Filming (1)

Filming will take place on Sunday 30th September. It is easier to film at weekends, as the actors and I are in sixth form.

Filming Schedule for Sunday 30th September
11.30am- Drive to Luton- filming Hatter's way in car
11.50am- Stair scene, (the Mall)
12pm- ES shot of Newspaper building
12.20am- Train station scene (Leagrave train station)
1pm- Home/ Garden scenes
1.40pm- Green screen and still car scenes

I plan to film again on Sunday 7th October

Offices

I looked at offices in rom coms to see what locations I could use for that scene.

All of the above are journalism or media production offices shown in films. The journalists offices seem to be portrayed as creative, slightly messy and colourful. Whereas the more executive offices are portrayed as sleek, high end and bigger (left hand column).

However, Morning Glory office is also a bosses office, although from one angle it looks more cluttered than the other. Possibly to reflect how the female is lower down in importance than the male.

On my original storyboard, my office scene was going to be in the Executive bosses office, so therefore would have to be more minimalist.

The following photos are of possible offices I have access too:

 This perhaps has too much technology to be a journalist office, looks more like a desktop publishers workstation, or something similar, however would work if need be.

This looks more like a journalists office, however the location I need is the executives office, which would be more sleek

With some small props and set dressing, this would look like an excutives office as it is minimalist, but also, the computer is a mac, which are known for being expensive.


One problem with all these locations, is that the desk is fixed to a wall, so you cannot have one person sitting either side of it, like you would traditionally. But I don't see this as much of a problem

Props

As we are filming on location for all the shots (except green screen scenes) the background props will come with the sets.

Crutches

The main prop I need is crutches for the male, as these are central to the storyline. I have got the crutches from a friend of mine, who no longer needs them, yet still keeps them in her house, therefore lending them out is not an inconvenience to her, I have hold of them for the entirety of filming.

Green Screen
I own a green screen, so using this isn't a problem.

Car
 I have access to three cars,
Kia Sorento;
Citron C3;
Vauxhall Corsa

A young journalist would have a small car and therefore rules out the Kia as that is a 4x4. Therefore I didn't mind which of the other two cars I use, as long as I use the same one throughout. So I decided to use the Corsa as that is a little bigger and looks a more masculine and as the lead female isn't very stereotypical and so a slightly less feminine car would suit her.

Vauxhall Corsa that I am using to film

Costumes

  Below are journalist characters from rom-coms to show their costumes

27 Dresses (2007, dir. Anne Fletcher)

Runaway Bride (1999, dir. Garry Marshall)

  

The Apartment (1960, dir. Billy Wilder)

 

Down with Love (1993, dir. Peyton Reed)

From this I have deducted this males wear a casual suit, so they stil look smart, but not too smart for everyday tasks. It also depends on the loction, how smart the suit is, for example: in Runaway Bride; there are at a baseball game and Richard Gere's costume is much less formal than any of the others. In the Down with Love still, thery are at a scoial event and their costumes are the most formal. As there are no formal scenes in my trailer, I think a scruffy suit similar to James Marsden's in 27 Dresses (above left) will be appropriate  as the character has a rather laid back approach to his job and this would reflect that.

However, C.C Baxter from The apartment (left) is an insurance salesmen, but he has a similar costume to the male journalists and shows how the formality of costume can be lowered when the character is at home.

He's Just Not That Into You ( 2009 dir. Ken Kwapis )

The Devil Wears Prada (2006, dir. David Frankel )

Female costumes are more varied, and are often unstereotypical ones. Bridget Jones,

The Devil wears Prada and Confessions of a Shopaholic- these three films, the lead females costume is important to the narrative and that leads to a unstereotypical outfit. Mostly this is that journalist are known to have style, but this individual doesn't, but in the case of Confessions of a Shopaholic, Rebecca just has an eccentric fashion sense.

The stereotypical iomage of jounralist is a blouse and pencil skirt or a smart dress. But as in my trailer, the female isn't working in an office, she wouldn't have to look as smart as these in every scene, but would still remain smart. As the storyline progresses the formality of the costumes could lower as the two characters become more comfortable in each others presence.



How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days (2003, dir. Donald Petrie)

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009, dir. P.J Hogan)





Bridget Jones's Diary (2001, dir. Sharon Macguire)

The females boss which features in the trailer would wear a full suit as they are in an office environment for that scene and as the boss of a company would be the most formal of the workplace.

Also, a friend of the females features in the trailer, she would wear similar clothing to the lead character. However, as they are in a parkland at the time, they could both be wearing running clothes, which reinforces the stereotype of women caring about their health and appearance.

Characters

The characteristics of each of the two main characters are:

Female:

• Domineering
• Head strong
• Attractive
• Successful
• Workaholic
• Judgemental

Male:

• Attractive
• Annoying
• Outgoing
• Successful
• Laid back

After deciding these characteristics, I begun thinking of actors as I had already asked my peers who were comfortable to act and be filmed. I had four close friends who had offered to be in the trailer, 2 females and two males. One pair had other commitments and were unavailable to film and contact on several occasions. So I chose the other pair, who go to my school, so were considerably easier to contact.

Boss:

• Male

• Same age as other characters

• look slightly more experianced

1 female extra, best friend of lead
Stereotypical females to emphasize the unstereotypicalness of the lead female.

Change of Opening.

I have decided for the first scene to no use the one places in the school as the filming for this would be too complicated to organise (extra actors and finding the best time to shoot) and I feel this scene doesn't link to rest of the trailer. So the opening scene will be an estasblishing shot of a major road, and then cut to the inside of the car with the two actors having a conversation similar to

M: You know, not all men are horrible
F: I know not all men are horrible, but you are, and I'm stuck with you.

here, non-diegetic music will start and the Production and distribution company names will appear on a background of the major road.

Locations

Directly from my storyboard; these are the locations I will need for filming:

• Newspaper office outside
• High end office
• Parkland
• coffee shop/everyday place
• house driveway
• house doorway
• hotel bed
• tall staircase
• Different parkland to previous
• concert hall
• various roads
• various high-end places

I have access to 3 cars, two that belong to my parents and one that belongs to a friend of mine. I will investigate which car is easier to use, as all 3 are used regularly and the owners work 9-5. But to ensure continuity, whichever I use, I shall only use that one.

As the film spans a road trip across the country, the roads I will use will between urban and rural in different scenes to show they car is travelling.

 

Newspaper office outside
- 3 local newspaper offices
Risk Assessment: caution of roads and obstructing public pavements and commuters, not to disturb the workers inside

This one doesn't look like a particularly high end office, it is quite small and the 'on Sunday' part is quite prominent. If this was the office used, the Sunday part of the paper would have to be mentioned. The only way I could use this was if the females promotion was to upgrade to a more high-end paper.

This one, although looks grander than the last, isn't recognisable a newspaper office, which may cause confusion as an establishing shot.

This is better, it looks like a respectable business, and has titles on the building to show it is a media building. However, the names on the building are of local businesses and the building faces a busy crossroads, so it would be hard to find a position for the camera.

I decided to use this one as it has big newspaper names on it and is therefore recognisable, and with such a large building, I could find several places to film it from.

Office

• 

  

  Home office- too messy and 'technical'

  
  

  

  Home study- too casual, obviously in a home setting

  
  
  
  

  

  Media Bridge- looks slightly school-like, but with some set dressing would be acceptable

  
• Headteachers office
The head teacher's office would be too hard to organise since the headteacher would use it regularly, and when it is free would have to correspond with when myself and the two actors are free. This problem also applies to the media bridge, but not to the same extent.

Risk Assessment:
Headteacher's Office: respect confidentiality of paperwork inside
Home Offices: Beware surrounding space, respect confidentiality, take care with electrical equipment

Media Bridge: not to disturb other students too much, take care with electrical equipment
Parkland

I need two different park lands, and for ease, I thought the two closest park lands to my house would be acceptable to use.

Mentmore Park- simple parkland for first scene

• 

  

  Dunstable Downs- sunset could silhouette characters to juxtapose the dislike
  of each other against the romantic location

Risk Assessment: respect public using the same location, wet grass, cold weather, dog mess and litter may be a health issue. Also these location have hills so if we need to go up or down them we should take care.

Coffee shop/everyday place

This is the cutaway where we see the male acting like a ladies man, a coffee shop is rather sophisticated and would represent where a journalist would be

Risk Assesment: respect public, beware of glassware and other people

Concert Hall

I may not need an actual concert hall for this, as I could simply find a similar type of wall found in concert halls and use DJ light equipment to make the effect. I think a plain wall would be satisfactory here. I have a friend who is a DJ and has the necessary lights to make this scene look effective.

Risk Assesment: careful of electricity and cables for lights, other obstacles depending where the wall is

House

To give the impression that the male is quite wealthy and has a nice life, the house should be reasonably middle class. Perhaps if I use a friends house from a village, it may seem more high-end; however as she is just starting out, the lead character wouldn't have too much money. stereotypically she would own an apartment, but I don't have access to any.

Risk Assessment: privacy, breakable items, usual household risks

The Mall, Luton- staircase (indoors)

Tall staircase
background must give an impression of a hotel, or gig venue- not a house or school. The stairs must also seem inaccessible to the male who is on crutches

• hat factory, Luton 

•  The Mall, Luton

I have decided to use The Mall, as these are public and wouldn't require permission for it.

Risk Assessment: beware of tripping on stairs, not to obstruct public



Roads


A41

Hatters Way

These must be mixture of urban and rural to show progression of time, to show crossing the country. However the majority of long journeys is spent on major roads, and for any of those scenes I have decided to use the Leighton Buzzard bypass, as there are many footbridges and laybys to film in, it looks like a motorway, but isn't as dangerous as one. To make it safer, we will film the scenes that happen whilst driving, on a green screen and add the moving road in post-production. For ease, I will also film from the car along Hatters Way, Luton as this road looks similar and it is en-route to another filming location.

Risk Assessment: film on bridges when possible so am out the way of cars, keep aware of surroundings if near to cars. When filming from inside the car, hold camera tightly, to keep camera inside the car to not damage eqiupment or distract other drivers.

Train Station
I thought the character could first meet at a train station, as this is an iconic location within rom coms and emphases that they don't previously know each other. I wanted a small, pretty train station, as these are found more in 'posher' places, which is where the female character lives. Possible train stations are:

Luton: This station is quite busy and doesn't look particularly attractive, so I decided I shouldn't use this one.

 Cheddington: This is obvious it is a train station, and is small like I wanted, however it is reasonably far away away and still doesn't look as attractive as I want.
Leagrave: Although this is slightly less obvious it is a train station, I like this one the best, if I think the audience is unable to tell whether it is a train station or not, I could always do an Establishing shot of the National Rail sign.

Risk Assessment: stay away from train tracks, not to obstruct public or to inconvience the train station, if possible go at a not busy time to have less of an impact on the public

Various high end places

Journalist stereotypically go to coffee houses, bars and fairly cultured or unique places. This must be reflected in the locations used in my trailer, although the backgrounds aren't important in these short clips, they are needed.

Cafe Setting
Risk Assessment: litter, privacy of other
 students and staff, go at a quiet period to
inconvience people the least

Clock Tower
Risk Assessment: litter may be an issue and should be remived from the shot. Also, I should try to inconvience the public as little as possible

Parkland (Gardens)
Risk Assessment: take care for wildlife, litter and other obstacles,
also note cold weather could be a health concern.

Also for road trips, hotels and accommodation would be shown, for this I aim to use bedrooms of friends and family which look like hotel rooms, as this would be simpler than booking a hotel and gives the same effect.
Risk Assessment: note peoples privacy and to respect the setting

 

Photos are either from Google Map Streetview or are my own photos

Plan

After much trouble coming up with a storyline for my film trailer, with some help, I have decided on one storyline, but will have several different ideas of what to put into the trailer.

Storyline:
Both male & female character go to same high school girl is unpopular and a loner, male is popular and surrounded by friends. Several years later Female and male work for competitive newspapers, attempting a collaboration both are assigned the same story to do together (the story for both is the 'big one' in terms of promotion: editors role) They have to get the latest scoop on the new band who will be touring up and down the country. The female & male couple go on a road trip to find the scoop. Half way through, the male gets too drunk on a late night out and arrives with a broken leg. He becomes entirely dependant on her, as they struggle to get through their story and not fall for each other.

Opening of trailer
idea 1)

• open with an establishing shot of a school location
• MLS of a girl walking alone through the busy school
• group of jocks mocking her from afar

idea 2)

• Establishing shot of a car driving down a main road, isolated
• OTS of male character dialogue 'You know not all men are like this'
• reverse shot of female- dialogue 'I highly doubt it'

Next I will have the production and disruption company credits. I will show these by showing a car driving down an empty road (similar to the opening shot in idea 2) and the names of both companies appearing after it.

After that:

• an Establishing shot of a newspaper production building
• MS of a boss (male, old, experienced)  dialogue: 'You have a chance to be editor in chief'
• over the shoulder shot of female looking excited 'I won't let you down'
• Female and other friend walking through a park. Friend says 'So you have to follow the band, with a representative from the rival company? for 6 weeks?'
• cutaway to male character receiving a phone number off a girl
• cut back to female and friend. female says 'shouldn't be too hard'
• Long shot of two main characters standing either side of the car packed for trip. Male is on crutches.
• CU of female displeased 'you're kidding'
• MS of females boss on the phone 'You don't do this well, you don't get the job'
• MCU of female 'If you're going to be difficult- this is going to be a long 6 weeks'
• LS of female falling onto a (hotel) bed in frustration
• [upbeat music start montage of clips]
• CU of male trying to reach something
• two shot- female walks past struggling male
• LS of male and female standing either side at the bottom of a tall staircase
• XLS of female storming away from male on a hillside
• two shot of both characters standing right at the back of a concert for the band
• LS of the rest of the crowd enjoying themselves in front
• [montage music gets a little softer]
• OTS of female driving 'I wasn't good around people as a kid'
• MLS of female helping male up from the floor
• MS of female look smitten
• MCU of male smiling whilst closing boot of the car
• CU of couple leaning in together
• 'In cinemas soon' screen
• MS of female slapping male

Here is a rough visual representation of the scenes described above.

Possible storylines

girl focuses on studies, stressed about getting into Oxbridge she has a busy family life and her brothers friend stays at her house for a while, he's different and distracting, but nice. she argues and bickers with him. But then he suddenly has to leave, and she becomes more stressed than ever. (She?) goes to find him, whilst throwing away a huge academic chance. and they live happily ever after :)

girl looking to the future, cant wait to be a mother and have children, this charming, innocent, sweet boy stumbles into her life and they become friends. He is on the run from (?) she finds out and they argue and he leaves to do the right thing. Whilst he is away, she misses him and seeks out to find him and does.

Scene research

One scene which is a convention of romantic comedies and is very often present in the trailer, is a scene with the best friend(s) of the lead female, discussing the lead male. This usually takes place in a stereotypical female setting.

Another scene that is included in romantic comedies that involve the workplace, is the lead character will have a conversation with their boss, in their office, usually to discuss a promotion of some sort. I shall analyse this scene too.

Target Audience and Representation

As they can also be referred to as 'chick flicks', the stereotypical target audience for romantic comedies is young women.  The films play up to this audience, as a stereotype of women states they are obsessed with relationships and this reinforces why they watch films about relationships and very often portraying the film from the women's perspective. The characters in the films are often young, so this makes the audience feel more connected to the characters and making them feel more realistic. However, this means an unstereotypical female is less likely to watch romantic comedies as they are not obsessed with relationships.

Other stereotypes of women are:

• Weak
• Attractive
• Kind
• Part of a group (family, friends, work)
• Passive
• Emotional
• Obsessive over relationships

Using the uses and gratification model (Blumler and Katz) states the reason why we may consume certain media:

• Information
• Personal Identity
• Social Interaction
• Entertainment

Relating this to romantic comedies, females may watch it to compare themselves to the characters or see them as role models. (personal identity) Personal identity also includes finding reinforcement for current values if they are present in the media.

• They may also use it as social interaction, as romantic comedies are social films with people in different social situations, and therefore could be a substitute of real company for some of the audience.
• They could also be watched for general information about social situations, dating and similar things as they are an accessible media that covers all these topics.
• People are less likely to watch romantic comedies for entertainment as they are realistic films and therefore do not offer much in escapism, compared to a genre like Fantasy for example.

Storylines

There is a basic storyline that can be applied to all basic rom coms, and is found in many popular and mainstream rom coms. Some examples are:

50 first Dates (2004, dir. Peter Segal)

Made of Honour (2008, dir. Paul Weiland)

When Harry Met Sally (1989, dir. Rob Reiner)

Notting Hill (1999, dir. Roger Mitchel)

Ugly Truth (2009, dir. Robert Luketic)

Four Weddings + a funeral
(1994, dir. Mike Newell)

Basic narrative:

• man and woman meet with no romantic feelings for each other- however the filmmakers leave clues that they should have feelings for each other, these characters may bicker and argue throughout the film
•  Whilst the two characters are separated due to a predicament; they realise they have feelings for each other
• One character will attempt to find the other and declare their love in some sort of grand gesture that makes references to previous parts of the film

This narrative ties into Todorov's theory of equilibrium.

• The equilibrium is the two characters not liking each other, 
• then a disruption will happen, the details of which will vary on the film, but often a disagreement or a secret will surface. 
• But ultimately, the final equilibrium is the happy ending. 

Putting this into the context of a film such as When Harry met Sally: they meet, aren't even friends, and continue meeting and becoming friends; this is the equilibrium. The disruption occurs when they have sex and separate from seeing each other, which is where they discover they have feelings for one another. Then the grand gesture on New Years where they declare their love for each other.

However I think the films that simply stick to this storyline, can be quite boring. Some of the more interesting rom coms have another aspect within the storyline of the film. These examples would be:
Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010, dir. Edgar Wright)

Easy A (2010, dir. Will Gluck)

(500) Days of Summer (2009, dir. Marc Webb)

Scott Pilgrim, is a hybrid of a romantic comedy with the action genre. This does mean the plot line is more of that of an action film opposed to a rom com plot line, where 'getting the girl' is seen as the ultimate goal. Choosing this technique would be going against conventions as not many films use a typical plot line from another genre.

Easy A is a less obvious hybrid however the typical rom com storyline is still more of a sub plot to the actual storyline. This may because Easy A is aimed at teenagers and therefore the majority of the plot is centred around High School and 'surviving' High School. making it a typical 'teen movie'. But also in Easy A, the main plot line is centred around unconventional romance too, making many ties with 'The Scarlett Letter' by Hester Prynne.

(500) Days of Summer is a hybrid of a rom com and a drama. This may be why it has a unique storyline also; however, it is hard to summarise the storyline in (500) Days of Summer, as it is shown in a non-linear sequence, skipping between certain days whilst Tom and Summer are in love. Another difference about (500) Days of Summer and typical rom coms, is that the two main characters in the film, don't end up together, which is used more often in drama films. This film is still seen as mainly a rom com, and with that, has targeted a more niche audience.

So, in conclusion from analysing these three films, perhaps adding elements of another genre may make the film more interesting, as it may be a combination not done before; however there are also many successful rom coms that simply use the traditional storyline.

http://www.filmbug.com/dictionary/romantic-comedies.php