Hermione Turner, Alfie Earl Day, Louise Chivers

1. The Pitch
For ‘Lost and Found’
Hermione Turner, Alfie Earl Day, Louise Chivers
2B JH

2. Overview
Genre: Teen Drama
Subgenre: Youth Drama
Short plot summary: A teen boy's mum dies of cancer. In the following weeks, he begins sorting through his mother's belongings; he
finds an envelope addressed to him in his mum's handwriting with an anonymous telephone number. This leads him to find a
previously unknown member of his family, and he begins to piece together parts of his life that he never even knew were broken.
Themes:
Bereavement
Grief and loss
Family
Personal Discovery
Representations (do not complete yet):

3. Locations
Interior: Protagonist’s house
Protagonist’s bedroom
Kitchen
Living room
Protagonist’s mother’s bedroom
Bathroom
Exterior:
Protagonist’s front/back garden/driveway
Permissions needed?

4. Structure
Beginning:
Boy wakes up, goes through morning routine; washing and
dressing, getting breakfast etc. He begins sorting deceased
mother's’ belongings, answers phone calls from friends and
family about his mother. He finds a note written in his
mother’s handwriting with a telephone number.
Middle:
Upon calling the phone number he finds out he has an elder
half sister, with whom he shares a father. He begins building
a relationship with her.
End:
He moves to the same area as his half sister, who eventually
reveals to him that their father is alive (as he had previously
assumed him dead) and they meet, beginning to catch up on
the years they missed out on each other’s presence.
Key dramatic moment - what/when:
When the boy finds the note written by his mother, as it is
enigmatic and he wants to find out what it means.

5. REPRESENTATION: Character
Character 1: Protagonist
Male
18/19 years old
Quiet and shy
Very deeply affected by his mother’s death
Emotionally strong, but currently grieving heavily
Friendly and kind
Was close with his mother, shown through the use of photos together as props

6. How will we:
Use genre conventions?
Use of male character
Focus on character’s struggle, development and journey
Include themes of family and mental health
Appeal to the target audience? (do not complete yet)
Create mood/atmosphere?
Solemn/sombre music (using acoustic guitar/piano)
Slightly de-saturated tone; desaturation has associations with depression and loss
Blue-ish filter; blue connotes sadness

7. Mise-en-Scene
Setting (time/place):
Typical British flat
During winter (november)
Props:
Photographs of the protagonist and his mother
Condolences cards to convey her death
Lighting:
Natural lighting, but slightly darker due to time of year and to
reflect on the darker mood of the film
Slight blue tint to represent sadness
Natural indoors lighting
Costume/Makeup:
Slightly slobbish clothing due to lack of motivation from grief
(tracksuit bottoms and hoodie etc.)
Performance/Proxemics:
Protagonist is the only character in the opening scenes,
therefore proxemic relationships are not established
Emotional relationship with mother is established through
evident affectation by her death and many photos of them
together
Sad facial expressions and slow, lumbering body movements
to reflect on negative mood

8. Camerawork
Types of shots:
POV shots as the protagonist, to put the audience in his shoes and entice empathetic reactions
Close up on protagonist to show emotions
Establishing shot to set the scene and shot setting
Key shots:
Waking up shot; match-on-action to turn off alarm
Protagonist breathing, outside, creating mist to suggest time of year and mood
Long shot with panning across bedroom to establish setting

9. Sound (do not complete yet)
Diegetic (in shot):
Non-Diegetic (voice over/music):

10. Post-production ideas
Editing:
Desaturation effect
Subtle blue tint
SFX:
Birds tweeting
Traffic passing
Titles:
Simple font
Black or white
Sounds:
Sombre music, such as acoustic guitar or
piano to reflect mood

11. Influences From Research
Which films/tv shows and opening sequences have influenced us and why?
Kidulthood (2006) - Influenced the ideas for editing, shot types and background sound (the use of fast pans gave us the idea for
POV shots)
Face/Off (1997) - Gave the inspiration for an important character dying before the main plot begins
Memento (2000) - Gave us the idea for photos as props that influence the storyline
P.S. I Love You (2007) - Helped us fill in the remaining storyline

12. Pitch Feedback
Positives:
Use of pathetic fallacy - winter/sad mood
Simplicity of idea
Fully thought out plot
Use of props to show character’s emotional state
Improvements/Queries:
Timing; some people were unsure
Ability to accurately and clearly establish the genre
Heavy reliance on actor’s performance
How does it lead into the rest of the film?
How we will fix these issues:
● Relatively long shot lengths but a smaller number of shots to keep the sequence below two minutes in
length whilst still conveying the story points
● Using music, lighting and mise en scène typical of our genre to make sure it is obvious
● Repeatedly filming shots until we are completely satisfied with the performance
● End on a shot of the letter from the mother with the phone number to show there are unanswered questions