1. Genre
My short film idea encompasses several genres. It is parody of the romantic-comedy genre. The set up (the male main character walking into the cafe, seeing the girl) will be all serious with no hint of comedy. Only when the daydream sequence of the film starts will to parody aspect come in. It will be a montage of classic rom-com situations but either ridiculous, over the top or with the characters in the opposite roles to what would be expected. For example, the couple will be curled up on the sofa together watching a sad film but the male will be cuddling a cushion in tears rather than the female. This plays with the audiences expectations and turns the romantic-comedy conventions upside down nd creating the comedy aspect.
2. Narrative
I explained my idea in an earlier post (Initial Ideas Part 3) and the order of events is quite simple, however I have not yet decided the order of the montage scenarios.
The film will take this structure:
The first minute and a half will be in the cafe establishing the location and the situation. It would start with the main character entering the cafe, maybe an establishing shot of the exterior. He would walk through, and order a drink. Whilst waiting for his beverage me will see the girl, this is when the inner monologue will start. He will proceed to sit down away from the woman and steal glimpses of her. Commenting in his head about her appearance and the conclusions he can draw from it, i.e from what she is reading, her shoes and so on. The camera will then pan upwards and with a white fade transition shift to the next segment of the film.
Between 1.30 and 4 minutes will be the main characters imagination. This is when the parodies of the romantic comedy will appear. I have yet to decide which ones will feature and hope to gain insight through my audience research. The visuals will be accompanied by non-diegetic soundtrack.
The final minute will feature the main character returning from his imagination and deciding (communicated through the voiceover of his inner monolouge) to go and approach the woman. However, as he gets closer another male character gets to her first and sits down. The main character changes direction as if he planned to walk the other way all along, he curses under his breath possibly saying "not again" before leaving the cafe.
3. Audience
My target audience will be both men and women aged between 16 to 25. I feel this age may be able to relate to the main character as at that age love and relationships are more relevant than before and a lot of people after this age tend to be in a relationship. Everyone in that age gap has been single and either known or seen some one they find attractive and maybe never acted on it, thus can relate to the feelings of the main character. It's important that they don't take pity on him, I don't want the audience to feel sorry for him too much because the tone of the film is quite light hearted. I think my short film would appeal to both genders, females because of the romantic comedy connection, rom-coms have a mostly female audience. Similarly I think it will appeal to males because of the parody aspect, making fun of films they may see as silly and unrealistic.
4. Representation
The three characters in my film need to be presented in a particular way to create a persona to the audience. This way they can make the assumptions I want them to. It's important to get this right because with a short film I don't have the luxury of time to tell back story of the characters my self.
The main character
He is a likeable person, an average guy. Not unintelligent, sweet and innocent. I need to convey this at near enough first glance. To do this will be difficult, but not impossible. The first thing the audience will make assumptions on is how he looks. The characters costume will probably be just every day clothes, perhaps a patterned shirt over tee shirt. I'd like him to wear glasses, straight away hinting at imperfection and vulnerability. His inner monologue will reveal more about his personality and this will need to be well written. It will hint at his self doubting nature, he will assume (at first) that he wouldn't have a chance with her or that she won't like him. I think this is something most people particularly the target audience could relate to.
The love interest
She will be intriguing to both the main character and the audience. Quirky isn't the right word to describe the look I want this character to have, I want her to be different. Striking. The actress I have in mind has the most wonderful slightly curled hair, long eyelashes and just an overall beautifully interesting way about her. This is exactly what I want my character to be. She will be first seen sitting in the corner of the coffee shop on her own reading a book. I have yet to decide what book but it will be complex, most likely a classic. What ever it is the man will comment on it through his thoughts.
The second man
It's wrong to call him the antagonist as he doesn't consciously ruin our characters plan and he doesn't mean to. It's just the main characters bad fortune, he spent too long day dreaming and someone had the same idea. Because of this he will be presented fairly similarly to the main character in terms of looks. He is just an average guy in everyday clothes. Not much more will be revealed about this character because the film isn't about him.
5. Editing
I have several ideas for editing and sound and so on. For example when the day dream montage starts, I want to signify this clearly. I plan to use the same technique uses in the short film 'Easy Reader' which I analysed in a earlier post. The main character looks upwards, the camera then pans upwards and fades to white. The subsequent shot will fade from white signifying these images aren't reality. Also this is when there will either be a change in music or the only music of the sequence will start.
I have yet to decide on the music, I have been playing around on the program Garage Band to get a feel for it and it has great potential. But, composing is by no means my strong point. As it stands I may ask my friend Arabella if she can compose something for me. She is the incredibly talented musician that composed the soundtrack for my AS media project, an opening sequence to a film.
The next step is audience research, but to do this I need to better identify my target audience...
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