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"

Treatment