Trowbridge College

5 Minute Horror Proposal document

By Harry Burbidge

Titles of proposed script:

Young Night,
Alternate titles:
Preying
The break in
Red Berry
Berry
Berries
My decided title will be Young Night
The plot centres on youths and takes place during night time.
The title relates to the phrase The night is young. This means nothing is
too late and anything can happen.
In this case, plenty of events occur, from the antagonist breaking into the
house, characters finding out his identity as well as later twists.

Script overview
Identification of Genre:
Young Night is a psychological Horror Drama. It includes strong and
oppositional relationships between the characters (drama).
The antagonist has psychological depression, driving him to kill one of the
characters (Psychological).
Concept overview:
Some teenagers commit bad things (e.g. robbery, arson) and are
dismissive of the consequences.
Even when the law gets involved, they may not care.
What would happen if they saw, face to face, the consequences of their
actions.

Possible pitch on idea:

What if you could see for yourself, how your actions have affected
others?
Initial scenario:
Two friends, Sam and John are spending the night at Sams house.
However they see someone outside. They find out, it is their friend, with a
vengeful grudge.
Now he is inside the house. Sam and John must try to survive.

Narrative synopsis
Key: Scenes, which are not compulsory

Act 1:
Sam and John have stolen an item from someone.
Sam invites John to his house.
We are introduced to the characters Sam and John in Sams house. Sam is
holding a stolen item.
Sams mum is leaving for work.
Later Sam refers to previously pulled pranks, which John resents.
John briefly mentions bringing some berries with him (flashing arrow for
later*).
Sam and John recur to their friend Dan, who fell ill from a poison berry
prank.

Act 2:
Sam orders John to get some beer.
John finds someone creeping around the garden.
Sam orders John to grab a stolen diamond/other object from his room.
John spots someone outside the window.
John investigates outside, but is disrupted by Sam.
They hear someone knocking on the outside walls.

They receive a phone call from the hospital, being informed Dan is
missing. They are also warned he has contracted Psychological
depression from the poison berry.
John and Sam lock all the doors and windows. (however they miss a
window).
They hear Dan climbing through it.
John takes charge, proposing to speak with Dan.
They both search the house.
Sam cowardly gets a pair of scissors, intending to kill Dan.
John confronts Dan, who then runs past him.

Act 3:
Dan restrains Sam, holding the scissors close to his neck.
Dan develops mood swings, one minute forgiving Sam and then suddenly
turning vengeful. He briefly reveals Johns anger too.
Dan becomes more depressed and lets go of Sam.
John offers to go and get a glass of water for Dan and John.
Sam proposes to sell medication to people, using Dan as a guinea pig.
John becomes angry. He uncontrollably grabs the scissors and repeatedly
stabs Sam.
Johns gives them a glass each. Sam collapses after drinking his.
* We see some chopped up red berries in the kitchen, referring to when
John brung some earlier.
The end.

Unique selling point:

Realistic people and events are used, instead of ghosts/true myth tales.
Housebreak INS and people being stalked do happen.
The characters have unique characteristics and characters (concealed
nature).
Sam is over confident, adventurous, highly sociable and troublemaking.
However, under the circumstances (I.e. Dan intending to kill them both),
his character is revealed as cowardly.

John is kind, modest and considerate. However, he conceals a hatred and

temptation to kill Sam.
There is diversity in personality traits. And they are not bias either, due to
different egos.
The motives for each antagonists actions (I.e. Daniel- breaking in and
John- Murder) are based on common drives, that people feel the need to
do something.
John murders Sam, no longer able to detain his anger, after hearing Sams
intentions to exploit Daniel.
Daniel suffered a psychological disorder, which was due to Sams prank.
Naturally he would be angry.
The anger would be enhanced, due to the symptoms of depression and
hearing voices persuading his anger.
Thusly, the Horror seems scarier, because they know these people can
have a realistic motive for murder, which would apply in real life.
The twist end is unexpected, as we suspect everything to be resolved for
the characters. Johns sudden attack will hopefully put us of guard.

Suggested target audience:

Channel 4s audience are mainly targeted toward youths.
My target audience is youths aged from 16-24.
The characters in my production are middle-aged teenagers (16-17).
Youths lives often revolve around friendship, drinking and sometimes
trouble making.
The characters exhibit these actions. However, Sam soon suffers his
demise, from how his actions have inflicted his friends.
The messages of controlling friendship and bullying will be subjects,
youths are familiar with.
Additionally John and Dans suffering nature will hopefully widen youths
awareness of how committing trouble does not just affect them.

Product intention
The intention for this Horror is to persuade people, this horror is realistic
and could happen in real life.

High concept:
Story has a massive audience appeal:

There are many subjects incorporated into the story. This includes distant
relationships with parents (I.e. Sam and his mum), bullying, causing
trouble and concealment of problems.
Teenagers are most likely to be in one of these positions.
Some have trouble admitting their feelings.
Others may be bullied, trouble making, or have a distant relationship with
parents.
The story outlines these subjects and shows the later consequence for
each. In this case, we realise how Sams trouble making has inflicted both
his friends and led to his demise.
We also see how Johns bottled anger has led to its deadly release.

Story specific:
The plot revolves around youths, they will speak about subjects, including
drinking, meeting females and having banter with friends.

Intended communication (message):

The messages convey mental health disorders, control bullying and
different types of youth (I.E Sam and Johns contrasting characteristics).
Thusly no stereotype is formed on youths, as John is kind, and despite
Sams trouble making and confident nature, is secretly cowardly.
One of the intended messages of this horror is How far can your actions
push people. And if so, what are their limits?

Story subtext:
Sams exploiting nature toward John, expresses control bullying. We can
see Johns low self-esteem, through his body language and tone of voice.
It implies, he has not yet stood up to Sam.
Bottling up emotions is another subtext. John concealing his anger about
Sam. However, his anger is finally released in the end. This conveys how
bottling up your emotions can lead to them being released, not so
pleasantly.

The antagonist manages to break through a window. This conveys

careless security. It will imply to people that they should make sure all
doors and windows are locked, to prevent anyone breaking in.
Sams action of attempting to kill Daniel only made matters worse. It
distributes the consequences of trying to do something risky, without
properly thinking it through.

Story Archetype:
The chosen archetype is Over coming the monster. This involves the
hero setting out to defeat the antagonist, who is threatening his/her
homeland.
In this case, John and Sam have to protect themselves from a vengeful
friend, who has broken into Sams house.

Character briefs:
Name:
Sam Mafolone

Age:
17 years old
Dramatic Motivation:
Sam is the typical trouble making and cowardly figure. Audiences will
want to disagree with his way of thinking and hope he suffers from his
horrible nature.
He will provide a great opposite to John, persuading the audiences to want
to stick by Johns side and have him succeed.
Role in narrative:
Sam represents the character, whom doesnt care for others and usually
ends up being killed off.
Sam may elude the audiences into thinking he betrays John/gets killed
first, due to his cowardly and horrible nature.
However, the tables immediately turn in the end, which shall put
audiences of guard.
Appearance :( may alter depending on actors availability)
Sam is tall, has neatly brushed hair, and wears a buttoned shirt and jeans.
Name:
John Pranton.

Age:
16 years old.
Dramatic motivation:
John is the main protagonist, whom is brave and kind. Audiences will look
up to him, hoping he will stand up to Sam and save the day.
They will agree with his way of thinking too.
Role in narrative:
John reflects a positive youth.
He is aware of wrong doings and considerate for others.
The audiences bond with him, however, will slowly be questioned.
John expresses a holding hatred toward Sam, which may cause suspicion.
Finally, the bond is betrayed when he kills Sam.
Audiences will be put of guard, suspecting John was the hero.
Appearance: (this may alter depending on feedback and actors
availability)
Dresses smartly (buttoned shirt and neat trousers), reasonably neat hair
and is short.
Name:
Daniel Traken:
Age:
17
Dramatic motivation:
This character is initially mysterious and very edgy. Audiences will feel
intimidated and scared by his character.
Immediately, audiences will see to him as the main antagonist of the
story, believing he may kill both characters, or be defeated by John.
Role in narrative:
He will draw the audience away from any signs of John wanting to kill
Sam, thusly leaving a surprise twist at the end.

However, when he becomes upset and releases Sam, audiences will start
to pity his character, for what he went through.
Appearance: (This may alter depending on feedback and actors
availability)
Is tall, wears casual clothes (e.g. T. shirt and jeans), and his hair is
scuffed up.
Non-fiction talent requirements: (The actors chosen, have not
officially been cast, but they are my hopeful intentions.)
Name: Alex Damon.
Role: John
On screen persona overview: Must convey a down to earth nature,
show signs of anger and annoyance. Must act caring too.
Name: Kelan Hale
Role: Sam
On screen persona overview: Must act confident, socially outgoing,
humorous and quite cowardly.
Name: Jake Copus
Role: Daniel
Onscreen persona overview: Must be able to alternate between being
aggressive and suddenly acting depressed and sad. Must be able to use a
slightly shaken tone of voice, to give a more intimidating feel to his
character.