AS Media Studies: The Pitch

The Pitch

When making a film, you always need to pitch it in order to receive feedback and comments. The pitch reveals key elements of the film, such as plot, characters, locations and titles.

My Pitch:

Location - The Beacon School

Costume - Casual clothes (students)

Lighting - Nightvision on the camera, natural lighting

Sound - Diegetic and ambient

Dialouge - Improvised (to make it feel more real) and some key moments scripted

Titles - Production titles, film industry name, title of film, actors credits

Camera movement - Handheld

Camera shots - Medium shot, two shot, close ups, tracking shots
Characters - Grace, Sophie and Erin (all 17)

Film Synopsis:

Surrey, England, 2011. Three students set out to discover what really happened in the forbidden East Wing of their school after rumours that a tragic event had supposedly left the room haunted. They prepare to film their experience on cameras and present their findings to their friends, family and school. After breaking and entering the school late at night, they begin to find a way into the closed off East Wing, a derelict classroom and office. They spend a while within the ‘haunted’ classroom, however, nothing happens and the students start to relax, joking that it was all a lie to scare people. They are later joined by two more students. Suddenly, a book gets chucked across the room, followed by several pens. The students freak out and blame one another for trying to scare eachother however, they all insist they did nothing. Tension rises as more minor paranormal activity reoccurs, until a couple of the students threaten to leave. After being persuaded not to run, one of the students discovers a crumpled, old local newspaper underneath a pile of books. The newspaper is dated November 1978 and the headline reads “Murder at Local High School”. The article details what happened within the East Wing to cause it to be locked up and never accessed again. They find out how two girls who became caught up with strange folklore committed horrific murder by sacrificing themselves. The students then perform a séance. The two students that joined them later on scribble something onto a paper and end up jogging one of the desks; however the other three students only see a pen moving on its own and the creepy thumping of the desk legs on the floor. We then discover that the two students are actually the ghosts of the two girls and they were the ones producing the paranormal activity (the audience sees the parallel worlds side by side, however, only discover they are separate until the end of the movie when the ghosts and humans collide).

Film Synopsis DRAFT 2:

Surrey, England, 2009. Three students set out to discover what really happened in the forbidden East Wing of an old, derelict school after rumours that a tragic event had supposedly left the room haunted. They prepare to film their experience on cameras and use the footage to create a documentary for part of a media product. After breaking and entering the school late at night, they begin to find a way into the closed off East Wing. They spend a while within the ‘haunted’ classroom, however, nothing happens and the students start to relax, joking that it was all a lie to scare people. Suddenly, a book gets chucked across the room, followed by several pens. The students freak out and blame one another for trying to scare eachother however, they all insist they did nothing. Tension rises as more minor paranormal activity reoccurs, until a one of them threatens to leave. After being persuaded not to run, one of the students discovers a crumpled, old local newspaper underneath a pile of books. The newspaper is dated November 1978 and the headline reads “Murder at Local High School”. The article details what happened within the East Wing to cause it to be locked up and never accessed again. They find out how two girls who became caught up with strange folklore committed horrific murder by sacrificing themselves by starting and burning in a fire, leaving half the school to become incenerated. The students then perform a séance and the newspaper suddenly ignites. Screaming, the girls put the fire out, but the paranormal occurences don't stop there...

Synopsis of the Opening:

Old black and white stock footage, of what appears to be a school, plays. The footage is worn and jumpy as it tracks down the corridor. The footage is also silent except the rattling of a projector. The footage halts at a door then abruptly stops.

Present Day - twilight (around 6.00) - Outside, two students are being filmed by their friend on a video camera. It's getting dark, they are wrapped up in coats and have a large rucksack with them. They explain that they are keeping a video diary. They narrate to the camera about their project to sleep in a 'haunted' room to capture any paranormal activity, because rumour has it that there is. The students appear to be joking around and not taking the project seriously; they don't believe that anything will happen. The friend on the camera follows them as they walk down a dark road.

Shots List:

These are the shots I want to use in my opening two minutes: