Directors of Chick Flicks

As more research, I looked into the directors of my two favourite chick flicks; Wild Child and Mean Girls. Both films fit the definition of a chick flick:

"Chick-flick is a slang term for a film genre mainly dealing with love and romance and designed to appeal to a largely female target audience. Although many types of films may be directed toward the female gender, "chick-flick" is typically used only in reference to films that are heavy with emotion or contain themes that are relationship-based."

Nick Moore
Nick Moore is both an editor and director. He has directed three relatively popular films, one of which is 'Wild Child'. This is about a girl who lives in Malibu and is very spoiled, she then gets sent to boarding school in England by her strict father. This film includes romance, teenage girls and mainly the colour pink. This is definitely aimed towards a teenage female audience.

This is the Wild Child film trailer. The trailer shows how much a princess Poppy Moore really is. The trailer begins with her walking through a particularly girly bedroom, which has a common theme of the colour pink. It then shows how she, both, gets treated by the girls at her new school and how she treats them. And of course, a chick flick wouldn't be a chick flick if it didn't have a bit of romance involved. 




Mark Waters
Mark Waters has directed many films including chick flicks. As well as 'Mean Girls', Waters directed 'Freaky Friday' and 'Just like Heaven'. Mean Girls is set in a stereotypical American high school and portrays the idea of the typical 'cliques' at high school. Cady has just moved from Africa to America and is hit with the 'plastics', the most popular group at the school. Cady makes the mistake of falling head over heels in love with the most popular girl at school's ex boyfriend.

This trailer shows a scene in the 'cafeteria' where Cady's new friends tell her about all the different 'cliques'. You get introduced to the 'plastics' and find out who they are and what they are like. They're the girls that strut around school and everyone wants to be like them. We then see who Cady's crush is and realise it's Regina George's ex, and apparently ex's are out of bound. 

Chick Flick Research

Towards the end of the year we have to produce a two minute intro for a film of any genre of your choice. I have chosen to film a chick flick. This was because that's my favourite genre so I have watched plenty and know what a film of that genre should include. In preparation for filming, I have to research into chick flicks. Firstly I put together a collage of the most popular/ well know chicks flicks, 12 out of the 16 I have watched and enjoyed.

As you can see, all the chick flicks pictured include; pictures of women and girls, the colour pink and give you a glimpse of what the film is about. Every one of these films include a problem which gets overcome, usually to do with love, and ends with an unrealistic ending. 

Using this as research, I know to include these key factors in my own movie introduction. The next step of my research will probably be watching lots of chick flicks and taking notes, oh no sounds like hard work for me!!

Preliminary Task Evaluation

The preliminary task that was set was to film someone walking through a door, sitting opposite someone else and exchanging a few lines of scripted conversation. To film this I used a Sony Handycam a tripod and used iMovie to edit, I had never used this type of video camera but I found it to be very simple to use and was easy to attach it to the tripod. To use the camera I just had to press one button to start and stop the recording and used the handle on the tripod to control it and film a pan shot.

Editing the video proved to be quite tricky. I had never used iMovie before but I soon got the hang of it. The first obstacle I came across was actually finding where the imported content from the camera went, after this was located I finally got on with editing. This took me a lot longer than anticipated and I did get very frustrated. Editing has to be very precise and even half a second can make a difference, I realised this when editing the match on action clip. Looking at that clip now I realise that  my actor's foot was still on the step when I was behind her, yet she had already got off the step when I filmed her front on. This could be overcome by starting the 'inside room' shot a few frames earlier. The effect of this makes the video look jumpy and jarred.

In preparation for filming I drew up a storyboard and planned what my actors were going to say. They were going to discuss whether actor one was to invite a certain boy to a party. This topic of conversation was basic and easy for my actors to remember. I referred back to the storyboard when I was filming to make sure I was sticking to what I planned. I found using a storyboard a good way to make sure I included the three techniques and didn't miss out any shots.

Seeing as it was my first time using a proper camera to film certain techniques, the first shot was interesting to say the least. I managed to crop actor one's head out of view and wasn't fast enough when I was panning, meaning my actor was out of shot. I did get used to the camera and after multiple attempts, managed to include the three different techniques.

After I finished editing my video, myself and my peers watched it and they gave constructive criticism. The key things that would need to be changed if i re-did it were;

• Try to follow actor one out the room from actor two's eyeline 
• When filming, need to make sure the actors are in the same position if I have stopped filming e.g actor one's arms are folded, when previously weren't 
• Get rid of the empty room at the end, I could have avoided this by maintaing continuity and filming my actor exiting from the other side of the door
• Tell actor two to lean in towards actor one, so she doesn't seem so far away
• Match on action when actor one leaves. I intended to do this but sadly ran out of time.    

After these points were made, my peers also gave me some positive feedback;

• I pan well on entrance
• Manage to include the photographic technique, the rule of thirds, when actor one opens the door
• Good head-room
• Good eyeline view when using shot reverse shot. 
• Smooth tilt to follow the actor when she stands up

To conclude, I really enjoyed constructing the preliminary task and found that all criticism will be useful for the tasks I have to film in the near future.  

My Preliminary Task

And here it is, my preliminary task :)

Filming the Preliminary Task

Last lesson I started to film and edit the preliminary task. It took a whole lesson as it took longer than I thought.

Filming the task, I found difficult as you have to film from all sorts of angles, ensuring everyone one is seen and heard, you remember where you last stopped filming and to include the three filming techniques mentioned before.

I thought the filming was difficult, and then came the editing. I found this very time consuming and hard work. When re-watching the video I realised it jumped between clips and didn't flow well. To battle this issue I had to be very precise as to when the previous clip ended and where the next one started. For example, for the match on action technique, I filmed person 1 from behind walking through the door but also had to film her coming through it at the correct moment. I had to acknowledge where her hand was in the first clip and where to start the next clip with her hand in the same position but coming through the door.

I'm sure I'll find editing and filming a little easier over time as it is the first video I've ever had to film using specific techniques and edit.

Preliminary Prep

In today's lesson we started to plan our preliminary task. I decided that my two speakers would be planning for a party and specifically discussing whether to invite this one particular person or not.  To do so, I drew a rough storyboard to refer to when I actually film :

Shot 1 will  be when person 1 enters the room. The camera will film them entering through the door and will be positioned behind them. Then shot 2 starts once they open the door, the camera with be in the room they're entering and will film them coming through. Person 1 then goes to sit down opposite person 2, this is shot number 3. All three shots will be using the match on action technique. Shot number 4 and 5 is when the conversation starts and so does filming using shot reverse shot. The camera will have to change sides to be opposite each person when they speak, ensuring the camera is the same distance in front each time.  The final shot will be the only one using the technique of the 180 degree rule. The camera will be situated in between both speakers, so both are visible at the same time.

I am unsure whether to capture person 1 exiting or not, but if I decide I want to include that I will use the match on action technique.

Getting to Know the Camera

In preparation for the preliminary task I have been set I have to learn and use three specific camera techniques:

Match on Action
180 Degree Rule
Shot Reverse Shot

When researching the different techniques I stumbled across a video showing the differences between all three angles.



Match on action is when you see the camera follow both behind the character and in front so you can see them either walking away or towards you.  This technique is most commonly used for when someone walks up to and comes through a door.

Shot reverse shot is used for when two or more people are having a conversation. The camera flips between characters but has to stay in the line with the person's eye so it feels like you, as a viewer, are part of the conversation too.

Finally, the 180 degree rule is the trickiest to do. But this video explains what it is well…

Introduction to AS Media Studies

In today's lesson, I was introduced to the subject of media studies and am very much looking forward to  looking into the production of films. 

As I am an avid film watcher the thought of analysing the way in which films are created and filmed interests me a lot. My all time favourite genre of film would have to be, stereotypically for a teenage girl, cheesy chick-flicks. This being said, I do enjoy the thrill when watching horror films.

I am especially excited to be able to create my own individual film opening using the skills, that I hopefully will develop in the next year.