Call Sheet - 25th Sunday October 2015

'Pressure' treatment

Working title: Pressure

Genre: Drama

Target Audience: 14-28 age range

Tagline:

Our future is uncertain, undetermined, but despite all you must decide what life you will live.

Brief Synopsis:

(50 words)

The story of an adolescent girl, Hannah. The pressure of the unknown and making the right decision at such a young age. Desperate to find herself Hannah battles with the pressure of not fitting in at school, being unable to perform academically despite her efforts, and dealing with the pressure of making career choices which could dictate her future lifestyle.

Brief Description:

(500 words)

The story begins with the protagonist (Hannah) at the breakfast table, eating cereal before school, staring through the camera, almost in a trance. Meanwhile her parents, oblivious, walking in the background prepare for their working day.

Hannah snaps out of trance down to a table full of university applications, scholarship applications, grade reports, homework, notes, and revision text books. She gathers the objects together, and slams them into a pile in frustration.

Hannah is now on the bus, reading revision textbooks and writing notes. She looks up out of the window and watches the town pass her eyes. Now off the bus, at the bus stop, Hannah looks to her school/college directly ahead as the bus drives past. Hannah remains still, staring ahead.

Later that evening Hannah is situated in her darkened bedroom, at her desk, late at night, surrounded by textbooks, notebooks, documents and a blaring laptop screen. A voice over explains Hannah’s mind frame as she checks university requirements. She now sifts out her current grade report underneath the chaos that is her desk. Her grades aren’t sufficient. We watch Hannah’s disappointment and frustration.

(MONTAGE) A few different days of Hannah again at her desk/on her bed/ on her floor, surrounded by homework, laptop of academic supplements, notebooks, sticky notes, and highlighted texts. We watch Hannah furiously revising in order to achieve the grades she needs.

(A NEW DAY) Hannah’s parents leave an application form on her desk. She begins to look at the requirements for the universities and scholarships again. Hannah reveals her new grade report; still no improvement despite her efforts. Hannah looks ahead through the window above her desk. We watch her emotionless face of exhaustion.

(A NEW DAY) Hannah is now in a bus station staring at a poster about a volunteering scheme about leaving home and travelling in Africa for a year. We observe her as she observes the poster.

(A NEW DAY) Hannah again sat at the breakfast table, eating cereal before school, stares through the camera, in a trance. Her moment is broken by a text from her friend whose message explains how she knows exactly what she wants, has the perfect grades, and has been accepted for a scholarship. Hannah on the other hand is stuck in a cycle despite her efforts she ends up in the same position she started.

(MONTAGE) Hannah leaves the house and heads for the woods. She yearns for an escape, leaving everything behind. We witness the scenic beauty that surrounds her as she walks through the woodland. The escape, the freedom, Hannah remains in peace for a while, in serenity. We appreciate the space that surrounds her. Hannah notices movements in the woods behind her and thinks there’s someone lurking in the shadows. Hannah is unsettled. She attempts to leave, but struggles to find her way out. Unable to determine the right pathway, Hannah panics. She persistently looks over her shoulder for her potential follower and stumbles over a tree root. Hannah falls and tumbles to the ground below her.

A blurred figure reaches a hand forward. Hannah hesitantly accepts the guiding hand. This could be construed as her finding her inner guidance, an actual saviour, or even a mere figment of her imagination as result of her pressure. The ending is left ambiguous for individual viewer interpretation.

Main Character Biography:

(250 words)

Hannah Timms is an adolescent going through the struggles and pressures most teenagers can relate to. She feels unsure about what choices to make regarding her future and what direction she should take concerning education, career choices and travel choices. She feels as if the selections she makes now will affect the rest of her life, and is compressed by the need to please her parents and be successful. The battle against her fears for the future don’t only stem from pleasing her family but also from her struggle to make decisions. Hannah’s want is to escape these pressures and hide away from the choices she has to make. Her need however is guidance and support. In contrast with her parents, who add to her anxieties, she needs someone who can help her.

Our film intends to show a realisation that sometimes it’s impossible to escape from life decisions. The journey into the woods symbolises this, at first it’s a nice escape and feels peaceful away from her stresses, but as she becomes lost it shows that distracting yourself isn’t always the answer. In the end a silhouette of a person reaches out to Hannah, this could be the answer to her problems; A friend which can lead her into the right direction.

Our character isn’t special in a significant way but she will be relatable. Many people struggle with anxiety as a teenager and find it hard to deal with the pressures society, school and parents put on you. Hannah is an ordinary girl who is struggling to find happiness because of our culture’s requirements. 


Directors Statement of Intent:

(250 words)

This film represents a state of ‘Pressure’. The film will follow the narrative of this young girl, exploring her current lifestyle and the psychological impact that is has on her. Using a juxtaposition of long and short shots throughout will allow us to represent Hannah’s mind frame through different parts within the narrative. For the most part of this film, the mood will be grey, slow, and gradual. Paired with focused audio, and occasional voice overs the film will set a low tone. ‘Pressure, will be construed in its ability to alter a person’s emotions. Using this alteration in pace; pressure will be shown through shorter shots accompanied by character emotion. In summary we will have experienced a low depressing state (slow), anxiety (fast), distress and exhaustion (emotional acting paired with juxtaposing shots). Later into the narrative when Hannah finds herself in the woods, the colour scheme will appear brighter and naturally more colourful, the scenery will reflect the mood, slow attractive imagery will portray is serenity. The imagery will appear much more cinematic and creatively experimental. The entire mood and pace of the film will differ entirely to the previous to create a sense of space and escape (her want). This change will emphasise the mood by comparison. When Hannah feels paranoid, tension will be developed through a combination of ambient sound, soundtrack and fast, close shots. Moving images and unsecured cameras can help to portray a dramatic feel to this scene by playing with the mood in movement. At the end, Hannah will accept a guiding hand from what a blurred darkened figure. The entire scene is a metaphoric representation of her pressure, the emotion, panic and tension built are equally expressive components of the mood “pressure”. The ambiguous seeming ending allows for viewer interpretation, as the narrative will be a strongly reflective piece that requires audience relation to create an emotional emphasis/empathy. Any and all viewer interpreted endings are correct. 

The Shining (1980)

The Shining (1980)

Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

In The Shining, there are three central character arcs. All of the arcs play an important part of developing the narrative. This film is still a single strand piece, even though it has all of the elements to make it a multi-strand. The main stories involve main character Jack, his wife, Wendy & their son Danny.

Danny's character arc

Before the 'Room 237' sequence, Danny kept having these reoccurring dreams about what Room 237 contained. This is even before the family came to the hotel. The way this particular scene is shot is gripping as we are going into the room as Danny. The Point of View shot is filmed at the same level as Danny, meaning height so the audience only knows what Danny knows. In the framing of the shot, we have the door which leads to the room halfway open; the use of mirrors creates tension because there is nothing that seems out of the ordinary as we can see that the room is well lit but it is the music & camerawork causes the disruption. In the central of the frame, there is a red key ring which the door name on it; this is the only component that represents danger or death in the shot.

 

What happens in the room causes our main character Jack to investigate the room and this is what helps his narrative develop, as well as Danny's story.

 

 

Wendy's character arc

 

There are some deeper meanings why Wendy is in the boiler room but it is not necessary to the plot. Wendy hears Jack screaming and goes to his aid. I believe that Danny was screaming also but Wendy hears Jack scream as this helps the plot later on to develop.

 

 

Jack's character arc

 

 







The scene where Wendy wakes up Jack from a bad dream is the final but crucial part of the sequence. Jack wakes up and explains to Wendy what his dream is about. Then Danny appears holding his neck in the distance. Director Stanley Kubrick decided to use the steadi-cam to illustrate that Danny is wary of what has happened. Wendy soon reacts, blaming Jack for hurting Danny (again, though this is happened before the film began) and takes Danny away. This plot device gives Jack the reason to investigate Room 237.

Sid Felds 'Paradigm'

(Source: dramatica.com)

Screenwriter & theorist Syd Field created the 'Paradigm' to see how a film is structured when it comes to inciting incidents & plot points. In every film and tv show, their are actions in the narrative, that help develop the story. They are placed in certain parts of the story to give the film/show depth and structure. In a typical film or television program, you can tell where the plot points embedded in the film but some can be very subtle.

Without this structure, a media text cold fall could fall apart as it might be confusing for the audience. 

Film Analysis

A changed man (2003)

Directed by Jens Jonsson. A middle aged man named Chris is sitting in a taxi anxiously whilst looking at all the surroundings from inside the black cab. The driver, who is doing all of the talking, which is giving all the backstory of the town. This is the 'inciting Incident' as this is taking the character out of his everyday routine.

The protagonist is dropped off outside his old school. You could say that this is the 'plot point' but I believe its when our main character is standing inside the classroom alone in the next room. It shows the audience that he is at the point of no return. With the classroom shot, our main character looks quite small compared to the classroom; this is done by the high angle shot the director felt that it could convey the meaning of feeling small in a big place. Throughout the entire film, the lighting used is very effective because it sets the 'depressing' mood, which what the film is.

Majority of the film is based in the school gym where all the old school pupils are talking and meeting one another again, catching up from all those years apart. The way the tables are placed out, where all the characters are in frame, felt that this story would fit well in the West-End theatre; saying that, the narrative and locations used would work very well.

Dirty Dancing (1987)

Directed by Emile Ardolina. The scene I'm analysing in particular is the (Do you love me?) sequence. Frances "Baby" hears music in the distance, which is over the bridge and is drawn in by the character is holding the watermelon. It is interesting how the sequence is structured because I see that the bridge is a path to the 'dark side' so to speak. The low angle shot (which I felt that is a POV shot) from Frances perspective shows you the scale of the dance house.

Once we are over the bridge and in the house, we are shown various shots of exotic dancing, happening over red lighting; the red lighting represents very sexual and seductive incidents.  Their are shots of Frances looking on, and taking in all the action. The shot composition plays a crucial part in telling the story or character emotions because the camera is placed in the middle of the dance floor as people are dancing in the left and right of the frame; which means that us the audience are already in the action. 

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Directed by Stanely Donen & Gene Kelly.  The infamous sequence is of Gene Kelly's character dancing (and singing) in the rain. What I admire about this scene is the way it goes against meanings as rain represents sadness, badness and loss of hope but Gene Kelly takes in the rain like its a sign of relief.

The set design of the sequence is quite impressive as it looks realistic and it sets the tone of the set. The art director did a fantastic job for making this look like a street that was next to a various shops and the characters passes many shops that give off enough light to light the screen (studio lighting also helped). Many of the shots in this scene were tracking shots but some were stationary shots which stayed on screen for long amounts of time. I believe the long shots were used to show the backgrounds of the shots as I feel they were important for the sequence, also Gene Kelly's outstanding performance. 

The character onscreen moved with the tempo with the music, which sped up when Gene Kelly sped up his performance; everything was quite in sync with each other. 

The Birds (1963)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The attack in the attic sequence. We start off with Melanie who is sitting downstairs in complete silence by hearing movement upstairs.

The scene is constructed perfectly as it creates tension and suspense. Most of the location is in low lighting and the audience and the character are guided with a torchlight. When Melanie is walking upstairs, we are given a POV shots to create tension and the use of sound is at a minimum as this also creates tension. The audience know what's behind the door so without the editing of the sequence, it would fall flat and there would be no suspense at all.

Once Melanie is in the attic, she shines the flashlight around the room until she shines it on the birds; they then begin to attack her. The shots in the attacking part is well structured because we again get POV of the birds attacking Melanie and close-up of the birds leaving their mark on her body. This sequence reminds me of Hitchcock earlier work Psycho (1960) when Marion is being murdered by the murderer in the bathroom; the same editing techniques were used.