Short film proposal

1. By Rhys Painter

2. Physical Abuse towards children
Director: Louis Wyatt
Camera: Courtney Hallowell
Sound: Ben Heart
Editor: Zac Coppard
Others: Leah Wright playing as Krissy,
Boe Alexander playing as Vanessa.
A fake doll playing the baby.

3. WORKING HYPOTHESIS AND
INTERPRETATION

4. I want the world to be
more aware about
physical abuse
towards children and
my film will help show
this.
In life I believe that
children should not be
treated like something
to beat up when their
parents/carers are
drunk.

5. In my opinion if a child is abused
or neglected it would seem that
that child would then neglect or
abuse their own children in the
future.
Physically
abusing
children is not
fair nor is any
other form of
abuse towards
children.

6. A mother
shouting at her
child, the child will
be a doll but the
mother will
pretend to be
slapping the child
because it won’t
stop crying, will
the
audience/public
say anything to
help the child or
just let the mother
carry on hitting
the child?

7. The main conflict is
between the
parent and her
child.
Ultimately, I want
the audience to feel
how the child or
siblings would feel
and understand
why it is so wrong
even if you are just
teaching your child
discipline, hurting a
child in a physical
way is seen as
physical abuse.

8. Also to
understand that it
is not ok and that
there is help out
there if anything
like this is
happening to
them, don’t be
afraid to tell
anyone if you’re
getting abused
not just physically
but anyway or
form of abuse.
Report it!

9. Topic

10. My films subject is about physical abuse towards children. In my short
film there will be a mother and her baby a bystander and a police officer.
The mother just was made aware that her husband could be cheating on
her which was revealed by one of her best friends. This has made the
mother angry. Due to her being angry at her husband for cheating on her
she has no one else to take her anger out on.

11. Therefore her baby would be the only one left with the
mother. Since the baby "Joseph" wouldn't stop crying
and the mother is now getting stressed and turns to what
she knows best, alcohol. After drinking nearly half the
bottle she is now drunk and uncontrollable she then
begins to shout at the baby before then hitting him. Will
the public help the child?

12. The audience
must take
into mind the
importance
of being
aware of
physical
abuse
towards
children,
scenes can be
a bit of a
sensitive
nature due to
the fact that
it involves
child abuse.

13. Due to children
being abused if
anyone sees it they
should report it, if
they don’t then the
child could later on
get hurt, its better
to report it then to
just leave it.
My Short Film
is based on
mother and
son and their
physical
relationship.

14. The mother and
child are out on a walk,
enjoying the warm
weather.
Mother receives text
from friend suggesting
her husband is
cheating.
Mother is now
starting to get stressed
out and pulls a bottle of
gin from her pocket.
Mother turns to child
and now looks like she
is going to hit her child
which is abuse.
Mother has hit her
child due to frustration
and anger. Child suffers
for mothers frustration.
Will anyone
attempt to rescue
Joseph?

15. MAIN CHARACTERS

16.  Character One:
 Parent (mother) - mother
(Krissy) is Joseph’s
parent. (Abusive parent -
Alcoholic)
 Character Two:
 Baby (Joseph) - is related
to mother by birth. (Falls
victim by parent) -
Damsel in Distress
 Character Three:
 Vanessa – Bystander
 Character Four:
 Police Officer
 Baby Joseph is the victim
of abuse and his mother,
Krissy is the abuser.

17. In this film,
Krissy a
nurturing mother
takes her son
Joseph for a
walk. Receiving
a text from her a
friend with news
that her husband
could potentially
be cheating on
her with her
secretary which
leaves her
angry.

18. Due to the news she just
received this makes Krissy
insecure and depressed
resulting in her taking out her
anger and depression onto
her son.

19. Joseph is left
frightened and
incapable of
understanding
the reasons for
his mother’s
outrage. This
results in him
constantly
crying which
leads to Krissy
to turn to what
she knows
best, alcohol.

20. Despite looks
from
bystanders
Krissy turns
bitter and hits
Joseph ,
leaving one
question for
the audience;
Will anyone
come to
Joseph’s
Rescue?

22. Joseph, Krissy’s
baby wants a
caring mother
and doesn’t
know that abuse
is wrong
because the fact
that he is a baby
not even turned
1 yet cannot talk
or ask for help
so is depending
on others to
notice that he
needs help.

23. Eventually police find
out with the help by
Vanessa who saw it
happening and
straight away phoned
the police. When the
police had arrived
they saw Vanessa
talking to the mother
in a calm and
respective manner
trying to elaborate
how this is wrong and
to make her realise
that she is harming
her son.

24. Krissy, Joseph’s
mother, now
realises that she
has abused her
son after hitting
him.
Luckily, with the
help of
bystander
(Vanessa) this
helped Krissy
realise what
she had done,
and now her
son is out of
harm.

25. Joseph would be in a
safer environment,
and mother would be
able to get help from
rehab because of
alcohol abuse.

26. AUDIENCE BIASES

27. The audience
could have a
positive bias on
the fact that
mothers are
caring and
loving towards
their children but
mothers in lower
class could have
financial
problems which
could then lead
to abusing their
child.

28. Some may see the
stereotype of where if you
were in the higher class
you would have better
finance and therefore could
be better parents than
lower class.

29. Audiences do not
need to have any
specific knowledge
about child abuse
as this will be
made clear in my
film. Although,
there are
alternative view
points that some
men shouldn’t be
babysitters there
have been cases
where the
babysitter who
was a girl and
abuses the child.

30. Stereotypes
don’t always fix
the meaning it is
supposed to set.
In society the
public think that
men are more
abusive than
women, however
the truth that I
establish is, it
isn’t gender
specific and that
anyone can be
apart of a abuse,
you just have to
open your eyes
to see it.

31. STRUCTURE

32. My production is
linear due to the
events taking
place
chronologically
starting in the
morning and ends
in the afternoon.
There will be no
flashbacks due to
the fact this is the
first time the
mother has hit her
son due to being
under the
influence of
alcohol.

33. My film will be set out with a structure, the
three-act structure: setup, conflict/ climax and
resolution. This way it will smoothly move from
one act to the next, progressing as the story
goes on. Allowing the audience to understand
clearly what is happening in my short film.

34. I intend on making my climatic sequence
significant and memorable by the scene
consisting of the drunk mother, walking her
son in the park in the buggy, this begins to
agitate the son and sons starts to cry, then
mother receives text from friend suggesting
her husband is cheating on her. The mother
is now beginning to become more agitated
and now chooses to grab a bottle of gin
from her pocket while her son is watching
and crying.

35. Krissy, Joseph’s
mother, is now
getting stressed and
decides to hit her
son thinking this
would make him
stop crying. My
short film scenes
starts off slightly
mild then the
situation rapidly
worsens and the
child quickly
becomes in danger.
His mother starts
taking out her
regrets, one of them
her child, and
punches her child.

36. My climatic
sequence
relates to other
sequences in
terms of action
by each scene
having a minor
climax within
it, to make
importance
and to
dramatise
every situation
that occurs.

37. They all slightly relate to the most climatic point of
the film but giving her very little away so it
creates a build up, tension and the audience
struggle with anticipation to find out what
happens.

38. The action
sequence will
also act as
the important
part of the
film as the
audiences
attention
becomes
diverted to
find out how
the film ends,
what has
come out of
the climax
and how it is
resolved.

40. Any special considerations in
shooting or editing style that might
further your films content.
The special considerations in my
films short proposal are the use of
camera work emphasising the
vulnerable and the dominant. I
would use high angles to make
them appear weaker and more
vulnerable. In addition, I will make
use of make up to suggest violence
has taken place.

41. The camera would be
looking down at Joseph
to show his
vulnerability whereas
camera will be facing
upwards to show the
mothers dominance.
The use of the high and
low angle camera shots
shows clearly who is in
power and not in
power.

42. Resolution

43. Local distribution
As for my short film I
will be raising more
awareness by
viewers in local areas
such as schools,
colleges, prisons and
charities.

44. National
Distribution
Based upon
the success of
the local
distribution, I
have gathered
enough
money from
the local sales
to distribute
towards
putting my
short film on
TV.

45. Budget

46.  The budget will
go towards:
- The location
- The actors
(clothing)
- The short film
(props, make
up)
- Crew (lighting,
editing, sound)
- Food and drink
- Copyright
- Distribution for
showing short
film

47. Logistics

48. The location that
I wished to
obtain has been
easily succeeded
due to the fact
that it happens to
be in a local field
which shows the
surrounding. I’ve
secured a vehicle
through a friend
who is allowing
us to transfer the
equipment to the
field.

49. I have made sure
everyone has a
schedule of when
this is going to
happen so everyone
knows when its
happening and
therefore cannot
back out in the last
minute. Correct
make-up to apply.