The document provides a treatment for a short film called "Conscious" about a 16-year-old girl named Eryn who struggles with lucid dreaming. The 6-8 minute film would follow Eryn on the night before her birthday as she dreams that robbers break into her house and steal a precious object, only to receive that same object as a gift the next day. Details are given about the key characters, a 3-act story synopsis, the targeted teenage audience, the filming style and tension-building techniques, potential online and festival markets, and example footage.

1. TREATMENT 1
JOSIE WADDINGTON

2. KEY DETAILS
• Working Title: Conscious
• Film Length: 6-8 minutes
• Logline: Young female lucid dreamer dreams that her house is robbed of a precious object the
night before her 16th birthday, then receives said object as a gift the next day.
• Key characters:
Young female Eryn, struggles with extreme lucid dreams and sleeps badly because of it. She is an
only child and is dreading the turn of her birthday as she knows her family are struggling with
money.
Parents of Eryn, middle-aged and desperate to provide their daughter with happiness as they know
how challenging her life can be with the lack of sleep she gets.
Robbers, 2 anonymous figures who creep in and steal the object.

3. SYNOPSIS – ACT 1
• Camera pans down to Eryn sat on her bed. It is early evening and she is staring
blankly ahead of her. A voiceover of her own voice introduces the viewers to her
character. She explains that it is her birthday tomorrow and how she is aware of
their money problems. She is called for dinner and a montage ensues of her
evening and ends with her getting into bed. Black screen follows as she closes her
eyes.

4. SYNOPSIS – ACT 2
• Cut to the black of a jumper being pulled over the robbers head. Short cut shots of the robbers entering the
house including hijacking the lock, opening the door, closing it, creeping through the corridor, motioning to
Eryn’s room and tripping on the corner of the hallway. This noise cuts to the opening of Eryn’s eyes and she
sits up sharply. Outside her door she sees people moving and lies back down breathing heavily. The robbers
are motioning to each other and one slowly opens the door. Eryn is still and glances out from under the
covers at the robbers creeping into her room.
• They appear to be searching for something and the tension builds as one robber peers over Eryn’s bedside
table right next to her head. They cannot seem to find what they are looking for. Her heart is beating as they
look around the room slowly and then one walks towards her window. As they draw back the curtain a ring
is sat on the windowsill, almost glowing. Eryn has never seen this before and the robber grabs it and they
begin to leave. The same shots as earlier show the robbers leaving just as quickly as they came and Eryn sits
up in complete confusion when she hears the door shut. She gets up and looks on her windowsill when
suddenly she feels faint and falls to her bed.

5. SYNOPSIS – ACT 3
• In the morning she wakes up in her bed and slowly the camera focusses on the
ceiling above her. She suddenly has flashbacks of the robbers in her room and
gets up to go and tell her parents. Cuts to her parents sorting her cake and
coming towards her room and as Eryn opens the door they burst in singing
happy birthday. She tries to sing over the top of them but cannot get a word in
until she is sat back down on her bed with the cake and a present in front of her.
She blows out the candles and the present is thrust in her face. She opens it to
see the ring inside and the film ends with a slow zoom into the box.

6. TARGET AUDIENCE
• Target Audience: My target audience includes both genders from ages 10-20 from a middle to high class background. Anyone who can watch
YouTube of course, will be able to watch it but I am aiming for this specific demographic with the storyline and characters I’m using.
I expect that my target audience will be predominantly teenagers as my protagonist is a teenage girl. I am aware that many teenagers may experience
vivid dreams due to puberty and the happenings within their lives influencing their dreams and therefore I can see this age group being most applicable
to the plot. The settings of Eryn’s bedroom will be reminiscent for teenagers who are stereotypically known for spending a lot of independent time in
their bedrooms and on top of this, the idea of a 16th birthday will either be an exciting future thought or fond memory for those who are watching.
Those younger than 16 will, I’m sure, be looking forward to being more ‘grown up’, as a teenager who begins to gain independence from their parents.
Moreover, those between the ages of 16 and 20 will have recent memories of their 16th birthday and that significant time in their lives, this being
relatable and an attractive thought for them to delve into as they watch the film.
I also picture my target audience to be predominantly middle class and verging into higher classes, ranging from C1 to A on the NRS Scale. As a main
part of the storyline is that the family are tight on money I can see quite a few middle class C1-B viewers being able to relate, as most families in this
bracket will have experienced periods with less money in today’s society. I believe teenagers in particular will be susceptible to this as they will be
becoming more aware of issues like these in society and their own households as they get older. However I can also see higher classes in the A bracket
enjoying this film too, as they will be used to seeing attractive and precious things like the ring. I think that it will be more focussed on middle class, yet
this aspect may draw in the lower-high class teenagers who are used to those kind of gifts.
In terms of the 4C Scale I believe my target audience will fall into the category of The Mainstream. This is because the setting of the story is located
around a stereotypical suburban household in which Mainstreamers will relate to. Moreover, the central focus of the story is an issue that can affect
anyone, and with Mainstreamers making up 40% of the population, I'm sure there will be many within this category who struggle alongside Eryn with
lucid dreaming.

7. FORM AND STYLE
• I can see this film being filmed in a style of long, extended shots to create tension
when it is needed, as well as short snappy shots to show a contrast between the
fear of Eryn and the presence of the robbers. As a thriller I can see this fitting into
the genre with the last shot being the ‘dropping of the penny’ which is a
convention of thrillers that is used regularly to leave the viewers feeling
uncomfortable. For the longer shots I would like to use some equipment to make
the camera stable and smooth when filming for extended periods of time, so I will
need to look into getting a tripod or stabiliser to aid me with this. This is
imperative to the execution of the style I would like to achieve as I don’t want any
shaky filming to distract my viewers from the film and break the tension I will be
trying so hard to build.

8. MARKETPLACE
• In the market I see this film being published online rather than in larger scale
cinemas, as it is quite a small project. The fact that my target audience is a young
and technology-savvy age group means that this platform will be easily accessible
to them and will allow for the film to be shred via social media to reach everyone
included in the demographic a lot more quickly and cheaply. Moreover I can see
it doing well at festivals due to its personal touches such as the voiceover and
outlining of family life that will be relatable for a large crowd. I can also see scope
for a sequel as the film ends on a cliff hanger and the audience will have
questions that could be answered, such as whether the robbers will come that
night to steal the ring.

9. STORYBOARD AND SCRIPT EXAMPLES

10. FOOTAGE EXAMPLES
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sH9C2v7cg8&t=4s&safe=true (4:27-5:03
tense shot)