The Plot Thinens

So when I decided I wanted to do a screenplay for this class I already had plenty of ideas milling around in my head. During the summer I had stumbled across an old toy I had called a motorized zolo and a scene was born in my head of this toy being an inter-dimensional visitor and instructing two boys to do some strange mission, initially returning a copy of Chinese Democracy to a drug dealer they knew. So I had a vague start to a story. Other ideas came along: having them drive to Denny's on the back of a lawn mower, shooting bugs with aerosoft guns in a basement, assaulting hobos with jackhammers & other silly things. These were to show in an exaggerated way the childish eccentrisism my friends were prone to. I also wanted to add a lot of odd props into the mix to further this idea. A friend of mine owns a life sized spiderman statue and a plethora of other oddities. This would also subtly clue in the viewer that this was some reality similar but different from ours; kind of like how video game noises/references were injected into reality in Scott Pilgrim or Giant prosthetic beasts in Fear & Loathing.

Anyway during the course of the class I discovered simulism & made some important decisions that warped and expanded the story. The problem then became mapping out two seperate stories birthed from the same starting point (the two simulations: A & A') that effect each other subtly and work together when cut between.

I began by making lots of story maps

General plot over view:

Setting: suburbia in two simulated realities, A & A'. A' is a copy of simulation A created within simulation A. In both worlds there is political tensions that could result in a nuclear weapons exchange.

I decided to split the story into three sections so I could concentrate on what was important in each:

1. Encounters:

Z interacts with the characters and sets the events in motion that will cause simulations A and A' to deviate from one another.

2. Recess:

Acting on Z's influence the characters go about their buisness in different ways and if starts to become apparent there are differences between the two worlds. Characters individual problems come to light in this section.

3. The Party:

The characters all gather at K's party where they are confronted with their problem and either over come or succumb to it.

I managed to map out most of the first and second act, and started writing the screen play for the first act.

Act 1:

A&B are seen walking through a field with A in a wheelbarrow pushed by B.

C is shown sleeping in his room, while Z is shown walking through his messy apartment.

D is seen alone working on his computer, programming simulation A’.

K is shown in his robe watching the news until he turns it off for being too disturbing. He makes some coffee and walks outside.

E is in a rocking chair in his house, his dog is shown sleeping on the floor next to him. He gets up and picks out a deathmetal vinyl to play and sits back down in his chair.

A&B run into K as they go through people’s backyards in their wheelbarrow, he stops and asks them what they are up to. The respond with nonsense and continue on their way.

C is awoken suddenly by Z which starts screaming in sampled audio clips about the end of the world. C is so frazzled after the confrontation he calls E to buy drugs

D calls C to tell him that the simulation is finished but C doesn’t pick up because he is being visited by Z.

In A’ - C wakes up later, calls D to go to The honey harvest festival only to be turned down and told the simulation is up and running.

In A’ - A&B begin digging in a park and are visited by Z (this one controlled by D who is annoyed C not picking up) who tells them to return a copy of Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy to E (because he thinks C is out buying drugs from E)

Simultaneously the same event happens in A because of dimensions crossing over.

In A - K goes back into his house and is visited by Z who in a much calmer fashion than with C tells him the world is about to end in nuclear holocaust. In A’ K explains the instability of the political climate of the world while gazing around his house alone.

Act 2

In A - C goes to E to buy drugs, E says he has something special for him and shows him a suitcase bound by many belts and locks.

In A - A&B arrive at E’s just in time to see C leaving with the suitcase in hand. B establishes that C is his brother and his discontent for his drug use.

In A& A’ - The two go into E’s house and confront him. Returning the Cd.

In A& A’ - E tells them to deliver a suitcase back to Z for him, the same suitcase he appears to have given C (in actuality the two events are bled between dimensions where C has/hasn’t gone to E for drugs)

In A - They ask to see what’s inside, and are shown a strange glow ala pulp fiction, and ask what it is? To which E responds “You don’t know?”

In A – D continues his study of simulation A’, but notices in the simulation he is accompanied by C who is not with him in ‘real life’. Realizes something has caused the simulation to change.

In A’ – C arrives at D’s computer lab and D explains the system is up and shows him that he is

Monitoring A&B. C comments that B is his brother and B’s hostility towords the family.

In A&A’ – After A&B have left E’s, K arrives and talks to E about the end of the world and their opinions and existential stuff,

In A’- at the end E tells K he should throw a party.

Meanwhile in A – C is in his apartment tripping out, the suitcase appears unbound and empty att he foot of his bed. He begins to hallucinate various hostile spirits heckling him about his life decisions. Ultimately a hallucinatory humanoid form of Z appears and vanquishes the other specters. He settles C down and returns him back to reality where upon he discovers he is invited via facebook to a party K is throwing.

In A&A’ – A&B wonder how they’re going to find Z to give him the suitcase, they end up waiting around a while, then go searching in their lawnmoawer, shouting at the sky, and eventually end up at Denny’s where B starts talking about computer simulations and the value of life/existence.

D in simulation A will eventually contact himself and C in simulation A’ using the Z body but I’m not sure what that will do/effect the story yet.

After this point the characters all end up at K’s party, in simulation A C ends up attempting suicide but A ends up saving him. Beyond that I haven’t figured out how to resolve the other characters issues.

The suitcase is supposed to represent truth, and what A,B,&C do with it in either reality will vary.