Treatment

Working Title: Trust Fall

Synopsis: After friends, Anna and Rosie experiment with a psychedelic drug, they experience a series of trippy events. We view this drug induced episode through Anna's experience as she awakens in a forest and led astray by a strange rabbit. Anna's fears and weaknesses are confronted on this trip, enabling for Anna to grow and develop into the person she needs and wants to be. However, this doesn't necessarily ensure a happy ending.

Format: We will be using a Cannon 500D to film Trust Fall, a Zoom H4N audio recorder and a boom mic. We will then be using Adobe Premiere to edit our film. Our film will be distributed online on sites such as YouTube due to our target audience.

Estimated Duration: 5 minutes

Intended Audience:

Age: 18-25

Gender: Uni-sex

Demographics: Groups B&E. Because our target audience are relatively young, they will likely be students or creative workers.

Psychographics: Due to the fact that our target audience is young, they would be at the age of experimentation and trying out new things. This is why our main psychographic group would be Explorers. They will seek adventure suggesting that they are more likely to experiment with drugs and alcohol.

Style: Our film plays with many different genres such as fantasy and thriller. This is due to its influences such as Donnie Darko and Requiem for a Dream. The overall tone of the film is serious as it deals with themes of life and death.

Rationale: Our film is relevant to our target audience as they are at a time in their lives where drugs and alcohol are accessible to them. Our film doesn't glorify drugs and it doesn't evolve entirely around them, rather it evolves around the themes of trust, temptation and strength. As our audience is quite young, they will likely be accepting of change and development, therefore allowing the film to effect them and their choices.

Feasibility: Due to having experience with making a short film already, we are relatively comfortable with the equipment, time keeping and general organisation. Due to the fact that our last film worked so well, we will be using the same cast in Trust Fall. The characters featured in our first film will also reappear in Trust Fall. This works well as our actors will already have an understanding of their character and be able to replicate and build further onto them when portraying them in the film. We are planning on filming in Hockley Woods due to the fact it is such a large area to work with and it works extremely well with the dark and mysterious tone we are trying to create. The equipment we will be using is available to us via the college and the various other props we will be using have been purchased by myself and Claire. The location is a local area which will be available to us whenever we need it to be. Due to the fact that we know our cast personally, we know when they are available and can work out a suitable timetable around their and our schedules.

Budget: Due to the fact that we want our production to be as cost efficient as possible, we have only spent money where it has been deemed necessary for the quality of our product. This has involved purchasing the following:

Various masks: £2

Fake blood: £1

Heavy duty torch: £20

The rest of our props have either come from our own homes or have been donated to the production.

Deadline: (Yet to be decided) Filming shall commence in early December

Our film, Trust Fall takes place just after friends Anna and Rosie hallucinogenic drugs. The film conveys Anna's trip experience and her struggle to break free from the drug induced fantasy/nightmare.

As we will be portraying the effects of a psychedelic drug, we have had to consider how we will be able to portray that experience through the film. One of the features we will be working with is symbolism. Rabbits appear in our film due to their relation to fear.

'Rabbits are guides into the shadow world, where our personal fears lie. When the rabbit shows up it is time to examine those deep reflexive fears that hold you back from growing. Do you keep bounding for the safety of your old patterns every time something new or challenging presents itself? If the answer is yes, the rabbit asks you to face your fears with compassion for yourself. You must accept that it is part of human nature to feel fear at times, but also believe that our fears need not paralyze our growth and movement.'

The involvement of the rabbit in our film is extremely important as it represents how Anna is being confronted with her fear of rebelling and becoming spontaneous therefore, portraying her growth as a person. The decision to include rabbits in the film was inspired by Donnie Darko and the eerie connection with time, drugs and possession.

We will also be using slow-motion to create a sense of disorientation which is a technique that many films have used in the past as it manipulates time and space. Having active shots is also a great technique for disorientation. Filming upside down or sideways, takes away control from the audience, making them the victim, as if they are experiencing the same things as the character. Using close-up's on the victims face intensifies their emotions which in our case will be fear and confusion.

The feeling of entrapment will be induced by the close-up's and amount of movement within a scene. I was inspired to use hands as a source of manipulation and control in the film by a scene in Labyrinth.