Pitch Presentation- Offline

Pitch Presentation- OfflineBy Fatima mohamed, elay rahmany and salma el-sayed

BriefOur group decided to produce a thriller/drama promotional package which includes a trailer, magazine cover and film poster. All ancillary texts surround the concept of thriller/drama and they are the medium that will be used to promote our thriller/drama product Offline.

Initial ideas

Storyline- Abigail, a studious warm hearted 22-year-old loving girl, in her final year of university decides to head back home and relax during her winter break. She receives a friend request from a stranger. Marcus. After accepting Marcuss friend request, their conversations turned intimate as Abigail starts to develop feelings for Marcus. His personality was the cherry on top of the cake due to his good looks. Abigail eager to meet up with Marcus convinces him to meet her at a coffee shop for a date. After long hours, Marcus reluctantly agrees to the coffee date. However, Marcus did not turn up. Abigail has been stood up or so she thought. Whilst gazing dolefully out the coffee shop window, she notices a man in dark mysterious clothing openly staring at her. After sincere apologies from Marcus, his excuse of being with his terminally ill sister which prevented him from turning up to the date. This reassured Abigail and she decided to meet up with him again, but this time in a park. Similar to the last date, there was a no show from Marcus. On the other hand, Abigail recognises the mysterious man that was staring at her outside the coffee shop. Once more, the mysterious man has his eyes fixed on Abigail. Abigail paranoid, realises that she is being followed. In a fight or flight situation, her instinct tells her to run. She finds herself entering an eerie alley way, trying to hide from the mysterious man. She calls her best friend Amanda and heads straight to her house. Amanda attempting to calm Abigail down by persuading her to try a bag of cocaine. Without much thought of the drug, Abigail abandons the bag of cocaine into her coat pocket. Due to the heteromorphic events, Abigail is afraid that Marcus might not be who he claims himself to be. In order to find out, Abigail confronts him. After disputing with Marcus, he finally reveals who he really is; a boy from her past, once upon a time an outcast called Tyler, isolated and victimised. She was his saviour and that had imprinted on him since secondary school. Manically obsessed with Abigail, Tyler frantically starts following her. With too much too stress to handle, Abigail surrenders to the drugs that she was given by Amanda and overdoses.

Storyline ContinuedCharacters- We have 4 main characters in our film and their names are Abigail- the protagonist and she is the victim in this case because she is being horribly stalked/harassed, Marcus- the man she meets over the internet but is Tyler in real life (hes catfishing her), Amanda- the Protagonist's friend and Tyler- the antagonise who keeps stalking Abigail. We wanted to follow the basic codes and convention of a thriller/drama genre by having a goodie and a badie.Setting- The film will be shot is different places such as her bedroom, a coffee shop, the park and an alleyway and lastly at her friends house.

Generic conventions of Thriller/DramaThe genre for the film Offline is thriller/drama. This means that our film has lots of dramatic scenes where the atmosphere is very tense. There are also thrilling bits in the film where the audience anticipate what's going to happen next in the film. The normal codes and convention of a thriller/drama genre is the main character and the antagonist character have a dispute and its very dramatic, we are trying to involve this in our film Offline, where the prodigious Abigail and the antagonise Tyler speak on the phone. Furthermore, Thriller/Drama Codes and conventions involve: lots of tense music, diegetic sound of breathing and montage of shots in a fast pace.Low key lighting Quick cuts Shadows Changes in the angle of shots Black and white shots Protagonist is in the mercy of the AntagonistMobile phones, alcohol and drugsWhat makes a Thriller/drama different from all other genres is due to its specific genre conventions that allows the tension to rise and drop and intrigue the audience and draws them in.

Generic ConventionsThe generic conventions of our thriller/drama film is filled with:High rising tensionViolenceProtagonistAntagoniseIsolated dangerous settingDrugs Low key lightingTense musicShadows

Audience research https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19Emo0CFGDU#t=310.21From reading the storyline, he picks up on a moral message of 'the consequences of social media and staying safe'. He finds it weird, maybe its because the storyline is very one-sided (as it doesn't show the positives of social media). However, he understood the impacts of social media depends on the person using it (how they use it.) "There are good people using it and there are bad people using it."When we asked the question about what he would change, he said that it was a little to dark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X7FeAnEzvA#t=891.20His opinionof what makes a good opening sequence is by far the most helpful response out of the other interviewees. He suggested the idea of showing a computer screen that says hello/how as a first opening shot. It correlates with the whole social media aspect (Facebook) of the storyline, "sums up what your film is about." We will be ensuring the social media aspect by featuring the computer screen in the trailer.

Target audience - DemographicWe have chosen our target audience to be 18 and above to 45 due to our film rating and the violence and foul language that we have in our film. We got to the final decision after we interviewed a couple of people.

Target audience - demographicWe have decided to target male and females because we want to break away from the codes and conventions of a thriller/drama genre where male are normally the target audience. We believe that this will help us generate more profit for our film.

Target audience - demographicOur target audience are middle class because we believe that they will be able to afford our film price. Furthermore, we also believe that people who are upper class can also afford our film but we are targeting middle class people who consist of young adults and working class people.

Target audience - demographicWe are targeting people in the UK because we are funded by independent film companies and can not afford to play it in other countries.

Target audience psychographics and summaryDue to the film being based on a thriller/drama background the demographic we are targeting are male and female aged 18 and over. The reason that we chose male and female in our demographic is because we believe that they could enjoy the suspense and there is no essence of blood and gore so the female wouldnt have to feel squeamish. Although males are stereotypically known to watch thriller type of films we have decided to break that convention and target females audience as well. The reason we rated our film 18+ is because our film has essence of drugs (hard drugs) and it has to follow the guidelines that are set by the BBFC. Furthermore, the psychographic target of our film are the mainstreamers and quirkies, since thriller/drama genres are the new craze and we believe that it would suite their taste.

Treatment 1st Draft

Our first draft had too much descriptive writing which a lot of people did not like. They thought a story line should not bee to informative and that it should only have the basic important information that would help people understand the initial film idea. We also change our film name from Never ending to Offline because people thought that Offline would suite our thriller/drama genre based film and would be better linked with the internet/technology theme.

Final Treatment- Unique selling point

This is our final treatment. We had shortened it to fit in to about 300 words and had edited out many words. We have also now have actual actors for our cast list and have got pictures of them instead of celebrities. The reason that our treatment and film idea would have a unique selling point is because its based around a true story and people generally like films that are based around true stories. Furthermore, we have young attractive actors/actresses and this attracts in lots of people because they are good looking. We also have people from different ethnicity involved in our film. We also shooting our film in urban well known area so most of the audience can relate with the film and its location. Our last most important selling point is the fact that many people are catfished so they can relate to the film very well and would more likely watch the film.

Story board

We tried to make our story board colourful and professional. We also tried to make our story board as descriptive as we can with the setting, camera movement, camera shot. We also talked about audio with in our film and how we would incorporate the audio. We would add extra sound affects to build up the tension in our trailer/film.

MusicThe first track I had chosen is called Iron Man from the copyright free music website called audio network. This track is very fast paced and would suit well with our film trailer because it sounds dauntingand exciting at the same time and it would suit the codes and conventions of a thriller/drama film genre.The second music track that I had chosen is called Eliminated from the same copyright free music website that i had mentioned in the top paragraph. The reason that i had chosen this track is because it starts of slow and very sinister and as the track continues it builds up the atmosphere. This track would be suitable for the film trailer because in the middle of our film trailer is where we want to build up the tension and this track is perfect for it.The third and final track I chose is called Secret Lives from a website called audio network. The reason i have chosen this track is because it starts out really slow then the tempo increases and builds up the tension that the audience would feel if. Furthermore, this track would suite the thriller and drama genre of the film trailer that we are making. I chose this to be the final track that I had chosen from the three track that i had. The reason that I chose it is because it would suite our film trailer with a slow calm/scary beginning to an action packed middle that builds up tension and atmosphere. This would help the audience enjoy the trailer more because the atmosphere is high and low not the same.

Audio

I have also downloaded a audio of heartbeat incising which we can use when Abigail is running away from the stalker Tyler. This would be beneficial because it would help increase the tension of our film/trailer and it also follows the codes and conventions of a thriller/drama film genre.

Furthermore, we will recorded the fast breathing audio our self as a voice over because the ones on the internet seem to superficial and would not suite our characters style of breathing.

Cast list

AbigailTyler/MarcusAmandaThe people we chose for our cast are people we thought would fit in on our character descriptions. We believed that an innocent blond girl would fit the description of Abigail. We also believed that Tyler/Marcus would be a tall, rough looking antagonist and would fit our idea of Tyler. Some of them also have acting skills and that benefits our production and increase our film quality.

AbigailAbigail is the main character of our film/trailer. The whole stalker story revolves around her. She is a 22 year old university girl who goes home for the winter break and is trying to have some fun during the holidays. She is a girl with blond hair, Caucasian skin and brown or blue eyes. We want the actor who is playing Abigail to look innocent because in our mind Abigail has always seemed innocent. Our actor can wear any casual clothes thats in fashion now, we really dont mind, we just want her to look casual and fit in. Her motive in our film/trailer is to have fun during the holiday and she starts that on by logging back in to her Facebook because of all the spare/free time she has. Thats where she meets Marcus and also where the trouble starts.

Tyler (pretending to be Marcus)Tyler is also one of the main characters in our film/trailer. He's a young 22 year old who lives with his parents and is unemployed. Hes Abigail's past and has not really moved forward since leaving sixth form. Hes a tall, rough looking, chocolate coloured boy with black hair and brown eyes. He also wears casual clothes but his reason on wearing casual clothes is due to the fact that he wants to blend in and not get noticed. He's a quite guy who's had a violent upbringing and horrible school life. The horrible school experience had put him off the whole concept of university and education. His only hope has always been Abigail and his fixed his trance on her when she came back home for the holidays. He motive in this film/trailer is to get the girl in Any way necessary which involves cat-fishing and stalking.

AmandaAmanda is Abigails best friend who is also 22 years old. She is also on her winter holiday from university and loves spending her time partying. She is Caucasian with brown hair and brown eyes. She takes pride in her appearance and likes to keep in touch with the latest's trend and fashion. She's a really outgoing girls and plans to introduce Abigail to her favourite hobbies which is partying. Due to her increase of partying she now has connections with people who supply drugs and she uses the drugs to have fun. Abigail does not have a huge part in the film/trailer but she is still important to the film/trailer. She is the one who influences Abigail to take drugs.

Risk Assessment

RiskLevel of riskPossible hazardsSolutionsFilming equipments (Video recorder, microphone, Tripod and camera)Losing the schools expensive filming equipments on our journey.Dropping the equipment where the screen could smash or break the equipment.As part of the crew, we will all double check that our equipment is safe with us. But to take extra cautions, we will write the school address and put it inside the equipment bags to be found.The crew will take extra care when handling the equipment and we will follow the instruction sheet about using the equipments i.e. we will detach the camera to the tripod when adjusting or moving the tripod.Losing memory cardThe memory card is incredibly tiny that the possibility of losing it is high. As our work would be installed in the memory card, we would also lose our work. We could arrive at our destination and have no memory card to shoot our scenes.The memory card will be inserted into the camera quickly after taking it out as the camera is in a secure place for the memory card.An extra memory card will be in the camera bag pouch so we having to film with.

Legal rightsThe owners of an area such as cafe Nero would prosecute us for filming, resulting in deleting the footage and a heavy fine to be paid.Since Cafe Nero has outside seating, we will take advantage of this by shooting outside which will cause less disruption to the manager. A coffee will also be bought in order to build trust.However, before everything else, when shooting on a private property, we will try and consent of the owners first to prevent being in trouble.

Ruin equipment and props from rain The rain will inevitably damage the equipment as well as the props. The crew will each beach umbrellas and be held above the equipments and camera whilst shooting. Also, a plastic sheet or a matt will be place underneath the props thats on the ground with an umbrella protecting it from the rain. The hazardous rainy weather When it comes to the park scene, the grass will become muddy and wet which would cause serious harm if the crew is not cautious. If we are running out of time, some of us would resort to running and eventually slip, causing injuries. Moreover, due to the rainy weather, catching a cold is inevitable, this would prevent the people who are ill to continue filming with the crew. Because it is so dangerous, the crew will wear appropriate foot ware and suitable warm rain protection clothes.. The crew will be advised to make brisk walking the highest speed of transportation by foot and not running. But then again, serious accidents may arise. Hence why we will note down the nearest hospital.For safety measures, the weather forecast will be checked upon where bad weather will be avoided.

Lighting As the season will be winter when we start filming, the light intensity will be extremely low as darkness will quickly overtake the bright day. This will result in a bad quality offilming as the audience will not be able to make out the actor/actress faces or surrounding. As the season will be winter when we start filming, the light intensity will be extremely low as darkness will quickly overtake the bright day. This will result in a bad quality offilming as the audience will not be able to make out the actor/actress faces or surrounding.

Authentic props Since we are using plain flour to disguise as drugs, the police might stop us and take the crew for questioning The flour bag will be brought with us for proof of the powders natural state. Once outside, the crew will be cautious of our surroundings and not flaunt the powder for the public to see. It will be discrete.

Ancillary taskFor our ancillary text we aimed to produce a magazine cover and film poster for our thriller/drama film.We had made the film poster sketch which includes an eye with the main character inside the pupil. This highlights the stalker that is watching her and how she is soul to his life i.e eyes are the windows to the soul. We also made the title of the film curve with the eyes so that it matches and does not look odd. The site for the questionnaire results is:As you can see from the graphs most of the people we asked did like our film poster but most had criticism over our magazine cover. They said that our magazine cover has to match the film poster so that the similarity can be distinguished and people can relate the film poster to the magazine cover. Furthermore, many people wanted to change some features of the film poster such as;making the title more bold so that it stands out from the page, making the eye bigger and adding more characters from the film in to the film poster and improving the magazine cover.Most of the people we asked thought that the priority should be making the magazine cover and the film poster similar. Everyone who had answer out questionnaire had said that they would watch our trailer based on the magazine cover and the film poster, this gave us some hope because even though people criticised our magazine cover they still would watch the trailer.http://www.polljunkie.com/poll/bozias/questionnaire/view

Our magazine cover and film poster

Our film poster - It stands out with the eye and the main character in the pupil of the eye. Its very bold and links with the whole concept of stalkers, how they watch your every move.

Our magazine cover has images of the two main characters facing each other, like a face off. This is quite effective because everyone can see the tension that exists between the two characters.

Graph for film poster and magazine.

Title

Distribution IFC films is the chosen company to distribute the movie Offline. Its parent company is the AMC network. Although IFC films is an American company (based in New york), it has boost the success of British films such as Chalet girl, Fish tank and Hunger. Hunger in which managed to win the title Best film in theBritish Independent Film Awards 2008. Thus, thered be a high chance of Offline in winning an award.

In addition, the genre of Fish tank is Drama and their target audience are teens and young adults. Both similar to Offline. Therefore, by knowing that IFC films have distributed similar films to Offline, IFC films would seem like a trustworthy company to guarantee the success ofOffline.

Since Offline is an independent film, it will hugely benefit from IFC films as they primarily focus on distributing independent films. With their expertise in majoring independent films, Offline would prosper in the hands of IFC films.The formation of IFC films started in 2000, till then, IFC films holds a renowned status of beinga leading U.S. distributor of independent film.

Its unique distribution model makes independent films available to a national audience by releasing them in theaters as well as on cables Video On Demand (VOD) platform, reaching nearly 50 million homes. -IFC website.

IFC films would ensure that Offline is to be viewed by a large population as it access video demand and in iTunes, Netflix, amazon prime and in the theatres for the public to view. Thus, profits will be high.

Independent Production CompanyThe independent production company that we came up with is called Innovation Studio. The name is quite unique because innovation means making something so it ties up with the whole idea of the film/trailer that we are creating.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

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