Finished the synopsis, but I'm still having trouble narrowing down a concise log line or message. I think partly because I want people to really take away their own message after watching it, just hoping I can convey the feelings that London is having and make an emotional impact. Grief and guilt are often unfinished emotions that there is no clear end point to, and I want to get that across. Avoiding those negative emotions doesn't make them go away, and sometimes the most important thing is allowing yourself to feel those emotions instead of drowning in them or burying them.

The synopsis is quite long, so here's that! I've also narrowed down a shot list in reference to it and the rough sketches for the storyboards are all done, I'll be cleaning those up now for tommorrow.

SYNOPSIS: London walks off stage as cheers echo behind him, the curtains around his silhouette in his moment of pause before he walks away, pushing his hair back as he walks toward the camera. He’s now in a bathroom looking in a dirty mirror, wiping eyeliner off his eyes and we focus on his left eye, where his eyebrow scar is. He looks tired and burnt out, as he gets into a bathtub and sinks into the water, letting out a heavy breath. We see from his point of view, seeing his knees and ripples appearing in the water in front of him. He looks up and we see Val sitting on the other side of the tub. She is somewhat see-through in contrast to the solid room around them, her arms are folded and she’s smiling faintly, like she’s both glad to see her old friend but pained to see him in this state.

“Val?!” London cries out, sitting up in the bath, the water sloshes around him but does not move around Val. “You’ve never been the same, you know?” Her voice is far away, it’s different from his. We can tell she isn’t really here. “Nothing is, not since I died.” As she says these words, water almost reaches up around London and the water swallows him up. He’s holding his breath, he’s sinking in an open body of water. He’s fully clothed now and his hair is floating around him. He’s letting himself sink for a moment, stray bubbles around him as he falls deeper into darker waters. He shakes his head and his eyes bulge open and he begins to swim up, he’s struggling to gain traction and it seems for a moment the darker waters are swallowing him whole until he gains momentum and begins toward the top. His head breaks the surface and he gasps for air.

As he gasps he realizes he’s on a stage now, standing in front of a microphone, holding sheet music in his hands. He looks down at the papers and we see from his vision the song is written by Val. In the background we can see aging posters advertising a performance featuring Val. London looks out at the auditorium seats, Val sits front and center. “Go on, sing it. I can’t anymore.” London leans into the mic, “Val, I-“ but before he can say anything more the microphone gives harsh feedback and a spotlight shines down on London. He squints into it, the light taking over the screen.

The lights are so bright he can only faintly see Val sitting in the rows of seats, and as the light gets brighter the seats slowly form into gravestones in an open field. London stands in front of Val’s gravestone, the grave itself is open, and the coffin is empty. Val appears behind him. She’s smoking a cigarette. “I always thought these would kill me,” she comments as she throws it into the coffin. London watches the cigarette burn out. “But it coulda been either one of us.” As she says this London sees the name on the grave is now his. Val pushes him in, he falls headfirst into the coffin.

London is bruised up and laying on asphalt, his eyebrow is cut open and bleeding heavily. His eyes slowly open. Val lays dead across from him, and he hears police chatter about one casualty and one alive but in critical condition. We see her hand holding a box of cigarettes. A notebook spilling out of her mostly empty bag, the song she was writing that we saw London holding earlier is poking out of the notebook. Over the radio we can hear that help is on the way.