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.