FMP Pitch – Short Film Oscar Barriball

Story Outline The concept behind my short film is a 8-10 minute thriller centred around two characters, a delivery man and a Serial Killer. The film will follow them throughout their day leading up to the point where their paths cross and their lives are flipped upside-down. We meet our characters in the morning. The delivery man is preparing for an average day at work. We are informed by the television in the background that a person has recently gone missing. Our character doesn’t see this however as he is distracted. The Delivery man is later informed about the string of disappearances when he stops at a local shop and a newspaper headline catches his eye. Before he can process the information he receives a food order, unaware that the address is less than a mile from the last sighting of the missing person. He makes his way to the address and knocks on the door. Our Serial Killer when we meet him is on the streets looking for his next victim. He spots someone who he feels is right and begins to follow them through the streets. As his next victim walks into their house he watches from a distance plotting his next move. The Killer goes home only to return again. Unlucky for him, before he returns his victim orders food to the house unaware of the danger he is in. Before the food arrives the Killer forces entry and holds the man captive. Not long after, he is interrupted by the delivery man knocking at the door. The delivery man enters the house and the Killer tries to remain calm when the Delivery man begins to notice some odd items scattered around the house. Before long the Delivery man realises what is going on and becomes trapped in the house with the killer. He notices a blood- covered hand reach out from behind the sofa and turns to the killer. He runs past him up the stairs but braves a flesh wound. He locks the bedroom door behind him and the Killer tries to force entry. The film fades to black with the sound of police sirens in the background.

Target Audience I will aim my short film at the demographic of young adults ranging from 15-30, predominantly male. As well as this my film will be aimed towards those who enjoy suspense in their movies rather than a slasher film for example. I say this because my film will start slow before building to a point of suspense towards the end. This is because from my research I have found that on average males of this age enjoy films of this genre more than females due to the stereotypical aspects such as gore and violence. However this does not mean that my film will ONLY be aimed at males as there is no specific agenda within my film against females. But having this specific target audience makes it much easier for me to make a film that will please a large group of people when I know who I am making my movie for. Without a clear target audience it can lead to a film that feels very disjointed and convoluted as it is unsure what it is trying to be. This can lead to audience members clicking off of your video after only a couple of minutes because they do not feel it is aimed at them.

Inspiration The idea came to me because I knew that I wanted to make a short thriller but I didn’t know how I could make mine different from the thousands that already exist. I knew that I wanted to have a story that featured an ordinary man thrown into a situation that many people would fear. However, my uncle had recently secured a job with Deliveroo, a food delivery service in the UK and I had this idea of combining the two in some sort of way to make an interesting short film. I felt like the Deliveroo aspect would appeal to more people as they may be familiar with the brand. The idea had to be developed a lot from it’s original form in order to have a story and appeal to a larger audience. One of my key influences for this film was a movie called ‘Prisoners’ by Denis Villenvenue. The film stars Hugh Jackman, an average family man who takes matters into his own hands when his young daughter is kidnapped. This idea of throwing an average man into an extraordinary situation makes for an exciting film as the audience react s to the changes the character must go through during the film. Another of the key influences was the suspenseful nature of Alfred Hitchcock’s films and the way in which he guides the audience throughout the story in order to create suspense and keep the audience guessing. I was also inspired heavily by the cinematography featured in the short film “La Culpa” directed by David Victori as it uses the themes of light and dark very well to illustarte to us the protagonist’s mood throughout the film.

Key Conclusions From Research I chose to research Alfred Hitchcock as my practitioner who directed such films as Psycho, Vertigo and The Birds. As well as this I researched a horror film called Lake Bodom which is from Finland and directed by Taneli Mustonen. Finally, after watching short films on Vimeo I analysed “La Culpa” made by David Victori. One of the main conclusions I made from my research was that in order to keep the audience captivated in your story you must show them something in the first minute that is either shocking or intriguing. Otherwise you run the risk of losing your audience before they even give your short film the opportunity to impress them. The best short films are the ones that show you what is important rather than tell you. In the short film “La Culpa” we are given all the main character’s necessary back story about the death of his wife in the first two minutes through flashbacks. This is much more efficient than starting in chronological order as it forces the audience to pay attention in order to understand what is going on. We are shown why he is committing his actions and we empathise with him because of what the director has chosen to show us in the first few scenes. Creating suspense is about giving the audience information, but not all the information. If the audience is given all the information then it is about as interesting as watching paint dry. However, if you give the audience just enough information to suggest an idea then they are sat guessing what is about to happen and are constantly trying to figure out when and/or why something is going to happen.

Production Schedule Below is my finished production schedule that indicates filming will start in the Easter Half Term, the first day of shooting will be the 2nd April and filming will end on the 9th April. However if more time is needed then from the 24th April – 28th April I can film extra footage. Editing my film will begin on the 1st May.