During our research and preparation for our two minutes film opening, we started with thinking about which genre we could use. We were quiet sure it should be something funny from the beginning. We thought about spoofs, but the problem there is that it needs to be very clear what it should represent, that would cause a lot of equipment which we can’t afford. After some discussions we came to the conclusion to use the teen comedy genre. It might content a bit of a romance as well. Teen films are about growing up and the problems going with that, like first sexual contacts and breaking away from the parents. Teen comedy covers more or less the same topics, but in a different way. Often there are embarrassing situations used to make it funny. The typical setting is at a school probably a high school during the school time. There are always groups in the pupils (groths, chavs, geeks... etc.) and there are always outsiders of some sort in it.
"Legally Blondes" DVD trailer
As a reason that Julia and I are exchange students, we thought it might be a good idea to bring in some of our experiences we made in this foreign country. We think to use things like language barriers and the differences we have in our habits to create some funny and maybe embarrassing moments.
We came out with this list of differences we noticed: - Teaching styles- more out-front (in England the teachers are always friendly and very polite, in Germany the teacher would say if it wasn’t good, without searching for some good points he could appreciate.)
- Standing in a queue while waiting for the bus (in Germany no one would do that, anyone just tries to be the first)
- Tiny, tidy little front gardens (maybe a stereotype from Germans to think that all English front gardens look like that, but in Codsall they really do)
- Tea (the tea is stronger than the one you can buy in Germany and you even can buy tea in McDonalds which is in Germany unthinkable)
- School uniform (in Germany very rare)
- Driving (in Germany we drive on the right side)
- Cards for everything (English people love to write cards, even if it is just to say thank you for a nice dinner, in Germany you would just write a card for birthdays or maybe on Christmas, to a funeral)
- Christmas ( in England you get the presents on the 25th, in Germany you get them on the 24th eve and we even have another holiday on the 6th of December: St. Nicholaus)
- Meat (more lean when cooking in Germany)
Our main idea for the two minutes film opening is to put a diary in the centre. It should start with a scene in a bus. Over the whole film there is a boys voice over like someone is reading a journal. A girl and a boy are sitting in this bus. When the girl gets off the bus, she forgets to take her diary with her and the boy picks it up. He just sees the girls back, but not her face. The bit he sees fencies him al lot and now he tries to find out who that girl is, but not too obviouly. The problem is, the whole book is written in German. Unfortunately he can’t speak German, he needs to learn it. In the next shot we see how he is on a notice board to sign up for a German class. He is about to write his name down when a friend comes along and he feels embarrassed about what he is trying to do and so he doesn’t write his name.
But he doesn’t give up. He walks into a German class without actually taking the subject. He thinks it’s a beginner’s class but the class has been moved, so he ends up in an AS class. Two German girls who notice that he is not meant to be there try to expose him, make him read stuff out loud etc. As a result he gets thrown out of the class, into a friend who is with a girl (the diary girl’s best friend) they exchange pleasantries. The girl takes a liking to the boy but he doesn’t really care.
In the next scene we see the boy in the Library surrounded with German books and dictionaries,trying to translate the diary, he gets annoyed and says “I can’t do this” etc. Than he gets a phone call from a friend asking to go to a party, he says that that girl is coming, and her friend who is German is coming, too. First disagreeing… he agrees.
But he doesn’t give up. He walks into a German class without actually taking the subject. He thinks it’s a beginner’s class but the class has been moved, so he ends up in an AS class. Two German girls who notice that he is not meant to be there try to expose him, make him read stuff out loud etc. As a result he gets thrown out of the class, into a friend who is with a girl (the diary girl’s best friend) they exchange pleasantries. The girl takes a liking to the boy but he doesn’t really care.
In the next scene we see the boy in the Library surrounded with German books and dictionaries,trying to translate the diary, he gets annoyed and says “I can’t do this” etc. Than he gets a phone call from a friend asking to go to a party, he says that that girl is coming, and her friend who is German is coming, too. First disagreeing… he agrees.
