Genre identification - pitch

the genre can be identified through the opening sequence because it is talking about romance and dealing with relationships. there is no blood and gore and there is no edge of the sit action tension.

Structure - pitch

* begins by checking her appearance in a mirror whilst legging on to dating website
* see her typing on the computer. camera becomes her eyes and we see what she is looking at a word document full of work - switched to retail site - switched to dating website
* overlappping screen where we see her replying to match request and the actual dat is playing on top
* last date doesn't show up (screen returns to proper focus) and we can shes given up trying to find Mr right
* then we are introduced to Joe, who is the waiter and comes and gives her a drink on the house
* we see them hitting it off and the camera zooms out and we leave the story


some changes had to be made

Locations - pitch

office or place with computers to recreate office

restaurant , cafe or bar for dates


(pictures not of actual locations)

no restaurant

Characters - pitch

name : jane
age : 24
personality: perfectionist - does not like a thing out of place make up and hair
hardworker - works to maintain a good image and always wants to achieve best
self control/responsible - never gets drunk or had a one night stad. never daring or wild
peseverance- persistant to find perfect love partner always has to check date website
routine - without routine she feels unstable and fears the unknown
likes : romantic candlight dinners
books - romance
expensive stuff
dislikes : uncleanliness
appearance : smartly dresses, minimal make up never out of place
job : office job only temperoy till she gets her nice rich husband to look after her which she becomes a housewife

Had to be edited out

name : joe
age : 25
personality: risk taker - hates routine has no fear for the unknown
loyal - always there whenever you need him even though likes taking risks
initiative - ready to lead things and know what a person wants even if dares them
independant- does not do what everyone tells him free spirit
easy going - likes to have a laugh takes life one step at a time
likes : adventure - rock climbing
going around the world exploring
coming unknown where to stay
dislikes : routine and rules
appearance : ungroomed
rough look - still attractive
job : instructor at local adventure centre/ barman


man 1 : teacher : boring reels off useless facts and always has to have the limelight and corrects mistakes you may make.

man 2 : holiday rep: he said he was a rich footballer talks about nothing but sports

man 3 : everything she wanted but never turned up so jane never found out

Questionaire analysis

from the questionnaire results we found out that most people watch romantic comedies. they prefer fun and happiness in a romantic comedy. they also would like to see love and a happy ending. so they prefer lighter romantic comedies than one with serious issues. more people preferred comedy than romance but people still want to see romance. the people we asked prefer to relate to the film more than escape so they can connect and feel empathy and sympathy towards the characters. the audience would like to see a comedian someone who doesn't take themselves seriously. they would then like to see someone who is wild and free knows how to have a good time. most chose not to have the main characters to be closer to their age to relate to then because they may feel they can relate to them if they were older so then it can deal with more serious issues. they may stereotype if younger characters. the people who took the questionnaire preferred to be surprised by the storyline and not have a obvious storyline which is predictable. the most popular romantic comedies is the classic (e.g. pretty woman 1990) which uses more cliche of romantic comedies and has lots of thematic comedies. more people preferred not to have a happy ending, maybe because it is so predictable.

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.