Astral Realization

Hello guys. This is my film. It was quite a struggle to make, and it isn’t that great, but I had a lot of fun making it. My film is influenced heavily by Melanie Martinez’s Mrs.Potato Head as well as teen romance dramas.

Plot summary: A young woman, Sarah, is in her last year of High school when one of her classmates, Ben, nervously asks her out. Having had a secret crush on him since seeing him for the first time in freshman biology, Sarah is surprised that Ben is finally reciprocating her feelings. Having struggled with self-esteem issues her entire life, Sarah is ecstatic to be in a relationship with her first love. Sarah is on the way to Ben’s house one day to watch a movie when she sees him standing in his backyard kissing another childhood friend, Ashley. Seething with anger, Sarah runs home sobbing and wondering why she isn’t as pretty as Ashely or why she wasn’t also a beauty pageant winner like her friend. She shuts herself inside her room for days, refusing to eat and only leaving to use the restroom. On one of her trips to the bathroom, she notices the dolls of her little sister scattered in front of her room. She screams out of frustration and kicks it at them, losing her footing and hitting her head on a rail, losing consciousness. When Sarah wakes up, she realizes that she is no longer in her body, but floating as an astral projection and watching the events of the past week of her life. Sarah follows her past self, realizing just how pathetic she had looked and how she was being used by Ben, who had been using her to get closer to Ashley. Sarah sees him gossiping to his friends about how ugly she was while waiting for her at the cafeteria and him mocking her behind her back. She sees him physically bullying her brother, as well as calling him names. Sarah flies around experiencing her relationship with Ben through third person perspective, becoming more and more aware of who he is as a person, while simultaneously experiencing her own good deeds. As she begins to finally accept her own beauty, Sarah’s real body is jolted awake by her sister. Sarah dumps Ben and lives confidently ever after.

Research element:To create this film, I researched and watched many popular teen dramas to give me an understanding of how they worked. I used this research to learn of elements of these dramas, such as; betrayal of long term friends; betrayal of a recent or prospective significant other; and solution to all problems, leading to a happy ending. I worked to incorporate these into my film, combined with the style of filming used in Melanie Martinez’s Mrs.Potato Head music video. This film is heavily influenced by the fact that materialistic substitutions cannot replace or fix problems that are psychological. Based on my previous research, I have found that cosmetic plastic surgery generally has a negative impact on the mental health of people that undergo it. The psychological damage that comes with the surgery usually has a major impact on people’s self esteem. In the article “Cosmetic Surgery and Psychological Issues”, two medical doctors cite statistics and different studies that show the negative impact that plastic surgery can have on one’s mental health. According to the doctors, “studies consistently suggested an increased risk of suicide among women who have undergone cosmetic breast augmentation surgery”(Sansone and Sansone). In the case of this film, Sarah’s boyfriend, Ben, is a metaphor for plastic surgery and she goes through the process of learning the negatives that come with him.

Creative style: My video drew influence from Melanie Martinez’s Mrs.Potato Head. A dark theme introduced under the false pretense of being happy and cheerful. Because my video is targeted at a younger audience, I didnt let it get too dark, like Melanie usually does. Instead, I tried to transition the video into a more comedic theme, where my message is portrayed, but not too seriously. Like Melanie, I began my film using mostly dark and dreary colors, before transitioning the theme of my video using a bright neon one. The main inspiration for my video comes from the way that Mrs.Potato Head is filmed. A young woman going through a crisis is, against her will, sent to “another world”, where she gets to face her problems head on. Through this virtual experience, the main character should be able to come to a realization to help them overcome their real world problem. 

Target audience: The target audience for my film is young adults, specifically women. Because young female women are statistically the most likely to receive plastic surgery, which is strongly correlated with self-esteem issues, I tried to create a motivational film in which young teens are able to relate. I decided to exclude the use of plastic surgery in my film. Instead of promoting cosmetic surgery, and expressing its horrors in my film, I try to instead dig deeper toward the root of the problem: Self-esteem issues. With this in mind, I modeled my film after cliche teen dramas, a genre in which is popular amongst teens. Young teenage love and angst will help viewers of this film relate to their own lives and associate themselves with Sarah. This film will appeal to young women who are going through tough times accepting their own beauty and worth. The film hopes to aid these women in accepting their feminist side, in a world where women are portrayed to need men to succeed.

Bibliography

Sansone, Randy A, and Lori A Sansone. “Cosmetic Surgery and Psychological Issues.” Psychiatry (Edgmont (Pa. : Township)), Matrix Medical Communications, Dec. 2007, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2861519/.