2. Synopsis
The Story Follows James Smith, a Paranoid Schizophrenic living by himself. One day he
receives a mysterious letter telling him to ‘whack’ someone or else. James starts panicking
and must decide what to do. He starts seeing a mysterious figure and thinks its out to get
him. He then decides to get off his fucking nut since he does not know if he’s going to make
it through the night. In the end he thinks the only way to survive is to kill the mysterious
person but ends up dead himself.
3. Characters
There are 3 characters in the short film.
The protagonist is James Smith. He is aged 19. Enjoys playing football and watching
pornography in his spare time. He is a very quiet character that lives a dull lifestyle.
He tends to be alone a lot because he is quite paranoid.
The other two characters are unknown and unnamed. The unnamed character is a
postman who delivers the mysterious letter to the protagonist and the unknown
character is a figment of James’ imagination and is only seen by the protagonist.
5. Genre & Themes
The genre of our short film is a hybrid which is made of Short film, Social Realism
and Drama/Thriller.
The themes that the short is based on are:
Misfortune
Luck
Murder
Money
6. Narrative
A man suffering from Schizophrenia comes to believe someone is out to kill him
and spends his day being scared and becomes more and more paranoid as time
passes.
7. Location & Mise en Scene
The 3rd Man is going to be set in an urban environment, most likely a council
estate with signs of graffiti
Mis en Scene:.
Props: Guns, Pills, Letter, Laptop Money, Pizza Box etc.
Gloomy lighting, Messy Surroundings, Smart/ casual clothing, Messy/
unconditioned hair
