I've decided that my story will follow a dancing goddess, the Queen of Boogie, and the conflicts that she faces with her mortal enemy (and former friend), Thelonious and keeping that title as the ultimate disco dancer.
I am truly in love with this idea! I feel as if it completely represents the genre and that it can properly include its conventions, but because this idea is so perfect for what I want to acheive, I am having trouble deciding on the exact direction I can go in with my opening. Blaxploitation films that I have mentioned in previous posts usually begin with a simple scene that sets up the conflict or they introduce the main character(s) in a dramatic way, typically through some sort of theme song or lengthy title sequence. Here are the two main directions that I am currently narrowing down:
The first thing that I pictured when thinking about how I could open this story was beginning with the "death"of Boogie at the hands of Thelonious and then planning on having the rest of the film be centered around her seeking revenge and rising back to claim her rightful title. I feel like starting the film with the downfall of Boogie would be a great way to capture the audiences' attention while still creating a complex character that isn't "perfect."
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| Screenshot from Saturday Night Fever(1977) This is the kind of lighting I had pictured! |
1.) The opening would begin at a typical 70s disco party; various close-ups of people dancing under the purple, blue, and red lights would be shown as a typical funky track is being blared. I would specifically focus in on close-ups in order to intrigue the audience and not give away too much information in the first couple of shots. I then pictured on having a medium, master shot of the camera moving backwards as the music slowly fades and the people whip their heads back, facing the door (and the camera) to basically witness Boogie
enter the room, building suspense for viewers who haven't seen her yet. For Boogie's big reveal, I was planning on incorporating both the whip pan and Lee's Double Dolly shot, as previously mentioned. I would dramatically whip pan from the crowd to Boogie as there is a bright spotlight on her while she is being shown through a Double Dolly shot, basically appearing to "float" towards the crowd of people. This technique would add to the personality of Boogie, and how I want to portray her as almost godlike on the dance floor. Over this shot I was even picturing a sultry voiceover of someone saying "The Queen of Boogie," almost as if it were a theme song, as she glides across the room. For the rest of the scene Boogie would basically show off her beautiful dance moves until a looming figure in the background becomes visible; Thelonious.
For Theo's character I was basically picturing the typical "pimp/alpha/gangster" character trope, seen frequently in Blaxploitation (see Willie Dynamite 1974). I obviously won't be including the elements of actual pimping into my character, but rather just the fashionable wardrobe and tangy speech.
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| Stills from Willie Dynamite(1974) Look at that wardrobe! |
Theolonious and Boogie would basically just have a sort of "stand-off" with some exchanging dialogue providing viewers with some background and then a dance battle scene where Theolonious would ultimately finish Boogie off in a single dance move, "killing" the Queen. Following that I either imagined the title credits beginning, ultimately ending with the main title, "The Queen of Boogie" or following her death with a black screen, muffled disco music, and then the Queen rising up again into frame and saying into the camera "Boogie's Back!," signifying how she plans on returning to the dance floor.
HOWEVER, when I shared the idea with classmates and with my instructor, they warned me that this might be a little too much to cram into a 2 minute window and that I should think about either cutting from that idea or coming up with a simpler one.
2.) Which brings us to option number two. I am married to the idea of the Double Dolly shot and I thought about combining that simple, yet still very dramatic shot with the idea of the Queen resurrecting. For this idea, I would simply start with a black screen and muffled
disco music in the background. I would then cut to an extreme closeup shot of the Queen's eyes and the once muffled music is now blasting as the Queen of Boogie opens her eyes wide, reacting to the music. The rest of the opening would be extremely simple, having Boogie set up on the Double Dolly shot, "floating" as she primps up her wardrobe by dusting off her stylish clothes and whopping out some lipstick to make touch ups. For this idea I really want Boogie to just be looking straight into the camera, remaining cool, calm and godlike. In order to clearly set up the plot, while still not giving away too much, I think the perfect fit for this would be recording a voice over of the Queen indirectly explaining the past events; her rival with Theo, how she used to be on top of the disco scene, where it all went wrong etc. I would then end the Double Dolly and her monologue by crash zooming into her face and then having her say, "Boogie's Back!" followed with the title sequence and then, of course, the title of the film "The Queen of Boogie."
I am wildly in love with both directions and it's going to be super tough to choose, but I think the main cons with both ideas is that it's either too much for the time or could be too little and not enough to show off what I have learned this year. I think in the end I am going to try to find the balance between these two ideas because honestly it's so hard to just
strictly choose one; it's like choosing only one child and killing off the other! Ugh.
But I am just relieved that I at least have a solid idea on my general plot!
stay cool, kmp
Profound
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