Serendipity

The creation of a scene can originate from almost any genesis. Real life experiences, wonderful imaginations, or amalgams of other works have created some of the most exciting stories in the world. Recently, we had an assignment in which we were split into two groups and given parameters to construct a scene. Our group, Lauren, Jake, and myself, decided to split three of these necessities: One for each of us. Jake chose the written dialogue, Lauren chose the picture, and I chose the music. At this point in any creative process, Serendipity descends and takes control of the outcome. Our selected items however, turned out to not only compliment but also were able to work of off the other rather well. The picture detailed a man helping his lover escape from an asylum. The quote the Jake chose described a sentiment entailing that the bond of friendship goes beyond words. The song that I chose, “St. James Infirmary” by Louis Armstrong depicts a man whose lover has died. All three of these pieces of media include two people, more specifically, two lovers, or two people of a certain level of intimacy. Upon our revealing to the others our selected items, I found it rather odd that they fit so well with the others. How could it be that three seemingly random pieces were able to come together so neatly? I chose the song simply because I had been listening to a lot of blues over those few days, and “St. James Infirmary” is one of my favorite songs. Maybe it’s a comment upon that ability of actors to feed of each other, even before creation has begun. The development continued until we arrived at the conclusion that the scene should be done in a Film noir style. Before that, we decided that the topic of “Is capital punishment justice?” would encompass the three selected items quite nicely. We then went on to format the scene into three smaller vignettes, with the outcome changing for each one. The first outcome, Lauren, playing the one in trouble, dies, put to death by Jake and myself, those executing justice. The second outcome, I was killed, in a betrayal by Jake to save his lover, Lauren. The third outcome, the betrayal of #2 takes place, but Lauren ends up killing Jake too.