Sunday 10 January 2016

@Phil [From Script to Screen] Story Ideas



A very rough plan of ideas for my story. Not sure yet as to which one I should pursue... 


STORY IDEAS – WINDOW CLEANER, BEAUTY PARLOR, XMAS TREE


1)     Window cleaner gives the beauty parlor a xmas tree but it’s cursed. (N)

2)     People too scared to go inside beauty parlor; superhuman window cleaner is the only one who can defeat it. (N)

3)     The window cleaner sees someone beautiful in the parlor and wants to speak to them but the tree is in the way? (N)

4)     2 rival window cleaners battle it out in the parlor and the tree holds a treasure for ultimate power (Y)

5)     One good window cleaner with sidekick and another evil with a sidekick. Race to get to parlor with magical tree that can improve life (like Hunger Games) (Y)

6)     Action/Adventure – Acrobatic window cleaner gang fighting crime; a bomb threat in the parlor within the tree – successfully diffuse bomb. (M)

7)     Action/Romance – cleaner too shy to approach another man/woman who works at the parlor and evil xmas tree threatens their life. Or not. Battle against xmas tree - Able to strangle, roar, change form.  Battle against tree. (M)

8)     Xmas tree is a nuclear weapon that threatens town/country/state – will wipe it off the Earth. Superhuman window cleaner is the only hope but his evil twin wants to take over the world. Will of hope from people overcomes evil. (M)

9)     Haunted/ Action – the tree is possessed by an evil spirit who is upset; window cleaner saves the day. (M)

10) Heaven / Hell / Action – two wondering souls need to get to the tree in order to move on and the first to get there will go to Heaven. Mystical endless beauty parlor and both souls are window cleaners with other characters that have to fight to death. (Y)

11) Tree is on fire but uses it to its advantage – window cleaner uses water power to destroy it. Epic battle. Other sidekicks with powers. Once destroyed, a curse on the town will be lifted.  (M)

12) Evil Christmas! A skeletal grim reaper disguised as father Christmas uses Christmas tree as a weapon to try to kill the window cleaner – they battle it out in the beauty parlor. Sidekicks and enemies.  (M)

13) Sensual/Eye candy style- Sexy window cleaner (M)

14) enters beauty parlor but no one can see him; destroying the tree will make him visible. ??? (N)

15) Tree has a human soul trapped within, and the window cleaner must to certain tasks to free him (his brother or someone) (M)

16) Martial art/ action type: One gang takes on another gang and fight with whatever weapons they have inside the beauty parlor (as they meet by chance) Xmas tree holds a treasure.  (Y)

17) Hidden superheroes (like superman/spiderman) Window cleaner is actually (_superheroname_) and finds arch nemesis in beauty parlor.  (M)


18) Takes place in an intergalactic beauty parlor – with human-like characters but enhanced (window cleaner). Use mechanical robots (evil?) and the parlor is infected by the cursed tree. By destroying the tree (which grows to be enormous and shape shifts) will save the town/country/earth of it killing everyone. (Y)


19) Set in future – ultra high tech futuristic beauty parlor, evil digitized xmas tree that is the source of a major worldwide virus (like Skynet?) and half android half human window cleaner can only defeat it with the aid of his/her sidekicks. Metallic, chrome, highly futuristic. (M/Y)


20) Parallel world  style: The tree is good, shape shifts, needs to defeat window cleaner who is an ultimate evil being who goes around looking innocent, the beauty parlor is like a force field. (M/Y)

Weapons: Window cleaning tools can turn into swords, knives, guns, flame throwers, he/she can have superpowers, water element, bubbles, eye power...

NOTE: I can take elements from parts I like and mix and match....


4 comments:

  1. Wow! That's a lot of initial ideas - but I can't help observing that you're almost super-imposing a sort of 'genre-filter' of most of them; super heroes, evil christmas trees etc. It's like you're determined to tell a high-kicking, action-based story come what may... Personally, I think you need to begin much more simply: remember, stories come from characters... So, start with the window cleaner:

    A window cleaner is a person who, arguably, is always on the outside 'looking in'. In this sense, they might be defined by their isolation - by their separateness from other people.

    The beauty parlour: a beauty parlour is a place where people go to feel better about themselves; I can imagine how someone who works in a beauty parlour might be overlooked too - always making other people feel more special, but otherwise 'invisible'. I can sort of imagine how the window cleaner and the beauty parlour assistant might, in this way, share a sense of separation; they are both jobs in which they improve the look of something - make something more beautiful or more presentable, but themselves remain invisible.

    I'm also thinking that a window cleaner is not afraid of heights; perhaps, outside the beauty parlour there is a tree, and as a final way of attracting the beauty parlour assistant's attention, he uses his winch to decorate the tree... I guess what I'm saying is there is something about your three components that really doesn't sound like the sort of kick-arse story you'd prefer to make - and in this, I think you're seeking to pull everything into your comfort zone; as expressed at the crit, you need to let the story win out, not your existing preferences. Personally, it feels as if your story zone is, emotionally, situated more in this type of universe: quieter, bitter-sweet, heart-warming etc...

    https://vimeo.com/67419875


    Stop thinking about fight scenes, superheroes and weapons; think about what it might mean to be a window cleaner; how it might feel to be that person; what opportunities it affords, what opportunities it denies. Stories come from characters...

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    1. Wow, thank you for the huge feedback paragraph :)

      I see now..yeah I'm rushing full steam ahead again haha...I know what you mean now of looking at the individual character and looking realistically at would can be going on.

      Thanks :)

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  2. After reading Phil's comment I can't help thinking of the animated short 'Paperman', you should definitely check it out if you haven't seen it! I feel like the themes in that really match the kind of story that you could tell with your components!

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    1. ah I remember that animation Lewis! Thanks for that, really inspirational.

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