CW: Genre Research: About A Boy, 2002

About a Boy

Paul and Chris Weitz, 2002 (Rom-Com, 12)

Produced by: Universal Pictures

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

Budget: $27M

Box Office: £16M ($40M

Trailer, Wikipedia

Rotten Tomatoes: 93%

Synopsis:

This rom-com is slightly atypical, in the fact that it features a central protaganist who is a man. The movie follows a man as he chases a single mum and bonds with her son, an outsider.

Paul and Chris Wietz are named

Titles:

The titles are mostly similar to previous ones I have looked out. Notable titles include the 3 main stars before the title of the movie itself and 'A Paul Wietz and Chris Wietz film', the latter title fits with the aueter theory.

The first we see of the main character

Arguably the second main character

Points about the opening:

The opening features a soft guitar song over the young boy's parts which picks up over the main characters parts. It also has a voiceover over the opening. This voiceover provides exposition on the characters and how they feel at the start of the movie. There is a general lack of romantic elements through the opening, though it is clear, though the cutting between the two (and the foreshadowing of hugh grant holding a baby) that the two characters will be link, most likely though the boys mum, as hugh grants character is shown to have an interest in single movies, as shown at the end of the opening.

foreshadowing the fatherly ro

CW: Genre Research: Heathers, 1988

Heathers

Michael Lehmann, 1988 (Rom-Com, 15)

Produced by: New World Pictures

Distributed by: New World Pictures

Budget: $3M

Box Office: $1M

Trailer, Wikipedia

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Synopsis:

This rom-com explores dark elements, such as murder and teen suicide. Set in a high school, it follows the activities of  Veronica Sawyer, her boyfriend Jason 'J.D.' Dean, and their association with the popular clique of heathers. 

The Ident

Idents & Titles: 

Titles

There is just one ident, for New World Pictures, that doesn't appear to be edited in any way to fit the genre. Using an audio bridge, it transitions into the titles, written with a serif, bold font that is white with a pink shadow and are on black.

Opening Scene: 

Opening Shot

The opening shot is of the red scrunchie being used to tie up Heather Chandler's (HC's) hair, this introduces the scrunchie as being a key plot element throughout the movie.

Crushing the flowers

Matching clothes and croquet

The music playing is Que Sera, Sera. Somewhat ironically as in the opening the heathers clique crush flowers, wich could be connoting the crushing of dreams. This is the start of the dark themes throughout the movie.

Hitting Veronica

Comedic elements are introduced through them playing croquet, with balls and hammers of matching colours with their outfits, as Heather McNamara (HM) says to HC 'It's your turn Heather' to which she replys 'No Heather it's Heather's turn' meaning Heather Duke (HD). The darkness of this movie is further emphasised when the camera reveals that they were hitting Veronica, who was buried up to her neck in the ground, with the croquet balls.

Staring across the lunch hall

There is also a voice over for the transition of this scene to the next.

Romantic elements are introduced with J.D. looking across the cafeteria ate Veronica as they eat, the two then share eye contact, with veronica being so distracted she walks into a person as they are sitting eating

Walking into a chair

I decided the opening ended at 10:43, when the cafeteria scene ended, as all foreseeable plot setups had ended and main characters had been introduced.

Genre Research: Wild Child, 2008

Film Poster

Wild Child 

Nick Moore, 2008

Production: Carousel Productions (II)

Budget: $50m; UK box office:$84m

RottenTomatoes.com 63%; IMDB 5.8

SUMMARY/IDEAS I MIGHT USE:

spoilt girl, feminist views

Idents/Titles:

universal studios
working title

universal pictures presents 
in association with studio canal
a working title production

Synopsis:

A rebellious Malibu princess is shipped off to a strict English boarding school by her father.

Sound:

Elements of the Sound Mix:

Analysis:

Opening Scene: 

girl in bed - blonde - bedroom is girly things stuck on wall - pink and blue colours - calm - messy room - stereotypical teen - big bed signifying wealth 
calendar is girlie - drawings, notes, pictures, arrows pointing around the calendar but most of them stuck or drawn for what seems to be 'today'  

Opening Scenes: 

after poppy jumps over and into the sea we see that her dad is angry poppy is see as inferior because of the camera angles used and her dad storming over to her shouting. Poppy is made to look small - her hair is wet and she looks down in shame however trying to remain strong by shouting back during the argument 

Mise-en-scene: 

house - seems quite big - big kitchen, big bedroom, pool - wealth - 
holding christian louboutin shoes showing wealth 

Representations:

girl poppy - blonde - manicured nails - make up - stylish clothes - looks older for her age - although no sense - 'dumb blonde' and a bit immature. 

sister molly - brunette - no make up - mature - clothes are quite girly and childish - seems inferior to her sister this is shown in camera angles between the two conversing - nails are just cut no fancy manicure - girl is too young to cut crusts off her sandwich so the older girl (poppy) does it for her. 

delivery drivers - in uniform - strong - muscles - camera angle (low) to show this also it pauses on them for a few seconds so we see they are dominating 

dad is seen as dominating - shouting - casual clothes 


Soundtrack:

shut up and drive - rihanna - strong confidence track - a lot of bass - showing choice in music as being quite girly - rihanna is seen as a woman who is a feminist so the track to the girl is showing independence and strength 

Decisions In Choosing Our Characters

protagonist

We decided to choose lauren based on our genre research into Pretty in Pink 1986 which features a the protagonist (a girl who is similar to who we tried to portray lauren as). 

quirky character 

It also featured another character who was shown as being quriky and different

 - this is something we thought would work  well and create a artistic twist on a classic rom com between a jock and a cheerleader. 

popular cheerleaders 

we also took inspiration for the from the film Heathers 1988 to decide our popular cheerleader type as we felt the opening to this was produced in a good way and the way the characters were dressed and portrayed was interesting and this is something we wanted to replicate. 

socially rejected character

we found that Trick or Treat 1986 was an inspiring film to base our school scenes on because he is a socially rejected character and this fitted nicely with our socially rejected character that being the protagonist (the girl). 

Podcast 1

our first podcast

Idea1

Scrapbook Idea

For the first opening scene I hope to be able to open with a a photo album where photos of the protagonists friends and life will appear along with the titles that will come up on screen fading in and out as this is one of the things we realised was popular with rom com films when conducting our research. 

From the photo album some of the images will seem to 'come alive' turning into flash backs of her efforts to get her love interest for the rest of the opening. As i hope to create a love triangle between 2 best friends and a guy. And then this to cause conflict therefore creating tension etc.

Genre Research - Rom Com

Rom Com Introduction:


The basic plot of a romantic comedy is that two characters, usually a man and a woman, meet, part ways due to an argument or other obstacle, then ultimately reunite. The screenwriters leave clues that suggest that the characters are, in fact, attracted to each other and that they would be a good love match. The protagonists often separate or seek time apart to sort out their feelings or deal with the external obstacles. While the two protagonists are separated, one or both of them usually realizes that they are ideal for each other, or that they are in love with each other. Then, after one of the two makes some spectacular effort to find the other person and declare their love, or through a coincidental encounter, the two meet again. Then, perhaps with some awkwardness, they declare their love for each other and the film ends happily. The couple does not, however, have to marry, or live together "happily ever after".

(Wikipedia)


Typical Music/ Soundtrack:

• Music used in Rom-Com films is usually very happy and of course stereotypically girly therefore using soft tones such as wind instruments such as a flute with more percussion such as a piano with maybe abit of guitar. 

• This is creates a soft relaxing mood when watching the film compared to an action,horror or adventure film where you are tense because of the music and on the edge of your seat. 

• The music used in rom coms subconsciously makes you relax and feel at ease because of the instruments used and the way that the notes are placed together.

• Music is used to set the mood and sometimes can be used in replacement of words too this helps with the narrative behind the film and helps the audience understand the meaning and the story. 

• Soundtracks used are always placed for a specific reason and will always play an important role whether that be non diegetic or diegetic sound

Sound Design:
 

• The genre that I am researching, that being Rom-Com does not really need to rely on soundtracks or music as much as others for example horror which build up alot of tension alot of it coming from music. 

• In a Rom-Com this isn't needed as much as it is a very visual and realistic everyday life genre. Films are usually set in a busy area for example New York - very busy city. Some sound effects that could be recorded to create and atmosphere would be the sound of traffic, restaurant noises for example - glasses touching, people making conversation etc , car noises , nature - rain, wind, birds.

Costumes:

• The costumes used in Rom-Com films are usually typical everyday clothing.

• However there are differences for example someone who has a higher social class or has more popularity will be seen in better clothes that are designer with everything on the latest trend. 

• They will usually be very pretty with blonde hair, tall, thin - typically model looking. They will usually also have the best looking boyfriend. whereas on the end of the spectrum the typical 'underdog' or 'geek' will have clothes that signify that they are not popular such as them wearing glasses, having braces, carrying books, not into the latest fashion or having the most 'on trend' clothing. 

• They are stereotypically portrayed as single and having brunette hair.

• The men are portrayed as careless for love and not really interested in settling down with women. They are also shown as less dominant in Rom-Com films as the women tend to have a higher status job therefore meaning they are more dominant.

• Costumes also depend the time setting of the film. Men and women will wear totally different costumes in a film thats set in the 90's than they will today or even further back to the 60's or 70's, even if the film was made recently but set in the past they will have to make clothes for that era