Pitch planning lesson - 15/01/09

Towards the end of the previous lesson, Mary handed each and every one of us a sheet containing information based on what Pitching is all about. We were told to go home and read it, preparing us for the oncoming lesson. Due to that, I was already aware and prepared of what we were going to be doing in today’s lesson with Rebecca and Laura. In today’s lesson we were given a task which was for us to come up with some ideas for what our actual real opening thriller is going to be about. We were given an A3 sugar paper and some markers for us to brainstorm our ideas for the opening sequence. Making this more realistic, we had to also prepare a presentation in this lesson and present it to Mary on the following Monday. This was what pitching was all about. In order for us to go on and start filming, we had to sell our idea to Mary. If Mary felt like our idea was not good enough or it could improve then she would tell us and make us come up with something more appropriate and better. So basically we had to come up with a pitch, going into fine details of what our opening sequence will be about. I must say at this point we struggled a lot in coming up with ideas, however once we concentrated more, we all came up with different ideas, and wrote them down. After debating on what idea to perform, we finally decided that we were going to do a romantic thriller which Rebecca suggested.

Basically, the plot was based on an unhappy marriage, where a young sophisticated woman has an affair with another man behind her husband’s back, which provokes him, making his anger level rise which is when he seeks for revenge, in a violent and disturbing way. As a group we decided that the woman would have a sophisticated look, smartly dressed, as she leaves work to meet her lover. She then meets her lover, goes to a restaurant and from there leaves to return back to here married life.
We discussed and took many things into consideration. We discussed:
Ø what props we would be using,
Ø Type of lighting, whether it would be artificial or natural,
Ø The setting,
Ø A variety of different camera work,
Ø What equipment we would need to take out,
Ø Type of music we would be using,
Ø What type of audience are we aiming at,
Ø And what costume we would need.
I wrote down all these ideas down, preparing and organizing who would be explaining what on the day of the presentation. So basically by the end of the lesson, I and others in the group had our own individual task on what to write about for Mondays pitching. My role was to talk about the overall dialogue and audience. I was expected to explain to the other classmates, as well as Mary what our overall opening sequence would be about, and what type of audience are we aiming/targeting at and why. Tony was expected to discuss the camera work which we plan to do, Zeneath was expected to converse about the props, and costume, and Rebecca was expected to discuss the production schedule and music. As everyone had to speak, and take part in the presentation, everyone was assigned with a role to play. We were so determined to get this presentation right and of a high standards that we were prepared, and actually made plans to go look at some scenery’s, and locations for us to film befor the presentation.
Just as we finished planning, the lesson had finished.
In this lesson, I must say I really did feel the stress build up, as now we are actually starting our thriller opening, no more practicing, meaning were now working against time, and it is now important we be more serious, more focused, and more determined to make the outcome of a high-quality.