planning- research on after effects.

We didn't really have much knowledge on how to use adobe after effects so we thought it would be best to research it and watch videos of how to do title sequences and what we need to do to make our title sequence look effective.

planning- rough soundtrack ideas.

Me and Rachel went on jamendo.com to look for songs which fit in with our rom/com genre. We have decided we will need two or three songs in the first part and montages and a few sound effects for our opening titles.

The song we use in the first part where the main character is sat at his desk will need to be gentle so it isn't overpowering the monologue which is being played at the same time. As our opening is supposed to be quite quirky we think the song in the background will also have to be quite 'quirky' and 'indie' which most rom/coms use anyway in their films.

The sound effects used in our opening titles will have to be a sort of typing sound for when each title comes up and something which makes our film name effective. Something catchy will draw the audience in and hopefully make them want to watch it more. We also need the sound of an email for when Dave receives the email from Kate, to outline the fact that he has an email.

Some of the music clips we looked at and thought we could use for our film opening are;
You Are You- Fall Walk Run

Hard Times- Neon Bicycles

Faded War- Josh Woodward

These are only rough ideas and may change throughout our planning.

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)

research- opening sequence brief.

On Wednesday we were given four ideas of an opening clip. The four idea's were:

• A 'relationship' comedy/drama made by an independent production company, aimed at young adults

• Science fiction British adult audience.

A mainstream action film that will appeal to both 15-25year old males and females. Your Film should appear to be based on a "fictional" comic book.

A film that is based on a real event from the last 10 years. Your film should appear to be independently funded.

 

Our task was pretty simple; we were given two minutes to complete one of the film openings from above, it had to be two minutes because then you're not giving too much away to the audience. However, if your clip is longer than two minutes the examiner can turn the clip off at any time after that point, its their choice. We can only work in a maximum of 3 people to a group, so I am working with the group I worked with for the PE because I worked well with them.