Synopsis Draft 1

The film begins with a home video of a woman (Sue Mason, 42), playing with two children. We then see a girl (Hope Mason, 17) watching this home video and crying over a brochure, the brochure is a funeral plan, with a picture of Sue on it. We see Hope’s older sister (Katie Mason, 21) dressed in black, yelling at Hope, but we don’t hear the yelling, all we hear is the non-diegetic music, showing Hope separated from the world. Katie gives up yelling at Hope and leaves. Hope go up stairs and takes a few sleeping tablets and then runs the taps for the bath, she then goes outside to the garden, sits at the table and begins to write, after writing she goes up stairs again a stops the bath taps. She places the piece of writing on the shelf and gets into the bath; she lets out a puff of air and puts her head underwater. We then see her hands holding the metal handles of the bath. Katie enters the house again saying she forgot something, we than see Hopes hands drop from the handles. Katie runs upstairs discovers Hope and runs to help her then the camera fades out. The camera fades in to Hope lying in a bed and her sister sitting on the bed with the letter Hope has written, a voiceover of Hopes letter occurs. A tear streaks from Katie’s eye and the camera fades out.

Synopsis Draft 2

There is one young girl named Hope, 17, rummaging through the stair cupboard. She is looking for her camera, patiently she searches but it becomes quite a task, but she does not get mad or annoyed, she shows no emotion. She opens a set of drawers, finding the camera in it; she then searches the corner of the cupboard picking up a long object with in a black zipped bag. She carries them to the conservatory, un-zipping the bag she pulls out a tripod, which she then goes onto to set up, having some difficulty with it. She then places the camera onto the tripod, but takes some time trying to figure out how to attach it. Once it is on she turns the camera on, opens the LCD screen and turns it so that she can see herself. She positions it so she is in the frame and then presses record. She begins to talk but then realises it isn’t recording as she hasn’t put a cassette in; she doesn’t get mad but just lets out a sigh. She goes rummaging through the drawers again hoping to find the cassette where she found the camera, she does find it and then rushes back to the camera. She places the cassette in and presses record. She sits in front of the camera and begins to talk. Whilst filming herself, she fidgets with her hands and frequently goes to rub her eyes. She also is blinking on many occasions, trying to hold back the tears. She picks up a frame, holding a picture of her mother and carries on talking not looking at the camera. She drifts off into her world for a few seconds and snaps out of it, she looks at the camera, says goodbye and turns it off.

Synopsis Draft 3

In a bedroom there is girl in her late teenage years, she is sitting still listening to some voices in the background. She gets up as she hears the sound of a door close; she walks out of the room she was in, and into her parent’s room. She begins opening the draws, searching for something, but has no luck, she then goes downstairs into a stair closet, rummaging around the small space, and she again finds nothing. Leaving the stair closet she goes into the front room where the TV is situated and underneath it is a cupboard she looks through them finding a small bag, she un-zips it pulling out a camera. She takes this into the conservatory where we can see lots of photos of her family. She grabs a few books and piles them on top of each other on the table. She looks at the camera, experimenting with the buttons, she turns it on, positions it on the books. Flipping out the LCD screen she turns it around so she can see herself, she then positions herself in the frame and presses record. She begins to speak but soon realises that t isn’t recording, she goes back to the bag where the camera was, looks inside a pouch and pulls out a cassette. She puts the tape into the camera and repositions the camera and herself into the frame; she takes a deep breath and presses record once again. She begins to speak but soon falters, she stops the camera and wipes her eyes, and she takes a few breaths and begins to record again. She talks to camera but soon again falters; she stops recording, picks up the camera and begins watching the footage. Whilst watching herself a different clip shows on the camera, it is a little boy in front of a candle lit birthday cake with people singing happy birthday, seeing this she gently weeps. She pulls herself together and removes the cassette; she gets up and hears someone at the door. She begins walking out of the conservatory, throwing the cassette in the bin as she leaves. We hear her calling the name of the boy we saw in the tape, as the camera fades out.

Synopsis Draft 4

In a dim room a girl, 17 years of age, sits on the edge of her bed staring down at her hands. In her hands is a bottle of pills, she pours an excessive amount into her hand; she sheds a tear as she looks at them. In the background there are noises and someone says goodbye, as this goodbye is said the girl gently puts the pills on the bed and leaves the room. She walks through the hallway into another room and begins searching through the draws, after finding nothing she goes into the hallway again but goes downstairs. She enters the stair cupboard, searching the confined space, but unable to find anything. She goes into the front room and walks to where the television is situated and looks inside the cupboards underneath it. She pulls out a small bag, unzipping it she pulls out a camera, which she takes with her into the conservatory. She places it down and picks up a few books, placing them on the table on top of each other. She again picks up the camera, trying to get it to work; once she turns it on she pulls out the LCD screen and flips it around. She places the camera on the stacked books and positions herself within the cameras frame, by looking at the LCD screen. Once she has positioned herself, she lets out a deep breath and presses record. She talks to the camera but realises it isn’t recording, she gets up and walks to the bag where she found the camera, she removes a cassette and goes back to the camera. She puts in the cassette and again positions herself within the frame and then presses record. She begins to talk to the camera but soon loses control of herself; she gently cries to herself and stops the recording. She sits on the furniture, trying to compose herself again, after taking a few breathes, she presses record again. She begins to talk, being more composed than the last attempt she gets much further than she did before but again loses control, and she stops the recording and cries to herself again. She picks up the camera and rewinds it, she watches the footage of herself but the footage changes to a different scene. The clip is of someone unwrapping presents but is establishes as a birthday party when happy birthday is being sung in the background with a child’s face lit up by birthday candles. The girl begins to cry but with a faint smile on her face, she removes the cassette from the camera. Someone walks in into the house and the girl quickly hides the camera behind a cushion, she gets up walking towards the front door, throwing the cassette in a bin. As the camera fade we hear her greet the person from the video with a cheerful voice.

Synopsis Draft 5 (Final)

In a dim room a girl, 17 years of age, sits on the edge of her bed staring down at her lap. In her hands is a bottle of pills, she pours out the entire contents, she looks at them. In the background there are noises, someone says goodbye. The girl gently puts the pills on the bed and leaves the room. She walks through the hallway into another room and begins searching through the draws. After finding nothing she goes back out to the hallway and downstairs. She enters the stair cupboard, searching the confined space, but finds nothing. She goes into the front room and walks to where the television is situated and looks inside the cupboards underneath it. She pulls out a small bag. Unzipping it she lifts out a camera, which she takes with her into the conservatory. She places it down and picks up a few books, putting them on the table on top of each other. She picks up the camera, trying to get it to work. She turns it on she pulls out the LCD screen and flips it around. She places the camera on the stacked books and positions herself within the camera frame. Having readied herself, she takes a deep breath and presses record. She talks to the camera but realises it isn’t recording. She gets up and walks to the bag, retrieves a cassette and goes back to the camera. She puts in the cassette, positions herself within the frame again and presses record. She begins to talk to the camera but soon loses control she cries and stops the recording. She sits on the couch, trying to compose herself again. After taking a few breathes, she presses record again. She begins to talk, more composed than the last attempt. She gets much further than she did but once again loses control and stops the recording and she cries. She picks up the camera and rewinds it. As the tape is rewinding new footage appears of a different scene. The clip is of someone unwrapping presents. Happy birthday is being sung in the background. A child’s face lit up by birthday candles. The girl begins to cry but with a faint smile on her face, she removes the cassette from the camera. Someone walks in into the house and the girl quickly hides the camera behind a cushion. She gets up walking towards the front door, throwing the cassette in a bin.