Job Roles

• Produced By-  Miranda Amess & Hannah Emery
• Directed By- Miranda Amess & Hannah Emery
• Light/Sound - Miranda Amess & Hannah Emery
• Cinematographer - Miranda Amess & Hannah Emery
• Musical Director - Hannah Emery & Miranda Amess
• Editing - Hannah Emery & Miranda Amess
• Costume - Miranda Amess
• Set Designer/Locations - Hannah Emery
• Script - Miranda Amess
• Storyboard - Hannah Emery
• Actors - Ash Coombs & Jess Oxley & Nicola Tee

Me and Miranda have chosen to do most of the work together as a team. We work well together and think that we can both work efficiently as a team. As we have chosen to do most of the work together we both get to have a go at everything, learning and developing our knowledge of the process that goes into making a film.

Genre Analysis

Why have I chosen to focus on this genre?
I have chosen to focus on the Period drama genre as I was interested in the regency styled films, I loved the lavish costumes, vast landscapes and big houses. I also have read books by Jane Austen (our biggest inspiration for our film) and enjoyed her way of writing. 

What have you learnt from your genre analysis?

I have learnt from my genre analysis that families wanted their daughters to marry into rich families to create financial support. In the films I have watched this pressure often causes the female leads to rebel against this way of the society and find love not finance. 
The female leads are often outspoken and confident characters, with a sense of naivety and gullibility. The male leads are often strong figures with a sense of mystery behind their true identities, they draw the audience in.

Chosen Genre, Film Title and Plot

After lots of discussion on whether to do Thriller or Period Drama as our genre we finally came to the decision of Period Drama*. 
The era we are going to be focusing on is regency/late Georgian.

We decided this as after doing lots of genre analysis we enjoyed the unique characters, eccentricity of the clothing and the lavish filming locations.
We have done lots of genre analysis on films, especially 'Emma' and 'Pride & Prejudice', looked at the types of clothing that is suitable for the period and researched locations which will fit in with the era. We will apply our genre analysis to our production by choosing our locations, cast and props carefully, we need to make sure they fit in perfectly with the time period.

*Period Drama
''Costume drama, a period piece in which elaborate costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture the ambiance of a particular era''

Inspirations

Jane Austen (novelist) was a big inspiration to us when deciding on doing a Period Drama film. Jane was born on the 16th December 1775 and died on the 18th July 1817. She wrote fictional books about romance and is one of the most widely read writers in English literature. She wrote her first novel, love and friendship, aged just 14.
Many of her works have been re-worked and published, for example, Pride & Prejudice was made into a big blockbuster film in 2005 and Northanger Abbey was made into a popular TV Series in 2007.


We have chosen to call our film Devotion.

Definition: feelings of ardent love.

Plot line:
"Devotion" is the thrilling period drama of local farm boy, Billy Walters. Raised in the small village of Sandwich, Billy  is a hopeless romantic, who meets Elizabeth Harding, well respected primary school teacher, who is involved in charity work through the community, and in particular, local farms.  This is how the two become to know, and fall in love with each other.  Philip Jeffories, who takes residence in Sandwich Park Gardens, is in a desperate search for an heir to his inheritance. He over sees Elizabeth's charity work, and instantly sees her potential as a outstanding mother and wife. He forces the arrangement of their marriage, and takes away Elizabeth from her community, and from Billy. Billy desperately tries to maintain the relationship by continually writing letters to Elizabeth. He can not understand why she will not reply.  We follow the story of how Billy tries to discover why his soul mate will not keep contact, and the struggle he goes through to maintain his love for Elizabeth.

Period Drama title sequences and openings

Pride & Prejudice (2005) directed by Joe Wright

Title Sequence

The first title logo you see are the Focus Features and Working Title. This lets the audience know about the companies that have produced the film. Many may recognise these two companies as they are popular and famous for their previous films which gives the audience high expectations. The audience then hears the diegetic sounds of birds and water dripping, this helps creative an idyllic ambience, the production titles are shown in clear formal fonts (in a warm gold colour). The title of the film (Pride and Prejudice) is then displayed, this title is a lot bigger than the others and lasts longer on the screen showing the audience that this is the film name.

Opening Sequence

The opening shot is of Elizabeth Bennet (played by Keira Knightly) walking through a large open field reading a book (this is a medium close up as you can only see from the shoulders up), lots of light is cast overhead creating a beautiful and soft feeling to the shot. In the background you can hear the diegetic sound of birds along with the non-diegetic sound of a piano. The costume Elizabeth is wearing is simple and her make-up is minimal creating a vulnerability to the character, the camera then pans down to view the book she is reading. You suddenly see her close her book and the camera cuts to a long shot of her walking over a river, this is setting the scene. The non-diegetic music is still playing. Elizabeth then walks though rows of white hanging washing (the camera tracks her movement), the white of the clothing symbolises innocence. The piano music is still playing, joined by the diegetic sound of ducks and chickens on the ground.

As Elizabeth walks away the camera stops at a doorway she walks past, it then pans forwards to view the happenings going on inside the house, you see lots of colour and women dressed in long lavish dresses running around, this indicates the old-fashioned time period and sets a happy and exciting atmosphere. 

he interior of the house is large, old-fashioned and grand symbolising wealth, fortune and also helps contribute to the period era of the film. All throughout the opening sequence no dialogue is spoken.

Emma (1996) directed by Douglas McGrath

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O8vVqUlaaM

Title Sequence

At first you see the title 'Miramax' production, then the words 'A Matchmaker Films Producer' and 'A Haft Entertainment Production' appears, this lets the audience know about which companies and responsible for the creation of film. After the production company names a list of all the main stars in the film is shown. In the background a shot of the space and a spinning earth is shown. The shot then cuts to black and the film title 'Emma' in bright orange cursive lettering is shown, making it known that this is the film title.

Opening Sequence
When the title sequence is over the shot then moves into the spinning earth, you see the signs 'London' and 'Highbury'. This sets the location of the film. The spinning earth then zooms out and you see a lady holding an earth, this brings the sense of reality to the film. You then see lots of people dressed in smart evening wear in a church, the setting is lavish. The music playing is soft and gives the atmosphere a romantic feel. As the camera zooms into the world again the scene changes to a dinner table in a large house, the light is coming from candles and a fire which gives the scene a dark and grand feel.

Thriller film openings

The first opening that i am going to analyse is Jaws directed by Steven Spielberg.

The opening starts by panning through the dark ocean, this automatically gives a mysterious and eerie tone to the movie. The music played is tense and builds up slowly as the camera continues to pan the dark ocean, the way the camera is flowing makes you feel as though you are the shark. The shot then abruptly changes to a party on the beach where people are laughing and celebrating, this makes the audience anxious about the welfare of the characters as they all seem oblivious to danger that is lurking in the waters. The music is still building up when the shot cuts to the top of the ocean and displays a silhouette of a human floating innocently on the surface of the water. You are aware of how vulnerable the human is. As the music climaxes you know something is about to happen, a series of loud screams are made. The shot then begins to change again quickly and it looks like a struggle is happening.  All through the opening the mystery is kept up by not revealing what creature is luring under the waters.

The second opening I am going to analyse is Casino Royale directed by Martin Campbell.

The opening scene of Casino Royale is intense and audience grabbing. The opening sequence is filmed in black and white, emphasizing the black tones, the scene is very stylised. James Bond (the main character) is casually sitting in an office with another mysterious character, the scene is very tense, no noise is made, there is the occasional sound of dialogue from one of the characters. The scene then suddenly cuts to a violent, action packed sequence of James Bond fighting, background music is played and used to build suspense, this scene dramatically contrasts with the other scene as now it is filmed emphasizing white tones. The scenes keep switching between one another which creates suspense. After James Bond has finally drowned his victim the scene drips into a plain red background which the title sequence is then played onto, red symbolises death and murder. The scene sets up the main character, James Bond, to be a edgy, cold-blooded killer.