Dead Fish Productions Pitch

1. OUR PRODUCTION PITCH BY CATHERINE HARRIS, KIERA MILWARD AND FAHED GHAZZAWI

2. GENRE, BRIEF SUMMARY & TITLE 1. We would like to tell the story of a teenage girl with a prisoner pen friend, and her ‘friend’s’ perspective on their relationship and crimes. The genre of the film would be an adventure, thriller, mystery with a coming-of-age aspect. Despite this, we wouldn’t stick to the typical codes and conventions of a thriller opening sequence. Instead, we would like to portray these dark issues with a contrast to light mise en scene and a child/teenager's point of view. Current title Ideas: Prison names or locations, ‘Dear …’, ‘Sincerely …’ and ‘The unfortunate life of …’

3. SYNOPSIS OF FILM A 17 year old girl, named Penelope (aka Pen) has been writing letters to a prisoner (Robert Crowl) confessing to some horrible crimes she has committed in the past. Unfortunately, Crowl befriends her and blackmails Penelope into helping him escape prison or he will reveal her secrets to the police. Her parent's relationship is unstable with both blaming the other for their child turning out so badly, she realises this. The mother also deals with bipolar disorder and is struggling after the sudden death of her mother. We realise that Penelope was especially close to her grandmother, particularly when she was older and living in their front room so they could care for her (we see this through flashbacks). Penelope manages to persuade a shy 16 year old boy named Ash, to run away from the miserable town they live in, to track down his father who left him and his mother when he was 3 however, really she is tracking down Crowl. They find Robert, and Ash really feels he has found his father. When hiding the prisoner a love triangle forms with Penelope falling in love with the Crowl and the Ash falling in love with the Pen. Ash becomes suspicious and later finds out all the crimes Penelope has committed, including murdering her grandmother. Ash overcomes his fear and tells the police what has happened. The final scene ends with the Ash crying quietly opposite Pen in court finally realising that she wasn't who she said she was and coming to terms that she never was his friend.

4. SYNOPSIS OF OPENING SEQUENCE The opening sequence would begin with a black screen and crackle of a vinyl. We then see a zooming out bird's eye view shot of a record player and diegetic sound of the vinyl. The title of the film would be either in the centre of the vinyl or on the cover of the vinyl. We see multiple shots of random items around the room which perhaps forebode the rest of film, reflect , or have the credits hidden on the set/props: dead plants, a wind-up fish in a bowl, a used writing set, left-over spaghetti letters. During this, Penelope is in her bedroom dancing wildly to the music in the background and getting ready, e.g. putting on her makeup and looking at her calendar. An old-fashioned red phone rings and we either see a shot reverse shot of the conversation between Pen and Ash, who lives in a rundown caravan with the diegetic sound of a muffled voice through the phone. Otherwise, we would use non-diegetic narration from Ash describing Penelope. Whichever way, we would end the scene with Penelope telling Ash she needs to meet pronto, 'he replied’. She picks up a letter, puts fish food in the bowl and slams her bedroom door shut. The screen turns black and the record finishes, ending with more crackling.

5. VISUAL CUES

7. WES ANDERSON We want this film to be shot in the style of Wes Anderson, a director who uses bright, strong colour palettes with a typical primary colour hue. He uses planimetric shots and gives relentless attention to detail regarding aerial perspective and depth. KETCHUP CLOUDS We based the narrative of the film on ‘Ketchup book by Annabel Parker. Though no one in the group has read the entire book, it does follow the concept character, Zoe prisoner on death confessing to her crimes. the sets, Clouds’, a of writing the lead to and a row,

8. PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS We would like to show the exterior of the rundown caravan where Ash lives although, this wouldn’t affect the impact of the opening scene too much if we were unable to. We may need a small set built of a bedroom that can be decorated in the style of 1969 and with props that show the credits engrained in the scene, e.g. on the calendar or on book spines

9. GENRE, BRIEF SUMMARY & TITLE 2. We would like to create a film that twists the audience’s opinions on a character through the mystery of a teenage boy’s dead girlfriend. The genre of the film would be a psychological thriller, mystery. It would also include, coming of age elements. The film tackles current and important topics like the Black Lives Matter movement and would be influenced by racism in America. Current title Ideas: ‘Platform …’, ‘Downtown Brooklyn’, ‘Navy Hill’/‘Black Hill’

10. SYNOPSIS OF FILM Set in the early 2000s in Brooklyn, with major hip hop bops, jeans. We follow the story of Kareem a young black teenager and his fight against police brutality, systemic racism and the death of his young girlfriend. The film follows the events that take place after Kareem's girlfriend dies. The audience travels through the film from his point of view and are given an insight into his thoughts and feelings as he is thrown from police interrogations to law courts. The audience are made to feel sorry for Kareem and follow his rollercoaster of emotions. Contrasting this, throughout the film we also hear the nasty perspective of news reporters and media outlets that have taken hold of the case and have twisted and manipulated the events to make the death of Kareem's girlfriend look like a murder. Walkmans and baggy The narrative begins with an establishing montage of Kareem getting ready for school. Although Kareem's morning routine seems normal, it will end up being the day that his life was ruined. He flies out of his room with a pre-written letter in his hand and the dead body of his girlfriend is revealed. He nervously places the letter on her stiff chest and runs out of his house. His house is a rundown apartment in the outskirts of Brooklyn. No parents are to be seen. Later, we find out he hasn't had a fatherly figure all his life and his mum is a drunk that rarely comes home. Kareem has been left to fend for himself from a young age and will now have to face this accident alone. The film is brought to a false end with Kareem being sent to jail for the rest of his life for the murder of Kayla Larkin. Until we cut to 45 years later and Kareem is in his jail cell on a call with a young girl the spitting image of his first girlfriend Kayla. He is a real psychopath and the audience question why we felt bad for him.

11. SYNOPSIS OF OPENING SEQUENCE The opening begins with a black screen. A sudden accompaniment of sirens and news introductions bursts through the speakers. We see a small box television showing the morning news channel. The talk of the day is of the rising crime in Brooklyn and for citizens to stay aware whilst roaming the streets. The footage is filmed on an old handheld digital camcorder. A close-up shot of the television zooms out as the camera pans to reveal Kareem's face as he is holding the camera from his POV. The sound of the news reporter changes from a non-diegetic sound in the foreground of the picture that fades into diegetic softer sound in the background of the action as Kareem says hello to the recording. The bedroom is dressed in broken CDs, skateboards on the walls and pill wrappers and stickers glued onto cupboards and desks. It is a mess of creativity and colour. A 2000s themed montage of Kareem getting ready for school is shot with fisheye lenses, dark- coloured gels across the camera lens and slanted angles. We briefly see images of Kareem frantically writing a letter during this montage. As he slumps his baggy school bag over one of his shoulders, he carries his skateboard and picks up the up the letter with smudges all over it. He rushes writing a letter with the other hand. He leaves his bedroom with a wide angle shot shows him bending down and putting the letter on something behind/under his bed, which is not in view from this angle. After Kareem leaves, the camera zooms in on a dead body of a girl, with the letter resting on her stiff chest.

12. VISUAL CUES

13. We were influenced by: • The 2020 Black Lives Matter Movement • Police Brutality • The film ‘Mid 90s’ • Brooklyn

14. PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS We would need a medium sized set of an open room to be decorated as Kareem's bedroom in his flat in the suburbs of Brooklyn. This would be in the style of early 2000s to fit an outcasted young teenager. The types of cameras we would like to use are an old 2000s camcorder, or the effect of a small hand-held camera. We would need to consider how to achieve a montage sequence with slanted angles with the use of camera stands and placements.

15. THANK YOU FOR WATCHING!