Film Opening - Planning of Lighting

Film Opening - Recce Shots of Locations

We are using three different locations in our film opening.

To get the feel of what our 'scenes' will look like we have taken various pictures of the locations we will be filming in, and this is good planning and research for the opening itself, as we can visualise much clearer the way in which it may turn out, and how realistic our ideas actually are. Ie, can we actually manage/attempt to film certain parts on location.

The film will start with our main character sat down at his desk at home - we figured we could use a makeshift sort of office from furniture at home, to make the setting seem more 'real'. We are going to use a relatives office room for these scenes.

 

Our first montage is where we see a scene change, this is going to be filmed outside a local McDonalds restaurant. As we are filming outside of the facility, I don't believe we need any permission as it will be a public walkway we will be actually filming on. We went out and took these pictures of our chosen location a couple of weeks before we start filming.

Our second montage will be at a friends house, (our chosen actor) in her conservatory. We will wait until it is dark and providing the lighting is good enough, the dark light coming through the glass in the conservatory will compliment the sad emotions the girl is going through. It will also be a very close up shot of her top half, so the dark surroundings will a small artificial light will have a very close and personal feel - sort of connoting the inside her head and her feelings.

 

 

Film Opening - Storyboard Via Post-Its

This will aid our planning whilst we are out filming, it's a visual way of helping us decided which shots to use and really structures the bare bones and 'dumbs down' our film opening.

Film Opening - Moodboard

Film Opening - Planning Sound Design/Soundtracks

We have decided that we will need two songs and two or possibly three sound effects for our film opening.

The first part of our film will have a monlogue playing over the top of an underlying song from a non-copyrighted music website. This song will have to be quite 'gentle and soft' so it doesn't take over the what is being said in the monologue, but also we would like it to be quite 'indie pop' as it will make the opening quirky but also sort of fit in with the conventional music used in popular rom coms. It also has to be upbeat enough to go into both montages and make them seem comedic.

Here's a good artsist: http://www.jamendo.com/en/#artist/7872/josh-woodward?&_suid=136199083981402627522754912329

Here are the links to a few we have sampled and like - songs along the lines of these are what we have in mind, these aren't definate yet:

Hard Times - Neon Bicycles


The second song will be what is featured in the opening title sequence, although as our ideas are continuing to develop we may change this idea. Here are a few songs we like:

Electric Sheep - Nomoredolls

Faded War - Josh Woodward

We will need a sound effect for an incoming email and then perhaps one that sounds like a typewriter - for our title sequence.

Film Opening - Planinng Costumes/Make-Up

Here's a powerpoint that touches on the costume and make up choices we have made for our film opening.

Faith's Post: http://faithrobertsfoundationportfolio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/costumes-for-our-opening.html
 

 

Film Opening - Scene Two Planning

Scene 2 – Montage One, McDonalds

This will be shot on location, at a local McDonalds.

Providing we arrive to the ‘set’ early enough, the location will be pretty quiet and not at all busy – perfect for us to be able to film well.

 The lead male and his ex-girlfriend will be in this scene.

He will be wearing jeans, a shirt and perhaps trainers – this will connote his laid back feel towards this relationship, as this is further represented by his choice of restaurant.

She will be wearing a pretty day dress and flat shoes. Her hair will be curled and styled into a smart and attractive style and her make up simple but pretty - symbolising her femininity and showing the effort she made for the date.

Natural lighting will be used, we will plan to film this scene on a sunny day as it will help to create a happy mood that’s often shown in romantic comedies, and also the sunshine will connote jolliness – happy/humorous – fitting with the comedic effect?
Having a happy/natural lighting will also create the effect of a memory, something he is reminiscing on. Even if it isn't a 'good' memory.

 Script:

*as the couple are walking along towards McDonalds

Chloe: I’m so excited; it’s so lovely of you to take me out on our anniversary!

Dave: *laughs slightly* don’t worry about it! It’s our three year anniversary; of course we have to celebrate a little bit!

Chloe: *smiles at him and then looks up at the restaurant, her face drops and she looks angry* McDonalds?! Please tell me you’re joking! You’re taking me here, on our anniversary?!

Dave: *starts to look uncomfortable and uneasy. Stutters a little* I, I err…

Chloe: *huffs and storms off with the look of disgust on her face*

Film Opening - Scene One Planning

Scene 1 – Opening Scene (to be filmed after the monologue has been recorded, for timing reasons)

Main character is sat at his desk. He is working on an idea for his ‘article’.

Monologue is playing – he is talking the audience through basic things, such as his name, what he’s doing, where he works. All the things the audience need to know to get the gist of what is happening within the scene.

The scene will be quite relaxed, almost welcoming to the viewers, natural lighting and neutral colours. His desk will be pretty cluttered, reflecting his thoughts/emotions at this time. There’ll be a few magazine covers pinned onto the wall and scattered around – ones he may have helped edit or whatever. A picture frame with his favourite football team in perhaps, a cup of coffee, a cup full of stationary, a laptop…

He will be wearing his smart clothes from work. A pair of smart trousers and a white shirt, slightly unbuttoned to connote his stress and despair. Also this shows how he can be quite ‘hopeless’ and ‘careless’.

Monologue:

I suppose I should blame myself for my lack of good relationships. I’m the one who messes things up, 99% of the time. I mean, not all have been bad; I’ve not always been the bad guy. I’ve had my fair share of loonies and cheats for ex-girlfriends, just as much as the next guy.

But the majority of my relationships? I’ve messed them up.

My names Dave and I’m an intern journalist. I left uni last year, and since then I’ve been working for one of the biggest women’s magazine companies in the country. It’s my dream job, being the only man in the office has its perks I guess, but it’s been my dream to work here for ever. The thing is, I’ve been asked by my really hot boss to write an article about my various relationship experiences, to entertain the women readers.

If it’s enough, it’ll get published, and I will get a full time contract with the company – no pressure at all right?

The only problem is I’m struggling to find someone to write about.

Like I said, I’ve had many relationships, but I guess not many of them are…

*trails off on this line as his thoughts are disrupted by his idea*

(Excited): Wait! I could write about Chloe, my recent ex. Yeah we dated for a year…

*montage clip begins*

(Almost uncomfortable after remembering what happened): Nah, better not…

There’s always Alice? Ah no, I dumped her by text…

*montage clip two begins*

(In despair): I am honestly doomed! 

*email comes through from Kate, he looks up and smiles – sort of an eureka moment*

I’ve never dated her before, but Kate’s hot, smart and pretty fun. I suppose it could work… (Sound of wonder in his voice as it trails off slightly)

 

*Opening title sequence will run*

 

Key: Words in italics – words that need emphasis

Starred (*) sentences are what is happening in the scene.

(--) – Things in the brackets are the ‘way’ in which things are spoken

Film Opening - 140 Character Tweet Pitch

 

 

 

A modern twist on a word pitch to teachers and peers. Hopefully this attracts people enough to be interested into knowing what the film will be about.

Film Opening - Storyline - finalised

After much hard thinking and deliberation, we have finally come up with what we think is a great storyline for our Romantic Comedy Film Opening.
We've scrapped some of our original ideas, but we feel this new one is so much better!

Storyline

Main Character Profile: Male Intern journalist – *name to be discussed*

Works for a female magazine, the only male in his department.

Likes this because he sees women everyday – cheesy/comedic

He’s about 19-20, and has been asked to write a big article for the magazine company he works for. If it’s a good enough article, he’ll get a full time contract.

Seeing as he’s the only bloke in the office he’s been given an article about dating, from a male’s perspective.

The scene begins with him sat at his desk at work or at home (needs to be decided) and he’s struggling on what to write about.

A monologue is playing from the very beginning of the film, explaining to the audience what is stated above, and then he goes into his thoughts about the article.

He says something like: ‘I could write about my relationship with Chloe!’ then a flashback/montage clip shows of a first year anniversary date with his ex-girlfriend Chloe – Perhaps something along the lines of McDonald’s. For a year anniversary meal, she is obviously not impressed with his choice of ‘restaurant’ and dumps him there and then.

Then the flashback cuts off to his office again and his monologue is like ‘maybe not…’ – suppose it’s quite ‘comedic’.

Then another montage will start – Again, he says something along the lines of ‘there’s always Alice…’ – this time the montage will happen after we’ve seen his reaction, he immediately knows not to write about his time dating Alice as the montage shows her being distraught at being ‘dumped’ by text.

He chooses not to write about it.

Then when he feels like he’s given up all hope and he slams his head down onto the table in despair, he receives an email from a colleague at work, Kate. She’s attractive and a really down to earth girl, and in the end of the film, they eventually get together – although the audience of our film opening will not know this. He decides that he will write his article about trying to win her heart.

 

The title sequence will then run.

Film Opening – Male POV Films

Further research:

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Devastated Peter takes a Hawaii vacation in order to deal with recent break-up with his TV star girlfriend, Sarah. Little does he know Sarah's traveling to the same resort as her ex ... and she's bringing along her new boyfriend.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - Scott Pilgrim plays in a band which aspires to success. He dates Knives Chau, a high-school girl five years younger, and he hasn't recovered from being dumped by his former girlfriend, now a success with her own band. When Scott falls for Ramona Flowers, he has trouble breaking up with Knives and tries to romance Ramona. As if juggling two women wasn't enough, Ramona comes with baggage: seven ex-lovers, with each of whom Scott must do battle to the death in order to win Ramona

500 Days Of Summer   - After it looks as if she's left his life for good this time, Tom Hansen reflects back on the just over one year that he knew Summer Finn. Despite being physically average in almost every respect, Summer had always attracted the attention of men, Tom included. For Tom, it was love at first sight when she walked into the greeting card company where he worked, she the new administrative assistant. Soon, Tom knew that Summer was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Although Summer did not believe in relationships or boyfriends - in her assertion, real life will always ultimately get in the way - Tom and Summer became more than just friends.

Descriptions taken from IMDb



Film Opening - Our (rough) Idea

We have decided:

Our film is going to be from the male’s perspective: this is ironic and different as many RomComs tend to be from the females POV. This also makes our film opening stand out, and ‘quirky’ - fitting in with the brief description.

The main character writes a diary: Taking inspiration from films such as Bridget Jones Diary and Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging, and the popular TV series My Mad Fat Diary, our opening will show the male writing about previous relationships that he’s had no luck in. The film will be about the one relationship that seems unlikely to happen but is the one that works out the best for him. This is what his diary entries consist of, the plot/story.

The film will start at the end: Our opening will technically be the ‘ending’ of the film, where the main character is writing about what has happened. It’s like the diary is not an account of everything happening in the present, it’s more of what has happened in the past.

A montage of clips: The opening will show previous ‘dating’/ ‘girl’ experiences the character has had, this will be the comedy element.  

Film Opening – Some Sketchy Ideas

The picture below is of a rough thought shower me and Faith drew up, containing some ideas on what our film opening may be about. Seeing as we have chosen the RomCom brief, we researched into popular romantic comedy film plots and tried to in co-operate these into our own ideas.

Doing this thought shower really helped us to get into the creative process and one idea came after another. It’s really helped us narrow down what we want our film to be like. Before we weren't clear on how 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.

Film Research - Upcoming Film Sites

 

 

Movie Insider: Perhaps not the most appealing to the eye, but packed with information, Movie Insider offers list after list of films that are due to be released in the coming year, by date. I found the website really interesting and full of fact! For me, the site works well and it's easy to understand. It's good because it makes you feel sort of 'knowledgeable' about future releases and made me excited for the films.

http://www.movieinsider.com/movies/-/2013/








A film due to be released is 'The Croods', an animated family film by Dreamworks.The website for the movie is great, and really fits in with conventions of the film. It's interactive, colourful and fun - great for children.

You can watch the funny trailer for the film, 'meet the croods' and find out the story behind the film!

The website attracts children - it's primary audience with its use of colour and creativeness. There are funny sounds played when you open the page and tons of pictures, so it really appeals to kids of a young age.

The website also appeals to parents, as it is incredibly easy to use and suitable for their children.

 

http://www.thecroodsmovie.co.uk/

Film Research - Sound Design

“Sound design is the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating audio elements.”

Sound is used to create emotion and show the audience a characters mood and attitude throughout the film. Fifty percent of a movie is sound!

Sci Fi films tend to have the most manipulated and generated sounds in them, because the films are fictional and often are based around futuristic worlds or gadgets. Therefore, the noises these worlds make haven’t been ‘created’ yet, so the sound design crew can play around with noises to create a whole catalogue of futuristic sounds.
Sci Fi films can be completely fictional and made up, but the sounds used within them can produce so much verisimilitude for an audience.
Skip to 28seconds:


This YouTube video is a great example of sound design; it’s so clever how sounds can be created for movies, and very strange to think that you almost don’t notice the sounds that are specially created to actually ‘make’ the film.

 

 

Everyday sounds can be used to create noise, or they can be placed onto one another, or be tuned and played with other sounds to make them sound different to the original noise. Foley artists do this, an example is shown in this video:

As we have chosen the RomCom brief it will be strange to incorporate noises such as these into our film opening, as they wouldn’t ‘fit’. RomComs tend to be very realistic and ‘non-fiction’ so everyday noises that you would hear in ‘normal’ situations could be pre-recorded and put underneath our clips.

Film Research – Costume

Costume plays a big part in any film. In Romantic Comedies, depending on the ‘style’ of the film, the characters tend to wear casual and fashionable clothing. Their outfits often depict their personality/social status/their role in the movie.

The male and female characters dress sense is different when comparing films, but stereotypically, the woman will be attractive and have modern dress. She will take pride in her appearance, whereas with a male character this can differ, he can be slobbish or he can also take pride in his appearance. It all depends on the narrative of the film and the personality of the characters.

The time in which a film is set will obviously influence what costumes characters wear. For example, The Notebook, set in the 1920’s and the costumes will have fit in with this.

     

Film Research - Typical Soundtracks/Music

RomComs usually have a more quirkier soundtrack or well known tracks playing throughout. The narrative of the film often is depicted by the music. Quirkier films have quirkier music.

Faith's Post: http://faithrobertsfoundationportfolio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/typical-musicsoundtrack.html

Film Research - Classification

Film Research - Top Ten Films This Week

Audience Research/ Film Ratings IMDb

 
 

Film Poster Analysis



Production/Distribution Companies

Twentieth Century Fox

 

 

The Fox Film Corporation was formed in 1915 by theatre chain pioneer William Fox.

 

This is just one of the one of the six major American film studios associated with Fox.

 

20th Century Fox's most well known movie franchises include: Star Wars, Avatar, The Simpsons, Ice Age, Garfield, X-Men, Alien, Planet of the Apes, Home Alone, Night at the Museum, Predator and The Chronicles of Narnia

 

Famous names such as Shirley Temple, Gene Tierney, Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield have all appeared in films made by 20th Century Fox!

 

The movie Avatar, was Twentieth Century Fox's top grossing film, making the company 2.78 Billion.

 

The company don't tend to 'stick' to one film genre as such, the films they produce vary.

 

Faith's Research:



http://faithrobertsfoundationportfolio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/production-and-distribution-companies.html

Real Audience - Social Media, Twitter

Today I tweeted asking my followers what their favourite film genre was and why.
Here's the response:

 

Although there wasn't many replies, the majority of people enjoy comedy and romance the most. Although two people did say they enjoyed action films and horror too, these could come under the sci fi theme?

Codes and Conventions - 3 briefs

Powerpoint I produced researching 3 of the given genres' conventions.

 

Top 5 Rated Films In The 4 Genres

Opening Titles - Research

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World Title Sequence Analysis

Click on the timeline image to view the clip.

 

 

Juno - Film Research

Here's a powerpoint I produced about the famous rom-com Juno.

 

Juno – Film Research from rachielou

Codes and Conventions of a Rom Com

 
My Own Expansion:


Plot: Expanding on what is said on the slide, the narrative in a romcom is usually in a three part structure. A boy and a girl will meet, and for some reason, they will be torn apart. Throughout the movie, they will realise that they are meant to be together, and by the characters will meet yet again and work out went wrong between them.

Characters: The two main characters, male and female have to be relatable and down to earth. The audience need to connect with them, so they ‘support’ them throughout the film.

Setting: RomComs are typically set in large, well-known cities. The most common places to set a romcom are New York or London. Usually the settings of romcoms are in cities because they are so busy, so the events happening in the film can be believable. Big cities such as New York are recognisable and famous, so the audience can recognise and be familiar with the setting, even if they have never visited.

Sound/Music: As romcoms are supposed to be ‘relatable and realistic’ the music in the film tends to be very natural and usually a ‘real’ song, such as something written/sang by a famous band. For example, in the film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, the song ‘She’s So Lovely’ performed by Scouting For Girls is featured, and this was a song that charted in the UK Top 40.

Colours: The majority of the film will have a happy atmosphere, so the lighting and misé en scene will be used to reflect this. Romcom’s are less serious than other genres, and are designed mainly to entertain the audience. There may be certain points in the film when a scene goes slightly dark or sad, but this ‘mood’ will soon change.

Rom Coms fit with the equilibrium, disruption, realisation, action, and new equilibrium theme.

Analysis Of A Film Opening - The Artist

Genre: Rom-Com



 

Shot One: Warner Bros logo - Black and white filter is used - this is unusal as the logo is usually seen in the recognisable 'colour'. Using the black and white filter sets the tone for the film, suggesting it is a period/dated film.

Shot Two: Name Of The Film. The font is fitting with the time the film is set. There is also a sort a spotlight shining on the titles, suggesting the film may be based around a show - narrative.

Shot Three and Four: Listing of main characters and their roles. This fits with theme of an old movie - the 'closing' titles often came before the movie started.

Shot Five, Six and Seven: 5 is a close up, six and seven are mid-shots. Perhaps adding to the 'comedy' effect within the film, his acting shows him in a film - creates narrative - his story, he's an actor.



Shot Eight, Nine, Ten and Eleven: These shots reveal to the audience that what has been happening previous in the scene is not real, and is just a film the main character stars in. This further suggests the film was named 'The Artist', as he is a an actor.

 

Preliminary Exercise