way to free themselves. 5 indiviudal stories all colliding with one another in classic 3 act structure.
I think this story not only be very entertaining but an important story to comment on as its a current issue that is happening worldwide and worthy of attention being brought to the subject.
Special Production Challenge *This story does require an initial scene with all the women together but I think this could be done with the right blocking and greenscreen techniques, and online rehearsals that the actors can do together before filming the individual parts.
another difficult challenge will be casting five very smart and beautiful women ;) ( just kidding )
13. “Secrets” ( working title )(original by @Imaginate)
Logline: A deadly explosion at a resort hotel triggers a series of unwanted encounters with malevolent spirits in particular homes around the globe, one member of each of those households must confess the secret they hold about that hotel before their loved ones meet a similar fate of those that perished in the accident.
Story Notes: This story works with multiple protagonists, most of the story takes place in their perspective home cities away from the resort when the various 'incidents' took place. I'd keep the number of protagoninsts to 4 or 5 , or 6 maximum. The Genre we are talking about here is classic 'Monster In The House' or in this case 'Ghost in the House” when I say house I don't literally mean a house… but within the world of the protagonist.. whether its school, work or play.
Each of the characters was responsible for an act committed at the hotel of either: 1 Lust 2 Gluttony 3 Greed 4 Sloth 5 Wrath 6 Envy 7 Pride
Each of these sins, big or small, by the guests of the hotel had an adverse effect on one of the staff members at the hotel who perished in the explosion. The ghosts have now appeared to make things right.
The ghost encounters should be presented in a way where the viewer doesn't know if they are real or just guilt triggered illusions brought on by the characters themselves…
As each story is resolved we see the entire picture unfold before us and how interconnected the separate visits actually were even though the people didn't know each other.
I think rather than just a dark tale of sin and revenge we find also that a member of certain families also showed acts of kindness during there visit that brings a type of redemption to a story that is overly dark. Its a story of how our flaws effect not only those closest to us but those far away too.
Some of these incidents might have taken place in the past. Which means we can have one set of younger characters which are shot in the 'hotel location' and the older version of those same characters can be shot in a different part of the world.
* within the horror genre we all know Vampire and Zombie movies have been done to death lately (no pun intended ). Appetites for Ghost movies on the other hand are rising.
14. “Reinventing Life” ( working title ) Dark Comedy (original by @Imaginate) ( same sub-genre along the lines of Cousins, Vice Versa, Father Like Son,18 Again, Big, Dream a Little Dream,13 going on 30 , All of Me, Switch, The Hot Chick , The Shaggy Dog.)
Logline: After wishing to be living another life, a recently impoverished couple couple is magically granted the opportunity to switch bodies with several counterparts from around the globe. The fun and games stop when they get stuck in Eastern Europe in the bodies of a couple of con artists on the run from thugs.
Short Synopsis:
Jack and Jill feel sorry for themselves and are growing apart after both being laid off, and losing their home and middle class luxuries. Their lives take a strange turn when they meet a magical stranger who grants them their wish for a different life. They feel hopeless in there present situation so they’re willing to gamble and accept the deal of this stranger.
Each night when they go to sleep, they begin switching bodies with some other couple in some other country on the planet. Jack and Jill are a quirky but likable couple, so when they switch bodies they take their personality quirks with them and usually cause havoc in the lives that they are switching with.
eg Jack swears a lot and is trying to cut down because Jill doesn’t like it. If they switch with a German couple , they discover they are speaking in German to their own surprise ,there is a ton of funny material to be explored with such crazy body switches, like Jack discovers he’s swearing in German and is fascinated with new vocabulary and starts shouting out swear words with a smile on his face, but looking like a total mental case to everyone around him.
At first the choices don't appear to attractive, most of the lives they are switching with have problems of their own, one in a harsh climate, political turmoil, forced marriage, one is childless, one has a son who is an addict, one where they constantly argue, etc. The key is they are learning lessons with each switch .
They switch with a couple in Eastern Europe who are living it up and seemingly enjoying the good life. They think they have finally found the life they have been dreaming of but quickly it turns into a nightmare. They discover that they are actually criminals deep in trouble and on the run from other gang thugs, but now its too late to switch back because they’ve stayed too long. Most of the couples they switch with never interact in Jack and Jill’s body because they are always sleeping but because they overstayed their visit The criminals wake up in Jack and Jills body and start causing real problems back at home.
Before discovering a way to return they get a lesson in gratefulness, and learn about the true riches that they do have as they discover the best life is the one they already have.
15. “Untitled” (original by Martin Lancaster http://www.martinlancaster.com/)
I'm drawn to the darker, sci-fi concepts.
One idea I had is to have a central character (perhaps a prisoner) who is able to temporarily drop in and control different avatars in various locales. He's forced to perform tasks such as assassinations, suicides. The idea is that if they can get a victim to ingest a serum of nanorobots, they are able to remotely control that person for short periods. The effect on the controller or 'pilot' would be severe psychological trauma as they see echoes of that person's memories for some time afterwards.
I imagine much of the film would first person perspective as the character controls different avatars (Think 'Being John Malkovic'). The story would be of a man who is imprisoned but able to experience freedom through controlling avatars in the outside world. Perhaps he is able to orchestrate his own escape through manipulating the avatars against the will of his captors, or without them knowing. Maybe he's able to visit his family (via an avatar) who presume he is dead. It could be an interesting story of a man who is hopelessly trapped but also somehow free through his ability to experience life through another's eyes.
I guess the bigger question is what kind of tone/genre you're interested in. I have to admit, I'm not really a light comedy kind of writer. I tend towards darker themes, anti-heroes, dark comedy but nothing really lighthearted.
16. “Personalities” (original by Philip Whitcroft http://www.moviepoet.com/)
The story I’ve outlined would be set in what would appear to be a normal world. However it would ultimately be revealed that they are inside the brain of a coma patient. The locations would be places that the coma patient has been to in his life and has significant memory of.
The characters would turn out to be split elements of his personality and their different appearances in each place would reflect how strongly they had been in play when he was at the location. From example in the prison location his aggression (the Thug) would have been strong and big, when he’s in the haven (the site of a romantic getaway) the aggression character would be small and weak.
With this approach there isn’t a technology or a magic. Initially it would just happen, then as the story plays out the details would be revealed. The locations exist as memories, the characters (or personality components) believe themselves to be separate individuals but ultimately realize they have to reform into a single person in order to wake up from the coma.
An advantage of this approach for your project is that each location could have its own distinct filming style and that would fit with the story. Some locations could be ominous and scary, e.g. the Principal’s Office, because of what happened there. Another location might be soft and beautiful, e.g. flowers in the field where the guy went with his girlfriend.
I bounced my idea on this around and have expanded it.
It seems that if you are going to tell a story where a set group of characters step between locations and morph each time then the obvious choice for a theme is “identity”.
The next thing I did was scribble a rough logline:
– An unthinking thug, who finds himself trapped and repeatedly morphed by a global maze, must learn to consider other people if he’s to escape and find out who he really is.
I’d suggest the main character, Thug, begins the story in confinement somewhere. The Guard wears something like a black T-shirt, as will all the mystical bad guys who turn up in the various places. Confined with him is a nervy guy who says very little until he blurts out something cryptic like “we’re not in jail, we’re in the best place, we should stay here”.
Thug launches his escape plan, which includes wearing a distinctive set of civilian clothes (the same recognizable stuff he continues to wear). When he steps out of the prison/cabin/whatever he finds himself–
– in a totally different place, dressed the same, but with a different body. He freaks out, tries to get people there to explain it to him (Note: I’m not sure if you intend for the whole movie to be in English or if they are all talking Swedish when in Sweden, etc). He exits from there to–
– an American location and another body, confused but feeling better he reverts to his unpleasant self. A dude in a black T-shirt turns up and pretends to be his friend, explains he belongs in the confinement location and is not capable of living anywhere else. The Thug is close to agreeing, when he’s grabbed by Foxy, the lead woman, and Grumpy, a moody guy who doesn’t like Thug much. T-shirts pursue them –
– through several locations and bodies until they get to–
– a haven, which is a safe location for Foxy and Grumpy, in which to Thug’s huge irritation Grumpy is a hunk, Foxy is gorgeous, and Thug is a physical dweeb. Of course he tries it on with Foxy anyway, but in this location it’s not fair. Actually she is repulsed by him, but it’s his personality that she doesn’t like.
They form their initial relationships and Thug has it explained to him that they are in a maze made up of a fraction of the world. They believe they are being tortured because they are deprived of their most valuable thing, their identities. In here each person ultimately chooses a static life, one that fits for them, because they can’t cope with the changes. Very few people choose to move around.
The first act turn is when they break into a location that they expect to have a map in it. But they discover they are trapped in a playground for a single person, and it’s this person who has them entrapped. Their mission is to find that person.
The remainder of the story becomes a quest style investigation to try and figure out who this single person is. Along the way they meet a variety of other people who seem to represent aspects of personality. At the second act turn, after things have gone to shit and they all separate (Grumpy seems to be dead?), Thug discovers that he can join with the various other people, they merge into him. He goes on a race through the other locations collecting people/personalities and reuniting with Foxy.
Ultimately it occurs to him that he knows where the true person is, it’s his bunk mate, from the beginning. They go to confront him, battle past a last set of T-shirts. The bunk mate resists, but ultimately they get him to agree, Thug says something like “I know who you are.” They merge into him with flash of light and…
A guy wakes up from a coma to the delight of his family.
This is a very thin, confusing outline. It’s a long way from being a developed story. But I thought I’d throw it out there to see what you think.