Treatment of our Film

Research

The theme of the film shall be about kidnap also it will be about decisions. We will follow the story of girl called Siobhan and how she feels alone and isolated, and on her birthday she wins £60,000 which lead to bad consequences where she has decided between money and family. I believe the audience will be young people as the film will be based on people around the same age as them, also they maybe able to relate to the characters as they may have been in similar situations like them before. I have completed a survey and found that the young age range would suite our film. I would hold a viewing of our chosen target audience to see whether they liked it, if it’s a success it can be shown to everyone their age. When watching the short film I would like the audience to react by thinking about the situations the characters were in and what they would do to prevent the situation and also to realise this could happen to them. They should walk away with awareness of the theme. The film therefore is intended as information about the situation and also for entertainment, as young people like to watch something that is more entertaining than educational, so by putting information within the film it will help get an understanding. The film Lovely Bones is about the kidnap and murder of a young girl, which is similar to the theme of our film. This movie was very successful as it entertained its potential audience through the way the story was told and the use of media technology. The film also educated young people without them knowing, it teaches them to be careful who you can trust and be aware of things around you. As this film was very successful I would like to adopt their conventions to make our film successful as well.

Concept

Young people are forced to grow up fast in the world today, so fast that adults tend to forget that some young people are teenagers and not adults. We begin to not recognise what goes on with young people, how they feel, and what they are going through. Some young people and adults are not aware and don’t see what goes on with other young people, they seem to get unnoticed. What if they realised what was actually going on, and how they feel so alone and isolated in the world. Lottery Choice tells the story of a young girl who tragically lost her Dad and now has to take care of her mum and brother, after winning a huge sum of money she has to make the decision. Does she chose her family she has cared for the past few years, or the money to be free from it all. The film tells the struggle of this young girl in a modern day world.

Synopsis of Story

For Siobhan today is just like every normal day for a teenage girl, even though it is her birthday. Like every day Siobhan’s phone alarm wakes her up. She grabs the phone and turns it off and chucks it on to her bed, just missing her cat. She begins to talk to her cat wondering if he would show some compassion and say happy birthday, but no. He would rather lick himself. She decides to crawl out of bed and starts getting ready to go out to college, just like every boring typical day. She does her hair, her make up and gets her coat on ready to go. Siobhan decides to sit there and look at her locket which contains her dad’s picture. She sits there in silence and wishes that her dad was still alive today. The silence is then broken when Emily calls wanting to know where she is, Siobhan tells her not to worry she will be out in a second. Siobhan walks out in to the hall way and bumps into her brother who wishes her a happy birthday. She thanks him and kisses him goodbye and walks out of her door to go and meet her friend Emily. She puts on her shoes and grabs her bag, just she is about to step out the door when she remembers something, she shots at her mum to make sure she remembers to take her brother Harry to school. She opens her door to find Emily who greets her enthusiastically, saying happy birthday and shoving a card excitably at her. In shock Siobhan takes the card and thanks her and calmly says lets go. They begin to walk to college together.

On her way to college Siobhan suddenly stops and says to Emily she has to go somewhere and begins to walk off in the opposite direction. Emily worryingly tries to beg her to come to college; she confusingly gives up and carries on walking to college. Siobhan takes a decoy and walks around her neighbourhood, thinking about everything that has happened. She gets her head together and decides to go to college. As she is late she begins to run up the hill in to college, then realises there is no point in running as the lesson is most likely almost finished. Not caring she sits down on a bench and opens Emily’s birthday card, inside she finds a scratch card. Siobhan takes a coin out of her bag and begins to scratch away, knowing her luck she won’t win anything big or anything at all. She stops. In shock screams out “£60,000, Yes!”. She grabs everything and runs up further into college. She looks around and college seems to be deserted, which is strange. Even though there are lessons going on there are normally people with frees sitting outside talking with friends. Out of the corner of her eye she spots someone. Her friend Michael lying on the grass outside college. She goes and lies next to him. They make pleasantries, and asks him what he would do with £60.000, not letting him know that is what she has won, she makes it seem like a casual answer. After a long winded list o things Michael would do with the money Siobhan gets up and says she has to go to lesson. She slowly walks down the corridor trying not to be noticed by any one that she was meant to be in a lesson with. She walks towards her locker. She stops and pulls out her folders. A letter with her name on the front flies out and lands on the floor. Siobhan without thinking puts her folder back in the locker and picks up the letter. She begins to read it and fear comes across her face. She slides down the locker and sinks to the floor with a blank look on her face.

As it is the opening sequence to our film we decided not to show the new equilibrium as that will give away what happens at the end of the film and will not entice people to watch it as they will already know what happens. By not knowing what will happen will make the audience want to watch it.

Creative Approach

Opening Sequence/titles

Footage starts off a soft playing music to set the morning scene and with a slow pan upwards of the sun rising behind the trees and the title fades in white letters onto the screen and then fades away again. Then a cross fades into Siobhan’s bedroom where it is a lot darker. She is sleeping when her alarm goes off. She grabs the phone and turns it off and chucks it on to her bed, just missing her cat. Diegetic sound of her talking to the cat wondering if he would show some compassion and say happy birthday, but no. He would rather lick himself. A sequence of over the shoulder shots show her doing her hair, make up and putting her earrings on. Then a medium shot of her putting her coat on ready to go.  All simple fades to make it flow smoothly.

Inciting Incident

Medium shot shows Siobhan sitting there in silence looking at her locket with only the extremely faint sound of the film music. Her facial expression shows sadness and hope that her dad was still alive today. The silence is then broken when Emily calls wanting to know where she is, Siobhan tells her not to worry she will be out in a second. A quick extreme close up of her locket, and then fades in to a medium shot of Siobhan walking out in to the hall way and bumps into her brother who wishes her a happy birthday. She thanks him and kisses him goodbye and walks out of her door to go and meet her friend Emily. Fade into an extreme close up and low angle shot of her putting her shoes on. Cuts to medium shot of Siobhan stepping out the first door then she remembers something, she shots at her mum to make sure she remembers to take her brother Harry to school.  Film cuts to another medium shot of Siobhan opening the door to find Emily who greets her enthusiastically, saying happy birthday and shoving a card excitably at her. In shock Siobhan takes the card and thanks her and calmly says lets go. The camera pans round to show them walking away to college together.

Progressive Complications

The scene then fades to a long shot of Siobhan saying goodbye to Emily and walking away from the camera as Emily looks confused and walks towards it. The shot again fades into a panning shot of Siobhan rushing up the hill to try and get to her next lesson. A slightly tilted down medium shot shows Siobhan sitting on a bench and opening Emily’s birthday card, inside she finds a scratch card. Siobhan takes a coin out of her bag and begins to scratch away. A point of view shot shows someone walking over to Siobhan and looking down on her as she screams out “£60,000, Yes!”.  The camera follows her up in a medium shot as she grabs everything and runs up further into college. A long shot then used to show her running along the path.

Crisis

A small pan downwards in to a tilted down shot shows Siobhan with her friend Michael lying on the grass outside college asking him what would he do with £60.000. A tracking shot then shows her getting up and walking towards the college building.

Climax

Long shot shows Siobhan walking down the corridor to go to her locker. She opens her locker picks up a folder and letter falls out. She puts the folder back in and shuts the locker. As she begins to open the letter the camera slowly zooms into Siobhan as she opens the letter to see her expression. In shock she leans against the locker and begins to slide down it, the camera pans down tracking her. Then the opening sequence fades to black.