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Treatment 1: Animation
My first idea for a short filmis an animation. The current working title is ‘Me, Myself and
Them’, drawing the audience in with curiosity as to who this mysterious “Them” included in
the title is. The length of the filmis unknown, but since the animation will take lots of effort
and time to make (and the short films have to be between 10 to 15 minutes), I think 10
minutes is the ideal time I will settle
on. The tagline will be short and
simple: “The only thing holding her
back is herself.” This, I think, will also
draw audience members in because
they’ll want to know why the main
character, this mysterious she/her, is
holding herself back.
This is the Main Character of the
short, Revy. She is 17, a female, and
just finishing up school. She suffers
primarily from bipolar disorder and
paranoia, and ends up going from a
happy and cheerful girl to a
depressed teen who hates herself in
the span of a minute. Because of
events that have happened in the
past, she struggles a lot mentally and
emotionally: she believes that
everyone is against her. Another key
character, which sets this all in
motion, is Rosa. Rosa is Revy’s
girlfriend, and both try to support and
help each other as best as they
possibly can. Rosa knows that Revy
has some problems regarding her
mental health, and tries to support
her as much as possible when she hits
a low point. Rosa is kind and caring,
as well as a bit of a jokester. We
never see her face or what she looks
like in the short film, so she doesn’t
have a design.
Two more key characters are the Shadow People and the Good Thoughts. The Shadow
People are the embodiment of Revy’s negative and dark thoughts, who follow her in her
mind and hurt her. The Good Thoughts are the embodiment of her good thoughts, telling
her that she IS worth love and happiness and she is better than she believes she is. I’ve been
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debating the design of the Good Thoughts, since I’ve had the idea of Light People which
could very well be easier to animate, plus I already have a style which I can copy for these
people. I may combine the two and have an animal or two as well as a few people, all of
which represent the few good thoughts in the MC’s mind.
Act 1
In the beginning of the animated short, we meet the protagonist Revy. She’s sat in her
room, listening to music and relaxing. The room will be quite minimalist in style, with a
pastel colour scheme. This will allow Revy to stand out to her surroundings (due to her dark
outlines), as well as make it easier for me to draw since a ten minute animation will take
some time to complete. The pastel and pretty real world will also be a contrast to the
darkness of her mind which we end up seeing. I think there will be enough details to know
what kind of person she is: a bookworm, and a gamer. If I have time at the end, I’ll go back
and add some more detail to improve the shots. After listening to some music, during this
time I may draw some shots of her room at different angles as the credits roll, Revy receives
a notification. Checking her phone she finds out it’s her girlfriend, simply named “Rosa <3”
sending her a message. “You and I should probably be getting some rest soon, shouldn’t
we?” When Revy checks the time (which will probably be using a clock on the wall just as
something to focus on), it’ll be 12:10 at night. Revy responds “Sh*t, you’re right. We should
probably sleep. Especially since we’ve got school tomorrow.” She gets no response, and
Revy seems to get worried. As she gets up and goes into the bathroom to brush her teeth,
and then her hair, she takes her phone with her
and constantly looks at it, getting more and more
worried that Rosa’s not going to respond. Like her
bedroom, the bathroom will be pretty basic in
design: I like the idea of different rooms having
different pastel palettes, such as the bathroom
having a blue pastel palette and Revy’s room having
more a pink, purple and red pastel colour scheme.
When she returns to her bedroom and sits down on
the bed, she finally gets a message from Rosa.
“Yup. Sounds like a plan to me!” Revy responds:
“What took you so long?” All she receives is an “I
was busy, sorry ‘bout that.” Sighing, Revy replies
with “It’s fine, don’t expect you to be there all the
time after all.” She lies back on her bed, phone
lying next to her as she gazes up at the ceiling, still
looking a bit concerned. She believes Rosa may be lying to her, to simply get away from her
for 5 minutes. This is, of course, untrue: but it’s Revy’s paranoia that leads her to believe
this. Glancing at her phone once more, she closes her eyes.
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Act 2
When Revy opens her eyes, the world has gone black. No longer is she in her room, on her
bed, but instead she is on a floor of seemingly nothing. The entire world around her is
empty and dark, she and her clothes included: her hair is grey, her lilac shirt and blue jeans
black and empty just like everything else around her. Getting up, Revy simply looks about
and starts to panic: she recognises where she is. Quickly, she starts to run, seemingly trying
to get somewhere in this dark place. As she runs, in the background, dark figures seemto
appear and disappear as Revy goes by, more and more appearing as time goes on. We then
see where she’s running to: amongst the bleak and empty world is a small space of colour
and beauty full of flowers and a pond and life. There’s white figures there too, with different
hairstyles in different colours, and little animals too such as birds and cats and dogs. It’s a
safe space, a peaceful and happy haven, and Revy is desperate to reach it. However, as she
gets closer, a sudden wall of Shadow People appear, cutting her off from the safe space.
Taken by surprise, Revy screeches to a halt, and stands there in absolute fear. The Shadow
People begin to talk to her, saying bad things: “Failure”, “Waste of space”, “Nobody loves
you”, “Nobody cares about you”, “You’re nothing”, going on and on. Revy quickly turns
around and begins to run the other way, and the Shadow People follow her, their words
following and chasing her also (almost like angry bees). Suddenly, she trips and falls flat on
her face, allowing the Shadow People to catch up. When she turns and sees them all
approaching, she struggles to her feet and tries to shove them away from her. She’s only
successful for a moment, until another Shadow Person grabs her, shouts that’s she’s
pathetic, and throws her back onto the ground on her front. Terrified and now in tears, Revy
begins to curl up on the floor and cry, whimpering “Stop, please…” Over and over again.
Eventually, she’s overwhelmed by the Shadow People and screams for them to stop and be
quiet. There’s silence, as the Shadow People suddenly vanish at her screech. She’s alone,
and in tears on the floor of this dark and empty void.
Act 3
As she cries, a small white bird, a Good Thought, makes its way up to her. It sits itself in
front of her, and says “You’re pretty” to her. Revy looks up at the bird, in disbelief and
shock. A Good Thought in the form of a person this time then appears beside her, and says
“You’re doing so well” to her. One by one, a few Good Thoughts surround Revy and begin to
comfort her, saying nice things: “You’re trying your best”, “Get up and try again”, “Nobody’s
perfect”, “You deserve to be loved”. Revy wipes away her tears and smiles, and as she’s
comforted by these Good Thoughts she closes her eyes once again. Hearing a notification
noise, she opens her eyes again, and suddenly she’s back in her bedroom again: the world
has returned to normal, and she’s back where she was on her bed. Sitting up and grabbing
her phone, she sees a message from Rosa: “You okay Revy?” Revy responds with “Yea, I’m
just… Dealing with some troubles again.” She receives a response almost immediately:
“You’re alright now though, aren’t you? Do you want me to stick around a bit longer before I
go to bed?” Revy sighs and smiles to herself, then replies: “No, I’m gonna be okay. Thanks
though sweetheart. I appreciate it <3” Rosa responds: “No problem. I’ll see you tomorrow
then. Goodnight, sleep well! I love you <3” After messaging back “Goodnight Rosa. I love
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you too, so much xx” she puts her phone on her bedside table and then gets up off her bed.
As she gets changed, a small white bird sits by her phone and waits patiently for her to get
into her PJs. Once Revy is dressed, now in a dark pink vest and some light cream coloured PJ
bottoms, she passes the bird sat on her bedside table and goes towards her light switch by
the door. As she does, she pauses, looking at herself in the mirror, and the white bird
reappears and sits itself on her shoulder. Revy smiles at her reflection, happy with who she
is once again, and turns off the light.
The target audience of my short film, ideally, is 16+ year olds of both male and female
gender, NRS Grade E students or Grade D/C2 working young adults. The film has mature
themes of self-hatred, paranoia and general dark thoughts which definitely aren’t suited for
a younger audience. However, at 16 a lot of students mature and understand these sort of
themes and how they can affect other people like them. Not only that, but struggling with
these sorts of thoughts and problems are things that teenagers age 16 and up may very well
experience. Having Revy be a student going to
school just like them allows them to connect
personally to her and relate to what she’s going
through, since they may very well be in a similar
position.
