Treatment
I am going to produce a short documentary style production expressing the lonely and challenging life of a nomadic male from the prehistoric period.
The narrative will be quite simplistic. A traditional beginning, middle and end with no mixes in the timeline. I hope to find beautiful scenic locations in the peak district that will represent the prehistoric period and be able to show the nomadic man in several varied terrains and what he has to achieve to survive.
The opening will be used to set the scene. I ideally want a large tree sat on a hill blowing violently in the wind so it looks very idyllic. Only nature exists, very peacefully. The winds noise will be heightened and eventually cut to the nomad in his cave sleeping. This shows that men can be peaceful as well as nature and should get the audiences attention focused on the film with the loud wind breeze suddenly cutting to a calm shot. The narrative unfolds as the nomadic man wakes and sets off to find breakfast with slight hesitation with it being a windy day. I’m not completely certain on how I will show the hunting scenes as I do not know the rules and regulations for showing dead animals. However, I will research and look further into this. I would really like some shots at a lake with him catching fish and moving into close-ups of his face to show the relief and joy at catching dinner. There will be some travelling shots with the nomad roaming plains and climbing rocks to get to his water or home. I am also hoping to find a natural pool or a waterfall to show him swimming, drinking, washing and laughing. The small amount of fun in his lonely life.
My style will be very important for the film. There will be an array of different shots but I still want to make sure my style is easily noticed throughout. The wide angle shots will be used as he wanders alone across vast, flat, mundane, rocky plains to express his loneliness. Other shots will be differing throughout, using close ups when his face will give away his feelings and create allow the audience to personalise with the character. Mid-shots when the camera needs to be a little closer such as when he’s fishing or sat around his fire in his cave, eating his catch from the day and also giving me a great opportunity to play with lighting. I think this could be a great asset to my film if used correctly. A blue filter juxtaposed with the wide angle shots on the plain could enhance the feeling of him being alone in life. Using the dark cave a night with the correct lighting could create a very artistic shot, especially with the fire but as I said before I will explore this further in planning and production stages.
Finally the audience I envisage to watch this would be a wide age range. Around 18-50 would be ideal. It should appeal to prehistoric enthusiasts, artists and short film fans. It will be both interesting and stylistic thus having a wide market. I imagine it to be screened in a small independent cinema, over the internet or even at a small documentary or short film festival. I really hope it gets to production as I imagine it will turn out very well.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Recent Group Meetings
As a result of a meeting last week, we, as a group have decided to go away with a list of props and transition devices/plot points and work them into timelines of our own in an attempt to bring ideas from all group members to the table and choose elements from each person's timeline.
Some of these props/plot points are listed below:
- Start - Main character getting ready, leaving his house
- Bumping into/brushing past person in street
- Person with red box obscuring camera
- Following someones line of sight (possibly to a woman in a red dress)
- Person in a red car, loud house music camera moves to red sign.
- Photographer taking pictures of people (possibly wearing red cap, taking pictures of the couple kissing.)
- A cigarette being dropped, and following someone's feet walking past (red trainers)
- Someone lighting a cigarette with a red lighter
Characters/Props
-Main character - male, 20's. Red wall (using a sheet). Red shirt/hoody
- Person being bumped into - Red coat, female.
- Person holding a box - male, red box
- Couple, man and woman, woman wearing red lipstick
- Man leaning on a red post box (smoking a cigarette)
- Person in red car, male, young.
- Person with red phone (either gender)
- Person with red iPod (either gender)
- Male with red football.
- Lady in a red dress
- Lady with a red handbag
- Photographer, male, red Yankee baseball cap.
- Woman with red lighter
- Tom in the chippy with his red tomato ketchup thing (lol)
- People holding hands (male and female) with a red bracelet (or red nail polish might be good, i just thought)
- Red curtains when looking out window.
- Red trainers or stilettos on certain characters.
Possible locations/other notes
- Red bus (65 bus from Sheffield Interchange)
- Post Office
- Fire museum
Some of these props/plot points are listed below:
- Start - Main character getting ready, leaving his house
- Bumping into/brushing past person in street
- Person with red box obscuring camera
- Following someones line of sight (possibly to a woman in a red dress)
- Person in a red car, loud house music camera moves to red sign.
- Photographer taking pictures of people (possibly wearing red cap, taking pictures of the couple kissing.)
- A cigarette being dropped, and following someone's feet walking past (red trainers)
- Someone lighting a cigarette with a red lighter
Characters/Props
-Main character - male, 20's. Red wall (using a sheet). Red shirt/hoody
- Person being bumped into - Red coat, female.
- Person holding a box - male, red box
- Couple, man and woman, woman wearing red lipstick
- Man leaning on a red post box (smoking a cigarette)
- Person in red car, male, young.
- Person with red phone (either gender)
- Person with red iPod (either gender)
- Male with red football.
- Lady in a red dress
- Lady with a red handbag
- Photographer, male, red Yankee baseball cap.
- Woman with red lighter
- Tom in the chippy with his red tomato ketchup thing (lol)
- People holding hands (male and female) with a red bracelet (or red nail polish might be good, i just thought)
- Red curtains when looking out window.
- Red trainers or stilettos on certain characters.
Possible locations/other notes
- Red bus (65 bus from Sheffield Interchange)
- Post Office
- Fire museum
Treatment/Proposal - Harry Rollin
20 year old Will Lloyd has just woken up in a waiting room with no recollection of how he got there. As he waits in the quiet, clinical room, he slowly realises this isn’t a dentist or a doctor he’s waiting for.
The story begins with whispers and echoed voices with no visuals. Suddenly the distant voices disappear and Will Lloyd wakes up with a start. He looks around and finds himself sitting in a large, relatively empty waiting room. All of the walls are white and slightly overexposed to give the illusion of brightness. Will has no recollection of anything before he woke up and after a second or two of taking in his surroundings he shuffles along a chair or two to a man in his sixties reading a magazine. He asks him first where they are, to which the man does not respond. Will looks over the older man’s shoulder and finds him reading an article about life after death. Will asks the man what he is doing in the waiting room to which the man’s reply is, simply, “Waiting”.
A receptionist dressed all in white calls out the older man’s name, his response to which is to put down the magazine, get up and walk the length of the corridor to the left of the receptionist, at the end of which is a door which he proceeds through.
Will continues to sit by himself for several seconds, beginning to hear faint voices and sirens in his head. However, he shakes this off and silence falls again. He gets up and makes his way over to the receptionist. He asks her where he is, to which she tells him he is in God’s waiting room. She can’t tell him how long he’ll be waiting but asks him politely to take a seat. Will looks understandably confused at first and as he experiences a flashback of an accident he begins to look shocked. He remembers that he was in a motorcycle accident. The audience see a flashback of the accident and that Will sustained many injuries. As the action cuts back to Will in the waiting room he raises his hands to where his injuries should have been but feels nothing.
The receptionist calls out Will’s name and tells him God will see him now. Will gets up slowly, still in a state of shock and walks toward the door. The office he finds himself in is a very simple room and nothing like the grandeur either Will or the audience expect. God appears to be a young man on the phone as Will enters. I imagine this scene to be very dialogue-heavy and I want it to be witty, light-hearted and make the audience laugh. The altercation ends in an argument between God and Will about an incident from Will’s childhood. They argue about the morality of Will bullying a child at school to which Will justifies his behaviour by saying he was provoked. God then decides Will is not ready to enter heaven so he sends him back into his body and as the paramedics examine him he wakes up still muttering about the morality of the incident from his childhood.
I would like the film to begin in a sombre way but as it goes on I want it to be a humourous, light hearted way of interpreting life after death. I don’t necessarily think the portrayal of God would be particularly offensive or controversial, I hope that audiences appreciate the humour. I would like to slightly over expose the shots of the waiting room as opposed to the gritty or dull look I would employ for the flashback sequence to signify the difference between the two settings.
I would say that the film and its humour would appeal most to young people of any religion. Religion can be a contentious issue but I think the tone of the film is more to do with light hearted speculation and interpretation than it is poking fun out of any one religion.
20 year old Will Lloyd has just woken up in a waiting room with no recollection of how he got there. As he waits in the quiet, clinical room, he slowly realises this isn’t a dentist or a doctor he’s waiting for.
The story begins with whispers and echoed voices with no visuals. Suddenly the distant voices disappear and Will Lloyd wakes up with a start. He looks around and finds himself sitting in a large, relatively empty waiting room. All of the walls are white and slightly overexposed to give the illusion of brightness. Will has no recollection of anything before he woke up and after a second or two of taking in his surroundings he shuffles along a chair or two to a man in his sixties reading a magazine. He asks him first where they are, to which the man does not respond. Will looks over the older man’s shoulder and finds him reading an article about life after death. Will asks the man what he is doing in the waiting room to which the man’s reply is, simply, “Waiting”.
A receptionist dressed all in white calls out the older man’s name, his response to which is to put down the magazine, get up and walk the length of the corridor to the left of the receptionist, at the end of which is a door which he proceeds through.
Will continues to sit by himself for several seconds, beginning to hear faint voices and sirens in his head. However, he shakes this off and silence falls again. He gets up and makes his way over to the receptionist. He asks her where he is, to which she tells him he is in God’s waiting room. She can’t tell him how long he’ll be waiting but asks him politely to take a seat. Will looks understandably confused at first and as he experiences a flashback of an accident he begins to look shocked. He remembers that he was in a motorcycle accident. The audience see a flashback of the accident and that Will sustained many injuries. As the action cuts back to Will in the waiting room he raises his hands to where his injuries should have been but feels nothing.
The receptionist calls out Will’s name and tells him God will see him now. Will gets up slowly, still in a state of shock and walks toward the door. The office he finds himself in is a very simple room and nothing like the grandeur either Will or the audience expect. God appears to be a young man on the phone as Will enters. I imagine this scene to be very dialogue-heavy and I want it to be witty, light-hearted and make the audience laugh. The altercation ends in an argument between God and Will about an incident from Will’s childhood. They argue about the morality of Will bullying a child at school to which Will justifies his behaviour by saying he was provoked. God then decides Will is not ready to enter heaven so he sends him back into his body and as the paramedics examine him he wakes up still muttering about the morality of the incident from his childhood.
I would like the film to begin in a sombre way but as it goes on I want it to be a humourous, light hearted way of interpreting life after death. I don’t necessarily think the portrayal of God would be particularly offensive or controversial, I hope that audiences appreciate the humour. I would like to slightly over expose the shots of the waiting room as opposed to the gritty or dull look I would employ for the flashback sequence to signify the difference between the two settings.
I would say that the film and its humour would appeal most to young people of any religion. Religion can be a contentious issue but I think the tone of the film is more to do with light hearted speculation and interpretation than it is poking fun out of any one religion.
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Sarah's Treatment
I have decided to take the notion of ‘journey’ to mean the physical and emotional journey that a girl goes through during a teenage pregnancy. The film will consist of the night when the girl gets pregnant, to when she finds out, the descisions she has to make, and through stages of the pregnancy.
The project will begin with our main character, a female around the age of 18, getting ready to go out with her friends. She will be drinking, doing make up and hair. Fast cut edits and popular music may be used here, recorded to sound like it is coming from a stereo. Close up shots of her facial expressions and particular prominent actions such as the bottle of alcohol being picked up will put emphasis on these shots. These shots will only take around twenty seconds, and act as an introduction.
Next, she will leave the house, and go to a club, showing obvious signs of drunkenness. This scene will only last a few seconds, then she will leave with a man, going back to her house. This scene will end with the light being turned out in her room, making it clear to the audience what is about to happen.
The shot will then fade into her waking up and not knowing what to do. She will look panicked, the camera focussing on her facial expressions.
It will then show a text break reading “3 months later”, and open with her sat on the toilet with a positive pregnancy test, crying, and deciding whether to keep her baby. A voice over or a phone conversation could be used here.
The rest of the piece will show the girls development through her pregnancy as she gets more heavily pregnant, and how sometimes she is terrified and sometime she is excited.
It will end with a scene of her going into a hospital in labour, and then a blackout. It may be difficult otherwise to find a newborn baby.
The piece could include flashbacks and jumps in time to show how she was before, and the contrast to how she feels when pregnant. This could be made clear in the editing stages by different colour temperatures.
The mood of the piece will begin with being lively, with bright colours and music, but will then turn to more sombre, with less music, and more sound effects. A voice over could be used to show the characters feelings throughout the piece, as well as conversations with other characters and phone calls.
I believe the audience of this piece could be any age from early teens to late twenties, as it depicts an issue that they can relate with as they hear it on the news, and in the media constantly. The piece could even be used as a warning to teenagers not to get too drunk and have unprotected sex. It could be shown on television late at night, on institutions such as Channel 4, or in schools to promote safe sex.
That was my original treatment I handed in at the pitching session. The group seemed to like some of the ideas in it. I liked the idea but much preferred the idea behind Jamie's which I am very glad got chosen. It has much more potential as a piece, and hopefully will involve some interesting shots for me to try and do.
The project will begin with our main character, a female around the age of 18, getting ready to go out with her friends. She will be drinking, doing make up and hair. Fast cut edits and popular music may be used here, recorded to sound like it is coming from a stereo. Close up shots of her facial expressions and particular prominent actions such as the bottle of alcohol being picked up will put emphasis on these shots. These shots will only take around twenty seconds, and act as an introduction.
Next, she will leave the house, and go to a club, showing obvious signs of drunkenness. This scene will only last a few seconds, then she will leave with a man, going back to her house. This scene will end with the light being turned out in her room, making it clear to the audience what is about to happen.
The shot will then fade into her waking up and not knowing what to do. She will look panicked, the camera focussing on her facial expressions.
It will then show a text break reading “3 months later”, and open with her sat on the toilet with a positive pregnancy test, crying, and deciding whether to keep her baby. A voice over or a phone conversation could be used here.
The rest of the piece will show the girls development through her pregnancy as she gets more heavily pregnant, and how sometimes she is terrified and sometime she is excited.
It will end with a scene of her going into a hospital in labour, and then a blackout. It may be difficult otherwise to find a newborn baby.
The piece could include flashbacks and jumps in time to show how she was before, and the contrast to how she feels when pregnant. This could be made clear in the editing stages by different colour temperatures.
The mood of the piece will begin with being lively, with bright colours and music, but will then turn to more sombre, with less music, and more sound effects. A voice over could be used to show the characters feelings throughout the piece, as well as conversations with other characters and phone calls.
I believe the audience of this piece could be any age from early teens to late twenties, as it depicts an issue that they can relate with as they hear it on the news, and in the media constantly. The piece could even be used as a warning to teenagers not to get too drunk and have unprotected sex. It could be shown on television late at night, on institutions such as Channel 4, or in schools to promote safe sex.
That was my original treatment I handed in at the pitching session. The group seemed to like some of the ideas in it. I liked the idea but much preferred the idea behind Jamie's which I am very glad got chosen. It has much more potential as a piece, and hopefully will involve some interesting shots for me to try and do.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Jamie Wallace - Treatment
Treatment: Journey
My ‘Journey’ idea follows a person on their journey to an event, switching from their trip to journeys of other characters they are in contact with throughout the day, ending in a loop back to the destination of the original journey and the character.
The story begins with a guy ‘getting ready’, preparing himself for the event, leaving the house to begin his journey on the bus. As he sits down on the bus next to a random woman, the camera cuts to her and the journey continues following her as she gets off the bus and goes for a coffee. The Camera then follows the waitress to a table with a bill, as 2 friends are leaving, and follows them into a shop. The friends are looking on the shelves as the camera cuts to a guy in the shop, following him as he leaves and goes back to work. As he’s entering the building the camera cuts to his colleague leaving; and heads towards the train station. In a rush they bump into the next person which the journey continues to them going back home, as they look out of the window it continues with someone walking past on the phone, quickly cutting to the person they’re on the phone to. They’re walking towards the bus stop, in which the initial character then gets off at, and the camera follows him on his last bit of journey to the event, which will be the final scene and the end of his journey. The film creates a loop of different people linked together in society and showing everyone else of their different journeys at the same time to show everyone is always on the move, making different journeys, big or small, for different reasons.
The Style of the film will be very fast paced and quickly edited using dissolves and fades as transactions between the scenes. A lot of panning will be used in the shots, as well as close ups of facial expressions; and feet walking to represent moving throughout the journey. My project idea shows that people are always on the move and that people can be linked together in society without knowing. The over all feel of the video is very positive and colourful with a fast beat in the background and dialogue used where needed to add more interest, and to grab the audience’s attention.
There isn’t really a perceived audience for the film; the characters will vary from different ages, gender, ethnicity and social group, to represent the difference in people in today’s society and to show equality. The fast pace of the piece and quick editing could be used well in a music video with lyrics in relation to a ‘journey’ which would attract the audience more, rather than a single journey which wouldn’t have the same effect.
My ‘Journey’ idea follows a person on their journey to an event, switching from their trip to journeys of other characters they are in contact with throughout the day, ending in a loop back to the destination of the original journey and the character.
The story begins with a guy ‘getting ready’, preparing himself for the event, leaving the house to begin his journey on the bus. As he sits down on the bus next to a random woman, the camera cuts to her and the journey continues following her as she gets off the bus and goes for a coffee. The Camera then follows the waitress to a table with a bill, as 2 friends are leaving, and follows them into a shop. The friends are looking on the shelves as the camera cuts to a guy in the shop, following him as he leaves and goes back to work. As he’s entering the building the camera cuts to his colleague leaving; and heads towards the train station. In a rush they bump into the next person which the journey continues to them going back home, as they look out of the window it continues with someone walking past on the phone, quickly cutting to the person they’re on the phone to. They’re walking towards the bus stop, in which the initial character then gets off at, and the camera follows him on his last bit of journey to the event, which will be the final scene and the end of his journey. The film creates a loop of different people linked together in society and showing everyone else of their different journeys at the same time to show everyone is always on the move, making different journeys, big or small, for different reasons.
The Style of the film will be very fast paced and quickly edited using dissolves and fades as transactions between the scenes. A lot of panning will be used in the shots, as well as close ups of facial expressions; and feet walking to represent moving throughout the journey. My project idea shows that people are always on the move and that people can be linked together in society without knowing. The over all feel of the video is very positive and colourful with a fast beat in the background and dialogue used where needed to add more interest, and to grab the audience’s attention.
There isn’t really a perceived audience for the film; the characters will vary from different ages, gender, ethnicity and social group, to represent the difference in people in today’s society and to show equality. The fast pace of the piece and quick editing could be used well in a music video with lyrics in relation to a ‘journey’ which would attract the audience more, rather than a single journey which wouldn’t have the same effect.
Tom Sparks Treatment
Treatment for a journey,
For this project I shall create a piece which follows a character through an inanimate world, which all the sounds are cosmetic and have no life, into a place of vibrant beauty. This film will be as much of a technical journey as it will be a narrative one, as the sounds and shots will gain life progressively throughout.
The character will be joined by the audience on a street; the audience does not know where they have come from. As they walk there will be exaggerated sounds, but no ambience, no signs of life apart from them. They will walk through oppressively dead cold surroundings, which will lead them to a door, as the door opens, ambient sounds flow into the ears of the audience. When this happens the visual will cut to a shot of the main character, which will just show his expression to when he see’s what life can be like, the audience will see his face light up with the prospect of this.
All the shots will be lifeless locked off shots with no movement, until the end when the close up expression shot of the main characters is shown. The mood will be quite cold and lifeless, not necessarily negative, but very scarce. There will still be very loud exaggerated sounds, but these will seem artificial. There will be no ambience, to enhance the surreal and inanimate element of the film. The colours will be warn-out and scarce, almost deteriating, which will mean that the footage will have to slightly over exposed with a cold white balance. This will hopefully result in the mise-en-scene of an inanimate lifeless mood.
This piece will very much be an artist film; therefore the perceived audience would be people who enjoy films such as Svankmajer’s and other slightly abstract films, with style and underlying meanings over the surface narrative. The piece should be projected on a wall in a plain room, with loud sound and clear speakers, as sound is essential to the plot.
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