A Quick Summary

Just thought I'd type up a quick summary on where our thoughts are at the moment, after a great chat with Phil, and pre-empting meeting with Alan today.

• A Postmodern Plot
• A postmodernist plot can be described as 'centrifugal', a fragmentation of something once whole. This is in comparison to the more typical 'centripetal' plot, where elements come to together in some kind of satisfactory completion.
• A film such as Double Indemnity (1944) (Review pending...) has a tragic plot during everything slips through the protagonists fingers. Yet is still completes its arc, the strands come together to form a satisfying conclusion, Walter Neff gets his closure and some form of redemption for his crimes.
• A postmodern film such as Blue Velvet (1986) creates a parody of this format. After their terrifying journey through the dregs of the underworld; Jeffrey and Sandy settle down for a happily-ever-after. But this idyllic milieu is portrayed as completely artificial, shallow and without depth. Our two protagonists lose any depth they had throughout the film, becoming shallow 'images' of perfect people. It is suggested that actually the underworld was a more genuine, more meaningful existence than the fake 'American dream'. 
• A Quest of Redemption
• Creating a film with pastiche and postmodernism in mind allows us an extraordinary degree of creativity and knowing use of cliché and stereotype.
• We have discussed our main character as being a detective, the typical anti-hero, a rough-diamond. An icon of film noir. Whether through corruption, a failed investigation or incidence of neglect, our detective goes on a soul-searching journey, looking for closure and redemption.
• However, fragmenting the self through self-reflection and analysis doesn't necessarily lead to a conclusion, infact our character is left, perhaps more corrupt and splintered than he first was, unable to break the role life has given him.
• A wry commentary on the credit crunch, the unfulfilled promise of change within the financial system.
• The Nuts and Bolts
• As Phil pointed out, intellectually we're doing well, with some interesting ideas. We now need to find the wheels to carry our idea, begin outlaying the actual plot that will convey our meaning to the audience.