Preliminary task 1-Treatment

 Done by Aubrey Hunter

Preliminary task 1 - Treatment

    Aubrey Hunter

    16 February 2025

     media studies

     Preliminary task 1-treatment  

   A treatment for shadow

    Bacon productions 

 It is proposed that the film will be about 1.30 minutes duration, and will be filmed at City Impact          Church School as this facility provides places such as a class room, hallway and carpark required to film as we are in need of a school setting for our film as there is a tutoring session happening after school as our starting. 

This film will include the following conventions of a thriller film

•  Lighting - lighting will change throughout the film from afternoon to dark, and there will be shadows on the wall as our stalker following the girl so artificial lighting will be used to allow a shadow of a figure on the wall.
• Sound - minimal amount of dialogue will be used and the main part of our short film will be silent. Intense music will play as the girl starts to increase pace as the shadow follows her but will stop once she enters through the door at the end of the hallway and as she closes the door on the other side it stops ( music symbolizes the intense moment and fear inside of the character )sounds such as a noise that catches the characters attention and shows that someone else is in the area will also be used.
• Intense breathing will show the fear in the girl
• School uniform will show that the girl has just gotten out of school and has not gone home or had time to get changed.
• Empty facility will show that school is not in place ( its after school ) and that it goes long enough into the night that teaches are gone as well ( this could be shown by showing an empty parking lot )
• Camera will mainly be focused on the girl but will show glimpses of the shadow stalker 
• It is not known in the end whether the shadow figure is actually real and is the shadow of someone or whether it is just in the girls head ( this would be maybe a fear of hers so she is now fixated on the fact that there might be someone else in there with her ) 
• Empty hallway will create suspense and worry for the child and raise questions on where her parent is to pick her up

After watching the following thriller films/thriller openings I have been influenced by

quiet place

• The use of intense music shows us the intensity of what is happening but as soon as in this case they put the rocket down the intense music stops.
• The use of background sound is very effective showing the natural scary feeling to the area 

Jurassic park

• The use of shots from the dinosaur in the trees to the workers faces allows you to see their reactions and then what they are looking at giving you more context
• They use shots that go from eye to eye ( dinosaur to human ) shows emotion of both characters 
• The end is a close up on the guys hand who has been the dinosaurs first victim and shows us what happens to him without any words
• Dark setting makes the scene more ominous   

 Problems encountered 

• Being at school after school hours and into later in the day may cause problems such as actors being unable to stay ( due to after school activities ), the inability to access certain areas may arise to become a problem and perhaps the lack of supervision or help if needed and something goes wrong may occur.
• Another problem we may encounter is that our chosen space might not be completely empty due to other activities after school like dance or children waiting in the hallway might be a problem as the space needs to be completely empty apart from a characters to create an eerie affect. this could also cause problems to do with audio to arise as we are trying to film a silent scene and the camera picks up noises from children playing outside on the playground.
  

 

The film will include the following-

characters :

Young girl

• There will a young girl ( age about 13 ) in her school uniform 
• The fact that she is wearing her school uniform shows us school has just come to an end
• Her being at tutoring shows us that she supposedly struggles in a subject at school and ha come for help and to improve

Tutor

• Tutor will be in uniform as well showing viewers that they too are still a student, however, the uniform will be completely different to the girls (  the senior uniform from which the tutor would be from is different from the girls uniform showing their difference in age )
• Tutor will only be there for the session and will leave immediately after, leaving the girl along at school.
  

   

Shadow stalker

• Not much information will be given away on the shadow stalker apart from when the camera shows us him walking or on the wall, the is no physical person actually following he this suggests that its in her head but this is not clearly told.

Ideology 

• The young girl will be scared, as a young girl would be alone at school at night after dark, she will show her scared state and venerability, this allows viewers to feel for the girl and her circumstances.
•  In contrast the shadow character will be unfazed by the girls fear and will be superior
• The main idea In this film is playing with the idea of fears that people have and how if you overthink it it makes you feel as if it is happening

Mood and tone

• The mood of our film will be suspenseful as you would expect a thriller to be, as the clip goes on the viewers will begin to feel concerned and suspenseful as the clip turns from an nice after school session to an intense dramatic atmosphere as something seems to be following the girl.
• The cold scary atmosphere will be created through the use of an empty hallway minimal lighting and dark light outside.
• When music is used ( the girl runs down the hallway ) it will create an intense feel and a sense of urgency amount viewers.

Camera shots, camera movement/lighting/angles, lighting 

• Camera will mainly be on the young girl and show what’s happening from her perspective but will occasionally switch the the shadow, this allow us to see how close or far away he is from the girl and the pace and urgency he is in to get to her, this helps to create an intense moment as we can tell how close he is to the girl.
• The beginning of the film will be an establishing shot of the girl and Tito’s I’m the classroom, followed by many close ups to help to fear or pace and movement, over the shoulder shots to reveal information on why the girl a there late at night, point of view shots to show each characters circumstances and shot reverse shot shots to show the opening and closing of doors.
• The use of close ups will help create emotion throughout this short clip as it will show emotion weather is be fear on the girls face or on the shadow and girls feet to show an increase in pace ( our chase scene )

Themes and motifs

• Evident themes in this film will be vulnerability on the girls side as she is a young girl in a place after dark with no one else
• There will also be stereotypical themes of girls being especially after dark is usually quite dangerous
  

Narrative 

• The narrative in this film builds suspense as we watch the girl fear of what or who may be at school with her when she is meant to be alone

Mise-en-scene/setting

• Our film will be set at city impact church school as it consists of the following elements required for our film

1. Class room for tutoring session
2. Hallway for chase scene
3. Car park for the girls parent to come and pick her up in 

• The use of the school will cause discomfort among viewers and show that no matter where you are, in this case at school, there is always a risk the something could happen

Sound and music

• In our film we plan to have silence throughout the clip with the odd background sound ( making it more natural ) this will create suspense.
• In our chase scene as the girl runs down the hallway intense music will be played, this will show the intense moment, the girls fear and the sense of urgency as she tries to reach the end of the hallway. This will be added post production.

Credits and logo

• Our logo will appear at the beginning of the film, if sound/music is wanted in this it will be inserted after.
• Our name is bacon productions, this will come across the screen in the beginning just before our clip starts
• The credits will appear on the screen in the beginning of the clip to show the main actors/director creating a professional look

Editing

• Shots will be short to fit all angles in and create a fast moving pace adding intensity ti the film as shorter clips rather than elongated clips will seem more urgent
  

  

Summary of the opening of our film

• A young girl and tutor are in a session after school, the tutor leaves, young girl hears sounds n the hallway, she sees a shadow at the and of the hallway and runs through  the other door and then to her relief it is revealed through a text her parent is outside to pick her up, the shadow is then shown once more in the hallway.