Idea 4

 This next film idea disturbs me a little. But I find it an exciting challenge and although it'll be difficult, it will be possible to do.

So, here goes.

A man creates a character. Throughout the film he starts to transform into this character. The character he creates is a woman. When I say he transforms into her, I don’t mean mentally as in a transexual way, where he desires to be a woman, I mean he physically transforms into the character against his own will. His eyes change colour, he loses his hair, his teeth. All of this happens over a period of time but it's not quite clear what is happening until the end of the film. It'll end with him and the audience realising what's actually happening. It leaves on a cliffhanger, a 'WHAT THE HELL' moment that will get people thinking about it long after they've watched it.

He becomes her or rather she becomes him. In his head the character begins to take control of him. Rather than the man being the puppeteer and the character being the puppet, the roles are reversed. I was inspired by elements from both Wings of Desire and Dogtooth for this film.

Originally I had the idea of the character being a man but found it more interesting if it was a woman instead. I want the film to have a several meanings and messages ranging from roles of power, split personalities, woman’s role in society and even to religion. 

The man becomes obsessed with her but only because she is making him do so. She begins to take control. It’s almost as though he falls in love with her. He fantasies about her. He wishes she were real and that he has created his ideal woman. This makes me think of the saying 'Be Careful What You Wish For'.

In his head he see’s her as an ‘angel’. A positive figment of his imagination that calms him and inspires him, gives him guidance in life. He see’s her as his Jesus, so to speak. When in fact she becomes his demon. She watches over him. Rather than him being the puppeteer and her being the puppet, it is the other way around. In the film we see the two characters; the man living a dull lonely life and escapes too often inside his character's life through fantasies, illustration and writing. In his head we see the angel very aware that she is trapped in this mans mind we see her trying to find a way out of his head. As the film unfolds we see a disturbing sequence of events as the man transforms into this ‘angel‘ against his will. It's a slow transition. His love for her is so powerful he’s let her take control of his mind and now she is wanting to live in reality.  All the parts where we see the ‘angel’ it’ll be black and white. The only colour we see of her is her hair. It’s dark blood red representing her danger. A similar style to this screencap from 'Sin City'

There are several ways I want to experiment with the angel's presence within the film and whether of not to show her face or reveal parts of her appearance through close ups as the narrator describes her to the audience. Another way I'd experiment with her presence is through animation. Each of her scenes would be in cartoon style and then at the end of the film we see the human version of her as she successfully takes over the mans body. The film would cut back and forth from real life, to cartoon and the angel becomes more real and less cartoon like as the film progresses. A similar example would be from Kill Bill Volume 1 in the 'Chapter 7: Origin of O-ren' where the film turns into an anime sequence to tell the back story to one of the characters. The use of anime was clever in Kill Bill as the character O-ren was part Japanese so this was an effective technique. I don't want to use anime style art for my sequence.

Because the male character is so fond of this ‘angel’ I like the idea of her scenes taking place in a bedroom fit for a queen. Jewels, king sized beds. She’s spoilt. This represents the male character’s affection for the girl. This shot of Marion from Wings of Desire makes me think of how it effective it would be to not show my characters angel's face. But even without revealing her face, you can tell she's a beautiful looking woman with a slender frame, thick curly hair. The way she moves will be elegant and I don't want her to speak in the film. The only sound from her will be her laugh. A sort of sexy giggle that would make the situation a little harrowing 

Also, because she’ll be in his mind things won’t be as the seem. I'd like to use mirrors with the female character to add more to the surrealism aspect.

I mentioned before about the puppeteer and the puppet. I really want to include a surreal sequence in the film where we see the man on a stage with the angel looking from above controlling him with strings. For this part of the film she is huge and towers over the stage which to her is a toy set and the man moves according to her demands. This whole scene represents how much control the angel has of the man's mind. I also mentioned before about how this film can relate to religion. Atheists believe that religion is built up on fiction,that Jesus and God etc are fictitious characters. I am not a religious person. I’m more of an atheist. But I am fascinated at the lengths people will go to in the name of religion. Their beliefs can be so strong, it can lead them to do bizarre acts and make them think in crazy ways. I find it almost frightening that people would believe in something (and live their lives over something) that has not entirely been proven to even be real. I have nothing against religion but it’s the extremists that concern me. For a film I want to try and reflect this obsession, this way of life and how something can take control of someone’s life.