Developing our story

Concept statement

Title: Rose

Characters: A wealthy widower and his daughter. Daughter’s fiancée, who is a captain in the Navy. Poor, working class gardener, working for the family. The main characters are Rose (the daughter) and William (the working class lad, who is working for the family.)

Locations: Several scenes will take place within Holkham gardens. However, we will need to find somewhere to act as the inside of the house for a short scene, due to filming liabilities of the house. The final scene will take place at Holt train station. All of these areas will aid us in keeping the feel of the 1920s as they don’t have elements of the modern era – especially the train station, which is a genuine olden-times station.

The main filming parts of Holkham gardens

Holt station

Situation: While wandering the gardens to think over her marriage plans, Rose bumps into the new gardener, and as they keep “accidently” meeting, they fall in love, despite Rose being engaged to another man.

Story outlinedThesis: The first character introduced is Rose; she is holding her diary, and she has been crying, as is shown by teardrops on the page. There is a picture of her fiancée, who she doesn’t want to marry in her diary, and she has scribbled on this. The other thing that portrays her feelings of not wanting to marry him, is that the writing in the diary is shown, which says that she really doesn’t want to marry him. Her father pops his head round the door to say he has a meeting to go to, and we see her pick up her stuff, knowing it will be her only chance to run away and escape the wedding.

Antithesis: The conflict arises when, on her way out, Rose bumps into the new family gardener. The minute they meet eyes, they both know that they’re in love, and he manages to convince her not to leave. They meet every evening, after dark thinking no one notices, however Rose’s father has been watching them and knows what’s going on, and tries to stop it by threatening William with losing his job.

William needs his job, and so tells Rose that they can’t see each other anymore. She then decides to run away for a second time, because she knows if she stays her father will want her to carry on with the original arranged marriage.

Synthesis: Rose is waiting at the train station, when her train arrives. Just before she boards, she hears someone shouting her name, recognising William’s voice, she turns around to see him standing with his case, ready to run away with her. They embrace, and board the train together.

Treatment for RoseWe have decided that Rose is going to be a silent film, and we’re going to only music to express feelings. For example, music will get faster paced and higher in tone when the feel of the movie becomes happier.

Because the film is going to be silent, we’re going to need to find some music to go over the top. The music will be piano/brass based, because this particular type of music portrays the period of time. Music helps to show mood, for example, faster paced, higher pitched music will show it is a happier point in the film.

Rose is a petite girl, who is very innocent looking and naturally pretty. She doesn’t look, or act like a spoilt child, like most of her friends and she isn’t interested in looking for rich men, or bragging to everyone about how rich her family is.

During the movie, we are going to use stills to sometimes express things that are harder to express using only music. For example in some places where dialogue would be necessary, we can use a still with text on it instead. The stills can also help to add a comical effect, because it can make it melodramatic.

The story takes place in a number of locations, the first Rose’s bedroom. The furniture is Mahogany and very classy, showing the family she is from is wealthy, and also showing that it is from an older time period.

The scene starts off with Rose holding her diary, while staring out of her bedroom window. She appears to have been crying, as is shown by teardrops on the diary page. At some point the text in the diary can be shown, which will show a picture of her fiancée, which she has scribbled on and the writing in the diary could state that she doesn’t want to marry this guy. She is startled by her father coming into the room, and saying he has a business meeting, with a client. This suggests his power and wealth. She doesn’t turn around to say goodbye and as he leaves she picks up her things, knowing it is her only chance to run away and escape the marriage, which she has been longing to do for months.

The next scene is Rose standing by the pinnacle about to leave, when she bumps into the gardener, their eyes meet and they instantly fall in love. The two stare at each other for a short while and then Rose progresses to leave. However, William (the gardener) stops her.

William is a young lad, and the complete opposite to Rose’s fiancée, he is sweet and caring and likes Rose for herself, rather than for her money. He is good looking, and has a muscular build.

As time goes on, they keep meeting secretly, by the Pinnacle at night. William gives Rose a bright red rose as a symbol of his love. The rose is the only thing that is in colour in the film – this has significant references to ‘Schindler’s List.’ (The little girl in red)

Rose’s father finds out about the secret meetings, and confronts the gardener, telling him his daughter is already engaged, and that if the meeting’s don’t stop, the gardener will lose his job. As he is working class, is job is very important to him, and he tells Rose they can’t see each other anymore.

Rose decides that since she can’t be with the love of her life, she must run away so that she doesn’t have to marry the person her father wants her to.

The final scene is at the train station, we see Rose clutching the rose William gave her, and she is about to board the train, she then hears someone shouting her name she knows it is William and instantly turns around to see him standing with a suitcase, ready to run away with her. They embrace and then board the train to leave together.