After much thought I've come up with a final idea for the film. The idea centres around the idea of adopting a big cat. We often see adverts about adopting wild animals for their welfare, although the animal is in another part of the world, the premise is that for a monthly contribution, the person adopting the animal receives regular updates on how it's doing and maybe gets a card and a soft toy. I'm going to put a twist on that.
My film will be about someone who goes on to the internet and signs up to adopt a big cat (a tiger, jaguar or leopard, preferably one without too much thick fur since I'm not concentrating on my ability to create ridiculous render times). A few days after signing up they get a knock at the door and open it to a delivery man asking for a signature for a package. Expecting it to be the card and plush toy the person signs for it without really thinking too much about it.
Then they notice a large, (probably match-moved) wooden crate outside as the van drives away. Once opened, he finds that he's actually ended up having a real, live big cat shipped over and delivered to his door. It's not aggressive which is good news. The film then shows life with the big cat; house training it, taking it to the park and the funny situations which could accompany these things. Our proud new owner of the big cat becomes more and more attached to the animal throughout the short montage until tragedy hits. His payment is declined and the animal is taken away.
Here's the rough script so far. There won't be any dialogue through the film beyond maybe a "cheers" from the delivery man as he gets his signature:
> [Desaturated, limited colour palette] Close-up of a computer screen, cursor moving over 'Adopt a Big Cat' website. Fade to Black.
> Sudden shot of a young man (early twenties a student) sitting up from bed followed by a series of quick cuts showing breakfast being made (Edgar Wright-style) due to desaturated colours, everything seams dull and routine: KETTLE ON / TOASTER ON / POUR TEA / TOAST POP / EGGS FRYING / CLOSE-UP OF GUY'S MOUTH AS HE BITES AND CHEWS TOAST, CHEWING STOPS AS A KNOCK IS HEARD FROM THE FRONT DOOR.
> Quick cutting ends giving way to a continuous shot of him walking through the hallway to the front door. Shot continues as the door is opened to a postman. Camera settles over the student's shoulder as the postman says "Signature?" and the package is signed for. "Cheers" says postman as he walks off. Camera angle changes to the other shoulder revealing a large wooden crate (match-moved).
> Enter the big cat.
> [Colours become increasingly bright, lively and more saturated, almost dream-like through the next few shots] Initial fear gives way to a montage of life with the animal: shots of the it in the house, house training, playing fetch in the park, all the while showing a growing fondness between man and animal. Probably have some sort of music here.
> Montage fades out (always fade out in a montage!).
> Another breakfast scene again, very similar to the first one but with a sense of happiness (saturated colours, smiling while eating toast).
> Shot of computer screen again "Payment declined - Insufficient funds"
> Close-up of student's eyes: surprised and upset. [Colours return to desaturated as realisation kicks in]
> Knock at the door.
> The animal is taken away and the shot fades to black.
I might add a third breakfast scene showing a return to boring normal life but this might be overkill.
Anyway, that's it so far. I'm now in the process of story boarding the shots.
