Film Treatment

Intro;
My short film will last approximately 10 minutes and will contain about 5 crew members and about 3 actors. It will be budgeted at a really low cost and will be easy and affordable to produce and market.

Outline Script;
- Overall Story;
    - After his father is sent away to fight in the war, 15 year old Mike O'Donnell from Nottingham, is forced to move south due to financial reasons, away from his normal friends and family. When his father is declared missing in action, Mike doesn't seem to handle the news very well. He idolised his father and wanted to grow up to be just like him. After causing his mother - Julie - grief for a few months, Mike runs away and seems to disappear off the face of the earth. After being officially pronounced missing, the police begin a MisPer investigation. A year goes by and nothing is recovered to prove the whereabouts of Mike, the investigation appears to fade away, leaving Julie with no closure about her son or her husband. After taking on the burden of depression, Julie takes on the task of finding her son herself. A few years pass and just as Julie learns to cope with everything that has happened, her husband walks through the door of their current family home, expecting to come back to a normal family life. Little does he know how much it has changed.

Scene 1:
A [POV] shot of a train window looking out onto a countryside setting, with faded images of men in the army fighting and getting injured. A quick flash of white and then a [MS] of a middle-aged woman, sitting on the seat, looking at her son with a sympathetic face. The train pulls up at an almost abandoned station and the doors open, then a quick cut to a front door as it shuts. A [LS] of Mike and Julie standing by the front door with their suitcases by their sides, just looking around at the state of their new house.

Scene 2:
A montage of [LS], [MS] and [CU] showing the next few months of Mikes life. Showing him starting a new school, getting bullied for being different, having arguments with his mum and also him having suicidal thoughts. As well as containing some of Mikes thoughts, there is also [CU] shots of Mike suffering, pulling at his hair, screaming and hitting things.The montage ends with a [LS] of the front door of their small family home slamming.

Scene 3: 
The police investigation starts and there are a lot of shots, passing rapidly across the screen proving how long it is taking to even find one scrap of evidence about where Mike had gone. After seeing the upset in Julie's face and how her health goes down hill, the rapidness of the shots slows down and becomes almost slow motion, showing the audience the raw emotion on Julie's face, using [CU] shots.

Scene 4:
After showing the audience how hard it is to cope with depression and making the audience feel sorry and sympathetic for her, you see her daily life, on her own. The audience go on a journey with Julie throughout the whole film. By this point, they are able to connect with her easily and go along with her everyday life, feeling the emptiness of the house without her beloved husband and son. To shock the audience, I decided to add in a section at the end where the father returns to the household, knowing nothing about their sons disappearance and the stress it has caused his wife. He walks through the door expecting a hug and a kiss from his wife and a firm handshake from his son but little does he know how much has changed.

Budget;
All productions have a specific budget to stick to and i have estimated a realistic budget that will help create my short film. With the small budget of £25 to £30, i will be able to afford to get to the location in a car and also afford to buy certain costume elements from charity shops for a cheap price. As we are collaborating with South Essex College throughout the making of this process, they are allowing to use their facilities for free. These include equipment hire and also the use of the college as a location. This helps reduce the budget a lot and we don't have to waste money on un-necessary things.

Personnel Involved;
Throughout the process of making my short film, there is a lot of different personnel that needs to be involved. A director to make sure everything is running smoothly and that everyone is sticking to the timings and budget requirements. A camera operator to assist in filming the actual film. Sound and lighting technicians to change the colour of the lights and to play the music when it is needed. Also an editor can be included to help assist the director when it comes to placing actors in certain places and offering suggestions to make the film better when it goes through the post-production stage. Every one of these roles are vitally needed throughout the whole production process.

Contingency Plan; 
My contingency plan is really clear because I know what I am going to do if something goes wrong. If a piece of my equipment breaks during the production process, i will be able to access a backup camera or other part of equipment quickly so it doesn't waste any filming time. If my actors can't make it to the shoots, i will have understudies already planned out so that they will be used instead of the original actor. If the location becomes un-avaliable for some apparent reason whether it is too dangerous due to severe weather conditions or is being used for something else, i will have a second location that will work just as well as the original one.

Production Roles;
The roles that will need fulfilling during the filming process are; Director, Actors, Editor, Cameraman and Sound and Lighting Technicians . I personally think that i know that the people i am planning on using are comfortable with the roles i have to offer and are able to push themselves to help me produce a really good final product.  

Research;
When researching ideas for my film, i noticed that i can only target a specific audience but i thought this would create a challenge for the director as it will have to be really grabbing and informative as well as keeping the final plot quiet until the end. Films like this do well in the box office but can gain some trouble if it is released at the wrong time. If the release is at the opening of the summer holidays, it wont gather as much money as it would if it was released in the winter months. the reasons for this is because its quite a dull film so it should be released when the weather outside is dull and cold allowing the audience to get a chill down their spine and also at the start of the summer holidays, there will be a lot of children in the cinemas, making younger rated films bring in a lot of money. When thinking of a name for my film, i had a few ideas but i finally came up with 'Just like Daddy'. It has a childish element to it but can be seen as quite creepy. It also links in with the story so well as it shows how much Mike idolises his dad that he wants to be just like him in every single way. I would like to rate my film a 15 as it is quite complex and you really have to read between the lines to understand the real meaning behind the disappearance of Mike O'Donnell.