Drama Film Treatment - 'Overdose'

Film Treatment

Title: ‘Overdose’

Genre: Short contemporary drama

Duration: 5-6 minutes

Main Characters:

Amber – young, Northern English, lower-middle class woman (20-25 Y.O). Been in a relationship and living with boyfriend Dean for 1-2 years. Struggling musician.

Dean – slightly older, Northern English, working class man (25-30 Y.O.) Small-time cocaine dealer paying for Amber’s expenses.

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Short Synopsis:

Amber knows that her boyfriend is a successful small-time drug dealer, but with her own career failing to provide she is forced to stay with him and turn a blind eye to his activities. As her personal life becomes increasingly embroiled in his dangerous operations, and menaced by the growing fear of being caught with him, she can no longer distance herself from the criminal lifestyle and must search for an escape. 

Narrative Development:

The film mostly takes place from Amber’s point of view within the confines of the house she shares with her boyfriend, the central focus being her growing feelings of fear, anxiety, entrapment and isolation.

At the start of the film we see a shot of Amber’s face, wide-eyed looking out of a car window – the glow of a bright blue light sweeping across her and a blur of indistinguishable movement visible in its reflection. Ambiguous sounds of shouting and sirens build to a crescendo as we cut to Amber and her boyfriend in a car. Thinking she was being driven to her parents’ house, Amber is told they are actually travelling to an unknown location to meet someone as part of an ‘important deal’.

Before they arrive we cut to the past where most of the narrative takes place – a series of elliptical scenes providing context about her situation and leading up to the car journey. We see Amber meet her boyfriend for the first time in a club, we see her being used as a courier as part of his operations, and we see his growing neglect and mental abuse of her as she confronts him about his growing disregard for trying to hide his criminal activities.

Early in the film Amber answers the door to an unknown person who is looking for someone she does not recognise. Later she sees someone looking in through her window and going round the back of her house, and in another scene a man invites himself in to search for something – representing in sequence the gradual intrusion into her own personal life. In one of the final scenes we see the effects of this on her character. She is sitting in the house in silence, alone and terrified of whoever might be coming – her boyfriend, his dangerous associates or the police.

The penultimate scene takes place at dusk. Amber’s boyfriend comes off the phone after speaking with an unknown caller who has given him a remote location to meet him at to deal drugs. He calls Amber down from the bedroom; she has brought her clothes with her thinking she is being taken to her parent’s house. As they enter the car, the story rejoins the first scene of the film and we see them arrive at the remote rural location. Her boyfriend gets out of the car, phones the dealer and looks around for them. As he turns, he sees Amber on the phone inside the car. He walks over to the locked car door and tells her to open it, to which she refuses.

We see a final shot of Amber’s face behind the glass window as her boyfriend tries to open the door, a long take which lasts until a slow fade to black and the end of the film. The sounds of sirens begin to fade up, and the flashing light of the police car flares across the image. We hear her boyfriend shouting as he tries to make his escape. The car door opens and an off-screen police officer asks if her name is Amber. It is revealed that she set up a fake deal with her boyfriend to get him caught, her only way of being able to leave that life behind for good.

Stylistic Choices:

With the story focusing mainly on Amber’s mounting feelings of fear, anxiety and entrapment we will use the stylistic choices in the film, camera-work, set design, sound design and editing to express these themes. The sound design will be particularly prominent, using ambiguous and ambient sounds to mirror Amber’s emotions at certain points in the film – for example when she is alone in the house and in the last shot of the final scene. Music used will be minimal and used sparingly to underscore scenes of little dialogue.

The cinematography will also be thoughtfully composed to emphasise the themes of the film. A rigid, still frame will be used for the majority of the shots to express the idea of entrapment, and elements of mise-en-scene and set design which perform similar functions will be focused on for their connotative meanings. For example, a recurring motif in the film of a blue light will be used to both express Amber’s fear of being caught by the police and to foreshadow the ending scene. To establish her boyfriend’s drug-dealing occupation, some shots will contain related paraphernalia such as scales and ‘baggies’.

To maintain focus on Amber we will frame her boyfriend so as to not reveal his full face throughout the film. We will also avoid using his real name, Dean, and create an ambiguous identity for him by having the other people he meets call him by a number of different street names. We will communicate their relationship through their actions and behaviour; having him touch her thigh in the first scene for example to show both affection and control over her.

With the majority of the film taking place in Amber’s house, the set design and lighting of the location will be important. The house will have little in it besides for some basic furniture and some expensive electrical equipment as an indication of the payout from her boyfriend’s lucrative job. The floor and walls would likely be bare or worn to create an unsettling atmosphere, and most surfaces untidy and containing items relating to his criminal occupation. As a retreat from the business taking place downstairs, the upstairs bedroom would contain personal touches made by Amber, lights around a mirror, small photographs on a wall, a house plant, her instrument etc.

The house interior will have a low quality of light, casting shadows in some parts of the rooms which would mirror the darker themes of the film and express Amber’s feelings of entrapment in her life. This would contrast greatly with the remoteness and greenery of the rural environment at the end of the film, symbolising her freedom having finally escaped her old life.

Concluding Comments:

The film we have proposed fits the brief of ‘Journey’ well in both the literal sense of the car journey at the start and end of the film and the metaphorical sense in the development of Amber’s emotions and feelings throughout the film. Although simplistic in the characters and locations used, the film explores the interesting psychological impact of a relationship with a criminal as well as a number of broader themes such as fear, entrapment and secrets.