Treatment

1. The action: identify the event your idea is based around; what actually happens (discovery of a body, an illicit meeting, a witness seeing a crime being committed, a criminal act taking place, a telephone call, a chase, a short journey etc)?
A man is bound and gagged, in a chair in a basement. The character wakes up and is very dazed. A new character walks down to the basement. He appears to be the killer but holds a reassuring conversation (if not ironic) with the victm. Instead of killing him he ungags him before sending him to sleep again. The killer then exits whilst other victims in the basement can be seen pleeing for mercy and trying to escape.

2. The theme(s): what should it make the audience think about or feel, what ‘issues’ will it raise (revenge, sexuality, voyeurism, stalking, obsession, greed etc)
Revenge, murder, torture, claustrophobia, trapped, watched, cold, psycho, irony, possible obsession?

3. The narrative: how is it structured - classic narrative pattern or break with convention, real time or different time zones, flashbacks/forwards, dreams etc. Will there be dialogue? What about diegetic/ non-diegetic sound?
It will be real time in a continuous sequence. It will be structured in a way to not establish the location of the victim until about 30 seconds in, not reveal the killer until about 1 minute in, and not reveal the actual situation (more than one person being kept there) until the end of the sequence. It will have dialogue in the final minute but most sounds will be added on over the top despite being diegtic. The only possible non-diegetic sound will be any music we make to build tension.

4. The character(s): who are they, identify their roles, what are their characteristics, including gender, appearance etc?
The victim is male and normal looking with plain clothes such as a white polo top. His personality is unclear except for the fact he is terrified and wants to break free. He could be fairly well built and tall to scare the audience that such a male is powerless to the killer. He will look bruised and battered with black eye, cuts, dirt and messy hair. His clothes could be ripped and slightly dirty or blood-stained. The killer is male and suspicious until he begins to talk. He wears a dark trench coat but other than that is fairly normal looking despite him being tall. He seems normal as he talks but holds tones of twisted irony. As he walks away he murmers and sings to himself and it is clear despite acting normal and charming around his victims, he is a bit of a psycho. He is also strong, ruthless and powerful in occasional sudden movements such as forcing a victim to sleep. He could be pyschotic and seems to pretend he is running some sort of hotel, looking after his "guests".

5. The setting and choice of location: where is it set?
The location is the school basement. We have cleared out some space in a corner for the chair, with a white sheet covering alot of boxes that will add clutter. Here there are pipes and a flickering lights. We also will set up a light with blue filter gel here to give it a cold, metallic look. The rest of the basement is dark and it could be any basement - this is unclear to the audience. There is a stairway and then a door where we will set up another blue light behind to create the effect of this cold light coming from the doorway. This will also show another victim covered in blood in the blue light. Between this door and the corner of the room with the chair, there is an aisle between some shelves. This will be nearly pitch black to not show the clutter and to disorientate the audience by not showing so much perspective in the room from location to location. We may shine one more blue light behind one of the shelves to cast half the aisle in shadow, but being able to see little glimmers of the corridor.

6. The mise-en-scene: identify colours, lighting, dress codes, the overall visual look
We are using low key lighting using 3 standard studio lights with blue filter gel. The overall look will be blue, metallic and cold like many modern horror films. There will be lots of shadows and darkness to add to mystery and tension. This is not hard in a basement with no naturl lights on. It will create an eery atmosphere boosted by the sounds we will add. The dress code will be plain to keep focus on the situation and setting (plain such as white polo tops, jeans etc). The killer will where a dark trench coat to set him apart from the others.

7. The camera work: the style you are aiming for
The fist minute will show the character waking up, using CU's at first (a montage of different angles) to show his reaction. Next we will establish the scene using motivated cuts (the actor looking down followed by flash cutaways showing his chains etc) and then LS establishing shots. We will then parallel edit between shots of the victim and POV shots of the killer spying on him (shot framed by shelves) and his footsteps. Next a shot/reverse shot and continuity editing will show conversation between the 2 and reveal the character and situation. Finally, a long POV tracking shot will show the killer leave the basement and reveal that there are more victims trapped in the basement. The final shot will be of a hand coverd in blood smeering down the glass on the door as the killer closes it and says something ironic before his footsteps are heard leaving. This will fade to black revealing the film title. The whole sequence will be cut up by random cutaways establishing the basement feel of the scene and eeriness, accompanied by credits. The style will be disorientating and as if we are spying on the victim. LA's will make him look small and powerless, with CU's amplifying his terrified expressions.

8. The editing: edited as a continuous sequence, use of cross cutting, use of montage, or combination?
A combination of montage (flash montage), cutaways, some continuity edting (dialogue and conversation) and a long POV tracking shot.

9. Has your idea been ‘tested’ against the key criteria (the 8 questions)?
We tested the 8 questions on test shoot and now can say the idea is practical and uses the strengths of the group and the location (the darkness and lighting). The combiantion of camera techniques will show off what we have learnt this term and we can definately shoot in the time and available and using the resources we have in the media department, as the test shoot was successful and we are filming at school. We have gained permission to the basement for the next 2 shooting weeks and we have access to the 3 studio lights and blue gel filters we need. The sequence will include conversation and dialogue and we are most likely to act ourselves so are extremely reliable as it is for the benefit of our own projects. The only issue we have is space in the basement as we have to move lots of things, and we would like the blue lights to be flashing (flickering) so we need one person on each light. 2 to 3 helpers maybe recquired to help on lights, play extra victims and their sounds, and to help clear out the space before shoot and put everything back. We have reliable friends who are willing to help out and be part of the project by helping out in such a way.

10. Group responses?
We have gone through many ideas and after test shooting we have cut our ideas down to this last idea. We have realised it will be hard to get quality actors to play a completely psychotic killer, so have changed this to make the killer almost normal-like. The discovery of the long POV tracking shot has boosted our idea and the lighting is perfect for this idea. We have come up with this final idea through the props and resources available to use in the basement.

11. Teacher responses?
Miss blackborow wanted us to not make our idea so complicated so we have avoided a time change, more than 2 main characters and too much going on. She also suggested we build up tension for the first minute and not introduce too much action. She liked the idea of the killer being normal and suggested he be charming whilst being ironic, as if seeing to guests. She decided the long POV track would be better with the killer leaving as to not establish there is more than one victim until the end. With these changes we have come up with this final idea with which both we and the teacher are happy will work.