Creating My Film Pitch

Sophie Green is a sweet seventeen year old girl who lives in Ohio.

She just happened to fall in love with the wrong guy.

Blinded by love, she lies as she tell her family she is going on a girly holiday to get over him.

As Sophie seeks secret refugee at Kai’s house, all is not as it seems.

Clue by clue, her boyfriends dark secrets start to unwravel and her refugee suddenly becomes her prison.

This once innocent lie fabricated by love and desire, now holds more than one life in danger.

genre of horror aims to evoke emotions of fear and terror within the audience and hopes to visually show our worst fears which may achieve a cathartic response. It usually involves common themes of death, mental illness and the supernatural. The characters within this film genre usually have central villain to which the plot revolves around and a character that the audience are compassionate towards and therefore feel terror for their safety. Horror films traditionally combine with science fiction, such as films like Frankenstein, however a modern approach to the genre has seen a sense of realism, which in turn makes the audience fear for their own safety. This approach helps to engage the audience and stimulate more emotions that before.

The plot of my film is about a young teenage girl called Sophie who’s boyfriend, Kai, becomes isolated and out casted from her family, as they believe he will only cause drama in her life. With Sophie’s anger raging from being forbidden to see her boyfriend, she arranges a girly holiday in the UK, or so her family thinks. Really Sophie plans to spend the week with her boyfriend and couldn’t feel further from ultimate bliss. Although as time goes on Sophie grows suspicious of her boyfriends late nights and the blood stains she finds on his clothes. One day when Sophie is looking for a film to watch she discovers the horrific truth. As she plays the film her world crumbles and she knows that she is in danger as she watches her boyfriend: a rapist and a murderer. Bounding through the doors she tries to escape but Kai suddenly appears and drags her down to the cellar, where she sees the first evidence of his sickening secret. A bed with handcuffs attached to every corner of the bed for each foot and hand. As Sophie lays trapped Kai vindictively calls her sister in front of her helpless and ‘begs her to see him as he is so worried because Sophie has run away’. As Kai licks his lips he goes to hunt down his next victim. She knows her sisters fate, she's lying in the evidence, and yet will give anything to stop this, even her own life. A tragic story of sisterly love and sinister lies, but does good always prevail?

Sophie is the protagonist in the film and is portrayed as a sweet girl, who is stereotypical of an American sweetheart. She works hard at school, loves her family and cares for her friends greatly. However, love is a vision that is so dear to Sophie and when Kai takes interest in her, she falls head over heels for him and isolates herself from everything she found important. This makes her greatly dependent on Kai and very vulnerable to him.

Kai is a deceitful character with an evil hidden agenda. He takes great interest in Sophie’s innocence and beauty, and takes pleasure in corrupting her and having her as a trophy. The conflict with her family only encourages Kai as he thrives off other people’s pain. His crimes of rape and murder make him feel invincible and his control over Sophie arouses him, which makes him lead this double life of secrets.

I would like to use certain actresses and actors within my film, although it may not always be possible I will still like to share my vision.

I believe Rachel Mc Adams would play the part of Sophie beautifully as she has previously acted in the role of a sweetheart in the film ‘The Notebook’, in which she also has conflict with her family due to her choice of partner. She has also acted in thrillers such as ‘Redeye’ and has an endearing appearance, which may help the audience feel compassionate towards.

I also believe that the role of Kai would be most suitable for Cillian Murphy. Cillian Murphy has a charming appearance but however can have the look of no emotion and no remorse. Previously Murphy also acted in the movie ‘Red eye’ and played the role of the villian extremely well, sowing a callous side to him, which Kai must have. The main character would have therefore also worked together and avoided any demands or conflict that might have occurred between two professionals.

The target audience for most horror movies are people aged between 15 – 45. This is because between these ages people are less shocked then others and can appreciate the films artwork without finding it too offensive to watch. The certification of 15 is what I am aiming for, otherwise I will lose a huge percentage of my target audience and will ultimately lose money due to the restrictions. They will most likely be a group of people who watch the film, in order to comfort each other and to experience the emotions together. This would not be suitable for a family as this will not provide the parents with nothing but distress.

Many films within the same genre can be seen to have many similar aspects within other films as well, this is because the genre has many conventions and in following them your story will have similar ideas. My film grabs the best elements of horror of dark secrets, violence, isolation, helplessness and revenge. The concept of the film is the fear of the unknown and the loss of control we have over it, this concept is shown in the title of the film, ‘Secrets’. It creates an emotional and fearful experience that will terrify and keep the audience thoroughly entertained.

My task was to create a pitch for an original film that we had created. I found this very challenging to think of the plot for the film, as it had to be appealing to my target audience and it couldn't already exist. It also had to be something that i could realistically use to film a trailer, if i choose to use that plot.

I wanted to do a film under the genre of horror, as i researched it and presented a presentation on two trailers and the conventions of horror. I found this genre the most interesting compared to comedy, which i also investigated. I wanted to do a genre that i had researched as i have gained knowledge from this and will be more confident in creating a trailer from it.

In my film pitch i included lots of details about the film, such as the plot, possible casting, the genre of horror and its conventions, my target audience, an introduction to the film, character analysis and similar films.

After creating a plot i found it easier to think of the other details, as my film came together it seemed like it fitted into the horror genre well. My presentation contained slides that didn't use much writing in order to make the audience think, whilst i gave them more detail from my script.