With my first initial draft of the plot outline completed now I began to think of the framework that would accompany such a document if I were to actually attempt to pitch and sell the feature to a potential buyer. I began to look into the desired target audience for my film – which I have now firmly decided is being named ‘Witnesses’ – and how that would affect its popularity, and whether or not the film would be seen as profitable by a potential buyer.

With the film’s dark subject matter in mind I always envisioned the feature itself to be a mature affair, and whilst writing and researching into the topic and characters I aimed for a predominantly male audience of 15-35 years old. This meant that I could appeal to the largest proportion of UK cinema audiences, a platform I was aiming for with the film gaining a theatrical release, as 29% of cinema goers in 2015 were within the ages of 15 and 24 (BFI, 2015). The BFI’s handbook on film audiences for the year 2015 proved incredibly useful, I found that as my film features action in the form of comedic gore, and due to its darker subject matter by film will be more popular with male audiences too, as males tend to make up the majority of audiences for films that heavily feature violence.

Even though it’s a British film set in a spectacularly British town, I feel as though the plot and theme throughout the film is universal in its simplicity. Even with that in mind though due to the inherent society in which the film is based the film would stand less of a chance in doing well in terms of box office as ‘55% of the world’s box office’ is taken over by ‘American Films’ (Friedmann, 1995, 55). This is due to how large of a percentage the American audience takes up in terms of distribution, and how other cultures and countries often struggle to translate into the mainstream.

Friedmann’s book also offered a few rules to follow in order to try and achieve success with a film for American audiences including:

– ‘The Average American Movie contains approximately two-thirds of the dialogue of the average European Movie’

– ‘The Average American Movie scene is approximately half the length of the average European Movie scene’ (Friedmann, 1995, 56).

As ‘Witnesses’ features extensive use of dialogue throughout and only a handful of scenes within its entire running time, it would seemingly be doomed to fail in making much money over in America upon distribution, which would make it a difficult script to sell to a large company such as ‘Universal’ or ’20th Century Fox’. Instead, I propose a smaller, more UK-centric distributer and production company in the form of StudioCanal (Canal+, 2017), that way the company can focus more on a marketing and release plan within the UK. The film itself is so small in scale (the majority of the second act takes place in one location) that budgetary concerns would be minimal with such a project. The majority of effort would most likely go into set design, props and potentially gore effects for the film’s final third, and even then old techniques such as animal organs from local butchers and cornstarch and red food colouring would be a good place to start practicing such effects.

The film’s dark comedy genre will also help it attempt to tap into the ‘cult’ market, allowing for companies like Studiocanal to earn more from home release sales as more people view films from DVD/Blu Rays than theaters (BFI, 2015). In theory, this would all help in pitching the film and getting it funded, as it backs up the idea that ‘Witnesses’ could bring back a profit. Similar dark comedies released under Studiocanal such as Four Lions (Morris, 2010) released under ‘Optimum Releasing’ (a branch of Studiocanal) made a small profit and garnered critical acclaim despite an unconventional and controversial topic whilst remaining quintessentially British.

 

Bibliography:

BFI (2015) BFI Research and Statistics: Audiences. BFI. Available from  http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-statistical-yearbook-audiences-2015-2016-08-25.pdf [accessed 22/02/17]

Friedmann, J. (1995) How to make money Scriptwriting. UK: Boxtree, 55-56.

Canal+ (2017) StudioCanal: About Us. London: StudioCanal. Available from http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-statistical-yearbook-audiences-2015-2016-08-25.pdf [accessed 22/02/17].

Morris, C. (dir.) (2010) Four Lions [DVD]. Optimum Releasing.

Recently I’ve been trying to develop the Mulby’s character and story arcs within my outline, as I feel that’s where my concept is currently the most lacking. In order to help I’ve been reading up on how mobsters have been portrayed within different texts across the years and how it relates to their real-life ations. And whilst reading an evaluation of The Sopranos (HBO, 1999-2007) I found a common theme within these representations which I could exaggerate within my outline, and that theme is that all representations of mob culture tend to focus on the ‘hypermasculinity’ (Nochimson, 2005, 185), how large groups of well-dressed men meet together in secret to discuss business about powerful weapons and corruption. It’s something I’d want to explore more within the characters that I’ve created for the family as a whole – seeing as the Mulbys will only really act as tertiary characters to apply pressure to Anton and Angelos in their search for Michael and Jacob.

The Mulby Family (Don Elway, Gertrude Mulby, Hicks Mulby) – the other members of the Mulby family/crime organisation. Used to apply pressure to Angelos and Anton in finding the witnesses to the murder.

Even though it’s less reported on less prevalent than in America, mafia crime syndicates do still exist within the UK on a smaller level, though my portrayal of them within my outline will probably follow the typical representation of the subject matter, seen in films like The Godfather (Coppola, 1972) and countless others.

 

I then began to think of places which could act as the family’s base of operations. As the film is set within a rural Kent town I began to think back on the business present within the small rural Kent town I grew up in. I remember loving my local play center (Tiger’s Eye – Pictures above) when I was smaller, a large (at least at the time), sprawling place for children to spend a few hours whilst their parents conversed and downed coffee in the seating area. I often wondered when I was younger what took place behind the scenes, as I knew the building in which the play area took up was larger than what was on display. I started to piece together that the Mulbys could operate a play center similar to this one, only to have it as a front to their business. I like the contrast in how the most innocent business on the high street secretly holds the darkest actions in the whole town.

Bibliography:

The Sopranos (1999-2007) [Download]. HBO.

Nochimson, M, P. (2005) Waddaya Lookin’ At? Rereading the gangster film through The Sopranos. In: Grieveson, L. Sonnet, E and Stanfield, P (eds.) Mob Culture: Hidden Histories of the American Gangster Film. Oxford: Berg Publishing, 185.

Coppola, F.F. (dir.) (1972) The Godfather [DVD]. Paramount Pictures.

Whilst going over the happenings of the film’s second act it recently occurred to me that the majority of what I’ve been brainstorming won’t be able to fit within my outline, mostly because it doesn’t advance the plot. It’s quite difficult to communicate the comedy of a script or a film idea through the use of an outline alone so maybe I’ll need to have snippets of dialogue included within mine, much like the one for The People vs. Larry Flynt (Forman, 1996). Nevertheless I feel like it’s important to continue brainstorming such ideas as it helps me form the world in which the film is set. Because even though the film takes place in a small rural town in Kent (making it a very British film), aspects of the plot such as the mafia characters are so exaggerated that I need to find a way to make them feel as home within the atmosphere I want for the film.

One of the ideas I had for the film’s second half included Jacob trying to dispose of all the knives and potential weapons within the house, but not knowing what to do with them after gathering them up. I began to imagine small snippets of conversation between Michael and Jacob in the situations, to get a feel for their characters:

–

INT. Kitchen – Day.

Jacob comes rushing in, opens up various drawers and begins emptying their contents of knives and various sharp objects.

Michael: What are you doing?

Jacob holds up a spork and stares at it for a little while before putting it back.

Michael: Jacob!

Jacob: Look! I’m safety-guarding this house, alright?

He drops another knife into a black bag.

Michael: Safety guarding?

Jacob: Yes, when those two guys find us, and they will find us, we don’t need them thinking to themselves *He grabs a large bread knife* ‘ooh, this looks sharp, I bet this’ll hurt a lot more when I’m gutting these two idiots, I’m so glad this was here, or else-‘

Michael: ‘-or else I would have just shot them dead’…they had guns.

Jacob: Yeah, but you saw the way they tortured that guy. And this house has millions of potential torture weapons just waiting to be played with!

Jacob pulls out an apple corer and presents it to Michael.

Michael:…what.

Jacob: …heart plunger.

Michael: Apple corer.

Jacob: But in the right hands a heart plunger!

Michael: You can’t kill someone with an apple corer!

Jacob: I bet you can! Enough pressure, pushed into the chest *he begins to vividly act out the violence – sound effects and all* crack through a few ribs, pierce the heart, blade gets caught. Then all you gotta do it yank it back out when you’re done and bam…fresh heart to munch on.

Michael: Since when are the guys cannibals?!

Jacob: I don’t know what they do in their spare time do I?! How are you so sure that they’re not?

–

I then had the idea of Jacob initially trying to take out the black bags of knives to put in the wheeley bins outside, only for them to split and empty out onto the pavement in public – prompting more suspicion and gasps from the Preils. One of the knives would also fall and embed itself in Jacob’s foot, causing him great pain and would provide the start of a small montage sequence for comedy purposes.

 

After several failed attempts at getting rid of the knives and weapons eventually he would find dumping them in the small fish pond at the bottom of the garden, where he assumed they sink to the bottom. This would then lead to a visual joke in the form of multiple dead flailing fish with cutlery sticking in them rising to the water’s surface.

Small jokes I’ve been brainstorming like this aren’t useful when it comes to the film’s outline, but help me get more and more of an understanding of what I’d want the film to present itself as and be.

I think next though I need to develop the Mulby characters a bit more.

 

 

Bibliography:

Forman, M. (dir.) The People vs. Larry Flynt. [Download]. Columbia Pictures.

 

This week in the final part of preparation for my individual presentation I continued to edit my plot points and continued to come up with short sequences which would feature within the film despite them not being needed for my outline. I decided to end the film by punishing the protagonists for their murders and having them locked up in prison, as I feel like their actions dictate such a resolution.

This worked to my advantage too as I found that prison life would give closure to Michael’s character arc, within confinement he doesn’t have to worry about his job or Jacob much anymore and it could lead him to finally becoming happy after unloading the truth to his best friend at the end of the film’s second act.

 

The film’s second act, where Michael and Jacob are slowly going insane in isolation within their boarded up home offered a chance to play fully with the comedic aspects of the film. To help me find a suitable slapstick tone to wash a dark sensibility over I rewatched Death at a Funeral (Oz, 2007), a dark british comedy set during a funeral where increasingly ridiculous acts of absurdity and slapstick happen to the mourning family and their guests. The combination of the absurd tone and the bleak subject matter is one I’d wish the second act to play with to great effect, and lead to me treating the scenario almost the same way in which a bleak sitcom might do. Essentially Jacob and Michael’s story within the second act is a sitcom, or even could be used as a more comedy-based episode of Inside No.9 (BBC, 2014-) due to its one location setting. Though this is something again I can expand upon in another post, I began to create more tertiary character simply to be used as jokes within this segment, such as family members for both Jacob and Michael, characters that suited one purpose and one purpose only – to provide more platforms for comedy within my film.

 

Bibliography:

Oz, F. (dir.) Death at a Funeral. [DVD]. Verve Pictures.

Inside No. 9 (2014-) [DVD]. BBC Two.

Over the last week I’ve been expanding on a lot of the elements within my concept in preparation for my individual presentation, I’ve added a dog into Jacob and Michael’s relationship in order to help solve two plot points I was struggling to find resolutions for. The dog being taken on a walk gives me a suitable platform for them stumbling across the murder, after which in their panicked state they leave the dog in the wood. The dog could then be used as the final piece of information the Mulbys need to find out where Michael and Jacob live as their address could be imprinted on the dog’s collar.

The most drastic changes I’ve made seem to be to both the second and third act, where I felt like restraining Michael and Jacob within their home would mean that a lot of the action within my script outline would feel like padding in order to reach feature length run time of 90 minutes, which is what I’m aiming for. Instead now, I’ve included Jacob’s subplot with his ex-girlfriend and turned her moving on into a pivotal turning point for Jacob’s character. Him and Michael visit her (in balaclavas to hide their identities, more suspicion from The Preils) only to find her with a new man and to be truthful to him about how badly he treated her.

Not only would this give Michael and Jacob a chance to express their true feelings on the way back but it also gives them both a chance to develop into the characters that they could be after the film has ended. The timing of it being at the end of the second act also means that the third act would be bereft of characterisation, allowing me to go all out on action and comedy set pieces which would allow the film to go out on a high note. The two of them leaving the house also gives me a chance for The Preils to phone the police, leading to a cyclical moment where they mistake an intruding officer to be one of the mafia members and tie him up, much like the victim was tied up at the start of the film.

At the moment my list of plot points looks like this:

-Two best friends (Michael and Jacob) are walking their dog together through a nearby forest, when they accidentally witness a brutal mafia killing by two men.

-The two abandon their dog and run home, boarding up their doors and windows scared that they’re being followed.

– Meanwhile Anton and Angelos Mulby (the two killers) begin to similarly panic over the fact that they’ve been seen. They head back home and decide not to tell the family at risk of seeming unprofessional and ruining their reputation.

-Michael and Jacob isolate themselves in their home for days, slowly becoming paranoid and ensuring there’s no more threat within the house (by getting rid of all potential weapons) whilst attempting to contact the outside world.

-The two’s actions gather the attention of their neighbours, Mr & Mrs. Preil, who begin to suspect the two are up to something shady.

-Angelos and Anton begin to search for the two, looking around for suspicious activity and interrogating people over whether they’ve seen anything suspicious or not the only way they know how, with violence.

-After she fails to answer his calls, Jacob suspects his recent ex-girlfriend has become a target and forces the two of them to leave the house to ensure her safety and cause countless damage on their journey there, only to realise she just refuses to talk to Jacob after the break-up.

-Noting they’ve left, Mrs Preil informs the police of Michael and Jacob’s strange behaviour, leading to an officer showing up at the house.

-Angelos and Anton find Jacob and Michael’s dog, whose collar tells them the guys’ address.

-Arriving back at home, Jacob and Michael mistake the officer for a member of the mafia and kidnap him, holding him hostage inside their home and gathering more interest from the police force.

-Anton and Angelos arrive at the house, confused by the hostage situation and convince themselves Jacob and Michael are a rival family, leading to a onslaught of violence ending with both Mulbys being killed by an apple corer.

I’m having trouble with figuring out how to end the film, as technically my two protagonists become murderers throughout the film, meaning I may have to follow the almost-stereotypical rules of a black comedy by punishing my main characters in the end…