Treatment: The Best Days

The Best Days.                                                              Laura Briscoe

Synopsis:

The story is based around a young man’s dream to make the perfect home for him and his new wife. He finds an old film set going cheap and decides to make the investment for a new start for the pair of them. His wife, Sarah, seems to be unimpressed with this investment and hopes that he is joking. It’s later revealed that this is a flashback sequence, as Sarah is remembering the time that they moved in and renovated what is now a beautiful family home, after the death of her husband.

Key Themes/Core Idea:

The main theme in the film is love. Not only the love clearly seen between Kyle and Sarah but the initial love Kyle feels for the house and the love that Sarah learns to feel. The love should be present throughout the film including the flash back sequence, even though Sarah isn’t happy with the idea, her love for Kyle should still be obvious. Another theme that will be present throughout the film is grief and loss. These emotions are portrayed in the film as Sarah is going through a difficult time reliving her time with Kyle and wishing she had believed in his project more. The other theme we will encounter through the film is passion. This comes from Kyle and his passion to create this new home for him and his wife so they can have a happy home for starting a family. The core idea of the film is to go through a journey with Kyle and Sarah and to go back to happier times. Never taking anything for granted as you don’t know when something can end.

Outline:

The film starts as Kyle and Sarah arrive at the old film set. Kyle guiding Sarah into the set with his hands over her eyes, preventing her from seeing where they are to keep it as a surprise. When he reveals their location Sarah is taken aback as this is nothing like she was expecting. She was hoping that that Kyle would have put their money into something worthwhile. The two protagonists begin to argue. Sarah believes Kyle has wasted their money and believes this could never work as it’s a really stupid idea. However; Kyle hopes to talk Sarah round, eager to make her see what a good family home this could make if they are willing to put some time and effort into it. During the argument Kyle admits that he had to take a loan out from the bank in order to cover the deposit making Sarah even more angry and frustrated. Kyle begins to joke about Back To The Future Four being filmed here and Sarah believes that the whole thing is just a joke, Kyle's way of having a laugh. However, it’s not. He then has to explain that to an already annoyed Sarah. After further frustration they begin to joke about how the two of them can make the project work, sleeping on the floor until they decorate and refurbish the house. Finally, Sarah agrees to give the project the benefit of the doubt stating that she will spend one night here but if she doesn’t like it Kyle has to get the money back. We the see an old Sarah in her family home, the one her and Kyle made together from the ruins of the old film set, crying over a picture of her and Kyle together. We realise we have been watching a memory, Sarah’s memory of the beginning of their journey together to the end and what they managed to accomplish.

Analysis of approach:

The film will be shot using mainly two shots and point of view shots. The point of view shots will be used to display the surroundings from either Kyle or Sarah’s perspective. I have the idea to show the surroundings quite dull when we are looking are Sarah’s POV and then to have them slightly brighter when looking from Kyle's POV. This differentiates between the two showing their different opinions and outlooks on the project, however this may not work or fit in with the director or editors vision. Throughout some of the flashback sequences voice overs will be used to show that Sarah is remembering Kyle and the life they made together. She will repeat part of the dialogue previously used to imply the remembrance of the past events. The main location for the film will be a large empty room. The room should have some aspects of a film set maybe with some wires left behind and place marks left on the floor. This will be the set for all the flashback sequences. The second location should be a family home with furnishing and family photos on the walls. The difference in locations indicates that they were successful with their project.