My Idea for a one man short

Semiazas

Semiazas

I have an idea for a one man short. It'll probably be really short, I imagine no longer than a coupla minutes. I had the idea of a man taping himself speaking to a camera before he dies. The way he dies won't be detailed, he'll be looking back on his life, his regrets etc.
Just something that interests me and I'd maybe like to give it a shot.
Thoughts?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Interesting idea, but why is he taping himself? And why should the audience care? The guy's basically talking to a camera about his life story, like a random youtube blogger? Where's the conflict? I don't see much of a story. Something has to happen in it for it to be watchable, and you said the way he dies don't even be detailed?!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The reason he's going to die.
I had the idea of making a pre suicide tape. But that seems too cliche.
Making the audience sympathise is difficult. Any ideas on how? (:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sounds like a monologue. Which is cool, for what it is. But personally, I like storytelling. And you can totally do that with one person (remember, though -- in filmmaking, we don't tell, we show).

Oh, and why does it have to be one person? I'm sure you can find an actor or two.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You could find a story around that. A bad breakup with a cheating girlfriend, or a dead end job.

Check this out:

The guy finds himself in his apartment, alone.
The first thing we see is him setting up the camera on a tripod. «It would be great to film this on a cheap camera. The one on the tripod, just lik if you wher making a suicide tape»
He takes a seat, he has a paper on his hand.
"The test came back positive" is what we hear him mutter, and he starts ranting about his cheating girlfriend and hated job, breaking the news of his soon to be suicide to the viewer.
Add a monologue here telling something of his day to day life. Make his phone ring. Apperently is a co-worker, worried about him not coming in that day. He answers that everythingis okay, that he is "not feeling well".
In the end, he goes to another room, of which the door is seen. We see a big flash and hear a gun going off.
Just seconds go by, for his answer machine to pick up a call.
"This is Joan from doctor Behinaker's office. Your test results are negative Mr.Character. Somehow samples got mixed up at the lab. If you want, we can schedule a free of charge [start fade to black] test for you to be sure. Sorry for the inconvience. [Fade to black]
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Cracker Funk said:
Sounds like a monologue. Which is cool, for what it is. But personally, I like storytelling. And you can totally do that with one person (remember, though -- in filmmaking, we don't tell, we show).

Oh, and why does it have to be one person? I'm sure you can find an actor or two.
Click to expand...

I wanna do it with one person partly as an experiment, partly as the concept of a one person thing interests and might give it a shot, should I be able to develop a good enough script.

Zensteve said:
Drop the "maybe", and just do it.

Then learn from it. :)
Click to expand...

I have a "maybe" because I don't wanna do it with a weak script. I like the idea. I'm just not entirely sure how to write it well.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Something like 127 Hours' video messages?

You could even shoot it on a webcam or something, no need for fancy schmansy cameras. Perhaps he's in a war zone and he knows that the soldiers are coming to get him. Throw in a few distant explosions and gun shot noises and you've got a big budget movie (well, kind of)!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
NickClapper said:
Something like 127 Hours' video messages?

You could even shoot it on a webcam or something, no need for fancy schmansy cameras. Perhaps he's in a war zone and he knows that the soldiers are coming to get him. Throw in a few distant explosions and gun shot noises and you've got a big budget movie (well, kind of)!
Click to expand...

Yeah, like the 127 Hours thing. Although I need to be able to get a strong script for one man talking to a camera.
Anyone got ideas I can use? (:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You could look to old soldiers' diaries/letters from when they were at war. That could give you some good inspiration for what messages someone might want to convey in the event that they were going to die.

The old saying is 'write what you know,' but remember, too, that many writers do a lot of research so they can 'know.'
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Semiazas said:
I have a "maybe" because I don't wanna do it with a weak script. I like the idea. I'm just not entirely sure how to write it well.
Click to expand...
What ZenSteve is saying is do it. That's my advice, too.

It seems most of your posts are asking what others think
of an idea that you like. At some point you have to stop
asking what others think of an idea and present a finished
film for others to see. That's the scary part, isn't it?

Do you have it in you to make this movie?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top