Story Outline

0 Comments
For my opening sequence, I have decided to base it on a short story called The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I have written out the plan of the original story, but I have altered the beginning and the ending of it. Writing out the story outline has given me a clearer idea on what important things I will need to include in my opening, without giving away too many details about the plot.

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS SHORT STORY?
I have chosen this short story for my film opening because I analysed it in my English Literature class and I thought that it would be interesting to create a film on this, based on my interpretation. After deciding that my film's genre would be a psychological horror, I immediately thought that this story was perfect because of the narrator's growing insanity and obsession with the wallpaper. As well as this the story uses the word "crawl", which connotes a feeling of creepiness, which I feel is a good word to summarise the whole story. As a reader, I found this quite sinister and creepy due to the narrator's descent into insanity and obsession with the wallpaper. Creepiness has to do with ambiguity, which the story is also full of; the narrator shows, through her language and actions, very mixed feelings about the paper, as well as to her husband.

Additionally, I came across this video on YouTube, that explains why things are creepy and it mentions some of the behaviours and physicalities that are found to be "characteristics of creepy people". Some of these include: the person has bulging eyes, the person has unkempt hair, the person has very pale skin etc.

Video from YouTube
Alternative link in case the video does not work

This is the story outline for my film opening:
BEGINNING
The film opens in reverse chronology – it shows the wife and her husband, Will, in a dark bedroom with torn paper all over the floor. The husband is revealed later, lying unconsciously on the floor, as he faints at the sight of his wife who has fallen into insanity. Afterwards, she begins a new journal entry (on the first page), and she then looks into the camera and the title comes on.

BUILD-UP
When she confesses to her husband about her condition, he is in denial and ‘reassures’ that she will get cured in a few weeks of being isolated in the room. The wife wishes to see a doctor, but Will does not believe that she is actually ill; and prescribes the "rest cure" treatment. She is confined to rest in a former nursery room and is forbidden from working or writing. The wife despises the wallpaper and wants to change rooms, but Will rejects her request, arguing that the nursery is best-suited for her recovery.

PROBLEM
Two weeks later, the narrator's condition has worsened. She feels a constant sense of anxiety and fatigue and can barely muster enough energy to write in her secret journal. Her frustration with the wallpaper grows; she discovers a recurring pattern of bulging eyes and sees a figure "creeping" around behind the wallpaper, which becomes clearer each day. The wife doesn't feel comfortable confiding to Will about her discoveries in the wallpaper. Moreover, she becomes paranoid that Will is also interested in the wallpaper and determined that she will only uncover the secrets.

RESOLUTION
The wife's health improves as her fascination in the wallpaper deepens. She believes that Will is observing her behaviour. The wife hallucinates, believing she has seen the woman creeping outside in the sunlight. She intends to peel of the wallpaper of the bedroom.

ENDING
The wife hears demonic voices, and she tears off the wallpaper. She contemplates jumping out of the window, but the windows are barred and prevent her from doing so. Will eventually breaks into the room, but the wife does not recognise him. The husband faints, and the wife then sits on the floor, rocking back and fourth, and her whispers are inaudible. Afterwards, she crawls to her desk and begins to write in her journal. However, she then hears Will shuffling and immediately stops and tries to hide her journal (as she is forbidden to write her thoughts). She looks back and crawls next to him, then later she crawls over him and back to her desk. She opens the journal and writes that no one can put her back inside the walls.

CHANGES
One of the main changes I made with the story was the beginning and ending. I decided to start it in reverse chronology - whereby the plot is revealed in reverse order - because I wanted to give the audience an insight of how the story ends, and reversing the order allows them to see, step by step, exactly how the ending happened. I intended to use reverse chronology, because the fragmented reverse sequence forces the audience into a sympathetic experience into the female character's descent into madness, since the audience has yet to see them. Furthermore, showing my film opening in chronological order  would just be a "normal" thriller/horror, but the reverse chronological order will give it a special psychological aspect.


About The Author

An ENFP who happens to be an aspiring globe-trotter with a love for art, music and iced coffee. Trying to be pretty alright at everything.

No comments: