This is the premise of my story for the "Storytelling & Commission" Project;
"One man's burning passion for his job is seen as insanity by few, and overlooked by many."
I am going to have the man be the "Hired Assassin" in my story, and the "few" be the wax characters. The man's job is to melt down the old wax figures when new ones need to be made, hence why to the waxwork figures, he's a "Hired Assassin".
I am thinking that I will stylise the short similar to the "Meet the Pyro" Animated Short from Valve, but instead of seeing things as overly cutesy and sweet, the man sees everything as the normal world, and the figures see the complete opposite.
This is a bit more over-the-top than how I would create my sequence, but I feel it is the best representative of it.
I think the key to getting this story right is to think about the structure and sequencing of information; for example, it seems to me that this would work brilliantly if, for the most part of your film, the audience doesn't understand that it's a story about waxworks at all - and think's they're watching some high-stakes hostage narrative. For example, you have a bunch of characters in a room - they're terrified - 'He's coming back!' one of them cries, as we hear footsteps outside, as one of their number is taken outside to be assassinated... As far as the audience is concerned we're looking at a 'real' hostage scenario happening to real people - with the final act reveal showing us that they're just waxworks and the terrifying assassin is just some elderly caretaker doing his job by melting them down.
ReplyDeleteThere is another thematic strand here: it's logical that waxworks are melted down when the fame or celebrity of their real or historical selves has diminished, meaning they must make way for more up-to-date or popular models. The idea that we're looking at a bunch of celebrity look-a-likes might be a fun addition to your story - I can imagine 'the hostages' bickering about who is the most important etc as they fight over who gets taken next - your film could be a sly comment on the fickle finger of fame and the superficiality of popularity too.
My main point - treat the situation as real and terrifying, then reveal the waxwork status as your third act twist - it's all about the twist :)
Thank you very much for the feedback & advice Phil, I hadn't thought of leaving the reveal until the final act, I appreciate you pointing that out to me!
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