This is a short film to be submitted to national and international film festivals.
Inspired by the work of Swedish conceptual artist Valeria Montti Colque (Who I would be collaborating with), this is a modern retelling of the Greek Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice (See below), the film we are proposing would combine a strong, original but simple narrative with cinematic, colourful, macabre and striking visuals throughout that will have a lasting impact on the viewer. A juxtaposition of grey, muted urban decay with the colourful flamboyance and passion of all things related to the Mexican day of the dead.
We want to up the production values of the films we've been making - everything we've made so far (Please see the links below) has been done on zero budget by begging borrowing and nearly stealing... we'd like to make this look exquisite which means investing a bit of money!
Previous work:
First Short, nominated for best drama at the Notting Hill Film Festival 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtCWWwepjfg
Winner of the London Cycle film competition 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMnx5EOcPTU
Music video for music group the Feeling '100 Sinners' 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jjSqGEbUxk
What we'll spend the money on:
Equipment Hire: Cameras/Lights/Sound/edit suite etc. - pretty much all the heavy duty equipment will need to be hired.
Location Hire: We will need to hire a large studio space for a couple of days for the main scene
Production Costs: Props/Costume/Make up. We will also be providing meals and covering transport costs & other minor expenses
Film festival Entry - there is usually a fee for this.
Orpheus & Eurydice Myth:
Orpheus was the greatest singer in ancient Greece. On his wedding night to Eurydice, the woman he loved, she was bitten by a snake and died. Orpheus made his way down to the underworld (Hades), the gatekeepers along the way were so charmed by his song they allowed him to pass even though he had not yet died. He sang a song so moving to the King of Hades that he allowed Orpheus to return to the world of the living with his wife, on the condition he did not look back to make sure she was with him. On the way back to the land of the living Eurydice didn’t make a sound, and at the last moment Orpheus looked back, only to see Eurydice be pulled back down into Hades.
Film Outline:
It is night. A 'normal' 1950s Man secretly follows a 'normal' 1950s Woman through city streets. He watches her knock on the door of a derelict industrial building and go in. He follows through the door and down a (dark) stairwell. One after the other they are taken into ‘waiting rooms’ by the dystopian Mexican day of the dead people and sign a form. They are then taken into the same room, a large, open, derelict room with a banqueting table and two operating tables, each with a screen in front. Behind the screens they take off their clothes and lie on the operating tables where they are ‘operated’ on by the Mexican day of the dead people. There is no blood/gore – instead of blood pink rose petals fly out from the operated area in a flurry (think Edward Scissorhands carving the ice). The MDOTD people remove their hearts, in fact they are sparkly glittery cakes in the shape of hearts – The man's is blue and the woman's is pink. The hearts are wheeled to either end of the banqueting table and the man and woman are ‘stitched’ back up with sequinned string. They get dressed and sit at the table. The woman begins to eat the mans heart but the man can’t bring himself to eat the woman's. With each bite the woman metamorphosis’ into a geisha version of MDOTD people. She joins them in procession as they wander into the night, leaving the man all alone at the table.
