he Book of European Short Pitch. - Nisi Masa

LUCIO BESANA ITALy
MIDNIGHT NEwS
Tel: +39 039 695 7204
E-mail: luciobesana@gmail.com
Intention
By depicting Max and Laura’s emotional dilemmas, I
want to talk about the extreme difficulty in dealing with
your pain and losses in a society without boundaries
for communication and information-sharing.
The Midnight News affects Max and Laura by destroying
their certainties about death, making them all the
more dazed and confused. No answer will be given
at the end of the short, whether the voices are true or
false, or what is right or wrong to do. I want the audience’s
response to be emotional.
I’ll direct Midnight News as a psychological drama. I’ll
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stay close to the characters and focus on their feelings.
In the visuals, the outside will mirror the inside:
I will depict an abstract, existential city, more a place
of the soul, shot entirely at night, a barren landscape
of deserted streets and eerie halos of electric lights.
Even the scene in Max and Laura’s apartment is set
at night time, lit by lamps, bubbles of light in the darkness.
On the other hand, handheld cameras will stay close
to the characters, snatching their feelings and insisting
on details revealing their emotions and their physical
reactions to pain.
Synopsis
A big city, present day. Every night at midnight, a radio
station broadcasts a weird talk show where you
can listen to what are claimed to be the voices of the
dead.
Max and Laura have lost their five-year-old son
Michael, yet they’ve found the strength to carry on.
Two years after their loss, Laura is pregnant again.
But their newly found balance is put at stake when
their neighbour makes them listen to the Midnight
News. In one of the voices Laura recognizes Michael,
their lost son.
Max doesn’t want to believe and refuses to try to get in
touch with his son through the transmission, but Laura
can’t just leave Michael alone. The crisis forces them
to cope with a sorrow now impossible to comfort.
PRODUCTION FACTS
Estimated Budget: 30.000 €
To be shot in English.
Written with Milan in mind, but can be set in
many other big cities (i.e. London)
Self-contained, yet conceived to be a teaser for
a feature.
I need a more-than-amazing sound designer to
create the outer world sound design.
“Stay tuned.”
Director Biography
Born in 1982, Lucio Besana grew up in
a small town near the banks of the river
Adda, east of Milan. He’s been writing
since the age of 9. At first he created short
stories and novels, then, as a teen, started
writing stage plays for a school acting
course – an activity which he kept up for
the following 10 years, writing, acting and
directing dark comedies in amateur theatre
companies. At 23 he was selected for
the Directing Course at the Scuola Civica
in Milan, where he wrote, shot and edited
short films and documentaries. He’s now
working as a First Assistant Director and
freelance Script Editor and Filmmaker.