Narrative Visual Perspective in Film

The Senior Narrative is the largest project that film students at Freestyle do. We work over several months with a partner on a film magnitudes larger and more complex than our ones from Junior Year. My partner and I wanted to make a late-night comedy film. This is the story of our movie, How to Hide a Body. This project was an incredible challenge, but working on it and seeing our countless hours of work come to fruition has been greatly gratifying. The jump from our previous projects to this one, in terms of required effort as well as skilled learned, is immeasurable. I’ve had such a great time working on my technical skills, from filming to audio engineering to editing. I’ve also had a great time working on my skills as a director and collaborator. Working with my partner and our actors has been nothing but amazing, and I’m so grateful to have had this opportunity.

Logline

 “An introverted nerd is dragged to a party by an extroverted jock. He has the experience of a lifetime when they decide they have to hide a body.”

Synopsis

We open on the aftermath of a Halloween party—the last few stragglers are stumbling around the living room while our hostess furiously cleans up their messes. Our protagonists, Kean and Andrew, walk to Kean’s car, Andrew with a bit more difficulty than Kean. They get into Kean’s car and start to drive home. Andrew is singing and joking loudly, and it’s obvious that his boisterousness is bothering Kean. Kean is getting distracted, and begins to yell at Andrew. Suddenly, a neon orange Dodge Challenger going 100 miles an hour cuts Kean off, forcing him to swerve. Kean slams into a pedestrian, sending him flying over the hood of the car. The two boys sit in shock for a moment before Andrew springs into action, flinging open the car door. The man starts to get up, but the car door slams into his head, knocking him out. The boys get out of the car, discuss what their next course of action should be for a bit before making a decision: they are going to hide the body.
Per Andrew’s suggestion, the boys go back to Kean’s house because Kean’s parents are out of town for the weekend. At Kean’s, they decide to shove the body in the fridge to “keep it fresh” while they figure out what to do. While they’re arguing about how to dispose of the body, Kean’s little brother comes downstairs and interrupts them. The boys dodge Kean’s brother’s questions, and manage to send him back to bed. After arguing for a little longer, they decide on cremation. Andrew and Kean go to a 24-hour hardware store and buy lighter fluid, wood, and matches. They then go to an empty lot to cremate the man. Andrew starts to build a fire, but Kean starts to raise doubts about their plan. They argue for a bit, and while they’re distracted, Andrew accidentally blows up the bottle of lighter fluid. The boys decide that cremation isn’t the best plan. Kean mentions that they should go to the police, but Andrew brushes it off. Andrew says that their next method should be throwing the body into a lake. Kean begins looking for lakes nearby, after finding one Andrew tells him that they need to put the body in a barrel, so that “the ducks can’t get to it.” The two go to the same hardware store to get the barrel, then go to a lake. They put the body in a barrel, and throw it into the water. Shortly after, they realize that the barrel isn’t sinking—they forgot to fill it with water first! The boys run into the lake to retrieve the barrel, making a loud commotion. Their shouting attracts the attention of a park ranger, and they quickly roll the barrel to the car to make their getaway. Kean begins to insist, more forcefully, that they go to the police, but is once again cut off by Andrew, who has one final plan: burying the body at the top of a mountain. The two return to the hardware store to buy a shovel, then drive up to the mountain. The road ends, and they realize they have to hike up. They make the journey up the mountain, and start digging the hole to bury the man. At this point, Kean is fed up with Andrew and his tricks, and begins to loudly berate him. An animated argument ensues; while the two are shouting at each other, the man begins coming to his senses, and suddenly sits up. Andrew notices, lets out a yelp, and hits the man in the head with the shovel. The boys realize that the man is still alive, and rush down the mountain to get him to a hospital. They get in the car, and peel out of the parking lot, racing down the road. They’re almost at the hospital when they hear siren lights; they’re being pulled over, presumably for speeding. At this point, Kean is about to explode—but before he can say anything, Andrew calmly explains that he’s prepared to take the fall. The officer walks up to the car window, and asks Kean for his license and registration. Andrew, who has been mentally preparing himself, begins his speech, but is cut off—a neon orange Dodge Challenger speeds by, going 100 miles an hour. The police officer tells the boys to wait, because he has to catch the car—“I’ve been chasing him all night!”—and takes off after it. Kean and Andrew don’t wait, and instead leave for the hospital.
On their way to the hospital, Andrew apologizes to Kean for brushing him off, and Kean apologizes to Andrew for not believing in him. They pull into the emergency ward parking lot, take the man out, and drag him in. They get the attention of a nurse, who promptly takes the man into the hospital. As they’re leaving, the receptionist approaches the boys, asking them for their names and contact information. The two look at each other, and take off.

Dialogue Scene

We practiced using boom poles and slates, as well as our filming skills, in this short exercise.

Screenplay

For this project, we had to write professionally-formatted screenplays.

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Shot list

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Lined script

A lined script is a script that has been annotated. It’s a very useful tool to have when planning the production of a film.

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Stripboard

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