Evaluation

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions of real media products?

Our romantic comedy develops and challenges conventions in a diverse range of ways. We developed conventions more than when we challenge them. Firstly we used up beat music, ‘something for the weekend,’ that it shows the conventions of a romantic comedy because upbeat music is used in all romantic comedies. Whereas in the in other genres like horror they use instrumentals with a deep pitch and a slow tempo, with no vocals. Whereas in romantic comedies use hip-hop songs with vocals. The titles that we have used in our romantic comedy are fluffy and bubbly resembling the conventions of a romantic comedy. The colours that we have used on our titles are blue which shows the contrast of a boy and pink which shows the contrast of a girl, which is developing the conventions of a romantic comedy. We have used two main characters of the opposite gender and two major characters of the opposite gender. The two girls are best friends, and the two boys are best friends. The two main characters in our romantic comedy are appropriate to the convention because we have used opposite genders that are at the same kind of age. But at the same time we may have challenged this because we have used teens. Normally middle aged characters are typically used in this genre for the main characters.  The main characters that are in our rom com are Caucasian, which is showing the conventions because generally black characters are not shown as a main character in a romantic comedy. The major characters we chose to have in our opening scenes are also of the opposite gender. The best friends of the two main characters hate one another; this is where the comedy aspect comes from. Whereas with the main characters this shows where the romantic side comes from, this is a very predictable way of showing this because it happens in most romantic comedies. The two main characters show the contrast between the two major characters in the way that the main characters show cleanliness and are sophisticated, this is shown by the way that harry the main boy character is having a wash. And the major characters are much dirtier this is shown by bug the major character is on the toilet. This is also shown between the girls. Kate is straightening her hair which shows she is caring about her appearance, whereas Tina is on her phone chewing gum not looking very interested in going out. The studio logo that we have at the begging of our opening to our film is very bright and stands out. We used the clouds in the background of our studio logo because this is common for a studio that makes many Romanic comedies like ‘Dream works’ it makes it look very dream like.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our romantic comedy represents a few different social groups, including class, age and gender. Our two main characters in our romantic comedy are very sophisticated and have good careers ahead of them. This is a very stereotypical view of what the two main characters should be like in a romantic comedy, it’s conventional to have the main characters to be in a good career path, normally doctors or lawyers. Whereas our characters are at university which is unconventional due to the characters ‘Kate’ and ‘harry’ do not already have a desirable career that people will look up to and respect them for having. The age of the characters in our romantic comedy is unconventional to the stereotypical romantic comedy; this is because our main and major characters are around the ages of eighteen and nineteen, whereas the ages are generally middle aged, there has been romantic comedies where the main and major characters are of an older generation. The class is easily shown in or romantic comedy. It shows that the two main characters ‘Harry’ and ‘Kate’ are slightly higher class contrasting against the major characters are lower class ‘Bug’, and ‘Tina.’ This is shown because of the way that Tina and Bug are both not very highly educated and are stereotypical eighteen year olds.  There all in social class as in bracket E, this is because there all studying for a profession and a career to go into. Except bug who is working class, because he is a full time bin man. Harry and Kate are slightly shown as to be upper class comparing to Tina and bug, because they are at university, and they are much cleaner, (this is shown in the getting ready scene) and there mannerisms are humble and not argumentative to one another, they both come across shy and timed compared to the major actors for the reason that, they’re very loud and disruptive, and in parts a bit crude, because of the jokes that are said, but that shows the comedy aspect of our romantic comedy.  The culture that is shown in a romantic comedy are conventionally are Caucasian and not of another race. There are never and black or Asian main characters in a romantic comedy so we went with the stereotypical view and used Caucasian characters, we could have been unconventional and used black characters to challenge this view. The way that we have used gender in our romantic comedy is very typical of a conventional romantic comedy. This is because of the way we have used one male and one female for the main characters and then the major characters we have used on male and one female. This is conventional because of the romance between the two main characters or even the two main characters. We could have challenged this convention by using two females or two males, for the romance part of our romantic comedy. The characters as a whole are all different, for instance the main character Kate, is a brunette and generally the main female character is normally blonde. Tina is a stereotype of a girl of her age who goes to college; she comes across a bit of a tart. When Bug is sitting on the toilet makes him seem crude and comes across simple. Harry comes across hygienic because he is having a wash in the mirror whilst talking to Bug.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our romantic comedy, ‘Something for the Weekend’ would be distributed by working title films. We think this would be appropriate and yet the perfect institution for our romantic comedy. We think this because it is a British film institute, and our film is stereotypically an English romantic comedy, because it’s set in England and everyone has English accents. They also make films which are similar to our romantic comedy, for instance ‘Wild Child’ this is a “chick flick” that has been produced and distributed by working title films, and the main character is a teenager and it’s about romance and also has some funny aspects to it. Our film could potentially be made by these because they make similar films, and most of them are romantic comedy and are English based. They make some of the bestselling romantic comedies of all time. For instance they have made ‘Bridget jones diaries’  ‘love actually’ ‘about a boy’ ‘Notting hill’ ‘defiantly maybe’ and many more. They all have been big hits at cinemas. They all use one male and one female for the main characters. The main male figure in the films is normally ‘tall, dark and handsome’ this is normally, Hugh Grant. Whereas we have used someone who looks similar, this is because we want it to be stereotypical and have a conventional romantic comedy but in some parts change it a bit to become unconventional, so it’s a mix of the two.  The females who are normally main characters in romantic comedies are blonde and skinny. We challenged this convention because we have used a brunette. Renée Zellweger is a stereotypical actress from romantic comedies, mainly for Bridget Jones diaries, and this is because of the way she looks, also the personality she has in the films, she’s blonde and small this is a stereotypical      view. But there are some actors like Jenifer Anderson who do in fact have brown hair and is unconventional of an actor for a romantic comedy. The character that we have, who plays the main female role in our romantic comedy is a brunette which is unconventional, in some ways.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

We feel that the audience for our romantic comedy would be a wide range of ages. We have put a certificate of the age 12A on our film. This is because of some of the sexual innuendos that are said within the film. We have tried to make it so that all ages will find bits funny. So everyone will enjoy watching our romantic comedy. But our main age range for our film will be sixteen plus. We think this because people of this age will want to go to the movies and watch a romantic comedy with their boyfriend or girlfriend or even wife or husband. So the age that we will be looking for the audience will be sixteen plus. The gender that will interested and attracted to our film will be females because they’re more prone to watching, so called “chic flicks.” This is a stereotypical view of more females will want to watch it because it has romance and more women like a love story than males. Males normally like to watch thriller or action, because that’s the way people are brought up. The class of people who will be watching this will be mainly middle class, working class people, and even students. This is because of the characters and the humour that we have used in our romantic comedy and it will relate to the audience more because the character that is in the film is from that social class.  We have tried to make our romantic comedy enjoyable for any ethnic background to watch along as they can talk or understand English. The social grade of our romantic comedy would be mainly C, D, and E this is because these are working class people and students who will be interested and attracted to watching our film.

How did you attract and address your audience

We attracted and addressed the audience of our romantic comedy in many different ways. The first way was the characters that we used. The two main characters that we have used are very stereotypically what anyone would see as the main character in a romantic comedy, they are both around the same age, going down the same career path, there also both good looking and people that you would like to find in a romantic comedy. From the begging of the movie you can see that the two main characters are going to fall in love. Whereas the two major characters bring the comedy side to the romantic comedy this is shown in many different ways. The first way that we see the comedy aspect coming through is when harry walks into the bathroom and bug is sitting there on the toilet and the facial expressions that he pulls immediately make the audience see the humour. The other ways that it’s conveyed is the dialogue used. In some parts sexual innuendoes have been made but they have been made so not everyone for instance the younger generation will get so it won’t be seen upon them. But things like the comedy aspects will attract people to come and see it because its humours and will make people laugh. I think that the titles that we have used in our romantic comedy will show people straight away what kind of film this will be, the bubbly text will help people see straight away so people who like romantic comedies will be attracted to the movie. The contrast between the colours of the text are blue and pink which instantly shows the contrast between boys and girls within the movie and is conventional to the type of the genre of my film. The story line of the film will hopefully attract and show the audience what the film may bring later on, the story line shows a boy and a girl who went to school together, then they bump into each other at the train station, and the two major characters seem to like one another, and the two main characters dislike each other. Then it shows the two major characters asking each other to hang out together for that night. The music that we have used in our opening scenes, are very upbeat and happy songs. We chose to have something for the weekend, because it’s a song which matches the title of the film so they link together perfectly. Then the next song that we have on the film is a town called malice, which is very upbeat and makes the scene seem energetic and full of life. It makes the audience feel the excitement and makes you want to sing along whist this scene is being shown. But when speech comes into the song goes much quitter so you can hear the actors speaking. We would advertise our romantic comedy using many different techniques. Here are some of them. The first way we would use traditional ways of marketing, for instance magazine adverts, showing the characters and a bit about the film, along with newspaper articles. Then we would have interviews on chat shows where the actors would go to promote our film. We would also have trailers of the romantic comedy in cinemas so people can see a little insight of the film. We would also have a big premier (red carpet event) to get it the public eye. We would also use viral marketing, here we would send out little snap shots of filming, and then we would send out loads of different trailers showing different parts of the movie. This will all try and get people focused on the film and try and attract a wider audience for our romantic comedy.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In this project I have learnt a lot about technology from the process of making my final product which is the start of a romantic comedy. I have now had a lot of time to play around with the Sony HD touchscreen cameras, so I have learnt to use it to the best of my ability, and getting the best shots using this camera. The first time I got to use the cameras was at the start of the year; this is when we did the preliminary task. This is when we had to make a short film using a match on action shot and the 180 degree rule. This went bad because the first time I used the camera when I thought it was recording it would stop recording, and when I thought that I had stopped recording it started. So I ended up with a load of footage that was no use to anyone, me or my group. This meant that we had to start all over again and re-record. But I had learnt from this mistake, and I know that I’ll never make this mistake happen again because I know the consequences.  After this I made sure when I was making the romantic comedy me being the director I had to make sure that everything was going to plan and working right. I didn’t want to make that mistake again. I also learnt how to use Adobe premiere pro, I have used it before but never really got to make an actual opening of a film. This meant that I did have some past experience using the programme so it wasn’t starting from scratch. But I did learn how to do some things like how to make the titles move on the screen. This meant I could make an effective studio logo with animation. I also learnt how to zoom in on some shots because when recording, they were a little bit too far away. I also learnt how to make songs get quitter when someone is speaking so the speech is clear this was key to our opening sequence because we needed to add a little bit of energy and make It more attracted to the film. I also think that I have learnt to make the cuts between the different camera angels are seamless and you can’t tell when it’s been cut one from one scene to another. Also I have learnt a lot from using things such as BlogSpot, which allowed me to do all of my work on and present it as well as I could.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel that since the preliminary task I have learnt a lot about how to do many things when creating a production and all the hard work that has to be put into them. I feel that I have improved my editing skills because I feel that our romantic comedy runs through very smoothly and that all the camera angles are shown as well as they could be. From the preliminary task we had changed a lot mainly when filming because, when I was filming I tried to stick to the story board as much as I can, but when filming I realised that I needed to change and tweak a few things, because some of the shots didn’t look right. Especially in scene three when the characters bump into each other I feel that it was a good decision to make because some parts did need changing. The way I looked at making this production I did focus on the camera angles more and more, to make sure for each shot that we used was the best we could do as a group. I feel that from the preliminary task working as a group did mean a lot. We all got on throughout the production this was a good thing because we needed to make sure that the group was all fine and had no problems. If any of the group did have a problem or thought something needed to be changed on the production, we would sit down and have a talk about it, and then resolve it to the best of our ability. As a whole I think our group worked very well. This was because Ryan was good at the idea making, like what the story line would be and he was the main person making the script, this is because we played to our advantages because he had took drama and does a lot of script writing. Then I and jasmine was a lot more technical, I was good at using different camera angles and seeing if it needed to be changed. And jasmine was good at all of the writing that needed to be done, also she was good at telling the actors what they needed to do and when they needed to do it. I was also the main editor because I have had a little bit of past experience because I had done Creative and media at Torc.  Also from the preliminary task I had learnt a lot of making a production overall because of all the work that needs to be put into it. the main things that I had learnt from this task was the 180 degree rule, this made me realise and when filming that I couldn’t break this rule at all, which improved our romantic comedy, because if we didn’t know this it wouldn’t make a lot of sense. Also the match on action shot helped in our final product because passing something does normally happed on a movie so it was good that we learnt how to do this. As well as the eyeliner needs to be at the right high.

Proof of editing

We used 'dip to white' transition to show a difference in setting and to show that our opening sequence of our film is beginning. At the beginning of our opening sequence we decided that we did not want our titles to already be on the video clip so the audience will not see them appearing and we feel it will be more effective if we begin the clip first and then add the titles in so that it will be visible to the audience that it pops up. We decided to add our titles in over the video clip because we feel by using a black screen it would be time consuming and more difficult to complete our film footage in the time we would have. We also feel that the colours we have chosen for our titles fit in with the genre of our film, 'Romantic Comedy' and by using the colour blue for the boys names and the colour pink for the girls names, it shows that  we have taken into consideration stereotypical gender colours. We have used an ambient sound for our studio logo when the airplane flies through the clouds. We used the sound of an airplane flying to add effect and to show that we have tried to improve our logo. We also used a push transition to move our airplane to create a more realistic effect.

Filming; day one

Mise en scene:

Location: Tamworth

Setting: A house in Wiggington

Lighting: Natural lighting

Costumes:
Harry; comfortable clothes, cropped joggers and a jumper.
Bug; comfortable clothes, shorts and a checkered shirt, looks untidy and messy to suit his character.
Kate; comfortable clothes (as if she has just got out of bed) vest top and leggings.
Tina; comfortable clothes, vest top, joggers.

Props:
Towel - used to show that he has just washed his face.
Straighteners - to show that she is getting ready.
Condom - to show what the night ahead will bring.

Body language:
Harry - He gets up and stretches showing he is lethargic. He pulls a face which shows disgust when he walks in the toilet and sees bug, this shows he is fed up of him, but when he begins his dialogue he seems happy and excited about the night ahead. He also washes his face which shows he is a clean guy in contrast to bug who is on the toilet.
Bug - Bug is on the toilet throughout the first scene, this shows he is of a lower class than Harry. His facial expression when Harry walks in the toilet show he is embarrassed and confused to why Harry has continued his morning routine whilst Bug is on the toilet.
Kate - Kate enters the opening sequence by walking up the stairs, her facial expressions do not show too much enthusiasm because she has just woken up, although her dialogue indicates that she is excited and cannot wait for the night ahead of her.
Tina - Tina is sitting down throughout the first scene which shows her laid back approach to life. She has her make up all complete by the time Kate has only just started doing her hair which suits her character, also by having false eye lashes on indicates that she isn't as natural as Kate and we have taken their appearance into consideration so the contrast between both characters is clear.

Overview:

We chose a date to begin our filming which was Wednesday 15th February 2012,  we went to our chosen setting and we thought that the space in which we filmed was suitable to fit our genre because where the boys were being filmed you could see that the room that Harry walked out of was blue and they were also filmed in a toilet, with the character, bug, being filmed on the toilet which shows that his lifestyle is laid back and there is no airs and graces with his mannerisms. We filmed the girls in a typical girls room with a dressing table, both looking into the mirror and doing their hair which is stereotypically what girls do. The costumes we chose for each character were chosen deliberately so that it was clear to the audience that they had just woken up and had began to get ready. We used natural lighting because we filmed our footage in the day time so therefore we did not need it to be artificial. The props were used to suit each character, the towel that Harry used was to show his cleanliness and that he was sophisticated. We chose a condom for Bug to show he is lack of maturity and that he has a mind of a young teenager still and he always thinking about one thing. For Kate we chose straighteners to show her femininity and to show she cares about her appearance.

Camera angles:


Our opening sequence began with a long shot of Harry, we used this shot to introduce one of our main characters but also to set the scene so that the audience knows where it is taking place. It then changes to a medium shot which merges into a medium long shot when he is walking towards the bathroom. There is then a high angle shot of Kate walking up the stairs. Although this shot is often used to show that a character is submissive we did not use it in that context. Kate then walks into the bedroom where Tina is sitting. There is a medium shot of her as she walks in to the room which then merges into a medium long shot as she is walking over to sit down. You are able to see the style in which she is walking, she flicks her hair and her hips are noticeable as they sway side to side showing her femininity. There is then a two shot of Harry and Bug where bug is sitting on the toilet and Harry is washing his face. We have used a two shot to show Bugs facial expressions and that he doesn't want Harry to be in the room, but Harry just carries on as normal. We did this to create comedy. There is then a two shot, which is a close up of Kate and Tina they are in the mirror doing their hair which is stereotypically what girls do in the morning we did this so you could see the contrast between the girls getting ready scene and the boys getting ready scene. There is then an over the shoulder shot of Ryan in the mirror getting ready, we used this shot of him washing to show his cleanliness and the contrast in appearance between him and Bug. There is then another over the shoulder shot of Kate and Tina over Kate's shoulder, Kate is shown more in this shot because it is her dialogue and to how the importance and the social class of the two characters. There is then a high angle shot of Bug to show he is submissive and he feels uncomfortable with Harry being in the same room as him. We also did this for comedy as his facial expressions and body language show awkwardness. The camera angles of Kate and Tina are consistent throughout the end of the scene whereas the shots between Harry and Bug vary. Further on in the sequin Bug stands up off of the toilet and there is a tilt to adapt to his height, it is a low angle shot which shows he is more powerful and is no longer feeling awkward and uncomfortable. His dialogue also indicates that he is not afraid to speak up.

Filming process:


We began our filming with the girls section of the scene. We recorded each line of the script separately to make sure we got everything correct and we found it less time consuming as it reduced mistakes although we did have to recapture some of our footage when it was not quite right. We then went on to recording Kate's entrance to the opening sequence. She walks up the stairs and into the bedroom where Tina is sitting, there is another camera angle showing her walking over to sit down, her entrance consists of three camera angles. We then went on to recording the boys section. We started with Bug (Jack Wilkes-Jones) we decided it would be easier to start with Bugs section because the comedy aspect of our Romantic Comedy comes directly from him so we knew it would be more time consuming and difficult to record and we had to make sure the right body language and facial expressions were used with no giggling involved. Finally we recorded Harrys section of the scene. With Ryan having acting experience it was much easier to record as he stayed focussed and kept in character throughout the time he was being filmed. We did not have to record his more than once.

Logo creation

This is our draft of our logo



Storyboard

We decided to do a detailed storyboard so that we would be able to follow it much easier, as me being the camera-person. but the group will have a copy of this when we are recording. By having a much more in depth storyboard we will be able to film smoothly and quickly without worrying about the shots as we will already know exactly what were doing. This has helped us a great deal and let us get on with the filming much quicker. 

Titles

The titles we have created for our Romantic Comedy are relevant to our opening sequence of our film as we have used juxtaposition in the way that the colours in our titles contrast and the blue is a connotation of a boy, and the pink a girl. Significantly when the girls named appear on the screen they show up in pink and the boys show up in blue. The font we have used for our titles was chosen because it looks bubbly, not rough edged and smooth which fits with the genre of our film, Romantic Comedy as we want it to be sweet and romantic, not jagged and horrific. 

Location and setting

We have chosen to film our opening sequence in Tamworth. The places we have chosen to film will be in Todd Hortons house and Tamworth Train Station. We have chosen these settings as it suits the genre of our film and we have found suitable spaces within these areas to film. 

Detailed storyline

Our chosen idea for our film: Something For The Weekend


We have chosen to do a Romantic Comedy. This Romantic Comedy contains 4 characters, 2 main characters, and 2 major characters. Character 1, is a major character and he will be Bug, played by Jack Wilkes-Jones, we have chosen to call Jack, Bug, because he is a clingy character and when an insect flies around you, it tends to keep on coming back as many times as you try and make it go away. Character 2 is a main character and he will be called, Harry, played by Ryan O'Leary. We have chosen Harry as the name because it sounds more sophisticated and upper class, it also has a connotation with Prince Harry. Character 3 is a major character and she will be called Tina, played by Charlie Brookes. We have named her character Tina because it is a stereotypical common girls name showing she is lower in class. Character 4 is a main character and she will be called Kate, played by Jasmine Hammond. We have named her character Kate as it shows her higher class and sophistacation and it also has a connotation with Kate Middleton married to Prince William.

Our opening of our film will begin with the girls getting ready for a night out and the boys getting ready for a night out, in different houses and they have not seen each other for years. It will be a split screen of the characters getting ready and for the boys the titles will show up in blue, showing a connotation of a stereotypical boy colour, and for the girls it will show up in pink. There will be music playing on the radio and by having a shot one of the characters turning on the radio and then turning it off, the music will become diegetic, as the characters in the scene will be able to hear it. After leaving the houses, they all travel to Tamworth, Bug forgets his money which annoys Harry so they end up having an argument and Ryan ends up paying for him.  The boys will be together and so will the girls. They bump into each other at the train station and realise they know each other from school. Significantly Harry and Kate always had a crush on each other in school and Bug and Tina have always hated each other. Harry and Kate think it will be a great idea to all go out together and spend the night together, whereas Bug and Tina do not want to do this as they thought when they had left school they had finally got rid of each other. Tina has a word with Kate and Bug has a word with Harry. Both of them end up convincing Bug and Tina to go and they walk off together into the distance and there is a voice over of Bugs voice, he says, "Im not buying any drinks!" Harry responds "you haven't bought your wallet anyway  you sloth!" there is then a split screen of Bug and Sid the sloth off the ice age looking at each other, and that is the end of our opening sequence of 'Something For The Weekend.'

Script

This is our draft of our script for our opening sequence of our Romantic Comedy, we have hoped to create Romance and Comedy through dialogue and sarcasm.

Understanding Our Target Audience

As our genre of film is Romantic Comedy our film is certificated as a 12A. This is because stereotypically most rom-coms are 12A's and it broadens the amount of people watching therefore they'll be more income. However some 12 - 13 year olds may struggle with the concept of 'Romance' so we have made sure that the comedy aspect of our opening sequence will be suitable and not contain any expletive language. There is however some adult humour that younger viewers may not fully understand so this will still be in the 12A criteria and not a 15. We have made sure we have not been open and explicit with our comments as we have taken into consideration the range of audience we hope to achieve, there is also no nudity in our film.
Our opening sequence for our Romantic Comedy is a stereotypical British based comedy that contains a lot of sarcasm and satire that are found in many British comedies.

Mind Mapping

FILM IDEAS FOR OUR ROMANTIC COMEDY:


- Two girls, two boys.
- One of the girls and one of the boys have good careers to suit with the Romantic Comedy theme and have always had a crush on each other.
- The other boy and the other girls have bad jobs, don't have any qualifications and hate each other.
- We believe the comedy aspect of our Romantic Comedy will come through the major characters rather than the main characters as their hatred for each other will create comedy for the audience.
- Holiday/weekend away/hotel
- Meal/restaurant
- Nightclub
- Coffee shop
- The characters new each other from school
- Train (difficulty to film?)
- Costumes;
Ryan: Holiday dress?
Jack: Casual/dirty/unsophisticated clothing
Girl 1: Casual sophisticated/Pretty
Girl 2: Revealing, unsophisticated clothing

Casting

Jack Wilkes-Jones: Jack will play 'Jack' in our film, we have chosen Jack to play our role as the character that we are aiming for has many similar characteristics to Jack. We think that he has the ability to create comedy in our Rom-Com. Jack will need to wear casual/scruffy clothes as his job is a junior bin man.


Ryan O'leary: Ryan will play 'Ryan' in our film, we have chosen Ryan to play this role as the character that we are aiming towards has many similar characteristics and also we think Ryan has the ability to play this part. We think as well as creating some amount of comedy Ryan will be able to play a serious character in the aspect of Romance. He is also sophisticated and will suit our genre, Romantic Comedy. His costume will have to be something a bit higher in class, and not scruffy, e.g a shirt.


Jasmine Hammond: Jasmine will play one of the girls in our film, we have chosen Jasmine to play this role as she suits the character we are aiming towards. We believe she is able to be serious and play a romantic character and also has the ability to look sophisticated and talented. She has a good profession and will suit the genre, Romantic Comedy. Her costume will have to be something that doesn't expose too much skin and looks sophisticated. Casual wear etc...


Charlie Brookes: Charlie will play the major character, like Jack, the girls best friend, who hates Jack. We have chosen Charlie for this role because we think she will add to the comedy of our film and we think she will be able to act well and stay in character whilst filming. She won't have a good career, like Jack. Charlies costume will have to be something that exposes enough skin to bring out the character we are aiming for, for example, short skirt, low cut top.

Roll Allocation

We have chosen each role by thinking which best suits our abilities.


Ryan: Actor, Director, Script writer
Todd: Director, Editor and Camera man
Jasmine: Actor, Director, Editor

Draft Script

This is our daft script for our romantic comedy

Character models

This is Jack, he is 19 years old and he is male, his occupation is a junior bin man, which suits his scruffy appearance, he is our major character, he plays Ryan's best friend, he is a clingy eccentric and somewhat weird character who annoys Ryan almost everyday.

This is Ryan, he is 19 years old and he is male, he is a university student, studying law, this suits his sophisticated appearance, he aspires to have a good career in law, which Jack, his clingy best friend isn not making easy for him as he will not leave him alone.

Film Institute

 

There are three genres that we are primarily studying the thriller, the horror and the rom-com. I will be analysing the data on the U.K film institute website into the success of these genres.

Horror has the most number of releases in this country with 31 compared to thriller’s 20 and romantic’s 19. However just because horror has the most releases it does not mean it has made the most money at the box office, in fact the romantic genre has made the most at the box office with £58.4 million.

This is the main reason in us choosing our genre: Romantic-Comedy as combine the two favourite genres people like to watch and you get a lot of box office revenue.

Also with the facilities and budget we have, we feel that we will not be able to create a convincing horror and thriller due to the lack of special effects and goriness.

Film Ideas

For our opening sequence of a film, my group chose to do the genre, Romantic Comedy.


1. For our first idea we chose two boys, aiming to go on a holiday away by the sea, but one of the boys, jack, lost the money that he was supposed to use to take Ryan to the seaside, so when they were on the train ready to go and Ryan was in his beach wear, Jack broke it to him that they were going to Tamworth, in the middle of England, no where near the sea, when they arrive in Tamworth Ryan is very angry with Jack and goes to get changed, they bump into two girls they knew from school, Ryan has always had a crush on one of them, and Jack despises the other. They decide to go for a coffee and Jack (the idiot friend) says he knows somewhere nice, they end up in an old shabby coffee shop after passing many other nice ones such as costa and starbucks, the two people (Jack and one of the girls) that despise each other end up arguing and keep making nasty remarks at each other whereas Ryan doesn't want to leave the girl he has always truly loved.


Our second idea was still including the same characters as originally planned, we still kept Ryans clingy friend Jack but this time Ryan was trying several times to go on some sort of date with a girl he liked, although every time he failed due to his idiot friend. Jack always asked to come with Ryan and as many times as Ryan said no, Jack still managed to turn up in one way or another, such as, Ryan was on a meal with the girl, and Jack took their food off the waiter and served them instead. He popped up from several tables and annoyed Ryan's date to the point where she walked out and will never give him another chance unless Jack moves away.


Our third and final idea was still containing our original characters as we think they really suit the roles that we want them to play. This time we combined both ideas but added a few different ideas. This time we decided that the boys will get off a train for a night out, instead of a weekend away, and have an argument over clingy Jack forgetting his money. They bump into two girls from school and one of the girls Ryan has always had a crush on and she has always liked him, and the other one Jack has always hated and she also hates him. Ryan and his crush decide it would be good to join up and go out together, and understandably Jack and his enemy disagree. After completing all of this action we timed it and so far everything we want to include comes to two minutes.

Pie Charts

Questionnaire Review

Questionnaire Review

In the first question of our questionnaire we asked ‘What is your favourite Romantic Comedy of all of time?’ We discovered that the majority of our audience answered with the movie ‘About a boy’ we suspect this is because it is a stereotypical, British, Romantic Comedy, featuring Hugh Grant which brings us nicely on to our second question.

 We then asked our audience, ‘In a Romantic Comedy you have seen, who is the best male character/actor?’ The majority of our audience answered with Hugh Grant, we suspect this is because he is in many Romantic Comedies and has a lot of experience in being the stereotypical male lead. He is also good looking, charming and funny; his British accent captures American audience because they notice the difference and find it appealing.

We then asked our audience, ‘In a Romantic Comedy you have seen who is the best female character?’ The majority of our audience answered, Cameron Diaz, we suspect the reason for this is because she is a stereotypical, good looking actress and her American accent attracts people to watch, also her blonde hair is an obvious attraction for a majority of people, especially men.

 In our fourth question we asked our audience ‘Ideally what certificate should a Romantic Comedy be?’ 60% of our audience think that the certificate should be a 12; we think this may be to attract a wider audience, therefore more people will be able to watch it therefore increasing the potential profits made.

 In question five we asked our audience, ‘What colours would you associate with a title sequence of a Romantic Comedy and why?’ Pink, white and red were the colours that people related to the most in this question, possibly because they are all related to love/romance. Also white is a connotation of innocence which suggests that the film is pure and nothing scary will happen whereas red and pink congers up love and passion.

 In our sixth question we asked our audience, ‘What music would be most effective in a Romantic Comedy?’ A huge majority of our audience answered with ‘A happy, upbeat song!’ which is possibly because Romantic Comedies are stereotypically a jolly/enjoyable genre to watch and the music suits well with what happens. Also it shows that the couple that fall in love in the film are happy together and nothing is going to go wrong.

  We then asked our audience ‘What would be the best setting for a Romantic Comedy?’ For this question the majority of our audience answered with ‘In a big city’ we suspect this may be because previous Romantic Comedies have been set in cities and it is a stereotypical place to fall in love. It is also very romantic to be in, London, Paris, New York with your boyfriend/girlfriend.

  For our eighth question we asked our audience, ‘How influential should the supporting actors/actresses be?’ 70% of our audience answered with, ‘very!’ we think this may be because in a Romantic Comedy, supporting actors often add to the comedy side to the film, for e.g. the male lead often has a best friend who leads him astray making it funny attracting more people to watch it like in Notting Hill.

 For our ninth question we asked our audience, ‘What is more important in a Romantic Comedy, the comedy side to it or the love story?’ 70% of our audience answered with ‘Comedy!’ we suspect this is because people like to enjoy and laugh whilst watching a film as many romances that are not Romantic Comedy tend to be the complete opposite, e.g. ‘Titanic’.

  For our tenth question we asked our audience, ‘What is the stereotypical look of the two main characters in a Romantic Comedy?’ The majority of our audience answered by saying, ‘They should both be good looking’, we think this may be because in previous Romantic Comedies many of the leading roles have been good looking, successful and have been in a good career. We suspect that the reason for the majority of our audience choosing ‘good looking’ is because many people stereotype two people in love to be good looking and happy. People tend not to be influenced by two people who are not as attractive and interesting.

After giving our questionnaires to a majority of people we are still sticking to our original idea of creating a Romantic Comedy. Many of the answers we have been given have gave us ideas and have influenced us more to create our film. We have a good idea of the characters we are looking for and the story line we would like to achieve is quite clear after reading what many people like to see in a Romantic Comedy.

Questionnaire

This is our questionnaire, we based it all on a romantic comedy, because we found out that they are a popular genre of film and we could work this to our advantages. We asked questions that would help us decide how we would do our romantic comedy, what film to base it on and how we can use the mist popular romantic comedy and take bits from that. Also from this it will help us how the characters must look in the romantic comedy. Also will help us on what age range that it would be based around, this means how it is portrayed to the audience watching it. We got loads of people to answer them from different ages ranges to get a goood range of peoples thoughts and how they think that a romantic comedy should be set and to see what factor is more importand, the comedy side or the romance side of the film.

Christian metz

Christian Metz in his book 'Language and Cinema' (1974) explored the development of Genre film and suggested that Genres pass through four phases of existence, these phases being:
1.The experimental
2.The classic
3.The Parody
4.The deconstruction

By experimental we mean the phase of early films which explored and experimented with the Horror theme. Films that fit into this category would be 'Nosferatu' (1922) and 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari' (1919)

By classic we mean the phase of films which established the narratibe conventions of the horror genre in its most successful and defining period. Universal studios created many of the classic horror films such as Dracula and Frankenstein.

By Parody we mean films that have mimicked the horror genre, they have some generic elements of a horror film in them but are portrayed in a comical way. Films such as Scary Movie and Carry on Screaming fit into this Genre.

By Deconstruction we mean films which have taken the generic elements from horror films and amalgamented (blended) them into various sub genres. So they use elements of the horror genre but add in another genre such as thriller/comedy and any others. Films that fit in to this category are The Sixth Sense, Scream, Se7en etc...

 

Mood Boards

Rom-Com
Mood Board

This is my Rom-Com mood board, the pictures that i have put on these are associated, with romantic places and things, for instance, sun sets are very romantic. i have also added other photos, of flowers this is a very feminine prop that is used for women to show compassion, what a man normally gives to a woman. I have asleep got images of a Christmas scene, because Christmas is a very romantic time, for instance, the white snow, and everyone is happy all the time, because (its the season to be jolly) its a perfect time for a rom-com. Candles are romantic, because of the light they give off, and the way they flicker, its a stereotypy for romantic. The red wine is a sign of affection so it is romantic.

Task Two- Comparing and contrasting the opening scenes of two romantic comedies

Just like heaven-Directed by Mark Waters


It starts with calm and dreamy music with the studio logo, (dream works) the titles are very girly, because of the pink and white, makes it seem fluffy and feminine. The song in the background is very girly, this is because is very upbeat and sung by a girl. The titles carry on even when the film starts the titles are still coming up on the side. From the ‘Dream Works’ opening, the clouds spiral down into an aerial shot, so you can see the garden she is sitting in. At the beginning she is day dreaming in her own world, in this garden full of flowers, which also signifies the act that this is a girly romantic film. Then she gets clicked out of her day dream and you see that she is a nurse/doctor, which is a good career to have, and what young girls, and women inspire and aspire to be, this is because it shows that she is very high up, and is in a well-paid job. Then you get to see how much of a hard worker she is. She has been at work for 26 hours, this shows that she is determine and loves doing a job, this could be a good role model for people to look up to. Then she’s in a car crash, the build up to this is very obvious, this is because she’s just finished her 26 hour shift, and is driving home in the dark, whilst it is raining, on the phone to her sister, and she was rushing because she was late. When she crashes, the main male character comes into the movie, he comes across very geeky, he’s looking for a new home, we don’t know why he is looking for a new home to begin with, but then we later become to learn that it is because of the loss of his marriage. He then moves into the house where the women who was in the car crash lived before this happens. The music that is used is very innocent and shows that it’s a romantic comedy. The comedy aspect of this is when the old man in the hospital keeps asking the protagonist to marry him, and he asks her 3 times, and the last time, his bums out so it makes people laugh. This film was also based on a book, which shows that there was already a target audience for this film even before it was made. It was based on a romantic novel so it goes under the category, chick flick.


How to lose a guy in 10 days


Director: Donald Petrie
Main characters: Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey
This film starts with very upbeat music straight away, even when the studio logo comes on ‘paramount pictures’ the music is playing, this shows that it is going to be a bubbly, girly song because of the music that is being played. Then when the film starts it goes into the titles, but the titles have been edited so it looks like a magazine when it is being played, this shows that it is going to be a girly film (chick flick) because of the colour scheme that has been used, in the titles, are pinks and purples, that sweep across the screen, this signifies the genre that it has been put into. You couldn’t imagine a sci-fi or a horror, to have pink and purple words with bubbly floating text. In the magazine it shows of how to do different things in 10 days so, you get the feel that this film is going to be her next story in a magazine, for instance one of them was ‘how to get away from a speeding fine in 10 steps.’ It kind of feels like all the things in the magazines are going to be all of her life experiences and then she writes about them, in this magazine. The main character is blonde with blue eyes and is played by Kate Hudson. Her character contradicts stereotypical blonde girls. She works as a journalist for a magazine company and her intelligence is shown when she tells her friend that she wants to write something important about politics or the environment. Her job is an aspirational job, a job that a lot of people wish to have. Most of the characters in the opening scene are power dressing. They wearing business dress, suits, shirts, and blouses etc. The film is set in New York which is a glamorous city and it ties in with the fact that Andy works for a fashion magazine - Her life is dreamlike and a fantasy.

Task 2: Research into existing products

Analysis of RedDragon

Red dragon (2002) by Brett Ratner

The opening title are red and white, this is a connotationof evil because of the red titles at the begging of the sentence, then whitewriting comes after, this is a connotation of pure and innocent. With a blackbackground, indicates a sinister edge to it, could be a horror. it makes it seem eerie because of the titles with the music playing.

The lighting that is used in the opening scene is artificial lighting because you can see the shine coming off Hannibal lectors head, it brings attention to him, and shows that he has a main role in the film. The way the light also shines on the man playing the wrong notes brings more attention to him because of the lights above him, and the way they look at the man making the wrong notes. The opening scene is set in a big hall, which is very orchestral and the posh seats signify that they are all upper class because they are listening to classical music, which is normally stereotype of the upper class people. The location is a real life location, you can tell this because its very big and grand, and also its only a setting for the begging they don't go back there to use it again, so this means it is a real life location. The props that were used in the opening are the knife and the guns also, the arrows, the arrows show that he is a very cultural man, who has maybe travelled and he could come across as a predictor and a main person, especially when he is circling the table, and giving out the wine. The costumes that were used are suits and dress's this shows that they are very upper class and live a high life style. also you get this by they way they are going to watch classical music. When the man playing the flute is doing the wrong tune, Hannibal picks up on it and, tilts his head, to show that he's confused because he's not playing the tune right, also the way he looks at him, is very angry and he seems annoyed at the fact he is paying the wrong tune. Also people are frowning at the man playing the flute because they know that he's not playing it right, but non of the audience pick up on this accept Hannibal, this shows he is very inelegant. Also he is winsing because he feels uncomfortable because he knows that the notes are wrong. The Camera angles that were used in the first scene, the beginning started with an establishing shot, an extreme long shot, could be someone's point of view of the stage and the orchestra playing. Then from this its a lot of close ups of the musicians playing the classical music. Then it goes into a hight angle cane shot, and sweeps in to show then main character, you can see him straight away because he is a Juxture position of the shot, in the middle you can see him straight away even in the crowed, this might be because he is sitting in the middle, might be because he is the only bald one, could be because he has light shining onto him or many other things, but you are drawn to him straight away. The sound you can hear is the violins playing in an orchestral way. The edits between each clip in seamless, because you cant tell when its been cut and it all runs very smoothly.


Scene Two


This scene start by showing the outside of the house that they are all in, its a big victortian like house, very tall, looks like it is something that you would see in london, like a town house, very upper class what you would see in a main city. Its all set in a real life location, you can tell this because its a real street, and the brick work and the housed are very detailed. Also the cars parked outside the house look very higher class, which also indicates that they are very intelegant wealthy people. On top of this the clothes that the people are wearing show there's class, they are all wearing smart, suits and elegant dresses. Inside the house the interior is Upper class, just from looking at the inside of the house you would think it is a manor house because of all of the furniture and ornaments, this signifies and shows you even more so that they are all wealthy and upper class. The silver cutlery and the candelabras on the table shows they have a lot of money because its not an everyday object what people would be using. The English accents makes it seem very Edwardian and that they are stereotyping elgland, because we are stereotyped as being very upper class, even though it is set in america and most of them probebly originate from america they put on this accent to seem upper class. The main character (Hannibal) is the host of the meal, he is going around circling the table, pouring red wine which is best served with red meat, so we get the hint that the meat is a red meat because of the wine that is being poured, this kind of meal is served at around winter or autumn we can get this just from the meal and the alcohol. The red wine may have some religious meaning to it for instance, jusus represented red wine as his blood, but we find out that they are eating a human, so this could be a symbol of their blood. The way that Hannibal is curling the table is the kind of way a predator would circle its prey and we kind of get that through the way he is walking and is a well looked upon man. The other people who are talking to Hannibal around the table are using very intellectual words, what most people wouldn't understand, but Hannibal does, also they are using recognisable famous quotes what Hannibal also knows, so this even more suggests and shows how inelegant he actually is. Hannibal calls all the people sitting down the herd, this implies he could mean that they are his prey, and one of them could be next. Low angle shots are mostly used on Hannibal, because this makes him seem very much in power and in charge of what's going on, very high power over the people. There is a man in the scene who is talking to Hannibal at the dining table, and he comes across very arrogant and seem he don't care about anyone but him self, we see this because he is mocking then man that has gone missing. Then shortly after this one of the ladies ask what exactly they are eating, then Hannibal replies " if i told you, you wouldn't even try it" being serious, but they all think that he's joking, this is the first insight that we get that he may have put human meat in the meal and we know that something is not right. Hannibal, is wearing a white shirt, this means purity, but we don't know that something is wrong at all until the next scene.

Scene Three

It starts with an over the shoulder shot of aman looking over at Hannibal at the door, but then Hannibal introduces him intothe scene so we learn to realise that they already know each other in the first place. As soon as Hannibal answered the door he said "oh special agent Graham what an unexpected pleasure." This means that they both know eachother and they have been met before and they must have a very close friend shipbecause he comes around the house late at night. The Special agent is wearing a gun and white which automatically shows that he is something to do with the law and that he is a high power. The agent is wearing white and black very seriouse and smart colours. And make him seem very professional and have a lot of authority. When the agent starts speaking about the killer must be eating them, he seems that he is onto something, because this links in with the last scene of Hannibal saying about the meat, "if I told you I would have to kill you." this makes us suspicious of Hannibal because of the way he then goes about trying to put the agent off the idea of the killer eating them and how it’s not right. Hannibal seems to be like a father figure to special agent graham because of the way he comes to Hannibal looking for answers no matter what time it is, he comes round his house asking for help in the case he is trying to solve, even the way the interrupt each other and they socialize together. Hannibal says he is going to get the agents coat. Whilst he has gone the agent looks around and finds a book marked on the page of making meals using human body parts, and it zooms into the book showing the recipe and then zooms into the agents face to show that he was right and that he needs to stop Hannibal before something bad happens. But this is going to be hard you would think because of the close nit friendship with one another. Then all off a sudden Hannibal comes into the room and stabs the agent. Even though he has stabbed him Hannibal is still trying to make it easy for him and trying to kill him the best way possible without that much pain so even though its bad what he has done you do get t see that he cares for him, but obviously he thought the only way off getting out off this would be to kill him, so no one finds out. Then the agent stabs Hannibal with a sharp arrow and the music goes all mistrial, and Hannibal is falling back, but then he comes back at the agent like a predator and tries to finish him off. Even
when the agent first starts shooting at him Hannibal is still walking forward towards him. But then he drops onto the desk. Then a scrap book comes up with all the cases of the trials and pictures off Hannibal going through all the different trials and what’s happening to them, and Hannibal going to prison. This makes you think that someone must feel aspiration towards him and makes the person who is making the scrap book wants to be like him and looks up to him in some weird way. Or the person who made the book could just be amazed by all the crimes and murders that he committed.