Structure

     In order to fully understand the effect that Michael's PTSD has on his and Teresa's life, I've decided that the opening scene of the film will start of with realism, transform into formalism, and then go back to realism. The reason I decided to do this is so the audience can see Michael and Teresa's predicament in its full capacity; the first scene of realism will show (or hint at) the trigger, the formalist scene will delineate the episode he has, and the shift back to realism will show the aftermath.


    Below is a portion of the story board for the opening scene of the film. The first two shots are meant to establish that he is a solemn military man who is concerned with order and appearances; this is why Michael will primarily be shown through the body language and mannerisms of the actor. A medium shot is being used in the first to simultaneously focus the audience on him and establish that the film is going to be from his perspective regarding his perceptions by doing a focus pull from him to his reflection. The long shot of him making the bed will reinforce order and regiment, while it is shown that one side of the bed is already made (it will be revealed why this is significant later in the opening when Teresa is properly introduced). As he walks around the bed fixing it there will be a tracking shot where there will be an insert of a close up of a photo of him and Teresa as he passes by, establishing that he is in some sort of relationship.
    From this point on it will slowly become increasingly apparent that Michael is being bothered by something. This is thought is instigated by feeding the audience clues, such as the nervous hand gestures paired with the close up of the dog tags. When the close up of the fan happens, non-diagetic audio of a helicopter will begin to gradually overlay and the transition into formalism will begin. Ringing of his ears will be heard as there is another close up back to his face. The editing in this area will be more fast paced. There will be another close up of his fists clenching, giving an aggressive connotation and foreshadowing his abusive tendencies, then there is a knock hears at the door with used as diagetic asynchronous sound as is cuts to a close up of Michael's face as he looks at the door. He looks like one does as they black out before a fight, slightly savage. After this it will transition into formalism mainly using sound as the motive.