Questionaire Sample

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Pitch 1 : Blind Date (main idea)

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Jane is looking for love and can’t seem to find it anywhere; she sets herself up on a dating website hoping to find Mr right on there. She gets a few messages on the website and decides to set up dates with the three men she is most matched to but they are all Mr Wrong. She tells them all to meet her at the same place on different days of the week We get to see through Jane’s view how all the dates go and she narrates us through them with her thoughts, we get to know what she feels about their looks, dress sense, personality and most importantly to Jane the mans sparkling eyes. All of Jane’s dates are flops and after the fourth date she decides she is done with looking for love and sits in the café/bar with her head held in her hands. Just as she says these words the cute new waiter comes over to offer her another drink, he asks Jane why she looks so down and as Jane sits and tells him the chemistry can be clearly seen. When the waiter, Joe, asks Jane on a date the next day Jane thinks he is taking pity on her but as she finds out on the date, they really fall for each other. Jane’s moral is that if you stop looking for love, love will find you.

Pitch 2 : Love triangle

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Pitch 3 : Down on one knee

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Pitch 4 : Beauty and Geek

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Box office

Romantic comedies (which comes under comedies on the UK film council table) was the highest in the box office charts in Ireland and UK in 2008. The top scoring films was Sex an the City. Rom - coms made around 222.4 (£ million) in the box office selling tickets. They also released the most films that year out of all the genres showing there is a demand for them in the cinema. Romantic comedies takes up 23.8% of the gross of box office (Purple). Some of the films that take up the top twenty UK films in the UK box office from 1999 - 2008 are romantic comedies e.g. at number 11. Bridget Jones's Diary, 13 Love Actually, 15. Bridget Jones's: The Edge of Reason, 17 Notting Hill. These are the films that if you ask what films are romantic comedies most would say the names of these films. I the All time top 10 independent UK films the highest film was Four Weddings and a Funeral which is a romantic comedy. This shows what a high demand romantic comedies are this also show that romantic comedies do better in the independent film category than at the box office this could be because it is simple and do not have all the dramatic effect of script that Hollywood use and the audience can connect with the film.

Thematic Convention

thematic conventions is something that is in every romantic comedy. there are different thematic cenventions which are like messages and morals learned in the film.

some examples

- love can conquer all this could be used in a sad romantic comedy or in a happy one.
e.g. sad - a partner has died find love in his best friend
e.g. happy - a woman happy working but finds love while grocery shopping

- self belief finding strength and gaining confidence through love long term or short term romance.
e.g. shy girl who was bullied has no confidence finds love at new job and gains confidence

- meaning of love finding out that love is fun, laughter, pain, tears, romance and unpredictable.
e.g. someone who thinks love is for young people finds love from someone who is not her type makes her feel young again

Narrative Conventions

THE NARRATIVE CAN BE BASED UPON SEVERAL SENARIOS

> Man and woman overcoming difficulties and coming together at the end. (with each other, death of a loved one)

> Happy Ending - whether man and woman get together
- or they find themselves with help of each other but do not remain together

> journey of love (marriage, family, heartache) the audience follows the characters journey and see how they develop as a person

> love story main focus

> the characters you may see: Divorce, Bachelor, Lads lad, Feminist, Quiet one, Loud outspoken, Posh and Common. this helps the story ne more belivable or more dream like they help define what the story is about or change how a person may react to a situation or a comment.

> Tears - Park meeting
- Wedding
- Heartbreak
- Birth of new child
- Divorce

Generic Conventions

WHAT YOU FIND IN THE ROMANTIC COMEDY GENRE

- Day and night
- Real life
- Girl meets boy
- Beautiful people (who may be made up to look ugly)
- Man and woman sharply defined
- Contrast between leading characters (poor and rich, celebrity and non celebrity, football fan and rugby fan, culture)
- Sometimes a male point of view mainly female
- Empathy, Sympathy of Characters
- Passion and emotion
- Leading lady, leading man
- Love

Cinematic codes and conventions

* Rain when characters are sad, the rain is tears of the person or to wash away the pain. It could also be used when a character has over come something to wash away the old them to begin a new life.

* Leaves falling when meeting could represent shedding of old life ready to begin new one.

* Time slowing down when seeing an ex or the person they love. If it is seeing the person they love could show the fact the world is going on even though they are stood still.

12A Guidelines

12A is only used for films in cinemas. This means that those younger than twelve can watch the film if accompanied by an adult.

In a 12A there are mature themes like love and sex which may be implied by sexual references. there maybe nudity but it is concise. Sexual activity maybe brief and discreet which gives the impression of what maybe going to happen.

There is strong language but not a lot. Violence can be used but has to have a short scene there should not be much blood or showing of any injuries in detail. Sexual violence must only be implied but if shown it must be short.

There maybe a misuse of drugs may have a brief showing or hinted at the idea of drug use.

E.g of what you may see on a romantic comedy

" contains moderate strong, language, drug and sex references"

"contains moderate sex references and language with maybe some partial nudity"

"contains sexual activity/innuendo"

"contains mild language and sexual references"

12A has the second highest amount of releases in the BBFC classification with 150 releases last year where as the 15 age rating coming on top with 193 releases. There has been a gentle rises in the amount of 12A releases in the UK and Ireland since 2007. 12A has been a top earner between 2001 - 2008 in the box office despite the lower releases than "15" . In the top 10 "12A" classified films Four Christmas came 9th in the chart.

continuity piece

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_zbZ8mOuuo

storyboard

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Analysis of The bourne identity

Begins with a stormy sea there is an outline of a body long shot from underneath, we don't know if the body is dead or unconscious. It is dark with shadows to show danger or an accident. Long shot to establish where the beginning of the film is. Then there is invisible editing to the men on the boat close up, i think it is edited this way to show how close the two are to each other. There is narrative a at the bottom of the screen which tell you the current location is, this could be because they move around the world with various locations. The title words fade in and out like a jumbled up puzzle that has to be solved, so it may be a clue to the movie that there are unsolved questions. Slow movements as they investigate whats out side, the camera may be slow to show the reservation to what might be out there. There are medium shot of the men on the boat. There is a close up of the man in the waters body and the other man as he pulls the bullets out. Dialogue is only used for the inside of the boat, the outside is quiet except for the storm, this could show the isolation of the crew to the outside world.
The mise en scene on the boat was the nets, fishing rods, fishing hooks in a box, table big enough to hold a big fish or a table. Music dark horns that build up the tension that builds up to a crescendo then stops as the men jumps out. There is only diagetic sound, boats rocking sound, storm, walking, electric of information bullet and sea. They use shadows to create tension and make tension and confuse the audience. They use a typical convention in a Thriller which is when there is a body and we are unsure if it is dead or alive someone turn s their back looks back again and the body was gone and then jumps on the person, this is effective because the audience leans into the screen and jumps this gets the heart racing and feel more part of the movie.The dialogue also helps show the mystery and confusion of the man who is American and the fishermen who do not speak very good English, show how far away from home he maybe.

Analysis of Cradle to the grave

The music is an organ with the WB (Warner Brother) sign so makes the audience try and predict what the film is about and somewhat confused. It begins with an establishing shot slowly zooming into the car and then switches to a train, this tells me they play a major part in the film. The two locations dark underground train line for where the scene of the crime is happening. The upstairs was where the distraction was happening away from the crime. This shows a contrast between the innocence of those upstairs unknown to the crime underground. The music is fast to create tension and anticipation to see what the crime is e.g robbery, kidnap or heist it then changes to music with the feeling on a faster heart beat as the action is coming closer. There is the minimal amount of dialogue but what you see on the screen tells you what is happening. There is a medium shot of a man coming out of at he train, medium close up of him looking in the direct of where the line points and then pans right to show him meet up with someone else and put on the bag. Switch to close up of Diamond Exchange sign and a close up of hand going up through security measures. The film then introduces other characters in the film The title follows the men underground like a map mapping out the route they had planned prior to the robbery. low angle shot of a house and then a medium shot of a man looking out the window on the phone to one of those that is in the robbery, the outside is in the hills so not the built up area where the robbery is, so it show he has a higher status than the man at the robbery. Invisible Editing to make it seem real also it may show how smooth and seamless the plan is. Pan down onto to a man in a car. Over shoulder shot of man looking in the mirror listening in, audience clueless to who he is. Sunglasses on his face makes him mysterious to he is.
The mise en scene of the underground is train track, signs, electrical cable, bag , rope and ladder. Upper ground diamonds, lockers, camera, table, TV screen, plants, highly furnished and security. There is a contrast between below and above how to worlds could be so different yet so close.

Continuity 1min film

We firstly sat down and thought of an idea to put on a storyboard, with a location easy to find on campus and drawing it to look exact how the camera angles should look on screen. We then had to find people to act in the film and find a location on college campus that can shoot the thing in our storyboard. We then shot the film and paused it when moving the camera about bearing in mind the 180 degree rule. Then watched it back.
Our comments about the first film was it was missing the shot reverse shot which was one of the requirements of the continuity film. Also needed to improve match on action so that it runs smoothly. One plus is that we grasped the 180 degree rule.
We need to re shoot, make sure we do a smoother match on action and add a shot reverse shot.
On the second shoot of our film we re drew out our story board. We also went through a run through before filming and took what we needed to improve and think of ways it can be improved. We smoothed out the match on action by only using the one door instead of both so it was therefore easier to move the camera around and to make sure the match on action matched. We also included a shot reverse shot.

Analysis Bride Wars

The opening sequence begins with non diagetic up-tempo music, an organ which could represent an organ to the wedding entrance. The title "Bride Wars" is written in curly calligraphy writing like you find on wedding invitations and wedding stationary. Behind the title there are extreme close ups of different things associated with weddings you can only see the hands of those moving and picking up the things. The camera slowly pans left and then pans right, with the sequence edited so that the things on the screen fades in and out. This makes it seem dream like like someone wishes to have all these things, to have a dream wedding or like a shopping list for wedding stuff. The hand is a child hand so they could be therefore looking at things from their parents wedding or things they have collected from weddings they have been to.
The camera freezes and zooms in and out of the picture. the mise en scene is whit table cloth material, photos of past weddings, flowers, wedding cake topper of bride and groom and a attic decorated to look like a wedding. This and the title tells us it is going to be based on weddings. The little girls are dressed up to look like a bride and groom this is an introduction to the main characters and that this is their fantasy. There is invisible editing so therefore it is based on real life. The lighting is dark to show they are in the attic but at the hotel there is a contrast of bright lights and bright colours.

They use special effects in the photo frame around the picture stills. This shows the girl may be looking at recent photos or looking back on the past from the present. They use visual imagery of the movement of the stills to look like flipping through the pictures. The camera looks like camcorder so they could be watching back old home videos.
There is a real bride and groom in which they look on in awe it could be where the fascination with weddings came from because they use the blue hair clip when the girls are playing wedding and how they found it at a wedding off the bride. It then brings us straight to the future when they are grown up with a sweep of a wedding dress edited to look as if wedding dress is changing the screen. To show them at the place they love a wedding.

Tools for Analysis

* mise en scene - lighting

costume

set design

location / studio

* editing

* camera angles

* continuity

* verisimilitude

* special effects

* sound - diagetic, non-diagetic

Codes and conventions of Romantic Comedies

Romantic comedies always has light music and light settings even at night it is always lit up by street lights or Christmas lights. They mainly use seasons and weather, seasons such as winter to create the Christmas holidays, autumn for walks in the park when the leaves are falling. They always feature landscapes such as parks, shopping street from an Aeriel view, hills and valleys. Rom - coms are always Boy meets Girl either through mutual friends or by accident. They may meet at a coffee shop, bookshop or library, in front of a store in the park when walking their dogs. The camera angles used are establishing shots e.g. show difference of the two people, long shot e.g. weddings, close up e.g. emotions of a person, medium close up e.g. to show closeness of two people, medium shot e.g. to see a person body movements for example nervous playing with fingers. The storylines are predictable but they play on the viewers emotions making them feel as thought their the main character dealing with the heart break or the love, they make you laugh for example a crazy uncle at a wedding. There is usually a contrast between the two people lives e.g. rich and poor or come from two different countries. The two characters always share a similarity whether love of books or dogs.

Codes and Conventions of a horror

Horror films are always dark they contain much more blood and gore than a thriller. they play on the viewers mind to make them feel jumpy or feel as though what is going on is happening to them. They are similar to thrillers because they use suspense and tension to help draw the viewer into the film. Some use believable locations such as a house, graveyard, out of use building or a woods etc these help the viewer believe what is going on is real or could happen. The storyline changes with the different Horror films some may use begin with the present and use flashbacks to re tell the story or cut the story up and tell bits and pieces throughout various sequels. Some may not tell you the beginning and go backed to the start at the end of the movie and explains why. Horror uses music more than thriller for example silence can create tension in a horror then the music may come in and build up to a crescendo in which the action may happen. Victims in a horror film you can always tell in a horror film who is likely to be killed e.g. a girl walks into a cursed house the audience will know something is going to happen to her. Horror uses the weather something is more likely to happen if there is bad weather than on a clear day. They also use day and night to create atmosphere more bad things happen at night than in the day but sometimes that rule can be broken e.g. grudge 2 the girl at daytime in telephone box. Horror may use everyday props to play on the audiences mind for example phone, rope, bath tub, TV, bed, roller coasters things you can find all around you. To show a flashback or the past they may use black or white or sepia to show the difference they may use more echo so it sounds far away and distant. The camera plays a big part it is audiences eyes looking into action or is a point of view of character when the audience wants to look around e.g. a scream is hear the camera pans right on the door fast then slowly pans left then pans right again and a shadow is there, this creates tension for the character and also for the audience.

Codes and Conventions of Thriller

The codes and conventions of a thriller is that they always use suspense and tension to draw the viewer into the film, they do this through the music and the non digetic sounds they also use slow camera angles to show tension between the to characters. They piece the storyline like a jigsaw so you know bits and pieces so you don’t know why something is happening but in the end it makes sense. A Thriller film always begins with cutting into the storyline and the beginning is told through back tracking so you know what happened from the start. The lighting is brighter than a horror films and has less gore. Thrillers use the unknown e.g. you may hear the sounds and the see the body after your mind ma presume that the person has been attack or is dead. Thrillers play on that thought an may let a character look at the body look away and there is no body and the body may surprise the person from behind, this makes the viewer jump. The use of shadows in a film especially in fight scenes to hide others or the person they are frightening, shadows are also used to represent danger because thrillers are lighter than horrors when you see the lighting change from light to dark you know there is danger. Thriller are usually set inner city or foreign places if it is a SC-fi thriller another planet but the verisimilitude helps keep it really so the audience still feel part of the movie.