Nicole Hoskins
Mon 8th July 2016
Treatment
Title
Dollhouse
Introduction
This short film is about an 11-year-old girl named Autumn, who finds a dollhouse and china doll secretly hidden in her house. As she tries to hide it from her strict mother, she discovers that the doll comes to life. This is the beginning of a journey into a parallel universe, where Autumn can escape her harsh reality.
Synopsis
Rain is seen outside through a bedroom window; poorly-lit by only a candle, night light and lamp. The camera slowly pans from the foot, to the head of a bed, revealing Autumn, tucked in the sheets. Silence is broken by a plate smashing in another room. Her mother is cursing to herself, so Autumn goes to investigate the kitchen. Shots flicker between Autumn and her mother’s perspective as she strictly tells her to go back to her bedroom immediately. Autumn walks up the stairs towards her room as a long panning shot reveals a cupboard door, which opens with a creak. She steps back and discovers a dollhouse and china doll inside. A mid shot from inside the cupboard reveals Autumn reaching out to the dollhouse. Autumn drags the dollhouse carefully back to her room, struggling to keep quiet. Her mother calls her name from the kitchen, suspicious of the noise. Autumn quickly hides the dollhouse in her closet among her clothes and jumps into bed. From Autumn’s perspective, her mother rushes in to investigate the noise. Her mother leaves and Autumn looks at her cupboard which contains the dollhouse. A close up of her face as her eyes begin to begin to close. A thud from the closet makes her eyes open sharply. A Mid shot shows Autumn getting out of bed towards the cupboard, curious. She pulls out a flashlight sitting at the bottom of the closet as she discovers that the china doll is missing from where she placed it. Shot cuts to her mother discovering that the small cupboard door is open, the dollhouse isn't inside. Shot cuts back to Autumn in her bedroom closet, her mother calls her name right before the closet door closes and she is locked in. Darkness. Autumn finds that she is unable to get out. Scanning around the closet, the flashlight reveals the empty dollhouse and no sign of the china doll. A medium close up of Autumns surprised face as she tilts the flashlight up. The flashlight reveals that the doll is life-size. Autumn isn't afraid, she examines the doll, then slightly jumps when it begins to move. Mid shot of them facing each other in the dark closet, the doll begins to talk with her. Point of view shots of the characters are used as they converse. The doll then goes to the cupboard door and opens it. It is bright on the other side. They are now in a different location. From the outside of the door, the camera follows Autumn as she emerges from a small door. Large Orchestra music. She slowly arises to her feet in awe at the sight in front of her. Autumn walks forward and out of frame. Cut to black.
Resources
Setting:
Autumn’s Bedroom Libby Gunther’s bedroom
House Kitchen Libby’s kitchen
House stairs/Cupboard Bella’s house
Closet Libby’s bedroom closet
Door to underworld TBA
Characters/People:
AUTUMN: 11 years old, adopted, innocent, curious, introverted, doesn’t talk very much, some can argue that she is going insane as she starts hallucinating/having a dream about a real life china doll
MOTHER: Parent-age, Autumn’s adopted parent, doesn’t like her very much, rude, careless, barely shows compassion
DOLL: Begins as a lifeless doll, becomes real, a little creepy, piercing eyes, she can arguably be either in Autumn’s dream or actually is a cursed doll
Props:
China Doll
Dollhouse
Flashlight
Costume:
AUTUMN: blue matching pyjamas, bare feet, half-up hairstyle, natural makeup
MOTHER: black skirt, grey top, high heels, ridiculously over-done hair (quiff and tease) and makeup (eyeshadow), chewing gum
DOLL: orange and blue dress, hair in bun, makeup (big creepy eyelashes skin very plastic and shiny - highlighter)
Justification
I chose the name Autumn for my main character because it is the season between Winter and Summer; two juxtaposing times of the year, one is cold, and the other hot. I decided to make this a metaphor for the transition between the ‘cold’ Reality and the dreamy fantasy world. In addition, as I took a lot of inspiration from Alice In Wonderland for my film it just so happens that Alice transitions between reality and ‘Under land' by quite literally falling down a hole. Autumn is another name for Fall.
My reason for having a cliff-hanging ending is because Tim Burton’s films are very plot-driven. If I were to create an entire Time Burton-inspired film, it would have to go over the one-hour mark. My short film is similar to that of an opening scene of a much longer movie. However, it is up to the audience to make up what happens next. Because of this, it is also my aim to spark different ideas of endings, and provoke theories about the characters.
I began my short film with a young girl in her bed as it is a common aspect in a few of his films. For example, Alice In Wonderland, and Edward Scissorhands, begin with young Alice and Kim’s granddaughter lying in bed talking to an adult before going to sleep.
The lighting in my film is very purposeful and specific. Autumn’s house is very poorly-lit, especially her bedroom, as it will be lit by small sources of light. Inside the cupboard, is pitch black except for where the flashlight is pointing towards. This keeps the mise en scene true to the Tim Burton style of the short film. Also, the juxtaposing bright lighting for the parallel universe acts as a symbol for the ‘cold, dark reality’ versus the ‘bright and exciting underworld’.
I chose simple settings, quirky props and different colour schemes in costumes to enhance the Mise En Scene and replicate Tim Burton’s style of doing so. The quirky props involved are the pink dollhouse, and the China doll. These are a symbolic for childhood and the imaginary worlds that children come up with when playing with them. Colours in costume are symbolic as well, as the doll wear bright happy colours (blue and orange) whereas the mother wears black and grey.
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