Mini-Pitch Idea: Digital Distance (working Title) (Reedited)

The inspiration for this short film comes from a long distance relationship that I've been involved with before and personally, having recently been dumped and had a good week of minor depression about the whole thing made me question the strength of connections between people online. Online I have friends who I've come to care for, and few who I've come to love, yet despite seeing these people behind screens I've never actually met them, with many being in foreign countries and /or out of reach, and that's the thing, What is the 21st Century Relationship?

 When questioning this the idea of World-building came to mind, with the recent boom of sandbox video games such as minecraft and Garry's mod and the cooperative gaming scene in general, intimacy and relationship through gameplay has become a legitimate concept. Couples online play games together, and can build worlds together, but this is merely a fantasy, a construct of the digital image, and inspired by "500 days of Summer" sometimes remembering why you were dumped seems unexpected because of personal bias, and that perhaps in a modern long distance relationship this world building aspect shields us from the reality of whether it is the couple being happy and laughing together, or just the game, world, and the sense of distance and mystery that actually keeps such a relationship in place?

 The Blinking Blue Light on my PC during sleep mode was an odd symbol to me when I was dumped, it seemed to me like a metaphor for that bright digital moment followed by the darkness of reality, and personally the idea of slow blinking lights at night being the symbol for the real-world protagonist is 1 of 2 main stylistic choices I personally want to convey. The struggle and depression of reality with a near-emotionless man crushed from the end of what he saw as so beautiful is what needs to be conveyed, however I want this film to be one of no dialogue, instead his distance and wishes shown by ghostly figures of his ex-girlfriend fading into digitally-styled effects, this is reality, it is warped and biased and drab, however fantasy is something else entirely.

While the cinematography of Reality is akin to standard drama, the still-based cinematography of "La Jetee" to represent non-reality is what I want to be combined with the visual stylings of Tetsuya Mizuguchi's "Child of Eden" with the bright world being a mixture of the natural and digital ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-deyUrfoCu4#t=134 ) and to show this false connection between them, those moments of joy being strongly emphasized as something of non-reality, a world built on text messages and a show that typing "I love you" is far easier than honestly speaking it. However to flesh out this world I want to show some occasional images of violence between these 2, the difference being that in this case they are increasingly happy about the whole thing, the reason: it's a commentary on modern gaming culture as examined by Hito Steyerl in "The Wretched of the Screen" in which she discusses the disconnect between the digital and physical world and that moralities are ambiguous in digital function, therefore we can create large moral paradoxes, and note that anything can be considered wondrous in this world, no matter how moral.

 The Final Act of this is what I call the convergence, by showing our protagonists obsession through projections and screens of the non-reality in his, Lighting becomes screen lights. Phones, Monitors, Televisions in places where they would never normally be become the main visual style. and allows him moments of euphoria followed by intense realization as he panics and the power goes out, leaving him in darkness for a while just staying and crying. The final shot being the power coming back on only to bring back that blinking blue light again, ready to continue his loop of reckless self-destruction.

Soundtrack-wise I personally want each act to be distinct, with reality having a soundtrack like "the Graduate" with it's melancholic Acoustics. non-reality is of course more digitized and electronic, and convergence is as suggested, a merging of the two styles.

Good, that's the idea on (virtual) paper, now to set-up storyboards and treatments and...well a lot of things actually. However this late change and choice of ideas stems from the relationship and that feeling of self-destruction, my passion for this project is as much selfish exploration as anything, I want it to be bittersweet and melancholic, a worried love letter to the days of my depression and a window into that life for others, above all though I want it to be sentimental, because I personally want to make a project I can feel proud of, let's hope the group feels the same way xD

some extra links if you have time rob (you don't)
End of Eva http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBFm5wyJ9FM#t=87
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCLoNOYcVQU