My Film Storyline (Edit after Feedback):

®  The film starts in the airport boarding gate for a jumbo jet flight from LAX. The audience are
      introduced to a tough looking character (Sylvester Stallone) as he boards a plane. He is the hero
      who is revealed to be a veteran ex-cop.

®     After beginning fine, mid-flight the lights in the cabin start to blink ominously. The captain can then be heard overhead reassuring the passengers that someone is on their way to fix it.

®     The narrative then switches to a flashback of the past to provide a back-story for the film, which shows the cop, Allen Murphy, being briefed with other cops about a knife-loving mass-murderer (Mickey Rourke) on the loose and he has to find and arrest him.

®     Back to the flight, an alarm goes off and the captain reports an emergency. Murphy asks to check it out and is shown a stabbed dead body. A blackout then occurs temporarily and a loud female scream can be heard.

®     Flashback: after following a lead, Murphy and other cops storm into the murderer’s hideout but are unable to apprehend him as he escapes laughing. Murphy becomes angry. He returns to the police HQ to the chief irritated that they haven’t caught the murderer. Chief has sad news that Murphy is deemed too old for service and has been asked to retire, which he does reluctantly.

®     On the plane, Murphy finds the stabbed airhostess, causing panic among the passengers. Murphy calms the people down only in time for another blackout. Murphy has a flashlight in hand which he found. This time, a shadowy voice can be heard overhead (the murderer).  He threatens to kill everyone one-by-one slowly in his ‘playground of death’ (referring to the plane). He also ‘welcomes’ Murphy to the plane, saying how it’s a pleasant coincidence that he could never find him until now and that he will enjoy killing him the most. The voice laughs evilly, lights return and a couple are seen dead. Murphy is outraged and smashes something. He realises that the murderer cannot be in two places at once because the speaker system is too far from the couple so he must have help from others.

®     Murphy gives the flashlight to one of the airhostesses (Scarlett Johansson) and asks her to fix the lights. The camera follows her journey to the lights control panel. However, she is engaged in a fight with one of the bad guys resulting in the lights being damaged and only temporarily blinking. She wins and returns a bit injured and tired to Murphy.

®     During the cheering in the cabin that the lights are fixed, a tall dark figure (the murderer) walks from the shadows with two knives, stops for a stare down with Murphy. He congratulates the cop for foiling the plan making him reveal himself. They engage in a fight where the cop can only use improvised shields/weapons to fight. The fight shifts towards the pilots’ cabin and results in their cruel deaths causing the plane to plummet towards the sea. There is an epic fight scene between the two, with lights blinking and alarms sounding. The murderer is killed, Murphy just saves the plane from total destruction and the remaining people remain safe waiting for rescue. Happy ending J

My Film's Target Audience Profile Homework:

PowerPoint Presentation (Edited after Feedback):
Arash's Film Pitch & Target Audience Profile (Edited)

Film's USP:
"Stallone vs. Rourke on a plane.... Plus Scarlett Johansson"

My Film Pitch Homework:

Title: BLACKOUTS
Storyline:

The film starts in the airport boarding gate for a jumbo jet flight from LAX. The audience are introduced with a cop figure (Sylvester Stallone), 2 bodyguards, and a nervous-looking gentlemen (Shia LaBeouf) together as they board a plane. After beginning fine, mid-flight the lights in the cabin start to blink ominously. The captain can then be heard reassure the passengers that someone is on their way to fix it. The narrative then switches to a flashback to provide a back-story for the film, which shows the cop, Allen Murphy, being briefed with others about a knife-loving mass-murderer (Mickey Rourke) on the loose whose identity is unknown. Back to the flight, an alarm goes off and the captain reports an emergency. Murphy asks to check it out and is shown a stabbed dead body. A blackout then occurs temporarily and a loud female scream can be heard. Flashback: after following a lead, the Murphy and other cops storm an abandoned factory and prevent the nervous gentlemen, Isaac Waters, being slaughtered by the suspected murderer whose face is just concealed. He is now a vital witness as he has seen his face. On the plane, Murphy finds the stabbed airhostess, causing panic among the passengers. Murphy calms the people down only in time for another blackout. However this time, a shadowy voice can be heard overhead threatening to kill everyone slowly if Murphy doesn’t kill Isaac himself. Murphy refuses, the voice laughs evilly, lights return and a couple are seen dead. Murphy is outraged and smashes something. Flashback: papers thump on desk. The head of police orders witness to be taken to a secure location for further questioning. In plane, Murphy determines that the killer cannot be in two places at once and tells Isaac to be vigilant for the murders. Blackout; this time, the lights return to early revealing one of the bodyguards trying to kill someone. Murphy apprehends him and pins him down. Bodyguard commits suicide with a hidden cyanide pill. Flashback: shows the fake bodyguard taking the place of one of the real bodyguards. He then calls the murder who tells him, he will also be on the flight. On the plane, Murphy assigns the remaining bodyguard to fix the lights. When, he is engaged in a fight with someone resulting in the lights being damaged and only temporarily blinking. During the cheering in the cabin, a tall dark figure walks from the shadows with two knives, stops for a stare down with Murphy, before charging towards Isaac. Murphy gets in the way using improvised shields/weapons to fight. The fight shifts towards the pilots’ cabin and results in their cruel deaths as the plane plummets to sea. There is an epic fight between the two with lights blinking and alarms sounding. The murderer is killed, Murphy just saves the plane from total destruction and the remaining people remain safe waiting for rescue. Happy ending J.

Target Audience: 15+ males mainly, as it contains some distressing scenes and violence.

Directors: Micheal Bay (Transformers, Bad Boys), David R. Ellis (Snakes on a Plane)

Producer: Craig Berenson (Snakes on a Plane)

Influences: Snakes on a Plane (influenced the cop on a plane aspect), Devil (blink lights + death aspect)

Marketing Plan: the film would be released in July 2011, summertime to boost potential viewers, plus a 2-day premier opportunity on the weekend before the release to increase the buzz around the film and word-of-mouth. There will initially be a teaser trailer showing the main characters saying important lines, expect only Mickey Rourke’s voice to finish the trailer, and what happens with the blackouts. At around the same time, the website will launch that counts down the time until the film release with a teaser trailer player. Then, for the official trailer, this and more is shown. Once the film is out, the website will shift to show a brief synopsis, info on the cast, the official trailer and a small countdown to the DVD release in September 2011.

Budget: $30,000,000 or approximate equivalent.

A/A Genre Analysis Using NICS Homework:

This action/adventure film from Men In Black can be analysed into 4 sections: Narrative, Iconography, Characters and Settings.

The narrative shown in this clip follows Todorov’s Theory as the equilibrium (the two heroes almost apprehending the villain), the disruption (the fight scene between Agent J and the giant cockroach) and the restoration (the gooey death of the monster) is shown. The narrative in Men In Black follows the conventions of typical action/adventure films. The challenge/scenarios faced in the film by the hero is representative of the genre as it depicts a brave hero trying to beat a seemingly unbeatable foe until a solution for its weakness is found, which is also stereotypical. Typical sounds can be heard throughout the clip such as; gun clicks, explosive sounds, punching sounds and a spaceship’s ‘vroom’. This leads on to a stereotypical theme of aliens and futuristic weapons/transport which is common in many action/adventure films.

The iconography shown in the clip again follows action/adventure themes. The props in the film, such as large guns and other improvised weaponry (e.g. the tree branch), can also be found in many other films of the same genre. Also, the costumes for a slick/cool looking character can be seen in other characters like in spy movies, so they too are typical. The make-up and masks and other extras used in the film clip, specifically the deformed-face mask and gooey-goo, is also paralleled in other similar action/adventure films.

The few characters shown in this clip can still be identified using Propp’s Theory. The main hero in the film is Agent J (played by Will Smith) who is a cop turned secret agent when he encounters aliens, who learns new things throughout the film. The villain is the giant cockroach alien (Edgar The Bug) who uses the farmer ‘skin-suit’ who wants to steal a whole galaxy from Earth. Many victim characters fall to this villain as he is difficult to defeat. The donor or co-hero is Agent K (played by Tommy Lee Jones) who recruits Agent J as teaches him the ways of MIB. The is glimpses of a ‘damsel-in-distress’ style character who is stuck in a tree in the clip but later help to re-kill the Bug - All very conventional of the genre.

The whole film is majorly set in New York in USA, however some areas of the film touch upon other setting such as space or other planets. I think the major setting for this film is very stereotypical for invasion-style action/adventure films as almost all invasion seem to ALWAYS happen in America (am I right?).