Between the devil and the deep blue
Scene 1: Bedroom
The Mother: Sleep now, make sure you take the pills The boy: [grunts] The Mother: Okay deary make sure you have them in the morning The boy: [louder grunt] Scene 2: The Forest The Friend: HEY, what are you doing here [the boy recoils and backs away] The Friend:[she circles him as she talks at him swinging arms wide and talking in a loud simple voice] I haven’t seen you in AAAAAAAAGEEEEEEES where have you been? The Boy: I haven’t gone anywhere I’ve lived here all my life, who are you, how did i get here? The Friend: Oh i suppose it may have been me that left, I don’t really recall. Besides its good to see you again do you want to walk with me for a little while, catch up ya know. The Boy: No, enough of this where am I? Who are you. The friend: Your friend silly now can we walk please I really can’t believe that you’re back. [The boy seeing that he has little choice in the matter walks along side the girl as she leads him down the wooded lane we follow them in silence for a bit before the friend lets out a sight and stops] The friend: I know you’re anti-social but this is something else, what’s happened to you? The Boy: Nothing maybe something has happened to you, maybe you’ve changed. I don’t even remember who you are. The friend: I remember you and that’s all that matters. Now why is your hand in your pocket fiddling with something it’s very off putting. [surprised the boy pulls his hand out of his pocket to reveal the pill pot. Not even realising that he had been holding it this whole time. Realising quickly that this ‘friend’ can see it he pushes back into the pocket and walks quickly away] The friend: hey no wait what was that? The boy: Nothing The friend: I nah ha that was definitely something and I wanna know what! Are you ill or something? [The boy turns there is anger in his voice now and pulling the pot from his jacket he holds it out at arm’s length] The boy: Yes i’m ill okay, I suffering with some mental bull crap and I don’t need you, whoever you are, interrogating me in a forest about it! The friend: Thought as much, well i knew as much. The boy: How you couldn’t possible have known, only me and my mother knows. The friend: and me, i knew too. You're suffering from [she pauses and squints and looks upwards and to the right] residual schizophrenia? The boy: How … The friend: I told you I knew more than you think winking she walks around a tree and disappears. The boy: What the actual fuck was that? [he whispers to himself turning up the collar on his coat he turns and walks away down the path, we follow him for 10 seconds before he turns back to the camera looks are nervously and then walks away again looking back the music builds and he breaks into a run we follow and he runs around a tree we close up on his face as he crouches down and closes his eyes we cut to black as he closes his eyes and when he re opens them we are in the school] Scene 3: The school The boy: Thank god [standing he walks across to his locker and opening it pulls out a bag from a doorway appears the friend] The friend: Awfully quiet around here isn't it? The boy: You again, you don’t even go to this school The friend: Maybe not but it’s a school and i’m young i just slipped right on in to tell you that i’m all read up on you. I’m sorry about all of this it must be hard. The boy: I don’t like people reading up on me, anyway where did you even find this out. The friend: no matter where i found it out it, i have something very important to show you. [from down the hall a door swings shut and produces a great bang] The friend: well shes caught up finally we need to get going. [looking worried she turns on her heel she pulls the boy back through the door she came through. They make it halfway up the stairs before he pulls his hand free and turns to face the door. Stood there is the friend but this time garbed in black and she laughs cruelly and lets the door close behind her] The friend: She’s there isn’t she? The boy: You’re there and there The mother: HA, I am not her boy I am your master The boy: I don’t understand The mother: I am here for you, you see you haven’t taken your pills yet [letting his hand drift to his side he slips his hand into his pocket] The friend: NO WAIT! Don’t you dare put those in your mouth The boy: I don’t understand why not? The Mother: Don’t listen to her son The boy: SON? The mother: [cocking her head] you don’t recognise your own mother? The boy: you’re not my mother The friend:[pleading] Put down the pills and come with me please The boy:[angry and defiant] NO tell me what is happening right now both of you The mother: Were making you better The friend: She’s trying to kill you! I discovered this life insurance papers made you for you in the event that you die she gets a massive pay out. Two days later you receive a prescription for an incredibly potent pill? This isn’t a coincidence. [during this the mother has advanced on the boy] The mother: She is trying to corrupt you son, we got rid of her years ago remember? The boy: No i don’t remember her or you my mother doesn’t look anything like you! [the friend too has advanced and gives the boy the papers] The friend: read them yourself you’ll see that i’m not lying to you. [the boy back towards the stairs with the friend looks as if he has come to a sudden realisation he backs away up the stairs and goes through a door with the friend the mother lets out a howl and beings clawing at the door from the other side] The friend: go now i have done my lot for you I’ll see you soon friend [the boy turns and runs we follow him as he swiftly turns a corner and finds himself alone on a beach retching he drops to his knees and vomits up many pills] Scene 4: The Beach [after spitting out the last of the pills, the boy look around for the friend. After looking all around him once, he sees her sat next to him the second time he looks] Friend: hey, you okay? I told you not to take those pills. Boy: I..I don’t know, I thought they were making me better, but I feel worse than ever before. Friend: Told yooouu. Boy: No, you can’t be right though, my mother wouldn’t poison me, she’s my mother for God’s sake! Friend: She is poisoning you though, and I think you know that now. Please, for both our sakes, you have to get away from her. Ever since you’ve been on these new meds, you’ve gotten worse, that’s why we hadn’t seen each other in ages. I’m the sign you’re not doing good anymore. [the sound of footsteps crunching on the pebbled beach interrupt their conversation. The friend glances behind her and turns back to the boy] Friend: The real one’s here now, you had better deal with her. [the boy takes a deep breath and stands up, and turns to look at the mother] Mother: Sweetheart? I’ve been looking for you, have you been taking enough pills? Boy: More than enough, I know what you’re trying to do to me mum, and I won’t allow it anymore. I won’t allow you to poison me anymore! [he lets the pill bottle drop from one hand, and takes the paper out of his pocket and scrunches them up and lets them drop too] Mother: I don’t know what you’re talking about, you’ve clearly gotten worse, pick that medicine up and have some more. Boy: No. Mother: Excuse me?! You will not refuse me! I brought you into this world, and while you’re in it, you listen to me! Boy: No. I won’t. It’s not just the medicine that’s poisonous, you are too and I don’t want to be around you anymore. Don’t try to find me, goodbye mum. [the mother is frozen in disbelief, as the boy walks up the beach and straight past her, the friend is nowhere to be seen, film ends on a shot from the side as the boy walks past her] END. Our film will be representing the psychological genre is several ways. The first of which is the core theme that being life and death. Many psychological films focus on the idea of life and death and it's finality and inevitability. Such as Donnie Darko. The film we're creating also focuses on death but in our case how death isn't inevitable and that to some extent one may choose when they die. Of course this is excluding old age that's going to happen no matter what. The second way our film reflect the psychological genre is the tone, we are looking towards having our film set mostly during dusk with the only scene during the day being the scene on the beach which is a form or redemption scene so it would make sense to have our character brought into the light, literally, the tone will be conveyed also through the juxtaposing of dialogue as one character will be very bright and enthusiastic and the other will be dark and dismissive and finally the last will be violent and rude. This is also reflected in the mannerisms of the character the mother having a closed posture while the friend will have an open one while the boy will maintain a neutral stance. Finally the last way we will be sticking to the psychological genre is through the story and the way we manipulate the characters, as it isn't clear if the boy is dreaming or hallucinating all these people we will have them disappear around trees and corners when we need them too. This is common from the mind bending genre and is also a very useful tool for telling a simple story quickly as we don't need to waste time travelling we can just have him appear there. These are the ways that we are going to stick to the genre of psychological drama.
There are many shot types to be found in the psychological genre of film as it is a wide and varied genre that focuses more on the characters and plot over the visual action and as a result we are treated to a wider range of shots. However there are some that are a mainstay of the genre such as the close up, this is most commonly added in order to show a character's fear or confusion, two emotions found a lot in the psychological genre. The close up can also be linked into a common edit that is used in the genre, that being the shot reverse shot, many interactions in the psychological genre are intense verbal standoffs and as a result a shot reverse shot that slowly gets closer and closer to the two parties faces is highly effective at conveying the emotions at play in the scene. Next is the establishing shot. The psychological genre can be a very slow paced genre that must give time for the audience to catch up on the plot so far. As a result there are many quiet moments and these are often filled with the use of an establishing shot, this might be a static frame of a natural landscape, or a fly over of the city where the film is set. Either way this shot type is common to the genre and is a simple one to implement. Finally the montages and smash cuts are used very frequently in the psychological genre in order to show a faster paced scene which is packed with tension or fear. This might be a chase scene or a hallucination scene. This edit is more common in the faster paced films in the genre and can be highly effective at not only displaying information to the audience but also to disorientate them. As of course disorienting visuals and confusing plots are highly common to the psychological genre. The example represent the cut the best. The bed roomThe bed room will be shown very briefly and will always be darkened, there will be a soft yellow light to represent warmth and home. This is meant to be our characters 'safe space' so to speak and this is where the film will open and close. The location specifically will be my bedroom as of course there are limits in budgets and time. The forestThe scenes in the forest will constitute about a third of the films run time. In this time we will be presented with the friend and the first dialogue where we are told that he is mentally ill. We will be filming at dusk in order to represent the growing darkness in the character. Specifically we are going to be filming around the wooded area close by to port marine. We chose this area because it has a high point without a forest canopy which will allow us to take advantage of the natural light that will be flowing in during the filming. The schoolThe school scenes will again make up about a third of the films run time as the friend returns to the boy just in time to aid in the confrontation with the mother. She will return with information about the boy's mental state and the fact that he's being poisoned. we wanted to give it a very clinical feeling so we have found a stair way in which the confrontation will take place allowing us to use low and high angle shots to present the friend as angelic and the mother as demonic. The location specifically will be Gordano school as it is where I go and therefore the easiest and cheapest option that will still serve our purposes well enough. The beachThe beach scene is the last scene in the boys 'dream sequence' and it will have him turning his back on the pills and his mother to start a new life without them. This scene will be filmed ideally at dawn. However the specifics of getting that to work are unlikely at best and impossible at worse so any time where there is a lot of light to make the scene feel optimistic will be enough. The beach we will be filming on is directly adjacent to the forest to allow us to perform much of the shoot in one day. The motherThe mother or the "devil" is the main antagonist of the film as she is the one that is subtlety attempting to poison and kill the antagonist the boy. As a result the representation of the mother in this film will be very negative. Her clothes will be dark and her demeanour dark and brooding. She wont shy away from swearing and shouting and screaming. She will be wearing mostly dark colours and any close ups of her will not feature her forehead to ensure that the audience understand that she is angry and vengeful. The boyThe boy is the antagonist of the short film so as a result we will be showing him as the "hero" and the film will focus on his point of view for the full duration. The representation of the character will be that of a mentally ill male teenager aged around 17-19 years. To represent this we will have him taking pills and the beginning and middle of the film in order to make it clear that he is ill. Further more will we have him scratch his ear and generally have a reserved demeanour. He will deflect questions back on to others and avoid them wherever possible only when cornered and pushed for an answer will he respond. His clothes will be dark blues and greys with small areas of colour to try and present some warmth. The friendThe representation of the friend will be simple. They are a friend and that's all the audience that needs to see. She is meant to be a mysterious helper that appears and disappears and she is simply a hallucination of the boy. She will be dressed in bright colours and will speak in loud and clears tones. She isn't a deep or complex character and doesn't need to be in order to push the story forward.
There are very few key props that will be used in the film. This was done to ensure that the film is affordable to make but also to make sure that when props are used that its something extraordinary and therefore draws the attention of the audience. The pill bottle
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