BROKEN WINGS

Broken Wings

Hi everyone!

This is a special post I am going to dedicate to the title, voiceover and to the complementary plotline of my film.

Disclaimer: the post is a bit long, so feel free to only read the important bits (usually around the bold pink words) :)

Hope you enjoy it!

xx Natalia

Intro:

From the beginning, when I chose to make a Romance Drama film, I wanted it to be more than recycling clichés and conventions from other pieces of work because I am aware that the Romance genre has a reputation for being "too cliché", even if that is precisely why a part of the audience loves it.

However, it is true that an audience always appreciates innovation and originality inside the typical conventions that they so enjoy, for example, the film "Every Day" has a male interest whose body we never know, and we fall in love only with the beautiful person that A is. 

Nevertheless, I was not striving for a drastic bending of the conventions like in that film. I simply wanted to include something that I was passionate about and that would add another dimension to the film plot. I feel like many of the best Romance film and especially books do this, focusing on character growth and development as a result of a healthy romantic relationship.

I wanted to portray exactly that, a healthy relationship that encourages self-growth and self-development, which brings us into thick of the matter, the meaning of the title:

What I Want to Convey With the Title:

As you might have seen in the previous post, as well as the cover image for this one, the title "Broken Wings" is a reference to one of my favourite mottos "take these broken wings and learn to fly...".

I want the film to be based on romance and self-development because sometimes it helps to have somebody who loves us learn how to love ourselves.

No matter how broken we are, we are capable of picking ourselves back up and creating something beautiful with the leftover pieces.

It is not exactly about shedding our skin and starting over, because our insecurities can be very hard to leave behind; it is more about using our weaknesses and insecurities, embracing them and realising that even those bad things make us who we are, and we should love them because we love who we are.

It all comes down to self-love and self-worth.

If we can appreciate the positive things about ourselves, we should also be able to accept and love those that we don't like and bring us down, and if we take everything as a whole, not only the positive (because it is impossible) and not only the negative (as we often do) we can create something beautiful and turn those insecurities into part of the journey towards freedom, the freedom to love ourselves and to enjoy life. 

 

The Film Voiceover: Conveying a Positive Message:

One of the most common conventions of the Romance Genre is having a voiceover. It is an easy and effective way to get to know the main character and create rapport with her from the very beginning. Films such as "He's Just Not That Into You" or "Twilight" use a voiceover, and I knew almost from the beginning that I wanted to have one myself.

In the voiceover, I wanted to make my character human, and make the audience relate to her and realise that she has insecurities just like we all do. I also took the opportunity to link the voiceover with flashbacks and a flash-forward that would give an insight into her daily struggle with social media, as well as creating a cliffhanger when she is opening up to the male love interest.

Romance films that start with a voiceover usually end with one too, and most of the time, they are connected in some way. Having this in mind, I took the opportunity to deliver a positive message concerning the theme of self-growth and battling one's insecurities as well as everything else.

Voiceover transcript:

"Sometimes, I wish I was a bird. And I know we all do, at times, we wish we could fly and feel the adrenaline of not having our feet on the ground. But it’s not exactly that, although a part of me thinks that, if I could fly away, out of this car and go back home, maybe I would. 

No, I want to be a bird because birds are free. Because having the great life that I have you would think that I would be able to enjoy it, fully. You would think that I wouldn’t feel like I’m inside a cage of my own making, although I do think everybody is a little bit like that, like we all have our thoughts and insecurities holding us back, we set our own limitations.

I remember thinking about this on my way to [], of my little cage. What I didn’t know is that I would be right here in a couple of months time, having to face all of it in front of you."

After writing the voiceover, I decided to write a second part which would appear at the end of the film, continuing this message and giving a more definite and positive spin.

"Yes, it's true, sometimes I do wish I was a bird; I wish I could escape forever from the prison that I make for myself with all my insecurities and fears. But what I didn't know is that looking- forcing myself to stare, and examine my self-made prison, would help me realise that there's actually a keyhole. Yes, a little, almost unnoticeable keyhole; and with a little bit of help from myself and others, I would find a key, a key to freedom. 

It isn't always that simple, and it isn't always that hard, breaking free from your prison every time you let yourself be trapped in by your fears. But it's also true that life is a little bit about that, about discovering yourself as you evolve as a part of having the freedom to enjoy the amazing and unique experience that is our life."

Introduction to my character: Summer Collins

After balancing several options and thinking about the name of my protagonist, I have decided to call her Summer. 

I was inspired by a character in the book "Wonder" called Summer Dawson, who is a very nice girl who everyone likes and who is always warm and welcoming to everyone. I decided these are character traits that I would like her to have, being kind to everyone and considered a nice person, although unlike in the book, I would not make those central to her character to the point where we don't really see anything else. 

I want to convey the fact that everyone can have an internal struggle even if on the surface they are nice, gentle and often cheer people up. 

Her full name is probably going to be Summer Collins-Rivera because her mum is Spanish; I will have to subtitle the dialogue scene between them but I think that is a good thing because it adds dimension to her character.