Main Task Treatment

Working Title: Evangeline

Genre: Horror

Central Theme: Our film will explore the themes of jealousy and childhood innocence. It will explore these themes through the use of hypnotism and possession of the children showing that they are vulnerable and powerless suggesting their innocent nature.

Synopsis: A girl whose parents died in a tragic car crash was left orphaned at aged 5. She left the orphanage to seek a new life of her own but now finds herself, aged 10, residing in the woods not far from the place of the accident. The lack of company in the woods leads the girl to begin to wonder what else there could be to life. This is when she turns to witchcraft. When an old man is walking his dog a sudden flash of the girl catches him by surprise. As he goes to find out more he trips and falls unconscious. Little does he know that this is the beginning of the end.

Pitch: Our film will be a 15 rated however, our specific target audience will be ages 15-18. We chose to aim our film towards this age range because when research the BFI Statistical Yearbook we found that the top performing 15 rated film was of the horror genre. This tells us that this age category are particularly interested in this genre meaning that we will create a higher box office gross from this production. Our film will be different to other films as it will use a mixture of Point Of View shots from the old man and third party shots. This will allow the audience to view both perspectives and increase the audience participation in the film keeping them engaged throughout. We will also use a mixture of hand held camera shots and fixed shots. This will also help the audience to feel the same emotions as the character increasing the intensity of the film. Finally, we are subverting the stereotype that it is always a female character that is in distress as we have a male who is playing the role of 'damsel in distress'.

Characters: 

• Patrick (Old Man) - Patrick is a retired policeman who lives on his own with his dog dave. He has no children and often can feel alone. This character is one of the main roles in this film. When casting this part we will need to find a actor who is aged between 65-75, has grey hair and has previous acting ability to ensure they are capable of learning the lines and being able to easily follow instructions and pick up cues easily.

• Evangeline - Often referred to as 'Evie' this young girl has become a master of witch craft after the loss of her parents at age 5. She soon becomes jealous of other children who have parents to care for them and so in the middle of the night she takes the children from their rooms and takes them to her home in the forrest where she hypnotises them. As this character is one of the main roles we will need to carefully select our actor in order to make the film feel authentic. The character of Evie is aged 11 so our actor ideally needs to be aged 10-12. The actor also need to be able to convincingly portray someone with spiritual power and be able to pick up lines quickly and deliver them with enthusiasm and power. We specifically would like our actor to have red hair as it not commonly seen in films. This will also help our film be set apart from others.

• Bella (Child) - Bella is a child who has been taken by Evie. She is Aged 7 and is clever, confident and witty. She has managed to escape the spell from Evie and tries to help the other children escape but her plans fail when they all turn against her. For this character we need a girl aged 6-8 with a fiery personality. 

• Peter (Child) - Peter is an 8 year old boy who is outgoing and willing to take on a challenge. Under the spell of Evie he becomes very obedient and is one of her top followers. When we are casting our actors we need to look for a boy aged 7-9 preferably with light brown hair. The actor will need to be willing to wear a long white t-shirt that looks like a dress as it is an important part of the role. 

• Katie (Child) - Katie is a happy yet shy 9 year old who loves to dance. Her selfless nature makes her an easy target for Evie allowing her to be taken control of easily. For the character of Katie our actor needs to be aged 8-10 preferably fairly small and slim built with blonde hair. 

• Chloe (Child) - Chloe was the first person to be taken by Evie and is also 11 years old. She and Evie used to be best friends before the accident and Evie soon became very jealous of Chloe. She is Evie's closet follower and is left in charge of the others when Evie goes out to get more children. Our actor for this character will need to be aged 10-12 and be fairly tall. 

Film Opening Sequence: 

• The scene opens with a long shot of a car driving towards the camera in the the dark with the headlights on.

• The shot cuts to the man getting out his car and getting his dog out of the car. 

• The man locks his car and begins to walk off into the darkness with his dog until they can't be seen. 

• As the man walks through a pathway of trees he hears footsteps behind him. He turns to look and nothings there.

• As the man is facing backwards the camera cuts to a front view of the man and his dog and we see he girl run in front of them and off into the woods. 

• This startles the dog and makes him chase after the girls into the bushes.

• The man calls after his dog and after no response follows him into the woods to try and find him. 

• Whilst doing so the ma trips and hits his head on the ground knocking him unconscious.

• The scene cuts to a black screen.

• There is then a blurry long shot that pans left to right then back to centre and then a tilt from centre to up to down to centre.

• We then change to a third person view of the man who is tied to a tree. The man shouts for help and no one replies.

• We then cut to a shot of a tree with the word "Evangeline" engraved on it. There is a child's laugh in the background. 

• We go back to the man tied to the tree and the abducted children and Evie are slowly walking towards him.

• There is a point of view shot from the man of the children getting closer and closer and then they begin to run at him.

• The screen goes blank again and there is a shout from the man and the laughter of children. 

Film Techniques: 

When filming the opening to ur film we will use many different types and lengths of shot. For example - 

• Point of View shot - This will be used to show the Point of view from Patrick. This allows the audience to connect with him and feel his emotions creating a more scary and really atmosphere.

• Long shot - We will use ling shots to create a sense of space which therefore makes Patrick seem more vulnerable as he is alone in a large space. This makes the audience feel worried for him creating a tense atmosphere.

• Close Up - We will use close ups to show the emotions and facial expressions of the characters allowing the audience to engage with characters.

• Canted Angle - We will use Canted angle shots when the man is lying on the floor. This will be effective as it creates a disorientating effect for the audience. 

• And other basic shot types.

Production Considerations:

• We will need to consider our location of filming as we want to film in the woods. 

• When finding our actors we will need permission from parents as the film will be on YouTube.

• We will also need to think about safety. For example a when running through woods their could be trip hazards.

Focus Group Feedback: 

• Katy - I think the idea for this film is good because it is different to most other films as the victim is older than the villain. However, it also has many similar themes to other horror films which means it is likely to be successful.
• Ellie - I like the idea for this film as it is similar to many other horrors as it is set in a woods which is often seen as a scary place. 
• Adam - This film idea is good because it is different to other horrors as it flips the roles of the adult and child which means that it is easier to relate to a younger character for us as the audience.
• Helena - I like this film idea because its got a good story line and relates to a wide audience.