Consent Letter

Dear, whoever it will concern,

Our names are Lucy Palmer, and Julie-Rae Green, we are Media Studies students at John F Kennedy School, in Hemel Hempstead. We are writing to submit our plans to film on the park at mid-day on the 12^th February 2012. The shooting will be based around our coursework. We will be using the park to shoot this certain scene, which is based around our coursework of a romantic comedy teaser trailer. We both assure you that we both will abide by your rules, laid down by your authorities, and make sure anyone else included in this project process is fully aware of them too. We also promise not to cause any disturbances to the park users, including the people and the nature. Therefore I request we use the park for shooting, at said date above.

Yours Sincerely,

Lucy Palmer and Julie-Rae Green. 

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment: We have realised that there may be some risks regarding certain scenes that we will be filming throughout the trailer. These scenes in particular we have acknowledged and came up with plans to reduce the risk. Such as, the scene where the character of Sam has to clumsily fall over, we made sure that the floor was clear of objects that could harm him. Another scene which we had to consider is when the characters were walking up the street and Sam jumps off of the road curb, we were very conscious that filming stopped when any car approached, we also filmed at a quiet part of the day so that there were no people around.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Date/Time Task Completed
Monday 6th February Pick up Canon video camera and fill out risk assessment form
Tuesday 14th February Head to first location for opening shots and set up any needed props:
Scene 1: Outside both houses and pan both houses
Scene 2: Polly and Sam in bedrooms getting ready for school
Tuesday 14th February Scene3: Kitchen scene
Tuesday 14th February Scene 4: Polly and Sam on Frined.Finder.com
Tuesday 14th February Scene 5: Leaving houses
Tuesday 14th February Scene 6: Walking along together through park
Tuesday 14th February Scene 7: Garden scenes
Scene 8: Shoot rushing scenes around both of their homes
Scene 9: Sam bangs into Polly’s car door
Tuesday 14th February Scene 10: Driving/Walking away together

Story Board of trailer

The story-board which we made helped us to have more of a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve, despite not following our plan directly when it came to actually filming it.

Also, we knew we couldn't follow the story-board exactly as we realised that we made it far too detailed and telling the whole story-line, so therefore needed to make changes when filming the trailer.

Story Board of trailer

Before filming the trailer, we had to do some planning. Therefore, we drew sketches of the various different clips that will be shown throughout the trailer, taking into consideration the camera angles that we would use and the surroundings behind the characters which would inform the audience.

The above sketch shows how we planned to have the first shot showing the main girl character. We thought the beginning could show her rushing around her bedroom getting ready for school and we also purposely drew a very girly background showing her bedroom and also a door. We said this shot could be a constant close up while the camera follows her around her room, or another idea we had was to have a constant extreme close-up of just the top of her face, focusing entirely on her eyes while hurrying to get ready. We thought the background could also be blaring out rock music to symbolise the characters personality and the speed of the music and the overall rush could give the effect of her worry and clearly shows she has a lot on her mind, giving an insight into the character.

The next part of the trailer shows a boy also doing the same as the above character, showing a similarity and also using a close-up throughout. However, the contrast is made clear, which is relevant, by the silence of his scene. We also discussed representing his geeky character by using classical music as opposed to something up-beat, which will again show the differences between the two characters and how their personality's are completely opposite to each over. These first two sketches would also be going back and fourth to each over in the trailer to create an affective start to the trailer.

This next part of the trailer shows the two characters leaving their houses which are ironically next-door to each over. They don't acknowledge each over but are leading quite similar lives. This would be shot as a point of view angle and from this point on would have music playing in the background throughout the rest of trailer.

This shows the characters making their way to school, and again showing the differences between them as the girl, Polly, travels stylishly in her own car while Sam travels on his bike. This clip of the trailer will be shown quickly but shows the different status of them both and at a high angle to capture the overall shot and creates humour from the total opposite way of them travelling to school.

We thought this part of the trailer could be shot at a low angle, showing the character of Sam clumsily fallen of his bike, but could also have the effectiveness of a close-up to capture his facial expression as he falls. Although, we debated using a high-angle shot to show emphasis on that he's fallen and that its an embarrassing moment for the character but adds to the comedy value.

This next part of the trailer we planned completing a pan shot of both characters using the website, Friend.Finder.com where they start talking to each over without realising who they actually are. After the quick pan-shot of these characters, Polly then becomes the main focus which is exaggerated through the close-up of her face. The sudden focus on her facial expression allows the audience to view her happiness as she laughs at the messaging between them both, facing the computer screen. The panning being used when the computer screens are shown shows a brief converstation between them and then slowly goes into close-ups of their screens confessing that they love each over.

This particular sketch shows an idea we had which could add to the comedy value of the genre. However, we quickly realised that this would not be possible to film for our trailer as it would be too dangerous for our actors, but if this was to be a real trailer, we would want to show this shot quickly. The sketch shows a moment where both characters of Polly and Sam on a fishing-trip with Sam's family and showing Sam comically falling into the river. It would also be recognised how Polly is the complete opposite to not only Sam, but also his whole family but shows her enjoyment with being with them and being around the closeness of his fmaily.

The trailer then shows various fast edited clips of the love-interests together, for example, this sketch showing them walking in the park together, showing their closeness.

We included a climax at this point, showing how Polly's friends have found out about her romance with a geek and logs onto her 'Friend.Finder.com' account and ends their relationship sneakily, pretending to be Polly which hurts Sam.

The next moment of trailer shows Polly waiting for Sam outside her house but because of what he thought she said over Friend.Finder.com, walks straight past her. We also made a comical moment here to lift the audience's emotions again by showing Sam struggling to open his door, his mum opening it to help him and then showing him then tripping over. This would all be shot from a eye-level point of view.

An eye-level shot is again used to show Sam 10 years later, deciding after years to contact Polly by signing into Friend.Finder.com

Camera then flashes onto his computer scree. It reveals that Polly has signed on-line.