Research

Research on influences

Story:

  • Love Simon – closeted person
  • Romeo and Juliet – romance story where she feels like she’s ‘losing’ her partner because they refuse to expose the relationship
  • Achilles – the relationship is perfect but has a weakness of one girl being in the closet

Symbolism:

  • Hozier ‘Take me to church’ music video – bury and burn box symbolising gay love
  • Batman vs Superman – bars and set design representing entrapment
  • Sinister poster – white ‘pure’ clothing
  • BTS ‘Blood Sweat and Tears’ music video – lots of evil and religious imagery

Shots:

  • Call me by your name trailer – cycling scenes showing the two spending time together
  • Hayley Kiyoko ‘girls like girls’ music video – close up shots, subtlety in relationship dynamic
  • IT film – filming landscapes with characters effectively .e.g. canyon water scene
  • The Dark Knight – Argument scene between Bruce and Rachel with over the shoulder shots

Editing/ sound design:

  • Love Simon trailer – dimming music for speech/ background music
  • Shut in – fast paced editing towards end and dramatic sound emphasis’
  • BTS ‘Blood Sweat and Tears’ music video – poem/ book excerpt ‘narration
  • BTS ‘Blood Sweat and Tears’ music video – fast paced editing after climax of kissing a hells angel (when the bad stuff starts happening it gets more fast paced

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Research summary

Primary (interviews)

There is a big gap in the ‘market’ of the film industry for a lesbian love story and there would be people willing to see it. Also, that one of the biggest concerns of those who want a lesbian film is that there will be offensive stereotypes, so this is something we would need to pay close attention to.

Secondary (articles + film reviews)

From reading several articles about gay representation in mainstream media I can see that there is a big need for LGBT + films. Also, that there is a big market for a young lesbian romance (which is the category our film falls under) as there are barely any of these story types being told. Lesbians are greatly under represented in mainstream media and so any film under that umbrella has a responsibility to handle the subject of being in a lesbian relationship (and any unique struggles like coming out that come with it) delicately and respectfully whilst also being well researched and not in danger of misrepresentation.

It seems that people are willing to see LGBT films and enjoy them, however, most of the films I have looked at got complaints for having characters who were so stereotypical that they were borderline offensive with “unnecessary stylisation” (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/but_im_a_cheerleader/). This is important to be aware of whilst making our film trailer as it isn’t intended to be a controversial film or to offend anybody but rather to show that a lesbian romance isn’t something strange and uncommon.

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Pre – production presentation  – Pass

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