1. Lauren Rosenfeld, Millie West, Ben Karrass & Alex Pereira
Pitch Script
SLIDE 1:
ALEX: Anathema: Awaken your inner demons. Welcome, we are Vibe Productions. I
am Alex, and this is Millie, Lauren and Ben. We are all current media students,
hoping to pursue a career into the media industry in the future. Millie, Ben and i will
be acting in the short film, whilst Lauren will be directing.
CHANGE TO SLIDE 2:
MILLIE: We believe we have created a unique storyline, one that has not been done
before. It is centred around two teenage boys called Cameron and Ethan. Cameron
Haver goes to hang out with his friend Ethan Crane, at his house. They stumble upon
a game they find in the attic, and decide to play it.
BEN: Ethan remains skeptical, but eventually agrees to play, as Cameron continues
to believe that nothing will happen. The game takes them to an abandoned house,
and the two begin to play, oblivious as to the consequences that may await them.
LAUREN: Alex and Ben will now transform into their characters, so that we can
Introduce you to the characters of Cameron and Ethan.
BREAK FOR START OF ACTING...
ALEX: Iām Ethan Crane, I am 18 years old.
BEN: Hi, Iām Cameron Haver and Iām 17 years old.
ALEX: Cameron and i have been best friends since primary school, and hang out all
the time.
BEN:Yeah, like we play video games and watch films at each others places every
week.
2. Lauren Rosenfeld, Millie West, Ben Karrass & Alex Pereira
ALEX: Even Though we're best mates, Cameron and i don't always
see eye to eye and were kinda complete opposites. See, i'm more rebellious and
Cameron has always been more skeptical.
BEN: I'd rather be more laid back, and Ethan sometimes pressures me into taking
part in activities i'd rather not do.
BREAK FOR END OF ACTINGā¦
CHANGE TO SLIDE 3:
ALEX:We have been tasked with creating a short horror film, and were given three
different titles to choose from. From these we have chosen for it to be called
Anathema, as it has several negative connotations including hate and evil, which
will be incorporated into our film.
MILLIE: Anathema will last around eight minutes. As our primary target audience are
16-19 year olds, it is likely that they will have a short attention span. Our film will be
very engaging, because both our characters are the same age as our audience, and
we will have a unique plot.
BEN:When considering the duration of our film, we had to take into account what
happens after a jump scare, as audiences tend to lose focus, therefore, we will not
have any significant events occur in the time after a jumpscare
CHANGE TO SLIDE 4:
LAUREN:The short film, will be distributed on Friday 13th October 2017, as Friday
13th is associated with evil and horror, and puts the audience in the mood for
watching horror films. However, it will be completed by June 2017, with 4 months
being used for marketing purposes.
ALEX:We will use several marking techniques, which will ensure that we have a
large potential audience to view it when it is eventually released. One marketing
technique that we are already putting into use are social media accounts, including
Twitter and Instagram. We have done this to expand our potential audience,
through the use of different platforms and making it easily accessible for our target
audience to view it.
3. Lauren Rosenfeld, Millie West, Ben Karrass & Alex Pereira
MILLIE: We have also created posters and DVD covers for the short
film, which have also been added to our social media accounts. This allows our
followers to keep up with the production of the short film and enable our poster to
go viral on social media. This allows for a large potential audience, as the short film
has become popular due to it being seen on different platforms.
BEN:Closer to the release of the short film, we can also release a trailer so that we
can generate more publicity for the upcoming short film. We have chosen to
release our trailer in August or September.
LAUREN:This is so that the short film will hopefully be well known through
successful marketing techniques in order to gather several views.But, at the same
time, not too much time as consequently we may put ourselves at risk of our
production being forgotten by the time it is ready to be released.
ALEX: Another marketing technique could be to contact a production company, and
partner with them to promote the short film. For instance, before a feature film
premieres, such as Get Out at the cinema, we could have the trailer for the short
film or the full short film included during the advertisements.
MILLIE: The trailer or full short film could also be used as an extra on the DVD of Get
Out. These techniques will create a large potential audience for the short film.
CHANGE TO SLIDE 5:
BEN: The genre of our short film will be horror. One of the many reasons that we
chose this genre, is because as a group we felt as though horror tends to have the
biggest impact on audiences, and can create long lasting impressions on the
viewers.
LAUREN: We have chosen to focus on two main sub genres. These are supernatural,
and psychological. We decided to concentrate on and incorporate supernatural
elements to our film because we felt that the look and demina of our antagonist
could have a large effect on our audiences.
ALEX: After conducting a survey to potential audiences, we found that the most
popular antagonist to have the largest effect on its viewers, was in fact Valak from
the Conjuring 2. As a result Valak has become our inspiration for our antagonist.
4. Lauren Rosenfeld, Millie West, Ben Karrass & Alex Pereira
MILLIE: The demon we intend to create will have piercing red eyes,
which will be enhanced by her pale white face. At first we want āherā to resemble a
young, innocent, girl but as the storyline progressā we want the audience to feel
uncomfortable, and anxious when she is present. Therefore, by the end of the short
film āsheā will not be the person, that she was originally perceived to be.
BEN: When asking potential audiences what their favourite sub genre of horror was,
we found that the most popular was psychological. Therefore we thought that it
would be a good idea to incorporate this type of genre into our own production.
LAUREN: The main way in which we intend to do this, is to ensure that the main
character questions his own sanity. As proven psychological horrors, have one of
the largest effect on audiences and therefore by including it, we are predicted to
have a significant amount of viewers.
CHANGE TO SLIDE 6:
ALEX: Our target audience will be 16-19 year olds, and we have chosen this age
group because through our market research, we have found that the majority of the
people that enjoy horror films are in this age group.
MILLIE: We also discovered through our research that secondary audience include
general horror fans that are in their mid 20s, parents and possibly younger siblings
of the primary audience. Also, instead of just targeting one gender, we have
decided to focus on both male and female audiences, allowing us to expand our
potential audience for our production.
BEN: From the research we have conducted, we asked our audience what they
usually watch their films on and majority of the people we asked, were our target
audience and ended up saying online streams.
LAUREN: Therefore, we are going to make the short film available on an online
streaming platform, to make it easily accessible for our audience. We are also going
to upload our trailer onto YouTube to allow the audience to watch it with ease.
CHANGE TO SLIDE 7:
ALEX: We have conducted research into audience preferences so that we could have
the best insight into what people like to see in horror films. As mentioned, we have
5. Lauren Rosenfeld, Millie West, Ben Karrass & Alex Pereira
decided to include supernatural and psychological horror elements
in our short film. This is due to the research we did, where participants claimed that
they are their favourite sub genres.
MILLIE: It was statistically proven that 32.5% of horror audiences, chose
supernatural as their favorite genre of horror and 35% of partakers chose
psychological as their favorite genre of horror. This indicated to us that these were
generally the most popular genres of horror. This is very useful information because
it means that we can attract a large proportion of horror fans when using these
genres.
BEN: Previously, we have created a music video, which has been successful after
being posting onto Youtube. As seen here, we have amassed over 2300 views, and
therefore, by investing in us, there is a high possibility that yet again we will gather
a large potential audience.
LAUREN: As all media texts have messages in them, we have decided to focus on
certain messages. The messages we will focus on are peer pressure and not playing
around with ritualistic games. We feel that they are very important, especially peer
pressure as the age range we are targeting has the highest amount of peer pressure
and we want to get the message across that it is not the right thing to do.
CHANGE TO SLIDE 8:
ALEX: There a several laws that we will need to follow when producing the short
horror film, including Copyright, Designs and Patents Act and the BBFC age ratings.
MILLIE: The Copyright, Design and Patents Act, will ensure that we, as the creators
have the right to control the ways in which the material we create may be used.
How copies are made of it, and how we will communicate our film to the public,
such as on TV or via the internet. Copyright is important because it protects our
work against use by others without our permission.
BEN: The BBFC age rating makes sure that we only show material suitable for our
target audience of 16-19 year olds, as otherwise younger audiences may view
inappropriate scenes.
LAUREN: As we are showing sensitive material, such as a suicide, an age rating of 15
is suitably applicable, in turn, this ensures sure that younger audiences do not view
6. Lauren Rosenfeld, Millie West, Ben Karrass & Alex Pereira
the film. Having an age rating of 15, also ensures that our primary
target audience of 16-19 year olds are our main consumers.
ALEX: We will be using several locations in the short film. These include two
different houses and a forest. One of these houses is ordinary and normal, so that
the audience can relate to it and feel safe, whereas the other is abandoned and dark
to make the audience unsettled.
MILLIE: We will be using two different houses to emphasise a contrast between
them. One will have a comfortable and safe atmosphere, whilst the other will be
uncomfortable and eerie.
BEN: The forest is also an essential location for the film, as it can disorientate the
audience and put them into the character's position. It is also a very open area,
which can make the audience feel anxious and worried.
LAUREN: We have taken inspiration from The Conjuring 2, as we believe the
camerawork was well executed, in making the audience on edge, which is what we
want to achieve.
ALEX: Another film we have taken inspiration from is Ouija origin of evil, as it
involves supernatural activity and messing around with evil spirits, which we have
incorporated into our plot. Both of these films received good reviews, and this is
why we have taken inspiration from them.
MILLIE: We also found several props to include in the short film, to add to the
verisimilitude. These include fake blood and other ritualistic items, such as candles,
a pentagram matt and a small blade, which will be discovered by the characters
over the course of time. Having props also allows the actors to get into their
character roles.
CHANGE TO SLIDE 9:
BEN: At the start of the short film we will create a calm and light hearted
atmosphere, this will be done through the use of high key lighting and humor, this
will keep our audience unaware of what is in store. Having high key lighting can
make the audience feel a false sense of security and be unaware of what is about to
happen.
7. Lauren Rosenfeld, Millie West, Ben Karrass & Alex Pereira
LAUREN: There will be an instant change in the atmosphere when
the characters arrive at the abandoned house to begin to play the game. The
lighting will change to low key, which will in turn create an eerie and unsettling
atmosphere for the audience.
ALEX: From here on out, the characters will be in a panicked and nervous state and
this will resonate to the audience, making them feel the same emotions as those of
the characters. Considering the characters are in the same age group as our primary
target audience, this will help to put the audience into the character's position and
make the audience more engaged with the short film.
CHANGE TO SLIDE 10:
MILLIE: Our group also created a budget, which demonstrated how much would be
needed to create the short film. This included cast, crew, equipment and props. We
created the budget to make sure that we bought/hired the most cost effective items
and people. By researching items and people that are needed to be involved in the
production of our short film, it can help contribute to us making a professional
production, as we have found the best people for the job.
BEN: After adding up all of our findings, we added a contingency amount at 10%.
This would act as extra emergency money to put towards our production incase we
needed it. This brought our completed total budget to Ā£3545.49.
LAUREN: We will be paying for the props for the short film as we feel it is important
to invest our own money as it shows that we are confident in our ideas and
hopefully will give you more confidence to invest. We have bought and made some
props already, including the pentagram ritual matt and ritual instructions, which are
seen here.
ALEX: This is why we believe you should invest into our short horror film and are
therefore asking for Ā£3,261.60 to make our production possible.
CHANGE TO SLIDE 11:
ALEX CONTINUED: Thank you for listening and we will now welcome any questions
that you may have.