Pitching your Idea-Task and Blog Post

•Use Powerpoint or Prezi to create your pitch

•At least 5 minutes in length-every group member must contribute

•Choose your best idea and ‘pitch’ it to the rest of the class. You should discuss in detail:

•The plot of your thriller opening

•A storyboard of your opening

•Possible locations, costumes, visual effects

•One key moment of suspense you hope to create in the opening

Deadline: Tuesday 13th December 2016

Here are a few pointers as to what does and doesn’t make a successful opening…

 

• You are only producing an opening to a film. In the past, many groups have spent a long time thinking about plot twists and turns that would make a good film, but that are too complex to be used in a two minute opening.

 

• Keep ideas simple. Someone once said that ‘less is more’ and this is certainly true in terms of your thriller opening – the more successful openings are ones based on a simple narrative structure. Remember! It’s not necessarily the story that provides suspense but the way this story is filmed.

 

• Think about using everyday locations/characters/events. Audiences are far more affected by something happening in scenarios and with characters they can recognise than something they have no experience of.

 

• DON’T use ANY of these props/storylines in your opening:

• Hoodies
• Knives, guns, blood
• Mobile phones
• ‘Stalking’ storylines (i.e. no dark figures following people through parks/shopping centres/along canals)
  We have decided to ‘ban’ these things because they are not only overused but also tend to make for a predictable (and quite boring) opening. Bear in mind how many other colleges and schools there are across Britain that are making an opening – we want your work to stand out!
   
  Some guidelines on planning/presenting your pitch
   
  • Make sure you explore each technical area in detail. Although an interesting idea is a good start, without detailed consideration of all the technical areas you will not be able to show whether or not your idea is realistic in terms of actual filming and editing.
   
  • Make sure you complete a storyboard for your idea. It is far easier to get a sense of how to film your idea and how a sequence of shots will work if you use the storyboard. You also have room to include extra information about other areas, such as editing and sound.
   
  • When you make your pitch, try to express your idea in terms of technical areas. For instance, a pitch that begins “the first shot is an ECU of an eye then the camera zooms out to a medium long aerial shot that reveals a man lying on his bed” is far more effective than one that begins “there’s this guy and he’s lying on his bed” because the first one is easier to visualise than the second. The first also shows that consideration has gone into the practical side of things as well as just the initial idea.
   
  • As this pitch will constitute part of the planning mark for the entire group, it is advisable that each member of the groups speaks at least once during the pitch
   
  • REMEMBER: the more detail, the better. If you show that you have explored all areas of filming and producing your thriller opening in detail, then it is likely that you will be able to get started in the second half of next lesson. If not, then it’s back to the drawing (or story) board!
  Pitch deadline: Tuesday 13^th December 2016