Constructing my Film's Narrative

This is the initial idea of my film's narrative. I am still making changes to the narrative of my film but the current underline plot of my film is:



Part 1:

A boy of 17 finds his life lacking purpose, as the one thing he lives for (in this case Krystal) can never be his. After Jovelle’s narration about his life so far, he almost gets into a scrape with Callum, the school tough guy. Then, one day, he meets the mysterious “Raven” when she asks him for a lighter for her cigarette. She jokes with him, telling him that “she quit just this morning”. Her dark mood intrigues Jovelle as it offers him comfort and a sense of familiarity. The two part, knowing their paths will cross once again. Jovelle is sat at the back of the classroom when he is partnered up with Krystal. The two are slightly nervous around each other but find out they have a lot in common. When Jovelle leaves school, he meets up with Raven who has been waiting for him. She tells him that Krystal is bad news and not to be trusted. Jovelle asks her how she knows about Krystal, and just who the hell she is. She tells him to call her “Raven”, and hops on the bus. (KEY MOMENT) She shows her ticket to the bus driver and walks on, exchanging a few last words with Jovelle. The bus driver asks Jovelle if he’s getting on or not and Jovelle shakes his head by mistake and the bus departs. Jovelle then realises he missed his bus. Jovelle gets home late to find his mother sat alone by the table, a cup of coffee in one hand and an empty bottle of antidepressants in the other. She is a mess. Jovelle tried to offer her solitude and tells her she should stop taking the pills, however the argument escalates and she throws an opened letter at him which is a visiting order from the state prison. The two argue and Jovelle’s mother ends up slapping him. Enraged, yet near tears, Jovelle retreats upstairs, where Raven is awaiting him. He asks her how she got in and she tells him the back door was left open so she walked in, and that she hoped Jovelle’s mother wouldn’t mind. Jovelle tells her that “that crazy bitch probably wouldn’t have noticed”, a statement he quickly regrets saying.

He then tells Raven, alongside a coinciding flashback, that his father was sentenced to 12 years in prison due to domestic violence, attempted murder, possession of narcotics and assault on a police officer. The flashback shows his brutal attack on Jovelle’s mother (the elongated version of what was shown in the film’s opening) followed by the police breaking into his home and arresting him. Returning to the present, Jovelle tells Raven that his father wants to meet with him, but he can’t do it because he knows it will upset his mother and may push her over the edge. Raven takes Jovelle out to a club in order to help clear his mind. The two talk and end the night with a kiss.

Jovelle is stunned and feels guilty for sharing his first kiss with someone other than Krystal, but she tells him not to worry and it doesn’t mean anything. The two awkwardly depart. The story continues and Jovelle and Krystal see more and more of each other. One day at the bus stop, Callum decides to start trouble. Jovelle is all up for a fight; however he cannot bring himself to throw a punch when he sees Krystal, and is disgraced with a sound beating. Krystal shouts, “leave him alone!” which fills Jovelle with hope and at the same time he feels weakened that he had to rely on the assistance from her. Someone eventually breaks up the fight and Jovelle casually, with barely a scratch on him, gets up and begins to head home, but is followed by Krystal, who apologises for not being of any more help and invites him out.

Jovelle meets up with her and the two spend the day together and are about to move in to kiss, when Jovelle receives a call from his mother, and Krystal leaves.
Over the course of the next week, Jovelle and Krystal become close friends. One day, the two are talking when Callum walks past and lightly insults Jovelle. Jovelle, in the presence of Krystal, feels a strange power sweep over him and insults Callum straight back. Callum, now feeling challenged, tries to threaten Jovelle and force him to back down, but Jovelle doesn’t. Jovelle, led by a strange desire to impress Krystal and finally put Callum in his place, shows Callum up by countering all his attacks with ease, before kicking him in his groin, causing him to cry and wet himself. Callum, realising he has been made a fool out of, nastily insults Jovelle and his family, which not only earns him the loss of respect from his friends, but a punch in the face by Jovelle. Jovelle is suspended for the rest of the week for fighting, but feels as though it was worth it. Jovelle is by the river throwing stones in the river when he is met by Raven. She seems cynical about Krystal and tells Jovelle he’s making a huge mistake, before leaving. Jovelle doesn’t see Raven for a long while after their argument. During that time, Jovelle’s father escapes from jail, his fearful mother kills herself, Callum leaves the school and Jovelle and Krystal finally get together after the funeral.

Jovelle continues life as normal until one day when he is attacked by a knife wielding Callum on his way home. Callum drives the knife into Jovelle’s shoulder, but Jovelle quickly reverses the situation by knocking Callum out with a brick, but Jovelle lets all of his suppressed rage out on Callum’s unconscious body and bludgeons his head in. Raven, who had been watching the whole thing, appears and offers Jovelle support as he begins to crack under the realisation that he is now a murderer. The two, under Raven’s guidance, remove all traces of Jovelle’s presence from the scene, before telephoning the police, telling them that Jovelle’s father has committed murder and has now head to his hideout. Finally, Raven tells Jovelle to remove the knife from his shoulder, before forcing him to hold it out and ramming it into his chest. As he collapses, she tells him that she has done him a favour as now the police will view him as a victim of his father as a pose to a suspect. Jovelle finally collapses and blacks out due to blood loss. From here, there will be a short section where Jovelle’s father’s hideout is surrounded by police and refusing to be captured again, he begins to shoot at the police, but is shot in the head and dies.

Part 2:
There has been a huge jump of about 7 years and the characters are now adults. Jovelle and Krystal haven’t spoken in years and Jovelle hasn’t seen Raven since that night. One day, Jovelle meets up with Krystal and the two hit it off and end up together again. Raven makes a reappearance and Jovelle will begin to change. After Krystal becomes pregnant and his child is stillborn, Jovelle slowly begins to become paranoid and lose his grip on his sanity. Raven takes advantage of Jovelle’s crumbling sanity to twist his mind but before she can convince him to kill Krystal, he ends up in a mental institution. He manages to escape and, now completely under Raven’s influence and believes Krystal is evil and murdered his baby (this is not true but is what he believes due to Raven’s lies.) Jovelle finds the gun that has remained hidden in his house for years since his father hid it years ago and after Krystal arrives home, he locks her in and begins to threaten her with it. Krystal finds out that Jovelle killed Callum years ago and realises that he is not joking when he threaten to kill her. Taking her chances, Jovelle tries to escape but Jovelle grabs hold of her. She bits hard down on his hand, causing severe damage to it. Jovelle finally throws her down and shoots her through the chest. She dies almost instantly. Jovelle becomes aware of the mistake he made and murders himself. Raven, walks alongside Jovelle’s body and smiles, before disappearing, confirming to the audience that she was in fact all along just an apparition.