plan for thriller pitch

The event my story is based around is one young girl and her traumatic experience of seeing her friends brutally hurt. If this was 10 minute short film, the story line would follow the young girl trying to overcome what has just happened to her friends. She would seek help towards climax of the film then go on route to finding answers. At the end, she would find the answers she has been looking for, this answer would consist of whoever sent her the first note with the first encounter with the note. Once she has pieced the answer together, the explanation of what actually happened. This explanation scene would show the young girl waking up and checking her phone on a table next to her bed. She then looks at herself in the mirror, then back at her phone. It is this second time she discovers a note saying "You have been warned! !X!x!", on the actual note, there are splatters of blood. The scene then changes to later on in the day, where she is in a cafe sat with her friends, a few young males and a few young females. They are seen to be the only people in the cafe at the time, a person working at the cafe cannot be seen, but it they have served the young people as the young people are sat with food and drink. The young girl who found the note earlier on in the day, sees the note once again, posted on another table. As she tries to focus on the note, she diverts her attention from her friends to the note. When she finally turns her head to her friends, she sees they have all been injured. They have cuts and bruises all over their person.
Due to this story line, the opening of my thriller will show a video of some people (the young girls' friends) having a good time. Over this video, the sound heard will be the young girl laughing and also having a good time. This will be shot using a hand held camera and the imagery will not be stable - it will be fairly shaky to convey that this is the young girls perspective.Next, the young girl will be sitting in her room, perched on her bed. The lighting is fairly dark resembling the natural light seen on a rainy day or the early evening of a winter day. As she get off of the bed and starts walking towards her bedroom wall, flashbacks can be seen of the "good time", the flashbacks consist of still images from the previously seen video. The young girl walks over to a bedroom wall, where there is a note posted, the same note as before - "you have been warned! !X!x!" with the blood splatter as well. Next to the note, there are pictures of the young girls friends on a day out, but there are also photos seen similar to the photos above showing cuts and bruises. The young girl stares at the pictures and then goes over the outline of her friends' faces with her finger. At this point, the camera cuts to someone who is just outside the room. This persons face is not seen, but the camera captures them looking at the girl through either a small transparent area or looking through a space, as the door is not completely closed. As the shot is seen through this persons point of view, their voice is heard saying "this is what she has become. You're our last hope. Can you do anything to help her". To convey this story line, I would make use of a lot of cross cutting and blurred affects. This is to keep the pace moving but also showing the state of mind of the girl when she is reminiscing about the "good times" with her friends.

This is an idea of where the first video seen could be shot. A large rehearsal space because the group of friends were at a rehearsal for a small show and were having a good time during a break.

Through this thriller opening, the message I want to convey is the essence of fear and obsession. If this thriller was to continue, the fear and obsession aspects would uncover with scenes showing the young girl wanting to find out why this has happened. This need for answers would come after a meeting, this meeting would come after it is revealed that she restrains herself from making contact with anyone, to avoid the same fate her friends became victims to.


For the target audience of this film, I would aim for 14 - 18. This is because there would not be any sexual content which would raise the age to a 16. However, I am not sure if it would appeal to all ages due to the relatively young casting, therefore the oldest age bracket I would market to is the age of 18. I would market and publiscise this film by putting up posters around densely populated areas. However, I would also put these posters up around more less populated areas, to ensure as many people are aware as possible regardless of their location. Although, the main medium of publicity would be through word of mouth.