Group Evaluation

Hannah Saunders, Aristide Covi & Megan Kimber H.A.M Productions

Questionnaires
When constructing our questionnaires we wanted to cover a broad area with regards to the conventions of our Rom Com genre as we wanted to aim for a mass audience. We each tried to vary the ages we asked, but we felt that as we had chosen a school Mis-en-scene, it would appeal more to an audience of teenagers. It has helped us vastly with regards to choosing our certification, our types of camera shots that we would use and the types of characters we should feature. More than anything the questionnaire aided us with regards to choosing our film title. As a group we were undecided between Mars is Venus and Mix Match, but when the questionnaire results were studied we saw the majority of people asked preferred In My Shoes. So we went with the title that would spark the interest most of our target audience.

Genre Conventions
We each researched the genre conventions, so when we accumulated our research together, we found common aspects to include in our opening sequence such as costumes, locations, character stereotypes of the Rom/Com genre. It also has influenced our linear narrative of our 2 minutes sequence. There are different stages to a Rom/Com: a problem or rift in a relationship arises cause some dis-equilibrium , the process in trying to fix this then the resolution creating a new equilibrium. Obviously we couldnt include all of these aspects in our 2 minutes of footage, so weve had to decide what part of our narrative to include.

Title Analysis
Together we analysed 6 film titles from our genre Romantic Comedy. Including My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Shes The Man, 500 Days of Summer, 17 Again, Amelie. Through these we found, that each set of titles connote elements of the narrative that are to follow. Megan found that in My Big Fat Greek Wedding the two types of fonts are used to represent the two families within. And the layout of the titles on the screen denote the shape of a wedding cake, an obvious motif throughout the film. Hannah discovered In Shes the Man they used freeze frames of the audio visual from the opening sequence, they then had an effect that turned the characters in to animation, the titles of the characters were then overlaying the footage, this was affective and is a way to intrigue the audience. Aristide discovered that for Amelie the titles were used to set the scene for the narrative using 1950s art deco style which instantly lets you know that the narrative is set in the 1950s also the colours used for the text gave hints as to the protagonist character using red and yellow contrasting each other the red represents the Love and power where as the yellow refers to joy and happiness. The analysis we have carried out on these will help us when deciding our fonts and layouts. Weve already made the decision to have our titles playing over the footage, as the majority of people when asked in our questionnaire said they would prefer this in our opening sequence. We also decide that the titles would arrive in comedic way with the word of title in coming in from either side of the screen and banging together with a little wobble , this represents the protagonists being forced together and there conflicting personalities. Also we decide to have the titles in the stereotypical colours for male female which is pink and blue, we will have certain tittles stay on the screen for longer than others e.g. production company name ,the directors name and the main title of the film , we leaves these on because we wanted bring attention to the main people involved with in our film .Our main title will appear last and last the longest until the main narrative has started this to make the audience concentrate on the meaning it might hold inciting the audience.

Characters
In our film we have decided that we would use characters which the audience could become familiar with quickly. Due to the genre of our film it is acceptable to include stereotypes in which the audience will relate too quickly. For instance we have two groups of friends of the genders Male and Female, both groups are seen as the popular groups of the school. This isnt unusual when watching films of the genre Romantic Comedy. Popular students of the school are seen as intimidating and domineering to emphasis this we will have diegetic rock music playing which represents the tough social world the popular live in also the narrative within our film starts to become contrasting once the audience gets to know the two main characters within the narrative. It will become clear to the audience that Mitchell is feeling less confident within his large group of friends, as they are pressurising him to do things which he doesnt want to do. As well as Paige is being treated in way which cannot be acceptable by her boyfriend, in terms of her group of friends they have not realised the problems therefore Paige has nobody to turn too. This is why having the stereotypical characters in the film is important as it helps introduce the issues which the two main characters are having to face.

Genre Development
Our film is comedy so we had to make sure to involve the main points which make up a comedy I.e. Stereotypes, exaggeration of characters etc , In our film we use these traits in our protagonists ,Paige is pretty but acts really stupid and ditzy and Mitchell acts like gangster bad man which is stereotypical to black people playing this comes off as very funny due to the contrast of there stereo types and there actual personalities in our narrative we have Mitchell the bad man actually turns out to be a softy who hates hurting people or violence and Paige is actually very smart but just has trouble expressing her self, the great exaggeration of the characters and the contrast between them is the main point of the narrative and the conflicts that arise between them is the main source of comedy in our film. In the film they swap bodies this is very funny as there personalities are so different that it is instantly obvious that the characters are very uncomfortable in each other body's , as they try to walk, talk and act the way the other does we see the negatives points of the personalities connoting the issues in the personalities to each other as well as the audience the bizarraity of the situation creates a sense of comedy through abnormality of the situation.

Certification
We have chosen our film to be a certification of a 15. In our research we discovered that in order for our film to be under this particular certification it would have to avoid any discrimination or could not endorse language or behaviour that may have any symbolism of discrimination. Our film doesnt promote or encourage any type of drugs, however in the background we decided it would be acceptable if a character was smoking a cigarette, this is adequate for a certified 15 film, therefore this is another reason as to why a 15 is suitable for our film. Within our research we analysed all of the regulations of what can and cannot be accepted under a 15 film, as it is important to make sure that this certification is most suited for our genre. When researching the regulations of certain certifications, we took in to consideration the certification of a 12, however we decided that this would be too restricting when producing the footage itself, therefore thought that a 15 would be more suitable due to the minimal amount of sexual references and bad language that may occur.

Soundtrack analysis
To figure out our sound track, Megan analysed the soundtrack to the opening sequence of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and 500 Days of Summer, and she found that the pace and tone to the sound helps to drive the narrative forward. Hannah analysed Shes the Man and 17 Again. She found that the lyrics in shes the man opening soundtrack related to the narrative in the film. In 17 Again the non diegetic sound helps to build tension along with the freeze frames. Aristide analysed Amelie and Charlie Chaplin City lights. He found This film relies on music as there is no dialogue. The soundtrack helps connote emotions, for example the use of violins and string instruments suggests romance. We realised that for comedy we had to use allot of upbeat music very lively and exciting as practically all the scene have some part in which there is some funny action, when watching Charlie Chaplin films the original slap stick comedy we noticed that the music often match the actions happening when something was going down so would the music when its rose so did the music this link between the sound and the action truly emphasised the comedic elements of the scene also the miss use of sound in scene so in scene were Paige has no more lipstick and she is panicking having tense scary music , the contrast between the actual severity of the situation and the music creates comedy this also works for scenes were Mitchell is being a bully and the music is happy and upbeat while he is beating up some kid this contrast between what your seeing and what your hearing creates a sense comedy but also connotes the message of our film the contrast that difference the struggle between the image and the music just as there our two sides to what your hear and what you see there are two sides to our Protagonists.

Opening Sequence
Analysing films from the same genre helped in knowing how to make our film in the right style and what sort shots we should include, we analysis Aqua marine, 13 going 30 , 17 again ,white chicks and Valentines day. Hannah discovered that Aqua marine includes different camera angles that help tell the narrative and gives the audience more detail within the different shots shot it allows us as a directors to inject specific idea into the audience mind even before the narrative has begun, also Megan found that in films like 17 again and White Chicks they used the opening sequence to establish the characters and there links to narrative through close ups and establishing hits. All these techniques we will use in our film so that we can appeal to a mass audience in Aristide saw that in Valentines Day there was a high use of two shots showing only the protagonists which helped emphasis the romance between them shots like this will be used ours as we wanted to show the relationship developing between Mitchell and Paige also we found that in all the films wide shots were used to show all the action happening art same time this is effective in comedy as they often have to conflicting acts happening which is always amusing to watch.