The document pitches a psychological thriller film titled "Snakes and Ladders" about a mentally ill man who believes he is being pursued by an unknown entity. He flees to his home for safety but grows paranoid of his roommate. Themes include paranoia, uncertainty, and fear/death. Character research describes the protagonist as wearing mismatched colors due to his fractured mind and the antagonist wearing dark clothing to portray intention to harm. The target audience is 24-25 year olds who enjoy mysteries. The opening sequence aims to create an unsettling sensation through unclear titles and the protagonist being chased by an ambiguous figure.

1. By Mollie, Cam, Max and Dan
PITCH

2. FILM’S WORKING TITLE
• The working title is ‘snakes and ladders’ as it conveys how the roommate has the
characteristics of a snake and the ladder represents how the protagonist is trying to climb
out of his mental state.

3. SYNOPSIS
A supposedly mentally ill man is running from an
unnamed pursuer he flees to the safety of his
own home but his paranoia builds and he begins
to suspect his roommate

4. THEMES
• Paranoia: The protagonist is confused whether the person who
is chasing him is real or if they are just an illusion of their mind.
• Uncertainty: The perception of characters in our film is that the
protagonist is confused by the world he is in and almost
questions what is real and what is in their mind.
• Fear/death: The protagonist has a fear of death as he dose not
know what the antagonist will do if he catches him so there is a
possible fear of death.

5. CHARACTER RESEARCH
• Protagonist-
• The protagonist wears bright mismatched colours to convey how his mind is fractured and his life is
unstable. He possesses odd characteristics such as eating whilst standing up, looking out the window
emphasizing his paranoia and lack of trust for anything. He feels like he constantly has to be on the ball so
he is prepared for anything. He has a very short temperament due to his lack of understanding of how
things really are and will get frustrated at little things as he feels he is constantly being attacked. He is not
close with his roommate (antagonist) and they live together purely for their financial benefit. Their
relationship is tense and awkward and they do not know each other very well as they rarely speak to each
other. He never gets a full nights sleep because of his constant worry of his surroundings and he does not
trust his roommate. He is a loner and does not like going outside and when he does he gets very
overwhelmed. He spends most of his time in his room
• Antagonist-
• The antagonist wears dark clothing to represent his intention to harm (?) his friend/roommate. He wears a
hood to hide the fact that he is the one chasing the protagonist. His shifty personality really prevents the
audience from fully trusting him and always having a sense of doubt around him. This leads to the audience
having a slight hatred for the antagonist because they know (but the protagonist doesn't) that they have or
will do something bad. The antagonist wears all black to show he has a hard side but also wears grey shoes
to portray there is potential for evil but it is not confirmed because he is not in full black.

6. TARGET AUDIENCE
• As our genre is a thriller our general target audience will be people who enjoy the elements of
suspense, tension, and excitement when watching a film. This is because thrillers are intriguing
as the audience is not fully aware of what is going on. The audience must enjoy anticipating
what is going to happen next.
• Our sub genre is a psychological thriller so there is a more specific target audience we
are targeting for our film. We want to target people who want to act as a detective when
watching a film as they need to be very focused and attentive when watching to be solving a
mystery. Our psychological thriller contains emotional and mental conflict, as the protagonist is
perceived as being mentally ill, instead of violence which can be very disturbing for younger
viewers and children would not be able to follow the plot. The audience will have to be able to
remember specific things throughout the film as they can have an impact in understanding our
plot.
• Our target audience is going to be people in the 24-25 year old age group as they will be able to
cope with mysterious nature of our film. They will have to be people who can concentrate for a
long period of time because of the subtle hints that will be important in later stages of the film.
This means they will have to be active people who work in active jobs who are regularly on
social media. They should go to the cinema at least once or twice a month seeing mostly
intriguing films so they are used to having to concentrate in order for them to stay with the plot.

7. IDEAS FOR TITLES AND OPENING SEQUENCE
• In our psychological thriller our titles are going to have a fussy sensation at
the very start in order to portray the unclear nature of our film. We will then
have titles, which are not fully clear to read by shadowing the text behind it
further emphasizing the uncertainty of the film. This titles will be presented
as the opening sequence is going on so the opening is not boring as we feel
white text on a black screen is very plain and not exciting for the audience.
We will also put the titles in the corners of the screen, as we do not want
them to fully distract the audience from what is actually going. We are going
to have the titles in green and brown, in the top corners of the screen when
there is grass, as this represents our title of snakes and ladders.

8. RELEVANT FILMS
• Relevant films that illustrate our ideas are the house at the end
of the street because of the psychological uncertainty of the
film.
• Another film is “The Guest” as we’re kept in the dark about
whether a certain character is a threat.

9. HOW THIS WILL APPEAL TO OUR TARGET
AUDIENCE?
• Our film opening is going to appeal to our target audience because it is very
intriguing and the audience is going to be unclear what is actually going to
happen which will appeal to our target audience of people who like playing
detective as they will be curious as to what is going to happen next. There
will be a lot of drama as our protagonist is getting chased by our antagonist,
(the antagonist’s roommate) however we make this initially unclear and all
the audience can see is the protagonist getting chased making it very
thrilling. This will entice the target audience because there will be a mystery
as to who the chaser actually is and whether or not it is the roommate or not.
Our target audience will enjoy the mental conflict in our film opening as the
antagonist battles with his own mind to figure out whether or not his
roommate can be trusted.

10. QUESTIONS
1. Do you think we can make it look like a character is entering a
room upstairs that’s actually downstairs?
2. What do you think makes a good psychological thriller, what do
you think we’re missing?
3. Is there anything you think we should avoid?