The 5 key concepts applied to our film - Dom

Genre and style

Our short film is very difficult to place in a genre. We know the message we want to get across (focus on the positive elements of the day and remember them etc) but it's hard to classify it in genre. Romance is a possible genre due to the ending of our story. The syntactic and semantic codes, i.e a change in the non diegetic soundtrack, Close ups to show facial expression and 2 shots to show their body language towards each other, could imply its a romance. However, this is  relatively small proportion of our film, and therefore would probably not be classed solely as a romance. Our film definitely resists sticking to one genre. In fact its hard to even call it a hybrid of different genres. Mainly, it's the world from someone point of view and how they interpret and remember. Maybe realism is appropriate but, then again, I find it hard to judge it!

Representation.

We hone into a very common social group - the unhappy employee, trapped in the 9-5 cycle. Also in a few shots their other classes represented in our film.

We show the protagonist unhappy and does not enjoy his job. In a way this could represent a large group of people regardless of class ( then again maybe tending towards more middle class people). It give us the idea that a lot of people live to work rather than working to live. They are miserable in their jobs but don't change anything because they are scared to or just can't afford to take the risk of having no income.

In a way, stereotypes of male and female characters occur This is because we chose our main character to be male, therefore he is the one after the girl: stereotypically.

Media Language 

For this section I'm just going to pick out a few of my favourite techniques we are considering to use. 

Firstly there is the technique where we capture an image using hands, Josh already covers this. Click here to read more!

In terms of camera work, we are going to use plenty of close ups and long shots to mix between showing emotion and putting our character in context. Focus pulls will also be used, to bring focus from our character to what he is capturing. This also simulates the idea of capturing/focusing an image (as you would with a camera). OVTS shots work quite well because we can get a glimpse of the characters face, i.e emotions, and we can see what is casing his emotion. Low angles and high angles are used quite a lot. One example I like is the low angle of the female character because it reminds me a of 'Romeo and Juliet  type scene (Romeo looking up to the balcony) suggesting the romance that is to come at the end.

low angle

Editing will be paramount for our film. Using Adobe After effects will probably occupy most of our time! going for this effect where we capture an image, will require green screen and precision editing to make it look good. Moving images could also be more of an issue. An editing technique I like, is where the character is walking down the seafront and fades are used to manipulate time. Of course, continuity editing is essential for our film to flow.  To show time has passed to the evening when he has finished work,

As for lighting, considering most of our filming is outside we will be using natural light for a lot of our shots. However, we will use a few lamps probably with orange filters to give an ambient feel when the 2 characters meet at the end.

fade cuts will be used as well to show the passing of time.

Narrative

The way in which our plot is presented is linear with closure. The closure is being the meeting of the girl at the end. Its not omniscient narration, its restricted as the story is told by our protagonist through a monologue. Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposite doesn't really apply here. I think it the narrative applies mostly to Todorovs theory of classic narrative.

• Equilibrium: our characters monotonous life, (still 'captures' at this point)
• Disruption: His first encounter with the girl
• In a way this an unsolved disruption when he is at work as he is there thinking about the girl etc.
• Confrontation: encountering the girl for a second time
• New equilibrium established: when he meets the girl for the final time.

Audience

Our target audience would most likely be

Age 16-35

Male and Female

Possibly student or young adults with and interest in film

Ideally our film would be screened online, on popular short film websites such as Virgin media Shorts. A website devoted to short films, hence are target audience is most likely to view our film here, if anywhere.

Other sites included are Vimeo and Yotube

Although considering our audience age ranges mentioned above our film doesn't contain any violence/gore, obscene language or sexual content. So therefore, I would place it in the universal category. 

Looking on the BBFC website helped me make a decision.

Click here to find it!