Tunes - Research

Hey-go!

In order to find out the general opinion of our music track choice, Carolina opened a Facebook page event, uploaded our clip of music and invited everyone on her 'friend's list' to comments. We got positive feedback and screen-shot some of the comments we received.

We got a range of responses for our soundtrack. Most of them were positive, saying that our music choice was "perfect for our genre of film" and "its really fast, catchy and energetic". Although the general consensus was that the they weren't a big fan of the piece on its own and wouldn't listen to it for leisure, they said that for our opening sequence and genre of film, it fit and gave a "upbeat and happy" vibe to the atmosphere of the opening two minutes.

Pheebs OUT! ;)

Tunes

Hey, Peep!

Today, since we found out that our SD card is f*cked, or corrupted as I've been told to type, we didn't have much to do. All the other groups in our class are currently editing their footage, except for one boy who's watching football clips on YouTube (Shhhh!) and so we felt a bit useless. We decided to use the double period to iron out any missing blog entries and choose the music for our video.

We'd initially planned to use "Man-Eater" by Nelly Furtado, as the opening song to our film as it completely sums of Naomi's promiscuous character and shows her tendency of serial 'sleeping-around', the act that leads to her dilemma, mid-way through the film. However, we can't use established songs because of, you guessed it, copyright problems and no-one wants to be sued here.

Carolina, who's our music producer, first visited www.mobygratis.com (setting up an account), a free music provider without copyright. She'd previously investigated a variety of music available of the site and none was suitable whatsoever for our opening sequence and genre of the film. We were looking for an upbeat, pop-genre sounding clip as we aimed to set the cheerful, bubbly mood of the film during the introduction, getting the audience engaged in our opening sequence.

She next visited www.freeplay.com, which was again unsuccessful. Sam, with some free time, partnered Carolina in her search for a good music clip and they patrolled Youtube.com for any non-copyrighted music clips they could use. However, there weren't any with a decent pop-genre pieces we could use or they were too short. They then investigated the possibility of purchasing a clip on www.royaltyfreemusic.com, however, the ideal clip was priced at $99.00 (WAY TOO MUCH!!!)

Finally, Mr Roberts led them to Garage Band, and they looked through a variety of clips, finally settling on 'Yearbook Long', a perfect piece, aptly fitting our genre. Carolina and Sam edited the clip on Garage Band so it was a continuous 2 minute piece. 

Mr Roberts also found a piece on www.freeplay.com they'd previously not heard and it is another piece which reflects the romantic-comedy genre of our opening sequence through its pop genre and upbeat, bubbly mood we want the audience to feel when first watching our clip. With two potential pieces available, we've decided to hold onto both and chose whichever fits best with the action of the clip. I transferred the music into Final Cut Pro and made them into film clips, so they could be seen on our blogs.

Clip 1 - "Clear"

Clip 2 - "Yearbook Long"

Both music clips are very similar, aside from a slight key change and drum solo opening in one of them. However, they are both what I can imagine being used in the opening sequence and general background music of most romantic-comedies and are fairly catchy (I find myself subconsciously tapping along to the beat while I'm working, etc). Although its slightly repetitive, it'll last two minutes and most people will be occupied with the action on the screen, and its more of a mood-setter than anything to thoroughly focus on.

Comments? Like or dislike?

Pheebs, OUT!!! ;)

15/02/2013

Hey, Peeps!

Today, I had some news for the group regarding our actor playing Aiden. Unfortunately, the one day during the half-term we are able to film on is the day that he might have plans (he may be holidaying in France). He doesn't have an exact answer right now however we really can't afford to have a possible no-show on this day and so we are going to edit him and his role out of the project or try and find a replacement. The latter is unlikely and so we won't be able to include the reverse point-of-view shots series we were planning on including in our film.

Although disappointed, we decided we can cope without a male lead. If Legally Blonde can cope, then so can we!

Pheebs, OUT! ;)

Tester: Location Shots

Hi, Everyone!

Today, I decided to complete the next stage in the project, that being taking tester shots of locations. I took a variety of shots, some on film in a series of mini-overviews of rooms and also some simple photos of areas we pictured and envisioned having action in.

For exmaple, we'd planned, for the opening shot to be the showerhead spraying water, then switching off with the screen framing the bottom of the shot. It would be post-titles, of the 'film companies' backing our project, and would be the first shot the audeince sees. Our idea was to have the shower on, pouring water, then to have it switch off and cut to a pair of feet coming out of the shower.

The following scene is of the actresses feet climbing out of the tub and we will also have an over-the-shoulder shot of her pouting and drawing something in the steam on the mirror. This series of actions will be followed by the actress walking out of the bathroom, the camera likely at a subtle high angle focusing on her feet.

The camera will then track her walking along the hallway to her bedroom where the majority of the film will take place.

We are planning to attempt a reverse shot of the actress opening the wardrobe, with the first shot being an over-the-shoulder shot of her mid-open of the wardrobe then putting the camera on a tripod within the wardrobe and filming a medium close-up of the actress finishing opening the doors.

We've talked about doing quite a bit of mirror work because the main action taken place throughout the two-minute opening will be the actress getting ready and preparing to leave the house and go on a date. We'll do a small scene with the mirror in the bathroom and intersperse clips of the actress applying make-up with panning shots and snipets of details of the room which hints at aspects of the characters personality e.g. '50 Shades of Grey' trilogy, multiple of Valentine's Day cards and flowers and beauty products such as mascara and powder.

We are hoping to do a window scene, using a reverse shot, where we get a shot of the actress first approaching the window, then two point of view shots of the actor. One being the actress's view point of her seeing the actor, playing her date, from the top floor window (shot at a high angle from inside through the window) and the second being the actor's view point of the actress waving behind the window (shot from a low angle outside).

The actress exits the house and walks round, along the pavement to meet the actor, whose leaning on the wall, inspired by the memorable pose Aaron Johnson's character makes in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Both characters then walk off holding hands/arms around one another down the street as the sequence comes to an end.

*The film video footage*

These shots and locations give a general picture of where our film will be set and what we are aiming for regarding picture and location. They'll be a useful reference point while filming as well as something to experiment with, as not all the shots are definitely set and regarding exterior locations, we will be fiddling about with placement and camera angle before we decide what we'll be doing for certain.

Pheebs OUT! ;)

11/02/13

Hey!

Location Planning:

So today, we planned our locations. It was fairly simple as we needed a girly bedroom, (pink wallpaper, big bed and dressing-table), as the main setting for where most of the action would take place. I nominated my bedroom due to Carolina and Sam saying that both of theirs were unsuitable because they didn't fit a stereotypically-girly bedroom. We wanted to recreate a 'British' version of Elle Woods' bedroom in Legally Blonde and as my bedroom has lilac wallpaper, is big and has girly elements to it, it became the most sutiable.

My bathroom and hallways would all be included in the shots as it all comes as a kind of package and so the general locations were set. We only needed 3 different inside locations to shoot the bathroom scene, bedroom "getting-ready" montage and journeys inbetween for the opening sequences, and once we'd found one, we generally had the others as well. Finally, the exterior of the house and street outside are possibles to be used and we have those guaranteed as well, on different street areas. All locations were suitable and we now have an idea about scenes and space size, so we can make more informed decision about how different shots will be filmed.

Pheebs OUT!!! ;)

Certification

Hey, All!

As an add-on to other admin we have to do pre-filming, we needed to decide what certificate our film is going to be. Following the certificates of our inspired films e.g. Legally Blonde, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and The Sleepover, we've chosen to age our film at 12. 

Our target audience is generally females between the ages of 14-25, but, the film isn't too inappropriate that we have to narrow the amount of people able to watch to only those over the age of 12. We didn't want to alienate the audience by including anything distasteful and everything shot within the opening two minutes is, according to the 12-certificate criteria, reasonable for a 12 audience and older. 

Our film would be classified as a 12 because:

• There may be strong language (e.g. 'f***')
• There is some allowance for puns on strong language at this category
• There may be moderate language (e.g. uses of terms such as ‘bitch’ and ‘twat’ at 12 or 12A)
• Verbal sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers
• Comedy may lessen the impact of some moderate sex references or innuendo
• There may be nudity in 12A films but sexual nudity should only be brief and discreet

Information from:http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/12a-and-12

Pheebs OUT!!! ;)

Our Audience Profile

 

Target Audience - Questionnaire findings

Hey All,

This target audience research is the follow up to the film version of the questionnaire. I carried the questionnaire out with another group of people to get a fresher view-point and tried to get some other age groups in there in order to find out whether we should be aiming our genre at an older market as well.

- Below the age of 16
- Above the age of 20

1) What kind of films do you watch?

Comedy

Romantic-comedy/Musicals

Actions or Comedies

Horror or Comedy

Psychological dramas

The most popular film genre is comedy, among our older audience members, however they are also popular with the younger audience as well. Romantic-comedy is only a favourite genre of one member of the younger audience, re-emphasising the idea that our genre is aimed at the younger teenage female rather than older audiences.

2) Where do you usually watch films? (cinema, at home, internet)

Cinema

At home

At home

At home - DVD, TV or internet

At home, but I don't watch films very often

Similar to the film interviews, most of the interviewees don't visit the cinema often to watch films, particularly the older interviewees, where its gone out of fashion, if they watch films all the often at all. This could be because its too expensive or going to the cinema has simply gone out of fashion unless its for heavily advertised and highly anticipated films e.g. Hunger Games. Younger audiences tend to have more time as well, which could be a factor in why cinemas are more popular with younger rather than older interviewees.

3) What are some of the romantic-comedies you've seen?

"The Devil wear Prada"

"Definitely. Maybe", "Pretty Woman", "Wild Child"

"Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging", "The Devil wears Prada"

"The Holiday", "Love Actually"

"Forgetting Sarah Marshall"

Again, the majority of these films are American or British-American, suggesting that the genre either isn't very popular with British film-makers unless in synergy, or that British producers, like Working Title, focus on producing films with a larger, more accessible fan base or high concept films.

4) What do you usually see in a romantic comedy? (setting, plot, character)

A likes B, B likes C, but A ends up with B after a terrible misunderstanding - plot line

Best friend loves best friend, male best friend doesn't know - end up falling in love

Set in the city

Love triangle

Obvious cliches and simplistic storyline

Traditional story lines of trouble in the beginning of the film to be solved by the end is popular and highly expected. Twists like love triangles and unrequited love seem expected as well, which we do have regarding Aiden already having a girlfriend and Naomi dating Aiden's girlfriend's brother, Oliver. Set in the city is a popular response, which we've mimicked in our film.

5) What do you expect to see in the opening couple of minutes?

Sexual encounter

We learn about the main character

Focus on the scene - pan over the setting

Voice over - introduction to the character

Couple waking up in bed or some other indication of a romantic element

An undercurrent of sexual promiscuity about the character and her life is popular as a response, which we have in our film when Naomi sweeps a pile of condoms into her bag, causing the audience to presume she will be having sex later. Also, learning about the character is common, and although we don't have a voice over, we do have pans over revealing objects and setting which give the audience an impression about the character. We also have panning shots over the setting, which follows up to the expectation of seeing the setting in the introduction. 

6) What kind of characters do you expect to see and how might they act/behave?

Female protagonist - needy and annoying

Clumsy, funny

Usually women - shy but instantly likeable

Flawed - shy or clumsy or socially awkward

Either ends of the spectrum: either very awkward or very confident

The general consensus is that they, as an audience, expect to see a female protagonist (which we have). She also has an either clumsy or socially awkward personality, which sets up all the cliche funny moments in the film which are a result of this aspect of her character. She's expected to be instantly likeable and shy, which Naomi isn't, showing that we are changing convention slightly with her character. However, the expectation is that she may also be confident, which Naomi is, and so does follow the audience's expectation about the protagonist in some way.

To conclude, based on our target audience research, our target market for this film is teenage (12-21) females who like chick-flicks, watch films more regularly at home however will visit the cinema, usually with friends and have experienced a range of example of romantic-comedies like "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging", "Wild Child" and "The Devil wears Prada".

Pheebs, OUT!!! ;)

Target Audience Research - Film version

Hello, my wonderful examiner people!

Our primary focus for the hour was gathering interviews from our target audience on camera so we can make into a small film, which we can use for research and identify aspects and tastes of our viewers. It will come-off as me being arrogant, but twas my idea and I was very proud of it (any other groups using it, well, you know where it began ;).

We took a camera into the common room and assembled a bunch of rowdy teens into the hallway, where we'd already written and numbered our questions for Sam to read. We then prepared the camera to shoot a medium-close-up at eye level and sat each of our interviewees down to record their answers. We then edited the footage and analysed their answers.

Introduction over and done with, we began the interviews:

1) What's your favourite genre?
The general consensus was that although some people like romantic-comedies, not many people preferred them overall. Comedies seemed to be the most popular genre from our filmed interviewees, and the fact that we have that element included suggests that our film will hopefully appeal to most viewers. Most of the female interviewees admitted, if reluctantly, that they liked romantic-comedies or would watch one if they were in a group etc. The male interviewees weren't as keen, all preferring adventure or comedy, implying our film's target audience will be teenage girls mostly.

2) Where do you usually watch these films?
Most of the interviewees prefer watching their films at home, on DVDs or TV. Some worryingly admitted to illegally downloading films off of the internet (Solarmovie.com most likely - not that I would know ;) On top of that, there's a lack of people saying they watch most of their films at the cinema, perhaps suggesting going out to watch films is outdated, or too expensive for people nowadays.

3) Are you a fan of romantic-comedies?
Again, a fairly mixed response with some females saying that they were fans of romantic-comedy as a genre and all the males and a couple of females seemingly disliking of the genre.

4) What films do you associate with this genre?
Dear John, She's the man, Friends with Benefits, Wild Child, Pitch Perfect and The Notebook were some of the responses we got from the questions. All of the films mentioned are either American or British-American films, suggesting romantic-comedies isn't a genre explored by many British companies unless in synergy with another bigger American company. This could be because they aren't as popular with British audiences or that because there aren't many big British production companies (aside from Working Title) which'll make films that aren't overly expensive or high-concept pieces.

The male interviewees didn't know any films, only giving insults, again, re-establishing our target audience as mainly teenage FEMALES.

5) What do you expect to see in a romantic-comedy?
Aside from the frankly silly responses of 'sex' and obvious 'love', interviewees suggested simplistic, traditional story lines which don't differentiate much from film to film, cliches and love as the central theme or goal in the plot. 'Sex' is a common aspect of romantic-comdies and we do include that sense of the characters being sexually active and an undercurrent of promiscuity about Naomi's character is present.

This survey has been very useful and will be followed by a paper-questionnaire with a couple more responses, which are hopefully more varied. However, these interviews helped give use an idea of what are target audience is and what kind of things people expect from our film through generic conventions of our romantic-comedy genre.

Pheebs OUT!!! ;)

Casting - The Pets!

Hey, All!

As well as casting the actors and grossing inspiration from characters from a range of films and TV programs, we also needed an animal to play Naomi's pet in our opening sequence. We narrowed the choice down to two candidates:

Ollie, Carolina's dog

 

Albert, My cat

 

Similarly to Legally Blonde, the film that inspired our decision to include an animal in the opening sequence, we chose Ollie, a fluffy, blonde dog. Although Albert is a very handsome cat, he isn't stereotypically the kind of pet our target audience would associate with our character or genre. He's balck which connotes superstition and darkness, unlike Ollie who is blonde, connoting fun and happiness, the mood we are trying to create initially in our opening sequence.  

 

Between you and me, Ollie is also much better behaved on camera and will actually do what you want, rather than get comfortable in a ball and wait for strokes like Albert does. Ollie is also very cute and playful, and traditionally the kind of pet associated with our girly-girl protagonist, Naomi, hence why we chose him as our pet.

 

 

Pheebs, OUT!!! ;)

Casting

Hey, All!

Our creation of our two main characters, who we plan on being seen in the opening sequence, Naomi and Aiden, are based on a variety of characters from various films and TV programs that we watch as a team.

Naomi: Naomi's character is the stereotypical beauty queen.

• Popular 
• Very appearance-conscious 
• Attractive
• Confident
• Reckless
• Attention-seeking
• Friendly - with close friends

She's meant to reflect the typical British-American teenage girl, who the target audience can relate to regarding behaviour, how they live and how they act e.g. she has an air of confidence about her when she walks from the hallway to the bedroom. We also included a variety of the interior panning shots which take in objects like Vogue magazines, beauty products such as VO5 hair spray and Boots nail polish, and popular books like 50 Shades of Gray trilogy and other romantic, girly literature which make the chracter relatable to the target audience through a sense of similarity.

She's Caucasian with light-coloured hair due to the choice of actress but also to relate characteristics of other well-known characters to her character, through the fact that they look visually similar. We won't have to individually display all the different typical characteristics of a female protagonist because of the image is similar and so will give the idea they have like-minded personalities, or at least traits. We kept the traditional aspects of the romantic-comedy female protagonist fairly unchanged because, in our research and general experience with Romantic-comedies, the protagonist, in each, are fairly similar.

We decided that I should play Naomi's character as, although I'm not blonde, I am Caucasian and can play a sassy, confident beauty-queen in our opening sequence (traits I do believe I have ;). Our actress also needs to be dedicated to our project, (which I am) and have the time to commit to filming, (which I have, as I'll be filming even if I wasn't acting).

Our female protagonist was inspired by these four characters:

Freya Mavor, portraying Mini ("Skins")

Anna-Lynn McCord, portraying Naomi Clark ("90210")

Reese Witherspoon, portraying Elle Woods ("Legally Blonde")

Candice Accola, portraying Caroline Forbes ("Vampire Diaries")

The male protagonist, initially planned to be included in the opening sequence, shares traits of other romantic-comedies, such as popularity, a reputation for being promiscuous "Playa", being attractive and cocky as a result. Although this character is revealed to be bisexual at the end of the film, he's experienced and a hit with the ladies, as shown by his interest in Naomi at the beginning. The creation of 'Aiden's' character is inspired by actors such as:

Aaron Johnson-Taylor, portraying Robbie ("Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging")

Alex Pettyfer, portraying Freddie ("Wild Child")

Jack Harries, from JacksGap (YouTube.com)

We had two people in mind to play Aiden's character. Daniel Walsom, a friend in my form class at college, and Theo White, another media studies student in our class. They both fit the character profile of being Caucasian, blonde or dark hair, play sports *jocks* (both are on rugby teams) and generally have quite arrogant personalities (not in a mean way, they're just both very self assured and it shows. They both have the appearance we can promote as a 'bad boy' and as we have two options, we shouldn't have problems if one of them drops out.

Exhibiting these qualities, plus a flair with the ladies *wriggles eyebrows*, we chose to approach Daniel first as Theo is a media studies student and will be busy organising and filming his own project. He's also going skiing during the time we are filming and so there'll be a clash! Lucky for us, Daniel said yes and since he's only involved in a minor portion of the film, it shouldn't be difficult to arrange a time.

Pheebs, OUT!!! ;)

Script

'Sup, my examiner-homies! (Just kidding, we hardly know each other ;)

Carolina, a member of our team, is the designated script writer and she recently completed the general script/outline. As there is only a small amount of speech in our opening sequence, there wasn't much to include, however she noted the general order the scenes and action will go in and has written the dialogue so the two actors (one being moi) can rehearse and prepare.

We went over and read the script as a team and made a couple of edits regarding spelling and format and what to include. However, I am fairly pleased with the result and feel like our film is coming together, especially as we've now got an organised list of actions taken place and written dialogue. 


Script:

Naomi is filmed getting out of the shower 
(Camera focuses/follows on her feet)

Walks over to the mirror and draws her name and a smiley face in the steam (the mirror is foggy due to the steam from the shower)

She looks in the mirror

Walks through the hallway and into her bedroom

Chooses a song on her iPod which is in the iPod dock

Walks towards her wardrobe and opens it

(Reverse shot involving this position and another shot taken from inside the wardrobe where we will place a camera)

Drops her dressing gown

(Feet are in the camera frame as the title ‘The Naked Truth’ appears)

Puts on outfit, one clothing item at a item interspersed with track and panning shots of the bedroom and beauty products e.g. make-up, ’50 Shades of Grey’ trilogy and the dog

(E.g. Close-up shot of bottle of cream "Blow")

Walks over to her dresser and begins to apply makeup and do her hair

Receives a texts and walks over to the window

(Quick cut between scenes)

*If we have a male lead*
Naomi sees Aiden present outside of her window – Looking down at him

(Low angle - reverse zoom)

He looks up at her and waves
(Over-the-shoulder - high angle)

Naomi putting her shoes on, picking up her bag, putting on her jacket and spraying herself with perfume

Strokes the dog, “Bye, bye, cutie” and leaves the bedroom, shutting (swings it slightly closed) the bedroom door behind her

(Camera tracks her going down the stairs - reverse shot: camera tracks her behind walking down the stairs then in front of her walking down the stairs)

(Reverse shot of Naomi walking out of the front door)

In conclusion, the script is fairly in depth and detailed and as it refers to the camera angles/shots and what the characters are doing prior to the dialogue, we can use it as a good reference point while filming as well as the storyboard. We hope to cast a male lead to play Aiden's character but if not, we will remove his role from the opening sequence which has its benefits regarding not revealing too much of the plot or having to rush what we include in the opening two minutes. We also acknowledged that keeping it short and sweet with minor dialogue had the opening sequence flowing easier as well.

Pheebs, OUT! ;)

Storyboard

Hey All!

As storyboarder, Sam's job was to design and create the storyboard our film, including all of the scenes we'll be shooting and the different shots and angles we'll be using. Sam's the best drawer out of all of us (I can handle stick people, and even then they have longer arms than the rest of their bodies :/ ).

It was a team job initially as we hadn't properly listed all the ideas we'd had and needed to finalise and order the list so that Sam could draw up the storyboard. We'd brainstormed in a previous lesson and had a range of ideas however we hadn't gotten down to deciding which we were going to use, which may take up too much time and other that may give aspects of the plot away too early.

The storyboard was a very important stage in production as it we would use to refer back to while filming and was the basic list of all the stages in the opening sequence, as well as including additional information on camera angles and shots we would use for each.



Title sequence of the 'production companies' involved in the creation of our film

Bathroom scene of the shower turning off and Naomi emerging from the shower to pout in the mirror

Bathroom scene finishes with Naomi exiting the bathroom and entering her bedroom

The title appears on screen and the montage of images and shots of Naomi "getting-ready" and interiors of her bedroom start

Montage of small shots of Naomi "getting-ready" and panning shots of the interior

Continued montage of small shots of Naomi "getting-ready" and panning shots of the interior

Naomi goes to the window and we film a range of point-of-view and over-the-shoulder shots of them looking at each other out of her bedroom window

These are the final stages of Naomi preparing to leave the house, with some close-up 'getting-ready' shots interspersed with interior panning shots e.g. 'Head Girl sash'

These are the last few shots of our opening sequence. The top 3 are of what will happen if we have a male lead, and the bottom 3 are without.

 

When we first saw the storyboard completed, Carolina and I raved about it for ages. Not only did Sam do a great job, but it meant that we had a finalised plan of our film, and a useful reference point which we could continue to go back to when filming. As we've also uploaded the screen-shots onto our blogs, we can access the storyboard from anywhere and we are feeling very confident about filming.

 

Pheebs OUT!!! ;)

OSA: "Sleepover"

The next film's opening sequence I'm analysing the Sleepover, 2004. It's a classic romantic-comedy, centered around a teenage girl competing in a scavenger hunt for the privelege of eating at a popular lunch spot, while also vying for the affections of the school's dreamboat "Steve Phillips". We have roughly the same fan base and genre, with aspects of the plot line similar.

Sleepover

Camerawork:

The screen is initially black and then slowly fades to introduce the first shot, post company-titles, which is a zooming out, retreat shot of the inside of the protagonist's, Julie, lockers door. The scene is shot from inside the locker, so that the shot is filming outward. The camera zooms out from showing a small portion of the screen to a larger portion, making an opening action which signaling the film beginning.

The locker frames the shot as the door opens and we see the first interaction between the protagonist and her best friend Hannah. The frame of the locker not only introduces the audience to the setting (secondary school), information which relates the characters to the teenage audience, but also uses the rule of thirds to centre the two characters shown and highlights their importance. After their brief coversation in which the locker continues to frame the shot, focusing the audience's attention on the interaction between the two through making the action sit in the middle of the shot, the camera switches to a wide, full-length shot of the corridor.

The shot uses the rule of thirds again, as the shot of the corridor is framed by lines of lockers to center the cleared hallway where the title appears. As it sits in the centre, the audience's focus is on the biggest centerpoint, being the of the film "Sleepover". Following the title's appearance, the shot switches to a wide shot, which encompasses a lot of detail, showing the hallway flooded with students, reminding the audience of the setting and showing the protagonist still attends school. This indicates (as well as her appearance) her age and likening her to the target audience who are probably still in education.

The rest of the opening two minutes is constructed using a range mid-shots and close-ups. This offers more detail to the audience and also, through the closeness those shots offer, creates a connection between the protagonist and the viewer, making the film easier to relate to and more personal.

 



Editing:

The film uses a range of quick jump cuts to flicker between different camera angles and scenes. This sets a fast pace of the opening sequence, representative of the anxious feelings to leave school felt by most students at the end of the academic year and excited, energetic atmostphere felt by people racing around, waving and shouting in the shots. The smooth timing of the cuts also gives them a natural feel and fluidity to the clip.

Mise en scene:

The locker door is filled with pictures of couple's kissing, hinting at the romantic genre of the film and foreshadowing the future romantic aspect of the plotline regarding Julie's infatuation with the popular Steve Phillips and eventual succeeding of dating him. The locker door also has stickers of butterflies and flowers, stereotypical girly decor, making the characters relatable to its target market (teenage females) and adding to the girly-mood and genre.

The locker and the hallway lined with lockers established the initial setting of the school and hinted at the character's age. The environment of the school creates an exchange between the protagonist and the audience, as many of the members of the target audience are still in school and so can link that aspect of their lives to the Julie.

The invitation to Liz's sleepover is bright and eye-catching, drawing the audience's attention to it. The invitation is to a slumber party, one of which Julie is already hosting and informs the audience about where the film will begin, what the girls are doing and how they initially plan to spend their evening as well as introduce another dilema regarding a guest being invited to both, Stacey. This gives the reader a lot of information and makes them feel involved in the film and empathetic with the protagonist, who they already feel kindred spirits with due to their similar age, and series of close-up and mid-shots used to film the opening two minutes.

Sound:

The opening sequence begins with a voice-over monologue spoken by the protagonist, Julie:

"I can't believe you're moving. Where is Vancouver anyway? Do you now what happens to girls who start high school with no bestfriend, no guy and low social standing? Nothing. Nothing ever happens to them."

 

The dialogue introduces the audience to the initial dilema of the protagonist, that her bestfriend is moving away and she's starting high school alone. Revealing a personal bit of information to the audience makes the viewer feel more connected and sympathetic to the main character, and instantly revealing a dilema of the protagonist gets the film going, diving right into the storyline and involving the audience immediately.

 

The monologue refers to things important to teenagers, like a social life, reputation and image and change such as getting older and going to a new school. This relates the opening two minutes to audience, who understand the importance of these values as they are in a similar age group and likely share similar concerns to Julie, the protagonist.

 

The background music played throughout is peppy, upbeat and cheerful, a generic convention of romantic comedies and automatically sets the mood in the film as fun, enjoyable and light-hearted, muchlike what we hope to do with our film.

 



Titles:

The title of the film "Sleepover" appears at 00:36, a quarter of the way through the opening two minutes. The title is in a simple font, block letters to draw the audience's attention and signify its importance. It could also signify through the simplicity of its font, the younger-aged characters and target audience the film is aimed at. The title spreads the width of the screen and is large, and is two different colours: purple and pink, which contrasts sharply with the white background, making the title stand-out on screen. Both colours are traditionally feminine colours and relate the title of the film to the female target audience. They also connote romance and love, particularly pink, and represent, as a result, the romantic-comedy genre of the film.

Narrative:

There are a few indications of what the plot is featured in the opening sequence. The first person we are introduced to is Julie (Alexa Vega) suggesting she's the protagonist, and then gradually, in the opening two minutes, we are introduced to her friendship group, teacher and enemies, signified through her comment "speak of the Devils".

We overhear a conversation between the protagonist, Julie, and her friend Hannah. She says "do you know what happens to a girl who start high school with no social standing", suggesting that the film will focus heavily on the social lives of teenagers, and now important appearance and 'looking cool' is to young people. There is also mention of a sleepover/party, the catalyst for the main event of the scavenger hunt in "Sleepover" and foreshadows the next setting in the film as well as inspires thoughts about future plot twists in the film.

The setting of the high school and the wide-shot of the hallway with students throwing their papers into the air suggests the main characters are still in education, and the film is set in at the beginning of the Summer holidays, feelings of celebration and relaxation associated with this time of year are instantly reflected by the audience you can share and empathise with the characters. This also appeals to the target audience who are likely still in education. 

Pheebs, OUT! ;)