Film Pitch

Introduction
We are Madhouse Media, and we are a production company from London, that specialise in British Niche films.

Synopsis
Based on a true story. The film follows a young woman, aged 19, called Lizzy, who has been convicted of murdering her long-term boyfriend of 5 years. The film immediately opens with disruption, beginning with the murder, and we see her just after she has committed the act. The film then moves forward in time to her court case. We follow her trial, and how her lawyer tries to dig out the truth behind the murder and find the real motive. This will be shown through a series of flashbacks, both before and after the murder took place, showing what built up to the final kill. As the film progresses we come to learn that her boyfriend had been abusing her for years, and her parents and his refused to believe, deemed her a liar, and disowned her. She became so traumatized by everything that the only way out was to kill him. This is all revealed in a final climactic moment before the final judgement is made, and as a result, equilibrium is restored as she is released, free to go, and proven to be nothing but a good person under horrible circumstance.

Opening Sequence
The opening sequence would focus on our female killer. The sequence begins just after she’s completed the murder in their bedroom. The blinds are closed, the there is light behind them. The room is well organised, white sheets on a double bed, pictures on the wall etc. The boyfriend Josh is lying on the bed, face up, with deep cuts in his arms, chest and throat. He is in pyjamas, they are stained with blood. There is blood all over the bed sheets and some splattered on the wall. Lizzy is on top of him and she is also covered in blood, She also wears pyjamas. Shots are mostly close ups, of her face, her body, blood on the walls, and Josh. She breathes heavily, but steadily. She will then go through a series of things, such as throwing up, washing her face, trying to wash the knife and her hands.
There is silence other than her breathing. The focus will be slightly off (in post-production we’ll make the scene quite sterile). There is a knock at the door and she pulls on a dressing gown. As she runs downstairs she tries to cover the blood up, and do her hair. We see her open the door slightly, shot over the shoulder of the neighbour. The neighbour asks ‘I hear a lot of noise, is everything okay, are you okay?’ She then opens the door a bit more . She responds with something like ‘oh i was just moving things about and a shelf collapsed' trying to relieve herself of the neighbours presence, when the door is closed she slides down it with her head in her hands. End of sequence.

Influences
Our main influence has come from the television drama 'Criminal Justice', series 2. The series is also a courtroom drama, following a mother of a family who is abused horrifically, and only does justice come to light at the end.

 The Series Page here

However we wanted to aim the film at a younger audience, and so we drew influence from another television series, 'Waterloo Road'. A mother is abused by her husband, but the daughter takes action and kills her father to protect her mother. We felt that this young age is something that would be much more appropriate for our audience.

We have also taken influence from a film preview we were invited to as a group, called 'The Holding'. The films opening sequence follows a woman dragging a body down a hill in the dark, and was the inspiration for Michael's original idea, before we developed it as a group.

We were also influenced by the shooting video of this amateur film from Youtube. We expecially like the change in focus, and the handheld camera shots.



Target Audience
Our film attempts to target a range of demographics within the mass female audience. Our core audiences are females aged 16-21 and young couples, since they can associate with the protagonist and other lead characters such as the female lawyer. More specific secondary niche audiences are students, those with issues personal to them and those who are vulnerable, perhaps even traumatised caused by events similar to those shown in our film (such as domineering relationships). Not only does our film target predominantly a female audience aged 16-21, but women aged over 30, since the circumstances displayed could happen to their daughter.

We have selected these target audiences because our film includes representations of gender and age, which together work in synergy to create audience appeal. We understand that it’s a stereotype of females to be emotional and therefore enjoy emotional / psychological dramas. This has been catered for through the complexity of the protagonist’s background and intense nature and crescendo of suspense, experienced typically in crime and drama productions.
Our film, of course, targets fans of the sub-genre, courtroom drama and fans of the umbrella genres, drama and crime.

Actors, Location and Practicalities
- The sequence is heavily focused on the female character, and we have chosen to use ‘Lizzy Lucas’ as our lead actress.

- For the dead boyfriend, we will use Josh Pedro, though he is not a crucial character, and could be easily replaced.

- We are going to use Daniel’s house, as it is an environment we can control, and we have full permission to use the area. We will change sheeting on the beds, curtains, and rearrange furniture to create the perfect room.

The shoot is very practical, there will be only:
- 2 setups, involving only
- 3 actors, and
- can all be shot in one day.

The challenge will be to make the scene look realistic, and make the blood believable, but we will employ a make artist to assist. We can buy all fake blood and sheeting with minimal budget.