Pitching Process...

First Pitch (2nd of October)

Our first pitch was with Ron and Chrissie

Which went well as far as I could tell, we explained the concept of the film and inclusive elements such as dance and exploration of theatre space. Locations, Characters. Ron also mentioned that a few similar shows/films had also come to his mind as well as mentioned a few others to look into: Mulholland Drive and Barbarian Sound Studio.

 

They then gave us a few things to consider for the next pitch:
How can we show serial killings in the space of 10 minutes as well as all the other elements.
How//Will we be showing the killings?

Tone: Think about a style or a strong sense of representations; The drama
Sexual elements: Look at Peeping Tom, develop relationship between female and male leads (Is perception of her feelings delusions?) Exploit relationship between theatre space and internal space of characters and the close space between the two characters.

Second Pitch (9th of October)

After the first pitch I went a way and broke down the film into sections and thought about what I wanted to see and or explore in each one.

Main Character: Ridley; a sexually frustrated failing actor who succumbs to his insecurities and finds a new outlet for his frustration

Theme: Limits of human nature, sexuality, mental deterioration, delusions

Tone: Bleak, filled with dread in a raw and stylistic way. Hiding harsh realities beneath exaggerated and fluffy "acting" Orchestra Crescendo 

Other Characters:
-Woman who teases Ridley and spreads rumours about him and end up dead
-Director of the play; Ladies man type.
-Perhaps a woman who actually like him that he doesn't notice.
-A costume designer,
-Dancers
-Choreographer?

Visual: Circus close ups, bold colours of the amateur theatre juxtaposed with the plain and naturalistic real world outside of that. Fluctuating between hot and cold

-Hannibal Clarity
-Dexter Harshness
-Black Swan stylings and grey confusion
-Jack the Ripper reality

I went through all my thoughts with Tom and we talked about some other points such as

Ridley characteristics: Out of place attitude, looks weird
Use of Shadows within the theatre space: He becomes part of the shadows, signifying loneliness and disconnection. Half his face in shadow (Jekyll and Hyde)

In order to show the serial killings we could mirror what is in the play with reality and cut straight to the point after showing the first for a lengthened time frame.
Play with narrative structure by cutting back and forth between the preparation for opening night and the events that led up to it.
Show Ridley alone in the theatre space....mirroring the characteristics of Peeping Tom

All the above mentioned basically made up the structure of our second pitch to Susannah and Chrissie, they made a few comments and suggestions and now all that was left to do was wait.