Short Film Proposal
Title: Affiliation
Film Synopsis
The short film I am planning to produce will be a dramatic and thrilling short. Working within the mind frame of the criminal genre, my film plans to shock the viewers and have them on the edge of their seats helplessly glued to the screen. This project is going to include all of my knowledge on every possible element of film making, I have made many short films before but I am determined that this one will be the most professional film I will have ever made.
Logline
The script tells the story of greed, power and murder between the biggest gang leaders of the country. Most of which at first join forces and work together, one gang leader doesn’t agree and thinks the “affiliation” between the leaders is a pyramid scheme and he doesn’t want to be any part of it. After a failed assassination against the rebel gangster, he returns 10 years later to put an end to the dictatorship.
Structure
ACT 1- Top gang leaders meet up and agree upon the terms of the affiliation, one doesn’t agree and walks away from it
ACT 2-The rebel gangster returns and we have a long and tense scene full of arguing and ends in blood.
ACT 3- The last surviving gang member sees that he has been manipulated throughout the years and lets the rebel walk free, realizing that he wasn’t the bad guy after all
CHARACTERS
SPENCER- Blind gang leader, doesn’t agree with using guns. A calm yet very destructive individual. Manipulative and greedy.
BENJAMIN- prefers a physical approach to situation, smart and collected. He is a very reasonable gang leader and although his actions are mostly violent he aims to keep the peace by doing so.
ANTHONY- Unaffiliated gang member, believes there is strength in individualism and hates the idea of working in a group as he believes it makes a big target. He is unstable and violent but there is a method behind his madness as we see he is smart and always plays his cards right.
PETE- Two faced bartender, cowardly and even though his actions drive the story he isn’t doing it for the greater good he is only helping both sides to benefit himself.
Film Treatment
7 gang members sit around a table, most of them are having a good time and agreeing to the terms of the affiliation set up by Spencer to ‘keep the peace’ but Anthony makes a scene and walks out, making it clear he believes it is a bad idea.
Cut to ten years later and we see Spencer and Benjamin enjoying themselves in anniversary of their business partnership. They drink, laugh and then talk about other members who they have lost throughout the decade. Anthony reappears and makes his presence known with a dramatic and powerful entrance. He shows how manipulative Spencer is and has made a pyramid out of the other gangs and placed himself on top and throughout the whole scene, the drama and tension keep rising until the climax when Anthony shoots spencer. Benjamin doesn’t react in the way he was Anthony was anticipating but lowering his gun and letting him go free without any hassle as he even realizes that Spencer was in the wrong the whole time and deserved to die.
Target Audience
My target audience is 16+-year-olds, I can aim for this as there is a little bit of violence, some mature themes within the film and strong language. I hope to use this film for competitions and festivals so it needs to look professional and be to the best of my ability. The unique selling point of my film is that with the popularity of superhero films in modern times there has been a decline of gang-related crime films so I want to take part of that genre and add to it.
