Main Task Film Opening 'Depletion' - Treatment

Treatment: 

Working Title- Depletion

Central Themes:

Dystopia - unnatural and inhuman events, uneasy and unsafe feeling shown using low key lighting and slightly desaturated footage.

Saving the world - shown through the determination to ensure the world knows the truth, despite the consequences it may have on the protagonist.

Context:

•Due to the overwhelming pressure on the world's limited/depleting resources, the United Nation’s organisation has instructed that a mass population euthanasia programme is to be initiated; in an attempt to decrease the World's population by half, by eradicating those with undesirable characteristics until the perfect human race is designed.

•The basic synopsis of the overall film: the protagonist trying to alert the rest of the population to the impending disaster.

Target Audience:

•Our target audience is primarily male orientated (ages15-30); as our conducted BFI research depicted that this was the average age range that watched action films in 2015.

•Our film is different to others in this genre because it has an original storyline and explores rarer themes. This would make it more enjoyable for viewers as it is something they haven’t seen before. We are also potentially having a female protagonist which sets our film apart from others of this genre, because action is a primarily male-dominated genre. The only other film to have a female protagonist is Laura Croft, Tomb Raider; this is one of the most popular action films of all time, according to our research from the BFI.

Pitch:

•It uses cliffhanger opening (protagonist dying) as the audience will feel an emotional connection to the first character they meet in the scene, therefore it will persuade them to keep on watching.

•The protagonist is a young person, who knows the truth behind the false cover up the government has told the population. After an attempt to tell people, (s)he was arrested and imprisoned.

•A guard whose sole purpose is to prevent our protagonist from escaping, but fails. He then shoots the protagonist at the end of the opening sequence.

•We have shortlisted actors who would be suitable for these roles.

Film Opening Sequence:

Radio Transmission of announcements of people going missing on a black background. We see the protagonist tied up and abandoned, head in hands, trying to figure out how to get out, they’d previously agreed to this concept but upon realising what it really entailed they attempted to cause public outcry and tell others. They envisage how life would be, flashes in head of bustling tube, then empty, overlaid screams. Flashback signing contract world euthanasia project, pan down seeing them signing it, shot of them sat down signing, straight cut to them in the same position sat in the cell. Escapes, runs to computer room in order to steal microchip with information. Gets shot by a guard. Dramatic irony as the audience can see the guard with the gun before the protagonist does.

Film Techniques:

•Match on action, Tilt, Pan, Over the shoulder shot, POV shot, rule of thirds and other basic shots. 

•Low key lighting, diegetic sound, etc. 

•Filmed on a Canon 700d using a 64GB 10 memory card.

•Partially filmed with a steadicam, partially handheld or tripod.

•May include other techniques that will be decided when scripting and storyboarding the opening.

Production Considerations: 

•Assessing laws surrounding filming in public areas.

•Finding a suitable and realistic location for filming. (eg- finding a prison)

•Choosing actors that suit the genre, after feedback from our focus group.

•With the violent nature of the opening scene, we must consider what age rating our film will be. 

•Making the film opening enticing to our target audience.