Filming Schedule

(21st- 25th February: Some of these dates are in the half-term break and so we feel that this allows us the opportunity to re-film shots if necessary within the time period set). 

Camera Experiments: Lighting

Health & Safety

        Before filming, my group and I had to consider the health and safety of each environment we were filming in, to ensure our group and actors were safe. 


We composed a list of possible hazards within each setting and tried to devise ways of minimising these risks:


The Writer's Scene:

• hot boiling water from the kettle -- we would warn our actor of the risk and be cautious of spillages.

• Numerous items -- not to trip over them whilst filming and therefore we would move them to a safe place.

The Photo Shoot Scene:

• wires -- we will have to tape wires to the floor so as not to trip over them

• the bright lights for the shoot -- we would warn our actress of the brightness.

The Reception Scene:

• the receptionist walking in high heels -- we would ensure the actress was as comfortable as possible, walking in the shoes and support her if she lost her balance.

Animatic Storyboard

            We created a visual storyboard which tested our camera shots and the continuity of our piece. We have not added the title on however as we were mainly trying out our shots rather than post production skills. Also the mise-en-scene of shots are not correct however the general idea is conveyed. 

Storyboard

Test Shots

Location Settings

            In the opening to our film, there will be two main settings one of these is the male writer's room where he makes a cup of tea and sits down at his cluttered work table. The second main location is the photography studio where the model has her photo shoot. 


Therefore, for the studio scene we had to set up a photo shoot:

We constructed a frame for a white background and we also had to consider safety hazards whilst doing this. We used 3 point lighting and had to order these accordingly. 


For our writer's room we had four possible kitchen locations:


1.

This kitchen shows a very modern style which could connote wealth and glamour. However for our writer's apartment we envisioned a more rustic style however the table does show this yet the kitchen as a whole would conflict with the representation we are creating. 

2. 

Although this kitchen is long and has a wooden circular table which would be appropriate for our writer, there is no cupboard available at a middle level for the establishing shot of the writer's torso so we cannot see his face.

3. 

This was another possible location for the writer however the table is of a different one to the dark more rustic look we wanted. Also the room is very right with wide windows and we felt the exposure may be too strong.

4.

The final location we looked at had a rustic style to it that was also slightly modern. The round table would be ideal for the writer to sit at and there is also a cupboard which we could use for a torso shot of the male. Additionally in the actual location of the house, this is the easiest for our group to travel to and it is also close to our actors house, making it the ideal location.  

Character Recreations

            In order to create realistic actors, we took photos of possible actors to use and then compared them to real actors so we could see who would be best for the part to create associations within the audience of other well known celebrities who have featured particularly in rom-coms. 

The males we used in the character recreations is Jamie Pywell who we compared to Jude Law who has been in such films as 'The Holiday'. Also Nick Griffiths is compared with Owen Wilson who has acted in films such as 'Marley and Me'. We particularly tried to look for male actors who have been in rom-coms and have bring a comic aspect to such films. 

Our possible female actresses were used to recreate certain celebrities. Charlie Springthrope by styling wavy hair appeared as Jennifer Aniston who has been a popular star in many rom-coms including 'The Break Up' and 'The Switch'. Also Martine McCutcheon from 'Love Actually' was recreated by Beth Leckenby as she wore her hair up and used a pinky lipstick to appear similar. Both these were famous actresses however with our final actress we compared her to the model Myleene Klass, and Lia Lowe recreated her look with long curled hair and  a small amount of eye liner.   

We have decided for our final production piece to use Lia Lowe as our actress because we feel she is very photogenic which relates to our story as the female is a confident model. Also for our male role we have chosen Jamie Pywell as he slightly deviates from the typical conventions of a male character in a rom-com as he has a more 'edgy' appearance and we believe our targeted demographic would be attracted to the film with him as the lead. Additionally, the appearance of both Lia and Jamie appear to look good together and they fit the typical conventions of the pretty girl and the handsome man who eventually would fall in love. 

Cast Experiments

        After deciding upon our casting, we had to experiment with make-up to create a model look which also looks quite natural so she can relate to the audience. 
We did some experiments with different types of make up and so we added eye-shadow and eye liner to extenuate the eyes to convey her femininity and looks as she is a confident model. 

We then experimented with lipsticks to see which represented the model best as to not look too unnatural yet still to show her as a model. 

We found that the lighter shades looked best on our actress as the dark colours looked too much whereas the lighter pink created a a prettier look. 

Therefore with the actress we also styled her hair in soft curls to create a nature yet photogenic look. We feel that the model cannot be too dressed up and formal as we still need this character to be able to relate to the audience however it also helps that the actress is in the 15-24 age group. 

Props

For our production, we have had to consider all the equipment we need, including props to create the verisimilitude and set up the mise-en-scene of the shots.

These props are:

  

• Kettle 
• Polaroid camera
• Writters pen
• Pile of glossy magazines
• Old spiral bound pad of paper
• Plain mug
• Porcelin pen (to write the directers name onto the mug)
• Old novels/ books (for the writers table)
• Photography lights (for the models photoshoot)

Ideas for our Title

       From anaylsing existing film name titles we have came to create our own ideas which give the correct represenation of our film for our target audience.

Font style: Arial (narrow)

Size: Large

This was our first initial idea. We chose the pink 'POSE' to suggest femininity of our model character. The blue shadowing behind it connotes how the writer is involved in her life- however it is only faint and thus could suggest that she does not know it yet. The grey '&' is used as a unisex colour, which was initially black, however we thought this may been too bold and does not want to be the main focus of the title and so the grey also could suggest a grey area between the two characters. The draw back to this logo is its association with Hollyoaks- which also uses the gender symbols in the letter 'o'. Further more we feel that the colours are too bold for the subtle story line. The font used for both the 'POSE' and the 'PROSE' is Arial. The '&' is in arial narrow, as it is less significant. We chose a simple font as it represents their basic everyday lives.

Font style: Simon Script

Size: Medium

The font appears to be almost handwritten which goes well with our opening concept of the male character writing the titles. The text is also slanted diagonally which has connotations of uncertainty but fun suggesting the rom-com genre. The crescendo beneath the Pose implies that the storyline will reach a climax as the couple meet eachother, also because its under the 'Pose' this means that most of the conflict will be with the model. However the '&' in the middle doesnt have a crescendo or diminuendo under it which shows that their bringing together will not have any complications once they fall in love. Finally the diminuendo could imply that whilst their in love they will perhaps settle down and be together. 

Also, the fact that cruscendo and diminuendo's are Italian is a nice touch as Italian is the language of love, yet again another clue that they will get together.

Font style: Prose - Century Schoolbook/ Pose - Calibri

Size: Medium


The third design we created resembled the title of 'Love Actually' by using one bold colour which creates the focus point. The 'Prose' is shown in a serif font which suggests a more classic style which could also be related to novels. The 'Pose' going vertically down the page, has a sans serif font showing the contrast to the old font and suggesting a modern aspect. By having both of the words sharing the letter 'O', this could connote the two contrasting or even conflicting  ideals 'crossing paths' which can be linked to how the male and female character's meet each other. Also the black background appears to be a common feature in such films titles as 'Mean Girls', and this emphasises the white text however the single coloured letter where the two words meet may suggest the 'colour' that appears in the two character's lives as they fall in love and so the red conveys this representation of love and romance. However, we felt that this title would be difficult to present realistically on advertisement posters for the film, as the title is an unusual shape outline to place on a cover etc. and so we feel that a more conventional name title (with all horizontal text) would be more effective in our film and for possible advertising purposes.        

     

Font style: Harabarahand

                           HandTIMES

                                 Sunshine in my Soul

The colour of the shot will be black so therefore this would be the best backgroud colour to use.The font colour is white as this may suggest purity in the relationship in the film. The differences in fonts may represent the differences within the characters' lives. The model or 'POSE' has a very strict life and therefore the writing is bold and upright. However, the writer or 'PROSE' has a very free and inspiring life and therefore the writing is more free fall and looks handwritten as he is a writer. Positioning POSE above PROSE suggests that the model has a higher status than the writer and that she believes or even he believes she is better than him. The ampersand is placed between them to show that they are connected in some way or another.

(Fonts were all taken from www.dafont.com)

Sound Analysis

            From looking at other romantic-comedy openings, we felt that the music was a very important factor in creating the right effect and atmosphere for the remainder of the film. 
            Therefore we looked at the music in existing rom-coms. Scott Pilgrim VS the World is a good example of showing a clear transition from diegetic to non-diegetic music as the titles appear. 

This music is clearly of a rock genre as the guitars are quite heavy within the music. Also the drums are apparent using the symbols and base drum which emphasises the loud sounds. The lyrics are not a main feature of the overall sound however there are many 'yeah's which create the live sound effect and how it is a rock/indie song. I think the music works well with this opening as the film is of an indie genre and so the music echos this with heavy instrumental parts. Also at the very end of the piece there is an unfinished or imperfect cadence which gives the music an authentic effect which brings the narrative back to the diegetic sounds after the titles. 


However some rom-coms have used more mainstream music such as in House Bunny where recognisable music is played throughout the entire film.

This song by the Pussycat Dolls is in the opening to the film The House Bunny and the lyrics, unlike the previous rock music, is the most apparent feature. The sound is quite pop/R&B genre which relates to mainstream audiences who enjoy this music. Also by using a well known group, the film increases in credibility and popularity as it has famous songs throughout the film. The lyrics also relate to the narrative very well as the main character tells us in the voice over of her 'fairy tale dream'. 

From looking at various pieces of music and comparing these two completely contrasting songs, we were able to come to our own decisions about what effect we wanted to portray with the music and how it relates to the narrative.

            Therefore we have decided that we would like to use a more country/acoustic/rock sound which was able to compliment the rustic appearance of the male lead. We then began to look for local bands in our area who had this certain style of music. After considering numerous bands we decided to see if we could use a signed artist who we like and so we emailed the manager. 

Therefore after being given permission to use Jersey Budd we chose one of the songs we felt worked best with our idea. 

This is the song we will be using called 'Bright Soul' and it has an upbeat and memorable tune which will be really effective in our piece. Additionally the song is about a love and so this relates really well to our rom-com idea. 

 

Film Names Research

        We firstly looked at existing title names of films so to find conventions associated with rom-coms.

After analysing titles of rom-coms we then had to create our own idea for our film. We then short-listed some names for our own film which were the following:

      - Pose and Prose

      - A Picture says a Thousand Words 

      - Not a Word Spoken

      - Healed by Words

Continuing in our audience research we posted the question on facebook which we thought was a quick and easy, yet very effective way of gaining feedback from our target audience as they are likely to go on social networking sites quite frequently. 

From this, we can conclude that consumers of our age group think that Pose & Prose is the best title and so we believe this will be the best title to represent our film as it is about a model hence 'pose' and a writer: 'prose' and so this suggests the two characters lives crossing and as the typical rom-com the audience believes that a romance will blossom.  

Distribution Logo: Galaxia

            To create our distribution logo we also looked at other large distribution companies.

The Disney logo is very well known and therefore they are able to use certain aspects that we cannot. However the idea is of being in the clouds which has connotations of dreaming and ambition and then as the camera moves downwards and zooms out, the well known 'Cinderella's castle' is shown and there is a 'twinkle' as the Walt Disney name appears. What is also noticeable is the sonorous music which is played by a whole orchestra and how it has a great effect on the atmosphere created by it. 

Likewise in the Warner Brothers Logo they do not necessarily have a picture but the prestigious music creates a big effect especially with the trumpets. 
Therefore we then had to create our own ideas to represent our distribution company. 

Production Logo: Lightbox

        Before generating ideas for our own production company logo we considered existing logos:

Both of these logos contain an object which is generally within the title and the colour scheme is quite strict as it is very similar as there is not any aspect which is too abstract or to attract too much attention to direct an audience away from the film. 

Here are the initial ideas we created for our production company logo:

However after looking at these we felt that most production companies have an image with their logo. Therefore, we chose a light bulb for our image as this links very well with 'Lightbox Productions' and we knew that we wanted to use lined paper for an authentic handwritten effect.

Here is our final Production company logo:

Storyboard Ideas

        Before storyboarding the opening for our film, our group recorded a chronological order of our idea:
1. Distribution logo appears and then the name.


2. Production logo appears which also fades and then the name appears - during this, the sound of a kettle boiling becomes increasingly louder.


3. There is a sound bridge as the kettle is still heard. The establishing shot is of the torso of the main male character who opens a cupboard, which the camera is placed inside, with a mug handle framing the shot. With only the torso still being viewed, the man reaches into the cupboard, taking out the mug and then closing the cupboard door. There is a diegetic sound of the 'click' of the kettle finishing and then the title of the film appears with non-diegetic music gradually getting louder.


4. There is an extreme close-up of boiling water going into the mug and then the camera tracks the mug with the man walking to a table. He then places the cup on the table, half on some paper and sits down down as the camera tracks up and around the still unknown character to an over-the-shoulder shot, where he also moves his mug slightly.


5. We then cut in to see him writing some of the title names which is sped up and then he also turns the pad of paper for the second title. The camera moves/tracks across the table to see other pieces of paper with title's on and magasines with the main female character's picture on and the camera then moves across to the male character.


6. There is then a close-up, side-on shot of the pad of paper which he flicks through and stops in the middle of to see a cut out of the model who we identify to have been on the front of the various magasines.


7. There is a point-of-view shot of the picture of the model which then dissolves into the female model's photo shoot, whilst upbeat music gradually gets louder. 


8. There are then jump cuts of different shots/poses of the model in her photo shoot whilst there are camera flashes. The shot freezes on the last pose of the model as the camera zooms out to see a polaroid photograph and a man's hand holding it. 


9. The camera is placed next to a reception table and it pans to see a man approach the table and deliberately drops the polaroid. 


10. Whilst the photo is being thrown down onto the reception table, the camera cuts to the main male characters setting where the same polaroid is continuing to fall as if it had been thrown down directly like the other setting. There is then the point-of-view shot of the polaroid and the man pulls a magasine towards him and opens it to read whilst he picks up his mug to drink.


11. There is a cut to a medium shot of him sitting at the table and he drinks from his mug as the audience finally see his face for the first time. Also as he drinks from the mug, the director's name is seen on the mug. 

Initial Ideas

Idea 1: Corridor Love

          An average girl drops her books in a school corridor, as the popular high school 'jock' walks past he stops to help her pick them up. This begins the chain of events of the young couple falling in love however only going on secret dates and the two have to choose between love and the 'status quo'. 

• The establishing shot is with the camera in a locker which is covered by school items. The girl then begins to move items around the camera, putting things in her bag and it is conveyed that she is upset and has family issues, by a photograph she has of her family. 
• There is a cut to the school corridor with the popular 'jock' character walking down the centre surrounded by friends, clearly suggesting his popularity.  
• The girl continues to look at the family photograph and as the bell rings, she turns to go but gets her bag caught in her locker and her belongings fall onto the fall. 
• The male character then helps the girl pick up her books and as they both rise and their gazes lock.
• However the girl takes her books off him and walks away in a panicked state.

Idea 2: A Model's Life

          Gives an insight into the seemingly glamorous life of a model however all she longs for is true love and not the superficial relationships with male models.

• The first shot is of lots of magazines with one particular girl on the front cover.
• There is then a very short shot of the same girl crying in a corner, but then we cut back to the glamorous photos of her on the magazines.
• The screen then becomes black and lights simultaneously go on to reveal the photo shoot studio where the model is having lots of photos taken - jump cuts from camera acting as photo camera. 
• We see a TV screen with the model on as the camera then pans around the room to a low angle shot of the model slouched on a sofa, eating out of an ice-cream tub yet has water and slimming pills around her. 

Idea 3: The Writer

           A male writer has been so engulfed in his work that he realises his social life to be obsolete. He then goes to a night club where he has a one night stand with a girl he actually falls in love with. 

• The first shot is a close up of a hand writing the titles of the film which is edited to be fast forwarded. The paper is stained with coffee and smoke passes over the shot. 
• He then pauses and turns the page of the pad of paper and begins to draw his idea of a perfect girl. The shot then dissolves into a girl who looks very similar to the picture drawn who is walking down the street with her friends holding a Starbucks. 
• There is then a cut to the writer who opens a cupboard door and we see this from inside the cupboard as the camera is sitting inside. There is a mug slightly in front of the camera and he retrieves this and then closes the cupboard door as a sound of the kettles 'pings'.   

Audience Research - Interviews

Questionnaire Results

            My group and I conducted a questionnaire and in analysing these results we will be able to identify aspects which consumers, particularly of our target audience, enjoy about films and romantic comedies. 


The first question we asked was 'what do you think of Romantic Comedies?'

From the graph we can understand that most people from all age groups, though slightly less in the older category, enjoy watching rom-coms. It appears from our sample that in the older age ranges more people actually 'hate' them. However this means that our intended target audience of 15-24's are more likely to enjoy rom-coms so we will be able to use this in trying to appeal to this audience, to promote our film concept. Also, when we looked at the divide in genders on this question, more females said that they enjoyed rom-coms than males. However in our film we do not want to directly aim too closely to our demography of females aged 15-24 because we feel that this may limit our audience and it's appeal. Therefore we will still target females but will try to present the film in a way that a couple may go and view at the cinema to accommodate for both genders in more romance for the females and equally some comedy for male viewers. 


Our second question was 'how often do you watch films?'
The majority of answers, particularly in the 15-24 category, were 'weekly'. Therefore from this we can assume that many people watch films on a short term basis however in the older age groups, we found more people to never watch films. 


The third question we asked was 'how often do you watch rom-coms?'

From the results we found that none of the age groups said they watched rom-coms weekly however the majority in all the groups watch them on a monthly basis. What is also apparent is that over three quarters of the 15-24 year olds watch rom-coms monthly and so this shows that they are our specific targeted audience. Only a small proportion of 15-24's watch rom-coms yearly and these were generally males which is similar to the other age groups with mostly males saying that they never watch rom-coms. However the group that we found watched rom-coms the least was the 25-34 age group. This may be because the participants we used may be more likely to enjoy other genres or it may be a matter of having time available as they are to be in the world of work whereas. 

Our next question was 'what is your favourite rom-com?'

For this question we received a range of answers which varied from 'none' to some of the most popular films. The results included Pretty Woman, Juno, Shallow Hal, Something About Mary, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones, 10 Thing I Hate About You and 50 First Dates. Many of these films are seen as the typical classic rom-com such as Love Actually which also has many famous actors in it such as Hugh Grant. What is also interesting is that more of the males wrote such films as 50 First Dates which may be because it has a more comical aspect whereas most of the females who participated prefered rom-coms more towards the romantic side such as The Ugly Truth or Bridget Jones. 

Our fifth question was 'do you take the title sequence of the film into the consideration of the opening of a rom-com?'  

From this question, we wanted to see how important audiences think of the opening and if they consider the titles of the people involved in creating the films they watch. We found that the oldest age group paid most attention to this and we felt that this was expected as they are more likely to appreciate the work gone into a film more than a younger audience. The two younger age groups said that they never take this into consideration and therefore because we are targeting the 15-24 year olds, we feel that we need to create an innovative way of presenting the titles so to maintain the attention of our audience. 

The next question we asked was 'do you think music with lyrics is appropriate for the opening of a rom-com?' 

 

Out of all of the age groups the majority was clear: most people believe music with lyrics is appropriate for the beginning of an opening. Therefore in our planning, when considering music, we should aim to look for music which fits with our opening preferably with lyrics.

Our seventh question we asked was 'do you feel that you can relate to the characters in rom-coms?'  

These results show that our targeted demography feel that they can relate to characters the most whereas the older groups had more people who can never relate to characters. This may be because rom-coms are usually aimed at a younger audience and so the character's in them are also young.

The next question stated 'many rom-coms contain scenes of a sexual nature' then we asked 'do you feel comfortable watching these'?

This question was concerned with the rating of our film and to see how comfortable age groups were with this. We found that more males taking part were more comfortable with this whereas more females said that it depends. Therefore we must decide if our film contains any sexual scenes so we can set the rating accordingly however our main audience is 15-24 and so this is the audience we hope to be attracted to our film. 

Another question we asked was 'do you prefer the titles to be over the motion picture in contrast to on a blank/plain screen?'

This graph shows that the younger age group prefer to have the titles over a motion picture which may be so that they can have something else to look at rather than just the name, as they may be more interested in the plot. This is in contrast to adults who may appreciate the work put in to create the film.

The final question we asked our participants was 'does the title of the film make you want to view it more?'

These results show that the middle age group actually are most influenced by the title of the film, however the 15-24 age group were the most that said it depends and so this may mean if they personally find a title appealing then they are more likely to see it. The oldest age group had the most that said it didn't matter which may suggest they look for other aspects of a film to see if they find it appealing. Therefore when considering our own film, we must create an effective title which will attract our audience. 

      To conclude, from these results we feel that we have gained a greater understanding of ways to particularly target our audience and we can create an idea which will be able to appeal to our demographic of 15-24 years old.  

Questionnaire

            After undertaking research into existing films and looking at the particular conventions of a romantic comedy, we needed to conduct some audience research to see what typical viewers like and don't like about rom-coms. 
This is the questionnaire we gave to both males and females of various age groups: