Planning: Pitch Tasks

Pitch

The Film

A) What is the title of your film?
     Mirrordream

B) What's the treatment? - give a very brief outline of the whole film, then a brief outline of the Opening Sequence to the film.
(Brief Outline of the whole film)
A boy with the ability to read into the minds of those he interacts with and discovers the deepest and darkest thoughts and secrets of these teenagers in this psychological thriller youth drama.
(Brief outline of the opening sequence)
The opening sequence begins with the main character running down an alleyway from a dark shadow/figure that represents his deeper conscience. It then continues in the boy's house in which we see him suddenly wake up from his nightmare and get ready for school. As he stares at himself in the mirror, the camera cuts to him walking into college. The shots alternate between him staring into the mirror (dream) and him in the college hall (reality).

What type of title sequence is it?

A) Do you intend to have a discrete, stylized, narrative or animated title sequence?
We are going to have a narrative title sequence, because we want to inform the audience about the plot/genre and it would show off as much as the story in the title sequence as possible so the audience have an idea about the context as our title sequence is about 2-3 minutes long.


B) What real title sequence have influenced you?
Mean girls, as it also has credits over a moving picture, and starts telling the story immediately rather than using a cinematic or showing a prologue.

C) Do you intend to stick close to (conform) or challenge the conventions seen?

We are going to stick to the convetions as we want to be safe with our credits and not experiment with anything new.

What type of (subgenre) of Teen Film is it?

A) Which real teen film title sequences have inspired you and why?
Supernatural, youth films such as: X-Men, The Roommate, Twilight and Attack the Block inspired us because they (mainly) feature teenagers who bear psychological issues or are fighting against or dealing with some sort of supernatural presence. For example: Twilight follows both a vampire and a werewolf fighting for the love of a 'depressed' teenaged girl, Attack The Block consists of youth defending themselves and their turf against an invasion of aliens, and The Roommate is about a deranged college student who becomes obsessed with her new roommate. We decided we'd like to incorporate these ideas and make something original however similar in the sense that these films have inspired us.

B) Do you intend to conform to or challenge these openings?
We intend to challenge the conventions because at the beginning the characters are seen as stereotypical - a chav, a girly girl, an outcast and a tom-boy. These characters later challenge the stereotypes as we begin to delve into their minds and lives, discovering who they really are behind their titles.


Representation

A) Which characters will you introduce in your title sequence?
Main character (the nerd): Ezhno
Main characters adopted sister (sporty girl): Azazel
Main character's biological sister (outcast): Serilda
Couple –Girlfriend (popular girl): Abby
                -Boyfriend (popular/urban boy): Brute
Dark figure

B) What different social groups are evident in your opening?
Popular kids
Nerd
Outcast
Sporty girl
Urban boy

C) How do you represent these social groups - stereotypically or do you challenge stereotypes?

We represent these social groups through the costumes and the props. For example the urban boy is represented through what he wears ie tracksuit jacket and bottoms. Also the Nerd is represented by his movement and through his closed off behaviour.

Institutional Detail

A) Will your film be a mainstream or independent production?
Our film will be an independent production as we are not a major film production company or sponsored by one.

B) Which company(ies) will produce and distribute your film?
'Hashview Media UK'

C) How would the ownership affect the type of titles and the credits you have?


We would need to include the production & publishing company in the opening sequence as they are part of the production and distribution of the film

Audience Detail

A) Who is your core target audience?
Our main target audience is teenagers aged 13-19, due to it being a youth drama and the main focus being on teenagers, meaning that they are more likely to relate to or be a part of the social groups that we incorporate within the title sequence/film. Demographics aside, this film is targeted at those who have an interest in the arts; it’s perfectly crafted for those who enjoy films with elements of psychology, drama and a narrative storyline.

B) Who is your wider target audience?
The wider target audience for this film would extend to young adults, as they may be more likely to relate to the theme of depression. They may also be able to relate more to the general lives of the teenagers; the secrets they’re keeping and why they’re hiding them from others, as they’ve already experienced their teenaged years and so it might be familiar, or cause them to sympathise and remain interested in the film.

C) How will you attract them to your film (you can link this to whether you are mainstream or independent)?
We think that the easiest way to attract our target audience would be by posting on social networking websites. Being an independent film company, it’s the easiest and cheapest way to do so and the main users of social networking websites are known to be teenagers, our core target audience. With such a low budget, another method of attracting our audiences to the film would be to pay for YouTube advertisements – playing our film’s trailer or displaying our banner on the side of the page, also commonly used by our target audience, as well as those outside of the target audience who may find it interesting. This method also allows for recognition to increase as viewers can share the content and form a wider audience.

D) How will you address them in your title sequence (you can like this to social groups)?
We have five main social groups within the title sequence: the popular kids, the nerd, the sporty girl, the outcast and an urban boy. These are some of the typical social groups within youth dramas and the general lives of teenagers these days. Our five main characters represent the social groups previously stated:
Main character (the nerd): Ezhno
Main characters adopted sister (sporty girl): Azazel
Main character's biological sister (outcast): Serilda
Couple –Girlfriend (popular girl): Abby

                -Boyfriend (popular/urban boy): Brute

Mise-en-scene - Location Setting

A) Which locations will you use? Show evidence you have visited these with photos.
Alleyway/Dream world: Broxbourne
Bedroom: Jakub's House
College Scene:City and Islington College hall

B) Which settings will you use? You must show evidence you have visited these.
Alleyway/Dream world
Bedroom

City and Islington College hall

Mise-en-scene - Props, costumes, make up, etc

Props:
Letter,Mirror,School bags,Boxing Gloves, desk, bed, tables, chairs,

Costume:
Main Character:Smart wear-Black trousers/jumper/collared shirt, fake scar.
Adopted sister: Sportswear-leggings/t-shirt/trainers.
Girlfriend: Casual Clothing-jeans/shirt/leather jacket/boots.
Boyfriend: Casual Urban Clothing-tracksuit bottoms and top.
Biological Sister:Black Casual Clothing-Jeans/t-shirt/trainers.

Mise-en-scene:
School: pillars, doors, toilets, windows, school posters, homework on table, lights.

Outdoor: Trees, alleyway, graffiti, atmospheric lights, houses, river, pathway.


Bedroom: Bed, papers on desk, messy room, books near bed, homework, pencils, pens, papers, laptop.

Sound Design

A) What diegetic and non-diegetic sound do you intend to use and why?


There will be violin/classical sounding non-digetic music in some shots in the opening sequence as it fits the genre of a physiological thriller youth drama. Most of the scenes in the college will contain only digetic sounds as we want to make the scene feel mysterious as its one of the main themes of the movie. Digetic sounds will include breathing, footsteps, voices, door hinges opening/closing and subtle background noises such as pencils writing and people talking in the background aswell as cars and wildlife in the outdoor shots.

Title Credits

A) What will your title credits look like?
The font of our credit is going to be the New Times Roman

B) Do you intend to create them in Motion or in FCP?

We're going to create the credits in motion as it includes our chosen template.

Production Schedule

Risk Assessment

Technology Skills Audit

A) What different technology (hardware and software) have you used and learned about to date?
We learned to use Final Cut Pro, Motion and Garageband. They are all vital to the production of the opening sequence and film.

B) What has each one allowed you to do?
Final Cut Pro allows us to edit and produce the film. We can cut all the shots together and overlay sounds and music over them. Garageband allows us to produce music and foley sounds to include in the production. Motion allows us to animate the title credits in the opening sequence.

C) How has each one helped you develop your project?

Final Cut Pro allows us to cut all the clips together so we don't have to record the whole opening sequence in one take. Garageband will allow us to overlay foley sounds and music in the opening sequence as sounds recorded on set are usually bad quality and there is a lot of background noise. Motion allows us to animate our credits to give them a more professional feel and look as opposed to simply overlaying text in post production in Final Cut Pro.