New story plot!

I have changed my mind about the story plot again, but this time I'm sticking to it. I have decided that this will be the plot;
There is a man and a woman. They are in a relationship. He is going to propose to her, but she is thinking of leaving him. It is a simple plot but alot happens during this opening. It ends on a cliff hanger when he asks "Will you marry me?" and there is just a close up of her face. That will be the end of the film opening.
I will post more about this when I have had a discussion with my focus group on what we can do to make this better.

Different Types of Rom-Com Posters/DVD covers

Today, I researched different types of rom-com posters. I discovered that there are 7 main clichés. These are;

Back to Back
                                   

The Three Floating Heads
                               
The Park Bench
                                    
The Giant Heads
                                 
The Collage
                              
The Pick-Me-Up Pose
                                    
The Lean
                                   

I think all these clichés are really eye catching but my favourites are The Pick-Me-Up Posse and Three Floating Heads. I think the one that will be best for my opening will be "Three Floating Heads".

My film plot

I have finally decided on film plot! My focus group and I decided that we all would prefer to watch the idea of the bestfriends growing up together. The origianl idea was this;

• The girl is the protagonist and she has a flashback. She does a prologue over the whilst the flash back is happening. The flashback is- two best friends, boy and girl, growing up. Shows about 3 stages of there lifes' such as little child, preteen and teenager. She mentions in the prologue that she always liked him but he only liked her as a bestfriend

We haven't fully expanded on this idea but I will post the final plot as soon as we have decided on the minor details.

Ideas for plots

Today I discussed with my focus group possible ideas for my film opening. We came up with a few breif ideas such as;

• A girl goes to a new school and meets a boy. They fall in love instantly. The popular girl fancies the boy and decides to make the new girl's life hell.
  
• The girl is the protagonist and she has a flashback. She does a prologue over the whilst the flash back is happening. The flashback is- two best friends, boy and girl, growing up. Shows about 3 stages of there lifes' such as little child, preteen and teenager. She mentions in the prologue that she always liked him but he only liked her as a bestfriend
  
• Shows the males life before meeting the girl, 1:30 minutes. Shows the females life before they meet, 1:30 minutes. They meet in an obscure way.

So far, this is the plots we have come up with. We will decide on one plot and then expand on that.

Four FIlms Analyses

Ryan Reynolds
Definitely, Maybe

Steve Carell
40 Year Old Virgin

During the weekend, I did some research and analysed a few rom-com openings. These were;
40 Year Old Virgin
Knocked Up
Definitely, Maybe
What Happens in Vegas

I chose these specific four films because 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up are more comedy and Definitely Maybe and What Happens in Vegas are more romance. I think this is the reason because in 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up the male protagonists are a bit of a nerd or a misfit whereas in Definitely Maybe and What Happens in Vegas the male protagonists are very good looking. All of these rom-coms have famous actors so I know that finding the right people to star in my film opening will be a tough challenge.

I will post more detailed analyses of each individual film in abit.

First 6 Questionnaires

I have managed to get 6 people, 3 boys and 3 girls aged 16-17, to fill in my questionnaire. There are 9 more to give out this is what I have found out so far;

One of the questions in my questionnaire was "What is your favourite rom-com?". The 3 boys said '50 First Dates', 'Crazy, Stupid Love' and Knocked Up. All of these are in the rom-com genre but they all lean more towards the comedy side whereas the girsl said their favourites were 500 Days Of Summer and Love Actually which lean more towards the romance side. I think that girls prefer to watch the romance because that's what they aspire their future boyfriend to be like and the boys prefer the funny films because they aspire to be like the funny guy in the film.

All of the 6 people said that the first 5 minutes of a film is very important because it sets the story, gives the audience and understanding of the characters, and the intro of a film grabs the attention of the audience and if people don't like the forst 5 minutes, they will not continue to watch.

I asked the question "If you were to create the first 5 minutes of a rom-com, what events would you include?". Most people came out with different answers

Lauren said "An awkward situation e.g. wedding proposal gone wrong"

Kelly said "Love, Comedy, Dinner, Proposal"

Lizzie said "The meeting of the 2 main characters"

Alec said "Some exciting parts or something that will set out the story line"

Joe said "Funny sex scene, something shocking and embarrasing. Good use of music, well directed cinematography, originality"

Michael said "The basic story based on main characters and an awkward situation"

I also asked what they WOULDN'T like to see at the beginning of a film and this was the outcome;

Lauren said "Sex"

Kelly said "Too much action"

Lizzie said "Sexual intercourse"
Alec said "Alot of boring scenes"

Joe said "Soppy, cringy crap, cliches, same old story line, bad acting"

Michael said "Sex scene, murder scene"

I will be back with the result of the rest of the questionnaires later on but this is it for now.

Emily

Media Questionnaire

These were the questions I used in my questionnaire

Name:

Age: 

Would you say the first five minutes of a film is important?

If yes, why?

Do you like Rom-Coms?

Describe what you expect to see in a Rom-Com

If you were to create the first 5 minutes of a film in the romantic comedy genre, what events would you include?
What wouldn’t you want to see at the beginning of the film?

What is your favourite Rom-Com?

What is your least favourite Rom-Com?

If chosen, would you like to be part of my focus group?