Script for Pitch (Short Film)

Script for Unit 4 Pitch:

The Idea?

Firstly, discussing the overall idea for the short film ‘Laughter’. After two teens are publicly humiliated by a Comedian known as Varsh, they seek revenge and cause havoc while Varsh is live on stage. The teens soon arrested have seeked their revenge and are only put on community service. Will Varsh’s show survive?

What is it?

My chosen genre is comedy. The film is called ‘Laughter’ I have chosen comedy as I feel the comedy genre itself is there to illicit laughter from the audience through entertaining stories and characters. Comedy films tend to have the hybrid sub-genre as humour can be incorporated to any given genre. Comedies have the tendency to fall back on an individual character as they are the star of the show.  The genre which I feel it hybrid’s between would be Drama as a lot is happening. An example would be when on stage and all the drama is happening as a lot of things are happening where Kay throws a pie in Varsh’s face this is funny but at the same time dramatic as after this Rhys and Kay make a run for the exit.

The Target Audience:

The chosen target audience for 'Laughter' would mostly appeal to would be teenagers to younger adults particularly in the age category of 15-25 year old's. 72% of my target audience it shows through recent research in which I undertook to find views and opinions towards my short idea, the age range which were interested were within 17-18 year olds. Through more additional research I was able to find out that this age group commonly watch films online. My film is not gender specific as I feel Comedy and especially ‘Laughter’ will appeal to both genders.

Method of Distribution:

The main way in which I and the production company will be distributing this short film will be through YouTube as it is free and it will offer us coverage before the film is released into a larger market once it has become for noticed. Later down the line I would wish to distribute the film through cinemas and or DVD’s depending on the success of my short film.

Research:

Further research in which I undertook when conducting a Focus Group, within this group there was four candidates who watched a certain scene within a chosen short film in which I had chosen due to it having similarities to my idea and owning the genre ‘Comedy’. The film which was watched was ‘The Translator’ this film involved scenes where the girl within the picture was translating for a boy who spoke English and a girl who spoke French, but it soon turned out that the girl was able to speak English. The girl who was the translator wasn’t aware of this and was jealous that the boy liked the other girl and made up things on both of their behalves as she thought they couldn’t understand each other.

At the end of the short, it becomes imminent that the French exchange student was able to speak English from the start and was just making fun of the two America-English students.

Through this I has asked the candidates who participated what exact effects within the scene they thought would be good to use within my own short film. A respondent suggested; a cliff-hanger of what will happen within the end of the film/ scene etc., I already have something similar but this made me think it will have a greater impact than before. With this information I was able to gather reliable data from the candidates in improving my short film when it comes to the development of ‘Laughter’.

When watching it myself I noticed a lot of Shot Reverse Shot and I thought this made the overall film look professional as it just continued and kept up with the pace I feel I can use this in my short film as conversations are being taken place throughout the film.

Gap in the Market:

Due to Comedy not being one of the major popular genres within the market, I feel that Laughter being chosen as a comedy genre will stand out more and have a wider impact over the other genres. I feel this is stronger as previously mentioned I feel the movie will be a hybrid between the Comedy and Drama genre, with this I feel it is not popular in the market and will allow something new to be produced and give it more of a realist edge. I feel like this would be more engaging for my set target audience.

Example of Comedy Films; the Hangover, Bad Moms, Get Hard, Ride along…

Within a recent questionnaire in which I conducted there was a choice of Comedy films which I had asked if my audience had seen; (shown in the picture) every candidate had seen at least one of the comedy films, this show’s to some perspective that the comedy genre appeals to a high amount of people.

Budget:

Due to Themenight productions having a £0 - £500 budget, Themenight productions are being provided with a huge majority of the equipment from a sister company known as 'Scope productions'. This will be free of charge and will help with accommodating the low budget. This covers equipment. Comedy films which have been successful on a low budget. One comedy film in which I recently came across within researching competitors was ‘A Reasonable Request’. The editor/ director of this film was able to conduct the production with minimal costs involved. With the information Themenight productions was able to find we were then able to look deeper into saving sufficient funds from the limited budget which we were already given.  With the relevant information this allows me to know that films can be successful with a minimal budget and this therefore allows me not to hold back on my idea.

Cast:

As for Crew and Cast I will be using amateur actors who are wanting to get recognition for their skills. They won’t be charging as this will be a good experience in advancing their current skills.

Crew:

Themenight are going to be using a skeleton crew which consists of 5 people rather than a whole set of people. The roles involved within the skeleton crew are Director of Photography, Lighting Operator, Sound Recordist, Cinematographer and Production Assistant. The reason for choosing these roles over other roles would be as I and Themenight productions feel these are the most relevant roles when it comes to Skeleton Crew and the smoothness of the overall production of ‘Laughter’ these roles would have most impact on the success of the film.

Resources/ Equipment:

Manfrotto 057 Carbon fibre tripod kit with ball head Q5

-      The reason for using a tripod would be as it will help steady the camera and ensure the success within the filming process.

Canon EOS C300 Mark II

-     I feel using this specific camera will give the competitive edge in which is required when trying to beat competitors. As it’s viable and easy to handle/ use, this will help within the filming stage as the camera isn’t complicated to work around.

AVID Editing Software/ MacBook’s (iMovie)

-      AVID I feel is one of the most updated editing software’s which is used regularly within the media industry as it allows users to edit at a faster rate than other editing packages. It is also a very professional piece of software adding extra production value to the film.

Location:

Themenight productions have been granted permission from a local school (The Beacon School) to be able to film after school hours (3-4pm), On Tuesdays and Thursdays filming can only start after 4pm.

Another location which is within the school is the SDC I feel this will be the appropriate location for when Varsh (The Comedian) throws a wet substance at Kay and Rhys which starts the whole initial conflict.

Project Schedule:

The Project Schedule is that filming will take roughly two to two and a half weeks, within these weeks the filming will consist on maybe 3 or 4 days within one week and then the same for the next week.

In a recent meeting which took place on the 10/01/2017 with Cast and Crew we all spoke around dates and availability and luckily everyone was available during weekdays after 3pm between the 23/01/17 till 13/02/17 this allows more than two weeks of production time which will allow us more time within the editing stage of things.

Copyright:

Within the overall Copyright area, I am keeping background themed music to a complete minimum or not even use any at all. It is crucial to ensure nothing is copyrighted as this could cause problems later on.

Any music which will be used will come from https://www.jamendo.com/ as it is free and avoid any copyrighted claims towards it.