Quirky characters

[Johnny]

I've had an idea in my head for a series of seven short films, each involving a quirky character.

I have an artist who finds a corpse and decides to use it as art. I have a guy who's a little too obsessed with a woman he sees on a monorail. I have a couple of wacky Conspiracy Theorists on the lookout for 'Them'. The characters are in their own vignettes, and don't interact with each other.

So I need four more characters that can have a five-to-15 minute story. One of them has just dumped a body by a dumpster, after some sort of disturbing experience. (Again, there is no interaction with the other story, other than dropping off the body.)

Any ideas I can use?

[OtakuLoki]

Well, if you want an explanation for someone dumping a body, panicked, obviously without it having been a planned event, have the body be a result of erotic asphyxiation gone wrong. So, you've got the character lamenting, and complaining that all this has happened because God, the fates, or even the damned body, hates him/her. Turning everything that has happened into some kind of persecution complex.

[Zuul]

Oh, boy. Quirky is difficult, because it walks a fine line. Good luck!

For the body dumper, perhaps there was a party and the character wakes up in bed with the corpse? That could be grounds for some very strange little adventure.

Also, the artist with the body reminds me a bit of a weird 1980s Japanese film Mermaid in a Manhole. I assume yours doesn't veer into the creepy gore-porn arena.

[Johnny]

I don't really want to have the character have anything to do with the body, except for dumping it in the last segment. It gives an indication of why he's nervous, but I want him to have his own story that has nothing to do with the body.

And no, the Artist doesn't do anything erotic or gory with the body. (Well, there is a nude scene when he detects that she's getting a bit whiffy, and he tried to embalm her with alcohol or vodka using an aquarium fish pump and then he finishes her off with a coat of varnish.)

EDIT: The Artist's story has been finished for a long time. I'm wondering what 'Furtive Man' can do after he dumps the body, and what other interesting characters I can write stories around.

[Zuul]

Okay, this is a bit out of left field, but maybe the furtive man is trying to pick up a prostitute. Lo and behold, his lady of the evening snorts some bad coke in the car and dies before he ever even gets to the motel. He dumps the body (because what's he going to do, go tell the cops the truth?) and goes off to continue trying to find some companionship for the evening, with each attempt going wrong in some horrific fashion.

[Johnny]

Hm. Interesting...

FM's dumping of the body is just a 'link'. We see him near the beginning of the Artist segment, dropping off the body as we see Artist walking away with the the woman he finds at the dumpster. Oh, wait! I have a (very badly-drawn -- sorry) storyboard page. The only connection between him in his segment, and the previous segment, is that he happened to appear in the previous segment.

But yeah... Maybe it could be a dialogue-based segment (as opposed to a more visual one) where he 'tells his tale' to someone (a Bartender, or a Friend), about how he found this body by a dumpster, he took it (for reasons he'll reveal), and weird things started happening that completely shot his nerves.

[At this point I should say that I'm taking some inspiration from Jim Jarmusch. Not trying to copy his style or anything, but being aware of his storytelling.]

Now, there's a shot I wanted to get on a ferry. I figured this guy's story would take place on the Peninsula. But maybe he could be going to Orcas Island, and that would give him time to tell his story on the trip over. That gives me the shot I want, and a location. But it also means I'll have to forego the guerilla filmmaking route and actually get a permit and probably have to pay to use the ferry for the film. (This is going to be a self-produced indie film, so cost is a factor.)

You've given me an idea. I just have to think of the 'weird stuff that happened' (which I think shouldn't be a problem) to he can tell his story.

The other four segments I need cannot be related at all to the Artist's story or Furtive Man's story. Except for these two segments, the 'link' character is 'random'. For example, in one scene of the first segment we see Artist walking along the sidewalk and turning into an alley -- just a character in the background. Someone in FM's segment will catch the eye and be the lead in the next segment, but there will be no other connection -- if you know what I mean. (It's perfectly clean in my head! Honest!)

[Zuul]

Yeah, that makes sense!

Is each main character in your segments going to be a male or is there room for "quirky" females?

[Johnny]

The three segments I have that are pretty solid are called 'Monorail', 'Somebody', and 'Watchers'. I've place-marked FM's segment as 'Ferry'. In each of those segments, the main character is male. But there are four more segments I need, and there's no reason the main character can't be female. (Heck, the main character could be a dog! That would be interesting. Only I don't have the time or money to work with animals.)

This morning -- or maybe it was last night -- I was thinking about a particular homeless woman I see every day I'm in Seattle. She has a certain 'look'; dignified, like. And she never speaks. (Almost never. I heard her say 'Thank you' once, as she returned the toilet key to the staff at Subway.) She can frequently be seen just standing. It occurred to me I could have a segment called 'Sentinel', because that's what she reminds me of. But that's as far as my thinking went. I didn't even begin to think of a story. Also, there's 'Watchers'. Do I really want a second story about someone 'watching'? On the other hand, it would make an interesting contrast between her and the weirdoes in 'Watchers'. I'll let that one percolate for a while.

But yeah, female main characters are fine.

[Johnny]

But there are four more segments I need

Three segments I need.

If I do decide to do something with the Homeless Woman As Sentinel thing, maybe she could be a 'catcher in the rye'.

[Zuul]

This morning -- or maybe it was last night -- I was thinking about a particular homeless woman I see every day I'm in Seattle. She has a certain 'look'; dignified, like. And she never speaks. (Almost never. I heard her say 'Thank you' once, as she returned the toilet key to the staff at Subway.) She can frequently be seen just standing.

There is a short story that I'm thinking of, but unfortunately I can't recall the name of it. There's a woman in it who shouts and dances about and causes a great disturbance wherever she goes. The narrator finds her very disturbing and finally asks her why she does this. She explains that she does it because if she isn't being looked at, if people aren't paying attention to her, that she won't be sure if she exists or not. Only by seeing the reactions of others can be sure of her continued existence.

Maybe your sentinel is doing the opposite, watching others so that they don't disappear?

[Johnny]

Maybe your sentinel is doing the opposite, watching others so that they don't disappear?

I'd have to be careful not to slip into the paranormal. I'll think about it a bit.

I have plenty of time. The friend who was making the last film should be out of the Army in six or eight months. Then he and his wife will have to make their way from Ft. Hood to the Great Green Pacific Northwest, and get settled. I have a 5-minute zombie flick I was supposed to make in New Orleans in 2008, but that fell through. We could shoot that as a 'warm-up'.

And then there will be all of the preparations necessary for shooting on film instead of video. So I have plenty of time to think about it.

Only, I absolutely HATE writing! So I have to get the characters now, so that I can procrastinate a bit on writing the stories and scripts.

[Johnny]

Just thinking about Furtive Man...

Since he is disposing of a body (it is implied that it is under the same circumstances as Artist does, as is shown at the end), his story could be as I posted earlier. But in that case, his segment may be too closely tied to 'Somebody'. I want each segment to stand on its own. That is, each should be viewable as its own short film. FM discussing 'this weird thing that just happened to him' could stand on its own; you wouldn't have had to have seen the 'Somebody' segment. So this is what I'm thinking:

• It can stand on its own, so it's OK to have it so closely related to the previous segment; or,
• It's too closely related to the previous segment, so he should have a completely different story; or,
• Choose another character (probably 'Pizza Guy') from 'Somebody' and he will be the 'link'.

I like the idea of using FM as the link, and I think it's logical that he would be shaken up and that he would want to tell his story. Also, it would be an easy (and cheap) shoot -- with the possible exception of shooting on a ferry. I'm just worried the connection would be too close.

I still need some more characters; the more, the merrier, so that I can think about which ones I'd like to shoot. Imagine you're at an Improv club, and the guy on stage asks, 'I need a character and a situation.'

[Rube E. Tewesday]

Well, back in the day, I was in a strip joint. An old school one with a stage, and where the guys in the front row slipped money into the girls' stockings. Nothing too unusual, except in this place, there was a middle-aged woman in the front row, all by herself, slipping money in the stockings just like the guys, being treated just like one of the guys by the strippers.

I admired that woman's courage, but she might be described as a quirky character.

[Johnny]

Maybe she was a stripper when she was younger, and is playing the Fairy Godmother?

[ivan astikov]

Could you introduce a man carrying a duffel bag with a severed head in it, somewhere into the mix?

[Johnny]

Could do, but there's already 8 Heads In A Duffel Bag.

So... Tell me about some of these bad decisions in your sig.

[ivan astikov]

I seriously question whether you could fit 8 heads in a duffel bag unless it was like those holdhalls that soldiers use...but then it wouldn't be a duffel bag!?

Or maybe they were pygmy heads? I dunno, 8 heads just seems like overkill!

Hey, just because it's my sig, it doesn't mean i've made any bad decisions! I pinched the sig, as it happens, so don't be attracting attention to it.

[Johnny]

Incidentally, I want to shoot on Kodak 7231. That runs about $80 a roll (400 feet/11 minutes). If I'm careful, I should be able to get by (for all of the vignettes) with about 30 rolls. Processing should run 15¢ or so per foot. There's also prep for digital transfer, and the transfer itself. So the characters and situations should be suitable for very low-budget shooting.

[Johnny]

At the store today I saw a girl of about 20 with short, bleach-blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a 'little black dress', silver belt, fishnet stockings, red high-heels, and a jacket. She looked like a character! Turns out she's a hair stylist. Since I only get my hair cut two or three times a year, I have no experience with hair stylists and don't know any stories. But I'll remember her 'look'.