Through our short film we sought to convey the message that it is possible for anyone to become a hero. We wanted to emphasize a quote from The Dark Knight Rises where Batman says, “A hero can be anyone. Even someone doing something as simple as putting a coat around a young boy’s shoulder to let him know the world hasn’t ended.” We chose to tell a story of a young boy who comes from an emotionally abusive household, and despite his circumstances still finds a way to become a hero by jumping in front of a bullet to save a civilian. By pure luck we ended up filming the majority of our short film on a rainy day which helped communicate to our audience a sense of drama and melancholies throughout the film. We also focused heavily on the audio of the film and used songs that we felt would help tie the whole film together and give it more dramatic tone. We decided to shoot the opening scene on a GoPro in order to literally put viewers in the shoes of the main character. We filmed the majority of the film handheld with the exception of one scene where we used a tripod. We chose this style to give viewers a bit of uneasiness throughout the whole film like something was going to happen at any time they just did not know when or where. We wanted to convey the idea that after the main character sacrificed his life to save someone else, he finally did something that made him a real hero after doubting his own self-worth due to his rough upbringing.
Transcript
In the Midst of Fear
By Jake Tidwell and Dalton Jones
FADE IN:
Jack, teenager in school, has a terrible life with no friends and abusive/neglectful father, has no one to look up to so he depicts superheroes as his role models/ life coaches, results in Jack desperately wanting to achieve hero status any way he can
SCENE 1
INT. SCHOOL LOCKER ROOM
Jack (Main Protagonist) is being shoved around and bullied.
JACK, short and scrawny “nerdy” boy who doesn’t dress as cool as the “cool kids”.
BULLY 1, decently tall and intimidating looking jock.
BULLY 1
Get down and stay down Jack! Nobody likes you man why can’t you just be normal?
BULLY 2, also a tall intimidating jock, but only follows what BULLY 1 does.
BULLY 2
Yeah nobody likes you! You’re such a loser!
One of the bullies tries to take Jack’s backpack from him.
JACK
Come on give it back!
BULLY 1
What’re you gonna do about it?
(opens Jack’s backpack and dumps everything on the ground)
BULLY 3
Come on guys we got better things to do than mess with this idiot.
CAMERA DOLLY OUT FROM MS TO LS
Jack picking himself up and dusting himself off. Bloody and beaten.
FADE OUT:
*scene 1 taken out of final cut*
CUT TO:
SCENE 2
EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD- AFTERNOON
Establishing shot of Jack driving home down a suburban neighborhood street as music plays in background and opening titles appear on screen
POV shot of Jack walking towards the front door.
CUT TO:
SCENE 3
INT. JACK’S HOUSE- AFTERNOON
JACK’S DAD, 40 year old, verbally abusive, neglectful alcoholic father. Rough and tough with a kind of southern accent.
Jack opens door to his house.
JACK’S DAD
(Raspy southern accent)
Boy!? Where do yew think yer goin? How bout’ you grab me a beer.
JACK
*turns around and grabs his dad a beer out of the fridge and hands it to him*
MS of Jack walking up stairs to his room
CUT TO:
Scene 4
INT. JACK’S ROOM- AFTERNOON
*Jack enters frame, sits down on couch, pulls his laptop out of his backpack and opens it up to watch a movie*
Depressingly sits slightly slumped over on his couch and is watching “The Dark Knight Rises” — Gets notification on his phone (goes to class). Jack leaves frame. Gets up and leaves room as camera stays on tv and lets quote play out.
Transition sequence of sunset and driving to class (nightfall)
CUT TO:
SCENE 5
EXT. (School parking lot)- EVENING/NIGHT
Jack exits car and starts walking towards class
Jack hears a threatening voice in the distance
Jack witnesses a mugging and feels like this is his opportunity to become a hero
Jack tackles innocent civilian out of the way and gets caught in the crossfire
Cut to star transition
Cut Jack slowly dying on cold gravel parking lot
Transition to sunrise (new day)
FADE OUT
FADE IN:
SCENE 6
EXT. Jack’s house- MORNING
Cut to Jack’s dad picking up morning newspaper and heading inside
Cut to Jack’s dad sitting down on his chair and opening up newspaper to see the news of his son as headlines read: “Neighborhood teen heroically saves another boy’s life by sacrificing his own” leaving the audience to interpret the father’s reaction to the news.
Fade to black
~END~
Cut to Credit sequence with comic book filter
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