Behind Locked Doors - Treatment
Behind Locked Doors takes a trip inside domestic life through a unique perspective. It highlights theme; that wealth does not necessarily bring happiness.
Scene one will begin the story with a greeting from the narrator directly addressing the audience and introducing them to himself, and to the luxury apartments. We will later discover, the lives of the inhabitants are not all particularly filled with love and happiness but at this point it appears that the life of anyone wealthy and lucky enough to be living here, would be flawless. It will be made clear that the narrator has an omniscient perspective of the residents' domestic lives, but his identity will be anonymous as yet. This will set up a mysterious and intriguing atmosphere.
Scene two will show the narrator then taking the spectator to the kitchen of the first apartment that belongs to a family, where he will firstly give an introduction to each character and explain how Madeleine and Leo, husband and wife, inhabited the wealth to afford one of these apartments that are so highly desired. Leo is a successful actor and Madeleine is an Actress, who has had moderate success. At this point of explanation and introduction to the characters, Madeleine will be shown finishing dinner preparations, Leo will be shown arriving through the front door and kissing his wife, Charlie and Alice, their children, will be shown seated at the table, eyes fixed on their phones. The family will then all be seated at the kitchen table. Madeleine will start the conversation by mentioning that she wants to congratulate her son on becoming the new face of "Topman" During the family dinner and they continue having a general conversation in which they ask each other what they have been doing at school, work and socially- outside family home life. The narrator will interrupt the conversation whenever a family member answers a question with a lying response at which point the screen will freeze and we hear the narrator's voice over for example "She most certainly has not".
Scene three will take the spectator to the next apartment, and will again start with an introduction to both the characters and an explanation of how they came across the fortune to purchase one of the apartments. The vast majority of the income from the couple living here is from Edward, who founded a cosmetic company. The couple's a problematic relationship includes frequent rows, currently a rat infestation is causing friction. Lara, the environmentalist who is passionate about animal and human equality is in disagreement with her partner, Edward's desire to use chemicals and traps to kill all of the rats and rid their flat of the infestation. The heated argument becomes violent, and Lara is slapped in the face by Edward. The screen freezes and the narrator remarks that this has been an ongoing problem, gives his negative perspective of it and what he would do to improve the situation. He will then explain that he could not possibly ever help them, without providing a reason that satisfies the spectator for this.
Scene four will show the last apartment, home to a lonely young man. It will be explained that he came to afford the flat with success in the stockbroking business. The narrator will explain as a voice over whilst we see the lonely young man preparing his meal and eating, why he lives alone in such a melancholy state. Extreme wealth lead him to drug overdose, Oliver became hooked on a variety of drugs from a young age; he now suffers from schizophrenia and depression alone, after he split with his girlfriend when he "started becoming violent and unpleasant to be around".
The film would end with a final goodbye from the narrator when his identity is finally revealed, a mouse, when the narrator says "and lastly I'll take you back to my place" - There is a final shot where we view the narrator showing the camera to his home, a tiny area inside a ventilation system. (This narrative twist will hopefully provoke great astonishment).
What was the task?: To create a treatment that accurately summarises and thoroughly explains the plot line of the film. It is a step that took me from the processing of coming up with ideas to starting to write the script of the film as I had a clear picture of the story in my mind; setting me up perfectly to go about the process
What did you learn from it?: First and foremost, I gained knowledge of what a treatment is, and that it is a necessary process to complete in order to make a film. By writing my own treatment I feel that not only did I develop the skill of treatment writing, but I also improved my writing skills of summarising and explaining my own ideas.
How will this help you in the future?: This may be helpful in the future to me as making films and plays is something I am passionate about, and I can now express my ideas more clearly and compactly, which will be a vital aspect of presenting my ideas so that they are considered seriously and noticed.
Scene one will begin the story with a greeting from the narrator directly addressing the audience and introducing them to himself, and to the luxury apartments. We will later discover, the lives of the inhabitants are not all particularly filled with love and happiness but at this point it appears that the life of anyone wealthy and lucky enough to be living here, would be flawless. It will be made clear that the narrator has an omniscient perspective of the residents' domestic lives, but his identity will be anonymous as yet. This will set up a mysterious and intriguing atmosphere.
Scene two will show the narrator then taking the spectator to the kitchen of the first apartment that belongs to a family, where he will firstly give an introduction to each character and explain how Madeleine and Leo, husband and wife, inhabited the wealth to afford one of these apartments that are so highly desired. Leo is a successful actor and Madeleine is an Actress, who has had moderate success. At this point of explanation and introduction to the characters, Madeleine will be shown finishing dinner preparations, Leo will be shown arriving through the front door and kissing his wife, Charlie and Alice, their children, will be shown seated at the table, eyes fixed on their phones. The family will then all be seated at the kitchen table. Madeleine will start the conversation by mentioning that she wants to congratulate her son on becoming the new face of "Topman" During the family dinner and they continue having a general conversation in which they ask each other what they have been doing at school, work and socially- outside family home life. The narrator will interrupt the conversation whenever a family member answers a question with a lying response at which point the screen will freeze and we hear the narrator's voice over for example "She most certainly has not".
Scene three will take the spectator to the next apartment, and will again start with an introduction to both the characters and an explanation of how they came across the fortune to purchase one of the apartments. The vast majority of the income from the couple living here is from Edward, who founded a cosmetic company. The couple's a problematic relationship includes frequent rows, currently a rat infestation is causing friction. Lara, the environmentalist who is passionate about animal and human equality is in disagreement with her partner, Edward's desire to use chemicals and traps to kill all of the rats and rid their flat of the infestation. The heated argument becomes violent, and Lara is slapped in the face by Edward. The screen freezes and the narrator remarks that this has been an ongoing problem, gives his negative perspective of it and what he would do to improve the situation. He will then explain that he could not possibly ever help them, without providing a reason that satisfies the spectator for this.
Scene four will show the last apartment, home to a lonely young man. It will be explained that he came to afford the flat with success in the stockbroking business. The narrator will explain as a voice over whilst we see the lonely young man preparing his meal and eating, why he lives alone in such a melancholy state. Extreme wealth lead him to drug overdose, Oliver became hooked on a variety of drugs from a young age; he now suffers from schizophrenia and depression alone, after he split with his girlfriend when he "started becoming violent and unpleasant to be around".
The film would end with a final goodbye from the narrator when his identity is finally revealed, a mouse, when the narrator says "and lastly I'll take you back to my place" - There is a final shot where we view the narrator showing the camera to his home, a tiny area inside a ventilation system. (This narrative twist will hopefully provoke great astonishment).
What was the task?: To create a treatment that accurately summarises and thoroughly explains the plot line of the film. It is a step that took me from the processing of coming up with ideas to starting to write the script of the film as I had a clear picture of the story in my mind; setting me up perfectly to go about the process
What did you learn from it?: First and foremost, I gained knowledge of what a treatment is, and that it is a necessary process to complete in order to make a film. By writing my own treatment I feel that not only did I develop the skill of treatment writing, but I also improved my writing skills of summarising and explaining my own ideas.
How will this help you in the future?: This may be helpful in the future to me as making films and plays is something I am passionate about, and I can now express my ideas more clearly and compactly, which will be a vital aspect of presenting my ideas so that they are considered seriously and noticed.
Hi Zara,
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see notes on here but you will also need to upload the draft copies of your script with the notes/feedback that you got. Commenting on how you used that feedback to develop and evolve your story.
Draft storyboard will also need to be included to. Can this please be done by the 22/06/2018.
All the best
Mr Cooper