Group meeting 26/10/2009

Emily Potter and I, arranged a meeting in which to discuss our proposed ideas about our short film. I explained to emily about my idea to shoot a montage sequence of Beatrice trying to attract attention of the 'cool' guy she really fancies at the time. She liked the idea, however we have a new idea which we could possibly put in the scene, where she's so determained to get his attention, that she rings his mobile, after the phone conversation with her friends, she gets such a bad stutter as she doesn't know what to say, the phone call results in her embarrassing her self even more and hanging up very quickley without explanation.

Confused, the 'cool' guy attempts to ring her back to which catches her by total suprise and she ends up falling over in a very slapstick way, in the end she chooses to answer again and make up a very funny and over exaggerated story to why she called him in the first place to which, results in her embarrassing her self even more so.

We discussed the idea of cinematography and sound which would possibly be included within this scene, and i thought of the possible idea that we could subvert another genre into this scene, possibly some horror conventions. I feel this would add to the humour as she's fearing 'a phone call' since she's knows it's him and also it's not what the audience is expecting. I would use zoom ins, and non-diagetic sound onto the phone to give it a daunting and horror effect as well as low angles and high angles.

Analysis of another film clip involving a phone conversation

This is an example of how i want to edit my phone conversation between 3 / 4 friends, within my short film. I would like it 'split screened' as i think it's more comical and interesting to create however i still would like, like in this mean girls clip, to include the cross cutting edit feature like they included in the Sex and the City clip.

The cinematography

You only see a change within camera shots and movement when a character is having a conversation with another character over the phone. Since the screen is split into three sections initially, establishing the main characters having the first conversation and also establishing the main story behind this conversation, the director has to create some sort of attention to the characters who are speaking to one another so the audience does not become confused with which characters talking to which character. The cinematography starts with all the characters who are involved within this scene in a medium close up, as as soon as the first character begins to speak to another character on the phone, that character is then zoomed into a Close Up. Then as soon as the other character replies to that first character, again she is zoomed into a Close Up, same with the third character. It seems they do this to suggest the idea of they need to surround attention to the character talking, and the character reacting which is a strong us of cause and effect. The close ups identify the characters facial reaction thus the audience can connote that facial expression and identify with the emotion they are feeling at that time.

In these screen shots I have taken from the clip, you can roughly see the director takes close ups from the characters who are in mid-conversation with another character, and to see the characters facial reaction to what the other character is saying.

When 'Character 1' is in close up, she's explaining news to the blonde girl (Character 2) to the right of her over the phone. You can tell she's speaking to character 2 as there's a lot more movement and action taking place within her screen location, thus the director is forcing the audience to focus more attention to the right hand side of the screen. Character 1 is in close up, initially for the audience to see that she's talking

When the character 2 is shown in a close up, this is again, to show that character one is talking to her specifically, and also to show her reaction to the news in which character 1 is saying.

As character 4 enters the phone call to speak to character 2, character 3 is shown in a close up, which for the same reasons: to show the audience that she is specifically speaking so the audience don't become confused with which characters speaking to who, as also to show her personal reaction to the news shared within the phone call.

When character 4 has become involved with having a conversation with the others, she also, when talking or halfway through with being told some news is zoomed into a close up, this is for the same reasons as all the other girls are placed within a close up.

This is an interesting shot, as character 1, 2 and 3 all find out some certain news, however they can't inform character 4 of this. This personal secret is shown, by placing all these characters in close up leaving character 4 the odd one one. She's shown in medium long shot, which suggests the idea of her being far away from finding out this news in which all the other characters know about. By doing this you can see all of their reactions, and by this we can tell it's shocking news by connoting their facial expressions.

The characters are then edited out of the phone conversation, leaving just character 2 and character 4 in a confrontation. The characters are once again zoomed into a close up, which suggests the idea of a confrontation about to start and also to tell the audience it's a conversation between them two now, as the other characters have exited the scene. This also allows us to see their facial expressions up close as well as connote an emotion from these facial expressions in which they keep applying.

In conclusion, throughout this phone call only close ups and medium close ups / medium long shots are used, with no camera movement apart from at the beginning when the camera is panning and following character 2 as she picks up her telephone. It seems using simple repetitive cinematography adds to the humour of the concept as well as makes the audience become familiar in a short time with the characters who are speaking to which character, and with the narrative as well as it's nothing too challenging and creative which would make this scene ideal for the mainstream audience.

The sound

The sound within this clip varies. It's a clip which is determined on dialogue and diagetic sounds as it's moving onwards with the narrative. As we are introduced to the scene, there is slight non-diagetic soundtrack being played within the scene, however the music is light and suggests the genre to this film being a comedy. It starts the new scene off to a light and comedic start especially when the first shot of character 2, is looking, feeling and 'checking out' her bum in the mirror. Since the music seems very simple and light, it kind of introduces the characters characteristics of being kind of slow and not very smart, as ringing up other characters just to gossip and discuss negative news about their other friend 'character 4' suggests they don't take education or work very seriously, basically they don't have anything more worthwhile and better to be doing in their spare time. As soon as the news is broken to character 2 about what character 4 has said about her, the simple, light music suddenly stops, which suggests the idea of character 2 being in total shock and also angry. The pleasant music has stopped and replaced by only diagetic sounds, which like in sex and the city, suggests a personal moment for the characters as well as creates verisimilitude within the film.

Through out the scene, it is mostly dominated by diagetic sounds which contribute to the audience finding this highly edited scene easier to follow. The sound is usually created by cause and effect from one area of the split screen to another, such as 'beeping' from a telephone, to a phone 'ringing' in another area of a split screen and for that character to answer it. There's mostly dialogue within this scene as it's a conversation on a phone with friends, so this scene is dominated by the use of technology including beeping and ringing and dialogue.

Mise-en-scene within the film clip.

The first important thing to note, is the idea of the three girls, character 1, 2 and 3 who are all included with this 'secret' are speaking to each other in their bedrooms. The bedroom is usually a personal space for an individual, therefore by sharing this secret about what character 4 has said and done the location makes sense, as the bedroom is usually considered as a private and personal space for any individual, which means these three characters must trust on another. However, the only character who is not in their bedroom is character 4, whom all the other characters are negatively discussing therefore being left out of the important private and personal conversation. I really liked this idea of placing the three characters having the conversation within a bedroom with the fourth character being purposely left out of the conversation and the secrets, purposely being the odd one out of the group and not being allowed to enter there private and personal discussions.

The colour of the phones they are using are also a strong indentifier of the characters characteristics and also how they are acting and what place they are having within this conversation. Character 1's phone is red, this could suggest anger towards character 4 as character 1 is the one who's discussing and gossiping negative news about her. It suggests she really must hate character 4 with a passion and also connotes the idea of being revengeful.

The colour of character 2's phone is white. This suggests the idea of purity, calm and also it's a very simple colour which could suggest slowness and stupidity. The idea of this character not really wanting to be involved within this gossiping and secrets about character 4 fits well with the colour of the telephone she's using. This also reinstates the slowness and stupidity this girl has when she mistakes the character she's talking negatively about and resulting in talking negatively to the girl, she's talking and gossiping about.

Character 3 + 4 telephones are both black, this could suggest they are both very similar in how evil, mean and dark they are. These telephones connect both characters in a way, either they're playing each other at the same game or they have the both smart, evil ideas for something. Either way these telephones are a strong indication of these characters basic characteristics are deep down, which other characters may not realise. This links back with the idea of them having this phone conversation in their rooms, which is their personal and private space where they can really be who they are as in a bedroom, no one is watching. This is expanding on the idea of voyeuristic pleasure in which audience can get from films especially when it focuses on a private conversation in a girls room.

The idea of character 2 having blonde hair also reinstates the idea of this girl not being the smartest character in the world. As many associate blonde hair with dopey and stupid characters the director seems to have purposely support this stereotype in making a character like this. By using stereotypes it creates expectations for the audience therefore making it easy to realise the genre of being a romantic comedy / comedy. With the audience being able to expect certain characteristics from a character who looks a certain way, it enables the target audience to widen as it's not a film which needs a lot of thought, it's just a funny, feel good film.

The Editing.

This is a scene which is dependant on editing, as it's a phone call the editing needs to be perfect so the audience follows which characters talking to which. For this phone call, they've used split screen whereas in Sex and the City, they used a more complex edit for their phone conversation. I feel split screen is a good idea for a comedy and for a younger more mainstream audience as it's a lot more simple to follow the whole conversations amongst the character, as it seems more comedic for the audience as you can show characters doing funny things at the same time of the conversation. For example, as character four in in the conversation, she also seems to be comfort eating a large baguette which is very random and humorous. Also before character two answered the phone, we interrupted her feeling and looking at her bum in the mirror, which once again is a very random and humorous thing to see:

Also the positions of the characters within this conversations, where abouts they are on the screen is a strong indication to which type of character they really are. It seems like the two bottom girls are the sly, mean ones of the group who are basically on the same level, they may not like each other however, this may be because they are so alike and want the same things, to the the ringleader in the group.

The positions of the split screen also determine 'who's side they're on' when character one is telling character 2 they character 4 has been discussing negative and horrible things about her, which initially came out by character 3 discussing it firstly with character one. It seems they want to get character 2 on the left hand side of the screen to the 'good' group, however they don't realise character 3 is just on 'the same' level as character 4. it's shown in the editing and through the dialogue and narrative. When character 2 is finally told by character 1, how horrible and mean character 4 has been to her behind her back, characters 1 and 2 are pushed out of the conversation leaving characters 2 and 4 on the screen. It's interesting to note the edit places character 2 on the left hand side, which is where the other two girls where originally positioned.

Overall this has been a very positive clip to analyse, as this phone call has been edited a totally different way to how sex and the city was shown. The split screen i feel would be more appropriate for the kind of audience i would like to attract as the younger audience may find it easier to follow the idea of who is on the phone with who. Also we have to take no that the contrast between Sex and the City and this Mean Girls clip is strong, as in this clip there are 4 girls all included within the same conversation, whereas in Sex and the City it only includes 2 characters having a conversation. Within my short film, I'm interested to try out both editing techniques as well as the idea of location and props being used by the character and in the scene to identify my characters personal characteristics and possibly their goal from the phone call.

Analysis of Romantic Comedy Scene

This is a scene from the film 'Sex And The City' 2008 Directed by Michael Patrick King. This film sees four middle aged female characters all being best friends, helping each other through rough and hard times either with their relationships or work. It's mainly a film about friendship and romance which all four different characters each having their own personal ideology and personality. Sex And The City was originally a television series which ran for six years and consisted of ninety four episodes.

In this scene we see two main characters having a phone call with one another discussing marriage. From this clip using the mise-en-scene we find characteristics which clash within the two characters, Samantha Jones and Carrie Bradshaw.

The Cinematography

The cinematography starts the scene from Samantha reacting to a phone call from Carrie by using a high angle upon Samantha as she's walking up the stairs, which then converts to the oppositional character in a medium close up shot at eye level. Perhaps this is suggesting that Samantha will always be underneath Carrie for support, love and care, or perhaps it's suggesting the idea that Carrie is not going to back down about her decision to get married, even though it's bluntly clear Samantha doesn't agree with the idea.

The camera then tracks Samantha, following her into her office. The audience is now entering her world of work, this creates voyeuristic pleasure for the audience who are allowed to enter her private working life without an invitation.

The camera then shows both characters in an eye level medium close up, perhaps this is suggesting Samantha is on the same 'gossip' level as Carrie, now Carrie is about to tell her important news about her engagement. Mean while, the camera is contstantly tracking Carrie around a high fashion clothes store in medium close up, this again creates voyeuristic pleasure for the audience as the character 'does not know' the audience is listening in on a very personal phone call. As soon as Carrie declares the news 'Big and I, well... We've decided to get married' the camera tracking Carrie stops still, this may suggest Samantha will not take the news well and possibly be shocked.

When Samantha reacts to this news, she, like the camera did on Carrie, stops walking and just stands still. With Samantha's bad reaction to the news, the camera becomes closer to Carries face which may suggest the idea of this news being very personal and with the camera invading her personal space the audience are being 'drawn into' the story some more, they're being drawn into Carrie Bradshaw's personal problems and dilemma's. Once again this is giving the audience voyeuristic pleasure with being able to be 'face to face' with this characters personal problems and the character not even noticing. This shot also allows us to see her personal reaction to Samantha's sarcastic comment 'Oh, that's just... great!' in more detail than you would do if this was shot in a long shot.

The shot then goes back to Samantha, who is also being filmed in a Close Up, as she's trying to explain her 'view' on marriage. The shot allows the audience become close to this character, who at the time seems 'cold' and heartless to her friend. It allows the audience to see her in a different light and resulting in sympathising with Samantha and accepting her point of view on the subject.

The following shot is just after Samantha has put down the phone on Carrie, the camera goes from Close ups, to a long shot. This could possibly suggests Carrie at the moment is alone, and confused. She's positioned in the clothes shop to the far right, which may suggest some thing's missing from the left hand side. From her point of view her 'right hand man' is possibly missing, a.k.a Samantha.

The following shot is a pan arising to a close up of Carrie, who is at the cash desk of the fashion store. Perhaps the camera movement could reflect how Samantha is about come around and apologize to Carrie. From a shot which sees the iconic Chanel logo and designer sunglasses, to a close up of carries face could suggest Samantha's beginning to view the situation in a selfless, materialistic light and see it from Carries 'level' as the camera becomes eye level as it pans up onto Carrie.

The following shot sees Samantha apologizing whilst circling the room as the camera pans. This suggests Samantha is 'coming round' about the situation, how she's over the shock and is now being a friend about this situation. The camera on Samantha is a Medium Long Shot, which may suggest she's more alone then now her friend is engaged, which initially informs the audience on a personal level why she first reacted the way she did. As she's explaining why she reacted the way she did to Carrie, the camera becomes closer to the character by shooting her in Medium Close Up. This allows the audience to warm to the character, as she begins to show an emotion to the character Carrie, her best friend, as she's pleased and also obviously has an element of fear in her about loosing a best friend. The shot then captures Samantha in a medium long shot which suggests the idea of she's composed her self from any emotional feelings, and gets back to work. This suggests her character for being more of a working / laid back woman, rather than a marriage and family kind of woman.

As Samantha sits down on her chair, the camera become a high angle upon her. This once again suggests the idea that either she is beneath Carrie for emotional support as a loving friend, or the fact that she's not dominant in this situation for trying to make Carrie change her mind about the engagement. Where Carrie suggests the idea of Samantha possibly being her Bridesmaid there is a close up on Samantha as she strongly declines the idea, this again is drawing the audience into Samantha's 'world' and basically her 'ideology' thus drawing the audience into the story and characters lives.

A sound analysis of the scene

Diagetic sound is mostly dominant within this scene. Interestingly, the scene opens with a narration from the main character Carrie Bradshaw informing the audience on what is about to happen within the scene. It's obvious Samantha is in a rushed, busy work place as soon as she walks through the door as you can hear phones ringing and a people rushing around; both walking and talking. Throughout the conversation on the phone, you can hear the full conversation, the sound of one characters voice may be edited to make it sound like we're hearing their private and personal conversation.

The contrast between the places the characters are at the time is strong. Carrie's in this high fashion clothes store which supports the laid back, fun atmosphere by the upbeat, trendy music which is so softly played in the background of the store. Whereas the sound where Samantha is, is a lot more calm but with the stereotypical office sounds, printers and phones are 'beeping' and 'ringing' etc, which does suggest she's at work in an office.

There is a moment when Samantha puts the phone down on Carrie where we can hear traffic from outside the store. This suggests the idea of Carrie not being in the same mind and place as Samantha, as traffic suggests business, stress and fastness. These diagetic sounds could reflect how Carrie is thinking at the moment in time about her engagement being fast and stressful.

The only non-diagetic sound within this scene is the voice over narration from Carrie at the beginning of the scene. With no non-diagetic sound, this makes the scene seem much more personal for the audience. It also creates realism which adds to the voyeuristic feel for the audience, giving them a sense of watching the characters without them realising.

Mise- en- Scene Analysis of the scene

This scene is very dependant and dominant of the use of mise-en-scene, especially with the character performance and the props. The items placed in the scene are there to introduce the characters to the audience in more of a personal way, introducing the audience to these characters lives, not just their personal story's, especially focusing on Samantha Jones' characteristics.

The opening to the scene is when you see Samantha Jones walking up the stairs, in the background you can just make out her name in silver across the wall behind her. The whole layout of the place seems very sophisticated and expensive, this suggests the idea of this character being very self indulgent, materialistic, business woman. From a first glance we could possibly suggest that this character could be a selfish one in a way, not necessarily in a negative way but be a strong independent woman who doesn't see a husband or family as the most important thing in the world to look for, as she's happy with the status she has and her life. The costume suggests the idea of wealth, through the 'gold' skirt, and the rest of her outfit does not, in anyway look cheap. This backs up my estimations about the character being a strong independent materialistic women who likes to take care of herself.

This is where Carrie is having the conversation with Samantha Jones who is on the other end of the phone. This is a very interesting shot, as although she's in a high fashion clothes store when she's discussing her engagement with Samantha she is places next to a mirror, this results in there being a reflection of Carrie thus suggesting the idea of there being two sides to Carrie Bradshaw, possibly the idea that she likes the fashion world and to buy clothes for herself however but at the same time she is also a strong working woman, like Samantha. There is also another suggestion which we could suggest, and it's the idea of Samantha and her fiance are going to both be part of her life now hence the blue curtain behind carries reflection, could connote gender, in specifically Male, however with the clothes and the fun and enjoyment of the store also behind Carrie, this can suggest that Samantha will still be the large majority or Carrie's life, regardless of an engagement to her fiance. This idea can also be backed up with the idea Carrie is wearing a pink dress which can gender connote to the idea of her being female and the curtain behind her reflection in the mirror being a male character who's in her life at the moment.

As we follow Samantha into her offices, the Mise-en-scene is a strong identifier of her

characteristics which seem to dominate a

round men. However the same man which

is all over her work place, looks like a

young, well

groomed celebrity, hence the idea of his picture being the main images on the magazine's 'Los Angeles' and 'Entertainment.' This could suggest that her ideas are as suggest before, she's more interested in becoming successful in work than successful in having a conventional family involving children and a husband. It also draws the audience into her world, allowing them to personally see the area of work she works in, which seems to be involving the representing and management of models or actors, something within the media. The audience can sort of gather the characteristics of Samantha just through these images, which basically all connote sex, business and possibly partying and having a fun time.

As the conversation then reverses back to Carrie in the clothes store, and as she's about to break the news to Samantha about the engagement to her finance she's seen playing with a string on a dress worn by a mannequin. This could be an indication of Carrie knowing full well how Samantha will react to this news thus using the clothes as a way to comfort herself by touching and playing with it as she feels anxious and nervous about telling her. It seems to be away of fidgeting which we all do if we become nervous or anxious in one way or another. Carries dress is the colour pink, at this moment in time the Pink could connote how in love she is with this man she's engaged to.


This is another shot where the mise-en-scene of items within the scene strongly reflect Samantha's personality and the kind of woman she is. The idea of her wearing a white top and this reoccurring motif male model who is also wearing all white within the photograph behind her. It's interesting to note the idea of him wearing all white, and her only wearing half white and half gold. This can suggest the idea of her only dedicating half her life to him, whereas he's possibly willing to devote his all to her, the whites link both characters together in someway. However, this idea could be contrasted with the idea of the male character being 'a big part' in Samantha's life either through romance or work, or both!

This is once again a strong example of the director using mise-en-scene to introduce the kind of characer Samantha is. A strong business woman, as well as a character who likes young men, rather then becoming engaged and the idea of having a conventional family doesn't interest her, as she's too rapped up within her media business world involving young, good looking men.



The Editing
There is a lot of editing within the scene, basically because the both characters are having a phone conversation. This was an important clip to analyse because for my film production work i would like to start my scene off with a phone conversation between two people. The editing was cleverly done here, to not make it confusing for the audience which could have possibly happened. The director uses strong continuity in order for the audience not to become confused, he does this by instead of showing an eye-line match which is used within a face to face conversation in order to show the audience the other characters reactions, instead they use the sound from the conversation to cross cut, linking both different scenes in with the same phone call. Its dependant on smooth editing and cause and effects with the characters reactions so the audience are not to become confused with who the characters are actually talking to etc. There are lots of fast cuts within this scene which link in with the idea of both characters having a conversation with eachother over the phone.

Overall this was a very worthwhile scene to analyse basically due to the idea of taking inspiration from the editing which has been performed in this scene to make the phone call in my short film make as much sence using strong continuity editing and sound. The cleaver mise-en-scene to identify my character is definatley what i'll be using within my short film, as 3-5 minutes is not a long time for the audience to become engage and involved emotionally with the characters therefore by explaining their personality through the use of mise-en-scene, such as character performance, costume and scenery and props this is a strong way to persue the main goal in trapping in the audience to the story, and making them become emotionally involved within the characters. I also like the idea of using the mise-en-scene somehow to tell the audience how the characters are feeling deep down with the use of colours and character performance and props.

The synopsis of my film

The title of my film is called: 'The Drunken Mistake'

The film begins surrounding the life of the stereotypical 'nerd' Beatrice. She has a stable group of friends who are replicas of her complete ideology [names]. She decides to break free from this stereotype and attend a party which is hosted by the stereotypical 'cool' and 'popular' kids, [name] at her school. She decides to break her mould and dress how the 'popular kids' choose to dress, and goes to this party alone. Everyone is confused why she is there, rudely ignoring and pushing past her however, one popular boy [name] finds her interesting; they get talking and she experiences her first kiss. The trouble is, when she sees him at school the next Monday morning... he doesn't remember her, to which her friends call it 'A drunken mistake' on his behalf. For most of the remainder of the film, she spends all her energy and uses so much effort to gain his attention in someway or another: sabotaging 'popular girls' popularity and their 'beautiful' status and also, getting herself into humorous slapstick antics. Eventually she pushes her 'real' friends away to become closer to 'The popular boy' [name] and realises she's left with no 'real' friends at all. After the self realisation, she decides to stop 'all this madness' due to the fact she's 'becoming the type of girl' Beatrice and her friends hated at the beginning of the film. In the end Beatrice realises this guy isn't worth all this energy she's using on him and eventually realises she's in love with her best friend [name] and he's in love with her too, whilst she's been involved with this hurricane of emotion, she didn't stop to think who loves her the most. In the end they become together and end up living happily ever after.

Aims And Context

For my A2 Film Studies creative project I will work individually to create a short film of between 3 and 5 minutes. I aim for my production to be finished for Christmas 2009, with filming scheduled to begin end of November/ beginning of December. The sequence i will be filming will be including a narrative montage sequence as well as the main characters in deep conversation and also my sequence will include a maximum of 7 main characters, not including extras. I feel montage sequences will bring comedy to the film whereas the deep conversation would allow the audience to emotionally connect with the characters.

My target audience is focused to the mainstream: 16 - 24 year olds females, who don't have children. It's a romantic comedy which i would like to appeal to the even younger audience from 13 - 24 as it would most likely have a twelve certificate granted. The class which my film is targeting is: C1, C2, D and E mainly because i don't think the other social grades which consist of doctors and teachers will necessarily enjoy this film. I aim to attract this audience: C1: junior management, a C2 audience: skilled manual workers, social grade D: semi-skilled and un-skilled workers, and grade E: Unemployed. I feel this audience will have the time and humour to want to watch my film, i also feel they would have a sense of humour, and who also are able to understand and empathise with the main character. I am interested and influenced by the Director Jean Luc Goddard, and his emphasis with the camera focusing on one person, within a conversation as i feel this is strongly unconventional and powerful for the audience to digest. I am also going to use the conventions of the genre Romantic Comedy, as I am not producing my film part of a group, I will undertake all of the main roles including Director, Cinematographer and the Editor. After only using the editing software 'Adobe' a little, I feel I could benefit from a slight practice, however i feel comfortable being able to frame shots appropriately and confidently as well as use the camera to record as well as use the camera's accessories, such as Tri-pod as i used these within my AS year in Film and Media studies.