Homework: My Film pitch

Film Name: Black Pawn

Plot: Equilibrium - Jenna is an ordinary teenager who lives in the poorer parts of New York City with her parents. She is very intelligent but can not afford to go to college.
Disruption - However, one day she is involved in a car accident which resulted in her developing superhero powers – she has telekinesis, can fly and can see the future. When Jenna wakes up in hospital she is greeted by Sam, her dispatcher who tells her about her superpowers. Overtime people learn about her powers and the head of the largest gang in NYC finds out about this. He sends all of his people out to kill her because she is a threat in their eyes.
Resolution
Eventually she gets tired of hiding and running so she decides to fight back. She goes to each of the bases and tries to find the leader of the gang and kills him.
Restoration
Police thank her and reward her for her services to the community. With the cash reward she has a higher lifestyle and can now afford to go to college.

The film will not follow Todorov’s theory as the film will begin with the disruption (car crash accident) and flash forwards will be used as well through out using her supernatural power. This structure is common in action and adventure films for example – Jumper and the James Bond franchise.

The first scene opens by Jenna who is leaving her house and saying good-bye to her parents as she leaves to go to clubbing. On the way home, it's night time; pitchblack and raining heavily with strong winds. Jenna is walking down the street when she sees headlights ahead of her. The headlights are from a blacked out car with a mysterious hit and run male driver who will later become the villain. Non-digitic music is played to build tension and suggest danger and digetic sounds are used to emphasise the weather and the car accident.

Characters:

- Jenna Austen is an 18-year-old female who is the main protagonist in the film. She is strong, confident and fiercely independent who later develops superpowers and becomes the Hero of the film. She leads a double life as Jenna Austen the superhero and Jenna the ordinary teenage student.
- Sam is the dispatcher who sends Jenna and Esther on their missions. He is around 40 years old and is extremely intelligent. He also supplies Jenna and Esther with their gadgets and costumes. Sam has a mysterious background that the audience are un aware of.
- Esther is also an 18-year-old female who is Jenna's sidekick. She is humorous, strong and confident and acts as the Helper in the film. She also has superpowers as she can fly and teleport.
- Actors:

- Will Smith will play the role of ‘Sam’ because he is well known for playing roles in the action adventure genre such as ‘I am Legend’ and ‘Hancock’ and Will Smith is aged 42 so he fit’s in with the characters age. He would also represent different ethnic groups as they are under-represented in action and adventure films.

- Kiera Knightly would play the role of Jenna because she has previously played strong and independent female roles in action adventure films before such as Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean. She would also appeal to the primary and secondary audience.

- Dakota Fanning could play the role of Esther as she is known for playing a powerful and independent role in the Twilight franchise and would appeal to both the primary and secondary audience.

Settings: The main location would be New York City as it would be easily recognisable by all ages and other action adventure films such as The Day After Tomorrow have been set in New York. Some of the adventure scenes would be set on the top of Sky Scrapers or in the back streets of the city, as this would connote danger, mystery and vulnerability which would build tension and would be suitable for the characters to use their superpowers. Binary opposites in areas of affluence will be used to show the difference for example Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Target Audience: The primary audience or the film would be males as the action adventure genre stereotypically appeals to them as the conventions include fights, car chases and explosions. The main protagonist is female and this would appeal to men however, it would also appeal to females as they could aspire to be like her.

Iconography:
· Katie would wear a superhero costume when in that role.
· Hit and run driver is driving a black car
· Weapons such as guns are used
· High tech gadgets
· Car chases

USP: My unique selling point is that the main protagonist and the helper are both female – which isn’t what the audience would expect from an action and adventure film.

Marketing Plan: The film will be released in multiplex cinemas in June 2011. Like all marketting campaigns there will be a teaser poster, film poster, film website and a trailer before the actual release to build awareness and excitment.

Influences: Batman and Spiderman have been one one of the many inspirations of this film. I liked the idea of using a superhero who combats an issue to save the world. I adapted this idea and used a female character to make it different hence my unique selling point that would attract a wider audience and have a greater appeal