Film Idea: They Lay in a Pool of Blood That Is Not Their Own!
I told you I would eventually get to it (explaining the film, that is)...
The idea for They Lay in a Pool of Blood That Is Not Their Own! (TLiaPoBTINTO! for short, or for long since it takes longer and more brainpower to type out) originated in a dream I had. The dream saw a schoolgirl who had moved to a village in the French countryside with her father. The girl's mother died when she was very young, leading her dad to lose his purpose in life neglect raising his child. As a result, the girl could not talk, read, or write and thus was treated as an outcast in her new village. However, the village's tight-knit community, centered around Christianity, helped her learn these skills and integrated her into their community. The village would thank God for healing this girl and making her talk again and would praise her, but would still continue treating her as an outcast. After years of thriving in this cultish community, the girl realized that it was not God that helped her, but herself and her community.
The girl would develop a distaste for her community and religion though, as they had led her to so much pain and suffering in being treated as an outsider. This led her to begin self-worshipping, spending her time praying to altars filled with pictures of herself. The village would discover her blasphemy, but the girls hatred toward her own community and religion would lead her to burning first the church, and then the village down, killing everyone.
The dream delved into multiple themes that had been on my mind at the time:
- People harm each other more the closer they get (The Hedgehog's Dilemma)
- People harm each other unintentionally or intentionally in seeking gratification through relationships and while attaining goals/desires/incentives (which is referenced in the film title)
- People find purpose in life through religion and community
- People can find freedom in sexuality
We made minor changes in order to be able to adapt this into a full film idea. The first change we made was in the setting, which would be in the American countryside in the 1980's. We also made the protagonist mute due to the trauma of her mom's death instead of having been mute as a result of her father's neglect.
Then, we created the opening illustrated in the storyboard. The opening begins with a poem read by the protagonist, Belle. The poem ends with the line "They Lay in a Pool of Blood That Is Not Their Own!," transitioning to the title card. As this is read, intense strings swell. These strings abruptly terminate, replaced by calm church organ music, which plays as frames with pictures of Belle's mother and some of her belongings fill the screen. These shots show various parts of the memorial shrine set up for the mother while the intro credits roll. A crucifix is shown and is matched with a similar shot of a crucifix in a church, where the family is praying. It is made clear in the previous and subsequent shots that the mother is dead, hinting that this sequence is a flashback. The family is shown praying together, but cuts back (along with the music) to the present day, where the father aggressively rushes Belle to pack up the contents of the memorial shrine. Belle silently dismisses him, but her father Christopher is clearly agitated, and yells at her to pack up. Ignored again, Christopher attempts to grab the main picture of the mother but is met with opposition from Belle. The two fight over the picture and Christopher backhands Belle. Angered and tired of having to look at his dear deceased wife any longer, he storms out and burns the photo. Belle is destroyed, stopping at the door and watching through the window as her past is burned in real time.
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