Initial Ideas For Film

We were given a variety of different film briefs to base our film on, ranging from comedy genres to horror and drama genres, advising us as to whether they were high or low-budget films or if they had any funding for them, which would affect the way we went about filming, props, sets and editing.  We had to take 3 of these briefs and create a storyline and pitch for each of them.  As a team, we decided upon 'mainstream UK comedy, set in the rural countryside', 'mainstream historical drama aimed at 15-30 year-old females, in co-production with FilmFour' and 'an independent movie featuring a young protagonist - your film should appear to be financed through regional funding', as we felt these had the most scope to potentially mould them around our own ideas.

Mainstream UK comedy, set in the rural countryside
We liked the fact this was a comedy piece as we had already had some comedy-related premonitions as a group.  As the brief stated it was a 'rural' comedy, we immediately thought of farmers and the countryside.  The idea came to us of having three farmers who are all superhero-fanatic best friends and gather in a tent alternately in the middle of one of their fields every week to discuss their imaginary roles as the defending superheroes of the countryside.  When they arrive to the 'meetings', they insist on taking a formal register which consists of only their three names.  Unbeknown to them, however, there is a real-life urban villain prowling in the surrounding hay bales, assessing whereabouts he would like to build his new internet-cafe.




Mainstream historical drama aimed at 15-30 year-old females, in co-production with FilmFour
As this film was to be aimed at females, we decided upon making it into a romantic hybrid as this, setereotypically, appeals to the female audience.  We thought there should be the element of an arranged marriage, as this will emotionally connect audiences to the film.  The teenage upper-class girl being forced into marriage with a French aristocrat (of whom she will not meet until the day) is falling in love with their new, lower-class servant.  As we will set this film the 1900s, this news is met with anger and conflict, causing uproar among the families.


An independent movie featuring a young protagonist - your film should appear to be financed through regional funding
We thought we could have a young boy (of around 6-8 years-old), suffering from extreme lonliness due to bullying by peers and neglect from parents, who has no-one in the world but his twin-like imaginary friend of whom he talks to, plays with and confides in.  One day, the lonely boy meets his real-life twin and the film documents his life from this point on how he deals with finding his twin and how he overcomes any difficulties in life and how this changes their parents.
As this is an indepent movie, we thought there should be a deeper storyline than in most mainstream films that makes the audience feel deeply emotionally connected with the storyline and comes away thinking about what they have just seen.

-Lauren Tween, Amy Bowman