The Pitch

 

The Pitch

 

As a group we have started to look at different ideas we might have for the beginning of our film. I have started this by mind mapping ideas we could use.
For our ideas, we have been looking at the opening of different films as well as looking at magazine articles.

Below are the articles we have used.

 This is one of the articles that gave us the idea for our Thriller and Horror pitches. On the left there was a piece about the atheist ten commandments and this is where we got the idea that Mary would use them to be able to teach the children the lesson. Also as you can see from the right, we got our idea of the etch a sketch from the picture in the corner of the page.

Below are the mind mapped ideas that we could use when thinking of the final idea, this screen shot below shows you the first pitch I had made for our Thriller movie.

 

 
Here you can see that I have suggested that the film will be set in the future.

I have also incorporated the idea of using an etch a sketch to show the murders. This idea came from the newspaper article as its not a normal object that could appear in a film of this genre.




Also from this description of the pitch you can see that I have tried to connect the etch a sketch to the murderer to change the dynamic as your not seeing the murders through anything but your seeing it through the pictures that are drawn.

I have also came up with an idea for a horror film. From the mind map you can see that the story revolves around Bloody Mary. It is Mary who was once married to Henry the 8th, and was beheaded by him.
The idea we had was that a statue of a woman in a grave yard would be cursed, and everybody knew this. However children would go to it and say the curse aloud while standing around. We then decided that the 10 children that went to the statue would all get cursed expect for one boy, Peter.
As you can see we said they would all get put into different situations that would test them, but it was only Peter that would ever survive. And all of this occurred because Mary wanted revenge and did this by using the 10 commandments.

 



We have also created an idea for a Rom-Com.

 

The idea we had was that two very different people would keep meeting and as you can see from the mind map on the left, it would happen over 7 days.
In these 7 days our two characters would find themselves coming face to face with each other in different circumstances, for example they might find themselves stuck in a lift together or they might have to share taxi.
Other things you can see from the mind map is that both people are opposites, this makes it harder for them both to admit that there could be something however they have to over come the fact they dislike each other. You can also see that we have used the idea of Beauty and the Beast but we wanted to show the man as being handsome and good looking and we wanted to show our female character as somebody that hasn't got a lot going for them, but they are still loved after all.

Our Pitch
The way we came up with our idea for the opening of our film was that we used one of the newspaper articles that we'd been given. As a group we all had different ideas so we all shared what we had before making the final decision.

From this screen shot you can see that we have picked out certain words including rampage, world and Germany. It was from here that our ideas began to develop to get the final pitch.














 Kirsty's idea:
A romantic film based on a solider and a woman who fall in love during the first world war. However we realised that it would have to be a Rom-Com, and by adding a comedy aspect to the film would possibly ruin the storyline.

Beth' idea:
A Thriller involving a couple in modern day, this would include a murder trial. But a criticism of this film is that the storyline is too basic and the outcome could possibly be expected. It has also been done before.

My idea:
I had a similar idea to Kirsty which involved the war, but I liked that fact you could make it into a horror. So I thought you might be able have a soldier who sees Auschwitz and what went on, but it would change him. The criticisms we had for this idea was that we might need a lot of people for filming which would have been hard, it is also a hard idea to develop.

Even though the ideas we had all come up with were good, we decided that we would have to collaborate two ideas as we all liked different things and this is why we decided to make a Romantic Thriller. As all of us liked the idea of the film being based around a love story in war time we decided the Thriller aspect of it would make the story more interesting.

Plot
Our plot is about a war veteran who fought during WW2, as he was exposed to such horrors he became scared by what he had seen. However like many of the other veterans fighting alongside him he was in love with a woman back home before he left. While he was away he was part of a group of soldiers that discovered Auschwitz, which at the time was one of the many concentration camps created by the Nazis. It is here that Arthur seen a woman that reminded him off his wife, changing his life forever. From what he had experienced and witnessed during his time in war, Arthur suffered with post traumatic stress disorder, leading to confusion and flash backs. However as he was still at war there was nothing that could be done to help him. The scenes Arthur had seen would never leave his mind making him take the actions he did, in which he killed the Auschwitz prisoner. Found out by his Lieutenant, Arthur was sent home to his wife, where he was no longer able to cope with the life he had. As his flashbacks were still happening Arthur could never forget the day he took the prisoners life and began to mistake her for his wife and this is when he took her life too. Found out he was later arrested and charged for her murder, living the rest of his life a mental home coping with what he had done to her.

Characters
In the opening of our film you are introduced to three characters, these are Arthur both old and young, Katherine, Arthurs wife and Arthurs carer.

 Arthur is a pilot in WW2, he is a vetran that while at war suffers from what hes seen, leading to dramatic circumstances.







By having Arthur as an older man, it meant we could look back into his future and create a story behind him. The role he has is that he is the one that takes us into the film.






You are introduced to Katherines character when she is saying bye to Arthur, throughout the film you would then learn she was killed by him.




 

Target Audience

Questionnaire Summary

As a group we have conducted three different questionnaires, these were Rom-com, Horror and Thriller. We have done this so that we can figure out who will be the target audience for our film and also what film our potential audience will want to watch.

I have conducted the Horror Questionnaire and I have included 10 different questions so that I can get a feel of the different things people would want to be included in a horror film.

 

Below you will see a completed questionnaire that I had conducted.

 

The page below shows you the second page of the questionnaire.

The graphs below show you what I have found out by doing my questionnaire.

From this chart you can see that 7 out of  the 10 people I have asked prefer to see a male antagonist in a horror film. Whereas 3 people have said they would like to see a female antagonist.

The reasons behind my findings in graph one can be seen in this graph as I have asked the respondents to explain why they prefer a male or female antagonist.
Here you can see that the main reason was because the antagonist would be scarier if they were male, however the respondents who said they'd like to see a female antagonist said this as you rarely see a female villain.

Another question I have asked was how far into the film the respondent would like the antagonist to be revealed. 9 out of the 10 people I have asked said they would like to see them revealed as the story developed and not straightaway.

From this pie chart you can see that the character options I have suggested have varied answers, but from looking at the chart you can see that the percentage of answers are similar in a way that 20% or 2 people out of the 10 have said they would like to see a character similar to IT, Michael Myers or another option by giving it to me themselves by entering an answer in the 'Other' box, however only 10% or 1 out of the 10 people asked have said they would like to see a character similar to Jigsaw or Freddy Kruger, both proving to be not as popular.

 

From looking at this graph you can see that 6 out of the 10 people who answered the questionnaire said they would like to see the murders happen through their eyes using a build up of different shots, this being the majority as the other 4 people who answered said they would like to see the murders through the eyes of the killer using a subjective point of view shot.

This graph shows you that70% out of 100 or 7 out of 10 people have sad they would like there to be a known background/history behind the murders that might happen throughout the film, however 30% or 3 out of the 10 people asked said they would prefer the murder to happen randomly.

From this graph you can see that I have asked which way the music should be played to create atmosphere, from the chart you can see that the blue section of the doughnut symbolising 8 respondents would prefer the music to be played fast and slow, whereas 2 respondents would like the music to be quiet and slow.
By looking at this, it would be the better way to create atmosphere if we was to create a horror film, however we can use this evidence to help us see what music we can include in another genre of film.

Here you can see that I have asked whether the film would be better filmed in the night or in the day and from the graph you can see that 8 out of 10 people have said they would prefer it if it was done at night. However two people have said they would like it to be set during the day.
By taking this into account, it would be better to film at night, also by doing this it would make the film more frightening.

As my 9th question I asked where the respondent would prefer the film to be located, from the graph you can see that 1 out of the 10 people asked said city, whereas the other 9 said a rural area.



To this I then asked a follow up question as I wanted to find out where the respondents would like the action to take place.

 As you can see from the chart on the right, the answers I have collected for question 10 are varied. I have also only collected 9 answers as the respondent who said they would like the film to be set in a city didn't answer. However I have still been able to collect the data as I have found out that 4 out of the 10 people asked said they would like to see the action take place in the woods. Other data I have collected was that 2 people said they would like to see the action take place in a house along with 2 people that said they would like to see the film set in a school. Also from the graph the last bit of data I have collected was that 1 out of the 10 respondents said they would like to see the film set at a lake.

Below are the Thriller and Rom-Com questionnaires we have also carried out.

Thriller Questionnaire

 

Rom-Com Questionnaire

Research 

By looking at the data on the FBI statistical year book, I have found out that the Thriller genre was ranked 11th in the UK and Republic of Ireland in 2010, this suggests its not a very popular genre, however that year 20 films were released.

*Add graph

I have also learnt that Romance as a genre is quite popular as it was ranked 5th by the box office in 2010 with 19 film releases at the time. Horror then followed and was ranked 8th by the box office with 31 film releases that year.

Thriller

By using filmsite, I have been able to find out more about Thriller as a genre. I have found out that these films are known to promote excitement, suspense, anticipation, uncertainty and anxiety. I have also found out that Thrillers should provide thrills and they should leave the audience on a cliff hanger while the plot is building to its climax.

Thrillers can be:
                          - Action/Adventure
                          - Sci-fi thrillers
                          Or
                          - Romantic comedy thrillers.

They are similar to Horror films as they are both meant to create tension and suspense throughout, however Thrillers don't draw attention to the character in the plot, they focus more on the danger thats going on around them.

This is why the characters are important in these films. Characters with dark pasts are sometimes used as you might be able to tie them into the plot, it also adds to the excitement as you tend to see the characters in the film come into conflict. A twisted relationship could also be used to show character relatioships as something going wrong in the plot could lead to revenge. As well as this by having one or more of the characters unknowing to what they might have done or what there involved in, it adds to the anticipation that the viewer might feel.

One film director that was known for creating Thrillers was Alfred Hitchcock. He was known as a 'master of suspence Thrillers', this was due to the fact he knew how to manipulate his audiences fears. One way that he was able to do this was that he would place victims in a strange situation, which would be life threatening. He would also use silhouettes of people to create more of a threat as no one would know if theres actually anybody there.
He also used shots such as zoom and cross cutting in his films to build up the anxiety the viewer is feeling.

Ratings
Ratings are used so that a film can be approved or disapproved before being released. By rating a film, it ensures you that the highest level of protection has been taken when looking at the content of the movie. The movie rating system looks at the things included in the film such as drugs, horror or violence. It is then that its given a rating.

For example:

U - suitable for all audiences
PG - Parental Guidence
12 - Video release is suitable for someone 12 and over
15 - Suitable for ages 15 and over
18 - Suitable for adults.