Writing a Screenplay with Various Symbols and Subtexts - Assignment Example

Writing a Screenplay When I was contemplating on how I would start writing a screenplay, I thought of this How I can produce a different meaning in the film? Because of this, I tried to write a different subtext for the screenplay. One of the main subtext that I designed had a Freudian approach. Plot In the film, there are two characters performing the role of husband and wife. The husband is a young actor who is just beginning his career when a famous director offered him a lead part in a film. This made him so enthusiastic about the project that he started practicing his role at home. However, the actor’s practice involved his wife who did not know that everything done to him by his husband is just part of his job as an actor. In fact, the wife never got to know the truth until the end of this movie. Interestingly, the husband discovers new dimensions of his conjugal relationship and realizes that the relationship has underlying tones of competitiveness and professional jealousy. Symbols as Elements The first approach I did was divide these two characters by the mise-en-scene.Examples of which are : the man is symbolically represented by the kitchen in the house, kitchen contains empty bottles or spray that could be construed as phallic symbols, and pictures of soldiers in the kitchen ( gun as phallic symbol ). However, in the subtext of the movie, I tried to show the impotency of the male character. This impotency was established through the use of some elements such as his hopelessness when he was not receiving any offer for an acting job. He is psychologically “impotent”, of no use to his wife as a jobless man. His main struggle was to get a role in the movie since he wants to be somebody. Similarly, the candle in the film could be seen as a phallic symbol for his manhood. In the beginning of the movie, we see that the female hand lights the candle in the mans hand. In the background there is a bed that establishes a sexual relation between the two sexes. However, in the middle of film the girl tried to light his candle but it doesnt light up. This was my approach in showing his impotency by using the “candle “element. Later, he tries to light his candle by himself which could be seen as masturbation. Apparently, the male character is afraid to enter to the bedroom because of his impotency. Another element that suggests masculinity is the corridor which ends to the bedroom. I designed the corridor with some picture of some actors who represent masculinity like Marlon Brando, Brad Pitt, etc. There is a scene which he sees a photo of a man on the magazine. Later on, we learn that this photo belongs to an actor who had a relationship with the young husband’s wife. Intently, he looks at the picture on the magazine. In the back of the magazine there is an advertisement on hair surgery ( I used this advertisement because it would be related to the nightmare of the male character of which I will explain). Upon seeing the photo, the man gets angry as he gets jealous and envious of this man who represents things that he does not have. As a reaction, he walks toward the bedroom since he wants to prove his manhood in the bed. Thus, he passes the corridor which leads him to the bedroom. I tried to provoke this scene as he walks in the corridor. It was a surrealistic scene which shows the male character walking through all famous masculine characters of movies. As he opens the bedroom door, he sees his reflection in the mirror that he is bald which is one of his fears that represents his waning appeal of manhood. After all, this is what I was trying to establish in the film. Freudian Subtext According to Freud, the fear of losing your hair is the fear of losing your sexual power. I tried to translate into film the book "The interpretation of dreams" (written by Freud) in that particular scene of the film. In ,in one of the scene, the male character touches his hair while the woman starts to laugh mockingly. She is saying that "why dont you go to doctor?" . In reality, she really means that why dont you go to doctor for your impotency (not for the hair). These elements have been used in some movies like "Eyes Wide Shut" so I decided to put a poster of this movie on the wall. The poster shows "Stanley Kubrick" who is behind the camera. The camera is toward the bedroom. Below the poster, there is a mask. This mask wasnt used in the "eyes wide shut" at all. Thus, I designed a new poster in the context of "eyes wide shut by myself. The mask that we see in the poster is the same mask that we see in the bedroom behind the photo of this couple in my film. I tried to show both characters wearing mask on their faces thus making them unknown to each other. In the beginning, they put the ring in their finger which meant that they got married. We see a shadow of the man who puts the ring in his finger (not real picture of him). Also, we see the reflection of woman in the mirror that puts the marriage ring in her finger. I used shadow to symbolize that even from the beginning, there wasnt any real love between the characters. everything in the relationship was as hollow as a shadow. Conflict of the Wife Character As presented in the movie, the deepest fear of the woman is to be alone. In the film, we see her dreams that she sleeping alone in the bed. Also, her dream shows that their picture as a couple is replaced by a photo showing that she is already alone. In the movie, she is portrayed as a lousy actress and I tried to show it by putting a terrible photo of her near the bed. He hands in the photo are toward the bed. In some shots I framed her with her hand in the photo. Her hands (she clutch her hands in the photo) in the photo are similar to the gentle part of a womans body. I tried to show that her power is from her gentle part. Even in one of the scene her husband asked her that why all directors ask her to play as a femme fetal character. Femme fetal characters do not bother to use their sexuality to get what they want. I tried to show each character in individual shots. Sometimes, we see them together in one shot but even in these shots their bodies were never toward each other. Usually, their bodies are toward different directions. I tried to use close-shots to make a claustrophobic atmosphere in their life. I tried to shows the opposition of these characters through some props. In the living room, there are two pictures in the different (opposite) walls. In one wall there is a photo of a king. Similarly, another wall has a photo of a queen in the middle. Subtext: Games that People Play There are a lot of things in this movie that I tried to redesign. However, if I explain all the details, this report would be more than twenty pages. Every single shot had been designed to interpret some meaning from the colour of the shots, art direction ,and the body language of the actors. It tries to explain the subtext in this movie. Aside from the Freudian subtext , there is another subtext presented in the film such as the games that couples play in a marriage ( I have been enlightened by some readings about the games inside marital relationships). There are some theories that states that the world consists of different kind of the games; in fact, life is a game itself. I tried to concentrate on the games in the marriage relationship. Also, I tried to show how the media heavily influence people’s lives. In this case, some of the elements may not be apparent yet because the copy that I gave you is the rough cut copy and its still being done. Read More