2. Secret services, framed murder and a relentless journey of self-discovery,
retribution and quite possibly love as shifted allegiances bring about new
meaning to this exceptionally gifted man’s life.All in a day’s work for
some men maybe, all in the blink of an eye for him: Agent X is his name.
3. Our film is categorised as a hybrid: the spy sub-genre (mainly)
and also the action genre.
Our narrative is illustrative of conformity to both of these filmic genres, however,
more extensively to the spy sub-genre. Examples of conformity are evident to
these genres in both our film’s narrative and thematic conventions, the theme of
‘betrayal’ for instance, which is highly conventional within contemporary spy films.
Our film’s narrative pertains heavily to this theme as the plot centralises around the
protagonist being betrayed by the false hero/antagonist. Iconography of the action
genre being present too within our film are the two chase sequences the
protagonist finds himself in and also the characters’ use of weaponry.
4. Equilibrium stage: Agent X, the protagonist/hero, is introduced and insight is
given into his double-life as an agent and his field of expertise within the mi5 and
secret services. His background and past-life are also briefly touched upon and his
gifted skills he possesses in both combat and marksmanship are made clear too,
distinguishing him easily as the protagonist from the other characters.
An enigma code is also established for the audience;
What was influential in his decision to become an agent as an occupation?
(answered in the disequilibrium stage)
5. Disruption stage: Agent X is framed by the head of the services, the false-
hero/antagonist – he becomes falsely labelled by him as ‘a rogue agent’ who has
committed treason to their code and put their undercover operations at risk of
jeopardy for ulterior motive – he is framed for the cold-blooded murder of another
agent working in the same vicinity as him, who coincidentally is known across the
services to be very cynical of Agent X and consistent to express disapproval of his
unconventional methods of work, further sustaining the projection of false motive on
to him for the framing. Agent X is resultantly vilified and his capture is ordered,
instigating the manhunt for him.
6. Disequilibrium stage: consequentially from the framing, Agent X flees and
goes incognito within Britain in attempt to fend for his alive. Unintentionally he
reacquaints himself with his dead father’s best friend, the tritagonist/fathering
figure/side-kick, whom he last saw 7 years prior at his father’s funeral. His
daughter, the deuteragonist/side-pick/princess, shortly after is introduced,
whom is the romantic sub-plot of the narrative. Upon agreement of assisting
Agent X to evade the services,Agent X expresses his gratitude by teaching his
gifted skills to the deuteragonist – at which she naturally excels, developing her
character – in preparation for the worst: foreshadowing the events in the late
disequilibrium to early restoration stages. She then becomes kidnapped by the
services in the first chase sequence of her in the public alone: she is intentionally
held as a hostage to threaten the tritagonist and bait out Agent X.
Enigma code is answered;
During the teaching sequence she prompts the question to him; he reveals that
his deceased father was the most significant influence in his decision to become
an agent as he always encouraged him during his youth to keep the quote: ‘be
the change you wish to see in the world’ close at heart - his most sentimental
memory of him - which he interpreted as putting his gifted skills to use for
government.
7. Restoration stage: Agent X successfully manages to rescue the deuteragonist
and begins to finalise construction of their fake identities when the tritagonist is
then unexpectedly tracked-down (being the last to return to the household) and is
assassinated through his bedroom window in front of their eyes by the false-
hero/antagonist with a sniper rifle, initiating the second chase sequence where a
large group of servicemen pursue them, which, after much struggle, they both
escape safely from.The assassination sequence is illustrative to Agent X of the
increased extent the services are now willing to go to in order to silence him.
During this chase sequence they also threaten the slow-torture and killing of the
deuteragonist next if Agent X doesn’t comply right there and then. Upon escape
and re-sheltering, they set about an elaborate plan to kill the antagonist and
services as retribution. After 2 days’ effort, they successfully execute it. Instead of
then killing the antagonist, the deuteragonist asserts Agent X that killing him is
still not the morally-correct answer, she suggests incarceration and public expose
of his immoralities, conveying the message to the audience of killing out of
vengeance/retribution to still be un-justified and that she is the ‘voice of reason’
to Agent X. Romantic sub-plot is then achieved as ‘the hero’ then weds ‘the
princess’; conformity to Propps’ character role theory.
8. Denouement stage: they both exonerate themselves of all the falsely-made
allegations regarding their captures and finally commemorate the tritagonist’s death.
Agent X (with support again) subsequently decides to fully dispatch of his life as a
double-agent in reflection of the tragic ramifications it has inflicted. He decides to
completely turn over a new leaf with the deuteragonist by his side supporting him,
bringing the true meaning of his father’s quote to realisation.They both now live new
lives happily together. (conventional Hollywood film ending)
Ambiguous ending is left leaving possibility for a sequel and opportunity for the film
to develop into a franchise/series of instalments (depending on whether or not it’s
successful in the worldwide box office and not a flop)
9. There are not many films with similar narratives to ours both in/outside the spy and
action filmic genres, however, there are still films in the industry which also have
relevance to the key themes which our film is orientates around.
10. For the lead roles we want to cast:
Josh Bowman as the protagonist because he fits the idealistic image of the character and also has experience in playing similar roles, like
the male lead in ‘Prowl’ (2010).
Morgan Freeman as the false-hero/antagonist as he is generally seen playing roles only on the ‘band of heroes’ side of the ‘good vs evil’
binary opposition. Featuring him as an antagonist would be something unseen and would serve strongly as a USP for the film too.
Additionally, he also has a pre-established fanbase; which is guaranteed profit. His star power would increase the likelihood of our film
being a success at box office and also appeal toAmerican audiences.
Michael Caine as the tritagonist/fathering-figure/side-kick, similarly portrayed to the paternalistic role of Frank in ‘28 Days Later’ (2002)’.
He also has established a great reputation for playing ‘fathering figure’ character roles and would augment the theme of ‘Britishness’
within the film.
Daisy Ridley as the deuteragonist/side-kick/princess, similarly to how she recently portrayed the heroine, Rey, in ‘StarWars:The Force
Awakens’ (2015). Presently she is also very popular across social media for he performance in the role: featuring her would also enable
more profits upon exhibition due to her newly established star power.Additionally, she also benefits as it would
develop her filmography, especially since she has only just started out in the film industry.
11. Idealistically our film will appeal predominantly to white/black British males in the
age range of 18-29 years (teenagers to young adults) as its primary demographic.
In terms of psychographics, the idealistic audience member will share interests in
atleast one of the following: spy genre films, action genre films, British culture,
female leads, or white male protagonists.
As a secondary demographic, men who surpass 29 years of age who also share
same/similar interests in the same psychographics as the primary demographic,
the more niche segment of the audience.
12. We want Paul Greengrass to direct our film because he has established a reputation within the
film industry for directing a lot of successful films in the same/similar genres to ours: the 2nd
and 3rd film instalments in the ‘Bourne’ franchise for instance, which totally grossed $731 million
worldwide through cinemas exhibitions. ‘Bourne: Supremacy’ (2004) individually grossing
$288million worldwide, 61.1% domestic, 38.9% foreign and ‘Bourne: Ultimatum’ (2007)
individually grossing $442 million worldwide, 51.4% domestic, 48.6% foreign.
If not Paul Greengrass, then another successful British director like Sam Mendes as he too has
established an excellent filmography for directing other films also in the same/similar genres to
ours: for instance, ‘James Bond: Skyfall’ (2012) and ’James Bond: Spectre’(2015), which totally
grossed $1.9 billion from production budget values of $200 million and $245 million. (25.1%,
equating to $476 million, was grossed just from the films’ domestic exhibitions in the UK,
74.9%, equating to $1.4 billion, was comprised from the films’ foreign exhibitions).
13. Budget required of £90 million for our film’s production practices as expenditure for:
the casting of our desired actors, rights to the narrative, pyro-techniques and special
effects, manufactured props like weaponry, the hiring/barricading of settings from
public use (since it’s shot entirely on-location) and even costumes & make-up.
Our budget is idealistic because ‘The Bourne: Supremacy’ (2004) was produced by
the Hollywood ‘big six’ conglomerate Universal Studios from a production budget
value of $75 million and almost accumulated quadruple it at the worldwide box
box office.This was predominantly due to the success of its endorsement campaign
and rallying of buzz via word-of-mouth and cross-media convergence on social
media outlets pre-exhibition.We have full assertion in being able to endorse our film
successfully like this film was too: idealistically we want our film to do equally as
well or even better at the worldwide box office.
Estimated to gross a revenue worldwide of £345 million (almost quadruple the
budget). Predicted to be predominantly comprised from the film’s domestic
exhibitions in UK cinemas: constituting up to 70% of the overall gross.
14. Initial exhibitions November 7th
Exhibitions will initiate on November 7th next year ONLY in UK
will initiate on November 7th 2016 only in the UK/US
We would like Universal Studios to produce and distribute
our film
November 7th (UK/US)
November 12th (everywhere else)
