In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)
Here is an Establishing shot we decided should be the very first shot shown in our film. One particular idea we got from analysing 'Saturday Night Fever' was how early on in the film a train is shown to represent the emotional journey John Travolta's character will go through, throughout the film. As this was similar with our storyline and what we felt would happen we thought it would be powerful to show our protagonist going on a train journey to represent a similar notion. The establishing shot also develops the chick flick convention of the opening sequence, often the protagonist goes on a journey in the opening of the film.
For this shot, we decided a POV shot would be the most effective way of dropping in another element to our story. The first 30 seconds of our film just shows Samantha catching a train on her way to work, and so we decided to make the storyline more interesting by adding in this new component. We contemplated doing a voice over of one of us reading out the text however ultimately we decided against this as the voice over would have lasted too long, running over the next few shots and perhaps boring our audience if we decided to make the shots even longer. Furthermore, our Protagonist is characterised as a person high up in the fashion industry and so we felt in order to fit this persona, an iPhone would best portray this. We also felt, as this was a chick flick film the best 'text language' to use would be abbreviations, such as 'omg' (oh my god). POV shots are very conventional within chick flicks and they enable the audience to identify with the protagonist, as is the use of ‘teenage’ language in the text messages and the use of the latest technology.
I felt that this shot was particularly important as the mise en scene helps to contribute to the verisimilitude of the film opening. The mise en secene also uses the convention of a 'trendy' environment - typical of chick flicks and attracting the audience. The various props used were all objects you would associate with a magazine office (i.e. Clothes rack, magazines, clothes doll in far left corner). Additionally, we felt it would be more realistic if we had other people in the office. At first when we planned to film in this room and created our story boards it did not occur to us that it may be useful to have several people around in the background, we were so focused on our two characters that when we got there we felt it was necessary and realized it would help make our film more successful on the whole if we included extras.
As our Protagonist, Samantha, opens this suspicious, ominous letter (which has 'confidential' stamped on in big red letters), we felt it would be most effective to do an over the shoulder shot so that the audience could see exactly what it is that Samantha is reading. This letter follows on from our previous shot of the text message. We felt this would make the story more compelling as there seems to be a dichotomy developing here in the plot of the story, on one side you have this seemingly important character who turns out to be simply an intern and then you have her boss divorcing her husband (who happens to be the publisher of vogue magazine) who then appears to have received a letter concerning a 'court summons'. we felt this would interest the audience and make them curious and eager to find out what would happen later.
Here, as Mollie has just opened the letter showing her boss is being summoned by court, we thought it would be best to do a close up shot of her face to convey her shock. As aforementioned, this new element being brought in introduces a serious tone to the storyline. Having a serious subplot is something most chick flicks have as it makes the film more interesting, while challenging the stereotypical conventions. We also used a close up shot of the letter which read the word 'SUMMONS'. I also previously mentioned how we analysed the Devil Wears Prada where various issues arise and things go wrong which makes the movie more enjoyable for the audience.
A popular camera technique used in chick flicks is a slow pan upwards to show the characters outfit. In order to fit in with the stereotypical genre we felt this would be useful to use as our protagonist is wearing smart shoes, this makes it clear early on that our character is not going into London to shop or even meet up with her friends. Unfortunately, due to the weather Mollie had no choice but to wear a coat over her smart outfit, which did not allow for our camera shot to be as effective as we had hoped, as we did not get a chance to show off her choice of clothes.
An effective way of introducing an important character to the story, is to create some ambiguity surrounding them. This technique was used in the Devil Wears Prada, and me and my classmates felt this would be compelling if used in our film opening. Miranda Priestly, (the editor for the magazine in the devil wears prada) does not reveal her identity albeit numerous shots of her are used, these are specifically of her lower body, focusing on her outfit and accessories. This entices the audience, piquing their interest, making them eager to see the characters identity revealed. And so, we did not show Samantha's face until she enters the office.
For our credits, we decided a girly font fading in would help reinforce the chick flick notion. Although it is not possible to see in the screenshot, the letters appear gradually, softly bouncing in. We experimented with pink writing (as pink is considered quite a girly colour) however decided this was not the most practical use of colour as it often clashed with various colours in the background and as a result, looked fairly unprofessional when used in conjunction with this particular font. However, we were quite adamant this was the most suitable font and so we compromised by changing the colour to white. However, using the colour white did not suit one particular scene where we show Mollie Greaney's name, due to the background colour you are unable to see the 'M' for a few seconds until the camera pans up. We thought perhaps if we delayed her name appearing for a while, this would solve the problem, however this delayed all the other credits and so we had to leave the credits.
For our title, we initially had the idea of having the title follow after the bus however after experimenting we really thought the pink glittery fairy dust going through the title was most effective as the title of a girly film. The decision of the name 'two of a kind' depicts the characterisation of the two main characters throughout the film (Samantha and her boss Anna). Although at first they seem to be very different, we decided that although we won't be filming the rest of the film, we pictured the outcome of the film to have the two become unlikely friends.
