Story Arc By Jamie Paxton Candidate Number 5955

Story Arc
12/10/10

The idea from our film came to me as something hybridised from the film Taken in 2008 and Ransom from 1992, the film will be an action thriller we hope to edit the trailer correctly in order to create an aspect of suspense among the audience and also the use of a kidnap story also creates a sympathy element among the audience and might bring some people to go and see the film.


The film will start off with the main protagonist, played by Josh. Josh is a CID officer in the Metropolitan Police Service; he works with his partner Orcy and while he is good at his job, Josh is discontent with life, he is currently in trouble with his DCI for sometimes ignoring the correct legal procedures in order to obtain his results, this leads to Josh deciding to take a week off and spend it with his son, Graham, as the summer holidays are coming up, Graham, it is revealed is the heir to a large sum he inherited from his deceased mother, which is tied up in legal papers and he cannot gain it until he turns 18.

However Graham has decided to go fishing on the first morning of Josh’s week off but he promises to spend the evening with his dad. Josh accepts and spends the day lounging around the house. During this time we see a shot of Graham arriving at the lake where he is going fishing and there is a strange man standing down there watching Graham. There is an unseen tussle which resolves with a shot of the man running off into the woods and Graham yelling, a tilt shot will pan down to the ground and we will see Graham’s improvised fishing rod snapped into several pieces.

Later that day Josh receives a telephone call from Orcy who is communicating with an officer a the lake, Josh then receives a call from an unidentified man who says that he has Graham and that he wants a ransom for his safe return –he demands a signature that only Josh can give as his legal guardian, in order to release Graham’s assets. Josh, who values his son above everyone else since his wife died, decides instead to team up with Orcy and find this man himself.

They go down to the lake, and follow the path of the man into the woods, where Josh finds the tracks of a car or van. They follow the track until they reach a road where they can no longer follow it by tracks, they speak to several people on the road in passing cars and then they see a dark car going the other way which the car went, and they see Graham in the back of it, they cannot see the driver although they do get his number plate.

They find out where the car is registered to and go to the address in a nearby town and find out from an elderly neighbour who the man is. They radio the police asking for more information about him, it turns out that there is none on file but they ask about and find out that the man is a member of a local gang, they find four people who are members of this gang, they question them, get a negative response and so Josh and Orcy beats the crap out of them until one of them until one of then gives him the answers they want.

Josh is told to stop getting involved in the case by his DCI, Josh however ignores him and then goes looking for the man, he sees him in the street and Josh and Orcy chase him, the man runs up some stairs and starts running along the roofs of buildings in an attempt to evade them, they jump from one building to another. Josh and the man manage the jump but Orcy slips backwards, hangs onto the edge of the building, Josh is presented with the choice of pursuing his son’s kidnapper or helping Orcy, who nearly falls until Josh turns back and grabs him, saving him from falling, however the kidnapper escapes.

Afterwards Josh blames Orcy and they argue, Orcy decides to leave so that Josh can recuperate, Josh goes into a bar because he is desperate and convinced that he is never going to find his son now. As Orcy leaves the building he spots the man again and without the time to go and get Josh he sets off in pursuit, Orcy follows the man to an old building which seems to be crumbling, where he sees them taking Graham out of a van and into the building. Orcy calls Josh to let him know what he has discovered, he tells him where the building is.

Josh comes to the building and forgives Orcy, they make their way inside and find that there are two men guarding the front gates, they knock both of the guards out and steal their guns, Josh taking a shotgun and Orcy a pistol. They down a corridor and as they are about to go around a corner into a big open room they are almost shot, Orcy decides to run out ahead of the men and draw their fire across the room, giving Josh an opportunity to get close to them, they do this and as Josh gets close the men panic. Josh shoots one man in the stomach, cracks the handle of his shotgun into another mans head, Orcy then comes down while the men are distracted with Josh; he shoots two men, one in the back and one in the head. However them as they are about to proceed the man appears and unloads a magazine shooting at them, one of the bullets manages to hit Orcy in the heart, killing him instantly, Josh vows to avenge Orcy and he proceeds up to the next floor where his son is being held.

Graham is standing in the middle of a dark room with a hand grenade held in his hands, he is holding on to it desperately because the pin has been removed and he knows that if he lets go of it that it will explode. Josh runs towards Graham, and at this point the man steps out from round a corner with a machine pistol and points it at Josh, who dives at the man, past the guns muzzle, swings the man’s arm at the ceiling and knees him in the groin, the pain causes the man to squeeze down on the trigger and the pistol empties its magazine harmlessly into the ceiling. The man then knees Josh in the belly, causing him to double over, then he chops the back of Josh’s neck with his hand, Josh goes down. But then he gets back up, they exchange some dialogue until Josh finds out that the man is someone he knew in childhood who has since become seriously mentally deranged and is trying by any means necessary to kill off anyone he can, becoming rich from Graham’s demise is a bonus.

Josh and the man fight again, Josh eventually brings the man up against a full length window which opens out on to the street below, here he sees the pin for the grenade on the man’s jacket, and he pushes the man backwards while grabbing the pin, only meaning to rip it from the man’s jacket. However the man falls backwards too far and nearly goes through the window, Josh, in a state of irrational mercy, grabs the man’s hand; the man is left leaning perilously out of the window with nothing but the alley beneath. The man reveals that his name is David and says that he would rather die than let Josh have the moral high ground and then appear pardoned for his “crime” which he committed against David, which he refuses to reveal, before twisting his arm and causing Josh to let go of him so he falls to his death.

Josh runs to Graham and puts the pin back in the hole of the grenade and he throws it away. He hugs Graham who cries slightly and then they walk out of the building.