Topic Research
This post encompasses our topic research. Within it, I'll be breaking down the factual knowledge and information we need to consider before generating a story and script for our short film.
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As this was such an in-depth and lengthy text, I took a few pages of notes to collect and direct my ideas.
At the very beginning of the documentary, a distressed woman can be heard through a 999 phone call. Over her screaming, a mans voice shouts "If you love me" before becoming indistinguishable. It later becomes apparent that this same man beat his wife, Sabrina, for over six hours. The injuries are horrific.
Within this context, "love" takes on a far more dangerous meaning. At the beginning of practically all relationships, love is dominant, and couples go through a "honeymoon stage" as many call it where only positive emotions charge their relationship. Because of this, abuse can develop slowly over many years, until both love and hate entrench themselves in the relationship and people can suffer as a result.
This links to a force of antagonism I want to portray in the short if we end up including domestic violence as a key topic. Negation of the Negation.
This concept is taken from a novel by Robert Mckee (a very well established screenwriting tutor) called Story. Within it, Mckee describes how deep-seated and powerful forces of antagonism within a story can create resonant scenes charged with emotion. Antagonism in stories, according to McKee, should build from the Positive force (Love) to the Contrary, the Contradictory, and finally the Negation of the Negation.
Below this, McKee writes:
Within our own story, if we are able to capture this or portray it, at least in some small part, I think that both the realism and the emotion of our production would be greatly enhanced.
Anxiety Among Young People
This is the first major area that I wanted to study and understand, as our main character (currently unnamed) will have at least some small part of an anxiety disorder due to his upbringing and domestic relationships. After searching for material on this subject, I came across a short film created by Philip Coleman on BBC Three called Life Through My Lens.
I was able to pull a lot of really interesting pieces of information from this short. It was deeply personal and touching, and helped spread light on a topic that can often be difficult to understand from an external perspective. Here are a few major things I noted down:
- 'It's like there's two people': Here, Coleman describes experiencing a panic attack with the side of himself that is actually panicking, as well as the other voice that questions why he is anxious in the first place. I think there's a great takeaway for our main character here; if we were able to include this kind of doubt and confusion it would give him much more depth, and show a character made of many dimensions.
- Breaking the Cycle: The short goes into detail about how Coleman often feels trapped in a cycle of anxiety that he can't escape. Be able to take this and show it through our own main character would not only show emotional maturity but also heighten the tension and drama of our film. The character would also feel trapped, both through external pressures and internal doubts.
- Not Sleeping: Though a small detail, I think if we were able to capture this same restlessness within our character we could draw out more realism and, subsequently, more emotional attachment from the audience. This would also fit well with a scene that I envisioned where our main character forces himself to get up and leave the house late at night because he simply can't sleep.
- Not Understood: This element would feed back into the sense of entrapment, as, just like Coleman describes in his short, our main character would also be miss-understood, his plight miss-construed as melodrama. A few important quotes that I took away from this were "You are not ill" as well as "Just snap out of it." I feel as though having other characters express this, directly or otherwise, towards our protagonist would, again, heighten the stories realism and pathos.
Ultimately, there's a lot to draw from this short. It's well crafted and candid, and with this kind of emotional depth attached to our main character (and possibly other minor characters on the periphery), I'd feel confident portraying him as a deeply troubled, and, consequently, deeply human protagonist.
Domestic Abuse
When approaching this topic, I wanted to ensure that I got as much relevant information as possible. Before even constructing the characters, I wanted to make sure I was aware and informed because If I'm not I'll be blundering into a topic extremely complex, mature and sensitive by its very nature. In order to avoid this, I watched and took notes from an hour long BBC documentary about domestic abuse called Behind Closed Doors.
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As this was such an in-depth and lengthy text, I took a few pages of notes to collect and direct my ideas.
Love
"If you love me."Within the documentary, the way that the people involved use the word love, or approach it as a topic, is both varied and extremely complex.
At the very beginning of the documentary, a distressed woman can be heard through a 999 phone call. Over her screaming, a mans voice shouts "If you love me" before becoming indistinguishable. It later becomes apparent that this same man beat his wife, Sabrina, for over six hours. The injuries are horrific.
Within this context, "love" takes on a far more dangerous meaning. At the beginning of practically all relationships, love is dominant, and couples go through a "honeymoon stage" as many call it where only positive emotions charge their relationship. Because of this, abuse can develop slowly over many years, until both love and hate entrench themselves in the relationship and people can suffer as a result.
This links to a force of antagonism I want to portray in the short if we end up including domestic violence as a key topic. Negation of the Negation.
This concept is taken from a novel by Robert Mckee (a very well established screenwriting tutor) called Story. Within it, Mckee describes how deep-seated and powerful forces of antagonism within a story can create resonant scenes charged with emotion. Antagonism in stories, according to McKee, should build from the Positive force (Love) to the Contrary, the Contradictory, and finally the Negation of the Negation.
Below this, McKee writes:
"With whom would you rather have a relationship with? With someone who hates you and honestly admits it, or with someone who hates you but pretends to love you?"This negation of the negation is one of the strongest possible forces of antagonism, not just in stories, but also in real life. I saw a huge amount of evidence towards this within Behind Closed Doors, especially within the phone call at the start. Twisting the meaning of love to conceal hate... that's the most damaging, and sometimes lethal, form of domestic abuse.
Within our own story, if we are able to capture this or portray it, at least in some small part, I think that both the realism and the emotion of our production would be greatly enhanced.
Progression & Innocent Witnesses
As stated, the way that these cases progress is often why they're so difficult and damaging. The second woman interviewed described how her partner slowly became more and more controlling, until the first attack, which their 12-year-old son witnessed.
There are two elements here I wanted to draw from. First was the progression; the way in which abuse develops over many years. Very rarely do cases develop in a very short amount of time, and because of this, I get the sense that many victims have committed to this person, and as such, it becomes extremely difficult to break away from them - even after cases of abuse.
"Why would I be sad after what he's done to me?"
For instance, Sabira is shocked at her own reaction from seeing her partner persecuted in court. She even questions "Why would I be sad after what he's done to me?" From this, it's clear that this confusion runs far deeper than just the consistent level. It's on an emotional level that people find hard to control.
In addition, the second woman describes her son witnessing abuse. There's also another woman within the documentary who doesn't feel as though her children are safe from their abuser. As we plan on including a main character in the same circumstance, albeit much older, I drew a lot from these moments. One could only speculate on the effect that experiences like this could have on a child's mind, or their sense of self. One of the women recounts that the child said it was "their fault" that the abuse occurred.
Moments like this could build emotional insecurity, vulnerability, and anxiety within our character. Continuing to shoulder blame, even to an incomprehensible degree, only drives people further into depths of unhappiness. With this resonant kind of emotion behind them, I feel as though we'd be able to build a deep character who's realistic and empathetic.
Also, with the conflict behind the domestic abuse, and the mother's approach to the subject, It'd be another element of depth to our story. With social realism, it's all about believability. Armed with all this emotional depth, and character realism, I'd be confident we would be able to pull this off.
Failure & Disappointment caused by the Justice System
In the UK, there are many crimes that the courts consider cut and dry. Often, many violent crimes committed by strangers to other strangers are sentenced appropriately, with justice delivered. Property crime cases are also often swift and clear. However, in the case of domestic abuse, the sentencing and trials are often highly convoluted, with retracted statements, changing evidence, and conflicted feelings from both victim and defendant.
One of the victims in the documentary had to wait six months to get a court date. Also, within the documentary specialist police investigators who deal with domestic cases recount that the rarest cases are where the victim actively goes to court. But, because of a maelstrom of different circumstances, examples of these are sparse.
While this could be argued as a reason for why the courts sometimes fail to deliver just punishments, the large proportion of crimes with light sentencing in domestic abuse cases outwardly appear very unjust. For example, Sabrina, the woman beaten for four hours, watched her partner receive only two years sentencing after avoiding GBH charges - and even then his sentence will likely only be a year due to bail. It's evident on the faces of the specialist police themselves; they were clearly disappointed with the result.
In fact, only one of the perpetrators appeared to get a just sentencing (seven years) for his violent actions towards his ex-partner. Another man breached his non-molestation order (meaning that he was legally barred from contacting his ex-wife or her family) twice but was completely recused of all charges, walking away completely free after clearly and evidently breaking the law.
From this angle, I wanted to draw out how muddy the waters can get around domestic abuse cases. How some can simply elude proper sentencing, either due to a lack of clear evidence, or the guise of it. I feel like drawing out this same injustice, not just between the two partners, but also surrounding the main character as well, would charge our narrative with a clear and important message that I've gained from this documentary - the courts can get it wrong.
One of the victims in the documentary had to wait six months to get a court date. Also, within the documentary specialist police investigators who deal with domestic cases recount that the rarest cases are where the victim actively goes to court. But, because of a maelstrom of different circumstances, examples of these are sparse.
While this could be argued as a reason for why the courts sometimes fail to deliver just punishments, the large proportion of crimes with light sentencing in domestic abuse cases outwardly appear very unjust. For example, Sabrina, the woman beaten for four hours, watched her partner receive only two years sentencing after avoiding GBH charges - and even then his sentence will likely only be a year due to bail. It's evident on the faces of the specialist police themselves; they were clearly disappointed with the result.
In fact, only one of the perpetrators appeared to get a just sentencing (seven years) for his violent actions towards his ex-partner. Another man breached his non-molestation order (meaning that he was legally barred from contacting his ex-wife or her family) twice but was completely recused of all charges, walking away completely free after clearly and evidently breaking the law.
From this angle, I wanted to draw out how muddy the waters can get around domestic abuse cases. How some can simply elude proper sentencing, either due to a lack of clear evidence, or the guise of it. I feel like drawing out this same injustice, not just between the two partners, but also surrounding the main character as well, would charge our narrative with a clear and important message that I've gained from this documentary - the courts can get it wrong.
Overall
When approaching topics within a social realist context that brush with the demons of everyday life (just like I, Daniel Blake and This is England), I would - regardless of the subject - want to make sure we know what we're talking about. That we know what people experience in reality, and what topics like these can mean for some people. Also, and, most importantly, I want us to make sure we know what we want to say about it.
Whether it's anxiety among young people or domestic violence, I want us to have an angle. I want us to present something we care about, feel as though we can draw deep, resonant emotions from, and truly engage our audience with. The material is out there through great pieces of reporting like Behind Closed Doors. It's going to be our job to find it, comprehend it, then translate it into a medium within which we can present it to people - and show it in a true, emotional light.
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