Act 1 - Equilibrium
Fade-in. Setting = protagonist's bedroom. Alarm sounds. Protagonist sits up with his back to the camera. He opens curtains abruptly in order to wake himself up. Protagonist prepares for the day ahead by having a shower and getting dressed. Before he leaves his home, he looks in the mirror in order to make sure that everything is in its right place. Walks down his street heading towards train station. He commutes to work via train. Enters work environment. Sits at an office desk. Carries out usual mundane activities; e-mailing, making phone calls etc. Begins to daydream leaving him to lose his focus whilst employee makes conversation about nothing overly important. Gets invited to an after work drink but makes some excuse as to why he won't be going. Protagonist doesn't try hard to talk to those around him. Audience see the protagonist on his journey home; enters train station, gets onto train, gets off train, walks down his street and enters home (told in discourse time). Sequence shot of him listening to a answer phone message from his mother whilst taking coat and shoes off followed by him entering the kitchen to get a glass of water. His Mother states that she hasn't seen much of him since his brother died. Protagonist doesn't pay too much attention to the message (background noise). Possible crab shot of protagonist looking in fridge. Begins to prepare himself for a jog. Tracking shot located besides protagonist. Whilst jogging along the seafront, he sees families, couples and children walking (possible point of view shot). Begins to sprint as if to run away from the truth; the protagonist is in denial (presumably) about his brothers death (possible enigma). Act one purpose is to allow the audience to be introduced to the film's protagonist and narrative locations. Moreover, the audience can establish the usual everyday equilibrium the protagonist lives within; as the movie progresses, the viewer unconsciously forms a frame for the story, and their suspension of disbelief narrows, limiting what they will accept as correct.
Act 2 - Disequilibrium
An event must happen by the midpoint of the script in order to make the protagonist's objective clear. In this case, the protagonist must come to terms with dying after becoming a victim to the virus therefore, he appreciates life and the acceptance of loss. Similarly to act ones acknowledgement of everyday routine, act two presents how normality is broken. (Tracking shot from side of protagonist). Overcast weather sets the tone through pathetic fallacy. Whilst protagonist is jogging along his usual route after work, he begins to have a nose bleed. Initially, he thinks that it might be nasal fluid so he thinks nothing of it and just sniffs. Whilst the blood continues to drip, passers-by start to stare (possible point-of-view shot). Eventually, protagonist starts to feel blood touching his lips; sudden realisation that it was blood all along. Tracking shot stops abruptly much like the protagonist. This helps to convey across to the audience how the protagonist is confused about what has happened (the normality in his world has stopped). Protagonist starts to wipe nose with the back of his hand unable to stop the bleeding. Tracking shot facing protagonist begins to move away whilst he is stood centre. Straight cut to black. Straight cut showing protagonist back in his home. Crab shot showing protagonist looking through fridge picking out many items; sudden feeling of hunger begins to dominates protagonists actions. After making a large sandwich, protagonist sits on sofa and flicks through television channels. Most, if not all, of the five major channels are reporting breaking news. 'News Network' reports the symptoms of the virus. Various shot are shown of riots, conflict and anarchy (reference to Danny Boyle's '28 Days Later' opening scene; INTERTEXTUALITY) Protagonist realises that he is suffering from two of the symptoms; sudden hunger and nose bleeds. Door bell rings. Next door's sons ask if they can have their football back as it is in protagonist's garden. Protagonist goes to fetch football. As he picks up the ball, he has a sudden flashback of when him and his brother used to play. Tears appear in Protagonists eyes but before he can cry, next doors sons call out for help; their dad is in a fit of rage and is unable to correspond with his young sons. Moreover, the boys' father is bleeding from the nose, eyes and ears. It is made clear he had become a victim to the virus. Protagonist tells the boys to call for an ambulance whilst trying to restrain the Father. Whilst holding down the Father, he sees that he is wearing a Saint Christopher around his neck like his Brother use to. This brings back the memory of when Protagonist was given the Saint Christopher after his Brother passed away after doctor's tried to save him (enigmas are created 'how did the brother die?' and 'why couldn't he be saved?'. Next door neighbour is taken away in an ambulance. When going back into the house, spectator is shown a flashback of Protagonist and his brother.
Act 3 - New Equilibrium
Senses start to deteriorate. Firstly, the ability to smell and taste, followed by hearing then sight. The protagonist first realises that smell and taste are going when he cannot taste anything within his kitchen (coffee, mustard, onion). Eventually, the protagonist is just existing rather than living which is similar to the state the protagonist was in anyway when the audience were introduced to him. The main theme within this chapter is self discovery. Protagonist decides that he must make amends with his Mother and Father and finally confront them after feeling to blame regarding the car crash that killed his brother (he was driving on the night of the incident). His father can no longer hear or see his son but he can feel his son's hand in his. When his Mother is seen waving goodbye to protagonist through the window, her nose begins to bleed. Eventually, protagonist finds his Mother and Father dead in their home (again, reference to Danny Boyle's '28 Days Later' when Jim finds his parents dead). Protagonist's surrounding environment enters a dystopian state; individuals begin to vandalise property, looting from shops. Government begin to intervene by placing military personnel out in public to organise those who are infected; quarantining begins.
