Friday 19 December 2014

Planning and Pitching Practice

In a media lesson we were given the opportunity to practice planning and pitching a film idea in groups as if it was our own final film idea. I was in a group with James Huxtable and Harriet Watson.  In our groups we were given 4 elements to a film that we had to incorporate into our opening, these were:

  • Character: 'Jack' 26 years old
  • Character: 'Jane' 20 years old
  • Genre: Horror
  • Prop: a Knife
We immediately decided we wanted the location to be a working environment and that Jack and Jane would be romantically attracted to each other. From this, many ideas spiralled and below is our final one. We all had the same basic idea, however due to lack of time together during this lesson we may have come up with different character names (not types) and slightly different ways in which each character dies and how, although the idea of 'stages' remained the same. Below is the final idea.

Location
Relatively small call centre in a skyscraper building in New York.

Characters
Jack= Jack is well liked, he blends in within his workplace and has a romantic interest in his new colleague, Jane, who he knows from outside the job.

Jane= Jane is new to the call centre and no one knows her however, respect her. Jane got the job mainly her skills however unknown to her, as a trusty employee Jack recommended her to their CEO, Joseph.

Jimmy= Physically weak and angry due to the fact he is always underestimated. He turns to crime and is the criminal mastermind behind all the deaths.

Dominic= Office bully, not particularly liked. Dictates to and intimidates other workers in the centre, particularly Jimmy. Has a love interest in Kate who he has had a one night stand with previously but admits to genuinely liking. Aside from this he does have a sensitive side revealed in the film

Stan= One of Dominic's side kicks. He enjoys violence, power and feeling important.

Philip= Phillip is gentle and emotionally week, however likeable and kind.

Mary= Mary is the mother figure within the call centre, she is elderly and close to retirement.

Patrick= Patrick is the calm and level headed supervisor who is very much liked.

Kate= The 'attractive' secretary, she has a history with Dominic and reveals she still has genuine feelings for him.

Joseph= Joseph is the CEO of the call centre, he is the ultimate boss. He is friendly, a straight talker and very good at his job.

Plot
The opening scene shows it is a Monday morning, it is Jane's first day in the office and as the CEO introduces and welcomes her she appears exited and he appears normal. Ridley is being teased by Dominic and his sidekicks and casual conversation starts. A scream is suddenly heard from the Boss's office, workers walk in to find Joseph hung dead in the cupboard which is put down to a suicide, everyone tries to call the police and escape the building but for some reason are unable to.

In the first stage a pre-recorded message plays from a tannoy explaining that the 27 in the room must go down to 9. Suddenly the real reason behind Joseph's death is played on every computer scene, followed by a covered+masked face and body from an unknown location showing that it wasn't actually a suicide, but a murder. Stan goes on a murderous rampage as Jack and Jane manage to hide in the small bathroom connected to the room. As he is about to kill someone for the last and 17th time making Kate his newest victim, Dominic decides to step up, deciding enough is enough and risks being killed for her, prevailing and choking Stan to death.

In the second stage workers are given a few minutes to breathe whilst they wait to see what happens next, as Phillip goes to the bathroom his weak and sensitive nature gets the better of him as well as fear, causing him to jump out of the window due to trauma and the unknown of what will happen next. The voice from the tannoy returns explaining the 9 remaining must turn to 3 and workers are told to find a letter in a draw next to where Joseph was murdered in order to find a twist. Jimmy steps up to try and prove himself and in a letter it is revealed that there is an electric chair made to slowly kill at least one of the workers that they must use in this stage, also revealing that the one brave enough to open the letters life should be spared...in order to try and show a form of twisted decency. Mary sacrifices herself as she declares she has had a wonderful life and is satisfied with her decision, she asks Patrick to pull the trigger and even though he relents, he knows it is for the best. This is one of the saddest points of the film and also the point where Dominic and Kate decide to tell each other how they really feel, that they do love each other. Much to Dominic's distress this results in Kate sacrificing her life because all she wanted to do was make him happy. Dominic becomes increasingly distressed and begins ordering others to sacrifice their lives just as the one he loved did, particularly the other forming relationship, aiming his anger towards Jack and Jane. It is at this point where Jack lies to save Jill by saying that she is pregnant and therefore should be saved, everyone is agreement and therefore Dominic himself decides to take the slow painful death of sitting in the electric chair and so 2 more need to go. Charlotte is deeply wounded by an attempted attack from Stan earlier in stage 1 and is loosing blood quicker now, she deciders it is time to give up as with the locked doors she is not going to make it, she pulls the trigger on a gun for a quicker and easier death after saying goodbye and good luck to the remaining workers. Patrick, Jack, Jane and Jimmy are now in the room and they know one needs to go out of Jack and Patrick. Patrick see's that Jack cares for Jane and could possibly be the father of her baby, and so being the level headed man he is, decides it is his time to go.

It is finally the third stage where only 3 are left, Jack, Jane and Jimmy. Jimmy feels sick and runs to the bathroom to be sick, it is at this point when Jack and Jane look at the computer screens with the frozen image of the killer...they notice a watch...the same watch that Jimmy is wearing. As Jimmy realises they have discovered he is the killer, he shoots Jack in the head before he can confront him, Jane is helpless and distraught as Jimmy explains how powerful and clever he is and as Jane insults him we hear a bang and see Jimmy walk out wiping blood off his jacket.

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