Plot
Though we will only be filming the opening to the film, the original basic outline of the plot follows a slice of life, coming-of-age film with some superhero aspects.
The film begins with Amelia and Henry, the main characters, out at the park with their mum and younger brother Harry while an older Amelia narrates how this was 'the beginning of her story'. While playing on the equipment, the main characters imagine themselves as their imaginary superhero counterparts, Midnight and Vermilion. After they accidentally knock another little girl over and injure her while trying to save her from bullies, the film cuts to them walking to school, using the girl's crying to link to the next shot by overlaying it with the ringing of the school bell.
Amelia suggests they stop acting like children and imagining make-believe stories, to which Henry argues that they should enjoy themselves while they're kids and are still allowed to be goofy. There are some scenes next that show Amelia and Henry complaining to their respective best friends, Rosie and Luke, about their sibling through the day, showing a short of clip-based montage, until they reach the point that they are walking out of school towards the school gate, cutting from one to the another, gradually zooming, as if they are saying the same dialogue. This scene concludes with both shouting 'They're just so annoying!' at they realise they're facing one another at the gate, to which they say goodbye to their friends and walk home in silence.
At home, their mum is in a good mood cooking dinner as Amelia and Henry sit, still angry at the table, while Harry sits in his highchair. Every now and again he gurgles when a character says something dramatic, funny or directed at him. The news is playing on a TV mounted on the wall behind the table which is playing a story about a kidnapper in the area. No one plays much attention to it.
As Amelia is getting ready for bed and brushing her teeth, Midnight appears behind her and chastises her for abandoning her brother and yelling at him unnecessarily, to which Amelia claims she's just being realistic and storms out, throwing a hand through Midnight so she disappears. She gets into bed. A second passes before Henry comes into the room and apologises by giving her a comic book they made together when they were little called 'The Adventures of The Mysterious Midnight and Very Cool Vermilion!!!'. Most of the words are spelt wrong. They laugh over anecdotes for a while ('remember I had to ask mum how to spell 'Vermilion, and I still spelt it wrong?'), before they forgive each other and go to bed.
The next day they find out that a member of their class has gone missing. Concerned, the two of them decide to channel their inner heroes and look for their classmate, with Rosie and Luke coming with as their sidekick personas, Fauna and Electikid.
They search the park all day, only finding a hair-clip of their classmate's with dirt on it, which they hand over to the police when they turn up unexpectedly, though begrudgingly.
They all go home to a worried mum, who thought they had gone missing as well when they didn't come home on time. She decides the next day that the family will go to the beach to cheer everyone up. Amelia and Henry look at each other with worried glances and the scene cuts to the beach.
The family has sat all their stuff down, Harry is playing with shells happily. Amelia and Henry are both still upset that they couldn't find their classmate, so they sneak off when their mum goes to get ice cream to look for more clues. When they realise they forgot their phones to record evidence they go back to their towels to find Harry missing, with only a patch of dirt where he was.
The two panic for a while before Amelia rationalises the situation and they follow the trail of dirt, hero hoods up. They follow the dirt to an old greenhouse, where they find the children trapped by villain called Rooney, who was a comic book artist who was ridiculed for his work not being liked by children. As such he kidnapped the children in an attempt to find what they like and try to make the perfect comic. He has a strange fondness for plants.
Amelia and Henry overhear all of this and record it on their phones. While attempting to rescue their brother and the rest of the children, Amelia is caught and her phone destroyed by Rooney in a panic.
She explains to him her desire to be like an adult and be given more responsibilities, that she's sorry that he was treated like he was by his peers and that maybe she over estimated how great growing up is and that her brother was right.
At this point, Henry launches a heavy flowerpot he attached to a rope and knocks Rooney out, having recorded the whole thing on his phone. They tie up Rooney and call the police, who reunites them with their scared mother (still in her beach clothes) as Amelia smiles and says 'that all [she] had to do was imagine [herself] as the hero [she] knew [she] could be'.
A short scene at the end shows Amelia and Henry grown up, having grown to be local heroes who solved small problems amongst their peers. Amelia plans to become police officer and Henry wants to be a fireman, colours respective to their hero cloaks.
Amelia suggests they stop acting like children and imagining make-believe stories, to which Henry argues that they should enjoy themselves while they're kids and are still allowed to be goofy. There are some scenes next that show Amelia and Henry complaining to their respective best friends, Rosie and Luke, about their sibling through the day, showing a short of clip-based montage, until they reach the point that they are walking out of school towards the school gate, cutting from one to the another, gradually zooming, as if they are saying the same dialogue. This scene concludes with both shouting 'They're just so annoying!' at they realise they're facing one another at the gate, to which they say goodbye to their friends and walk home in silence.
At home, their mum is in a good mood cooking dinner as Amelia and Henry sit, still angry at the table, while Harry sits in his highchair. Every now and again he gurgles when a character says something dramatic, funny or directed at him. The news is playing on a TV mounted on the wall behind the table which is playing a story about a kidnapper in the area. No one plays much attention to it.
As Amelia is getting ready for bed and brushing her teeth, Midnight appears behind her and chastises her for abandoning her brother and yelling at him unnecessarily, to which Amelia claims she's just being realistic and storms out, throwing a hand through Midnight so she disappears. She gets into bed. A second passes before Henry comes into the room and apologises by giving her a comic book they made together when they were little called 'The Adventures of The Mysterious Midnight and Very Cool Vermilion!!!'. Most of the words are spelt wrong. They laugh over anecdotes for a while ('remember I had to ask mum how to spell 'Vermilion, and I still spelt it wrong?'), before they forgive each other and go to bed.
The next day they find out that a member of their class has gone missing. Concerned, the two of them decide to channel their inner heroes and look for their classmate, with Rosie and Luke coming with as their sidekick personas, Fauna and Electikid.
They search the park all day, only finding a hair-clip of their classmate's with dirt on it, which they hand over to the police when they turn up unexpectedly, though begrudgingly.
They all go home to a worried mum, who thought they had gone missing as well when they didn't come home on time. She decides the next day that the family will go to the beach to cheer everyone up. Amelia and Henry look at each other with worried glances and the scene cuts to the beach.
The family has sat all their stuff down, Harry is playing with shells happily. Amelia and Henry are both still upset that they couldn't find their classmate, so they sneak off when their mum goes to get ice cream to look for more clues. When they realise they forgot their phones to record evidence they go back to their towels to find Harry missing, with only a patch of dirt where he was.
The two panic for a while before Amelia rationalises the situation and they follow the trail of dirt, hero hoods up. They follow the dirt to an old greenhouse, where they find the children trapped by villain called Rooney, who was a comic book artist who was ridiculed for his work not being liked by children. As such he kidnapped the children in an attempt to find what they like and try to make the perfect comic. He has a strange fondness for plants.
Amelia and Henry overhear all of this and record it on their phones. While attempting to rescue their brother and the rest of the children, Amelia is caught and her phone destroyed by Rooney in a panic.
She explains to him her desire to be like an adult and be given more responsibilities, that she's sorry that he was treated like he was by his peers and that maybe she over estimated how great growing up is and that her brother was right.
At this point, Henry launches a heavy flowerpot he attached to a rope and knocks Rooney out, having recorded the whole thing on his phone. They tie up Rooney and call the police, who reunites them with their scared mother (still in her beach clothes) as Amelia smiles and says 'that all [she] had to do was imagine [herself] as the hero [she] knew [she] could be'.
A short scene at the end shows Amelia and Henry grown up, having grown to be local heroes who solved small problems amongst their peers. Amelia plans to become police officer and Henry wants to be a fireman, colours respective to their hero cloaks.
Title
There was not much deliberation over the title of the film, as we knew from the start that we wanted to call it 'Imagine' as it was an ongoing theme amongst the original concepts and throughout development. We did consider the names ‘Adventure’, ‘Courage’ and ‘The Make-Believe Story of Henry and Me’, as a result of recent family films having names that were singular verbs or nouns, or long, often child-like, sentences.
Characters
Amelia: Ameila is level-headed and rational. She wants to grow up quickly so people will see her as someone who is smart and responsible. She argues with her brother often as they have different opinions on make-believe, but they are still best friends and spend a lot of their time together. She enjoys reading and drawing and spending time with Rosie. She likes pineapple on pizza.
Henry: Henry is cheeky and rash. He wants to enjoy his freedom to be a child while he can, after a warning from his grandmother that he wouldn't be young forever. He is compassionate and genuinely cares about his family and his friends. He enjoys playing football and drawing. He hates pineapple on pizza.
Midnight: Midnight is main character Amelia's fictitious heroine persona. She is calmer and more in control than Amelia, Henry and Vermilion. Her cloak is blue, the colour most associated with serenity as a result. She is more strategy orientated than her brother, but learns that her way is not always the best way. which shows she has strong leadership qualities.
Vermilion: Vermilion is main character Henry's fictitious hero persona. He is more of a loose cannon than Henry and tends to jump into situations without considering the consequences. His cloak is red, the colour most associated with passion as a result. He is more battle orientated than his sister, but learns that his way is not always the best way, which shows his ability to be the bigger person.
Setting
The setting of the opening of the film would be, ideally, a play-park within the woods. We chose this as the setting for the opening as it suited the situation that the beginning of the narrative required and the connotations of British woodland are mystery, whimsy, and concepts beyond human comprehension, such as creatures from folklore or supernatural creatures.
Props and Costume
The costumes for the main characters will predominantly structured by colour. Amelia was to look feminine but sensible, to illustrate her calm nature and her intelligence, so we decided on a blue costume. To contrast with this costume, Henry was to have opposing elements: to look boyish and adventurous, to illustrate his rash temperament and scrappy behaviour. This type of personality is best reflected by red, so this was the colour we planned to link with this character. Though the definitive details of the costumes have not been finalised, the most important aspects of the outfits are the cloaks, with will stylistically look the same, but one will be blue and the other will be red for Amelia and Henry respectively.
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