Our film, string along is a film based a round a certain ancient Chinese concept. This was the foundation of our film however during the pre-production process we padded out this concept by gaining other ideas from current, real media products, such as films, TV shows and the general public.
String long is a romantic drama film which basically is a fusion of both the genres together
To make sure this came through we had to follow certain codes and conventions, which effected things like our choice of setting, lighting and other things like camera shots.
Our choices of location conformed to current romantic comedies, and dramas and other films which involve our themes of love lies and cheating. Films such as unfaithful and TV shows such as Hollyoaks inspired our location, after much talk about the relationship between our characters.
Our film takes place in a house, most shots where shot in either a bedroom, or the living room, everything was house based, this however excludes out abstract shots which were shot on a set.
The house, in itself is quiet a closed setting, people do whatever they want in the comfort of their own home as it is seen as such a private place The theme of our film also involves certain actions of intimacy, dinners, and serious conversations, which are
usually, carried out 
in household settings. However although our film involves the main theme of cheating we wanted to establish this, but not in an abrupt manner, meaning we didn't want our film to be of too much of a sexual nature because the relationship between these characters is quiet complex, and based on several other things and we didn't want sex to over shadow them. This is why a majority of our scenes are based in the living area of our main character’s home, and our abstract shots. Although we do have shots based in a bedroom these scenes are more romantic, soft and gentle, with several actions to show that the characters are intimate. W got this softer idea of intimacy, from the film 500 days of summer, where love and intimacy is represented in a gentle manner, which we decided to take on board for certain parts of our film, however we challenged this by not making this the main focus as unlike that story line our film isn’t about true love between two people.
Our film also follows specific codes and conventions of other romantic dramas, throughout the kind of lighting and camera shots we have used throughout. The lighting in our film is never too bright, or too dark, It is quiet cosy lighting which sets the mood and the theme we tried to portray the theme of lust and cheating, if we look at the films such as unfaithful the low key lighting in many of the bedroom scenes sets a mood which would be expected in affairs. Camera shots we decided to use were also inspired by, other current media products, from research we found out and saw that most romantic dramas have a lot of close ups of things like facial expressions, which are key in our film genre as well as type of film (silent film), so also due to silence of the film we need to focus on facial expressions through the use of close ups as this was our main communication tool, since dialogue was taken away. Similarly done in other silent films, especially romance based ones such as 7 Chances 1925
Although we have aimed to follow some of the key codes and conventions of romantic dramas, we have also developed things and challenged certain aspects.
For example, the romantic dramas which I have mentioned are based in a cert
ain world, they stick to this world throughout the film our film however incorporates two worlds. The abstract and the reality. Originally we intended to have the shots very separate but then came to the conclusion that our film would look more interesting if we mixed them, by mixing I mean, having shots of reality followed by shots of the abstract world throughout the film. In doing so we
Introduce two different worlds in our film, adding an unusual twist to our film as well as its genre. Black swan is an abstract film which has helped us think of things to include and how to execute certain things, the fall was also a huge inspiration, with ideas on cinematography and clever things such as graphic matching which we did in one of our scenes, whilst our character blows out a match, which as the scene fades turn to fraying thread.
For characters much research and planning too
k place. We looked at many characters with similar motives. Characters such as the character of Lena from broken embraces, the character of Mercedes from, hollyoaks, Summer from 500 days of summer, Naomi Clark from 90210, and Connie summer from unfaithful each character here is involved in some sort of relation ship and executes there actions in different ways, they all had traits which we thought if put together would make a great character, and Have been very interesting to watch, and therefore had a huge contribution to forming our main character Delilah.
During this process we had to follow the characteristics of a typical cheating woman, Characters I have researched are Mercedes from TV show hollyoaks who's character is quiet similar to Delilah’s for example both women are portrayed as seductive and quiet devious. However we have challenged this code, by bringing traits form each, of the characters above, by making her caring as well as, selfish, and remorseful as well as living for the moment.
The sex of the characters in our film is another way which we have conformed to current media products. Most romantic films consist of the opposite sexes coming together sharing encounters which go wrong and get resolved or sometimes don't. Here in string along we have done the same by having female and male characters, A typical code, present in classic films as well as current ones, with the exception of films and TV shows with a particular motive or message about same sex relationships like the relationship between the character if said and Christian and Eastenders..
In films which portray the theme of cheating, the person being cheated on is always unaware, until something happens which causes them to find out. This was done for both the male characters they are both unaware which is kind of the basic idea of cheating. The main difference in characters is also something which we conformed to. In my research I realised that, the two men or two women, about cheating each man/woman is very different from the other. The example of the love triangle in hollyoaks shows this; where one is more masculine and protective but less loving than the other. Same how James character in our film is very playful/not too serious, whereas David is very classic romantic type not too much into fun and games.
The main way in which we challenged current media products regarding characters is by having a woman as the cheater instead of the male, which is typical of many media products.
Also we focus more on the life of the cheater and her world rather than those being cheated on which other films do the complete opposite, we did this because we felt that current media films hardly focus on that perspective and see the cheater as the offender an evil person, however by looking at the affairs from the cheaters perspective we can see the different kind of motives behind her act, which are not stereotypical. For example we may discover sadness rather than evil within the cheater.
Our narrative was very simple- a cheating woman who gets caught in the end. Current films involving the themes of cheating, are the same very rarely does the cheater not get caught.
We also conformed to current media products, because many romantic dramas have a point of chaos. A turning point which in our film is the confrontation between Delilah and the men.
This climax point in our film was very important to us to incorporate as it is what triggers her downfall. The downfall of the deviant character is also another way which our group has conformed to current media products.
We challenged the narrative point of current films, by having a concept which we build upon rather than just starting from scratch. The red strings of fate is an ideology which has not been seen in any of the current media products, although this concept was developed to fit in with genre of our film it is still what sets it apart from the rest.
We chose to do this because; we did not want our film to just be like other typical romantic dramas. Certain films sometimes base their stories of old stories or concepts however these are always followed through like film adaptations of Cinderella or red ridding hood, our film however, defies the concept, by firstly having our character delilah tied to both men (as the original idea is that you are tied to your soul mate) and secondly because the strings break in the end, when the original Idea is that the strings never break no matter how astray you go.
Mis en scene was extremely important during filming, as our film is very visual base. We looked a lot into, the typical props we would find in romantic dramas, or in the rooms of other devious characters. Props such as candles, and wine during the dinner scene, follow the
style of romantic dramas. The wine and dine mood is present in a majority of those films. Delilahs make up was inspired by geisha’s of ancient Chinese history, as the red has many meanings such as lust heat, urgency, enemy as well as romance. These are all things which make up our character and our film, so we incorporated it in our film as much possible form the thread to the make up.
We challenged this at the same time with her hair. Because Delilahs costume and make up made her look like the devious character we were aiming for. At the same time though her character is not just based on devious behaviour, which is why we had her hair in curls to bring a little bit of innocence to her character. Representing vulnerability which is clear near the end. We got this idea form pictures of little girls with this hairstyle.
We also challenged current media products, by giving specific and very important key meanings to everything to our props, because our film is kind of abstract a swell, most romantic dramas focus on dialogue, so did not really have very meaningful props, other silent romantic based movies, showed things through their facial expressions, (we tried to avoid this abit so our film would not seem comical) And we showed things through our props
String long is a romantic drama film which basically is a fusion of both the genres together
To make sure this came through we had to follow certain codes and conventions, which effected things like our choice of setting, lighting and other things like camera shots.
Our choices of location conformed to current romantic comedies, and dramas and other films which involve our themes of love lies and cheating. Films such as unfaithful and TV shows such as Hollyoaks inspired our location, after much talk about the relationship between our characters.
Our film takes place in a house, most shots where shot in either a bedroom, or the living room, everything was house based, this however excludes out abstract shots which were shot on a set.
The house, in itself is quiet a closed setting, people do whatever they want in the comfort of their own home as it is seen as such a private place The theme of our film also involves certain actions of intimacy, dinners, and serious conversations, which are
usually, carried out 
in household settings. However although our film involves the main theme of cheating we wanted to establish this, but not in an abrupt manner, meaning we didn't want our film to be of too much of a sexual nature because the relationship between these characters is quiet complex, and based on several other things and we didn't want sex to over shadow them. This is why a majority of our scenes are based in the living area of our main character’s home, and our abstract shots. Although we do have shots based in a bedroom these scenes are more romantic, soft and gentle, with several actions to show that the characters are intimate. W got this softer idea of intimacy, from the film 500 days of summer, where love and intimacy is represented in a gentle manner, which we decided to take on board for certain parts of our film, however we challenged this by not making this the main focus as unlike that story line our film isn’t about true love between two people.Our film also follows specific codes and conventions of other romantic dramas, throughout the kind of lighting and camera shots we have used throughout. The lighting in our film is never too bright, or too dark, It is quiet cosy lighting which sets the mood and the theme we tried to portray the theme of lust and cheating, if we look at the films such as unfaithful the low key lighting in many of the bedroom scenes sets a mood which would be expected in affairs. Camera shots we decided to use were also inspired by, other current media products, from research we found out and saw that most romantic dramas have a lot of close ups of things like facial expressions, which are key in our film genre as well as type of film (silent film), so also due to silence of the film we need to focus on facial expressions through the use of close ups as this was our main communication tool, since dialogue was taken away. Similarly done in other silent films, especially romance based ones such as 7 Chances 1925
Although we have aimed to follow some of the key codes and conventions of romantic dramas, we have also developed things and challenged certain aspects.
For example, the romantic dramas which I have mentioned are based in a cert
ain world, they stick to this world throughout the film our film however incorporates two worlds. The abstract and the reality. Originally we intended to have the shots very separate but then came to the conclusion that our film would look more interesting if we mixed them, by mixing I mean, having shots of reality followed by shots of the abstract world throughout the film. In doing so weIntroduce two different worlds in our film, adding an unusual twist to our film as well as its genre. Black swan is an abstract film which has helped us think of things to include and how to execute certain things, the fall was also a huge inspiration, with ideas on cinematography and clever things such as graphic matching which we did in one of our scenes, whilst our character blows out a match, which as the scene fades turn to fraying thread.
For characters much research and planning too
k place. We looked at many characters with similar motives. Characters such as the character of Lena from broken embraces, the character of Mercedes from, hollyoaks, Summer from 500 days of summer, Naomi Clark from 90210, and Connie summer from unfaithful each character here is involved in some sort of relation ship and executes there actions in different ways, they all had traits which we thought if put together would make a great character, and Have been very interesting to watch, and therefore had a huge contribution to forming our main character Delilah.During this process we had to follow the characteristics of a typical cheating woman, Characters I have researched are Mercedes from TV show hollyoaks who's character is quiet similar to Delilah’s for example both women are portrayed as seductive and quiet devious. However we have challenged this code, by bringing traits form each, of the characters above, by making her caring as well as, selfish, and remorseful as well as living for the moment.
The sex of the characters in our film is another way which we have conformed to current media products. Most romantic films consist of the opposite sexes coming together sharing encounters which go wrong and get resolved or sometimes don't. Here in string along we have done the same by having female and male characters, A typical code, present in classic films as well as current ones, with the exception of films and TV shows with a particular motive or message about same sex relationships like the relationship between the character if said and Christian and Eastenders..
In films which portray the theme of cheating, the person being cheated on is always unaware, until something happens which causes them to find out. This was done for both the male characters they are both unaware which is kind of the basic idea of cheating. The main difference in characters is also something which we conformed to. In my research I realised that, the two men or two women, about cheating each man/woman is very different from the other. The example of the love triangle in hollyoaks shows this; where one is more masculine and protective but less loving than the other. Same how James character in our film is very playful/not too serious, whereas David is very classic romantic type not too much into fun and games.
The main way in which we challenged current media products regarding characters is by having a woman as the cheater instead of the male, which is typical of many media products.
Also we focus more on the life of the cheater and her world rather than those being cheated on which other films do the complete opposite, we did this because we felt that current media films hardly focus on that perspective and see the cheater as the offender an evil person, however by looking at the affairs from the cheaters perspective we can see the different kind of motives behind her act, which are not stereotypical. For example we may discover sadness rather than evil within the cheater.
Our narrative was very simple- a cheating woman who gets caught in the end. Current films involving the themes of cheating, are the same very rarely does the cheater not get caught.
We also conformed to current media products, because many romantic dramas have a point of chaos. A turning point which in our film is the confrontation between Delilah and the men.
This climax point in our film was very important to us to incorporate as it is what triggers her downfall. The downfall of the deviant character is also another way which our group has conformed to current media products.
We challenged the narrative point of current films, by having a concept which we build upon rather than just starting from scratch. The red strings of fate is an ideology which has not been seen in any of the current media products, although this concept was developed to fit in with genre of our film it is still what sets it apart from the rest.
We chose to do this because; we did not want our film to just be like other typical romantic dramas. Certain films sometimes base their stories of old stories or concepts however these are always followed through like film adaptations of Cinderella or red ridding hood, our film however, defies the concept, by firstly having our character delilah tied to both men (as the original idea is that you are tied to your soul mate) and secondly because the strings break in the end, when the original Idea is that the strings never break no matter how astray you go.
Mis en scene was extremely important during filming, as our film is very visual base. We looked a lot into, the typical props we would find in romantic dramas, or in the rooms of other devious characters. Props such as candles, and wine during the dinner scene, follow the
style of romantic dramas. The wine and dine mood is present in a majority of those films. Delilahs make up was inspired by geisha’s of ancient Chinese history, as the red has many meanings such as lust heat, urgency, enemy as well as romance. These are all things which make up our character and our film, so we incorporated it in our film as much possible form the thread to the make up.We challenged this at the same time with her hair. Because Delilahs costume and make up made her look like the devious character we were aiming for. At the same time though her character is not just based on devious behaviour, which is why we had her hair in curls to bring a little bit of innocence to her character. Representing vulnerability which is clear near the end. We got this idea form pictures of little girls with this hairstyle.
We also challenged current media products, by giving specific and very important key meanings to everything to our props, because our film is kind of abstract a swell, most romantic dramas focus on dialogue, so did not really have very meaningful props, other silent romantic based movies, showed things through their facial expressions, (we tried to avoid this abit so our film would not seem comical) And we showed things through our props
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