1. Ben Bardsley-Ball Short-Film Treatment
I am directing a short, five minute film with my partner Jack Moynihan. Our film is of
the horror genre is going to be aimed at those aged between 15-30, we chose this age
group as we believe they were the most accessible to myself and my partner as they
are around our age, this is also the conventional age group for those who watch horror
movies. One of the main aspects of our film is to doubt the viewer through out, and to
leave them with an interesting twist at the end, that will hopefully fulfil there viewing
pleasure. We will use the typical horror conventions of dark mysterious scenery to
give the viewers a sense of fear and we will also combine a range of signs and codes
to give our audience as interesting and enjoyable a viewing as possible.
There are three characters in this piece; Jack Baxter, who is the main character, Harry
Gartell, who is Jacks best friend and Ciara Murray who is a friend of both. It is a
sunny day, Jack and Harry are smoking a joint in the sun by Ciara’s car, this works as
a signifier for the rest of the film as there is a lot of drug reference. They get to talking
until they are interrupted by Ciara announcing her boredom. Jack and Harry quickly
ask her what else better they could do. Ciara left without answer looks away but Jack
quickly answers by mentioning that there is an abandoned house about an hour and a
half journey from them, and that a woman was killed there not that long ago. This
instantly installs the idea of fear into the audience as both Harry and Ciara are
hesitant. Jack talks them into it never the less and they drive to this house, having no
idea what is yet to happen.
As they arrive, it is starting to get dark, this is a signifier to the viewers of the cross
over between serenity and the dark, mysteriousness of the rest of the film. They leave
the car outside and slowly walk towards this old, rickety looking building. As they
approach the door Harry and Ciara walk inside, Jack stays outside and pulls a bag of
Magic Mushrooms out from inside his coat, this is where the twist to the film begins
and consequently ends. As he is eating these Mushrooms, no idea of the effects it will
have on him, he hears a shout from inside the house, he tears in to see Harry and Ciara
looking over a bed. He looks over there shoulders and see’s a body under the covers.
Harry and Ciara start getting scared and demand to leave but Jack is nowhere to be
seen. We will now get a build up non diegetic sounds that build up the tension, we
will use a variety of POV shots to indicate the characters point of view and put our
audience into there shoes. We get a POV shot of Jack looking through a doorframe
shaking, his heartbeat is increasing as the drugs start taking there toll on him. Harry
and Ciara continue to look around in an attempt to find him. They then find him
sitting on a chair looking at the ground, the background sounds are increasing as a
sense of fear is being instilled into the viewers. Harry and Ciara seem relieved to find
him, but Jacks hallucinations are starting to get bad, The music is very loud now and
has reached its climax as Harry and Ciara lean over to him saying ‘Jack, Jack!’ we
will have a variety of props to make this scene a powerful one. As Jack looks up they
are wearing masks and he seems scared and in response he starts flailing at them with
an axe he had in his hands.
Harry and Ciara run off as they lose sight of Jack again. Harry and Ciara dart into
another room, Harry hides Ciara behind an old chair and desperately tells her to stay

2. still. Harry exits the room and picks up the nearest weapon, not knowing that Jack is
under the influence of powerful narcotics. It is very dark in the house by this point as
time has gone on and day has become night. Harry lights a candle as we follow from
his point if view, the light from the candle is all you can see in front if him, he
ventures around the house, we will have a build of non diegetic eerie sounds to build
up the suspense, Harry enters another room and looks around and puts his back to an
empty door frame. He then gets pulled backwards as once again the music is reaching
its climax and Jack shoves the axe into his chest, you hear screams as you get a shot
of Ciara wincing in fear.
Jack leaves Harry’s body laying on the floor as he walks into the room that Ciara is
hiding in, not knowing that she is in there. He looks around slowly and as he looks in
Ciaras direction, Ciara gasps alerting Jack of where she is. You get a shot of Jack as
he smiles and lifts the axe high above his head, you hear another scream, this time a
females. As the axe goes over the camera, we get a range of flashbacks starting from
when Jack took the mushrooms and ending with him lifting the axe above his head, in
the background you hear a variety of sounds. A heartbeat, screams and weapons. As
we exit the flashbacks we have a shot of Harry and Ciara entering the house, they turn
to jack who looks pale and scared. It was all a trip.
This is a storyline we believe, both Jack and I believe will grab the attention of our
audience. The use of drugs will reach out to our younger, teenage viewers as well as
the blood and gore of the film. Me and Jack will have control over the lighting and
sound what we believe will be pivotal in building up suspense and tension throughout.
This idea came through a variety of verbal meeting between me and Jack, we built up
to this idea after a while, trying to think of a good way to reach out to our audience.
The film will be entirely funded by myself and Jack, although we plan to make it as
cheap as possible.