In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
[White puffy clouds sail steadily across the blue sky, almost diagonally.
(Cue music: You Are What I Want by Nurul Huda)
(Protagonist’s Narration: “You are what I want.” That, is my principle and way of life. I always know what I want and I am always determined to get what I want.)
As the camera pans down from the sky to the landscape view of a town from afar, the protagonist’s narration continues.
(Protagonist’s Narration: Like anyone else, I have a dream. My dream is important to me.)]
That is all the idea I have for now for the opening sequence. There is quite a bit of thought that I have put into it. I started with something bright and light, right? (Sorry I couldn’t resist the rhyming.) So I thought A’s composition would fit in perfectly. He has shared with me a piece that evokes in me a sense of having found a rainbow. It is light-hearted and gentle and heart-warming. However, I was very clueless about my protagonist’s personality and profile besides being a female. What should she be like? Cutesy? Dark? Both seemed too generic. Nora suggested something normal. Okay normal is fine but not boring, right? What would make the character normal yet special? I then thought, aha! Let’s begin the narration with a quote and let’s see where that takes us. Then I saw my current mobile wallpaper, which is the image containing the quote, “You are what I want”. I thought it clicked. The title is after all ‘A Singer’s Dream’ and a dream implies a sense of grit and determination that ensues a clear direction. As I began to shape the protagonist’s personality, voice, and speech, I recalled that the main inner struggle that she will face is desire versus sacrifice. Hence, the last line of the monologue purposefully reinforced the protagonist’s desire to achieve her dream. Coincidentally, the visuals complement the monologue; the view of the town and the phrase ‘like anyone else’. There is that theme of mass versus individual that echoes sacrifice versus desire laid out perfectly there.
Another theme of the VN is the juxtaposition of light and heaviness — the bright sky with the heavy steely quote — and of darkness and light-heartedness — which revolves around the protagonist’s happiness of working towards her dream at night.
So yep. That is enough brain-cracking for today but progress nonetheless!
And He is Knower of all things. – MM
Metropolitan Muslimah 