Post 5; Reseaching short film content C

In order to get the best grade I can I did some additional research into films that have the same themes as the one we are making. This would help influence our own script.

The first film I looked at was Trust.

 

Annie Cameron is 14 and lives in suburban Chicago, she has a good relationship with her family. On her birthday, her parents give her a laptop and when she meets Charlie in an online chat room, she establishes an instant connection with him. At first, Charlie tells her that he is sixteen years old. Over time, as the two bond by sending phone text messages and through instant messaging, he tells her his age is really 20, then 25. Annie dismisses these concerns as she believes they love each other. After three months of communicating electronically, Charlie invites Annie to meet him at the mall.

When Charlie appears, she discovers he is significantly older than he presented himself to be, appearing to be in his late thirties or early forties. Annie is upset about him having lied about his age, but still spends time with him after he compliments and sweet-talks her and convinces her to ignore their age difference. He then persuades her to go to a motel with him where he gets her to model lingerie and proceeds to have sex with her. All this is being secretly filmed by him.

After not hearing from him for a few days, Annie’s behavior starts to change towards those closest to her. Her best friend, who had seen her at the mall with an older man, is concerned and goes to tell the school counselor. The police arrive and take Annie away to talk to her about what happened. The FBI starts an investigation with the help of an unwilling Annie, who still believes Charlie loves her but because of the investigation has been scared off. The FBI gets Annie to contact Charlie so they can identify him but he figures out what they are doing and disconnects.

A few more days pass, and although Charlie has not been identified, DNA evidence proves he has done the same thing with other young girls who reported it to the police. This causes Annie to be devastated because she thought she was special, but after seeing pictures of the other girls, she feels betrayed, and she finally admits to herself, and to her hospital counselor, that she was raped.

After seeing a website where people where belittling the fact that she was raped Annie tries to commit suicide but is saved by her father. The family then slowly tries to rebuild their lives. As the end credits begin a home video is shown to reveal that Charlie is a high school professor who is married with a young son.

Trust shows the steps of grooming as well as what happens after it has been discovered. We are focusing on the steps of grooming and seeing them laid out as they were in Trust has given me ideas on how our group could incorporate them into our film.

These are two trailers for the film both focus on different aspects of the film; the first on the supposed security associated with the family and home and the second of the dangers of the internet.

 

The second film I looked at was The Lovely Bones.

14 year old Susie is viciously murdered by her neighbour in an underground den. She finds herself stuck between heaven and hell watching her family as they try and work out what happened to her whilst falling apart themselves.

This film, although isn’t about sexual grooming has aspects of it, when the neighbour (George Harvey) brings Susie down to his underground den he tries to seduce her, which the audience find out isn’t the first time he has done this. This twist shocks the audience and is what we hope to do with our own film.

This is the trailer for The Lovely Bones, it shows the effect sexual abuse and murder have on people, especially the family.