this was our treatment for our horror production Anathema

1. Treatment
Working Title:
The name of our production is “Anathema”. Anathema means ‘Go to hell’ in Greek,
and there are a lot of links to the Greek culture within the film, such as names, items,
and the props to help link towards the Greek culture, such as the book with Greek
names, writing and more, and also the names of the characters have great links to
Greek culture and mythology. This all helps link the name and the concept of the film
together, and make it historically interesting as well as interesting for fans of the
horror genre, therefore, targeting many forms of audiences. The title is also, to most
people, unknown, as not many mainly English speakers will most likely also speak
Greek, so there could be a sense of the fear of the unknown, with the audience not
having a full understanding of what could lay ahead of them within the film.
Proposed Duration:
The predicted duration of our short-film will be 20 minutes long, as we have to add in
many story elements along with the addition of the horror aspect to keep the
audience intrigued. It’s a short-film so we shouldn’t make it too long, however, we do
need to keep the audience interested for a sufficient amount of time, so that they can
be intrigued in the film yet not be too bored. This is a good amount for a short-film as
we can include quite a lot of information in this amount of time without going
overboard.
Completion Deadline:
The date that we believe that we will complete the short-film by will be May 2017.
This is because we would like to complete the production and post production as
soon as possible due to the fact that we would want to release the short on October,
Friday the 13th. This is because Halloween is celebrated on October and Friday the
13th is a popular horrific-themed date due to the popular horror film and is the day
known for bad luck. In duration of these 6 months, we aim to campaign and publicise
our film to gain a large target audience and make our film worth looking forward to
watch, as with no form of public advertisement, we wouldn’t gain a small, let alone
general, audience. This is why we use things such as posters to promote our short
film so that we can gain a larger audience.

2. Genre:
The genre of our short film is Horror. This is the genre we have been provided with to
use. The sub genre is paranormal, due to the spirits portrayed within the film, yet it is
also shown in a found footage style. We have chosen horror because it leaves a
huge impact on people no matter what the message is given accross, it will still be
thought again and again over a long period of time, whether due to the story leaving
a lasting effect on the audience, or due to the jump scares catching the audience off
guard. This will also help develop popularity among other audiences as people who
have seen the film will be talking about it to others, they may tell people about the
film, and they may watch it too
Target Audience:
The age range for our short-film is people of the age 15 and above. This is due to the
fact that, within our film, there are certain things that aren’t suitable for people of a
younger audience, such as the increased use violence, increased amount of gore,
and excessive use of explicit language. Due to this, we believe people of 15 and
over are the suitable audience to focus on for our production. People older than this
can also enjoy the film, as they’ll be mature enough to understand the story and
enjoy the violence, while people younger than this may be too scared to watch the
film, or not have a full understanding of exactly what is going on, as in a sense, the
movie is quite fast paced.
Background:
We decided to produce a short film based on the horror genre because horror films
are popular to a large majority of people. In order to send across a message to our
target audience, we feel as if horror is the best way to do so. This is because the
message stays in their minds for a long period of time as the graphic scenes and
images can be so horrific that it can not ever be forgotten. Research:
As a group we have decided to plan our locations. We chose settings which are
involve around an old mental asylum in a forest. The reason we have chosen this
location is because it is close and available to the whole cast and crew especially the
public. This will make it easier for us to film there as we don't need permission, plus,
these locations were most favored by our audiences when collecting primary data for
our research. In this way, we have met our audiences requirements and attract a
large audience, making the short film success. We also had a questionnaire as we
wanted to know what else our audience expect for a great ideal horror film. We have
brought props which are used in creating our horrific characters such as a long black

3. hair wig, scary contact lenses, fake blood and fake wounds. These props were found
online and will be used suitably towards the characters we have visually created. We
have also decided that due to the use of blood, gore, swearing, and violence, the
age rating has to be 15+, as the audience has to be of a mature age to view the
short film. The whole plot of our short film, Anathema, uses the ‘Todorov Theory’ yet
not towards the end or after. Tzvetan Todorov’s theory follows a three part structure
where they begin with an equilibrium, where everything is balanced. Then something
comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when
equilibrium is restored. At the beginning of Anathema, we show the equilibrium of a
group of friends who are laughing and messing about. However, in between one of
the friends, Ana is seen worried and the audience do not know why. This is later
explained in the following scene which is why they all head to the forest. Later on
that same night, one of the friends, Matt goes missing as he does not return back to
the group. As everyone is worried and they find his dead body, the audience
understand and can tell there is a disruption/problem within the equilibrium. As they
all die one by one, the film is then over showing no resolution/restore of the
equilibrium or what happens after.
Synopsis: “A few fun-loving teenagers are thrown into what seems to be hell itself
when a camera links them to the horrific case of a missing young girl. The story built
upon by one similar of a woman, a dark and twisted story of murder before meeting
her brutal end. Whilst the roots of her murders and death still plaguing the land.
When we fast forward many years later, we are introduced to a young girl named
Ana. Losing her sister to a mysterious disappearance, she wishes to pay respects to
her lost sister, at the only place they knew to be home, but her and her friends get
more than what they bargained for when they realise the dead still have a hold on
our world, when a seemingly caring moment in time turns to a dreadful, dreary
reality.”
Style:
The style of the movie we are going to produce is serious with a dark and twisted
edge, due to the fact that the movie will get darker and deeper as we get into the
story. The story’s atmosphere is tense with a mystery as, most of the time the
characters and the audience will not understand why everything is happening to
them, due to the random occurrence of events. Alongside this, we plan to film in the
dark which gives the movie a scary and mysterious vibe due to the low-key lighting
as you never know what’s going to be there around every corner. The characters will

4. not feel happiness until they are to hide their true emotions. The moods presented
will be fear, shock, panic and sorrow as the end for them could come faster than
what they would of expected.
Approximate budget requirements:
Our total budget for our short horror film is £8,712.00. This covers most of our
resources such as cameras, and lighting as well as being able to pay our cast and
crew for their roles in the production and hard work. We have managed to invest
some of our own money into this production as we are confident enough. With our
money we have brought many different props such as a long black wig, a long white
nightgown and white cream to add a certain eerie atmosphere to the film, therefore,
making the film believable.