Pitch blog: Brainstorming!

 1. A woman stuck in an abusive relationship and her only way out is to kill her husband. She must find a way to avoid prosecution for her crimes.

        This is an idea that is my personal favorite, not only would it be easy to film it is affordable. This idea may seem dark, but I think this is the area in which we can succeed best. The idea would be to have a montage of the woman making dinner, however, in between shots of the cooking, there will be flashbacks of the husband yelling and doing aggressive things. Once the shots of the husband committing these acts, the woman will put something in the food. To the audience, it will be obvious that she is putting in something dangerous. Out of all the pitches, this will be the one we can complete most easily. We could film the majority of it at mine or Emma's house and use our parents as actors. The only thing we would have to pay for is the food ingredients, which we may already have at our homes. My family is completely fine with being actors for us, so there really aren't many downsides to this.

2. A group of students are suspected of pulling a prank that could result in them being expelled, but something is not adding up...

        This is an idea I like as it is economical and fun to do. The idea would be to show 3-5 students in a principal’s office getting yelled out before switching to a montage to introduce each character with either the non-diegetic sound of each character introducing themselves or a narrator doing the same. Because this is modern, costumes would be simple, and there would be virtually no cost as the actors could use pieces already in their closets. The school setting would be equally simple because Emma's father is the principal of one, and he has already allowed us to use their campus. The difficult part would be designing each character and finding characters to play the roles as it would have a larger cast for the beginning of the movie.

3. As a teenage spy attempts to blend into their cover as an average student, they quickly find out their teacher has a nefarious purpose...

        This is an idea I introduced to others as well who like it. It would be a simple one because the start of a movie like this would be to introduce a basic routine; Perhaps, it would be them getting ready for school. However, since it is a spy, there should be a thematic inclusion of guns or weaponry which would not be doable. This would be unsafe for everyone in the cast and behind the scenes. Additionally, purchasing fake versions of these items may come at a higher cost than we are willing to pay. Furthermore, a singular character would make it easier to organize. We wouldn't have to juggle between multiple actors, and directing each of them. Otherwise, it would probably be complex angles and shots to create meaning and mystery about the character.

4. Teenage code-breakers stumble upon a clue to a centuries-old treasure, but they are not the only ones looking...

        This one is the one I know Emma wants to do the most because she is a history fanatic, but we agree that it is the least reasonable. The idea would be to introduce a secret meeting of people speaking about looking for the mysterious treasure which would be more difficult as we would need adults, not teenagers to act which is more complex to arrange. We could take another angle of the story and begin with the main characters which might be simpler but would reduce the quality of the storyline. Economically, it depends on specific details of the settings and props that we would decide on later on in planning. This is the least achievable, but it would push us as directors which would be nice for our final project.

5. In a teenager’s dream to be an astronaut, the first step is to lead their math team to victory, but first, they need a team...

        I thought of this one because it is simplistic and achievable for a teenage media project. The setting could easily be my partner's or my room, eliminating that as a difficult factor, and the same for the clothing. There would only be one character who we would portray as being slightly neurotic in their goal of being an astronaut. For the two minutes, they would be getting ready for school or perhaps introducing themselves through clips of space-themed areas of the room which would be quick and simple to shoot. This has simplicity, but it might be more entertaining and stretch us more as directors if we chose a more complex storyline. 

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           It was a tough decision in trying to figure out which of these pitches to pick and they are all amazing. However, we have decided to go with the first pitch, "A woman stuck in an abusive relationship and her only way out is to kill her husband. She must find a way to avoid prosecution for her crimes.". Not only is this an interesting topic but it will be the easiest for both Emma and me to execute. I already have a clear image of what we should do for it, so I believe that the final task will come easily for us. The setting and actors will be easy to obtain as we can use my family and my home. All in all the pros very much outweigh the cons of this project, and I'm excited to begin filming!