Film Production and Pitching An Idea

Film Production

When it comes to producing a film,  there are three key stages that the film must be processed through before it is released to the audience; production, distribution and exhibition. This means that the investors within these three stages will have a commanding influence over the film at various points within its production. It is important to keep track of how much is spent on each of these stages, mainly to ensure that each one gets even expenditure, so one is not lagging behind another.

Within the films production the producer plays a variety of important roles, the first and extremely important one is taking the initial idea of the film and raising the belief that it can be done, and that it can be a success. Before this can be done there does however need to be an inspiration for the film, and this can come from many diverse locations, such as a book, play or television programmes ect.

Once the films idea has been concluded and summarised, the producer will proceed to present the potential investors with a “package”. This package will include detailed storylines and scripts, the generic characteristics of the film ( genre) so it can be identified whether there is any potential for success in the current film market. A proposed budget will be necessary and also required is a story board of key scenes, to give the investors an idea of whats going on within the film.  An established director with proven success will help attract an audience to the film while at the same time reassuring the investors, the same can be said for the cast of the film, the bigger the names the more potential attraction to the film there will be. A talented an experienced “behind the camera” crew will also aid the overall quality of the film and then finally a list of any potential spin offs or sequels ect, another potential road to profit for the investing committee.

The Pitch

The pitch is the term used for to the producers presentation of the package of a potential film. The pitches themselves are often straight forward and easy for the potential investors to understand, so they can get a good grasp of what the film will be like and whether its worth them investing. The character and narration within the pitch will be kept to a basic level to aid in this also.

High Concept Films

High concept films are the Hollywood studios response to the high risks of film production, and they can include repackaging previously successful elements of a film, such as the high rated staff and successful directors, or extending an existing films franchise with a sequel, or creating variations of a film to meet the current popular genres.

The Pitch

Pitch

In order to aid myself in the later production of my media coursework, it was nessacary to create an idea for a short film, from which I could make myself comfortable with the various planning and development aspects required to deliver a good film.

For my potential film I have chosen to create a film named “Bermuda”. The general plot of this film is set in 1921 and based upon the idea that the entire crew and passengers onboard a cruse vessel apart from one young girl are lost during a storm within the Bermuda triangle, this ship will eventually be found by a a military cruser sent out to find them after the cruse ship lost contact with the mainland, the film will then be based upon finding out what happened based upon the information they can get from the survivor, a young girl struch with fear and no clear apparent memory of what happened.

The opening scene will take place on board the military vessel as it sails through a storm attempting to locate the lost ship. Through the storm there will then be a long shot to establish the ships light across the water and then as the military vessel closes in there will be medium shots aimed at the losst ship to show there is noone there, this will then be backed up by closes up showing the confusion of the crew, followed by an establishing shot to show them all running into their various action stations and a an action shot of the boarding party going across, where the camera will play the part of a member of this party to add to the drama of the situation. After a long search the girl is shown sat in a room clutching the remnants of a teddy bear while rocking back and forth. This will mark the end of the opening scene, which I believe by containing strong elements of mystery will grab the audiences attention.

The idea for this film takes its idea from tales of the Bermuda triangle aswell as the story of the mary celeste, which was supposedly found abandoned in  1872.

The key selling point for this film is it that it takes an unexplained superstion and then takes it to box office, almost to say this could potentially happen, so that and the great mystery behind it should attract a good amount of positive attention.

Settings: at sea, the whole film will take place on these 2 vessels