Jared Black develops powers that allow him to control darkness and shadows, living in the underground slums hidden from a dictatorship ruled by superheroes called the Order. The Order takes children with powers and brainwashes them. Jared joins rebels to overthrow the Order, facing off with their leader Argent who can control minds. Jared defeats Argent, killing him and overthrowing the Order, but the world descends into anarchy until new civilizations form.

1. A-A Film Pitch: Shadows

2. NarrativeSynopsis:Equilibrium: An order of superheroes called the Order rule the world, ‘protecting’ it from ‘evil’ in an overly zealous fashion. They take all newborns that demonstrate super abilities, and brainwash them into servitude. The result is a hyper-intolerant dictatorship run by superheroes where the smallest transgressions of the meticulously crafted laws results in a life sentence. Thus, the world is cowed into saccharine goodness, save for the rough underground slums hidden from the eyes and minds of the Order by the powers of it's leader. Disruption: Jared Black, the protagonist, lives rough in the hidden slums, thus escaping detection. He therefore remains undiscovered as he develops superpowers allowing him to solidify and control darkness and shadow. Jared decides to use them to fight the ‘good’ superheroes of the Order and joins forces with a secret force of rebels aiming to overthrow them. The rebels mount an assault on the stronghold of the Order, and attempt to kill or disband them. Jared faces off with his powers against the leader of the Order, known as Argent, and managing to rebuff his mind control, Jared wins, killing him.Restoration: With the Order overthrown, the world quickly descends into a state of anarchy, free from the Order, which is overthrown. The anarchy eventually subsides, and new civilisations begin to form.

3. IconographyTo demonstrate that this is an A&A film, and specifically a film of the Superhero subgenre, the following will be included:Fight ScenesSuperpowersCostumesWeaponsSpecial Effects

4. CharactersJared Black: Johnny DeppProtagonistControls shadows and darknessDark, brooding heroArgent: Hugo WeavingAntagonistCan control other people’s mindsMorally righteousBlack and White mentality

5. SettingFuturistic CityThe ‘perfect’ societySlumsDarker side of the ‘perfect society’Skyscraper HeadquartersThe rulers reign from aboveCan be used to great effect in fight scenes

6. Target AudienceMy film's primary target audience is 15-30 year old males, as they are the typical target audience for Action and Adventure. As this is a film of the superhero sub-genre, which was originally derived from comic books, comic fans are a prominent secondary audience.A minor secondary audience would be Johnny Depp fans, as he stars in the film. This would potentially increase female audiences.

7. USP and AppealUSP: Rogue superhero saves the world from an over-zealously lawful superhero-controlled dystopia.Inversion of superhero and traditional moral stereotypes by overthrowing the ‘good guys’Reinforced by the inverted light/dark motifs in the film