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

Rom Coms for men?

I have started looking at our main audience "young adults."  Obviously this involves men as well as women so I have done some research into what the web think what rom coms men enjoy.
I'm going to post the films with their openings if possible, if not their trailers and ask a couple of boys what ones they prefered and why.....

   "Practical Magic" –

"The Mirror Has Two Faces"


"Waitress"


"Its Complicated"


"The princess Bride"


"Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind"


"Groundhog Day"



Joe-"I liked the last five because they are funny and involve women, although some of them are a bit dated"

Pete- "I liked Eternal Sunshine and It's Complicated because I recognise the actors."

Ash- "I liked Eternal Sunshine.. and Groundhog day because of the actors and it looks funnier."

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.

'Breakfast at Tiffanys' opening scene analysis

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I am analysing Blake Edwards' "Breakfast at Tiffanys". I originally wanted to analyse '500 Days of Summer' opening but i couldnt find it anywhere at all! So I have settled for something I enjoy just as much, it may not be very exciting but I think it sets the film up brilliantly.

Shot 1 ELS

 Shot 2 Low angle

 Shot 3 MS

 Shot 4 MS

Shot 5 MS/CU

 Shot 6 LS

 Shot 7 ELS

Shot 8 High  angle






How are character types established?
Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is first seen in the first shot. Her clothing suggests she's an upper class socialite with money also this is portrayed by the way she holds herself. You can tell she's into expensive things like jewellery and in shot 8 you can see that she is running away from a man, suggesting she's mischievous.  

How is the location established? 
The location is also established in the first shot with the american style buildings and the shop of 'Tiffany & Co' show that it is set in New York. The cars and fashion also show that this was set in the '60s.

How is the narrative constructed? 
The narrative of this is simply the question of who is this woman? Why is she trying to get away from this man? The beginning does not give too much away wanting you to watch on.

How does it reflect the genre of the film?
The calm music of the infamous 'Moon River' reflects the romance in the movie. There is no action in this scene which straight away shows that if you want action you're watching the wrong movie. When I first watched this film I was expecting it to be just a romantic film, but actually a few more shots in we see that it is also a comedy. Creating a hybrid genre of a rom-com.

Is the opening appropriate for the genre? 
Yes, I think it is definitely appropriate, it is very unlikely that a calm slow opening like this would be used for any other genres.

How have the titles been used? 
You can see in shot 4 that the font for the titles are golden and easy to read, this reflects the laid back elegance of the film. They are straight to point of who is the cast and crew and fits in with the main warm colours in the mise en scene.

Is the opening effective in your view?
I think that opening is effective, normally I don't really like a slow opening as it can drag on a bit. But because it is an older film and it runs smoothly into the actual film I do like it. Unlike for example the opening sequence in 'The Notebook' I think the music is too slow and drags on.

Preliminary!