The Awakening Dialectical Journal

Title: Awakening
Log Line
The science fiction/ thriller webisode series ‘Awakening’ follows the morphed life of Edward Avery, a peculiar financial adviser whose soul begins to unravel as he discovers the truth about his existence.
Treatment
Drowning in his stressful work load, Edward Avery becomes detached from the world around him, unable to sleep comfortably at night. The numbness he feels begins to concern his long-time girlfriend Rose, as she urges him to sleep. His erratic behaviour morphs him into a person who is no longer recognisable. Looking for a quick escape from reality, Edward turns to sleeping pills. His addiction causes him to overdose, landing him in hospital induced in a coma.
However this traumatic event never registered

in Edward’s mind as he continues to live his life in another world where every day begins and ends the same, causing him to be trapped in a constant nightmare. Aiding in his demise, strange phenomena begin to occur as bits and pieces of his conscious state disappear which causes a glitch in his reality. Edward becomes confused as this imbalance drives him to the edge of insanity as he seems to be the only one who witnesses these unexplainable events.
As the days continue, Edward runs into an estranged, disorganised man by the name of Karl Darning.

Karl’s strange behaviour becomes an important part of Edward’s imaginary life as Karl’s’ riddles, metaphors and directions enable Edward to uncover the truth about his conscious state. Edward befriends Karl in hopes that he will be able to find out how to awake from his coma. After solving the riddles and applying the metaphors and direction he is given by Karl, Edward gets closer to finding the location in his mind where the last time he truly felt happy and safe in his memories occurred. Edward realises that if he is able to reach this destination he will set him free from his

coma.
He soon learns that he does not have much time to find this destination to wake up as a dark, mysterious figure beings to appear, following him around. It becomes apparent to Edward that this depressive figure metaphorically represents the unfortunate fate of death if he is unable to reach the destination in time.
As death approaches him, Edward is able to discover the destination in his memory. Moving fast, Edward finally reaches the destination just as death places its hands upon his shoulders. The split second between when he arrives at the destination to when death touches him allows him to escape death’s embrace and awakes in the hospital bed with Rose asleep at his side.
This short webisode series will contain 10 episodes in which each will be 15 minutes in length. Each episode will run in chronological order, starting with Edward living in his imagination. As he uncovers the truth, flash backs will be created to reveal the shocking circumstance of his coma to the audience, maximising the mysteriousness of Edward’s complicated life.
First Episode: 3 Act Structure
Act 1:
As Edward sipped the steaming coffee out of a mug he became withdrawn from the world around him as he stared into the distance, lost in his imagination. He snaps back into reality as the mug slips from his hand and smashes on the ground. Edward hears the bedroom door open and goes to greet his girlfriend Rose. As he returns to the kitchen to clean up the mess, the mug is sitting on the bench filled with coffee as if nothing had happened. Puzzled, he returns to the seat and begins to aimlessly browse the internet. From an outsider’s point of view someone is watching Edward’s every move. In the background of the scene a dark figure can be seen outside on the veranda. Looking at his watch, Edward notices the time and is late for work. He grabs his knapsack and heads towards the door. He passes his home office. Sitting on the desk is a picture frame. Edward casually looks into the direction of the photo and continues to walk. The photo is of a dark figure. Edward makes this realisation and whips around to face the photo once more – the photo in the frame is of his family. Edward begins to become anxious due to these strange occurrences. Rose enters the hallway and approaches Edward and asks him what is wrong. Edward quickly replies, plastering a fake smile on his face and rushes out the front door.
Act 2:
As he rushes out the front door, Edward slams the door behind him fumbling for his car keys. Edward sits in the driver’s seat and hurriedly dials his boss’s number and apologies for being late and makes up an excuse that his car has broken down. His boss is annoyed, but assures Edward that it’s fine to come in when he can. Due to the abnormal occurrences that happened in the morning, Edward decides to take his boss up on his offer and stops in at the local shops to buy a coffee and some breakfast. When he emerges from the shops he walks over to the local park to find a spot to eat his breakfast. As he approaches the park, Edward accidentally bumps into a woman. She drops her paper work and he drops his food. He apologizes profusely and helps the woman pick up here papers. As they stand up to say goodbye, the girl grabs his shoulder and whispers into his ear “this isn’t real”. She looks into his eyes then snaps back to reality, smiles and leaves. As Edward becomes more confused he leaves the park, binning the food, in a frustrated and concerned state and heads towards his car to go to work. As he exits the park a dark figure can be seen watching him from behind a tree. From the point of view of the dark figure, Edward can be seen entering his car and driving off.
Act 3:
Edward enters his work building which appears as a small, home run financial advice firm. Editing is used to show a montage of the happenings throughout the day. This is then cut to signify the end of Edward’s work shift at 3pm. As he exists his work building and steps onto the footpath. As he looks down at his black formal shoes, he notices his shoelace is untied. He carefully places his knapsack onto the ground to tie his shoelace. Once he is finished, he looks up from the ground and directly across the street a strange man locks glances with him as he too finished tying his shoelace. Edward finds this strange which is evident by the concerned look on his face. He grabs his knapsack and heads towards his car which is parked down the street.
As he walks along the footpath, an eerie feeling overwhelms his as if someone if following him. As he looks around, he cannot see anyone acting abnormal (the camera shows a point of view shot of someone watching Edward). Cautiously, he continues walking. Edward is startled when he is abruptly stopped by the strange man from earlier (point of view shot of someone exiting bushes and stopping Edward). The strange man reveals his name as Karl and asks Edward about the phenomenon that have been occurring in his life. Edward becomes frightened as he does not understand why this man knows so much about his life and tries to walk away. As he runs from Karl, Karl screams after Edward telling him to contact him when he wants answers. Edward looks down at his hand and an address is written on it in black ink.

Character Outline
Edward Avery
Summary:
Edward is the 21 year old male protagonist who has a full time job at a rundown financial advice firm. His job creates a tense atmosphere in his household as his constant stress and work load forces him to become distant and detached from himself and his long-time girlfriend, Rose. After a tragic accident, his personality became stone hearted and monotonic. Edward feels as if he is lost in the world around him, forcing him to become numb and withered by life. This feeling of emptiness starts to overwhelm him to the point where he continuously zones out and appears to hallucinate. The strange happenings in his life become his main focus, driving him mad as he attempts to discover the truth about where and who he is. Edward’s newly found personality is shown through his unkempt brown hair and tired appearance. His usual attire are long black trousers matched with creased dress shirt, a tattered tie and scuffed leather shoes which compliments his tallness.
Karl Darning
Summary:
Once a person has been involved in an accident, they will not know anything about their state of being in a coma.

Their lives continue to exist within their imagination. As their ‘lives’ continue, strange phenomena begin to occur as the time they have been induced in the coma progresses. Once these phenomena begin to regularly occur, Karl appears as a figment of their imagination. Karl appears in the form of a short, hunchback-like 20 year old who portrays himself as a strange, disorganised man. His unusual dress sense and unwashed hair displays his disjointed personality to whom must force Edward to believe his life is not what it seems to be. Karl’s role in Edward’s life is a visionary and guide to uncover the truth about his state of mind, helping him to find how he is meant to wake up from the coma through riddles, directions and other means.
Death
Summary:
Once the strange happenings begin to occur in Edward’s life, a dark figure begins to follow him which he does not notice at first. Death is portrayed as the shadowy figure, dressed in pants, a hoodie and shoes all of which are black. He is a mysterious figure who metaphorically represents death. As time passes and Edward is running out of time to discover how to wake up, death comes nearer. This is represented by death moving closer towards Edward in every situation. If death becomes Edward’s fate, he will be consumed by death

itself.