Hey Guys!

I quite like the idea of this movie but I do have a few questions surrounding different areas of the film the first being that you said the film is a " realistic portrayal of British life", I don't know what area you guys live in but I am fairly certain a murder, taking the blame, burning down a restroom and then taking somebody elses identity isn't a realistic portrayal of British Life?
I also personally feel that you guys didn't finalize your ending as it kind of comes completely out of the blue and whilst I could see the rest of your film actually appealing to myself but the ending, with the whole bruned face thing, is something that I personally think tainted the film so I was wondering why you actually went with that ending in particular?

That is all and I look forward to your replies

Hi Jack! Thanks for your questions.

The realistic portrayal of British life is not so much about the plot itself as it is about the characters. The two principle roles are a young mum prostituting herself in order to earn enough money to live on, and her friend, a battered wife who admittedly has more money but is equally unsatisfied. Both women feel that the other has a better deal. I think that both of these archetypes are things that a lot of people in Britain will be able to identify with, and the issues explored involve social deprivation, prostitution, domestic abuse and infertility which are all things that we can identify with and many of us struggle with. The plot itself is admittedly not something that happens to a huge number of people, but it is not beyond the bounds of the imagination, and having created characters that we feel our audience will be able to identify with, I think that the things that happen to them will not feel totally unrealistic from an audience's perspective.

That brings me nicely onto the second question, as to whether the ending is believable. The script is Shadi's and as the creative behind it he would probably be better placed to talk about that than I would, but I will try to explain it as best as I can. Essentially, I think that the ending is a means of Nina moving on from her life before and being able to assume an identity that will serve her better, with more money and more opportunities open to her. In order to do this, she has to steal someone else's identity, and the fight between Nina and Annette is a dramatic climax which many people will find engaging. As to whether it is hugely realistic - I think perhaps it does require a slight suspension of disbelief, but a great number of films and TV series do that. There is a difference between a film which is so unbelievable that it puts people off, and a film that slightly requires you to suspend your disbelief but on the whole feels very natural and genuine. I think that this film would fall firmly into the second category.

i am feeling similar in my views.
love the casting & the start of the film. The murder & covering it up i think is ok.
that would go with a gritty drama & i have seen a few films with a similar storyline.
like the marketing as well & budgeting that all seems good to me.

however i have to agree the fire & identity swap came out of nowhere & i think personally is very unrealistic. i just didn't get it other than a way of getting nina out of prison.
seems a very sudden shift from a normal gritty film to something very sci-fi almost. would love to know how this whole idea came about really. Was there a deeper meaning to it or does it have a message?

seeing infertility portrayed on screen is refreshing and i can relate however it seems a bit like with Annette and her getting Nina to take the fall screams 'crazy lady who can't have kids steals her mate's kind of thing' knowing me i am probably reading to much into it though. i like Nina being a determined women who loves her son. However why make Annette go a very dark route , she was abused , unloved , couldn't have kids then ended up going rogue against her friend & ended up being a total bitch in prison to nina. If she felt guilty why would she then try & get off with the murder. though i am sure sympathy is meant to lie with nina i had a lot for annette also. i get the point is there friendship being broken but personally i think the story would need a bit of tweaking. i think the meaning got a little lost perhaps.

also the legal side of the story. How did you go about trying to get the law aspect of the film accurate for your synopsis.?

Hi Inspired,

I think you've really thought about the marketing aspects, which I was a bit worried about after the last task. You've done a much better job on that this time, so well done.

I have a couple of questions about your film itself:

1) Although I like that you've put a lot of detail into it, it does seem that there's a lot of content in there. Would this film be longer than the usual, or would it be fast-paced to compensate for that? What's the beginning? What happens in the middle? What's the climax? - I wonder if you've put in so much detail, and so much story, that these things are a bit lost, if you get what I mean.

2) I do agree with Jack that it seems a bit implausible. I think you've got 2 stories there - the murder story leading up to the fire, and then the identity swap. You could make a decent film out of either of those, but to put them both into one is a little far-fetched. It's also a bit unbelievable that it wouldn't be able to be proved who killed Jacob (DNA evidence etc), or that it couldn't be proved who was who after the fire (dental records etc would solve that one) - I know the actresses are meant to resemble each other, but unless the characters were twins or close family, then those plot points are a bit unrealistic. (If there's an explanation for either then by all means, this point would be a bit redundant)

3) Normally in a film, there's at least one character that you sympathise with and root for. From the synopsis, I get the feeling that we're meant to support Nina, but whilst I do at the beginning, by the end, I find her very unlikeable. Are both characters meant to be unsympathetic, or is there anyone that we're meant to 'support'?

I think you've done really well here Inspired, best of luck

Hi Natalie and thanks for your questions and comments. I'm really happy that you like the basic premise and the casting choices. I have tried with Jack's question to talk about the 'Nina taking on Annette's identity' thing, and I don't think that there is really anything further that I can say about it without Shadi as the scriptwriter. But I can assure you that we are taking your feedback on board as far as that is concerned.

As for Annette, I can see your point in that maybe she comes across in the synopsis as too much of a villain. Personally, I have tried to portray her in a more sympathetic context, and I think that that is expressed in the character description of her. I think that there is no doubt that Annette does have the best of intentions, and at least to start with she really does care about Nina. However, she is constantly abused and victimised by Jacob, and when he dies and she takes on responsibility of looking after Danny, she finds it much more of a struggle than she anticipated. Obviously caring for a three-year-old is a very difficult job anyway, and Annette herself has other reasons why she is finding it hard. She is very aware that her husband is dead and her best friend is in jail because of her, and there is a lot of guilt about that. In addition, she has spent the last several years under the scrutiny of her husband - despite their lack of a healthy relationship he was still a big part of her life - and with him suddenly gone she has something missing, and emotions that she needs to come to terms with. She cares for Danny the best she can, but over time she realises that she is not emotionally stable enough to care for a child. The decision to put him into foster care seemed like the right decision at the time, and she expected Nina to understand. Nina didn't understand however as she wasn't given the full story, and after that Annette finds herself a murder suspect and has to defend herself. This, coupled with the issues with her mental health that have come about as a result of what has happened to her, means that a much more erratic side of Annette comes to the surface, which ultimately results in her trying to attack Nina. I don't see Annette as a villain at all - I think she's a very confused person who really needs to come to terms with herself, and unfortunately her insecurities manifest themselves in some quite dangerous ways near the end. So I would hope that it's more pity and empathy that the audience feel for her than hatred.

We haven't fully considered the legal side of the story, as we only have a synopsis and not a full script, but we will be aiming to keep that as legitimate as possible within the script itself, although obviously allowing the story to progress has to come first.

Hi Amy, and thanks for your questions.

I don't think that the film will necessarily be any longer or shorter than usual. We haven't divided up the time categorically, but I can give you some rough estimates. The introductions of the characters and their situations to the audience will probably take around fifteen to twenty minutes, and the death of Jacob and the pact between the two women will take us up to the half-hour mark. The characters' progression immediately after that will take up more time than is expressed in the synopsis. The synopsis is a summary, but when you think about it there is actually quite a lot to put in. We see some of Nina's time in prison, Annette trying and failing to do a good job of raising Danny, Annette's general issues with her mental and emotional health, Isla's involvement in the two cases etc. It doesn't really need explaining in so much detail within the synopsis, but it is a very human drama and that will take up a reasonable portion of time. The fight between Nina and Annette will probably occur about three quarters of the way through, and beyond that we see Nina coming to terms with being in disguise as Annette and leaving her old life behind. I would estimate that the film would be around an hour and a half long.

I am a little confused as to what your second question is. I can see that it is a criticism of our plot lines which we will take on board and work with, but there doesn't appear to be anything there that I can really respond to.

I think that Nina is the character who the audience is supposed to support generally, but I would hope that Annette is someone who the audience feel empathy and concern for. I didn't want anyone to just be a pantomime villain, I wanted our characters to be well-rounded. Maybe that didn't come across that well in the pitch, but as I hope you can see from my response to Natalie's question, these things have been very much considered with regards to Annette. If you don't mind me asking, why don't you like Nina? If you'd like to talk about that character, I will be more than happy to respond.

Hey guys, thanks for your questions and for reading our script.

I just want to note that this script is actually developed by me and it has been for the last year or so. Meaning, the main ideas of the script weren't just created on the spot, as I had been thinking the whole thing through for quite some time and I already explained that to my team during the brain storming session. First of all, the ending doesn't come out of no where, on the opposite, it is the climax. Once Annette enters prison, it doesn't get any better for Nina because all signs point towards her as the murderer, and among all that, she was about to be murdered herself. Nothing was looking remotely up for her, but this accident was sort of a blessing in disguise because she would not have escaped prison unless this has happened, and it paralleled our theme which is change and how hard it is to accomplish when you're chained by your inadequacies and your surroundings. She found redemption and a second chance in that accident. The details of the accidents would be described in details in the screenplay, but this is a synopsis, and I tried to be as brief as possible while delivering the message through. The transitions from one situation to another will be carried out smoothly.

As for the timing of the movie, it would have to be approximate the 100 minutes.

And the sympathetic figure is clearly Nina who was betrayed and almost killed by Annette. She thickened her skin by the end of the movie, but that was in no way a portrayal of evil, it was actually a portrayal of strength.

As for whether this reflects the British society, I don't know because when I wrote it, I thought it would bode well in the Lebanese and American society. Any alterations to fit the British society could not have been carried out by me because I am not British, but I do think that George explained this point accurately.

As for the realism behind the legal and biological aspects in this movie, the frame-work is very realistic, and the details in the script would've been compensated for that. I think we all know that almost all movies have a certain degree of fiction in them, in which coincidences happen more often than they would, or physical and legal phenomena aren't completely explained, but in the movie everything will be explained. NOT that this is a major issue, in my opinion, because this movie is not say a movie about epidemics (where biological facts have to be sacred) or a religious movie (where religious practices should be reflected accurately). This is more or less a drama movie, and as long as everything falls in the realms of reality, I wouldn't sweat the minor details.

I will now be posting the pitches for Team Inspired - starting with the sculptures and models pitch from George to Tyjet

Next up is Shadi's pitch with Katie for the still life paintings

]

And finally, Roxie's pitch to Aliyah for abstract and surreal art!


Continued in the next post...

Second part:

Bumping for task.

Introduction:

Good evening everyone!

We are here to introduce the entry for Eurovision 2015: the synth pop duo Hurts, composed of singer Theo Hutchcraft and synthesist/instrumentalist Adam Anderson. We believe that after a few years of poor showings, Hurts have what it takes to achieve a good placing for Britain. Hurts have had great European success with their two albums – having sold 3 million of them worldwide with both albums reaching the top five in the charts of many European countries, including Germany, Austria, Finland and Switzerland, among others. They are also award-winning, having won over ten awards with prestigious award establishments across Europe, such as NME Awards and Echo Awards. In addition, Hurts have toured across Europe alongside Depeche Mode and the Scissor Sisters who are popular European bands. For these reasons, we have good reason to believe that Hurts will appeal very highly to European audiences.

Hurts also have a huge social media following, with numerous Facebook and Twitter fan pages dedicated to them. They are often commended for their live performances, Theo Hutchcraft in particular being a classically trained vocalist with good range and depth which would be well suited to juries. They are also praised for their song-writing abilities, often writing from personal experience which makes their songs relatable and quite emotional, which is often something that the Eurovision audiences have reacted well to in the past. Their style is a mixture of synth pop and rock and is influenced by popular European bands such as Depeche Mode and Muse, so their style is also perfectly in line with European music tastes. Hurts' unique style and very distinct slick image will make them memorable, and we think that they would be a fantastic entry and would give Great Britain a fighting chance of doing well.

Where Have We Gone Wrong?:

Through market and online research we have identified and analysed a number of ways which have contributed to Britain’s poor showings in previous years. We have come up with a number of ways our chosen act will combat these problems. Here are some of the problems and our proposed solutions:

1) Dated entries like Englebert Humperdinck and Bonnie Tyler, who have not been in line with current tastes – Hurts is more in line with current tastes, having sold millions of records in today’s music industry.
2) Entries such as Molly Smitten-Downes who are modern but may be a bit too unknown and not established enough yet – Hurts are established, having a large fanbase in Europe in places like Germany and Austria where they have had top 5 selling albums and singles.
3) Less than stellar vocal showings which juries and voters do not favour – Theo Hutchcraft is a classically trained vocalist with a vast vocal range, good vocal control and a lot of depth to his voice.
4) Pressure on the day which may contribute to less than stellar jury and final performances – Hurts have had 3 tours preforming in venues across the world so they have a wealth of experience in performing live and thus are also reliable.
5) Lack of an emotional connection such as in Blue’s entry – Hurts' song this year is a very heartfelt and emotional power ballad which will emote well to Eurovision audiences, in the same way as Jade Ewen’s did in 2009 – which was our best result in ten years.
6) Lack of a semi-final performance and therefore a lack of momentum going into the finals, with many already European viewers already having decided their favourites – we will make a request that the United Kingdom, along with the other 4 major financial contributors who automatically receive a place in the finals (commonly known as the 'Big 5'), are allowed to perform in a semi-final to raise awareness of their act.
7) Region-specific voting based on politics or tastes which may work against us – Hurts are popular in the Scandinavian voting bloc in countries like Finland which may actually help us.
8) Lack of knowing about our act on a more personal level which has helped acts such as Conchita Wurst – Hurts are very likeable on a personal level with their down-to-earth personalities and witty senses of humour so our extensive promotional plan will feature Hurts taking many interviews on European entertainment channels.
9) European audience not being aware of our acts at all – we will have a huge and extensive promotional plan which will inform more people about our act. This will be covered in our Promotional Plan section in more detail.
10) Lack of a memorable performance, such performances such as Russia’s entry from 2013 and Conchita Wurst’s performance were incredibly memorable. We feel Hurts’ unique style, promotional plan as well as the staging will make our act stand out and hugely memorable. Our staging plan is covered in more detail below.
11) Europe’s perception that Britain does not take the contest seriously, for example by submitting last minute entries in the past – we will make sure to announce well in advance to the rest of Europe who we are submitting to give us enough time for an extensive and serious promotional campaign.

So we have a number of inherent problems which will be solved with our chosen act, as well as some proposed solutions in terms of staging and promotion which will definitely make the difference for Great Britain’s entry this year.

The Song:

Hurts – Somebody To Die For
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt1kc_FniKM

This particular Hurts song will be a great choice because of the powerful emotion and rousing lyrics which will contribute significantly to creating an emotional connection between Hurts and the viewers as illustrated in the previous section. The huge build-up, rousing bridges and emphatic, dramatic chorus will also engage viewers. The song shows off a lot of vocal skill, good control particularly in the verses with runs, good power with huge belting notes in the chorus and excellent range using Theo Hutchcraft’s falsetto and lower register throughout the song. We will also have an acapella section for the final verse to highlight and expose the vocal. Hurts also perform this song very well live, so they are reliable. Hurts have also been critically acclaimed for their song-writing skills and this song is no exception. The song has a beautiful and simple symbolism behind it, desiring and looking for a person whom you would devote and give your whole life for. The vocals, the acapella section and the song itself will therefore have a great chance of gaining support with juries too.

Staging and Performance:

The set will start with a gold backdrop and a silhouette of a sunset in the background projected on to the backdrop for the verses. We will then lose the silhouette effect exposing the gold staging with gold light flashing through in the choruses. Hurts will sing the final verse acapella with two lone white spotlights on Adam and Theo. A gold rain effect comes in on the final chorus with pyrotechnics going off at the end of the performance at each corner of the stage. According to our research, gold staging has done very well in recent years, so we felt this should be reflected in our staging. We feel that the overall staging we have gone for is dramatic and aesthetically pleasing, and will make for a very memorable performance. Theo and Adam will also be dressed in smart black tuxedos which will reflect beautifully off the gold staging and lighting.

The camera angles will be close and personal in the verses alternating between shots of Theo and Adam to highlight the vulnerable parts of the song. We will use wider shots of both Adam and Theo while taking in the whole stage in the choruses to show the beauty of our staging. During the instrumental parts we will use a mixture of wide shots of the audience and the stage and close shots of the band playing. At the end of the performance we will use an aerial shot of the stage to highlight the rain effect and pyrotechnics at the end.

The Concerts:

As part of our promotional campaign, we will have a series of concerts throughout Europe to promote Hurts and increase awareness about our act. We will have our Eurovision entry featured twice in the concert with special staging to emphasise it in the minds of potential voters, whilst also having Theo talk about Eurovision a little bit in a few transitions to increase support. We will also have a support act as people have commented in our market research that they enjoy the hype and energetic atmosphere that a support act creates in preparation for the main act. Our support act will be Marina and The Diamonds – we feel that she would be a popular choice across Europe, having had a debut album which has been successful there. We believe that Marina is the perfect act to make the crowd feel excited and energised for our main act, as well as being a great vocalist in her own right.

We will also prepare our concerts in a number of ways to ensure people enjoy them. People often complain about waiting around for songs, so our sets and songs will have smooth, quick transitions and the entire concert will only have one break. People also seem to enjoy snacks and beverages while watching so we will also make sure snack and café bars are available on site. Also our research shows that people really enjoy it when the main act involves the crowd. So we will ensure that Hurts will communicate with the crowd and get them to stand up/sing along/clap their hands at regular intervals, especially for some of the more upbeat songs such as Wonderful Life and Under Control. We will also invite Kylie Minogue to perform with Hurts - as she has done before with them on tour - at certain locations; she will also be having her European tour, so we will play at the same locations for a few dates so that she can come to duet on Hurts' original duet with her. As a massive star even in Europe, a person who openly enjoys Eurovision and a person who has regularly supported Hurts in the past, we feel her presence and association will increase promotion of Hurts and their Eurovision entry exponentially.

Concert Locations:

Our research into the statistics from each country since the last time the UK won Eurovision suggests that it would be best to focus our advertising campaign on countries who have voted for us more frequently in the past. Countries such as Ireland, Malta, Cyprus and the countries that directly follow on the list are a must, but we will also be focusing on countries which we think we can make a new impact on - countries such as Spain, France, Germany and Italy. Hurts has sold very well in the latter of these two countries, so they already have a following, and there is the advantage that we as a nation are often allied with these countries on a political level - whilst we might be ashamed to admit it, politics is a very big factor in the Eurovision voting process and so we should take advantage of any bloc voting advantages we may have. So we have chosen fourteen locations for Hurts to perform which we feel would be the most productive places in terms of translating promotion into votes for Eurovision. We have purposely coincided some of the locations with Kylie’s 2014 European tour so that as stated before she can support us for one duet:

Ireland: Dublin - The O2 ***
Croatia: Zabreb - Vatroslav Lisinski
Greece: Athens - Megaron
Estonia: Tallinn - Estonian Concert Hall
Israel: Jerusalem - International Convention Centre
Spain: Madrid - Palacio Deportes ***
F.Y.R. Macedonia: Skopje - Daut Pasha Hamam

Denmark: Copenhagen – Koncerthuset
Malta: Valletta - Teatru Manoel
Cyprus: Nicosia - Oytun Ersan
Turkey: Istanbul - Cemal Reşit Rey
Germany: Berlin - O2 World ***
France: Paris - Bercy ***
Italy: Rome - Parco della Musica

Kylie will perform in venues with a ***.

Concert Overview

First Half: The lights dim with 10 seconds to go. Marina will be on stage by the time the lights are off and then the music will begin.

Marina and The Diamonds - Electra Heart:
An energetic start to the evening, starting off with a simple blue backdrop turning red when the music starts, apart from two lights at either end of the stage which turn blue and swerve around. White spots come on Marina as she starts to sing. The blue lights settle back down for the second chorus and then the backdrop goes blue and red, with the ordering changing throughout the rest of the song.

Marina and The Diamonds – Lies:
What is arguably Marina’s most emotional and vocally striking song will start off with a black background, with just a white spotlight on Marina to focus on the intimacy for the verses. White light will gently flood the stage during the chorus and ending.

Marina and The Diamonds – Primadonna:
Marina’s trademark song will start with gentle blue lighting, which will rotate and gradually turn purple during the verses. This lighting would then start to flash in the choruses where Marina will interact directly with the audience and encourage them to sing along. When the lights go black, Hurts will take their place and Marina will come off. Theo will move immediately to where Marina was to go straight into the first song in what should be a well-rehearsed and slick transition.

Hurts – Miracle:
An explosive start to Hurts’ performance, the music starts to white blinders coming in against a black backdrop with spotlights on Theo and Adam. Theo will try to get the energy going in this song by encouraging the audience to stand up and sing along with him. Blues and purples are gently introduced throughout the song until the end when white floods come on and everything else comes off. Theo thanks Marina and the audience for being there, going on to make a short introduction to himself and Adam explaining the goal of this promotional concert in terms of Eurovision.

Hurts – Stay:
Arguably one of Hurts’ most touching and a more anthem-themed song starts against a blue backdrop with warm reds and oranges being introduced giving a sunset kind of effect. The lights will gently flow throughout the song with some flashing in the more upbeat moments. Theo will also serenade the audience and ask them to sing along with him and wave their hands along to the beautiful chorus.

Hurts - Better Than Love:
Another upbeat song showing off a lot of the duo's influences, Better Than Love starts with just the black backdrop at the start. Blue lights begin switching on for the verses and then all change to red for the choruses. Theo also serenades the audience encouraging them to raise their hands and sing along with the choruses. The lights flicker on and off as per the beat of the song to match the heavily synth vibe of the song.

Hurts - Somebody To Die For:
Theo introduces this song as their proposed Eurovision entry. It starts off with the stage flooded with red lights slowly turn purple during the verses with overhead spotlights on Theo and Adam. Then red light will flash from the left, purple light will flash on the right and white light will flash at the top of the stage at the start of the chorus, and the whole stage will illuminate with red light. After the last note all goes black and the floods come on for the break.

20 Minute Break

Second Half: About half a minute before the start of the second half the light dim until black on zero. The music will then start again.

Hurts - Under Control:
Hurts’ most upbeat song will start with the lights changing colour and gently flashing. Spotlights will come on as the lyrics start, with the light settling down on blues and purples with reds being introduced which will occur throughout the song. Theo will get the crowd dancing and jumping along with the song throughout and get them to clap their hands throughout the song to energise them for the rest of the evening.

Hurts – Illuminated:
Theo then welcomes back the audience and starts singing their most vocally striking piece. Simple white light will cut through the dark background with a very soft, almost white blue, light being introduced in the verses. The lights will come on at different angles for the whole song, no more than two or three lights coming on at any one time with no spotlights. This set will emphasise Theo’s vocals and the intimacy.

Hurts – Sunday:
One of mainland Europe’s favourite tracks Sunday will start dramatically. From black at the end of the last song, blinders will flash on the first note with white light flashing after. Spotlights will come in for the verses. Blues and reds introduced in the more upbeat moments when Theo will try to get audience members to sing along. The light will gently switch rather than flash in the slower moments. Ending with the stage flooded in white light for the final moments.

Hurts – Mercy:
The white light will slowly blink out as red light is introduced 15 seconds in, and spotlights are introduced when the lyrics start. Alternating white/red lights roam the stage for the verses with blinders used at the start of each chorus. Theo will once again try to get the energy of the crowd going with the dramatic verses, encouraging them to stand up and move along with the choruses.

Hurts - Wonderful Life:
Theo will once again speak to the crowd about Hurts and Eurovision before starting their trademark song. There will be blue light against the backdrop with blue/white spotlights alternating on and off in a set sequence for the verses to suit the slick nature of the song. The blue/white lights will switch to gold for the chorus in the same slick sequence while Theo encourages the audience to sing Hurts’ most well-known song.

Hurts – Devotion:
This song will start off black, with floods coming on with Hurts on stage for the first verse and chorus. Kylie (at set concert locations) or Marina (at locations where Kylie cannot attend) will then come on for the second verse, with a spotlight dramatically focusing on them to surprise the audience, with the lights at the end of the stage roaming about. The lights at the end of the stage will alternate between light blue and white as they roam with opposite ends on the other colour. Ending on black, the floods will come on as if the show is finished. But then the band will play once more as the floods dramatically come off and the entire stage is filled with white light.

Hurts - Somebody To Die For:
To the audience’s mystery and enjoyment, Hurts encore with their Eurovision entry after the dramatic false finish. The entire stage turns dark as the first note is played with the lights simultaneously going out followed by two lone white spotlights focusing on Theo and Adam for the verses which will be slower to really emphasise the intimacy and vulnerability of those lyrics. White light will then flash from the left, right and the top of the stage for the chorus as the whole stage is illuminated with a flood of white light. Theo will again encourage the audience to sing with him on the choruses and will get them waving their hands. At the end of the verses, fireworks go off during the final chorus to make the evening and this song in particular really memorable. Theo then thanks members of the audience for coming and informs them one final time about Eurovision and their entry.

Pricing:

http://www.ticketline.co.uk/ (select various artists, look at the various venues, click on book now and the prices will come up)
http://www.pollstar.com/atpDetail.aspx?SearchBy=A
(£7.92-£44.15 for pop/rock costs, £6.62-£99.58 for cheapest to most expensive tickets)

We are using the above sites as a guideline by which to compose concert ticket prices, and assuming that the concerts are one night events taking place over a series of evenings. When you also take into consideration the fact that we have sponsors funding us as well as mainly using these concerts as a form of promotion rather than gaining profit, thus wanting to get as many people to these concerts as possible we feel a reasonable cost to tickets would be roughly between £10.00 and £15.00, which at the current market would be roughly between €12.50 and €19.00 depending on the venue chosen for each country on the tour and the market at the time of the tour.

Poster:

Concert Poster

We feel the poster highlights the main qualities of our concert well: the members, our supporting acts, the locations, the songs, the prices and the fact that it's being entered as Eurovision 2015's entry, as well as emphasising some attractive unique selling points for band such as being award-winning and selling millions of records. The poster will be the main way we will advertise the concert as well as using social media and advertising on various forums and websites as described below. The poster will be sent around online on Hurts fan pages on Twitter and Facebook. It will also be advertised on various popular European entertainment websites and forums. We would also build an extensive social media/email database using contacts from family, friends, fans, forum visiters, Eurovision fans and send it around to them too to increase awareness of the concert. As illustrated below in our promotional plan, we will also be performing interviews on various entertainment channels such as E! and MTV Europe so we will also be informing people about the concerts through that.

Promotional Plan:

We will have an extensive promotional plan campaign throughout Europe in addition to the concerts to increase awareness and support for Hurts’ entry. Firstly we will have an extensive social media campaign. Our Facebook, Twitter pages and Blog, Support Hurts In Eurovision 2015, will be opened well in advance of the concert to get people excited about it and increase awareness. There will be opportunities to ask questions about the upcoming Eurovision appearance and about concerts in particular for the European fans, and all admins will respond to any questions or comments promptly. We aim for Hurts' supporters to be not just fans but a community, and through the modern medium of social media this has never been easier to achieve.

We will organise an interactive question/answer session with the members of Hurts through our YouTube channel, which will be affiliated with the Facebook, Twitter pages and Hurts’ Blog. Fans will be given around two weeks to submit questions on the pages, and the best ones will be put to the band in a public interview which will be broadcast on YouTube. We believe that this will not only raise awareness of the band and what they are doing, but also increase the feeling of the fans having interaction with them. In this world of social media, the public having contact with celebrities is a lot more feasible than it once was, and many public figures have taken advantage of this to raise their own profile.

There will also be games, quizzes, more opportunity for social interaction, exclusive videos and competitions which we will run in the weeks leading up to the concert. Some lucky fans may be given the opportunity to win tickets to the concert.

We also plan to feature the members of Hurts in numerous magazines and play their music in various music festivals. Our research into the stats from each country since the last time the UK won Eurovision suggests that it would be best to focus our advertising campaign on countries who have voted for us more frequently in the past, such countries have been identified in our market research and are explained more thoroughly in our Concert Location section. Therefore, Hurts will be featured in popular magazine publications across Europe such as Orkus in Germany, Télérama in France and Hot Press in Ireland to further increase awareness of our entry. Also playing in popular European festivals such as Rock Am Ring and Berlin music festivals will also give a chance for those who are not so well acquainted with Hurts a chance to listen and perhaps even support them.

Last, but by no means least, we will have online promotions, TV promotions and playing in more intimate venues. Whilst a lot of our online content will take place on social media as I have already discussed, there will also be a great deal of promotional material and advertisements on popular entertainment websites which Europeans would go onto. We would also ensure Hurts are set up for interviews in as many countries as possible on popular entertainment and music channels such as MTV Europe and E! which would give other countries a chance to learn about Hurts on a more personal level. As said before, both members of the band are likable, witty and down-to-earth so we feel that their personalities would be liked by members of the European public. Therefore these interviews would increase support for them throughout Europe. As mentioned before too, Hurts’ vulnerable style, exquisite vocals and beautiful song-writing skills are perfect for a more intimate setting. Playing around local bars, streets and pubs around concert locations would also increase awareness and support of Hurts and their Eurovision entry through delivering their passionate vocals as well as getting people to see them on a more personal level once again in these smaller, intimate venues.

Conclusion

We feel that Hurts, with their incredibly unique style and exquisite vocals, averting many problems faced by previous acts, as well as being promoted with a brilliantly produced concert tour and an extensive media campaign - carefully crafted with both market and online research – will make Great Britain’s entry stand stronger than ever. We are all confident that this will be a successful Eurovision entry.

Thanks again for your time and we hope you have enjoyed our pitch. We would now like to open the floor to questions.

Hi Inspired, great pitch I must say.

I'm pleased that you included some of my feedback in the pitch, there's just a couple of things that I want to ask:

1) Is there a specific reason for including the entry twice in the concert? Normally this doesn't happen unless it's separate versions. (Encore numbers generally don't get played during the main concert as well).

2) Eurovision entries usually have a maximum time length (around 3 minutes 10 seconds is the limit) - have you thought about where the song might be edited if needs be?

3) I haven't seen this mentioned specifically in your promotion section, but the higher placed Eurovision songs normally have a lot of radio airplay throughout Europe in the run-up to the contest (Sweden's winning 2012 entry was no.1 in a lot of countries for instance). Have you considered maybe organising radio interviews and trying to go for the radio airplay and iTunes market?


I'm really impressed Team Inspired

Hi everyone!

Wonderfully presented pitch! I think the choice of using Hurts is a really inspired choice and I like how you followed on from their evident European success at the moment to show how they are pretty much guaranteed some success in Eurovision.

Following on from that actually, just going back to your concert and how you've gone about picking countries for Hurts to perform in, it has come to my attention that a lot of countries have been missed out where Hurts already have a big following and therefore from a business point of view - you've perhaps missed out on an opportunity to bring in the business? Hurts have equivalent amount of chart success in Austria to the UK, Austria will be hosting the next Eurovision and therefore they are pretty much guaranteed to get a HUGE response from the crowd as they also have a top 5 album there. They also have top 10 albums in Sweden, Switzerland and Finland which are also not in your concert venue list. I know you based the venues on countries who have previously given the UK high points, however these countries will pretty much give Hurts high points due to the already-present fanbase, wouldn't you say it would've been a good idea to perhaps look at countries where Hurts already have a big following and give something back to the crowd there whilst equally taking advantage of the incoming business there?

Hi Amy - we are glad you have enjoyed our pitch. I would be happy to help you answer the first two questions.

1) The entry has been used twice in the concert as we are promoting that track specifically so by doing it twice we are making it stand out more and have made it more memorable to people. It will stick out in people's minds if Hurts perform it twice. And it is not common in concerts, but then most concerts aren't intended to promote a specific song, whereas ours is a promotional concert.

2) So we would be following the version in the music video up until the last minute where there is a long instrumental, we would cut back on this bit of it and make the chorus from 2:45 to 3:00 our last chorus and the last bit of the performance. So we would cut out 3:10 to 3:50.

Hope that has answered your questions Amy. George will post the answer to your 3rd question soon.

Hi Amy, and thanks for your question.

It's a really good idea - it actually occurred to us literally minutes after we posted the pitch, which was very annoying but c'est la vie! In all seriousness, we are considering it, and your suggestion reinforces the notion that it would be a good idea, which myself and my team mates were talking about earlier. In addition, we will be re-releasing our single and distributing it through European iTunes. Of course we will request radio broadcasts and do live radio performances and we have already got interviews and features planned so we can promote the single for radio airplay further.

Hi Aliyah! It is great that you have enjoyed our pitch. I will answer this question for you:

In hindsight Aliyah I would definitely agree with you. Our concert location list is in no way the final version and we are flexible for bringing in new locations, Austria being one such location. However, we did do research online and found out who was voted for our entries the most frequently since 6 years ago and by using that list as a basis we have come up with a list of concert locations. Unavoidably political and regional taste bias does play a part in the Eurovision process so we wanted our locations to be in countries where we have a realistic chance of translating concerts and promotion into potential votes keeping in mind we have a budget. We have also considered where Hurts are already popular such as in Germany and have included such locations in the list but we will definitely include some more of such locations where Hurts have already established too if that helps the campaign.

Thanks for taking the time out once again to listen to our pitch and I hope that answers that question for you.

Bumping the thread for the upcoming task which is to be posted at 5pm.

Good evening, and welcome to our pitch. We are Team Inspired, and tonight, we would like to present to you Sushrata's Cher, a new amusement park with a theme of science and technology, which will be opening soon in Delhi, India.

Our Science and Technology theme taps into the growing popularity of science fiction, incorporating such brands as Star Trek, Star Wars and Doctor Who. This theme park will not just contain a vague space-themed ride; Sushrata's Cher will be entirely based on physics, chemistry and biology, in both a factual and fictitious instance. In addition to the enjoyment of going here with one's family, this will be a great educational tool for school trips to reinforce ideas introduced in the classroom in an entertaining way in which the children will not realise that they are learning. We believe that this concept will be welcomed by the scientific community as an accessible way for the public to interact with science, whilst the public can still enjoy themselves on all of their favourite rides and get something out of it at the same time.

We think that with the large historical interest in science that India has had for thousands of years, having made significant scientific advancements throughout the years in both medical and traditional science, India will be a prime location for such a theme park. India is regarded as a global central hub for the sciences - for instance, it has one of the highest rates of medical tourism in the world, one of the largest space industries in Asia and the globally-renowned Indian Institute of Science. Science itself is a hugely popular subject area, with many of the educated Indian population becoming engineers, doctors and scientists, as well as many children stating it is their favourite subject at school. Sushrata's Cher will be in some ways a learning experience, especially on the gentler, family-friendly rides which will appeal to the Indian family demographic very well. We therefore feel India is a prime location for a science based theme park.

The Name - Sushrata's Cher:

Sushrata is arguably India's most famous scientist and is commonly regarded as being the father of modern medicine. He devised the first recorded surgeries such as caesarian section, management of haemorrhoids, prostate removal, tooth extraction and even laparoscopic work (using probes) as far back as 600BC. He also came up with first sedative techniques using mainly alcohol and cannabis for anaesthesia, and devised many of the fundamental surgical techniques which modern medicine is based on, such as making incisions, extracting foreign bodies and probing, among others. He was arguably the pioneer in mapping out the skeleton, various kinds of fractures, prosthesis and diseases. All of his work in published in the Sushrata Samhita which is how we know about it today. Therefore, we feel no other name would encompass the identity of our theme park more appropriately. We feel that it would be the most common name that springs to mind when talking about science in India. In Hindi, 'cher' literally means 'large community - in effect, 'city' or 'town'.

Literally our name means 'Sushrata's City' – a simple, striking and catchy name combining both the Indian and scientific roots of our park which would be familiar to domestic consumers and eye-catching to tourists.

The Location:

We have chosen Delhi in India to construct our theme park for a multitude of reasons. Delhi is the second most populous city in the world with a population of around 25 million and roughly 50% of the population being below the age of 24. This statistic fits in perfectly with our main target demographic, which is families and younger adults/teenagers, so there is a huge market available for our theme park. India itself is the third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, with Delhi being one of the two wealthiest cities in India. It has the highest GDP per capita out of all cities in India, so it has the highest number of people within India itself with large enough disposable incomes to spend money on our theme park. In terms of tourism, it is also one of the largest domestic and foreign tourist destinations within Southern, Central and Eastern Asia, with 13 million domestic tourists and 9 million foreign tourists per year. India also has one of the fastest growing tourist industries in the world due to its rich history and culture with mildly hot weather throughout the year, so it is becoming an increasingly attractive tourist destination. According to research, there has also been a huge change in consumption trends, as people are moving away from spending money on just the basic necessities onto education and recreational activities. In terms of population demographics, India and especially Delhi would be a prime location to open a theme park and there has never been a more favourable time to invest.

India is also a great location due to the large amount of inherent investment within the country and therefore potential sponsorship. Delhi is a great location in this way because it is the central hub for many of the biggest investors in the country – many lucrative industries and famous businessman such as Mukesh Ambani and Cyrus Mistry base much of their business there. India also has one of the fastest growing theme park industries in the world, making investment opportunities attractive right now. In terms of promotion, India has the one of largest film industries in the world – Bollywood - which often uses commercial businesses, malls and especially theme parks to promote movies and actors. Additionally, television soap operas are a huge industry with ten channels such as Star Plus and Sony TV which have gone global. India, and in particular Delhi, also has many huge malls, big market places and many leaflet stalls so we can take advantage of these areas for promotion. We certainly intend to take advantage of this huge industry in order to promote our theme park. We feel that India and in particular Delhi will create many marketing opportunities and this will be covered in more detail in a section below.

India also is advantageous in that it has a relatively low cost of production/manufacturing so the costs of manufacturing the theme park itself would be low. This is because raw materials, skilled labour and capital are very cheap to obtain - one of the reasons why it is an emerging economic superpower and attracts investment. Raw materials such as steel are easy and cheap to obtain with the main steel industry in India located in Delhi - Tata Steel for example. India has new workplace and safety laws passed in its Factory Act amendments in 2010 to make sure personal protection is given to each worker whilst constructing the site, and to ensure that they are skilled and adequately trained in the jobs that they undertake. These new safety laws will ensure a safe environment for construction workers, staff and the theme park itself. Infrastructure is also rapidly being improved with 1.83 trillion rupees (i.e. £17.7 billion) being injected into various projects such as airports, hydro power projects and roads. Delhi has English as its joint first language with Hindi so there is huge ease of communication with many foreign tourists.

To conclude it is this large combination of factors which make Delhi in India a prime location for our theme park, both as an attractive place for domestic and foreign tourists as well as having such a large inherent population.

We have designed a number of rides and attractions, all centred around our theme, for our park. I must stress that these will not be our only attractions; we will naturally have more, but for the purposes of this pitch, we have created a small sample. I must also point out that this is very much an early plan; we have naturally not designed these physically, so it may be possible that one or more of them may not work in practice in exactly the way that we envision in theory. Rides with asterisks are not suitable for children under the age of eleven.

Bohr** – A large fast-paced roller coaster shaped as a popularised version of the Bohr model (http://www.azoquantum.com/images/Art...icle_11(1).jpg) with the tagline “The ride that is anything but boring!” This ride will be a simple roller coaster where the rails represent the orbit path of electrons and the carts will be shaped like billiard balls to reflect the popular view of electrons.

The Body train – similar to a ghost train but entering via the left nostril heading through the brain and going through all the main body parts with various body parts/”foreign objects” such as various bacteria and viruses jumping out at you instead of ghosts/ghoul.

Conical flask ride* – Start off in the conical flask, with “chemicals” added together to start the reaction (the ride); you shoot to the top of the flask with lots of foam and you gently, but still reasonably quickly, slide back down to the bottom of the flask where the ride ends. In addition there will be a smaller version built to accommodate children, which will be slower and have more suitable carts where older children can ride alone and younger children can be accompanied by parents/guardians.
*The regular model for this ride is unsuitable for children. However, we have a smaller model which children will be able to use.

Star Trek ride – This ride will start off with the player going into the Enterprise and being led by the voices of Spock and Kirk to the Bridge. Once everyone in the group is on the Bridge the crew go to red alert and everyone is told to hold on tight as they are in for a bumpy ride. As this is going on a message comes in from the Klingons warning the crew that they are in Klingon space, and that they must state their reason for being there. This results in the Enterprise going to warp speed and dashing through Klingon space ending in an asteroid belt. Staying on red alert, the crew navigates the belt and then lands on a nearby planet. The Captain then orders the new recruits (the passengers/audience) to go with Spock on an exploratory mission of the planet. The player then goes to the Teleporter room where everyone will get on the Teleporter and the room rotates to reveal the alien world. “Spock” then leads the recruits through the alien world where they meet Klingons, Tribbles, Romulans and Vulcans amongst other well-known original Star Trek aliens. It ends back where they started, where the crew is teleported back on board and is ordered to go straight to the Bridge where they are informed the crew have found a short cut which leads to a short “flight” home. The ride lasts about 15 minutes, in which you are on your feet the whole time and there are 2 or 3 rooms all identical that have the same story so up to 3 groups can access the ride at once. Other rides from other popular Sci Fi franchises such as Star Wars and the Bollywood Sci Fi series Krrish.

The Peacock - Six bars are attached to a centre pole. Each bar will contain seats for people, and will also look like a peacock feather in shape and colour. The ride will start by lifting off the ground and rotating around the centre, alternating between faster and slower and dipping to the left and right. Each bar will also wave up and down slightly to give the effect of a feather.

Animal ride - a slow-moving cart ride which mimics at different points the way that different creatures move. At one point it may move like a four-legged mammal; at another point it may twist and turn fluidly to simulate the movement of a fish; at another point it may shake and jump in the style of a frog or another amphibian. At certain points, there will be open spaces for passengers to move into another cart, as it is unfeasible with this ride to remain in the same cart throughout.

Digestive system roller-coaster - a classic roller-coaster in the shape of the human digestive system, with a train racing along it at top speed. At certain points, it will pause for biological functions to occur - for example, it will go through the oesophagus, vibrate to mimic peristalsis and then go through the stomach to bypass the liver and go into the intestines, which is where the classic roller-coaster loops will occur.

Hazardous House of Fun - a house of fun where the idea is to get to the end without dying. Each room contains some sort of object which will either help the player (such as water to prevent dehydration) or harm their health (such as radiation or alcohol). (These objects will of course be hypothetical, and displayed on a screen). The idea is to reach the end without harming your body so much that you cannot continue.

Acid/alkaline water slide - This is a series of water slides which will involve acids, alkaline and neutral substances. Each slide will have an image of some kind of substance, along with its name - lemon juice, milk, water etc. When someone has gone down it, they will end up in a pool. The water will be the colour that litmus paper turns when it is added to each of these ingredients.