Seperate States

File:SEPARATE STATES.pdf

What do you want to make?

I want to make a black and white, silent short film. The working title is ‘Separate States’. The film will be a visual, non-verbal experience.

SCENE 1- Drs Office.   Drs Office. The Man (30-40) is having a consultation with a Dr. The Man is wearing a plastic translucent mask behind which his skin has been scarred with chemical burns. He has a shaved head, with scarring also over his head. The Dr asks him a series of questions to which he receives monosyllabic answers, what’s being said is not of total importance, rather the situation and action. It is revealed that he is a victim of an acid attack and the mask is needed to help the healing process.   SCENE 2 – Flat.   The same man, although this is not initially clear is sitting in his kitchen. As he makes his morning coffee outside the sun is rising. There is a buzz at his door from the delivery driver. He goes and signs for his small cardboard box. He comes back into this kitchen, places the box on the table and grabs a knife to open it. He takes out a small glass bottle and inspects it, as he turns to read the back label we can see it says ‘Sulphiric Acid’.     SCENE 3: Square.  

—   Shot as one long sequence .

In a large open square with metallic statues that sit jarringly within the environment. The Man is wearing a suit and walking through a large empty town square, evening, as the sun is starting to set. He walks slowly as he is simultaneously reading something on his phone. A couple other people walk past him.

The camera will quick pan away to The Man, to reveal The Man (doppleganger) all in black, pulling down a balaclava over his face in the distance, as he jogs towards himself climaxing with him throwing acid on himself.

As soon as the liquid hits his face, the films cuts to black.

How do you plan to make it? I am applying for funding and I want to make it with a film crew. I would like somebody to compose a soundtrack for the work. Why do you want to make it? Since I’ve left the UK acid attacks have increased within a year and a half 300%. I want to make a work that topically covers this subject but really thinks more about society vs. identity. I want to make a work that exists as a succinct short. Relation to previous practice As with my previous film divided together the work will be set within the same alternate reality. The work is a kind of speculative fiction, and absurdist world stuck in a loop.

Relation to a larger context