Final Film

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

It is clear that I am much more capable now than I was when I carried out my preliminary task. If we look back at my preliminary task it wasn't a very well-produced scene and had numerous errors such as continuity issues and the breaking of the 180 degree rule which would leave the audience confused as to where the character is on screen. We had to keep these rules in mind whilst filming our opening scene. The match-on action in our opening scene for 'House of Heartbreaks' was key due to the fact that the central idea of our scene is Kevin having the exact same argument with 3 different girlfriends. In order to get the viewer to see that the scene is all supposed to be one argument, we had to create clear and fluid match-on action. The script and shot list was carefully planned and came into better use compared to the script and shot list for our preliminary task. In the preliminary task, we was not getting marked on the project on which we was producing, so we decided to cut some corners and forget about making a story board and writing a script since we didn't think that it really mattered, but after the scene was edited, we could see that a story board and script was needed because there was no fluidity so we knew it was key to create a script and story board. Again like the match-on action, the script had a big role in my opening scene of 'House of Heartbreaks' because the dialogue was necessary to illustrate that the concept of the scene to fluidly show the same argument between Kevin and three different girlfriends but making it appear to be one argument and to make sure the actors and actresses do the same thing each time we film a shot from a different angle to ensure the scene flows. When it came to filming, we was tempted to film on both sides of the room, but we could see that we that this would break the 180 degree rule which we broke in the preliminary task and this would leave the viewer confused as to who the characters are talking to and also, we was going to film on the other side of the room because from one of the angles which we first filmed, we would be able to see the camera man, Conner,  in the mirror, so we had to place the camera in the right position in order to ensure that we do not see Conner in the mirror. In the preliminary task, on the 30th second, I sit down with my legs facing the camera and then it cuts to an over the shoulder the shot facing me and my legs are facing Conner which is bad continuity and fluidity, so we made sure we was standing in the same position every time we had to cut and shoot from another angle to make sure we are not in a different place when we shoot from the next angle. Conner did suggest to just film the shoots on their own which we done in the preliminary task, instead of playing the whole scene through each time but like in the preliminary task, the fluidity was not good so in order to create the best fluidity we would have to act the scene through each time from different camera positions.

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

I have learnt to use Sony Vegas pro editing software and techniques on how to cut down clips and edit them together to create fluid match-on action in my opening scene. Also I learnt how to add effects such as the credits and I found out how to add in a soundtrack over the scene but after looking at soundtracks, we came to a decision that none of them went so with the scene so we did not add anything in over the back round of the scene. I also learnt how to use a camera to film and how to place everything in the frame of the shots.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We initially had the idea to revolve our scene around a break up in order to make it relatable to a wide audience because of the fact that this situation has most likely happened to a large proportion of society. This is how we intended to address the audience by making our idea a familiar situation that the audience could relate to. We made sure that there was good enigma so that the audience would want to stay and watch what happens to Kevin and see whether he finds that match made in heaven. We are mainly aiming the film at British middle class younger citizens of Britain because I feel it would not quit appeal to the american audience because they are used to seeing the nice sides of Britain such as the typical films such as 'Notting Hill' and 'Wimbledon'. Although my film is a rom-com and the audience for that is dominantly female but still can appeal to the male audience since its from Kevin's point of view and it will connect to them and they will be able to see Kevin's side of the story.

The mans been dumped. We have all been there!

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for our opening scene would be 12 and above. I have chosen this certificate because the research we carried out into film certification of romantic-comedies showed us that they were all either 12A or 15 certificate. I decided to choose 12A instead of 15 because our scene would not contain any inappropriate content and the also no swearing. I also made this decision because our film is mainly aimed at adults but the adult will be able to make a judgement on whether  they would want their child to see this film. All of the information we got for this area of the project was from the BBFC website.

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

A small distribution company would be most likely distribute my opening scene of 'House Of Heartbreaks', one example of a fitting distribution company would be 'Warp Films'.

 The reason I feel this company would distribute my film is because they have a history of producing award winning films on a very low budget. An example of this would be the hit 2006 film 'This Is England'. The budget for this film was just £1 million which is not a lot for a film budget but yet it still beat 'Atonement' in the BAFTA awards that year. The new James Bond film 'Skyfall' won the same award this year and they had a very large budget. So I feel my film would be distributed by a small distribution company such as 'Warp Films'. Warp Films are known for distributing films which plot lines which can be controversially dealing with issues such as rasiam and many more things and produce original ideas for films. I feel that if I pitched our film to the company and about how it represents middle class and that is challenging the codes and conventions of rom-coms and Warp Films do this with some of the genres they specialize in so there fore i think I would have a chance with them.

Also big institutions would not like to take on such a small film like ours because it would be a risk for them if the product would not do as good as expected. Another reason why they would not take on our film is that big conglomerts  want their film to appeal to global audiences and big countries that dominate the film institution like Hollywood. I don't feel that my film would appeal to global audiences seeing as it is british and the film shows middle class through out the film and global audience such as the US are use to seeing the high class side of Britain in film such as 'Notting Hill', 'Four weddings and a funeral' and 'Wimbledon'. In the film Wimbledon the protagonist even tells you he's high class as in the script he says that one of the key things to being champion is to be hungry for it but he admits there was no hunger for him, meaning that he has been born into a rich family and doesn't really need to be champion, but others who have been born into a poor environment and have a challenge to become 'champion' and are hungry for the challenge. So in the end a big conglomerate wouldn't want to risk taking on my film because it may not appeal to global audiences and would not be a success.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The characters of my media opening scene are in the age range of 18 to 25 with Kevin's age changing as the time period goes on with each girlfriend leaving him. My opening scene represents people aged 18 to 25 as lazy. Graduates commonly around the 21 to 25 age and it is commonly stereotyped that graduates, once graduating from a university of college, they tend to laze around for about a year our two and just don't do anything proactive for a long period of time and my protagonist, Kevin reenforces the stereotype.

Kevin also represents men as not being able to understand women and being able to provide for them and the women are represented as not being understandable which is a common element of this genre and is used in many rom-coms. Like ive talked about in question 1, it will be aimed at middle class and in the beginning  of the film show ways to get across that it is middle class and through out the film there will be things to illustrate the message of middles class  My film is aimed at a target audience of young people so they will be able to relate to the characters more. Romantic comedies often cast young people and young people go to see the  film, and I have also used a young cast in my film to attract a young audience.

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

My media opening scene uses some of the classic conventions of the rom-com genre such as the typical couple going through a bad situation involving sadness, shouting and arguing. My opening scene details a break up which is a common factor of romantic comedies and used in many typical films of this genre. my opening does not really challenge forms and conventions of romantic comedies. My scene uses close ups and point of view shots which makes you see what the character is going through, through their eyes which is quite a personal touch. This would make the audience relate to the character a lot more. I decided to use these in my opening scene so the audience will feel sympathy for Kevin and grow to like him. I have looked at many other films in the romantic comedy genre pretty much all of the films follow the same codes and convention so I decided to stick to similar codes and conventions as these particular films.  Some of the films I looked at was 'When Harry Met Sally', '50 First Dates',' Notting Hill' which contain particular conventions such as the 'boy meets girl' scenario and the protagonist falling in love, like in the film '50 First Dates' the protagonist, Henry, falls in love with Lucy.

The majority of films in the romantic comedy genre follow Todorov's theory which follows five stages of a film which are the following:

1. A stage of equilibrium at the start. (Things are stable and balanced in the lives of the characters.)

2.A disruption of the equilibrium by some action or conflict. (Something happens which throws things out of balance.)

3. Theres a recognition that there has been a disruption. ( The characters realize something is wrong and they need to take action to fix it.)

4. There is an attempt to restore the disruption. (the characters take action to fix what has gone wrong.)

5. Equilibrium is reinstated. (The problem is fixed and the balance is returned to the characters lives.)

And my opening scene basically follows the same five steps but just skips the first stage because we stat the scene off with Kevin losing his girlfriends which has no equilibrium but from then on follows the same format as the theory.

Also a lot of the films I looked at, the opening scene created good enigma which left me wanting to know what happens, so it made me et stuck in to the film and carry on watching it. My scene creates good enigma seeing as the viewer would want to know what happens to Kevin and his love life. The only element of the genre we challenged was probably the class in which the characters are in with that being middle class. Most of the films i looked at, the characters were doing well for themselves and are mainly high class such as 'Notting Hill' 'Five Weddings And A Funeral' but we are going for middle which is different to most rom-coms  and adds a slight unique feel to our film.

My opening scene will be middle class because the elements that put it in to this catergory is the location. Its not near any where such as Notting Hill or Chelsea and does not look as good as that area. the characters costume portraits them as being middle class seeing as we are not wearing a smart shirt with a blazer and trousers, my film just has Kevin wearing jeans shorts and a T-shirt. 

Interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t95z_wtPNqQ

Here you will see me interviewing two people who have watched 'House Of Heartbreaks' and are giving their say on what they thought of it and who they think it was and should be targeted at. Please follow the link above to view the interview.

meeting 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYSPxeBUUYs

Unfortunately the computer will not let me upload the video so if you could again follow the link.

meeting 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQQZ1Vjv2bg

Again I do apologise but Have again had technical issues and i am unable to upload the video to the blog please follow the link above to view the video.

meeting 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc4stsBicB8

I have had technical issues with uploading the video to my blog and I tried a lot to uploading but it just did not seem to work, so if you follow the link you will be able to find the video of me talking about the film.

Shot List

Shot no	Shot/framing etc	Action	Info (costumes, props
1	Establishing shot	Shows the house where the scene is taking place	English road sign too show its English
2	Close up	Kevin looking innocent as if he’s not in the wrong	Kevin in a black American Eagle top.
3	Medium shot	Will show girlfriend number 1, Sarah Packing her bag aggressively so she can leave as soon as she can	She will be wearing a blue dress with a HUGO BOSS bag.
4	Medium shot	Cuts back to Kevin trying to get out a bad situation	Wearing the same American Eagal top but now shows bright blue skinny jeans.
5	Medium shot	Shows  Sarah picking up her bag	HUGO BOSS bag
6	Two shot	Shows a two shot of both characters. Sarah is walking towards the door and Kevin gets up to go and follow and Kevin gets up and goes to follow her out of the room	HUGO BOSS bag, beer bottles in the back round, TV, PS3.
7	Long shot	Long shot from outside the bedroom and as the door opens the second girlfriend, Jessica walks out of the room followed by Kevin in a different outfit	Black and white stripe top. Shorts to show new season.  Jessica wearing white top with grey trousers.
8	Long shot	Cut to a quick shot of them both walking toward the bathroom to collet more things to pack.	Hand bag.
9	Over the shoulder shot	Over Kevins shoulder looking  at Jessica in the bathroom putting things in her bag.	Tooth brush, perfume, hairspray.
10	Medium shot	Jessica pushes past Kevin out of the bathroom and walks towards the stairs.	Handbag. Same clothing.
11	Medium shot	Jessica rushes past the camera to go down the stairs as Kevin follows her.	Hand bag.
12	Long shot	Long shot to show the next girlfriend, Hannah, walking down the stairs as if it was the second girlfriend Jessica. The camera will pan following Hannah and Kevin walking down the stairs.	Bag, white dress. Kevin will be wearing acid washed jeans along with a hooters top.
13	Medium shot	The camera will be on Hannah listening to Kevin ramble on about how he can change and her facial expressions will show she’s tired of listening to him and just wants to leave	White dress bag.
14	Medium shot	Cut back to Kevin arguing looking upset.	Hooters top jeans.
15	Medium shot	Lastly a medium shot of Hannah ending the argument.
16	Point of view shot (pov)	Cuts back to the first girl Sarah saying she’s leaving  standing by the front door.	Blue dress, HUGO BOSS handbag.
17	Point of view shot (pov)	Cuts to the second girl Jessica saying goodbye by the front door.	White shirt , hand bag
18	Point of view shot (pov)	Then we go back to the current girlfriend Hannah saying good by at the door.	White dress. Bag.
19	Close up shot	Close up of Kevin putting his head in his hands as he cant believe whats happened	Hooters top.
20	Fade out	It will fade to black too show that’s his life now and then the title of the film ‘House Of Heartbreaks’ will be shown.

Story Board

Below shows the image of our story board. We will be using this as a plan so when it comes to filming we will know what the scene entails and if we get stuck and don't know where to go and film next we can just refer back to the story board. This will also help us when it comes to editing the scene so we will have a basic idea of how the scene flows and will be easier for us editing.

As you can see it displays the story clearly and should help us when it comes to filming because it could also act like a shot list as well as a story board.
                             

Risk Assessment of the Location

In this post I am going to be going over some of the issues which may have concerned us with the location of the shoot we filmed at, my house. The first issue which may have been a problem would have been travel, because we all live in different areas we may not have been able to get to the destination easily. Luckily we managed to get around this by all travelling to my house in the same car. The alternative to this would be to either get the bus or walk from the train station after school. Some of the other problems would have been health and safety issues. These were just the obvious ones such as being careful whilst filming in the bathroom because the floor may be wet and someone could slip and injure themselves.

     The other problem would be the stairs whilst filming because it is a tight area and the second girlfriend has to walk over the tripod and if they tripped it would have been dangerous if they had fallen down the stairs.  This was unavoidable as we couldn't get the shot we wanted any other way but because we had realised the risk in the location, everyone knew to be careful at this point in the shoot.

    Some of the other things that may have been a cause for concern are the availability of my house and disruptions that other people around the house may have caused. Fortunately my parents said it will be fine using the house and the group could film whenever and wherever we wanted. With the disruptions of other people in my house this could be a slight problem at some points of filming. For example, my brother gets home from work at around seven o'clock and he could walk up stairs to his bedroom and just accidentally walk into the frame of the shot or even just make nose as he is coming in through the front door. It wouldn't be that big of an issue but it would still take up a bit of our time with filming, so the way to get around this would to be let him know when we are filming and ask him to let us know as he is walking in so we can ask him too wait while we finish the shot or just be very quiet when walking in the house. We also have to make sure that if people are down stairs either watching TV or listening to music, that they do it quietly so when filming, its will appear that there is only two people in the house, the Kevin and the girlfriend.

    The next issue would be power points around the house. The lighting might be too dark in one of the rooms because there are not enough lights on, so we would have to plug a lamp in the under the camera to make atmosphere seem a bit brighter. We would have to note where all the plug sockets are so we can then move on to plan where the camera will be placed to take the shots around the setting of the house.

The Script

Here I have produced a script on the software of Final Draft. This produces professional looking scripts which I thought would be much easier to read and would also save time then just writing it out in hand.

Editing

In this post I am gong to be talking about the editing process of an opening scene. I will compare two film clips and look at how they are edited and the pace of the edit and discuss how I would apply these techniques in my opening scene. The first scene I am going to study is from  the hit 2005 film 'Mr And Mrs Smith'.

In the first 2 minutes we see a couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in marriage counselling. The audience can see from the mis en scene that they are a couple on the verge of breaking up by the framing of the shot. Its almost as if they want to keep as far away from each other as possible by sitting right on the edge of there seat and stuffing pillows next to them to as if they are trying to block each other out of their mind. Seeing as they are struggling with the relationship they have cleverly edited the scene making it very slow as if its dragging, reflecting their relationship. Whenever they have nothing too say it cuts to black and the titles come in to place and even makes the audience feel awkward. So overall the way they have edited is in a slow way.

    The next scene I will discuss is the scene from 'The Break Up'. I previously analysed this particular scene in another post a post on this particular scene. In this scene we see a couple breaking up and in comparison to the scene from 'Mr And Mrs Smith' the edit is much faster and less awkward, but more tense for the audience. For my opening scene I would like our pace of editing to be in the middle of the style of these two clips so that it will create an awkward and tense for the audience instead of just being one of the two.

Opening scene in '10 Things I Hate About You' - Analysis

                Analysis of the opening scene in '10 Things I Hate About You'

I analysed the first 2 minutes of the opening scene of 10 things I hate about you. The scene starts off with non diegetic music playing in the background with the song 'One Week' by 'The Barenaked Ladies' . From this we know that it is going to be a film directed at a teenage/young adult audience seeing as this band was very big with teenagers and young people at that specific time. Another reason we can tell that it is a teen film is because the credits are in a graffiti font which would be stereotypical to teenagers seeing as most people, if they were to see graffiti in the street, they would assume a teenager has done it.

We then see an establishing shot of the city and then turns around to show the road with kids on their way to school. A car with the roof down pulls up with four blonde 'Barbie girls' dancing to the song. This shows that the non diegetic music has turned into diegetic music playing on the radio. Their facial expressions show that they are happy and having a good time and do not care if other people can see what they are doing. Their costumes show them to be typical pretty girls with blonde long hair, lipstick and eye-liner and girly t-shirts with flowers printed on them and this also shows that they are the popular ones of the school. They have their hair in bunches so it shows they have put time and effort into their hair.

A rusty old looking orange car pulls up next to them, driven by a girl wearing a leather jacket and her hair tied back with no make up.  This shows that she is very laid back about the way she looks and doesn't want to be classed as a pretty girl. You can also tell this because the song switches to her radio and the song playing is 'Bad Reputation' by' Joan Jett and the Black-hearts .If you listen to the lyrics of the song its saying how she doesn't give a damn about her bad reputation. This song has been included to reflect her personality. The roof of her car is closed. this can represent that she is a closed up and shy.

Facial expressions shows that she doesn't like the girls in the car next to her and even gets annoyed at just looking at them, we see a close up of her face which shows her turning away with an uninterested expression. This is also the case for the girls in the other car with their facial expressions showing that they also do not like her with a medium close up to ensure that they get all of the girls in the shot. You can also see the two girls in the back are leaning out from their normal seating position to ensure that they are in the shot.

We then see an establishing shot of the school to show this is the main setting and location of the film.

I analysed this scene because I knew it was a rom-com and had a target audience similar to mine. Mine will be aimed at teenagers and above and the character is set on a young 20 year old man whereas, this film revolves around teenagers at school and mine revolves around a working man. One thing I did like about the video was the font. i would like to make my font not as graffiti-like as the font in the video but still have it in a cartoony style.

Codes and Conventions of Romantic Comedies

Romantic comedies will sometimes consist of a 'boy meets girl' scenario and the story will contain  a lot of high emotions such as the protagonist falling in love or getting their heart broken after losing someone they love. Some films use a voice-over to introduce the narrative. An example of a film which uses this technique is 'Love Actually'. Some of the props which are used are, wedding bells, flowers, roses which all symbolize love and relationships. The genre is commonly targeted at  female audience because this subject traditionally connects to them more then it does with men. Typically, at the end of every romantic 'fairy tale' there's a 'happy ever after' and there are also hints throughout the film that there will be a happy ending. The codes and conventions in the opening scene of a romantic comedy will be introducing the audience to the protagonist and their current situation, that meaning where they are with their love life e.g. breaking up/getting married and also if they are high class middle or low class. The codes and conventions which I am going to be using in my opening scene will be introducing the audience to the protagonist Kevin and showing us his current situation in his love life which, sadly, is breaking up with his girlfriend again and again over the years.

 Todorov's Narrative Theory

Todorov suggested that there are five stages to a conventional narrative:

1. A stage of equilibrium at the start. (Things are stable and balanced in the lives of the characters.)

2.A disruption of the equilibrium by some action or conflict. (Something happens which throws things out of balance.)

3. Theres a recognition that there has been a disruption. ( The characters realize something is wrong and they need to take action to fix it.)

4. There is an attempt to restore the disruption. (the characters take action to fix what has gone wrong.)

5. Equilibrium is reinstated. (The problem is fixed and the balance is returned to the characters lives.)

With the genre I am studying, rom-coms, Todorov's theory can be applied to most of the films in this genre. A rom-com that follows this theory would be '50 first dates'. it starts off with stage one of Todorov's theory.

1. Henry (Adam Sandler) meets Lucy Whitemoore (Drew Barrymore)  an art teacher in a cafe one morning and they really hit it off and agree to meet up in the cafe the next morning. (equilibrium at the start).

2. The next day they meet each other in the same cafe and Lucy doesn't recall ever meeting Henry and then the cafe owner pulls Henry aside and explains that she suffers from anterograde amnesia (memory loss) as a result of a car accident a year earlier. She believes every day to be October 13, 2002 and her father and brother try to re-enact the activities of October 13, her dads birthday in order to make sure she doesn't learn about her accident. (Disruption of the equilibrium by some action or event.)

3. Henry realizes that he is falling in love with Lucy and he begins to make new ways of meeting Lucy in the cafe every day hoping that one day she will regain her memories and come to terms with her feelings for Henry.  Henry and Lucy's family cant go on as if nothing has happened and decide to leave video tapes explaining what has happened and explaining about the accident and Henry. They go on lots of dates and Lucy begins to reciprocate her feelings and even accepts his marriage proposal. In order to restore the disruption Henry cancels his sailing trip around the Arctic to spend the rest of his life with her. Lucy wakes up and over hears Henry telling her father about this and not wanting to be the person to hold Henry back she ends the relationship and commits herself to a specialist unit in a hospital leaving Henry heartbroken and after saying goodbye to Lucy's father and brother he sets sail. (There's a recognition that there has been a disruption)

4. Shortly after leaving, Henry realizes that Lucy's father had hinted that Lucy does remember Henry and goes back to the hospital, but Lucy explains that she can't remember him, but she has painted pictures of him whilst in hospital so there is evidence that she does remember him and the couple reunite. (There is an attempt to restore the disruption.)

5. Several years later Lucy wakes up with a tape next to her reading good morning Lucy  she watches and cries as it shows her accident and everything that happened including scenes from Henry and Lucy's wedding. She looks out of the window to reveal that she is on a boat in the arctic with Henry and her young daughter sailing the ship along side with her dad and brother. (Equilibrium is reinstated.)

My opening scene will follow the same theory but skip the first point where there is a balance of equilibrium because it starts off showing the audience,Kevin, losing all his girlfriends, but the story will carry on to follow the theory from point two.