"Mental" Notes: The Freshman Years (Pt. 2 of 2)

Check out The Freshman Years, Pt. 1, to see the initial background information about these posts. More information about the ideas will be posted later in the comments. Thank you and enjoy.

(1) An idea for a short film: Longtime artist Frank Tecran reaches his creative limits and falls into a deep depression that concerns his wife, Marion. After much discussion, Frank decides to return back home to his childhood home at Cleveland,Ohio. Despite the arrival of a new baby underway and the amount of stress used on finding a new home in Cleveland, Marion reluctantly agrees and they move back within two weeks. The trip reinvigorates Frank and he announces to the world his next project which he prematurely states as his masterpiece. Unsurprisingly, the whole town keeps open eyes and ears at the prospect of a new tourist attraction that could reinvigorate its popularity. The work is finished after many months and the whole city sits patiently at its unveiling. Frank makes a heart-breaking speech about new opportunities, and allows one tear to escape just as he pulls away the cloth. Excitement turns into confusion and disgust as Frank reveals a larger than life rendering of the David's phallus. Despite the numerous amounts of complaints and death threats placed on Frank, he unabashedly defends the reputation of his statue and of himself although he does try to make it more...publicly presentable.
"What if I tied some balloons at the end of it?"
'That's a terrible idea.'

This idea would be particularly difficult to pull off, not just in the scale, but in how it's meant to be a light-hearted dramedy about a man who's suffering from depression. Also, with the statue, it's meant to be an ongoing plot-point and joke which may or may not pull the audience out of the depressing outlook cast on by Frank Tecran. At this point, the statue unveiling seems to be a pivotal moment in the short but what could be done for a follow-through? Much like my other ideas, I came up with this one while I was walking to class. It seems that my best ideas usually come from a stroll. That or the bathroom. I think if I wanted find a good resource for pulling off a dramedy with difficult subject matter, I'd try to watch 50/50 or Dr. Strangelove. The name Frank Tecran has nothing to with anything, it just sounded professional, and Marion is a good wife name; I don't have any evidence to back me up on that.

(2) A 5 minute short film. Music: Hang On Little Tomato(Pink Martini)-The short begins with a small film festival coming to an end, just as the lights turn on. Everyone starts packing up their things until only three people are left. Arley(tentative name) takes a chance to ask the two guys if he can go home with them. He gets disappointed when they say they also walked here. He sees three sandwiches on a platter, and asks if he can take them. Since he doesn't want to to carry the sandwiches on a platter, he decides to wrap them in newspaper, packs his things and leaves the building, while bidding his two friends goodbye. He carries the sandwiches in both hands, tempted to juggle them, and walks in the darkness. He gets worried by the lack people around him until he sees a couple walking not far from him. (The music is cued here) He runs up behind him, but tries making as little noise as he can. Once he's two feet away, he slows down his steps comically, and proceeds walking behind them. He smiles at the couple holding hands and applauds them for daring to walk in the dark at such a late hour. The woman turns back and sees Arley behind them, but turns back as if she saw no one. He keeps his distance and observes the two lovers and their embracing company. The two walk down some stairs, and try to jump over a few steps together which Arley doesn't do. It's been two minutes and Arley is still behind them. He watches their hands again and begins thinking about his own experiences, all of them a fragment of his imagination. He grows sadder(a cue for the music to slow down, only the piano plays, ala Up) and decides to take a different path when a fork in the road appears. He watches the couple again, and walks alone into the darkness.

This is pretty much a word-for-word retelling of what actually happened to me one night in college. I know from the description of walking behind this couple that I seem to act like a stalker, but it was about 10pm when I left the film screening and I was walking alone for almost 3 blocks in a street known for having muggings so when I saw this couple, I didn't hesitate in following them. I knew both of them so they weren't in any real danger. For the short, I would actually try to make it completely silent, with only a few gestures and cues that tell the viewer that it's late and no one can drive me home. In an unusual way, this short is meant to be a music video for the delightful song "Hang On Little Tomato" by Pink Martini, although it quickly takes on a depressing tone once the music slows down and our protagonist begins to imagine how lonely he feels. With absolutely no respite to happy-go-lucky couples, I am jealous of every happy couple I've ever seen, and I blame this on my own shortcomings and impatience in looking for someone I'd like to go out with. To be frank, the only primary reason, as of now, that I'd want to go out with anybody is to get to kiss them on the mouth. I know, it's a very selfish goal but you can't help but wonder what it feels like, and sketches or depictions on TV/movies are a distant portrayal of what must be an unforgettable experience. I've been very cynical about kissing, describing it as "moist palms pressing against each other," but I can't help but continue to wonder about it, who the lucky gal could be. I wouldn't even mind kissing a guy on the mouth, but only a peck and only for a moment. It would be tricky to recreate those emotions for the short film but it would an intriguing challenge. It would probably be difficult to find a couple willing to be depicted this way. Last thing, Pink Martini is a multi-lingual group that I believe is still active today; a really good friend of mine introduced me to them after I asked her how I wanted to expand my musical tastes; she's graduating today and if she ever reads this comment, I wish her the best of luck in college and in the future.

(3) A short story/one-act play about a high school student who behaves pleasantly in front of everyone only to hope that they will vote for him as the Salutatorian, even though he actually is quite resentful towards everyone. His hopes are dashed when his best friend recommends to him to vote for the obvious choice instead of him; he learns who the Salutatorian is at an all-school assembly and reveals his true personality publicly to everyone. His chances for a spiritual redemption come by when he learns about the school's upcoming coffeehouse showcase and starts brainstorming a fake-salutatorian speech.
"That's not funny."
'What isn't funny? It's a bike chain and a sledgehammer.'
"But what does that have to do with love?"
'It's a thinking man's joke.'
"Is the thinking man in a vegetative state?"

I was going to work on this idea last summer but it ended up being a little too personal for me to complete. I came up with the idea shortly after a good friend of mine told me to vote for someone else as the salutatorian rather than myself as is stated in the plot. We(by we, I mean, Harvard-Westlake) have an annual event called the coffeehouse, an event meant to demonstrate everybody's talents, whether it be singing, poetry, awesome instrumentals, or in my case, stand-up. I performed in 2 coffeehouses, which I will post on the blog on a later date, and was writing my material for the third. I kept changing ideas from a normal stand-up routine that made fun of Prom and nail polish (info of which can be found in "Another Comedy Routine, 9/19/11") and a fake salutatorian speech that would be comical, dramatic, and nostalgic. The fake speech, even though I thought about it constantly, wasn't completed on time and I had to drop out. The quote in the description about a bike chain and a sledgehammer was, in fact, my original material for the second coffeehouse meant to be an ambigiuous analogy for love. I told the idea to my therapist who told me where's the joke? I didn't know. If I was ever going to return to this idea, it would be much later on, after I've become more comfortable with filmmaking and with dialouge-driven scenes.

(4) A guy, Jake, enters his room after shaving his beard, only to discover his room has been invaded by dwarfs. The conversation goes back and forth in strangeness as Jake discovers he's a butt-wipe who cares about the human race, and the seemingly harmless dwarfs have committed genocide of the gnomes. Needless to say, it doesn't resolve itself very well.

This is the result of waking up early in the morning and having no one to talk to while eating breakfast in the dining halls. Just like the invisible dogs idea, this idea resulted from just imagining a guy who discovers dwarves in his room. The jokes were achingly corny and I got bored with the idea while I was thinking about it and decided to go to ridiculous extremes such as accusing the dwarves of killing off the neighboring gnomes. Rather than learn a lesson, Jake decided to kick out the dwarves for their crimes against humanity. It's fair since the dwarves called Jake a butthole most of the time. Needless to say, this is not an idea I'll revisit anytime soon.

(5) A parody of weddings as a plot device, featuring a mouse who pulls his dead fiance all the way to the altar. The animated short begins with the customary wedding march played by an organ that slowly "disintegrates" into a record player version. Many different camera angles of the church, until the mouse comes into the church.

Parody might be the wrong word to use for this admittedly disturbing criticism of weddings. Specifically, this targets weddings as a last resort for sitcom/movie ideas in how an event known to evoke strong emotions in others. If there's any recycled idea I get tired of, it's when weddings somehow get involved in soap operas and one of two things happen: either the wedding goes off without a hitch and the bride and groom are written off the show OR wither the bride/groom are (GASP) killed by the bad guy!!! It's also meant to be criticize the perfection depicted in high-scale weddings by replacing the bride and groom with mice.

(6) A story about a famous celebrity, beloved by practically everyone, who is preparing for his 'coming out' routine where he reveals his hatred for humanity.
"I hate everyone. I want everyone to die in a fire."

People, at times, can be absolutely appalled by someone's behavior, regardless of how harmless the act seems to be to the person. Others, like psychologists, are fascinated by such behavior, myself included. The idea would be a very short film chronicling the rise of this celebrity and ending with his first standup routine that tears apart the very community that brought him to prominence. The quote I posted is very harsh but would be the celebrity's opening joke in the routine. The short would end with everyone in the audience becoming speechless as the celebrity leaves the mike on the stand on the center of the stage and walks off.

(7) Imagine someone who is able to view another person's mistakes via special glasses. The mistakes can be displayed as a black or shadowed movement that parallels the "normal" movements. A theory regarding whether or not we make more mistakes than we're aware of.

This idea came about after a conversation I had with a close friend at Starbucks. I tried to imagine a visually appealing way to track every single mistake we could ever make on account of trying to figure out every single mistake we've ever made, be it simple ones like skipping out on brushing our teeth or serious ones like potentially ruining a very close relationship with someone. Since there is no accountable way of measuring just how many mistakes a person can make, it's somewhat interesting to imagine the mistakes we do count are the ones we know we've done. I also thought about the things we say being wrong and how that could be represented with the "shadow" versions, either that the wrong words would become highlighted in black and becoming visible. Needless to say, this is an incredibly difficult idea to explain with words alone.

The Presenters (Season 2)

The critically acclaimed animated program makes its unwelcome return to HBO for another season of inexplicable eccentricities. Join your most hated characters Harold, The Editor, Tom, and many others as they learn about themselves, and why that is usually too much information to know. Fridays at 9 only on HBO.

Season 2 was trickier to create episodes for than Season 1, I'll admit. In Season 1, you can take as many liberties as you can with the characters in order to develop them, but in Season 2, you make choices that determine whether or not the characters are behaving like they should be. Also, certain plot points, such as Harold's job as an animator, can go so far as to what kind of problems they bring for him, and with this, you have to think creatively which can be very easy when your life plagues with you with unusual thoughts and situations. Season 2 definitely takes more risks than Season 1, but usually, such risks determine whether or not the show can establish its own identity rather than fall back on past influences. I hope you enjoy Season 2, the most daring season yet.

P201-The Director The worst director in recent history begins filming his sci-fi epic of a city on the verge of being swallowed up by a black hole(a small one, however). After catching one glimpse of Harold and his co-workers in a childish argument about exit signs, he immediately hires them for the movie.

P202-The Dead Best Friend Harold, working on a long shift at Flowers United, suddenly sees his dead friend(buried in Season 1's The Funeral) right in front of him. Harold becomes horrified and tries to curse away the evil spirit, while the best friend tries to convince Harold that seeing him is worthwhile.

P203-Animatorcide Harold's failure leads to a spiraling depression that leads to him making minimalist remarks of perfection. Since every animator at Flowers United knows about the mythic "animatorcide" that killed a famed animator, they keep a close eye on Harold to make sure he doesn't try to use it. 
 
P204-The Writer When the studio realizes that their television program is on the verge of cancellation, they group together all of the writers for a show-changing brainstorm session. One writer isn't amused by the idea, curses everything in existence, and then quits. Harold goes on an impossible journey to replace him.

P205-A Weird One For Sure Hal finally gets his driving permit and drives around Los Angeles for two hours, celebrating. After a while, he drives in an unfamiliar neighborhood, and in a panic, drives in reverse into a homeowner's garage while the homeowner is still at home. The homeowner takes Hal in as a hostage until Hal is able to pay for a new garage door.

P206-The Cameo Spot Harold gets the opportunity to work on another channel to increase his notoriety. Unfortunately, it requires a cameo on a television program he hates with a star he despises. When Harold tries to switch places with Tom and fails, he gets into a childish argument with the star and accidentally exposes the star's homosexuality.

P207-Wellesian Connection Harold meets an ambitious voice actor who notices Harold's stress and suggests he tries some weed. Harold refuses and sees the actor's vocal performance, only to realize he's become attracted to the actor's voice.

P208-A Nightmare Someone Else Had After a long and frustrating day, Harold daydreams about meeting up with famous figures from horror movies(Chucky, Jason Voorhees, Alien(as a joke)) that ruined his childhood. It leads to an therapy session that the figures remorsefully give him.

P209-Wait, Say That Again? Harold, who decides to walk in on the animators working, meets Arlill Rodriguez, a 25-yr old animator brimming with possiblity. When Harold recalls their first meeting, he begins to realize that it might be a reincarnation of him, a theory everyone dismisses. Harold's suspicions are heightened when Arlill refuses to open the door for him.

P210-Flowers United Inc. Harold is woken up by a sudden phone call from The Editor. The Editor blames Harold of not being a team player, so Harold is forced to leave his house early to go to work. Arriving, he's surprised to see that no one is there except the Editor who sits in his disorganized office. Harold works on the filing while the Editor regales him on a tale of just how Flowers United was established.

P211-The Bartender Harold slips out of the office one day, and sneaks into a bar where he meets a bartender who hates people but wants to become a barber. The bartender's existence fascinates Harold and Harold gives him his contact information. After a week of no replies, the bartender begins stalking Harold.

P212-The Awkward Conversation Between Two Boys Harold notices his son Hal is finished with his homework and is now watching TV. Harold uncharacteristically walks up to Hal and begins asking him about every aspect of school, including awkwardly enough, Hal's past romantic experiences which Harold can recite from memory and in consecutive order.

P213-The Sandwich Harold meets up with Sarah, an old friend from high school who wants to break out as a voice actress. As they're having lunch, Sarah suddenly leaves in a hurry. She leaves her sandwich behind, completely untouched, and Harold becomes tempted to eat it. He slowly slides the plate towards his side.  Looking left and right, he takes a bite and has an orgasm. Harold wonders if it was the fact that she made the specific order or the sandwich itself that made his body react so strongly.

What's more surprising than the show getting picked up for a second season is the fact that there is still only one main writer who's come up with 13 more episodes to entertain the lessers with, those who can afford an HBO subscription. In this second season, with most of the characters well-established, the show takes on an unusual turn in order to dissociate itself from its source material(Curb Your Enthusiasm, South Park), and becomes its own program. The situations range from normal experiences heightened to ridiculous levels, to moments of intimacy and consciousness between the characters. The problem with an animated series is that it's expected to be very comical and hilarious all of the time, and a series won't have any space to develop if it's reduced to making rapid-fire jokes. In the spirit of Louie on FX, the show will go in whatever direction it has to for telling a story, whether it requires breaking the laws of physics or the demands of an audience. Understandably, there's very little episodes about Harold's wife since I still don't know who she is or supposed to be, and it would be insulting to her character to include in every episode as a background device. With that, I also admit that the series is becoming much more personal with certain episodes that deal with issues that I constantly think about, such as the possibility of meeting your equal(not in a romantic sense) and having horror film characters apologize for a damaged childhood, as well as reuniting with your ex-love interest. This series is meant to defy expectations, but also take viewers daring enough to watch on an unforgettable journey. If the second or first season of the Presenters has done that for you all, I'm satisfied. Third season? We'll see.