We finally have a cohesive story!

 A lot of progress was made today.  Although we had a broad idea of our story and the plot progression, we really didn't have a fully fleshed-out ending, and we had no sense of direction past the second act either.  Today in class, Clara, Virginia, and I decided to sit down and brainstorm these major details.  

I had written a rough draft for the Act 1 plot progression earlier, but there were a lot of things that needed to be changed.  Mainly, we worried about maintaining realism.  Other things were changed, as we felt that they benefit the progression of events more that way.  For example, Virginia wanted the film to begin with a fight between Diego and his ex-girlfriend where it is established that they broke up and that he's an immature, unsympathetic person.  I was unsure about this idea, as I felt that the major fight scene would be more impactful toward the end of the production, and would serve as a turning point for our protagonist to finally realize that his behaviors have been inexcusable.  After some discussion, we came to the conclusion that Diego and his ex will coincidentally run into each other at the end of the film, and the altercation would occur then.

My ramblings

We also wanted to establish a sense of conflict with his mother.  Diego has never had a strong female influence in his life, and that's what sparks his incel mentality.  In order to create this dynamic, we decided to include a phone call between him and his mother, where it is made evident that his mother is either not fully there, or is just a shitty selfish person overall.

We also needed to work out his "rise to fame" (if you can even call it that), as it's gonna be the most crucial element of the film.  Ultimately, we decided upon a series of events that we are satisfied with, although the actual era of stardom is still subject to change.

However, the biggest decision we took today was when creating the ending.  Originally, we had planned for Diego to meet up with his ex, realize that he has gone too far, and then go home and delete all his socials, only to wallow in his regret and misery.  We weren't necessarily sold on this idea, but we thought it was a perfect mixture of resolution and tragedy.  We approached Stoklosa at the end of the period to discuss our changes - a decision that proved to be monumental for the development of our idea.

Our live Stoklosa reaction

When discussing with her, she mentioned that she liked the idea of the final fight between the two characters, but didn't think that it was enough to "turn" him.  This was a sentiment that we all agreed with, since we were picturing the fight to be a confrontation where his ex is incredibly mature and, for lack of a better word, "normal," while Diego is completely childish and believes that he is in the right.  Instead, Stoklosa gave us an incredible alternative:  What if he realizes that he's not getting the same amount of attention from the monkey-f***ing posts as he once was, and says something even more radical to gain traction again?

This idea sparked a lot of brainstorming.  We all really wanted to be able to execute this perfectly, but we worried about what could be even more radical and vulgar than bestiality.  Finally, we decided to meet up after school and write down all our ideas and draft the script.  It was then, sitting down in a Starbucks past 8pm, working off of an iced expresso and a shitty bagel, that we came up with what we believe is the perfect ending.  It goes as follows: After the fight, fueled by the adrenaline and hatred, realizing that he's not getting nearly as many interactions as he once was, Diego sits down in his car to make one final TikTok: a promise that if gets 1 million likes on his video, he will kill his ex-girlfriend.  And then, the likes and comments begin to pour in.

As of now, we're really satisfied with the direction our story has taken.  All that needs to be done now is to write the script, which Virginia will take care of, being the one with the most talent and experience in this aspect.  Afterwards, we can begin finalizing characterisation and set design, and finally move on to production!