Homework: my film pitch

Title: The Fear (working title)

Narrative:

Equilibrium:

3 friends are on their gap year, exploring the world. They are currently in Columbia, staying in a fancy hotel. There are 2 boys, Lukas and Darren, and one girl, Lizzie. Darren and Lizzie are in a relationship, but Luks is also in love with Lizzie: it is a love triangle. They are staying in the mountains. Columbia is full of drug dealers; the rural areas, with few tourists, are dangerous. The trio have been exploring the area throughout their holiday and find out about a local myth, 'el miedo', of a monster living in some of the local caves high up in the mountains and sign up for a guided tour, seeking adventure and excitement.

Disrpution:

When in the cave, a rumbling (as water starts to fill it) causes a large boulder to break from the cave and block the entrance to it. The trio, along with a guide and other tourists, are deep within the cave. The guide (Fabio), another tourist and Darren go to explore, and find out if there are any other ways of escape and discover the monster of the myth living deep within. The guide is attacked and dies (but leaves the hero with his walkie-talkie (which only gets signal rarely) and a pistol), so it is left to the group of strangers to find their way out. The monster is now aware of their presence, and at the same time, the cave is starting to fill with water, so the group has to find their way to the top before the monster discovers their hiding place and before the cave fills with water. They must fight against the monster, some characters are sucked into the swirling water, and some of them turn against each other. Lukas has to lead the group back to the top, whilst protecting them from the oncoming monster and water, and keep them from fighting each other.

When they finally reach the top (after having lost some of the characters to the flooding and the grasp of the monster), they must now move the boulder. They manage to get through to help outside of the cave, only long enough to tell them they are stuck. While help is coming the group try to move the boulder as the water is rapidly rising and the sounds of the beast can be heard getting closer. They manage to create a very small gap, through which they try to escape but no-one can fit.

Restoration:
Help from outside finally blast through and the remaining characters (Lukas, Lizzie, Craig, Alan, Jimmy and Tala) stumble out of the cave, bruised, scratched and traumatised, landing back into society, while everyone else is going on with their lives. Lizzie and Lukas comfort eachother and it is left unknown as to whether they get together.

Characters:

Hero: the best friend, Lukas West. He is in love with Lizzie. He is strong, smart and compassionate: he cares about people and always wants to help. In the film it is up to him, a natural leader, to lead the group back to the top of the cave, to safety. His compassion forces him to help and protect those who may themselves not help others. His courage and strength allows him to fight the monster, protecting himself and the group, while at the same time his resourceful, intelligent mind thinks of a way to get to the top before the cave fills with water.

Played by Andrew Garfield

Princess: the girlfriend, Lizzie Carter. She is beautiful, loving and compassionate. She is an archetype character, in that she gets frightened and needs protecting, but her boyfriend’s death gives light to her inner courage and strength as she has been angered and upset. The most interesting thing about Lizzie is that she was born partially deaf, which creates an urgent atmopshere and adds to the challenge which the group faces.

Played by Emma Watson

Villain: the monster living in the water. He is not human, but is unknown. However, he is not an animal either – he is near human intelligence and understanding. He is still clever and violent, and is looking to kill the people in the group, as they have, in his mind, invaded his territory. It is his existence that is the local myth and that causes so many locals and tourists to come to the area every year, searching for him. He is known locally as ‘el miedo’, which translates to ‘the fear’.

False hero: Craig Douglas, an American. He is confident and seems to be caring, with a lot of experience. He shows good leadership and at the beginning of the film, once they have been trapped in the cave, the audience does not yet know if he or Lukas will be the hero. However, as the film progresses, he shows signs of weakness and soon the audience can see he is not confident, but arrogant and selfish and he sacrifices others in the group in order to save himself. His carelessness for others and brute force keep him alive until the end.

Played by Ben Affleck

Donor: there are two main donors in the film. Firstly, the guide, Fabio de Souza, who is killed by the monster. He is deeply injured, but manages to crawl back to the group in time to give the hero his walkie-talkie which occasionally has signal to alert outsiders about their problem. He also leaves him with his pistol, which the most advanced in the group.

Played by Manolo Cardona

The boyfriend, Darren Hart, is killed by being sucked into the water and being carried off by the churning currents. He doesn’t donate anything physical, but his death gives his girlfriend, the hero, and other characters strength and ferocity to fight for their lives.

Played by Bradley James

Helper: The main helper is Jimmy Bent, a lone tourist searching for friendship and companionship, happy to help others and risk his own life to save others.

Played by James McAvoy

Other characters: Alan Milner, a joker who tries to lighten the mood with funny one-liners. There is a Japanese couple, Ami and Ren and two Moroccan friends, Nino and Tala. The Japanese couple and one of the Moroccan girls are killed

Influences and inspiration:

The Blair Witch Project and The Beach both inspired me to do something based around an ambiguous myth, as well as going on this adventure with your closest friends.  

Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark inspired the concept of setting the film underground, with unknown tunnels and routes which can be explored.

Thirdly, The Day After Tomorrow inspired the disaster aspect of the film, with the idea of water creating a huge problem for the characters and having to find away to survive.

 Iconography:
There will be lots of natural colours, such as brown and green, representing the natural surroundings. The characters will be wearing clothes suitable for exploring, such as combats and shorts and hiking boots. Most of the characters will have knives, liek pen knives and daggers, for protection in the dangerous area. The guide will also have a gun, connoting action. 
The lighting will be mostly natural and very low-key, as the characters are stuck inside a cave, so it would be very dark except for any torches and candles and any lighting managing to stream in through gaps in the rocks. 
Special effects: there will be cgi for the monster. There will also be sound fx to exaggerate the action and there will be slow-mos, typical of an action-advernture film. 

Settings:
The main setting will be the cave, a typical action-adventure setting.This setting connotes the unknown, as it is very dark and there are many secret tunnels and routes underground. It is extremely opposite what the characters are used to - it is very much out of their comfort zone, adding to the tension and drama. Another typical convention in action adventure films that will be in this film is the use of water, to connote a disaster. The setting will be very exaggerated, with huge sharp rocks and the low-key lighting with candles will create a chilling, eerie atmosphere. 
This will be contrasted to the fancy, expensive hotel in which the film starts, to repesent the binary opposites, emphasising the danger they are going into and how unkown and out of their comfort zone it is. 
The film is set in Columbia, with huge towering mountains in the searing heat, another extreme setting, typical of an action-adventure film.