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.

Other similar Film Title

this font style did not really appeal to either me or my partner. It seems over edited and uses a flowery gradient effect that doesn't really appeal to the audience. Also, it is very difficult to read and we personally believe that the topic and the font style don't really compliment each other.

  These two titles are much appealing because they are simple, crisp and are easy to read. 'Perfect sense' title has a somewhat of an elegant feel to it due the colour used in the background. Whereas, 'Medusa' is not at all clear. At first I thought it said 'Media' but after really concentrating on it we realized it's actually Medusa. Psyche is a plain black font against the plain white background.

'Diner', by the name itself defines clearly what the title of the film is and is further reinforced by writing it in a neon style font that is mostly associared with midnight clubs, dinners and breakfast spots or trilers in the USA.

on decidind how to make our film title we researched some film title that shared our genre. Drama being a common genre these days, we were

These two title fonts, although different from each other in writing style share the feature of  having used different colors. The colors help to give a different meaning to the whole text and the image that can n
be associated with it by anyone viewing it. 'The Dictator' although means something very serious and in today's world of freedom of speech and rights,almost bureaucratic. However over here it uses different shades of colors that give it somewhat of a softer, humorous side that doesn't just have a black and white feel to it. Likewise 'MR.HOBBES TAKES A VACATION' again uses a colorful childlike font that make makes it clear to any viewer that it's a humorous childish film.

We personally liked this the best..since ocean 11 is a film based around casino's, money, banks etc this font style looks more like a digital techno style that can be mostly associated with computer or in casinos.

Planning: Production Company

In order to create the logo of our production company 'Rolling Reels Production' we did some research on how different companies had created their logos. Graphics, in one way or the other, were used in almost all of them.

                               

 

                              

 



                         

As it can be seen in the above images, graphics have been used in a very creative innovative way; the Earthmedia has used an earth worm to represent the earth and by adding a square above, it has modified into a camera as well. As for the Lime productions and Straylight, we thought that these logos were simple, yet different from other ones. The colors are flat,graphics are simple but the entire look is very creative.

Below are two more logos that we found creative. Though Combly is a Securities Management company, we liked the way they have modified the 'C' of Combly.

   

                        
Logos of the some well known and successful production:
                                                        

                           

 

                          

 

The logos of these above production houses are simple too, LionsGate logo is an example of a textual based logo where as Summit Entertainment has only used a silhouette of a mountain, nothing very detailed is used.

The idea behind the Rolling Reels.production logo was to replace the 'O' of the rolling with a reel film instead.

Rolling Reels Productions:

                       

Planning:Film Title

The tiltle of our film 'The title of our film 'In pursuit of Success',  is simple and comprehensive,  however, it might connotate a different meaning for everyone.


'In Pursuit of Success' is a five minutes short film that revolves around a rickshaw (a common transportation vehicle used mostly in Pakistan, India, Bangkok and some other South Asian countries)driver who is just a mere kid of 15-16 years of age. The film would revolve around the kid's pursuit, struggle, effort, to make his own name in the world. Wanting  to change the stereotype that poor people don't ever achieve success or are unable to get respected jobs, he makes an effort to attain good education, to earn money good money and to create his own identity.


We tried different fonts for our title. Type-writer font was the one that we wanted to go with initially as it seemed to create a link with the educational-aspect-theme  of our film, but since it didn't show as such significance with the story line, we chose a font that looked like chalk writing on a black-board. The chosen font that went brilliantly with our story line (since in Pakistan Matric students in Public school study in classrooms with chalk boards and write with pencils.) So for our title we wanted to have a font and background colour that would link with the education as well as the age and innocence of the kid.

  Top font: The one chosen initially.

Second Font: Final chosen one

Rest three were tried to get more options and different ideas

Final font selected and an idea of how it would 

appear on the Film Poster and the Movie Review page