First Film Pitch

Michael Taylor

Justin Pieraldi

Daniel Afeaki

Ricky Jalilie

Logline: Adolescent boy talks about his struggle through high school as he’s forced into a role of maturity as a result of his mother’s terminal illness.
Genre: Drama
Tone: Relaxed, calm, depressed
Time Period: Today’s time period, 2009-2011
Three act structure:
1. Boy introduces himself directly to audience, he is sitting at a train station. He talks about how easy life was, having a girlfriend, captain of basketball team, straight A advanced classes. This is shown through flashbacks. He introduces his family and the fact that he never had a father but that it didn’t matter.
2. Tho boy is longer doing any of the previous activities he had previously mentioned, and his grades had dropped. He talks about the role that he has to take over, doing for his sister what his mother did for him. He talks about how his mother can’t be there as much as she should. He explains that it is constantly wearing him down.
3. The boy goes to the hospital with his sister to visit his mother. It is revealed that his mother had some terminal illness (cancer?) and that is what has been causing him all his trouble. The film ends there.

A train passes by the train station and reveals a boy sitting on a bench looking in the direction of the train. He looks around a little waiting for his train and checking his watch. We see him look in the direction of the camera and he begins to walk across the tracks towards us. Saying “I’m Ryan, you don’t know much about me and maybe you don’t care. But I’m gonna tell you my story anyway”. a Jump Cut brings him back to his bench and the train pulls up blocking our shot.

On the train we see him walking to his seat, from a front view he starts telling his story, explaining how hard things have been for him. Starting a couple years ago, i was only a freshman in high school at the time. [fade into flashback of school and activities] That’s when i really began to struggle, school was so tough. I was in all the advanced classes, played basketball, went out with the prettiest girl in school. Back then things were easy, top of the class, captain of the team... had the world on a string. I didn’t have a dad, but it’d never really been a problem cause i had my sister and mom.

[return to a shot of boy taking seat and looking out the window] Near the end of sophomore year, i knew things would be much more difficult... My grades began to suffer a little, nothing serious, just a couple A’s turned to B’s. [flash to mom working and helping around the house] Mom worked as a teacher, she didn’t make a lot but it was enough for us to get by. She was a great cook and we always had food on the table.

[transition shot and whistle sounds] boy gets off the train looking around [story pauses as he walks down the train tracks to the station and enters. [inside we see him stop and ask a woman for directions to an address, not knowing what the address means] saying thank you and walking towards the camera he walks towards the exit.

“where was i?.... o ya, it was sudden... you know, one of those ‘it’ll never happen to me’, kinda things. [flash of boy crying counselor's office]...Well it did and it was terrible. By this point in my story I'm a junior, I didn’t play basketball anymore, i broke up with my gf, and i had to pretty much care for my sister alone.

i had to grow up pretty quick. [still shot of crying, picture of basketball falls in(breaks) picture of girl and boy falls in breaks, picture of boy leaning over sister studying + picture of boy cooking). [back to boy talking, hands money to vendor and receives coffee] I even had to get a job.... (ha) sleeping became quite a luxury for me.

we see the boy walking out of the cafe and towards an elevator, sipping his coffee he enters the elevator, jump cut to his exiting the elevator on a new floor. This has been really hard on me and my Julia, my sister [nods to someone outside of camera => sister runs into shut and hugs him. She’s been realy strong and has helped me out as much as she could.

Boy and girl walk down the hall as the boy explains that as tough as it’s been he’s confident itll all work out. [stopping, and looking to the side] thank you for listening to my story, it’s been a lonely time for me and the company has been nice, maybe ill see u around [appearing on the verge of tears the boy fakes a smile and turns walking into the door].

As the camera pans to the left following the boy we see a sign on the door saying ‘Cancer Word’. We see the boy walk towards a woman laying in a bed. Hey mom, the boy and girl say in unison. [boy: how you feeling today, through muffled voice struggling not to cry] The boy and girl hug their mother, and the door shuts on the camera.

First Film Treatment

>There is a note under a phone which says something like "do homework study for SAT's DON'T GET DISTRACTED" the phone alarm then goes off and there is a reminder that today is the last day to sign up for the SAT.

 >The boy sits up in bed as his alarm goes off looking tired with messed up hair and looks up hearing their parents tell them to do their homework and not to forget to sign up for the SAT's by a certain date.

>The boy is then looking at his phone and goes on facebook, seeing several statuses about how people have done college applications and been studying all day. The boy fluffs his pillow and strongly lands back into bed. The boy is already fast asleep.

 >The boy is then sleeping in a classroom and wakes up asking to use the bathroom.

 >As he walks out he thinks about how he should do his homework and remembers the sounds of his parents telling him that he'll end up some loser if he doesn't. He walks by groups of other students talking about him and about what a loser he is going to be when he grows up.

 >Time flashes forward where he sees himself homeless.

 >He looks hurt but keeps walking pretending he never heard anything but he sees other groups of people saying the same thing and begins thinking that they aren't making fun of him behind is back. He goes to the bathroom and washes his hands and splashes water on his face, as he walks out all the people he saw are right outside saying the same things.

 >He begins to run and in the middle of running he wakes up to the sound of the alarm.He bolts out of bed and grabs a comb, only combing half his hair before he runs over to his desk and begins his homework. Through a series of jump cuts he is doing jumping jacks, writing, slouching in his chair, and the whole time the clock is ticking.

 >The clock is changing time rapidly, and the boy drops is pencil which is down to a stub with no eraser left, the boys hand is red.

 >Happy and smiling they go back to bed, but wakes up shocked when they remember the SAT sign up. They smile when they think of how easy it would be.

 >As they reach the computer and is about to finish signing up they see that they need a credit card for the online registration. Frantically he runs around the house looking for his mom or dad, he can't find either.

 >He begins rushing around the neighborhood looking for someone who would let them use their credit card, as the clock ticks closer to the cut off time. He thinks of who he could ask and relies on a woman, and thinks about the fastest route, he sighs when he realizes how far it is.

 >He pauses and looks up taking off without wearing shoes. He successfully reaches the woman is given a ride back to his house. He bolts through the door and pulls off his socks which have been worn down. He looks at the card realizing that it is a library card. He looks at the computer seeing a late registration day and falls off his chair and just lays there.

Run Lola Run Presentation-Critique

For my portion of the Run Lola Run presentations, I analyzed the Game Theory and how it related to Tykwer and the film. My interpretation was related to the film and helped people better understand the film. I interpreted the way the film is staged with three endings and how each one ends. I used other resources to understand the game theory, and compared it to the film. I mostly interpreted the use of the Game Theory as Tykwer experimenting in his films. I did a good job of using visuals that directly related to what i was saying. It definitely helped people understand what I was talking about. I also introduced my topic and gave a quick overview of where it is most important in the film. In particular the two charts i created between the films showed what i was saying better than I could explain it. It helped to have the material memorized before i presented since it made presenting and being clear easier. For the most part my presentation was well focused and summed up nicely. More examples of how the game theory related to Tykwer would have been helpful. Something about his personal life would have made the presentation have a good connection between the film itself and the director. Overall my presentation was very well made and presented.