MAIN Post 8: Pre-production documenatation

Synopsis of whole film
The film is about a young women called Jenny and her hetic life and unorgansied personality. Shes editor or a fashion magazine and lives in a rented flat with her friend called Sophie. You see her go on lots of dates and everytime something goes wrong, luck comes her way and she finally meets the man of her dreams and finds the love shes been looking for, her life becomes less hetic and she learns to be more organsied.

Synopsis of opening sequence
In the opening sequence we see the young women running around her room showing her getting ready for her day, this is very chaotic as her room is very messy showing her unorgansied lifestyle.  All the credits will be made with objects so we will make them flow with the film for instance fridge magnets.

Treatment

Shot List

We decided to use some of the titles included in the opening sequence for instance having the directors name in the opening sequence as we saw this in some sitcoms we also have some titles that are edited in as not every title can be put in the opening sequence with objects. Both sitcoms i looked at also have all edited titles so it is still staying within the conventions.



Location Recce

We havent used many location as our character lives in a flat with her flat mate so if we showed lots of different rooms it would make her seem like she owned a big flat/house and she wouldnt be able to afford that.


Props and Costume List

Risk Assesment

Shooting Schedule

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

Mise-en-scene Description

Set Design/ Location

Our Rom-com is set in a house the main character is a girls so we are using a bed room that is pink and has white furniture we also use the bathroom and kitchen as she is a young women she won’t have loads of money so we want the sets to look basic and show of her character

Lightening

There was natural lightening coming through the whole back wall of the bedroom, this will be good as we won’t have to use any artificial lighting and it will make the shots look natural, there is also ceiling light in the bedroom 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 too walls as its situated at the back of the house, there isn’t a lot of natural light but there is artificial lighting we can use. Rom-com are light and bubbly and I think this needs to be shown through having bright lighting preferably natural as it will look more realistic.

Props

 All of are props are used to put across JENNYs personality and information about her life for instance we are going to have fashion magazines all over her bed and floor to show she’s interested in fashion she will also knock over a box of tampons to have 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 ands also gives the natural realistic styles that Rom-Coms have. Many of our props are everyday items such as toothbrush, make up, toothpaste, clocks this puts across to the audience her normal life style so they can relate to her another form of style of a Rom-Com.

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 a tight black skirt, 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 quite fashionable she will also be wearing heels as many women the age of our character would wear them too work.

Hair and makeup

JENNY= her hair will be straightened and left down

Character Movement

Through out the opening sequence JENNY is rushing around everywhere as soon as she wakes up she runs out the room, a lot of her character movement is rushing around and worrying this is because her character is un-organised and clumsy and has a very hectic life so this is shown through her character movement. There are also element 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.

CREW LIST

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

Alice:  Costume and make-up and also Director
Chloe: 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.

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 outside of pedestrians as you don’t want them in our shot, traffic isn’t a main problem as we want the footage to look realistic but the noise of the traffic make 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

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

Storyboard

 





Pre-Production Report

From the start we knew we wanted to do a Rom-com opening sequence, our first idea was a girl with a hectic life and how she finds love and how she juggles it with her life. We had a focus meeting with our teacher miss ship and she said that our ideas were too vague and weren’t detailed enough. She also said that we needed to think more about the age of our actress and the detail of her personality and life situation at the moment. From this meeting we decided our actress was about young 20’s so it targeted teens and young adults. We then established her job which was fashion magazine editor and we planned to portray this through the opening sequence we also showed it through elements of props and costume.

Once the idea for the synopsis and opening sequence detail was finished we went on to our pre-production documentations. We had to make some changes in the shot list when it came to do the story board as we realized that some of the shots and angles we planned to do wouldn’t work. We split the work between the group which had 3 people and if things weren’t right when we went over the work we planned what needed to be changed.

MAIN POST 7: Focus group

This is our focus group video, we asked 3 teenage girls to give some feedback to our ideas for our opening sequence. From the focus group feedback they said that all our ideas were good, they suggested that we including a male actor or showed the male that will be par of the story line. We did think about using a male figure but they also suggest a phone call conversation and we had an original idea about a girl texting and a boy, from the feedback I think we will use a male hand and female hand to show a text conversation to establish the romantic storyline we want to portray.

MAIN POST 6: History of chosen genre

Romantic comidies first appeared in the ancient greece, many comdies involved sexual or social elements. But it wasnt untill medieval times untill romantic comdies really became know or given there name, many of the stories would involve a knights fighting on behalf of ladies. Romantic comedies weren't truly found until after the Victorian era when sex became more open and the film industry developed. This hype for romantic comedies carried on through until about the 1960's but romantic comedies big comeback was in the 80's/90's with films such as 'When Harry met Sally' and 'Pretty Women'. 

This is one of the earlies romantic comedies which was made 1924 which was a silent film.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a very popular romantic comedy even to this date, it was made in 1961.

Pretty Women also did very well, it was made in the 1990's and appears on the top grossing list for romantic comedies

This is a more recent romantic comedy which was made in 2004, it is a very popular film.

MAIN Post 5a: Macro/Micro analysis of an opening sequence from your genre.

500 Days of Summer

It starts with a dirty page and the title (500) days of summer in a simple white block capitals font. Trees and fine lines of buildings are drawn on the paper in a wiped action; the camera is facing the paper. The trees are then added some green leaves. The date flips to (488) the previous image fades away and a bench is drawn. The drawn picture fades in to the footage. It shows a couple sitting on a bench the lighting is natural but still fairly light the shot size is medium shot. It the sharp cuts to a fuzzy close up of an eye and plain block text of a name ( Joseph Gordan-Levitt) and shows the eye blinking. It then fades to a picture of a girl’s eye and text in the opposite position compared to the previous shot. It goes back to the sketch that appeared at the start, the dates the roll back from 282-34. It then cuts to footage, one of a boy on a train and other of a girl waving; the screen is spilt into two. The footage of the boy is a medium shot filming him from behind and the footage of the girl is a close up. Both clips have natural lighting but looks bright. After about 3 seconds names of production and designer fade in the centre of the girl’s box. This all fades to a blackout, it then cuts to the sketch that appears at the start (35) days rolls up too (303) days. It then cuts too spilt screen of close up of a boys face on the left and extreme close up of a girls lips blowing a dandelion on the right the lighting is still natural. The girls box fades out to a blackout and is replaced with plain block styled typography of the directors name. it then goes back to the previous drawn picture but the sky is orange and there is a sun, the number (1) appears as shown. The  background is moving and rays of sunlight come out of the sun in a lighter yellow colour, the trees also grows white flowers this fades to a blackout and the title sequence has finished.

There is no other sound in the title sequence except music, this is quite bubbly and goes well with the genre of a rom-com as the song talking about 2 people being together. The title sequence doesn’t give a lot away so the main big enigma is what happens between the man and women. When we see them sitting on the bench together you wonder why, and you also see them as children so it makes you wonder what happens between them.

There aren’t many special effects in this title sequence except the drawing cartoon style sketch. I have noticed this is very common in the rom-com style genre of film and this links in with special effects as they are quite simple.

There's something about Mary

It starts with a black background the words Twentieth century fox presents fades up the typography is a light blue colour and everything except presents is in capitals. The font is a messy handwritten style as this fades out some slow music starts up. It then cuts to a close up of some trees and pans across, the typography Cameron Diaz fades put in the same style as before and the fades down, at this point the music is still a slow paced backing beat. The camera carries on panning and lyrics are sang by a male voice acoustically, another name fades up in the same font and fades out, this happens again with other names. It pans across to a medium shot of a man sitting on a branch hitting a drum and another man who is a bit closer to the camera playing a guitar singing the song. A sketch like font fades up with the title of the film, the word Mary is written in a love heart with arrows through it, this fades out the camera jibs down to a medium close up an another name appears in the same style of font. The men in the tree are an enigma to why they are there. The camera stays in this position while more names fade in and out in the same style. Behind the men in the tree you can see people walking from the road across a bit of a field and out of shot this makes you wonder the location.  The camera tracks down away from the man in the tree and down towards the ground this is a close up on the tree and natural lighting. It tracks to a close up of a boy the typography of the director’s name fades in and then out this is the en of the title sequence as music stops an goes straight into the film.

There is no special effects in this opening sequence, this film was made when special effects weren’t as deve3loped as they are now and from what I have already watched special effects aren’t the conventions of a rom-com film. I have also noticed that a few rom-coms start there title sequence in the location that the first scene is and I think this is a good way of linking the title sequence in with the film.

MAIN TASK 5: TIMELINE

This is my time line for 13 going on 30, it is a romantic comedy the genre of our opening sequence. We watched this opening sequence to get an idea of the style of the opening sequence and when the titles appeared along with the audio. This was helpful as we got an insight into a professional opening sequence.

MAIN POST:4

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 POST 3/ 3a - Research into Opening Sequence Designs

Main post 3:
I watched these two interviews and took notes so I can rethink our choices for the opening sequence and see if the interviews will help with how we are going to do our opening sequence

Kyle Cooper Interview (Part 1)
Kyle Cooper Interview (Part 2)

I got a lot of information from the two clips that has been helpful the most important point that Kyle made that I think is important that when making an opening sequence people know they can get an outline of the story from the opening sequence so this is what they expect. The second important point is that the opening sequence has to set up expectations and has to be exciting it is vital to draw the audience in.

Kyle helped to give some good tips with how to link conventions with the genre for instance he said typography has to integrate with the genre this is very important as it will help with setting the story to the audience. Another point that he made was that simple can work and if it’s done right it can work well. And finally music, music is also an important area to look at and music needs to be matched with the genre to ensure that the opening sequence is giving what the audience wants.

From what Kyle has said our thoughts for our opening sequence matched quite well with what we want as its going to quite simply and we have already chosen music that links the genre. Kyle also said that people like to watch opening sequences and think i wish i could do that or be them so we could include something that would make them think that



3a Further research into opening sequences:

From watching opening sequences I have noticed that quite a few don’t use any dialogue in the opening sequence and just music I feel that this draws you into the opening sequence as you pay more attention to what happens an example of this would be 'The shinning'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw23KM3-Ry8

I have also noticed that most opening sequences use simple typography, in films like ‘The Shinning’ and Blade using simple typography works if you want to aim your audience’s attention towards the images or events in the opening sequence, as most the time it’s more important than the text. I think that whether the text is simple or not depends on the genre.  

Another thing I have noticed is that many opening sequences show the setting of the film first ‘The shinning’ does this and ends up at the location of the film. I think this can work well depending on the setting if it interesting then it works, I think that by showing the setting it also gives a chance for the audience to make up their decision on what they think the films genre is.




I have also noticed that quite a lot of title sequences have conventions the same as as cartoons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ignl1WwvyiU the 'Human Factor' is an old cartoon styled title sequence and a new versions is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfc9GLxlhEw, there isn't much different between these title sequences expect the quality and I think this is an important point as filmed title sequence can look out of date but cartoon styled ons will always be in fashion. A lot of Rom-Com title sequences are in this cartoon style, as Rom-Com is our chosen genre its hard to compare cartoon ones to what we plan do to as we wont be able to make a cartoon title sequence. An example of this would be Juno.




From watching other opening sequences from students I have noticed that quite a lot of them have placed the text at the bottom of the screen and it is quite unclear an example of this problem is in this opening sequence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYZFuSZQj-0 other than that I thought this opening sequence was a good example of a thriller.
This clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WYpnaWzJbE i liked the use of different camera angels for instance the one inside the fridge looking out on the girl. There were some problems I feel would have made the footage much better, this was that the sound effects were quite loud like footsteps and general noises I also didn't notice and typography. I found this clip I thought it was very good http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEMHlIlrZH8 I liked the use of the black background then having two boxes of different clips this worked well as they merged the clips out and changed the sizes. The typography was also very visual in this clip and it didn't stop me taking everything in, this clip had a good balance between footage and text.

 

MAIN POST 2- Choosing your genre

1. From one of the tables of this website http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/sfischo/media3.html it shows what percent of film genres are most popular these are:

• Drama-30.7%
• Action Adventure-16.2%
• Romance-12.4%
• Comdey-10.5%

From my findings I found that drama, action adventure, romance and comedy are the top 4 most popular genres of films. Talking as a group and looking at the findings we have been influenced too use the rom-com genre for our opening sequence. We decided this because we know the most about Rom-com films and from the findings romance is 3rd and comdey is 4th so it will target two groups instead of one and hopefully it will be good as we are aiming it at a higher percent of people.




This is our questionnaire that we designed 

From comparing the results of our questionnaires as a group we have found that romantic comedies are the most popular film genre.  Quite a few people also said they would like to see more horror films in the cinema. As romantic comedies were the most popular film genre the group and I have chosen to do this genre for our opening sequence, hopefully it will be up to the standards as real film opening sequences.