Dreamtown Treatment

Dreamtown Treatment 

This is a crime thriller about a serial killer seemingly randomly murdering people from Dreamtown. It follows our protagonist,  Emma, an 18 year old resident of Dreamtown who's parents were killed by the murderer orphaning her and her younger sibling. Emma managed to escape the attack but was left injured in hospital. When she wakes she is questioned by the police about her experience and, alone, scared and determined, Emma chooses to help the police in their investigation to find the person that killed her parents.

Think 'Twin Peaks' meets 'Stepford Wives'. 

Box Office Success

Films in this genre have been very successful with ‘Gone Girl’ making $369,330,363, ‘Se7en’ making $327,311,859, ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ making $232,617,430 and ‘Pulp Fiction’, with a production budget of only $8 million, making $213,928,762. 

The Full Film

The film begins with Emma, our protagonist’s, heart being restarted as she recovers from an attack which left her parents dead. This scene comes from the first third of the film, after the title we go back to the start to see the events which led up to that moment. Then the film continues into the investigation into the murders. 

At the beginning of the film it is presumed the murders are the work of a serial killer, however, as more and more take place it becomes apparent that the culprit can't be a single person and the police are met with the challenge of stopping a seemingly invisible group of killers with no apparent pattern or motive except from the fact that they only kill the residents of Dreamtown.

The murders are actually being carried out by the townspeople, people in positions of power and authority such as doctors, policemen, teachers and government officials. This leaves the investigators with the most difficult group of people to catch, those hiding in plain sight, whilst trying to solve the biggest killing coverup in a town plagued by phenomenal corruption. 

Emma is aiding the investigators, having been the only person to survive an attack. She tries desperately to remember anything about the attacker that killed her parents but, when memories start to resurface, she doesn't know who it’s safe to tell. Tell the right person and give the investigation it’s desperately important lead to help solve the case; tell the wrong person and be instantly silenced, leaving the investigation empty and her sibling all alone. 

The story explores tragedy, loss, fear, trust, bravery and love as Emma fights to survive in the most dangerous town in the world. 

Budgets 

Budgets for crime thrillers seem to vary quite significantly from budgets of up to $90 million down to just $7 million. 

Gone Girl: $61 million

Girl on the Train: $45 million

Se7en: $33 million

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: $90 million

Pulp Fiction: $8 million

Fargo: $7 million

My film would not need a huge budget as it is set in only one location - Dreamtown. The location itself would be very naturalistic and would not need editing or aftereffects therefore saving a lot of money. It would, however, need a signifiant cast to recreate the atmosphere and feeling of a town and large groups of professionals e.g. the police force, doctors, teachers etc. There is one main protagonist but also several other characters with whom she connects to and work with, one of which would be a female police officer who almost becomes her maternal figure and caregiver after the loss of her parents. These salaries would have to be covered by the budget.

The fact that everything must be naturalistic may actually increase the budget as convincing costumes, props and locations (hospitals and police stations etc) must be sourced and used. 

Therefore I would say that my film would need a budget of around $5 to successfully cover the cost of equipment etc as well as locations, costume, makeup, cast and production team salaries. 

I have been influenced by different films and interpretations of the crime thriller genre for this film. 'Gone Girl's box office success has assured me that theres an audience for the genre and an emergence in female actors playing the protagonists (also demonstrated in the 2016 film 'The Girl on the Train'). I looked at films such as 'The Bourne Identity' for inspiration on camera work and shot types because I love this series of films for it's jerky, handheld style which I think is really effective in building tension and creating a hectic atmosphere. 
I liked the depth of field used in 'Collateral' to identify the lead character but also create an air of mystery and I am going to use this in my film opening when introducing the protagonist. 
I'm taking inspiration from David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks' non-linear plot line and making mine fragmented with slow releases of information to try and replicate the process involved in a real investigation and keep the audience on the edge of their seats. The whole opening scene is going to be a narrative enigma to grip the audience's attention and leave them intrigued and wanting to find out what happened, much like the beginning of Zodiac.