HOLLOWED OUT

Logline

John Ferris, a WW2 Veteran, sits in the psychiatrist’s office in an asylum for his latest assessment, when asked what he did, John whilst seeing visions of his dead wife starts to unravel uncontrollably, demanding to be asked how he feels.

Synopsis

Unable to cope with life John decides to take his life at a time when suicide in the UK was illegal.  John was given the choice Prison or Asylum. As a full time patient at Roundway Hospital John has regular visits with his psychiatrist to assess the progress of his recovery.   Sitting in the psychiatrist’s consulting room John is asked the same question and as he replies, he starts to unravel and lose control.

“What did you do John. What happened John! Never the how do you feel John. I will tell you how I feel!”

John, with rushed chain smoking is irritated by the psychiatrist’s silent judgemental tick box approach, is further exasperated with the recurring graphic visions of being torpedoed, moments at home with his family, the brutal deaths of his friends his wife’s sudden passing up on his return home and the traumatic funeral. In desperation to answer the Question John hits his head over and over shouting “Broken Broken Broken”.

Hollowed Out’s performance style intentionally breaks the fourth wall with John talking directly ito the camera and engaging the audience creating a challenging and emotionally charged experience. John Ferris is an isolated character, in a confined environment, and his direct intimate relationship with the camera will generate intense psychological audience experience without relying on a full cast of characters.

The literary and spiritual foundations of Hollowed Out are woven throughout John Ferris's psychological journey. Taking in inspirational note from Shakespeare's Hamlet, transforming remembrance into redemption. The title Hollowed Out draws inspiration from T. S. Eliot's The Hollow Men. Finally the recurring image of drifting smoke carries a wilful symbolic reference to certain Native American spiritual traditions in which smoke may represent a connection between the physical and spiritual worlds, helping to shape John’s pathway from madness, trauma, grief to redemption.

All images on this page are AI-generated artistic impressions, used solely to communicate the film's themes and atmosphere. They will not appear in the finished film and are not intended to represent its final visual design.

The appearances of John's wife and daughter are conceived as fragmented visual presences rather than conventional supporting performances. Using a combination of green screen and digital compositing, their images will be carefully blended into the central actor's performance, allowing memories, guilt, and hallucinations to materialise around him before dissolving once again. This approach preserves Hollowed Out as a true single-hander, while ensuring that John's lost family remains powerfully present throughout the film.