“Stokeward Methodology” – Post #2 – Conceptual Construction/Style

I want to make a short film that is not too contrived, expensive or complicated. It is very hard to look at a blank screen or paper and spill out a masterpiece. In fact, it is nearly impossible to be happy with the first idea or first draft of anything. What I am careful of in this particular stage of conceptualisation is not too overthink things, keep in mind specific phrases that help me frame my ideas, and to not think about budget. The phrases involved are “have fun with this”, “dont take yourself so seriously” and “I know that you want a masterpiece out of all this effort, but a masterpiece is determined by your own opinion”. 



So, the first step I am going to take is to listen to some music. I particularly am fond of Classic Rock and the free-thinking attitudes of the time. It is wild, liberating and you feel as if you are a part of something bigger than yourself, when you listen to it. So, for this one, I am going to focus on ‘The Yardbirds’ – ‘Heart full of Soul’. When I listen to this song, I identify each part of the instrumental ensemble as having a personality of its own. The electric guitar reminds me of a time gone by of long hair, rebellion and a haze of euphoria that the people are in power. However, it also reflects an atmosphere that everything is ‘cool’ and that we don’t need to be any other way than how we are, we’re not the property or possession of anyone, we are our own masters. So, by identifying the style of a song, I would then usually associate that with the style of the film, its character or its plot. This gives me an invested interest in what I am writing about, because I like it. It also provides a suggestion that I love for the context or framing of my idea, and creates a mood that the film is going to run with.

Once I have this context, I think about who I would like to be in this context. I personalise the main character with myself, imagining who I would like to be, that way I feel that I need to create the best concept for this character. It once again creates an invested interest in what you’re writing about. From here, I am imagining that he is bearded, scruffy and happy. He doesn’t need anyone to feel good about himself, because he knows that his own distorted perception of reality is true…well, at least to him. His perception of reality is that we are here to live, to enjoy and to utilise all our senses. He is very against becoming a “cog in the corporate machine”, as he feels that this is the wealthy manipulating the uneducated to provide mass profit for them with the promise of ‘throwing them a bone’. I also imagine he is wearing sunglasses, like The Dude from The Big Lebowski. Now, I have to be careful to not imitate, but to steal multiple ideas to create my own. So, now I will take some clothing style from Johnny Depp’s portrayal of ‘Raoul Duke’ in ‘Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas’ (1998), as I feel that this also represents the character’s style and attitudes. ‘Why these films?’, one may ask. My answer is, that I take films I love that fit the mood of the music score and steal from them. I make sure i create their lovechild, as if they had all mated and created a wonderful mix of psychedelia and free thinking. Sorry about the graphic explanation. 



I have my character, my mood, and my style. I feel that this also needs to be a comedy, as the feeling of classic rock is usually up beat. Also, the image of a ‘hippy’ or ‘freak’ is usually looked down upon by some people of the Western world, these are known as ‘squares’. It is important to have a ‘square’ in this film as a comedic counterpoint and contrast to the character. This will also create the conflict, and help portray the style of psychedelia and classic rock as being above or more important than the values or style that the ‘square’ represents. 



Now, I need a scenario. This is where it gets tricky. I have to think, what is a good way to explore the two characters, what is a controllable environment, and what will fit into a short film. I imagine it would be one scene or set, and would involve a lot of talking. I feel that the biggest squares that I can think of would be news anchors or corporate journalists (don’t tell them I said that). So, there we have it, the ‘square’ would be a corporate journalist interviewing our free-thinking protagonist about something he did. What’s the conflict? His attitude provides what the conflict would be. It is that he doesn’t care about helping the journalist, wants to take the micky out of them, and wants to represent the rejection of the current society. Considering that it is a Comedy, we’d have to make this pretty funny. 



So here we have it, our concept. Now, we can think about writing it, keeping in mind those phrases, the music, the character profiles and your overall style.