TREATMENT

PLANNING: OUR TREATMENT

Write a post in which you show that 

• written a treatment

  • composed a 'topline' and 'big question'

    • you have researched how to write a treatment

What is a film treatment?

A description in the present tense of what happens in your film. Keep the language simple yet forceful and declarative. The purpose of the treatment is to describe the events of the story so that it can be visualized and brought to life. This should be done using the fewest words possible.

How do I write a treatment?

You need to avoid editorial writing when writing treatments and instead speak in an active and present voice. Similarly, you should avoid using words and phrases like

"Next we see" - Don't start sentences with "we see". Tell the audience what they see without introducing your sentence with "we see". 

Instead say:

"BUGSIE BUG and JENNA SPINNA stand toe to toe in front of their microphones. Mr. Bugz rhymes a misogynistic rhyme stating "We don't want no ugly girls in here tonight" to which Mrs DJ Spinna retaliates with a rhyme mocking Mr. Bugs' unusually large ears. The crowd goes wild. Mr Bugz continues, but with less steam. The insult has touched on a vulnerable part of his identity."
(Source: Lights Film School link here. 

SAMPLE FILM TREATMENT courtesy of Movie Outline HERE 
Notice that the first time that a character is introduced, their name is in CAPITALS.

What does a film treatment look like?

TIPS HERE  

As part of my research into how to devise a treatment, I watched a FutureLearn video presented by Frank Ash.

For Frank Ash, Creative Consultant who has taught storytelling and creativity techniques to teams across the BBC and beyond, it is important to focus on the audience: what will interest the audience? How will the narrative develop?

"So, if you’re aiming for your film to reach a large audience online, making sure it has universal appeal will be key. We’ll be thinking about this in more practical terms later in the week, but let’s bring Frank Ash’s points together with the last step’s concerns:

• Think about your favourite book or film or any ‘good story’ you recently watched online, could you sum up its narrative into ‘one elegant sentence’ to provide its ‘topline’?
• What was its big story question, and how important was it to your appreciation of the text?"

 Thanks for the presentation to The University of Birmingham and FutureLearn:
Video © BBC, Text © University of Birmingham

We will aim to define in our treatment:

WORKING TITLE: 99%
A very clever student spends his time cheating the school system, coming top in school exams year after year with 99%. He attracts admirers and basks in the attention. The core of the narrative shows him through various stages of his school career (think, casting Harrison, casting Xander as Harrison older) achieving high grades then being confronted by the headmaster in his office. The head has a pile of exam papers collected through the years. As the head challenges the student about each exam success, its is clear that he knows that the student has cheated, but doesn't know how he's done it. He brandishes each paper then slams the paper down on his desk as he challenges the student. Flashbacks reveal to the audience how he did it and how smug he is. Cutaway shots show him 'cheating' in other ways (with girls, boasting to other guys.. a bit like DiCaprio as an airline pilot or Mike Ross in Suits).

The topline (one elegant sentence): A clever but devious sixth form student has spent his schooldays cheating his way to success, all the way up to his final school exams that will decide his future, but he faces unmasking when the head confronts him, threatening to expose him.
The big question: Will Xander be unmasked and his methods exposed, or will he graduate from school with an unbroken record of success, with the world at his arrogant feet?

WORKING TITLE: CUT TO BLACK

Four students A, B, C and D in need of some quick cash respond to an advert for being guineau pigs in medical research. They report to a lab and chat nervously. Soon they are prostrate on beds, in patient gowns, being injected / swallowing tablets under the watchful eye of two doctors. A cutaway shot suggests some hallucinatory experiences. The trailer cuts to student A in his /her ktichen the next morning suddenly receiving a text. The phone screen looks like a game with a challenge / task. The screen goes black. Student A feels compelled to follow the instructions. She is told to break a few laws on the way (such as steal money from her mother's handbag, snatch a scooter left on the pavement, throw a stone at a window). She is surprised at her own behaviour.

Her task is to surprise a stranger by breaking into their house. She finds that the stranger's house belongs to person B. They exchange greetings. A text arrives simultaneously on both their phones, instructing them with the next task. This one is harder. It involves persuading someone to take a high-level selfie. The screen goes black. They carry out the task. The person falls to their death and they realize that they are in the power of a mind control drug.

The topline (one elegant sentence): A student who has take part in a drugs trial finds herself being controlled through the instructions appearing on her smart phone /tablet which forces her into increasingly dangerous situations that endanger her life and that of total strangers.
 

The big question: will the students resist the mind control drug before further challenges cause further traumas?

 TITLE: WELCOME TO PARADISE

The topline: a young couple, Evie and Adam, appear to be blissfully happy together but the girl starts to become dissatisfied with her lot in life as she is envious of the many possessions and holidays that her wealthier friend, Snakey, boasts about. She pressures her boyfriend to rob a sports shop, having started shoplifting there and finding it easy.

The big question: after the initial euphoria of the successful robbery, will Adam, now troubled by nightmares and a guilty conscience, feel that he should turn them both in? Will their relationship survive?