TFOM - Treatment

Storyline

The concept of my single camera drama is a post-apocalyptic themed one, set in a dystopian United Kingdom. The two main antagonists are Liam Westwood and George Lewis, two best friends. Their world has been plagued with a deadly virus which has infected humans, turning them into crazy rabid people who are attacking and killing the innocent. Liam and George have been told to evacuate inside a home and barricade themselves in, sheltering themselves from the oncoming apocalypse. However they have also been told by the armed forces that if they come into contact with one of the infected. Known as a 'marked one' they must attack and kill them, so to act as a nation in destroying the plague. Liam also has a very big challenge ahead of him, his best friend George is declining in health ever since evacuating to Liam's house. George has all the signs and symptoms of the virus, Liam must act fast upon this discovery. As well as this problem, there is also a 'marked one's' body in the garden and soon the body will wake up.

The MacGuffin in my single camera drama is George's missing girlfriend Lucy Peach, she is what is causes conflict amongst Liam and George. This is because George wants to leave Liam's house and find her, however Liam is refusing to let George leave because it is too dangerous and he is getting more and more ill. As well as this, it will get him killed and the marked one in the garden could then get into the house. I will also incorporate flashbacks into my film, this will help to explain how it all happened.

Outline of script

The script for my short single camera drama will roughly be about 10-13 pages as the running time has to be a minimum of at least 10 minutes so 10-13 pages will hopefully achieve this. Majority of the script will be dialogue and different location changes descriptions. I will also put in the script what different angles I intend to use for certain scenes, as some are more important than others. Below is a rough draft of how the single camera drama will pan out and each key event appearing in the script in that order.

1 - Boy running from someone, opening image establishes single camera drama

2 - Present day, Liam and George discussing a marked one in the garden

3 - Flashback scene, four soldiers explaining the apocalypse to Liam and George

4 - Present day, George trying to leave the house. Conflict arises amongst the two friends because George wants to leave

5 - Flashback scene, scene shows how the boy in the garden got to be there

6 - Liam is panicking because George is now turning rabid and boy in the garden (Luke) has woken up. END.

Size and content

As previously stated my single camera drama has to be at least 10 minutes in length, so to achieve this I have made sure that I have scripted it so that it lasts for 10 minutes. My production crew will just be myself, however my cast will be made up of eight people.

Estimated cost of production

For my short film there will be a small budget involved as there are various props and equipment I have to buy. First of all I will be spending £16.81 on an SD card. The reason I'm not going for an expensive one is because the camera I will be using to film is a 1080p camera and I only have an 8gb SD card. Now an 8gb is too small because it doesn't let me film very much. Therefore I have ordered a 32gb 600x class 10 SanDisk SD card so that I won't have many restraints on how long I can film for. I will be filming it on my DSLR Canon 100D, which I already had so that won't be included in the budget. To minimize costs of props and costume I have borrowed off of a relative a fake pistol bb gun which will look realistic enough so I won't have to order a plastic one. For the soldiers in my film I will not need to pay for their costumes as they all have army dpm uniform, therefore they can provide that. As well as their uniforms, they also have Airsoft guns, which are legal and look realistic enough. Therefore I won't have to hire or buy plastic machine guns. I will however have to pay for fake blood and liquid latex, so that I can create the rabid human effect. This will only cost me about £8, as fake blood and liquid latex are only like £2 from Amazon. So if I buy two lots of both I will have enough in case I run out and it will not cost much. The final piece of budgeting I need to do is paying out for a mic for my camera, the reason I want to buy a mic is because I want the best possible sound quality for when my actors are talking the lines of dialogue in the script. I could get a mic from college, however it will be tricky because I will need the mic quite a lot and I won't be able to return it in the three day return policy they have. Therefore I have decided I am going to purchases a Rode mic for about £80. Therefore I can use it whenever I want and it will be a good investment for the future.

Talent

For my single camera drama , currently working title called 'The Fall of Man' I have already cast the majority of my eight man cast. The two main characters will be played by two of my friends. Liam Westwood by Matt Flower and George Lewis by Sean Bilner. Three of my soldiers will be played by my friends William Thorne, Tom Deacon and Alex Deacon. I am still yet find out if my fourth soldier is available for filming.


Contingency Plan

When I arrange the main dates to go ahead and film, various problems and issues could arise which could put off filming. For example my lead actors could decide to pull out for any different reasons. If this does happen, I will recruit an understudy to play their part for the entirety of the film. I have various other friends I could use in case any of my actors pull out.

If my camera or sound equipment decides to play up or break during filming, I will have to record the rest of my film using a college camera and sound equipment. This is worst case scenario, my camera is very new so no breakages should occur.

If it badly rains on the two days I decide to film all outdoor scenes, I will just re organise a different day to film. The reason for this is because the rain could badly effect my equipment, damaging some of the electrics. It may also cause bad continuity problems so therefore if it rains when I film the outdoor scenes, I will just re organise.