“The early vision I have for my filming opening is the story of a hard working young girl who since childhood has understood the importance of getting into a good college. She values her school work more than anything in life and those values reflect on her friendships, her relationships and her overall lifestyle. Throughout the film opening the audience gets a glimpse of her work ethics as well as her overall mindset towards her work and how seriously she takes her work. Due to her family’s financial situation she understands she must get a scholarship in order to continue her academic career. The film opening will take the viewer on the girl's journey of being the most hardworking version of herself that she is required to be in order to get a scholarship which has a great effect on how she views herself, her relationships, a letter grade and life in general. To emphasize how different and difficult her life has become, I want to showcase the life of a regular student who still receives good grades, but has a healthy balance between life and school. I really want the ending of the opening to be a cliffhanger where the main character gets a college letter in the main and as she’s about to open it the opening ends. I want the audience to leave with those haunting questions of if she got into a good school or not and if she got a scholarship or not.”
Looking back at the very first version of my film opening idea that I wrote about in my “ Genre Decision (Blog #8)” is the equivalent of reading one of my old papers from 4th grade. I say this because of how much I think my idea has developed, similar to how peoples writing develops from 4th grade to 10th as it has for me. So what exactly do I want my film opening to look like now? After conducting much research on many elements of coming-of-age dramas and gathering my own thoughts on what I want to showcase in my film I’ve been able to write another version of the first idea,
I’ve come to develop a new vision for my film opening, an intimate portrait of a high school student consumed by perfection. The opening draws the audience into the rhythm of her everyday life, early alarms, stacks of papers, constantly studying, and the suffocating pressure she places on herself. Due to her family’s financial situation she understands she must get a scholarship in order to continue her academic career. She lives in a world where perfection is not just a goal but a requirement. A B is not simply a grade but a failure she refuses to accept. She pushes herself further and further, convinced that every additional hour of work guarantees better results. This obsession comes at
a devastating cost as her relationships, friendships and even her sense of self all begin to crumble. The few people who truly care about her become background noise, pushed to the sidelines while she continues her relentless pursuit of academic excellence. The film centers on the emotional toll this mindset takes on her, highlighting how her toxic expectations and unhealthy attachment to her schoolwork consume her from the inside out. As the story unfolds, her mental health begins to fall apart. Depression creeps in as she isolates herself from the world to make more time for her schoolwork. Days quickly begin to blur together, and the loneliness chips away at her until she feels trapped in her own mind. Anxiety builds with every assignment and every test, hours of preparation all falling into a single letter grade she ultimately has no control over. Her addictive tendencies become unmistakable, no matter how exhausted, overwhelmed or broken she becomes, she simply can’t stop. She keeps pushing, despite the journey toward her goal slowly destroying her. The opening builds towards the final few moments, her receiving a letter from college. The audience doesn’t know what the letter says but the weight of everything she’s sacrificed hangs in the air, making the moment feel monumental, bittersweet, and full of tension making the audience question “At what cost?”
“Nina from Black Swan and Andrew from Whiplash both share the same driven and perfectionist mindset as my main character. All three of these characters are fueled by ambition and the belief that their value comes from how much they achieve. They’re willing to push themselves beyond their limits, giving up rest, happiness, and even personal connections just to reach their goals. What ties them together is the emotional toll that obsession takes, the pressure, the fear of not being good enough, and the loneliness that comes from constantly striving for perfection. In the end, each of them faces the realization that achieving greatness can come at the expense of losing themselves, which makes their journeys both intense and deeply human.” (Character Analysis (The perfectionist mindset)(Black Swan and Whiplash) (Blog #16)
I’ve been heavily influenced by films like I, Tonya, Whiplash, and Black Swan, and that influence truly shows in the new direction I want my film opening to take. The “perfectionist mindset” has always been so intriguing to me, how someone can push themselves to the edge, almost to the point of losing control, all in pursuit of excellence. That’s what I want to explore, just with a different “craft”. In Whiplash, the main character’s breaking point comes from his obsession with drumming while in my film, it will be the main character’s fixation on her academics. To really understand who she is, I asked ChatGPT for some character questions, and answering them helped me paint a picture of her personality for the audience. Similar to the game "20 Question" one plays when wanting to get to know someone, I answered 20 questions about my main character.
20 Questions
1. Why is she obsessed with perfection?
Perfection to the main character feels like the only way out of her family's financial situation. She believes getting a full ride scholarship has become her responsibility. She believes that if she is not anything but perfect, she won’t have a future and she can’t stomach the idea of disappointing the people who have sacrificed so much for her, her parents.
2. What is she most afraid will happen if she stops pushing herself?
She fears everything will fall apart. She believes she’ll lose her scholarship chances, she’ll stay stuck in the same cycle her family is currently trapped in, and she’ll let down the people she loves.
3. What early signs of anxiety or depression appear?
She pulls all-nighters even when she doesn’t need to, simply to study more. She isolates herself from everyone in her life, she cries silently at night, then forces herself to keep studying.
4. What lie does she believe about herself?
She believes her worth is measured solely by her performance. If she fails, even slightly, she believes she is failing as a daughter, a student, and a student.
5. What was her life like before high school?
Before the pressure intensified, she was bright, carefree and lively. She loved reading, drawing and hanging out with friends and family but as her family’s financial challenges worsened, she felt forced to mature quickly. The hobbies all slipped away one by one as she focused entirely on school now.
6. What’s her home environment like?
Her parents work long hours trying to keep up with the constant bills coming their way. They’re loving, but they’re exhausted and worried about bills. They don’t pressure her directly but their stress hangs heavy in the house, loud even in complete silence.
7. What expectations does her family have?
They tell her to “do her best,” but she interprets this as “be perfect.” They believe in her so much that she feels that she cannot fail them, and that pressure is heavier than any criticism.
8. Who does she push away and how do they react?
Her best friend tries repeatedly to stay connected, sending texts, inviting her out, checking on her but she eventually slowly fades away. First she cancels plans, then she stops replying. Her friend gives up, heartbroken but unable to reach her anymore.
9. How does she interpret moments of rest or failure?
She sees rest as a weakness, a betrayal of her goals, and a waste of time she could be using to study. Sleeping, eating, or taking a break triggers guilt and anxiety. Failure feels catastrophic, she interprets it as proof that she might ruin her chances at a scholarship.
10. What does she notice in others that she envies or fears she lacks?
She notices how effortlessly her peers socialize and laugh without guilt. She envies their freedom and fears she’ll never be able to experience that kind of ease again because she’s trapped by her need for perfection.
11. What does an average day look like?
- Wakes up at 4 AM (If she feels like she's earn a few hours of sleep)
- Studies before school
- Goes to school
- Gets home to continue studying
- Ignores texts, calls and meals
- Falls asleep on top of her notes at late hours into the night
Every day feels identical, like she’s stuck in a loop she can’t seem to escape.
12. What unhealthy habits does she develop?
- Isolating herself
- Hiding her stress
- Measuring her worth solely by her grades
Her exhaustion becomes a normal part of her life.
13. How does she react to minor failures?
A small mistake feels catastrophic. A B on an assignment sends her spiraling, shaking hands, rapid breathing, and hours of overthinking as well as studying more to “make up for it.”
14. What moment makes the audience realize her perfectionism is dangerous?
She falls asleep at her desk in the middle of the night, surrounded by highlighted textbooks and unfinished assignments. She wakes up hours later and goes to the bathroom to wash the sleep away from her eyes. In the bathroom, she looks at herself and sees her reflection looking back at her, her hair a mess, her eyes red, and her eyebags visible. She starts crying but quickly starts wiping the tears away and goes back to her desk to continue studying (Like the scenes from Black Swan and I, Tonya where both women break down and try to hide their pain with makeup). This is when the audience understands, she won’t stop despite her body telling her.
15. What is the first moment she realizes she’s losing control?
She doesn’t realize, she thinks her habits and work ethic is the only way she’ll get somewhere in the future despite her body giving her many warning signs.
16. Does she ever question her own behavior?
Late at night, the few hours she awards herself with sleep, despite them being sleepless, she realizes she doesn’t recognize the person she’s become. With flashbacks of who she once was and who she is now this realization is highlighted. She quickly pushed the thoughts aside, convinced she doesn’t have a choice.
17. What did she sacrifice to get to the moment of the college letter?
- Her friendships
- Her mental health
- Her hobbies
- Her sleep
- Her happiness
- Her sense of identity
Every sacrifice is embedded in the envelope she’s holding.
18. What is she hoping the letter will say?
She’s hoping that she earned the scholarship, that all her suffering mattered. That she can save her family and escape the life she fears being stuck in.
19. How does she see herself versus how others see her?
She sees herself as disciplined but never enough, always behind, always failing behind to reach her impossible standards. Others see a hardworking, high-achieving student. The audience feels the gap between her internal struggle and external perfection.
20. What is one moment when her obsession interferes with something she once loved or cared about?
She used to draw in a sketchbook every evening. Drawing every day to her was one of the many ways she expressed herself and was something she loved to do. Now, the sketchbook sits under a pile of papers, untouched.
After answering these questions I’ve come to better understand my character and have even been able to come up with a few more ideas to include into my film opening. I hope they can help the audience understand my character as well.
All pictures included were found on Pinterest
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