planning- 140 character tweet pitch.

We were told to do a 140 character tweet to AshfieldMedia, this way were using social networking sites to recieve feedback and to express our ideas. This will attract people from the site to follow our research and hopefully be interested in our final opening sequence.

planning- inspirations for our opening.

Quite a few films have inspired us to do our opening. We thought that doing a film from the males POV would make it a lot more quirkier and not the same as most rom/coms.

Male POV rom/coms include;

Forgetting Sarah Marshall- Peter has split up from a long term relationship with actress Sarah Marshall. To deal with the break up he takes a holiday to Hawaii hoping to get over his ex girlfriend, but to his surprise when he's there he sees Sarah, with her new boyfriend..

500 Days of Summer- Tom Hansen falls head over heels for a woman who doesn't believe in love. Tom discovers that the pair have plenty in common despite the fact that she's seemingly out of his league. Tom believes deeply in the concept of soul mates, and he's finally found his. Unfortunately for Tom, Summer sees true love as the stuff of fairy tales, and isn't looking for romance. Undaunted and undeterred by his breezy lover's casual stance on relationships, Tom summons all of his might and courage to pursue Summer and convince her that their love is real

Films about dating experiences;

Beauty and the Briefcase- Determined fashion journalist Lane Daniels weighs love against ambition while researching the Cosmopolitan cover story that could make or break her career. An aspiring writer who has always dreamt of penning a cover story for Cosmo, Lane makes a pitch to editor Kate White for an article entitled "Switching Careers to Find Love." Incredibly, Kate gives Lane the green light, instructing her to first seek out a corporate job, and commence dating as many of her co-workers as possible. In no time, Lane is punching the clock, and juggling boyfriends. But while Tom  and Seth are both plenty of fun, charming music producer Liam is the guy who really drives Lane wild. Trouble is, Liam doesn't work in Lane's office, so he's strictly off-limits. Now, with her biggest career goal finally within grasp, Lane must choose to follow her heart, or give in to ambition.

Films with a montage about love;
We thought a montage about the characters dates would be effective and help give the audience a feel to how bad his dates actually were. These films include montages about love which describe the characters relationships.

Twilight- Bella has a flash back at her and Edwards relationship questionning whether their relationship is worth putting on the edge, and shows how much they love eachother.

Up- The montage of Ellies and Mr Frederickson's past together before she died is romantic and is enough to get the audience to cry before the film starts, this draws the audience in.

planning- our final idea?

From a lot of feedback and thinking we have decided to put the 3 main idea's together in the opening. Many rom/coms are filmed from the womans point of view, so to make it more quirkier we thought to film it in the males POV, it may be hard to find a male to act for us but were sure we'll manage to find one.

We have decided to not do the diary idea as we think it may be quite hard to find a boys bedroom and it may not turn out as effective as we hoped it would.



Storyline
We've decided on doing the main character as an intern journalist, who is the only male in his department who works for a female magazine, he's been given an article about dating women, if it is successful he'll get a full time contract.

 It starts with him at his desk struggling what to write, we thought the montage could include short flashbacks the character is having whilst thinking of ideas to put in his article of all the 'bad dating experiences' with girls he has had. He then decides that could be a bad idea and turns out most of his previous dates with girls have all been terrible. This also brings quite a comical mood to the film as they are funny bad experiences which will hopefully draw the audience in.

Meanwhile, from the start of the opening were going to use a monologue in the film explaining to the audience what he is doing for his article etc and his thought process.

He then gives up, until he recieves an email from a colleague, he finds her really attractive but knows she is definately out of his league. Despite this, the male tries his best to win Kates heart which he decides is what he will write about in his article.

planning- film opening ideas.

Me and Rachel drew up a moodboard in last lesson. We wrote down all the narratives that came to mind when we thought about rom/coms. We also researched into some and looked how effective they can be in film, how they draw in the audience and whether they're easy to do with a limited amount of time.

Doing a moodboard and research helped us a lot because before we didn't know any ways to portray an effective opening for a rom/com. We had to look into each idea carefully and decide whether they would be suitable or not.

We thought all 4 ideas could be incorperated together to make one big opening, but realised the 4th idea may be quite impossible as we'd have to either make a pregnant belly or find a pregnant teenager to act for us, but we thought this may be a bit of an invasion on their privacy.

research- sound design.

Sound Design is used in a number of disciplines including film making, television production, theatre, sound recording and reproduction.

Sound design is mostly a previous sound recorded such as an effect or a piece of music. In some instances it may also involve the composition or manipulation of audio to create a desired effect or mood, such as happiness, confused or tension.

Sound makes up 50% of a film so without it audiences sometimes may not understand the genre, narrative or the mood being portrayed, which will be pretty boring if it was a horror. Upbeat, flowing music shows the characters mood as being happy or excited, where as a slow and gentle piece of music could create the mood as being sad/lonely.

Our genre is rom/com which doesn't really rely on sound as its a very realistic genre and is usually set in a busy city or a home. The only sound effects which will need to be recorded to create an atmosphere for a rom/com would be the sound of traffic or just plain nature, that you would hear everyday e.g. birds, wind, people talking.

Sci-fi films depend on sound design the most. The films are very futuristic and include sounds such as lasers, gun shots, the sound of spaceships or aliens. Sound design can be made either on the computer using a special software or just with your hands such as a piano or a spring, which is quick and simple.

The sound being made in this clip is the sound of wind which could be useful in our genre. It can be made by either recording the sound before inserting it into the clip or by making the sound yourself with software and a piano which is very clever. This sound design will be used quite a lot in sci-fi films to create the sound of spaceships. On films the sounds seem almost impossible to recreate, but this video shows how simple it can be to make such an effective sound. You can also make laser/gun sounds using a spring which you can find in your home, this clip shows how the producers can make a made up sound from Star Wars so easy.

research- typical music/soundtrack.

In rom/coms, when the words no longer suffice the music must rise to the ocassion and take its place. From the initial meeting to the heated arguments and all those third-act sprints to win back the girl, a movie's sound track often does the heavy lifting, providing all the needed passion, heartache and poetry. The music always relates to the narrative of the film, and helps the audience understand the meaning of the film. Whether they're there to make you laugh or cry the music used in rom/coms will always play an important piece in rom/coms.
The music used is often upbeat and flowy, it tends to be quite a stereotypically 'girly' song and something that relates to a girls life.

research- real audience rom/coms.

Instead of making a status or a tweet for people to vote for their favourite genre, I looked into my genre and seen how many people liked and were talking about some of my favourite rom/coms on facebook.
I think this way you can get people's opinions from all over the world rather than those close to you.

research- classification categories for rom/coms.

research- costumes in rom/coms.

 The costumes used in rom/coms are usually typical everyday clothing such as jeans and a top or their work clothes. Some rom/coms are based on weddings or parties therefore the characters wear dresses/suits to fit in with the occasion.

In rom/coms the girls are stereotypically pretty and very fashionable, so the girls on the film won't really be wearing just a plain t-shirt and jeans they will be glammed up most of the time which outlines their personality also. The men are portrayed as careless for love and not really interested in settling down with women. They are also shown as less dominant in rom/coms as the women tend to have a higher status job, meaning their costume would be more 'slobby and casual' than the womans.
 

Here in 'I give it a year' the women is more dressed up than the man when going out for their anniversary meal, this shows that stereotypically she cares more about her appearance than he does.

 

Costumes also depend the time setting of the film. Men and women will wear totally different costumes in a film thats set in the 90's than they will today, even if the film was made recently but set in the past they will have to make clothes for that era. For example; Ever After: A Cinderella story was made in 1998 but set in the 16th century inspired by the fairytale Cinderella.

Her costume here shows how far back the film was set, in the film she plays the Princess, even though the film was made recently she is wearing the old fashioned long ballgown which Princesses did in the 16th century. Whereas todays Princesses dress casually but still in dresses, or smart trousers and shirt.

research- how websites of upcoming films attract their audience.

On Empire's website, they advertise the films in the order they come out in the cinema. They provide the audience with fun facts about the films, the sypnosis and what to expect. Underneath you can watch the trailer to the film which then allows the audience to do a quick poll of which film they are looking forward to watching the most.


For me this helps to understand about upcoming films, the sypnosis of them and others ratings of them. It helps you to decide whether they are worth watching or not, by providing you with the trailer.


Ratings of each upcoming film:

I give it a year- 6.6/10

Songs for Marion- 6.5/10

The Big Wedding- has not been rated because it hasn't been released into cinema's yet.

10 Things I Hate About Life- has not been rated because it hasn't been released into cinema's yet.

research- average ratings of rom/coms.

research- classification.

The British Board of Film Classification, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films within the United Kingdom.

• Universal means all ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children.
• Parent/Guardian means all ages admitted, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for young children. May contain mild language and sex/drugs references. May contain moderate violence if justified by context.
• 12A means films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for very young people. Those aged under 12 years are only admitted if accompanied by an adult, aged at least 18 years. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, moderate swear words, infrequent strong language and moderate violence, sex references and nudity. 
• 15 means only those are permitted and films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, frequent strong language and limited use of very strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail.
• 18 means Nobody younger than 18, films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context. Very strong, gory, and/or sadistic violence is usually permitted.

My opening sequence that we will be filming shortly will be suitable for children over 12 or even universal, meaning all audiences can watch it and it is suitable to go on facebook or youtube.

research- how posters attract their audience.

I researched into a rom/com poster and looked at how they attract their audiences and make them want to watch the film. I looked at colours, font, and body language.

research- production and distribution companies.

Universal is an American motion picture studio, owned by Comcast, and one of the six major movie studios. It is one of the longest-lived motion picture studios to be located outside of Hollywood, however it is the oldest movie studio in the United States of America.

The Universal Pictures revenue came to a to total of  $4.239 billion in 2011. The top grossing film by Universal Pictures is E.T: The Extra-terrestrial with a total of $359,197,037. Universal Pictures has a website www.universalpictures.com, which provides information of the latest movies produced by Universal Pictures and the park in Hollywood and Orlando.

 

Some rom/com movies produced by Universal Pictures include; Leap Year, The Change-Up, Bridesmaids, The Five-Year Engagement, Pitch Perfect, Les Miserables, Its Complicated and Couples Retreat.  

 

Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London. It was founded in 1983 by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe. It produces feature films and several television productions.

 

Universal Pictures own 67% of the company. In 2004, Working Title made a profit of £17.8million. As of 2007 all of their films distributed by Universal Pictures and many of its recent films are co-productions with StudioCanal.

 

Four weddings and a Funeral was Working Titles breakthrough, becoming the highest-grossing British film in cinema history with £244million worldwide.

 

Some films produced by Working Title include; Definitely/maybe, Love Actually, About a boy, Notting Hill and Billy Elliot.

 

Rachel's Research: http://www.rachelgascoignefoundationportfolio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/twentieth-century-fox-research.html

 

research- chosen genre.

Our chosen genre is rom/coms aimed at young adults, we feel we can elaborate on the genre and make our opening sequence really effective. We will need to do more research into what makes a rom/com successful and then plan out how many actors we need, the setting and the storyline. We can only make it up to 2 minutes long any time after that the examiner can choose to turn the clip off if they like just like with the preliminary task.

research- audiences attracted to my genre.

I made a film on goanimate! of the different audiences who like rom/coms and why they watch them.
Rom/coms attract their audience with in the first few minutes by giving them something to laugh about, they relate to most of the audience by giving it the typical day to day storyline about love.


Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.

research- rom/coms.

I did this on prezi, it is research into one of the films in my chosen genre- Angus, thongs and perfect snogging!

research- codes and conventions for rom/coms.

This slide is from slideshare and it shows the codes and conventions of my chosen genre Rom/Coms. It also lists a few rom/com films at the bottom giving people an idea to what rom/coms are.

A typical rom/com consists of boy meets girl, who then part due to a disagreement, the time apart then makes them realise how much they like eachother, they declare their love for one another and usually ends with a happy ending.

Rom/coms fit in with both Todorov's and Propps theories. The main characters in a rom/com are often include; a hero, prize, villain, sidekick, donor, dispatcher. In rom/coms the villain will do anything to split the hero and prize up, the others will try and prevent that from happening. A rom/com film that follow these characters functions would be Notting Hill-
William= Hero, Anna= Princess, Anna's boyfriend= Villain, Spike= Sidekick, Max= Dispatcher.

Rom/coms tend to use high key and natural lighting because it reflects the mood of the genre it also connotes the mood of the character for example low key lighting would be used during a disruption.

Usually a rom/com is set in a big city i.e New York, Paris or London, this is because it is popular with the audience and tends to have a busy atmosphere which connotes the characters busy lives. They are also rather relatable because of their familiarity, these cities are also well known romance cities which is also another reason why they are set in these places, people often go there for dates, engagements or to find love which is why they relate to the audience.

research- analysis of two film openings no.1.

Shot One, Two and Three- Mid shot of Mr.Incredible, Elastagirl, Frozone, these three clips show an interview with the three characters, the dialogue portrays the characters personalities. The filter shows that the clips are dated.

Shot Four- 'i'  Sign, with a light shining from it which draws attention to the audience showing the symbol of 'the incredibles'.

Shot Five- 'The Incredibles' title, shows the name of the film infront of a spotlight showing that it is an action film and it highlights the words suggesting that they are important.

Shot Six and Seven- A mid shot and a low angle shot of Mr. Incredible in his car wearing a suit showing he is a 'normal' person, it also shows his younger times as he could fit into his car properly.

Shot Eight- This shot shows the old woman reaching towards her cat in the tree, the tree next to her emphasises how small she is. You can also see Mr. Incredibles car in the background.

Shot Nine- This is just a shot of the neighbourhood where they live, it sets the scene.

Shot Ten- This is an over the shoulder shot of Mr.Incredible talking to the police, the first policeman seems pleased with him whereas the one behind seems rather confused and doubting. You can see the old woman has got her cat back suggesting Mr. Incredible ot it for her as he has changed his clothing.

Shot Eleven- This shot shows the four characters looking into the car implying something has happened to the car, it also shows how small the old woman is as you can only see the top of her hat and you can see the half of everyone elses body.

Shot Twelve- A low angle mid shot of Mr.Incredible shouting at the young boy in his car who wants to be like him as he is wearing a superhero outfit too.

Shot Thirteen- This is another shot from over Mr.Incredibles shoulder, it shows the young boys facial expressions he seems excited to be talking to Mr.Incredible. It also identifies the badge on his outfit implying he is a fan.

Shot Fourteen- This is a shot from the behind of Mr.Incredibles car which ends the opening of the film.

research- different film genres.

Me and my group decided to research into all the film genres so we can get inspiration from them for our opening sequence. We created a mindmap on paint with all the films we could find from our knowledge, dvds and google, all the films we found related to the four briefs given:

research- titles timeline, Splice.

We looked into the titles of Splice (2009), we had to watch the opening of a film and write down each title onto the timeline. We found 16 titles throughout including cast members, directors and producers. We also researched into the title desinger (Kook Ewo), lighting compositing (Jean-Charles Kerninon and Jonothan Cohen) and the studio (Warner Bros. Pictures)

preliminary exercise - final clip and evaluation.

EVALUATION

I thought my groups final piece was effective for the time we was given and the storyline was rather clear. Once filming we realised it wasn't as easy as we thought, so we set up two cameras and chose the most effective shot, this helped us a lot because we would get more done and film things on one camera we may have missed out on the other.

We planned our PE thoroughly, making post it notes, A3 posters and scripts for one another which we could learn ready for filming. We would film in our free periods and sometimes in dinners just so we could get it done quicker, most of our editing was done after school as it took us a long time to get our heads around the software.

The shots and angles we were provided with helped guide us through our filming because we knew what we had to include and to make sure we didn't miss any out we planned all the shots on our post-it notes before we started filming. 

The location was pretty simple, we needed a classroom where the first character would find the note and then a library where she would meet the 'mystery boy', so we thought we would use the new resource centre in our sixth form which has just been built and use it as a meeting place.
We didn't really have a set costume for our task as it was filmed as if the people were at school already so we just kept our everyday clothes on.

I think what we need to learn from filming this exercise would be to give ourselves more time to plan out the way we would film and what our storyline would be and that we didn't rush into things as we had to restart it a couple of times before we got the final piece. However, all in all I think we completed this to our highest standard and was very effective for our first time.