Springboard - Secrets

The audience sees someone entering a library holding a pile of papers, which are all different shapes and sizes and look like they've been ripped out of different notebooks etc.  A book/title cover will catch their eye and they will place what appears to be a carefully selected poem (they won't choose the poem from the top of the pile, but the audience doesn't see the poem so they can't be sure whether this person has written it themselves or whether they have written out other people's poetry) on the first page of full text, which shows that they have thought about what they are doing carefully.  As there is a close-up of the book being placed back upon the shelf, there will be a sequence of shots/photos of someone's life which quickly tells the audience what they have experienced and what the poem does in their life; the audience can't be sure if this is what will happen or what the protagonist imagines will happen.  This may happen a few times and as they leave they appear content with their actions, as they place the rest of the poems back in the coat pocket.  The protagonist would appear a bit of a loner, but is obviously happy with their life.

The film doesn't show a broken ritual, it depicts a typical ritual for the protagonist.  The effect of the poems may cause a broken ritual for someone else, however the protagonist isn't affected by the action of the film.

 

The entire film is set in a bathroom.  The film shows a girl standing in front of the mirror on different days, or at different times of the same day, and hearing different voices say, 'why can't you...?' which are supposed to be things she's heard during that day.  They will either be shown as a shot of the scene it happened in, just a voice over, or the person will appear in the reflection from the mirror.  In response to this, she cuts off some of her hair and this becomes a ritual.  She starts wearing a hat when she approaches the mirror and her face becomes more tear-stained.  The shots will be hand-held and the slightly shakey camera shots would emphasise her uneasiness in her own skin.  The film ends with her screaming at her reflection, 'why can't you change?!' and she grabs the mirror off the wall and smashes it on the floor.  The last shot is of her looking into her shattered reflection on the floor.