Friday, 18 December 2009
Template Of Our Questionnaire
1. What gender are you?
Female ___ Male ___
2. What age are you?
15-16 ___ 17-18 ___ 19-20 ___ 21-23 ___ 24+ ___
3. What genre in films do you prefer?
Romantic Comedies
Horror
Thriller
Other _____________________________
4. Do you watch romantic comedies?
Yes ___ No ___ Sometimes ___
5. What would attract your attention to watch a romantic film?
6. What do you dislike about a romantic comedy?
Predictable Story Lines
Too Unrealistic
‘’Perfect’’ Looking Actors
Too Dramatic
Other ________________________________________________
7. Would you prefer a romantic comedy if you could relate to it?
Yes ___ No ___
8. What do you prefer?
American Romantic Comedies
English Comedies
Why …………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………
9. What lifestyle do you prefer in romantic comedies?
‘Urban Lifestyle’ ____ ‘Posh Lifestyle’ ___
10. What point of view would you prefer to see a romantic comedy from?
1st Person ____ 3rd Person _____
11. What emotion are you normally left feeling with at the end of a romantic comedy?
12. Why do you watch romantic comedies?
We appreciate that you have taken time out to complete our questionnaire!
Thank You :)
Friday, 4 December 2009
Questionnaire Summary
The most popular style of romantic comedy was American Rom Com’s which were preferred by both male and female. In the questionnaire they were asked to define why they preferred American comedies and both genders answered because they hadn’t really seen many British Romantic Comedies and because the actors are funnier and the actors in American Romantic Comedies are at a better standard of acting. Also 30% of females who took part answered they favoured an American comedy to an English one for the reason that the actors are more “glamorous” and English films always look low budgeted.
The question 9 was ‘what lifestyle do you prefer in romantic comedies?’ they had the choices of ‘urban lifestyle’ and ‘posh lifestyle’ and 80% of the participants answered ‘urban lifestyle’.The participants where also asked what point of view they prefer to see a romantic comedy from and 17 / 30 people said that they prefer to see it in 1st person. 13/30 said they find it hard to stay engaged into a film being told in 1st person. Overall the main question of the questionnaire was ‘why do you watch romantic comedies’ and the males aged 20-23 stated that they watch it because they get dragged to watch it with there female companions.
The participants were then asked, other than this why would you go to the cinemas to watch a romantic comedy females aged between 20-23 stated that they would watch a romantic comedy because it makes them feel better and they feel that sometimes they can relate to the film in situations wise. The younger generation of females aged between 15-19 stated they watch romantic comedies because its entertaining and they make them smile and they feel they have better knowledge on how boys think and what they want, however a lot of the males asked also response was slightly different from the age15-19 as they stated that they would watch a romantic because they are funny and there are always dilemmas in the end which they find amusing, The males aged 23+ stated that they would watch romantic comedies because they feel they’re sometimes interesting to watch, where as the females aged 23+ replied in a unexpected way as they would prefer to watch a horror or thriller but if they where to watch a romantic comedy it would be because they are interested in watching it through the reviews off the mass media.
Due to the feedback I received on my questionnaire, I have decided that I will be doing Romantic Comedy with a target audience of people aged between 15-20. Mainly because of the positive feedback we received from this particular age group.
Codes and Conventions Of A Horror And Thriller
The typical settings of A Horror Film Are:
o Preliminary introduction into ordinary lifestyle
o Type of bizarre murder/death – killer maybe known or unknown
o Credits follow horror theme – creepy font, title movement, image eg pumpkin, weapon, etc
o Main characters introduced – young/ youthful
o Teenage kids – easy target also vulnerable – home alone
o Teenagers usually a couple – football jock boyfriend and cheerleader blonde bimbo girlfriend.
o Mysterious phone calls – dubbed sinister voice “Who’s There…?”
o Family ties broken
o Sisters killed by brothers e.g: Halloween
o Sometimes unsuccessful acts of heroism
o Victim unprotected
o Superhuman killer – doesn’t die successfully = sequels
Some information was gathered from: http://smay-fuller-suttonmediaas.blogspot.com/2008/12/codes-and-conventions-of-horror-film.html
Codes and Conventions of A Thriller Film:
Thriller are typically set in claustrophobic spaces such as:
* planes
* coffins
* under water
* boot of a car
* elevator/lift
* walk in freezer
* tube trains
* white van
* small room
* car
* prison cell
* narrow alleyways
* multi-storey car parks
and the lighting is always seem to be very dark and Chiaroscuro - light against dark - creates a sense of illusion, nightmare whilst also being aesthetically pleasing. The director always uses surprises and twists to play with the viewers mind, and the different camera angles and quick cuts to draw suspense, the music that is added to create tension, there's typically always mirrors and stairs, flashbacks and time sequences are also used to make the audience think and your most likely to always see the film from a killers point of view.
The History Of Romantic Films

The screwball comedy is a subgenre of the comedy film genre. It has proven to be one of the most popular and enduring film genres. It first gained prominence in 1934 with It Happened One Night, and, although many film scholars would agree that its classic period ended sometime in the early 1940s, elements of the genre have persisted, or have been paid homage to, in contemporary film.
While there is no authoritative list of the defining characteristics of the screwball comedy genre, films considered to be definitive of the genre usually feature farcical situations, a combination of slapstick with fast-paced repartee, and a plot involving courtship and marriage or remarriage. The film critic Andrew Sarris has defined the screwball comedy as "a sex comedy without the sex.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screwball_comedy_film

The Kiss (1896) (aka The May Irwin Kiss) although regarded as "disgusting" and scandalous, a Victorian couple May Irwin and John Rice re-enacted a lingering kiss. This was produced for Thomas Edison's film from their 1895 Broadway stage play The Widow Jones; it was the first film ever made of a couple kissing in cinematic history. It then became the most popular film produced that year by Edison's film company (it was filmed at Edison's Black Maria studio, in West Orange, NJ)
The first American feature-length sex film was Traffic in Souls (1913) (aka While New York Sleeps) The original vamp and first movie sex goddess, the full-bosomed Theda Bara, starred in a number of early silent’s for the Fox Film Corporation - her first lurid, slinky vamp appearance (and first lead role) was in Fox's melodramatic A Fool There Was (1915).
It was not until the creation of romantic love in the western European medieval period, though, that "romance" came to refer to "romantic love" situations, rather than the heroic adventures of medieval Romance. These adventures, however, often revolved about a knight's feats on behalf of a lady, and so the modern themes of love were quickly woven into them, as in Chrétien de Troyes's Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_comedy_film
Book Research

Part 5: Genre Comedy (Steve Neale)
Romantic Comedies:
Rom Com, has received the greatest attention in recent years, at least in part because of its revival by Hollywood in the mid 1980s under the guise of what Neale and Krutnik have termed ‘the new romance’ (Neale and Krutnik, 1990; Krutnik; 1990: Neale, 1992) In contrast to the screwball films, little has been written on the ‘sex comedies’ of the 1950s and 1960s – films such as Pillow Talk (1959) and Lovers Come Back (1961). There has been a revival of interest in the ‘sophisticated’ comedies of romance, sex, marriage and remarriage that preceded the screwball cycle in the late 1910’s and 1920s, especially those directed by Cecil B. DeMille. (Higashi; 1994; Musser1995.) However, there are as yet no histories of romantic comedy in Hollywood that encompass all these trends. Neale (1992) proposes a number of basic conventions, including ‘the meet cute’, ‘the wrong partner’, the learning process the couple nearly always have to undergo and the initial hostility it eventually dispels. Neale and Krutnik (1990) argue that deviations from the norm are conventional in comedy and hence that ‘subversion’ is a licensed and integral aspect of comedy’s social and institutional existence. And Purdie (1993) has explicitly attacked the views of Balchtin and others, arguing that all forms of comedy involve a recognition of the norms whose transgression they entail, and hence a claim to social membership at the expense not only of those who are comedy’s butts, but also of those who do not get it jokes. Either way, it is likely that, as is the case with most genres, comedy’s ideological significance and impact varies from film to film, cycle to cycle, and audience to audience, and is probably best assessed at specific and local levels rather than through universal generalisations.
Miss Congeniality
(USA/Australia 2000 p.c- Warner Bros. /Castle Rock Entertainment/Village ROADSHOW Pictures/NPV Entertainment/Fortis Films; d – Donald Petrie)
Traditionally classic Hollywood romantic comedy focused on the apparently mismatched heterosexual couple, overcoming conflicts and obstacles in order to move towards their happy union. As a contemporary rom-com, Miss Congeniality follows this formula, but the predictable romance that develops between FBI agents Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) and Eric Matthews (Benjamin Bratt) is pushed away from the centre and towards the margins of the narrative which instead focuses on the question of female identity and the performance of gender – contributing to the films queer appeal. Miss Congeniality plays with the conventions of this popular Hollywood genre to provide its audience marriage of masculine and feminine characteristics within Gracie’s personality. Thus it is Gracie herself, rather than the couple who undergoes a significant change. Miss Congeniality makes use of stereotypes and much of the comedy derives from gendered attitudes to hair, make-up, costume and behaviour. The films opening scenes establish Gracie as a social definition of femininity. Consequently she is a misfit who exhibits typically masculine characteristics she is aggressive, violent and clumsy.
Friday, 27 November 2009
Narrative Codes and Conventions of Romantic Comedy
Another film which was made in the early 80’s called Sixteen Candles, also contains roughly the same sort of story line however this time, instead of the boy winning the girl back the girl gets the boy back. This is slightly different to the “typical” romantic comedy however it still shares the same concept of two lovers meeting, having trouble and splitting up. This romantic comedy was aimed at teenagers so it includes things teenagers would be interested in such as adolescent love, young parties, school, cheating and other things that a stereo typical in a young persons life. Another more recent teen Rom Com called John Tucker Must Die, made in 2006 share similarities between the story line because the main characters are three young girls, in a school, who like to go to parties and things a “typical” young teenager would do, who find out their boyfriend has been cheating on them and swears revenge.
No matter what age the Rom Com’s target audience is the film will normally include an attractive male or female as the main actor because this will appeal to all ages and all sexes. The male is normally slightly dorky, however loveable and the female is usually quite sexy and independent (someone woman can resemble themselves in). I also found out in my question air that attractive characters are one of the main reasons why people watch Romantic Comedies so it is crucial the film includes them
Research into Romantic Comedies & Classification
2008 was a great year for the Box Office UK as it grew to a record £850 million. The top film of 2008 was Mamma Mia which is a romantic comedy and has gone down in history by becoming the highest grossing film of all time in the UK, which means romantic comedies becoming increasingly popular. Another romantic comedy which was in the top five best film releases of 2008 is Sex in the City which was made in the USA.
Four Weddings and a Funeral is an English romantic comedy which is the top independent UK film which shows that the public do enjoy watching romantic comedies even if they are independent. This is also inspirational for me and my media team as we will be an independent group making a romantic comedy.
Comedy is currently the UK’s favourite genre and making almost a quarter of the Box Office in 2008. Comedy was the dominate genre of films sold in 2008 accounting for around 22% o the market figure. The next genre was action with 18% of all sales. However although comedy did exceptionally well in 2008, it did perform as well as it did in 2007.
Comedy was again this year the top grossing genre which means comedy alone turned over £222.4 million, which was followed by action which achieved £203.7 million. Primarily, comedy did so well because of the record breaking Mamma Mia which was the highest grossing film of all time.
In 2008 the Box Office released 140 comedy films which toped all other genres, however only 7 romance films toped the UK box office which states that romance is not as popular has comedy, however merging the two genres it will be drawing two types of audience together so that will be increasing the amount of viewers.
Classification
All films in the UK must carry a classification indicating the age group suitable to view the film. The British Board of Film Classification classifies most of the films of the theatre, however some local authority’s also can grant their own classification.
The box office released 193 films and15 rating topped all other classifications. It also made the most gross profit at the box office. The top film of this classification was Sex in the City which is also a romantic comedy and classified 15 rated film. The lowest gross profit made at the box office was 18 rating which only turned made 0.1 million gross box office. This is because of the rude and offence nature of 18 classified films the audience is very restricted.
From the classification 15 and above the nature of the film contains much stronger material than any other younger classification. Most of the older classified the films (depending of what genre it is), are more likely to involve adult – oriented topics.
If the classification of the film is U rated, then the film is limited to what it can show. The film has to make sure that all the material showing is suitable for all ages and contains no material likely to harm or offend anyone of any age or culture.
PG classification is abbreviated for Parental Guidance. Which means young children are suitable to watch the film, however an adult should be present at the time because the child may feel uncomfortable at times as the film may contain mild, infrequent language or mild fantasy violence.
The next rating is 12A, which means 12 years of ages accompanied with an adult. This classification allows the film to have mild language, moderate violence and sex; it is also aloud to show drug use which is band from any younger rating.
Rating 15 is the next rating above 12A and there is a large gap between what can been shown in a 12A and a 15. 15 is currently the most popular rating of film mainly because the martial approved for the film is much stronger and can me more attacking/shocking. The language in a 15 can be a great deal stronger and the film can contain scenes of a sexual nature and strong violence.
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org/media/pdf/2/p/2009.pdf
Story Board And Making Of Production


The making of our short video:
I worked with a colleague of mine names Jaime Sugar as we were both doing a romantic comedy and we then decided to work together. At first when we got the equipment together set it up and found our location and everything seemed to be going well. We then realised the concentration, patience, and time we needed to record the short production. And realised it was more stressful then we thought it would be. Once the video had been completed and we watched it back, we had positive and negative feedback and we saw that the lighting in the production was dark at certain points but this could not have been helped due to natural lighting. we saw that the panning of the smoking shelter could have been done before we have a long shot of character A walking up towards the shelter which could have made the production look more understandable. people thought that the shots in the beginning looked a bit disjointed however overall people liked the match on action and the over the shoulder shot conversation between the characters and the production turned out good. If we where to improve the production we would wait for the natural lighting to become more clear so that you can see what is going on more in the production. It would be important that the character used contnuity in there clothes and accents. The different camera angles we used where long shot, close up, shot reverse, match on action, and medium close up. we panned around the shelter and we also did over the shoulder shot.
Above is the storyboard to our production.