Wanna Read my Movie?

 Hey blog, 

Let's read a script- 

Here it is in all it's glory...

CIRCUS MONKEY

ACT I

Black screen

Video game sounds are heard, then an aggressive yet whiny voice appears. 

Cut to- 

DIEGO, a conventionally attractive young man, about 19, wearing oversized and decrepit clothing. 

He is in an eerily empty room, with dirty walls, clothes thrown around, and food everywhere. It looks nasty, but inherently male. 

DIEGO

(exhilarated)

Yo, yo, where are you bro? YOO.

Shooting sounds are heard from the screen. Banter from his two friends, Jack and Manny is also heard. 

Suddenly, we hear Diego’s phone ding. 

He casually glances at it. His head returns to the screen, but instinctively returns to the phone, this time with a more startled look. 

He stares at the phone. 

The room becomes silent, with only the sound of white noise being heard. His friends' voices in the computer become waningly muffled, to the point of silence. 

He stares at the phone. 

The phone shows a text from ERICKA, reading-

Hey Diego, I know I ended things with you but I just wanted to check up on you and see how you were doing. If you ever need to talk to anyone I’m always here for you:)

Also, try to go outside and stuff. It’s good for you to get off the computer every now and then. I wish you the best!

The silence is interrupted by his friend’s voice. 

MANNY

Yo Diego

DIEGO
Yeah I’m here

MANNY

You died you dumb fuck

DIEGO

Sorry my, my ex texted.

JACK

You have an ex?

DIEGO
Yes, dumbass, Ericka? We dated.

JACK
Damn my bad

DIEGO

No like, like we dated. Like I had a girlfriend. 

JACK
Ok-

DIEGO

(Condescendingly)
Ya

BEAT

MANNY

Did you see her naked-

DIEGO

Ok I’m hopping off

MANNY

(in a manly banter)

Nah man, don’t get offended

DIEGO

Yeah fuck you both. Fuck you, bye. 

As one of his friends is about to speak, he interrupts and closes the computer. 

The light of the computer is closed, and he is now sitting in a much darker room. 

The shot (wide), lingers on him sitting in the bed alone in the dark. He turns on his phone, illuminating himself a bit, yet not enough to retreat him from the darkness. He stares at the phone longingly, then picks it up and throws it to the wall. 

The phone rings. He stands up.  

Cut to-

(j-cut) 

A close up of Diego shows him on the phone. 

DIEGO

(Sad)

Hey mom

MOM

Diego, I need to talk to you, can you talk right now?

DIEGO

(Almost tearing up)

Um, I don’t know, um, my ex-girlfriend kinda just texted me and- 

MOM

(Interrupting)

Ok, is this story gonna take a while?

DIEGO
I just wanted to- 

MOM

Because your father stopped sending me money again. He thinks I’m using it for botox. 

DIEGO

Did you use it for botox?

MOM

How dare you. I need you to talk to him. 

DIEGO 

Mom I-

MOM

(interrupting)

No I don’t care, Diego what am I supposed to do? He won’t talk to me, the man won’t talk to me. How will I- 

Diego’s face starts becoming red in rage.

DIEGO
(Suddenly and aggressively)

Can you shut the fuck up? 

MOM

No don’t tell me to-

DIEGO

No shut up. Shut the FUCK up. I’m trying to tell you how I feel you conniving CU-

Cut to-

DIEGO at his desk. He has tears streaming down his face, but he looks like he just got done crying. 

He is scrolling on his computer. 

BEAT

He looks around his room with a face of emptiness and sadness. He looks back at his computer and types- 

“Pornhub”

The computer takes him to porn hub. He types in the search bar- 

“Lesbian amateur”

He scrolls around. There are tears running down his face and he looks sadly unimpressed with the videos. 

He sits back on his chair. He’s looking around his room again. 

In the corner, something catches his eye.

It is a funny monkey calendar. 

Experimental music begins. 

MONTAGE

• Shot of Diego’s face becoming curious. 

• Shot of monkey calendar

• Close up of his eyes.

• Close up of monkey’s eyes

• Shot of Ericka’s eyes(picture, vertical)

• Close up of monkey’s hands

• Close up of Ericka’s hands

• Close up of monkey’s smile

• Close up of Ericka’s smile

• Close up of Diego’s  eyes, slowly becoming intensified. 

Beginning of the crescendo

• Shot of monkey- panning from eyes to breasts

His eyes widen, and he stares at it without blinking and with a little fear in his face. 

As the music decrescendos, a medium shot shows him slowly looking down at his pants. 

Title screen- “CIRCUS MONKEY” 

Cut to-

(j-cut)

Diego’s computer screen shows a bit of a violent videogame. 

He is beating up prostitutes in Grand Theft Auto. 

DIEGO

(stands up to celebrate)

Lets fucking goo!! Take that whore, yeahhhh. 

MANNY

Yo, my mom’s calling me, be right back

JACK

Alright I’ll pause it. 

Diego lays back and looks around. 

He looks at the monkey again. He looks a little disturbed at first, but snaps out of it and giggles at himself. 

He giggles again and pulls up twitter on his computer. 

He tweets- 

“Lowkey, not being a creep, but if monkeys are just humans that don’t talk, couldn’t I hypothetically fuck a monkey?”

He tweets it as his friend is coming back. 

MANNY

Alright, let’s hop back

They play in silence for a minute. The only thing heard is the violence of the video game. 

The silence is cut by Jack. 

Close up of Diego’s face. 

JACK

Yo, Diego

DIEGO

What’s up

JACK

What the fuck did you just tweet dog? 

The smile in his face wanes and for a second, we see full panic in his eyes. 

BEAT

MANNY

I just saw it- 

BEAT

They suddenly both burst into intense laughter, and slowly Diego begins laughing too. 

MANNY

(In the middle of laughing)

No but like, you’re kinda…right

JACK

What the fuck dude

MANNY

Like I mean, a hole’s a hole. They got boobs too…

Their voices slowly become muffled, and the laughter of the boys 

becomes intense, as a close up of Diego’s face shows his eyes becoming illuminated. 

MANNY
I gotta go guys

JACK

Lowkey I’m gonna hop off too

DIEGO
Al-alright guys

A wide shot shows him sitting on his bed. He picks up his phone and opens tiktok. 

We see him scroll for a second. He pauses to think. He looks at the wall. He opens the tiktok camera, and slowly puts the phone to his face. 

We see his face on the front camera. He is staring at himself and preparing himself. 

Cut to-

A vertical tik tok video of Diego saying- 

DIEGO

Hear me out. Lowkey, if monkeys are just humans that can’t talk, could I, hypothetically, fuck a monkey? Sorry if this was offensive, I’m just genuinely curious. 

Puts phone down. 

Fade to black. 

END OF ACT I

A graphic of tik tok likes begins popping up. Graphic of comments- 

• “LMFAO WTF” “nahh” “BRO HAS THAT ZOO RIZZ” “not the monkey pussy” “why he lowkey speaking faX tho” “not the monkussy” “yo digital footprint is a real thing”

Harsh cut shows Diego staring at the phone. He is shocked, his eyes are completely wide. 

The look on his face is completely ambigious, and slowly a grin emerges on his face revealing his feelings. A slow zoom on his face signify a change in him. 

MONTAGE

Black screen. Vertical tiktoks show up. Things like "I'm the guy who said he would fuck the monkey, and you know what i have no regrets”

(replying to a comment that says: idk if ur serious but this is fucking hilarious) “nope im serious!” *thumbs up*

“Hey guys… still me, the guy who wants to fuck a monkey! I was just wondering…”

Him playing video games with his friends, ignoring them and going on tiktok. 

Him checking his stats. 

Progressively becoming nastier

Other people are making videos about him.

His friends calling him and him immediately hanging up on them, not hesitating.  

Live stream- gets a bit of hate and he defends himself. Curses, says rude shit. 

"My haters won't stop me." #EFFTHEMONKEY

Progressively, his personality intensifies, and he seems happy. The feeling is ambigious, although he seems happy, and he has support of people, he does not talk to his friends anymore, and there is a very somber feeling attached to the fame he has attained. 

HARSH CUT

END OF ACT II 

 

ACT III

 

Diego is sitting in the toilet. He has a vile shirt on, and his pants are fully down. His genitals are being strategically covered by the sink. His posture is disgusting, and he looks vulnerable and disgusting. 

 

He is reloading his notifications, and they are showing the same three comments again and again. His face is very confused. 

 

CUT TO

 

Diego is eating mac and cheese. Hunched over the table like a hog, he vacuums the mac and cheese like it has legs, and looks at his phone

 

He is more desperate now. He restarts his phone and nothing. He scrolls and scrolls and scrolls and nothing. Shot become shorter, faster, and he becomes more desperate. 

 

He gasps. A wide shot shows him sitting alone again. Only white noise from the air conditioner is heard.

 

He goes to the bathroom and is out of toilet paper. 

He goes to the kitchen and has basically nothing. 

 

He lays down on his bed. His expression changes drastically. He looks at the monkey.  

 

CUT TO

Ext. Parking Lot- Day

 

Wide shot- Diego parks his car in a parking lot and gets out. He is wearing a hoodie and looking at his phone, still scrolling on his phone and looking forward. 

 

He crosses a woman, but her face is not visible. After passing him, she turns around and addresses him. 

 

ERICKA (Off screen)

Diego?

 

Diego lifts his head and quickly turns around. Ericka is standing in front of him.

 

DIEGO

(Winded)

Ericka

There’s an awkward moment of tension, and a two shot shows them staring at each other. Diego looks upset, and Ericka just looks awkward.

 

ERICKA

(Breaking the tension)

How you doing? I haven’t heard from you in a while.

 

DIEGO

I-I’m fine

 

ERICKA

Um- I texted you a bit ago.

 

DIEGO

I didn’t see

 

ERICKA

I- saw the tiktok you made about me

 

BEAT

 

DIEGO

I was- pretty heartbroken

 

ERICKA

I didn’t realize

 

DIEGO

We had something

 

BEAT

 

ERICKA

Did we? We went on two dates Diego.

 

A close up shot shows him become more desperate.

 

DIEGO

(Stuttering)

I just- I just- I don’t get why you ended it. I was such a nice guy. I get it, I’m not the cutest, most macho guy, but I thought you cared about more than that.

BEAT

 

ERICKA

(confidently and boldly)

Diego, if you genuinely believe the reason we did not work out, or the reason girls don’t talk to you, is because of your looks, then there’s something seriously wrong with you. You are the most entitled, and childish man I have ever met.

 

She walks away. Diego is holding back an insane amount of tears and words.

 

As she is walking away, Diego interrupts.

 

DIEGO

(Interrupting)

You’re just another fucking whore!

 

ERICKA

(composed)

Have a good life Diego.

She walks away

 

Ear ringing is heard.

Slow motion- Diego walks back to his car angrily.

He sits in his car and looks forward, breathing hardly and angrily.

He picks up his phone and begins recording himself horizontally.

 

CUT TO

Video being recorded on phone.

 

Diego is not crying, but he is eating his tears. There is a stark silence.

 

 

DIEGO

Hi, it’s me. Monkey fucking guy. I have an update.

BEAT

If this video reaches one million like- I will kill my ex-girlfriend Ericka.

Cut to black

 

Black screen. The sound of tiktok likes is heard and becomes more intense.

 

Title screen – “CIRCUS MONKEY”, Credits.

The Power Of Friendship :)

 Hey blog, 

Let's talk SCRIPTS!!!! My favorite part. 

I spent a lot of time dwelling on the thought of having to write this piece. It was so overwhelming, since this is my first time ever truly writing something that takes place in more than one day, and where something like the rise to fame, has to be established, and I had to do it in the least amount of scenes possible.

We started by planning the outline to our film, and thinking of concise ways of giving exposition, and showing development, without it feeling rushed. 

I showed in my previous blog, that outline. It took a bit for me to begin the actual script. Since I commonly write scripts, and I am considered the person who can whip out a script out of anything, but this time it was a lot harder- it wasn't coming to me the way other films do. I normally write much shorter sequences, and this taught me how to approach a larger idea, with more layers. I decided, I'm in a group. I don't need to write this on my own- I can ask for help. 

So, on a lovely evening Clara and I made some coffee and got comfortable, and began. I held the keyboard, since I know the formating, and Clara helped me go over what I wrote, and the order of events. It was very refreshing being able to bounce ideas of Clara. Additionally she kept me so focused, because since we were talking the whole time, I was having fun!

Anyway, we wrote the first act, and eventually I wrote everything until the last conversation between Diego and Ericka, because I wanted to act out the scene with Clara, to really get the tone of the conversation right. By the way, I wrote the second act in a plane ride with Clara- here are some pictures:

Anyway, since we were in a plane, we did not practice the dialogue, so I still had to write that. 

On a random spring break day, I had made too much pasta. Luckily, Clara lives two houses away, and she can come really quickly and eat some. And we did, we had lunch it was lovely!

I digress, afterwards, we thought eh, what better time to write than now. 

So we did, we went through the scene, and I wrote it super quickly. After we went thorugh the whole script many times and made many corrections, until... It was done! 

We decided- we needed to print it and annotate it (divide it by scenes, shots, figure out the lighting for each scene, etc.)

So we did- here are some pics (yes we signed it, were extra)

We were doing amazing, so we decided to borrow my brother's I pad, and storyboard. We were doing good, but we hated doing it. We cannot draw. So we thought hey, we're not doing this alone. We have Martina, and she is an artist. Let's bring the whole gang together and have a full pre production day. 

So we did, and Martina's storyboard looked amazing, and it relaxed me a bit, because I actually see how we would separate this into shots. Yay!

 

More pics for you-

Then we decided, let's figure out this monkey situation. We had picked the perfect, funny, yet suitable picture, we just had to make a calendar. So Clara, went on canva and designed it. 

I also took time marking out where we would need graphics, and designing them a bit, so I could tell Andrew, my friend who is a genius at vfx, to make them. I have been working with Andrew for a year, and one time he set a tree on fire for me...literally- 

This was for a film we made at the beginning of the year- anyway,

again I must digress,

We finished planning at Starbucks and picked up the calendar! 

It was a prroductive day, and we got a lot done, 

And in the end, I learned the power of working with people, and letting them help you..The power of friends- ok I'll shut up. Bye blog. 

Music

Hey blog, 

Let's talk tunez. 

Since we've come up with the title of the short, "Circus Monkey," I've had the idea to use circus music in, at least, the title screen. 

It is a scene that begins very dull and slow, and progressively becomes very intense and crescendoes. The end is very grandiose, and there is a big sense of dread in Diego's face. I Heard the title screen music for "Babylon" and I loved it. It has the exact feeling I want, and the change of tone in the song once the crescendo ends, is very dramatic and cool. 

With that being said, here are two tracks I found online that fit this. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDRsy9CiP9g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaxP8EO1lfo

I feel like these evoke the same tone and feeling as most of the songs in Babylon, which I really want for the title. 

Group Meetings

 Hey blogs, 

Let's talk about the group meetings we had last week. 

My instructor set up meetings with each other, and other groups, so we could get a fresh perspective on our project. 

I sat down with Wade, Sabrina, and Sasha, and told them about my project. 

They told me about their projects, and I am very excited to see their shorts. 

I also told them about my project, and they actually all enjoyed it. 

Obviously, there was shock at the beginning. Once I got past the monkey stuff, and into the character, they where very interested. 

From what they told me, they really liked how the absurdism and nastiness of it, does not end up being the focus of the film, and the character himself ends up being the more interesting part, and even dark part. 

I was also able to properly break down everything to a group of people who had not heard of this project at all, and it allowed me to look at it with a cleaner head. I broke down the character of Diego, and it helped me become more specific with his personality. Whereas before he was just an incel who wants attention, I truly got into his relationship with women, his outlook on women, the relationship he has with his friends, etc. 

I also helped Sabrina with her project. She had a very vague idea, where she wanted to make a coming of age short, and I helped her actually think of what the characters are, which was very cool. 

I loved the group meetings and I am excited to do them again once we return from spring break!

Postcard

Hey blog,

Let's talk about the postcard, 

Our initial idea for the postcard came from Martina, who wanted to make the postcard a close up picture of Diego wearing his glasses, and in the reflection, we see a picture of a monkey.  Sort of like the posters for Leon the Professional. 

I thought this idea was cool at the beginning, when the main idea of the film was the monkey effing. However, now the short has evolved into much more than the monkey stuff, so we have to change that idea to exemplify the social media and mental health aspect of the film. 

This postcard is great. What I like about it, is that if evokes a sense of depression or sadness, and it focuses on what I can assume, is the protagonist, which I want to do since this film is a character study. I love the cold lighting, and I like the way the picture is framed. However, I want to get more fun with our design. 

I think it is time I let you know, my dear blog, that we have landed on a title. 

The title for our film is...

"Circus Monkey"

With that being said, we definitely want to play with the circus aspect in all of our key art elements, including the postcard. 

I really like an idea like this, I do not want the postcard to be just a shot of the film, I love the little collage, and the style of the postcard. 

However, it would be cool to involve some circus aspects, without going too far, so as to not confuse the audience. 

I think if we mixed the circus aspect, with the technological aspect of the film, we can make a very unexpected, yet absurd postcard.