Logline

Two siblings endeavour on a mission to discover the existence of magic, using their local street magician
as their chosen field of research, falling into a dangerous situation along the way.

Characters

FREDDIE

A freckly, pale, small, strawberry-blonde, 7-year-old kid whom is finding it difficult to grow up, thus is
holding onto the idea that magic, still exists. He’s intellectually driven, yet young and naïve, hence he
feels the need to scientifically prove the existence of magic by using street magicians as his subject field
of research. His constant disappointment is leading him to become depressed, as he begins to
dramatically lose all hope, feeling he, himself is already entering the mundane, imagination-less adult-
world.

FREDDIE’S MUM

Freddie’s mum, whom is addicted to her phone, attempts to be a good single mother, however, has a
short attention span, shown through her lack of interest in her children’s stories or lives. For example,
though tries, lacks energy to convincingly convince Freddie that she believes in him. Similarly, she buys
herself her favourite ice-cream, a Magnum, however even though she considers her children when
buying the ice-creams, she fails to know their favourites, thus sticking to the basic 99s. Additionally,
when approached between another fight amongst Freddie and Violet, she automatically blames Violet
without delving deeper into the situation, on a simplistic basis that Violet’s older. The children notice
this, and thus have become independent by themselves, using imagination as a form of entertainment,
opposed to technology. We visually see this through the escape scene towards the end of the film,
where Freddie’s mum is lying lifeless, watching repeats on television whilst the children are creating a
master plan to sneak out and explore the existence of magic.

VIOLET

Violet, 18, has long black hair and green eyes, she is tall and slim. This obvious physical difference
between her and Freddie show that they have different fathers, whom don’t exist within their lives. She
has an unhealthy relationship with her mother and feels she is raising Freddie on her own, albeit,
doesn’t mind. Her close relationship with Freddie is shown through her worry for him, playfulness
around him and clear prioritisation towards his happiness over hers. She is intelligent, as we see she
can solve a situation fast on the spot, but she is incredibly modest about it, almost hiding it from
everyone.
 Treatment

Freddie, 7, is grasping onto the idea that magic still exists. He regularly attends magic street shows with
his mum, whom is constantly glued to some form of technology, i.e. her phone. He observes each
magician intensely, looking for any mistakes. He is currently at a magic show, and sees a few sparks fly
from the magician’s hands. Due to his age, we can assume it is a form of Freddie’s imagination creating
these visuals. This cements the idea that magic still exists to him. Attempting to get his mother’s
attention, she remains on her phone, ignoring him. This leaves Freddie feeling deflated as he can
visually see the magic, however nobody is listening to him or supporting his beliefs anymore.

At the kitchen that evening, we are introduced to Freddie’s family structure, three placemats incite
either a father or a sibling is currently missing from the dinner table. The simultaneous, joint shout
between Freddie and his mum towards his older sister Violet instantly shows Violets disorganised and
unpunctual habits, introducing part of her personality to the audience before we meet her. She rushes
downstairs, humorously placing herself at the table, cheekily smiling at her mother. The lack of humour
Violet’s mother shows towards Violets silliness, shows the disconnected relationship they have, as they
display opposing personalities. Violet’s quick transition, turning towards her little brother, and instant
desire to cheer up his deflated posterior, help the audience to acknowledge a closer relationship
between the pair. Freddie is being serious this time and is feeling incredibly depressed. His mum begins
to explain the scenario to Violet, before Freddie perks up to avoid the situation. Violet figures out why
Freddie is upset on her own and begins to tease him as a form of sibling banter. They begin to bicker
and immaturely fight, before their mother diffuses the situation by telling Violet to stop. Violet’s lack of
energy towards sticking up for herself shows this is usually how arguments between Violet and Freddie
end, with the blame spotlighted solely on Violet, the older supposedly-more-mature one.

The next day, we see the three characters walking down the same street, showing the local nature of
the film as the audience is familiar with the characteristics of the street and small-town, home-like feel
to it. Freddie’s instant halt, intensely glaring towards the magician, shows he still secretly believes the
magician could be magic and thus the magical sparks he witnessed the previous day were not his
imagination. The magician helps him gain confidence in this idea by acting mysterious as he suspiciously
packs away his gear in such a hurry. Again, Freddie’s intense desire could make it seem like he thinks
the magician is being incredibly suspicious, however, logically it could be a coincidence that the
magician is finishing off his act at that moment in time. He impulsively follows the magician, expecting
an adventure, however, assumes the magician vanished into thin air when he couldn’t find him,
following him around the corner. Violet’s worry for Freddie is shown through her following him,
watching over him. However, when Freddie turns around asking if she too, saw that, she becomes
speechless, feeling sorry for him. Freddie takes this silence as a form of shock, assuming she must’ve
saw him vanish too. Violet’s pity towards Freddie leads her to play along. As they return, their mother
has got them two 99’s, whilst getting a magnum for herself, thus portraying her lack of knowledge
towards her children’s favourite foods, due to her dedication to her phone. Towards the end of this
scene, Violet sees a flyer, triggering the idea that she can help Freddie to believe in magic once again,
however the problem is, it’s sold out.

At night, Freddie can’t sleep, staring blankly and emotionlessly towards his ceiling, pondering the point
of it all, if magic doesn’t exist. However, Violet instantly makes it more adventurous that night as she
abruptly dashes into his bedroom, ordering him to change clothes with no further explanation. She is
busy, frantic, beginning to explain the situation as she makes a fake, human dummy underneath
Freddie’s covers. Suddenly, Freddie is excited, adrenaline pumping, as he feels less lonely in his
thoughts, now that his sister believes him. As they begin to sneak out, they make it to the top of the
stairs, their mother downstairs watching repeat television again, asleep. Freddie’s bravery towards
going down the stairs first, show his eagerness to discover magic as he is impatient, however the floor
boards keep creaking, thus nearly waking their mother up. They begin to ponder how to get past their
mother as the door is slightly open, thus if she woke up, she would be able to see the children going
down the stairs. Freddie doesn’t give up, attempting one last time, however his mother is now awake.
She instantly believes it is Violet that has woken her, shouting up towards Violet. Violet remains silent,
thinks, then quickly comes up with a master plan, whisking Freddie onto her shoulders, thus allowing
for the noise of only one pair of feet going down the stairs. She tells her mum she’s going downstairs
to get a drink and makes the whole situation fun for Freddie as she clangs glasses and messes with the
tap. This instantly shows the audience that Violet knows her mother wouldn’t find this out of character,
for her to be annoyingly loud in the kitchen, however it also shows that she is prioritising her little
brother’s fun over her mother’s opinions of her. The swift knowledge towards running up and down on
the bottom step, proves this is not Violets first time sneaking out.

The contrast between all the well-dressed adults and the children, instantly show they don’t belong.
This is also resembled by the opposing direction they head in, as the adults all leave the building, whilst
the children enter. Once, inside, after having dodged the security, their peak to their adrenaline-
pumped adventure is instantly destroyed by the surprising visual of the depressed magician, looking
normal and mundane. This leaves Freddie to finally give up, feeling he, himself is entering the
imagination-less, adult-world. Violet, worried, instantly decides to fix the situation the only way she
currently knows how to, to make him laugh. She constructs a purposely awful magic trick on stage,
acting goofy. Freddie remains sulky, as he ponders on all the year’s he’s wasted trying to prove the
existence of magic. Violet has an idea, she goes behinds the scenes, the audience do not go with her.
They remain with Freddie. Freddie hears Violet shouting help, and due to his close relationship with
her, knows it must be another foolish attempt to make him happy, however, he wants to remain upset,
thus stays sat there. Her second plea for help sounds serious, and he quickly runs to her safety,
concerned. Once inside, the distress of seeing his sister hurt on the ground mixed with the fear that the
magician is not only magic but seemingly evil creates an overwhelming fear among Freddie. Violet
notices, thus, helps him figure out how to save her by insinuating he uses the wand to battle the scary
magician. This creates confidence within Freddie as he notices his sister believes and trusts he can save
her. Freddie takes control, believing the magician fears the wand. Violet grabs the wand and yells a
command as the magician turns into a puff of smoke, vanishing before their eyes. Freddie is in shock as
he feels he has finally seen real magic. Violet thanks Freddie for saving her, helping him believe he was
the hero in the situation. Freddie, peaking with happiness, grabs her hand and leads her out of the
room, with a bounce in his step. Violet remembers she needs to thank the magician, insinuating for
Freddie to wait there so he doesn’t suspect anything. She runs back in and the audience are revealed
the behind the scenes towards the whole sequence as the magician climbs out from a trap door hidden
in the ground. This plot twist helps the audience to realise that Violet was the hero within the story the
whole time, as she made sure Freddie didn’t grow up, just yet.