Pitcher on a hot streak

“Death Train”

Elevator Line:

A man fails to hold onto the woman he loves and, while depressed, boards a train which is the physical manifestation of his regret.

Theme:

The theme of the project is to chase after the important things in life. If you fail to hold onto what you find precious, the regret will build until it dominates your psyche.

Synopsis:

When the protagonist watches the girl of his dreams get onto a departing train, he nearly gets on with her, but hesitates and stops. As he watches the train depart, he sinks into a depressed state until another, darker looking train comes along. The man stares at the train a moment, but is compelled to board.

The train is decrepit on the inside, and the scenes outside the windows are gray and barren. As the man walks through the train, he becomes aware that he is not alone on board. As he continues through the train, the way becomes more and more difficult to traverse, with a figure and chains chasing him through the cars. When he comes to a car which appears to be a mechanical deathtrap, he sees a glowing door on the other side, a light at the end of the tunnel.

After he makes it through the machinations, he opens the door and on the other side he sees the woman from earlier sitting and reading a book. The man smiles to himself, and begins to walk towards her, but is held back by the chains which have caught up to and wrapped themselves around his legs. They begin to drag him away from the door.

The man finds himself back on the platform, watching the woman get on board the train. This time he gets on with her.

Structure:

Introduction (Act 1): Train Station	Rising Action (Act 2): Aboard The Train	Act 3: The Final Door	Act 4: Back at the Train Station
The Protagonist is at the train station and doesn’t get on the train with the girl. Filled with regret, he is compelled to board the “Death Train”	Aboard the death train, the man is chased by demons and faced with obstacles.	After making it through the mechanical room, he finally gets to the glowing door. When he opens it, he sees the woman he let go sitting in a train car. When he tries to go to her, he is grabbed by chains and pulled back into the darkness of the “Death Train”.	The protagonist finds himself back on the station platform. This time, he boards the train with the woman.

Tones and Execution:

The tone of the piece will be gray, dark, and dirty. There will be heavy shadows, and the train will be covered in dust, cobwebs, rust, and grime.

The mechanical room will also be full of rust and grime, with some potential screen shake to imply the gravity and weight of the machinations.

The platform and the train the woman is on will be clean and well lit, other than the moment when the death train enters the station and the lights dim and smoke billows.

Images:

Train Image 1 | Train Image 2 | Landscape 1 | Landscape 2

Atmosphere 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Machination| Station Platform

Objective:

I’m assuming that the objective is what I personally want out of this project? If so then what I hope to gain is a full scale piece that I can be proud of, but more importantly, that I can use to get my name around. With only a year until graduation, I find myself lacking a sufficient amount of 3-D work to pad my resume and portfolio with. Considering 3-D is what I find myself moving towards, this lack could hinder my ability to move into the industry.

Target Audience:

My target audience would be males (and potentially females) between the ages of 18-30. These are the ages I believe would most identify with the protagonist, and who are also at the age to most benefit from the message it delivers.

I hope to reach this audience through mediums such as youtube.com and vimeo, as they allow one to distribute to a large audience. A large percentage of the age group I’ve identified spends a large quantity of time surfing these venues. As far as promotion, the only thing I can think of is to enter film festivals in real life, or to enter into video contests on the internet.

Story

Yo this is the story...

Opening:

A man watches longingly as a woman gets on a train. She looks back at him one more time just before the doors close. As the train begins to move, the man raises an arm and runs a few steps forward towards the train, but stops when he realizes that it is too late.

The man watches dejectedly as the train leaves the station. The man is now alone on the platform as a second train rolls into the station. The train whistle blows, and the man looks forwards as a door opens in front of him. The man stares for a moment, before walking forward and stepping on the train.

On the train:

The entryway of the train is small and has a flickering light, but is otherwise normal. The man moves to the door leading to the first of the passenger cars.

Passenger car 1:

The first coach looks worn and old, with an assortment of cobwebs, rust, and even moss along the aisle. Old chains lay across the aisle with some hanging from the walls and ceiling. The right side of the coach is a line of windows, looking out on a desolate, gray landscape. The left side of the aisle is lined with passenger compartments.

The man begins to move forward slowly. The glances out the windows, which are dirty, as he moves and sees the desolate landscape, but continues to move forward. He passes the compartments, which have dirty windows as well, but shadows are moving in them. After he passes a couple compartments he stops to wipe away a small amount of dust on one of the windows. What he sees inside are shadowy figures hanging from hooks and chains. One of the figures opens up glowing eyes and looks towards the man. He backs away from the window, frightened.

The man looks back the way he came, but the path is pitch black. Moving away from the blackness the man moves quickly to the door to the next car.

Passenger Car 2:

This car has more chains strewn about. The man begins to walk briskly along the aisle when one of the compartment doors opens behind him. The man looks back at the door. A bulky humanoid creature steps out of the compartment and turns his head to look at the man, who is still standing stiffly in the aisle. Chains begin to snake out of the compartment door, and the man begins to back away then run. He runs to the next car.

Passenger Car 3:

The man doesn’t stop in this car, he just continues running. As he passes various compartments the doors slide open, but he doesn’t stop to look if anything comes out of them.

Last Car:

The last car of the train is a mechanical nightmare. Large machines pound like pistons and large gears turn and grind each other. On the opposite side of the car is another door.

The man stops at the doorway to look at the machinations in front of him, but after a couple seconds of amazement, he turns and looks behind him chains are snaking from the compartments of the cars behind him, and the shadowy figure is following him, now one car length behind.

The man begins to move forward through the car, dodging around the various machines and objects, which block his path. He turns to look back every few steps, seeing the figure and chains grow closer. Finally he reaches the door and opens it up. The man stands still after opening the door, as it opens up into a view of an entirely different train. There is only one figure seated in the rows of this train, and that is the woman from the beginning. She is reading a book.

The man smiles, and tries to move forward, but something stops him. He looks down and sees that a chain has wrapped itself around his leg. He tries to pull the leg forward, but the chain pulls back harder. Another chain latches onto his arm, then his other leg, then around his neck. The chains begin to drag him backwards as he reaches his last arm forwards towards the woman.

The chains start pulling the man even faster, and force him to turn around. As they pull him forward, he sees the shadowy figure, still walking forward. As he gets closer to the figure, the figure raises his hand to catch the man’s face. Right as contact is about to be made, the screen goes black.

Back at the loading platform at the station:

The man shakes his head and looks at the train in front of him. He sees the woman getting on the train. This time when she looks back at him, he runs forward and gets on with her. As the door closes the screen fades to black.

----------------Possible ending: after the train departs with both the man and woman on board. The “death train” drives into the station and picks up a depressed looking woman.

First

...gah, what a dche...