Animatic Storyboard

For our animatic storyboard we simply took still images of shots from our storyboard. This gave us an indication to what our actual film would look like. By adding sound and having the pictures on screen for the right time we were able to see get the jist of the film. This was a helpful task as it prepared us for our final filming and gave us visions of what we could make.

The sound we have chosen for our animatic storyboard was suited to the genre of our film. We chose a music piece that is lively and up-tempo to reflect the comical mood of the film. The music is slightly rocky and energetic, avoiding low-tempo and slow music. This was done to avoid setting the wrong atmosphere, and alternatively sets a cheery and optimistic mood for the audience.


Scott Collins
Emily Wallace

Film Opening - Final Script

 

We chose not to make any changes to our initial script, and published it as our final script. We decided to do this as there is only one line of dialogue throughout the entire opening and we intend to keep it for our final filming. We chose not to add any additional dialogue as we felt it was unnecessary for our characters to speak as they are each seen on their own, individually preparing for school.

Devon Dalton

Opening Storyboard

As a group we created a storyboard for our film opening. To do this, we used post-its and created a rough storyboard without a lot of detail. This was the hardest part as we had to come up with exactly what we wanted our opening to be like. These are pictures from our rough storyboard:

This is the storyboard we created:

Charlotte Morrison

Emily Wallace

Feedback of Initial/Rough Storyboard and Script

On our initial storyboard we have a scene of Stacey followed by a split screen of her and Bob. Then it's followed by a clip of Tom and a three way split screen of Stacey, Bob and Tom. This then was followed by a scene of Stuart and, finally, a four way spilt screen of all four characters. Feedback suggested this would work much better if we had a shot of Stacey then straight to the two way split screen, followed by the three then the four with no clips in-between to make it less confusing. This four way split screen will be followed by the clips of each character we initially planned on having between each split screen.

When we first meet Bob he is asleep on his keyboard with a gaming mic on his head and woken by dialogue through the mic. However, we realised after asking feedback from others that the non-diegetic music will be too loud for the quiet dialogue to be heard as we want them to realise it's coming through the mic. To fix this problem, the non-diegetic music will become quieter during Bob's scene so that the dialogue can be clearly heard.

Feedback of Final Storyboard and Script

There was little negative feedback for our final storyboard. They loved the split screen idea, gained a good understanding of each character and thought the small amount of dialogue was effective. However, they queried if the title should come up once the characters are seen closing their doors or after the sandwich is thrown at Bob's head (original timing). This query has not yet been resolved as we are still debating when the opening should end.

Scott Collins

Film Opening Credits Timings

To help us with our opening titles, we looked at the opening of Step Brothers to get inspiriation. By listing the order and how they are presented, we can learn what makes an effective opening title sequence for the comedy genre.

Step Brothers Opening Scene

Step Brother Titles (in seconds)
3-5         COLUMBIA PICTURES          presents. Mainstream institution
6-8         RELATIVITY MEDIA              in association with
10-11     APATOW COMPANY/ MOSAIC MEDIA GROUP             an...production
12-14     GARY SANCHEZ             a...production
15-18     ADAM MCKAY             a film by
LONG GAP TO INTRODUCES CHARACTERS
28-29     WILL FARRELL            actors name, main
30-32     JOHN C. REILY             actors name, main
37-39     RICHARD JENKINS             actors name
43-46     MARY STEENBURG            actors name
54-56     ADAM SCOTT                      actors name
100-101 KATHYRN HAHN            actors name
103-105 ANDREA SAVAGE     ROB RIGGLE 2             actors name
111-114 ALLISON JONES             casting
116-119 SUSAN MATHESON       costume design
120-123 HAL WILLNER                 music

After looking at this opening our group was able to create a time line of titles for our own opening. This is our time line. We had to include:

A mainstream institution

A smaller company

Producer x2

Writer

Actors names

Costume

Casting

Music

These are pictures we include on our storyboard. The storyboard was made before we came up with the timeline so some things have been changed due to reflection and feedback from others. This will help us to see when we need to add titles and how long they should be on screen for.

Our Mainstream Instituion name appears at 1 second, and will always come first in a mainstream film. This shot will last 3 seconds. As a group we have decided to add in another shot here of our second company; this will come in at 5 seconds and last for 2 seconds.

This is where the first producing name comes in. It will come in at 8seconds last about 5 seconds, to give enough time to read but also enough to appear on and off screen.

This was going to be when the first actor's name appears but we decided the timings would be uneven if we were to place it here.

The first, main actor's name comes in at 35 seconds. This shows we've left a large gap to let the audience get comfortable with what's going on in the sequence. This lasts for a short 2/3 seconds, as will the rest of the actors names

The next main actor's name comes in at 38 seconds and lasts for only 2/3seconds.

Another main actor's name comes in at 41seconds and lasts 2/3seconds

The last name of the main actors comes in at 44 seconds and lasts for 2/3 seconds.

We were also going to include some titles here int he splitscreen but we decided this would be to much as there was enough going on already.

Instead, we are going to included the costume designers, make-up, casting and music when the characters are coming out of the doors. These shots are all equal and therefore the titles will be the same length as each other.

1st: Costume Designers comes in at 55 and finishes at 57

2nd: Make-up comes in at 58 and finishes at 60

3rd: Casting comes in at 61 and finishes at 63

4th: Music comes in at 64 and finishes at 66

Finally the title of the film will come in at the end. This isn't what happens in normal film openings but throughout the research of different films openings we have found comedy titles often come in at the end of the  sequence. At 73 seconds, the main titles comes in and the camera then pans down before the title disapears after 5seconds.

Emily Wallace

Final Character Costumes

Stuart's Final Costume

Stuarts costume matched the one designed for him in every way but one. His footwear was intended to be either formal black shoes or converses. Though not necessary apparent within the final costume photograph Stuart actually has black boots. His jeans cover the head of the boots making them seem to be black formal shoes, such as we desired. The reason Stuart’s footwear was changed was simply due to the fact we couldn’t find the desired look in the correct sizes leading us to find the alternative solution.

Bob's Final Costume

Bob’s outfit was perfect apart from a small minute colour changes to his costume. The shoes we desired was an almost violet green, however, like Stuart we had to change these due to not being able to find violet green ‘DC’ trainers. Luckily Bob had some ‘DC’ trainers already leading us to conclude the best costume would be for a colour change of his shoes. Also at the time of filming Bob has a bandaged finger due to an operation. This unplanned prop helped Bob’s costume as it stood out and could be connoted as him having medical problems, something stereotypically link with geek culture.

Stacey's Final Costume

Stacey’s outfit had several big changes from the draft plan, especially regarding her footwear. The pink vest we desired her to have turned into a long sleeve pink shirt. The reason for this changed was due to not being able to find a pink vest that fitted our actor Paige leading us to find the nearest match possible.  The pink shirt still worked however as it clearly still shows her figure.  She wore the jeans we intended and bracelets we wanted. Stacey's shoes were intended to be pink high hills. However, due to her feet being out of the frame we allowed the actress to wear plain black plimsolls as she felt more comfortable and confident with them.

Tom's Final Costume

  Tom has the most changes made to his costume, making his draft costume set seem pointless. However, we kept the small details such as the black fingerless gloves (though not shown on his initial outfit drawing) what connotes he has no fashion sense. We also kept the white socks connoting the same thing. The actor Harry supplied ‘Nike’ trainers that fitted Tom’s look. Harry also supplied us with jeans to small for him making it easier to tuck the socks around the jeans bottoms. However, we did not have a ‘superman’ belt or shirt. We decided due to the fact Tom would be wearing a purple hoody over his shirt there was no need for us searching for one. Following this idea through we had Tom wear a tight purple shirt that reads ‘I’M IN MIAMI BITCH’ as it isn’t just humorous but also nerdy. To solve the belt dilemma we had Tom wear a batman belt as all we wanted to connote to the audience is that he’s a superhero fan, not just a superman one.



Character Costumes

As there were four different characters in our piece and four people in our group, we decided to spilt the characters up equally and create a costume for our given character using our character profiles. We also decided that we would draw their costumes to show our thought processes and then look online and in magazines to find items similar to the ones we had drawn.

Stuart's Costume: Stuart is the nerdy one out of the group. We want to give this impression just from first glances. Stuart is seen already dressed for school meaning he has no other outfit for when he wakes. He has a checkered shirt tucked into a plain belt connoting he is almost a business man in his attitudes and that he’s mature. However, no business man would wear a checkered shirt to work and instead shows Stuart's youth. He is wearing smart trousers which could be mistaken for school trousers. These match his formal black shoes, though we are debating if he should wear converses instead. We will test both kinds of footwear and choose the better result. Also, Stuart will be wearing a digital watch which can be seen as childish. This feeds the auidence through the enigma code that perhaps Stuart still hasn’t grown up despite his best efforts to show this through his outfit. (Created by Emily Wallace and Scott Collins) 

Bob's Costume: It polite terms we intend Bob to be the larger one of the group as sterotypically all geeky groups seem to have this member. We will make sure we get this character during auiditon process and we will also think about his outfit during these vital stages of picking our 'Bob'.  This means we need a geeky outfit for a wider person instead of skinny jeans or school trousers like the other two geeks. This results in baggy jeans; plimsols, converses and smart shoes wont fit with these jeans so instead, Bob will wear DC trainers as they're comfortable and will match with the baggy jeans. We want it apprent that Bob truly isnt too fussed with his appearnce.  This will be connoted by a plain black buttoned shirt, slightly tight, showing he has no fashion sesne and takes little pride in his appearance. This, if not already apparant, will feed the enigma code to the auidence that Bob doesn’t do well with the ladies. To allow the viewer to get a better understaning of Bob he will have an ‘ACDC’wristband connoting that he is a rocker or atleast favours the rock brand of music. Also, Bob is first met in boxers and a plain white shirt before getting changed. This is so that Bob's jeans can slip down slightly revealing that he hasn’t changed his boxers for the new morning connoting he is a bit of a dirty slob. (Created by Emily Wallace and Scott Collins)

Tom's Costume: The character of Tom loves comics and the colour purple, so we have incorporated this into his costume. However, to make him look like more of an outcast, Tom will wear jeans that are slightly too short due to his height, clean, white socks to show he's a "momma's boy" and Nike trainers with the laces done up to show that his attempts to look cool aren't very successful. Also though not shown on this picture Tom will wear fingerless gloves to help feed the auidence through another enigma code that he has no fashion sense and finds the 'un cool' cool. (Created by Charlotte Morrison)

Stacey's Costume: Stacey's costume mainly consists of pink and dainty items that cater to her feminine side. Her costume is used as a mask to hide her true identity, and therefore means that she needs to fit the part of the popular cheerleader role. To achieve this, we ensured that she wore some time of pink top. A simple pink vest shows that she is feminine and also reveals her lean body figure. This helps her appear more attractive and gives the viewer the impression that she is a 'Barbie' figure. On the bottom half, she will be wearing skinny or slim-fit jeans, or a form of jeggings. This is also used to compliment her body form and shows that she has a stylish fashion sense, boosting her popular reputation. She will also wear either pink stiletto heels as they are dressy and show that she enjoys to dress up. Small pink accessories, such as a flowery hair accessory or necklace, will also be used to show her femininity and her 'beauty'. (Created by Devon Dalton)

Character Profiles

We have created character profiles for our 4 main characters who will be starring in our film. The purpose of this was to distinguish each character's personality and to assign each one a set identity, allowing us to use our imagination in how we will portray each character to our audience.

Each character comes with a name, a role in the film, an age, hobbies, likes, dislikes and a short description about them.

Devon Dalton

Scene By Scene Walkthrough of the Film

• Opening

• The three geeks are talking in the college canteen. Stacey walks in and the three boys gaze at her; all very jaw dropped.  This leads to a conversation and the competition who can win her heart is formed.

• Bob goes home and researches how to chat up girls on his computer.

• Stu asks his Dad for advice on girls. However, his Dad is a very feminine fashion designer.

• Tom is seen trying on lots of outfits, attempting to look sexy. A fade to black signifies the end of the scene and, more importantly, the end of the day.

•  The scene and new day begins with the sound of the school bell ringing and Bob walking up to Stacey in the canteen. He attempts to start a conversation using a series of corny chat up lines such as ‘can I take your picture? So Santa knows what I want for Christmas’. Eventually, Stacey walks away from him without a word.

• In maths, Stu sits behind Stacey. Out loud (seeming not to be aimed in her direction) he starts reading poems. She turns around but not before she throws insults in his direction.

• Tom walks into Stacey by ‘accident’ in the corridors, dressed as a chav. She giggles a bit before walking off with her girl friends. Tom, shocked by the slightest bit of interaction, doesn't see the real chavs approaching who bin him face first.

• The three lads are seen at Tom’s house watching Jeremy Kyle and agree to cancel the competition.

• Next day in the canteen, Bob approaches Stacey and apologizes for his actions. He explains to Stacey he’s a geek who likes W.O.W. (World Of Warcraft). Suddenly, Stacey begins to speak 'Elven' (language on WOW) to Bob and he is gob-smacked. She walks away once again, but this time a grin planted upon her face.

• Stu is behind Stacey once again. She turns around, saying ‘no more poems?’ giggling to herself. He ignores the remark and carries on reading his book. She then notices he’s reading 'Alexander the Great' and his conquest to India. She starts discussing the battle of the two rivers to him and he is impressed with her knowledge.

• Tom bumps into her again, but this time it genuinely is by accident. She then sees he has a comic book t-shirt on and looks around suspiciously, seeing if any of her friends are nearby. She then undoes her jumper zip and reveals she is also wearing one on. Their eyes meet and he asks her out. She agrees on the condition it’s kept a secret.

• On the date, Tom and Stacey are watching the new Spiderman film and he attempts the cheesy 'yawn-arm-around-her' trick as she gently presses his thigh, smiling.

• When walking home, they kiss. Unfortunately, Stu and Bob see this as it was filmed by a few popular chavs on their phones.

• In the canteen, the two other geeks fall out with Tom and Tom becomes popular and begins to sit with the Stacy and the chavs.

• Tom goes up to Stacey and tries to kiss her once again. She avoids the kiss and tells him ‘no’. He is confused and she explains she liked him for being who he was and she disagrees with his actions of abandoning his friends.

• Now everyone realizes Stacey is a geek as she hangs out with Stu and Bob. She revamps her room into a geeky haven, which is shown through a montage.

• Stacey is seen in P.E. getting bullied and teased by her old ‘friends’ now she’s a geek.

• In the canteen, the chavs force Bob to race for sports day (his worst nightmare) and threaten to beat him if he doesn't.

• A montage of Bob training for the race with Stu and Stacey is shown, and Stu is utterly awful.

• It's sports day and as Bob is running, everyone laughs at him for coming last in the race. Tom runs out into the field and rugby tackles the chav ringleader, allowing Bob to finish second from last and saving him from his embarrassment.

• Tom rejoins the group and the scene ends with the three geeks happily getting dumped in the bin, united as best friends again.

Scott Collins

Target Audience Profile

As a comedy with common themes seen frequently in mainstream film, we have chosen a mass target audience of teens and young adults, specifically the demographic groupings of D, E and perhaps C2 as these include mainly students, unskilled workers and 'mainstreamers' that fit our 15 certification. This audience is more likely to be able to identify with the characters in our film and the situation they're in, making it more enjoyable. Our film will be using the Hypodermic Needle theory as our film is for entertainment purposes; a film for the audience to enjoy and take it as it is. The film is also aimed at both sexes though the main characters include 3 males and a female though these vary from protagonists to opponent allies. Though stereotypes are key for our film, we will ensure that both genders are represented equally.

Emily Wallace

Stereotypical Geeks in Film

Since teenage geeks are the main characters for our comedy opening, we needed to research into geeky characters seen in other films to find out how they are portrayed. By doing so, this will enable us to create original stereotypical representations of the geeks. Films that include geeks will often have aspects of verisimilitude and social realism in order for the audience to identity with the characters and be entertained by the film. Films that have geeky characters also tend to use the Hypodermic Needle Theory in which all the information that audience needs is displayed on screen and so the characterisation and signifiers need to be present in each geeky character. When deciding costume and casting for our geeks, we will bare in mind what will need to be shown to the audience.

Likes/Dislikes

There are many versions of the stereotypical geek but they will nearly always have a particular interest in which they will have extensive knowledge. Whether this be a school subject or a specific hobby, person or game, a geek will be able to give information to those who may find it useless. Typically, a geek will also be quick at maths and science and have a knack for using technology. A computer geek will, obviously, take an interest in computers, games and internet sites which usually stem their social life away from school. Geeks tend to either idolise the popular kids despite the bullying they may receive or resent them for it. A majority of geeky characters also dislike mainstream media, preferring to surround themselves in different things.

Appearance

Stereotypically, a teenage geek will wear glasses, have bad skin and maybe have braces. They will also wear unfashionable clothes, usually look as smart as they possibly can and maybe wear items that are too small for them connoting a poorer background. Their hair is not dyed and perhaps greasy, short or tied back and a female geek will not usually wear makeup. A geek will also be prepared for school with the props in their bag, wear a watch and may have an allergy to a specific food or need to carry an inhaler in their pocket. Geeks may also be overweight, tall and lanky or short. A good example of a geeky stereotypically dressed geek is 'Napoleon' from Napoleon Dynamite (2004).

Roles/Characters
A geek will usually be a protagonist, minor role used as an extra for an antagonist character to exert their dominance on or, in contrast, be the main protagonist in which the audience will typically follow them through a journey or struggle for social status at school. Also, when a geek encounters interaction with other characters in a film, it will tend to be positive between other geeky friends and family and negative between geeks and a popular kid or someone with a higher social position.

A film that has appeared throughout our research of the comedy genre with similar themes to ours has been Superbad (2007). They have resembling characters making it easy to take inspiration from them but we must be careful not to copy these characters as we want to be original in our opening.

Charlotte Morrison

Stereotypical Popular Girls in Films

A female antagonist ally will also be one of the main characters for our film and this is the popular girl, Stacey. In order to portray the right type of character and to give off the right image, we needed to research into other films with popular female characters to see how they are portrayed. Like the geeks, this research will enable us to create an original character without coping them from films we have looked at. Characters of popular girls will also have aspects of verisimilitude and social realism in order for the audience to identify with her character and, like geeks again, will be used in films used for entertainment purposes and do not require much deciphering. However, since we have decided to include a hidden, geeky side to Stacey's character, we will need to use the mise en scene such, as props, to portray this hidden side through the enigma code. We will ensure that the signifiers we use will make the audience as the right questions about Stacey's character.


Likes/Dislikes

A topic that appears regularly throughout films with popular girls is boys. Whether they have an obsession with trying to win their crush over or improve their image to impress him, boys will be mentioned in one form or another. As a result of this, the plot tends to be centred around this. Popular girls also appear to like stereotypically 'female' things, such as the colour pink, gossip, cute animals, hair and makeup, etc. If they do any sport, it will be something competitive such as cheerleading and gymnastics to assert her dominance and impress others. They may also have a problem with eating and body image though these issues are tackled lightly in the comedy genre to keep the light atmosphere. Typically, a popular girl will not like anything different to keep with their popular persona and will not mix with those who do. They will also usually be squeamish and emotional, taking a dislike to stereotypical fears such as spiders or insects.

Appearance

The popular female characters tend to be seen in films as slim with perfect skin, usually with make up, fake nails and thick hair that's placed exactly where they want it. They also wear a lot of bright colours and pink (since it tends to be their favourite colour) as well as designer clothing and accessories connoting wealth and the stereotypical 'daddy's girl' persona. They're also more likely to wear heels and unsuitable shoes to school, short skirts and low cut tops. A good example of this is the character 'Shapay' from High School Musical (2006).


Roles/Characters
The popular girl is also known in films as the 'bitch' and often bullies and victimises other girls at school for not being like her. She has a close circle of friends who are similar in personality and they tend to rule the school. Popular females are also usually cheerleaders or athletes in one form to show their strength and dominance over others. There are rarely any variations of these characters, though some may turn against their friends and become opponent allies.


An example of popular girls are the characters of 'Cady', 'Regina', 'Gretchen', 'Karen' and 'Janis' from Mean Girls (2004). They're the sterotypical characters we'll take inspiration from when creating the character and costume for the character of 'Stacey' but we will be aware not to copy them.

 Charlotte Morrison

Choosing Our Genre

As a group, we have decided to make a film within the comedy genre. This is quite a difficult task as the opening has to inform the audience that the film will be comical, represent our chosen genre and appeal to a wide range of audiences. It is also important that the sense of humour used in the film is quite general to ensure that the film is actually humourous.

We have chosen comedy because we already had a target audience in mind and, as most of the ideas of our peers were thrillers and horrors. We wanted to try and create something different, distinctive and unique. We wanted to aim our film at an audience relevant to our age and as comedy films are generally popular among our age generation.

Our target audience is 15-21 years (the lower demographic groupings). From the collected results of our questionnaires and being familiar with people of our age, we decided comedy was most suitable. At first we decided to create a black comedy, but after researching into this sub-genre, we found that although it would be unique, it would be difficult to create a dark and humourous film without causing offence. It would also make it harder to aim our film at a mainstream audience.

Scott Collins

Mood Board

Together our group create a mood board to express the idea behind the comedy genre. This would help us create our final film brief. As our group didn't know where our film was heading, the research was important to us as we knew it would help us be more organised in creating an effective final piece.

To create the mood board, we each went off and collected important quotes, definitions, pictures and actors. We then merged all of the research together to create a more intricate and thoughtful mood board.

This is the mood board we created, with some close up pictures of important information to our group.

Whole Group

Genre/Film Spider Diagram

During the creating of our storyline, we produced a spider diagram on film ideas to expand on our thoughts. We have commented on titles, mise en scene, sound, characters, themes and audience.

This was useful to our group as it encouraged and sparked new ideas that will contribute towards our final opening, and create a more effective film opening sequence.

Ideas: Whole Group

Post: Devon Dalton

Film Certification

As a group, we have decided that we are going to certify our film as age 15. We decided that this certification is appropriate because our film may contain strong language, few (if any) references to drugs and sexual references.

Our film does not classify as a 12A as the strong language may be frequent, and an 18 certification is also inappropriate as hard drugs and strong sexual references will not be used.


We also chose this certification as other comedy films with a similar comedy style also have this certification, such as Superbad (2007), Role Models (2008) and Kick-Ass (2010). Along with being certified as 15, these films also contain a similar amount of sexual reference, drug reference and strong language.

Devon Dalton

Notes and Ideas on Audiences

1. How are other films in your chosen genre certified?

To help our group find out about different certificates, we looked into the top ten films in our chosen genre and what they were certified as (IMDB).

1. Due Date                                 15 
2.  No Strings Attached                 15
3. The Green Hornet                    12A
4. Red                                        12A
5. Love and Other Drugs                15
6. Tangled                                   PG
7. Just Go With It                         TBC
8. It's Kind of a Funny Story           12A
9.The Dilemma                             12A
10. Life as We Know It                  12A

Looking at these results and thinking about our thoughts on the storyline, we have decided to give our film a certificate rating of 15.

2. Who does your genre target?

Our chosen genre targets a wide range of people, particularly aiming at young adults and teenagers. We found this by collecting data from questionnaires and looking at our mood board. Because so many actors are aged under 30 and as the audience like to identify with the characters in the film, we assumed that our target audience would relate to popular films of now.

3. What demographic groups are you going to target?

There are 6 different demographic groups that our film could be aimed at as our genre is light hearted, sometimes not serious and can be unintelligent at times. By looking and comparing the 6 different groups, we decided to aim our film specifically at group E and partly group D. This is because group E is more likely to include the younger teenagers of our target audience and group D is the group most likely wanting entertainment and relief from life that is humorous and different.

D - Semi-skilled and unskilled. Blue collar workers

E - Unemployed, students and pensioners

4. What audience theories may you apply to your film and its genre?

Audience feedback suggests that people watch comedy films just to be humoured; this is called the hypodermic needle theory. Another theory is called the uses and gratifications theory what states that audiences may see films for four different reasons, entertainment, personal relationships/social insight, personal identity, information. I agree with the first three for comedy films as audience feedback suggests they want to be entertained without having to think in detail. They want to see how someone elses life is and feedback also suggested from statements such as 'i want to learn their jokes' that the audience member wants to be more like the comedian/actor from the film. The opening of comedy films often feeds the audience information about the character using an enigma code, for example 'superbad' showed us that the two characters were obviously close friends shown by their foolish dancing with one another.

5. What hobbies might your audience members have?

Audience members who go watch comedy's wont necessary need a hobbie related to the film to watch it. They may however be like the characters on screen for example, someone who does weed may watch 'Pinapple express' as the whole film is based around weed.

6. What rating would your film get in the UK?

Film ratings in the UK are done by the 'Britians Board Film Classification' known as the BBFC. They will give a film its rating though the local council of each town/city have the right to change the rating in their cinemas if they see fit. The BBFC rate films by several categories but the ones we have to consider for our film is drugs, imitable behaviour, language, nudity and sex. Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail is the 12A rating for drugs. This is more linked to our film as it will only briefly touch upon the topic of drugs. Imitable behaviour should not dwell on detail, meaning if someone does something foolish it should not go into to much detail, this is a 12A briefing and once again applies to our film. Our group debated whether the film would show brief discreet nudity (12A) or nudity but not in strong detail. Our film is not based around sex what brought us to the conclusion to take the discreet nudity path (12A). Sex is briefly and discreetly portrayed, our movie may include a brief sex scene making this section fit also in the 12A category. Finally, language within our film will involve strong language frequently making this category a 15 and the overall rating for the movie a 15.

7. What other media works does this audience consume regularly?

As a predominantly young, mass audience, the media they consume is likely to be mainstream. This may include reality TV shows or soap operas, using popular social websites such as Facebook, listening to popular radio stations such as Kiss 100 and modern artists such as Lady Gaga or Take That.

8. What comparable media works does your average audience member like/dislike?

Adults and teenagers are our target audience who tend to enjoy television medias of verisimilitude and social realism as they can identify with the characters and situations they are in. They also tend to enjoy mainstream music and will immerse themselves in popular artists and bands as well as the lives of others through magazines and newspapers (of a relatively low reading age such as the Sun or The Mirror). Our mass audience consumes media as entertainment and to gain information about the lives of others but not necessarily to educate themselves. They will most likely not enjoy educational, historical media or politics and not often broaden to wider media of niche audiences.  

9. What comparable films has your average audience member seen?

An average member of our target audience would have most likely seen films with  plots following the struggle of the main character(s) and films that include adult themes of teenage struggles, work or school, sex, drugs and relationships. These are common elements in present comedies and are easy to manipulate through irony or sarcasm to create humour. Our audience will have seen films such as Superbad (2007), Role Models (2008) or Due Date (2010) which all include at least one of these themes. 

10. Where would your average audience member shop for clothes?
Our average audience member would be from a youthful generation, and would most likely purchase clothing from young-fashioned shops such as Republic, Blue Inc, Topshop/Topman, etc. As our genre would also attract a certain type of 'film fanatic', they may also buy film and TV quote relevant clothing from stores such as HMV, or order shirts with humourous quotes or slogans from online sellers such as eBay.

11. In what magazines and on what websites would you advertise your film?
The magazines we would advertise in would be film and cinema relative, such as Empire and Screen.We would also aim to advertise the films in top selling magazines such as OK! Magazine and HELLO! Magazine to expand our audience range.

Because our film is targeted at a youthful audience, we'd advertise the film on websites that they are most likely to use. A popular website used by our audience members would be social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, as they would also allow users to interact and socialise. Another ideal type of website to advertise the film on would be an online gaming site such as Miniclip or Free Online Games, as it would reach our target audience.

12. At screenings for which films (in cinemas now) would you show yours film's trailer?

Because our film is a comedy, it would be sensible advertising the trailer for other comedy film screenings as it will attract a similar audience. It would be ideal to show our film trailer in screenings for films such as Little Fockers (2010) and The Dilemma (2011) as the comedy style is similar and they also appeal to a youthful AND mature audience.

Emily Wallace

Scott Collins

Charlotte Morrison

Devon Dalton

Audience Expectations Questionnaire Results

These are the results of our audience expectations for the comedy genre questionnaires. We spread the questionnaire to all ages. However, we mainly focused on 16-24 year olds as they are our target audience.

Some sections of the questionnaire may be blank, which is due to the participant choosing not to answer the question or having nothing further to write for that section. The feedback told us that most of the audience don't want to think about what their watching but instead just enjoy it. This could be seen as a demand for the Hypodermic Needle theory. It also tells us that many want jokes or catchphrases they can share with their friends by the end of the film and that drugs, alcohol and sex related objects (for example condoms) should be included.

These results also show that the characters should not be too serious, but instead very laid back and easy going so the viewers can relax and feel comfortable watching the film.

Scott Collins

25 Word Film Brief and Opening Brief

FILM: Three school geeks go head-to-head in a friendly competition to win the girl of their dreams, but is the battle really worth the prize?

We chose this film brief for our film as it gives an introduction to the storyline without revealing any twists or too much information. It also ends in a bit of a cliff-hanger, leaving the audience curious and intrigued.

OPENING: As the three geeky boys and the school's most popular girl prepare for another school day, they reveal their quirks and true personalities.

We chose this film brief for our opening as it explains what the characters are doing and how this introduces the audience to the main stars.

Charlotte Morrison

Devon Dalton

Emily Wallace

Scott Collins

Jelly Baby Work

Our group spent a lesson creating a short opening to a film using Jelly Babies. This encourages us to think about creating our final opening and give us an idea as to how we would plan our film opening.

Our group had to come up with comments on shots, timings, sound and short descriptions of the frame. Our opening included 5 different Jelly babies which included 3 geeks, an attractive male character and an attractive female character.

Using Jelly Babies were useful towards the development of our film opening idea as they allowed us to visualise characters, scenes and camera framing.

After we created our storyline, we wrote a shot list for the opening. This is Green Productions' Jelly Babies' shot list:

Charlotte Morrison

Emily Wallace