Details (:

Cast/Crew

- Jenny - Emily.

- William - Jon.

- Camera man - Rob.

- Hair&Beauty Manager/Location Scout - Hayley.

Locations

- Tibshelf, Hill/Grassed area.

- Tibshelf, Town.

Hair&Beauty

- Straighteners/Curlers (Girls hair - Curly & gripped back at the front)

- Simple Make-up (Blusher, Base)

- Hair gel (Boys Comb over)

Props/Expenses.

- Girls outfit x2 (one for flashback)

- Boys outfit

- 2 Roses

- Pen, Paper, Envelope

sometimes its way easier to say you don't care than to explain all the reasons you do.

The Notebook - Analysis (:

Not truly a war/romance, but he does go to war, and so does she, so I'm doing it anyway (:! And, Can I just say, I love this film. It makes me cry every single time I watch it, without fail (:

The first thing we see, which immediately tells us we're watching a romance, is a sunset. The colours seem to run through the whole opening 2 minutes. The sepia effect is obviously used, as a hint of red is in the beginning, without too much of any other colour. The reflection of the sun in the water is beautiful. It could possibly suggest that love is beautiful, if it's found with the right person.
The sunset seems to involve yellows, oranges, blues and reds, whereas they go darker before only having a hint of red. The colours are simplistic. Nothing any brighter than a rusty red, possibly suggesting pain. It could also just simply be suggesting love.
Theres a person rowing across this river, in 6 shots to begin with. First, he's seen in a long shot from the back, rowing away from us. Then a mid shot, still rowing away. This is followed by a long shot from the side, then a mid from the side. His front is then finally seen in a long shot, then he is once again rowing from left to right in a long shot. This also allows the credits to appear on screen. They aren't added in a particularly amazing font. Its just plain white writing, showing the names of the cast, crew, and team, etc.
Doves are a common element in the first 2 minutes. They are the bird of love, like what you see on wedding invites, etc. This is another reason for the audience to know they're watching a romance. The rowing man reappears, going from left to right in a mid shot. Each shot of him has been separated with a fade, from one shot to another. It could possibly have been a dissolve, too.
For the first time, we see a white house. This could suggest fairytale, as in most fairytales the house is beautiful and white. Although, later in the movie, we find out it isn't a house. It's a home for the old woman. The two suggestions of love come together, towards the house. The rowing boat, and the dove's. They go forward, then a shot reverse shot is used to show the woman watching. She seems to be looking out and examining the river, in an over the shoulder shot.
The mid shot of the house returns, with an emphasis on the woman's figure in the upstairs window. This seems to be a point of view shot, as if the audience are in the head of the rower. Heading towards the house. The birds fly towards the house, reflecting in the window as we have a close up of the woman. The colour slowly starts to return, hinting blonde in her hair.
There isn't anything to suggest war just yet, but the flashbacks we see do. The movie is made up of living in the past of this couples life, so when going back in time its obvious that sooner or later the war is going to happen. Sorry, if this is rubbish.

& right there, for one minute, i forgot that you don't love me anymore.

Treatment - Storyboard (:

The most important bits of our movie are here in the storyboard. We had to make it atleast 20 boxes long, without a description for each. This is a better version of the first, because it was mostly stick people.

sorry, i'm a bad artist... again.

maybe we like the pain. maybe we're wired that way. because without it, maybe we just wouldn't feel real.

Shooting Schedule (:

This is the shooting schedule which we have agreed on, as a group. Looking forward to the filming of it, to be honest. It should be a good day spent in Tibby (:
But, we all know the best part of the day is going to be the end when i shout 'THAT'S THE RAP!' just cause they do it on 'mcfly; the making of transylvania' (:!

oh i swear this town gets smaller everyday. & i'm waiting for my chance. i'm going to break away. i'm so sick and tired of being told what's good for me. people seem to have a lot of ideas of who i'm supposed to be.

Shot List (:

Title: Lady In Waiting.
Director: Robert, Emily & Hayley.
Date: 23/01/09

Shot #: 1
Duration: 3 seconds
Notes ; Opening shot of the sky. Sound effects of planes flying overhead.
Cast ; N/A
Camera Angle ; Wide angle shot, worms eye.
Camera Moves ; None.

Shot #: 2
Duration: 10 seconds
Notes ; Tilt to grass blowing in the wind, music and handwritten titles appear. Slow music begins to play.
Cast ; N/A
Camera Angle ; Camera is on the floor, level with grass. Long shot.

Shot #: 3
Duration: 3 seconds
Notes ; Tilt up to see the girl sat on the hill, writing a letter to her lover.
Cast ; Still in casting.
Camera Angle ; Long shot.
Camera Moves ; Tilt at the beginning.

Shot #: 4
Duration: 3 seconds
Notes ; Close up of her looking over the hill, wind blowing her hair.
Cast ; Still in casting.
Camera Angle ; Close up.
Camera Moves ; N/A.

Shot #: 5
Duration: 5 seconds
Notes ; Close up of him giving her roses.
Cast ; Still in casting.
Camera Angle ; Long shot.
Camera Moves ; N/A

Shot #: 6
Duration: 2 seconds
Notes ; Close up of her face.
Cast ; Still in casting.
Camera Angle ; Close up.
Camera Moves ; N/A

Shot #: 7
Duration: 7 seconds
Notes ; Long shot of her saying goodbye to him, as he leaves for war.
Cast ; Still in casting.
Camera Angle ; Long shot.
Camera Moves ; N/A

Shot #: 8
Duration: 7 seconds
Notes ; Over the shoulder shot of her writing the letter, folding it, placing it in an envelope & putting in rose petals.
Cast ; Still in casting.
Camera Angle ; Over the shoulder.
Camera Moves ; N/A

Shot #: 9
Duration: 10 seconds
Notes ; Skip to her walking through a quiet town.
Cast ; Still in casting.
Camera Angle ; Long shot – Mid shot.
Camera Moves ; N/A

Shot #: 10
Duration: 5 seconds
Notes ; Shot reverse shot of her walking through a small town.
Cast ; Still in casting.
Camera Angle ; Mid shot – Long shot.
Camera Moves ; N/A

Shot #: 11
Duration: 4 seconds
Notes ; Over the shoulder of her posting the letter (Red colour is shown to represent death & love)
Cast ; Still in casting.
Camera Angle ; Over the shoulder.
Camera Moves ; N/A

Shot #: 12
Duration: 2 seconds
Notes ; Close up of her face as she sighs
Cast ; Still in casting.
Camera Angle ; Close up.
Camera Moves ; N/A

Shot #: 13
Duration: 10 seconds
Notes ; Shot of her walking into the distance. Voice over ends. Music volume increases.
Cast ; Still in casting.
Camera Angle ; Long Shot.
Camera Moves ; N/A

Shot #: 14
Duration: 7 seconds
Notes ; Fade to black. Movie title is written.
Cast ; N/A
Camera Angle ; N/A
Camera Moves ; N/A

take my hand across the slippery ice. i promise we'll make it. & if we don't, we'll just go down together - rjt.

Film Treatment (:

Storyboard for the opening (not final, just my ideas.)

Worst artist ever, sorry.

Treatment
The film starts with the sky, and the sound of planes going by. A girl, wearing an old fashioned dress, is writing a letter to her lover at war, and is sat on a hill/cliff. Her hair is blowing in the wind as she places the letter in an envelope accompanied by rose petals. We see flashbacks of her recieving the roses from her fiancé and then their goodbye. The rose petals are the only colour in the movie so far as the rest of the footage is in black and white. She starts walking into a quiet town, to post the letter in which she hopes to get a good reply. She then walks home into the distance.

We cut to the girl, who is then sweeping at home, when she hears a knock on the door. She opens the door to see a man with a letter addressed to her. The letter informs her that her fiancé has died at war. She then sits on a chair, with her knees pulled tightly into her chest and sobs her heart out over her loss. She feels so alone, knowing that nobody will ever make her feel the way he did, and knowing that she wouldn’t want them too. He was perfect, in her opinion, and nobody in the world would change that, even if he was dead.

Two weeks pass, where we see that she doesn’t move from the chair. She is in shock, from the whole incident and doesn’t feel like living without him anymore. She cries endlessly, hoping that one day the misery ends, and somebody saves her from it. Her friend who’s husband is off at war comes to visit, and persuades her to go out for a drink or two the next night. Jenny agrees, and prays that this is the help she asked for.

On Friday the 13th, the most unluckiest day possible, she’s out and about late at night and bumps into a man, who seems well to do. Her friend ushers her away, and leaves to give Jenny a chance. The man treats her nicely, offers her a drink in the nearby pub, and offers her a room with him for the night. She says no, of course, because she’s still grieving. The man doesn’t take to kindly to her rejection and pushes her out of the pub. His uniform clearly states that he’s a soldier, and his accent that he isn’t English. As he pushes her into the back alleyway, he proceeds to undo his trousers, and push up her dress. She gets raped. Just as she thought she had no chance of escape, a man comes to her rescue. He hits the man, and hurries Jenny off home. He sits with her all night while she calms down, and promises that he won‘t let this go unnoticed. He takes a shine to her, but keeps his distance so not to frighten her away. He leaves late that night, and checks on her daily for two weeks. He takes her flowers on a regular basis, and she can feel herself falling for him.

They become serious, but she doesn’t have the heart to tell him about her previous lover. After being together for a short amount of time, he proposes to her. She's madly in love with him, although its a different type of love than what she felt for her previous fiancé. She doesn’t feel like he's as perfect for her as her first true love was. While deciding who she wants, and whether she can live with the guilt, she visits her dead fiancé's grave. She sits for hours on end, talking to the gravestone that she picked herself. Despite the fact that its been a month or so, she isn’t over him. She never will be. She sheds a few more tears while trying to decide who to choose, but comes to a conclusion which she can live with.

She runs home, pleased with herself for figuring this out. Skipping down the road effortlessly, playing with the flowers on the bushes as she goes, picking one or two for a vase at home. She runs through the door, shuts it with a bang, grabbing the attention of her lover. His face looks confused, she hasn’t been this happy in ages. Jenny takes his hand, and announces that she wishes to accept his proposal. His face lights up, as he pecks her lips and hugs her tightly. A fake smile is pasted across her face, as a rush of guilt comes over her. What has she done? She isn’t ready for this. She loves William, She won’t forget him.

Within minutes, the news travels around the town. Its spread by a delighted man, who can’t contain his excitement for the future. Jenny is happy, sure she is, deep down. The congratulations come in like buses, as soon as one person arrives, ten more do to. A week passes quickly, many people visiting everyday.

We cut to different parts of the planning, when she’s trying on her dress, organising flowers, etc. In the middle of planning, she falls ill, and a doctor is called. The doctor does many tests, taking her temperature, weighing her, and measuring her. He confirms she is pregnant, meaning that her husband to be is over the moon. She isn't too sure, but puts on a brave face anyway, just to secure his happiness.

8 months pass, as the planning is still underway. They have to postpone the wedding, due to the war getting worse. This draws her attention back to her dead lover. This creates the feeling of guilt back in her belly. This makes her unsure about what to do. As the news of the war becomes old news, the couple decide to get married as soon as possible. Jenny starts to feel safe within the situation and the happiness her fiancé provides her with.

As the war dies down, their wedding is full steam ahead. Jenny’s belly is huge due to how far gone she is. We see a shot of the church, then another one inside, revealing her child which has just been born after the ceremony. He's beautiful, healthy, and has his fathers eyes.

We see the happy family getting settled at home, even though the girls previous fiancé plays on her mind. She still loves him, even after all this time. She feels a bit psychic, as a knock is heard at the door. Her true love is at the door, which shocks her hugely. They have a moment in which they hug, and don't let go. They are interrupted by her new husband, who doesn't understand what is going on. She can't bear to explain, so runs away leaving the two men to talk. She goes upstairs to bed to think over what is happening, and what it is that her heart wants.

The door closes downstairs, as her lover leaves to seek shelter in a sensible place overnight. She pretends to be asleep as her husband comes to bed, but doesn’t put his arm around her like usual. As his snoring echoes around the room, she pulls on her dress, and leaves the room. She goes to pick up the baby which she has learnt to love dearly, even though the father isn't the person she loves more than anything in this world.

She goes downstairs and closes the door behind her, not looking back at the life she's leaving behind. She starts walking to where she assumes her lover would have gone. She's right. As she realises how close her happy ending is, she runs into the night, in search of her one true love. She goes down a path, leading to the pub near where she got raped. The memories come flooding back, we see flashes of the images on screen.

He's outside, staring at the stars, almost certain she'd end up coming back to him. He hears footsteps approaching, and tilts his head slightly to the left, confused. He turns to face the person coming towards him, as a delighted grin creeps onto his face. Right at that very moment, for them the universe realigns, the stars shine brighter and the moon smiles. The war is over and all is right with the world.


everyone has someone in their life that keeps them looking forward to another day. -rjt.

Mise en scéne, etc (:

The setting of our media project is going to, first, be a hill/cliff where the girl is writing a letter to her lover. Then it is going to be a small, old, village. An idea for the village is in Teversal. This place seems to fit the idea of a war time movie. There is also a letterbox, which can easily help with our filming. It fits the plan we have perfectly, and can make our work just that bit simpler.

Finding WWI and WWII clothing was difficult, as most of the clothing is expensive if it's authentic clothes. We looked on ebay, google, vintage clothing sites, etc, for ideas on what our character may wear. We imagine her in a dress, rather than high waisted shorts and a blouse. Most of the dresses in this time period were made of solid colour, rather than a patterned fabric.

The lighting of the project, isn't going to be too important. Hopefully we'll film on a sunny day, although it may seem more realistic to have dark, gloomy lighting to suggest how awfully polluted the air would be due to the bombs, etc. The footage is going to be filmed in black & white, though, so the lighting won't be as visible as it would if we were filming in colour.

Music in in the 1930's was jazzy, and happy, so it gave people inspiration, and something to cheer them up, unlike nowadays. The popular kind of music was jazz. The main instruments were piano, clarinet, saxophone, and trumpet. (http://library.thinkquest.org/5255/1930s/1930introduction.html)

Maybe, if the music was like that now, the world wouldn't be so awful? If people actually believed that everything would get better because of the inspirational happy music.

Music of the 1940's was called "Big Band Swing" Trumpets, Bass, Piano, Saxaphone, and Singers were common.(http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_musical_instruments_were_used_in_the_1940's).

she needs a reason to drive far away from here. she's memorized the roads and all the people she'd rather leave behind.

Intro (:

So, I didn't exactly write an introduction about what I'm doing this blog for. It's basically for my media coursework, to keep you up to date with how my media work is going. Our task is to film a 2 minute opening to a movie, the genre is our choice, everything is our choice.
Robert, Emily and I have chosen to work on a War/Romance film, which can be edited in a way which will show many techniques. We plan to use a productive set, which can accomodate the needs of our filming. Both diagetic and non-diagetic sound, in the form of enhancement, voice overs and simple rustling of the grass below. We'll use cutting techniques, mostly just simple cuts because time won't be passing very fast. The only time we may use a fade in or out is when the woman stands, after writing the letter, and leaves. We'll use match on action, when doing over the shoulder shots, mid front shots, and long shots, etc. We could also use parallel editing, to show the girl writing the letter, and the man off at war. The only problem then, is that we can't use footage recorded by another source. Damn.
I'm hoping you won't get too bored with whats going on.. lol? but i'm mainly going to type stuff about my media lesson, but maybe a bit about my life? Who knows. One thing I do find it important to write, is how much I can't wait to learn to drive, It's not really important to you, but it is to me :) And how much I'm looking forward to the future, and being away from here.
Anyway, enjoy (:

we're just teenage kids with dreams that are just too big.

Research - Cold Mountain (:

The first two minutes of Cold Mountain, consists firstly of the advertisements. A voice over comes in at 28 seconds, when the credits are still moving. Her accent is easy to distinguish as American, and she's probably from Tennessee. It sounds as though she is reading a letter because she says she's counted days, weeks, months but nothing anymore, just the hope that somebody will come back to her. There is water on screen, like in a river when the water twirls around, with a faint mountain in the background, possibly reflected. This instantly portrays the title with one simple image.

Violins kick in, as the water ripples out and the mountain disappears behind the title text. The editing includes fade out, when the water disappears, and a fade in when the men come into focus. We see a barrel rolling along the floor, which was probably filmed by a tracking shot.

Plain white, common text appears, setting the scene without an actual establishing shot. The place, which shows what the writing says, is dark, cramped and dirty. The men look as if they're working really hard for something that isn't really worth it. Their clothes suggest that the men are, more than likely, poor and forced into this hard labour. When a mouse appears on screen, this also suggests that they can't live in truly awful conditions because animals can survive there too. Even though, mice are vermin.

Outside is shown with a low, pan shot. A rabbit seems to catch the attention of the camera, and get followed to where the war camp can be seen. The mise en scéne suggests a dark time, not only in the day, but more importantly for humanity. The war's never solved anything, so they put a dullness over the world. The reason for the dark, gloomy day may also be from the bombs which are being dropped, and clouding up the atmosphere.

The field which the rabbit is followed through, seems a mess. This may represent what war is, not just a way to solve nothing and kill lots of innocent people, but a mess. As the camp comes into view more words, in the same font and colour, come up on screen. The text says that people are waiting attack, already suggesting that this film is going to be more about war than romance.


never say goodbye. because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.
- peter pan.

What makes a war/romance? (:

Narratives:
- The man usually ends up going to war, with his wife or fiancé left at home without him. She mostly misses him and tries to contact him in some way or form, meaning she either gets a good reply or bad news.
- Another common storyline is when the woman see's another man that grabs her attention, she debates between the men.
- The woman could possibly be working at war, as a nurse, and find love in a soldier who is injured, etc.

Settings:
- World War I
- World War II
- England, end of the war.

Stock Characters:
- Woman playing the wife, fiancé, love interest.
- Man playing a Soldier, love interest for a nurse?
- Male love interest for the Woman when her husband/lover is at war.

Iconography:
- Guns
- Bombs
- Planes
- Soppy Music?

Films:
- Cold Mountain
- The End of the Affair
- The Christmas Card
- Ride with the Devil
- A Very Long Engagement
- To Have or Have Not
- Crash Dive
- Australia
- Ballad of a Soldier
- The Notebook

Box Office:
- Casablanca - $1,719,913
- Cold Mountain - $173,013,509
- The Notebook - $115,603,229
- Australia - $151,352,928


Editing Techniques:
- Black & White
- Sepia
Both representing an old time movie.
- Non diagetic music - love songs.

Audience:
General audience, evoking feelings in all of the viewers. Possibly mainly for female because male's aren't interested in soppy love stories, usually.

This research has made me see that our film doesnt have to include guns, bombs, planes, etc, in the first few minutes in which the scene is set. They don't need to be included because ours is more of a love story rather than a war movie. It's set in war time, but doesn't actually involve the war as such. We need to use black and white to suggest to the audience that it's set in old time England, rather than nowadays, Because we don't plan on making fake explosions to connote war.

don't be so quick to judge me. you only see what i choose to show.

Film opening plan, So far... (:

So, we have decided on a genre for our Coursework. In the beginning, we were going to film a Sci-Fi Rom Com but that idea seemed a bit too difficult to fit into just 2 minutes of footage. Robert & I began thinking about using a Twilight idea and including vampires, but as i said, this seemed too far fetched. When we finally got talking properly, we decided on doing a War Romance.

Our main characters were going to be Sophie and James but after researching old names, they didn't seem appropriate. So we are going to be using Jenny and William. Jenny starts by sitting on a cliff/hill writing William a letter seeing as he is off at war. The letter is then read as a voice over which we'll put on top during editing. The only colour that will be seen in the filming is going to be red. Jenny puts rose petals in the envelope that she's sending to William which represents love and possibly blood. We see her walking through the town to post the envelope to William, after we see her sat writing the letter that she's reading out loud.

The only shot which we have discussed in detail, at the moment, is the camera being in the grass at the beginning. The grass will be swaying in the wind, the camera will tilt upwards and zoom in on Jenny, possibly the letter too.


we live for a better tomorrow, but what if tomorrow isn't any better than today?

Research Practice - Woman In Black (:

In class we analysed the start of the film 'Woman In Black'. The directors didn't stick to the 2 minute guideline that we have to for our coursework. The opening started with text, then went on to about 2 minutes worth of acting, before the scene was set.

The text is plain, with a simple black background. The text connotes gravestone's or death from the font. This suggests the audience may be older because it is basic and easy to understand at the beginning. Smog and shadows seem to float across the text, suggesting the film is going to be mysterious and a general thriller. The music is eerie and seems to be made up of woodwind instruments, giving the high pitched suspense music.

The opening camera shot simply shows the setting of the film. The camera pan's to get the main character in view. The shadows are used in a way which could suggest a thriller genre, although with the sun being low in the morning, it may just be a coincidence. The shot from behind the railings immediately connotes a cage or being locked in with no escape. This could be a point of view shot, as the camera is at eye level, looking out and watching from the character. The audience then get the idea that he may be being watched, this puts them on edge right from the start.


she talks about you like you put the stars in the sky.