Plots and Titles go hand and hand

Hello readers !

Developing the entire plot was the only way Julia and I were able to come up with a movie title. The plot was going to be the mom leaving when Amber was younger or have the mom run a away and come back. When she comes back she inspires Amber to do better and improve her life. After a good hour Julia and I came up with a beginning middle and end rough draft of the plot.

BEGINNING: Amber is introduced as poor and struggling. Spends time constantly scrambling for money. Finds out she and her father are officially poor and have to majorly downsize.

MIDDLE: As Amber is looking through boxes while packing she finds her mom’s diploma, pictures of graduation, and pictures of her mother and father happy, proof that she was a successful and highly respected FBI agent. Her father explains that she died on the job, after having told her that her mother had died due to being ill. Amber, seeing the potential her mother had, becomes determined to fill her shoes and help end criminal violence, outraged that her mother died this way. She starts seeing the school counselor to help her avoid making bad choices and to improve her grades. She begins applying to colleges.

END: Amber goes to Sante Fe community college after getting rejected from every four year university she applied to, and receiving the best financial aid from Santa Fe and someday UF. She begins her path of criminology, and her father goes to intense rehab to solve his addiction issues.

Who is our character? Amber Chase. A high school senior with an absent mom and alcoholic father. She has no motivation and does not care to be better in life. She gets motivation and begins to change who she is. She doesn’t get everything she wants like getting into four year universities and ends up rebelling. She decided she doesn’t need college she’ll find the criminals on her own. After running away her father finally gives her a life lesson: She has to start somewhere and she will eventually get to the top. She goes to Santa Fe or community college.

What does Amber want? She wants to go to college away from home. The mom died when Amber was four and both her and the dad developed bad coping mechanisms. The dad drank and Amber becomes closed off and begins not to care about life. When Amber finds out that her mother was a highly respected FBI agent killed on the job who attended University of Pennsylvania, she develops a drive to avenge her mother and work in criminal justice as well.

What causes her to fumble? She gets rejected from the top schools she applied to, and even some of her back ups. She decides to run away to avenge her mother on her own and ends up stealing a lot of money in the process. Her father catches her and stops her before she has the chance to get very far, and he talks to her about how her success is the only hope he has for the family.

The planned movie title for a while was "What lies behind the Outcast" but as we did the plot (Plots and scripts go hand in hand post) we didn't like it. We wanted to make the title reflect the characters journey. Not just Amber but people who are in or have been in her shoes. A teenager who changes who they are for the better even with obstacles. We were thinking "An Endeavor" and "If They Only Knew." Then we thought what does Amber want to do with her life and about ten minutes later . This whole process took weeks but after knowing exactly what the plot should entail we came up with.....

Movie Title: To Remove The Grime

Overall the creative process for our title was long and a lot of back and fourth. I didn't know how much pressure the title would be. However it is the first thing people will hear if the film was ever finished and released.