Treatment- Wasted

Logline: A guy struggles to deal with the alcoholic behavior of his parent all the while trying to come to terms with the death of his sibling.

A teenage boy in a black suit sits with his hands on his head, trying to stay strong. The mother is in the background in a black dress. He arises from the chair as he walks to the fire place, where above it lie pictures of two boys. The young boy takes in a deep breath, bringing a feeling of disbelief that he is in this situation. Conversation arises between him and his mom. We can over hear his mom slurring her words, which brings us to a ECU of an alcohol bottle being picked up and meets a mouth. It reveals the mother drinking. This makes questions arise whether she is an alcoholic or not. Due to the pictures and the conversation, we can make a conclusion that they are going to a funeral for the youngest brother/son.

The green scenery and colorful houses contrasted the somber clothing of the people in the car.

Sniffle sniffle.

The car door slams, rustling is heard. A flash of a brown paper bag disappears quickly as it came under the passenger’s seat.

His innocence itched to ask his mother what it was, a present, a box of tissues (surely she knew he needed some)

Sniffle, sniffle.

On the way home from the funeral, it is dead silent in the car. There is no words being spoken between the mother and son. Only thing that is being heard is the sniffling from the two after crying. Interrupting is the shuffling of a paper bag. The shot cuts to the mother opening a bottle in a brown paper bag. “Mom, what is that?” “It’s nothing son, don’t worry about it.” “No, it’s not nothing. Your problem is more than nothing!” “I promise this is my last one.” “Liar! You never stop mom; once you start you can’t stop! Now give me the damn bottle before you get us both killed!!” “Nooo!!!” The two fight back and forth (like tug a war) trying to grasp the bottle/bag away from one another. The son finally gets a hold of it and pulls it away from the mom. “Thank you” says the son sarcastically. Quick cuts between flashbacks show the mothers relationship with her sons during her abusive alcoholic stages. Bottles being thrown... Yelling between the older son and mother... Mom hitting her older son, in retaliation to him trying to get rid of her alcohol... etc.

The flashbacks end and fade back to the son. The car pulls up to the house. The sun is just setting in the background. The mom gets out of the car and heads right into the house without questioning why the boy was still sitting in the car. The boy releases a deep sigh. He finally heads out of the car, into the house, past his mom on the couch (who has a beer bottle in her hand) and straight into his room. He slams the door behind him. Pacing back and forth in his room, he tries to calm down. He then reaches over to his backpack, which is fulled with binders and books. He unzips it and pulls out his planner, skimming over the homework that is due the next day/week. Essay, test, project, essay, test, test, test (things written in his planner).... His eyes widen as he skims through the next week and how much stuff he has to get through. He then pulls out his laptop and goes to check his grades. His grades are dropping gradually. C,C, B-, D, D, F, C (his grades)... The b- is in an easy class like PE. His eyebrows and eyes indicate his anger. He then shuts his laptop closed, and pushes it to the side. Looks back down at his planner for a quick sec... BAM! he throws his planner across the room. The shot cuts as a match action of the planner being thrown to the planner hitting the wall and falling. The lighting in the room starts to darken as, the camera is still on the planner that now has papers scattered out of it. The camera then pans over to the left coming across a brown paper bag (looks just like the one from the car), then it comes across a bottle cap, finally reaching the boys feet. The camera pauses for a second and then pans upwards. The next thing we see is a 75% empty alcohol bottle. As the camera passes the bottle, the bottle is slowly being pulled up to meet a mouth. The mouth being the son.... (shows how the boy is following the mothers footsteps &actions(literally) and what he has been surrounded by his whole life).

Ideology

What is ideology and how can it be implicit vs. explicit?  

 Ideology is used to describe a set of beliefs or principles, for example, socialism or capitalism. Ideology also refers to the values or viewpoints as well as messages that the media can communicate to the audience. There are two different types of ideology, explicit and implicit. Explicit is what the film or members of the film, such as director, producer and writer, think as the subject of the film. Implicit is when a director makes the audience think about the overall theme or message of the movie. Ideology and Expectations Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001): Video game adventurer Lara Croft comes to life in a movie where she races against time and villains to recover powerful ancient artifacts. Original Sin (2001): A young man is plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale whose heart is never quite within his grasp. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003): Lara Croft is on a quest to save Pandoras box. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005): A bored married couple is surprised to learn that they are both assassins hired by competing agencies to kill each other. A Mighty Heart (2007): Mariane Pearl embarks on a frantic search to locate her journalist husband, Daniel, when he goes missing in Pakistan. Wanted (2008): Mariane Pearl embarks on a frantic search to locate her journalist husband, Daniel, when he goes missing in Pakistan. Salt (2010): A CIA agent goes on the run after a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. The Tourist (2010): Revolves around Frank, an American tourist visiting Italy to mend a broken heart. Elise is an extraordinary woman who deliberately crosses his path. Angelina Jolie is independent, brave, strong, mysterious, and beautiful. She usually plays a beautiful independent woman who gets herself into a bit of trouble. She is in action movies that require her to use her physical and strong side. Angelina Jolie grasps the typical role of a strong indestructible woman. Her next role will consist of her being a FBI agent who has to help find a man who has been wanted for years. Along the way she disguises herself in different ways and kills many people.     Personal Ideologies and the Enjoyment of Film    What is it that you like about them and what has the filmmaker done to encourage you to feel this way?  My favorite character is Nina and I like how she starts off as an innocent dedicated young woman but as the movie goes on she turns into a intimidating woman who will do anything to get what she wants.        What values am I being asked to share or reject? How are my feelings being manipulated to prefer one viewpoint over another? (Camera placement/movement and editing are particularly important here.)      A value is that one person can take over his or herself to the point of destruction. Nina manages to hurt herself while in the process of trying to be perfect. Her own personalty turns on her to self destruction.      Why might a filmmaker want me to prefer one viewpoint to another?       The filmmaker wanted Nina's point of view to show how one's self strives for perfection while doing so they harm themselves. Nina was trying to be a perfect ballerina and tried to perfect her role as the Black Swan but in order to do that her whole personality had to change and ultimately that changed her into a mad woman.      What are the artistic/financial consequences of filmmakers trying to predict what an audience might approve/disapprove of?     Filmmakers might put a lot of money into their movies and the audience might not watch it or like it, thus, making the filmmakers lose money.   

Changing Ideologies: Why would the ideologies of a given era or time period change the way a narrative is presented to its audience? Can you give an example of a film narrative that has changed over generations? Freaky Friday is about a mother and daughter who don't appreciate one another so a Chinese woman casts a spell on them which makes them switch bodies. They are forced to do what the other person who have to do, and this makes them realize that they love each other and need to show more appreciation for each other. This movie was remade because it was such an interesting and creative movie and people really enjoyed it. The ideology behind the movie is that people need to care for one other because they don't know what they have to deal with until they are in their shoes, literally in this movie.                         Ideology and the "Effects" Debate: Do you feel that films can affect you and your behavior without being conscience of it?   I feel movies can effect me and my behavior because while watching a movie you must accept the whole movie, whether it is realistic or not. When watching a movie some things do not seem realistic but in order to enjoy it you must get your whole mindset into the movie.   Ideology and Realism:Define Suspension of disbelief and give an example from a recent film you have watched.   The definition of suspension and disbelief is a formula for justifying the use of fantastic or non-realistic elements in literary works of fiction. An example of a movie that  shows how we need to believe the unrealistic parts of movies is Mr. and Mrs. Smith. This movie is most likely unrealistic because some parts of the movie there was intense fighting yet their neighbors did not respond to the loud explosions. But as the audience we accept the unrealistic part so that we can fully enjoy this "smart and sexy" movie.  Ideology & ownership: Does the financial support of a film or the ownership of a production company influence the ideology represented in a film? Explain with an example.   Yes the financial support influences the ideology because the people putting in a lot of money want to have some sort of control of the movie. Disney movies usually have a happy ending that leaves the characters happy and together. An example  Beauty and the Beast is a movie about a young girl who is alone and "nerdy" she tries to help her father but that leads her to the Beast who was once a handsome prince but in order to turn back into that he must get someone to love him and him love them back. Belle and Beast fall in love and the spell is broken.