Class Project Liberal Arts Film

Phil handed out a sheet that helps us young aspiring filmmakers understand just how integrated budgeting is. Now when he started discussing budgeting, i knew it wasnt a cake walk. but i had no idea how much it takes to do one certain job. if you want lights, you gotta pay for em, you want sound, gotta pay for that too. not to mention the camera and actors and i mean, well you gotta get paid too, for whatever area youre working in. for the Liberal Arts film, we have just about if not a little more than 30,000. and about 2/3 of that is going just to the people that are working on this film. not including any props or special effects or reshoots that we may need. this is what just the FIRST PAGE of the budget sheet looks like.

and here is the link to the actual sheet itself.

http://uscreen.co.uk/uploads/how-to/Film_Budget.pdf

THIS IS THE 4 PAGE TREATMENT

             The school bell rings, and kids pile into their classes while Amelia and Rory reach the door at the same time and get stuck trying to beat each other into the classroom. The teacher yells for them to quit goofing off! And begrudgingly they stand upright, walk into class embarrassed and sit in their chairs. The teacher gets up and explains that the students will be teaming up in order to write a report on the advantages and disadvantages of a liberal arts education. He continues to explain who the pairs will be, and gleefully volunteers Amelia and Rory as partners because they were late together. The school bell rings again and students pour out of the school in all directions. Amy and Rory meet just outside of the library, glare at each other and exchange insulting repartee to each other. They enter the library and being discussing how their paper will sound. Amy wants to show the advantages of going to a business college like the one she wants to attend so she can get a good job. Rory doesn’t quite know what he wants to do for a career yet. But explains that he likes art and psychology and had the highest math scores in the school, but he wants to gain knowledge in a lot of different areas so that he has a lot of different options for jobs.

            In the rest of act one Amy and Rory argue about what college is suppose to do for their lives. Their argument gets louder and louder until the librarian tells them to hush. Quietly, they exchange insults again, growing louder louder until they hear another “SHHH!” they look over to apologize to the librarian but she is gone. “don’t you know you’re in a library?” they look around but see no one. But then a man in a robe appears, introducing himself as Plato. They begin to talk to Plato like he is a crazy person but he ignores them and continues to speak to them in Latin to shut them up. He tells them of the advantages his pursuits in science have given the world.

            The plot points begin with one of the visionaries appearing before Amy and Rory. Plato, Da Vinci, Albert Einstein, and Socrates. Each advocating either the advantages of gaining only the knowledge of their field, or gaining a general knowledge about everything. Then, one by one, they start to appear alongside the others. Trying to make their case against the other, arguing and such until all four of them are in the room shouting at one another. Amy and Rory tell them to shut up and they are all caught off guard. The students explain to them their own reasons for their paths and how they think they can help change the world and make it a better place. The group takes tours around the library searching and describing certain books and show the advantages and disadvantages of a liberal arts education. Showing the students working hard, discussing with some of the visionaries while others discover drinking fountains and facebook and the magical doorway that teleports you to different floors.

            At the end of act three the students wake up, drooling on their desks as the sun rises. Looking at their notes, they see that nothing has been written and they have both fell asleep. But they both remember Plato and Da Vinci, so they must have shared the same dream. As they run to class they are late again and try to push through the door. Again the teacher tells them to quit the shenanigans! He tells them to hand in their report right now, but they do not have it so as punishment he makes them stand in front of the class and give an oral report on what they have learned.

THE ENDING SCENE shows the two students, with all of the knowledge and experience they think they have gained from talking with the historical figures. Give their own interpretation of a liberal arts education. (because that is what this film is suppose to be about anyways.) Amy still advocates the pursuit of a specific and focused education because she wants to be an English professor and nothing else, but now with a more perfect knowledge and understanding of that concept. But Rory understands just as well the advantages of obtaining a broad knowledge of subjects, learning math, history, science, art, and psychology. Things that will probably not help him find that perfect career choice, but at least he would be fulfilling, as Socrates stated, his whole self. As Rory and Amy give their speeches they notice outside the classroom window their visionaries proudly watching over them. The film ends with the teacher very impressed and posing the question to the class directly into the camera “well… what do you think?”