video.

The final piece, finished.



he's a music man.
he's a what?
he's a what?
he's a music man.

evaluation.

‘Get a Life’ is a romantic/comedy/drama that aims to entertain a target audience of anybody between 13 and 20, and families that require a fun time at the cinema. Although the film is mainly a hybrid of these three genre’s, it does include a sci-fi element, where a ghost returns.
The main characters are young adults, which is the main reason why the target audience is of a similar age. The audience can easily relate to the storyline when the action is about people their age. This film develops conventions of rom/com/drama’s, but lacks challenging them.
The conventions of a romantic/comedy/drama movie are: cheesy jokes, a dilemma, a person completely in love with the other character, but that character completely oblivious, and dramatic, unrealistic storylines. Films with an example of these conventions are:

The Notebook picture clearly has a red theme running in the movie, alike to 'Get a Life'. This is a parallel to similar movies in the rom-com-drama hybrid genre. All of the other conventions shown in the example movies are a part of ‘Get a Life’, for example: the main characters are in love, when a tragic ‘dilemma’ strikes, killing the female. The third, and final, main character pushes her way into the boys life, getting attention from the dead character who is beyond the grave. She returns, which is unrealistic, and haunts the boy humorously.
The only convention that is really challenged is the ‘ghost’, which isn’t a common convention of romantic/comedy/drama films. The idea that it is unrealistic fits the conventions, but the whole sci-fi idea of a ’ghost’ challenges a real film which is a hybrid of these three genres.
The theme colour of red suggests love, and death. This was used because most rom/com/drama films have a ‘theme colour’ that is used on posters, titles, and any advertising for the film.
The colour palette is bright at the beginning of the trailer, to show the happiness of school, until we see the heartbreak of Megan. The expected outcome of this bright introduction to the film was to grab the attention of the audience, especially the younger members. I personally find a bright looking, happy movie much more appealing than a dull, miserable one so therefore figured that if I like this then its highly likely that other members of the public will also. It's not an informed decision to make but with asking around, I got answers to related questions to which 8/10 people said they would prefer to watch a brightly coloured opening movie scene than a dark one. In editing, this opening scene wasn't completely light and needed some hue adjustments to make it more vividly coloured.











Antithetically, the colour black is also recurring throughout as that also connotes death. The return of Charli from the grave involves her wearing all black to a wedding. This clearly shows she’s come from a dark place: purgatory. This scene comes further into the trailer and is therefore not contradicting the opening scene which is preferred to be bright. The death of Charli comes about a third of the way through the film, which allows the audience to 'love' her character. I hoped that they would empathise with the feelings felt by Tyler and Megan due to the tragic loss of their friend and, even though its not played upon and she returns, it would evoke emotional involvement on the audience's part. This outcome couldnt be tested as we only made a trailer, but if I talk a guess as to what reaction we would recieve, it would be that her death was a shock, and her return was a relieving moment for the audience, as they felt they had lost the character. This guess came from the involvement I feel when watching films as I know I get more involved than I should.













The part of the trailer when Tyler leaves was filmed at night, at the same time as the scene of the night before. To show a notable difference, we changed the hue/contrast of the scene. This allowed the lighting to be more pronounced, with a more extreme white balance to suggest dawn/morning. The shot-reverse-shot of the conversation shows a darkness in the window which was unavoidable due to the only available filming time. The mise-en-scene clearly shows a bedroom and the adjusted lighting creates the desired effect for the morning time frame.














In terms of the costumes, we represented the social groups easily and less stereotypically than truly possible. They included typical everyday clothes: leggings, dresses, plain colours, patterns, etc. In contrast to that, each character had to dress up rather than down so we see the difference in them through the text. The way they mature is shown through costume in the way of the everyday clothes turn to wedding, formal wear that shows the age change.

The sounds added were simple and effective. Most were diagetic, even though added in editing because they were part of the narrative, and came through it. An example of this is the bell noise heard at the beginning, after the voice-over, and before the start of the school scene. This sound is a bridging noise and allows a fast cut between completely different scenes, effective in grabbing the audience's attention and keeping it throughout the trailer.

The main product and ancillary texts, an Empire magazine cover and a movie poster, work well together. The research into Empire covers began with simply looking for covers with a white background, as this is a convention of rom/com/drama movies. The Megan Fox cover was suitable as it allowed me to see the layout created when the background is white.
The change of a title was also an option as it would clearly represent the idea of romance, like the image changed the magazine title to black, like batman, with a blue outline. These colours fit well as they represented that colour palette of the film.




The final front cover used a simple, chirpy colour palette including summer-y colours such as pinks and reds. The immediate colour of red is the main theme colour for the movie so it was obviously going to be a part of the front cover. The idea that the characters are divided clearly shows the jealousy, and the expression on the face of Megan shows she doesn't appreciate being second best for Tyler. The plain white background is a typical rom-com-drama convention while the red blocks behind the writing is an Empire feature. The costumes worn are those like in the movie, with the black theme suggesting death, while Tyler's red shirt suggesting love or blood. The affectionate hug between Charli and Tyler shows they're clearly together, and Megan's expression connotes hurt, or pain on her part. She shows jealousy in her eyes and sadness in her mouth. The front cover fits the film, and is a professional looking Empire cover. A website is an output device for Empire. This would allow the audience to visit the front cover online, and be viewed by the target audience,




The idea for the poster, with Charli being transparent, came from the most obvious representation of a ghost. They're stereotypically see through, just like in films such as 'Casper', and this idea could easily be displayed on a poster. It would also allow the audience to easily justify that Charli is a ghost at the end of the movie or, without watching the trailer, they could imagine she is a ghost throughout. Other posters which are for similar movies of this genre use plain white backgrounds, and bold colours. The red and black theme runs through the poster also, and tells the audience when they can see the movie, and where. All the typical requirements of a poster are present, while showing the audience a sneak peak of what to expect in summer 2010.
The output devices are the internet, and I would fund a website for advertising. Websites which would attract my target audience are Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, etc. The social networking sites attract young adults and parents who're trying to reconnect with old friends. They would take their kids to see the film on recommendation of Facebook adverts down the right hand side of the webpage. While advertising would be payed for on the internet, I would also fund billboards in town centres. These would attract the target audience of young people, and families who're looking for a night out at the cinema. The movie has no rating as its appropriate for anyone of any age.
Both texts show a clear image of what happens in the film, and use typical conventions of rom/com/drama movie texts.

The audience feedback was positive, but clearly stated that the first half of the trailer was more action packed, and funny than the futuristic, ’3 years later’, part. After the first viewing, we edited the future part more to make it fit well with the school days. The change in music clearly shows the change in time period, and allows the audience to anticipate what will happen now as an ellipsis separates the film trailer.
A second, and final, viewing of the trailer allowed us to see that the audience would be interested in seeing the full movie if it was in cinemas. They agreed that storyline works well, and it fits into the hybrid genre we intended.
We used media technologies, such as the internet, to explore the genre we chose for our trailer. This allowed us to research thoroughly the conventions of these genres, view images of the posters for real movies, and take ideas from them for our film trailer. We watched a variety of trailers online when researching our chosen genre, and this allowed us to see what sort of shots, transitions, and fonts were used in romantic/comedy/drama films. These were simple mid-shots, long-shots, or close-up’s with adventurous, cheesy transitions. The fonts used were always bold, and written in higher case lettering, clearly catching the eye of the intended audience, making them want to look at the poster and see the film.
When planning our film, the internet provided us with a never-ending supply of information to wade through. We worked together to decide on the storyline, shots, transitions, etc, and managed to plan out a film trailer with a simple, yet effective storyline.
Even though the editing process was unexpected, and very messy we managed to pull together a trailer which included many rom/com/drama conventions, with a typical storyline that our audience liked.

Over the past year, as a growing A2 student, I managed to change dramatically. Last year I spent time editing with my group, and spent even more time researching, planning and writing up everything that happened during the process of editing. While working in a different group this year, I didn't partake in half as much editing as was possible. This wasn't due to a lack of commitment, it was purely because I had other unchallengeable commitments such as work in my daily routine. The editing process mainly happened out of school hours where I was clearly unavailable, and wasn't forewarned. I was penalized for this and I personally feel that was unnecessary.
This year I took on an acting role, unlike last year and took part in the planning of the film more than last year. The fact that I didn't take part in as much editing as possible is not something I regret. It helped the other two group members develop their skills on Adobe Premier Elements, while mine were average from the previous years editing.
The whole process of making this trailer was not smooth at all. A bump was hit almost every day, and the idea that my commitments got in the way is not something I accept as my fault. The technical errors including lack of sound, and our files being deleted from the computer were unavoidable just like other commitments. When everything finally got sorted the trailer was much more developed, unlike what it would have been without the bumps in the road. The trailer is a well fitting idea of a rom/com/drama and its definitely a text to be proud of.

hello, do you miss me? i hear you say you do but its not the way i'm missing you.

short analysis.

The trailer begins with a voice over before the action begins on screen. There is a slight delay, as on screen we see a long shot of Tyler and Megan's wedding. The voice over then clearly states that she began from the wrong point of the story and rewinds the footage on-screen.
A diagetic bell, although added during editing it comes through the narrative, cuts off the female voice and introduces the audience to a normal school day. We see Tyler and Charli, hand in hand, walking into the classroom. A match on action is used with the over-the-shoulder shot of Tyler and Charli entering, as they walk past Megan who is seated.
We then cut to a mid-shot of Megan arriving at Charli's house for prom. Outside this house, we cut to seeing Megan say on the kerb, looking at her watch as a car's reverse lights ignite and move from the back of the shot to the foreground. Music then accompanys the footage in the text.
We cut to Megan talking to a stuffed cat about her problems, as she imagines that it has had an accident on her shoe. The atmosphere is dark, suggesting night time and a dark event to come. Her diagetic voice clearly says that nothing ever changes.
We cut to Charli reaching for the cat in the tree, and falling on the floor. A shot of the sky and streetlights, twirling around is shown to immediately tell the audience that she has fallen out of the tree. The music is cut as screams take its place. They echo and a mean laughter is heard.
A scene in the hospital, with dreary mise-en-scene as they're waiting for the news. This makes the audience feel uncomfortable in the place, and expect the worst. As the doctor approaches an over-the-shoulder, shot-reverse-shot conversation between the doctor and Tyler begins, about the death of Charli.
The two characters left, Megan and Tyler, comfort each other in a two shot where Megan moves in to kiss him. We jump to a parallel scene of later that night where she is using the exact same move. The audience clearly know he didnt refuse at the hospital otherwise they wouldn't have ended up in her room together. Tyler rises this time, from the two shot on the bed, and moves towards the door. We cut time out here as he is leaving in the morning. We know there is a time change because the mise-en-scene is lighter, suggesting sunlight filtering in through the window. A shot-reverse-shot is used for the coming conversation between Tyler and Megan.
Tyler leaves the room and an establishing shot of the church is shown, with text stating that we're taking 3 years out of the story and skipping to the future.
The long-shot that we saw at the beginning of the trailer returns and the story continues from where Sarah left off with the voice-over before. There is no music since the death of Charli, and her return evokes the return of music also. As she pops out from behind the vicar, we get a lively, upbeat tune occuring.
As Megan steps back from the vicar, the audience are left to guess that she doesnt marry Tyler at that point in the movie. Tyler then throws a 'hissy' fit and requests confetti being thrown on him. The voice is in slow motion, and is deeper than usual for comedic effect. The mid-two shot of Tyler and Sarah allows us to mostly see him, and the confetti being pushed his way. The music fits with his 'huff' and creates a laughable moment for the audience.
The text then cuts to footage that is white tinted, suggesting an eerie atmosphere. This is used to show that Charli is a ghost and it is easy to distinguish the difference between her when shes alive and dead. The white effect connotes imagination, similar to effects in some movies when the screen waves from side to side to suggest daydreaming/dreaming/imagining. The music which is accompanying the '3 years later' part of the trailer is very unrealistic and suggests, to me personally, the idea of a gameshow or fun.
After the fight between Megan and Charli, we fade to Tyler being dressed up. The mid shot of him getting dressed misses off his head, suggesting that he's embarrassed. This shot could also be a POV shot from Charli's point of view, as she watches to make sure he puts on the dress which she's forced upon him. This then cuts to a long-shot of Tyler lay on the bed with Charli in the background, giggling. He has clearly been forced to spend time in a dress. Megan walks in, and looks twice at the sight she is faced with while laughing silently to herself.
We then cut to a cuddling session on the sofa, between Tyler and Megan. A long shot of Charli, as she walks in, is shown and we flick back to the cuddles on the sofa. Tyler moves from Megan and we return to Charli, who has walked out of the room and returned with crisps. This connotes the awkwardness of having a ghost around.
We then, finally, fade to a black screen where the title is revealed. The voice over takes over, declaring that the only way to find out what happens is to visit the cinema in the summer, 2010.

california sunshine and tennessee rain, i'm an east coast kid with a west coast way. i don't mind the weather, but i hate the way it has to change...

editing process.

In the ICT Suite we began our editing process. We copied all the files to the 'L' drive on the school computer, and were finally getting somewhere with editing.
We cut the clips, and gave them some sort of order, this also included adding some fades. Elizabeth had researched the music in romance comedies and had returned with a few possible tracks/sound effects. We used the track she found as it fitted well with the story, trailer and genre. This was laid over the top of the clips in school, at the party, the death and in the hospital. It will possibly be repeated throughout the trailer, and used as the main soundtrack. The party noise was added also, on top of the party scenes, obviously. This was various chatter, and a scream, cleverly, added as Charli dies.
We watched it back multiple times, and were happy with the results we gained today.

three whole words, and eight letters late, that would have worked on me yesterday. we're not the same, i wish that could change but it can't.

editing process.

Due to technical errors we had to move our film from the IT suite to A15, our old media room. The rest of our class are still in IT, but we have had difficulty every step of the way, and are just going to have to edit in our own time.
We recently found out that the sound didnt work, and we need to dub it. We don't have time to refilm, as our deadline is in a week, or so, and find that this is the only way to fix this problem.

i'm a little bit lost without you, and i'm a big mess inside.

editing process.

We captured the footage on Adobe Premiere Elements, and I managed to get the scenes, that we've filmed, in order. I cut down the shot of Charli on the floor and, afterwards, Elizabeth began editing the bedroom scene where Megan and Tyler are talking after the death of Charli.
Matt and I looked for music on freeplaymusic.com, and he came up with a couple of options, whereas I was unsuccessful. We were looking for romantic music, but fast tempo-ed because of the genre we are producing.

somehow you have managed to get under my skin more than anyone ever did.

shooting.

Thursday 3rd December.
We started shooting at Hayley's house, on Redcliffe Street, where we filmed the scene where Megan is outside of Tyler's house. This was filmed by a mid shot, from the side of her and then an over-the-shoulder as she is pulled in. He drags her inside the house, and she is then faced with Megan & Tyler. We filmed the interior scene at a different location, because the other house had a better suited entrance to the house.
We then filmed the scene where Megan is sat on the courseway outside Tyler's house, waiting for Charli and Tyler to reverse in the car to pick her up. The shot we used was a long shot, as the car reverses. This scene, we later found out in editing, was distorted due to the lack of light. This is down to the lack of sophisticated camera's we have the chance to use.
After changing location, now in Selston, we began shooting more scenes inside Wesley's house. We shot the scene after Megan has been dragged in, and the camera had a high amount of red to the shot, so it is possibly ruined and needs to be refilmed. It was a simple mid-shot, and contained all 3 main characters.
Filmed next was Charli on the floor, after falling from the tree and ending up dead. This was a short scene, filmed with a close up shot, which zooms out. We went straight onto Megan and Tyler consoling each other, next, over the death of their friend. Tyler then leaves in the morning and, seeing as these shots are shot in the same area of the house, it made sense to film them all at once. A variety of shots were filmed, to give us the choice in editing. We had a mid shot from the left, and another from the right.
Tyler is then in a dress, and this takes place in the bedroom also, when Megan walks in to find him. These shots were filmed within seconds of each other, for simplicity. A mid shot was used to show Tyler on the bed, in a dress, with Charli in the background as a ghost. This shows that she dressed him like that, as she is giggling at the thought of him in a dress.
In the house where we filmed, the sofa we were using was outside the bedroom we just filmed in, so it made sense to film on the sofa next. Megan and Tyler were on the sofa, as Charli walks in as a ghost. This was filmed with a mid-shot of the couple sat on the sofa, then an over-the-shoulder when Charli walks in, to see what she is doing.
Outside was the location for the next scenes, where we see Megan talking to a cat. This cat is a stuffed toy, because we didnt have a cat 'on tap'. A mid shot shows her talking to the cat, and then we decided to shoot the climbing of the tree.
This part was safe, as Charli didn't actually climb the tree. She reaches up to the cat, that was put in the tree, but is planted firmly on the ground. If she actually did climb, it would be a safety issue, and we would be, probably, breaking filming/safety rules.
In our film its only suggestive that Charli falls, so we used the camera and shook it a bit, to show she fell. In editing we will show Charli climbing the tree, and then the 'shaky' shot, and then her on the floor. This will hopefully be evidence enough that she fell, hard, while still not breaking any rules!

Friday 4th December

Today we went to Kingsway Church, in Kirkby, and filmed the wedding scene. This went fine, except the tape had an error. We shot the wedding, and got to filmed the part where Charli appeared, but unfortunately had technical issues, so will be filming it all again at a later date.

i only see my dreams in everything i touch. i feel their cold hands on everything that i love. cold like some magnificent skyline; out of my reach, but always in my eye line.

shooting schedule.

i'd rather sleep my whole life away than have you keep me from dreaming.

script: final.

The wedding scene fades in TYLER and MEGAN are walking down the aisle. SARAH follows behind.
SARAH V.O
My friends Tyler and Charli were the perfect couple, but their best friend Meg.... WAIT! This isn’t the right part. One second…

(After a moment’s silence, you hear the non diegetic sound of a tape recorder being pressed, and the whole trailer rewinds.)
SARAH V.O
Ah, here we go sorry, I’m new to this! Tyler and Charli are the perfect couple, but their best friend Meg... she doesn’t really get it.

INT. SCHOOL CORRIDOR - DAY.
TYLER and CHARLI are walking through the door into school, the colour is over exaggerated and pronounced to fool the audience into thinking this is a very happy occasion. The camera zooms out and as it does so, the colour fades and we see MEGAN sitting alone.
Fades to MEGAN outside TYLER’s house


EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT.
Megan is practicing his speech.
MEGAN
Jaime, will you come to the prom? Jaime, I love you, will you come to the prom with me? Jaime, I love you more than Brett does, come to the prom with me instead?

The door opens and reveals TYLER and he drags her in through the door


INT. HOUSE - NIGHT.
TYLER
Oh you’re finally here to help! Prom starts in half an hour!
as he’s being dragged in, fast cut to CHARLI and MEGAN are in TYLER’s room
CHARLI
What’re you doing here?

MEGAN looks uneasy and mumbles under his breath
MEGAN
Erm

CHARLI just laughs. Fast cut to...

EXT. PAVEMENT - NIGHT.
MEGAN sitting on the sidewalk looks at her watch, car reverses, and she gets in!

EXT. PARK - NIGHT.
Fade to MEGAN sitting alone on a bench talking to a cat about her problems.
MEGAN
I wish Tyler loved me, y’know like I love him? I’ve been his best friend for so long now and my feelings have changed. (The cat poops on her shoe and she sighs.) Nothing changes really, does it?

Fade to CHARLI climbing the tree to save the cat. Fast cut to CHARLI on the floor with blood surrounding her and people screaming.

INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM.
Jaime and Nathan are sitting in a waiting room and Jaime is crying on Nathan’s shoulder. She looks up and Nathan looks into her eyes, and in a long embrace they look like they’re going to kiss but a doctor appears with the news of Brett’s death.
DOCTOR
I’m very sorry to tell you this.... but Charli’s injuries were severe and she... she die.... (she shakes her head) She passed away. Ahem, sorry this is my first day.

TYLER and MEGAN cry. A lot.

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT.
TYLER and MEGAN are consoling each other on the bed. TYLER sweeps MEGAN’s hair back and wipes away her tear. They kiss.
TYLER
No... Mega..

MEGAN
I’m sorry... I.. I.. love you

Tyler takes a moment of deliberation and they begin kissing again.

INT. BEDROOM - MORNING.
Megan wakes up and sees Tyler leaving.
MEGAN
Tyler? What are you....

TYLER
I can’t do this, I’m sorry... I never should have... I...I

MEGAN
She was going to ask you to move in with her, Tyler. At prom, Tyler, she was going to ask you to move in.

TYLER stumbles back, haphazardly reaches for the door handle and runs out.
THREE YEARS LATER.

V.O TYLER
It’s been three years, Brad. I haven’t been since... she.. passed. Would you come with me?

SARAH
Like, who?!

TYLER sighs.
TYLER
Charli.. You know. My ex nearly housemate, best friend of the girl I slept with the day she died. Ring any bells for you?

SARAH
Oh... Erm yeah totally. Why haven’t you been since?

TYLER
I... don’t like the smell of graveyards.

Whilst this is being said, fade into the graveyard. TYLER and SARAH are walking toward the graves as you see a figure in the distance. TYLER recognises this as MEGAN, SARAH asks if it’s a ghost.
Fade out.

EXT. CHURCH - DAY.
MEGAN and TYLER are getting married.
PRIEST:
Do you, Tyler Gaylord Rodrigo Edwardo Constance Reeves take Megan Louise Harper to be your awful-ahem-lawful wedded wife?

CHARLI appears at the altar, between both of them; MEGAN sees this and looks visibly shaken.
MEGAN
No... I mean... Uh... Yeah... I mean uh

She stumbles back into SARAH.
SARAH
Hey, getoffame! Creep!

He slaps him. MEGAN runs towards CHARLI. TYLER, in a fit of psychotic rage begins to rip up her bouquet and uses it as confetti.
TYLER
I’m married! I’m married damnit. THROW CONFETTI. THROW CONFETTI OVER ME NOW.

SARAH throws confetti at her face. TYLER huffs a piece out of her hair.

V.O SARAH
There... was like totally a girl at the altar between you both... did you... not see her? She wasn’t even colour coordinated, wearing black to a wedding... is she like retarded or something?

V.O TYLER
There was a girl in black? Did she have glasses? Like, slightly wonky.. Looks like she’s had them for years?

V.O SARAH
Yeah, I bet they were from a charity box or something.

While all of this is happening MEGAN is with CHARLI. MEGAN gets really really angry at CHARLI, and begins to fight her. The camera zooms out and MEGAN is fighting thin air, CHARLI is only visible to MEGAN. The priest/doctor is now a passer by. MEGAN raises an eyebrow.
PRIEST/DOCTOR/PASSER-BY
I got fired. A lot.
CUT TO LATER IN SCENE - MEGAN is breathing heavily and she looks up at CHARLI scornfully.

MEGAN
Why are you back? Are you.. er... haunting me? I’ll go to confession, (She begins to shout the priest who passed by earlier) I’ll let go of my sins!!!!!!

CHARLI
Shut up.

MEGAN comes closer to CHARLI.
MEGAN
You stink.. like, actually the definition of stink.

CHARLI
I never got told how to use the shower, all those knobs and buttons. It’s so new age!

INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
TYLER and MEGAN are making out on the sofa, getting funky. CHARLI walks in and MEGAN becomes very uncomfortable.
CHARLI
(Laughing) Sorry.

She winks.
CHARLI reappears with popcorn and beer, MEGAN winces.
CHARLI, MEGAN, SARAH and TYLER are in a cinema, there is an empty space between TYLER and MEGAN, for the ghost CHARLI. TYLER is visibily agitated, he stands up.
TYLER
CHARLI, GET A LIFE... (He realises she is dead) Oh...errr.. STAY OUT OF MINE.


INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT.
Tyler is lying in bed, Megan walks in and sees he is wearing a dress. She opens her eyes wide and in the background we see CHARLI laughing.
V.O SARAH
How is he here? Is he ever going to go? Will Jaime and Nathan ever get married? Well, how the hell should I know? Go to the cinema, Fall 2010..

there is a beautiful ending but you're never gonna read the book. i know you won't.

filming x3.

On Wednesday 25th November, we went to Kingsway church to film the wedding scene. We had extra's in it as they just wanted to tag along, and the filming of it went well. Charlotte Cooper came to play the priest, and the passer-by.
We, firstly, filmed the fight scene between Charli & Megan up by the skip. This was done with 2 mid shots, then an over the shoulder which let the passer-by be in shot as she was talking. The 2nd mid shot was with my character out of shot, to show that nobody else could see the ghost.
The wedding shot was filmed with mid/long shots, and the ghost popping up behind the bride & groom. An over the shoulder shot from where the ghost appeared allows the audience to see the priest talking.

we have to stay alive, because we have to see how the story ends.

camera map: first draft

it's not perfect, and its nowhere near complete, but its the first draft.







love can mend your life, but love can break your heart.

storyboard: first draft.

half of my heart is a shot gun wedding to a bride with a paper ring, and half of my heart is the part of a man who's never truly loved anything.

filming x2.

Because of the script having to be changed, we have only filmed scenes without scripted lines. We went to Kingsway church, on the 20th of November, and filmed the fight between the two girls; Megan and Charli. We also filmed Megan throwing an invisible Charli into a skip. We later found out that the parts we filmed didn't have sound, and this will need to be refilmed at a later date. The alternative to refilming is to add audio on top of the clip during editing, so this is also an option if we run out of filming time.

how can i keep on driving when i left my heart with you?

script:first draft.

This is the first draft of the script we created, following the original storyline. This involves the characters of Lois, Nathan, Jaime and Brett. The script for the new trailer is still in production, and I will post it as soon as it is finished.

EXT. OUTSIDE CHURCH - DAY.
The wedding scene fades in NATHAN and JAIME are walking down the aisle. LOIS follows behind.

LOIS V.O
My friends Brett and Jaime were the perfect couple, but their best friend Nath.... WAIT! This isn’t the right part. One second…

After a moment’s silence, you hear the non diegetic sound of a tape recorder being pressed, and the whole trailer rewinds.

LOIS V.O
Ah, here we go sorry, I’m new to this! Brett and Jaime are the perfect couple, but their best friend Nathan... he doesn’t really get it.

INT. SCHOOL CORRIDOR - DAY.
BRETT and JAIME are walking through the door into school, the colour is over exaggerated and pronounced to fool the audience into thinking this is a very happy occasion. The camera zooms out and as it does so, the colour fades and we see NATHAN sitting alone.
Fades to NATHAN outside JAIME’s house


EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT.
Nathan is practicing his speech.

NATHAN
Jaime, will you come to the prom? Jaime, I love you, will you come to the prom with me? Jaime, I love you more than Brett does, come to the prom with me instead?

The door opens and reveals JAIME and she drags him in through the door


INT. HOUSE - NIGHT.

JAIME
Oh you’re finally here to help! Prom starts in half an hour!

as he’s being dragged in, fast cut to BRETT and NATHAN are in JAIME’s room

BRETT
What’re you doing here?

Nathan looks uneasy and mumbles under his breath

NATHAN
Erm

Brett just laughs. Fast cut to...

EXT. PAVEMENT - NIGHT.
Nathan sitting on the sidewalk looks at his watch, car reverses, and he gets in!

EXT. PARK - NIGHT.
Fade to Nathan sitting alone on a bench talking to a cat about his problems

NATHAN
I wish Jaime loved me, y’know like I loved her? I’ve been her best friend for so long now and my feelings have changed. (The cat poops on his shoe and he sighs. Nathan talks to himself.) Nothing changes really, does it?

Fade to Brett climbing the tree to save the cat. Fast cut to Brett on the floor with blood surrounding him and people screaming.

INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM.
Jaime and Nathan are sitting in a waiting room and Jaime is crying on Nathan’s shoulder. She looks up and Nathan looks into her eyes, and in a long embrace they look like they’re going to kiss but a doctor appears with the news of Brett’s death.

DOCTOR
I’m very sorry to tell you this.... but Brett’s injuries were severe and he... he die.... (she shakes her head)He passed away. Ahem, sorry this is my first day.

Jaime and Nathan cry. A lot.

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT.
Nathan and Jaime are consoling each other on the bed. Nathan sweeps Jaime’s hair back and wipes away her tear. They kiss.

JAIME
No... Nath

NATHAN
I’m sorry... I.. I.. love you

Jaime takes a moment of deliberation and they begin kissing again.

INT. BEDROOM - MORNING.
Nathan wakes up and sees Jaime leaving.

NATHAN
Jaime? What are you....

JAIME
I can’t do this, I’m sorry... I never should have... I...I

NATHAN
He was going to propose. At prom Jaime, he was going to propose to you.

Jaime stumbles back, haphazardly reaches for the door handle and runs out

THREE YEARS LATER.

V.O JAIME:
It’s been three years, Lois. I haven’t been since... he.. passed. Would you come with me?

LOIS:
Like, who?!

Jaime sighs.

JAIME:
Brett.. You know. My ex nearly fiancé, best friend of the guy I slept with the day he died. Ring any bells for you?

LOIS:
Oh... Erm yeah totally. Why haven’t you been since?

JAIME:
I... don’t like the smell of graveyards.

Whilst this is being said, fade into the graveyard. Jaime and Lois are walking toward the graves as you see a figure in the distance. Jaime recognises this as Nathan, Lois asks if it’s a ghost.
Fade out.

EXT. CHURCH - DAY.
Nathan and Jaime are getting married.

PRIEST:
Do you, Nathan Gaylord Rodrigo Edwardo Constance Reeves take Jaime Louise Harper to be your awful-ahem-lawful wedded wife?

Brett appears at the altar, between both of them; Nathan sees this and looks visibly shaken.

NATHAN:
No... I mean... Uh... Yeah... I mean uh

He stumbles back into Lois.

LOIS
Hey, getoffame! Creep!

She slaps him. Nathan runs towards Brett. Jaime, in a fit of psychotic rage begins to rip up her bouquet and uses it as confetti.

JAIME
I’m married! I’m married damnit. THROW CONFETTI. THROW CONFETTI OVER ME NOW.

Lois throws confetti at her face. Jaime huffs a piece out of her hair.

V.O LOIS
There... was like totally a dude at the altar between you both... did you... Not see him? He wasn’t even colour coordinated, wearing red to a wedding... Is he like retarded or something?

V.O JAIME
There was a guy in red? Did he have glasses? Like, slightly wonky.. Looks like he’s had them for years?

V.O LOIS
Yeah, I bet they were from a charity box or something.

While all of this is happening Nathan is with Brett. Nathan gets really really angry at Brett, and begins to fight him. The camera zooms out and Nathan is fighting thin air, he is only visible to Nathan. The priest/doctor is now a passer by. Nathan raises an eyebrow.

PRIEST/DOCTOR/PASSER-BY
I got fired. A lot.

CUT TO LATER IN SCENE
Nathan is breathing heavily and he looks up at Brett scornfully.

NATHAN
Why are you back? Are you.. er... haunting me? I’ll go to confession, (He begins to shout the priest who passed by earlier) I’ll let go of my sins!!!!!!

BRETT
Shut up.

Nathan comes closer to Brett.

NATHAN
You stink.. like, actually the definition of stink.

BRETT
I never got told how to use the shower, all those knobs and buttons. It’s so new age!

CUT.

INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
Nathan and Jaime are making out on the sofa, getting funky. Brett walks in and Nathan becomes very uncomfortable

BRETT
(Laughing) Sorry.

He winks.
CUT.
Brett re appears with popcorn and beer, Nathan winces.
CUT.
Brett, Nathan Lois and Jaime are in a cinema, there is an empty space between Jaime and Nathan, for the ghost Brett. Jaime is visibily agitated, she stands up.

JAIME
BRETT, GET A LIFE... (She realises he is dead) Oh...errr.. STAY OUT OF MINE.

CUT.

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT.
Nathan is lying in bed, Jaime walks in and sees he is wearing a dress. She opens her eyes wide and in the background we see Brett laughing.

V.O LOIS
How is he here? Is he ever going to go? Will Jaime and Nathan ever get married? Well, how the hell should I know? Go to the cinema, Fall 2010.

i watch the stars from my window sill, the whole world is moving and i'm standing still.

filming.

On the 17th, Matt and Rachel filmed the scene in the school corridor, where Tyler and Megan are waiting for news on Charli after her accident. I wasn't in school but, watching the footage back, it was really well shot, and it looks good! They used an over the shoulder shot, from behind Tyler, as the doctor delivered the line about Charli's death, then a midshot when they comfort each other. They didn't kiss, but it was suggested by the way they stare at each other. An awkward kiss wasn't filmed as the trailer will use jump cut's, extremely fast, and a trailer wouldn't give it all away.

Today we set up a classroom in sixth form, and filmed the scene where Tyler and Charli enter, holding hands, and ignore the fact that Megan is making herself look good to attract Tylers attention. When they ignore her, she snaps her mirror shut in anger. An over the shoulder shot was used as Charli and Tyler walked through the good, and a midshot used to show her disappointment as they walk past.
We weren't sure whether the microphone was working on the camera though, after playback, so we will need to check this next lesson and possibly refilm this scene at a later date.

time is like a bullet train running off the tracks and its never coming back, so let's grab it while we can.

location scouting

On the 13th of November, after I passed my driving test, we had a roadtrip around Selston and Kirkby to scout locations. We didn't stop off at any locations we picked, as there was nowhere to park, but we had an idea of the places. My house, in Sutton-in-Ashfield, is suitable for the driving part, and kingsway church looked fine for the wedding. The field on salmon road seemed awkward to get to, so this may be cut as a location later in filming.

Locations
First Scene - School Classroom
Wedding Scene – Kingsway Church
Tyler’s House – Hayley’s House
Driving Scene – Redcliffe Street
Hospital Scene – School Classroom/Corridor
Cinema Scene – Outside Odeon & then dark room.

Today we went back to Kingsway Church to take pictures of the area in which we plan to film, these are the ones we took.


The first picture is where we plan on having the ghost appear, in a circle of mushrooms which is special and out of the ordinary, just like ghosts.
The second picture is the church itself, where we plan on filming the wedding scene, and the third is the pathway which we will film some characters walking up, and down.

This final picture is the skip, obviously for flowers in the graveyard, which we plan on filming the 'catfight' near. As Megan loses her temper with the ghost of Charli, she throws her in the skip. This doesnt break any health & safety rules, as nobody will actually be picked up and thrown. Nobody else can see the ghost, so she's arguing and fighting with thin air.




you set me up to knock me down, and leave my shattered pieces on the ground.

update!

We had cast a boy to play Nathan but, due to difficulties, he cannot fulfill the part. This resulted in us changing the story, and the characters. Our original story was going to contain a couple, Jaime & Brett, the death of Brett, the romance between Jaime & Nathan, the wedding, the ghost, etc, but now we have changed Nathans character to Megan, Brett's to Charli, Jaime to Tyler and Lois to Brad. The gender has been switched because of the actors avaliable to us at this point in time.

The storyline is, now, Charli and Tyler are together, but Megan wants to be with Tyler. Charli dies at prom, and as she dies in hospital, Tyler and Megan end up together, after a long awaited romance blooms, spending the night together, and in the morning Megan tells Tyler that Charli was going to ask him to move in with her. They argue about this fact, and he leaves. A few years pass, and they meet at Charli's grave. In typical romantic comedy style, they fall in love all over again. As they get married Charli returns, from purgatory, to cause havoc.

i love you more than songs can say but i can't keep running after yesterday.

locations/costumes

Locations

First Scene - School Corridor
Wedding Scene – Kingsway Church
Jaime’s House – Hayley’s House
Driving Scene – Redcliffe Street
Hospital Scene – School Classroom/Corridor
Cinema Scene – Outside Odeon & then dark room.

Costumes

i'll admit, if you admit it, it's harder than we both thought.

history of rom-com trailers.

Coming To America - 1988.
- Male narrator with typical voice.
- Not cautious about using the word ‘black’ to define the colour of people.
- Less match on actions.
- Simple cuts.
- Queens English.

When Harry Met Sally - 1989.
- Text appeared first, before introduction of characters.
- No confusion, He is definitely Harry and her definitely Sally: Titles name them straight away.
- Simple music, tapping single keys on a piano/keyboard.
- Simple shots. Long, mid or close up.
- No snappy cuts, just simple cuts when a clip is finished.
- Lack of complication. - audience don’t have to think about anything.
- Possibly lack’s comedy. Not much, if any, is shown in the trailer.

As Good As It Gets - 1997.
- More of a theme tune.
- Male narrator.
- Immediate comedic line, runs all the way through too.
- Simple cuts, no nasty dissolving. Not fancy, but just fine.
- Hard to figure out what’s really going to happen.

Just Like Heaven - 2005.
- Girly music, with a male voice over.
- Simple, yet effective, soundtrack from beginning.
- Titles.
- Cut.
- More fading of text onto black background.
- Comedy runs throughout.
- Match on actions appear more often.
- Faster pace.
- Actual song in the trailer!

My Sassy Girl - 2008.
- Male narrator.
- More use of speech from the film, and match on action. - Speech becomes a diagetic voice over, and parallel action runs on screen.
- Perfect movie. I love it!
- Swipe from right to left moved time forward. - more daring?
- Music fits with trailer. When the

The Ugly Truth - 2009.
- Cuts, Fades.
- Comedy from beginning.
- Just generally better.

Stereotype hasn’t changed! Typical man & woman, fall in love, complication, reunite.

we used to think that it would be forever but we never thought forever would go this fast.

possible directors.

Potential Director : Garry Marshall.
Experienced with Romantic Comedy films such as: The Princess Diaries 1 & 2, Runaway Bride, Raising Helen, Beaches, Young Doctors in Love and Nothing in Common. He’s spent time on other movies too, even though they don’t fit into the Romantic Comedy genre, they still count as experience.
He’s written, produced, and starred in many movies, and is obviously a worthy director. This leads me to believe that he has many exceptionally developed skills to bring to the movie, and will understand the acting, writing and production as well as being the director of our movie.

Potential Director : Mike Nichols.
Not as much experience as Garry Marshall, but still extremely more experienced that me! He’s directed movies such as Harry Potter, which don’t fit our genre, and also Heartbreak Hotel, Closer and Heartburn which all fit into the Rom-Com genre.
He’s a recognised actor and producer also, leading me to believe that he, like Garry Marshall, would identify with my actors and the producer to create an amazing film.

These are the only two directors I found that fit well, and seemed like a good choice to direct our movie.

it is a bright moment there in the music, as light and rain collide above the stage. it feels like healing. it is certainly hope.