Treatment

An elderly widower struggling to come to terms with his wife’s demise and his own aging, embarks on a journey to recover a token of his past which he believes misplaced. In a small isolated house resides a bitter and depressed old man whom unable to cope with his wife’s passing directs his anger and fears onto people who surround him. One day, after being particularly unpleasant with a young student working there as a volunteer (or being a family member), he notices that an object very dear to him, a bag of marbles his late wife gave him when they first met as children, has gone missing. Blaming the student of theft, he decides to take justice into his own hands and leaves the seclusion he inflicted upon himself to find him. Knowing where the student might be, he proceeds to make his way to a park where the young man is. Although the park itself is a very short distance from his house, he is destabilized by his surroundings and on numerous occasions comes into contact with aspects of modern life which he never took an interest in understanding. Although confused and unprepared, his determination to find the thief leads him to find the place he sought. Unfortunately for him, the young man is nowhere to be found. Inconsolable, he seeks comfort by going to the cemetery where his wife is buried. As he is in front of her tombstone he fumbles his pockets to find a napkin and finds his bag of marbles instead. Shortly after he hears the sound of footsteps behind him and turns to face the young student who left the park early to seek out the older man to apologize, yet upon discovering his disappearance from his home searched for him. Overcome by this caring act, the elderly man finally opens up to the student and tells him the story behind the bag of marbles. As they leave the cemetery he leaves the bag by the tombstone. Characters: A: The elderly man, so far nameless, should be in his late 60s, early 70s. He has a constant sullen look on his face and walks with a hunch. He never really accepted his aging and refuses to come to terms with the changing world, this is shown through his insistence in keeping the attire and fashion of his youth. In the beginning he is constantly seen holding or in close proximity of an old portrait of his wife as she was in her youth and the bag of marbles. He is an educated man who held on to strict values and refused to let them evolve with the times, this is shown through his eloquent speech and disdain for the younger generation. B: The student volunteering at his home. He should be no younger than 18 and no older than 21, for the purpose of the story he will be 19. The fact he studies an English Major causes the elderly man to accuse him of being a spoilt middle class kid who lacks direction in life, sparking a row between the two of them. In fact he is a caring individual from a lower class background whose goal is to become a teacher. Confident and outspoken he refused to be bullied by the older man who attacked his insecurities yet doesn’t lack the empathy to see the man’s pain. Room for one extra character.


In terms of editing, I don't want to squeeze too many shots into the space of a five minute piece. If anything, I would like the shots to be carefully composed and as long as possible - not only to fit in with an elderly person's movements, but the general mood of the piece is quite slow. Although there is a panicked section where she searches for the marbles, I would like to keep the focus on her reaction as opposed to her running around searching for them. Once she leaves the house, her movements are even slower; she hasn't ventured outside in a long time, especially not on her own. She is used to be cared for by her (now dead) husband. To depict such loneliness, in the editing process, I would like to hold onto shots of her walking through both the park and the cemetery as she seems unaware of where she is going or where she will end up. In terms of after effects etc, I was initially going to just ensure that the lighting was consistent throughout and focus on obtaining nice shots in the process of filming. However, in a discussion with the producer, we decided that increasing the lighting in after effects in the scene where she is walking through the park would be best; as during this time, we are hoping to increase certain park sounds to show how afraid she is as she wanders alone. We will do this subtly, just so the audience are aware in a change in her mood.