Hi guys, y'all also have an interesting idea, got some questions aswell.

Firstly, on co-op. Is there much of a market for that on Smartphones. I am well adapt to apps, but when I play a game on my phone, I'm just doing it to play alone and stuff. If I wanted to play as a team I'd boot up my pc or PS. Also in regards to the co-op, is there going to be any balancing for players. Will people who are just starting to be playing team up with people who know how to play it well. And finally do you expect for them to communicate at all. If one person is having a hard time, they may need help. Is there a chat feature included or are they expected to be alone.

And secondly, you gave an example of another app with multiple games. But what will make me download your game over that one. As someone who isn't interested in the coperative side of the game, what is going to make me buy this app of games, over any other app with multiple games???

Bumping for task.

Hello, we are Team Aptitude and we would like to present our new film “Sharo” - an animated epic with an intriguing twist to themes and ideas explored before which we hope will thrill and surprise audiences everywhere.

Film Plot

The movie starts by following a teenage Wood elf girl as she wanders aimlessly on a deserted, barren pathway. We learn from the thoughts she is having that, her name is Sharo, and she doesn't belong to any faction. She doesn't have any family or friends, and she is always left to herself. Sharo then hears the sound of a large horn and walks towards the entrance of a small community, where there is a large commotion. The Rogue faction comprised of some of the rogues and bandits of the nation are seen with the Nomad faction.

In order to uphold a peace treaty forged between the two factions the Nomad people have agreed to give away one of their children in exchange for much needed money for trade between the various factions to the Rogue Faction. Gaia, a member of the Nomad Faction since birth is chosen as the child to be given to the Rogues. Leaving her family, Gaia prepares to start a new life in the Rogue Faction reluctantly. Once there, she has to quickly embrace a culture and ideals which she has been warned against her entire life. She learns that to survive she has to start stealing from markets to eat, deceiving members of the community for shelter and protection – a far cry from the peaceful, nomadic lifestyle of the deeply spiritual Nomads.

After a month since the transfer, she has settled in well and begins to understand the culture she has come into and why it needs to be done though still can’t shift the sense that this is fundamentally wrong. There is no family to help or protect you, it is true independent living. As Gaia lays down to sleep one night, the movie pans to a large group of people from the Technology Faction forming half a mile away from the borders of the Rogue’s territory. She is woken up by a fellow Rogue, in amongst a large commotion, who instructs her that they have been attacked by the Technology Faction. A large-scale battle ensues, the Rogues fight with daggers and knives and those with aggressive magic use it whilst the Technology Faction fights with swords; axe; and advanced bows and arrows. Gaia is shocked and angry at the conflict that the Technology Faction has bought purposely and quickly prepares for battle to defend her new home.

Meanwhile, a group of people from the Technology Faction not involved in the battle are working near the Cave people’s territory when they are ambushed by a small group of Cave People. A small battle ensues resulting in some deaths from both sides. The leader of the Cave People demands they stop using the Earth’s natural resources and should start to use magic to help as the Cave People have done. The response they get from the Technology Faction is that they have not been gifted with magic and require natural resources so they can evolve technology to survive. It is here that it is revealed that the Technology Faction attacked the Rogue Faction due to the presence of an important mineral ore only found in the Rogue faction’s territory.

A Cave Person, Orion, is eventually able to sympathise with the opposing faction by deciding to try and stop the conflict between the two factions by holding peace talks between the two factions with the help of Sharo whom he meets on one of Sharo’s wanderings. This inadvertently leads to a breakdown in communication resulting in a full scale battle due to the two factions misunderstand each other’s intentions. In a valiant but ultimately failed attempt to bring about peace and cease the fighting Orion tries to calm everyone down but instead is tragically cut down.

Meanwhile Rana, a Dark Elf clan member practices his magic skills in case of attack from the Tech Faction; the Dwarf or one of the many other factions hostile towards the Dark elves. One day, while he is training he notices Sharo stealing some food from the Dark Elves after having run distraught from the battle where Orion was lost. Noticing this, an epic chase occurs when the frightened Sharo starts to run away from an initially apparently violent Rana. The chase ends in Sharo getting caught and begging for mercy. It is revealed Sharo learns here that the Dark Elves are not as aggressive as believed by many and Rana just wanted to know what Sharo's status was. They convene together and Rana decides to give Sharo some food and some training in some more aggressive magic to help fend off the ever more diverse factions that misunderstand each other and would attack her out of fear.

Tired and exhausted, devastated by the death of Orion, Sharo goes through an identity crisis as she undertakes Rana’s training. After a while of training we find Sharo stumbling around still looking the worse for wear after Orion’s untimely demise. Sharo is eventually found collapsed not too far from where the Rogue’s territory is by Gaia who ends up striking up an uneasy and complicated friendship based on mutual respect leading to Gaia eventually deciding to reject both the Nomads and the Rogues who took them at such a young age. Rana carries on with life, training and developing. The last scene is Gaia and Sharo playfully arguing as they journey around the world together.

Film Poster

Here is a rough version of the poster made by Naruto:

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2ur1...8#.U9EKXPldVcg

Here is a rough sketch of the poster made by Arran:

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2qk4c5z&s=8

We wanted the posters to show off each character and attract the audience using visual enhancements. Obviously, the final poster will be images of each character against the background in one image, but these really help to enhance and attract the reader. The stand alone title "Sharo" helps to lexically attract the reader as it adds a sense of mystery.

Advertising

To make the public aware of our movie, we plan on a small advertising campaign due to expenses. We plan on marketing our movie in Japan (as this is where the movies are most popular), America and the United Kingdom, primarily. Then, Canada, Europe, Oceania and other regions. We feel this will give the cast enough time to do PR, small radio and television visits and the likes. The reason we are doing this is due to having a tiered release. Our main audiences will receive it first, and then we can gauge which areas it's more popular so as to keep it in the cinemas longer. We feel that even though it's aimed at indie film goers, this is a circuit that all films who want to turn a profit must follow.

To give maximum exposure, we plan on the cast attending an indie film festival premier in each country (also helping with the tiered release) so that fans can ask questions to add a sense of warmth to the process, and a small YouTube series explaining each character, using the actor. This would be nothing major, and just an excuse for people to learn about the character. Two weeks before the films release, critics will receive a screening party, where they'll be able to take notes, review the movie and meet the cast members and crew for any questions.

We feel this will help with the critical reception which of course can effect the movie.
Across the UK, the movie poster (obviously then designed by a our animator so as to match the movie), will be appearing in anime and manga magazines.

Soundtrack

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=..._GRTJzLCvKy-90

We decided that to try and cash in we would try and create a soundtrack! To save costs, we decided to use unknown artists off of the site 'Noisetrade'. This is where artists share their music for free, with voluntary donations. To create a cost effective, yet audibly satisfying album, we decided to include these artists, whilst giving them each around $5,000 for the use of their music. We feel they will agree as for the use of one song, for an unknown and relatively undiscovered artist this is a lot of money.
We also feel that we would include and all female OST so that it could be considered a concept album, due to us having a female lead. The artists are all female, and all songs that relate to different parts of the movie. Please, click on the link and immerse yourself in the music of "Sharo".

We also came to the conclusion that the album would only be sold through iTunes unless there is a high demand on physical copies. This will save money as there won't be any shipping costs, manufacturing costs etc.

To create hype around the album we would release it for pre-order on iTunes, whilst making the "Spin Me Around" song by Lorelei Carlson and instant receive track. We understand that it won't sky rocket up the charts, but we feel by marketing it at £7.99/$9.99, with an exclusive clip of the movie, it will be an easy way to turn more profit.

Budget

We have chosen a budget of 2.5 million pounds for the movie. We feel this would allow us to aim for the animation style we would want - Anime influenced animation - and also the casting we have chosen. This would also cover some aspects of the advertising such as featuring it at film festivals. We feel it would allow for the movie to reach it's full potential and for it to be a success.

Industry

We have chosen to enter our movie into the Art-House Film Industry as a Independent Animation. This is because we feel our movie would appeal to a more indie orientated audience, with the conflicting genres and themes, for example a dark natured animation. Also, we feel the darkness of the storyline would appeal more to adults than to children, which would allow it to stand out as an unique Independent Animation. Fantasy is already a growing genre with the popularity of card games such as Magic : The Gathering and video games such as Skyrim. Thus the market is larger than ever and we believe we can fit this movie into that market.

Casting

As our cast, we initially thought of using completely voice actors, due to the cost. But we felt we wanted each main character to have a voice, a tone, and to be completely unique. We eventually decided on using the following actors for the four main roles
.
Brit Marling as Sharo
Devery Jacobs as Gaia
Jake Lacey as Rana
Graham Rogers as Orion

We decided on these as they all had fitting tones, and all we're relatively non-mainstream. We thought Brit would make an excellent lead actress due to the phenomenal tone of her voice, and the slight natural warmth as we want the audience to grow to become fond of each character, so they care and empathise with them. This would also help with critical reception!

For the side characters we plan on using professional voice actors. This is mainly as we don't wish to blow our budget on primarily actors. We're thinking of using in the range of 3-5 voice actors to cover all of the different secondary, tertiary and background characters.

We believe our young, talented primary cast will be a great source for the target audience to enjoy, and discover fresh new talent.

We apologise for the delay, and we look forward to any questions you may have.

Yes, if you have any questions about our pitch, feel free to ask us and we'll try to answer them.

I'm back after a quick trip out any questions about cast, poster, advertising or soundtrack

Yes again apologies for the lateness of the pitch please feel free to ask any questions to do with the plot

Hey guys!

First off I really like how you guys have gone into an animation film as I love a lot of indie animated films (that's the artist in me woo) but like always I have a few questions.
Your story seems to really go from one part of the story to the other + going to characters who just appear out of nowhere and I got really confused whilst reading your pitch as I couldn't really see what was going on or what the characters intentions were etc. Do you think people will get confused as well because of this?
Also I noticed this in the first paragraph of the plot but it seemed in the first part you kind of ripped off divergent with a character not knowing where they belong followed by a horn where people have to gather followed by a war between factions which one is kind of leading, it seemed highly similar so what makes yours different compared to Divergent?
Also you mentioned you would be going with an Anime style animation, may I ask what made you go with Anime as your animation style?
Finally your soundtrack link isn't working so I can't view it atm XD

that's all though and I look forward to your answers

Hi Aptitude,

I like the concept of your film, but I wonder if maybe you've over-complicated things by including so many factions? It could perhaps be a little confusing to your audience, jumping from one fight to another, with different characters essentially having the same battle. Also, the film is called 'Sharo', but she doesn't seem to be in a fair amount of it - if anything it's more about the factions than it is about her. There doesn't seem to be much of an ending either, something which I know I would be disappointed in if I watched it.

I like the idea of the soundtrack, I know I've found some of my music from films, but I'm wondering whether it will be commercially viable considering the market you're going for?

Best of luck

Hi jackel, thanks for the questions, I hope to answer the ones in bold.
In answer to the first question the plot is just a brief summary of what happens - of course in the film the main characters mentioned later would be introduced properly at the start and be given time to develop. We just introduced them as and when their plots become significant to save space and time.

The plot is hardly unique to Divergent - I haven't personally seen the film but any similarity is unintended and our focus is on the differences in culture and that the warring is from a fundamental misunderstanding of the other factions. The plot isn't driven by some villain or a strong romance but by the harsh reality that much of what we do has little or no impact on the world and I think that is the key difference in the plot to others out there. I hope that answers your questions and my colleague will answer the other question you had.

As for the link I must apologize on behalf of my colleague who I believe was posting from their phone, here is the correct link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...90&app=desktop

We believe the soundtrack will be a success due to only being a digital album. It will be released in various territories and countries. However, the soundtrack has been made commercially viable by including music that isn't traditionally anime-esque. It isn't an expense as we would need to pay the artists to include the music in the movie anyway! We really feel like it could be a success as we aren't paying or the soundtrack, just the song. And this means that there really isn't any excess price other than uploading to iTunes etc I hope you enjoyed the soundtrack, and I hope I've helped

Hi Amy,

Thanks for the questions, I will attempt to answer the bold questions. Firstly we have so many factions because we wanted to create a sense of scope to the world and lead to possible sequels that would potentially be completely stand alone stories in their own right - similar to Final Fantasy.

In terms of your concerns about having different characters in different places the battle with the "Cavers" would be less of a battle and more of a skirmish, though perhaps we could have chosen some better phrasing in the plot description. Also the Rogue faction is far more diverse than the cavers so you would be seeing a lot more different styles occurring in the bigger battle. The name "Sharo" comes from the fact that we are following her travels and the individuals who she meets in her wanderings so of course she would actually appear more in the film than what the synopsis would suggest. The plot of course requires further development and fleshing out but the basics are all there which is what we set out to achieve.

I hope that helps

Hi Jackel, I will gladly answer this part of the question.

We went for the animation style route as there isn't many animation films that have plots like this one, most of the films that do are seen on real life movies, so we wanted to be a little different by incorporating a film that's animation but full of dark cult and fantasy stuff.

I hope this has answered your question.

Thanks Ian and thanks to Arran for answering my other question

What I was trying to get at was that it seems a little repetitive - 2 factions don't like each other, they fight, move onto the next one. Also, the Cave battle seems to be a bit more than a 'skirmish', it turns into a "full scale battle" after which a main character dies (unless you meant the initial bit with them, in which case, my apologies).

Also, the part where Orion dies seems to be the 'turning point' for the film, it feels as though there's another half of the story after where Rana and Sharo meet etc. I understand that you might have needed to give us a lot of background at the start, but it seems as though there's much more going on in the first 'half' of the film than the second - is there anything else going on in the meantime whilst Sharo is with Rana, and then Gaia? Otherwise, the ending is a bit rushed.

Finally, what you said to Jack - The plot isn't driven by some villain or a strong romance but by the harsh reality that much of what we do has little or no impact on the world and I think that is the key difference in the plot to others out there.. If I understand this correctly, this is meant to be the theme (for lack of a better word) of the film? If so, then that doesn't really come across to me. Could you maybe elaborate on how/where this is meant to come across in the film?

Yes we meant the initial fight would be full on and then calming quickly down as there are far fewer of them in battle. The idea is that we show that the fighting is meaningless and only leads to death.

As I said to Jack this is obviously just the synopsis of what happens there would need to be a lot more fleshing out and all the details would have to be finer and the end admittedly is the least developed part of the plot so would undergo the most changes.

Yes that would be the theme that and how we end the film though brief I believe is what shows that, I hope that helps.

Here are the pitches from Aptitude this week, starting with Steve's pitch to Tyjet on sculptures and models:

Next up - Naruto's pitch to Katie on still life paintings

And finally, Iain's pitch to Aliyah on abstract and surreal art: