25 word challenge

Pitch for my film Opening

Now that I have come with my initial ideas in the mind mapping process, I then moved on to developing a final idea.  One of my decisions was to combine the ideas of crime, thriller and adventure.   I liked the theme of revenge because it gave the storyline some conflict and I also liked the genre of crime and the location of a house party as this would attract a teenage audience.  Therefore, I wanted to combine the two genres of crime, thriller/ drama and a bit of horror.  I moved on to this area of genre in particular because it would have a wide target audience to attract most people.  Also, horror films in particular are good films to make on a low budget as the special effects and editing can really be brought to the fore as opposed to action films that rely on expensive action scenes such as car chases and explosions.

 The storyline that I then thought of from my chosen genre was about a crazy killer who is remanded in custody and is on the hunt for three teenagers who were a witness to a crime committed by him.  The story would be an exploration of the escape of the three witnesses from their inevitable, gruesome death. 

  When a film is pitched to a distributor, it is known as 'high concept' if the film can be summed up in 25 words or less. Therefore, I came up with my own pitch for the film in under 25 words:

  "Crazy killer goes seeking revenge.  Three key witnesses of his dark crime are on an escape from their gruesome, inevitable death."

  From this, I was then able to get feedback from peers who are in the age group that the film would be marketed towards.  The overall feedback was that it was "creative" and a "good chosen genre" that they would be "intrigued to watch."  They also said how the storyline, summed up in less than 25 words, is "clever" as it gives "enough information about the genre and description of the film to get people's attention but doesn't give so much away that it is clear what happens."  Another point that was brought out from the feedback was that they were "interested in the mix of genres" as this would "set it apart from other horror films."

  As a result from this feedback, I was able to discuss my ideas of the opening sequence with the other person in my group, Jess.  The feedback showed that the marketability was there for the film and they really liked the idea. 
 
  Therefore, we came up with the idea of an opening where there is a house party where the three witnesses of a crime that has already occurred come together.  Following this, there are camera shots that reveal a point of view of the villain who is seeking to get rid of the witnesses in order to walk away from the crime.  The opening would look like a typical teenage film with the party, loud music and humour.  However, the audience would quickly be able to see something is wrong when the villain manages to get into the party and everyone is questioning who he is and what he is doing.  The build up in tension on screen would also be accompanied with a change in music from the pop music played in the party to tense, dramatic music which has a foreboding effect that something bad is going to happen.  The villain is then searching around the party to find the 3 witnesses whilst the 3 are totally oblivious that the criminal is here.  When the 3 witnesses suddenly find out that the villain has arrived, there would be flashbacks of the crime that occurred, helping the audience to understand what actually has happened.