Shorts Film Pitch

So the time came to pitch our films. Each of us had individually produced a film of our choice that had to follow a what is described as a 'brief brief' in order for our film pitch to be successful. This is the criteria our film pitch had to follow and the questions we asked ourselves when watching the other film pitches: 



1. What is the idea for your film short? 

2. Are you able to present your idea so that we, as a potential audience or production crew, are able to visualise it clearly? 

3. Are your film-making intentions realistic and practical? 

4. Is your idea creative and interesting? 

5. Does your idea meet the criteria of a 'short'? 


My Film Pitch

Here is my film pitch as well as being followed up by questions (around 4:13 in the video) from my audience and potential film crew. So here goes, my film pitch, The Illusion of Existence.



Here is the presentation features in my film pitch: 

Evaluation of Pitch and Performance

Overall I feel that the film pitch went rather well both the storyline and the performance side of it. I will break up each of the sections stating the positives and negatives of the pitch and the grilling I got from the audience at the end (which wasn't so bad after all thankfully!). 


Pitch content

I feel that the content of the pitch was clear and consise. The film idea was told using a powerpoint presentation, but the whole story wasn't written on one slide or in big chunky paragraphs like you'd think it should be. By having short bullet pointed comments about key points in the film, it enabled me a prompt incase i couldn't remember certain details in the film as well as to ensure that all points were covered. The text on the screen also gave the audience a chance to re read the storyline that I was telling them to ensure they gained a full understanding of the films concept.Also by limiting the amount of text on screen not only meant the audience wouldn't nod off in my film pitch and if asked at the end what the film was they'd say....'erm...no idea?'  but also to prevent them from skipping ahead to the storyline plot twists. I didn't really want them know that the male didn't exist before we'd even met him (SPOILER ALERT!). 

I also used the images on the screen to allow the audience to visualise the key scenes in the film which I feel aided my story telling well. The audience not only had a clear idea of what the film was going to look like through my speech but also through images of scenes that would feature in the film which I feel had a positive impact on the audiences understanding of my film pitch.

The audience didn't really question much about the details of the film. I think this is due to me covering all of the points needed in a film pitch such as the characters, a few details about them, the storyline and scenes and finally the music and sound that may be included in the film. I mentioned the sound and music as I had my piece of music, taken from the film 'Time Traveller's Wife', playing in the background of my pitch to give the audience an atmosphere for the film and so thought it would be worth mentioning. 

Performance
The overall performance style for me went well. I feel I did being rather nervous as it showed at the beginning of my pitch with the unsure attitude I showed when explaining who the two characters were in the film. This could have caused loss of information and focus of the audience however I don't feel this had an impact on the audiences interest one the actual film idea began to be told. 

Once I got into telling the story, I think I was confident when taking the audience through the scenes of the film. By using 'We' when telling the story, it seemed to make the audience feel apart of the film and allowed them to clearly visualise where they will be in each of the scenes, as if they were a character in the story. The audience were engaged throughout by using this technique and it felt more like we were all in the story together rather than me just telling the story and them listening and maybe having a little nap part way through. 

I tried to keep the audience engaged throughout by keeping the storytelling process flowing although there were some breaks while I changed the slide which couldn't be helped really. I feel I took the audience through every detail of the storyline and the plots to allow the build-up for the sudden plot twist at the end of my short film. 

Questions and feedback
There weren't as many questions as I was expecting and the ones that were asked were only short simple questions of details that I either hadn't mentioned or specifics that they wanted to know such as the age of the characters in the film. Here are the questions I was asked and after I shall evaluate the 'grilling' I got: 

1)'What's the message of the film?' 

2)'Who's your target audience?'

3) 'How old are the character's again?' 

When asked these questions, I answered confidently and without any trouble other than maybe the first question as I felt maybe my story should have a message behind it. But quickly I decided that to be honest a film doesn't always need a message behind it to be a good film and replied with an answer that sufficiently covered the question. 
The last question that was asked suggested to me that I hadn't made it clear or memorable about my character details as I didn't actually mention a specific age but logically thought that it would be much easier to working with and find actors/actresses that are around my own age. This question the way it was said may also have suggested that they wanted to know a specific age to see if the story idea was realistic and practical when planning and creating it. 

So any improvements? 

If I had a time travelling machine and could travel back and re do this film pitch I think I would improve the pitch by: 

• Being confident from the start! If I'm confident from the start, the audience will be engaged meaning they won't miss details or feel there is information in the pitch that is actually stated. 
• Include who my target audiences is and the genre of the film. These details I feel would have benefit the film pitch as the audience and potential film crew would understand what sort of film it is going to be from the start and whether it would be a film for them or not. (chances are it will be considering its including actors of their age and they're the audiences that are probably going to watch it) 
• Not have queue cards in my hand as I didn't really use them. I think they were only there for security (like a blanket) but not once did I use them and the story was still told the way it would have been with the card. Next time I wouldn't have them there. 

Overall...

 I think my film pitch was a success in that the audience seemed to understand the concept of the film and by their gasps and shocked reactions when the plot twist was revealed suggested that my film was different and unsuspecting. The audience seemed engaged meaning I felt confident in presenting and creating the image they needed to get a clear idea of my films storyline. 

The film idea was realistic, when created seems as if it will fit the 5 minute film criteria (basically not looking as if its going to be a big feature film..) and was interesting with the conventions of a typical film short. 

So now we've all pitched our films, its time to find out our film crew groups and then have an hour debate (ok maybe not an hour...or so much of a debate more of a discussion) on which film we will be choosing to plan and produce as part of our shorts project. Until then!