Final Script

This is the final script for the film opening.
Final Script

Character Profiles

Film Distribution and Production Research

Dreamworks

Dreamworks was founded on October 12 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. It is owned by Independent (1994-2006), Viacom (2006-2008) and Reliance ADA group (2008-present) who owns 50% of Dreamworks. Dreamworks was also the partner of Paramount. Dreamworks produces films, feature films, programmes and online virtual worlds which Paramount and Viacom distribute it. Shrek 2 was its highest grossing film - $919,838,758 and they mostly produce animation films for children, for example Shark Tale, Shrek, Antz, Madagascar, Megamind etc. 

20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox was founded on May 31st 1935 by merger of Fox films and 20th Century Pictures Inc in Los Angeles. The Fox Broadcasting company is the sister of 20th Century Fox. It distributes and produces films, however Pathe and MGM also produce some of their films. Their highest grossing film was Avatar -$1,858,562,198 and they produce a range of genres such as action, romantic comedies, sci-fi etc. For example, Mr and Mrs Smith, Fantastic Four, Borat, Shallow Hal etc.

Working Title

Working Title was founded in 1983 in the United Kingdom. It is partially owned by Universal Studios (2000-present) and was owned by Polygram (1991-1999). Working Title is a production company who also produces feature films and television productions. They produce various genres but mostly comedies and romantic comedies. For example, Hot Fuzz, Mr Bean, Four Weddings and a Funeral etc.

Universal Studios

Universal Studios was founded on June 8th 1912 in Los Angeles by Ronald Meyer. NBCUniversal is its parent and it is owned by Comcast (51%) and General Electric (49%). Universal Studio is mainly a  film-making/production company but it distributes some films and their highest grossing film was E.T: The Extra Terrestrial - $359,197,037. They produce a various range of genres such as Action, Animation, Comedy, Drama etc. For example, Fast and Furious, Despicable Me, Bruce Almighty etc.

Lionsgate

Lionsgate was founded on July 3rd 1997 by Frank Guista in the United States. Lionsgate produces motion pictures, television programming, home videos, family entertainment, video on demand and music and it also does digital distribution. It serves in North America, England, France and Australasia. Lionsgate, along with MGM and Paramount Pictures/Viacom, is also a co-owner of Epix. Lionsgates highest grossing film was The Hunger Games - $408,010,692 and they produce different genres like Horror, Action, Romantic Comedy. For example, The Saw sequel, Safe House, My Best Friend's Girl etc.


Warp Films

Warp Films was founded by Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett and it is based in the UK. It was initially created with financial support from NESTA and produces short films and is affiliated with Warp X and Warp Film Australia. Warp Films is a production company and its highest grossing film was This is England - £5,058,600. They produce various genres like Donkey Punch, Kill List, Snowtown and Care.

Costume List

Evelyn: Costume List

-Round Rimmed Glasses

-Black Coat

 

-Black Work Trousers

-Black Pumps or Heels
-Black Turtleneck

This will connote and fulfil Evelyn's 'white collar' attire.

Props List

True Disguise

 Props List                                                OPENING SCENE                 

TITLE SEQUENCE      -       Strutting through the Embankment


------>iphone 5
------>Newspaper
------>Magazines
------>Shopping bags
------>Umbrella?

All of the props used will connote that Evelyn, is a rich and busy woman. It would achieve the generic norm of a Romantic Comedy and suggest that the plot is different because of the appearance of the protagonist revealed. It could also include a predictable twist where the coffee is spilled and her newspaper ruined etc etc. She could also pull the newspaper down to show her face, that would make the genre more obvious and yet mysterious to the audience.

Production Schedule

Production Schedule by indynyoms

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment">

Timeline

Recce

Recce...

We started round 3pm so that we could show the progression of the day for the character - day into night. By doing this it makes the scene/s look more realistic instead of shooting in the day for all of the footage.

We originally planned to film outside Burlington Parade, but instead decided to film on The Embankment because of the space and surroundings, for example the London Eye and the Thames River.

The majority of the romantic comedie's I've seen have been set in London, for example Bridget Jone's Diary or Notting Hill. By filming in the area that most romantic comedie's are filmed, it connotes the genre fully, meaning that the audience will be able to relate to the surroundings.



In some scenes of the footage,        

people have walked by the protagonist or in front of the character. This contributes to the mise-en-scene and realism of the characters journey, hopefully the audience will be able to relate to this too because it shows the character doing everyday activitie's.

As it got darker, I thought it was going to be harder to see the character but thankfully because of the christmas lights, it was bright and bubbly which was the exact opposite of  the characters personality in the scene.

The setting connoted a very busy atmosphere which is exactly what we needed to build on the charcaters personality-a business orientated female, who lived for her job.

Treatment

Credits List

This is the credits list of my film opening.

Credits List

Representation in Romantic Comedies

This is some research I did on representation in various Romantic Comedies.


Representation

The Certificate of my Romantic Comedy

My romantic comedy is going to be a 12.  This is because the target audience of a romantic comedy is usually females between the ages 12 and 18. If the certificate was a 15 or 18 this would restrict the success of the film as less people would be able to watch it, especially the target audience. If it was a U or PG the consent wouldn't be that of a romantic comedy. 

Some codes and conventions of a romantic comedies consent are infrequent use of strong language and brief nudity. These are allowed to be viewed by people who are 12 and over and I will be using these codes and conventions in my film. 

By choosing to make my film a 12 I am increasing the chances of it being successful, based on the success of other romantic comedies, as this certification and genre go well together. 

Censorship

This is Powerpoint Presentation on censorship and the BBFC:


Censorship

Audience Profile

This is my audience profile for my romantic comedy.


Audience Profile

Demographic & Psychographic Target Audience Profile

Target Audience Profile

Mind Map for film

This is the mind map for the title sequence of my film.

Mind Map on Prezi

Final Synopsis

Bridget is a multi-millionaire who is popular in her work place and has many girl friends but is unattractive and never seems to attract the right type of men. In the past she has been used for her money by men and has given up on finding the love she's been dreaming of since she was a little girl. In high-school she was bullied by her peers and called ugly. A once in a lifetime opportunity comes along one day where she has the chance to re-design herself (face and body) but there's a catch. If she does this she has to give up all her money until she finds the perfect man, then she can get the money back. She decides to take the chance. Throughout the film we see her meet many different men but she's not used to all the attention and finds it difficult to choose one man since she has met so many. Finally she meets 'the love of her life' Andy. They start to get serious and he wants her to meet his family but she starts to panic. She realises this new person she has become isn't the real her and decides she wants to go back to the old her. She's scared that Andy won't want to be with her anymore but decides being herself is more important than finding love. She visits the make-over artist who changes her back to her old self. Worried, she goes to meet Andy. She explains everything that has happened to her and he declares his love her; he doesn't care about all of that. It turns out he is also a millionaire and has done exactly what she has done. This wasn't the real him. When he turns back to himself they get engaged and then eventually married.

I pitched this synopsis to my group and we all shared ideas. In the end we chose to use my idea because the plot is cliche' (like normal romantic comedies) but also contains a different sort of idea. Also, we know we will be able to use a lot of codes and conventions of a romantic comedy.

Synopsis idea for my film

Synopsis

Bridget is a multi-millionaire who is popular in her work place and has many girl friends but is unattractive and never seems to attract the right type of men. In the past she has been used for her money by men and has given up on finding the love she's been dreaming of since she was a little girl. A once in a lifetime opportunity comes along one day where she has the chance to re-design herself (face and body) but there's a catch. If she does this she has to give up all her money until she finds the perfect man, then she can get the money back. She decides to take the chance. Throughout the film we see her meet many different men but she's not used to all the attention and finds it difficult to choose one man since she has met so many. Finally she meets 'the love of her life' Andy. They start to get serious and he wants her to meet his family but she starts to panic. She realises this new person she has become isn't the real her and decides she wants to go back to the old her. She's scared that Andy won't want to be with her anymore but decides being herself is more important than finding love. She visits the crazy scientist who changes her back to her old self. Worried, she goes to meet Andy. She explains everything that has happened to her and he declares his love her; he doesn't care about all of that. It turns out he is also a millionaire and has done exactly what she has done. This wasn't the real him. When he turns back to himself they get engaged and then eventually married. The moral of the film is beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Concept

The film is filmed in colour, sometimes with red/pink lenses on the camera to represent the genre. In the opening sequence there will be a colour theme of feminine colours; pinks, reds, yellows and whites. Animation will be used to create hearts and flowers. Romantic non-diegetic music will also be used and Bridget and her friends will do synchronous actions (dancing, walking etc) to the music.

Romantic Comedy Brainstorm

This is the brainstorm  of codes and conventions of a romantic comedy.

Romantic Comedy on Prezi

Genre of title sequence

My group is myself, Indya, Ryan and Fatima and we've decided to do a Romantic Comedy title sequence. 
We chose this genre because we thought it would be interesting to work with and a lot of romantic comedies conform to their codes & conventions.
Examples of title sequence of the same genre:

Evaluations of other student films

What went well in this opening sequence was the fact that the strange music matched the lighting in the building; the lighting was dull and caused an enigma code because we are left wondering why and what was going to happen. This conforms to the convention of the genre as it keeps the audience watching and waiting for more action/mystery.
An improvement would be being careful with editing and where the text is placed because at the beginning the white text is against a white background so the text became invisible. I can make my opening sequence successful by taking a few tips from this one but also avoiding making the same mistakes as them.

This groups use of editing went well throughout the sequence as it reflected the fact that this is a thriller through conforming to the conventions of this genre such as dark lighting and the props used (the rope etc). It also created a tense atmosphere. Also, thrillers often have a lot of screaming and loud noises which causes suspense. The location is a code for a thriller which makes the sequence more successful.
An improvement for them would be to be careful as the sequence could also have been a horror so the genre wasn't extremely clear. The acting used was good so to be successful I could use other students that are studying drama as actors for my sequence, just to make it look more realistic.

At the beginning of the sequence it doesn't seem like a sequence at all because the conversation looked like it is leading to more action. The use of narrating went well for this group as it represented the plot a bit more because it was hard to understand where it was going. Also, some of the shots they used were successful, such as the wide-shot with three characters and graffiti on the wall being them. This was effective because it ensured the audience knew the type of environment they were in which related to the narrative and perhaps genre. To improve it I would suggest they change the beginning as it is quite boring and seemed meaningless. To be successful I could use their creative imagination, for example, putting text on an object that seems to play a big part in the sequence. I will avoid having any parts in the sequence that seem boring and will make the audience lose interest.

Evaluation of preliminary task

Evaluation of preliminary task

The preliminary task went well because everyone in the group was able to learn something new, whether it was learning how to direct, edit the videos, cinematography or even practicing the cues of the lines. It would have been better if we had recorded some clips again as some lines had been cut off and couldn't be fixed by editing. This is beneficial for the next video task as we'll have more experience and probably won't make small mistakes. I would change some of the timing and record some clips again as they weren't all perfect. We conformed to the brief as we included the actions needed, used a match on action, 180 degree rule and a shot reverse shot. We developed some technical skills such as learning how to use Final Cut Express which enabled us to edit our video clips (cutting, adding music, fades and credits). Our video represented females as understanding, as we see the two characters talking about their feelings. However, this representation is quickly cut off when we see one character leave another in what looks like a time she needs someone to talk to. The non-diegetic soundtrack set the atmosphere but in a way the tempo and words connoted someone being on the move or doing some sort of action, however our video didn't conform to these connotations. However this was beneficial in a way as it created an enigma code; the audience was made to wonder what was going to happen next and why. 

Preliminary Task

For the preliminary task we had to create a short piece of fiction film of someone entering a room, walking, sitting down and having a conversation with someone (5 lines of dialogue). This had to include a match on action, the use of the 180 degree rule and a shot reverse shot.

180 degree rule

The 180 degree rule is a guideline when filming characters communicating. An imaginary line called the axis separates the two characters and is placed in the middle of them. The camera should always be kept on one side of the axis for every scene. This means the first character will always be frame right of the second character and the second character will then be frame left to the first character. If the camera passes the axis the rule is broken.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Title Sequence Analysis

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo">

Title Sequences

Title Sequence Work Sheet Tanisha Hutson">

Introduction to the brief

Today we were introduced to our main task, which is to create an opening of a new fiction film which will last a maximum of 2 minutes.

I feel this is an interesting task however it could be a difficult piece of work.

Script practice

Today I practiced writing scripts using the kids book, NOT NOW BERNARD.


Tanisha

Analysis of codes and conventions

I am analysing the codes and conventions of the thriller, Se7en.

During the opening sequence there are a lot of jittery jump shots. This is a technical code and is used to create a feeling of intensity. The audience doesn’t want to look away in case they miss something. The fast paced shots create a sense of panic, which there is a lot of in a thriller (technical convention).  This sense of panic is also revealed through a verbal code of white messy/scattered handwriting against a black background. These specific colours have been used because they are the complete opposite of each other and create a contrast. The white handwriting is meant to stand out to the audience and the fact that it is scattered suggests the writer was in some sort of rush or panic. It also creates mystery as the audience begins to wonder who the writer is and why their handwriting is like this. Mystery is a big convention in a thriller so this has been represented through these codes.

At the end of the opening sequence a singer sings ‘I want to be closer to God’. This is a symbolic code. It can be perceived in many ways but to me it seems as the person wants to die and be closer to God. Throughout the sequence we see a person with a razor (which is closely associated with suicide) cutting their fingers. This is clearly self harming which gives me the idea that the person wants to die. The mention of God brings a religious tone which is contradictory to the things going on in the sequence; images of people being murdered, blood splatters and self harming. This suggests something about the narrative. Is the film going to be about a battle between God and Satan? The mention of a battle brings to mind the convention of there always being a battle between the good and bad in a thriller. This is what the narrative is built on so it is very important.

Throughout the sequence the setting isn’t revealed, the person remains anonymous and it isn’t made clear what they are doing. This once again adds mystery but also implies the film is a thriller because in thrillers the most important things are left unrevealed. The audience isn’t aware of the most important thing, who a person is, so they will continue to watch the film to find out who it is. This is common in thrillers as the whole idea is to thrill the audience; to give them something they didn’t see coming.

The opening sequence uses many conventions of a thriller; dark lighting, violence, extreme close ups, use of a filter, grainy film, fast paced music, etc.