Introduction and storyline

Yasmin Schmitz
AS Media Studies
Introduction Idea

Every day another child becomes a victim of cyber grooming. One in seven parents have no idea what their children are viewing on the internet and three out of four children, in the UK, who have used the internet have encountered material that has made them feel uncomfortable. Paedophiles are known to use the Internet as a way of luring children into a false sense of security in order to facilitate sexual assaults. This so-called grooming period can last for months with children being entirely unaware of the deception.

Elaine Crawford never had a female influence in her life, her mother died of lung cancer when she was just two years old, leaving her father to raise her by himself. After his wife’s death, he developed an alcohol problem and although he loved his daughter very much, his drinking habits began to estrange him from her. Elaine’s lack of contact with people caused her to have communication problems. This made her invisible. People saw this as a threat. She had few friends at school and was bullied since she was just 12 years old. Now being 16, she finds the only resort to not living a life on her own, the internet. She joins an internet chat site where she meets Michael, a 16 year old student. He showed distinguishing characteristics and was someone who was able to listen to her. They began talking almost every day and over a period of months, became very close.

Throughout the course of the film, as Elaine builds trust in Michael, she begins to reveal all the events that have taken place in her life including her mother’s death. Michael then reveals a secret of his own. He was not 16, but 30 years of age. Startled, she asks why he lied to her. He replies saying he couldn’t tell her because he was scared she wouldn’t meet with him. This doesn’t shock her as much as it should have but she keeps her distance from him for a while. He persistently asks for them to meet in person but she always declines. He asks again and feeling sorry for him, she accepts. They meet in person and everything seems to be going ok. At the end of the night he drives her home and they part. They then arrange to meet at several occasions. This leads to her going back to his flat. As he is in the kitchen making drinks, she wonders around and notices a gun in one of his drawers. She quickly takes it and feeling distressed she hides it in her jacket and hurriedly sits back down in the living room. Michael then hands her a drink and leaves the room. He walks into his bedroom looking for the gun and finds it gone. He then storms back into the living room shouting “Where is it?” and again, “Where is it?” Elise holds up the gun and points it at him screaming “What did you want it for?” Michael tries to grab the gun from her hands but in a swift move she escapes from the flat. Wondering the streets in the dark trying to calm herself down, she encounters a drinking group of youth. Proudly she shows them the gun and again a struggle evolves as the teenagers try to grab the gun from her. She manages to escape again and runs home to her father’s flat. Feeling safe and secure at home, she walks into her father’s room to tell him what happened, he is drunk. Seeing the gun in Elaine’s hand, her father gets up and a struggle with Elaine and her drunken father commences without her being able to explain to the furious man what happened. A loud shot is heard and the picture fades away.

It’s the middle of the night and we start our scene with a focus on a computer screen which has been left turned on. We then focus on Elaine sleeping in her bed. She wakes up out of her sleep. We follow her down the stairs. As she walks passed the living room she stops and stands at the door looking inside draught. In the room, we see a TV which has been left turned on and her drunken father passed out on the sofa. There are beer bottles spread out all over the floor and an open pizza box next to him containing a half eaten pizza. After staring into the room for a while, she walks to the kitchen, opens the fridge and pours herself a glass of milk. The kitchen is piled up with dirty dishes and the sink is swimming with leftover food. When she finishes her drink, she goes back upstairs into her room. She sits down at her desk, turns to her computer straight away and wiggles the mouse. When the screen saver fades away, she signs into msn hoping that she can get some support from her friends but finds her only two contacts offline. She then shuts down the computer and goes to sit on her bed. Her eyes then focus on a picture of a woman sitting upon her bedside table. She looks up at the blank ceiling and falls back into her bed.