Synopsis

‘Train Journey’ is a short film based on the life of a girl before she decides to run away from home. The film is a drama all about her journey from her previous life to the new life she has created for herself. I chose the title ‘Train Journey’ for my film, as it represent the physical embodiment for her decision to run away, as well as connoting her own emotion journey. “A journey that would last a life-time” Furthermore it is simple and understated, like the style of my movie. For instance in my film my character is only insinuated to having come from a broken home because I’m only making a short film I couldn’t make the narrative over-complex.

A girl, Alice, sitting against the window of a moving train looking upset,however there is no indication as to why this is. Naturalistic sounds of the train passing along the tracks install a sense of a great deal of time passing along her journey. A disembodied voice begins to tell us the story of the mysterious 'Alice'. After which we see her quit the train, indicating she has reached her destination, as she steps on to the platform before seeming to disappear in a flurry of people and steam. Then a black screen is shown as the words ‘Train Journey’ appear, as an opening credit. A splash is heard, as the black background becomes a surface of a rippling black pond and we see Alice emerge from under the ponds surface, gasping for air. We see again that she is upset by something, yet it is unclear why or why she has recalled us back to this moment for the present. After a passing of time we see Alice floating on the water as a voice calls her name; somewhere in the distance. A boy emerges from the clearing behind the entrance to the ponds. He spots the girl and helps her out of the water, however he seems very off put to finding her their. It then becomes apparent that the boy, Mark, is her boyfriend who she has 'run off' from, as the couple argue and effectively break-up. Alice appears to be hurt by Mark's mean sentiments and shrugs off his request to walk her home. We then see her waiting at a bus stop as she takes the bus home. She reaches home and opens her front door unto an unforeseen argument, heard from somewhere inside the house. As soon as Alice acknowledges the shouting she breaks down into tears against her front door. The next day we see Alice tossing and turning in her bed, appearing to be in some form of agitation. This is made apparent as the same voice is heard to reiterate the events from the previous night and her feelings behind them, giving us some insight into her life and how it’s beginning to fall to pieces. Flashbacks to the previous night are alluded to within the narrative, which install a sense of tension to her life and repeated state of upset. Eventually Alice is seen to gain back some sense of strength as she gets out of bed and goes down stairs. To which we see a woman, who appears to be her mother, slumped over the kitchen table by a bottle of alcohol, giving the impression of a dysfunctional home life. Moreover shots from her school show her boyfriend, Mark, as having moved on to a nothing girl, leaving Alice feeling unwanted and dejected. As the story progresses we see Alice make the decision to leave home and buy a train ticket from a station. However the narrative is cut short as we see her standing underneath the time table with the same distressed look on her face that we saw in the opening sequence. Thereby leaving the audience wondering whether she has made the right decision to run away. Time passes and Alice is sitting by the window of a cafe looking at someone sitting opposite her. This unforeseen company asks Alice as question, about why she had to run away from home. Alice answers them and we can tell that it has been her all along, telling the audience her story, and for the first time we see her smile as she answers the questions. Indicating to the viewer that made the right decision and that she is happy with her life and has moved on from her previous unhappy state. As Alice continues to answer more questions we begin to draw conclusions from her life and her journey to where she is now, being interviewed for a magazine article. Once the journalist is done interviewing a man approaches Alice to tell her that 'table nine needs coffee'. To which we assume that she is working at the cafe and as she clears away plates from her table, has probably been on a lunch break. Alice says goodbye to the journalist and moves behind the counter, presumably to start making the coffee, however we see a young man catch her eye at the bar and they exchange a flirtatious smile. The picture changes and the title 'Train Journey' appears, before 'Train' fades and the word 'journey' is left as dictionary definitions scroll down to reveal the definition 'a transition'.

I was inspired by the short film ‘Strangers’ to use a train location to represent my characters journey, as the naturalistic editing of the train worked really well to deliver the films powerful message. Furthermore it also worked well with my idea of simplicity, as I’m only making a low budget short film. In addition to this it represented the everyday that people never question yet could have a deeper meaning, like my characters journey. I wanted to use the Hampstead heath ponds as my cataclysmic point in the story as I didn’t want to allude to anything to dramatic so as not to loose focus. To which I thought the surface of the water rippling was a good metaphor for her life silently falling to pieces and not being how it seemed on the surface. I chose to include a bus journey as a transition between shots as I want it to mirror the opening sequence on the train, with her looking out of the window like she is looking for something. I will use my own house for the shots representing my characters home life, as I thought it would be easier to create intimacy in a place familiar to myself. The overtones of arguments and the quick succession I thought would lead to a strong sense of a dysfunctional family without the need for a separate storyline. I wanted to end the narrative on a cliffhanger, as I wanted the audience to empathise with my character and question her decision like she has been questioning her life throughout. A window also frames the last scene in the café, however this time she isn’t looking out of it, giving a sense that she has found what she was looking for. The end scene was inspired by the film ‘Interview with a vampire’ as I felt that an interview would be a good way to conclude the girls life and give the answer they wanted. In addition to this as we see that the café is also her work place, they both give her a sense of independence that we wouldn’t expect to end the film on a positive note.