Draft treatment - Own film (as developed from Olivia Colgate's concept)
Film Title (working Title)- The Collector
Tag-Line- "If you don't wake up screaming, you might not be breathing"
Sub-genre - Slasher
Target Audience - 15-18(young adults/teens)
Protagonists - naive and largely impressionable teenagers.
Antagonist - the monster within, ourselves whilst intoxicated or whilst under the influence of strong substances as these are often the worst parts of ourselves that we often try to hide or don't even realise are there.
symbolic codes - alcohol bottles (, the change in behaviour from before intoxication to after, knifes (phallic object)
Narrative - Levi-Strauss - binary oppositions but blurred as the protagonists wont be the angelic god-like characters that are usually connoted with protagonists. instead they'll be flawed human beings with vulnerabilities when it comes to social pressure and whats expected of teens in this day and age.
Derry's the human monster: the pure capabilities of the human mind that we all poses in one way or another, yet aren't unleashed until something usually happens, when they're no longer themselves as though they've become possessed by this inhuman like rage or manic mindset that changes them or others around them completely. this is what will be explored within the movie through the denotations of the 'monsters' they're just physical representations of the monster that we can all become or fall prey to.
teen punishment Propp - key characters are villain and hero - less characters are involved its more easy to understand. Although the villain although denoting all of the traits of an antagonist will actually be male and female as it is a reflection of ourselves and who we become through the abuse of harmful products that change our mental state.
although whilst the antagonists are varied they will be men and women, the main protagonist will be a male as there's a menacing threatening dangerous aura about male antagonists that the audiences mind has come to know and slightly fear. although as many films have shown underestimating the possibility of there being a female killer is not wise. this will be done because of the way the trailer can be analysed in terms of masculinity versus femininity, when the male penetrates one of the female protagonists with a knife it can easily be analysed as a sort of sexual penetration.
clovers the final girl will be featured also as this is something that's becoming mainstream in horror movies, a female who is cunning, strong and able to stop the villain, usually by using his own phallic object and save the day Kate Domaille - we have fit her story in two ways, Kate Domaille 8 narrative types which is the spider and the fly - chase as the antagonist is chasing the females (victims) Orpheus - the love that has been lost
inferred meaning/representation - alcoholism and substance abuse will ultimately lead you to a horrible fate
Concept - The movie is one centred around teenagers abuse of alcohol and substances. throughout the trailer they will be shown to face their drunken forms as their killer. Ultimately symbolising their sinful behaviour towards these vices consuming and finally killing them.
A group of teens get dared to go to commit a breaking and entering felony, and end up breaking into and spending the night at an old abandoned police station. When they get there they quickly become scared and frightened but ultimately decide that they will be inevitably berated for chickening out, in response they turn to heavy alcoholism and substances to try to make the time go by faster. As time goes on they turn more and more to the substances of alcohol and fall under the influence until they pass out. One by one they 'wake' up alone and frightened searching for one another to figure out whats going on. They quickly realise that there is something very evil coming their way (this 'evil' will be a physical representation of their intoxicated state).
To elaborate one character will be hunted down by someone who is crazed, manic, evil and almost craves to hurt the protagonist this is the representation of that protagonists drunk form, they become abusive and irrational. Easily harming those around them as they become more and more drunk. Another protagonist will face the killer as he holds a knife (phallic object) who when finally gets the protagonists stabs her repeatedly (all around the area of the lower abdomen). This is the physical representation of the sexual assault that happens when people are under the influence of alcohol and are unable to fully control the situation - vulnerability.
The final teen is going to replicate the emotional state people go through whilst drinking alcohol. This teen is going to be male and is going to be targeted by his "ex" as the antagonist. This is effective as we are going against the typical antagonist stereotype and are using a female as one of the antagonists. This continues to all the characters until the final girl actually beats her antagonist and wakes up revealing actual wounds from the dreams, it ends on a - cliff hanger. This shows that the dreams were real and were actually hurting people in real life. This represents forms of feminism, as she is the single female surviver.
Feedback (so far)- Kieran said that it has a good story line and subtext. Ben said that it was practical and easy to make, however having a 15 as a slasher may not include the exciting stuff that draws the audience in such as explicit scenes and content, it wont be as gory and entertaining.
Inspirations for the trailer
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The collector is inspired by many movies but the three movies that inspire the movie the most are a nightmare on elm street. this movie is particularly important in terms of inspiration because the movie is built around the fact that the antagonists come to life and so become truly dangerous in a slumbering state, although even though they're in a slumbering state they can and do get harmed in real life much like the movie, although unlike that movie, the sub-text of the movie is substance abuse and alcoholism. Also, a nightmare on elm street much like Texas chainsaw massacre explores the thought of having the human monster, the monster within much like our trailer, our trailer features the worst sides of oneself when they are under a vice that can drastically change someones personality and not for the better. In terms of scream the film (as well as the others mentioned) inspired our trailer because of the fact that the protagonists are a group of teens all of which all apply to the classic horror movie tropes such as the dumb blonde.
Target audience
The target audience for our trailer is teens (15-18+) and very young adults because they're the ones that would best understand the genre as a whole and all the key elements of slasher sub-genre, also they should be able to relate to the characters/protagonists. And some of the concepts of the movie such as peer pressure and teen substance abuse. Also they're the age that would best appreciate the blood, gore and constant action of the trailer.
Sub-genres
The sub-genre is slasher because the key elements of it are easily recognisable and imitable. Thus in the trailer there needs to be elements such as a lot of gore, a knife, an antagonist that's hunting down the protagonists and a final girl.