Evaluation Questions 2, 3 & 4 - Script

I have completed my script for a Young Filmmaker's Podcast which will answer evaluation questions 2, 3 and 4. I'm going to record my sections as separate paragraphs on voice memo before editing on Adobe Audition once Christine, who is playing the podcast host, has recorded her questions. I will also choose some music to add at the beginning and end of the podcast.

Here is the script for my podcast.

QUESTION 2:

CHRISTINE: Hi listeners, here at the Young Filmmakers Podcast we like to hear about new films by first-time student directors. I’m here with Tamar to ask her a few questions about the opening sequence she has created for the romantic comedy film ‘Remember Me’. Hi Tamar.

ME: Hi Christine - I’m so pleased to be here and excited to talk about my new film.

CHRISTINE: It’s great to see you. So Tamar, can you tell me a little bit about aligning your audience with your characters, Emma and Jack, in the opening scene. How did you go about getting the audience to care about their relationship?

ME: Well, one of my key intentions in terms of audience was to instantly position them with the film’s main protagonists, Emma and Jack. When I looked at opening sequences, especially those from the rom-com genre, I saw that directors make a real effort to create a relationship between the viewer and the main characters. 

It’s crucial the audience cares about their plight as they have to want them to succeed, to overcome the inevitable obstacles, and for them to get together by the end of the film. I wanted the audience to feel like they really knew Jack and Emma and the trick was to make this happen in such a short space of time. 

CHRISTINE: Well, you certainly managed it. I fell for them straight away.

ME: I'm so happy to hear that. I had to think about how I could foreground their relationship in the opening scene, in a way that I hoped my audience could embrace. 

It was really important that my audience immediately liked them and wanted to see them together. I found that often in romantic comedies, main characters were often presented as ‘loved up’ to begin with, before an obstacle to their happiness is thrown their way. Audiences love positioning themselves with the characters and by presenting Emma and Jack as a very close couple, I felt that there would be a desire from the audience to want to see them move forward with their love, and to root for them when something goes wrong.

CHRISTINE: Can you expand on the ways you positioned the audience with Emma and Jack?

ME: Of course. It was all about making them instantly likeable. This was achieved partly through the choice of shots, lots of close ups and medium close ups, but also through highlighting their love through the mise-en-scene. I redrafted my shot lists so many times to shape the meaning my shots and aspects of mise-en-scene would create for the viewer. I wanted to show their facial expressions so that the audience could instantly get a sense of their likeable characters, so I focused mostly on catching closer shots like their ‘homely’ life and the way they feel for one another.

This was definitely a decision based on positioning the audience with Emma and Jack and establishing to the audience that they were the main characters. I also used high key lighting in the opening scene, partly because it is typical of the style of lighting in the romantic comedy genre, but also to reflect that they are upbeat characters and they are happy in each others’ company right from the beginning. I think the music I used also reinforces this tone. I also thought about the editing, crosscutting back and forth between Emma and Jack to highlight them getting ready for something important which I hoped would encourage the audience to want to see not only them as a couple but to see them move forward in their relationship and take the next step.

CHRISTINE: Have you thought about distribution and release patterns for the film?

ME: It’s a British rom-com produced by Working Title and Universal – so I would hope that it would have a superwide cinematic release, like other classic British rom-coms such as ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ and ‘Notting Hill’. 

Times are changing though and I know that lots of films have simultaneous releases at the cinema and on streaming sites. I could see my film being released on Netflix or a similar streaming platform – and giving the audience the choice of seeing it on the big screen or watching it at home.

CHRISTINE: Have you had time to think about the way ‘Remember Me’ would be marketed? I can imagine it having a huge online presence.

ME: With Universal’s backing, there would obviously be funding for quite a big marketing campaign and I would definitely incorporate some traditional elements such as a range of character posters and trailers to be shown before other rom-coms at the cinema. 

The genre is pretty popular with young audiences and I know that most films today really push their marketing on social media. I would definitely use TikTok and Instagram to target my audience, and encourage them to share their thoughts on these platforms. We’re planning a huge viral marketing campaign, so keep an eye out for that.

CHRISTINE: Have you thought about a release date? It seems perfect for a summer release.

ME: Of course - it would definitely be released at the end of summer as a way to end off the summer right with a moving film about love. 

It’s an uplifting dramatic romantic comedy and I think it would make a great date movie as well as a girl night movie. Even though the genre is usually aimed at females, ‘Remember Me’ has many touching, emotional and funny elements filled with plenty of jokes which will definitely appeal to a male audience too. It's the perfect way to end the summer!

CHRISTINE: I can’t wait for it to come out. Thanks Tamar, it was great to learn a little more about ‘Remember Me’.

ME: Thank you, I hope you enjoy the film!

QUESTIONS 3 & 4:

CHRISTINE: Hi. I’m here with Tamar for the second of our Young Filmmakers Podcasts. Last time we talked about how you went about engaging the audience with your opening sequence for ‘Remember Me’. Today I’d like to talk a little bit about the production and post-production processes if that’s okay?

ME: Of course, hello again everybody.

CHRISTINE: So could you tell us a little about how your production skills developed over the course of creating your opening scene?

ME: If we start with the filming, well, I had filmed some short videos of my friends on my phone, but other than that I was pretty inexperienced. I had never filmed with a camcorder before shooting ‘Remember Me’, so it was a real learning curve, especially using a tripod and making sure my shots were steady. The great thing about the camera I used was that it was digital with a huge memory, so I could practice lots of different shots…and make lots of mistakes before the actual shoot itself.

CHRISTINE: Were there lots of mistakes?

ME: Of course, loads…there are probably more outtakes than there are shots in the film. 

Practicing shot distances, angles and camera movement gave me so much more confidence for the real shoot. Getting things wrong when practising helped make sure I got them right when actually filming. We had a pretty tight schedule, so I couldn’t really afford too many mistakes on the days of shooting. I tested the shot composition so that when I filmed for real I knew exactly how I wanted to frame each shot - This was really important when it came to the establishing shots of the house where the protagonists lived, but also for the framing of the close ups on each character - the shots that helped position the audience with my protagonists.

It really helped with the shot where Emma comes down the stairs to meet Jack…. It's a really sweet, romantic shot to show how deeply in love the characters are.

CHRISTINE: What are some of the benefits of shooting with a digital camera?

ME: Like I said before, you can make mistakes but they’re not too costly. I reviewed every shoot straight after I had filmed it and made any changes straight away. There were lots of re-shoots, but they were instant. I don’t think I would have been able to do that if I wasn’t using a digital camera. It also meant I had lots more shots than were on my original shot lists. This definitely helped when I edited the scene as I had plenty of shots to choose from.

CHRISTINE: Can you talk us through the editing of the opening scene.

ME: Well, I had never used editing software before so I was a little nervous. When I had filmed on my phone previously I just shared the little movies un-edited. This was a completely different process…and quite scary. But, because I had so many shots to choose from, it was definitely easier than I had imagined. I started by organising my shots into separate bins, with a bin for each different part of the scene. This just made it more straightforward when choosing the order of the shots for the scene, which ones to keep and which to discard. I already knew what rhythm I wanted, cutting from shots of Emma to shots of Jack, so the process was actually very smooth.

CHRISTINE: Did you use Premiere Pro to edit?

ME: Yes, I used Adobe Premiere Pro which is a very intuitive piece of software. 

I was able to place my shots and title cards on the timeline, and it was easy to crop and trim each clip and change the order if I wanted to add or remove shots. Learning to cut, trim and piece shots together was invaluable, especially as my opening sequence largely revolved around crosscutting between Emma getting ready and Jack getting ready, to establish the importance of what's going to happen. I really enjoyed editing the sound at the end of the sequence, using sound effects to replicate the car crash. I thought this had a great impact and was a really dramatic counterpoint to the uptempo music earlier in the scene.

CHRISTINE: Can you expand a little on how you integrated technologies into the whole project?

ME: Well I used lots of different technologies across the research, production and post-production stages of my opening sequence. I filmed with a Panasonic 4K digital camera, which simplified the filming process, mostly because I could shoot lots of extra footage and I could re-watch my footage immediately. 

To edit I used a PC and laptop at college where I had access to Adobe Premiere Pro for editing the footage I had filmed, Photoshop and Adobe After Effects to create the titles and Adobe Audition to edit sound.

CHRISTINE: What about recording all the research you did?

ME: I used Blogger to present all of the research and planning I did into existing opening sequences and the romantic comedy genre and to log all the planning tasks such as creating a script and a storyboard and logging my shot lists. 

I was able to add links to relevant websites I used during research and add images and videos to my posts to help explain my analysis. I also added in links to playlists I made with possible songs that I wanted to use for the music that plays over my opening sequence. I visited lots of websites during my research, mostly those which focused on the romantic comedy genre, but also some which helped with my planning such as the poster website Imp Awards and font websites such as Dafont and Fontmeme. I also used youtube to embed video clips of existing romantic comedy opening sequences and Soundcloud to present my sound effects and some of my evaluations.

CHRISTINE: Thanks Tamar, it’s been wonderful to hear more about such a successful project. I look forward to seeing ‘Remember Me’ soon.

ME: Thanks Christine, I hope you enjoy it!