"This is a true story about the internet. Please, don't go. It's also the story of a treasure map and a murder, and it's a story that I stumbled upon just as anyone else might. Let me show you..."
— The Narrator
A fast-paced and experimental film told through fragments of internet videos, animations, blogs and news articles.
A person going by the username "Al1" creates a website declaring that he has hidden £9000 somewhere in the UK, and challenges anyone who wishes to try and find it by deciphering his clues. A YouTube vlogger known as "Fortress" decides to take him up on that challenge.
Written and Directed by Adam Butcher in 2010, the short film can be found on his website
and on YouTube.
This story contains examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: The dead man's body was never identified. Clearly, Al1 and Fortress fought and one killed the other, but nobody will ever know which one was the killer and which one was the victim, or what the motive for murder was.Narrator: A farmer finds a dead man in the middle of his land. Age: late teens to early twenties, average height, dark hair, a single but fatal stab wound, two sets of footprints, evidence of a struggle... but the body is never identified. And our problem is... our problem is that it could be either one of them. When Al1 met his treasure seeker, maybe Fortress was frightened or troubled by whatever he said, and he overreacted. Or perhaps, when Fortress didn't return his feelings, Al1 got frustrated and became violent. But either way... the man might as well be faceless... because no one has claimed him...
- Asshole Victim: Fortress was your standard obnoxious internet asshole who can't go five minutes without calling someone a faggot and refers to Wales as "Sheepshagger Land"... but it's possible he's the killer and not the victim. At the same time, it turns out there was no money to begin with, so even if he's alive, he's a downplayed version, having wasted an enormous amount of time and money chasing money that didn't exist.
- Based on a True Story: The narrator declares it to be a true story at the beginning, but it's actually not. Though it's so convincingly put together that it's fooled many viewers into believing it is.
- Bland-Name Product: Pay attention to the address bar and you'll see that Fortress uploaded his videos to "YootTube", not YouTube. For some reason, this is the only example of this trope, and things like Google, Firefox, and Angelfire were all left unchanged.
- Chekhov's Gun: Fortress's penknife, which may be what ended up killing either him or Al1.
- Color Motif: Yellow. The text on Al1's website is yellow, and his clues send Fortress to The Yellow House Bar in London and a yellow rapeseed field (which itself is shaped like a house) in Felynamynydd (Yellowstone), Wales. This itself is a clue that reading only the yellow letters in Al1's final clue results in a secret message revealing the true nature of the treasure hunt.I've been alone so long. But you'll find me now.
- Death by Materialism: If Fortress is the victim.
- Don't Explain the Joke: While undoing the screw on a trash can near the oak tree, Fortress shouts "SCREW YOU!" before repeatedly cracking "Get it?" as he unscrews it.
- Dramatic Irony / Failed a Spot Check: After obtaining the second clue (a paper containing a passage from The Pardoner's Tale, with the text being multi-colored), Fortress uploads another video, where he states that the actual clue (once you "skip all the crap") is the last line, which directs the reader to head to a "house on the beached 'Wale's tail'". As the Narrator points out towards the end, the actual clue was the yellow letters from the text, which (when isolated) form a message explaining Al's true intentions: "I've been alone so long. But you'll find me now."
- I Just Want to Have Friends: There was no £9000. Al1 was just incredibly lonely and wanted to make a friend.
- A MacGuffin Full of Money: The story is kicked off when Al1 announces on his website that he has hidden £9000 for anyone to find.
- Meaningful Name: Al1 > Al One > Alone. Pretty on the nose for a guy who devised a cryptic treasure hunt all for the sake of hopefully making a friend. Although neither Fortress nor the narrator seem to notice this.
- There Are No Girls on the Internet: The narrator says he doesn't know for sure whether Al1 is a man or a woman, but assumes he's a man for the sake of convenience and probability. The real reason is probably because if he isn't a man, then there's no mystery of who died.
- Treasure Map: Even though the narrator describes it as one, it's less an actual map and more of a series of clues. Though Fortress at one point uses his own map to point out a location the clues lead to.
- Wham Line: After Fortress figures out he needs to head to Yellowstone in Wales to get the treasure, he films himself heading off there... only for the Narrator to make the following comment which turns the video on its head:
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: Played for Drama: Because we have no idea what either Fortress or Al1 look like, and because the corpse that was discovered the morning after the two supposedly met was never identified, it remains unclear who killed who in Yellowstone.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The clues all reference Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale, a story about three men finding treasure and then killing each other because they each wanted it all for themselves. This story ends up in much the same way. Even though only one of the two men winds up dead, neither one was able to obtain the "treasure" they were seeking (actual treasure in Fortress's case, friendship in Al1's).
- Yandere: The narrator presents Al1 becoming enraged and killing Fortress for not agreeing to be his friend as one possibility for what happened.
