Proposal For Workshop Piece

Brief Synopsis

An overweight man gets an unusual case of heart burn, which teaches him the error of his unhealthy ways.

Scene Description

A man sits alone in a battered arm chair, watching television. His living room is its own junkyard as there are piles of empty pizza boxes and scattered containers around the room, tastefully watched with the empty cans of cheap beer and spirit bottles. The man suddenly starts too feel agitated, rubbing his chest as his eyes are still glued to the TV. Unable to ignore the pain any longer he doubles over in pain clutching at his chest and falls to the littered floor in agony. Managing to eventually sit up the man rips open his shirt and plunges his hang into his chest. There is a momentary pause before he pulls out his heart. The heart is still beating and dripping with blood, but it is also on fire. The heart doesn’t burn the man’s hand, as he slowly reaches over to the nearby table and picks up a half empty can of beer and starts pouring it over his heart in order to extinguish the flames. This only proceeds to make the flames worse. In a panic he throws the heart to the floor where a few other things slowly start to catch alight.  He then rushes to find a bottle of water and proceeds to chucks it over the flaming heart. This does the trick as the flames slowly die, he then goes around stomping out the few things that have caught alight. Returning to his heat, he picks it up and brushes off a few bits of dirt before placing it back inside his still open chest.  He buttons up what’s left of his shirt and sits back down in his chair. He absent mindedly reaches to pick up the bag of chips he was eating before the whole incident happened. As it slowly heads towards his mouth he gets another clutch of pain. He looks at the bag and slowly puts it down. He goes off screen (To The kitchen) and comes back with a bag of salad. Which he then starts eating, once again engrossed in the TV in front of him.

Audio/ Visual

Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound, Editing

The whole film has a blue tinted feel to it which is emulated from the light of the Television in the otherwise dark room.The man is so far being kept at arm’s length as he is being silhouetted against the blue lighting of the TV as the camera surveys the room. The empty boxes are piled at various lengths, giving the illusion that somewhere inside of his a tidy person lives. The cans on the floor are littered as if they were once in an organised tower formation. All that can be heard is the laughter of the man from the show he is watching, where audience laughter chimes along with him. The camera should be fluid, even in transitions, the camera always moving, slowly and gracefully, like a wildlife documentary. The camera tracks round from behind the man to his front where we pan up from his feet. We see more wrappers on and around his chair. Hairy legs that eventually turn into tattered red stripped boxers, the pan continues to a stained white vest, eventually landing on half the man’s face, a closed shot from his left eyebrow to the bottom of his nose. This shot is held for a long period to allow the exploration of emotions: Joy and Laughter at the show then the pain of his heart. The only cut a quick glance of him clutching his chest. Cut to his whole face as it fully contorts in pain and goes out of shot. We hear thump as the audience on the television give a generic laugh. A Birds Eye View of the man withering around in pain on the floor. The camera fluidly comes down to eye level and shows an extreme close up the man diving straight into his chest and pulling out the heard. The next set of shots is seen in one locked off mid-shot as the man holds the heart like Frodo holds the Ring. The trance like state breaks once it sets alight as the camera, like the heart tossed to the ground holds its canted angle as we watch from a part restricted view the water douse the flames and it get picked up and dusted off. TV light casts a shadow on the back wall of the man putting heart back in chest. At the end once the man has decided to go for the healthier option the camera fluidly tracks backwards from whence it came as the man continues to laugh with the audience of the television.