Research

There are 3 posts filed in Research (this is page 1 of 1).

Shut-Out (Draft 1)

Here’s the first draft of my script Shut-In. >Shut-Out<
Its still a tad too long, will work on shortening the screenplay in the next draft.

I went to the premise of suicide as Sebastian suggested, a man who has lost everything and still decided to give one last try at living. Though I will probably not dabble in the elderly as explained below.

Death by Wrist Slashing
I did a little research on death by wrist slashing and found out that it is more than just letting your blood flow till death’s door. To get a sufficient blood flow, one has to dig really deep into the wrist to reach sufficient blood streams as the main one on the wrist is not sufficient, a deep, approximately 6-8″ gash. Even so, it will probably take half an hour or so to bleed unconscious. Not stating the fact that to get a deep enough wound, one would sever a few tendons in the process, possibly rendering a few fingers immobile. It is so painful that most people give up after slicing only one arm. Lying in a warm tub of water helps to loosen the body and increase blood flow greatly. Some interesting facts to note include drinking lots of water in preparation for the “activity”, to increase blood pressure.

A great premise for the story, a slow death, with a large threshold of saving possibilities, sufficient time for regrets.

Tendon Information

8 Steps to slit your wrist

A forum discussion with many interesting opinions

The “Why?”
Also regarding the issue of “why?”, I’m still exploring on the idea of loss. Most real-life examples were actually caused by mental issues. 90% in fact, if which depression is the highest piece of the pie. Depression has over 30 possible causes or mixtures of them.  Other reasons include a fast escape from overwhelming odds (which is also a cause for depression), some because of a philosophical desire to die, while others a victim of mistake (for example addiction to oxygen deprivation). Many cases of death in hospitals by suicide deal with mental illness patients and a small fraction deal with loneliness and the unbearable passing of time. For the elderly, its a combination of both, as such it’s too complicated to weave a story on this in a short film to introduce such a premise.

I have a friend in charge of lower health status personnel (PES E) in the army and almost every batch there is a suicide case from depression or anxiety disorder and the likes. As such, I believe that any idea for suicide that doesn’t deal with a depraved state of mind will suffice for the story, as long as the main character is still capable of normal thought. What’s more important is his choice to live while at death’s door.

Conclusion
Although he ultimately still dies, one can only imagine the message that the other person has gleaned from the experience. The scene still needs quite a bit of refinement to make the message and dynamics of the story stronger

The Way of the Otaku

After much deliberation and taking Sebastian’s advice in mind, I contemplated the thought of playing around with the character backgrounds and trying to figure out the different scenarios while keeping the main arc somewhat similar – guy rushes into other house, finds guy dying, interacts. Finds the juxtaposition of the meaning of life. One that wastes his abundance of life as compared to the other that finds himself losing it that very moment.

For guy, I am still fixated on the idea of a shut-in otaku as that appeals as a conflict in of itself, potential for much internal self-conflict the moment he is challenged to leave his room. Though, there must indeed be perhaps a reason for his predicament, hurts by society or plainly just a lazy, spoon-fed young adult in his early 20s.

Otaku is the honorific word of Taku (home)
Otaku is extremely negative in meaning as it is used to refer to someone who stays at home all the time and doesn’t have a life (no social life, no love life, etc) Usually an otaku person has nothing better to do with their life so they pass the time by watching anime, playing videogames, surfing the internet (otaku is also used to refer to a nerd/hacker/programmer).

 

The other character is however a big mystery to me. Allow me to pen down my thoughts.

Firstly the initial idea was to have another man, his neighbour, who perhaps had a burglary gone wrong (not that burglary isn’t already wrong), or a victim of organ theft in the night.

Really liked the idea of organ theft, i like the idea of bathtub with ice. Afraid, frightened, confused, lost, unable to help oneself and a whole bunch of other messed up thoughts along with the slow loss of time.

Issues
Idea 1: Burglary
If victim of a burglary, he would be dead alr as it’s more likely a knife stab. Scene would have to be in the night at ungodly hours. However, he could just call his parents and his involvement would be diluted. I wanted him to be alone with the weight falling solely on his shoulders to make the juxtaposition stronger.

 

Idea 2: Organ Theft
If a victim of organ theft, he would be a half-sedated man riling from the “operation” the night before. But who goes into someone else’s house, steals your organs per se, bringing a tub load of ice with them. This idea would require the scene to be day-ish, preferably morning, and i can set up the story such that mother has gone to the market after a barrage of nagging to otaku son, making him the only one capable of saving said victim.

 

Idea 3: Suicidal Old person
Sebastian mentioned perhaps the victim could be a suicidal old person who has lost the will to live after living for more than an average lifespan. This would increase the odds in supporting the idea of a lesson on life to the young man as he would have much more to offer as a wiser individual, including his decision to take his own life. However, the problem here is that a suicidal individual would not ask for help, as such there is no way to make said otaku cross borders to get to his side. Even if a ton of scuffling and commotional noises were heard, otakus don’t give two hoots about anything outside their room door. As such, I think there is no story advancement here. Unless for example, Otaku opens his window for once and sees an old man getting onto his home-made hangman. However, if we take the path of death, old man would not be able to tell him anything. If we take the path of interaction between the two individuals, the old man would not die, diluting the stakes.

 

Idea 4: Victim of accidental murder by spouse.
Not a road i think i would like to take. Too much illogical elements.

 

As such, I am in a dilemma on which path to take. Though i’m still leaning towards organ theft. What do you guys think? Open to suggestions.

 

Thanks!