RESEARCH: Directors' Pitch

Grit and action have become a winning formula in the film industry in recent years. Films such as The Dark Knight and Harry Brown are good examples of the application of grit in an action film. We intend to reflect this trend with our film.

Set in Northampton, we will be working closely with the results from our questionnaire to develop a film that suits our target audience- the 16-19 teenage demographic. This will be reflected in the characters used in the film. The central characters will be in roughly the same age band as that of the target audience, which will hopefully allow them to bond with the characters better.

The results from the questionnaire have shown that a number of the sample found Aesthetics to be important in a film. We will work to this by using high dynamic range imaging, gritty camera filters, and vignetting, seen in such programmes as Top Gear to add drama to each shot. The use of vignetting also makes the scenes become more claustrophobic, adding some thrill factor to the chase scenes.

The first two minutes of the film itself with focus on the main character, a youth of around 16-18 years fleeing pursuers in the streets of Northampton. The establishing shot will be of the main character, and will allow the audience to focus on the blood on his shirt, and the sweat and stubble on his face, establishing that this chase has been happening for an extended time.

The following shots will consist mainly of the chase, interspersed with credit screens. There will be no non-diagetic sound in the chase, which establishes to the audience that the drama of this film will happen at a realistic level, with no hints of super or action hero influences. The scenes of the main character running will feature ambient sounds, but the sound of his fatigued and heavy breathing will be made louder. In parts where the screen shows credits, the ambient sound will be cut out, allowing the audience to hear only the breathing of the main character. This allows the audience to bond further with this character, as he appears to feature prominently. As his breathing is louder than anything else, it almost begins to push into the realms of a non-diagetic narration of events. This appears to the audience that his exhaustion is the driving factor of the entire film, adding to the action elements.

The scene ends with the main character narrowly escaping his assailants. The camera will remain focused on the assailants, showing brutal rage in their eyes, further exacerbated by the main characters' escape. The audience will be be left without any idea of why the assailants were so angry, adding to their interest to the film, and capturing their imagination.