End of term summary

End of Term Summery to show our progress

Genre Research - Romance

Romance movies were known to be films based on passion, emotion and affection of the main characters which is usually a man and a woman and the story of their marriage/relationship.  Romance films are known to be 'love strories'.  those are examples of stereo typical romance movie narratives.
Not all Romance films are about the opposite sex. There is a history of romance films about the same sex couples.

(2010)

 (1957)

Sub Genres -
There are different types of Romance movies for example:
Chick Flicks
Romantic Comedies
Romantic Thrillers

Romance movies tend to appeal more to females.  they are often dramatic and full of romance.
Many females feel that they can relate to one of the characters as most of the stories are common life romance related stories.

For example Titanic
It is about 2 people from different social classes falling i love and people disagreeing with this.  I have noticed that most romance narratives is when two opposite people fall in love and friends/family disagree  with their relationship.  This is a famous / common romance plot as it has been popular since the famous Romeo and Juliet story by Shakespear.

Letter For Focus Group

This is the letter I wrote to invite our focus group to the interview 

Opening Sequence

We have decided that this will be our opening sequence:

• Tilt from feet upwards on the business woman walking down an alley on her way home from work\
• She walks past a homeless man, who notices that she is being followed by a group of boys
• As she is about to walk out of the alley way one of the boys grab her bag and run 
• The homeless man shouts and starts to chase the boy who stole the bag
• There will be a short montage of the homeless man chasing the boy he finally manages to get the bag back
• He gives the bag back to the woman 
• The woman thanks him, gives him her business card and tells him meet her in her work place
• There is a slow motion shot of the man and woman smiling at each other 
• It ends with the woman walking away smiling 

Audience Research Survey - Romance

Here is a questionnaire we made to find out our target audience

Questionnaire

Audience Profile Research Survey

These are the 5 survey questions i come up with individually:

What is your favourite type of genre?

How do you find out about new movies coming to your cinema?

Are you in a relationship?

What tv shows do you watch?

How many times do you go to the cinema a month?

never      sometimes    often     all the time

Our discussion after the pitch

after the pitch we all come together as a group and decided that we need to change our idea or change the type of genre we are going to do as our pitch wasn't very successful.  So we all decided that we all would individually think of a genre and come up with a new opening sequence for it and then decide from there on.

Self Review of pitch

Today we pitched our idea to our teachers and class mates. This is my opinion on how we got on:

Strengths -
I think our strengths were that we were able to recognise our weaknesses and errors in our coursework idea we also took in the feedback well and took things seriously and understood what we had been told.

Weaknesses -
I think the main weakness in our pitch was that we were a bit unprepared.  We wasn't prepared enough for our pitch to be successful. I think that we needed to think about the genre we chose and do more research than what was already done, as we ended up getting the wrong idea of what a Thriller is supposed to be like, but we pitched a horror without even realising.

Opportunities -
Because of the comments made in our pitch i don't think we have many good opportunities as we have decided to start again and re think our idea.

Threats -
The only threat that is clear that we are behind  compared to other groups. The other threat is that we made it seem like we were pitching a horror movie instead of a Thriller and it's also low budget it would be hard to video the ideas we have put together in the dark, and because it is winter, it is dark early.

Tv Drama homework

TV Drama: Misfits Series 3 Episode 5

• Who made it?

Maurray Ferguson
Petra Fried
Howard Overman

• What channel is it on? 

E4

• What time is it on?

10pm

• What is the sub-genre 

• Who is the target audience 

teenagers from the age of 16+

• What was the narrative 

While doing community service at the local hospital, Kelly gets trapped in the body of Jen, a coma victim.

• What/who was being represented 

A group of teenagers who are doing community service but they have been given these super powers and help save people with the superpowers 

Treatment analysis

From the feedback we have decided we should either change the idea or plot or change the genre.  the plot and ideas we described were more like a horror movie and had been seen many times before.

Group 1- Treatment

Group 1 - Treatment

continue of Foundation Portfolio Research

Images and film titles of Thriller Movies:

 The Dark Knight
The image goes with the title of the film as it is quite dark as it is called the DARK knight.  It also shows that there has been an attack on the building behind.  
The Dark Knight - the film title insists that it may be a thriller because of the word 'dark', it makes you think why is the knight known as the 'dark' knight.

 Psycho
The images used for the film cover doesn't really give you the idea that the film is a thriller.  This might be because it was made in 1960 and it advertises the film more than making you want to watch it from the cover art like a more modern thriller film would do, such as the dark knight uses the main character - Bat Man as does Psycho but it shows you a part in the movie where the film is at a thrilling point in the movie, whereas Psycho doesnt, it quotes someone's opinion on the movie, which is usually done in newspapers or magazines.
The film title gives you an idea of what the film is going to about. It's known that a psycho is dangerous and scary to come across, this can also give you an idea that the film is a thriller.

  The Silence of the Lambs
The  cover art of the movie doesn't show you much about what the film is like once you have watched it. it's like you need to watch the movie to know what the cover art is showing you.  For exaple the butterfly is seen throughout the movie, so knowing that the cover art makes sense to me.  On the other hand, the film title doesn't make sense at all, even after watching the movie i still wonder why it is called 'The Silence of the Lambs'

Common Actors seen in Thriller films:

Janet Leigh

1. Psycho (1960)
2. Touch of Evil (1958)
3. Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)
4. Vikings, The (1958)

Leonardo DiCaprio

1. Titanic (1997)
2. Departed, The (2006)
3. Inception (2010)
4. Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Tom Cruise

1. Magnolia (1999)
2. Rain Man (1988)
3. Risky Business (1983)
4. Collateral (2004)

Grace Kelly

Rear Window (1954)
1. High Noon (1952)
2. Dial M for Murder (1954)
3. High Society (1956)

Foundation Portfolio

Foundation Portfolio

Genre convention research: Peer assessment Feedback

1)The Dixonators are an underground organisation that dig out dirt about big bands worldwide.  for example, You me at six. The get hired by rival bands who are trying to upstage them for example Kids in glass houses. they ask the Dixonators to spy on said band by stealing un-published lyrics/cover art etc...

5 Things i will need to keep in the genre :

• black back ground with white writing (typical gangster style writing)
• hiden identities
• Hired by someone higher
• they use a lot of violence
• illegal

One thing i would change to adapt the genre is to base the film on bands.

The opening would the Dixonators in the studio holding the lyricist hostage while they steal all new lyrics and ideas for rival bands.


2) Dark throughout with white text
films in black and white
the gangster group are there to take in the criminal kids, hired by the police, so that the kids have a future in something other than becoming the people the gangsters are after

• black back ground with white writing (typical gangster style writing)
• hiden identities
• Hired by someone higher
• they use a lot of violence
• illegal

different to other gangster movies because the gangsters are the goodies changing the bad.  they make a change to the community instead of causing trouble for the community

opening sequence is a child in a room with just a table

close up on childs face then it reverse creeps to established show of the room 

camera stays on the child and you can hear the gangsters come in the room and you can only see their shadows on the wall (3 of them)

3) horror gangster movie.  

the gangsters  are clowns. disguised as clowns to do their dirty work easier, as clowns are seen as loving entertainers. The clowns are hired as hitmen. 


The best plot that was chosen was number 2.  This was because it's orginal as the gangsters are to help the police, rather than be chased by the police.

Prelim evaluation

Overall, I think we worked well as a group.  We made sure that we each had equal amounts of tasks and time spent on those tasks.  At one point we all had a go of both videoing and editing but each of us showed strengths and weaknesses with different parts of the process. We all decided to use Michela's Story for our prelim task.  Renee drew up the story board as we told her what shots and ideas we wanted use. We also naturally done more of what we were best at in the task.  For example Renee had strengths in both filming and editing from previous experience, I focused on sound and editing more than filming but i still had a go at filming.  Michela focused on the plot of the video and contributed to sound too. and Finally Teni did a lot of filming and showed good ideas in the different editing techniques such as the choice of transition and text. Although i spent more time on Editing that Filming i did have my turn on filming some parts .



this is the shot i filmed.  this shot went on to zoom in onto the phone so the text message was clear








The brief was to show:
match on action
The 180 degree rule
a person walking across a room and sitting down
dialogue between two people
and it had to be 30 seconds long

We tried our best to  meet our brief as best as we could.   For example

match on action

Match on action shot 2

180 Degree rule

180 degree rule shot 2










The 180 degree rule shows the conversation between 2 people.  I think we showed all of the points of the brief.  The only thing we didn't meet in our brief is the time.  The brief says we have to make the video 30 seconds long, although ours is 48 seconds, i think we did well for fitting everything in and only going over the target time by 18 seconds.

Prelim

Preliminary task

Today for our preliminary we wrote a script and filmed it.  We had to film a face to face conversation between two people.  We also had to show the filming and editing of match on action and a 180 degree rule.

Tasks:
opening a door [match on action]
walking across the room
sitting down
face to face conversation [180 degree conversation]

The Dilemma 
Script:

[Becky walks through door, walks across towards Ryan and sits down]

Becky: Hi, Ryan I have something to tell you
Ryan: What's wrong?
Becky: I um, don't know how to tell you this but [pause] I'm pregnant
Don't worry it'll be alright.
[Becky walks away to sort herself out]
[black out]
[becky's phone goes off. Ryan picks up the phone and reads the text]
Text: Last weekend was good, I hope I see you again ;) x]
[Ryan cries]
TO BE CONTINUED...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7f3r1hDW0z8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

"Let The Right One In" Homework

1) I wouldnt realy watch horror films as it isn't my favourite genre of film but when I do watch horrors the language of the film doesn't make any difference to my viewing experience because what makes a horror scary to me is mainly the music, fast camera shots, many extreme close up angles and weather it has gore.  So the language doesn't change the effects of a Horror to me.

2) Trailers encourage you to watch a film by showing the highlights of the film, for example; "Let The Right One In" trailer sets the story by showing you that it is the 'boy meets girl' type of film, with a twist.  It shows clips of the two main characters, for example It would show the two different personalities of Oscar and Eli, the good sides of Eli's personality and the bad sides. They would also show a point in the film where there was blood or gore or violence, and then suddenly stop the whole trailer leaving you wondering what happens next, this makes you go and pay for a ticket at the cinema when the film is releaced or to buy the DVD when it's on sale.  Depending on the genre of the Trailer there would usually be music played throughout the clip, for example;  "Let The Right One In" used dramatic music throughout the trailer to suit the mood of the film.

4) "Let The Right One In" presents "outsiders" to be weird unsociable outcasts to the average person.  For example Oscar gets bullied at school for being different to the other boys at his school.  Eli is also shown as an outsider because she stops herself from getting involved with other children because of her problem of being a risk to others, and not being able to go out during the day because of her condition of being a vampire. the outsiders from this film are shown to be lonely and to stand out from a crowd.

5)I personally liked the characters Eli and Oscar in this film as they were very different to the rest of the characters in the film, and their connection with each other was clear to the audience and it made you feel sorry for them throughout the film.  Although the characters were similar to the characters in Twilight, I still like the characters as they are believable.  They are both outsiders in the film, so it draws your attention to them more, it makes me feel for them a bit more and like their character more than other characters in the film.

6) Personally, i enjoyed the romance twist in the film.  I thought it was different like most other horrors I've watched in the past, i found it different and somewhat original to the typical horror.  I thought the fact that the monster in Eli wasn't wanted because she hadto stay away from people in day to day life 'normal' people, but she couldn't bring herself to stay away from Oscar because she had fallen for him, as he had fallen for her.  I also liked how each was an outsider in the film but both were an outsider for very different reasons, he was just the boy with no friends in their neighbor hood and she was the monster who no one noticed because she hadto lead a secret, isolated life to prevent harm to others. I also like how they both look after each other, for example when Eli told Oscar to stick up for himself by hitting back.  Although it showed care and love between the two, it still had it's horror signs.

7) Eli and Oscar's relationship was unusual for this genre but it made sense.  Eli was seen to be the villian with a good side, who was also looked at as a hero when she saved Oscar from the bullies at the end of the film.  Where there was a lot of romance throughout the film, if Eli wasn't a Vampire, the film genre would change to a romance. The only twist on this romance would be that boy meets girl, they both fall for each other and instead of boy saving girl, it would be girl saving boy.

8)The film showed the stereo typical vampire throughout the film, with some differences.  For example; the stereo typical vampire would feed on blood (preferably human blood), would bite at the neck and leave two bite marks on the neck, turns into a bat at some points and hides away from sunlight to stop danger of burning alive.  "Let The Right One In" uses some of the stereotypical points of a vampire, but they make it more realistic.  This makes us feel more scared of the figure of the vampire in the film as it is seen to be more realistic, and also the fact that Eli is seen to be somewhat normal when she's around Oscar, she laughs, plays and enjoys puzzles. But when she changes and sees/smells blood, the drastic change shocks the viewer making us feel on edge or scared.

9) Eli's father seems to be like any other childs father, he shows that he would do anything for his daughter even if it puts himself in danger.  Although, he shows signs of fear when dealing with his daughter Eli, for example when he went out into the night to try and find food for his daughter, he failed to get the blood because he was close to getting caught, when he got back to their flat and told her he looked scared of her when she was shouting at him.  But it also showed that he would die, literally for her, for example when he hadto pour acid on his face to hide his identity from the police when he got caught when attempting to kill a young boy to bring home blood for Eli, this didn't kill him but Eli went to the hospital he was in and he gave her his blood and died.  This shows that even though Eli's fathers life was a very different lifestyle from the average father, he still showed love and affection towards his daughter like any other father would.

10) I thought that Eli's father was being controlled by Eli because of her reactions when he failed to bring back blood.  He looked very intimidated when Eli was shouting at him and scared.  I thought it was very unfamiliar for a father to feel intimidated by his own child.  But when it was clear of what Eli was, it all made sense of why he would seem so threatened.
In another scene I spotted some strengths in the relationship between himself and his daughter was when he gave his life for her. Like any other father would be fought to his death for his daughter and it showed that he did, and would do anything for her and showed his love for her

Moral Panics and the Mass Media

The news paper article i looked at was about the economic crisis in Britain today.  The article told us about how the energy bills have increased this year, and how some people, especially the working class or under class will suffer with the issue and will have to 'ration heating' or just turn it off completely.

"Families 'will ration heating' this winter - some are set to turn it off all together" Daily Mail Online - 6th October 2011