Direction Unit: Initial Idea

To kick off our second semester this year we begun working on our Direction Unit. Together we must create a series, each directing our own episode of "A Park Story". Each episode is set in the same location and has to begin and end at the gates of the park, so that the series maintains a link between the episodes. We were all given a theme and a prop, which had to be the basis of our story. I was given the theme 'broken' and prop 'radio'.

When I first thought about what the words meant to me, my initial reaction was War. Broken can be applied to a mental and physical state, it can be a feeling, a condition, a look, a description... Its has multiple meanings. I thought of War because radios are a vital piece of equipment and broken can be applied to many aspects linked to war. I want to make my theme a mental and physical component, having a shot of the radio being physically broken and then having a close up shot of a man who is mentally broken.

I plan on making my story about an ex soldier who served in the war, who often spends his days trying to forget the horrors he witnessed whilst on the front line. He decides to go for a stroll in the park, listening to his trusty old radio he had during the war. After sitting for a few moments his radio begins to lose signal and starts breaking up. He begins to panic as memories of the war flow back into his mind, he hears the sound of gunshots and explosions in the distance. Becoming visibly scared and uncomfortable he tries to fix his radio, but all he can hear is the sound of screaming men, flames crackling and the gunshots are getting closer and louder. He tries to escape the park, and we see him rushing through some woodland, past trees and bushes as if trying to escape the enemy. When he gate is in sight he begins to run but trips and drops his radio, which breaks into pieces. The guns stop and he lays face down on the floor and begins to cry, until a female passer by helps him to his feet and helps him out of the park. The only dialogue I may include is a voice on the radio which will be a weather report that changes into a senior soldier giving orders when the radio breaks.