- The treatment of a film is generally the stage before the creation of the scene cards and the actual filming of the motion picture.
- It has features of a plot, but in more detail giving a broader outline.
- Treatments read like a short story, except they are told in the present tense and describe events as they happen.
- Simply put, it is the summary of a screenplay.
My Treatment - An Unlikely Friend
Logline: An Unlikely Friend, is about the friendship between a young boy named Anthony and an old lady named Marie. The story embarks on how they develop as individuals coming out of their reserved selves, to form a friendship that is beyond anything they could have ever imagined.
Synopsis:
First Section - The first part of the trailer will focus on the disequilibrium that would have been shown around half way through the actual movie.
Second Section - We get a feel for each character's individual lives and are taken into how they meet for the first time.
Third Section - Taken straight to their friendship, having a good time in the park and at Marie's house.
Fourth Section - Re - visit the first part, with the dropping of the note that is initially shown.
Fifth Section - Anthony's life begins to wither away again, going back into his shell.
Sixth Section - Anthony realises that he has to continue being strong and plucks up the courage to say what he feels.
Actual Treatment
The trailer will start of with a screen showing my logo for my production company, followed by a green screen indicating the age rating and causes for concern that are important for the audiences to know about. This will fade to black and the first scene will begin.
The trailer starts of with a shot of a letter. It will be handwritten with the handwriting shaky, meaning the audience will be unable to read what is happening. Music will create tension, making the audience think that something is wrong. This cuts to a scene of a young boy, clearly looking distraught and upset. His head looks left then right, then back to the note. We are taken to a close up of the note in the boys hand, which gets screwed up into a ball and dropped on the ground in a slow motion effect. We then cut to a scene of the boy walking away from the camera with his hands in his pockets, walking hastily away from the camera. The music in the background of this entire aspect, is designed to replicate the emotion, which is sad, meaning the music will be sad and slow.
It will then branch off into the lonely life of the main character (Anthony), which is essentially how the actual film would start. We are shown his family life and the fact that his parents act like he doesn't exist and essentially don't really care what he does. He has to take care of himself, making his own dinner, cleaning his own clothes, keeping himself to himself. The audience should start to feel sorry for Anthony as he has no one who cares for him.
We are then shown the lonely life of Marie, flashing in between the shots of Anthony's life, to create a contrast and to make the audience realise that they are linked in the film. The activities that both of the characters are doing, are going to be the same sort of things such as making dinner and doing laundry. I think that this would be a good idea as it will signify to the audience how the two characters in the sense that they have no one to help them.
After this scene, we are taken to the meeting point of the two characters, which is set in the park near to Marie's house. It is going to be a very stereotypical meeting with Anthony helping Marie, after she has dropped something on a path in the park. We are taken through multiple scenes where they see each other in passing until one scene where they are both sitting on the bench and get chatting about themselves.
We can begin to see a friendship form between the two as Marie invites Anthony round for a cup of tea. There is a cut to the two drinking tea in her house having a good time and laughing. We are then taken through multiple different scenes of them meeting in the park and Anthony going round Marie's house for tea.
The music that has been building throughout to set the scene, suddenly fades out and the screen cuts to black. We are then taken back to the very first part of the trailer of Anthony holding the note. The audience will still not be able to see what it says, to keep the idea of a cliffhanger in the trailer and to make the audience want to actually go and see the film itself. There will be a more information on the note now as we are taken around Marie's house that seems to be deserted. Considering she is most of the time always home, the idea that the house has no-one in it, simply sitting or walking around, is designed to make the audience realise that the character has left, hopefully signifying that this was the note had explained. This part of the trailer is going to be a journey throughout the ground floor of the house, in a sort of slow motion effect to add a sort of spaced out and unclear effect.
We are then taken to a shot of Anthony, sitting eating dinner at home, with his parents making a toast to something oblivious to the character. It is clear that he has gone back to his old lifestyle after losing his friend Marie and we are taken through his journey, spiralling back into his individuality.
The music begins to slow down and reflex the emotion, replicating the way that Anthony was in the beginning of the trailer. As we begin to think that everything has gone back to the way it was, Anthony has an epiphany and realises that he needs to stay strong. The music picks up and we begin to feel more happy as Anthony continues on behaving and acting strongly and is a lot more happier within himself.
We see a similar shot at the end of the trailer, a lot like the walking away shot at the beginning, but with a much more upbeat feel to it. Instead, Anthony will be walking towards the camera looking happy and smiling, showing that he has clearly turned over a new leaf.
We are then shown the lonely life of Marie, flashing in between the shots of Anthony's life, to create a contrast and to make the audience realise that they are linked in the film. The activities that both of the characters are doing, are going to be the same sort of things such as making dinner and doing laundry. I think that this would be a good idea as it will signify to the audience how the two characters in the sense that they have no one to help them.
After this scene, we are taken to the meeting point of the two characters, which is set in the park near to Marie's house. It is going to be a very stereotypical meeting with Anthony helping Marie, after she has dropped something on a path in the park. We are taken through multiple scenes where they see each other in passing until one scene where they are both sitting on the bench and get chatting about themselves.
We can begin to see a friendship form between the two as Marie invites Anthony round for a cup of tea. There is a cut to the two drinking tea in her house having a good time and laughing. We are then taken through multiple different scenes of them meeting in the park and Anthony going round Marie's house for tea.
The music that has been building throughout to set the scene, suddenly fades out and the screen cuts to black. We are then taken back to the very first part of the trailer of Anthony holding the note. The audience will still not be able to see what it says, to keep the idea of a cliffhanger in the trailer and to make the audience want to actually go and see the film itself. There will be a more information on the note now as we are taken around Marie's house that seems to be deserted. Considering she is most of the time always home, the idea that the house has no-one in it, simply sitting or walking around, is designed to make the audience realise that the character has left, hopefully signifying that this was the note had explained. This part of the trailer is going to be a journey throughout the ground floor of the house, in a sort of slow motion effect to add a sort of spaced out and unclear effect.
We are then taken to a shot of Anthony, sitting eating dinner at home, with his parents making a toast to something oblivious to the character. It is clear that he has gone back to his old lifestyle after losing his friend Marie and we are taken through his journey, spiralling back into his individuality.
The music begins to slow down and reflex the emotion, replicating the way that Anthony was in the beginning of the trailer. As we begin to think that everything has gone back to the way it was, Anthony has an epiphany and realises that he needs to stay strong. The music picks up and we begin to feel more happy as Anthony continues on behaving and acting strongly and is a lot more happier within himself.
We see a similar shot at the end of the trailer, a lot like the walking away shot at the beginning, but with a much more upbeat feel to it. Instead, Anthony will be walking towards the camera looking happy and smiling, showing that he has clearly turned over a new leaf.
