
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
stage 2, film poster.

Film Poster- Improving

Monday, 28 December 2009
Improvements on Coursework- film poster
Monday, 21 December 2009
Film Poster
Student Feedback
Poster-
Like the images and the outline if an outline, maybe make the outline darker? preps with a question mark in it?
Text really well themed
Tag line and date maybe could be darker and thicker?
Actor looks good
Cut out of man looks really good.
Images are the same so the audience are able to link the to
Font is really good.
Magazine-
Could have a background looks too bland.
More eye catching, change image?
Magazine still needs a background
Nice positioning of images
Needs a background
Maybe text to match the dress
FLICK title looks quiet cut off at the top
Layout looks professional
Flick is a good name
Colour scheme is good
Film-
Likes
Music
Laughing shot of boys
Font Slides- links with the theme
Interesting shits, music works really well
Titles fit well with the theme
Excellent music
Good use of light
Good use of titles
Advice
Phone conversation-can hear properly, voice over?
New invitations
Get rid of MSN conversation
shot on the sofa should be in a different setting
Main title with the date should be longer.
Is the music copyright?
Cuts into voice to quickly (06:06)
The actresses are far to cheesy and “crap” actors.
The kiss?
Music is cheesy guitar
That “what” shot (34:16) why?!
Storyline I'm not sure about
Repetitive and boring.
Teacher Feedback
Film poster = High Level 1 - decent tag line and image, but not enough film information e.g. director, institution, certificate. You need to look back at your research of film posters. Outline of man could be improved.
Magazine cover = Level 2 applies conventions reasonably well, but you shouldn't use the same image for both your poster and magazine. You should actually mention the name of your film!
Anything in bold has been added to my to do list :) X
Friday, 11 December 2009
Draft Magazine and Poster
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
FiIming
FiIming AGAIN
After thinking about different theorists in the lesson today i want to take into account what Marjorie Ferguson talked about with facial expressions. I want to portray Amy as a romantic/sexual character because she that is the way most brides are portrayed in this genre of film so i will talk to my actress about this and make sure that i dress/ position and shoot her appropriately.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Film Poster
Magazine

Friday, 20 November 2009
Filming
Rather that focussing on Amy, being the bride at this moment i want to focus on Jess (stage name mirander) Jess is the owner of the wedding shop. She has big curly hair, and dresses casually but creativly, with a jumper thrown around her shoulders, jeans and trainers. When she enters the shot we first see her say "emma" and almost float aross the room to give emma and air kiss and a hug. Which shows how she cares for emma they obviously have some sort of relationship that may have been formed earlier in the film. She also seems quite staged, a common trait in these "arty" people.

a couple of photos....
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Conclusion!
Filming!
which is a good start i also took lots of photos that will be up tomorrow xxx
Categorising Facial Expressions
Women- chocolate box, invitation, super smiler, romantic or sexual
Men- carefree, practical, seductive, comic, catalogue.
I think i will use this theroist alot because i like the way she has catogorised different expressions. But i want to extend this theory into film; including clothing, sounds etc. For example i would want a "super smiler" to be wearing bright clothes. to "enhance" their smiley attitude.
I love this theory, because my film is of course a romance, and i want to portray a "romantic or sexual" facial expression in both my poster and magazine. BUT i want to use Super Smiler in the film x
Representation- The gaze (Laura Mulvey)
Introduction: Technical term originally used in film theory in the 1970's to refer to the ways viewers look at images of people in visual medium. The "male gaze" can be described as femenist reference to the voyeuristic way in which men look at women. Jonathan Schroder (1998) once said- "to gaze implies more than to look at, it signifies a psychological relationship of power in which the gazer is superiors to the object of the gaze"
Forms of the gaze
The spectators gaze
the intra-digetic gaze
the direct address (or extra digetic) to the viewer.
The look of the camera
The gaze of a bystander
The gaze of an audience within a text.
Direction of gaze
Trevor Millum distinguished between these forms of attention in his study of women in magazine advertisements.
Attention directed towards others
Attention directed towards an object
Attention directed towards one self
Attention directed to the reader
Attention directed into the middle distance.
Criticisms with Mulvey's Theory
There is a failure to account for a female spectator.
Looks only at the spectator as being a heterosexual male.
Since the 1980's there has been an increasing display and sexulisation of the male body in mainstream cinema and television and in advertising.
In my film i think this "gaze" will occur alot, because it is all about one woman, who will be very beautiful, but has a bad controlling side to her. So the males of soiciety will be looking at her and wondering HOW to see her. As she has lots of good and bad points x
Stereotypes
An introduction- an assumption about what people "are"?
What is a stereotype- A simplified representation which focuses on certain characteristics of a group and assumes these to be shared across all group members.
How does the media use stereotypes- To communicate complex information about a character, time, period, location etc. as quick as possible.
For example in my film Emma's best friend will be the typical mumsey mum, in knitted scarfs and a happy marriage but with a bit of a "saucy" side. I think this is a very loved character in many films. Such as Cameron Diaz in "the holiday" even though the children are not her own.

Tessa Perkins is a well know theorist in the media world who noted that..."stereotypes usually have an element of truth in them which makes them plausible"
I agree with this statement because to become (for example) a "geek" you need to have a few elements of geek in you.
Positive representations are call corrective stereotypes or counter types where the representations are trying to create new ideas about a previously stereotyped group.
Contemporary culture has become more aware of stereotypes and the effects they have, particularly negative ones.
Many media texts have attempted to construct new approaches to old stereotypes.
What makes a stereotype?
- Appearance
- Behaviour
- Attitude.
Monday, 16 November 2009
The representation of men and women can never illustrate the truth;
The representation of men and women can never illustrate the truth;
I believe that this statement is true, but before discussing this I want to look into what other people recognise as men and women stereotypes. The media can often give women certain stereotypes- the super-mum, the sex kitten, the nasty corporate climber. Whatever the role, television, film and popular magazines are full of images of women and girls who are typically thin, beautiful who can be “angels” or “whores”. But in reality we know that these categories can never fit every woman because they are all so different, they can be different aspects from each group that can make up a woman, but you will rarely find a “super-mum” that does nothing except be a “super-mum” because if human characteristics. There are also many stereotypes for men the most popular stereotypes of male characters as the Joker, the Jock, the Strong Silent Type, the Big Shot and the Action Hero. We also know that this is not a true representation because men can also be varied.
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
To do list...
this is my list of the things i now need to do:
- Call the bridal shop and sort out my filming day.
- Find a new actress.
- Ensure that i like the music i have now chosen
There isn't a lot of stuff that i can do in the mean time before I film, because when i film i will be starting all the tasks.
I'm going to have a look at the theorist we were looking at in last weeks theory lesson and upload the powerpoints i have done.
Friday, 30 October 2009
Theorists- Maslow

This is a diagram made by Maslow, that shows his thoughts on personal needs and what makes people happy.
I feel that my main character Emma has everything on the triangle exceot for sexual intimacy, so according to Maslow she has no self esteem, which i do not necessarily agree with. But was still interesting to study!
Music from other Film Trailers
Listing to this i notice that there is not alot of music in the trailer BUT there are many sound effects, i want to find a trailer with music throghout. Then i can compare the sound :)
I like this trailer because of how it had music all the way through, i think it makes it more interesting. I think the musci adds real atmosphere to the advertisment. Which is what i think mine needs to have. I want there to be different moods in my track though to show the up and down moods of my character.
Music
This is a song that i am consiodering for my final piece, i like the clasical elemnt of it.
Now i want to have a look at music on other romantic comedies. So i can get a feel for what sort of music other trailers use.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Shot Ideas- Star wars
Just amusing myself really, was thinking when Emma realises she has no man something like this? hahahaha x
Monday, 19 October 2009
Characters!
Emma- Emma is the "bridezilla" character! She has a very good job, very good friends, but isn't close to her family after she moved to a small village near London where she lives in a large modern house. She has alot of designer clothes, and tries to make herself happy by planning her wedding to someone she doesnt even have!
Jess- The lady at the bridal shop! She loves Emma because she spends alot of money in her shop all the time. She is very arty, and we only ever see her in one scene, which is the opening scene when Emma walks into the shop.
Tash- Tash is the best friends who TRIES to be there for amy, but can kind of see why everyone thinks she is so mental!
Friday, 16 October 2009
Inspirations!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-wMe9vxkWI
It shows another helpless out of love, that makes a bet that her business rival can't make a man fall in love with her.
I like the snappyness of all the editing. And the amount of different mise-en-scene that has been encoperated into the trailer. x
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Sean Fournier
Monday, 5 October 2009
This week...
- Complete my storyboard.
- Find out about copyright details on "broken stereo".
- Talk to the bridal shop about a date that would be good to start filming.
- Get a few more shot ideas together.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Lyrics to Broken Stereo
Why do you look so glum?
Are you breaking
behind the smile that I know you're faking?
It is no surprise. I see it in your eyes.
And they just don't lie.
If your life was a broken stereo,
I'd be music to your ears
and your fears would be drowned in my audio.
You don't hear me though.
And I'd shed light on your worst-case scenario.
When you're crawling through the dark,
my spark would light the way back home.
You don't see me though.
And we could be so good.
Why do you look so glum?
Where you weeping
and letting go of dreams that you know you should be keeping?
'Cause once you let them go, they're gone. (So long)
But I can help you hold on.
If your life was a broken stereo,
I'd be music to your ears
and your fears would be drowned in my audio.
You don't hear me though.
And I'd shed light on your worst-case scenario.
When you're crawling through the dark,
my spark would light the way back home.
You don't see me though.
And we could be so good.
I'm in your vicinity, but you do not consider me.
Met you once or twice, but you probably don't remember me
'cause I go undiscovered. You confuse me for another.
I make faces in your faceless crowd.
And I've been screaming out loud.
If your life was a broken stereo,
I'd be music to your ears
and your fears would be drowned in my audio.
You don't hear me though.
And I'd shed light on your worst-case scenario.
When you're crawling through the dark,
my spark would light the way back home.
You don't see me though.
And we could be so good
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Inspiration
Monday, 28 September 2009
Just a couple of MP3's
I just need to check the copyright of them!
Sunday, 27 September 2009
Titles...
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Storyboard
After writing up all my shot ideas his is a PowerPoint presentation of my storyboard because I'm SO BAD at drawing :)
i do have a rough copy of it, and i have it all in my head. I will just print out what i need to do and take it to my filming day.
Friday, 25 September 2009
Shot ideas coming together
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Mean Girls Trailer
This is the mean girls trailer!
Im including this in my blog because i LOVE the film strip idea, and how they show the photos from her childhood! If i can find out HOW to do this i will :)
Shot idea!
I love the middle shot of Mirander in the car, if i can find a place in my trailer to include this i definaltly will because it shows class, as Mirander is the passenger in a chauffeured car, you can see the plush interior surrounding her which shows that she is a weathly woman,
Location location location...


Institution
After watching everyone pitches in last weeks lessons I realised I really needed to look into who funds the films in my genre. So I had a look on IMDb at yes 27 dresses, again, and found that 20th Century Fox pictures fund them and other films such as Devil wears Prada and Marley and Me. So I decided that they would be the perfect choice.
Monday, 21 September 2009
Fridays Lesson.... (cont)
This is a powepoint of theorists and the way they have inspired me,
Mise en Scene
Okay...
Mise-en-Scene. I’m going to have a typical "English wedding" mise-en-scene to ensure this there are many things I have to do.... a church in a traditional English village such s Gilmorton, Kimcote etc. When looking for a picture to show you what they look like I came across this picture...

This is what I think a typical English village should feel. Well how they stereotypically look!
I want to stick to a British designer for the wedding dress such as Charlotte Balbier;
http://www.charlottebalbier.com/
I like Charlottes dresses because they are all unique in their own way, she is a very "english" and her photographs on the website have the same sort of setting that i will be filiming in.
Other costumes will just be normal everyday clothes, but they will show the wealthiness of the characters and will also be steriotypical to the characters which i will talk about in another post but for example emma as a business woman will be wearing up market clothes, but the teenage boys will be wearing typical young clothes.
Ideologies
My film will be building up to a wedding, so my ideologies will be traditional in the way she is getting married in a church in a white dress. But there is a twist as she doesn't have her man yet.
I HAVE A TITLE...
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Shot Ideas- The Devil Wear Prada
I was watching "older" films over the weekend and realised that many of my shot inpirations are from Devil Wears Prada, in this clip you can see Mirander being introduced by taking her sunglasses off, and although this is a streyotypical way to introduce someone in a shot i did like this idea.
I love the way in this clip when Mirander asks seems like a simple task and Andrea puts a comedy spin on it, i would like to do this in my film.
Film Posters- The Dark Knight & 27 Dresses

This is another film poster that I would like to look at, Rather than just sticking to my own genre is wanted to explore more arty ways to make my poster, For example The Dark Knight uses different photos to build up on picture, I love the way they have done this as its eye catching and to take in all the picture you find yourself looking at it for a long time, something the maker defiantly wants us to do. I am inspired by how simple, but effective this poster is and will use the idea of making the poster “arty” in my design. B x

As you can see it is simple, but shows the three main characters, it shows the woman in the middle because she is the connection between the two men. Even though it looks simple the information relevant is still shown on her dress. I think this is very creative, because you are drawn to looking at her dress because its an unusual thing to do.
Friday, 18 September 2009
Film Posters- Notting Hill

This is the Notting Hill film poster, I want to discuss the positives and the negative of it.
Positives:
Julia Roberts is the face you look at first, as the most famous actress on the poster we are more likely to want to see her than Huge Grant, This also reflects on the storyline when she is a famous actress.
The picture quality is very good Julia Roberts looks "perfect" where as Hugh Grant looks quiet rough, which also reflects on the storyline of the film.
The details abut the film are inside the picture, which looks good as it looks like a poster inside a poster...
Disadvantages
It is a strange colour scheme compared to more recent films. As the boldest colour on the page is brown, which isn't the nicest colour to be drawn to.
Because of the style of the poster, being a poster in a poster the text is quiet small, and not as eye-catching as it would of been if it was bigger.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Feedback from my Pitch
Monday, 14 September 2009
Film Magazines- Initial Ideas


The colours of the text match the pictures the green is similar to Sarah Jessica Parkers eyes, and the red matches the colour of the bottom models lips.
The text style is not very varied, which is a shame because you the page doesn’t look very interesting, also the text size is similar.
My Pitch
This is the powerpoint that went alomgside my pitch, the class were very contrustive with their comments, especially when i asked them which poster was suitable. But i will discuss that in another entry
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Target Audience...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvTT29cavKo
Has scenes that appeal to their target audience such as the fight scenes, but they are also reaching for different audiences by showing more romantic scenes, but these were only for split seconds. I will include a scene like this in my trailer. But instead I will use a car, to attract another audience. As my film will be a comedy viewers other than women will be interested in watching it anyway.
Friday, 11 September 2009
Weddings, my head full of weddings!
The website is:
http://www.charlottebalbier.com/
Take a look!
After i have finished my pitch i need to start making stuff like the titles x
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Pitch!
I have looked at lots of different films in the genre of Romantic comedies and realised i have watched MOST of them!
I also watched 27 dresses, and i love how well my storyline and this film connect.
SO i thought i would upload it onto here...
The Story
27 Dresses follows the adventures of Jane (Heigl), a perennial bridesmaid who's had the word no exorcised from her vocabulary. Jane should be getting paid as a wedding planner but instead her full-time job is working as the right-hand woman to the CEO of an environmentally-friendly clothing and outdoor equipment company. Said CEO, George (Edward Burns), is a hunk and a half who loves dogs, does lots of charity work, and is clueless to the fact Jane has a massive crush on him.
George however isn’t blind to all pretty women. When Jane’s sassy sister Tess (Malin Akerman) comes for a visit, George falls pretty much head over heels for the perky blonde and in record time the two are engaged and Jane’s left to plan their nuptials.
James Marsden enters the scene as Kevin, a newspaper reporter who covers the wedding beat. Kevin’s cynical demeanor masks the fact he writes lovely articles that have brides-to-be vying for his attention. Kevin spots Jane going from wedding to wedding and decides she’s worthy of a special column, one which he hopes will do well enough to free him forever from covering the wedding beat – a job he claims to loathe doing. Despite their opposing outlooks on life, Jane and Kevin develop an uneasy sort of friendship. And because 27 Dresses springs from the romantic comedy cookie cutter mold, that uneasy friendship is, of course, the heart of the story.
I took this storyline from here: http://movies.about.com/od/27dresses/fr/27dresses011708.htm
I have been using this website alot today, for inspirtation on my film.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Plot Line
I have decided to make a wedding film based around one woman, most wedding films so this such as the accidental husband and 27 dresses, the brdie has everything planned for her perfect wedding, she has the dress, the bridesmaids, the ring, the wedding car and the invitations. Just one thing is missing. The man. She franticly begins to hunt for him- by going speed dating, using online dating and she even placed an ad in the paper. This will show a comedy aspect because of the situations she manages to get herself in. The mise en scene will be similar to other romantic comedies- in the happy times it will be shot in sunny, summery places and when she is is seen as unhappy it will be set in darker places to show her fall. I will have shots in the wedding shop, outside at the church and in different places linked to weddings. The editing will be fast, so it captures the audinence. I will now put my ideas about target audience etc in a powerpoint that i can then present to the class.
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
Conclusion....
and i came up with the conclusion i would make a wedding film.
Next i need to do some film poster research and start to prepare my pitch, ready for the class....
Wedding Words
Romantic Comedy- My Favorite Genre
Characters
Romantic-comedies are known to have stereotypical characters, as this is part of the comedy aspect, as far as characters go there is;
The Woman;
“unlucky-in-love” they are usually desperate for a husband, wanting the dream wedding and wanting to fall in love. They are quiet often in “love” with someone who they cannot be with because either their best friend is married to them or it is their boss, or another influential man in their life. They go through the heartbreak of them being with another woman, and they eventually realise they are not in love with that man, but the man who has been right there all the time, usually the best friend.
The Man;
This is the man that the woman (above) lusts for, he is influential. Handsome, and completely unaware of her love for him, he thinks she is just caring. He only becomes aware of the situation towards the end of the film- but usually after she has realised she doesn’t love him.
Monday, 7 September 2009
Conclusion for todays antics!
Romance Films!
And again is very long winded, but you can see that there is romance there and it is amateur.
Comedy Genre
unfortunatky when watching it, i got bored after 30 seconds of watching it. So idecided that maybe it wasnt a great idea to make a comedy, because different people have different tastes, and something the writer thinks is funny may not be!
Animation-FIip Book FIlms
If i was to make a animation film i would do it on the style of a flip book, taking thousands of still photos and putting the all together like this video taken from youtube. I really love the creativeness of doing a film like this, and it would be great when its done. But i don't feel that i'm arty enough, or a very skilled artist. So I think its would end up looking like something a two year old had made!
Genre
Romantic Comedy, my favorite genre
I also really enjoy wedding films and the whole wedding atmosphere. I have worked in a wedding shop for almost a year and I enjoy hearing funny stories from weddings the brides have attended.
But I don't just like films such as the sloppy love films. But i also enjoy films such as Bride Wars that out a spin on the "perfect wedding" idea.
My favorite wedding film is 27 dresses!
Genres
I want to look at different styles of romantic comedy, becuase even if they are not based around a wedding they are good to get different ideas from.
1940- The Philedelphia Story -
I want to look at The Philedelphia Story because its is a "old" film, i can then see if i can take any ideas from the past. This film is black and white, because of the age. The actors have “proper” English outfits. The men act differently towards the women in the film, which also show the age of the film because now when you watch wedding films the woman usually end up the "strongest". Even though they are arguing their voices are never raised which also shows a change in society. He is poetic in the way he speaks. They talk about events that have happened in disgust, “you got drunk on champagne” this would now be a regular occurrence. It was interesting to see how romances were made in the 1940's but I do not think that i will use many ideas from it because of how much society and times have changed, the storyline etc ate no longer in the interest of the target audience.
1991- Father of the Bride-
Father of the Bride is still classed as an "old film" because it is 17 years old, but it still has more modern contempory issues in it, such as the Father who never wants his little girl to grow up and leave home. This clip shows a traditional American wedding, it is extravagant and we think it is going to run smoothly. We then see the Fathers worry, as there is a narrartion over the scene which i think is a good concept for a film, but i don't know where i could fit this in my trailerI like the shots that they have in the marrige, for example when you see the rings going onto her hand, i think i will use this idea in my clip, there are a few ideas that i will use in my film tariler although I will not have a wedding scene in my wedding because it will take up time and I will not have the resources.
2008- The Acidental Husband-
I now want to loook specificly at trailers, because i feel i will get more ideas from similar products rather than just film clips. The accidental husband is a film that was recently released, so i hope it will be modern enough for the audience i want my film aimed for.
Th main character is introducted by a single short clip of her, i like this idea because we can instantly see who she is, what her job is so we are learing about her right from the start. There is then a narration over the top of the film clips, i like the way they showed clips that didnt have a lot to do with what the narrator was saying. In true "rom-com" style there is a twist in the story towards the middle, and then the rest if the trailer was about this "twist" this is what i plan to do in my film trailer.
27 Dresses-
27 dresses is the film that inspired me to do a wedding film. Because it has such a big twist! The woman the film is about isn't the one getting married, just the hopeful bridesmaid. At the start of the film they have titles to introduce the the storyline, i think i will use this in my film, but rather than have any narrartion for the first few titles I will just have text. I am also considering my storyline and am now thinking of having a similar theme prehaps.
Introduction to Year 13...
I looked at;
Thriller
The thriller trailer I decided to study was The Fugitive, immediately we are on edge because it is a hand held camera, so we are shown the action straight, then as the narrative starts we can begin to understand the basic storyline and it introduces us to the main character, we then see a sequence of flash backs, the “past” in slow motion and the present in real time. It is has face pace editing, which also builds the tension needed for a successful thriller. It has dark and eerie settings show by many point of view shots. The titles show the man still running which I think is very affective because we are still watching him but focus on who the actors are.
Action
In action films the story is told more through physical action rather than dialogue the trailers have to be fast pace. You also find a lot of gadgets in a action film trailer. In the quantum of solace, the music is tense and this helps build suspense, James Bond is introduced a series of fast pace close up and mid shots. The film settings are iconic, place where you would stereotypically expect rich, famous people to be. Also places often used in action films. There is a mid shot of James Bonds face, where the foreground is not clear but we cans see that he is holding a gun- threatening to shoot. The use of a low angled shot gives the “hero” the power. The shots fade in and out, which gives the illusion of someone blinking- and seeing everything. They use an attractive woman to make the film attractive to different audiences and soon after the explosion which excites the audience and breaks the suspense of the first minute. There is hints of romance, this again attracts a different audience and makes it more of a hybrid genre. They have the “bond” theme music which again sets the “tone” of the film because people will will know what to expect.
Comedy
Comedy films generally start off happy and funny, we laugh throughout the main characters hard times and then again when life gets better which is usually when the story ends. So trailers have to show this. They are often focussed on one specific character, in this case Jim Carey is the star. So the trailer is focussed on him, and his jokes. I like the way the titles tell part of the story, you could have the titles on their own, but they are connected through the clips. The clips are funny, which make the audience want to see the film, But often with the comedy genre often the best gags are given away in the trailer. So it is easy to judge from the trailer if you will enjoy the funniest parts in the film. There is some face place editing which shows many different scenes. The music kicks in near to the end of the trailer- when the Jim Carey is having fun, and we know that these clips are taken from later on in the film, when everything has got better for him. As it ends there is the last “gag” which is often what the audience will remember.
Romantic Comedy
comedies are often set around weddings, so I chose to look at a wedding film. The mise-en-scece is bright and cheerful, also what you would expect from a film. As it starts we are lead to believe her wedding is perfect, from the clips and the titles. But then we find out she is just the bridesmaid and the music changes from the “happy music” and there is a slow motion clip of her falling. We then meet the “hero” she is handsome, as we would expect him to be.