World Building

2/10/2020

Locations:

control room hallway Gregor’s room Escape pod Surface

The inside of the station is sterile, no one lives there except for Gregor so areas outside of his room do not have any character attached to him. Everything seems empty, the station has been almost full abandoned long ago. Fluorescent lights flicker and glare cool light with no sense of comfort or warmth to them. Pipes and gages are found along the walls, dispersing oxygen where it needs to go throughout the station. Closed doors, all similar except for numbers, line the halls, going into rooms that belonged to people who have long left the station and workplaces for jobs that are no longer relevant.

The control room for the station is the brain, a huge variety of screen, lights, and gages of different sizes constantly displaying numbers and shifting small amounts, nothing really changes from day to day. An office-like chair sits in front of the screens, a tiny tabletop littered with cords that plug into different appliances and gadgets that even Gregor doesn’t fully understand the purpose to. There’s a stack of papers, spreadsheets for info to be handwritten in by Gregor. Under the desk are filing cabinets, and inside are more sheets of paper all filled out from years past. The room has many other chairs, for people who were obviously supposed to be working when the station was new and relevant to science as a valuable resource. But now it’s just an expensive past cost, something too expensive to just scrap or let fall to disrepair.

Gregor’s room is the only place that seems to really have an emotion touch. It’s a small room, a typical dormitory for a worker, theres a set of bunks, a lower and upper bed to imply that at one place this station was so packed that workers had to double up on living space. the top bunk is however filled with belongings now as Gregor sleeps on the bottom bunk. Under his bunk are cabinets, full of clothing and storage. A tiny table and chair is jammed against one wall, barely able to even fit in the doorway of the room. on the table are papers, opened letters lovingly stored in a box, all heavily crumpled as though they’ve been read many times. Books are stacked on the corner of the table and even more underneath it, without much to do with his ‘free time’ reading makes for a good outlet, it’s not like theres very good internet connection at the bottom of the sea. On the wall above the desk are pictures, smiling people taped to the cold wall. Gregor is easily seen in several, arms around people who seem to genuinely care for him. He looks less tired, less stressed, genuinely happy with a healthier glow to his skin that has now become pale from lack of sun. The light in his room is the same as the ones in the hallway, the only difference is there is also a desk light, the light from which is warmer, showing the only happiness and warmth he has in this place comes from his belongings around the desk.

As for the escape pod, it’s similarly small, benches with seat belts line the walls, oxygen tanks, masks, and emergency equipment piled up under the benches. Emergency lights flash along the ground and walls and the only view outside is the single small circular window located on the only door. It has a similar aesthetic to the station, clean and sterile. On the wall next to the door is control panels, switches and buttons to deploy the vessel, turn on lights, and call for help if need be.

Story Beats 2.0

2/7/2020 Revised Story beats 1. The main character, Gregor sits in front of a variety of screens, looking at readouts. 2. He scribbles down numbers on a piece of paper next to a date. 3. Its shown that on the paper are previous dates and numbers for every day going back weeks. 4. He puts the paper in a file with many other papers, all with their own dates going back what must be years.

5. Establishing shot, showing the outside of the station, surrounded in the complete darkness of space.

6. Cut to the character mopping up an empty hallway. 7. He walks through the hall, mop over their shoulder and dragging the bucket behind him. 8. When he gets to a large window, looking out into darkness, he stops. 9. A menacing creature slithers by the outside of the glass, a large eye swiveling and peering through as it moves. 10. A few more go by, all different looking 11. Gregor waits, a few seconds pass after the creatures leaves frame. 12. Gregor runs past the window, head ducked down as much as possible.

13. From the inside of a room, we see a door open, Gregor on the other side as he walks in, now without the mop. 14. He flicks on a light, this is his bedroom, and he sits down on his cot, head in hands. 15. His face looks tired, bags under his eyes and he stares at a wall with photos of people, presumably friends and family, taped to it.  16. He grabs a large book sitting on his desk, a ledger of crewman for the ship.  17. In it, are rows of names and next to them under a column marked “status” are various words akin to ‘laid-off’, ‘sent home’, and ‘discharged’. The only name that reads ‘active’ is Gregor’s.  18. As he looks through the book, shots cut back to the wall of photos, showing series of photos of large crowds of employees, Gregor in all of them. As it cuts back and forth, the number of people in the photo gets less and less until there are no more photos. In all photos Gregor looks sadder and sadder 19. He lets out a long sigh, and turns off the lights, scene going black. 

20. There’s a loud crash, cuts from black to Gregor’s face laying in bed as his eyes slam open in fear. 21. The only light is red, flashing somewhere on the ceiling. 22. He runs from his room, stopping abruptly in from of the giant window from before.  23. He freezes as they see a different creature, this one much bigger. 24. As it passes, it opens it’s eye and it’s almost the size of the entire window, bigger than Gregor 25. Gregor continues running, racing into the control room from the beginning. 26. The screens are red, big words say things like “damaged”, “critical”, and “danger”. 27. Several bars on one screen are shown, one reads “Oxygen” that is quickly lowering and turning from green to red. 28. Gregor looks terrified, and runs out of the room again.

29. He runs through a hallway, doors on either side of him. 30. The whole station shakes and the lights flicker. 31. He makes his way to a door, a number painted on the front of it below a small window. 32. He opens the door, having to exert of a lot of strength to do so. 33. Inside is an escape pod with several boxes of supplies and visible air tanks with suits. 34. He gets inside the pod.

35. Closing the door to the pod, he hurriedly presses several buttons next to the door. 36. From the outside of the station, we see a small escape pod detach from the station. 37. The creature is also seen outside, menacingly in the background and barely visible from the lack of light. 38. Inside the pod, Gregor is sitting on the ground, back braced against the door. 39. There is very little light in the pod. 40. He is out of sight of the small porthole on the door. 41. From the window, we can see the station not getting smaller as it moves farther away but instead moving down as the pod rises. 42. The light inside of the pod slowly gets brighter and brighter, changing from black to a light blue and illuminating the inside of the pod better. Color shift from Red=danger to Blue=calm. 43. Finally the light turns white and the pod seems to stop moving. 44. Gregor stands and looks out the window and sees ocean waves and sky.42. He smiles, the first time we’ve seen positive emotion from him. 45. From outside the pod, we see it floating on the ocean, land in the far distance and seagulls flying in a clouded but sky. 

Character

1/29/2020 Name: Gregor Age: ~30 Everyday place: Doing the same chores over and over all alone in the station. Fears: Having to do this job for a lot longer and the sea creatures outside. It is his job to perform maintenance and record readings in the station. It’s not one he enjoys but it pays the bills. Day after day of isolation in a creepy sterile environment has made him depressed, anxious, and just a little bit paranoid. Gregor is the last employee still left at the station, all others have quit or been laid off as the station no longer became scientifically relevant. He knows the creatures outside the station can not harm him and are not intelligent but still he shies away from their gaze when passing windows. He is normally a fairly happy guy, but with the amount of times he has stayed in this environment that has changed. He has become sluggish, sad, and has a dismal outlook. All energy is being sapped from him. This changes though after the point of no return. He has to escape with his life and is suddenly full of energy and adrenaline contrasted to the slow and bored mood he was in before. Relatability: Everyone has felt some degree of burnout, which is akin to the feeling Gregor is going through. Everyone has also felt lonely before, whether literally isolation or just feeling emotionally alone. I want to convey a sense of anxiety and loneliness for the character that most people will be able to identify their low moments with.

Story

January 20, 2020 Treatment:         Inside the quiet halls of a space station, one lone astronaut is the sole inhabitant. The inside is futuristic looking, something out of a science fiction movie with a sleek modern look and many electronics and technological devices, Their job is to perform maintenance and record readings from inside. The halls are pristinely empty and every step carries echoes with it down long halls. With very little communication to the outside world, they grow lonelier with everyday. Their biggest concern though is that whenever they pass by the large windows looking out into nothing, they’ll occasionally see the horrifying faces and bodies of alien-like creatures. The protagonist has started avoiding the windows or hiding themselves from the glass in fear of being seen by these creatures.         However, one day they see the biggest and most terrifying creature they’ve ever witnessed hits the side of the station, compromising it’s structure. With depleting oxygen, and only so much time before they can continue to live, the protagonist must escape in an emergency pod from the station. They are able to get away safely but the escape pod travels upwards towards the “surface”. It is revealed that while it is implied the station is in outer space, it is actually located at the bottom of the ocean. The pod makes it to the surface where it waits peacefully for rescue. 

Story Beats: 

1. The main character sits in front of a variety of screens, looking at readouts. 2. They scribble down numbers on a piece of paper next to a date. 3. Its shown that on the paper are previous dates and numbers for every day. 4. They put the paper in a file with many other papers, all with their own dates going back what must be years. 5. Establishing shot, showing the outside of the station, surrounded in the complete darkness of space. 6. Cut to the character mopping up an empty hallway. 7. They walk through the hall, mop over their shoulder and dragging the bucket behind them. 8. When they get to a large window, looking out into darkness, they stop. 9. A menacing creature slithers by the outside of the glass, a large eye swiveling and peering through as it moves. 10. A few more go by, all different looking 11. The protagonist waits, a few seconds pass after the creatures leave frame. 12. The protagonist runs past the window, head ducked down as much as possible. 13. Cuts again to the protagonist mopping a different area, similar looking but obviously a different place in the station. 14. The lights flicker, there’s a pause and then a loud creaking bang as the station shudders. 15. The protagonist falls, the mop bucket spilling, as they look around wildly for what’s happened. 16. Getting up, they run back across the window’ed area. 17. The freeze as they see a different creature, this one much bigger. 18. As it passes, it opens it’s eye and it’s almost the size of the entire window, easily bigger than the protagonist. 19. The protagonist continues running, racing into the control room from the beginning. 20. The screens are red, big words say things like “damaged”, “critical”, and “danger”. 21. Several bars on one screen are shown, one reads “Oxygen” that is quickly lowering and turning from green to red. 22. The main character looks terrified, and runs out of the room again. 23. They run through a hallway, doors on either side of them. 24. The station shudders again and the lights go out for a second again. 25. They make their way to a door, a number painted on the front of it below a small window. 26. They open the door, having to exert of a lot of strength to do so. 27. Inside is an escape pod with several boxes of supplies and visible air tanks. 28. They get inside the pod. 29. Closing the door to the pod, they hurriedly press several buttons next to the door. 30. From the outside of the station, we see a small escape pod detach from the station. 31. The creature is also seen outside, menacingly in the background and barely visible from the lack of light. 32. Inside the pod, the protagonist is sitting on the ground, back braced against the door. 33. There is very little light in the pod. 34. They are out of sight of the small porthole on the door. 35. From the window, we can see the station not getting smaller as it moves farther away but instead moving down as the pod rises. 36. The light inside of the pod slowly gets brighter and brighter, changing from black to a light blue. 37. Finally the light turns white and the pod seems to stop moving. 38. The protagonist stands and looks out the window and smiles to see ocean waves and sky. 39. From outside the pod, we see it floating on the ocean, land nearby and seagulls flying in a clouded but sunny sky. 

Logline: A lonely Astronaut tries to go about a normal day while escaping from the aliens he can see through the dark windows.  Theme: No matter how lonely you feel; you are closer to friends than you think. As someone who has a hard time making friends, I went through years in grade school where I had very few if any at all. You always feel like you’re completely alone while there are people all around you. Especially for introverted people too, even when the chance to make friends comes about you tend to push people away. Anxiety as well makes you think that the friends you do have don’t actually like you when they absolutely do.