Film Opening Pitch 1

Genre
- psychological thriller
I picked psychological thriller to allow for more experiments trying to build up tension and how to get the audience on the edge of theirs seats

Characters
- Josh a 40 year old male with black hair and a masculine face with no facial hair, average high and in good shape
- Jaziah a 20 year old male with blond hair with a young face no facial hair, slightly under average and in good shape

Base idea 
- Working Title 'Two bullets in the chamber' 
Main character 'josh' ex marine commander dealing with form of PTSD, Josh's job revolved around keeping everyone in sync but then also having to deal with the dark sides of the military E.G( wife beating, suicide, homicide, other traumatising experiences and ect..) but he blames himself for some of the examples above as he sees his troops as family and to him these acts are his fault.

Conventions 
- POV shots
- Flashbacks
- set/costume design
- mis en scene
- screen colouring

Pitch
The synopsis is that we see Josh in a plain room, and we immediately see him having a nightmare and then it cuts to a flash back of him in the military. Soon after that we see that he is struggling mentally because we see conflict in his mind of wether his friend shot himself or he shot his friend, now the means that there is a question to be asked 'did he actually or is it him blaming himself'. finally after the gunshot Josh shoots up and moves around his room, until he takes a gun from his desk and leaves the room

MORE DETAIL
- Opens to a grey apartment room ( similar to the newest version of Sherlock Holmes ) and josh is in bed, visibly having a nightmare, the camera will slowly pan onto his face. Once Josh's face is centre  screen a flash back to him and one of his marine friends talking on training grounds and then another quick cut to his face and then into Josh's friend in a black room in a chair with a gun to his head, another quick cut and then cut back and in a flash josh now holds the gun against his friends head. This scene builds up until a gun shot is heard with a pitch black screen, until finally it cuts back to josh shooting up on his bed at the middle of the night, then the scene continues with Josh going to his desk picking up his belongings until he picks up a gun and leaves, the door shut is where the opening should finish.

Signifiers
- plain apartment room ( working class)
- military costume + background training ground (ex marine)
- gun in desk ( ex marine )
- crushed beer can on the floor ( problems / alcoholic )
- masculine strong male shows protagonist

Challenges and Opportunities  
- Creating the tension of the gunshot will be hard to build up
- trying to get access to a military training ground could be hard
- getting the timing right with each shot
- making the signifiers key to understand so that the preferred reading is anchored
- Lots of potential for shot types 
- lots of media language potential for use when having to use it in exam.
- very easy to anchor the preferred reading
- Good practice for improving cinematography skills


Inspirations 
- Sherlock Holmes
-Alien
-Dead man waling
-Dead man's shoes
-This is England

Semiotics rap

Semiotics rap

Connotations and connote 

Like a sailing boat

Now your thinking of a captain 

With a big hat that’s 10/10 

That’s symbolic like a three shot

It connotes scenarios, like a lot 

An example is a love triangle 

Or if it was horror there’d be a Dutch angle 

The next word is denote 

That’s the textual detail in a goat 

Well that’s an example but what you should project 

Is To describe the detail of an object 

It’s not about symbolism, unlike a baptism 

It’s about what happens not what you think about them 

It’s a bit like this rap 

You shouldn’t think about it you should just clap 

Now we come to narrative enigma 

Could show the presence of ligma 

Okay now all jokes aside 

It’s how the director makes a hidden side 

This could be like a high angle 

To show a character is week and might get strangled 

It’s all about the suggested info

How a character might feel low 

Up next is detail that is intertextual 

Like Rick and Morty being intellectual

It’s about understanding references 

It helps appeal to target audiences 

An example would be the simpsons 

The amount of references, theres tons 

Without the intertextual knowledge 

The show would be as funny as a dying hedge. 

That’s the end of my rap of semiotics 

Before someone needs antibiotics 

I hope I got all of this right 

Otherwise my media grades arnt in sight.

SEMIOTICS applied to Warp film posters

THIS IS ENGLAND

This is England immediately signifies that its is a social realist production based in England. This is anchored by the title being the colour of the union jack.

Either side of the poster, two buildings are framed either side signifying working class characters. This is further anchored by the urban decay on the fence/ font. All males in the poster are skinheads which anchors working class

'A film by Shane Meadows' denotes the auteur film theory. 
Wide long shot denotes ensemble cast, Not a star vehicle. It also signifies a community relationship

The film is based in the 1980's, however nothing signifies that so it is polysemic .







DEAD MAN'S SHOES


The use of bubble font usually signifies comedy however in Dead Man's Shoes the polysemic is immediately anchored by the reviews.
This is also anchored by the axe as it signifies violence.


The framing of the main character on screen, being a dutch angle and low angle suggest that there is something very wrong about the character.

The red background and font signifies blood and also anchors the idea of this movie being a horror







TYRANNOSAUR

Rule of thirds, centrally framed connoting this man as the protagonist 

However, prop, lighting, mise-en-scene etc connote he could be the antagonist

Own binary opposition - creating narrative enigma 

Serif font signifying a drama genre Wrinkles - older man - older audience

Skin head, vest top - working class

Terraced houses on edge of poster - working class

High key lighting on only one side - reflects his two different personalities - drama