Foundation Portfolio: January 2012

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Film Ideas

For our opening sequence of a film, my group chose to do the genre, Romantic Comedy.

1. For our first idea we chose two boys, aiming to go on a holiday away by the sea, but one of the boys, jack, lost the money that he was supposed to use to take Ryan to the seaside, so when they were on the train ready to go and Ryan was in his beach wear, Jack broke it to him that they were going to Tamworth, in the middle of England, no where near the sea, when they arrive in Tamworth Ryan is very angry with Jack and goes to get changed, they bump into two girls they knew from school, Ryan has always had a crush on one of them, and Jack despises the other. They decide to go for a coffee and Jack (the idiot friend) says he knows somewhere nice, they end up in an old shabby coffee shop after passing many other nice ones such as costa and starbucks, the two people (Jack and one of the girls) that despise each other end up arguing and keep making nasty remarks at each other whereas Ryan doesn't want to leave the girl he has always truly loved.

Our second idea was still including the same characters as originally planned, we still kept Ryans clingy friend Jack but this time Ryan was trying several times to go on some sort of date with a girl he liked, although every time he failed due to his idiot friend. Jack always asked to come with Ryan and as many times as Ryan said no, Jack still managed to turn up in one way or another, such as, Ryan was on a meal with the girl, and Jack took their food off the waiter and served them instead. He popped up from several tables and annoyed Ryan's date to the point where she walked out and will never give him another chance unless Jack moves away.

Our third and final idea was still containing our original characters as we think they really suit the roles that we want them to play. This time we combined both ideas but added a few different ideas. This time we decided that the boys will get off a train for a night out, instead of a weekend away, and have an argument over clingy Jack forgetting his money. They bump into two girls from school and one of the girls Ryan has always had a crush on and she has always liked him, and the other one Jack has always hated and she also hates him. Ryan and his crush decide it would be good to join up and go out together, and understandably Jack and his enemy disagree. After completing all of this action we timed it and so far everything we want to include comes to two minutes.

Monday, 23 January 2012

FILM IDEAS FOR OUR ROMANTIC COMEDY:

- Two girls, two boys.
- One of the girls and one of the boys have good careers to suit with the Romantic Comedy theme and have always had a crush on each other.
- The other boy and the other girls have bad jobs, don't have any qualifications and hate each other.
- We believe the comedy aspect of our Romantic Comedy will come through the major characters rather than the main characters as their hatred for each other will create comedy for the audience.
- Holiday/weekend away/hotel
- Meal/restaurant
- Nightclub
- Coffee shop
- The characters new each other from school
- Train (difficulty to film?)
- Costumes;
Ryan: Holiday dress?
Jack: Casual/dirty/unsophisticated clothing
Girl 1: Casual sophisticated/Pretty
Girl 2: Revealing, unsophisticated clothing

U.K Film Institute Analysis Of Genres

There are three genres that we are primarily studying the thriller, the horror and the rom-com. I will be analysing the data on the U.K film institute website into the success of these genres.

Horror has the most number of releases in this country with 31 compared to thriller’s 20 and romantic’s 19. However just because horror has the most releases it does not mean it has made the most money at the box office, in fact the romantic genre has made the most at the box office with £58.4 million.

This is the main reason in us choosing our genre: Romantic-Comedy as combine the two favourite genres people like to watch and you get a lot of box office revenue.

Also with the facilities and budget we have, we feel that we will not be able to create a convincing horror and thriller due to the lack of special effects and goriness.

Friday, 20 January 2012

Questionnaire Review

In the first question of our questionnaire we asked ‘What is your favourite Romantic Comedy of all of time?’ We discovered that the majority of our audience answered with the movie ‘About a boy’ we suspect this is because it is a stereotypical, British, Romantic Comedy, featuring Hugh Grant which brings us nicely on to our second question.

We then asked our audience, ‘In a Romantic Comedy you have seen, who is the best male character/actor?’ The majority of our audience answered with Hugh Grant, we suspect this is because he is in many Romantic Comedies and has a lot of experience in being the stereotypical male lead. He is also good looking, charming and funny; his British accent captures American audience because they notice the difference and find it appealing.

We then asked our audience, ‘In a Romantic Comedy you have seen who is the best female character?’ The majority of our audience answered, Cameron Diaz, we suspect the reason for this is because she is a stereotypical, good looking actress and her American accent attracts people to watch, also her blonde hair is an obvious attraction for a majority of people, especially men.

In our fourth question we asked our audience ‘Ideally what certificate should a Romantic Comedy be?’ 60% of our audience think that the certificate should be a 12; we think this may be to attract a wider audience, therefore more people will be able to watch it therefore increasing the potential profits made.

In question five we asked our audience, ‘What colours would you associate with a title sequence of a Romantic Comedy and why?’ Pink, white and red were the colours that people related to the most in this question, possibly because they are all related to love/romance. Also white is a connotation of innocence which suggests that the film is pure and nothing scary will happen whereas red and pink congers up love and passion.

In our sixth question we asked our audience, ‘What music would be most effective in a Romantic Comedy?’ A huge majority of our audience answered with ‘A happy, upbeat song!’ which is possibly because Romantic Comedies are stereotypically a jolly/enjoyable genre to watch and the music suits well with what happens. Also it shows that the couple that fall in love in the film are happy together and nothing is going to go wrong.

We then asked our audience ‘What would be the best setting for a Romantic Comedy?’ For this question the majority of our audience answered with ‘In a big city’ we suspect this may be because previous Romantic Comedies have been set in cities and it is a stereotypical place to fall in love. It is also very romantic to be in, London, Paris, New York with your boyfriend/girlfriend.

For our eighth question we asked our audience, ‘How influential should the supporting actors/actresses be?’ 70% of our audience answered with, ‘very!’ we think this may be because in a Romantic Comedy, supporting actors often add to the comedy side to the film, for e.g. the male lead often has a best friend who leads him astray making it funny attracting more people to watch it like in Notting Hill.

For our ninth question we asked our audience, ‘What is more important in a Romantic Comedy, the comedy side to it or the love story?’ 70% of our audience answered with ‘Comedy!’ we suspect this is because people like to enjoy and laugh whilst watching a film as many romances that are not Romantic Comedy tend to be the complete opposite, e.g. ‘Titanic’.

For our tenth question we asked our audience, ‘What is the stereotypical look of the two main characters in a Romantic Comedy?’ The majority of our audience answered by saying, ‘They should both be good looking’, we think this may be because in previous Romantic Comedies many of the leading roles have been good looking, successful and have been in a good career. We suspect that the reason for the majority of our audience choosing ‘good looking’ is because many people stereotype two people in love to be good looking and happy. People tend not to be influenced by two people who are not as attractive and interesting.

After giving our questionnaires to a majority of people we are still sticking to our original idea of creating a Romantic Comedy. Many of the answers we have been given have gave us ideas and have influenced us more to create our film. We have a good idea of the characters we are looking for and the story line we would like to achieve is quite clear after reading what many people like to see in a Romantic Comedy.