1985. 20 year
old History student, Mick Morrison living in Suburban London, but in love with
psychedelic music. Slightly socially awkward but gets along with everyone,
which is also one of his weaknesses as he becomes too involved with Ringo.
Named after Mick Jagger and Jim Morrison. Has a keen interest in vintage
things, such as collecting records. His most prized possession being the Dark
Side of the Moon record his dad gave to him before his death.
One day he decides to have a small gathering that
quickly becomes a sex and drug fueled house party. along with his best friend,
Simon and his drug dealer Ringo 'Turpin' ride out the party experimenting with
LSD, alcohol and ecstasy. When Mick wakes in the morning he finds his house has
been completely trashed and is beginning the process of tiding his room, he
comes to find his favorite record has been stolen, Pink Floyd Dark Side of the
Moon. A record passed to him by his dad who died in a factory accident in 1976
when Mick was aged 8. Along side his best friend Simon, and a little help from
Ringo the three set themselves on a task to track down everyone who turned up
at the party and find the stolen record. However due to differences in the
group and Ringo continuously insisting they give up, the group break up. Simon
begs Mick to stay away from Ringo as he is nothing but trouble, Mick pushes
Simon away as he loves the drugs Ringo gives him too much. Simon leaves and
makes new friends. But while at another party hears the song "Money"
being played, he finds out where the owner got it from, says he bought it for
£20 from a bloke who goes by the name 'Turpin'. Simon immediately gets
flashbacks to to seeing the name 'Turpin' being associated with Ringo. Reluctantly
he buys the record off the man for £30 and heads straight to Micks house to
give him the record and hopefully bring back their friendship. Having knocked
at his door repeatedly and getting no answer gets in round the back to find
Ringo and Mick about to do Heroin for the first time. Simon gives Mick the
record if he promises to leave and never touch drugs again. Furious, Ringo
demands Mick stays and enjoy the product he went through a lot of trouble to
acquire. Simon tells Mick the truth and after punching him in the face kicks
Ringo out onto the streets. The two have a deep conversation about Drug use and
the importance of the record, to which he shows a letter thats left in the
sleeve off the record along with a Polaroid with him and his dad. Meanwhile
Ringo goes off behind some bins and ODs on all the heroin he bought with the
money he spent the record.we fade to the two at a graveyard looking at his
grave where they have sympathy for Ringo. The scene ends with The song
Time playing in the end credits.
1st Re
writes:
Having thought
about the story and where I was going with it, I sat down and decided maybe the
80s was not the time period I wanted the story to take place. Having thought
about drug culture, the time period people usually associate extreme
experimental drug use with the 60s-70s, not the 80s. And although Ecstasy
wasn't around till 87, I have found a substitute(s) that would fill the roll
even better; LSD and Mescaline.
While reading "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley he mentions the discovery of Adrenochrome, and likens it to the observed symptoms in Mescaline intoxication. In fact it also appears in the film 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998, Gilliam)' In which an overdose causes main character Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) to have a bad trip which involves extreme hallucinations. However, research into Adrenochrome (C9H9NO3) during the 60s concluded the drug creates psychotic reactions and does not have any psychedelic properties, therefore can not strictly count as a psychedelic drug.
LSD is the main drug i'd wish to focus on in the film. I find it one of the most fascinating drugs that has shaped and influenced modern day popular culture. From its influence in music in the 60s and 70s, to the way is opens up some religious groups such as the League of Spiritual Discovery. it also opens doors of possibilities for what we can do in terms of special effects in 'Off the Record'.
Due to this re-write the story will now be set from April 4th 1973; the year Dark side of the Moon was released.
Final Re-Write:
Having thought hard about this project for a long time, the main
struggle of making it would be trying to recreate an authentic 70's world.
However, due to the sudden popularity in vinyl records again it would be easier
if we were to set this film in the modern day and use this trend in our favour;
this way we can still keep the "retro" themes and slightly adapt the
story to fit the modern world.. According to BPI the annual sales of vinyl
records is exceeding the 1M mark. Also to pay homage to the 60's and 70's we
will try to use various things from those decades in the modern day, such as:
Films, Fashion, and Music.
