Treatment:

The vision is a hyper real one seen through Billy’s eyes. This perspective is Billy’s but other viewpoints help objectify the narrative as it runs the narrow gauge between accessibly and aestetic, determined to keep the audience on board for the ride into, through and out of the complex tunnel that is Billy’s predicament in a world where no-one understands what he is saying. This narrative film is entertaining, blending humour and outrage, the familar and bizarre, startling visuals and intriguing soundtrack, assumption and revelation.

By embracing the conventions of the short narrative film we give ourselves the freedom to create with the detail of a minature. This short, sharp, shock of a film will cut deep, working in a lateral as well as linear fashion, layering sound with image to create this complex and personal narrative.We are drawn into the unusual world of Billy Lynes through the sympathetic character of Mr Kerr and taken on a rollercoaster through the fragmented, jolting crashing train of experience that engages, stimulates, horrifies and finally enlightens.

This film has emerged out of an extensive period of research and development. at the confluence of several elements - an inner-city landscape where I taught; a background in community based productions; a period working in a special schools with autistic students using music, drama and audio visual based approaches to the curriculum; advances in digital technology; meeting with Daniel Sturley, a broadcast video editor who is autistic.

This meeting and subsequent collaboration has provided the catalyst for finally realising this project. From the outset I was determined that the film should do more that use autism as a hook to hang a film on. It had to illuminate the subject, draw the viewer in, let them experience the world autistically through sound and vision without cliche, stigmatisting or charicature. I am confident that the boy who loved trains will do that.