Plot Ideas Sheet

Here is the plot idea I came up with for a thriller.

 

The Basic Plot

The basic plot was going to involve a number of people and they would gradually disappear one by one leaving only a few left - but then we realised that getting a cast to commit to 2 weekends or more of filming  may be hard to do and might leave us to close to the dead line to finish, so we decided to leave it to a cast of 3 - 4 which we could do more with and seemed a lot more ideal.

Other Ideas

We had loads of ideas from: 

Hospitals

Car Parks

Abandonded Houses

Mental Homes

Train stations

Our Houses

Forset or Woods

Fields

A Long Valley

Burnt Down Buildings

Sheds

Garages

Airports

(Some seem a little adventurous)

3rd British Romantic Comedy - Love Actually

Love Actually

Love Actually a Rom-com created in 2003, written and directed by Richard Curtis, the film is set in London around 5 weeks before christmas following the lives of 10 hopeful lovers.The ensemble cast is composed predominantly of British actors. Richard Curtis has written several other popular Rom-coms such as the Bridget Jones movies and Four Weddings And A Funeral showing that he is no stranger to this common type of film.

The film is told from loads of different perspectives, presenting many different types of people and many different love stories which is the films message at the start from the airport scene where many people arrive greeting their loved ones.

Due to this constent change in narrative we the audience get a sense of relief seeing all these different match ups, the film could be aimed at people who are looking for love or lost hope and need some reassurance.

The one of the people we are shown is a singer in a studio, wearing a casual shirt and singing his new Christmas song. From all the recording equipment and instruments in the background and him being the center of attention singing into the mic we get the impression he is a singer, possibly an old rock star trying to make a comeback this Christmas, his character is very louche as he doesn't seem to bothered about this recording due to his clothes and the countless mistakes he makes.

We are shown a bright angelic light and music when introduced to the relations making everything seem very positive and calm. The scene has a kind of holy, religious feel to it as all seems very bright and holy with the bright light, reunited friends and family and holy singing in the background.

By having Hughe Grant narrate in the background about 9/11 he's contrasting that awful event with this complete opposite scene where everyone is happy and safe and there is no hatred as he comments only love is being shown, which represents the film and its title itself, Love Actually.

All characters share the same sort of power and importance none of them are overshadowing each other also with them all being middle to high class.

The camera used is this opening narrative scene is almost like a handheld  but its not the camera seems more focused and stationary, it pans over across to a group of people and then is held still for a few seconds mainly because, this is an effective way to show a build up of affection and caring by showing different people's combined happiness and expressions it has a bigger impact on the audience. The camera zooms in and out and also changes focus, capturing only people's faces to reintroduce the points that Hugh Grant is mentioning through his narration.

1st American Romantic Comedy - Knocked Up

Knocked Up

Knocked Up an American Rom-com released in 2007 and written, directed and co-produced by Judd Apatow. The film follows the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand between Rogen's slacker character and Heigl's just-promoted media personality that results in an unintended pregnancy.It goes over the thoughts, actions and responsibilites of what happens after a one night stand that goes wrong. This film has a unique twist on this as its two main characters are complete opposites and have no qualites as we see this through their contrsting lifestyles. There were some accusations of Apatow's film promoting sexism and bulling as in some parts critices saying " At some points it starts feeling like a comedy of bullies, rather than the bullied". The films demographic is late teens to late 20s mainly to young adults.


By just having the main male role as unreponsible, immature and lazy, Ben Stone (played by Seth Rogen) and having the main female role the complete opposite Career focused, hardworking and intelligent Alison Scott (played by Katherine Heigl) it really stretchs the idea of two completly different people falling in lover over a 'mistaken' pregnancy.

There is no ominscient narrator in this but instead we are told the story by charater voice narrative, where each character is a narrator in a way, this is most common in films because we get to see the story from different points of view rather then just one so we can make better judgement of the events on scene and better judgement of the characters on screen.


The first thing we are introduced to is a montage starting with a establishing shot of Ben's house with an open garage, punch bag and sofa we can see just from this first shot that this guy is quite laid back, as to why having a sofa outside your front door would suggest he's a laid back, funny, comical kind of guy. It also reflects his bad qualities like his laziness and careless attitude. We are then shown his friends and him messing about they all seem to have casual, everyday clothes with dirt and sweet marks all over them which again shows their careless attitude, this is also emphasised by their swimming pool we are show, which is quite dirty and doesnt look hygienic at all. They all seem to be hedonists which is clear when we see their drug use, they are clearly represented through the objects shown. Next we get something completly opposite, we are intoduced to a bed with a golden light promoting warmth and calmness, we are shown a room clean and tidy with not a thing out of place, it is very organized this relfects our opinion of this person being well educated, well manned, well presented and a hard working person which is completly opposite to Ben.

We get two different types of lighting as for the first one, we get natural sun light while Ben and his friends are messing about outside this could be a connotation to their carefree, bright attitude to life.The second form of lighting we are shown is a dim very dim light from outside because, Alison is sleeping in her bed with the curtains closed, this direct opposite suggests that they are complete opposites starting their days in two completly different ways also with the lighting used the scene comes across as calm and tranquel.

The film starts with a non-digetic urban song in the background which creates a montage of the first scene with Ben and his friends, then we get a bell ding which symbolises the begining of the film. Throughout the montage we can still here the sounds of Ben and his friends in the background but only faintly because the director wants us to focus mainly on whats happening on screen rather then the sounds. In the next scene we late a late cut of the sound, just after it changes scene and we get the beeping of a digital clock just like in Ben's scene with the bell ding this beep is showing us the start of something. We also get a montage for Alison but with a clamer, softer type of music.


In Ben's scene most of the camera angles used are medium shots and long shots just showing what he's doing mainly, rather then his expressions, its showing his body language intending for us to make our judgement of Ben through just his body language. The same us used for Alison's scene even thoguh she isn't in it much, we can see from the track to her lying in bed that, from whats presented for us that she has a main role, equal to Ben.


In Ben's scenes there is a lot of slow motion put in through editing, used to catch the moment. Some cuts are used to change scenes and sound, this is to reduce amount of thinking time we have to make our judgements on the characters.

2nd British Romantic Comedy - Four Weddings and a Funeral

Four Weddings and a Funeral

Four weddings and a funeral a British Rom-com made in 1994 and directed by directed by Mike Newell, it was a  big hit here in Britain and an even bigger one when it hit America, upon its wide release on 15 April, 1994, the film had raked in a total of $4,162,489 (£2,593,147) at the box office alone. The film's main point is to dilate the idea of that special one, the one you are going to live the rest of your life with.

The first thing we are shown is the title presented in a unusual way, normally the title is shown faded in with the scene made using a graphical body made by or with a computer but this time we are shown a clear white background with the imprinted words " Four Weddings and a Funeral " in silver writen in a elegant font with white petaled flowers surrounding the title, it look almost like a wedding invitation itself this the first thing we see in the film is this graceful and formal invitation to which the characters have been invited to.

The film starts introducing its character's by showing us the audience their average routine of getting up and ready for the day with a simple non digetic song playing through the opening scene with each character.
Though we do hear dialogue throughout the opening but nothing more of a few lines because we are meant to be focusing on the each character's attitude to the events about to unfold.


After the title sequence, we see the first character Charles (Hugh Grant) in his bed, the bed is rumpled and untidy like the rest room which is cluttered, with his white coat over his chair, all his books cramped onto one table instead of a shelf suggesting that he is intellectual and capiable but lazy or just laid back. 

The next person we are shown also in bed with a copy of farmer's weekly on desk which is already saying how controlled he is living in a very structured environment with each moment planned out, gets straight out of bed opens a chest next to him and gets a black coat out then produces to fold it and lay it on the bed then gets straight to grooming himself.

 

1st British Romantic Comedy - Bridget Jone's Diary

Bridget Jone's Diary

Bridget Jone's Diary is a British Rom-com made in 2001 based on the novel by Helen Fielding, both the film and the book have the same name. The film outlines personal and society's thoughts and opinions of a woman in thier 30s, single and living in London, it is about her career, self image, family, friends and most importantly her romantic relationships. The film represents single woman  at the age of 30 as needy and lost without a man, this is a common issue in society, that at the age of 30 and over woman should and need to be married or in a serious relationship to be truly happy in life. Throughout the film we get a heavy sense of repetition between two characters, emphasizing their differences and similarities and how they cannot be separated.

Before the films release there was some constrovrsy about Renée Zellwegeran a quirky, outgoing American playing the role of the misguided, depressed role of a middle aged, single British woman Bridget though that all changed after the films release. Now we have the abrupt, stern barrister Mark Darcy the 'perfect man' with a few flaws quoted my Bridget being played by Colin Firth who coincidentally played the 'real' Mr Darcy in BBC's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. By no mean least we have the caddish, sly Daniel Cleaver played by Hugh Grant, some could say Hugh Grants role in this film almost mirrors his actual personality. Now choosing two main roles (In this case three) in a film is hard enough because you have to factor compatibly both roles have got to be believable, to make it seem real, with this films way of creating a love triangle through three different characters a base of realism has to be established through their acting alone.

We are introduced to the film by a familiar voice as the story is told to use by Bridget, we the audience feel a direct connection to Bridget herself as she is the one telling us the story. Through the use of this narrative we feel more emotion for Bridget herself when certain events unfold in her life. The effect of this narrative creates a deeper sense of realism, as the story seem believable as we are being told it by a friend. Bridget fisrt stats that this is her '32nd year of being single' this personal information we are given gives us the feeling that we are close to Bridget, close enough for her to give away that personal statement about herself. We are told it is new years day, which is common in Romantic/Rom-com films to emphasis the idea of togetherness which ironically Bridget is alone. Unlike most romantic comedy's that have a spilt narrative between the male role and the female role, this film is strictly from Bridget's point of view, as unlike us and some most of the characters in this film Bridget is omniscient because we are being told the story by her, its as if we are reading the diary. She includes inside jokes and knowledge from the start about what she's doing or where she's going. It starts with her telling us about her tedious, depressing life then throughout the film her mood and tone changes based on the events happening on screen. As we see this from the start when she is walking in the snow her mood seems like shes depressed and miserable, but this suddenly changes as she enters the house and socialites with the people inside through the narrative we get to build up a clearer opinion of Bridget's personality.


First thing we are shown is Bridget walking alone in the snow, here this a  symbolic image emphasising her loniness as is the background we see a couple hugging each other, this ironic scene shows us from the start that she is alone. Next we see her getting out of the car alone without any family members or friends this finally puts the point of across of her really being alone and lonley, this sets the scene as she walks up in the snow, carrying her suitcase suggesting she has traveled a long way to get here. Two swan statues are shown forming a heart which again is ironic considering the time being near christmas and her lonliness. At the start we get snow and a lot of it this is suggesting a common setting and time period used in rom-coms christmas, a time which is used to emphasis family and togetherness. As Bridget enters the house and takes off her jacket we see her clothes which represent her thoughts at that moment, bland, dull and simple, her dull dark blouse, jeans and jacket reflect her misreable thoughts during her walk up. Though in the party house scene her Mother asks her to change this change in clothes signals her change in attitude and thoughts. She changes into something bright red, bold and eccentric, the red is a direct connation to love, passion and danger and her character in general. Now after this scene when shes in her flat she is wearing red again this change from dull to red, symbolises Bridget's change is approach, now she is actual going to look for a man the red has connations towards her new found passion and strive to find a partner.

All the other house guests are in formal wear except Bridget, Mark and Bridgets Mother this outlines the important characters in this scene through a use of simple colors. We can see from the small graveyard and little church in the background that this is small community area, and this point again inside the party as everyone seems to be enjoying themselfs wit a drink in hand and light convosation. We are shown the house with a, track upwards to a long shot of the house, though its not clear from this we can already see the family are well off and probably middle to higher class due to the size of their property, this is also shown later show as we get to see further into the house. Showing two gentleman in formal clothing suggesting that they are high class, but we see the dad in formal wear but with a bottle, not glass a, bottle of wine in one hand an a cigarette in the other. This scene makes us question thier class and sociaa views, as though Bridget's father seems common though his body language and objects in hand ( Bottle of wine, cigarette) the mothe is trying to come across as a high class family which is why she is having this banquet.

The clothes worn by the three Mark, Bridget and Bridget's Mom each have their own connotations. Mark's 'reindeer' green sweater suggests irony because its after christmas and he's wearing a very festive sweater which we would believe him to be jolly and happy though he's the complete opposite. Bridget's similar outfit to her Mom's but with a slight colour change suggests that she is like her Mom but with a few differences as she agrees to her Mom's blinddate choice.


Just before Bridget is in her flat we see a party hat out in the snow which could symbolise the end of the party and the end of Bridget's false charade of enjoying the party and not being hurt by Mark's behaviour.Her flat unlike her mothers house is every small which is due to her being on her own and also its very dark unlike her mothers house which is a reflection of her mood in general.

The lighting symbolizes the change it atmosphere, when Bridget is walking to the house from outside its, dark, negative and extremely gloomy but when she enters the house we get the feeling of warm light from the windows, because of the mood of the scene (calm) and the bright relaxing lighting we are presented with it connects to warm , safety and happiness. Just with lighting alone the scene's mood is changed drastically.


Not much editing is used except the various shot reverse shot between  Bridget's Mother and Bridget herself and Bridget and Mark to show the audience reactions and give it a sense of realism.


The music used to introduce us to Bridget and her family is a Christmas song which states the time of the year and event, its also very relaxing which is extremely common in most Romance and Rom-com films. Its common for sound to reflect the current mood and feelings in the scene we are watching as this is clear from the start. When Bridget is walking in the snow the non-digect music is depressing, not festive and strangely magic as she walks up to the house, this could be because of the unknown events we and Bridget do not know of, straight away when Bridget enters the house the music changes to something happy, up beat and mostly positive this suggests the change it Bridget's mood and the change of atmosphere from a dark, gloomy, snowy road to a festive, positive uplifting new year party this change it mood with the music, signals the introduction of more characters.

When she's in the flat the song " All by myself " is being played, which is meant to be ironic as she is 'all by herself', this emphasizes the clear point of Bridget's lonely life, which is very often in Rom-coms for them to outline the main roles emotions, mainly happiness and loneliness.


We are given a crane shot moving vertically across as Bridget is moving, from this scene alone we get the impression of her being alone this is also emphasized by the couple in the background, by focusing on Bridget alone and only giving a short glimpse of couple, it sets the mood start away. A lot of track ins and track backs and crane shots are used to establish the surroundings, and give us a small hint or idea of what Bridget's background and social class is. From when Bridget enters the house a switch to a handheld camera starts, to get clearer sympathetic view of Bridget's problems, with the camera like this we feel involved in Bridget's decisions and actions to a point where we feel we are standing next to her. This could be a form of visual refraction but achieved through camera positioning.

Markerting Material - Knocked Up Poster

Markerting Material

-Poster





"Knocked Up" is a 2007 American comedy film co-produced, written, and directed by Judd Apatow. Here is a poster promotiong the release of the film at the cinema.







One of the main points of this film is it points out the result and problems following unintended pregnancys and what responsibilities must faced on both sides.

One of the first things we see is the X-ray of an unborn baby in the womb this is an suggestion that the main point or theme around the film will be based on pregnancy or a new baby, also with the poster being small and between each character it gives the impression that this baby will come inbetween them somehow or cause problems that lead them to becoming seperated and distant. This also suggests the two juxaposed characters responsibiltes.

Next is the title and the sentence above the title which includes intertexuality, be refering to the film "" though its not completly direct, it includes an inside joke refering to the other film "from the proud parents of 'The 40-year-old Virgin' which is another popular, 'rom-com' created by the same director meaning the film will have similar humor and appeal.

Codes and Conventions of Romantic Comedy

Codes and Conventions of Romantic Comedy

Plot-A rom-com (romantic comedy) is a hybrid of two genres, comedy and romance where a story of romance and love is generally presented in a comical way. They normally follow a strict typical three part structure. Boy meets girl, they fall madly in love, some turmoil break them apart, they then over come this obstacle through realizing throughout the whole film they are meant for each other. Ending with the resolution of them sorting there problems out however this always mean a happy ending but it normally ends with them being together.

Two Main Characters- Desperate boy, the male character that has being missing something all his life ( not always the boy, sometimes the roles between girl and boy are switched) in every rom com the main male character wether he's a classic macho figure or timid and shy they will often act out the the feelings of a 'maternal male' at some points in the film. Unknowing girl, this is the female character who doesnt have much instrest in the male counterpart in the begining but begins to fall for the boy over time.
The main characters have got to be believeable and the audience have got to be able to relate to them somehow, maybe through common problems or certain features of personality, looks, career this is so the audience actually feel for the characters and feel some connection and emotion for the characters.

Mise én scene-Most rom-coms are set in big, well known citys such as london and new york again this is so the audience can relate to whats going on, even if they havent been to new york or london they can picture the what its like because its set in a very well known place where most ppl have seen in other media like news, other films, tv and loads more so they have some idea what its like.

Sound-The music and background music use in rom-coms is generally up beat and happy having a kind of get go about it, it normally involves sweeping chords a piano and string sections of the orchesta. The music most of the time is a refecltion of whats going on in the the film at that certain time.All used to amplify the key romantic moments.

Here is an example of what music in rom-coms are like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzHbW49NcMc

From listening to it you hear the fast, relaxing beat that is use in most rom-coms but something like this would most be used in openings to introduce characters or when a character is in a rush at the start of the film, you woud hear something like this in the first 20 minutes of the film.

Lighting-Most of the film will have a bright, positive, happy atmosphere the lighting is normally used to reflect the mood of the character's tone on screen or reflect on the mise én scene at that point in the film. Its mainly used to increase the entertain the audience and sometimes used to help them relax. Though remember the lighting changes all the time.

Time of the year- Most rom-coms are set or made to release around Valentines day or Christmas time. Most os the time they want to emphasis the message or together-ness and family and friends.

What is a Genre?

Genre, from the french term genre meaning 'kind' or 'soft' a term used  for any category of literature, as well as various other forms of art or culture e.g. music, films, etc...

Genre is putting things into categories because its useful in any form of study; it’s a way of establishing some kind of control over a mass of information. Genre provides a means to classify certain forms of media like Television, Film, Magazine, etc.... some types of genres are Rom-com, (Romantic Comedy) Action, Sci-Fi, (Science Fiction) Horror. But there are many many more.

A genre is more expectations in a certain type of area rather than what must be in it for example a rom-com film or tv-show we expect to contain 2 stages of, girl/boy completly depressed then girl meets boy ( or other way round)falls madly in love, some kind downfall happens they get separated, they over come their problems and live happly ever after. Though these are in most romance and rom-com films and tv-shows they aren't in them all, instead we expect this to happen in most. Its hard to put every single film into a specific genre because not all fit into one single genre.