Editing - 16th December

We continued editing the new sound into our footage, making sure everything was in time. This included playing with the time, using the time-stretch tool to make the sound slower or faster, but not so that it was incredibly noticeable. With all that done we set to work updating our blogs. The things we've left to do, after returning after the Christmas holidays, is the recording of the Voice Over and adding that into our piece, the obtaining of music and to find a clip of the moon and an aeroplane.

Editing - 15th December

Finally we re-recorded our sound. We booked out a camera from the media room and stood outside, so that the environment matched that of the footage, and did 3 different takes of each line. Previously, we had watched through the footage many times so that we could see the distinct timing of each line so we knew what pace to say it at.
After having done that, we captured all the footage and sound to the computer and added it to the end of the film and began searching through the clips to find the best vocals. Once we found them, we moved them to the spot where they were intended and begun editing them in so that the continuity was right and they were in lip-sink.

Editing - 11th December

Today we learnt how to produce a freeze frame in our footage. We needed a still shot of the two protagonists at the beginning. We froze the shot at the point we wanted and clicked the freeze button, which took a still image of the shot. We then inserted it into our film and added text to it so that the protagonist's names came up, showing the audience who they are - as this is a common convention of Action-comedies.

Editing - 9th December

Due to our sound not working, we went through and removed all the spare sound clips.

Editing - 8th November

Today we focused on the titles. We looked through the entire catalogue of templates available on Adobe Premiere and chose two that we liked best. We then added these, one by one, to our footage, looking which one worked best - the second on ewe tried worked the best, with an orange painted arch on a black canvas, reminiscent of warmer countries like the Americas. We put our film title on the canvas, but it didn't look right, so we changed the colour of the font to make it seem less like a film about African wildlife. We then watched it through to make sure it ran alright as a film.

Editing - 2nd December

Following on from previously, we watched back through our piece to check we still agreed with the footage thus far. We then went on to find some music to play on top of the footage, that fitted with the specific media conventions. Unfortunately, the website we wanted to use - a site with ranging un-copyrighted music - would not let us play any of the clips. So we left that until we were on a broadband computer.
Instead, we began to work on the transitions of the scenes, making sure they flowed and didn't have anything that could affect continuity. We shortened clips so that they were the right length and didn't show us out of character, this also helped us to get close to the 2 minute limit set for the piece.

Editing - 1st December

To start with, we uploaded all our footage onto Adobe Premiere Elements and created a new folder, under the film title (The Quest), to save all media to. For the rest of the lesson we proceeded to cut the clips out that we had decided not to use and put them into the order we intended.
We also, with dreaded anticipation, waited to hear how the sound had turned out. When watching it back on the computer; we realised that, as we predicited, the sound had not recorded properly and there was only one sound byte that we could salvage and use. Therefore, we decided that we would have to dub all, bar the one clip, our sound.

Treatment of Without A Paddle Trailer

The trailer begins with the production company logo, in this instance the Paramount logo. It then cuts to a close up of a man with a surf board from a low angle, whilst a soft male voice over begins telling us the persons name is 'Jerry' and that he 'can't commit', cutting to a long shot of him surfing and significantly cuts to a mid-shot of a woman slamming a case onto a bed as the voice-over says 'commit'. The mise-en-scene connotes a warmer country, with an indexical reference to the States from the Surfing, sea and sand. Accompanying this is non-diagetic sound in the form of a song, that cuts out as the suitcase is slammed onto the bed and resumes after the argument has finished. During the argument the woman states that she will 'not play the role of nagging girlfriend' prompting the male protagonist to reply 'would the role of nagging wife make you any happier', thus informing the audience of their situation, this is done with mid-shots of both characters whilst they speak.
The trailer then cuts to a different character altogether as the music begins again. The first shot is a mid to close up of the new protagonists whilst the voice over announces his name, 'Dan'. This is followed with 'is a little timid' and two different shots showing this. The first is a mid-shot of Dan sat in his car taking his inhaler, leading the audience to believe he is asthmatic and probably the "hypochondriac" character that will get laughs through his frequent panicking. It then goes to a close up of the side of his face as he announces he is affraid of celephane. Here the music quiets down and the camera zooms out to show three male characters, two of whom we already know, in a low angle mid-shot. The mise-en-scene shows them in a wooded area and there is a deep cut on the unknown characters arm, leading us to believe there will be action. At this point the scene transition changes, and the next shot slides down from the top to introduce the last protagonist, 'Tom'. The shot is a mid-shot of him riding in between grave stones on a motorbike. Portraying him as the "dare-devil". The voice over states his name and decries how 'Toms not afraid of anything' as the camera cuts to a mid-shot of a funeral party turning round at the sound of the bike's revving engine. Tom then procedes to make the situation worse by shouting 'Is this Billy's funeral? Is that the corpse of Billy Newwood?' as the camera cuts to the party again in a long-shot then to Jerry and Dan at the front of the party facing away from everyone else, clearly embarrassed. The music cuts out completely as the camera cuts to Jerry and Dan again, now facing Tom, in a long shot shouting his name. He replies by asking 'where did you guys park?', then the music commences again.
The scene changes to the three protagonsits, from a high angle mid shot at night looking up at something. By now the music has started again and the shot cuts to a birds eye close up of map whilst the voice over informs the audience that they are 'three childhood friends'. This is interupted by Jerry stating that they should take a trip, then the music cuts out and the shot changes to a long shot of all three characters and Dan shouting that he has 'responsibilities'. This is where the sotry is realised by the audience, as they figure out that their friend has died and they are planning to take some trip that they would have planned when they were 'childhood friends'.
A jump cut, accompanied by a non-diagetic ‘swoosh’ sound, then shows the back end of a car driving across the screen then away from the camera, the initiation of the trip. We then get another jump cut to inside the car, where there is a mid to close two shot of Dan and Jerry in the front seats of the car, with Jerry laughing and Dan stating ‘I hate you guys’ connoting to the audience how the others like a laugh at Dan’s expense. Meanwhile, the Voice over is informing the audience of the direction the guys are heading, ‘out there’ in the forest as the car drives away in a long high angled shot.
Following this is a jump cut to a mid shot of the three friends in a canoe on a river. The mise-en-scene helps to add to character representations, as Dan is dressed head to toe in camouflage style hiking gear, whilst the other two are in normal attire. The music stops as Dan points out ‘a deer’ and the camera flips to give a point of view shot of the deer, with non-diagetic sound that shows the deer growling after a zoom to a close up, thus adding to the comedic theme of the film. The shot is then focused back on Dan in a close up looking surprised at the deer. There is then a jump cut to more titles stating, parallel to the voice over, ‘from Paramount Pictures’ in a bright bold text that connotes adventure and fun. There then follows a jump back to the action and a mid shot of a police man approaching the three friends, inquiring if they are ‘passing through’. It cuts to Dan as he states ‘just taking a trip’ in a close up, which is followed by a jump to a long shot of the canoe on the river from two different perspectives as outside action whilst the protagonists can still be heard talking. The Police man states, after a jump cut back to a close up of him, that if they ‘make mistakes out there, you’re gone’, foreboding to the audience that something will go wrong for the three on their trip. In response, there is an over the shoulder shot of the three protagonists as Jerry asks Tom if he was a ‘boy scout’ to which he replies ‘No. But I had a Brownie once’, further indicating the genre of comedy, as the music recommences.
The voice over further informs the audience of the theme of friendship as the mise-en-scene, of edited in text shows the word ‘Journey’ in relations to the words ‘Friendship is a journey’. To which there is a mid shot of surging water falling over a water fall, with diagetic sound connoting the loud noise and so fear that this would evoke in the characters. This is followed by a jump cut to three protagonists travelling down the rapids and Tom shouting ‘I’m in over my head’ to which Jerry shouts ‘Don’t tell me that!’ thus reiterating the theme of comedy as a mid shot shows theme getting hit by a big wave and it soaking them. We then get a low angle shot of the protagonists falling over the water fall whilst screaming, as they hit the water the scene jumps to a mid shot of the soaking friends on the shore as Dan states that ‘it is over’. In the mid shot that follows we see Tom reply ‘I agree. Let’s just swim up that waterfall, back over 20 miles of river and wait for a rescue boat. Hey a beer.’ The Non-secquiter helps to add to Tom’s laid back character and again show the genre to be comedy; it also helps depict the genre of action as they have just fallen over a waterfall. The music commences again as the voice over states ‘And life is a trip’ as the scene cuts to a number of shots with ‘trip’ written brightly and boldly on them, as has been seen before.
This then jumps to a mid shot of the three friends at the bottom of a tree, with Jerry suggesting they should climb it to ‘find a way outta here’, suggesting to the audience that they are indeed lost. There is then a long shot of a small figure at the top of the tree, which is followed by a close up showing the audience that it is Tom who climbed the tree. The scene jumps to a mid shot of Jerry and Dan stood at the bottom looking up for Tom trying to find out if he can see anything. After this, there is a close up of Tom again, looking through binoculars, with a diagetic sound of him going ‘ohhh’, followed by a jump cut to a mid shot, shown through binoculars therefore point of view, of two girls washing each other. Another piece of music commences as the camera jumps back to Tom still staring at the girls. This is followed by an ellipsis to a shot that depicts the girls trying to ‘nurture’ the protagonists. Their brightly coloured costume helps illustrate their bright characters to the audience. After this we see an over the shoulder shot of one of the girls looking coyly at Dan as he states he gives a good calf massage, followed by a mid shot of the two, helping to suggest to the audience that there may be romance a foot.
After a short jump cut to a close up of Jerry, we are back to Dan who is asking the girl to ‘roll down those stockings’, to which she replies ‘Stockings? I’m all natural’ in a close up of her legs. This helps to reiterate the comedy to the audience further, as we see a close up of Dan looking quite disgusted. The original music recommences again and the voice over, as the camera cuts to a shot of the protagonists walking through the grass, then a jump to a worm’s eye shot of them falling through the ground into a hole, as the voice over reveals that the film will be out in the summer. We then get a low angle shot of the protagonists riding a quad bike over the camera and then, after a jump cut to another low angle shot, we see them drive of the edge of a cliff into the river. Meanwhile, Dan is stating ‘after everything we’ve been through’, there is then a shot to a close up of him as he ends his sentence ‘I’ve finally ran out of things to be afraid of’. This is followed by a slide transition to a low angle shot of a bear growling, with a high angle shot of Dan looking terrified on the floor, thus leads the audience to believe that Dan gets attacked by a bear. As Dan screams, there is a jump to a close up of Tom and Jerry trying to comfort Dan telling him to ‘stay calm, it won’t bother you if you’re in the foetal position’. This is accompanied by a close up of Dan getting into the foetal position and then a mid shot of the bear sniffing at him. We then get a jump cut to Tom and Jerry again, with Tom shouting ‘abort the foetal position!’ which helps to re-enforce the comedy and action genre to the audience. Mean while, the voice over has been stating that ‘whatever doesn’t kill you, will make you stronger’ as we see a mid shot of Dan being carried away by the bear.
We are then introduced to a new character with a jump to a close up of him lecturing the protagonists, with a cut in between to the protagonists walking out of a building and being swarmed by journalists. This is followed by a quick mid shot of Jerry hugging his girlfriend as the unknown character states ‘you better go out and get it’, leading us to believe that Jerry fights to get his girlfriend back. As the shot fades back to the unknown character, with the mise-en-scene showing a dark room and a fire, he states ‘right now’. At this, after a shot of lighting, there is a shot of the protagonists slowly getting up in nothing but blankets, to which the stranger says ‘not right now you idiots’, again re-enforcing the comedic value of the film.
Now the music starts up again and we are introduced to the actors, with close ups of each with their names written alongside them as the voice over introduces them. There is then a jump to a mid shot, with Jerry in focus in front of the other two, stating that he has ‘learnt a lil summet summet the past couple of days’ as there is a shot showing a highlight from the movie that depicts his ‘two of the best friends anyone could ever ask for’. After the shot has climaxed, the voice over re-enters as the texts reappears showing the film’s title, ‘Without A Paddle’ in big bold text. The shot transitions into a dark shot of Jerry in the rain as lighting and thunder commence, this is followed by a jump to Dan stating that their only hope is to ‘huddle together for warmth’. At this point it has become apparent to the audience that they are naked in the rain, part of the comedy genre. A mid shot shows that all three are in the same position and are standing under a protruding rock, this then jumps to a close up of Jerry stating that he chooses ‘death’. At this point the song ‘bump and grind’ begins, with the opening lyrics ‘my minds telling me no. But my body. My body’s telling me yeah’ and we see the protagonists slowly join together in a mid shot. There is then a close up of the lower part of Tom’s stomach with hands clutching it. The camera pans, stopping as it reaches Tom’s face, as does the music as he announces that ‘this never leaves the cave’. The music starts again as we see the protagonist’s lay body to body in a bird’s eye shot. The shot then cuts out and is preceded by titles as the music ends.

Filming

We began filming on 22nd November, unfortunately it was a miserable Sunday - more dreary than we had expected. Our shooting schedule planned for us to commence filming at 11:00am so we had decided to meet at 10:30am at the first location, my house. When everyone arrived we set up the equipment and got ourselves into our costumes. We had a major set back with the characters with one of the Actors not turning up; we improvised by using one player for two parts, using some clothes of mine to portray the character.
With some of our shots needing to be inside, but not necessarily in linear order, we chose to shoot them whilst we were there to avoid us having to keep moving the equipment and setting up again. We managed to start at 11:00 as planned and had done the first five shots in the time slots we had allocated. I also had to ask my younger sister to par-take to make up for the missing character. It was time for us to go out to our main location, the trail at the bottom of my street which is dense with trees, however, the rain had commenced in thrashing it down and we had to wait an hour before being able to leave, putting us half an hour behind schedule. Rather than waste time, we decided to set up the tent so that when it came to it we would know how to do it. Unfortunately, this did not go to plan and when the rain eventually subsided we were still at a loss as to how the tent should be put up. None the less, we carried all our equipment and props to the set and begun filming the last few scenes.
We faced even more problems whilst filming on the trail due to our missing Actor. We were not able to record certain scenes as it meant that Charlotte Pell would have to be two characters in one shot, we moved around this by simply cutting the extra character out. Also, due to the torrential rain pour, we were unable to do one of the comedic scenes - where Brandene falls over the tent legs - as the ground was too wet and muddy. Failing, yet again, to get the tent up, we improvised and got in the half erected tent to awkwardly film the sleeping scene.
One positive to the day was that we finished way ahead of schedule, we had planned to finish at 6:15pm but rather instead finished at 2:30pm.
Yet we occurred some more problems later in the day when we were watching back our filming we realised that the sound was not working on a number of the shots, not due to carelessness on our part, but as a technical fault with the microphone or camera that we knew not of. Rather than re-filming, which would be hard work if it could not be corrected another way, we decided to record the sounds separately.
All in all, our day of filming did not go as expected! We incurred many problems and I am less than enthusiastic to see how it turns out, hopefully it will succeed but there is a high chance we may have to re-film.

Shooting Schedule

Camera Map

Story Board

Location Hunting

Our fictional setting, the hometown of our protagonists. We searched names of towns in Tennessee, making sure to pick the most abstract and unique name there was, to accompany the personalities of the protagonists. The most absurd was Bell Buckle, that had one of the lowest populations also, to hint at them being 'little fish in a big tank' once they arrive in England.

Filming

We are planning to film on Sunday 22nd November, as we need a full day to film all our shots, with a range of time and location. We are starting filming at my house in Tibshelf and, after filming the first 4 shots, we are moving to the Five Pits Trail to film the rest of our trailer. The 22nd is the best accessible day for all members of our team, including our external member, and we will commence filming at 11:00 am.
We have planned to gather at 10:30 am to prepare for filming, including preparing the set, make-up, hair, props and equipment. The timing of the shots range throughout the day dependant upon them requiring either the day or night setting, and they are not going to be shot in chronological order to help make sure we get the correct mise-en-scene for each shot.

The Script for The Quest

The Quest


INT. LIVING ROOM DAY

Mid shot, bird’s eye view of a model globe placed on a table in an ordinary living room. Energetic music playing mezzo-piano in the background

MALE VOICE (V/O)
In the small town of Bell Buckle, Tennessee. Two young girls were about to make the biggest decision of their lives - it was time for a change.

A female hand enters from the bottom-right of the screen and spins the globe around. The camera pulls out into an eye line match of the globe.
Another female hand comes into view and suddenly puts her hand on the globe to stop it from spinning.

BRANDENE
Charlene, we’re going to England!

Cuts to a mid shot of the two female protagonists. Freezes and Character names appear above their heads for 3 seconds. Action resumes with the characters jumping up and down and laughing in excitement.

EXT. VIEW OF SKY DAY

Cuts to long worm’s eye view shot of an aeroplane. The roaring of the plane’s engine can be distinctively heard.

EXT. OPENING OF FOREST DAY

Close up on front page of brochure advertising the park. Birds are heard tweeting in the background.

CHARLENE
Wow Brandene! Ain’t it pretty!

Camera pulls out to reveal the true image of the forest. A random bunch of trees and not quite like the image they were expecting. Music suddenly comes to a stop.

BRANDENE
Are you kidding?

Cuts to low angle shot of the protagonist’s surprised heads appear from over the top of their giant tourist map

MALE VOICE (V/O)
The two best friends, embark upon their journey

Cuts to long shot of the protagonists looking at the tent poles flabbergasted.

MALE VOICE (V/O)
...Facing many obstacles.

Cuts to another long shot of the tent fabric lying on the floor. Nothing seems to have been achieved.

BRANDENE
Right then...

Cut to a shot of the tent nearly assembled. Brandene falls over the tent pole and screams. The two see the funny side and laugh.

Cut to the finished tent and the girls standing by proudly.

BOTH
Done!

The camera zooms to beginning to follow them into the tent. Then zooms back out as the tent collapses with them both inside. Screams are heard from inside the tent. Music stops again at this point.

CHARLENE
Err.. I think that we did something wrong!

EXT. FOREST NIGHT

Mid shot of the shining moon. The hooting of an owl is heard over the sound of the forest.

INT. INSIDE TENT NIGHT

Cuts to a mid birds eye view shot of the protagonists lying in their sleeping bags.

EXT. FOREST NIGHT

Cuts to a long shot of the constructed tent

BRANDENE
Night Charlene!

CHARLENE
Night Brandene!

Shot fades down into black screen

INT. INSIDE THE TENT DAY

Shot fades up into view. The two protagonists are in their sleeping bags. Off key singing is heard in the background.

BRANDENE
Mornin’!

CHARLENE
Mmmhmm… What’s that?

EXT. FOREST DAY

Cut to mid shot of a hippie named Moondrop. She is singing (off key) and attempting to play the guitar

MALE VOICE (V/O)
Their adventure is met by some… Fruitful characters…

Cut to close up of the German Park Attendant, Hans, who looks very angry.

HANS
For the last time! LEAVE!

Cuts to Moondrop again beginning to pack up her things. And makes a peace sign in the girl’s direction after
spotting them appearing from their tent.

MOONDROP
Save the trees!

MALE VOICE (V/O)
…Or just crazy.

Cuts to a close up two shot of the protagonist’s faces as they nervously react to Moondrop. The Music is brought back here quietly and builds up in volume as the action continues.

Cuts to a long shot of the girls left in the forest admiring the scenery

BRANDENE
What a beautiful day!

Cuts to long worms eye shot of thunder cloud rolling and rain starts to fall. Music immediately stops as this shot comes into view.

Cuts to close up two shot of the worried faces of Brandene and Charlene. Music starts again quietly in the background.

CHARLENE
Brandene…

Cuts to long shot of the protagonists standing in the rain

CHARLENE
…I didn’t bring no pants.


EXT. OUSIDE HANS’ WOODLAND COTTAGE DAY

Cut to low angle long shot of Hans’ cottage. Zoom in on window as Brandene looks out of the window to see Hans coming home.

BRANDENE
Damn it! He’s here! Lets Go!

Shot fades out.

EXT. FOREST DAY

Cut to Brandene, Charlene and Moondrop running through the forest. Music gets louder and picks up tempo.

MALE VOICE (V/O)
And new friendships are formed

EXT. OUTSIDE TOWN HALL DAY

Cuts to a shot of the protagonists being interviewed by a News woman

NEWSWOMAN
Hailed heroes by the local public Brandene and Charlene!

EXT. OUTSIDE FOREST DAY

Low angle long shot with the girl’s backs facing towards the camera.

CHARLENE
Oh I don’t wanna leave!

Cuts to black screen with the words ‘THE QUEST’ in funky lettering.

MALE VOICE (V/O)
The Quest!

Lettering fades out and just leaves the black screen.

INT. INSIDE AMERICAN LIVING ROOM DAY

Long shot of parents saying goodbye to their daughters

CHARLENE’S MOTHER
Now please be careful!

CHARLENE
Don’t worry we will be…

Turns around and trips over her suitcase falling out of shot. She raise her hand up for it to come back into the camera’s view.

CHARLENE
OK - starting now!

Cuts to black screen with the words ‘Coming soon 2010’ and underneath this ‘www.thequest.com’

MALE VOICE (V/O)
Coming soon to a cinema near you

Fades outs to just leave black screen.

Costumes :D

Brandene - Eve Deakin:

• Shorts
• Checkered Shirt
• Vest top
• Boots or wellies

Charlene - Charlotte Cooper:

• Shorts
• Checkered Shirt
• Vest Top
• Boots or wellies

Moondrop - Charlotte Pell:

• Gypsy trousers or skit
• Plain top
• Bangles
• Headscarf
• No Shoes

Hans - Robert Davies:

• Trousers (preferably Black)
• Top
• Shirt
• Big Coat or Jacket

Props List

Limited props are needed for our Trailer, the few that we need are well within our capability of obtaining them.
These are:

• A Globe
• A Brochure for a campsite
• A Tent - complete with poles and pegs
• 2 Sleeping bags
• A Microphone (the one used to get sound during filming)
• 2 Rucksacks
• A Suitcase

Health and Safety

Safety Issues for productions companies are stated as such: manual handling, workplace transport, slips & trips and falls from heights should all be catered for before filming commences.
According to HSE, no filming is to be done at a height without the appropriate safety proofing beforehand. There must also be equipment to aid those at a height present, such as a ladder and, especially, a safety harness. However, we are not intending to use heights during the filming of our trailer.
All members of the filming crew must be sure to wear sensible footwear at all times, to avoid slipping or tripping over. We are also not travelling or involving any vehicles in our filming, therefore no member of our team can come under harm from workplace transport. We are also not using much technical equipment, our needs require only a camera, tripod and microphone, so we do not come under high risk of danger due to manual handling.
The amount of equipment we use, and the location for the set mean that we are well within the Health and Safety Regulations and are, therefore, safe to film.

Directors and Distributors :)

Although Action Comedy is seen as a Sub-genre it is not an ingenious hybrid, with it being highly mainstream. We our aiming our production at large audiences, the families and teenagers, leading us to chose Columbia Pictures as our main distributor, due to their reputation as great distributors of action comedies.
Work in this sub-genre has been done by a range of directors, from Walter Hill (48hrs), to Jan De Bont (Speed). It also includes the director of Bad Boys, Michael Bay and the director of the Lethal Weapon films, Richard Donner. Some comedic actors have often been known to delve into the realm of directing, such as Ben Stiller.

Research :)

From looking at a variety of comedy trailers I have acquired that the majority use a voice over, both to bridge gaps and to help introduce plot and characters. This voice is more than likely male, yet soft and deep, using short sentences rather than long monologues of speech. It is also notable that most include the same theme of music - light hearted and fast paced, to show the audience that the comedies are quick witted. There are also a large amount of shots that, although they do not give the entire plot away, give an insight into the characters and the general gist of the film. The scenes of the trailers are also ran in chronological order, with few jumping around in time, this helps to create an enigma as the relevance of the scenes, and the action accompanying them, is unknown to the audience.
Also from my research, i have noted that many narrative theories apply to the action-comedy genre. Aristotle's unites is an underlying theory in all films, unless the main character in the film dies or, perchance the ending is not happy. The main theory applying to our specific genre is Todorov's theory of equilibrium. He stated that a story follows a pattern of equilibrium, where all is calm, disruption to cause disequilibrium then a renewed state of peace where the characters, commonly the protagonists, have restored the peace. To a certain extent, and relevant to our piece, we can include Propp's theory of characters, as we have the heroes, the helper, the villain and, in a sense, the dispatchers in the form of the heroes parents.

Statistics and Numbers :)

As of the 6Th November 2009, Michael Jackson: This is it is top of the box office income list, racking in $2, 114, 248 daily and a total, so far, of $41, 686, 081. With Paranormal Activity, a freakishly terrifying horror, coming in second with a daily income of $903, 305 but a higher total of $87, 847, 574, and Law Abiding Citizen coming third with a daily income of $733, 295 and total income of $53, 896, 291. The second two have had a longer running time than the Michael Jackson tribute and is only running for 2 weeks, plus a weeks extension. The first action comedy in the list is in fourth place with Couples Retreat, racking in $588, 590 a day and $88, 885, 790 overall. Although, I did not enjoy the film nor find it particularly thrilling or funny, the way in which it was funny is the way in which you would expect Vince Vaughn to be funny, therefore his character did not disappointment.
According to ugo.com, a self professed 'geek' club, the highest ranking action comedy of all time is Pineapple Express, which manages to mix 'smart humour' with 'kick-ass action sequences'. Next is Hot Fuzz, followed by maverick, Buckaroo Banzai, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Rush Hour, Death Race 2000, Shaolin Soccer, Big Trouble in Little China, Goonies, Midnight Run and Batman. It is obvious to interpret that the leading action comedies of all time are those that have been produced more recently with the greatness decreasing as does the time. It also leads us to believe that the Action-comedy genre is a popular one, with people going to great lengths to express their love of it.

Historical Context

Over time the quality of cinema viewing has enhanced, with the obvious improvement of conditions and screening quality. Also, the quality of picture has improved, with digital technology seeing changes in the way we see films today - one notable change being the use of technicolour rather than black and white films. Recently, films have become increasingly interactive, with the use of 3D effects the audience feel as thought the characters, and often objects, can reach out and touch them. One director, James Cameron, has gone to lengths to take this interaction further by changing the face of cinema today. His latest film, set to release 17Th December 2009, Avatar uses 3D CGI technology so the audience can feel themselves inside the movie, right beside the characters and action.
Trailers have evolved also, moving from their rightful place at 'the back', as depicted in the name, to becoming a preview of what is to come. They have come far from moving pictures and text, now involving sound and a wide variety of scenes from the film to entice the audience. They incorporate the best snippets with music, in action comedies that music is often playful, to help hammer home the point of the film. They also introduce directors, titles and certificate at the end of each trailer so the audience knows whose work it is. All of which has developed over time.

Genre Research

The genre of our film is Comedy, with highlights of action. The sub-genre of action comedy was not coined until the 1980's when actors famous for their comedic nature began taking part in action based films, such actors as Eddie Murphy. However the action in such films generally tends to be light-hearted and rarely involves death or serious injury, with the humour being based largely on slapstick comedy.
The earliest examples of action comedies are The Blues Brothers of 1980, 48 hrs in 1982 and Midnight Run in 1988, and, the later of the sub-genre, Bad Boys in 1995, Rush Hour in 1998 and - one we have looked into - Charlies Angles in 2000.

The main distributors of such films appear to be Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema, both American film production and distribution companies.

Research part 2 :)

The term 'trailer' originates from the earliest forms when they were played at the end of the film, now they are more commonly known as 'teasers' or 'previews' for what is to come. Over the years the use of trailers has become predominantly more open, with it ranking 3rd in the most watched videos on the Internet, after news and user-created videos. The first trailer was shown in 1913 by Nils Granlund as a promotion for the musical The Pleasure Seekers, previewing at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. They were mostly created by the National Screen Service up to the late 50's, often showing a key screen with the story plot described in text, along with a stentorian voice over, as is still common in trailers to date.
The 'New Hollywood' in the 1960's brought a change in trailers, removing the text and using quick-editing on montage trailers, among the trendsetters was Stanley Kubrick with films such as Lolita.

Research and Planning

Knowing our genre, we looked at a variety of trailers. These involved the trailers for What Happens in Vegas, Without a Paddle, Lethal Weapon and Charlies Angels. All of these trailers included a theme tune that depicted a quick paced film, full of action, which is why we are searching for a song to base our trailer around. We also noticed the use of a linear programme, with the action happening in chronological order, with perhaps one or two analeptic shots to introduce characters, or including a comedic shot right after the title but before the credits. We took all of this into account when producing our independent trailers.
We had originally planned to film in Sherwood Forest but with non of the group members having a licence we decided to stay local, relocating to the 5 Pits Trail in Tibshelf, although the scope is much smaller, there are still plenty of trees and space for our requirements.
We have our Shooting Schedule ready, allowing for the time in getting to different locations and introducing props to the set, also costume changes.

Synoptic Treatment

Adventure. Excitement. A friendship that can withstand the varying temperatures and weather conditions of the typical British climate. The Quest masters the fine art of Action heaving with comedy – it will be alluring to an extensive audience.
In recent years, the ‘knack’ of creating something original has vanished. Modern Action Comedies have become analogous remakes of their predecessors; Steven Brill’s 2004 Without a Paddle saw the perfect combination of witty characters and thrilling action, which was then destroyed by the release of Ellory Elkayem’s 2009 Without a Paddle: Natures Calling. No longer can Directors create something unique, or produce work of their own – we are going to change that. The Quest takes the original Action Comedy and produces something that has never been seen before.
The adventure begins in glorious Tennessee, where best friends, Brandene and Charlene, decide its time they got away – had some adventure. At arbitrary they point to the map, landing directly on England, no less on Sherwood Forest. They pack their shorts and tent and head off across the North Atlantic, only to be greeted by sheets of precipitation and tempestuous winds.