Applying Audience Theory (Mr Love)

1. Richard Dyer – does your genre offer ‘Utopian solutions’? Yes or no, plus explain why.

The films that come under the genre romantic comedy movies tend to be utopian solution like endings as they often the stories endings are ideal in their outlook in most cases, this is because the aim of a romantic comedy is to make the audience laugh and feel entertained by the lives of characters as represented in the movie. The majority of films as per Torodovs theory of equilibrium have disequilibrium, a portion of the film where the story focuses on a problem, this part of the film can vary greatly between films even in romantic comedies as the narratives in each film will be different. Where one narratives disequilibrium could be heart-breaking, for example in ‘Life As We Know It (2010)’ where the disequilibrium is created from the death of the two main characters and love interests best friends die and they, a man and a woman who hate each other, have to come together to bring their dead best friends child up. This disequilibrium is not utopian in any sort, the characters are shown mourning their friends and being constantly reminded of their death by the child. However, the end of the narrative becomes utopian as they fall in love and help a child who means the world to them grow up. The other side of this coin is films where the disequilibrium is light-hearted, not emotionally breaking, for example in How to Lose a Guy in 10 days where the disequilibrium is the aim of both the main characters to do completely opposite things. The man trying to woo the woman and the woman trying to drive away the man. This representation of a story offers possibly utopian solutions as they are trivial issues to have or at least they could be seen as trivial compared to some plot problems in films.

2. The Frankfurt School – is the audience sometimes passive in your genre? Explain why.

I agree that occasionally the audience to the genre Romantic comedy genre is passive in their consumption of media. Films in the genre are seen as casual and easy to watch. They do not tend to have long thought out theories behind them from fans of the story unlike genres like Super Hero where dedicated fans discuss plot points and story lines and try to put their own theory’s up into the air. Romantic comedies are loved by a wide range of people but usually lack the massive fan base who argue and fight over favourite characters.

3. Blumler & Katz – what are the uses and gratifications for audiences of your genre?
•  Entertainment & Diversion

This fits the genre romantic comedy the most as people often watch a movie from the genre to escape from the real world. The ideal situation or a story in which they can lose themselves and forget about their own problems for the duration of the movie.

• Personal relationships/ social interaction

Romantic comedies tend to follow the relationship flow or break of a young couple. These representations of young relationships and social interaction form what a lot of people can begin to relate to as romantic comedies often have themes which follow the experiences of young people like moving away from each other, relationship troubles, bully’s or more common things young people deal with in life.

• Personal identity

The inclusion of common problems faced by an audience makes a movie more relatable. An audience being drawn to media which represents them. The relatable nature of Romantic comedies is what draw people to the genre as people are interested on how people other than themselves would deal with a situation.

• Information/Education

Many new films focus on difficult issues of the world which are hard to watch and worrying to learn about however romantic comedies have a reputation for being light hearted and used for distraction so they are expected not to house difficult topics, however they are likely to include some current news like unemployment.

4. David Buckingham – if the audience of your genre is young people, how does this theory apply?

•       The theory of David Buckingham’s creative audience theory fits the genre of romantic comedy because young people watch the media texts which fall into the genre category to escape the world and learn certain ideas from the experiences of other people through the representation formed from the creators of the media text. Young people also experience a romantic comedic film to help attempt organising their own life as per the advice from the films characters. This means a film has to be careful during the production of the film to make sure young audiences are responsible with the knowledge or that they as the producers limit the effect the film could be on the audience. the genre also stays true to the part of his theory in which he states “Many of their interactions with the media are not contrived, committed or concentrated but fleeting, visceral and meaningless.” Because as I have said previously the audience and fan base for a romantic comedy film is often short lived and uncommitted, especially so if you were to compare this to another genre like super hero or mystery. 

Research on company and film logos

this film title fits its genre as a black and white crime film because the connotations of using grey scale suggest age and the use of the headlights shining onto the text suggest an air of mystery and unlawful behaviour as the first thought from night driving is danger.

the use of a uneven font suggests the genre of fantasy as the font is similar to how you would see an old book written from the use of ink and quill. it also give the impresion of inperfection. the different sized letters are interesting to the eyes as they are different and nonuniform. 

in the above romantic comedy trailers the use of bold text, coloured text and small space between words are used as a convention. the bold text brings attention to the font and it is the same with the colour, the use of a few different font sizes is important in "how to loose a guy in 10 Days" draws the interest of the audience as they noticed the imperfect nature of the text. 

this film production logo is appropriate as it shows what the focus of the company is (films) in a very simple format. the black on a light yellow background stands out and would look flashy to an audience. 

an iconic production company logo. the logo continues the idea of the name of the company with a fantasy - friendly image of a young boy fishing from the moon. this iconic logo is easily recognisable against others and does well to suggest the themes of the production companies work. 

this logo uses bright neon colours that stand out to an audience with their vibrancy. the use of these colours excites and confuses the audience suggesting modernity. this film logo carries the connotations of lively films, with informative plots which could educate an audience in an entertaining way of current events.

this is a simple and stylistic production logo. the text is white to contrast the darkness of the black background and stands out. the connotations of this production company logo is serious media which carries formality in its context. the elegance in the mountain suggestive line above the text attracts a mature audience versus the young audience the broken string records would attract

Planning for filming/props/costumes/hair/makup lists

Scene: school corridor

Filming will take place in the school building during media lessons and after school when our actors are available to film. Our first filming session will be in the Corridor of the school building on the 23^rd of November in which we will need a camera and tripod as well as our actors.

Main

Charlie (Maddy)

To be wearing little or no makeup

School appropriate clothes

Carrying school books

Her hair in two ponytails.

Sam (James) dick head

No makeup

Clothes that go against typical school rules, that look threatening.

Wrist watch

Side

Jesse (Dawn)

Yellow top blue bottoms.

Messy hair

No makeup

The wrong crowd

Member 1, 2 & 3

No makeup

Clothes that go against typical school rules

Camera operator (Georgina)

A smile J ily

Scene: Reception.

Filming will take place in the reception of school 5^th period of the school day during the media lesson on the 29^th of November. We will need a tripod and a camera.

Our actors should have:

Charlie (Maddy)

older

Business like clothes, a smart shirt and trousers

Professional but simple makeup

Straightened/ “flat” hair,

No props on person

Sam (James) cunt

Older

Business smart clothes.

He should look like he is ready to start a new job. Presentable.

Wrist watch

Co-workers

Business smart

Clip boards, mugs.

Jesse (?)

Yellow, blue

More organised hair

Folder.

Scene: Charlie (older) bedroom.

The shooting for this scene will happen on the 29^th of November at Georgina’s house. The rooms the scene will include will be Georgina’s bedroom, which we chose to be the older Charlies room as the larger bed and makeup desk give the connotations of an older woman. As well as the hallway and stairs.

Actors

Charlie (older)

older

Business like clothes, a smart shirt and trousers

Professional but simple makeup

Straightened/ “flat” hair,

Props: makeup, double bed and mirror.

Scene: Charlies office

The shooting for this scene will happen in the school building preferably in one of the offices owned by staff. If not, we could film in a small classroom filming a limited percentage of the room.

Actors

Charlie

older

Business like clothes, a smart shirt and trousers

Professional but simple makeup

Straightened/ “flat” hair,

No props on person

(facial expression worried and sad)

Sam

Older

Business smart clothes.

He should look like he is ready to start a new job. Presentable.

Wrist watch

Jesse

Yellow, blue

More organised hair

Folder.

Scene: Charlies (young) room

The filming will be in Dawns house, the rooms included will be the hallway (including the stairs) and Dawns bedroom which we chose as the younger Charlies’ room because of the cuddly toys which suggest youth.

Charlie:

To be wearing little or no makeup

School appropriate clothes

Carrying school books

Her hair in two ponytails.

Prop: mirror, cuddly toys, single bed

logo feedback

i asked members of my potential audience which of the designed production company logos they liked the most they answered that they preferred the star with a point facing down

film 'logo' ideas

the idea of them is that they fad as they go along the text to give an effect of Ending

Story board

ggvb

Shot List

Endless Trailer Script

Scene 1 

Office Corridor 

Charlie is casually walking down the corridor checking files of profit sales or Employees. Employees are greeting her as they walk past making it just a normal day at the office. 

Charlie

“this place is doing great, I'm so proud of every one, this feels almost perfect!”

As she walks towards her office she bumps into an older Sam and she falls to the ground.

in the trailer the scene will transition abruptly to black

Charlie (voice over) :“I thought it was all over”

Production company intertitle

End of scene 1

Scene 2

School Corridor

Flashback to Charlie's school years.
Charlie is walking down a section of the school corridor alone, as she turns the bend a group of boys come into view. This group is known as the 'wrong crowd' and Sam is part of them. 

One of the member’s push Sam into Charlie and she falls to the floor. The Camera will become Charlie’s point of view and what she sees is a blurry image of a boy hovering over her. The boy is Sam. Through the blurriness she notices that he has a bracelet on his wrist. This will be the object of significance. At this point Charlie is beginning to tear up which causes the blurriness. Faint crying heard.

*back ground laughter from the "wrong crowd"*

Jesse enters and helps Charlie up and they walk away while Sam is distracted. 

Jesse

“come on lets go”

Charlie

“Thanks Jesse” 

sam looks down the corridor as the girls continue to walk.

End of scene 2

Scene 3

Charlie’s office

Charlie is walking back and forth questioning herself about what happened back in the reception. She is confused.

Charlie

“who was that? why did.. 

why did he look so much like...?"

She continues to walk back and forth but stops as she notices the picture on her desk

Charlie

“I remember… the day i made that promise”

She moves towards the picture and picks it up. She looks at it sadly at it. The camera at this point will be from the picture and it will cut to reveal the image. 

End of Scene 3

Scene 4

Charlie’s bedroom 

Charlie runs up the stairs and she goes to her room. She lies on her bed crying 

voiceover: "today was awful, why does this always happen?"

"you know what?"

Charlie sits up

"I'm going to be successful to prove him wrong"

*musical interlude*

End of scene 4

Scene 5

Charlie’s office 

Charlie is standing behind her desk her face shows mixed emotions. There is a knock on the door 

Charlie quietly : “not now”

Sam

The door opens anyway and Sam walks in silently,Charlie does not notice.
 He walks over to the desk she is sitting behind. 
he rests his hands onto of the desk in the area that Charlie is looking down at

Charlie: "excuse me i said"
sees the watch
"...not now"

Sam: I'm sorry

Charlie eyes widen as she is shock realising who it is. She looks up at him. 

Charlie

takes a deep breathe in

End of scene 5

Scene 6 

A young Charlie looks into the mirror in her bedroom while adding make up messily, this is to show inexperience with makeup. When she finishes the camera will start to rotate to show the mirror then back to Charlie when she is grown up. This will hide the reveal when the camera comes back around from a 180 degree turn. Voiceover

End of scene 6

Scene 7

Jesse
opening the door to the office with out knocking

“Charlie, Boss. Come on you’re going to be late for the meeting."
starts to pull Charlie out of the room
"Oh, by the way who was he”

Charlie

“I'm, I don't know but I think, I know you won’t believe when I tell you”

The girls leave and Sam is again left on his own

Sam

standing silently left in the office

*sighs*

End of scene 7

Film Title

this is an option for the title to

Exam Question 1(a) (Mr Love)

Explain how Theories of narratives have informed your ideas and planning for your A2 coursework production My a2 project is to create a trailer for a film with the knowledge I have gathered through my course. My trailer follows the story of Charlie a powerful business woman who made a promise to her younger self and Sam her old school bully. The focus of the story is that Charlie’s promise was to be successful when she grew up, she holds true to this promise until she spots Sam standing at the reception of her work building in later life, the film relies on the premise that Charlie the boss of a large portion of people and a powerful woman in and of herself is undermined by memories of her past. By pulling the antagonist of of the blue back into her life the story revolves around how Charlie learns to deal with her demons and learns to stand up for herself, getting some answers from the bully and finding out the true villains of her story. In terms of theory, Valadimir Propp’s theory of character types in stories of there always being 7 character types present; the hero, the villain, the dispatcher, the donor, the (magical) helper, the princess and her father as well as the quest giver, could fit on the surface of the film, we have the hero in the form of Charlie, this fits conventions of the theory of character types as she is the main character, she has good morals and aims to be better. However Charlie as the hero goes against some forms of Propp’s theory as she is in reality the Princess of the story for Sam who has loved her for so long, the contradictions per Propp’s theory of the hero and the princess being the same person could disengage Propp’s theory from my narrative as it becomes difficult to follow and distinguish the characters, it also breaks expectations from Propp’s theory as the typical hero in stories he researched to gather proof for his theory were all men, using a female as out main character breaks stereotypes about heroes, and gives a bigger way for equality in character roles. The theory of equilibrium, disequilibrium, re-equilibrium from narrative theorist Torodov fits the narrative of my film although will not be shown to great extents in the trailer I produce. This is because trailers are used to entice an audience, we have established in the course that the inclusion of the re-equilibrium in the trailer would give too much away for the story, good trailers from my research focus on the disequilibrium of the narrative. However, the theory fits overall, equilibrium forming in the idea of Charlie breaking away from her school bully and being true to her promise of success, the disequilibrium comes in the form of Sam showing up in her reception and tearing her confidence and motivation down through memories, my story should also end in a re-equilibrium as Torodovs theory suggests as Charlie learns to face her fears of Sam and listens to him. Rolland Barthes theory of open and closed narratives is a theory I chose to fit loosely too, the problem of producing the trailer means as producers the goal is to make people want to watch the movie. Closed narratives in trailers could put an active audience off linking to Blumler and Katz audience theory of uses and gratifications, their theory of an audience actively choosing what to watch and forming their own opinions and thoughts from it could be hurt by using a closed narrative in a trailer meant to interest as many people as possible. There for even if the full film has a closed narrative I believe it was a good decision to create a trailer with an open narrative to allow for another of Barthes theories of narrative codes especially for enigma codes, these codes are the ones that suggest an audience should be asking questions about the film. An open narrative leads itself to enigma codes greatly as the audience has the chance to create their own opinions on what they have watched, with their own opinions they have the higher likelihood of becoming interest in the story. Some theorists are harder to state outright in the narrative I have created, for example Levi-Strauss’s theory of binary opposites hard to define in my narrative as they change through the trailer, the initial binary opposite shown in the trailer would be the power difference between the two main characters, Charlie being he powerful boss and Sam being the newest employee. This binary opposite won’t be touched on too much but the idea of them should mean more as these binary opposites switch places quickly as the power imbalance is set off completely the point of view is switched slightly as the powerful becomes powerless and the audience see the effects of this on the character. Another binary opposite explored in my narrative is the idea of male and female. The stereotypes of each lead them to be certain ways for example the school scenes where Charlie is shown as weak and defenceless while Sam is displayed as angry and violent. However, by the office scenes we are shown the male to female binary opposite breaking as the woman is the person in power and the man is asking for forgiveness and a job. In conclusion I would say learning about theorists has impacted my A2 production. Ways in which these theories have affected me where I learnt a lot about how the majority of films focus on pre discovered plots of action and have become cliché. Learning some of the theories of media taught me how to break away from a mould set by producers.

Exam Question 1(b) (Mr Love)

Exam question 1(b) – Theoretical Evaluation of a Product Formal Assessment 1: Genre 1(b) Robert Stam states that “genre is hard to define.” Analyse a recent film trailer of your choice in relation to the concept of genre. Robert Stams’ statement “genre is hard to define” is true in some aspects however some genres are far easier to define. Rick Altman defines genres as having syntactic and semantic elements which relate it to its genre, syntactic elements being the more clear cut obvious things that make a movie its genre; romantic movies are often obvious as because they involve syntactic elements like kissing, handholding, deep talks, romantic gestures. Semantic elements are defined as harder to spot, the meanings behind the actions. In “A Case of You” (2013) directed by Kat Coiro the semantic elements can be seen as the way Sam changes himself to be the ideal person for Birdie however later on is angry that she doesn’t know him when he has put up a figurative wall to appease her. The book Sam writes can also be seen as a semantic element as he writes his life down in story form and learns from others perceptions of the story, the publishers telling him they side with the girl of the story because the man is “unstable” shows Sam in a light that he hadn’t seen himself in before. In the trailer of A Case of You, the genre is displayed through the relationships on screen as well as multiple other key media concepts, for example the establishing shot of the trailer shows a large bridge and built up sky line which has the cultural codes of America per Roland Barthes narrative theory this suggests to the audience that this movie is going to take place in a built up area, and that it will be a city living film which suggests to an audience that the movie is going to be modern themed. The next shot is of a small shop front labelled as a selling Italian French bread and comic booklets, this has the connotations of a nerdy character that is interested in quiet places the can read or write, the scene inside of the shop which involve Sam the main male character meeting up with someone he clearly knew previously, who corrects him when he calls her maiden name, this brings the idea of romance in full force, the diagetic conversation they have is accompanied by happy and energetic music which fits with Sarahs attitude in the scene however contradict Sam’s when the topic of romance is brought up. This use of sound suggests the theme of the movie in being a comedic styled film as the music follows the idea of a joke, it is overly jolly for a seemingly normal situation where an old friend of puts the main character in a slightly uncomfortable situation. The next significant camera shot is a reverse-zoom tracking shot as Sam walks down a cold looking street, the trees in the background have no leaves on and suggest it is winter at the time of the film, this shot suggests genre as it focuses on the nerd character who is displayed as being lonely and disbelieves that he has the chance of having a girlfriend is a synonym for the trees as they both seem bare. The inclusion of this suggests that he is incomplete. The voice over of his own voice gives the impression that he is thinking hard about something, this makes the situation seem less mundane than him just walking down the street, the genre is represented through the fact that romance is often seen as a way to happiness or becoming fulfilled. This leads into the idea of a woman coming into his life, which in the trailer is the next thing that occurs is Sam asking for help on a word from a worker behind the counter at the comic book café. This suggests he is desperate but also confirms the genre as comidedic as the answer the worker gives is particularly inappropriate for the situation and rude which is often the basis for a lot of humour in films. This however also describes the film as possibly too old for some audiences that could be interested in the film. The movie trailers’ mise-en-scene is casual and life like, the main charcter wears formal casual clothes which fit his persona as a lonely hidden away character, while Birdie wears much more casual clothes, which convey her relaxed personality to the audience suggesting that the two should work out together as she helps him open up and he helps her come back down to earth from the dream world she is portrayed in where he’s perfect for her. This film in film evolution would be classed as a parody of sorts, the movie trailer in itself seems very similar to the majority of other romantic comedies with Propps character types with the quest giver being Sarah as she pushes him to put himself out into the world to stop himself from being lonely, the hero is Sam while he could also be seen as the villain as he pushes himself to fit with the princess – Birdies’ ideal man, the support characters are entertaining for the audience lending itself to much more comedic ideas. I consider the narrative open as from the trailer there are plenty of ways to take the characters. In response to Stams statement I believe the film makers of A case of you, designed the film for the genre to be very obvious to an audience while the genre do not lead themselves to being hidden well the idea of the story focuses on the genres syntactic elements a lot. However other movies it is arguably a lot harder to see the movies genre, for example marvel movies while iron man is clearly a super hero movie it is harder to tell what subgenres are as some are much weaker defined as others. Some film makers might also design their films to make the genre harder to define, by contradicting syntactic elements of their genre, or challenging stereotypes and expectations of the film to stretch the boundaries of the form

Film Pitch

Transcript 

D:Hello! I am Dawn 

G:I’m Georgina 

J:And I’m James 

D:And we are the producers of 

G:Romantistars new movie 

J:Endless

D:A story about Charlie a powerful business woman

G:Who made a promise to her younger self

DAnd Sam a school boy

G:Who was a bully from her younger years

J:Pay attention (motions to watch)

D:Now I’m sure your thinking this is just another

G:"boy meets girl" story

D:But wait

G:There’s a twist

D:Charlies promise is to be successful and she holds true to it

G:That is until she sees Sam standing in her lobby in later years

D:Memories flood back, along with tears and fears she thought she had left behind her

G:How will Charlie get over this?

D:Find out

G:By watching

All:Endless.

feedback

Me : "would you watch the film after watching this and why?"
Chloe, 18, female, sixth form student :"yes! i think some interesting points were raised, although i feel like some parts could have been presented better"

Me :  "Are there any improvements I could have made to represent my Romantic Comedy in my pitch?"
Steph, 17, female, college student : "yeah, i think you could have made the theme of the clip more romantic sounding, apart from that it seems ok."

Me : "would you want to go to a cinema to see this film based on the film pitch?"
James, 19, male, university student : "yeah, it seems fun to start with i would expect it to get a little boring after a while"

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