Film review analysis 3

Film review 3

Magazine: Total Film 
Issue: Summer 2012
Film: Moonrise Kingdom

Layout

- Large image from the film heading the page. But unlike the other reviews it doesn't extend to to the top of the page.

- The title is the second largest text on the page behind the title of the feature.

- Again there is a comment underneath the title of the film offering a humorous (extremely brief) idea about the film. 

- A star rating out of 5

- The box with key information as a lot smaller than in the other reviews and is at the end , almost as if it was an after thought. It contains the similar information as the previous two reviews: Certificate, Director, Cast, Screenplay, Distributor and running time. The release date is elsewhere (next to the star rating). 

- A summary (entitled 'the verdict') condenses the review to two sentences. Again this allows the reader to get the draft of the review without reading it. 

- A box containing three films that the target audience for this film may have enjoyed. 

- The comment at the top of the picture is a funny sentence, like the 'Bruce Springsteen' comment in the previous review. 

- The 'Talking point' box contains a bit of trivia about the film

- The 'Predicted interest curve' (copyrighted by the magazine) plots the most interesting moments in the film along a continuum. This narrative only falls between the 'thrilled' and 'entertained' boxes.

The text is either black, grey or red in colour. Red is the colour also used minimally background.

Content

A quick run down of each paragraph.

Paragraph 1: Talk about the director and his previous works. This won't be as relevant for me as I am not an  accomplished director with a previous body of work. 

Paragraph 2: Sets the scene of the film and introduces the main characters and their qualities. This is followed by the disruption to the equilibrium. 

Paragraph 3: Comments about supporting actors. In the case of this film the supporting actors (Bruce Willis, Bill Murray) are more famous than those of the main characters (Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward). However as the main characters is important to talk about them first. 

Paragraphs 4&5: The directors use of cinematography and the use of soundtrack.

Paragraph 6: Ending comment focused on the director.

Language

Again, like in the previous to articles, the language is very creative and complimentary. This sentence starter for example "Scrupulously composed". Suggesting the film was lovingly crafted with ultimate precision (I'm not saying it wasn't. Just that this is how the language comes across). When stripped to the bare bones what does it mean though? It means 'made'. He made a film, and yet the lexis chosen creates this impression of grandeur and spectacularity. This is a trend that has run through all three of the reviews I have analysed.

Rhetorical questions directly address the reader to make them think about the ideas presented in the review. Complicated polysybalic words are frequently used i.e. embodiment, tragicomic, precocious. Such language hints at the target audience for the review. This article is trying to attract an intelligent audience. 

My thoughts

Although in a different publication many of the same conventions are featured in this review as were in the reviews from Empire magazine. This is really interesting and incredibly useful: it means I can identify staple components of a review that the reader will expect to see, hence I should include. I prefer the general layout of the Empire reviews, this one looks too busy. Also I wouldn't be able to use the predicted interest curve. I like it but their is really no point in it with regards to my five minute film as their is one narrative strand. Also, it is trademarked to the magazine. 

Film poster choice

I had my three rough ideas for my film poster but didn't know which to choose. I asked twenty members of my target audience which of the three they preferred.

Results

The second poster was the most popular by far. I agree with my target audience thus this is the chosen design I will make. Here is a rough design of what the finished poster will look like:

This poster follows conventions of existing romantic comedy film posters such as:
- the main character is featured
- the background is white
- the colour red (which holds connotations of romance) is featured somewhere on the poster

Conventions I have not adhered to:
- the love interest is featured (often back to back with the main character)

I don't need to conform to romantic comedy conventions too much as my short film is a parody of the genre.

I have followed the main conventions identified within film posters in general. For example the features and layout.
- The title is the largest text on the page
- The main actors names are featured (usually either on the top or bottom of a poster)
- A quote from a reviewer
- The billing block at the bottom and in the centre of the page
- A tagline underneath the title
- A release date to tell the audience when they can expect to be able to see the film

There are still a couple of points for me to consider:

Font - All the fonts on my current design are the same. I need to do some research and try out which fonts I       should use. This will be easier to do when I have made a design on the computer as I can easily interchange fonts to see how they look.
Tagline - I'm not sure this will be the final tagline. I think it needs to be funnier as not much of the poster hint's towards the parody aspect of my short film.
Director - Do I wan't my name on the poster? From my analysis of existing posters I have learnt that not all posters have the directors name on them. So I need to decide this and think about where on the poster I would put it.

Film review analysis 2

My previous review was from the May issue of Empire magazine. Since this issue the film reviews have been presented in a new layout. I wanted to analyse both layouts to see how greatly they differ and to determine which I prefer. It is also good to see the progression in the presentation of film reviews in one magazine as I can identify discontinued features.

Film review 2

Magazine: Empire
Issue: November 2012
Film: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Layout 

- The image takes up a large proportion of the page. It is the first thing the reader will see.

- The title is the largest sized text on the page hence will be the first thing read by the audience. 

- A comment underneath the title. Sometimes a play on words but in this case an opinion on the film "A magical master piece"

- A box containing key information about the film. It includes: a release date, the certificate, the director, the leading cast members, the running time and a brief summary of the plot. 

-  A small summary leaving an impression of the film on the reader.

- A star rating out of five. 

- Again, the bulk of the page is the article. 

- The arrow at the top of the page is the title of the segment if the magazine. 

-The lower arrow is underneath the text. Both arrows are a recurring feature across all of the reviews in the magazine

                                                                        - The magazines website address.
                                                                                                                                                   - Above the title just under the arrow is a comment: "Springsteen pun #72: Barn in the USA"

The colour theme of this article is simply blue. The text is framed with lines similar to the previous review. 

Content 

The first paragraph only consists of two sentences and is general praise towards the film. This is in contrast to the lengthy paragraph at the start of review of The Hunger Games. The second and third paragraphs briefly introduce the setting of the story and compare it to existing films. The article talks about the underlying depth of the characters and continues to talk about the plot.

The fourth paragraph begins to talk about the performance of the two main actors. Starting with the word 'key' signals just how this paragraph is going to go.  The article throws praise at them focusing on their acting highlights of the film. Language such as 'astonishingly' and 'sink effortlessly' display to what extent the writer is praising the film.

The article returns to the plot in the fifth paragraph focusing on a different aspect explaining a separate narrative strand. It ends with a comment on the nature of Hollywood film and how Beasts of the Southern Wild subverts it. The article ends with more general praise poetically put. The main character is once again praised and now her role in the film is summarised  .

Lexis

There isn't much to say here that I haven't said all ready either on this page or in the previous post. The lexis is very similar between this and the last review: very complimentary. It is trying to describe everything created on the screen using music, cinematography, lighting, actors and so on but just through the power of words. Hence the figurative language. The language is colloquial as before. Popular culture references are included to dis-spell any thoughts the author didn't intend to create - this is done in a humorous way: "This isn't sentimental, Sting-saves-the-rainforest stuff, though.".

My thoughts

I am split about this one. I don't particularly like the review, however I now want to go and see this film. So, it preformed it's function. I definitely see how the use of language is implemented and this is deffinately something to think carefully about in my film. Regarding the layout it is quite different to the previous artile and I think I like the former. However, this article is more recent and up to date. With media products evolving at the exponential rate that they do it is important to keep up with the most recent style. Therefore I think this is more of the style I will be aiming for.

Film review analysis 1

Not only do I need to produce a five minute short film, another branch of the course is the ancillary tasks. These are:

• Produce a film poster for your short film

• Produce a review of your short film. The article should look like it is from a magazine. 

I have already started on my film poster as I have said in earlier blog posts. Now it is time to start thinking about this review. If I need it to take the form of a review likely to be found in a magazine it is clear that I need to do some research. I will be looking at the layout, content and language commonly featured in reviews to establish a set of conventions I need to follow.

Film review 1

Magazine: Empire

Issue: May 2012

Film: The Hunger Games

An edition of the magazine from earlier this year, so it is still relevant and fairly up to date. 

Layout

- A large, eye catching image at the head of the page. Here is features the main character of the film.
- A smaller image underneath giving a further taste of the film.
- A box containing key information about the film. It includes: a release date, the certificate, director, leading actors, running time and a brief plot outline.
- The bulk of the page is the actual article.
- A quote some where on the page (here at the bottom) in a larger font and different colour. This attracts the audiences eye and gives a flavour of the tone of the article.
- A quote over-layed on the main image aligned to the right of the page (not shown in diagram)
- A small summary, usually two or three sentences long. Also in this box (not in my diagram) is a star rating.



This article has the colour theme of yellow and blue. A bright colour combination subtlety enforced compliments the article on the page.
The page also has dotted lines at the top of the page, top and bottom of the information section and the top of the summary. Other lines frame the writing and make it look neat and professional.

Every thing is very clear. Each aspect has it's own section and is easy to see.

Content

The article itself covers range of areas to do with the film. The first paragraph is referencing that this film is an adaptation of a book. It straight away sets the complimentary tone of the article with the topic sentence starting "Possibly the greatest achievement of The Hunger Games...". The second paragraph sets the scene and establishes the storyline of the film. The main character is introduced in the third paragraph with reference to the director and how he has represented such an atmosphere. Katniss Everdeen (the protagonist) is summed up to the audience in two sentences followed by praise to the actress who portrayed her (Jennifer Laurence). 

The fourth paragraph talks about the premise of the film referencing the director and filming techniques used ("handheld camera work..."). Finally the first critical comment arises at this late point in the review and still it is made in a sensitive manner "The only clumsy element of these scenes is an intermittent commentary". The word 'only' reinforces that, one the whole, they are saying the film is really good. The final paragraph is a further comment on the premise of the film but from a different angle/on a different aspect. 

The final summary (or 'verdict' as it is called in this article) consists of three sentences leaving a positive impression about the film on the reader. Also, if the reader skips straight to the summary this is the only thing the audience will take away from it. Therefore it needs to be strong and opinionated. 

Language

Metaphors are featured within the review to try to convey the image on screen to the reader through the power of words alone. "This world bleeds with cruelty" accentuates the vast hopelessness the director has successfully created within the narrative to the reader. 

The language used is very colloquial (chatty) and informal. Lots of contractions are used ("it's" "don't" for example) which are usually a feature of more spoken language, this helps form the informal tone. Other features simulate speech, "one will emerge victorious for...no real reason". The ellipses represents the thinking time that would have been required were the author speaking fluently. This also highlights how the situation in the film doesn't make sense (note that this is meant to be, it is a comment on the cruelty of the antagonists, not bad storytelling). Not much very technical language is used, bearing in mind that not everyone reading would understand it. 

My thoughts 

I really like the layout of this film review, it is really clear. It was not a surprise to see the article be so complimentary about the film, especially as it was given 4 out of 5 stars. It will be interesting to see the change in lexis and content in a review of a lower rated film. 

Idea changes

I have decided to substitute one of my scenes. This, regretfully, is the soup scene. During shots 39-58 the two main characters spin around before the female character vomits on the male. My very lovely actors had agreed to this (amazingly) and I was starting testing fake vomit.

I set everything up, the plastic was in front of the camera to protect it, the first fake vomit batch was ready. This vomit took the form of Heinz farmers market seven vegetable soup. The time came. I spat the soup at the perspex sheet. It was disgusting and I will probably never eat vegetable soup again. I don't think I can ask my actors to do this. Not only that, it just didn't look very good. The footage was bad, it didn't look like I was sick, it looked like a spat soup all over the floor. For these reasons I will no longer be including this in my film.




Instead, the couple will still spin but the female will loosen her grip. The male will walk backwards into a road whilst trying to regain his balance (after all he would be rather dizzy after spinning). Just as he steps into the road he will be hit by a car. Don't panic, this effect will be created through the magic of cinema. Jacob will (probably) be unhurt by the 'stunt'. This shot will look much more effective than the soup idea would have. However it does give the films tone a rather dark turn, I think I would need to counteract this afterwards. For this reason I think the following shot will be Jacobs character standing up, his glasses askew as he brushes himself off. A slightly low angle shot from in side the car shows his reaction to being hit (he swears at the driver). This will conform to comedy conventions, few comedies have characters being mowed down by vehicles. Unless it is a cartoon, but as you may have noticed my film isn't.

Music tests

I have been thinking about the type of music I am going to use for my short film. After taking the audience research questionnaires into consideration I have decided to only use music during the daydream segment of my film.

I want the soundtrack to be light and uplifting and after listening to lots of music for inspiration I stumbled across this on my iPod: Mr Blue Sky by the Electric Light Orchestra

In particular the start of the song before the lyrics kick in. I really like the upbeat rhythm and repetitive simplicity of the tune. I'm not going to include any lyrics to my music as this will prove too bigger task for me. This track, I can shut my eyes with it on in the background and imagine exactly how I want my film to be. It fits so well, it's a real shame I can't use it. I need to create something inspired by it. I plan to keep my music simple and I'll hopefully be able to create a score fitting to the visuals.

To do this I will be using Garage Band as I lack the ability to play any instruments myself. There is still a long while until the music needs to be ready but I have been doing some tests on the software and I'm pretty pleased with what I've produced.

Here is a piece of Heart and Soul by Frank Loesser I recreated using the Garage Band app. It took me a while but I am pleased with how it sounds:

I have started creating a track for my film, here is what I have so far.

It is by no means finished yet, just me playing on the software to familiarise myself with it. I think my music being composed on Garage Band is definitely a possibility. In the past I have just used pre-set tunes on Garage Band but using the instrument features is proving  a lot more pleasing to the ear.

Some more questionnaire results

I previously stated my target audience for my short film consists of 16-25 year old and yet the only audience research I have conducted is from people aged 17-19. I need to ask the higher aged members to see what they think and ensure they belong in my target audience and I can appeal to them with my short film. Thus I have distributed a similar questionnaire to more people to ensure I cover all ages in my target audience. Most of the questions were answered with similar results.

The main question I need the feedback for to establish if my target audience needs changing is this:

What are your initial thoughts? Does this appeal to you?
People of a higher age were more split in their opinions. Comments ranged form really positive to incredibly negative. But as I stated in my earlier questionnaire post this is too sort out the people that are interested from those who aren't and maybe identify types of people and remove them from my target audience.

I had some really good comments :
"Yes, I love the twist at the end"
"Sounds like a cute story idea."
and
"It's a great idea debunking the ideal of living in an imaginary pie in the sky world portrayed in most movies and living in the present."

Equally some comments were less than encouraging:
"It really doesn't, it seems boring and I don't like the spoof idea."
"No."

Still, the majority of responses were positive. From this I can draw that, as more of my younger target audience were positive, the people with lower ages are more likely to enjoy my film. However, many of these responses were still positive, meaning that it does appeal to older people but those that like films of similar genres. I think this is a reasonable response and so will not be changing the age bracket. 

Audience Research - Focus Group

As well as my questionnaires I have conducted a focus group with five members of my target audience. Here is the recording, they were a bit giggly.

What did I ask them?
What book could the women be reading?
Answers I got

• Something classical/romantic - Atonement, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility - I like this idea but I'm not sure what a mans response would be to this. It fits with the genre but in terms of the narrative it doesn't quite make sense. 
• Something philosophical - This would make the woman intriguing yes but what is a philosophical book? It also needs to be recognised by the audience so a quite famous book would be needed. 
• Something the man would be interested in - A Batman comic - This is a really good idea, maybe not a batman comic as this seem childish and represents her as so (which I don't want). But, a book that appeals to the man would make him assume they would be a perfect match. 
• The same book that he is reading - This is even better than the last idea. This will help the audience understand where the main character is coming from when he is thinking about her. It suggests that they actually are similar and a perfect match. 
• Sherlock Holmes, The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings - These are good ideas for the book, I think I will go with Lord Of The Rings as it is an absolute classic that the audience should definitely recognise.

I have chosen to go with Lord Of The Rings as it will appeal to the male character, I will also have him reading the same book for the reasons listed above. 

Does he need a motive for being in the coffee?
Answers I got

• It's part of his daily routine - This is a good reason for him being there. It is a believable and relatable situation. 
• He always see's her there and today has plucked up the courage to talk to her - As the other members of my focus group pointed out this makes the character appear as a bit of a stalker. But this still isn't an unreasonable concept. 

I like the idea that it is part of his routine but today something has disrupted this causing him to daydream. However it does make the main character come across as impulsive but on the other hand in the other scenario surely he would already of thought about asking her on a date, prompting this fantastic relationship. For this reason his visit will be part of his daily routine. 

Do you have any ideas of romantic situations I could feature?
Answers I got

• Running through corn fields into each others arms - This is a really good idea that I had completely overlooked. I would love to include it but the only problem (and it's quite a big one) is the time of year. All of the crops have already been harvested. 
• Lady and the Tramp-esqe spaghetti eating - I like this and will definitely use it in the dinner date scene I was already planning. 
• Running in the rain - This is also a good one, getting caught in the rain is often featured in romantic films and would be a perfect scenario. I would need to think of a twist though. Also if it doesn't rain when I have access to my actors I can't do it. 
• Watching a movie but him being really scared - I had already thought about this. Hearing it from my focus group is fantastic and makes me think I should definitely include it. 
• A falling leaf landing on their hands - Although romantic this would be incredibly hard to create. Leaves don't fall straight, the camera angles would be hard to perfect and the shots would be difficult to co-ordinate. For these reasons I will leave out this scenario. 
• Giving her flowers - A simple, sweet romantic gesture I will work it into another scenario to impact upon the parody aspect. 

I have been looking for more ideas and these are some really good concepts for scenes. I will include numbers 2, 4, 6 and hopefully 3. 

What should the second male character do when he reaches to woman?
Answers I got

• The other guy could have the same book as well - This was a really funny idea and fits the comedy I am trying to create. The other members of the focus group also found it funny which makes me think it would be a good thing to include (seeing as my target audience likes it). It could come across as too cheesy though, I haven't decided. 
• He could just go and sit with her - This was what I was thinking initially but I don't think it sends a clear enough message to the audience, they might be confused as to what has happened. 
• The waiter could bring her something that he bought for her - I'm note sure on this. Coffee shops don't tend to have waiters. The kind that dose have waiters isn't the kind of coffee shop these characters would go to. 

I will need to think more about this one, maybe I will ask some more people what they think. 

Today I watched: Love Actually

I need to watch some films similar in genre to my own to familiarise my self with the conventions. I don't particularly enjoy romantic comedies, I find them very repetitive, silly and just uninteresting. So generally as a rule I avoid them. This is why I have decided to do a parody of one for my project. It will also pose a challenge for me and broaden my knowledge of cinema I wouldn't usually know about.

The first film I have decided to watch is Love Actually (2003, Curtis)

The film opens at an airport arrivals gate, Hugh Grant is talking through a voice over telling of his characters views about  love. We see lots of couples and family members embracing each other as they meet again after a flight. Strangely there is a mention of 9/11. Fair enough it is relevant, he is saying how none of the messages sent (as far as he knows) from people within the towers were of hate, just love. But still, I think that's a bit heavy for what is meant to be the start of a comedic movie. But, in the name of media studies, I kept watching anyway. 

The first character we see who holds a place in the plot is played by Bill Nighy, he is recording a christmas song and 'dad dancing' as he does so. Straight after it cuts to christmassy shots: ice skating, a decorated high street etc. Following this the audience is introduced to Colin Firths character leaving his partner in bed to go to a wedding. The next scene is of Liam Neesons character.... A pattern is forming. Short, brief introductions to each character of the 'ten very different' stories featured in the film. This proves a real problem for me. I understand, as Hugh Grant told me at the start, that the idea is love is all around. But it just cheapens each story, it's like it's not really worth focussing on. This is in contrast to my film, I am focusing on just one story. This will allow me to develop the character in more depth and create a quality story. To be fair, this film, although having many similarities, is completely different to my idea and the way I want to do it. 

This film in all was not far off what I expected. There was:

• A wedding
• A last minute airport run 
• A twist
• A nervous, socially awkward englishman
• An affair
• Another affair
• Matchmaking
• Forbidden(ish) love
• Misunderstanding
• Unreasonable acts of romance (learning a language, knocking on every door in the longest street in the world)

A parody of this could well be featured in One Fine Coffee Break

Unfortunately all these things are frequently featured in romcoms but I can't use all of them. The premise of my idea is the perfect relationship. But I can still draw inspiration from the positive things listed above. I am particularly thinking of misunderstandings they are always funny. Also over the top romantic acts, they are cute and should be easy enough to make funny.

In relation to the narrative: there were ten loves stories. These were interlinked through character relationships and meetings/locations. As I said earlier I think this was too much and I didn't really like it. This allowed none of the characters to really stand out or make an impact on the audience. This means (for me anyway) I came away from this film with no lasting impression. Each narrative strand was chopped up and interlaced with strands from other narratives.

The target audience was probably very well catered for, it's obvious I am not a member of this target audience. The sheer abundance of characters means that there is almost definitely someone the audience can relate to, root for and sympathise with. This again is a contrasting point to my film. There is one main character who I need to make appeal to everyone. I need to think about how I will achieve this.

I found watching Love Actually really useful. I plan to continue my research by watching more films similar to this and blogging about what I think of them and how they may influence my short film.

Film poster analysis: Rubber

This poster accompanies the film Rubber (2010, Dupieux). Rubber is a comedy horror based on a tire called Robert. The tire discovers he has telepathic powers and uses them to a deadly effect. The film follows his obsession of one mysterious women and the trail of blood he leaves in his wake. I have chosen this film due to its quirky nature. As a modern take on the old B-movies this film premise seems more to me like a short film idea. I like the look of the poster, it is simple and somewhat minimalistic.

Colour scheme - The theme of red, off white and black. The red represents the blood and connotes death, this is a convention of the horror genre but that is fairly irrelevant to me as I have chosen a different genre altogether. However red is also strongly associated with the romance genre so could be something to bear in mind. I really like only using 3 colours on the whole poster, it keeps it simple and clear.



Title - The font used reminds me of old horror movie posters like Creature of the Black Lagoon (1954, Arnold) or The Thing from Another World (1951, Nyby). The text is the largest on the poster showing it's importance and making the name of the film clear as can be to the audience. I need to do this on my poster as it is a convention of all of the posters I have seen.

The tagline - The tagline "Are you Tired of the expected?" is brilliant. The double meaning of the word tired, referring to the main character being a tire and also the idea of being bored of the same old thing, forms a fantastic pun. Presented at the top of the poster in a smaller text than the title is conventional of most posters. I don't know what my tagline will be but I'd like it to reflect this one, I want it to be witty and clever.

Release date and Website - Just the same as in the first two posters I analysed the release date is on the poster, this tells me it is a popular convention and one I should include. The web address is also present, however I am not sure this (as I said in the Going The Distance poster post) is really too relevant in the present day.

Main character - This is a weird one for me, conventionally the protagonist/main character (Roger) is featured on the poster but of course he is a car tire. I like how the centre of the tire forms an eye, it shows that the tire is personified and also looks really sinister, which fits with the genre of the film. I'd like to feature a coffee cup on my poster in a similar way to this poster, however I think I would need to link it to the genre.



Billing Block - The billing block is another convention that is present on most of the film posters I have looked at. The font is always in this style and in a small size, I will be sure to replicate this on my poster.

Director - Unlike the other posters the directors name featured on this one. This is a feature I really like, it makes the film come across as more of a work of art than just a film. It is more likely to be on the poster if the director is already well established. For example a film directed by Danny Boyle, his name involved with the picture and on the poster will be another selling point utilised to draw in potential audience members.

Film poster analysis: Four Christmases

The second poster I am analysing is Four Christmases (2008, Gordon). The film is about a couple played by Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn who try to visit each of their four divorced parents on Christmas Day. It is a romantic comedy so I think it would be good for me to draw from conventions of this poster. On the other hand I would quite like to stay a fair distance away from conforming to rom-com conventions too much.

I would love for my poster to be a parody of a poster like this to keep with the parody theme of my film. But, as I said I'm not quite sure I can bring my self to do it. I don't think it would come across as a parody because these posters can be ridiculous, literally anything you put on one wouldn't look out of place. And the last thing I wan't is for my film to be an actual romantic comedy. For that reason I think I will try and stay away from something like this. But nevertheless it was incredibly useful for me to analyse this cliché filled poster. 

Film poster analysis: Going the Distance

Part of the A2 Media course is to create a film poster for our short film. This is a somewhat hard task due to the nature of short film, which is almost a genre on its own. Short films don't tend to have posters. Also, my short film pulls from several genres, so I need to analyse a variety of posters to find out not only the conventions but inspiration for what I want on my own poster.

The first film poster I am going to analyse is that of Going the Distance (2010, Burstein). This romantic comedy is about a couple who struggle with their long distance relationship. The couple travel between New York and San Francisco whilst trying to keep their relationship alive. I have chosen this poster due to the comedy and romantic aspects of the film as these are the genres most applicable to my short film. 

The title - The title is the largest text on the poster attracting attention to it. It fits the colour scheme of blue and yellow but the darker blue makes it stand out. The font is the same simple font across the poster, meaning its not too busy to look at. Also the simple font type doesn't look out of place nor dose it detract from the main characters in the foreground. 

The tagline - The tagline is smaller than the main title showing that it is less important, it in keeps with the colour scheme being blue. The message is straight forward "A comedy about meeting each other half way." it gives away the genre being comedy along with the picture of the characters telling the audience it is also a romantic film. I don't like how it outright says that it's a comedy, these seems like something a quote from a reviewer would do. I do however like the double meaning of the tagline, they meet each other half way in the physical journey to see each other and also they may compromise on their ideas. 

Colour scheme - The colour scheme is really simple and this theme of blue and yellow dominates the posters background and makes the characters in the foreground stand out. I really like this simple look with two main colours as it keeps the picture from becoming too complicated yet their is still quite a bit going on. The background sets it part from other rom-com posters and ties the theme of the narrative into the poster. 

Release date and logo - Most film posters have the release date somewhere on the poster to tell the audience when it will be on the screens. Having it at the bottom of the poster is good in my opinion as it doesn't subtract from other aspects of the poster. It is the only text in white making it stand out from the rest. However I'm not sure that having the full web address is necessary any more, people are much more likely to just Google the name of the film. A more modern approach would to have a QR code on the poster. The logo of the production company Warner Brothers is at the bottom of the poster. This advertises the company and associates it with the film. 

Main characters - The two main characters- Erin and Garrett -played by the most famous cast members are in the foreground. The audience are most likely to recognise these characters and may want to go and see the film when they see they are starring in the lead roles. It also gives a clear idea of the genre and who the film is about. I'm not yet sure whether to feature the characters on my film poster, it wouldn't be for the same reasons as this if I did as my actors are not (yet) famous. I could however make a parody of a romantic comedy poster, they always tend to have the main character/s and their love interest/s as the main focus of the poster. On the other hand I would quite like my film to have a certain artistic credit that I don't think that type of poster would help with. To me it screams cliché. That's why I like this poster, it has taken a withstanding cliché  taken out the really relevant/vital aspect (the characters) and made it interesting and different.  

Actors names - The main (most famous) actors names are at the top of the poster in a bigger font than the other names. This is to assert their importance in the film, it is most likely that they get the most screen time. It also could draw in audience members that wouldn't otherwise be interested in the film but due to the famous actors they might be. This may certainly be the case with Drew Barrymore in this film. 

Questionnaire results

I handed out my questionnaire to twenty members of my target audience to get their feedback on my ideas and help me make some descisions about my short film. The anwers given will help me tailor my film to appeal to the target audience and will also help me produce something fit for purpose.  I also plan to get together a focus group to elaborate on some ideas and get some in depth feedback for certain aspects of my short film. 

Question 1&2: Age and Gender

Everyone that did my survey was aged 16-19. This is an age group that fits within my target audience. It was really easy to get feedback as I have access to this group of people. This, along with the answers to the following questions, has allowed me insight into if this age group is the correct one for me to target. If a majority of the people questioned didn't like the idea I would know that perhaps I shouldn't be aiming fo rthis target audience.

I made sure to get an equal number of both males and females to fill out my questionnaire in order to get an accurate representation of my proposed target audience. I wanted to see if they reacted differently to the premise of my short film. As I predicted, they did: both genders generally liked the idea but for different reasons. 

Males tended to like the parody aspect whilst females liked the romantic aspect. But this will become clearer in the next question.

Question 3: What are your initial thoughts? Does this appeal to you?

First of all I wanted to have a starting point of opinion so I could just straight away if this person was interested in the premise. I see no point in listening to the rest of the questionnaire if the person filling it out doesn't care.

The genreal response was very positive:

"Sounds very cute and funny"

"I love these sort of storyilines, I would watch it."

One male audience member wrote this: "The use of thoughts in his head to start off his daydream is really good. The use of showing the relationship is good aswell. Personally no, but i'm a 17 year old guy who likes action and adventure but I would sure have a look considering it's a spoof."

This is a perfect example of how I am targeting the male market. Stereotypically rom-coms are aimed at and appeal to females but the parody aspect was how I wanted to target the male market aswell. I love the idea of maybe a man who has had to watch romantic comedies with his girlfriend and has a distain for them to see something that completely pokes fun at the genre.

Question 4: Rate these situations in order of how much you would like to see them in the film. 1 is high, 5 is low. (each situation would be a parody of a real rom com)

This will help me prioritise the featuring of the scenarios in my film so if I don't have time for them all I know which to include. I predicted that sitting on the sofa watching a film would be very popular and walking out of the cinema would be least popular. Here are the popularity standings.  

The characters having a picnic proved most popular and I agree that is would be a good thing to include so I will but this at the top of the metaphorical list. As I predicted walking out of the cinema wasn't popular. I initially wanted to have the couple in the cinema watching a film but I wouldn't be able to do this as cinemas are really strict about filming in the theatres for copyright reasons. Watching a film on the sofa proved less popular overall than I thought but I really like this scenario, so I think I will include it anyway despite the audience feedback. However it wasn't a widely disliked idea so I don't think it will matter to the members of the audience that didn't like the sound of it, when they see it in the film I think they may change their opinion. 

Question 5: What other things do you associate with romantic comedies?

This is a further attempt to find out more about the romantic comedy genre, or more specifically what people think of the genre. I wanted to know what people associate with rom-coms incase they had a really good association that could form an idea that I didn't think of.

Here are some of the best responses:

"Icecream drips on clothes" - I like this idea of having an icecream themed mishap. I would like to extend this though, rather than just having it dripping on clothes. I was thinking more the two characters having an icecream cone each, offering a taste to the other person then touching their nose with it. This would be followed by the other chacter absouloutly covenring the others face in icecream.

"A lovely kissing scene" - I would deffinately like to include a kissing scene but I have to take my actors into consideration. I'm not sure they would be happy to do this. However I see no reason why they couldn't go in for a kiss then the camera pans upwards, so the kiss is implied rather than shown on screen.

"Tandem bikes" - I love this idea, it is fantastic. Its a cliché I completely overlooked. I would like to include a tandem bike ride in my short film, it just comes down to sourcing a tandem bike which may prove a problem. But that doesn't meen I won't try to find one.

There were some responses that, yes I do associate with romantic comedies, but aren't right for my film. Several people sugested including break ups and arguments. I can identify these are the type of things featured in rom coms but the point of my characters day dream is that he is imagining his idea of a perfect relationship. I don't think his idea would include him and his girlfriend falling out. So I understand these comments but have chosen to ignore them.

Question 6: Which of these titles do you think is best?

I presented the people questioned with three choices that are all possible title for my film. I was particularly excited to get in th eresults of this one as I was completely stuck on which one to choose. Here are the result.

'One Fine Coffee Break' was a clear winner with twelve votes to four. I like this one as it is a take on the title of the rom-com 'One fine day'. I was suprised to see that more people didn't go for 'What could be' I thought this was really clever and fitting as the main chracter is imagining what could be if he would go over and talk to the girl. 'Coffee Shop Daydream' was just my work in progress title so I wasn't surprised to see the low number of votes for that one. This was a particularly useful question for me as it has helped me make a hard decision. The title of my short film will be 'One Fine Coffee Break'.

Question 7: What clothes should the main character wear?

 How the characters are represented is a vital part of the mis-en-scene of the film.What clothes he wears is important as it creates the initial opinion the audience has on him. I envisaged him wearing casual but smart-ish clothes like an unbuttoned shirt with a top underneath and a pair of jeans. This is what my audince suggested. Many of the responses were similar to each other so I have grouped them:

I was pleased to see the audience genreally agrees with me. Concluding from this data the main character will be wearing casual clothes - dark jeans, an unbuttoned shirt with maybe plain t-shirt underneath. That way its still kind of smart but still very casual at the same time. 

Question 8: What type of instruments would you expect to hear during the day dream?

Again I listed several options in order to get a basic idea of what I should be aiming for when  thinking about a soundtrack for this piece. I know I want the music during the daydream to be quite a child-like tune but I had no idea really on which type of instruments.

 

 The favourites are the piano and acoustic guitar. I will follow this advice and use these instruments when creating or choosing my music. Both the piano and guitar have the potential to make a simple yet effective tune for my film. However I feel this will be my biggest task as it is the aspect I am least confident with.

Question 9: Should there be music playing all the time or just during the daydream?

Ive allways had a clear idea that I want simple, airy music to play with the daydream sequence to highlight the fact it isn't reality. However I wasn't sure if I needed music throughout. Asking the target audience helped me decide:

 

70% of people thought I should only have music playing during the daydream. I agree with this whole heartedly but it is somewhat influenced question 11. If there is no dialouge I think music would be needed throughout to help convey the emotions of the characters, but if there is dialouge the characters speech can do this on its own.

Question 10: At the ending, should the other male character be someone the girl already knows or a stranger like the main character?

My original idea was to have the girls boyfriend come in and give her a quick kiss, but whilst developing the idea I thought it might be better to make it a stranger. My thinking behind this is that then both male characters are in the same situation and it means that in daydreaming he wasted the time he should have spent talking to the girl. If he hadn't of been daydreaming the other male wouldn't have got there first. However if she already had a boyfriend his dreaming was futile as there was no chance of any of it coming true.  

'A stranger' narrowly beat 'Someone she knows' as the top result. The closeness of the results suggests to me that it doesn't really matter to the audience who beats the main character to the post and I should maybe focus on the characters reaction to the situation. Because of the deeper conotations outlined above I will make the character a stranger to her but because of questionnaire results I will try to focus more on the main characters reaction to being to slow.

Question 11: Would it be better in your opinion to have the guys thoughts vocalised or to keep the film dialouge free?

As I mentioned in question 9 with desicion to have music only during the daydream will depend on the result of this question. If speech is present the audience will be able to derive meaning from the tone, pace and pitch of the characters voice and thus music will not be vital. However, if no dialouge is present the intended meaning and emotions may become lost.

The majority of people questioned thought that having no dialouge would be a better option. However, I have to disagree. This is because my film is meant to be entertaining and funny, the dialouge is a perfect oppertunity to add to the humour of the film. For example as it is his inner monolouge it is only what he is thinking, not saying out loud, so the other characters can't hear it (non-diegetic). This means what the character says (or rather, doesn't say) can be totally outragous or things that many people think but would never say out loud. So, in conclusion I will not be following the audiences advice on this question.

Question 12: How could the woman appear mysterious or intriuging?
Some of the answers to this question again similar to question 5, they are really good ideas but some don't fit with my short film.

"She could look really sad to make the audience wonder why" - This would need an explination further along the narrative - this isn't what my film is about. 

Others, however, were fantastic!:

"She could be reading a book" - I had thought about this and it's something I really like. She could be reading a book but the main character can't see what it is. He could then wonder what book it is in his mind, hoping it's something good. She could then lift up the book to turn the page and he see's the cover - delighted to see it's a good book (of which I have not yet decided) and he continues thinking about her leading on to the daydream. 






This was a really useful exercise for me and I enjoyed getting feedback on my idea. I'm never really certain about an idea until I get other peoples opinions on it. I will make some changes as stated above and no doubt I will keep making changes here and there throughout the process. I plan to do a focus group in the near future giving me some in depth ideas about my film from my audience.