Actual Idea (1) - Synopsis and Cast

My second idea was the idea I stuck with, not only due to time limitations, but also because it seemed more open to changes and developments. To me it was a simple enough narrative were the audience could enjoy it, but also had a twist on the end which brought the audience back to reality in the sense that love doesn't always get the happy ending that everyone wants.
I originally did another mind map to get all my ideas down, then developed them from there.

I decided that my target audience would remain the same, except that the audience would be aimed more at teenage girls because the "romance" genre is more appealing to them and they are probably more liable to want to watch it in comparison to males. However, the narrative will still appeal to males as there is a lead male protagonist which they may be able to relate to. Both genders would be in education, probably students, as the narrative is based on the central protagonists meeting in college. This will help the audience to relate more to the storyline.

I also wrote down all the basics of my idea on to a large A3 sheet.

My synopsis is:

"A teenage musician, Jonny, falls in love with a pretty girl at his college, Jess. Obstacles stop them from being together, a main being her Christian father who forbids her to be with him due to his appearance and background. Jonny tried desperately to try and convince her father about the situation but fails miserably. In her desperation for happiness, Jess decides to run away and live with her Mother who's recently moved to Spain (her parents divorced). Jonny catches her just in time, but when everyone thinks he's going to join her, Jess leaves and Jonny is left to carry on his life".
When some of my friends first read my idea, they were saddened that the two never got to be together in the end, but found that the ending was unpredictable and down-to-earth. They agreed with the message of keeping love in reality and how it doesn't always end the way we'd like it to.

For my cast of the characters, I knew I had to pick a selection of people who would suit the characters and had some experience of acting to create a higher level of verisimilitude (or believability). So, I decided to do some character profiles of my original cast.

JESS - She's young, pretty and energetic. Her bubbly personality is what attracts guys to her. Her parents have recently undergone a divorce, so her Dad is very protective over her.

LEE - Boyfriend (who becomes 'ex-boyfriend') to JESS. He is sporty and is very controlling over JESS. He likes to warn off other guys from her and start fights. He isn't one to mess with.

JONNY - The lead male who falls hopelessly in love. His appearance is unconventional for a smart and romantic male, which is what puts JESS' DAD off him in the first place. He likes rock music and this is often shown through his appearance.


JESS' DAD - He wants what is best for his daughter and dresses as a typical 'Dad' figure. He wears a cross around his neck to show he is a Christian which will influence how over-protective he is over his daughter. He has also recently been through a divorce which has made him insecure and more protective over his daughter.



Unfortunately, Jess was no longer able to continue to be involved within my project. So I had to change her character. Because their appearances differ, I decided to alter their characters slightly.



SHANNON - (or Shan) is pretty, smart and fun. She doesn't like to disobey her Dad but also struggles to keep to his rules. She's young and wants freedom to be with who she wants. Her parents have recently divorced which has made her Dad more focused up on her well-being.

First Idea

For my first idea, I decided upon a Romance genre for my short film. I decided to brainstorm my ideas which I later scanned in to the computer - bizzarely it scanned in pink!

Unfortunately some of the ideas were cut off, but this helped me to get my initial thoughts down. My idea was mainly set in a college / school environment as my target audience of students (male and female) aged between 13 and 19 would be able to relate to the film more. The story line was about an average male student who falls in love with the most popular girl in the school. It's a typical storyline associated with romantic teenage films, I think because the audience can empathise with the character(s). However, I would try to incoporate more comedy elements within my film to try and make it more enjoyable. Also, I would try to include more twists, such as having the male turn out gay at the end; instead of following the predicted pattern of liking the female, he in fact liked her boyfriend all along. I thought of many techniques which I could use in the film, influenced by my initial research in to short films. At the beginning, I thought about using parallel editing and possibly use a split screen to show the male and female protagonist getting ready for college (accompanied by modern pop music) and travelling to college to show that these two are destined to meet and possibly be together. I tried to keep location and cast numbers low so that they would be more managable and easier to schedule. Most of the props were associated with romance, i.e. flowers, but the file links not only to the theme of college and study, but can also be used as a flirtacious device. For example, I thought that the female could possibly drop the file and the male pick it up for her - hence how they meet.

This was the beginning of my script for the idea. I thought if I planned out the narrative with some ideas about the cinematography then I may have other ideas of what to include to make it more different. Unfortunately, I didn't go any further with this script as I thought that the narrative was too predictable and wasn't very different from the other storylines out there. So, I decided to expand on the idea and look at other possibilities that I could explore.

Audience Research

For my audience research, I decided to do a poll on my blog. To get voters, I advertised my blog on my facebook page which gave me a huge advantage, however, I was still unable to get more than 20 or so voters. Despite being a low number of people, I will still use the results from the poll and apply it to my final short film.
Below are the graphs displaying the results of my questions:

This graph clearly shows that more females voted compared to males, there were 17 voters in total. Unfortunately this means that my results won't be gender-balanced but I still do have some male voters which will hopefully be able to represent the male gender. I decided to use age groups as well as the gender to see how many people of certain age voted as this will contribute to the decision of my target audience. Judging by these results, I think my target audience will be aimed at Females aged between 14-20 and have a secondary audience of Males aged 14-20 as they are the majority of the voters, therefore this would make my product more appealing to them from the results of this poll.

This graph shows the voters favourite film genres. I believe that Horror has received the least votes due to the number of female voters as females are often stereotyped as sensitive and often scared-easily so Horror isn't a popular genre for them. Most of the voters voted for Romance or Rom-Com which is the genre type that I have chosen, so I'm pleased to see that it is well-favoured as this will make it appealing for the target audience.

I asked this question on what gender the voters associated with the genre Romance to see who my primary target audience should be aimed at. In my original idea, I was going to aim it at young males but after seeing these results, I will make teenage boys my secondary audience and teenage females my primary target audience. I think that the female gender is more associated with romance than boys is because many females read and fantasise about finding "Mr Perfect" or "Mr Right" and like to escape into the Romantic genre to find out about romance and what to (or not!) expect.

After my previous research on short films, I found that short films can last any length from 1 minute to 20 minutes and possibly longer! So I decided to ask the voters about how long they would prefer a short film to last and their answer was 5-7 minutes with a majority of 10 people voting. This therefore is the length of short film I'm going to aim for, however, I think if I go slightly over the 7 minutes, it should be ok.

Other Research:
I also did some other research with my group of friends. There were 12 of them in total with a mixture of genders, and we talked generally about short films and their expectations. I made a note of some of the key things I will take into consideration:
- The storyline has to be clear. I showed some examples of short films and most of them found that the more complicated or unclear narratives were less enjoyable. However, they didn't mind having an ambiguous ending or having an unexpected twist (either at the end or mid-narrative).
- The number of characters had to be small as, due to the short length of time, understanding who they all are and what relevance they have to the storyline is quite demanding and often complicates the viewer. Therefore, they recommended that I only had a small cast, unless more people as extras were necessary.
- They liked some of the comedy films, such as the video "A Hopeless Romantic" that I analysed. The boys especially laughed when the male lead got run over by a car as they didn't expect it. I am going to try and include some comical moments in my short film but the main focus is going to be on the drama.

Genre Theory

Genre - categorising of a particular type with shared characteristics and conventions.
Representation and Conventions - helps study texts and audience responses to texts by dividing them in to categories based on common elements.

Chandler (2001) suggested that the word genre comes from the french for "kind" or "class". It refers to a distinctive type of text.
Barry Keith Grant (1995) All genres have sub-genres which everything can be divided into. By being divided into specific categories, the audience are able to specifically identify the media text.
Neale (1995) suggests that genres are not systems, they are processes of systemization, i.e. they are dynamic and evolve over time.

Consistent and constant exposure to a genre allows the audience to recognise the familiar conventions associated with a model (or a paradigm). Genres change to reflect the era in which they're produced.

Mittell (2001) suggested that cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry, audience and cultural practices as well. Industries use genre to sell products to audiences.
Self-Reflexive - use conventions. Aware that they are a media text.
Genre also allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to fulfil a particular pleasure. This links to Audience Theory.
Altman (1999) came up with the theory of Pleasure of Genre for Audiences. He suggested that there were three:
1. Emotional - generate a strong response.
2. Visceral - 'gut' responses. 'Rollercoaster'.
3. Intellectual - 'thriller' or 'whodunnit'.

Strengths of Genre Theory:
- Everyone uses and understands it.
- Media industry use it to market and advertise their product.
- Applied across a wide range of texts.

Genre Development and Transformation
- Generic transformation, genres develop and change as the wider society that produce them also changes
- Genres go through a typical cycle (Metz 1997) Experimental, Classic, Parody, Deconstruction.

Audience Theory

Active Audience Theory - Example: Child's Play 3.
Social Setting - family background
We all decode the media in a different manner.
This type of audience is said to be more opinonated and are able to be more realistic about media texts.

Passive Audience Theory - Example: "Triumph of the Will" (1936) German.
1930s Hypodermic Model - It was thought that a mass audience could be influenced by the same message. It also suggests that a media text can 'inject' ideas, values and attitudes into a passive audience who might act upon them.
When you watch something, you behave in the way that the media wants you to behave, You watch it, you believe it.
This audience are considered to be weaker than an active audience and are therefore more easily influenced by media texts.

Demographics - this is a way to categorise the audience. Example: Students and Pensioners come under the demographic of "E" whilst Teachers would be classed under "B".
The demographics model is as follows:
A - higher managerial, administrative or professional.
B - intermidate managerial, administrative or professional.
C1 - supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional.
C2 - skilled manual workers.
D - semi and unskilled manual workers.
E - state pensioners or widows, casual or lowest grade workers.

Psychographics - Similarly to demographics, these look at certain specifics for the audience. They look at lifestyle choices and behaviours; kind of interests they have, values they hold, how they behave...

Maslow was an American psychologist and suggested that we all have a different layer of needs. His theory is called the Hierarchy of Needs which looks at the basic needs people (or the audience) want to meet to feel successful and satisfied.

Cultivation Theory
This suggests that repeated exposure to the same message will effect the audience's attitudes and values. Linking closely with the idea of Desensitisiation, it suggests that long term exposure to violent media will make the audience less shocked by violence therefore by being less disturbed by violence will make the audience more violent themselves.

Two Step Flow Theory
Katz and Lazarsfeld suggests that messages from the media move in two distinct ways. First, individuals who are more opinionated and assume a leader-role, receive messages from the media and pass on their own interpretations in addition to the original media content. Instead of the information flowing directly from the media text to the audience, it is filtered through the opinion leaders who then pass it on to a passive audience. Thus, this passive audience is then being influenced by the opinion leaders ideas as well as the original media text.

Uses and Gratifications Model
This bases itself on the idea that audiences are a mixture of individuals who select the media text that best suits there needs and wants. It supports the active audience theory whereby audiences are able to make their own decisions about what media they consume in relation to their social and cultural setting. This basically means that an audience will consume a media that makes them feel good (gratifications) and something that they can use (uses). Example: soaps allow the audience to appreciate their less complicated life and also take the mistakes of the characters and apply it to their own lives. Another example is the news as the audience can become more knowledgable about world events.
Bulmier and Katz (1975) suggested four main uses after analysing the theory:
1. Surveillance - our need to know what is going on in the world.

2. Personal Relationships - our need to interact with other people.
3. Personal Identity - our need to define our identity and sense of self.
4. Diversion - the need for escape, entertainment and relaxation.

Reception Analysis
This theory looks at how audiences interact with a media text. The theory suggests that social and daily experiences in life can affect the way in which an audience consumes a media text and reacts to it. Stuart Hall (1974) suggested that an audience has a significant role in the process of reading a text and this can be discussed in three ways:
1. the dominant or preferred reading - the audience shares the code of text and accepts and understands it's preferred reading as intended by the producers.
2. the negotiated reading - the audience partly shares the code of the text and broadly accepts the preferred meaning but will adapt the meaning in some way depending on their own experiences, cultures and values.
3. the oppositional reading - the audience understands the preferred meaning but doesn't share the text's code and rejects the original intentions therefore creating their own alternative meaning.

Narrative Theory

Because all media texts demonstrate some form of narrative, we looked at the different theories from different theorists. Films need a narrative to be recognised as a film so these can be applied to any analysis of films (long or short). Stories / Narratives explain the world to the audience structured by language which helps them to understand the purpose of the media text.

Narrative Theory:

O'Sullivan et Al. (1998) suggested that narratives have a common structure, starting with the stablishment of plot or theme. This is then followed by the development of the problem, an enigma and an increase in tension, finally comes the resolution of the plot. Such narratives can be unambiguous and linear (when narratives follow the standard A, B, C ... pattern - where the story unfolds in order).

Barthes (1977) suggested that narrative works with five different codes and the enigma code works to keep setting problems or puzzles for the audience (this links to Audience Theory). His action code - a look, significant word or movement - is based on our cultural and stereotypical understanding of actions that act as a hint for the audience as to what the narrative will be. For example, in Sherlock Holmes, the audience are encouraged to try solving the mystery also; so if a character is speaking in hushed tones down the phone to a stranger, we can assume that they are involved in the mystery. Tilley (1991) used the buckling of the gun belt in the western genre of films as a means of signifying that a shoot out is about to begin. This works in the same way as, for example, starting a car engine to signify that a race is about to begin.

Domaille (2001) suggested that every story ever told can be fitted in to one of eight narrative types. These types all have a source and an original story that they are based upon.
1. Achilles - the fatal flaw that leads to the destruction of the previously flawless (or almost flawless) character. Examples include: Superman.
2. Candide - the indomitable hero who cannot be put down. Examples include: Indiana Jones, James Bond.
3. Cinderella - dreams come true. Examples include: Pretty Woman.
4. Circe - the chase, spider and the fly, the innocent and the victim. Examples include: Smokey and The Bandit, Terminator.
5. Faust - selling your soul to the devil, it may bring riches but eventually your soul belongs to him. Examples include: Bedazzled.
6. Opheus - the loss of something personal, the gift that is taken away and the tragedy or the journey that follows the loss. Examples include: My Sister's Keeper.
7. Romeo and Juliet - the love story. Examples include: Titanic.
8. Tristan and Iseult - the love triangle. Examples include: Pearl Harbour.

Vladmir Propp (1928) studied the narrative structure of folk tales. He concluded that all the characters could be resolved into only seven character types. (I used Shrek as my examples).
1. Villian - goes against the hero (also known as the antagonist). Examples include: The Fairy Stepmother.
2. The Donor - prepares the hero. Examples include: Donkey.
3. The (magical) Helper - helps the hero. Examples include: Puss in Boots.
4. The Princess and her Father - give the task to the hero. Examples include: Princess Fiona and her Father.
5. The Dispatcher - character who makes the task known and sends the hero off. Examples include: Lord Duloc.
6. The Hero - reacts to the Donor and weds the princess. Examples include: Shrek.
7. False Hero - takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess. Prince Charming.

Shrek does however, break the conventions and creates a more modern approach to the typical faitytale narrative. Women are now equals in society which is why Princess Fiona knows combat and so can defend herself when needed, it also demonstrates that Fiona is in charge of her own destiny compared to the old fashioned values of when women were seen as posessions.

Campbell (1949) suggested the "universal hero monomyth" which looks at themes, concepts, myths and legends of almost every culture in the world are the underlying structure of iconography.

Levi-Strauss (1958) believed that all stories operated to certain Binary Opposites, for example good vs bad, rich vs poor. The ideas of his theory are important as they essentially reduce a complicated world to a simple structure. Things are either right or wrong, good or bad - there is no in between.
For example: The ideology behind a "Cop" and "Robber" is that -
Cop = conforming to society, adhering to the rules, participating in society and making it a better place.
Robber = an individual, doesn't conform, breaks the rules and causing disruption in society.

Bordwell and Thompson (1997) came up with a diagram to explain their theory. They also said that mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound all contribute to the narrative through media terminology.

Cook (1985) stated that linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolved. So that by looking at a linear narrative, the mystery is always resolved at the end - similar to a conclusion. A high degree of narrative closure is often needed for the audience to feel satisified with the end of the media text. Narrative is a fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed by spacial and temporal coherence.

Tzvetan Todorov (1977) created a diagram to represent the theory of narrative. Narrative is based around character, actions and settings. Cause and Effect implies change.

1. A point of stable equilibrium. Everything is normal.
2. Stability is disrupted. Creates a stage of dis-equilibrium (usually actions of antagonist).
3. Recognition of disruption.
4. Re-create equilibrium through action directed against disruption (quest).
5. Restoration of new state of equilibrium.



What is a narrative?
(Story-telling)
- a series of actions in a cause and effect chain occuring in space and time.
- structured
- location and time-frame
- coherent (helps the audience understand)
- things happen in a designated time in a designated space with a series of actions to make it interesting
- how the different elements are organised to make sense
- reinforces meanings and beliefs of society, so has an ideological meaning
- linear, something that happens leads to something else that happens. It's chronological (A, B, C ...) This isn't always the case, but it's the most basic and most common structure of narrative.

Narrative - the structure of a story.
Diegesis - the fictional space and time implied by the narrative in the world in which the story takes place.
Verisimilitude - the quality of appearing to be true or real. For a story to engage the audience it must appear to be believable for them to watch it (the diegetic effect). The story must therefore have verisimilitude following the rules of continuity, temporal and spacial coherence.

Multi-Strand Narrative - more than one story going on.
Open Narrative - not all strands of the story are answered, it is questionable by the audience.
Closed Narrative - all the strands are tied up, no questions asked.
Interactive Narrative - the audience have some control over the narrative. For example, in the Final Destination films, the audience are allowed to select different endings or twists in the story. Point of View Narrative - the narrative is told from one person's perspective. For example Bridget Jones' Diary.

Love Story - (Parody Cover) Davedays

This video has been made by an amateur called Dave who has made many parody videos for mainstream artists. His cover of Love Story is different because it's sung from the male's point of view. I'm hoping to include my own cover version of love story sung by my male protagonist in my short film, so the alterations to the lyrics such as : "I'll be the prince and you be the princess" rather than the original "You be the prince and I'll be the princess" are easier for my male to learn.
Because this video is another person's point of view for the song, I've decided to analyse this also and see if I can use any of the techniques in my short film.

Sound:
The track - Love Story, pre-recorded and sung by the male in the video

Cinematography:
Medium Close Up Shot, Pan up/down, Medium Shot, Close Up Shot, Point of View Shot, Handheld, Over the Shoulder Shot, Upward Tilt, Zoom In, Long Shot, Tracking Shot, Extreme Long Shot,

Editing:
Fade, Cut, Eyeline Match, Ripple Transition (memory), Distortion of Colour / Blur, Fade to Black, Shallow Depth of Field,

Mise-En-Scene:
American-Based - the beach is clean, the sky is always blue and nice weather, the park is very green and neat, and the biggest clue to it being set in America are the small packages known as 'kisses' that the male gives to the female.
Girl - wears dresses / skirts most of the time to emphasise her feminimity. Her hair is long and always down.
Father - has a moustache to suggest age (older) and he wears smart clothes, as if he's home from work.
Male - casual clothes, is clearly in love with the girl because he's constantly filming her on his camcorder and is always smiling.
When the male is playing the guitar he is in darkness with a red and blue light on him. The red light could signify the love or the danger the male feels from the girls father, whilst the blue could suggest the mood about the situation in that the male feels down because he can't see the girl.

Techniques that I could use:
Ripple transition - this shows that the following clips are memories from the point of view of the male.
Extreme Long Shot -> Long Shot -> Medium Shot -> Close-Up - all of these shots fade in to the other to represent a passing of time which I think is a good technique to use.

Love Story - Taylor Swift (Music Video)

This is one of her most famous songs with a strong romantic narrative. It tells the tale of a male and female who pursue the course of true love. In the end, they both live happily ever after. What makes this video stand out is that it appears that the protagonists have met in a previous life, possibly the 19th century.

Music/Sound:
Again, the soundtrack is the only sound.

Cinematography:
Establishing Shot, Medium Shot, Long Shot, Tracking, Pan, Profile Shot, Close-Up Shot, Slow Zoom In, Frame-Within-A-Frame, Downward Tilt, Upward Tilt, Handheld, Slow Zoom Out, Over-The-Shoulder-Shot, Voyueristic, Point of View Shot.

Editing:
Shallow Depth of Field
Eyeline Match, Cut, Fade from Black
Continuity Editing

Mise-En-Scene:
School/College Building - audience can relate to it (target audience of students?) Background action of students helps to set the scene.
Female - pretty, books and bag suggests student, modern clothing.
Male - good-looking, student - reading, casual / modern clothing.
Forest = danger, darkness, voyeuristic,. Meeting in secret, forbidden love?
Two Time Zones - Modern / Period (19th Century?) Modern is 'now' and the past is a memory of the protagonists previous life.
Old clothing - long dresses, ruffs around the neck, fans. Candles, large rooms within a castle / large house suggests wealth.

Lyrics that could influence my short film:
"I close my eyes, And the flashback starts" - a protagonist (male or female) could perhaps close their eyes in memory and then the memory could be played also to the audience. Distortion of colour or around the edge of the frame could suggest it is a memory.
"you were throwing pebbles, And my daddy said stay away from Juliet" - the male could be at the girls window but her father has forbidden her to see him and warned him to stay away.
"Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone, I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run" - they could run away together.
"Romeo save me I've been feeling so alone, I keep waiting for you but you never come" - the girl believes that the boy isn't going to come for her, but he does.

Techniques I could use:
In some of the shots, the protagonist(s) looked straight at the camera as if the camera was the protagonist which could be an interesting shot to use which includes the audience directly.
Another technique could be the running in the field scene which is traditionally associated with romance.

Our Song - Taylor Swift (Lyrics)

The music video to this song didn't have much from an analytical point of view as it was purely performance with no clear narrative but this song has given me many ideas for my short film (as I will explain below in bold)

"Our Song Lyrics"

I was riding shotgun with my hair undone in the front seat of his car (girl and boy go driving and she has her head hanging out of the window?)
He's got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel
The other on my heart
I look around, turn the radio down
He says baby is something wrong?
I say nothing I was just thinking how we don't have a song (boy could play a song to the girl and that therefore becomes 'their song')
And he says...

[Chorus:]
Our song is the slamming screen doors,
Sneakin' out late, tapping on your window (conversation through a window, showing the obstacle between them not being together?)
When we're on the phone and you talk real slow
'cause it's late and your mama don't know (parents disapproving of relationship? an obstacle)
Our song is the way you laugh
The first date "man, I didn't kiss her, and I should have" (male talking to his friends about wanting to kiss her?)
And when I got home ... before I said amen
Asking God if he could play it again (should the girl be religious?)

I was walking up the front porch steps after everything that day
Had gone all wrong and been trampled on (female had a bad day but the male was able to make her smile?)
And lost and thrown away
Got to the hallway, well on my way to my lovin' bed
I almost didn't notice all the roses (flowers to greet her with, romantic male?)
And the note that said... (he leaves her a note to make her smile?)

[Chorus]

I've heard every album, listened to the radio
Waited for something to come along
That was as good as our song...

Cause

[Chorus]

I was riding shotgun with my hair undone
In the front seat of his car
I grabbed a pen and an old napkin
And I wrote down our song


Below is my original analysis of the lyrics.

Mine - Taylor Swift (Music Video)

This music video has a strong narrative that relates to the song directly. It shows the relationship between two lovers who follow the traditional love story of meeting and living happily ever after.

Sound/Music:
The main and only sound is once again the song for which the music video is advertising.
Dialogue - though not heard is readable from the expressions and from lip-reading.

Cinematography:
Long Shot, Slow Zoom In, Tracking Shot, Close-Up, Over-The-Shoulder Shot, Handheld, Frame-Within-A-Frame, Medium Shot, Profile Shot, Zoom Out, Upward Tilt, Downward Tilt, Eyeline Match, Reflection.

Editing:
Slow Motion, Cut, Shallow Depth of Field, Jump Cut (where the camera zooms without zooming), Colour Distortion (Sepia), "Memory" is distorted around the edges.

Mise-En-Scene:
Female - wears dresses to emphasise gender.
Male - good-looking and wears casual clothes.
Cafe, suggests small town as it's busy. American-based - nice weather and clean beach.
Kitchen is large - american style cooker and fridge.
Wood/Forest scene is when the female is singing the song.
Pictures displaying memories are used, hanging from the trees.

Lyrics that could influence my short film:
"You were in college, working part-time, waiting tables" - this could be where my protagonists in the film first meet because college is an easily accessible location for me to film.
"we were sittin' there, by the water? You put your arm around me for the fist time" - an idea for one of the dates. Water is also associated with peace and relaxing creating a romantic atmosphere.
"And every time I look at you, it's like the first time" - shows how in love these two are. This could be a line said in my short film.

Techniques I could use:
The photos hanging by threads which I think add more interest to the film rather than just a simple photo. It suggests that she's surrounded by happy memories.
Locations used for the dates to show how the relationship develops and they fall in love.