Oh, I Guess I Finished the Script Already. Anyway...

 I had begun writing on Monday, thinking that the process of making this film would be a long and difficult one. I anticipated that because of other classes and activities I would have very little time to work and that the script would go through numerous rewrites. I was wrong. I ended up with a lot of time to write the screenplay, and although it went through a fair amount of changes in the beginning of it, the basic idea always stayed the same and I reached a point for I solidified what the plot itself would be and it was a lot of smooth sailing from there.

I should back up. What even is the plot of my film? Before the week we formally began the project, I was already brainstorming ideas. I was thinking a lot about themes and aesthetic choices and trying to use them to work outside-in to find what the actual story. I also went on to my Letterboxd to make an inspiration list, where I selected random movies I've seen that could serve as inspiration what I would make, trying to do it on instinct without thinking. That list is to the right:

Initially, my idea was that I would make a film talking about technology and social media. It's a topic I'm very familiar with, being a member of Gen Z and all that, I felt like I would be an easy way to tap into some relevant and important themes while having creative room to do weird and creative stuff with the visuals. As I developed this idea, I went on my teacher's website to watch some A Level short films from years past. While a lot of them I couldn't watch because they've since been made private, I was able to access enough to get a feel for what other people have done with this project. And this convinced me to completely rethink my approach. I quickly discovered that technology and social media are incredibly popular and, let's not sugarcoat, overdone themes in student films. If I made a film about these things, I be retreading ground that many others have tread and similar ways. 

I needed something unique. I needed an idea that no other AICE Media student would even consider, let alone attempt. Frankly, I needed an idea that was stupid. I soon found that idea in the form of superheroes.

Superheroes are something I've been fascinated by since I was a kid. Superman from 1978 is one of the first movies I have memory of watching to this day is one of my all time favorites. I also have memories of Batman the Movie from 1966 staring Adam West at around a similar young age. I've wanted to do a superhero film for a while, but I've always been intimated by the inherent technical complexity of that genre.

Why I was finally convinced to finally attempt a superhero film for my final project that serves as a portion of my final exam grade? I still can't really answer that. I think it's a mix of a few things: Wanting to make something unique and unexpected, wanting use the genre to make something in the spirit of my low-budget B-movie heroes like Charles Band of Full Moon Features or Lloyd Kaufman of Troma, and probably most of all, I just want to make a thing that I think is cool.

I knew I wanted to make a film about a team of superheroes, as I like writing that's very character focused and a team would be a great way to have fun character dynamics. My next move to decide on powers for them, as they all needed to be easily filmable. What I came up with was someone who has a sword that comes from space, someone who has animal instincts and strength, and someone who can create and manipulate any sound.

I spoke with my teacher about the idea, and she liked it, but had some issues with some choices I wanted to make and ending up giving me some great advice. I talked to her about how I wanted to replicate the feel of comic books from the 50s and 60s, which were very exaggerated and silly, while still telling an emotional story. I also wanted a fight scene. I was wisely told to drop the fight scene idea because it would be way to complex to film. I was also told that for what I was describing, it would actually be better to lean more in the direction of comic book silliness, even if it was at the expense of the story's impact. What I realized was that this film, as my teacher described, is a "kitsch object". It's less about plot and more about pastiche. That made me revaluate a lot of my approach.

The story I came up with after this conversation I felt like was something straight out of a classic comic book, with the heroes going to another planet to stop a villain from retrieving a gemstone, the way they go about this turning into a trivia contest hosted by an imp who also wants the gem. Very much in the vain of the goofy adventures held by superheroes in the silver age of comics, the 60s, when the Comics Code Authority required all books to be as kid-friendly and sanitized as possible as a response to pearl-clutching parents groups worried about comics promoting violence and devil worship. The more I think about it, the more I realize how interesting it is that the signature look of the silver age was born out of not just conservative moral panic but also counter-culture and psychedelics. 

I have a great fondness for the aesthetics of those silver age comics and what they represent. To me, it's about a sense of unabashed imagination and fun, outsider creatives working in a restricted system that led them to get as weird as possible and find even more ways to sneak past censors and create bizarre art that still confused the upholders of the status quo. So I guess that's why I feel so passionately about making a superhero movie. I just want to get weird and have fun.