The Last Song- Opening Sequence

 

Summary:  
  Ronnie's (Miley Cyrus) and her younger brother, Jonah's, parents are divorced. They live with their mother until this summer they are sent to live with their father (Greg Kinnear) in a small town on the beach. Ronnie resents her father and has no intention of being friendly or even talking to him for the summer. But after meeting a handsome guy and beginning to fall in love, Ronnie starts rediscovering her love for music, something she shares with her father. Reconnecting with music revives a kinship with her father which proves to be the most important relationship she may ever experience.
Set in the beach town of Tybee Island, Georgia, where Steve (Greg Kinnear), a divorced father, gets a chance to spend the summer with his teenage daughter Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) and his young son Jonah (Bobby Coleman). Ronnie would rather be in New York City than be with her father, who she believes abandoned her three years earlier. Steve, a concert pianist, tries to reconnect with Ronnie through their love of music.

Sound:

At the beginning of the opening sequence we are being shown the music of 'Tyrant'- One Republic which I think is effective because it is high-spiritual so immediately captures the audience's attention. I also think that at times the music has different tempos; for example at times it can be really loud and high tempo, whereas other times it's quite low and relaxed. This can be good for this movie because as it is a romantic genre it would suit the genre of setting an intimacy between the two main characters of the boy and girl. However, it could also be representing the character Ronnie's personality because it could be that she is aggressive, especially as we see this in the movie the way she acts towards her father, but then at other times we see her being really loving and caring- just like any other typical teenager does so this type of music really shows this.
I also really liked the way the music was playing outside in a non-dietetic way and then when we see the character open the window, the music becomes muffled and it's like the music is coming out of her own ear in a diegetic way, making us feel connected to this character.

Credits

The credits in the opening of this movie are shown when we see the main character traveling in a car. The scenary and landscape is beautiful and this is captured nicely through the aerial and extreme long-shots. The song also goes to a higher tempo which is parallel to what we see because it places us in a position were we are excited to see where these people are going, and alongside the pretty landscape + sunny weather we are further made to feel in this ecstatic way.
I also thought that the credits were effective because they were presented while we were seeing action in the background which didn't bore us, something we would like to do in our opening sequence. It also helps the audience because if they didn't know who a celebrity was, they can show the credit next to their character.

Costume

As this is a romantic genre movie, Miley Cyrus playing the girl Ronnie is normally shown to wear really modern, cute clothes which is an important aspect in this type of genre. The guys in this film also have to be attractive looking i.e. slim characteristics because this type of genre would capture younger audiences who are predominantly girls. The girls in romantic movies normally appear 'attractive' in order for the boy to fall in love with her and stereotypically appear really feminine and girly. For example, here is an outfit which the main character had worn which show this:

Location

Normally in romantic genre films the location has to appear 'romantic', such as a place which has beautiful scenary and nice landscapes. In the movie 'The Last Song' this aspect is fulfilled because most of the locations are shown on the beach which is beautiful and can really show the intimate relationship between the two main characters.

Credits

For the opening sequence it would be best if the credits for our opening sequence are shown onto the products of the girl and boy getting ready. 
For example, for the girl's parts, while she is putting on her make-up some of the credits could be on her blusher, mascara, lipstick etc while the boys credits could be on his hairspray. I think this is effective because I found that while looking at some films which have their credits with no background action which I found very boring and ineffective. However, I think that for our target audience of 15- 25 year olds who are mainly girls, we need to make sure that we make it as interesting as possible in order to attain their attention and avoid making it boring.

For example, the pictures on this post is where the credits will go on top of them when showing the inter-cutting of both the two main characters. This also sets the scene as well because while looking at the girly products of different make-up and hair products, the audience would immediately know that this would be stereotypically a girl's bedroom. The use of colours therefore can give vital information away; such as whenever we've used pink and light colours, this represent the girls and the more darker colours represent the boy. This also makes it easily recognizable by the audience and we do not need to show their faces in order to tell them who is getting ready or which character we are showing.

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31/ 01/ 2013

Progress-
Today we spent editing our opening sequence and continued working on making the footage flow together nicely. We need to still re-film some of our footage because of lighting issues so we will hopefully do it on the weekend.
Overall, today was successful as Nicola and Kirsten spent time finding the right music and have tried to create something on GarageBand which would fit when the girl and boy are getting ready. We have all decided that it would be best to have different types of music on the boy and girl so it appears like realistically what they might listen but also looks like diagetic sound i.e. they are actually listening to this type of music whilst getting ready.
Meanwhile, me and Natalie carried editing the sequence together; I think that the graphic match from the girl's red dress and his red bottle works really nicely and is visually entertainer/ creative. 

 

 

Sound

We have been starting to look for music which might fit in nicely with our opening sequence when the girl and boy are getting ready and there is a inter-cutting between the two main characters. What would be ideal is something which creates a positive energy as it is an important aspect of most romantic or coming of age films in order to captivate the audience and make them feel intrigued to watch.

 For example, in Legally Blonde, the lyrics of the song at the beginning' Perfect Day' is a parallel match to what we actually see. The atmosphere looks pleasant, it's sunny, everyone is having a good time, smiles on their faces and so this all makes us feel the same way also. It is also quite upbeat and this is something we want to create in our opening sequence also. As the singer is also a female, this is why this would be ideal to be shown when the girl in our sequence is getting ready, however, when the boy is getting ready we were going to use music which appears more suited that a guy would listen- fulfilling the stereotypical  characters. 
Overall, I think the sound used in Legally Blonde is effective because for the target audience of 15-25 year olds, who are mainly girls, this would satisfy them and make them feel in a position where they would be happy to want to know more. The music used also aids them to feel in a satisfied, jolly mood, which is something we would like to create with our opening sequence.

Opening Sequence

29/ 01/ 2013

Today in lesson we were beginning to edit all our footage together. We split our group up so half of us were editing our opening sequence and the other half of us were trying to create some music on Garageband. While editing some of our footage we found out that some bits were good but too dark so we shall need to re-film those over the next couple of days using the lights this time in order to see the characters more clearer.
Here are some pics: 

Editing opening sequence

On Garageband

At the end of the lesson we managed to complete a rough draft of what our music for the party scene would be like which gave us all an idea of what it would sound like, what we need to improve/ add in future lessons. 

Our first draft of music we completed

Pre-Production

Before actually starting to film I had to research on the characters of different romantic films in order to see the way they have been represented such as the type of clothes females and males wear, their usual location, types of shots, music and lighting they used.

Costume

Normally, in romantic movies a girl would wear really fashionable, trendy and girly clothes, especially the main character in order to look appealing. Also, as she is the main chcracter, girls who might be watching this may be able to get advice on some of the things they can wear or relate to them because they enjoy the fashion style the main character is wearing. Below is a picture of Rachel McAdams who plays the main girl chcracter of the film 'The Notebook'. She is wearing formal wear but also looks pretty and elegant at the same time, making her look attractive and the right fit for the role of a man who falls in love with her. This is why in our opening sequence we have also decided to make our main girl look very pretty with a nice 'girly' dress which stereotypically defines a teenage girl.


Locations

Normally in romantic films the locations of the place have really beautiful scenary in them in order to make it more romantic between the two people. It also creates a really great and positive atmosphere, which is an important aspect needed to be considered for the target audience as they enjoy these type of aspects. SOme of the locations I have found are below:

Some of the scenes in the film 'Marley and Me' were filmed on the beach which contains beautiful scenery which does appear romantic.

The film 'New Years Eve' (2011) was filmed at New York city in times square which is effective because the whole lights and 'buzzing' atmosphere makes the film interesting and again can be great for filming romantic films

 Lighting

In contrast to horror movies, romantic movies have really nright, high-key lighting in order to create a really upbeat, positive energy and for the audience to associate the film with happier times. this is important because romantic filmes are about showing a relationship between two people, and so in order to create a sense of intimacy between them, the lighting needs to be bright,, where not tension/ eeriness or suspense is being created. The light lighitng also makes the scene appear really normal and ordinary like, where the audience can relate to these characters and make them want to be in a situation like them.

Storyboard

Pre-Production

Before filming the actual footage for our opening sequence, we have created a storyboard which is part of our pre-production stage.
Creating a storyboard helped us immensely when it came to filming because the first day of filming we were still have did not complete our storyboard so had trouble finding the right type of shots to film. This was also not ideal because it wasted a lot of time. SO we then created a storyboard and the weekend period of shooting the opening sequence (26-27th January) we had all the shots we needed, and dealing with so many people we were able to be more organized and confident in what we needed.

Here is the storyboard we had created: (although during the filming day we did add more shots we thought would be good at that time)

Progress

28/1/2013- So this weekend we have managed to film all of our footage and this lesson we were looking through it to make sure we have captured everything we needed or whether we need to re-film. We have started to edit some of the bits of the footage and some of us are using garageband in order to create the music for this opening sequence.
We are planning to edit as much as we can all week, swapping around so everyone gets a turn to edit and have an input in this project. 

Characters

We used a girl and a boy to play our two main characters and had other people who were in the party. Here is the girl we had used before filming her getting ready:

Ruby

Here is the boy we had used for our filming: 

Michael

Filming Day 2

On Sunday we completed out filming by managing to film the boy's and girls parts with the party scenes. Overall I think it was a successful day because we managed to get a variety of different camera shots and varied them in order to apply what we had learnt.

On Saturday some of the girls in our group had to 'dress' a room in order for the mis- en- scene to look like it's a boy's room. I think this was effective because we wanted to make sure that all the details were correct and it was realistically a room which a boy would be in. Here is a pic of the room: 

 

For the girls part, again we tried to stereotypically create a room which would be ideally for a teenage girl in order to fulfill out genre of a romantic/ coming of age film. We made sure the props were suited for this so we placed a lot of makeup, magazines, perfume, etc which helped us achieve this aim. 

 

For the party we had to dress up a living room again and make sure that there was enough props in order to make it look like a real party. Here are some location photos:  

 

Overall, this weekend of filming and setting up the rooms was successful because we managed to get a lot done and the pre-planning (pre-production stage) of storyboards, costumes, lighting  was helpful because we know what we had to do or the types of shots we wanted. Now we will be editing this and hopefully we have done a great job! 

Filming Day 1

We did some filming on the 17/ 1/ 2013 which was quite successful as we managed to film some great shots of the main girl, Ruby.  

What went well? : We had really good close-up shots of the girl such as of her eyes, close detail of her answering the phone etc. We had also filmed half of her face when she answers the phone because we didn't want to reveal her full face or outfit yet until she finally arrives at the party, which is why we filmed a lot of variety of extreme close-ups, close-ups and medium shots. We have also managed to film a point of view shot of her spraying hairspray on her face but towards the camera so its as if the audience are the main character. We will inter-cut this with the main guy as he is getting ready in order to make this more visually interesting.

What could be improved?: Whilst filming the main girl walking outside and going to the party, when watching this back it was quite dark and not as we hoped. To improve this we have arranged to re-film this on Monday the 28th of January in order for the viewers to see it clearer and improve the quality of our footage.



Here are some of the 'behind the scenes' of us filming for the first day:

Target Audience

Target Audience:
 From the research I have been doing on watching many romantic/ coming of age opening sequences, I think that the target audience for our project of romantic genre will be aimed at young people aged 15- 25 years old who are mainly girls.From asking people around the school we asked them why they preferred it and many of the girls said that they can relate to it, they enjoyed watching romantic films and especially with other people i.e. their friends or boyfriend. Some of the people also said that they enjoyed when there was eye-contact within the two main characters, so in order to fulfill our target audience's expectations, we have made sure that when the girl and boy meet in our opening sequence there is eye contact.
We also found that this type of genre was popular with couples, where this type of genre created a pleasant atmosphere in which the couple can watch and relate to the people they see on the screen. 

We decided to do a questionnaire which is aimed at young people in order to find whether they enjoy watching romantic films and we found out that predominantly the girls said they enjoyed watching them, whereas the boys didn't.  Other comments which they put down was also useful to us as criticism from audiences which our movie is targeted at will make us improve our opening sequence in order for them to enjoy it more.

 Some of the people we had given this questionnaire to said that most of the story-lines were repetitive and  so we have tried to make ours different and  hopefully the young people we have aimed this to can relate to them. Also, many of them suggested that most of the romantic movies they saw was 'boring' and so to improve ours we need to make sure that we vary the shots and use interesting shots we have learnt such as graphic match in order to make our opening sequence more visually interesting + entertaining to watch.

 In our questionnaires we try to use both qualitative and quantitative data in order to analyse the results easier, such as by ticking a Yes or No answer, whereas the qualitative data allowed us to see how our target audience felt about this particular genre, any criticism they have and what they would like to see. This made it useful for us because we would take it on board in order to make them watch it.