The Treatment

To clarify things for the uninitiated, I am going to post the treatment I wrote for my untitled animation. Feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome. Enjoy.

Log Line: A lost astronaut faces his fear as time runs out.

A clock ticks in a black void, and a helmet-less astronaut appears slowly drifting in zero gravity. He blinks, startled and notices scraps of paper around him, also drifting lazily. He looks around and, as he reaches for one of the sheets, sees a golden disk in the distance. He squints at the disk and it grows larger. With the sound of grinding gears the disk becomes a clock – its hands set at five to midnight. The man’s eyes narrow curiously as the clock gives out a loud ‘tick’ and the minute hand jerks forward. Startled, the astronaut finds himself standing in a vast, grassy field as huge clouds pass overhead – the colors over-saturated. He looks around and staggers forward, flushing a flock of birds into the air. He turns to watch them with surprise and a growing smile. Then he notices the clock ahead of him and gasps. With another loud ‘tick,’ its minute hand moves again. Now the man finds himself entering a dingy subway train, the colors of the world replaced with stark black and white. His eyes dart from side to side as the doors close behind him. As the train starts he slumps onto a chair and cradles his head in his hands, confused. The train grinds to a halt and the sound of the door opening startles the astronaut. He looks up to see the clock in the doorway. With another loud ‘tick’ the hands move again. The man jumps in panic as he finds himself seated at a restaurant table in a huge empty warehouse. More disturbing is that everything here is gray. He abruptly stands, knocking the table and chair over. As he looks around in a panic he begins to hear the sound of people on a noisy street corner and whirls around, but stops short when confronted by the clock again. The clock ‘ticks’ again and the astronaut is drifting in the black void, this time directly in front of the clock. He swallows hard and reaches out to touch its face. The clock ‘ticks’ again, and he gasps loudly. Now the void is empty, save for a few pieces of paper drifting lazily by.