Thursday, 28 November 2013

Narrative

Evaluation




 


Theory Essays:



Essay 1


What is the impact of the production context on the style of a
Romance?
British movies have always fallen to second place against American made movies in the film industry; the fight for the top spot in the industry is an everlasting battle through the world. The Holly and British production contexts have many differences and can produce very different films, so is it true that Hollywood, with their huge production funding can produce the best films?
Film production in Britain takes place on a small scale compared to Hollywood. In 1999 the total number of 'British' feature films produced was 100 compared to an all-time low of 24 in 1981. The small size of the British film industry compared to that of Hollywood can partly be explained by economics. In America, with its potentially vast audience, a Hollywood film can cover its costs even with moderate audiences, whereas a British feature, if moderately successful would be unlikely to cover its costs from theatrical exhibition  alone, due to the small size of the audience. A British film would also have trouble attracting audiences away from American films that have higher production values.
The Hollywood film industry has enjoyed a pre-eminent position amongst the film industries of the world for most of this century. It continues to attract film-makers from around the world and produce films that audiences around the world want to see. Unlike British productions, it has the marketing power to ensure that these audiences are aware of its films and the distribution networks to make them available. As a result the films produced in Hollywood tend not only to do well in foreign markets. but also to produce higher box office takings than the domestic film industries with which they are competing. The success of the Hollywood industry rests upon the individual studios being well managed and having large financial resources to sustain 'flops'
Looking into the romance genre, two films that are interesting to compare are 'Love Actually' directed by Richard Curtis and 'Manhattan' by Woody Allen because the editing, cinematography and mis en scene shows that even though both films were made by different production companies and era for that matter, they both work to target the same audience. Both films were made on a considerate budget, British film Love Actually had a budget of £30,000,000 [2013,IMDB] whereas American film Manhattan only had a budget of $9,000,000 [2013,IMDB]. Manhattan only had a cast of 24, whereas Love Actually had a cast list of over 100 people, both movies were also shot in famous places, Manhattan was filmed in New York City while Love Actually was filmed mainly in Central London.

Location matters for a film, as they say 'a picture is worth a thousand words.' You can see it in an instant what the director is trying to convey with a location. Location is one of the many important aspects of filming, just as finding the right actors to portray a role, and just as important as the choice of music used in the film. Finding an easily accessible location is not enough- securing permissions to shoot a film would prove disastrous if location permissions are not obtained. Manhattan uses one specific location, New York City; it's shown numerous amounts of times for filming but places like Central Park, one of the numerous recurrent spaces used in the genre where the city becomes a playground for (would-be) lovers is only used a few times. Love Actually, on the other hand is filmed in numerous amounts of places, most of them situated in the heart of London but they also filmed in Surrey and France. Love Actually shows off London at its very best around Christmas time.

Love Actually was made by Working Title Films and StudioCanal; both studios are owned by Universal Studios which is a Californian based production company. Working Title Films and StudioCanal worked on Love Actually and other films that are dressed up for entertainment purposes and mainly to make a profit. The American production company, Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions, which produced Manhattan, have worked on 10 films overall, they're experimental with their choices they want their audience to think about the work that's been done and to keep the audience entertained with the comedy side of their films.

Manhattan didn't have a strong marketing campaign unlike Love Actually who got Nescafe, the Nestle-owned product to sign a wide-ranging promotional deal with the movie's distributor, Universal Pictures. With a £3m marketing communications campaign, created by McCann-Erickson, the support will include TV and radio advertising, as well as point-of-sale activity in all the major multiples. The senior brand manager, Jane Aldridge said "This is the perfect film for Gold Blend to partner and reinforce the romantic heritage of the brand."

Although Love Actually was released in multiplex cinemas around the world at different dates to create a bigger fan base which made over £6.6m in its opening weekend, topping the UK Box Office, it also did well on the other side of the Atlantic, where it was in fifth place in the US Bok Office chart, having taken a total of over $30m since its debut weekend of November 7-9. Manhattan, on the other hand had the disadvantage, as its an old film; distribution to other countries took time.


Conclusion

The production, distribution and exchange of each film differentiates vastly due to the difference in budget mainly. To enhance a film does not grant it success because Manhattan would be classed as a success for presenting a clear and accurate depiction of how love can be complicated for everyone. The serious but funny nature of the film hits viewers, therefore creating an impact, which is what the director aimed for. Love Actually also created an impact, but in a classic British way. But what would you class as a successful film? Personally, I believe Manhattan to be more successful even though Love Actually has made the most money with a bigger audience.
The British film industry may be at a disadvantage compared to American films, but when it comes to comparing two different romance films from two different eras, British film wins.




Essay 2:

 

How do contemporary British Romances differ from
 Contemporary American Romances? 
The films, 'Love Actually' directed by Richard Curtis and 'Manhattan' directed by Woody Allen, have very set side by side target audiences. Love Actually is a romantic comedy with a BBFC rating of 15 therefore creating a primary target audience of 15+, but one of the themes being shown within the film focuses on the relationships between adults and their young children, which creates a secondary audience of children around the ages of 13/14. Manhattan only has a BBFC rating of 12A generating a wider audience prospective. The film is based around a love story, a twice-divorced 42-year-old comedy writer dating a 17-year-old girl, as well as including actors such as Woody Allen, therefore creating a primary target audience of females aged between 15-30 or those who favour him.
 Romances cannot be categorised into certain demographics because the wide birth of the genre appeals to any status or class. The genre can be argued to be broken up in the little parts rather than the big picture. "Genre consists of a series of conventions rather than a body of works" (Grindon, 2010). "These conventions often arise in a scene, as a motif, or even a fragment in a film that may be dominated by another genre" (Grindon, 2010). Newer films within the romantic comedy genre such as Love Actually tend to involve more sexual based relationships to draw more of an audience. "Deleyto argues that romantic comedy essentially involves three key constituents: a narrative about love, gender, and sexual relationships; a space of magical transformation that frees the character from inhibitions so they can explore their desire; and humour which establishes a benevolent perspective" (Grindon,2010). These three points make up the basis of the genre all successful romantic comedies include.

Every member of both of the films audiences have their own thoughts and opinions, for instance according to Rotten Tomato out of all the people who have seen Love Actually just over half of them enjoyed the film. Whereas according to Rotten Tomato, out of all the people who went to see Woody Allen's Manhattan, only 2% of them rated it as rotten. Rotten Tomato describes Manhattan as being 'One of Woody Allen's early classics, Manhattan combines modern, bittersweet humour and timeless romanticism with unerring grace.' Love Actually was described as being 'a sugary tale overstuffed with too many stories. Still, the cast charms.' Having a strong audience response can most of the time  be helped by having a few well-known cast members, for example; Hugh Grant and Kiera Knightly who star in Love Actually.
In This case and especially with there being such a gap in between both films being made, Manhattan takes the win for positive response, but this was because the film was so well made for a film of its time.
I reckon only a few of this generation would actually sit and watch a Woody Allen film as it's not the type of film you'd see being made in the industry nowadays and especially in its quality. over half of the reviews on IMDB and Rotten Tomato were made by people over 30 years old, whereas Love Actually has reviews done by some young adults saying how much they enjoyed the film.
The British market is dominated by six American distributors (UIP, Warner, Buena Vista, Columbia, 20th Century Fox and Universal), who were responsible for distributing films that took 85% of the British box office taking in 1999. The five majors primarily handle American films and have relationships with key cinema chains and multiplexes in Britain.
British films that are successful in their country have also been successful in America, such as 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' which it subsequently took $40 million in Britain but in the states it took a very successful $50 million. The film's success was helped by its release in the US which built up publicity for Britain (British audiences are more likely to see a film if it has been successful in the US)
British and American culture effects the way a person reviews a film because the norms in society are different, which is shown through the production of both movies; the American film is set-out and clever, whereas the British film is comedic but has a storyline that's all over the place. The knowledge I've gained from my audience has given me an insight to focus more on my marketing campaign for my production to get a bigger audience, granting me more feedback to improve the romantic film I plan on making.


 


Bibliography


Essay 1:




Essay 2:




 

Final Version



 




Rough Cut










Health & Safety



Rainham Train Station
- We had to be careful while filming at this location because it gets very busy there with commuters and we had expensive equipment that we looked extra hard to look after.


Kitchen/Bedroom/Pub

- Tripping hazards had to be removed just as it did for every location we filmed at.


Street scene

- We shot this scene at night so we had to consider the general health of our actors in the freezing cold.
- This scene was shot in the middle of the road so we had to consider moving cars and crossing the street to film our shots.

 

Script
















 



Roles



The Roles within the production are:
Director(s) - Alice-Anne Bull
                             Owen Hayward
                                  Carly Rose Wilson
Editor - Owen Hayward
Cinematographer - Alice-Anne Bull
Camera Operator(s) - Owen Hayward
                                                         Carly Rose Wilson
Boom Operator - Alice-Anne Bull
Producer(s) - Owen Hayward
                                 Alice-Anne Bull
                                     Carly Rose Wilson

 

Soundtracks


We wanted to add a background soundtrack to our narrative film 'With and Without You.' Choosing the right music for a film is vital as it creates an atmosphere and tells the audience what emotions they should be experiencing. It adds scale and dramatizes events or situations, for example; when a protagonist dies in a film the sad music will set in to make the audience feel emotion, without the sad music the death of the person/thing doesn't seem as significant.

We chose these 3 songs to put in our films because each of them have a sad feeling to them, a lot of emotions could be felt from listening to them but for me, the only emotion I feel while listening to them is sadness. This is good for our film because the theme of the narrative isn't happy and uplifting but sad and lonely.



 

 


BBFC Rating


BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification, they choose the ratings for each film by categorising them with preferences shown on the table below.
For our film we have chosen to rate our film as a 12 because it will contain at least 2 bits of strong language throughout the entire film. We don't want to class our film as a 15 as there will not be anything in the film that is unsuitable for under 12s.





 Target Audience

We decided that our primary target audience will be females aged 15-30 because the romantic nature of our film will attract females as well as the marketing, which will focus on both our good looking characters, especially our male. Both main characters are aged between our target age range creating a closer bond between our viewers and characters.

 



Issues


Weather problems:


1. The main issue for filming our footage was the weather because we didn't want to shoot our footage in the rain due to it being winter.

2. Some of our film will be shot as the sun goes down so we can get the sunset in the background and another scene will be shot at night, because of this we will have to keep an eye on the forecast to make sure there are no changes to the weather.

Location problems:

1. We'll be filming some of the film outside a train station, at times it can get a bit busy so we will have to try and get the scene done when the station is at a quiet point of the day.
2. By the station we want to film at there's work being done on a block of flats opposite.

  

Synopsis


When two young lovers struggle to keep the romance alive when they both have to go their separate ways for education and career purposes. With Matt off to University somewhere far up the country and Olivia staying put in their little town, the hardship of their relationship comes to haunt them when both trust and commitment gets put on the line.



Treatment



The film starts with music playing as the name fades in then it stays on screen for approximately 13 seconds before fading out and cutting to the dance scene. The camera cuts to different angles during this scene, mainly of the dancers as they perform their dance sequence. Extreme long shots are used mainly to show the dancers then cutting to a medium close up of Matt taking photos of them. The final shot in this scene is of Olivia and her dance partner finishing their dance sequence, then walking off towards Matt where the two of them start making small-talk. The scene ends with the screen fading to black.

The next scene cuts straight into a two shot with Matt and Olivia sat on a sofa all cuddled up watching a film with the occasional play fighting. Its obvious to see from this scene that the pair are now a couple, the scene then fades to the next of the couple in the coffee shop. The first shot is taken from outside facing towards the shop focusing on the couple sat in front of the window. The shot then fades to an over the shoulder shot of Olivia talking to Matt, the shot last for exactly 3 seconds before fading to the next shot.

The next scene is a wide shot of Matt and Olivia sat on the ground in a park hugging, the scene then fades to an extra long shot of Matt giving Olivia a piggyback. With Olivia still on his back, Matt runs away from the camera, this shot is in slow motion, it then fades to the next scene.
The next shot is of both characters holding hands, the  scene is a close up focusing on their hands as they clasp on to each other. As they let go the camera cuts to a medium shot of Olivia looking upset, the scene then cuts to Matt walking  back towards Olivia and embracing her. As the couple hug, the camera pans around them before cutting to an over the shoulder shot that quickly zooms in on Matt telling Olivia he loves her. The scene cuts back to a medium shot of Olivia as she holds back the tears, the camera then cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Matt walking towards the train station, with a train rolling into the station as he climbs the stairs and waves goodbye.

The scene cuts to a two shot of Olivia and her friend Emma in the toilets talking, the scene cuts to a close up of Emma asking Olivia how things are with Matt, the scene cuts to a low angle shot of Olivia replying to Emma's question. After the two have finished talking, Emma gets ready to go before asking Olivia if she'll be going as well, Emma then walks off camera, the scene then fades to the next one.

The next shot is of Matt at university with his friend Alex, he explains how much he's missing Olivia, the scene cuts to a two shot of Matt and Alex, Alex asks Matt if he's done his assignment, the shot cuts to a close up of Matt showing is expression of being confused. The scene then cuts back to a two shot of Alex trying to calm the situation explaining that it'll be alright and that they can still go out tonight as its their last night with everyone. The scene then fades to black.

The next shot is a wide angle shot of Matt and Olivia in a kitchen, both the characters body language show that they're having an argument of some sort. The scene cuts to Olivia shouting Matt before cutting back to a wide shot of the two arguing. The next shot is of Matt looking frustrated with Olivia, he then starts to walk towards her, the camera then cuts to a low angle shot focusing on Matt standing off to the side of Olivia. The scene then cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Olivia who turns to face Matt, she starts to cry a little and her voice becomes serious as she explains to Matt that she thinks that they should take a break. Matt walks away from Olivia to grab his jacket and leave, the camera follows him as he does so. The scene cuts to a close up of Olivia before panning around her then following her as she walks away. The camera cuts to a wide angle shot of Olivia as she looks in Matts bag and finds a USB, the next shot is a close up of the memory stick in Olivia's hand. The next shot is an over the shoulder shot of Olivia watching the video Matt had made for her. The video shows how much he loves her, during the video the camera cuts to a medium shot of Matt walking down the street at night, it then cuts back to Olivia watching the video.

Once the video finishes Olivia runs out of shot, the scene cuts to Olivia outside running towards the camera, she then shouts Matt's name. The camera then cuts to a medium shot of Matt as she turns around to see Olivia, the scene cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Olivia running towards Matt. She stops running, the camera cuts to an other the shoulder shot of Matt staring at Olivia looking completely lost for words. The camera then cuts to an extra long shot showing both characters, it then cuts to a close up of Matt then cuts back to Olivia, neither of the characters say anything through a majority of this scene, the shot then fades to black and the credit begin to roll.

 


Shoot Diary



We didn't start filming till the pretty late into the assignment but we managed to get everything we needed.


  • 8th January 2014 - We started to film today, the first scene we shot was the university scene with our main character and his friend Alex. This scene took a bit of time as we wanted to capture it from different angles and perspectives.




  • 20th January 2014 - We got most of the filming done today, train stations scenes are completed that's both the leaving and the arriving scenes. We managed to get the park scene finished in time before our camera man had to leave for work, during that time we got the coffee shop scene sorted as well as the argument at the end.







  • 21th January 2014 - Today we got the last few scenes completed, including both the texting scenes and the bathroom shot, we also got the dancing scene shot which will be shown at the beginning of the film.

 






 

Storyboard












 

Equipment List



My Equipment list consisted of:




Our main piece of equipment was the __________ which I used for every shot. To accompany our camera, we had a tripod that we used to produce steady effective shots with a mount that came with the tripod to attach the camera to it, we didn't use the tripod for every shot because we wanted to add different camera angles to the film.










During production we also used a boom mic. and pole to capture sound as the microphone on the camera wasn't exactly the best.















For one of our scenes we used the Camera Crane, we used this type of equipment so that we could get a range of different shots from both low and high angles. The crane resembles a tripod with a counterweight, this created a more stable setup, allowing us to move the camera and shoot scenes without the need to worry about creating shaky or blurry footage.











For our editing software we used the Final Cut Pro package on the Macs in college. Below we have (right) is After Effects which we used to make both the opening and closing credits, we also used Final Cut Pro (left) which is our main software, we used this to place shots together and to create the film.


 





Iconography

The USB that is found helps to illustrate our main males love for our main female, it doesn't give our target audience a straight forward idea of how the story ends. Instead they're left on a cliff hanger.







Costumes


Costumes are important for a production, they should always be thought out because they can represent a lot, such as class and status; also the colours or patterns can be symbolic to certain conventions such as different moods, a dark colour for example; black and grey, could symbolise darkness and depression whereas bright colours such as yellow and pink could symbolise happiness and warmth.


Different colours don't always symbolise a single mood or atmosphere such as red, to some it can symbolise anger or heat whereas to others it could symbolise love.


The film covers a series of days so both the main characters will be wearing different clothes each day.












                     Train Station, Leaving & Arriving

 


Coffee House


Bretons Outdoor Centre 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Locations to film



Rainham Station:

This is where the narrative will begin, where the two main characters say goodbye to each other. This location is then shown again after the montage showing the two main characters again but this time they're greeting each other so the atmosphere seems happy.








Ardleigh & Dragon English Pub & Thai Restaurant:

We used this location for the pub scene where Matt is texting Olivia. This location was a brilliant choice as its a big place that's very spaced out inside so filming became easier.

 


 Bretons Outdoor Centre:

We chose this location because its a wide open space outdoors, the weather made the scene look much better with the sunset making it look relaxed and romantic.






Carly's House, Rainham

We chose to use Carly's house for the argument scene and one of the texting scenes because we the house had a nice atmosphere to it and it was exactly what we wanted for the scenes.








Street Outside Carly's House:

We used this location because its a very quiet street so we didn't have to worry about people walking past or more importantly cars driving past, especially with our actors walking in the road during the scenes.




Slice of Kiwi Coffee House

We used this location because its a casual place to hang out and we liked the interior of the shop and the location of it was easy for us to get too.









Codes and Conventions of the Romantic Genre










  •  Normally aimed at female audience because it's known that females are more emotional in a relationship than men are.
  • Heroes tend to be men
  • 'The boy meets the girl' scenario
  • Hints given throughout the film suggesting that they may be a good 'love match' and that there will be a 'happy ending' 
  • Characters end up in their separate ways due to an argument or disagreement.
  • Finally they both reunite
  • Traditional 'Happy ever after'
  • Prompts such as: Flowers/ Hearts/ Wedding bells are very commonly seen.
  • Story normally involves emotions/feelings/pain/love/failure to victory/flashback/past story.
  • Normally the story gets linked to audience's emotions.


Manhattan









Director: Woody Allen
 Genre: Comedy / Romance / Drama
Release date: 25th April 1979
Budget: £9,000,000
Box Office: £24,109,359
Production Companies: Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

Comments about the film
"A drama with comedy rather than a comedy with romance"
- Charles Joffe
"Manhattan is about trying to live a decent life amidst all the junk of contemporary culture - the temptations, the seductions"
- Woody Allen
Did you know:
Woody Allen was so disappointed with Manhattan that he offered to make United Artist a free film  if they didn't release it!
Lighting and Photography
  • Black and White 
  • Panavision widescreen 2.35:1 ratio 
  • Low key 
  • Uses available light 
  • Many silhouettes
  • Deep focus shots of Manhattan 





 Scene analysis: Opening Sequence





  • Set to Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue'
  • Most diverse representation of Manhattan in entire film
  • Eloquent prose of narrator complements cinematography and music
  • Isaac attempts to establish a voice for himself that's as strong and dominating as the city
  • Tone ranges from romantic to preachy to angry, and ends with seeming authority
  • Characterizes Ike as lacking a concrete identity; fragmented; inauthentic
Did you notice?
There are no opening credits, but the name of the film still appears. 
Interview

 Woody Allen being interviewed at the time of 'Manhattan'



Love Actually





Director: Richard Curtis
 Genre: Comedy / Romance / Drama
Release date: 21st November 2003
Budget: £30,000,000
Box Office: £149,308,798
Production Companies: Universal Pictures / StudioCanal / Working Title Films

Interview


Richard Curtis was interviewed by the guardian, he talks about 'how he made Love Actually, kissing lessons for the cast, the plots that didn't get the cut - and the crowds of blokes that suddenly turned up to see Billy Mack's girl band.'

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/dec/16/how-we-made-love-actually




Proposal


Our initial idea was to produce a romance film that will cover the sub-genres of either horror or comedy. 
Most romance films will combine some elements of comedy, though they can be very dramatic, for example; Romeo and Juliet. Combining romance with another genre is a good way of getting a more wider interest and make the story more substantial.

 The films I plan to research are 'Love Actually' which covers the sub-genre, comedy and 'Let the right one in' which covers the sub-genre horror.

Love Actually (2003)

 Love actually follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely and interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England. 

 The film uses comedy as well as drama which is a good combination for a romantic film as it creates more believable characters and provides depth to the film.




Manhattan (1979)

Manhattan is a 1979 American Romantic-comedy, directed and starring Woody Allen. Manhattan is about a twice-divorced 42-year old comedy writer - played by Woody Allen himself, who finds himself dating a 17-year old before eventually falling in love...but with his best friend's mistress - played Diane Keaton.
Our research questions
  1. How is the romance portrayed during the film? - Main question
  2. What elements make an effective romance film?

  3. what characterisations are present during the romance film?


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