Evaluation - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Final Product - Way Back Then

Ancillary Task - Magazine Review

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Ancillary Task - Choice of Magazine

For our task of creating the magazine review, we decided to look into which magazine our review would be placed within. We narrowed our choices down to Empire and Total Film and eventually decided to place it within Total Film. We decided on this magazine because it was more focused on films than Empire, and so would be more likely to feature a review on a short film.

Once we had decided on the magazine, we decided to review a two page spread that is featured in Total Film. This particular two page spread features a review of the film True Grit. The review features one single large screenshot with the text surrounding the picture. The use of the image is important in drawing in and attracting the reader to read on. The review takes on a very neutral point of view, coming to a conclusion that the reader.

The editor of the articles uses particular quotes from the text that help to summarise and generalise the viewpoint that the reviewer has of the film. The use of different subtitles for the text helps to maximise the effectiveness of the review, and makes it much more engaging for the reader. The Predicted Interest Curve was a feature that interested us, as it showed that Total Film uses originality and different ways of making a review more interesting. We also liked the Verdict at the end of the article, as it may well be that the reader only glances at that to get a quick summary of the consensus around the film without reading the whole article.

Overall, we feel that Total Film is a perfect choice for our film to be placed within. The depth of analysis and the variety of ways that Total Film reviews its films means that we will use Total Film as our magazine. The intended audience for our film (17-25 years) are also the primary audience for Total Film and so our film would gain the maximum exposure.

Ancillary Task - Layout of Film Review

After doing some research and looking at existing film reviews from 'Total Film' magazine and examples of last year's students' ancillary tasks we were able to see what worked well and which ideas we could incorporate to our own film review.

We decided that this layout could be effective. It is a two page spread therefore allowing for a greater focus and analysis of the film.

Ancilary Task- Layout of film review

This is a basic idea for a film review covering a single page in a magazine. It has space for both images and text. It is important to have a balance of both if you want to engage your readership for a film magazine.

Ancillary Task - Final Poster

This is our final film poster for our film 'Way Back Then'. As we had discovered in reviewing the poster for 'music and lyrics', with a Romantic genre it is important that the film poster features a picture of the central protagnists within the film. We wanted to get the colour of our poster right, as it would help the audience to summarise and understand the genre and feel of our film. Predominately, the poster's primary colours are green and white. Green is featured as it has the connotations of romance but is not as strong as red or pink, and is soft and reflects therefore the tone of our film. With our poster above, it uses a screenshot from our film that features a romantic setting, suiting the genre and nature of the film. The couple are featured centre of the poster with their backs showing creating a sense of mystery and romance. The title of the film is displayed clearly along with the tagline 'from the producers of desolo', which was the title of the thriller we made the year before. This is a commom feature in marketing films, especially mentioning directors as audience viewers are more inclined to go see a film if they liked a previous film that has been directed or produced by the same person or company. There are four examples of reviews from various papers and film related magazines,important in transmitting to the audience the general consensus about the quality of the film, as well as showing that specialised reviews such at Total Film rated it highly. The important billing information is at the bottom of the poster, featuring information on the actors, producers and directors involved in making the film. We decided when making the billing to follow the order somewhat of the film poster for Casino Royale, with the actors names appearing first, and the directors last.

Ancillary Task - Poster Analysis

In order to gain a greater understanding when creating our own film poster, we thought it would be worthwhile to look at current film posters in order to gain an understanding of what is required and what makes an effective film poster. As our film is a Romantic Tragedy genre, we decided to analyse a poster that is of a similar genre.



This is the film poster for the Romantic Comedy Music and Lyrics. The posters main image is that of the two central characters, played by Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. The image shows them in a somewhat intimate situation laughing, reflecting the comic nature of the film. The poster also features images relating to music in the background, and the two are sitting at a piano, reflecting a main theme within the film which is music. In terms of typography, the title of the film as well as the actors names is written in lower case, perhaps reflecting the soft comic nature of the film. The lower case also matches well with the light colours and theme of the poster. At the base of the film is the release date written in bold upper case, important obviously as it tells the audience clearly when the film will be released. As with all film posters, at the bottom of the poster is the billing block, font condensed and featuring information regarding those involved in producing and directing the film.

Ancillary Task - Example of Film Posters

We decided before finally making our final film poster to find examples of a few film posters with a similar genre or theme, primarily that of Romance.

Editing Diary

In the first week of filming we managed to shoot two seperate scenes for the film and edit them.

On Wednesday 10th November we shot the footage we needed for the 'meeting' scene at Costa coffee shop We took our own advice that we developed last year, which was to shoot longer footage than we would need in order to have a more broad selection to use when it came to editing, and we found this worked in our favour. We wanted to make sure that, when it came to editing, we could find a balance between not cutting each shot too short so it gave a fast paced effect but instead a calmer one to suit and enhance the romantic theme, as well as not letting them drag on so the film lost the audience's interest. We also made an immediate decision to use fades as the transactions between each scene in order to support the idea that the images were the thoughts of the main protagonist, Renaud, as he reflects on the past.

We next filmed at Renaud's House to shoot the illness scene. Originally, the shot of Renaud entering the room was going to cut straight to Charli in the bed, however when editing we found we had two shots that went well but the start of one and end of one were the best. We then made the decision to cut it into two seperate shots so we eventually had the sequence of Renaud entering the room and looking ahead at her, then a shot of Charli in the bed, and then Renaud looking down sadly before we seem him walking over to her from behind and felt the results were much more effective. Then was the argument scene which consisted of four over the shoulder shots for each piece of dialogue. However when editing we decided that each of the shots were very quick because the lines were short and sharp. In order to resolve this we decided to edit the exchange so that Renaud would say his line and the camera stayed on him as Charli began her line and so on. This was a very careful process as it involved matching the exact syllable of the words so that they matched the next shot exactly but we were very pleased with the result of this.

The next scene to edit was of the couple at South Wield  which we had collected a lot of footage for which we felt was a good decision as we could condense it down to the parts which were the best. We also had some trouble with the wind and as the tripod was being balanced on uneven ground for most of the shots there were some shakes which we were able to easily cut out. We also filmed a kissing scene here which had to be edited effectively so that it was believable and realistic. In order to do this we filmed the entire sequence from Renaud's dialogue "I like it here" to the couple looking back out to the lake as a long shot and close up so we had flexibilty when it came to editing. Our final decision was to use the start and finish of the sequence as long shots and the middle as a close up, we felt this was effective but had to be careful in matching up exactly how close the couple were to eachother when we cut to a different shot. However, because of this we had trouble with hearing Renaud's dialogue from further away and had to edit the sound so that the clip was louder when he spoke and then went silent again so the focus was on the romantic music and any blowing wind caught on tape could be removed.

Whilst editing the scenes filmed at Shoeburyness of the couple on the beach we were happy with our shots as they were scenic and romantic as we had hoped, it was for this reason that we wanted to use longer footage for each shot to create a very calm atmosphere for the audience. We felt that this would help us to achieve our aim of inviting the audience to relate to the couple as it would add to the characters' iscolation from the rest of the world, and also making their relationship seem more sincere and believable which was important to us. On the day we decided to shoot a variety of shots so that we could choose which were best to use, however when it came to editing the footage we found that all of the shots could be used and compliment eachother. For example we were able to develop a sequence from a shot the couple walking over to a rock, a close up/low angle shot of them sitting on it, and then a shot of them from behind which we assumed would be used instead of the previous could be used as Renaud leans in to kiss her on the cheek in both and enables us to link the two.

We then shot Renaud in a graveyard at St Mary's church. We decided to shoot him opening and closing his eyes (which would be used to seperate his memories) as one sequence and we then cut the parts we wanted and used them throughout. When editing the sequence of Renaud at Brentwood Train Station we had to deal with a mistake that was made on the day. As the train was coming towards the platform Renaud took a step back into the frame by accident and we thought we were going to have to reshoot the shot, however when editing we realised that we could cut the shot before he stepped backwards because it was possibly better to not wait for the train to come past the camera as the shot would be too long and take away the intensity that we were hoping to achieve for the cliffhanger of whether he did jump in front of the train or not. We therefore used a fade to cut to the titles and were happy with the results.

Costume and Props

We feel that the costumes our characters wear will play a significant part in reflecting their personality and moods, and so have given a lot of thought to the costumes. With regard to our title male character, Renaud will have differing costumes, but each reflecting his age, personality and style. In one scene Renaud is at the grave of his partner laying flowers. Here we plan to have Renaud wearing a long black overcoat, reflecting his grief and depressed mental state at the time. This will also be reflected in the weather at the time, which again has connotations of depression and grief.

In another scene Renaud is seen to be wearing another lighter coat, scarf, typical winter attire when he is seen with his partner on a isolated lonely beach. Overall we wanted to Renaud dress not stereotypically for people of his age (20+), but to dress with a slight alteration, wearing many shirts, cardigans, plain chinos, fashionable coats to make his character visually appealing and to give him a certain distinction with what he wears.

It is this distinction that we also wanted from our female character. Charli’s character wears light coloured tops, leggings and flat stylish shoes to reflect her bright, colourful personality, and to also make her character seem distinguished. This style or pattern of dress is only altered when Charli is seen in bed ill, where she is seen to be weak and weary, and is planned to be dressed in plain and simple clothes.


In terms of props we plan to use a limited amount of props, as the focus is on the characters and their story. A prop that we consider to be important is a bunch of flowers with a note included that Renaud will lay at the grave. The flowers are significant as it shows the pain felt by the male character at this point and his struggle with the grieving process. Other props include photos of the couple that show their ‘happy’ moments together and a book used in the coffee shop scene.

Diary of Shooting - 25th November 2010

St Mary's Church

We started by shooting the scenes at the graveyard first. Our chosen location was St Marys Church in Shenfield which was chosen because of its locality to the school, as well as the fact it is surrounded by trees which makes it feel enclosed and isolated. We started by shooting all the extreme close ups of Renauds eyes, opening and closing several times, keeping in mind what we needed in relation to the storyboard. We also filmed over the shoulder shots of Renaud flicking through photos of him and Charli. The next shot was the slow pan that would reveal Renaud's location, we did this several times in order to make sure we had the perfect pan when it came to editing. We also included a shot that wasnt storyboarded, which was a low angle shot of the grave, with the spire in the background and Renaud walking off. We did this to add variety to the film and to make the scene more effective.

Street/Brentwood Station



We then drove to a street that would allow us to film a shot of Renaud walking. Having done that shot we moved onto the final location which was Brentwood station. We asked permission at the desk to film a short sequence on the platform which they agreed to. We set up the tripod in the approriate position and practicsed the shot several times in order for us to fully understand what was required. This shot was important as it is the final twist that leaves open the idea of Renaud committing suicide by jumping in front of a train. When the train was approaching we started filming and Renaud moved out of shot as we had practised. With this done we had completed filming all the neccessary footage that would be required.

Diary of Shooting - 19th November 2010

18th November - Shoeburyness

We arrived at the beach and took a look around the location. The weather that day was very foggy butwe decided this was OK as it made the couple feel more isolated and alone. We set up the tripod and consulted the storyboard and decided to shoot the long shot of the two walking along the beach. Once we were there we decided to place the tripod within the water slightly which also created a slight angle to the shot making it more interesting. As we were setting up filming some of the group were skipping stones and we decided to shoot a sequence of Charli and Renaud skipping stones which would add to their blossoming relationship. We then moved onto the shot of the two sitting down on a rock and admiring the view which we shot from both a low angle and high angle and would look at which shot would be most effective. Finally it was Jades idea to shoot a sequence hand held of Charli running and laughing with Renaud. Jade suggessted it was possible to edit the footage in a way that it would look like a amatuer video.

Diary of Shooting - 16th November 2010

16th November - South Weald

We arrived and made our way to the pre-determined location and decided to shoot the kiss scene first. After some initial discussion, we shot wide shot of Charli and Renaud in front of the lake, in order to capture the location effectively and then moved onto the kiss. We started by practicising shots of the kiss by directing Renaud and Charli into what we wanted from this particular shot. We managed to film both a close up and wide shot of the two kissing and then moved onto the other shots. We wanted to capture the surroundings of South Weald by placing the two on a hill, which would allow for a wide shot and would exemplify the location. We shot both a wide shot of the two walking towards the bench on the hill and then a over the shoulder shot the two on the bench, with the scenery as the backdrop. We decided that when we came to edit the footage we would decided on the order of each shot.

Diary of Shooting - 10/11th November

10th November - Costa Coffee



We arrived at Costa Coffee and set up the tripod and camera. Jade and Charli had already gone ahead to gain permission to film the scenes there. We started by shooting shots of Renaud sitting down with his coffee, and noticing Charli over the top of his book. We shot both an over the shoulder shot and mid shot and said that we would decided which shot looked best when editing. We then filmed shots of Charli sitting down, looking round the cafe and noticing Renaud herself. We concluded by filming a mid shot of Renaud smiling and walking over to Charli's table.

11th November - Renauds House

We started by discussing what we wanted from the scenes that we were going to film, which included shots of Renaud taking a hot drink to Charli in bed, and the two having an argument. We started by filming in the bedroom, with close ups of Charli's face, and mid shots of Renaud walking in with the coffee and noticing Charli. We finalised the scene here with a close up of Renaud and Charli on the bed.

We then moved downstairs into the living room to film the argument that the two have. This included a shot reverse shot of the two saying two lines of dialogue each. We filmed from a low angle and a high angle to help include a variety of shots in the film.

Use of music in our Romantic Tragedy

With the limited ammount of music avaliable due to copyright issues our music selection was made more difficult. We could not search directly for artists or songs we knew because we did not know these details about copyright free music. As a group we searched for different features our music had to have the most important of which were "sad" and "slow paced". We found the music required and we are very happy with what we have as we feel it will help create the correct moods and emotions for the audience

Research of music in the romantic tragedy genre

The romantic tragedy genre is heavily on reliant on music to create moods in moments where the main couple are not having a conversation. More importantly they are used in montages. The romantic comedy genre typically covers a long period of time as to realistically portray the development and length of a real relationship. This is so because the main way the romantic side of the genre is shown and deemed effective is the realism and the authenticity of a relationship. No one will believe that two people have fallen in love over a two week span. So with this said the montage is a good way of portraying long periods of time without dominating the bulk of the feature film. This applies equally in a short film as you have even less time to show development of a relationship. Equally music can help create the tragic side of the genre. With certain music over certain events even the most difficult audience can be made to feel the emotion you wish them to.

Having researched the romantic tragedy '500 Days of Summer' I have discovered things about the music that they use in the genre of romantic comedy. The genre of the music used for this film would come under the umbrella of the Alternative genre. Songs are mostly slow paced and are often sung by female singers. This is because the slow pace allows for feelings and tensions to rise as is needed, also The most prominent instrument is the acoustic guitar as it is slow paced and meloncolie like the majority of the music used in '500 Days of Summer'. Something I have noticed is that none of the songs used in this particular instance are not popular songs in terms of chart position and CD/download sales. They are typically songs performed by underground or indie artists.

How we plan to use Editing

As a group working on our previous coursework, and studying and analysing many films and TV dramas we know the importance of editing in order to make a film successful. Continuity editing is present throughout as it is the most common form of editing in film making today. As our film cuts between the present and past scenes, we used black fades to help distinguish when the change in time and setting is taking place. In several of our shots you also see the main male protagonist close his eyes and so the black fade also helps to reinforce him remembering past moments and to aid the transition.

For one particular scene involving an argument we used a shot reverse shot to help make the communication and dialogue between the two characters more effective and interesting. The quick cutting and fast paced dialogue helps to create a visually interesting scene for the audience and aids the pace of the film. We also use a match on action cut when the couple are seen in each other’s arms at South Weald, as well as directly after they have kissed, all of which make for a seamless final edit and a smooth cut for the audience.

Editing is important in maintaining the pace of the film. A famous example of how effective editing can be in dictating the pace of a film is the opening scene in Saving Private Ryan. Michael Kahn who won the Academy Award for Best Editing for his work on Saving Private Ryan, successfully integrates both long cuts as well as quick cuts to help re create the tension and atmosphere of the particular scene. A very effective part of this scene is when Kahn fades out all the diegetic sound as Tom Hanks looks hopelessly at the soldiers around him.

Risk Assessment Form

Shooting Schedule

Script

Story Boards

How we plan to use Cinematography

Cinematography is an important part of any film, short or not, and can make a film visually interesting and engaging or static and boring. Due to this we decided to look closely at how Cinematography can be used effectively in order to enhance our film. We knew that some our locations would be visually stimulating and interesting for the audience and wanted to capitalise on that by using a variety of long shots and wide shots to expose the scenery around our central characters. This is in particular reference to scenes at South Weald Park and Shoeburyness which are large, interesting and dynamic landscapes and needed to be properly exposed.

We also knew that in order for the emotion of our protagonists to be captured, in particular Renaud in the graveyard scene, we would have to use close ups of his face in order to understand his emotional state as there is no dialogue in this scene. Also this is shown with a close up of Renaud in the bedroom, and through his non verbal communication the audience can clearly understand the mental state of that character.


After working the previous year on making an opening to a thriller film, we also knew the effectiveness of low and high angle shots in determining the importance of a character. We also knew that it these high and low angle shots, as well as
tracking shots that make a film much more interesting and engaging because the audience is always stimulated by different angles and shots. We decided that when opportunity allowed, we would shoot with high and low angles, as well as other shots in order to maintain the audiences interest.

Casting Decisions

We felt that one of the most important aspects of the production was making the relationship and emotions believable on screen. Due to the difficulties in hiring high profile actors, we dedicated a lot of thought as to who should play the title characters, a couple which are in a deep relationship. We wanted to cast people who would play a believable older character (20+), proven dramatic credentials and were committed to the production. We also felt it was important to cast a couple that were different and engaging, who would grab the audience’s attention and who would establish a strong connection with the audience. The two actors we have cast complement each other well as a couple and we feel confident about their ability in portraying a believable relationship on screen. We felt that Charli and Renaud were similar as a couple to Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, stars of 500 days of summer. It is the relationship in that film that we wanted to re create with our actors.

Settings and Locations

Throughout our Short Film, there will be alot of different scenery and an often change of location to create a certain atmosphere that represents our film. A major location that will be represented in alot of our short film is South Weald Country Park. The location is surrounded by a forest of beautiful flowers and trees that co-exist with each other to form an atmosphere that is somewhat untouched and disreguarded by the hands and tools of human beings. This atmosphere is perfect for a number of the scenes in our film because of the fact that it works well with the two characters that are in love and helps set that calm and romantic atmosphere without the need of dialogue or music. Although music will be used to add to the effect, South Weald is the perfect setting for parts of our film for the simple reason that it is an isolated country park that will show our loving couple alone in love with little interest or needs from the outside world.

Another Location where we will be filming is Southend-on-sea. We have chosen the beach in Southend because of the fact that is well known for its peer, and also because of the murky water that makes up the sea. Although a murky beach would usually be an unsuitable place to make a film, in the context of our short film it is very effective in setting the atmosphere and the mood represented by our charcter in the chosen scenes that we are filming down there. Our main character is represented in many of the scenes as being very miserable and upset because of the loss of his wife. This mood is captured very effectively by the beach because of how the cold winter day, shows the viewer of how a once prosperous and warm beach in the summer time is now very lonely and desserted just like the character in our film.

Costa coffee located in Shenfield is also one of our chosen locations because of how it is a very normal and common place where people go to socialise. We use the coffee shop to stage a place where our couple first meet and lay eyes on each other. It is very effective for our thriller because of how it makes the story seem more realistic and believable because of how it is such a normal place for two people to meet. This is very important because of how the viewers can relate to what is happening.

St Mary's graveyard is one of the chosen locations for our film for a variety of different reasons. One of the reasons is because of how it is where our main characters wife is buried. Another reason is because of how it is a very well kept graveyard with well trimmed bushes and plants all around. This is important because it leads the viewer to believe that our main character loved his wife very much and made sure she was buried in a garden surrounded by beautiful flowers and trees.

Brief Sypnosis Pitch

As a group, we have all played an equal role in putting forward ideas and discussing what we feel would or wouldn't work for a successful short film. After much deliberation in and outside of lessons, we decided on a theme, storyline and the characters we want to use.
We decided that our film would fit into the genre of a 'romantic tragedy'. It will entirely consist of the story of a young couple, how they meet, how they fall in love, and how an illness could largely effect their relationship. We plan to portray each of these things through the use of different camera techniques, such as including wide shots of the couple looking alone in a wide, scenic setting to depict their iscolation from the rest of the world, and hopefully making the audience feel as though they are involved in the couple's relationship, and becoming more emotionally attached. We all agreed that drawing this reaction from the audience is the most important thing to achieve from our short film in order for it to be a success.

The film will begin with a shot of the main protagonist, a man who is in a graveyard, reflecting on the time that he met his partner. He will be flicking through a photo album of pictures of the two of them at romantic places such as a beach and next to a lake, which will then fade to a scene of the couple when that picture was taken. However, the troubles in their relationship will then be portrayed, with the impression that the scenes are from his reflective memory, through arguments and scenes of the girl ill in bed. This sudden downfall in the theme, from love to anger, will then turn to sadness as we see the man back in the graveyard next to her gravestone, and then wandering empty streets to highlight his loneliness now she has gone. We hope that this will create deep emotive reactions from the audience as they will sympathise with him after watching the relationship blossom. The film will end with a cliff hanger, as the final shots show the man at a train station, standing close to the platform, and as the train comes the audience are left with the unresolved enigma of whether he jumped or not. We feel that the use of a cliffhanger will be effective as it will stay in the audience's mind, and they will hopefully comtemplate their own perception of the ending after the film has ended.

In terms of our characters, we have based them on 'Summer' played by Zooey Deschanel and 'Tom' played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the film '500 Days of Summer' as we felt they were extremely effective in terms of the audience's abilty to relate to and like them. We have therefore taken this inspiration and applied it, particularly with the appearance and costumes of our own characters as this is also an aspect that we believed enhanced the overall production. The reason for this choice is that, in detailed discussion, we agreed that we wanted characters that weren't completely average and were slightly strange as this would make our short film have a unique and interesting edge to it.

Inspirations/Influences

Although we feel that our idea is unique, we have been influenced by many short films and feature length films that we have seen in the past in many aspects of planning our film. In particular, 500 Days of Summer has influenced many of the decisions and ideas we have made.

Relationship –

As the film is focused on the relationship between two people, we decided to look at other films that explore deep relationships. We wanted our couple to demonstrate unique qualities that would distinguish them from the traditional every day romantic couple seen on a number of films. We liked very much the chemistry and attraction of the couple in 500 Days of Summer. The film explores a relationship that is awkward and unique, and ultimately ends in failure, a convention that breaks somewhat the norm for romantic comedy films.
The character of Summer Finn played by Zooey Deschanel is seen as an ‘immature woman, who is a complex character and the consequence is heartbreak for the male character. Summer is perfection, but perfection has no depth. Summer is not a girl, she is a phase’. It is these attributes that we want to our female protagonist to demonstrate to show that she is a complex and interesting character, and someone the audience would find entertaining to watch. Similarly, our male protagonist should demonstrate similar attributes to the character of Tom in 500 days of summer played by Joseph Gordon Levitt. In that film, Tom is obsessed with summer, and additionally shows that he is a humorous, witty and a intelligent and unique guy. Together, the characters relationship will go through stages in the film, at first showing their initial attraction, followed by the relationship developing and becoming concrete, before finally ending with the female protagonist’s death. With the attributes and relationship that the characters will have, the film will have an emotional impact upon the audience.

Settings/Location –

Somewhat influenced by the relationship and demeanour of our characters, we wanted some of our locations to feel isolated and secluded.
Initially, the couple meet in a bustling coffee shop, and can be compared with in 500 days of Summer when the characters meet in a busy office. The next significant setting is an isolated beach, reflecting the characters relationship as one that shows the couple to be isolated, yet happy together. Similarly, this isolation is repeated when they are seen at South Weald Park. In 500 days of Summer, the couple have a ‘favourite spot’, frequented by the characters because of the appeal of the location.
We were inspired to use a similar idea, with South Weald being our couples ‘favourite spot’.

Laurence Ruthven

Target Audience Profile

The Target Audience for our film would predominately be female, aged between 16-30 years old. As the film explores relationships and is based on romance and tragedy it would most appeal to the female audience, however, males of a similar age would also make up the majority of the secondary audience. For our target audience we have used Sophie Smith as an example of the primary target audience.

Sophie is 17 years old, attends Sixth Form and has a wide interest education, socialising with friends, watching films and TV, Facebook and Twitter. Her favourite films include Forest Gump, 500 days of summer, Billy Elliott and Dirty Dancing. Jade is White, middle class and enjoys music by The Smiths. She represents the typical normal girl, from a middle class nuclear family.

Sophie regularly attends the cinema and has an avid intrest in films. Her favourite films revolve around a romantic plot, with two people conversing and ending up as a happy couple. Jade therefore would have an intrest in our short film. Additionally, Sophie studies Media at school, and so would be intrested in viewing a wide range of film types, including short films.

Codes and Conventions of Romantic Tragedy genre

There are several different conventions of the Romantic Tragedy genre. A moving and emotional soundtrack is an important aspect of this genre as the director helps to create mood and emotion simply through the soundtrack. The plot must also follow the general convention of a romantic film, but with the obvious tragedy at the end, e.g. the couple breaking up to fulfil the audience’s expectations. The narrative drive must be strong throughout, so that the audience may suspend belief and get caught up in the drama of the story, as well as the relationships on screen. This ‘suspense’ of the viewer is often referred to as verisimilitude, or the illusion of reality.

An audience viewing a Romantic Tragedy would expect disequilibrium that sees an initial meeting between the characters overcome and the couple enjoying their relationship, before an obstacle that threatens their relationship, possibly breaking that relationship. The audience expects to see the relationship severed at the end of the film, although it doesn’t necessarily mean that the characters are unhappy, as it is common for filmmakers to include happy endings even for Romantic Tragedies.

Examples of Romantic Tragedy films –

500 days of summer

Romeo and Juliet

The Break Up

Remember Me

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The Notebook

Initial Ideas

From the beginning we wanted to follow the story of a disabled man. We thought that the idea of showing the struggles of a disabled man could provide an interesting and provocative narrative, but after further discussion, realised that the narrative would not have a good conclusion, and that there were several issues in exploring the issues of a disabled man.
After further discussion, we decided to come up with the concept of depicting a man who is contemplating suicide, after the loss of his lover. We felt that this was a strong narrative to take throughout the film, with the opportunity to build up the relationship and then see it end as the woman dies. Emotionally, it would have a strong impact on the audience, and would provide us the opportunity to use cinematography in an interesting and engaging way. The narrative would also be strengthened by the relationship being developed on screen, and then suddenly coming to an end. The controlling idea is very strong throughout, and is effective in maintaining the audience’s attention and emotion.

Mood Board

We devised a mood board from a collection of images which we feel summarize the main themes and moods of our short film.

Half of the board portrays our couple's relationship, including screen shots from the film '500 Days of Summer' from which we drew inspiration from the characters, Tom Hansen and Summer Finn played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. The images show them to be in love and happy to be in eachothers' company which is what we would like our actors, Molly and Renaud, to achieve.

We also included other images which we found that represent some of the scenes that we want to feauture, for example a couple having a picnic and a couple at a beach, we have story boarded scenes of Molly and Renaud at these locations.

Also on this side of the board, we used images of South Weald Country Park as this is one of the actual locations we will be using to film some shots due to it's scenic appearance. The large, open fields will contribute to our portrayal of the couples' clear iscolation from the rest of the world, giving the impression that all they need is one another to make the audience focus on and understand their relationship.

We also included some pictures that represent the locations and shots that want to use. For example, the coffee cup represents the shots that we will take in a coffee shop which is where the couple will first meet. We also used the image of a couple's photobooth pictures, as this was an idea we had to create with our own actors to show a 'fun' side to their relationship.

However, the other side of the moodboard contrasts as it portrays the more sad, lonely theme that is present in the last part of the film. This is because the audience discover that the female character has passed away. We aim to use a zoom outwards from a close up of Renaud to show that he has been sitting in a graveyard throughout the film, and a gravestone (which is featured on the board) in front of him will show the audience that it must be her's.

We have also story boarded Renaud to be walking through empty streets to portray his loneliness, and therefore pictures of empty streets and bridges that we aim to replicate are included, they also depict the foggy, dim lighting that we aim to achieve as a form of pathetic fallacy.

There is also an image of an extreme close up on the board because we have planned to shoot a couple of these as a way of portraying Renaud's emotions, as well as the intensity of them.

Also featured are images of a train platform, this is because we aim to shoot Renaud standing alone on one through the use of a long shot to reinforce his loneliness again. The image of a moving train also shows what we hope to achieve on camera as the final shot before the screen fades to black, as a cliff hanger for the audience.

Institutional Analysis

The problem with trying to distribute a short film to an institution is that there is not a large market or range of institutions that show or try to advertise a lot of short films. Because there are so few examples of mediums in which short films can be specifically distributed, it is easier to get them out to online platforms. With the recent development of youtube as a genuine media outlet, short film-makers now have the means to be become famous and popular without grand scale productions or large institutional backing.

There is a niche in that successful film-makers enter short films to be shown at something like the London film festivals or an equal festival in another part of the world. Sometimes features are shown on different channels affiliated with Channel 4. They have 5 minute short films shown some valid documentaries to the programmes on their channel or highlighting talented young directors. Though the issue with these is that it has to be screaned many times by a pannel of media experts before it can be shown by these institutions. This is a problem for a lot of young aspiring young film-makers. Its not that films arent good enough its that they dont have the media contacts to sufficantly get there their production 'out there'.

The institutions themselves have made efforts to show short films through other mediums other than just the mainstream, traditional ones like television. They have made strides to show short films on their websites. This is an option we could utilise but even then our piece would have to go through an ammount of screening and gain support from the institution.



One of the more well known institutions is Film4. They have slots in their television programming in which they showcase the work of young up and coming dircetors and the older work of established directors. This is often in the form of short films. They are a well known distributor of films in this country and therefore a level of success is attached to having work "on the telly" with both media-related people and those that arent. Film4 would be a plauisble option for our films institution as it does encourage and showcase the work of new, young directors.

The short film is something that is still heavily part of the academy and long established film institutions. The London short film festival is still an anually held ceremony which is held in high regards by the film academy. It remains the city's most expansive and radically explosive film festival into its 7th denomination this upcoming January. With other 200 films , London short film festival is exclusively for the work of Britain's most exciting up-and-coming filmakers. For 10 days the country's most creative and fiercely independant filmakers have their work brandished around the nations most prestigous cinemas. This would not be a particularly medium in which to show our short film as we are limited in both our skills as filmakers and the experience we have. The rest of the films in the festival would be of a much higher standard than our film due to a higher level of experience and would more than likely have a larger budget.