BSA206 S1W2: Idea for Opening Scene

I have had an idea for how I can start my film, it's a very small scene, but could lead to being part of my treatment:

The main character wakes up, he reaches over to the other side of the bed. It is disappointingly empty, he feels the outline of the imprint left there by a woman's body. He picks up a hair and observes it, we zoom in on this and it cross fades, the hair blends into a whole head of hair, to a selfie she has taken. Zoom out, we're on a cellphone screen, she texts him not to ask for selfies all the time. He texts back. We see a back and forth, it is revealed she is moving away, she gives him updates on where she is and what's happening, he tells her he misses her so much, a little of how things are with him (job hunting or whatever). Slowly things become stranger and a bit more sinister.

I imagined this when "Here Comes the Sun" popped up on Spotify, a song like that would be perfect here, with it slowly becoming eerier and creepy (like how that song in the Us trailer was used).

I also recently saw Searching - a movie that I thought was amazing and very well made, this opening would take inspiration from that film in how the online interface is used in conjunction with staple film-making techniques.

Of course Shyamalan has done similar things, one example that immediately comes to mind is his use of exposition in The Sixth Sense as Malcolm reads through his notebook, looking at Cole's file.



The camera work pans and focuses on  the important words, which are also outlined and made obviously important. I remember seeing the film for the first time and taking note of how Shyamalan did this, before I thought this type of exposition - where the viewer has to read - was a bit out of the question. Here is not only works, but is very effective.

This scene and a lot of The Visit (which is found footage) supports me in being able to use modern technology like this in my own Shyamalan inspired movie. There is even potential for making the digital interface scenes more like his style over what Searching did. That in itself proves to be an interesting avenue to explore.

Even with the found footage genre Shyamalan put his own stamp on it, not a very realistic one, but one that made that film stand apart from the crowd and felt distinctly him. If he did a film entirely taking place on screens like Searching, he would also make it feel like his films, even if he didn't intend to.