Final Short Film Treatment

Logline: An old man that is stuck in the past tries to change modern youth by radical means.

An old house with a neat front lawn. An old man wearing khaki pants, a navy blazer, and a duck billed hat steps out of the front door onto a wooden porch. He relaxingly closes the door, walks onto the sidewalk and proceeds to begin his daily tasks.

The old man walks casually down the street, calmly observing the neighborhood around him. He glances over to the other side of the street and sees a pair of young kids playing with a handheld game, eagerly looking over each other’s shoulders. A deflated red ball sits just a few meters away from where they are sitting on the sidewalk.

A red ball is kicked. Children’s laughter is heard.

The old man, slightly disappointed, continues on his walk as he does everyday. This is nothing new to him.

The man arrives at old fashioned coffee shop. He lethargically opens the door. The waiter behind the counter says to the old man “good morning Bob” the old man replies “good morning”. “black coffee like always?”. “Yes, thank you”. The waiter then asks him “Are you sure you don’t want to try our new espresso?” The old man grunts. The old man takes out some crumpled old dollars and places them on the counter. The waiter puts the daily newspaper on the counter in exchange. The old man takes the seat of his choosing. The waiter puts a napkin and his coffee on the table. He grabs the daily newspaper, and opens it up. In the corner of the of his eye he sees a group of people paying without giving a tip. He waves the page in front of him to reestablish his vision.

The old man is sitting in a park playing chess with a friend. He moves his queen in place and declares checkmate. In the background, kids are playing basketball. Suddenly, a basketball strikes the chessboard. A teenager runs past the two old men to retrieve the ball. The two old men yell in protest but the kids smirk and continue their pick up game.

The old man opens up the front door to his house and hangs up his jacket. Immediately an old phone begins to ring. He walks into the kitchen and picks up the phone. His son tells him how he and his son are supposed to come over that same day. He walks over to the refrigerator, glancing at some old photos. In passing his son asks about how that computer he sent him is working for him. The old man glances at a computer monitor sitting next to the garbage can in the front yard. The old man says fine.

The old man opens the front door for the dad and his son to walk in. The kid is texting on his phone even as his dad tells him to put it away. They exchange greetings.

At the dinner table dad and grandpa quietly eats while the kid is still texting on his phone. Dad seems to not be disturbed with his son texting at the table. Old man firmly asks the kid to put his phone away and that its rude to be on the phone at the dinner table. The kid reluctantly puts his phone on his lap. Dad suggests that the two of them go to the park together, for a little bonding time.

Old man and the kid are sitting a few feet away from each other on a park bench. The old man reaches into a small plastic bag and disperses some bird feed to the pigeon. The kids seems very bored and irritated. The old man offers the kid the bag, but instead he pulls out a gaming handheld. The old man turns back towards the birds and continues feeding them.

The kid is sitting in front of the TV set trying to set up his game console. The old man is sitting in his chair reading his paper. The front page talks about how “technology has ruined modern society”. However, when he looks to the rear of the TV set, he discovers that the game system is not compatible with the TV. The kid screams at the TV displaying static in frustration. Suddenly, the old man gets up, picks up the game console, and thrusts it on the floor. The kid, in utter awe and confusion, is yanked by his father while he is yelling at his dad (old man) about how . . .

The old man stands confused and unsure of himself as dad and son pack up to leave. The door closes on the old man, still dazed by the unfolding of events.

Short Film Treatment: Rubik's Cube

Logline: A man has lost all his passions, a women tries to make him see the happiness and joy in life.

A man and a women wait at the same bus stop every single day for the past year. The man is dressed nicely in a suit, and the women is dressed nicely for her job. The man has a somewhat cynical view on life, he views life as pointless, but he lives life so that he doesn't hurt his family. The woman one day finds a rubiks cube. She tries to solve the rubiks cube but can only get one side. After a month the guy becomes so annoyed that he grabs the rubiks cube out of her hand and solves it quickly, then hands it back to her. She becomes interested in him and follows him onto the bus.

She decides to sit next to him on the bus and tries to talk to him. She asks him who he is and what he does? Over the next week she pesters him but he is solid and wont tell her. Finally he tells her it doesnt matter what he does. It doesn't matter what he or she or anyone ever does because we are all eventually going to die. She pulls out the rubiks cube and tells him that life is like a rubiks cube. Most of the time life cant be solved, its complicated, there are problems, we have struggles. Rarely does anyone solve a rubiks cube, just like how rarely people solve life and are completely content. She asks him that although we all eventually die we should live life to have joy and experience happiness.