The Writer’s statement is one of the documents that took longer than I expected to prepare. Initially, I thought that discussing the main themes of the short film will be quite easy because I have worked with them throughout the entire course while developing the narrative idea. However, when I checked the Writer’s statement breakdown for The Wire, I realized that there are other elements that should be included in this document such as previous films that explore the main topic of the short, how my story’s perspective is different, and the visual style of the piece including camerawork.
The father-son relationship is in the center of my short film with a focus on an absent father who devoted his life to a mountaineering career with the goal of providing for his family. Travelling abroad for work took him away from his teenage son who to this day feels left behind and doesn’t want to reconcile with his father. While researching previous films that have explored the father-son relationship, I realized how important this topic is. A variety of films have analysed it such as Bicycle Thieves (1948), The Godfather (1972), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and the Star Wars trilogy (1977-1983). This information gives more substance to the short film because it proves that viewers find this topic relevant.
All in all, I found working on the Writer’s statement quite useful because it allowed me to consider how the short fits in the greater context of films that have already explored this topic.