Vices Treatment

Film Title

Vices

Theme/Core Idea

The idea that someones vices can stand In the way of their success, The idea that life isn’t always a happy ending.

Outline

We’re greeted with an opening shot of a night stand the lighting in her room is dark and cold with blue tones as though what we’re experiencing is happening during a twilight period or early morning. We’re unaware of who’s night stand it is, however the sound of a woman vomiting is quietly heard in the background along with the sound of rain hitting against the windows. We can see a collection of pictures of a young girl dressed in a ballerina outfit, the sound of an old fashioned news reporter with received pronunciation begins to overlap the vomiting and rain as he begins to report about a child prodigy called Sheryl and how she’d made it to the final at the world dance competition, allowing us to get some backstory to the photographs. As the shot lingers on the reporters voice begins to crackle as though it was coming from a radio that is losing signal as the picture frames fade into empty liquor bottles, with one bottle knocked over and spilling some left over alcohol onto an old newspaper with an article on how at the world championship finals for dancing Sheryl slipped and broke her leg which ultimately cost her the competition title. This sequence shows us how Sheryl’s life spiralled into an alcohol addiction following the loss of her dream, The sequence ends with a cut to Sheryl in the bathroom vomiting, which allows us to understand it was indeed her that had been drinking.

Fade to Sheryl has gone to see her mum that same morning, we first hear the sound of a television playing countdown and a kettle boiling. Sheryl and her mum are engaged in a reminiscent convocation about the dance studio that Sheryl’s mother used to own. It is here that we discover that Sheryl is actually unemployed, or so her mother thinks. As her mother begins to question Sheryl about finding a job and suggesting vacant positions that she’s noticed in the paper the sound of the boiling kettle becomes a whistle, as her mother continues to push about the jobs Sheryl gets more and more uncomfortable, and as Sheryl gets more uncomfortable the kettle gets louder and louder until it’s ringing in the audience’s ears until she snaps and says that she’s been looking for a job in attempts to move the convocation forward. The reason Sheryl is so uncomfortable is because she’s actually resorted to prostitution to fund her alcohol addiction. Her mother a bit shocked from Sheryl snapping tries to be less pushy about the situation, and states that she has big news to tell her. 

Cut to a tracking shot of Sheryl walking down the street from a side view with a bottle of vodka in her hand which is almost empty. We see her approach a car parked at the side, she bends over to talk through the car window and it’s here that we discover she is meeting a client. All we hear is the sound of what’s happening in the car whilst only seeing the outside of the car. This is also mixed with the convocation between Sheryl and her mum through out the entire sequence, which she explains the big news that she only pushes about the job because they both know that Sheryl’s mum is dying of cancer however is dying sooner than they initially thought, and she would like to know that Sheryl can handle the funeral costs and it is in fact that reason why her mother lost the dance studio. We also hear Sheryl’s mum attempt to change the topic before Sheryl’s visit becomes too depressing for both of them and explains that if neither Sheryl or her Mother can provide the money for the dance studio, then owner ship will completely change to a man who wants to turn the studio into a strip club. 

Cut to Sheryl sat at home drinking and looking at the small amount of money she made from that one client, we can hear the rain beating at the window and the same cold blue toned lighting from the introductory scene. She spots a jar hidden amongst the empty bottles on the floor and comes up with an idea. She labels the jar “Mums Studio Deposit” and begins to put all her money into it. After she does this she gets a call from another client this time more of a business man, he explains that he searches online for women in the same line of work that Sheryl is in and offers them opportunities to make a lot of money through pornography. This is Sheryl’s chance she accepts the offer and feels like her luck might finally turn around, for the first time we see a smile on her face.

Cut to the same dresser table, only now with the jar dead centre of it surrounded by the bottles, A calendar is also on the table. In a time-lapse fashion, we see the money begin to build up in the jar and the days begin getting crossed off on the calendar. As each day goes by more money appears and as more money appears the bottles begin to disappear. During this sequence we hear the phone ringing asking her if she can make a shoot for an adult film, as well as clients ringing to meet up with her, this shows us where all the money is coming from and what lengths she has gone to just to make her mum proud by hopefully buying the studio back. However just as the last bottle is about to disappear and the last bit of money is about to go into the jar we notice one of the calls is from the hospital. They explain how Sheryl’s mother was found dead inside her home, giving their apologies and inviting her to come see her mother at the hospital one last time, all of her efforts now stripped away, she was too late to make her mother proud one last time.

Cut to Sheryl at her mother’s tombstone, she’s drinking yet another bottle of vodka which shows us she’s already started to spiral down again. She apologizes to her mothers grave and says how she wishes she could have been a better daughter. As she finishes her monologue she takes out a pill bottle (this will hold connotations of suicide).

Cut to black.

Appraisal 

The initial idea of writing about an addict came from my personal experiences with friends that have become addicted to certain substances. From seeing this first hand I had a good idea on how to create such a character as addicts are very much to themselves, they’re deceptive as Sheryl is with her mother so as to not let anyone find out about their problems. I feel my treatment is strong in terms of visualising the cinematography and getting a sense of atmosphere through sound. The weak points to my treatment I feel is the overall idea of following this character’s journey as it may be difficult to do this through a short film, however I believe that the way I have structured it will allow me to pull it off. As I think the use of sound to tell a lot of the story whilst we are watching something else that builds on the story will enable me to tell this complexed story in a matter of minutes. Some areas are more in depth about what is happening visually as well as audibly so that is also another weakness, but overall I believe the treatment gives a great idea on how the film would go and also I believe it’s quite captivating.