*Another Trailer to highlight the English Voice Over

'Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging' is an independant British film, with well known British actors. As my film will be an independant film I thought this was a good representation of how a voice over can be used and still remain British. The film is shot all on location, which is how my trailer will be shot, showing that it is a conventional method of filming. Shots of the action are edited into a montage, with some shots establishing the story line and others providing comedic value. I am planning to do this when I edit my trailer together and each shot will dissolve into the next shot, which is another convention I have noticed when watching romantic comedy trailers.

Scriptwriting

Having looked at information about scriptwriting it has been noted that a simple story line consists of five simple steps. The first one is exposition which is the opening premise, the setting and the scene. This step will feature in the trailer to set the start of the film when not a lot of the action is taking place. The next step is the development stage where the situation is built on and moves forward. Once again this step will feature in the trailer to keep the audience interested but still not giving too much away, following the enigma code. 'What is going to happen?' The complication step will be in the trailer to keep it conventional yet the climax and the resolution won't be. This is because as a director I still want people to come and see the film without knowing what is going to happen.

Following these conventional steps I am currently developing the final script for the characters and voice over, which will feature on

my blog when it's complete.

This is an image of a previous film script and this is how I shall produce my script to keep the tone of my trailer professional.

Location Part 1

These pictures are of my first location which will feature in my trailer. In every romantic comedy trailer part of it is shot in a house due to the story line and types of characters. Also the rooms appear bright and from the mood board most of the colours used are pastel colours on the walls. In a big budgeted film production a set would be made for particular scenes and some scenes would be shot on location. As I don't have a high budget all my shots will be done on location.

I have carried out a 'recce' in all the rooms and have established the accessible power points in each room so that the camera battery can't die in the middle of filming as we are on a very tight schedule. Also I have noted some possible problems which could occur whilst filming and these are; nosie from other sources whilst I am filming and the weather because this will affect the lighting and overall feel to the movie. I will have to do most of the filming in one day as there is a deadline and i need to film in other locations. The shots at home will be done first during the half term holidays and then the 'office' scenes will be shot in school later on.

The Character which causes the complication - Love Actually

This is the scene which creates the tension between a newly married couple. The male character is my female character which complicates everything. Even though my version of this character will be more mean about what she does, I feel this clip still represents the complication that my lead roles will face.

Choice of actors and actresses

These are the actors I have chosen to play the lead roles in the trailer I am making.

The first picture is the lead girl in the film and I chose her because I think she fits the 'girl next door' type of character. She is pretty and quirky looking which is the type of character I need. Picture 2 is of the 'attractive man' and I personally think this actor fits the role well. He is kind yet looks arrogant in the picture which is the stereotypical character of the attractive man. Even though his clothes aren't the type you would see on this kind of character, this can be easily addressed when considering costume and make up.

Picture 3 is of the 'geeky' character. The use of the glasses were just to help put across who the character is. I will not be using these glasses as I feel they are too stereotypical for the 'geeky' character.

Picture 4 is the best friend character. She appears kind and is always there when the lead girl is in a crisis. Even though she does not appear much in the trailer she is an influential character in the film when the lead girl has to decide between the two lead males.

Picture 5 is a new addition to the cast which I would like to bring into the trailer. I would like to incorporate a problem character which causes the 'complication' in the film. This character is always seen in a romantic comedy and causes the lead roles to reconsider their relationship. These characters can be men or women and in my film its a woman. However, in the film 'Love Actually' it is a male character which comes between two people, you can see this clip in the post above.

I feel that the choices in actors and actresses that I have picked will really help me start to create mise-en-scene for the film and they symbolize the key characters in a romantic comedy.

Sterotypical Characters of a Romantic Comedy

After watching many trailers for the romantic comedy genre I have noticed a particular sterotype for each character.
The female lead is always attractive to a male audience and this is so that it does appear realistic that men would be fighting for her attention. If you look at the images below you will see how I have developed previous ideas into my creation of the stereotypical female lead.
In a british romantic comedy, like 'Love Actually', 'Bridget Jones Diary' and 'Notting Hill' the casting director has chosen to use an actress with a 'girl next door' look about her. As my new romantic comedy trailer will be a british film I would like to stick with the convention of having an everyday kind of looking woman. More young girls will be able to relate to this kind of character as well, rather than a glamouros sort of character.

There is also the stereotypical 'good looking' male in a romantic comedy. This is to generate an audience and make sure the director supplies what the audience wants. However, within the story it also develops the plot and makes the audience want to continue watching to see if the female lead ends up with the 'good looking' guy or the 'underdog.' The typical 'attractive' male tends to be arrogant and mostly all of the time gets the girl. In the trailer that I create I dont want my 'attractive' male to be percieved as arrogant as I would like to make it so the female has a hard time when choosing between the two male leads. Also in everyday life not all attractive men are arrogant and if I stick to this then it may make more men want to watch it as they tend to feel that men are getting a hard time in the romantic comedy films, as they are always percived as the 'bad' characters.




In most romantic comedy films there is almost always whats known as 'the underdog.' This sort of character is percieved as being geeky and 'will never get the girl.' In british romantic comedies for instance you have the character of Mr Darcy in 'Bridget Jones Diary.' He appears to be geeky and uncool when the audience first see him yet as the plot develops the protagonist starts building feelings for him. I would like to re-create this in my trailer but still leave it to the imagination of the audience as to who she chooses in the end.

A flow chart of ideas

I have drafted out my trailer through a flow chart so people can see the direction in which my trailer is going. The photo isn't clear enough to see what my ideas are so I shall explain each box in the flow chart.

1) Opening shot of a woman lying face down, she is hung over and oblivious to the world around her. Suddenly her alarm goes off and she reaches out slowly to turn it off. Close up on the time, its 9.30am and a close up on her face...panicked/ comedic expression on her face.

2) Low angle shot of woman running in heels to work. There is a cut to her running round a corner. She runs into the good looking man he looks confused and there is paper work everywhere.

3) Close up on woman's face, she has very bad make up on. Cut, reverse shot, woman walks into the toilets and sees her face in the mirror... "Holy..."

4) Woman meets up with the good looking man its a new day. Man: "Fancy a drink after work?"

Woman, who looks shocked, says "yeah." The man walks off...woman is still left there smiling.

5) Woman walks down the street and the geeky character taps her on the shoulder, the woman looks confused then realises who he is.

6) The geek sits at home with two of his mates and tells them how he is going to win her back. One of the mates asks how and there will be a cut to a dream like state where he imagines dancing to the song 'I'm too sexy' Then it cuts back to his normal confused face.

7)Male voice over..."This year..." shot of geeky guy and woman together. The audience can instantly see the chemistry.

8) Male voice over..."Or a typical..." Shot of good looking guy and girl on original date, once again the audience will see their chemisty.

9) Male voice over..." A story..." Geek is dancing with the girl, another quick cut, geek shouting to the girl; "Please, I love you."

10) Cuts to the girl lying in bed, crying and it is raining outside. Cut to the attractive man and girl laughing.

11) Voice overs of actors names and a close up of each actor. Male voice over; "In (film name)"

12) Shot of the girl and her best friend in a kitchen...Friend; "Which one is better in bed?" From this the lead girl tilts her head and looks concerned

13) Coming in 2011 and then the screen will fade to black.

I have used the majority of the conventions which feature in a romantic comedy trailer for example the use of a voice over. Also I feel the trailer doesnt necessarily give away too much of the plot making the audience want to watch the whole film. Yet, it still informs the audience of who the main characters are, the story line and the genre it comes under.

I still need to develop a few of the comedic punch lines but this will be done when I develop a script for the actors involved. I have also considered some of the music tracks I will use in the trailer and there needs to be several, as one of the typical conventions is that the music changes and stops depending on whats happening at that time in the trailer. I also need to come up with an original title for the film but once again I'm sure this will develop as I write the script and begin to film.