CB &FH-Audience feedback for Rough Cut 2

For this roughcut we got feedback from the class as well as from friends.We had a balance of negative and positive comments that were made.We like criticisms for they make us branch out and improve our work even more.


Here is feedback from our friends:-

CB & FH-Vodcast During Filming.

...BEHIND the SCENES

Just a general hello and to say that filming is going well.We were about to film Jake's scene's on the train, which is an important part for it shows off our quirky Film Idents !

CB & FH-Rough cut 2

Here is our second rough cut off Spotlight Love. If you look back to our first ever rough cut then you can see the drastic changes we have made,including actors, costume and variation of shots! Filming was successful, although we have decided to add in some more footage of Jake before he gets on the train and Anthea before she comes on stage.We also need to add in a soundtrack, which is currently being produced.Enjoy!

CB/Company Idents (more detailed)

Production Company Name-  

Cupidz(Productions)

We chose the name Cupidz  for 'Cupid' is the name of the God of Love.This of course links to our genre being,romantic comedy.Using  the letter z instead of an s , we thought made it more unique and that it would appeal to our target audience (15 onwards) for abbrevations are seemed to be cool.

We had ideas for the Cupidz ident and the main one which we thought would be brilliant to do was to have a cupid shooting in his arrow into the word cupidz (which is in a white curvy soft font like sans serif) and it would then turn into a red font for cupids arrow has struck it resulting in love, hence the red colour.However with discussions with the teacher we thought that this woul take too much time for we would have to animate it.Therefore I went onto Livetype and created our other idea that would function well on this software.I found it relatively easy to use Livetype and as I had key ideas already in mind , this also made it easier.After I desgined the basic layout on Livetype, I went onto use I-Movie so i could make further adjustments and special effects to make the ident stand out.

The finished design was pleasing as I think it looks professional and would be a good ident that  would represent the world of romantic comedy and be a potentional market for film producers.The ident's background was of some red material blowing gently in the wind, which I thought looke romantic and serene.The font of Cupidz Productions is in a white font that looks like it has been drawn by a child.I thought this style of font would work for a couple of reasons.1st reason is that it looks fun which is an element of what watching a Rom-Com should be like.Secondly when your young,your in own little world which is what you feel like when your in love with somebody,some would say you get all giddy like a child too.This text is also slightly moving which makes it more interesting for the audience.

When I went onto I-Movie, i used this special effect called fairydust which is fairy dust that moves across the screen in any direction you want.I thought it would look good if this 'travelling sparkle' would go through the title of Cupidz Productions as to say we create movie magic!I also thought this effect makes it look very Disney-esque!Next i made the font glow with sparkle which highlights the magic of our movie making and the warmth you get from love! Finally as the fairy dust is going through the Production Title we added a sound clip which is of someone playing a piano, going from high keys to low keys, which goes perfectly well with this as the notes of the music is travelling up, mirroring the action of the fairy dust effect.


Here is our Cupidz Productions Ident!

Distributors Ident-

'Pies in the sky'

For this ident we have filmed some mince pies being thrown into the air.This was quite tricky to catch them being thrown high into the air with the camera at such an angle.However, we managed to get some great shots! With these shots we uploaded them to I-Movie and then transferred this footage to Livetype to edit over the ident titles Pies in the Sky.

Here is the footage we caught on video camera!

FH - Sound track

Michael Buble...



This is a video of just havnt met you yet by Micheal Buble, this is the perfect song for our sound track because it's about how 2 people havn't met but it will all work out in the end, just like our film story. We have a male singer that plays guitar (Thomas Bearpark), he has agreed to play this for us and he is also going to make a new song up from scratch and we are going to see which song goes best with our fotage. 

Declaration of Sophie Dixon

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BOTH - Declaration of characters images

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FH- pies in the sky ident idea

This is footage that we made to fit the name of our distribution company 'Pies in the sky'. We were going to make an animation but we dont have alot of time or technology to do that with so we desided that we would make a 'real life' ident. This was shot by us shooting the sky basically and then throing mince pies infront of the camera, these three shots are the best ones we got and we are going to be using one of them for our ident! we are going to slow down the footage so you can see the pies better and have a soundtrack that is similar to the sound track of Halelujah. This is a clip i found a youtube just to give the idea of the song choice...



...We have a good, strong idea of this and we feel it will be comical and it will work.

CB & FH-Vodcasts-On Research

Here are two videos of Faye & Myself talking about basis of research that we found on Romantic Comedies,which resources were the most helpful and the films inspired our film.

Vodcast 1

Vodcast 2

CB & FH-Vodcast on Film Idents

This is a video of Faye and myself talking about our inspiration behind our film idents and how we produced them.

FH & CB - Cupidz ident

This is our production company, we chose cupidz because it is romantic and has a 'ring' to it. We chose the colour scheme of red and yellow because they contrast and are intimate colours to love. The yellow 'starry fairy dust' was inspired by Walt Disney's company. it shows the magic of love which will go well with our rom com.

BOTH - Audience's for Spotlight Love

Audience's

Core Audience

We have certified Spotlight Love to be a 12 due use of moderate language and some sexual references.To see how we decided to certify this rating and potentially making it appeal to  'tweenagers' we checked out BBFC website and check out our 'BBFC rating' post.Therefore the audiences members we target at are 12-24 year olds.Our cast also reflects this age catergory for they are teenagers.

We also hope our audience's evolves into a 'hybird audience',  meaning we would like to interest both female and male.Statistics show, Romantic Comedy films are known to be a female dominated audience so we would like to challenge this and break the mould by attracting Males.Our film will attract the attention of males by the comedy aspects and showing the banter between the male protagonist and his mates so they males can relate to it as if they were talking to their mates about love issues.

Secondary Audience

Now we have established the age range and gender for our core audience, there is a secondary audience.The secondary audience are a potential audience even if they dont fit the 12-24 age range.


The following marketable elements/hooks can attract this specific audience.Each genre such as Romantic Comedy or Thriller attracts different audiences and those audiences can be further fragmented.Loyal fans to Romantic Comedy,maybe interested to see this film for this film is a Romantic Comedy.


The material of this film source also attracts another kind of audience.The film could be based on a real event,best-selling novel,cartoon or it could have possible inter textual references like taking a spoof of an existing movie e.g Date Movie ( which is a spoof of many other romantic comedies!)


The soundtrack could influence people to see it for the music generally gives a huge clue to the audience,the main feel of the film.Our soundtrack is primarily familiar to the youth audience and the adult audience,as the song 'Your Song' was written by Elton John which the older generation will relate and just recently it was covered by Ellie Goulding which a lot of youngsters will know about.




The attractiveness of the protagonists could be another hook that engages this secondary audience to come and see the film.Or you could challenge this a go for someone more ordinary looking to which the audience can see themselves reflected in the protagonist.

BOTH- BBFC 12A/12 (In More Detail)

The guidelines of a film being a 12A/12

Discrimination

Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned.

Drugs

Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail.

Horror

Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free.  Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent.

Nudity

Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.

Sex

Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.

Violence

Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.

Source-BBFC

CB/The importance of the youth audience in the film industry.

Importance of Youth

Children are a prime target for marketers. Not only do children today have more disposable income at younger ages, but they have significant influence over family purchases. YTV's 2002 Tween Report estimated that Canadian children aged 9 to 14 spend $1.9 billion and influence $20 billion in family purchases per year. Marketing experts call it "pester power," or the "nag factor" -- the ability to get kids to nag their parents to buy a specific product or take them to a specific restaurant. After all, if your child asks you for the latest toy 37 times a day for a week, the odds are that you'll eventually give in and buy it. source-Blogspot.com

Therefore many film companies are makinf films friendly for all the movie, achieving box office hits.Here is an article from campaign live,1999 on how Pearl and Dean are targeting children.-Article

However film producers are continuously being careful of their representations and references included in their films for they simply don't want the children to learn from these bad role models/habits.In which case the film rating increases to avoid this.

FH - New actors!



We now have another set of actors because the other two were unreliable so as a last minuit resort we have asked Sophie Dixon and Nick Lockier, Nick has the same description as the character Jake but Sophie has dark hair rather than blonde, this is ok as we have desided that it will not matter as the genre (unlike horrors) doesn't have a typical blonde scream queen so this slight change will not matter as much.


Nick Lockier



Sophie Dixon







BOTH - BBFC age rates (draft)

Suitable for 12 years and over

Exactly the same criteria are used to classify works at ‘12A’ and ‘12’. These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.

The ‘12A’ category exists only for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult, and films classified ‘12A’ are not recommended for a child below 12. An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. In such circumstances, responsibility for allowing a child under 12 to view lies with the accompanying adult.

The ‘12’ category exists only for video works. No one younger than 12 may rent or buy a ‘12’ rated video work.

Suitable only for 15 years or over

No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

The above information was found on:

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

FH - Research into rom-coms

Falling in love again... 
Chapter 7 is titled ' Transatlantic Exchanges & Influences'
This chapter is about how when making a rom-com when the genre and a culture come together you have to blend them to make sense.

While Levi-Strauss noted the link between genres and nations by saying that narrative is a culture's way of making sense of itself

This Quote (page 92) is saying that basically you need to move the rom com and its story, props, clothing etc to suit the setting and culture of the story, Example used in the book is that 'Both views need to be considered when thinking of the romantic comedy within a french context.' In France the rom-com, that we know in Britain, is a recent finding and is very rare to be found, their french films is about romance between two people but one of them usually ends up dying, where as our traditional rom-com is about a happy ending usually leaving us to guess where they go next, it can sometimes end with a wedding or pictures of a wedding during the end titles, but this idea has not yet been introduces to the traditional french cinema.  


The above information was found in the book 'falling in love again'  by Deborah Jermyn and Stacey Abbot.

A Traditional Rom-com...
The rom-com focusses on light humour as well as a romantic story line. Usually it is a male and female that are the main protagonists, they happen to meet and then have a complication to their relation ship (e.g. ....) but then in the end work it all out and get back together. The protagonists do not always come together as a 'lovers' relationship at first because along the way they find out they actually love each other (e.g...) 


"the screenwriters leave clues that suggest that the characters are, in fact, attracted to each other and that they would be a good love match. The protagonists often separate or seek time apart to sort out their feelings or deal with the external obstacles to their being together."- Quote from Wikipedia


After the difficulty in the relationship the characters reunite and admit their love for one another, usually one of them goes to find the other after letting them go earlier in the movie. Sometimes it is not the main characters that fall in love with each other but they help each other realise their love for someone else instead. (e.g My Super-ex Girlfriend.) 


"Some comedy films, such as Knocked Up, combine themes of romantic comedies and stoner comedies, creating a subgenre that appeals to both men and women. This genre is slowly becoming known as the "Bromcom" (Bro's Romantic Comedy) among the film review community, originally quoted by amateur film reviewer Luke Dilena in a number of his printed underground independent film review columns. These type of films usually uses sexual content and this brings the two characters together. Films in this genre include American Pie 2 or even Wedding Crashers."- Quote from Wikipedia 


This Quote shows us that theirs more than one type of comedies that are blended with other genres, but this is not what our film is going to be like, we are trying to make it more of a traditional rom-com. 


Television Rom-coms...
Romantic comedies are not always movies, they can be television series as well..

1. Sex & The City (1998–2004) (HBO)
2. Desperate Housewives (2004–) (ABC)
3. How I Met Your Mother (2005–) (CBS)
4. Gavin & Stacey (2007–2009) (BBC)

The above are examples of the television romantic comedies that have been around and still are.  

This is the link to the Wikipedia page that i used to collect all the above information;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_comedy_film

Examples of more romantic comedies...
There are many inspiring rom-coms and the genre is based towards young females as they are romantic and most girls love watching romantics as they wish theyr life was a bit more interesting like that. The comedy has basically been added for when a girls tags her boyfriend along to the cinema to watch the new movie out that she's seen on an advert that brought a tear to her eye, the comedy is for the male so he does not switch off or fall asleep. Examples of more rom-com movies are on this website: 

http://www.lovefilm.com/browse/collections.html?node_id=6417

There are over 100 rom coms and they all basically have the same story line, two people (usually male & Female) meet and basically fall in love, theres a complication which is soon resolved after one of them realises what they are missing. 

Rules of the Romantic Comedy ...

• Usually the two characters are the complete opposite (in our film one is pop star and other is working class)
• When the two meet it has usually got a strange way of them coming together, this makes the female audience feel happy for them and say aww whereas the males role their eyes (as said on the website)
• Usually a friend/ some one close of the main characters is the one that is the comedy maker, they have the funny parts of the film e.g. the hangover.

the above info was found on this link:
http://imamovienerd.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/666/

BOTH - Declaration of characters images

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CB - Filming diary

Friday 4th February 2011

First day of shooting went reasonably well except one of our actors didn't turn up so we were stuck to only shoot scenes of the character Anthea Lovell.We shot the 'red carpet scene' in a drama room at school.To make it more believable,we used the specialist lighting effects and put a spotlight on Anthea. This also linked to our film title- 'Spotlight Love'.I also brought in some cameras and took pictures of Anthea as if she was posing for the paparazzi. Her costume was very glamourous which anchored she was at a special event (Oscar Nominations). To show the transition from the picture into video footage, I thought it would be creative get Anthea to pose in the same position as she is in photo on the front page of the Newspaper. Therefore we zoomed out of the pose she was into her posing for the cameras.


Then Anthea did a drastic costume change into her 'everyday' Anthea Lovell outfit.We made her wear bright,funky,fashionable clothes to make her stand out and to reflect her bubbly fun-loving character.We went down to Cafe Nero in Ilkley and asked if we could film a short clip inside and outside and they agreed seeing as it was for A-level coursework.We filmed Anthea's ident clip.Her ident clip was of her drinking a milkshake and wiping away her 'milkshake tash' with her napkin.On the napkin is her ident,written in bold marker pen. Finally we filmed Anthea coming outside and her phone rings and its her best mate,she talks about last night which was the night she was the Oscar Nominations and won an Oscar herself.As it was outside we had to be cautious of the wind and rain affecting our footage quality.We had a boom mic which helped with the wind for it picks up the sound in much better detail even in wind.It slightly rained but it was okay for we stood under the shelter of the shops.


We plan to re-film urgently next week!

CB/Deconstruction of 'The Proposal'

The Proposal (Anne Fletcher,2009)

Director-Anne Fletcher
Writer-Pete Chiarelli
Production Companies-
Distributors-
Stars-Sandra Bullock,Ryan Reynolds and Mary Steenburgen
Running Time-108 mins

Rating-12A due to sexual content,nudity and language

Filming Locations-Massachusetts,Rhode Island and California-USA

Budget-$40,000,000

Box Office Gross-$2,494,131,102 (USA,2009) £42,101,816 (UK,2009)

Here is the trailer for The Proposal-

Tagline-Here comes the Bribe...

Opening Analysis- (2mins)

Deconstruction of shots in opening scenes

First shot makes us think that it is set in/near a wood? Perhaps someone running,this opening shot is odd for it would suit being seen in a horror movie.The camera then zooms out and we then realise that this wood is shown on a television screen.Then we get an 'over the shoulder shot' and we see a possible protagonist of the film? She is on an exercise bike watching the screen and reading various notes.Different shots of her are shown like a close-up and a side shot view.It then cuts to the other possible protagonist? He is in bed  and the time is 12:00 which could connote that he has slept in and is late? He anchors this by looking at his watch and announcing "Shit!" Then it shows a close-up reflection of the girl who is looking in a steamed up mirror signifying she has just had a shower perhaps? Her wet hair could also anchor this? It cuts back to the guy who is running fast down the road, showing he is determined to  get to work as fast as he possibly can.This contrasts with the next clip of the girl who is leisurely eating her breakfast and reading a newspaper.The next shot shows a midshot of the guy running outside of a shop window,it continues to be a mid-shot as he enters the coffee house.The shop owner says "Andrew,Hey!" This signifys that this is his name and by skipping the big queue he has somehow bribed his way into doing that on a regular basis.(Also 'bribe' is a key theme.)Then it shows a mid-shot of the guy dodging through traffic on a busy road emphasising just how late he is.Then there is a side shot view of him as he is running with his coffees through an office, the office could be his workplace?The last shot is a  mid-shot of him in a packed lift.

Soundtrack-Gabe Dixon Band-Find My Way

Film Titles

White bold,curved font over the film footage.The actresses name flashes on at the side of her anchoring that she is playing this character.Then another actors name flashes on signifying he too could be a protagonist? The actual film title 'The Proposal' scrolls on from the left behind the bike.This is quirky which is an attribute and perk of making film titles in Romantic Comedies as you can do almost anything.

Mise-en-scene

Girl-Her apartment is quite small signifying she is living alone, single and is a possible candidate for the romance? However her apartment is filled with gadgets such as the exercise bike linking to the large plasma flat screen television.She wears a smart suit, signifying she has a high rank job?

Boy-You don't really get to see his apartment but you can see he has a double bed which could signify he isn't single, is expecting someone or he has a lot of space for it?

America-Yellow Taxis,Tall skyscraper buildings, lots of people and traffic (vibrant city life), American accents, American police outfits.

Office-Phone's ringing,people rushing about with papers and briefcases.

Any influence?

We took on board the idea of keep cutting back to each character to show the difference of their way of life.

CB/Deconstruction of 'The Ugly Truth'

The Ugly Truth (Robert Luktic,2009)

Director-Robert Luktic
Writers-Nicole Eastman,Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith
Production Companies-Lakeshore Entertainment,Relativity Media
Distributors-Columbia Pictures,Sony Pictures Releasing,Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Stars-Katherine Heigl,Gerard Butler and Bree Turner
Running Time-96 Mins
Rating-15 due to sexual content and language
Filming Locations-Los Angeles and California-USA
(Budget-$38,000,000 )
Box Office Gross- $756,078,916 (USA,2009) £12,044,321 (UK,2009)

Here is the trailer for The Ugly Truth:


Tagline- The Battle of the sexes is on.

Opening Analysis (2 mins)-
Deconstruction of opening shots




Soundtrack 
Hot and Cold By Katy Perry-could signify a main characters relationship with somebody, 'you change your mind , like a girl changes clothes'.Upbeat sound,makes the action more engaging and brings it to life.


Film Titles 
White curved font ,one word is in bold e.g. 'In association with relativity media' Highlights the important word,making it appear bolder to stand out.Transitions-flash on and off-simple and fast paced, linking to music used.For the actors idents,they had the name in the same font as the rest (with their last name in bold though) and either a male or a female typical shape (that you would see on public toilets) in-between the first and last name.This connotes that these two people are the protagonists and perhaps fall in love?Also for the girl shap template there is a heart on the head section which shows, the girl uses her brain and looks for personality when she makes decisions about love.Where as for the boy template, there is a love heart on the groin which could connote that the boy only see's love as a sexual desire.These two differences could be the conflict (obstacle) between the two.


Mise-en-scene-Hellicopter signfies that the person is rich.


Any Influence? We like the upbeat soundtrack with the lyrics linking to the attitudes created in this film.