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Disclaimer: THIS IS NOT GAY FANFIC, and is DEFINITELY NOT me writing a gay love story about my mate's cousin and that cousin's bestie. The characters are nothing like them, their names just happened to be in my head when I was writing this story.
Story Title: The View from My Window
Synopsis
‘The View from My Window’ is a romantic comedy that follows the love story of Jack and Yosty, through Jack’s perspective. Jack and Yosty are two university students who live in adjacent apartments in Melbourne. They first interact and get acquainted through their window that overlooks each other’s living rooms. Jack is a shy and quiet video game storywriter who has a crush on Yosty but is afraid to approach him. Yosty is a confident and outgoing psychology student who likes to tease and flirt with Jack, but he also feels lonely and unhappy in the city. One night, Jack sees Yosty crying and invites him over to his apartment for some company. They start to bond over when Yosty shares about his struggles adapting to city life, and Yosty begins to develop a crush on Jack. The story then follows the adorable interactions that Jack and Yosty have through their window, exchanging messages, jokes, and compliments. Occasionally, they also hang out together around their neighbourhood. The twist comes when Yosty decides to move back to his hometown, which makes Jack realize how much he cares for him. Jack tries to stop Yosty from leaving but fails. He eventually travels to Yosty's hometown and confesses his love. After some persuasion, Yosty returns to Melbourne with Jack, and they start dating. They realize that they are perfect for each other, realizing that home is not a place, but a person. The target audience for this story is teenagers and young adults and is catered more towards queer audiences and people who enjoy queer romantic comedies, however, can be viewed by people of all ages.
Director's Statement
Casting/Acting
The cast of this film will contain a diverse array of people of different sexualities, gender identities, and ethnic backgrounds to match the diversity of Melbournians. As this film will be made by and for queer people, all actors cast should identify with the same sexuality and gender as their character. This will primarily be to increase the authenticity and realism of how characters are portrayed by actors, in addition to avoiding stereotyping behaviour by actors and improving representation of queer actors.
The protagonist, Jack, will be played by Noah Schnapp. In Stranger Things (2016-present), Schnapp plays the role of Will Byers, a quiet character who struggles with his identity, sexuality and having feelings for his best friend. Schnapp’s portrayal of Will Byers effectively conveys the complexities of the queer experience, including fearing rejection, discovering his own identity, and wanting to be accepted by others. Similarly, while Jack is open with his sexuality, Jack does have to work through these aspects of the queer experience to deal with his feelings for his neighbour Yosty. Schnapp also has a natural and believable chemistry with Finn Wolfhard, who plays his best friend and love interest Mike, which is why I think Schnapp can bring the same authenticity and emotion to the role of Jack.
The love interest, Yosty, will be played by Reese Gonzales. In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2022), Gonzales plays the role of Dante Quintana, a confident and outgoing character who falls in love with his best friend. Gonzales has a charismatic and charming presence that suits the role of Yosty, who is also confident and outgoing and is comfortable flirting with Jack. Gonzales is also capable of portraying the emotional and conflicted side of Yosty, who feels out of place in the city and longs for his hometown, as seen by his ability to express the internal conflict going on inside Dante Quintana with regards to his sexuality and inability to conform to masculine ideals and cultural expectations.
Locations
Most scenes in this film are set in Jack’s apartment, with occasional scenes and shots taking place in Yosty’s apartment. In this case, building a set of Jack and Yosty’s apartments is ideal, rather than using an existing location. This is because there are many scenes where Jack and Yosty interact through their windows. Using a set allows for control over factors that may interfere with filming in real-life apartments, such as weather, lighting, external sound, and visual disturbances. The outside appearance of the apartments can be shot in an existing location in Melbourne. It should look similar to the buildings in the You Belong With Me (2009) music video by Taylor Swift, where two neighbouring buildings have windows that face each other, but the buildings should appear more like two-story apartment complexes that are common in Melbourne rather than the American-style bungalows used in Swift’s music video.
As for outdoor filming involving cast members, this will mainly occur for scenes where Jack and Yosty are hanging out together. Since the story is rarely set outside Jack or Yosty’s apartment, it would be unnecessary to recreate natural environments in an artificial setting. In addition, I want this film to showcase locations that are representative of Melbourne’s architecture so that the film comes off as realistic and distinctly Melbournian. This is intended to be similar to the way that Please Like Me (2013-2016) uses landmarks and areas that are recognizable to any Melbournian but does not draw attention away from characters or the plot of the show. For instance, I believe that South Yarra, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, will be a good area to depict Melbourne given the locations available in the area and how they reflect Jack and Yosty’s personalities. Fawkner Park is a good representation of Jack’s quiet nature, while the liveliness of Chapel Street better represents Yosty and his outgoing personality. These locations not only capture the essence of Melbourne, but also the essence of Jack and Yosty.
Cinematography Style
I intend to use a bright, colourful cinematography style to reflect the mood of my story. As the story is being presented from Jack’s perspective, I think that the cinematography should emphasize Jack’s general feelings of curiosity and excitement that when thinking about or interacting with Yosty as a result of his crush on Yosty.
Jack’s colour palate consists of bright pastel colours that are symbolic of summer. A good example of Jack’s style is the album art for 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (2023) by Taylor Swift, with the pastel blue, beige and yellow that creates a warm vibrant atmosphere. As for Yosty, his colour palate is autumn colours such as darker orange and brown, to make him seem more intriguing. Their two contrasting colour palates, brighter and more vibrant colours compared to darker and more muted colours represents how their personalities differ.
For camera angles and shots, the types used will differ based on the scene and location. During indoor scene in Jack or Yosty’s apartments, the types of angles and shots used will be ones that are more up close and personal, not only to highlight the intimate nature of a person’s home but also to draw attention to the cosiness and size of the space. One shot I will use is the dynamic shot, which works well for the scene when Jack invites Yosty over to his, with camera movements representing Jack’s feelings of curiosity and excitement. Another shot I will use is over-the-shoulder, used in the You Belong With Me (2009) music video by Taylor Swift, where the camera focuses on Swift from the perspective of her neighbour’s window. It highlights the juxtaposition of their distance and closeness, like in this story where Jack and Yosty are physically distant but emotionally close. Point-of-view shots will also be used, especially when Jack or Yosty are interacting with or looking at the other person through their window.
As for outdoor scenes, the types of angles and shots used will contrast indoor scenes to show the difference in atmosphere, with outdoor scenes being more casual and observational. To reflect this difference, shots such as aerial and static shots will generally be used when showing Jack and Yosty hanging out outside. However, there will also be close-up shots, such as when Jack visits Yosty in his hometown, to draw the audience’s attention to both characters’ emotions and facial expressions when they reunite and when Jack persuades Yosty to return to Melbourne. A good example of an outdoor close-up shot is in Heartstopper (2022-present), where it is used to show Nick and Charlie’s excitement while they are on a beach date.
Sound Design
Sound will play an important role in this film, especially when creating the atmosphere of each scene. For dialogue, they will usually be clear with the tones used by Jack and Yosty being mostly playful and witty to highlight the friendly chemistry between both characters.
As with casting and location, I intend to include sound effects and music into my film authentically and realistically in order to immerse the audience in the scene as well as give the film a sense of relatability. This will be done by using sound effects that are generally heard in everyday life, such as the sound of wind blowing through the window, birds chirping, and cars driving by. This also applies to music, where diegetic sound will be used. Rather than overlaying a song over a scene and drowning out the natural ambience, music can be introduced in the scene through songs being played by a source like a speaker, vinyl record player, or wireless headphones, similar to Call Me By Your Name (2017) where Elio and Oliver dance to a song playing at a party that is audible to the characters and audience. Doing so makes the scene more believable and engaging while allowing characters to interact with the music and makes the songs used more integral to the story.
Both characters have their own tastes in music which will be represented by songs that each character chooses to play in their apartment or when hanging out together outside. Jack calls himself a pop and indie girl and identifies as a Swiftie, with his favourite song being Paper Rings by Taylor Swift. In addition, Jack also listens to artists such as Baby Queen, Conan Gray, girl in red, and The 1975. Jack’s music taste is inspired by the upbeat and optimistic music used in Heartstopper (2022-present) and is representative of Jack’s openness to love and romance. Yosty, on the other hand, is a die-hard Prince fan, matching well with Yosty’s outgoing personality. While Yosty does not listen to music as frequently as Jack, he usually only plays Prince when he does listen. As the film progresses, Jack’s music taste rubs off on Yosty with him starting to play Jack’s favourite songs, symbolising the growing depth of Yosty’s feelings for and connection with Jack.
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