Questionnaire

We have also created a questionnaire about Rom coms to help decipher our audience, we have handed them out to boys and girl and a mixture of ages. Now to wait for them back! Questionnaire for Rom Com Research

Our lovely protagonists!

Scriptamungo! 

So we have just finished writing our opening monologue which includes our protagonists pet hates of all things men! It took just over a week to complete this as all three of us have turned out to be perfectionists! Unfortunately we havent had the chance to write our script up yet but it will be on here soon. 

On the other hand we have successfully found our female protagonist and her dreaded grousome lover! 

Female Protagonist REBECCA STAMATIS

So sticking to our indie rom com conventions we wanted our main protagonist to be ordinary looking and naturally pretty. Fortunately my best friend Becca seems to fit this pitch well...

Actresses that I think share the same kind of features and conventions as Becca are: 

Carey Mulligan

Zooey Deschanel 

Audrey Tautou

The Boyfriend SAMUEL WHITE

Instead of having a grubby, unattractive boyfriend we decided to go for a boy who seems good looking and a real 'dream boat' on the outside but really he is just a horrible selfish person. We decided to change this so our first boyfriend (Sam) and our male protagonist (who doesn't appear in the opening) contrast each other. 

Sam has been used in many media projects before so he should be comfortable behind the camera and will know his stuff!

Actors that influenced our decision for picking Sam include: 

Hugh Grant

Ashton Kutcher

Ryan Reynolds

Aaron Johnston

So there we are our two characters! 

Titles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0-xytodmKE

Here is another media text called "The Ex Drummer". I like the way the text is actually incoorporated on the objects rather than edited on the computer! It also isnt the main focus of the shots so we focus more on the story.

Locations

We have also spoken about the different locations of where we want to film each snippet.. for the final shot when we see the couple holding hands we thought about filming at the Bickerley which is a dis-used train track where and a public pathway. The backdrop would be romantic which contrasts to the couple in shot. Here are a couple of pictures...

Another potential place would be Hightown Lakes:

Rom-Com Planning and initial ideas.

IDEAS

So me Zoe and Effie have come up with what we hope to be a successful story opening!

We are sticking to our protagonist narrating at the beginning, explaining her pet hates surrounding men. This will then cut to a shot of told hands, then it will zoom out to reveal a couple (a grubby male, who is unattractive and gruesome and an ordinary girl.. the female protagonist). 

To make our audience be able to relate to the story we asked some of our friends what they didnt like about boys, and the three of us also came up with some. Sorry lads! Examples of these are: hands down their trousers & contaminating objects around, leaving the toilet seats up.

We also want to focus on the little things (inspired by Amelie) like when they come up  behind you and pinch your waist and not closing the cupboard doors. 

Title Sequences

We also have been thinking about the use of titles and want to be really imaginative and artistic. These are conventions that we found in other indie films. We want the titles to be on the objects in the scene; such as on the cereal box in the left open fridge and titles on toilet seat/toilet roll inspired by the media text 'Napoleon Dynamite"

500 Days of Summer Prologue

As you've probably guessed by now 500 days of summer is pretty much my favourite rom com, but I've found the opening prologue from the opening of the film, its humourous and breifly introduced each protagonist!
Narrator: This is a story of boy meets girl. The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey, grew up believing that he'd never truly be happy until the day he met the one. This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a total mis-reading of the movie 'The Graduate'. The girl, Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan, did not share this belief. Since the disintegration of her parent's marriage she'd only love two things. The first was her long dark hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and not feel a thing. Tom meets Summer on January 8th. He knows almost immediately she is who he has been searching for. This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story

Research research research

Last week we looked at doing a more quirky, indie Rom Com which i really like.

CONVENTIONS OF A QUIRKY ROMCOM

• Awkwardness!!! Lots of swaying back and forth on the feet, uncomfortable situations... 
• Pick up on tiny details, littlest things. The beginning of Amelie is a great example, like what each characters likes and dislikes are, iufortunately I cant find a decent clip of this anywhere. 
• Artistic 
• Ordinary looking people.
• Down beat 
• Warm clothing seemed to occur a lot, winter time. 
• Indie music.. gentle 

We looked at some indie rom com trailers... these were:


Garden State

Lars and The Real Girl

Eagle Vs Shark


Amelie 

Film opening brief

So its time to start our film opening and the brief I have chosen is:
A ‘relationship’ comedy/drama made by an independent production company, aimed at young adults.
I'm pretty excited to get started however the group I am with, Zoe and Effie, have completely different ideas for the  story. They are inspired by openings such as The Holiday with the non-diegetic speech of Kate Winslet, and Love Actually with all the couples together.
As much as I love the films I think its all a bit cliche and soppy, and because its an indie film i want it to attract both sexes. I want it to be just as funny as the romance.
I like the idea of having two contrasting protagonists that are the lovers for example in 'Knocked Up'.


I like the shots of "This is Allison's Life" and "This is Ben's Life" you can really see the contrast of the characters, having text like this in my opening is an idea I would like to consider.

I'm also inspired by this split scene from 500 Days Of Summer:


The faded edges and costumes give it that Indie, vintage feel and thats what I really like. Also using something like "This is ..... life" and having a split screen we can show the two protagonists getting ready for their day of work.. maybe the day they are going to meet.