Wonder Woman's Media Blog

Our media product is based on the romantic drama genre. Originally the plan was to create a romantic comedy product but once filmed and edited we felt that our film fitted more in the romantic drama genre.
When researching romantic comedies we firstly looked into the differences between the romantic genre and its sub-genre; Romantic comedy genre. We established that Romantic drama’s main focus is typically on the male character and how he meets the girl. The plot line is often serious and contains various conflicts; with a life changing situation which has an impact on the ending. Conversely, romantic comedies characteristically central around the female character; who then goes onto meet the boy. The plot is more light hearted and humorous with less serious conflicts.
They are also more routinely drawn towards the ‘happily ever after’ ending as “rom-coms” direct the feel good factor to the audience for example films such as ‘Pretty Woman’ and ‘Along came Polly’ where the two main characters always resolve their differences and end up together in the end. Whereas some-though not all- romantic dramas chose to part the characters and leave the film without a happy ending; therefore showing that sometimes couples aren’t meant to be or are parted for example ‘P.S I love you’ and ‘Ghost’. However the traditional happy ending is still widely used such as ‘An officer and a gentleman’ and ‘The Notebook’. Our media product did follow the happy ending convention and in the treatment that we devised for the entire film we established that the ending should show that there is hope of finding new love after heartbreak and/or overcoming the sadness.
Our media product deals with the social group of “20-something” adults. Our film portrays them as free-willed, with more sexual awareness. Our product also shows this group with looser morals and more promiscuity as Courtney (one of the female characters) does not see the damage in having a sexual relationship with Carl so soon after his break-up from Caitlin (the main female character and Courtney’s best friend).
Many institutions distribute romantic comedies as they are relatively cheap to make and earn a large profit. Therefore are relatively certain to gain the company a large profit. For example the institution Vestra spent $6 million producing ‘Dirty Dancing’ yet worldwide it has made just under $215 million- generating a large profit. Whereas Sex and the City (produced by Warner Bros.) was $65 million to produce, but has made over $415 million.
The audience for our media product would primarily be females. The target age bracket for the film would be typically between 14-30, however women of all ages enjoy them- showing that romantic drama films have to be versatile in order to appeal to the wide target audience.
From creating this product I have learnt that it is necessary to take as many shots as possible because what you think will work during filming may not be as good as expected in the editing process- therefore it is best to many shots during filming so that when editing- you have ensured there are many options available to you. Also I have learnt that to ensure that a lot of planning and research enables you to create the best product available.
Since we did the preliminary task I have learnt more about different shot types and angles. I have learnt to use these fully in order to create a certain effect. Additionally it is important to achieve a very high level of continuity so that it not only believable but easily understandable to the audience.

We filmed our 2 minute introduction on the 20th February 2009. We spent two hours filming in both locations until we had all the footage that we needed.
We began the editing process on the 24th February 2009 during our media lessons. We have to date finished a lot of the editing and have took enough shots to establish that we have managed to obtain a high level of continuity.
However in one case, involving seeing the door being open, first from behind Courtney's shoulder then straight cutting to the other side of the door to watch it open. This was then followed by another straight cut to Caitlin asking Courtney if she had a nice night. However the shot that followed the door being opened from inside the room and once the shots followed on from each other, the door appeared half open then suddenly full open in a split second. Therefore we edited the footage to show the door being half open then a quick shot of Courtney's reaction to Caitlin's entrance, then cutting back to Caitlin speaking with the door fully open. This gives the impression to the audience that whilst the camera was watching Courtney the door opened the rest of the way.