Link to group blog.

http://ascvhsmediadecs.blogspot.com/ This is the link to our group blog.

(Resit january 2012) Comparing our opening to our preliminary task (Q7)

Video 2 is the retake, bonus video.

Video 1


Video 2

(RESIT JANUARY 2012) How did we attract the audience to our film? (Q5)

Red lettering is used to show which work has been modified or added for the resit of January 2012.

A good marketing skill for attracting a particular target audience is the use of music and how an opening, or, equally as important, a trailer uses music to connote to the audience particular genres. ‘Superbad’(2007) was a extremely successful comedy and the music in the opening captures the audiences’ attention and creates a brilliant fun, excited atmosphere; which is vital for the setup of a film. Here is the ‘Superbad’ intro to help illustrate my point.

The tune is very fun and without assistance of the visuals can confirm to the audience that firstly this film is upbeat and secondly that it is not heavy going and will promise that the film will require little to no thinking, following one of the uses of gratification theories which suggests audience watch films to be just entertained. The lyrics also help confirm the following, this can be considered as enigma coded information as audiences usually won’t pay attention to these lyrics but none the less they will still hear, process and configure them.

‘Yeah, hey, hey
Oh, yeah

I'd been having my
Eyes on you for awhile
Girl, it's something about your act
And I sure do like your style

Maybe it's the way
That you carry yourself
Maybe it's the way
That you ride around

You move with the feeling
And you sure know how
Girl, I'm out to get your love
And I'm too hot to stop now

Yeah, yeah, yeah......

I don't mind if I'm considered uncool
Cause I believe to each his own
I don't play that rule

When you find the special one
That really drives you wild
You owe it to yourself to try
Cause soon they might be gone

Getting next to you
Is what I want to do
Girl, I wanna get it somehow
Cause I'm too hot to stop now

Yeah, hey, hey, yeah

Getting next to you
Is what I want to do
Getting next to you
Is what I want to do

Getting next to you
Is what I want to do
Getting next to you
Is what I want to do

Yeah, hey, hey, yeah’

It tells the audience of the narrative for the film, this has to advantages. Number one it can tell the viewer that the plot isn’t to serious, once again supporting the theory for uses of gratifications. Secondly it leaves the narrative open, as a result capturing their attention.

Now our film uses some traits from the audio of ‘Superbad’. Firstly the song was upbeat and was designed by a musician that is relatively highly recognised within the local community for his contributions for the band ‘Forgetting the fallen’. The advantages of having an establish musician create our soundtrack  was that he has an understanding better than our own of how audiences’ will react to songs and how to create good quality music which fitted our requirements which are listed below.

Requirements – Firstly the song must fit the length of our opening, which will build up and end perfectly in time for our final shot.

-Secondly the film must be fun and upbeat to insure we capture the audiences’ attention and connote that the film is a comedy.

- Thirdly, the song must not conflict with any copyrighted music; a result of this would be withdrawal of the created song.

After listening to the song and placing it in time with the video I feel we have insured that the song fits perfectly with the opening, it has connoted not just the genre but that the film is easy going and by not conflicting with copyright laws it can be used as a fun upbeat piece of music which our target audience will love.

(RESIT JANUARY 2012) Similarities between our film and that of other comedy films

Our comedy film is based around geeks trying to get with a girl. There is a long history of other comedy films of geeks trying to get with girls such as ‘Superbad’ (2007) and ‘American Pie’ (1999). The only difference is our geeks are all after the same girl instead of several girls and also our girl turns out to be as geeky as all three combined. In the two other films they go for the popular girls, not the geek, however, things change for ‘American Pie 2’ (2001) and ‘American Pie 3’ (2003) as the main character ‘Jim’ falls in love with the music geek. This is closely linked to our film. However, in our film the girl turns out to be geeky and not that the boys fall in love with the geeks.

The idea of our film is closely linked to the song ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ released in 2000, sung by the band ‘Wheatus’. The song was created for the film ‘Loser’ (2000) what was about a geek who loved the popular girl and eventually won her heart. IMDB has shortly described it as ‘A college student, branded a loser by his roommates and booted from the dorm, falls in love with a coed who has eyes for their professor.’ And similar to our movie the popular girl turns out to be secretly nerdy herself.

Even BBC’s film reviewer Anwar Brett can confirm the narrative of our films is nearly identical.

‘ If school years are the best of your life, how come so many movies about them dwell upon the miserable times to be had there? From Tom Brown's gloomy schooldays, to what seems like every American high school teen comedy/drama/horror tale, school seems the kind of thing you would like to put behind you as soon as humanly possible.’

‘Much like this film, in a way, which is so slight that a sudden gust of wind might pick it up and carry it where no other critic could do it harm. Jason Biggs, so appealing in "American Pie" is pretty charmless here, as much because his role is so one dimensional as for any real fault on his part. He plays Paul, the small town nice guy who is trying to get on at college but finds himself unable to fit in with his cooler, wealthier peers.’ Following the conventions of the geeky lover boy we have created all three geeks to follow suit of Paul in the way he cannot fit in with his cooler piers.

‘Circumstance throws him together with hip and feisty fellow student Dora Diamond (Suvari), and as he instantly falls in love with her, he also realises he has no chance of winning over someone so unattainable.’ Like our girl Dora seems unattainable and all three of our geeks, like Paul, love her from first sight. 

 The lyrics from the movies song shows the narrative of a boy liking a popular girl….

Her name is Noelle
I have a dream about her
she rings my bell
I got gym class in half an hour

Oh how she rocks
In Keds and tube socks
But she doesn't know who I am
And she doesn't give a damn about me

These lyrics tell us the boy is in collage (like our geeks) and that he like the same girl that doesn’t notice him (like our geeks).

Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby
Yeah I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby
Listen to Iron Maiden baby... with me
Ooohoooooo

These lines also show that he’s a ‘metal head’ shown by him liking ‘Iron Maiden’ - a heavy metal band. These ‘metal heads’ would be classed as the outcast at colleges and this can relate to our geeks being outcasts also.

Man I feel like mold
It's prom night and I am lonely.
Lo and behold
she's walking over to me.

This must be fake
My lip starts to shake
How does she know who I am?
And why does she give a damn about me?


I've got two tickets to Iron Maiden baby
Come with me Friday - don't say maybe.
I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby
like you
Ooohoo Hoo Hooooooo

The pink section is what the popular girl sings to the boy. It turns out she is also an outcast ‘metal head’ putting on a disguise similar to the popular girl in our film. And just like our film, she also has a confession and admits she is an outcast.  

If there weren’t copyright issues I feel this song would have gone perfectly with our film opening; feeding the audience a secretive enigma code. However, it could also close the narrative of the film with the girls section in the song. To prevent this we could possibly remove the girls section of the song until the end credits of the film.

We adopted an idea from ‘Step Brothers’ (2008) for our film opening. During the Step Brothers opening there is no music until you see the timer start on the microwave starting a non-diegetic rocky soundtrack. We’re doing the exact same thing except our non-diegetic music starts when Stacey’s turns off her alarm clock. Also, during the dialogue sections during the opening the music dims right down so the audience can hear what’s being said.  We’ve adopted this idea for our one dialogue line throughout the opening so the audience can hear what’s being said.

Though ‘Loser’ scored only a moderate 5 out of 10 stars it has a strong narrative foundation which our group will adapt on making it ruder and aimed for a more mature audience; the minimum age being 15 rather than 12. You could consider our film to be the in-between of ‘Superbad’ inappropriate humour and ‘Losers’ love plot.

(RESIT JANUARY 2012) 31/01/2011 Student Films

To help me gain a better understanding of the requirements needed for this exam and to see an effective student opening, I watched three student openings from the previous year and evaluated their strengths and weaknesses in an analysed format. By acknowledging these elements, I hope to use them in order to create the best opening possible.

Film 1

Film 1) the first camera shot in this opening is a pan; used to establish a location for the audience. The issue with this shot is that it wobbles; however, the error is not too a level of which could corrupt the atmosphere first established.  Rather than using this pan the group could have used an establishing shot to help present their location quicker. The next shot, with the presumed antagonist sitting behind a candle is a low angled shot which empowers the villain. Yet, this idea of power is challenged further on in the piece as the antagonist is seen in a high angled shot making her seem venerable. In the high angled shot the camera lowers, yet the movement to this position is once again wobbly making it hard to maintain a good level of audience concentration. There are also several over the shoulder shots which is a good way for the audience to see what the antagonist is doing. There is a verity of long, mid and close up shots which shows the production company has a range of skills above the angled shots and the over the shoulder shots.

The backing music fits nicely with the horror genre and the group have incorporated some sound effects which helps heighten the feel of the piece. The scratch in-between shots seems amateur, I question if they really had to be their? The group may have used the Fooley effect with certain parts to help emphasise certain key moments such as the burning of the picture or the dragging of the body among leaves. The dialogue helped set up the narrative and plot of the piece. Yet, I feel for an opening it may have gave away to much information. Another issue with the dialogue was that you could hear dialectal environment sounds within the background, a solution to this could have been to record the sound separately in a quiet environment rather than on site of production.

Mise is a key factor to this piece and it feeds the audience tons of enigma coded messages which gives them something to unpick as the film journeys on; similar to films such as ‘The Sixth Sense’(1999) or ‘Shutter Island’(2010). The red candle gives an idea of the antagonist personality. The red connotes death, blood and murder and the way the crew have asked the actor to stare into the flame suggests the antagonist is insane. A significant prop is the collection of images of the male, this allows the audience to become aware of the stories plot and highlights that the antagonist is jealous of her loves new love. By burning the picture the candle and image props become one showing that the antagonist wishes to kill either her love of her loves new love. This leads up nicely to the blood covering her white shirt; this juxtaposition costume works well as the white connotes purity and the blood connotes death, allowing the audience to choose whether or not they feel for the antagonist’s broken heart.

The editing of the piece is were the opening falls apart. I already criticised the piece for giving away to much narrative for an opening but this coinciding with all the fade to blacks (a trailer convention) makes the clip feel as if it is a trailer. There is really only one question left to be asked after this opening and that is did the antagonist kill the male or female? Apart from this we know why she did it and who did it covering up the majority of the mystery and making the opening seem more like a short movie.

I think the ‘Peephole productions’ logo is brilliant and it fits very nicely with the horror genre. On a negative note the second production introduced ‘Valley Entertainment’ does not have a logo and is only on the screen for two seconds. A real institution would be offended if their advertisement and praise of accomplishment was a messily two second title. The names seemed to appear in a suited style for their film as did the title. The juxtaposition of red and white was also shown throughout the title sequence as names appeared in white and the title red. Once again making you question the only character we meet in the opening and allowing the audience to feel emotions for her with un intentional promotions from the production crew.

Film 2



 Film 2) the majority of the opening is devised from long shots which are either stationary or panning, nearly all are following the white coated girl. These shots all block the girl in the centre of the frame and leave’s a large amount of open space around her connoting she is venerable to attack. This idea is further connoted by the over the shoulder shot of the presumed stalker and clever editing. All these shots are steady and mixed with the accessional close up and mid shots it shows a excellent diverse stretch of camera skill.

The sound effects fit the horror genre nicely and build up tension to create an atmosphere which ultimately established a mood for the rest of the film; this is partly achieved by following the horror convention of high pitch jingles as part of the non diegetic background music.  I find the voice over at the start of the clip very interesting and question it to try and solve it riddles. Lines, such as ‘Please, please don’t.’ are repeated numerous time and seem to be a play back response which makes me believe that the victim is being recorded and then re listened too. This group has used the scratch sound effect wonderfully, appearing when the stalker is seen in the jump cuts. This helps add a creepy factor to this unidentified character.

The main factors of mise-en-scene are used to make the opening more dramatic; lighting, blocking and costumes. The exterior natural lighting throughout the piece slowly gets darker and this added with the jump cuts of the stalker makes the situation the audience are viewing more alarming. The victim being unaware of the stalker but the audience constantly seeing him is dramatic irony and the tension of this perk is greatly increased when the streets become darker and the stalker is no longer visible. The blocking of the piece is done well making the victim always centre of attention and placing her in the frame where she seems alone and venerable. By having the stalker always blocked behind her gives of the impression that the victim is unaware of her pursuer and the shot of him in the home so close to the victim is daunting. This is done by showing within each jump cut and sighting of the stalker the gap between predator and prey narrowing. The costumes of prey and predator are binary opposites and one connotes innocence as the other does evil, this works well and above this the colours add a scare factor as the dark stalker blends into the night well but the white prey stands out.

                The jump cuts throughout the piece are done beautifully and by seeing the victim alone and being persuade by her stalker within these moments really heightens the sense that she is oblivious of being followed. Also the fast pace editing at the end connotes confusion which fits nicely with narrative which is left fractured and confused. The narrative remains open by having the victim speaking at the start; if the dialogue wasn’t there I would have presumed she died, making the opening a short movie. As it goes they did not and by having the jump cuts and change of natural lighting changing moments of time it makes the narrative fractured; this however makes the film a thriller (as fractured narratives is a thriller convention) and not a horror which defeats the group’s research of potential audience, ultimately making the institution waste time and money targeting the wrong audience.

I think the second and third institution logos are brilliant and look very professional. The first one of the two, ‘Fugitive productions’ fits the horror genre brilliantly and the second, though not suiting the genre looks very professional and believable. This is why it’s a shame that the ‘CVHS productions presents’ logo is boring and looks extremely amateur.  Like the last student film I analysed I think the production logos should have remained on screen longer so not to offend any institutions. The names also felt rush and the title was a disappointment as it was only on screen for two seconds and seemed to have no though process behind it apart from the colour, which was red to connote death. Ultimately the camera, editing and sound was good for this production but it seemed more of a thriller rather than a horror. The titles did not fit the genre and the narrative confused it.

Film 3

Film 3) the group lacks a diverse range of camera shots. I could only count several mid and long shots all from different points of view which either shows the group has only basic understanding of camera angels or they were to laser to plot an opening which could hit top grade boundaries.

The non diegetic music for the opening was also disappointing. The music they used defeated all purposes of music chosen for horror genres. Rather than establishing a tense atmosphere it made the piece feel like a drama. The only piece of sound I could praise was the added effect of when the man enters the room. You hear smashed glass which reveals to the audience that something tragic has happened in that room.

Mise-en-scene for this piece isn’t much better than the camera or sound production. The red tie the male wears connoted danger and blood, possibly he is the killer? Or is he the next victim? These questions keep the audiences’ attention. The bat is also a useful prop suggesting the man is heading into danger and about to confront the threat. These are good however the lighting and location for this piece is not well planned out. It seems to me as if the group used a friend’s house which was available and filmed when was easiest rather than scouting for locations and planning a filming schedule which could be in the natural low key lighting of night time making the piece much scarier. I appreciate the equipment used may not have been ideal for night time filming (such as the low quality of cameras) however, under the street lights and with the front door open allowing the house light to brighten the street I see no issues with the idea. Regarding locations I would suggest using a creepier house which was more rural and open, this would make it easier to believe that the man was alone is checking the victims as no one else would be around to help him.

The editing which led the first three shots together was very quick. To quick to create an atmosphere needed for a horror but after this error the editing maintained a good level of continuity. The production logo for ‘CVHS MEDIA PRODUCTION’ was extremely amateur and showed no skill of editing. The ‘Bad apple’ productions logo also distracted the viewer from the genre making the distance between the desired horror genre and the opening greater. The name titles were not conventional for a horror film; seeming to happy and curved and the film title also showed hardly any skill or thought process apart from the colour which could connote blood or death. The narrative of the piece remains open which is critical for a good film opening.

(RESIT JANUARY 2012) How to insure we do not have a bad comedy opening?

To help protect our film from becoming bad I have dug deep into comedy films that are considered awful and have studied why these films are so.

According to IMDB (Internet Movie Database) the below are the worse comedy films of all time.

Bottom Rated "Comedy" Titles

Rank	Rating	Title	Votes
1.	1.2	Yyyreek!!! Kosmiczna nominacja (2002)	721
2.	1.3	Gulczas, a jak myslisz... (2001)	741
3.	1.3	Venni vidi e m'arrapaoh (1984)	272
4.	1.3	Box Office 3D (2011)	141
5.	1.4	Xuxa Popstar (2000)	576
6.	1.4	Szuperbojz (2009)	308
7.	1.4	Tangy Guacamole (2003)	312
8.	1.4	Hollywood High Part II (1981)	206
9.	1.4	Flophouse (2002)	173
10.	1.4	Dream Well (2009)	3,196

The most hated film, gathering a lazy 1.2stars is called ‘Yyyreek!!! Kosmiczna nominacja’ (2002) and it is a Polish film.  After reading some reviews I have discovered the director is a Polish veteran of comedy films; so why is it so bad? My research has led me to try and find clips of the film so I can discover from firsthand experience the answer.

Yet finding any clip seemed impossible. From what the reviews suggest it was a rushed film with a low budget. Yet I still feel this is not an acceptable reason why it is a bad movie, other comedy films with low budgets have become successes.

(RESIT JANUARY 2012) Target audience appearance moodboard

Mood Board of Auidence

Though the mood board only covers a very tiny percentage of our target audience it highlights specific viewers which would be more interested than the average target audience member.

Each character lists within the mood board are both stereotypical and true to real people within society. Each group has an extra interest in a film compared to the normal audience we are targeting and here are the reasons why…

The Geeks- In media geeks are stereotypically portrayed as losers. They have few friends but each friendship is committed and healthy. This is untrue to life; geeks from my own experience can have tons of friends and in fact can be popular.

Our geek, Stuart, must be portrayed stereotypically to insure we capture the desired audience’s attention as well insuring we have a funny comedy. Using Stuart in this stereotypical way we interest a grater mass audience rather than a niece, ‘geek’ one.

The Emo kids- Emo is the terminology that has been defined as ‘they sometimes hate others but mostly themselves as some are depressed. They usually wear black’ it is a growing culture and people become emo so they can express themselves without being questioned or ridiculed. Character Tom is not an emo yet he stands for the same morals and principles they do allowing us to capture this growing audience.

XBOX KID- Late studies have reported ‘Up to 90 percent of American youth play video games and as many as 15 percent of them (more than 5 million kids) may be addicted, according to data cited in a report by the American Medical Association's Council on Science and Public Health. ‘Though the change in culture is both worrying and terrible it can be easily used to film industries advantage.

Our character Bob can relate to the massive 15percent who are addicted to video games. This huge audience will love our character and come to watch the film just for him. Finding a weakness in society we have established a gigantic easily attracted audience to our film.

The happy guys- Our film is a comedy and conventions of comedy usually include an easily enjoyable happy film. The genre has brought the happy audience to us and with the use of an un-serious storyline we can nearly promise they’ll enjoy the film.

My looks are everything girls- This sounds comical but the increase in concern for appearance within society is worrying. Many illnesses have derived from this concern including eating disorders. That is why so many females will relate to Stacey, for she is also concerned about her appearance (connoted in seconds by the clip of Stacey stuffing her bra.)

We can perhaps help young females with our film to realise appearance isn’t everything. Stacey in the storyline leaves her ‘glamorous’ life and comes out her shell to admit she is a geek and though less popular she is extremely happy with her true self. Though this serious plot is hidden within a comedy narrative I am confident this enigma coded information will reach our viewers making a potential gigantic female audience.

The down to earth guys- This is the rare audience that is similar to the happy kid. They will watch the film just because the conventions of comedy are easy going and promises and easy, enjoyable film.

(RESIT JANUARY 2012) Research of animation prospect.

To help create a successful film you must imitate existing films conventions to insure a high potential audience views your work. Baring this concept in mind I have gathered further facts of comedy from IMDb (internet movie database) and have analysed my findings to insure a successful film.

Top-US-Grossing Comedies

Film	Gross
Shrek 2	$436M
Toy Story 3	$415M
Finding Nemo	$340M
Forrest Gump	$330M
Shrek the Third	£321M
Up	$293M

Out of the six top grossing comedy films, five are animated. I presume this is because these films attract all ages having a gigantic potential market. Considering this I question if my group could make an animated opening? We have little understanding of animation and do not have the resources to follow the pursuit to industry standards.

Aiming to compete with industry standards will push us to improve our work, making the animated thought irrelevant. Yet, I researched free programmes to see if the possibility of creating an animated comedy existed.

This video was created with the free animation software ‘Synfig’, which is available to PC’s.  Inspired by the work I downloaded the programme for myself to experiment with its tools and to access if it had the potential to create a comedy opening of industry standards.

However, due to the process of developing this type of art I had to abort my plans of creating a miniature piece for two reasons. Firstly, it was extremely difficult and secondly it was time consuming. This highlighted that creating an animated opening to industry standards is impossible with the resources available.

Example of an animated comedy from the list.

I think there are three factors which make animation films the top comedies. Number one was briefly spoke about in the above clip. The characters are fun, and a fun character is a likeable character which is ideal for an easy going humours film. Animation films can make characters perfectly but due to real life films actors have to create these likeable characters to the best of their ability which is normally short of perfect. None the less, by planning our characters as if we could create them perfectly with help of actors we can also make a near to perfect comedy ideal character.

Secondly, animation films can make films which are out of this world, literally. This can be shown in movies such as Toystory, Shrek, Finding Nemos and Monsters Inc. This ability to bring jokes to life in other worlds can make them cheesy but more humorous. For example the quote ‘Tell a person who cares.’ can be transformed to ‘Tell a fish who cares.’ for a film such as Finding Nemo; though it is incredibly lame in a cinematic atmosphere that would be humorous. This perk of making things funny which really aren’t can be extremely beneficial to cheap laughs.

Thirdly, the plot of animation films appears less serious making them easier to find funny. By having character suffer who aren’t real makes it seem okay to laugh about their misfortunes. This allows for an atmosphere where no boundaries hold animation films at bay.

(RESIT JANUARY 2012) History of Comedy Films

History of Comedy Films

By: Gene Rodriguez, III

The history of comedy films extends back (literally) to the beginning. The first movie copyrighted in the U.S., Fred Ott's Sneeze (1894), was a comedy. Comedies have evolved from the simple slapstick farces of the 1920s to the gross-out comedies of today. Well, maybe the term "evolved" is a bit strong.

The first copyrighted video of all time.

Just For Laughs: Comedies Through The Ages

• You can see it's funny. Due to the technology of the time, early comedy films were silent. The lack of sound meant that most comedic elements were physical or visual. Some of the masters of this form of comedy were Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. These actors were known for their expressive faces, their gymnast-like physical abilities or both.
• Of course, I can hear you! As sound technology was perfected in the 1930s, dialogue began to take center stage in film comedies. The sly humor of W.C. Fields and the rapid-fire delivery of Groucho Marx are early examples of comedy's new success with sound. The 1930s proved a transitional period, however, with comedians like the Three Stooges and Laurel & Hardy relying heavily on slapstick humor to spice up their films.
• But seriously… At the start of the 1940s, most comedy films were war or military themed. During the postwar period and into the 1950s, movies moved away from the simple storylines and began to seek out more mature audiences. The number of comedies produced also dropped significantly during the 1950s as Hollywood producers faced stiff competition from television-the new kid on the block.
• Transition. Although the 1960s produced a number of star-studded farces like It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) and The Great Race (1965), the decade also saw a move toward comedies that used satire to address social change (Dr. Strangelove (1964)) and movies that acknowledged the sexual revolution (The Graduate (1967)).
• Dark, but funny. The 1970s saw the rise of the dark comedy, with antiwar pictures like Catch 22 (1970) and M*A*S*H (1970). The 70s also saw the rise of parody with films that openly borrowed from classic genre films to generate stories and laughs. Mel Brooks was particularly successful with Blazing Saddles (1974) and Young Frankenstein (1974).
• A new golden age? The 1980s saw a resurgence of comedy, as parody films continued to be successful and new players entered the stage. Many of the original actors from the TV show Saturday Night Live moved on to successful comedy films careers during the 1980s. The 1980's also saw a flood of teen comedies including Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and Sixteen Candles (1984). The action comedy sub-genre also got its start in the 80s with 48 Hrs. (1982) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984).
• What a character. In the 1990s, actors who could create larger-than-life characters using exaggerated voice, movement and expression dominated comedy. Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler and Mike Myers became household names and major Hollywood stars playing in movies like The Mask (1994), The Wedding Singer (1998) and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997).
• We don't need no limits! The current trend in comedy films is to stretch the bounds of propriety and taste. Although these so-called "gross-out" movies often cause many to wince, they are still profitable at the box office. Directors like Judd Apatow and the Farrelly bothers seem to have no trouble keeping busy, so the trend may continue for some time.

Examples to support the 'you can see its funny' section.

Charlie Chaplin is perhaps the most famous cinematic face from the 20^th century. He defined the rules of comedy films with his over the top actions; dramatizing every action. This clip supports the line ‘The lack of sound meant that most comedic elements were physical or visual.’

Examples to support the 'A new golden age?' section.

 The 1980's also saw a flood of teen comedies including ‘Porkys’ (1982) which help bring around the acceptability of film plots. Before the 1980’s only a few films, such as ‘the carry on film’ series would show sex as humours. The turn in acceptance led to hundreds on teen comedies, most successful being ‘American Pie’ (1999).

Example to support the 'What a character' section.

In the 1990s, actors who could create larger-than-life characters using exaggerated voice, movement and expression dominated comedy. This clip of comedy genius Jim Carrey performing ‘The Mask’ (1994) supports the quote.  

Example to support the 'we don't need no limits!' section.

The current trend in comedy films is to stretch the bounds of propriety and taste. ‘Howard & Kumar Go to white castle’ (2004) tests all limits of peoples taste. Some will find the following clip hilarious, others will find in dumb and idiotic. Now day’s comedy films are in a divide, the stupid, ridiculous comedy films (such as ‘Howard and Kumar’) appealing to young adults and the more mature ones such as ‘Grown ups’ (2010) appealing to mature adults. These mature films usually have a mixture of comedy and family storylines which reflects a happy life, relaxing the viewer.

From this i have learned that in order to make a good modern comedy we must test the limits of what is appropriate such as Howard & Kumar. We do this by reaching the limits of  how we can stereotypically portray the geeks as getting bullied before offending people.

All videos were collected from Youtube. Information was gathered from Gene Rodriguez, III media blog.

(Q6)

This is the 'samsung 42 intelli zoom' and this is the actual camera we used for filming.

Who would be the audience for our film? (Q4)

Our film is aimed towards a teenage or young adult audience. Our film fits with the market of other films aimed towards this age group such as ‘Superbad’ (2007). Our characters and humour we wish to portray is similar to Superbad's which allows us to presume our film will be a success.

After doing a survey and finding out our potential market was for 16-24 year olds, we did further research. This age usually goes with demographic groups D and E: blue collar workers and the unemployed or students. The research also suggested they would want to just enjoy the film without having to think about what’s going on known as the ‘Hypodermic Needle Theory’. Our film will be purely for entertainment purposes but will also cater for personal identity meaning the audience can relate to the characters and their life, allowing the audience to become more engaged.

The boys, though dressed like geeks, all have a small amount of fashionable clothing on: a checkered shirt for Stuart, ‘DC’ trainers for Bob and the cool ‘Batman’ belt for Tom. All these will allow male viewers to relate themselves to the characters from first glances and as a result become more engaged with the film. Female viewers will also relate to Stacey from an early stage, an example being when Stacey applies her makeup. Also, she could make some female self-conscious viewers to feel more confident about themselves when stuffing her bra. Perhaps members of the audience will do the same and realise they are not alone; the result at the end of the film is Stacey stops doing this and still looks beautiful, something perhaps young girls may see and follow. All these little details allow the audience to engage with certain or all characters less than one minute into the film.

Also, audience feedback suggested that viewers would expect sexual references. To do this subtly we included the ‘Male Gaze Theory’ shown when Stacey shows her belly as she pulls down her shirt and also stuffs her bra. This was using the enigma code and allowed us to feed the audience many little facts surrounding each character with them being hidden, leaving the audience in their hypodermic needle state. One example of this is when you first meet the character Tom. He is eating a muffin watching ‘Loose Women’. The fact he watches ‘Loose Women’ will feed the audience the information that he is a bit feminine or is pro equal rights for women.

After evaluating our film we came to the conclusion that it would have to be certified as a 15. This was not our intention as we would have liked it to be a 12A, widening our potential market. However, our film contains strong language and sexual references. An example of strong language being used very early on in the film is Bob saying "oh shit" during the opening or Tom's shirt having the word "bitch" written on it. The reason our film can’t be a 12A is because the strong language is frequent. We also viewed other comedy films to help us reach this conclusion. ‘Superbad’ (2007) and ‘Role Models’ (2008) both contain similar jokes and themes to our film and both are rated 15. Both were rated 15 due to sexual reference and strong language.

Which institution would distribute our film? (Q3)

Originally, we debated whether or not our film would be for a niche audience or a mainstream. However, after researching the difference between black comedy and conventional comedy and realising our film is a conventional comedy we decided our film was for a mainstream audience. This led to the realisation that the larger film institutions would distribute our film rather than smaller ones, such as British film which usually leaves their distribution to be handled by larger American intuitions anyway ( an example being 'Working Title' and 'Universal Studios'). Also, we would need a film institution that focuses or at least has some experience with comedy genre distribution.

Horizontal integration would seem like the obvious choice as both institutions are equally respected and both have a voice within their partnership. A good examples of horizontal integration can be shown with the relationship of 'DC comics' and 'Warner Bros' in creating 'Batman Begins' (2005), 'The Dark Knight' (2008) and due to release in 2012 'The Dark Knight Rises'. One article speaks about how 'Warner Bros' saw potential in 'DC comics' and how they "will target the teen audience and feature super heroes from the DC Universe, such as Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and The Flash". Both companies had equal opportunities within one another to make profit. DC owned the rights to 'Batman' and has an already huge fan market what could ensure the film’s success. 'Warner Bros' could produce the film to such a standard that fans would not be disappointed. This 50/50 contribution from each institutions led to the result of a still surviving horizontal integration. However, if one of the two did not offer the 50% contribution then I am certain this conglomerate partnership would be vertical. Baring this in mind, I have realised our institutions is not already large like these two and therefore has little to offer. In conclusion, a horizontal integration partnership would be a near impossible task for small, British based institutions, unless with another British based institution which in return wouldn’t promise profit.

As we are not an American institution the chances of our film being a success without the help of an America distributor is very unlikely. This partnership of a British based institution with the help of American based one can be shown through 'Working Title'. After 'Working Title's' hit film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' (1994) making a profit of £244 million worldwide, Americas 'Universal Studios' bought a share of the institution and in returns funds them up to £35 million for each production.

 The partnership has made over 95 films to date but at the price of 'Universal Studios' owning now 67% of the British institution. This is a success story of a good long lasting vertical integration conglomerate partnership.

However, this will not always be the case shown from the famous 'Pixar' vs 'Disney' split. Both being American based institutions; both being masters of animation. 'Pixar' was founded in 1986 and was originally a low budget institution nearly ruined due to lack of funds. After a new investor the institution released a few short films such as 'Tin Toy' (1988) and started being recognised for its possibilities. Directed by John Lasseter (an ex-employee of 'Disney', previously fired for his wild, 3D animated picture length dreams), Pixar released 'Toy Story' (1995) grossing over $40 million its first weekend. 'Toy Story' was largely funded by 'Disney' who joined during 1992 after seeing some potential in the new 3D animation software. 'Toy Story' and films that followed such as 'A Bug's Life' (1997) wouldn't have been successful without the help of 'Disney'.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Pixar Animation Studios Inc. said Thursday it ended talks with Walt Disney Co. to extend a five-picture deal for Disney to distribute Pixar films.
Pixar, the computer animation pioneer founded by Apple Computer Inc.'s Steve Jobs -- and the maker of the hit "Finding Nemo" -- said it would begin talks with other companies to distribute its films starting in 2006. "After ten months of trying to strike a deal with Disney, we're moving on," Pixar CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "We've had a great run together -- one of the most successful in Hollywood history -- and it's a shame that Disney won't be participating in Pixar's future successes."
The move was a clear setback to Disney, which reaped a financial and critical bonanza from the partnership and has struggled with its own strategy for animation.
Disney said Pixar's final offer would have cost Disney hundreds of millions of dollars from the existing distribution deal and was not sweet enough going forward.
"Although we would have enjoyed continuing our successful collaboration under mutually acceptable terms, Pixar understandably has chosen to go its own way to grow as an independent company," Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner said in a statement.

The article goes on to say the reason they split: "Pixar had complained that the terms of the distribution deal were tilted too heavily in Disney's favour". This showed to me that even good vertical integration, conglomerates can split due to both institutions not backing and meeting the other's demands regarding distribution. Though the partnership has since been restored it is now a horizontal integration partnership. 'Disney' suffered major losses and has come to terms that 2D animation (the art they specialize in) has become obsolete and without 'Pixar' as a partner 'Disney' could face its doom.

7 minutes and 30 seconds into this clip (taken from the documentary 'The Pixar Story') also explains the split of conglomerates from 'Pixar' and 'Disney' workers that was involved within the argument.

This split taught me that one partner would have to be submissive for the distribution process and as we are a British based institution that partner would have to be us.

This self-taught submissive rule leads me back to the 'Working Title' relationship with 'Universal Studios'. The submissive 'Working Title' is now a huge institution and has flourished, releasing films of the same genre as us with the distribution help of 'Universal' such as 'Ali G' (2002). 'Universal Studios' also realises many of its own comedy films such as 5 time award winning '40year old virgin' (2005). This would lead me to the conclusion that due to their expertise in vertical integration partnership our institution 'Emerald Productions' would team up with 'Universal Studios'. In return we would most likely be giving them a large percent of our institution ownership.

What potential opportunities could 'Universal Studios' offer our institutions?

Now, the best chance of not just our film being a success but also our institution's, would be by teaming up with 'Universal.' I have researched a short list of possible profit growing opportunities. 'Universal Studios' owns its own theme park; any film that grows a large public interest usually gains its own ride, shop, arcade or park lane named after it. Each of these would grow a potential market for our DVD sales and also interest for a possible sequel for our film. Also, 'Universal' has a large range of merchandise, not just sold within its theme park boundaries, but all across the western world. Merchandise for our film could vary from toys/figurines to shirts with possible memorable quotes from the film. 'Universal' has knowledge regarding the British market shown by 'Working Titles' success. This helpful feature will put out film in the best cinemas in Britain such as the 'Odeon' and possible 'Multiplexes' in America.

(Q2)

 An example of the male gaze theory I spoke about during the presentation.

Example of the class differences I spoke about during the presentation.

In what ways does our film use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real comedy films? (Q1)

We stuck to basic convention rules for comedy to illustrate our genre. Our opening had to inform our audience that they were about to watch a comedy film, setting the atmosphere. This is why we used other traits of fellow comedy films to form this information. The music from our opening is funky and uplifting, similar to all other mainstream films targeting the same audience which we are (15-24year olds).

Our characters looked the part; they can easily be compared with other geek trios of the same genre.  

The similarities between both parties of geek are obvious. They all look geeky physically and via their clothing. We have a geek with glasses and a geek who is slightly overweight. Also, we have ‘Tom’ who is ginger, though not related to these geeks he can be compared to ‘Napoleon’ from ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ (2004).

Our character ‘Stuart’ also has hair like Napoleon, frizzy and curled what also can connote he is a geek through the physical conventions of comedy.  

Most comedy films show their titles early on within the clip. However, we debated to challenge the stereotypical convention and to show our title at the end of our opening. One other film has done what we intend to, for example ‘Step Brothers’ (2008) also showed the title at the end of its opening, challenging the ‘normal’ method. I cannot find a video of good quality to illustrate this point. However, we chose to put our title after the character Stacey is introduced so the 'girl' from the title 'About a girl' can be understood to be Stacey.

Our opening suggests to the audience that we have sub-genres within our comedy. Stacey connotes this will be a romantic film, leading to a rom-com. The fact she is also a main character instead of an extra highlights she isn’t just present for the male gaze theory but instead that she’ll play a key role in our film, further connoting this film has a romantic sub-genre.  However, due to the age of all four characters we can also connote that this film is a teen comedy, like 'Superbad' (2007) which is the film we drew inspiration from.

‘Superbad’ influenced our film as it has a similar plot to our film as well as it being a huge success.

“Superbad” turned to be very popular in the USA. But, at first, nobody even dared to speak about it possible success, “Superbad” was predicted to be a sleeper hit, but now the situation has completely changed, “Superbad” is a bona fide box-office favorite.

What a shit! A movie produced for less than $20 million with two dubious actors playing main roles “Superbad” became one of the most warmly accepted comedies of the summer 2007! Already in the first week it gathered $33.1 million (box-office gatherings). Although the majority of critics predicted only $25 million (during the whole season).

This article highlights the success of ‘Superbad’ and shows teen comedies are up and rising. This success influenced us to do a similar film to ‘Superbad’ but with a British twist. So we took the teen conventions for example costumes, physical appearance and prop. This stealing of conventions should hopefully guarantee our film will be a success.

Final Cut

There are few changes made with our final cut since the second cut. The main one is the repositioning of the title. We put the ‘About a Girl’ title to appear after you meet the character Stacey, connoting she is the ‘girl’ in the title. We also added in the scratch of the record when the music cuts out for Stuart so it doesn’t seem amateur and unplanned. We added the sound in for both silences originally but this didn’t seem to work as well as just having it the first time.  

 Feedback
* The film could be mistaken as a professional production.
* The silence for Stuart has improved thanks to the record scratch.
* The new location of the title makes the film easier to follow.
* The split screen (despite no changes) is brilliant.
* The music (despite no changes) is also good.
* Everyone said they would watch our film.

Rough cut 2

This rough cut was more a tester for the title position within the opening. We put it at the end of the opening which as a result challenged comedy conventions. However, audience feedback suggested we moved the title to appear after the character Stacey leaves her bed. This would connote that the girl from the title, ‘About a Girl’, is Stacey and as a result made the film easier to follow.

Also, the feedback led to the adding of a sound effect of a record cutting out when the character Stuart appears. The audience suggested that this would make it more apparent that the silence was not a mistake but instead a planned technique.   

Rough Cut 1

This is our first rough cut. It is the basic layout in which our opening shall run. The main changes that will be made following this rough cut is the introduction of music, names, titles and the correction of some minor errors. For example, the split screen does not run smoothly as the character Tom jumps from the middle to the left side. The logo for 'wise crack studios' is also slanted so we will have to straighten this out. Also, we are debating whether the title should appear at the start (sticking to conventional routes) or putting it at the end (joining a small minority).

Monday 14 March 2011

Location Changes
Today we filmed the scene of all three boys meeting down the street and also Tom's montage. No location changes were made. This was due to the fact of it fitting perfectly.

Blocking Changes
Also no blocking changes were made, this was also due to the fact they fitted.

Prop Changes
There were no changes of props for any of Tom's scene as they all seemed to fit once again perfectly.

Lighting Changes
The naturalistic lighting was much better today than it was yesterday. This made it ideal to film the shots of the boys meeting up today as we wouldn't need to create the lighting for ourselves. Also, the rooms we filmed Tom in had naturally high key lighting, making it ideal to film Tom in our planned locations.

Sunday 13 March 2011

Today we filmed Stacey’s, Bobs and Stuarts individual scenes. This includes all their montage shots of them preparing for the day and each shot of them exiting their homes. Many things were changed during filming due to us realising things can be kept simple or changes that made our film opening visual element better.

Location Changes
We kept the original location for Stacey and Stuart’s as there weren't any faults with the chosen choices. Both settings were spatious which was a benefit for our crew. Also, both locations looked the part and were believable to fit their characters. However, Bob’s final location had the worse possible lighting despite the main light in the room being turned on. This was due to the weather being dull providing little natural high key lighting. We quickly assessed the situation and changed location to the nearest available and suitable one. The second choice location was also with low key lighting but was better than the last. It was also more spatious but not have the required desk for Bob's scene. However, due to pressure we has to proceed to the best of our ability. The pan which should have been across a large desk showing his messy environment had to be done over his bed littered in clothes. The desk itself was tiny and was shoved into the corner and made it hard to get a good shot. Despite this, we still got the scenes we intended to have.

Blocking Changes
A few little details were changed as far as blocking is concerned. Stacey’s alarm clock was supposed to be in the centre of the frame, however, due to the position of the desk wherre it laid, we had it in the left side of the frame. This still worked however but removed the professional, clever feel. Due to the location change for the character Bob, he was also moved from the centre of the frame to the left side. This, too, made the film feel unprofessional. All other framing kept the same blocking layout. A personal favourite was the way in which we established an aerial shot of Stuart reading. It required carefully placing the tripod onto a tall lamp as the camera was still running, due to the button being too high to reach.

Prop Changes
So far each prop we listed to be used during the making of our film has been placed within each location, though not always visible within the frame. Though it isn’t always visible in the frame these props are still important as it helps keep the atmosphere of each character present. We also added several more props to each scene such as an Egyptian poster for Stacey’s scene stuck to the centre of her far wall. These little touches we fed to the audience through the enigma code to connote information regarding each character.

Lighting Changes
Today, bad luck was upon us as it was a dull, gloomy day creating little natural lighting. We intended for high key natural lighting for several scenes as in the morning it is not always common to have a lamp on but instead curtains drawn open. We had to make do trying to create high key lighting that looked natural. The one bit of luck that struck us, however, was that the new location for Bob had movable ceiling lights. Allowing us to aim the lighting in the direction necessary to get the best possible result.

Tomorrow we are filming the scene of all three boys together and the character Tom's montage. If the natural lighting is higher key we will also re-film any possibly scenes improving the quality of our film.



Wednesday 23rd March 2011
Due to the dull lighting of Sunday 13th March, we re-filmed Bob’s scenes. The naturalistic lighting helped improve the lighting of Bob's scenes drastically. Bob’s scene originally had an orange glow but not having to create the high key lighting, the orange glow faded away making the scene seem believable.