Poster idea

Here is our movie poster. The top image is our initial picture with no editing. The second image has been edited in order to enhance it. I edited out the background and enhanced all the lighting and colouring. I also superimposed 'Buddy's' head as it was facing the other way but as he's a main character he has to be facing the camera. The picture also had to be enhanced as you could not see the drawing on the paper, as such I had to redraw the picture in Photoshop.
When comparing this to our initial idea we decided that the background we had originally chosen was too unconventional and did not suit the film. So rather than a scenic background we chose the school common room and added students into the background in order to emphasise how much our characters stand out.

Anamatics video

This is our anamatics without audio as we have yet to develop our songs for the video. Seeing as we cannot use the Buddy Holly songs we have to prepare our own song. The characters represented in here are not the ones that'll be used in the film. We have decided to use a different girl and a boy for the brains and beauty section of the film as our original models have been used in the film poster.

Set location

When creating our film ideas we decided to shoot the film within a high school setting. Because of the films date of release - January 2012- we have decided to shoot our film in november so that the weather enties with not only the season of film release but also because our film will be set over a winter period. We intend to use our school as the setting as it is as close to a highschool setting as possible. Here are some of the setting we have looked at which could possibly be used both for filming and for our film poster.

The outside shot would be used during filming as it is situated on a pathway between two main buildings and looks like school grounds. The second indoors shot would be used for the film poster, rather than taking a photo outside as the mock up film poster demonstrates, we though it could work better inside with other students in the background to emphasise the age of the main characters and the school setting.

Storyboard

When creating our film we needed to create a storyboard in order to prepare each scene on the day of filming. This also allows us to prepare for the anamatic and gain a estimated film time.

Our story board includes all the infortmation about audio and description of scene. Although some changes may be made when filming proceeds, the storyboard will generally be followed.

Film poster and magazine front cover mock ups

Before we can create our film poster and magazine front cover we have to create mock ups which allow us to a gather an idea of what the finished product will look like and the ability to plan ahead and avoid too many mistakes or problems.

We decided rather than using 'Total film' or 'Empire' as our magazine, we would create our own magazine, entitled 'Movie Reel'. The pun in the name echoes the comedy included within our film. We used a colour scheme of red, white and blue, to symbolise the American nature of our film. The central image is of our main characters in a romantic clinch again to emphasise the genre of our film. We have included the rest of the groups film titles and synopsis in our magazine as usually the advetise new releases and because of copyright reasons we cannpt use a real films images.

Unconventionally for our film poster we have decided to include a background. The purpose of this was too ensure the poster wasn't too bland, although a blank background catches your eye, once you've seen it once you tend not to look back at it. If it has a background you will be more inclined to keep looking back at the image to see if you have missed any detail. We decided to include a parody within our poster to emphasise the humour within our film. Our main characters our mimicking the classic 'Titanic' scene where Jack draws Rose naked. Instead our characters are fully dressed and Buddy is drawing childish and boyish images such as a dinosaur. The title is in red to echoe the romantic side to our film, as red is often associated with romance.

Film magazine research

As part of our project we have to create a film magazine front cover featuring our film. For research I have looked at 'Total film' and 'Empire', as these are two of the most popular film magazine today.

'Total film' is a conventional magazine, which consistantly uses colour schemes to echoe the season of magazine realease and the film. The colours red and yellow represent summer and the blank background allows Jessica Alba and all the font on the page to stand out. Our magazine will have a similiar layout to this as this is most conventional and allows us plenty of room to advertise our film.

Similiarly to 'Total film', 'Empire' uses a similias colour scheme, with the colours white and yellow used for text in order to make it stand out. The dark background enties with the film theme. Plenty of exclamatory sentences are used in order to emphasise the magazines purpose of advertising.

Distributer

Upon completing the research for our coursework, we were aware we would need to choose a distributer. Seeing as we want our film to be an American production, it would need to be a large American distrubter. Considering how much inspiration we have drawn from films such as 'Juno' and 'Napoleon Dynamite' for both their humour and romantic features we decided to look at their distributer. This led to Fox Searchlight Pictures who have also distributed films such as, 'Little Miss Sunshine' and 'Happy Feet'. It is apparant that this will be our distributer as we want our film to be similiar to these and experience the same amount of fame as these other films. The choice over an American distributer rather than a British one was simply founded because of the storyline. Spoof films and generally more rom-coms are American productions and because our film fitted into both of those genres it seemed more appropriate to use the conventional American distrbuter. For a British film to break into this market would more than likely require American funding anyway as these productions are not as cheap to make as would first appear. British humour differs greatly from American, and although British audiences still watch and enjoy American films, the comedy used when producing them differs altogether and as a group we desired the American comedy over the British.

Target audience and age rating

Within our group we have chosen an age rating of 15. This allows us to appeal to both a teenage and more mature audience and the same time. It also ensures we can use adult humour without offending younger audience members. A 15 age rating is useful in gauranteeing we can reach a broad audience and not have to make our film specific to a niche audience.
Our actual target audience will range between 15 and 35 as we feel these age groups will appreciate the film more than any other. We have not aimed for a certain gender this year as we will feel with an almost 'spoof' rom com, ther humour used will appeal to men and the romantic perspective will appeal to women, meaning the film is suitable for both genders. By making it an American production we are aiming to attract both an American and British audience so there will be features included to appeal to both. The American characters but classic rom com format allows this. Other films we looked at that had inspired our film also used this certificate including, 'Juno' and 'Bridget Jones' diary'.

Initial ideas and research

We have commenced further resarch and as a result have further developed our ideas for our coursework. We've decided that our film will be an American production as most 'cheesy' rom coms are produced in America. However we have not decided on a institutions or distributer. We also (after naming our characters Buddy Johnson and April Day) were inspired to use the Buddy Holly song 'Everyday'. Of course being aware that we cannot use copyrighted products in our film, we looked into the ownership of the Buddy Holly songs and came across Decca Records, who we then emailed and have so far heard no reply. If this is not possible we have asked a fellow student who is established in music whether he would help us create an underscore, similiar to the style of music used in the film 'Juno'. We have created our story board which now allows us to finish our film magazine and film poster mock ups.

In order to create our film magazine and poster we have been looking at fonts to use for our title as this will occure in all three parts of the coursework. These have not been finalised yet but here are some examples taken from the website 'Dafont.com'

We drew this inspiration again from films such as 'Juno', 'Superbad' and 'Napoleon Dynamite' as these are the genres we want to parody.

Film Magazine Features

When studying film magazines it becomes apparant that there are certain features used in order to create a successful magazine, these features are -

• A masthead
• Central image
• Smaller images of other features in the magazine
• Coverlines
• Tagline
• Different font styles appropriate to the advertisements
• Colour scheme
• Mode of address

Teaser Trailer Features

When studying teaser trailers it becomes apparent that there are certain features neccessary to create a good teaser trailer. These features are -

• Introduce the genre through general style of the trailer
• One long running sequence
• If any footage produced has been specifically created for the trailer and cannot be seen in the film
• If there's no footage there would usually be rough audio from the film
• Around a minute long
• The film title and release date are given, and the release date will not usually be specific i.e 'Summer 2010'
• released a long time before the films official trailer and the film itself

Within our coursework we intend to use pretty much all of these features. However there are some we shall not be conforming to such as we're going to have 5 film clips and 4 title clips. All the footage will obviously been specifically created for the teaser trailer and it will only be around a minute long as neccessary. We may have a voiceover though this has not been specified at this stage. We've taken inspiration from the teaser trailers promoting 'Juno' and other general rom coms.

Research on rom com film posters

When researching other rom com film posters I came across these examples :

The positioning of the actors in 'Ghost of girlfriends past' shows an instant connection between the pair but being back to back illustrates there's a problem between the pair. The three pictures positioned in the background form the shape of the holy cross and illustrates the idea of 'ghosts' in the film. The grey background emphasises the main characters and the bright white and red tag line and titles which echoe the colours in the picture.







In the 'Bridget Jones' poster the sterotypical female colours of pink and purple are used to emphasise the genre. The plain white background again emphasises the characters and genre of the film. The tag line uses the rule of three a common feature in film posters, 'Big lawyer Big liar Big problem'. The handwritten effect represents Bridget writing in her diary. The picture being below the factual text is slightly unusual but it draws the focus on the characters face. Bridget Jones being positioned in the middle of the image focuses on her character being torn between the two men.










'Along came Polly' is a slightly unconventional rom com created through disequillibrium of what initially appears to be the main characters. This poster is also slightly unconventional using a background not seen within the film which is just as bright and noticeable as the main characters. The tag line at the top tells the audience of the writers identity, which informs audiences of the type of comedy seen within the film. The characters different costumes show a difference between them, with Ben stiller dressed in a formal suit and Jennifer Anniston dressed casually. The white and red themed writing is conventional to most rom com film posters, implying this is a conventional rom com.








'The break-up' is an unconventional rom com as it focuses only on the break-up between the couple and in the end they remain seperated. This poster demonstrates the unconventional nature of the film with the blue and grey colours and the division between the couple. The different coloured titles are meant to represent different genders used the stereotypical colours of pink and blue.














'Date movie' is a spoof rom com which also parody other films such as 'Napoleon Dynamite'. The bright red background and bold black title break the conventions of most rom com posters. The rude symbols such as 'unrated' and the pair of pants on the letter 'A' have sexual connontations which despite being seen in most rom coms are not portrayed in advertisement as it lessens the romantic side to the film.

Initial coursework ideas

For my A2 media coursework I have remained in the same group as previously and together after looking at many examples of teaser trailers have decided that the genre for our coursework this year shall be a romantic comedy, or to be more precise a spoof romantic comedy with slight satire used to mock rom coms as they are. We've based our ideas upon the title 'Wrongcom', a play on words used to emphasise the comedy to our coursework. Aswell as creating a teaser trailer we will also be creating a film poster and a film magazine front cover featuring our 'film'. As a group we decided we would prefer to research and use a different genre to our foundation portfolio, as it allows new ideas and techniques to be used. The general plot line to our film is that rather than using the stereotypically good looking and generally middle class characters seen in films such as 'Failure to launch' and 'Bridget Jones Diary'. We would create characters who aren't good looking and are not expected to be seen in this genre of film.