Synopsis:
He went into the police force to ensure that justice prevailed and now he’s taking justice into his own hands.
She was just an ordinary girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He has a secret and a countdown to save a life…
Treatment:
The first screen the audience see is just black, and they can hear diegetic sounds of heavy breathing and running footsteps. The black screen fades showing us a road, and in the distance can be seen a man (Kyle Baldwin) running. He runs towards and past the camera; as he does the non-diegetic soundtrack begins. The music is fast-paced and dramatic, giving a sense that something is wrong or that something important is/has happened. Close-ups of his feet and of his face as he runs are used to show his speed and his panic. He continues to run down the street.
The scene changes and both the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds stop as the camera cuts to a shot of a girl (Lucy Baldwin) in a room. The room is empty and she is banging against what we assume is a door and appears to be screaming, although we cannot hear her. She paces a little, before returning to the door, and continuing to try and escape.
The scene changes again, and returns to shots of Baldwin running. Both the diegetic and non-diegetic soundtracks begin. We see him running past buildings and past cars, so we assume that he is in either a town or a city. He runs towards one particular building, at the end of the street, opens the door and runs inside.
The camera then cuts back to a shot of the girl in the room, still using a high-angled shot but this time from an opposite corner of the room. No sound can be heard, but we can see her from behind, still trying to open the door. She stops again, glances around the room as if she is looking for something to help her open the door, but the room is empty. She continues to try to open the door. Then she stops and looks straight up at the camera.
The camera cuts to a shot of Baldwin running up some stairs inside the building he has just entered. The music/sound comes back as he runs. He reaches the top of the stairs and stops. He looks around slowly, as if he isn’t sure which way to go. He keeps focusing on the door straight in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he walks towards the door in front of him.
There is one very quick shot of the girl inside the room (sound cuts out). She is trying to open the door.
The next shot is of Baldwin (sound comes back in, now including diegetic sound of a ticking clock); he opens the door, and walks into the room. He stops and looks from side to side looking confused. The room is empty apart from a piece of paper, on the floor, so we cannot see what it says. The next shot is high-angled and taken from the corner of the room (similar to the shots of the girl – both types of sound stop).
The camera tracks out (diegetic sound returns – normal breathing etc), and we can see two images on television/computer screens: one image is of Kyle Baldwin in the room with the clock on the table; the other image is of Lucy Baldwin in the other room, still trying to escape. The camera continues to track out and we see part of a silhouette of a man, who is watching the two screens.
As the film continues, we see Baldwin return to a police station, staggering in as he is very tired. He walks straight through the station into an office, where a detective comes out to meet him. Detective Ian Randall begins speaking to Baldwin, and we realise that Baldwin is a police officer as well. Baldwin shows Randall the piece of paper he is still holding in his hand. On the paper is an address, which has been handwritten.
Baldwin explains to Randall that he found the note in his home, and that his daughter Lucy is missing. He explains how he found the address but that when he reached the building, there was nothing and nobody there. He also tells Randall about the room with the clock on the table and from his pocket he pulls out the piece of paper he found on the table. Unfolding it, we see the words ‘where we last talked’ have been written on the paper.
Randall begins an investigation into the disappearance of Lucy, and asks Baldwin to try to think of someone who would kidnap her. He tells Randall that he cannot remember anyone who would have a grudge against him, but as the narrative progresses, we realise that he is lying. He spends his time looking through old files about a drugs scandal, and Randall becomes suspicious. He begins to follow Baldwin, as he suspects that he knows more about the person who has kidnapped Lucy than he is saying.
Randall follows Baldwin to another building and watches as he enters the building. When he doesn’t come back out, Randall also enters the building and finds Baldwin kneeling on the floor in a room which is empty except from a table with a clock and another piece of paper on top of it.
(As the narrative is unfolding, we repeatedly are shown shots of Lucy in the room, and we see her from the perspective of the kidnapper. She is always in the same room, which implies that the kidnapper is playing a game with Randall and Baldwin as he begins to leave notes which only lead to another empty room, and never to the room where Lucy is being kept.)
Baldwin confesses that he believes the kidnapper to be Matthew Drake, an ex-police officer whom he was the partner of 10 years ago. He tells Randall that he got involved in a drugs scandal, but blamed it on Drake, who was then thrown out of the police force and sent to prison. He believes that Drake is holding a grudge against him and wants to punish him by harming Lucy. Baldwin shows Randall the piece of paper that is on table, which has the words ‘only 3 days left’ written on it. He tells him that Drake’s trial for the drugs scandal lasted for six days, and that three days had already passed since Lucy had been taken. The two return to the police station, planning to discover more about Drake, as they believe they might be able to discover something which will help them find where he is keeping Lucy.
On the sixth day since Lucy was taken, a letter arrives at the police station, giving instructions as to where the two detectives can find Lucy. They follow the instructions and are led to a third building, inside of which is a room set out like the other rooms Baldwin had been led to. There is another piece of paper there, and following the instructions on here leads them to another room, and so on, until eventually, when it is almost the end of the day the two detectives are lead to a courtroom. Baldwin identifies the courtroom as the one where Drake was sentenced to prison.
Inside they can hear Lucy shouting and screaming but all they can find is a television screen which is playing a video of her trying to escape from the room she is in. They hear a voice, which Baldwin recognises as Drake’s voice, and turning around they see him sat in the judge’s chair. Both detectives raise their guns, but Drake threatens that if they shoot him, they will never find Lucy.
Drake forces the two detectives to ‘attend’ a fake trial, all the time threatening to hurt Lucy if they don’t do what he asks. He forces Baldwin to confess that he was the one who was involved in the drugs scandal and that he was wrong in blaming Drake for it. He tells them how he felt about being thrown off the force and about his time in prison, and then why he kidnapped Lucy. This was because his career was the most important thing in his life, and Baldwin took it away, so he wanted to punish Baldwin in the same way. Drake feels that justice failed him, so he wanted to take justice into his own hands.
He tells the two that he has removed all traces of his existence from their computer systems and that they will never be able to track him down; he compromises with them that if they let him go, he will tell them where Lucy is. They agree, as they cannot think of another way to get Lucy back. Drake gives them instructions as to where to find her, and then leaves. Neither of the detectives see where he is going.
They follow the instructions Drake gave them, and find Lucy in a room, surrounded by drugs. They realise that Drake has murdered her with a drugs overdose. Behind her on the wall is written the word ‘JUSTICE’
