Main Post 8: Pre-Production Documentation

Synopsis of the whole film
Our film is about a a single, unorganised woman and her everyday life. We will show her free spirit and that she has a very hectic life. She rents a room in a flat with her one of her friends. Her occupation is an editor in a fashion magazine. The film will show her go through a number of dates which fail for different reasons, for example her battery goes flat in a meeting and she cant text her date to tell him. She will eventually meet her match and fall in love.

Synopsis of the opening sequence
In the opening sequence we see the girl in her house, rushing around to get ready. Her room is very messy and she is rushing around to show that she is quite unorganised and scatty. The credits won't be written in text but we will use objects from around the house, for example we want to write the title of the film in fridge magnets.

Treatment

Shot List


Location Recce

           Props and Costume List

Risk Assessment

Mise-en-scene Description

Set Design/ Location

Our film is set in the main characters house, the main character is a girl so we are using a bedroom that is pink and has white furniture. We also use the bathroom and kitchen as she is a young woman and she won’t have a lot of money so we want the set to look realistic and to show her character. This means that the audience will be able to relate to the character easily.

Lighting

There is natural lighting coming in through the whole back wall of the bedroom, this means that we won’t have to use any artificial lighting and it will make the shots look more natural. In the bedroom there is also a ceiling light and a bedside table light if the natural light is too dim. The bathroom also has windows across one whole wall and as it’s at the front of the house there is a lot of natural light, this will once again give the clips natural look. The bathroom does have a ceiling light but we probably won’t use it if it’s light outside. The kitchen has windows along two walls as its situated at the back of the house, there isn’t a lot of natural light but there is artificial lighting which we can use if necessary. Rom-com's are usually light and bubbly and the lighting normally helps makes it seem more upbeat. The lighting is quite important for our opening sequence.

Props

 All of are props are used to help put across JENNYs personality and information about her life. For instance we are going to have fashion magazines all over her bedroom floor to show that she is interested in fashion. We are also going to have jenny knock over a box of tampons this will show the comedy element of the Rom-Com. All of our titles are used with props as we have seen this is quite common in Rom-coms, we are using fridge magnets, makeup and handwritten titles this allows the titles to link with the characters and also gives the natural realistic styles that Rom-Coms have. Many of our props are everyday items such as a toothbrush, make up, toothpaste, clocks and pillows. This shows the audience her normal life style so they can relate to her.

Costume

JENNY= when she wakes up she will be wearing shorts and a vest top as her bed wear, when she gets ready for work she will be wearing black tights with a black skirt, a plain top and a blazer. Her work clothes shows that she has quite a good job as she is dressed smartly and it also shows she is quite fashionable. She will also be wearing heels as many women her age would wear them to work.

Hair and makeup

JENNY= her hair will be straightened and left down in a natural looking style. She will have natural looking make up. This will help show her age and maturity, as she wont be too made up she will have the normal amount a woman her age would usually wear to work.

Character Movement

Throughout the opening sequence JENNY is rushing around everywhere, for example as soon as she wakes up she runs out the room, a lot of her character movement is rushing around and worrying and this shows her character as un-organised and clumsy and has a very hectic life. There are also elements of her character movement that just reflect her normal life, for instance when she is getting ready she is shown brushing her teeth, putting on her makeup and getting dressed. We tried to keep the character movement quite naturalistic. For example we wanted to show her waking up and getting ready quickly as she is going to be late.

Shooting Schedule

Day	Shots	Time
Tuesday 22nd February	ALL SHOTS WILL BE FILMED	12- onwards until natural light is too dark

 

CREW LIST

Amy Taylor: The actress who will be playing JENNY
Becky Trimmer: The camerawomen and Director

Alice Kempster:  Costume and make-up and also Director
Chloe Taylor: Props and also Director

Technical Reece

Unwanted Noise: As our location is set in a house the best time to film is when there is no-one else in as there will be noise that we don’t want and they might get in the shots which will make it less realistic.
Animals: In our location a dog and a cat live there so we will have to make sure that they are not in our shots or make noises which we don’t want them to make.
Outside filming:  We will have to be aware when we are outside of pedestrians as we don’t want them in our shot, traffic isn’t a main problem as we want the footage to look realistic however the noise of the traffic may cause a problem, we will have to try and film in a quiet part of the day.
Weather: For the outside scene the weather will affect when we film as we won’t be able to film when its raining as it could ruin the equipment. Also if it is raining it could be quite dangerous when jenny is running down the drive and the road.
Cars in drive: We will also need to make sure that no cars are parked in the drive when we are filming as this will make the shot look bad and we don’t want to show the character as having a car. This would confuse the audience as they may see the car but wonder why she isnt using it.

Storyboard

Pre-Production Report
Our original idea was to do a romantic comedy and our original target audience was teenagers to young adults. However when we had our meeting with our media teacher we found that the synopsis we had decided on was quite vague and didnt really flow and also our target audience seemed too young for our character. Our teacher suggested that we should maybe re-think our target audience and add some more depth into our synopsis so our opening sequence had somewhere to lead to. We then went away as a group and re-discussed our orginial ideas and managed to come up with improvements and plenty of ideas to add in. We then carried on with our pre-production documents. We created our shot list, however we discovered it wasnt quite right when it came to creating the story board. So we then had to edit our shot list, by changing shot sizes and angles and we had to add a couple more shots in. We wanted to use a variety of shots and angles in our opening sequence so we tried to vary the shots we added in. We split our work up between the three of us in the group, however before splitting it up we all discussed what each part was going to be like so the whole group knew what was happening.

Main Post 7: Focus Group

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfvezoQaEek&feature=player_embedded

This is the video of our focus group. We asked three teenage girls around the age we are aiming to have for our audience. We told them all our ideas and what we wanted to do with our opening sequence and asked for their feedback to see if they thought we could improve it in any way. One of their suggestions was that we show the male in the opening sequence, to make it more obvious that the male is part of the storyline. We did originally have an idea of using a male hands texting a female, and the female replying. So using the groups feedbakc we have decided to use this idea in our opening sequence.

Main Post 6: History of Chosen Genre

We have decided that our chosen genre for our opening sequence will be Romantic Comedy. We did some background research on this specific genre to see what kind of history it has and how it has developed over the years. From our previous research we found that romantic comedies were quite a popular choice of film viewers so we wanted to also find out why.

Romantic comedies are usually made up of a man and a woman and we are shown their two lives seperatley and how it leads to them meeting and falling in love. In some of them they typically seperate and re-unite to have a happy ending, whereas others vary. In most romantic comedies we are given clues or little hints as to what is going to happen, this keeps the audience involved and keen to carry on watching. Some newer romantic comedies, like Knocked Up, are becoming more of Bromcom's (Bro's Romantic Comedies) than Romcoms. This is because they are combining romantic comedies with stoner comedies, which means they appeal to both men and women, where usual romantic comedies appeal to just mainly women.

Even since the Ancient Greek times, comedies have incorporated sexual and social elements. However in the 1960's this genre faded and it wasnt until When Harry Met Sally was released in 1989 and become a huge success that romantic comedies built it's way back up in the mid -1990's.

Some romantic comedies we came across were:

Fun in Acapulco

When Harry Met Sally

Down With Love

Breakfast at Tiffanys

From looking at other romantic comedy films opening sequences we have picked out things that occur in a majority of them. For example the music is always quite upbeat and bubbly. The lighting is always natural or bright, never dark or dull. We are also always shown either the male or females life or both. So for our opening sequence we have made sure we use conventions like these so it makes our genre more obvious and so our audience understand what is happening.

I think romantic comedies are quite a popular choice of film genre as they are appealing more and more to both and men and women, giving them a wider range of audiences, meaning that the demand for romantic comedies will continuely grow.

Main Task 5A- Macro/Micro Analysis of an Opening Sequence from Your Genre.

The first opening sequence we watched was from 500 Days Of Summer.
http://www.titledesignproject.com/2010/01/500-days-of-summer-main-title-sequence-by-imaginary-forces/

It starts with what looks like a dirty page with the title (500) Days of Summer written in white block capitals. Then drawings start to merge in, there's thin trees and fine line outlines of buildings. The camera seems to be in an establishing shot facing the paper. The trees then develop some light green leaves. The drawings then fade. The date flips backwards to (488) and on the right hand side a bench is drawn. This drawing then fades into a real image of the couple sitting on the bench from the film. There is natural lighting and it is a medium camera shot. It then sharp cuts to a fuzzy close up on a boy's eye which is in a picture type box with the actors name (Joseph Gordan-Levitt) appearing next to it on the right hand side. This then fades and a girls eye appears in the same style, but this time on the right hand side and the actress' name (Zooey Deschanel) appears on the left hand side. It then goes back to the sketch from the beginning shot and the date then roll back from (282) to (34). We are then shown a split screen, the left side is a medium shot of the young boy from behind sitting on a train and the right side is a close up of the young girl, the production managers name appears. The two clips have natural lighting. It then returns to the first sketch again, (35) rolls up to (303) and the lighting fades. It then goes back to the split screen of the boy and the girl. We see a close up of the boy and an extreme close up on the girl. The girls box then fades out completely, the directors name (Marc Webb) appears, still in the white block capitals. It then returns again to the sketch from the beginning, this time the lighting is different, it looks as if the drawing has been coloured in some more. The date counter is on (1) and the sun beams out and rotates, the trees also grow some flowers and there are birds in the background. This then fades to a blackout and the title sequence finishes. 

The music that they use in this title sequence is very well suited to the film and what we see in the opening sequence. The music is quite calm but hearing it when seeing the opening sequence, it fits really well. Looking at the young boy and the young girl, and seeing the couple sitting on the bench together, it makes you think that maybe their linked, it gives us a hint that the two young characters are the adults we see sitting on the bench and that this is what the film is going to be about. We don't see many special effects in this opening sequence, but from watching other opening sequence of romantic comedy films, i have seen this is quite a common re-occurance. The sketches are quite a common factor in rom-com opening sequences, quite a lot of them use drawings. 

Another film we looked at was There's Something About Mary.

It starts by 'Twentieth Century Fox Presents' fading up on the black background. It is written in a messy handwritten style in light blue and 'Twentieth Century Fox' is written in capitals. This then fades out as the music starts. The music is a slow acoustic backing beat with a man singing the lyrics. It cuts to a close up on the trees and pans across. We then see 'Cameron Diaz' fade in and fade back out. It is written in the same style and colour as the typography from the beginning. The camera continues to pan across, more names fade in and out written in the same style as before. The camera then goes to a medium shot of a man sitting in a tree hitting a drum and there is another man standing on the ground, nearer to the camera singing the song and playing a guitar. The title of the film then fades onto the screen in a sketch like font and the word 'Mary' is written in a love heart with a cupid arrow through it. It then fades out and the camera jibs down into a medium close up and another name appears in the same style as from the beginning. This happens again for other names. The camera then tracks down away from the man sitting in the tree and goes towards the ground and then tracks to a close up of a boy. The typography of the director's name then fades in and out in the same style from the beginning. The music then fades out and the film begins.

Throughout this opening sequence there is natural lighting and no sounds other than the music from the men in the tree. There are few enigmas, for example the men sitting in the tree may lead people to question why they are and what their relevance to the film is. Also you can see people walking in the background which may make people ask where the film is set. There is no special effects in this opening sequence as this film was made when special effects werent as specially developed as they are now. Although from watching other romantic comedy opening sequences, special effects doesn't seem to be very popular.

Main Task 5- Title Timeline:

We watched 13 Going on 30 and made a timeline of the timings when the titles appear and how long they stay on the screen for.

This timeline helped us to decide on our own title timings and gave us an idea of what sort of order to put the titles up in.

Main Task 4: Group Meeting

Minutes for group meeting

Becky- So were doing rom com
Alice- I like that idea too
Chloe- Yes I like that idea, I think the main girl should feature in the title sequence
Becky- And I like the idea of doing all the writing in food like spaghetti letters and fridge magnets and makeup on the mirror
Chloe- I think we should show a clip of the girl with something embarrassing happening to show she has a hetic life
Becky- Yes I like that idea we will need some happy bubbly music.
Alice- we could film it in a alley way and have her walking out and the clips of the girl getting ready should be in a house
Chloe- I  think the song toothpaste kisses would be really good to use
Becky- I think at the start we can show her hetic life and having messing room and very clumsy type of person
Alice- I think it would be good to show that she getting ready to go on a date as well and she’s exicted
Chloe- yes that’s good and maybe she can be on  the phone to her friend so we can set the scence and what is going to be happening in the film
Becky- We could also do that through text
Chloe- yes if we get a boy to text out a text and make it obvious it’s a boys hand then get the girl to reply and make it obvious that it’s a girls hand we can also set what is going to happen in the rest of the film or give a small insight.

Main Task 3a: Further Look At Opening Sequences

We went onto YouTube and watched a few examples of opening sequences from various types of films.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=opening+scene&aq=f&gl=US&hl=uk

One of the films we looked at was the horror film The Shining.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw23KM3-Ry8
This was quite different to some of the other opening sequences we had previously looked at. It had different camera angles, for example the camera started offf low and then at one point it swtiched to a birds eye view. There was no dialogue or people, we just heard the creepy music and saw the yellow car driving along the roads. The location they used seemed to fit the genre as well, as it was quite open surrounded by mountains and water.

Another film we looked at was Reservoir Dogs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyR4RK0LA_E
This is again very different. It starts off with dialogue from the characters, even when we cant see them as the titles are coming up on the screen. It ends with some music, which again fits the genre of the film and we see each of the characters from the conversation with their name so we know who they are. This is a very different opening scene from all of the others we had previously looked at.

From watching these two opening sequences and some others from the first link, we have found that all opening sequences vary. All of them fit their genre, whether it be the music that they use, the typography, the location or the camera shots and angles. I think the location and the music are quite important as they help to set the scene and help the audience get a feel for what the rest of the film will be like.

I also looked on this website http://www.youtube.com/results?aq=1&search_query=saul+bass+title+sequence&search_type=&hl=uk&gl=US&oq=saul+bass and watched some more opening sequences.
All of the videos I looked at had quite an interesting choice of music to fit in each film. They each also used animated or drawn pictures instead of for example a human. They used quite clever ways of interpreting the titles and names of the crew. For example they fitted it into the pictures. They are all quite cleverly done as the images all relate to the individual film. These opening sequences are completely different from the other ones we have studied and looked at, for example The Shining was mainly the open location, and the scary music. Whereas these opening sequences were more upbeat, the music was more acoustic and the whole sequence was animated which I think would draw an audience more.

We also watched some opening sequences from previous year 12 groups from various other schools.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMv2X0gFsWE
This one was quite good in certain ways. For example the music was well suited to the genre of the film. Also at the beginning they used slow motion and changed the contrast of the picture which looked quite good. The running and heavy breathing as worked quite well. The way they chose their titles to appear and disappear worked quite well, apart from when it tells us who's staring as it seemed to appear twice and it had a picture over the writing which didnt work too well.

This is another that we watched.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBoSZfiQ5fk
I think this was quite a good opening sequence. They had a good choice of music and it fitted in with what was happening and we could clearly tell what the genre of the film was. They also used good locations, for example the park and the woods. They gave a good feel for what the rest of the film may be like. The way their titles and crew names came up worked well as well and the typography and colours worked well together and also fitted the genre.


From watching these two videos from previous years, it has helped us to see what could go wrong, and what can work well. We will be more careful when planning things like our music and camera shots, as we want them to work well and effectively. We want to use a range of camera shots, but also make sure that they fit in with what we are trying to show to the audience. We have a different way in mind to show our titles and our names, which we are hoping will work quite well. We also have a piece of music in mind, which we think will fit our genre of romantic comedy, quite well and it will fit in with the storyline we are trying to portray.

Main Task 3: Research Into Opening Sequence Designs

We watched these two interviews and took notes on what was said to see if it would help us deciding on our opening sequence.
Kyle Cooper Interview (Part 1)
Kyle Cooper Interview (Part 2)

From watching these two interviews I found out some quite interesting information. One of the Kyle Cooper mentioned was that it is important the opening sequence hooks the audience and makes them excited to see more, it has to set up certain expectations for the rest of the film. This will influence our choices of what we decide to do in our opening sequence as we don't want it to be boring, we want our audience to want to see the entire film. Also from watching the interviews I picked out that the typography should fit in with the genre of the film. For example in the interview Kyle Cooper talks about the opening sequence to Se7en and he said what we see if handwritten journals and the names of the crew all appear on the screen and look as if they have also been handwritten. It helps to give a feel for the film. Kyle Cooper also said that sometimes it isn't always necessary to use computer generated images, as in some cases you can use more simple ways which will create the exact same feel.

From watching these two interviews and seeing what Kyle Cooper had to say, it has helped us to decide on what we want to do for our opening sequence. For example we was thinking about our typography and how we would do it, and I think from what Kyle said, our ideas will fit our genre of opening sequence quite well. I think, from the ideas we have at the moment, we will create a good opening sequence and it will all fit together quite well.

Main Task 2: Choosing your genre

1. http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/sfischo/media3.html
I used this website and looked at the first table which shows the percentage of how popular each genre is. I found that the top four choices were:



1. Drama - 30.7%
2. Action Adventure - 16.2%
3. Romance - 12.4%
4. Comedy - 10.5%
http://ddunlop.com/2010/01/recapping-2009-most-popular-movie-genre/
This website has a pie chart, which shows all the different movie genres and how popular they were in 2009. Comedy is the most popular and Drama is the third most popular.

2. Using this information and from looking around other websites, we have chosen the genre of Romantic Comedy. We chose to do this because we saw from our research that comedy was quite a popular choice however we felt that doing a comedy might be too difficult to make. We also liked the idea of a Romantic Comedy as from our questionnaires we got feedback that people enjoyed or wanted to see more Romantic Comedies. Drama and Horror were also popular choices however we didnt think they'd be very easy to show in the two minute opening sequence.


3. This is our questionnaire that we created. We used the feedback we got to finalise our decision on making a romantic comedy.




The feedback showed that Romantic Comedies were quite a popular choice and some people wanted to see more of. We also enjoy Romantic comedies ourselves and thought it would be a good idea to chose this genre for our opening sequence.