WALTON HALL (WAKEFIELD)
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Filming :)
Filmed most of the film yesterday at our chosen location for the film: Walton Hall. It was very scenic and I've managed to get some fantastic shots. Lucy Royds and Alex Copley (Arthur and Jenny) kindly came along and filmed with me for the day. We had some last minute script changes and added in some new shots but apart from that the filming went very smoothly and was lots of fun. I began editing some of the scenes today in class and adding transitions to some of the scenes. Hopefully, I'll be able to post what we have so far by the end of this week.
WALTON HALL (WAKEFIELD)
Jake :)
WALTON HALL (WAKEFIELD)
Our magazine front cover as it is now
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Planning: Story Board
This is the animatic that we have done for our film 'Second Life'. It shows how our movie will hopefully look when we have completed filming. It shows shots of our storyboard and includes music that we may use in our film.
Tetxual Analysis : Blue Romance (short film )
‘Blue Romance’ is a short film that uses the conventions associated with the romantic comedy genre.
As the titles roll we are introduced to two characters who are sat on a park bench. This is a stereotypical ‘romantic’ setting which reminds us of the films genre and narrative, also the initially windy, miserable weather connotes their relationship state and their emotions. We are informed via the characters southern accents that the film is set in the south of England. At one point, the dialogue centres around an embarrassing topic that adds comedy to the film and reflects the characters immaturity/childish nature. A low angle shot is used to connote the lower status of the female protagonist – this suggests to the audience that something is bothering her and this something makes her different to the other characters. Pathetic Fallacy is also used to show the change in the characters mood: when they are sat on the bench having a friendly exchange, the weather changes and becomes bright and sunny. A commonly used convention of the romance genre is the use of close ups to show characters thoughts and emotions. A close up is used to connote the characters affections when the two eventually hold hands, this also links back to the romance genre. Romantic comedies usually end with the two protagonists getting together and kissing for the first time and this is used in ‘Blue Romance’. This resolves the central romantic relationship in the film and informs the audience that the two characters are likely to have a relationship.
Textual Analysis :Hopeless Romatic (short film)
Hopeless Romantic’ is a short film which uses the conventions of the romantic comedy genre. It centres around a teenage boy’s infatuation with a girl and how he tries to change himself in order to become more appealing to her.
As the titles roll, we hear a simple piano melody, this connotes romance and also has a sombre feel – this gives the audience insight into the upcoming events of the film. We are then introduced to our protagonist: Greg. We recognise him as our protagonist as he is the first character we are introduced to and he is the narrator throughout (voiceover). Greg speaks with a American accent which informs the audience that the film is set in the USA. When we are introduced to the character of Ryan, the music changes to heavy rock/metal, which connotes his dominant/intimidating persona and rebellious personality. This is also reflected by the fact he is wearing black and Greg is shown looking up to him via a high angle shot. We see Greg’s reaction to this through extreme close ups – this adds comedy to the film and clearly shows us the characters thoughts and emotions. A camera shot is used featuring all 3 characters positioned in a triangle and Greg in the background – this connotes the classic ‘love triangle’ narrative and shows how Greg is looking in on Angela and Ryan’s relationship. Later on in the film, intertextuality is featured as a reference to the classic movie ‘Rocky’ is shown when Greg is working on his physique for Angela, this also connotes how Greg is trying to imitate Ryan and looks up to him. When Greg eventually musters up the courage to approach Angela, his emotional state is shown through a slow motion, POV shot. This has dreamlike/fairytale connotations and shows Greg’s nerves, thus making us empathise with his character. We then have a sudden narrative shift as Greg is hit by a speeding vehicle and the music abruptly stops. Although this is a serious/morbid situation, we the audience are amused by it as we are constantly being talked though the narrative by Greg, who makes the situation embarrassing rather than a serious disaster.
The moral of the film is ‘don’t become somebody your not’, this is similar to our moral projected through our short film. At the end of the film, Angela smiles affectionately at Greg, suggesting that there could be romance between the two after all, thus resolving the central romantic plot.
Narrative Ideas
The plot for our short film is centred around a date between two ‘nerdy’ teenagers, who arrange to meet via the internet. The film shows the male protagonist getting ready in various comedy outfits and when finally deciding he goes to meet his 1st date for a meal were various unfortunate events occur:
Loud violinist, who ruins the scene
He spills drinks on her
Lady and the tramp intersexuality but instead they start fighting over the pasta
She kicks him under the chair
However after an eventful first date they discover they are similar people and share the same interests and hobbies. The film ends with the audience and characters realising that there is romance between the two. This communicates the underlying message: ‘do not judge a book by it’s cover’
Example of short films
"I heart you 2010"
a sweet romantic black comedy following Chris' journey through the seven stages of grief when his long-term girlfriend dumps him. It's up to his best friend Mark to guide him through the memories and fantasies that built up Chris' relationship.
‘Two Burglars and a Ballerina’ (2006)
A crime caper about one man's desire to woo the girl of his dream's and teach his double crossing partner in crime a lesson for life.
Short film Distributors
Silly Wee Films is a distinct video production and film-making company based in Glasgow. It was formed in 2005 by Fraser Coull, it has progressed into a successful production company, looking after and managing corporate and promotional videos for various high-end companies. It produces a variety of different projects including short films and music videos.
Also Surrealist Studios is another British independent short film company. Everybody who is part of Surrealist Studios is a young person
Intertexuality
Intertextuality is the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can refer to an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another.
Famous moments in films are often parodied in others. The ‘Shrek’ series often does this. It takes famous scenes out of films such as: ‘Spiderman’ and ‘The Matrix’ and makes reference to them. This is an example of intertextuality
Other famous scenes from films are often referenced to in other texts – they tend to be either romantic or horror moments.
Genre and Gender
The romance genre (woman’s film) whether in novel, television or film form, will work with narratives whose starting point will often be the arrival into the life of the female hero of a male who interests her romantically. The narrative will often proceed by means of intimate conversations and encounters, coincidences, mistakes and so on, delaying and thus intensifying the audiences desire for the couple to ‘get together’ and usually ending happily in terms of the central, romantic relationship.
At the level of the audiovisual, romance has particular traditions: lavish clothes and domestic settings; much greater use of close ups, especially focused on the eyes; certain styles of intimate acting & dialogue; use of female actors in strong roles; all amplified by a particular kind of music: sweeping chords, piano and string sections of the orchestra.
What makes a Romantic Comedy
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Some of the most successful romantic comedies include: ‘P.S I Love You’, ‘Notting Hill’, ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Bridget Jones’. Romantic Comedies are typically aimed at young females and teenagers. This genre is one of the most popular for short film narratives as it has a large audience and strong moralistic points. The ending of a romantic comedy is meant to affirm the primary importance of the love relationship in its protagonists' lives, even if they physically separate in the end The screenwriters leave clues that suggest that the characters are, in fact, attracted to each other and that they would be a good love match. The basic plot of a romantic comedy is that two protagonists, usually a man and a woman, meet, part ways due to an argument or other obstacle, then ultimately reunite.
Romantic comedy films (abbreviated as rom coms) are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as a true love
Basic facts on short films
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Short films can receive prestigious awards such as BAFTAs, Academy Awards and Golden Globes. One of the major short film competitions is ‘Yale Bulldog’ competition. Actors and crews still choose to create short films as alternative form of expression. Short films are often popular as first steps into the cinematic art among young filmmakers. They rely on festival and art house exhibition to achieve public display. Short films often focus on difficult topics which longer, more commercial films usually avoid.
Proposal: who are our audience and what we want to achieve
Our main target audience are teenagers and young adults/couples (13 – 21) as the romantic comedy genre is most popular among this age group. Our piece is aimed at both males and females as our two protagonists have equal roles within the film. In some ways we are trying to appeal to the mass audience by focusing our narrative on the mainstream idea of a male/female romance, however as a short film, it will be unlikely to reach a mass audience so we will aim to create an intriguing film which will interest the niche group of film enthusiasts who attend film festivals.
We want to communicate the message that appearances are unimportant and we want our film to embody the saying: “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. We also want to produce a professional piece of work, with good camera work and editing and achieve the right balance between comedy and moralistic elements in our piece.
Proposal :which film genre and why ?
We have chosen to film a romantic comedy as we had immediate ideas for the narrative and while researching found a lack of romantic comedies in the short film genre. Also, we wanted to explore a different genre from our AS piece as we studied the antithetical genre of horror.
Proposal: why short film?
We have decided to produce a short film as there is such a wide variety of genres to choose from, it also gives us the chance to construct a British feel which we find appealing. Also, as two students who study drama, we wanted to produce a piece where we would be able to write and direct to gain experience in these fields. We really enjoyed filming our AS practical piece and discovered that we had the ideas and potential to make a much longer piece of film thus making short film the obvious choice for us. We will also create an additional film poster and DVD cover.
Getting started ..
Ive have had some difficulty getting onto blogger but now finally up and running this should give you an insight to the research and my progress onto completing my short film project. I am also working with Eleni Gerolymbou and we both do the research, creating ideas and filming together.
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