Script

Scene 1

Ext/Road/Day time 09:15 AM

Characters: The child aged 10-11 years and a few other random children.

The kid aged around 10-11 years is running parallel to a wall.

The sound of footsteps running and the breathing of a kid can be heard.

He then peeks from that wall- his eyes are shown (a macro shot of his eyes only). He keeps looking at other children coming out of a school.

Fade out.

Title appears ‘In Pursuit Of Success’

Scene 2

Ext/House/Day time/07:00 AM

Characters: Ali, Ali’s mother, Mr.Mahmood

Ali is washing his rickshaw when his mother calls him inside the house.

Mother:Aliii

He stops and goes inside. When he comes out again, he’s bathed, neat and tidy.

Ali: Good bye mother

Mother: Good bye.

Ali goes toward the door to step outside, the scene Dissolve and the Location changes and a

Mr. Mahmood can be seen coming out of his house and driving away in his car.

Scene 3

Ext/Rickshaw stop/Around mid-day 02:45 PM

Characters: Ali, a woman

A montage of different rickshaw drivers on different roads at different time’s of the day.

Ali is sitting at a rickshaw stop, reading a book,  when a woman approaches him

Woman: Are you free?

Ali: Yes.

Woman: Take me to market please.

Woman gets in the rickshaw and looks at in fascination-

Woman: (Looking at the book placed beside Ali) What were you reading?

Ali: I was studying my text book madam, I’m a matric Student

Woman: (astonished) Really? That’s very surprising, and odd, in a good way I mean, of-course. But wait, why arent you in school then?

Ali: (with a sad smile on his face)I cant afford to go to school maam because I have to earn to make a living and support my old mother.

Woman: oh!so you study and work?! How tough. I hope you are lucky enough to survive this tough world..

Ali, with a small smile on his face, looks at the woman from the rear view mirror. She sees his wise twikling eyes..

Fades out

Scene 4

Int/Office/Mid-day 03:10 PM

Fade in

Mr. Mahmood is sitting in his office.

Door opens, his colleague enters and places another document on Mr.Mahmood’s desk.

Colleague: Come on man, you’ve been working since morning. Take a break, let’s go out.

Mr. Mahmood: No, man. Thanks, but I’d rather stay back and complete these documents.

Colleague observes him for a few minutes and then speaks again.

Colleague: Seriously, I think you’ve got like the best luck in the world. Do you know how many times I applied for this job? Three. Three times! Ha. And you? Look at you, you applied and got it the first time. How do you do it? Amazing luck you have, I must say.

Mr. Mahmood: (Looks up wisely and smiles). You know, I still remember the days when I used to stay up till late at nights and study under the faint light of lanterns or street lamp when electricity would be cut off.  So, don t say ‘I have the best luck in the world’, bur rather ask  ‘how I made my luck?’

Mr. Mahmood smiles and looks back at his documents.

    

With this scene we can also see that as Mr. Mahmood is flipping through the pages, scene transforms and adult hands are replaced by a child’s hands flipping the pages. These are the younger Ali’s hands.

The location changes, Ali is in an examination room.

The scribbling of pens on a pages can be heard and the ticking of the clock aswell.A final tick of the clock.

Ali flips to the very first page of the booklet and under the heading of Matric Board Examination writes his name....

                                        ‘   Ali HamzaMahmood’

Just as this scene finishes we come to the present Mr.Mahnmmod as he closes the booklet. He closes the file and on the first page he signs his name...

                                                      Seen

                                                Ali Hamza Mahmood

  Puts down the pen and the scene cross dissolve slowly.
He closes the file and puts down his pen.

Fade out

Scene 5

Ext/Road/in between 6.00-7.00PM.

Characters: Ali, Ali’s mother. The woman

Ali is in his car, driving. He looks in the rear view mirror and thinks and recalls the conversation he had with that woman.

Ali goes into a flashback.

The conversation he had with a women once, who questioned him about his studies.

Dissolve

Ali: Ma’am I would make my own luck one day and I will stand on my own feet. I will work hard day and night and will hopefully become strong enough that  I will be able to overcome any obstacle. That one day is not so far away. I will run after excellence until success chase me all the way till the end. After all, life is nothing but a struggle itself.’

Flashback end and scene cuts at Ali’s eyes again( a macro shot).

Scene 6

Ext/road/7:00 pm

The car stops in front of Ali’s new house. He looks at his house. Gets out of thje car. A  macro shot of his feet walking towards the house.

Scene cuts to a small kids dirty slippered running feet.

Scene cuts to Ali’s feet stopping at the gate of the house.

Scene cuts of the small kids feet stoping against the wall.

From the prespective of Ali’s.

He push opens the door and see his mother sitting in the garden.

Scene cut to the small kid peeking from behind the wall. A macro shot of his eyes that are filled with sadness and longing.

Scene cuts to the adult Ali’s eyes. A macro shot that show happiness and satisfaction in his eyes.

Final Synopsis

Synopsis
Short Film
Genre: Drama
Title: In Pursuit of Success

We have planned to work on a short film that has been inspired by true events of a child's life; Qayanoos khan, a teenage garbage collector from the district of Azad Kashmir, who attained the first division in his Matric Board Examination.

The inspiration/idea mentioned above is the just the foundation of our film, the story and presentation is modified according to our ideas. The character, Ali is a 'rickshaw' driver, just a mere kid around the ages of 15-16, who works hard and struggles everyday just so that he earn money to pay for his household expenses as well as his examination, and hence secure his future.

The film would not only focus on his struggles but would also show how his efforts bore him fruit in the future. This would be shown in transition, i.e the film will keep shifting from one phase of his life to the other one to keep the audience attentive and entertained. The decision to change the chronological order of the scenes was made in light of the fact that keeping the linear order of the scenes would make the film predictable and might even bore the audience.

 Throughout the film, hints would be dropped so that the viewers are able to get that the lives of two characters being shown is interlinked somehow, whereas in reality it would be just one character and this would be revealed completely in the end of the film- the two people that the audience were viewing throughout was actually one person shown in three different stages of his life. The film would show the characters dealing with different situations and different people. Alis life would be shown at different stages of his age. His teenage years would be dominated by struggles with his study and his job. His adult self would show a well established successful person who has a secured well paid job. We show different scenes that Ali experiences in his present like driving his car, dealing with his colleague etc. As well as scenes that he remembers from his teenage years like recalling studying under the lamp post or the intense conversations he once had with a passenger.

We wanted to show in the short film that of every person who pursues success each person defines his success differently. Each person pursues a different type of success based on their situation. Likewise our character is pursuing a success where he believes that hard work and education can take him anywhere and so he works and studies as hard as possible in order to be successful.

The target audience for this media product would be the masses and it would reach them through television and internet e.g Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace etc. Local TV channels like GEO, Hum TV and PTV etc. can air the video since it would be something relating to the struggles and problems that the lower socioeconomic class of Pakistan is going through. Moreover, the video can be advertised in newspaper as well. The age group would be from 12 onwards.

Film Treatment

Scene 1

The film starts with an adult’s arm and hand to be seen to be seen on a glass table. The door opens and the voice behind this man speaks, ‘Here, Mr. Mahmood, the file you requested for.’ The file is placed on the table and hand moves forward to grab a pen and open the file. The man sitting behind the desk extracts a booklet with the company’s name on top of it. The hand flips the pages and starts reading. When this page is flipped, the scene changes. 

This scene shows a child’s hand flipping papers and writing furiously on the paper.  Background score is of a clock ticking followed by the sound of a ringing bell. A woman’s voice is then heard saying ’Your time is up’. The hand compiles the answer sheet, flips through the pages and then writes on the top of the first sheet his name ‘Ali Hamza Mahmood’ under the heading which says ‘Matric Board Examination 2011’ and puts the pen down.

After this scene our title comes in ‘In Pursuit of Success’

Scene 2

A small kid (around the age of 10-11) with dirty feet in slipper can be seen (only) running on a road. The kid is then shown fully (long shot) running towards a wall. When he stops, he’s panting heavily and is standing against a wall right before it opens up to another street. Ali, slightly scared, peeks onto the next road- inspiration taken from the ‘The Kite Runner’s cover page- A macro shot of his eyes can be seen, darting from left to right and up and down. A certain excitement but sadness and a feeling of longing can be seen in his eyes. The kid is looking at a school, opening and the kids entering it. Ali looks at them for a moment, and then turns on his heels and runs back.

Scene3:

A younger kid, in his teen (15-16years) is washing a rickshaw. His mother calls out his name ‘Ali’ and he immediately stops and goes inside. He comes out-dressed in an old shirt, dirty jeans and worn out sneakers- after a few minutes, bids his mother goodbye and rides away. The scene cuts at this point and next a male adult, coming out of a different house and driving away in his car.

Scene 4

Later around mid day Ali can be seen sitting in his rickshaw on a very busy street. Even though it’s extremely hot, the roads are busy with traffic etc but Ali seems oblivious to it and seems to be studying intently. A woman comes to him, tells him where she need to go. Ali puts his books aside and starts driving the rickshaw. The female looks at his rickshaw with fascination. Her dressing is such that it seems she belongs to the upper middle class and is sitting in a rickshaw for the first time. She notices the books, looks at Ali curiously and asks ‘Whose book is this?’ and with this dialogue, the conversation starts between the two. The middle class woman finds it very fascinating that the kid is able to study without any guidance so she asks him why he is doing so. From the point of view of the woman, she is shown looking at Ali through the rear view mirror, only Ali’s eyes will be seen by the women and his voice will be heard. Here, the scene cuts as she asks this intense question to him and he looks at her with a wise look in his eyes and the scene changes from here.

Scene 5

Mr.Mahmood can be seen sitting in his office, reading a file. A colleague of Mr.Mahmood comes into his office and greets him. He hands him a file and sits on the chairs in front of his table. They start chatting for a few minutes after which the friend becomes quite and start observing Mr. Mahmood reading the file. He then say ‘I have to say man, u have the best luck in the world. I mean do you know I many times I applied for this job of yours? For three years but still didn’t get it! But you?! You got it the first time… amazing luck you have my friend!’. To this Mr. Mahmood looks up and smiles wisely and says ‘ I remember those days when I would sit under the faint light of the lantern or streetlight during many nights when the electricity would be cut off and would study..So don’t say ‘I have luck’ rather ask ‘how I made my luck’. He closes the file and signs his name on it…Ali Hamza Mahmood.

Scene 6

The scenes start with the adult Ali sitting in his car driving back home. He looks in the rear view mirror at his eyes and the has a flashback of a conversation he once had with a women in his rickshaw when she asked him if he needed any help and he had answered ‘Madam I would make my own luck one day and I will stand on my own feet one day and I will have my very own big car one day…I will work hard day and night and will become strong enough to overcome any obstacle and that one day is not too far away…Madam, u’ll see I will run after excellence until success chases me all the way till the end.after all life is a struggle…to add stuff.

Scene 7

The adult Ali stops his car in front of his house. He gets out and only his shoes are shown as he walks towards the door. A flashback of the small kids dirty feet running are showed after which the present adult Ali’s feet walking to the door is showed again. Next an over the shoulder medium close up shot of Ali is showed as the opens the door of the house. Then a flashback of when the small kid stops at the wall breathing heavily and panting and as he peeks around the corner to spy on the school and the kids and the camera does a macro focus on his eyes. Showing the sadness and longing in them. As the scene returns to focus on the present, Ali‘s aged hands can be seen opening the door and the mother coming to greet her son. Then only Ali’s eyes are shown in macro as he opens the door and the happiness and the satisfaction is seen in them.

The Music:  The music or background score would be a soft tempo beat. A soft music would help the story by developing it in a direction that it’s a serious story. The high and low pitch would give it the element of anxiety as well as excitement.

The locations:  The locations would vary according to the scenes. For example our first scene where only the hand of the two characters can be seen, the lighting would be almost the same; fluorescent. Since this type of lighting is very common in offices as well as examination room. Here our location would not really be seen. But rather through dialogues and props we would try to direct our audience.

The second scene shows a small child running in a street next to a long wall. Then he stops at a wall and turns around to look inside a narrow street. The location for this scene has to be exact to the requirement, so in order to show that the character is running and moving forward. Also the school has to be shown at morning time or afternoon time when they either collect together to go in or come out in groups.

The third scene of when Ali washes the rickshaw has to be shot in the house of a family that belongs to the lower middle class so we can use the houses of an actual rickshaw driver.

The office scene has to be shot in a real office building with a room were Ali works. Its not suppose to be to large nor to small. It should have a  door and a window.

The rickshaw scene requires to be shot on the road and sometimes from inside the rickshaw from the point of view of the women.

Likewise the car scene requires to be shot from inside the car, from the point of view of Ali and from the road as well.

The last scene as Ali walks towards his house would consists of ,macro shots of Ali’s feet walking towards a house. The house has to look like a upper middle class family house so either one of us partners house can be used.

The characters: We need to use three different characters for the characters of Ali Hamza Mahmood. Firstly the stage of his life where he is just a kid around the ages of 10-11. This kid has a very dirty messy poor boy look to him. He is seen wearing shorts and a shirt with slippers. His shirt has patches of dirt on it.

The second character is a teenage boy who seems to be dressed in jeans and a button down shirt and really old shoes. He doesn’t seem to be dressed all too well yet he can seem to be dressed neatly. He carries around with him a book of his Matric Board and is often seen to be reading it during any free time in the day. He is a well mannered kid who has self educated himself enough that to converse in English is easy for him. He respects his elders and his mother and is seen as a intelligent wise kid.

The third character is a middle age male who is intellectual, soft spoken and very well mannered. He is a likeable person. He represents Ali as he is in the present. He is well dressed, in dress pants and a coat as is seen to be employed at a high post in the office that he works. He’s not seen as arrogant or egoistic nor as a proud person.

Apart from Ali we have other supporting characters as well that we have to use in order to make our film. The characters of Ali’s mother who is a old women in her late 40’s. She is a mild mannered, soft nature loving and kind mother who cherishes her son. She loves her son dearly and sees him with pride as he struggles through with a smile on his face. She supports him in all that he does and is seen to be an encouraging boost for him.

Ali’s colleague is a friend of his who works in the same office as Ali does just on a different post. In the film he makes it clear that he was after Ails job for many years but that was when Ali was not yet employed and the job kept of firing and re hiring candidates since no one seems suitable for it. After Ali’s employment is friend is employed for another job. He and Ali become good friends. He is a likeable, humorous and a social person.

The rickshaw scene requires for a passenger who is a middle age, upper middle class women who has her first ever rickshaw ride. She is seen to be well dressed in expensive clothing. She educated enough. Her manner of speaking is with respect for the other person and she talks to Ali very politely. As Ali converses with her in English she is impressed by his manners as well as his English. She is very happy to learn that Ali is a hard working boy who studies as well as works. She tries to offer him some money so that he can study hard but he rejects it saying that the very fact that she feels proud to have been in a company of such an extraordinary boy and that his hard work would definitely lead him to success was his reward enough.

Other characters include the voice over of women in the examination room. Other children’s around the ages of 10-11 huddled around the school. The voice of a young custodian who hands Ali the file.

The look and Feel of the film: The film is very reality based with the present and the past shown simultaneously. In order to make sense of the film and not have our audience get confused, hazy and dissolve effects will be used. Changes in the lighting of the scene will be done.