7) Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

In the pre-lim, the main feedback i got was to try and use a variation of different shot types. I did this and felt it helped communicate the genre more effectivley to the audience as some of the shots helped the comedy elements become more obvious. For example, in the bathroom when Ellie is brushing her teeth and we used the camera to become the mirror image, this helped the comedy element as it gave it a funnier point of view, rather than just doing the typical mirror shot that i usually would've gone for. Also, i think i learnt more about sound this time aswell. In my pre-lim i really underestimated the use of sound, and used only digetic. In this project, we used a voiceover, digetic sounds, a backing track and sound effects all to compliment everything else which i think paid off aswell. Unlike the pre-lim, we didn't use any 180 degree rule or shot reverse shot, but we did use match on action and i think it worked really well and didn't look amateur at all. Overall, i think my opening sequence is a huge improvement compared to my pre-lim.

6) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The two characters i'm going to compare is Ellie from 'Two Can Play That Game' and 'Amanda' from the Holiday, played by Cameron Diaz. In my opening sequence, Ellie is shown as quite a childish person who is quite clumsy and stupid. She also makes a fool of herself quite a lot in the opening sequence which sets up her character & personality for the rest of it. The way it does this is by the constant falling over, the 'stupid' moments and her outfit. (see below)

We can compare Lucy's character to Amanda by the way she makes a fool of herself. For example, in the scene where Amanda has a little too much to drink, she decides to sing along to 'Mr Brightside' by the Killers. (see below) This is a very comical scene as she is jumping about a lot and dancing, which adds to the comedy in 'romantic comedy'. 

Another comparison of characters is Georgia Nicholson in Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging. The first time we see Georgia in the film is when she's walking down the street in her fancy dress costume as a stuffed olive.(see below) It's a very comical suit and is guaranteed to make the audience laugh. This also portrays the character as a little bit stupid and silly to be dressed like this.

Youtube clip.. (it wouldn't let me embed)

5) What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of consturcting this product?

Final Cut- Final cut was probably the programme we used most in the process for our opening sequence. We used this to edit the sequence, whereas for our pre-lim we used iMovie. I found final cut much better to use, as it was easier, you could be more precise, it was more professional and had many many more effects. 

iTunes-  We also used iTunes to transport our voiceover & track over to our actual editing. iTunes was very easy to use and didn't mess up the audio of the clip at all. 

Garage Band- We also used Garage Band. We used this programme to record our voiceover. To do this, we left our voiceover recording whilst lucy left a gap in between each of the lines. This is so it was easier to transport over into Final Cut. 

LiveType-  we used liveType to create our titles for opening sequence. This is so we could use the different effects provided and fit the titles look specifically to our genre. 

Youtube- We used Youtube for multiple reasons. The first is to research into other opening sequences, in the planning stage. This is so we can get an idea of the typical conventions. Also, we used Youtube to transport clips onto our blogger for our coursework. This makes it easier to analyse the clips. We also annotated some clips to show a use of technology. Our last use of youtube is to distribute our final sequence. We posted it to youtube as it is the largest video-sharing community in the world. 

IMDB- This is a website that is a database of films. It contains lots of information on any films you can think of. We used this in the planning & research stage to obtain information on certain films that are relevant to our opening sequence. 

Open office-  I used this to present my research and to organize it aswell. I found Open office easy to use and simple to navigate. 

Handycam- As a group, we decided to use a handy-cam to film our footage. We opted out of using the HDV as a lot of our shots were out walking around the streets and we didn't want to risk carrying a big, expensive camera. Also, the handycam is a lot more portable than the HDV. 

Tripod- We decided to use a tripod with a handy-cam to give us a steadier shot. Also, we chose to use a tripod as it was easy to carry around and quite lightweight, as well as being easily assembled. 

Phone- I used my phone quite a lot throughout this project. I used it to communicate with both Connor & Kirstie. The first thing we done as a group was swap numbers and 'bbpins' so it's easy to communicate. 

4.) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

What does a production company do? 


A production company usually handles many aspects of a film which includes budgeting, scripting, scheduling, the supply of actors, the resources, the staff, distribution, marketing and the actual production itself. Production companies can be found in t.v programmes as well as performing arts.

What is your idea of a distributor and who that might be and why? 


In respect to our film, i think we should us a distributor that helps with the marketing, production distribution. To distrubute our film, if possible i would use Vue Cinemas. I would use this company as they own the largest cinema chain worldwide and have the biggest box office intake in the world. This would be good as it would mean our cinema was released into a high profile cinema where people would go to view it. We would use production & marketing company called 20th Century Fox. We would use this production company as they've made a lot of rom com's.

Where the money might have come from for a film like yours? 


For a film like this, i would have gone to a company like 20th Century Fox. I would go to this company because they have released a lot of romantic comedies and know how to advertise to these companies well for example..




Here you can see that Just Married is made by 20th century fox. From this trailer, it makes people want to go and see it as it is cleverly edited to make people want to go and see it. All the sound effects, funny lines and voiceover in this help to advertise the film and make it more appealing to potential audiences. The funding would come from this company and the advertising.

Why the various people are named in the titles- Which jobs appear in the titles and in what order and how have you reflected this?


In our titles we named the three principal actors, the director, the screenplay and the the producer. We decided to have the most important, to the least important. This order was producer, director, screenplay, main actor and support actors.


How is your film similar 'institutionally' to others? (name some films which would be released in a similar way)


If we were to release our film properly, and it was our decision how, i'd want it to be quite a big company, as i said before, such as 20th century Box. This is because it would appeal to all of our audiences and would distribute in a wide range. Our film is similar institutionally because it has a typical rom-com plot yet with something different to make it something new & fresh.

3) In what ways does your media products use, develop or change forms and conventions of real life media products? (i.e. of film openings)

How the characters are introduced.. 

In these screenshots you can see one way we have challenged the conventions. Even though the two girls were best friends we decided to make them have completely different. For example they had two different fashion styles, got too work in two different ways and as we find out later, have two different jobs. This therefore connotes that they have two different lives. I think this challenges the conventions as it shows they have two different lives and are completely different whereas friends are usually quite similar. (see image 1 & 2)

Costumes & Props.
From these two images you can see the difference in characters between their costumes. You can see the Ellie is dressed in a coat, dungarees, leggings & converse. This is quite a childish outfit and breaks the conventions because of this. Then on the top image we can see Jessica who is dressed in heels, tights, skirt & blouse and is dressed quite smartly. This again breaks the conventions of rom-com as these sort of characters are rarely humorous and therefore, rarely have a lead role in a romantic-comedy film. (see images 1 & 2)

Story and how the opening sets it up.. 

 The main relationship in our rom-com was between the two girls, Jessica & Ellie. This challenges the normal convention of rom-com's as the main relationship is usually between the man and the woman. Even though the narrative revolves around romance and the troubles of the two girls and this one man, the main storyline revolves around the troubles of the two girls, which is one way we broke the conventions. (see images 5 & 6)

Title font and style. 

- we chose to challenge the conventions of typical Rom-Com by having many different fonts & styles in our title. We wanted it to be something that audiences would remember for the way it looked. For example, in 'Love Acctually', the colours and font continue the whole way through the title. I think we broke the conventions of the title. (see image 4.)


The title of the film. 
We first thought of the idea for our film from our focus group, when we asked for suggestions from them at the end of the interview,  A girl in it called Katie suggested the name 'Two can play at that game' and all of us (including our interviewees) agreed it fitted the narrative and was a catchy one. (see image 4) This title stuck with the conventions of Rom-Coms as it was a catchy slogan that people say alot. Other examples of this are in 'Just go with it', 'Just Married, 'You've got mail' and 'Employee of the month',

Setting & Location. 

 The first setting we used was my bedroom. We decided to use my bedroom as i have a single bed which will connote the character to be living at home. We also decided to have her in this room as my room is quite childish and reflects the personality we decided for Ellie. I think changes media conventions as the main character is usually quite developed and knows what she wants with her life, whereas Ellie doesn't. (see image 5)

This is our second setting, which was filmed in Kirstie's mums room. We decided to film it here so as to connote that Jessica is a mature adult. We felt this room was very mature yet still showed Jessica's personality as very pink and girly- referring back to her costume choices. We thought this broke the conventions as we used it as a comparison to Ellie's life and it showed how different the girls are, whilst usually two friends are quite similar. (see image 6)





Camerawork & Editing. 


Throughout the whole film we use editing to introduce our two characters. The whole point of our opening was to show the audience the difference between the two characters. We done this by cross-cutting our shots to compare the two. Again, this helps us to demonstrate how the girls are both so different- which is what we chose to break against the typical conventions. Also, in the bathroom scene with Lucy (see image 8u) we tried to use the camera to communicate the genre of comedy. We did this to portray Lucy at a humorous angle which shows her disorientation in the mornings, again which portrays her as the comical character and breaks against the conventions.


Genre and how the opening suggests it? 


Our opening sequence gives lots of hints about our genre to the audience. The first way we did this was through the amount of comedy elements. For example, Ellie falling over, toothpaste round her mouth, the kids throwing things at her, the girl on crutches and Lucy's comedy run. Another way we define the genre is through the characters personalities and their differences. For example, when Lucy is portrayed to be very clumsy and dorky helps to define the genre. Another way is through the voiceover, as Lucy's tone of voice is very clumsy and 'cheeky', which again shows off her character to be comical.

Question 2- How did your film attract your target audience?

Question 1- Who would be the target audience for your media product?

Audience Research