A short Film concept by James Flanagan

Heavily inspired by the film 'Stranger Than Fiction' and the short game 'The Stanley Parable', The Narrator is a short film concept that follows the life of a young man named John Spencer. John is a normal, average, run of the mill bloke who is currently working as a photographer for a local newspaper.

A narrator speaks over john’s life, where everything he says, or does is dictated by The Narrator prior to the event unfolding. For example: “John picked up his coffee after stirring in 2 sugars” (Actor that plays John does this action). This usually leads to humorous or tense situations however John cannot hear this narrator who is only there for the audiences benefit.

Another influence has been looking into community works submitted into Virgin Media shorts, a competition annually run to find up and coming film makers. I wanted to keep my idea original but simple enough to pull off, which is one of the reasons I may change the ending in the scripting process.

I first came up with the idea after discussions with Joe about what I could do for my coursework this year. He gave me the idea to do a documentary style video about the life of a student which is where my initial idea developed from. Using this as a base I watched and commented on many short films done by students and professionals to gauge the main difference between them.

The main thing I found from watching the two is that most student media short films start with the iconic, cheesy alarm clock scene which is something I want to move away from.

The story starts with John in a coffee shop. His character, briefly explained by the narrator through humorous flashbacks before returning to the scene in the coffee shop. The first minute of this short film will be inside the coffee shop detailing Johns life. After this John walks out of the shop and through town, meeting up with a small group of friends.

John is then asked by a girlfriend of his to pick up a book called The Narrator from the local library. To his surprise after picking up this book, he is the main character where everything the narrator has previously said is written down. As he reads The film ends on a cliff hanger where the final line of the book is read as

“John opened his eyes. John can you hear me? Wake up John... Wake up...”

(transition of old TV screen cutting off / heart beat monitor followed by credit roll in silence. This should leave the audience questioning about what has actually happened in the short film). This may change because of the currently expected ending.

Coffee shop – Possibly Costa coffee? Library – main library in Banbury

(permissions to film?) Scenes in Town – Banbury town centre

So far I haven't given much thought into who I think should star as the main character. I would like to cast someone between the ages of 17 and 21 to suit my main target audience of older teenagers. One option is to film at the local Middleton coffee shop where the owners should be more lenient around the idea of filming.