When he’s lost in the woods looking for his dog as a blizzard blows in, a despondent city-dweller must find a way back to his remote cabin before he freezes to death.
“When he’s caught in a blizzard while searching the woods for his dog, a despondent city-dweller must fight his back to his cabin before the ferocious storm freezes him to death.”
I see a man in a snow storm stumbling from tree to tree looking for shelter. Maybe the storm is blinding and even the trees are hard to make out. Soon it will be dark and in a snow storm, the darkness is total. Without shelter, your MC will die within hours, so your film is almost real time.
Is this your intention?
Yeah, pretty much. It would take place over the course of the one night, the protagonist would have a flashlight and phone so there’d be some lighting potential but it would be minimal. He finds various shelters but for one reason or another it never lasts, his dog comes back at one point, he steps (or falls) in a river, gets injured, etc. etc. I liked the idea of that blinding disorientation and the perpetual sound of the wind just engulfing him (and the audience) and his own worst enemy is the internal decision whether to just lie down or to keep fighting.
Oh… and the dog is probably gonna die.
I am curious about the off screen backstory. What’s a city dude doing in a remote cabin? Is there a deeper cause to his despondency than the loss of his dog? Is his walking around lost in the blizzard a metaphor for how he is lost in a blizzard of loss and failure in his life in general? Will there be flashbacks to how he got lost in his personal life, ended up in the remote cabin?
Oh, and could the he be a she?
You’ve hit the nail on the head. I would like to tell the story without the use of flashbacks if possible by using stuff on his phone, things he finds in his pockets, voicemail etc. It might be that flashbacks are the way to go ultimately but I’m interested in trying without first. The story would start with him leaving his life behind and you get hints to how he sees his existence and why he’s in the place he is.
Absolutely no reason why the protagonist can’t be a she.
I’ve always enjoyed films such as All is Lost, Buried, etc. with one character against the odds in a life or death situation so I thought I’d play around with ideas.
