Tuesday, 18 July 2017

Storyline in Detail

During today's lesson, I finished writing a document that I had previously started and been working on throughout the design of my concept. This is to help me get a really detailed idea of the film in my mind and to help me write the treatment and shot list.

·       Starts with bird’s eye view shot of the book ‘[Book Name] - an autobiography by Mary Taylor, above a table and being pulled out of an envelope/parcel box (addressed to Mary Taylor), it is then placed on the table and opened
·       Shot of woman opening the book, she is wearing blue eye shadow and a robe

Prologue
·       Screenshot of prologue page
·       Mother just died, her dad isn't coping and it led to him never going outside his bedroom, never speaks to daughter, she has become independent and has to do everything, sitting on bed trying to think of what she could do
·       Dialogue: “Family in the Taylor household was absolutely depressing. My father, a former surgeon, was struggling to come to terms with the death of my mother and now spent his entire life without leaving his bedroom. I was forced to become independent, completing all the duties around the house that my mother previously had to do. It was difficult and I wanted my life as a normal teenager back. All the free time I had, I spent thinking up ideas on how to get my life back to normal… Could I go live with my grandparents? Could I try talking to my father again about how I feel? Could I run away?”
·       “Family in the Taylor household was absolutely depressing.”: wide shot of the house, zoom
·       “My father, a former surgeon,”: Close up of his hand (putting on glove) with his face in the background
·       “was struggling to come to terms with the death of my mother and now” Medium shot of the tombstone with him standing on one side and another person standing on the other side (only their legs are shown); bunch of flowers directly in the middle of the frame on the grave OR close up of the tombstone, slow zoom, with a bunch of flowers being placed in the middle
·       “spent his entire life without leaving his bedroom.”: Medium wide shot of him lying in bed (placed in the middle), there is a bowl of popcorn on the left
·       “I was forced to become independent,”: shot continues but Mary walks in on the right and hands him a plate with a muffin on it, which he then places on the bed next to him
·       “completing all of the duties around the house that my mother previously had to do”: washing the dishes then the timer of the oven goes off and a whip pan switches to the oven where she pulls out a tray of muffins; emphasised sound effects with no music
·       “It was difficult and I wanted my life as a normal teenager back.”: Sitting on bed reading a classic novel, then father calls her name in the background and she looks up/to the side, annoyed
·       “All of the free time I had, I spent thinking up ideas on how to get my life back to normal… Could I go live with my grandparents?”: Sitting on the bed with a notebook in her hand, scribbling ideas, shot from in front of her
·       “Could I try talking to my father again about how I feel?”: Close up of the notebook with her writing on it
·       “Could I run away?” Medium long shot of her laying on the bed writing in her book, as soon as she reaches “I run”, she looks up and there is a dramatic zoom into her face

Chapter One: Mapping my Escape (narrator says this)
·       Maps a plan of where she is going to go and there is a voice over explaining all the locations and the route she will take; folds it up and puts it in her pocket with background music
·       Writes letter to dad: “Dad, I know you have been struggling lately and I think it’s easier if I have some time to myself. I don’t know when I will be back, nor do I know if you even care that I am gone. If you happen to care about where I am, I have left some clues in my bedroom. Please try and get well soon. Love, Mary” CHANGE BECAUSE THERE IS ONE CLUE IN LETTER AND THE REST AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS; cut from medium shot of her on the bed writing it, to a close up of her face
·       Maybe first clue is her favourite place to spend time with her dad (the slide) and when the dad opens it, there is a quick flashback and instead of getting a child to act, take the shot from POV with her dad at the bottom of the slide (child’s laughter sound effect)
·       Letter isn't shown until the dad opens it, for now it is just shots of her writing it
·       Packs suitcase: inside is clothes, a classic novel: bird’s eye view of her placing a classic novel on top of the clothes in her suitcase and closing it

Chapter Two: The Journey Begins (narrator says this)
·       Shots of her leaving the house, sneakily and quietly, with her suitcase in hand and binoculars around neck
·       Pulls out the map and begins walking down the road; then field of grass, etc. (wide shots)
·       Close up of her face, happy and free
·       Wide shot as she pulls out the map from her pocket
·       Close up from bird’s eye view of the map and she places her finger on the first location which is a park/playground; switches to medium shot looking at the map in her hands, tilts up to her face and she puts on her binoculars; vision through binocular effect at playground (park opposite Highland Reserve)
·       Sticky tapes note to the top of the slide with “Clue 2: Our picnic spot”; Close up of her pulling the tape from the tape dispenser with emphasised sound effects; Close up of the note while she’s taping it to the pole
·       Switches to medium wide shot of her from the back as she’s walking away from the slide and out of the playground
·       Wide shots of her walking in a grass field again and into the bush; location changes to Mt Tamborine; hiking through the bush
·       Dialogue: “I couldn’t help but wonder what my dad was doing, if he had opened my letter yet, if he cared that I was gone, if he was looking for me…”
·       Fades to black (for a second) then fades to shot of father picking up the letter from beside his bed and opening it
·       Close up of the letter (use screenshot and emphasise on particular words/phrases); voiceover reading it aloud
·       Long duration shot of him getting out of bed and tracks him to the wardrobe, he closes the door and is in there for a second, then opens it and he is dressed, then follows him out of the room
·       Montage of shots to show the time of him making his way to the first location and picking up the clue; fades to black then to next shot
·       She comes to a clearance which is Cedar Creek Falls
·       Walks down to a clear spot and there is a quick flashback to a picnic setup (which is from the past) and she leaves the third clue tapes to the ground: “Clue 3: Our fishing spot”
·       Fades to black then to next shot of father making his way to Cedar Creek Falls, when he finds this place, it flashes back to a wide shot of a picnic set up laying on the rocks, walks down and picks up clue but as he goes to pick it up he falls/gets injured by the rocks somehow, is bleeding; fades to black then to next shot
·       Hikes away from the creek and back into the bush; comes to another clearance then goes to the fishing spot at the Coomera Lake
·       Lays down and relaxes with her sunglasses on, boy comes over and introduces himself and says he’s run away too; incorporate an extreme wide shot of the location from the bridge and maybe an extreme zoom
·       Montage of time passing of them spending time there, girl leaves note behind “she’ll be going home when she’s ready; no planned location for this last trip”
·       They spend the rest of the journey together; walks over the bridge (next to the fishing spot)
·       Dancing as they walk over the bridge (twirling, etc.) wide shots from behind and the side
·       Montage of time passing; then shows them walking back down the road to go home and saying goodbye, she walks home alone and happy

Chapter Three: The Reunification of a Family
·       Opens the door to the house (medium wide shot)
·       Goes into her father’s bedroom and he is pacing the room with a bandage around his leg
·       Close up of the girl’s face as she looks shocked and asked what happened
·       Close up of the father’s face as he explains that he was looking for her but had to stop because he injured himself on the way; dramatic tilt down to knee; apologises about the way he was acting, etc. etc. and they hug
·       The phone rings (emphasised sound effect) and the shot fades to black (the screen is black for only a second) then to shot of the book where it tilts up to the phone ringing
·       Medium wide shot from directly in front as older Mary picks up the phone
·       Person on other end asks “How did the autobiography turn out? You happy with it?” and she replies “Yes I’m really pleased with the final result, it’s exactly how I imagined it to be”
·       She smiles and hangs up; changes to bird’s eye view of the book and she closes it, screenshot of “The End”

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