Initial film poster designs

 Now I have analysed some existing film posters I am aware of the conventions. I have been thinking about what I want my poster to be. I definitely want it to comply to the general conventions of film posters, for example having the billing block at the bottom, title the largest and so on.  As for the image/s I have by no means made up my mind but I have some thoughts. These are some sketches depicting my first ideas for my own film poster. 

Poster 1

The background to this poster (which I have not drawn, you'll understand when you see my drawing ability featured in the animatic) will be the coffee shop location out of focus. The foreground (drawn) will be in focus. The picture on the cup, the thought bubble with a heart in it, links to the premise of the main character imagining a romance. 

+ Conventions of film posters are filled, the billing block, actor names, tagline and release date are featured

+ It sets the scene for the film showing the location

- I don't know how it will look with the out of focus background. Even if it was in focus it may look too busy

- Not conventional of the rom-com genre 

Poster 2

This posters image is more conventional, it features the main character behind his book looking upwards at the title. The background will be plain white, as it is in so many romantic comedy film posters. The image (although it won't be) could almost be one featured in the film, giving a true representation.

+I like how it represents the story
+ Follows conventions of both genre and film posters
+Shows the main character to the audience

- Isn't it just complying to a cliché  I think I need to either stay away from the cliché or completely mock it.
- I don't think the text placement is right. It may end up cluttering the poster.
- The thought bubble might be hard to distinguish from the white background without making it look cartoon-like

Poster 3 

This poster is a bit like that of the film Rubber I analysed in an earlier post. It's minimal style is something I really like. The text surrounding the logo in the middle was inspired by the Starbucks logo of the mermaid in a circle surrounded by the corporation name. Again I would use a white background for this poster to keep it simple and pleasing to look at.

+ I think the logo is clever and will look really good
+ Really simplistic, I feel this reflects the short film genre

- Could look boring and rather bare
-Not much room for text such as reviews. A it is now It unbalances the poster but I don't want anything else on the cup.



Where to go from here?
I need to ask my target audience which one they prefer. I could also take some photo's and mock up some rough posters to see how practical each idea is and if I would be able to make each one how I plan for it to look.

Story Boarding - Shots 21-77

This is the bulk of my film, these shots are the daydream sequence. It consists of 6 separate scenes all fabricated in the main characters imagination. I chose these scenarios based on rom-com research and audience feed back. They are:

                                                                                                              Scenario 1

• The two characters run towards each other in a field in slow motion. Arms outstretched ready to embrace each other. As they draw closer the male character trips and falls flat on his face in front of her. 
• Why? This is a classic convention of the romantic comedy genre; two characters running towards each other, usually is a corn field, and when they meet in the middle they hug and the man spins the woman around. Instead I have changed the ending to parody the situation.  

                                Scenario 2

• The camera tracks from left to right. They are sitting together on a sofa watching a horror film. He is hiding behind a cushion scared whilst she sits beside him unfazed by the film. 
• Why? This was rated quite well in my audience research as how highly it would likely to be seen. It's playing on the convention that women are scared of horror films; men often comfort the female when watching films. So this is a simple case of role reversal. 

                           Scenario 3

• The two characters are in a park, hand in hand they spin around. Point of view shots will be used to show each characters face as seen from the others perspective. I will film them by getting the actors to hold the camera as they spin, this way the head will stay steady in the shot but the background will spin. The woman look concerned and proceed to vomit in the others face.

• Why? The whole spinning scene has been associated with the genre for ages. The first time I thought of this film premise this is something I wanted to include. I hadn't however thought about how to end this scene. It was suggested to me the someone could vomit on the other. I think this is a perfect twist on the scenario, I asked my actors if they would mind performing this before I was set on the idea but they are happy to do it (or so they say). 

                          Scenario 4

• The next scene is of a dinner date. She is waiting at home, the table set with candles and napkins: a posh, romantic set up. The main character comes into the house with a bucket of chicken and places it on the table. He tucks his napkin into his collar and takes a carefully selected piece of chicken from the bucket and onto his plate using the cutlery. Meanwhile she eats the chicken in a medieval fashion, ripping the meat from the bone with her teeth. The bones pile up on her plate and she drinks the gravy. The guy sheepishly looks up from his plate at her. 
• Why? I wanted to do a dinner date scene and it rated well in my audience feedback. I thought about the classic Lady and the Tramp scene and though about how to change it.This is the scenario I ended up with. I like the role reversal again: you would expect this behaviour from him (if at all) rather than her). 

                                   Scenario 5

• Set at a train station, each character is on an opposite platform. The male has lots of signs, he reveals them one at a time. They say (separated by commas showing sign changes): "Hello, I have a question, Would you, make me, the happiest man alive, (at this point she expects a proposal) Will you..., lend me £6?, I need it for a taxi, and maybe a twix."
• Why? This is a parody of a scene from Love Actually (2003, Richard Curtis). Instead of a cute confession of love as it is in the film he misleads her into thinking he is going to propose then asks her for this scene, it may be my favourite. 

Here is the scene form Love Actually (2003, Curtis) that I am parodying in the above scenario. 

                         Scenario 6

• This is a split screen shot, each of the two characters walks into their shot. They each look at their phone as it goes off. An extra walks past and picks up the partition between them revealing they are in the same location. 
• Why? This scene is like breaking the fourth wall, it directly addresses an editing convention of romantic comedies. Split screens are often used and initially I was going to feature one as part of another scene. However this is just using a convention rather than exploiting to create a parody situation. Hence, this scene was created. 

An example of the split screen technique in the romantic comedy film Pillow Talk (1959, Gordon)

I have very clear images of each of these scenes in my mind, I just hope I can convert these to images on the screen. Storyboarding them has definitely made me more confident, before I hadn't worked out exactly what each scene would comprise of but now it's down on paper I feel better about it all. I haven't yet decided on shot timings too much, I have a rough idea for each but this will become clearer when producing my animatic. 

What's next?

I need to finish my storyboard. All I have left to do is the scene when the main character returns from his daydream. Following this I need to produce a script. Although there is no diegetic dialogue within the scene I do need to think about what I wan't the voice over to consist of. Then I need to produce the animatic. 

Story boarding - Shots 10-20

My story board is well under way now. It's a very time consuming process but it's a vital part of creating a quality film. These shots are still, like the previous 9, set in the coffee shop location. They depict the male character looking round the cafe, at the woman and beginning to make assumptions about her leading on to the daydream.

They start with him bringing his book in front of his face and sneakily scanning the room from behind it. As this happens his inner monologue will appear as a non diegetic voice over, he will say something along the lines of "Just a quick scan of the room to see who's abo-hello. Who's that? I haven't seen her before." (although the script isn't written yet this is roughly what he will say).

Hiding behind his book he notices her hair (in a point of view shot) and comments that she is pretty, followed by her clothes and he comments she is stylish. He then see's her book, it's the same one he is reading, he takes this as a sign that they are meant to be together. The film cuts to a long shot of the female character, the guy comments how she is perfect for him. This prompts the daydream segment of the film.

He is behind his book...

... and hides when he thinks she is looking at him. 

The next part of my short film to storyboard is the daydream segment.

Story boarding - Shots 1-9

It's this time of year again. Let the story boarding begin. We started yesterday and so far I have done the opening segment where the main character walks in up until the start of the day dream. I just wanted to talk about shots 1 to 9 today due to the editing technique I plan to use with these shots.

Shot 1 is an establishing shot, the main character comes in and looks around before moving off to approach the counter. Now, between shots 2 to 9 I want to use a rapid cutting technique similar to that used in Hot Fuzz in one of the later scenes. I found a good example of this technique to better explain what I would like to create.

These fast paced shots in my sequence consist of:

• Shot 2: The main character stepping up to the counter
• Shot 3: A close up of his face as he is looking at the menu board. 
• Shot 4: A medium shot of the menu board. This is following the shot/reverse shot continuity technique.  
• Shot 5: Back to shot 3 but with him pointing at the board (signalling what he wants)
• Shot 6: An aerial shot of the counter. The drink and money are exchanged. 
• Shot 7: A medium long shot, the guy turns round and looks side to side for a seat.
• Shot 8: A point of view shot from his perspective looking for a seat.
• Shot 9: He sits at a eat and pulls out his book. 

Each of these shots will be short and quickly cut together, like the example video above. This enables me to show necessary action without it taking up the time. Over this shots there is no dialogue or soundtrack, only diegetic ambience sound from within the coffee shop . 

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.

Audience Profile

My short film will appeal to different people due to the different aspects of the narrative. I think it will appeal to some people (i.e females and fans of romantic comedies) due to the aspects of love, romance and the idea of the perfect relationship. Equally I think it will appeal to another group of people (i.e. Males and people critical of romantic comedies) because of the comedy aspect and how my film pokes fun at the genre. 

Here are two typical examples of my target audience:

Importance of Audience research - The questionnaire

Audience research will prove really useful for me in terms of appealing to my target audience by tailoring the film and also with ideas of what to include. For instance one of the genres my film pulls from heavily is romantic comedy, I am by no means a fan of this genre. Along with my own research it will be useful to see what other people think and would like to see.

I am distributing a questionnaire to people within my target audience to gain more of an insight into what they want to see in a short film. Here it is: First audience research
 

Question 1 & 2: Age and Gender
These questions are to clarify that the opinions in the questionnaire are those of my target audience. Also it will help identify if a particular group of people (for example of the same age) don't like the idea completely, helping me narrow down my target audience.

Question 3: What are the initial thoughts to my story?
Here I outline my the premise of my film to see the initial reactions. This will tell me if I have the right target audience and basically, what they think of my film.

Question 4: Rating classic Rom-Com situations 
I have stated five scenarios that I think I could make humorous by either over doing it or reversing character expectations. I have asked the audience to rate the scenarios in order of how much they would like to see them in the film (1 being high, 5 is low). The five are:

• A dinner date
• A picnic
• Walking out of the cinema
• Watching a movie on the sofa
• In the park, on the sings

This will help me prioritise, so if I don't have time for them all I know which to definitely include. 

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

Again, because I am not to accustom to the conventions of rom-coms along with preforming my own research into the conventions it will be useful to find out what my target audience associates with the genre. This will allow me to appeal the my audience all the more, and will also make the parody aspect more prominent. My aim is for audience to identify the situations within my film and recognise the connection to the romantic comedy genre.

Question 6: Which of these titles do you think is best?
I have several ideas for the title of my short film but I am not sure which to go with so I decided to ask the people that matter: my audience. Here were the options:

1. Coffee shop daydream
2. One fine coffee break
3. What could be

I did have a specific thought process behind each one:

Coffee shop daydream - This was what I originally called this film in the idea stage to help me remember what it included and not get in confused with my other ideas. It was like a little code name for me: It was set in a coffee shop and the main character daydreams - and that is how I remembered it. I thought I would come up with a completely new title but then I thought: Well, what is wrong with that? I understand it's not at all perfect but I was interested to see what other people thought of it. 

One fine coffee break - This title is a take on the title of the film One Fine Day (Michael Hoffman, 1996). I like the idea of the title being a parody as well as the subjects in the film. So I researched some rom-coms and found One fine day, and simply substituted "fine day" for "coffee Break" to make it relevant to my film.

What could be - This one is simply based on the premise of the film. When it comes down to it it's about  a guy missing out on what could have been. He could have had that lovely relationship if he hadn't of spent too long thinking about it enabling another guy to get there first. This is a more literal take on the narrative whereas the denotations suggest he wouldn't have had that anyway because this type of love that is so often portrayed in movies may be perceived as non-existent. 

I look forward to collecting in my data particularly for this question and seeing which comes out on top. 

Question 7: What clothes should the main character wear?

This comes down to how he is represented, would the audience want him to be professional or casual? From clothing the audience will make assumptions of what type of person he is and I needed to find out what would appeal to my target audience. 

Question 8: What type of instruments would you expect to hear in the daydream?

As I said before composing and music in general definitely isn't my strong point. To help me get the music right I asked my target audience what they would expect and like to hear. The music during the daydream sequence will help identify that what is presented isn't reality. I gave four options and asked people to circle the one they would most expect.

                                  -Piano        -Acoustic guitar        -Violins        -Woodwind

The answer to this will give me a good starting point for the composition.

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

Again, I wanted to find out what my audience would prefer. It doesn't make a big difference in my eyes as long as the music during the day dream part reflects the fact it isn't real.

Question 10:  At the ending, should the other male character be someone the girl already knows or a stranger like the main character? 
This decision is probably down to personal preference and doesn't really change the story or the narrative too much. However, once again I still wanted to find out what the target audience would prefer to see happen. 

Question 11: Would it be better in your opinion to have the guys thoughts vocalised or keep the film dialogue free?
I really like the idea of making a film with no dialogue. I think it takes more skill to do and convey everything you want without any speech and also adds a more professional tone to it. Also I don't have access to the best equipment to have dialogue in the film, the microphone on my camera is adequate but by no means amazing and I don't own or have the funds for an external one. But if dialogue will make my film better and more accessible for the audience it is something I will definitely include it.

Question 12: How could the woman appear mysterious or intriguing?

 This is similar to question seven in that it is about representation of characters. I need to know how I could make her appeal to the main character. I am thinking a long the line of what is she doing: reading? Writing? Drawing? And if any of those what? This is important as it is how the main character will make assumptions of her and form his opinion leading him to daydream about her and him together.

After collecting in these questionable I will collate and analysis the data to deduct what changes I need to make and what to include in my short film.