Assignment #3

 

Treatment

This is the story of how I got paint all over my teacher's ceiling.

Not something I did on purpose, obviously, but it all started the week of my high school senior AP art show, which I needed to create one more piece for and -- incidentally -- that coincided with the week of the play performance I was in.  Both were on a pretty tight deadline, but I was pretty sure I could handle it (as much as I seemed delayed in getting my piece for the art show done).

Tech week of the show involved me practicing with my scene partner late into the night, and I would come back to my art assignment very tired, but I had a better solution:  I would just have to work on it during the day in class.

The day after, I showed up to my theater class late and sat in the back, ready to get my art assignment done, with just one issue -- the paint tube wouldn't open.  After poking a hole in it with scissors, everything seemed fine, I would just need to squeeze hard to get it out.  

What I didn't expect, however, was the paint tube bursting open out the back, splattering all over the ceiling and across the room.  It was funny at first ... until I saw how mad my teacher was and started crying.

From that experience, I learned two important things:

1) Manage your time wisely on your projects, or you'll crash and burn.

2) Those paint tubes have little points on the tube cap that you're supposed to use to open them.

Questions

1. What message do you want your film to leave your audience with? Or, put differently, how do you want your audience to feel at the end of your film?

 The audience should be presented with the message that it helps to plan out work more carefully rather than leaving things to the last minute when they can go wrong.

2. If your film includes a narrative and a main character, he/she must undergo a change of some sort and, by the end of the film, be a different person. 

For example:

-an initially sad widower finds hope and new love -- he is a 

changed man

-a child becomes a superhero (doing what?)-- he/she’s a changed kid (at least temporarily)

-a moody teenager grows up and becomes more mature and finds a sense of appreciation along the way…

-a timid knight becomes a knight in shining armor who saves his princess…

What change does your character undergo and how is your character different 

by the end of the story? What techniques, gestures and symbolism are you using 

to convey this change to the audience? Or, put differently, how is the audience to 

understand this change?

At the end of the story, the main character is more aware that they should not have stretched themselves so thin and should be more considerate in managing their projects and extracurriculars.  This is conveyed by the sorrow the main character experiences over their mistake, highlighting the error they have made.

3. What is the catalyst for this change? Something early on triggers the change, or sets in motion a sequence of events that leads to the character’s change. This doesn’t have to be complicated -- did the phone ring? Did the timid Knight see his own reflection and  then decides to be a hero? Is there a sidekick that offers something that alters our protagonist’s state of mind? Did something trigger a memory that leads to a change of heart?

The catalyst for this change is when the paint tube splatters all over the ceiling, which shows that things for the main character aren't really going as well as they are hoping they will.