Narrative structure

We knew that in such a short space of time, we'd have to have a unique was of telling the story, in order to make it a more interesting piece.

In coming up with the idea for Popcorn, we decided that Todorov's three act structure could be told without showing the beginning, middle and end.

As a story, the story for Popcorn is simple.
(BEGINNING)A boy and girl fall in love, but (MIDDLE) she eventually leaves him for someone else. Scorned he stalks her and her new lover, and eventually (END) kidnaps her and leaves her to rot in a dark room.

The way we told the story, however, is of the boy and tied-up girl watching a film telling the BEGINNING and MIDDLE segment during the END segment of the film. The END segment is shown throughout the film, with the boy watching the film, it is only until the end that the girl is revealed, as part of our twist.

And the end is left very much open. All the audience sees is a fade to black and a click of the projector, the click of the projector is used to show and suggest different things without spoon-feeding it to the audience.

- The end of the film - in - film.
- The end of 'Popcorn'
- The end of the relationship
- The end of the girl's life?

In feedback for the film, many people have asked us what happened to the girl: whether she was just left there to rot, or he killed her, or let her go. We have enjoyed leaving the ending open and up to speculation, the only real hint being that the click signifies different kinds of endings and that the ending of her life is very probable.

JJB