Story telling: short project
The task - Working in pairs, our task was to create a pitch for our idea using two main characters and a location picked at random. For this task I was paired with Josh Bayly.
Main characters - A single mum (Layla Stevens) and an escaped convict (Ritchie McNair)
Secondary characters - The single mothers son (Daniel Stevens)
Location - Forest (in this case a log cabin located in a forest)
Protagonist - The single mum (Layla Stevens)
Single mum (Layla Stevens)
38 years old, no occupation, had been married for 9 years, single, brown hair, brown eyes, typically wearing a coat or a jumper.
Escaped convict (Ritchie McNair)
35 years old, wrongly convicted of murder, mostly bald, first seen with white shirt and blue work trousers supplied by the prison.
Forest cabin
Located near New Forest in the south of England, small and very remote.
The story - Layla Stevens, a single mother with serious sleep deprivation, lives in a log cabin home in the middle of the forest and is told she is an unfit parent by child services and has her son taken from her. Her whole life changes when she meets escaped convict Ritchie McNair.
The plot - This short film is set in a small forest town near New Forest, England showing the struggles of single mother Layla Stevens as she battles a serious case of sleep deprivation created by the death of her husband, Richard Stevens and worsened when her only son Daniel is taken from her by child services.
Her battle with sleep deprivation softens when she meets Ritchie Stevens, an escaped convict and murderer. Scared at first, she calls the police informing them that an escaped convict was hiding in her home. After a long and thorough search, the police came to the conclusion that the prisoner had moved on. When the police leave the house, Ritchie is seen watching TV. Having convinced Layla that he did not murder anyone, Layla begins to pick out the similarities between Ritchie and her family and over time they fall in love.
Having got over her sleep deprivation problem with the knowledge that there are people worse off than her (in this case Ritchie), Layla calls child services regarding her son and pleas that he comes back home. Having being told that Daniel has found a new home, she convinces Daniel to come home to visit and meet Ritchie.
Daniel returns home confused as to who it is that his mother is talking about and questions her as to who she is talking about and claims that there is no one else in the house. This results in Daniel leaving prematurely and Layla confused about what just happened and why Daniel never noticed Ritchie in the house.
The following day Layla wakes up to find that Ritchie was no where to be seen and had left without a trace. Recalling back to previous events, she goes to see a doctor who confirms that Ritchie had been a hallucination created by her serious case of sleep deprivation.
