Brainstorming the Plot

As mentioned in my last post, I have been keeping a page empty in my journal to write all of my brainstorming regarding the general plot of my film.

Originally, I focused on my favorite episodes from the British anthology series Black Mirror. I then created a table of sorts to narrow down my own original ideas. I knew that most storylines of this genre use what they know, as do storylines of every genre, and create an exaggerative society from a possible "solution". Even though I did rule out technological control as an aspect of my story, after writing the issues I saw the most, I realized most had to do with technology. An idea I gravitated towards in the beginning was the idea of literal control over someone's life through apps and features of a smartphone, coming from the concept of the Life360 app many parents today use. To those being forced to use the app, it may be seen as am extreme invasion of privacy as the app notes your speed, location, driving history, when you were on your phone while in the car, abrupt stops, and more features meant for "safety". I became really passionate about the idea, noting details I wanted to add and possible mise-en-scene and sound elements until I came across this article.

Images from MBC

Here, VRScout tells of a new use for virtual reality (VR) technology being developed in South Korea, which reunited a mother with her seven-year-old daughter who passed away back in 2016. The VR experience allowed the mom to have a final birthday party, take pictures with the 3D model made of her daughter, hear her child's voice call for her, etc. What connected this new revelation in technology to this project was a comment the author made in the article: "Though the technology used in this project is still in its relative infancy, it’s abundantly clear just how powerful VR can be when used by the right team for the right cause." I began to think about how the technology could be wrong, by the wrong team, and maybe even for the wrong cause.

I immediately connected my previous ideas stemming from smartphone applications that exist to the bullet point I had boxed at the bottom, summarizing my last and final concept.

Instead of virtual reality, there would be an app that allows people to "talk" to their deceased loved ones, originally developed to help people grieve with their loss. My storyline will follow a teenage girl who had recently lost her high school sweetheart in a car crash, and downloads the app to help herself. As she continues to use the app, she starts to "meet" and "fall in love" with her late boyfriend again, prohibiting her from completely grieving.