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Short film "Possession" Pitch (Working Title)
1. “possession”s plot
•Romance and Horror combined
•Young teenagers venture to a manor house for a photography project.
•Obsessive, doesn’t want to let go
•He has moved on
•She has lost her possession
•Unfortunately, things don’t end there as day turns to night and reality
turns to horror, and nothing seems to be real anymore.
•Shadows
•Not alone
•Disappears
•Who or what has followed them?
2. “possession”
(Working Title)
•This relates to the storyline in the film in the
romance aspects and the horror aspects within the
plot.
•Young girl who doesn’t seem to be over her ex-
boyfriend and still thinks he is hers like her own
possession.
•The working title also relates to another part of the
storyline where this same girl becomes possessed by
an unknown entity due to jealousy.
3. Genre
•Hybrid genre of romance and horror, so it could appeal to a vast audience.
• Romance: teenage girls and young women(15-25)
• Horror: male teenagers and young men (13-28)
•However female teenagers and young women also seem to watch horror films too, but
commonly with their boyfriends.
•We believe that this mixture of popular genre’s will create a large appeal to the film,
catering to both females and males so young people as a whole group can watch it.
• It also allows us as film makers to create a parallel plotline, therefore there is an
interest for females and a separate interest for males.
•Many films have a main plot, and is then accompanied with sub-plots to make it more
exciting and watchable.
• For “Possession” the main plot fits within the horror genre with the unknown entity
haunting the teenagers and possessing the girl.
• The sub-plot that conforms to the romance genre with the teenage girl still torn up and
obsessed with her ex-boyfriend who she discovers is in a new relationship.
4. Era
- 1980’s
- 2011
In the film it begins with shots of old photographs
that have been discovered in the present time.
Through these photographs the storyline is then told
through flashbacks within the photographs so the
audience is then taken back to the 1990’s when the
events of the film occurred.
5. Target audience
• Late teens and young adults
• The 15 rating.
• Targeted towards males > the gory horror
• A lot of males are more open to spooks
• Target towards females > love triangle
• Females are more likely to be more scared.
6. Location/setting
•Graveyards, woods, forests..
• These weren’t unique settings
• Problems : wind blowing through the trees and drowning out the dialogue.
•In the end, we all decided that a manor house would be a good setting for us to film
•Abandoned
•Haunted House Feel
• The house is also a good setting for the romance in the plot too, because it looks a setting from a romantic
period drama. I
•t is also easily accessible for us to travel to, and it is an open space therefore no excess sound like wind
can interfere filming.
7. characters
• A group of teenage college students who are all on the same
photography course and all work together for a project.
• Names are in working progress
• GIRL 1 (Leah) – 17, photography student, recently split up with her
boyfriend but still isn’t over him and is still possessive and obsessed
with him. She is possessed in the film by the unknown entity.
• GIRL 2 – 17, photography student, is in a relationship with BOY 2.
• GIRL 3 – 17, photography student, starts dating GIRL 1’s ex-
boyfriend
• BOY 1 – 17, photography student, used to date GIRL 1 but they
have split up and he is now in a new relationship with GIRL 3.
• BOY 2 – 17, photography student, is in a relationship with BOY 2
8. narrative
• Students arrive at the manor house to take pictures of it for a
photography project.
• Girl 1 (Leah) then spots her ex and Girl 3 get together, which causes
her to get upset and she runs away in tears
• The rest of the group then try to look for her and try to ring her on her
mobile, but unfortunately there is no reply from her.
•They then return to the car and pick up the camera to look through the
pictures, and they discover shadows and figures in the photographs
behind her.
•Suddenly, they drop the camera as the headlights of the car turns on
and they see GIRL 1, who is possessed, sat in the front seat glaring at
them.
•The Lights of the car come on and there is a loud scream and revving
engine noise.
10. Props
• Clothing
• Make-up (vanity case)
• Mobile phone
• Camera
• Car
11. Time
Throughout the film, the audience is constantly
brought in and out of two different times (the
80s/90’s (tbc) and now) through a series of
photographs that were taken of the events back
in the 90’s. This allows the plot to continue
through flashbacks so the audience knows what’s
happened in the photos and they identify the
creepy chain of events.
12. Film influences
• Insidious – through the use of possession in th
plotlines.
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2287
311385/
• Blair Witch Project – a group of students being
followed by an unknown entity.
http://www.movieweb.com/movie/the-blair-
witch-project/teaser-trailer
13. Showings
One of the most common things that a film maker does to showcase their short
film is to showcase it in film festivals and conventions. We believe that if we
allowed audience to watch “Possession” in film festivals it would bring
attention and create a buzz for the film, and it could be so successful that it
could be found by a top Hollywood director. A popular example of this is
Paranormal Activity that was a small budget horror film, but because of its
popularity, managed to gain millions of dollars in profit, so “Possession” may
reach the same popularity through the same methods.
Some of the film festivals that “Possession” could be showcased:
- http://www.frightfest.co.uk/
- http://www.screamfestla.com/
- http://bramstokerfilmfestival.com
- http://www.thefilmfestivalguild.com
14. Marketing
•Just like The Blair Witch Project, “Possession” can be
marketed through digital methods through websites such as
YouTube and Facebook, where the trailer can be passed around
easily.
•One of the positive reasons to do this is because it won’t cost
us money to upload the trailer of the film online.
•Many films such as Rec created a fandom for itself through
the money consuming method of uploading the trailer onto
YouTube.
•Rec was very successful and the trailer received millions of
view. This could mean that “Possession” could also receive
same success through similar marketing methods.