The Pitch

THE PITCH

Group Members: Maureen Ndungi, Amy St Louis, Twyana Stephenson, Olivia Ndila

Chosen Genre: Police/Crime Thriller

Title of Film: TBC

Outline of Ideas:

Tagline of Film:

For better for worse

Basic Plot Synopsis:

Jennifer Conway is a secondary school teacher at St Angela’s and her husband Chris Conway is a rookie Police Officer. They were childhood sweet hearts who loved each other deeply. It seemed as if her life was perfect until she had her first child. After the birth everything started to go downhill. She developed a Post-Partum Psychosis and during an episode she suffocated her baby with her hands. Knowing what she’s done she buries it in the back garden and goes back into the house to do some cleaning. After a while she goes back upstairs to tend to the baby but she cant find it. Panicking she hurries to the police station to tell her husband and he reports it missing. The Officers check the house and question neighbours whether or not they have seen some strange activity within the neighbourhood recently.

They start to investigate the abduction and begin to suspect family members – his mother who never wanted him to marry Jennifer and blames the kidnapping on her. When the story doesn’t check out they start to suspect Jennifer’s sister Lizzy who does not have the ability to get pregnant and has wanted a baby for a long time.

After failing to come up with any leads the attention is turned to the Chief Officer Clara who has had an affair with Chris and is jealous that he has a family with another woman. Through this period Chris starts to become sceptical of his wife who has recently has been acting strange, as earlier during the week she was out in the garden checking on the baby. As they talk about the horrendous events these past months her stories and accounts of what happened are becoming confusing and no longer make sense.

One weekend he sends her out shopping and takes the opportunity to investigate what is at the back of their garden late one night. He discovers the bones of his dead baby.

What type of characterisation will you have?

Jennifer Conway- Secondary school teacher. She’s a clever, helpful woman who develops post partum psychosis after giving birth to her first child.

Chris Conway- Rookie Police Officer. He’s smart, romantic but has made a lot of mistakes in the past, including cheating on his wife with his boss.

Clara Johnson – Chief Officer. She’s sly and seductive but she is envious of Jennifer as she is the wife of Chris whom she had a short affair with.

Grace Conway- Mother to Chris Conway. She’s a traditional African mum who had never accepted the marriage between Chris and Jennifer.

Elizabeth Lewis- Older sister to Jennifer. She’s a humble woman but is unable to have children and is a suspect in the investigation.

Lily Conway- Newborn child to Chris and Jennifer. She is murdered by her mother.

Describe Mise-En-Scene to be used or any visual motifs?

Costume: Suits and casual clothing.

Accents: Standard English besides from the mother of Chris (African accent)

Location: Police station, house(kitchen etc.), school, garden.

What are your ideas about Cinematography/Photography?

Contrast, the ratio of dark and light of an image using low contrast to get the naturalistic lighting along with low key lighting of dark scenes this is to contrast between light and dark to distinguish between good and evil for example this could be used in a tensed scene when scene of Chris having an affair with the chief, low key lighting will emphasise how scandalous the affair is how love is mistaken for lust.

A shallow depth of field to make the audience focus on the most significant aspect of a scene along with close up shootings and shooting in low light condition this could be used in a scene when someone secretly hearing a conversation behind them and so the camera would focus on the people having the conversation whilst the other individual is slightly blurred out. Zoom shot could be used in the beginning of a scene to introduce the characters by focusing on them for example a medium long shot of people in a party to medium close up of Chris and Jennifer holding a glass of wine to indicate that they are the hosts of the party.

Angle of framing will be used to indicate the relation between the character and the camera’s point of view to either express vulnerability or power for example as the chief who rules the police station will often  be portrayed  from a low angle, therefore aggrandizing her figure. Whilst Chris her employer the rookie cop could be shot from a high angle emphasising she has more power.

Conventions of Trailers/Posters/Film magazines you plan to reinforce or reinvent?

 Gone girl- the plot twist

What resources will you need? (Include actors, props, costumes and settings)

The costumes should emphasise on the characteristics of the different characters. Jennifer should be dressed in smart casual clothing to show her authority as a secondary school teacher. However as her authority decreases and she becomes a suspect her choice inclothing changes to match her status. She will begin to wear casual clothing, such as baggy t-shirts, denim Jeans, trainers etc. Her husband who is a rookie police officer should wear a long trench coat to suggest his type of job. He can also wear gloves and carry around a badge to help him deceive people into thinking he is a chief officer in order to investigate deeper. Clara Johnson who is the chief police officer should dress very flirtatiously. She could wear a tight suit with heels and stockings and she should also have her hair in a ponytail and wear red lipstick to show how seductive she is. Props will include a fake baby doll, a police badge, desk stationary. Settings will include a school corridor, a living room, an office, a baby's bedroom, a garden.

Actors: We will have the two parents, and (fake) baby, a Chief Officer, Grand mother, sister, (extra’s) Officers.

Set: A home (living room, bedroom), Office, Garden, Corridor,

Justification of any ideas in relations to genre and recognisable film influences, also what is your unique selling point:

One movie which heavily influenced us was GONE GIRL. It’s about the disappearance of Nick Dunne’s wife, Amy. However there is a twist to the plot and it turns out Amy faked her own kidnapping. An idea like that is so interesting and unique and we want to bring that sort of concept to our storyline.

Also the film ‘Seven’ which stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman gives an incite of police detective work and how it led to new leads, similar to our story line.

Our film trailer idea is quite adventurous but I think that’s what makes it unique. Not a lot of films have issues about mental illnesses mixed with the idea of police crime work so I think exploring this will definitely make this film stand out. Our film emphasises on the destructive nature of love, family vs law, mental illness vs morality unlike most police crime films it is all about the antagonist or the importance of the cops figuring out the mystery; we look from the viewpoint of Chris as he discovers who killed his child.