Prelim Task

Hello :)

In this prelim task, we used shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule and close ups. Before starting to film we created a story board as a guide, in this story board we outlined what was going to happen in the sequence. We had to use an outline we were already given which was to walk towards a door, go through the door and to deliver a few lines of dialogue to each other. We drew off this for our opening sequence. We placed the camera on a tripod so that it was steady, we set it up to be facing the door. Louise then walked away from the camera towards the door, we stopped the camera when she reached the door. We placed the camera and tripod next to the door, so we could have a close-up of the handle as Louise walked through it. We again stopped the camera so we could take a shot of Louise walking through the door at the other side. As Louise walked through the door we used a panning shot to follow her across the room, towards Caz. Once sat down we used shot reverse shot to convey the dialogue being spoken. Using close ups on each character to show significance. Once we had finished filming the piece, we edited it on the computer. We had to cut a shot out as we had filmed the piece once and then a second time, so we had to delete a shot from the first recording. We added some tracks to add tension whist walking through the door. The issues we had with this piece was during editing we added transitions these transitions tended to be slightly jerky so we decided to cut them out. The zoom out of the bag at the end of the clip was amateur however we felt that it added tension. We took two shoots to make this clip. We reviewed the first one, and changed things in the second one so that it would look better. We learnt that we need to take care in the way we cut off our shots, although we found that it is easy to edit the clips on the computer.

Thanks, Bye x   (Hassan, Caz and Louise)  

Target Audience

Hello :)

Target audience:

The target audience for our opening sequence is teenagers, both genders. We feel that this target audience will work well as teenagers will be able to associate to our theme/genre. The films we have reviewed have the same target audience as ours. Teenagers would watch this film for entertainment purposes also they are able to relate to the situations. Often films targeted at teens, use sex appeal to attract the audience, also includes relationships, fashion, attitudes and the types of people they aspire to be.

Out of all the opening sequences we have studied these are the elements that have really caught our eye; contrasting characters, voice overs, contrasting genders, contrasting mise en scene, the contrasting music. 

It is important to know that the target audience is a large population as we are able to see what scenes, techniques and objects make these films work and what teenagers like to watch. 

Bye xx

(Caz, Louise) 

Conventions

(Hassan)

In most movies nothing much happens in a dramatic sense in an opening sequence. However what does happen is that they establish main characters, most of the time that character being the main protagonist. What opening sequences also do is set up a certain amount of enigma. They work by drawing in viewers by having something quite interesting happen and only showing snippets of the main characters to tease the viewers into wanting to watch on.

We intend to use movies such as Its a Boy Girl Thing, 10 Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls and others as inspirations to our project. We're going to show the two main characters getting ready for college the next day whilst showing their differences of personality with the twist that they have an internet relationship despite hating each other in person.

Conventions

The genre of our movie is a teen comedy romance. The characters typically found in these genres are stereotypes of teenagers. Such as having the "jock", the "geek", the "popular girl" among others. Settings include high schools or colleges, domestic spaces such as bedrooms, hang out spots such as cafes and party spots which are usually houses, clubs or in the high school (prom). Plots usually include a romance between a two characters who usually are not thought of as compatible due to their stereotypes given to them. Props used are ones that people would find normal to teenage life, such as mobiles, computers and props you'd normally find in a school or college. Language is normally slang and very informal with some swears also included into it.

We will pretty much totally stick to the conventions given above. The reason we are sticking with the normal conventions is that the conventions are tried and tested and have proved to be a success as statistics from other movies of this genre have shown.

Cya

'A Cinderella Story'

The narrative Structure of 'A Cinderella Story' shows the times of a character when she was younger. Opening with 'Onve upon a time'. It then switches to show a high contrast between her life now and her life then. It uses contrasts between her and the other characters, her 'ugly step-sisters' and also uses a voice over to tell the story of her life.
It completely contrasts the whole perfect idea of a fairytale.
It then switches to modern day life, where she is forced to be a 'slave' for her sisters and step-mum. This slave like tendancy is shown by having orders given by the 3 women, he scrubbing the floors and cleaning up. It is very effective as the contrasts are shown very clearly.

Bye :)

(Caz)

Narrative Structure

Hello :)

Today we are researching the narrative structure for the opening sequences which we have chosen. 

The narrative of "It's a boy girl thing" is a romantic comedy intertwined with a high school teen drama. Two main characters are first introduced, a teen boy and a teen girl., they live across from each other, however at the beginning it is clear that they are both very different characters, who have very different interests. This is shown via music, clothes, breakfast and hobbies. 

The narrative of "10 things I hate about you" is introducing two contrasting characters, who happen to be sisters, again using common subjects such as; contrasting music, image, clothes, interests and cars. This then introduces a third character, a boy, new to the high school environment and also not introduced to these two characters. 

The narrative of "Mean Girls" is one character is first introduced as being thrown into a completely different environment then she is used to. She is then put into the high school environment, again unsure of the different people, styles, music, languages, etiquette of high school. 

Audience, Budgets and Stats

(Louise and Hassan)

We have found that the teen romantic comedies do have a big audience as 10 Things I Hate about you made over $38 million in the US with a budget of $16 million. Whilst Mean Girls was a huge success making $86 million dollars in the US with only a budget of $17 million. John Tucker Must Die was also a very successful movie in this genre making $41 million in the US, it's budget was only $17 million. Legally Blonde was a box office hit making just over $95 million from an $18 million budget. Cinderella story was another successful movie making $51 million from a $20 million budget.

The amount of money made by these movies shows that our project would be able to get backing if released in the real world. The people that go to watch these movies are generally teens and young adults, most of which are female.

In 2005 cinema ratings aimed at 15-24 showed that 96% of this age groups goes to the cinema out of this, 52% go to the cinema once or more times a month. 

Bye bye!

Opening sequences

Hello :)

We are now researching opening sequences which are similar to the idea we have.



This link is to the opening sequence to "It's a boy girl thing". We thought that this opening sequence was good because it introduces to contrasting characters, as it shows the contrasting mise en scene and the exchanging dialogue.



This link is for the opening sequence of "10 things i hate about you". This opening sets the scene of a high school by using familiar mise en scene for a high school. The contrasting music and cars between the girls. This introduces the main character in an awkward position showing the atmosphere of high school and the feeling of being new.



This is for the opening scene of "Mean Girls". This again sets the scene of a high school, showing the different stereotypes of the school students. Showing the atmosphere at school.

We are each going to watch one of these films to analyze them in more detail.

Byeee x (Hassan, Louise and Caz)

Idea about opening sequence

Welcome to our blog!

Our original idea was to create an opening sequence for a horror spoof, however we decided that it wasn't the best option as we felt this would be tricky to do, as the resources were not available. We are now discussing ideas around a teen movie theme. We have started researching teen movies.

See you on thursday xx