Initial Idea

Features of the Main Character (in opening):

simply pretty (potential of being a stunner)

glasses

basic dark clothing

simple hair

bored expression

quiet and reserved with family

Other Characters:

dad - drinking alcohol

nan - holding a fag

sister - fairy outfit

mum - in apron, cleaning

brother - on phone, ipod etc

grandad - newspaper -bored.

These still snapshots of the family will represent their personalities, doing things that they're typical for, like a nervous cleaning wreck for a mum, and on each freeze frame, having a name of the character.

Prop List:

table and chairs

birthday cake with candles

banners

party poppers

table cloth

apron

DIARY

wrapping paper

birthday cards

fairy outfit

newspaper

cigarettes

appropriate clothing for the characters

glasses for the girl

plates for the cake

napkins

1 8 candles

drinks - empty beer bottles for Dad

Significance of Opening to the Film:

As she is now 18, she can drink,party, date and have sex. This film will show her doing all these things and most have hilarious consequences, meanwhile she writes in her diary these funny events. The 'best wish she ever made' was to have the best year of her life. And that she does, she even meets a hottie! So the significance of the opening of the film is that we are showing how boring her family is and on her 18th shes stuck with her family and a cake and the wish she makes at the end of the opening shows that film will be interesting and could be about anything. Also, as the shots of the diary are in the opening, the audience can tell that that will also be a major part of the film.

The Opening Sequence Ideas:

UNIVERSAL PICTURES intro.

The setting of a dining table with a cake and candles lit. Banners hung and party popper mess on the floor. Napkins and plates by the cake. The writing in the diary.

Then the front door opens, and the sister in her fairy outfit runs and grabs the girl that enters and takes her into the dining room. Then the same setting of the tables and chairs, but with a loud family singing happy birthday - mimed. Have a voice over of her introducing a character with the frozen snap shots of her family members. (Dad and Grandad at heads of the table, girl squished between Nan and Sister. Showing that the girl is insignificant). In the diary, she writes "Produced By" and "Directed By" etc. With non-diegetic sound building up in the background of a happy song. Shots of the birthday girl opening a present - its the diary she was writing in. The family sings happy birthday. She blows out the candles, before, the sister says to make a wish and waves her wand over the girl and the cake. Titles of the Film. Slow motion of girl blowing out candles, voice over "The Best Wish I Ever Made".

Comparing the mise en scene of two different films

I have chosen to compare two romantic-comedies; The Proposal and How to lose a guy in 10 days.

The Proposal was made in 2009, directed by Anne Fletcher and starring Sandra Bullock, Margaret, and Ryan Reynolds, Andrew, who have the role of the main characters. On the verge of being deported and losing the high-powered job she lives for, the controlling Margaret announces she's engaged to her unsuspections, put-upon assistent Andrew. After proposing a few demands of his own, the mismatched couple heads to Alaska, where they have four short days to convince his quirky family and a very skeptical immigration agent that their love for one another is real.

The film, How to lose a guy in 10 days was made in 2003 and directed by Donald Petrie, and starring Kate Hudson, Andie Anderson, and Matthew McConaughey, Benjamin Barry are the main characters of this film. As the "How to..." columnist for trendy Composure Magazine, Andie agrees to write a first-hand account about what it takes to drive a man out of your life ... in exactly 10 days. At the same time, eligable ad agency bachelor, Benjamin, accepts a high-stakes bet that he can lure any woman into falling head-over-heels in love with him ... also in 10 days. The romantic head-on collision ignites a series of deliriously comic deceptions that prove when itcomes to true love ... your heart cannot tell a lie.

Both films feature scenes of both characters falling madly in love with one another when they didn't intend and think they would and these will be the two scenes i am going to compare. I will be analysing the mise en scene in the scenes of where both characters in

both movies realise their love for one another.The use of props and settings varies consiberably between the two movies, even though both scenes featur parts of where the family of b

oth characters are about, the are both in different situations. The Proposal features no props, only the bed which they are lay in, and themselves. On the contrary, several props are used in How to lose a guy in 10 days, these being other family members playing a card game around the table in the back yard. This is when Andie realises how comfortable she is around Benjamins family and that they get along well and that she realises what it's like to have a 'family' again. And this relates to scenes in The Proposal when she is getting ready for the wedding day and she's trying on the dress and realises the love that is involded within a family.

There are an equal number of similarities as there are differences in the costumes, make-up and hair between the two scenes. The costumes in The proposal are highly relavent to their status and roles but in the particular scene they have both just woken up, Margaret having to grab Andrews attention into getting him into bed so that his mum didn't see the 'true' side of their 'relationship', so by this they look natural, basic, plain, coloured clothing, with neautral but warming coloured bedsheets and room surroundings. Whereas in How to lose a guy in 10 days, the scene where they realise their love for each other, they are wearing basic, comfy clothing and natural make-up. All the makeup is very natural looking yet totally flawless.

The lighting in both the scenes are relatively simlar as in The Proposal is bright, alert and natural lighting shining in from the outdoor morning sun. This relates to the fact that both the characters were rushing, panicking and hoping that nothing was establised between the parents when they entered the room. This reflects the mood and feelings for one another as they were both feeling as though they were starting to like eachother but didn't dare show there affection so this opportunity that his mother knocked on the door was actually for the better, as much as they were reluctant to admit it. Whereas in How to lose a guy in 10 days, the lighting was bleak, natural, quite dull but still had an atmostphere. This resembles the families relationship with one another as they appeared to be quite poor and not have much but they were so close it seemed as though nothing else in the world mattered except making sure that everyone was ok and were cared for. It also shows that family i important, even through the difficult times, you family are the ones always there for you and this shows in this scene where Andie realises the family she misses and how loving they were towards her.

Both film resemble the relationships between the son and his family with him moving away for a more high paid and high class job with his family being more working class and the female main character having lost her family and realising how life is so much different with them.

The positioning of the characters differes significally in the two scenes where they realise there love for one another, in The Proposal, both characters are positioned near one another bu are forced to sit separately whereas in How to lose a guy in 10 days, both characters are forced to be close to one another. Both scenarios involve the family and their view of the couple and how they should act to one another in the relationship. Both scenes feature both the main characters glancing at one another with eye connection.

30 Word Pitch

"A birthday, as the term implies, is the anniversary of the particular day on which a person was born and an eighteenth birthday is the day one becomes a legal adult. I just want to make it official."

Target

Level 4 16–20 marks

 There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.

 There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.

 There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.

 There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning

 Time management is excellent.

Action Plan

1- Analyse research
2- From the researchm watch films of different genre's
3- Analyse the films on mise en scene, camera work etc
4- Record initial ideas and create a storyboard
5- Analyse ideas - Questionnaire
6- Start recording footage in the february half term
7- Revise footage and add more if needed
8- Analyse footage and add effects

Audience Research

Suitable audience research questions:

1- What genre of film are you most likely to watch? Why?

2- How often do you watch films?

3- Do you like your film opening to hint about the rest of the film content?

4- Do you have a preference to a female or male main character?

5- Does the opening music help to engage your interest into the film?

By asking these questions, we can cover what genre, music, storyline and characters people prefer in their film opening and this will help us produce a suitable film opening for our audience.

Research results:

My storyline

Jolene, 20 is just an ordinary girl who works in a coffee shop who earns little money, when one day a handsome fair skinned, dark haired wealthy man walks in and he visits there most mornings and she only dreams of being with him, seeing him every morning doesn't help her feelings for him.

One day they bump into one another in the street where she tries getting his attention. After some debate she agrees to taking her out for dinner. After their dinner they start spending more and more time with each other and start falling madly in love with one another. After months of being together, Brad tells her that he was only here on a business trip and that he has to move back to his hometown.

Character Analysis

Jerry Maguire
The character of Jerry Maguire is a hard-working hotshot business man that works for a sports management firm. He lives in America who deals with clients from afar. Organised and focused, narrates opening sequence, come across as arrogant and gets away with what he wants. I think that later on in the film that he realises that money isn't all that important in life.

American Beauty
The character of Lester Burnham is the narrator of the opening sequence, he lives in the 'perfect' way, everything seems perfect in their white and blue house, green grass, white fence, perfect family. Describes that the used to be happy. Appears to be a loser, and is work orientated. The film starts off with his daughter being video recorded saying how she wants him dead. I think that later in the film something will happen that changes their life routine.

Film Opening Sequence Workshop

* The words in red are the words we recorded down and the words in black and the pieces of text that we had to write down to keep the task fluent and flowing.

1. Nick Griffin and Katy Perry met in McDonald's and they were Ordering egg fried rice.

2. Boris opened his eyes, as he looked around all he could see was his mother running towards him with a meat cleaver it was clear Boris was in a bit of a pickle. He heard something, it was a crow calling from afar, but where was it coming from? As he set of t explore where the noise was coming from, he was attacked by a huge bird. It was getting chilly outside and he was worried about the bus times and how he would get home! Just then a wheelie bin exploded and he was knocked to the ground where he lay unconscious.

This task allowed us to open up our minds at the types of variety you could apply to a film opening script. For the first task, we started off with a piece of paper where we wrote down a famous males name and then passed it on to the next person to the right. The next person wrote down a famous females name, this continued round until the fifth person, by then a famous male and females names were recorded, a place where they met and what they were doing. We then read these out to the rest of the class to see what each person had and what text they had ended up with.

For the second task we had to write down sentences that were set to record down, and then using our imagination we could write whatever we liked in the blank spaces. By the time it had gone round to the fifth person there was a paragraph written about the 'start' of a film.

By doing this task, it enabled us as a class to get and insight of how something so simple can help you to come up with suitable ideas for many tasks.

Brainstorming for the practical work

I want to achieve a piece of work that is suitable for a specific age group and to use a range of media vocabulary so that i can produce an effect piece of text.

I would like to work in a pair.

Well done, bravo. i think you have expanded our media vocabulary well in this text and have achieved a well structured piece of work that has clearly been well thought out.

Print: I think that i could produce a unique magazine that would appeal to my set target audience and include relevant information about my designated content.

Film: I think that i could create a film opening that is expressed through a range of filming techniques.

Voices from the past: If i were marking this piece of work i would give it a high level three with about 41 marks. this is because i felt that the text used wasn't consistent and would be must easier to follow if it were all on one line on every showing so that you knew where to look, i also felt that the scene where they were in the kitchen with the wine was a little slow going and didn't really feature much atmosphere. I did like the lighting and filming effects used when he was walking down the stairs and when she was hiding as it gave a mysterious atmosphere and spooky presence.