Evaluation - Question 7.

Looking back at your prelimanary task, waht do you feel you have  learnt in  the progression from it to the the final product?


Question 7.

Evaluation - Question 6.

Evaluation Question 6 on Prezi

Evaluation - Question 4 + 5.

Who would be the audience for your media product?/How did you attract/address your audience?

Looking at the two main audience theories, I think, as our film is a comedy, the Hypodermic needle theory would be more suitable in our case. The Hypodermic Theory is about how the audience are passive receptors of media which means they take in information without thinking twice about it. This means that, if this happened to our target audience, then our film is easy and simple to understand. Even though the Hypodermic needle theory suits comedy films, its normally used with mainstream films.

Another audience theory is The Gratifications theory. This is when the audience are actively watching the film, meaning that they are able to connect with the characters as they might have been stereotyped before.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK


Positives.
"Actors spoke clearly and loudly, Different pieces of music made it seem happy, funny costumes"


Negatives.
" Actors stumbled on lines"

Evaluation - Question 3.

What kind of media institituiton might distribute your  media product and why?

Question 3

Evaluation - Question 2.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation - Question 1.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Final Cut.

Consideration of sound.

From gathering our ideas as a group, we came to the decision that these are the sounds that we could possibly use in our film opening. As one of the main conventions of comedy is to have a upbeat soundtrack, we aiming to use an upbaet soundtrack in our film.

Rough Cut 2.

Audience Expectations

As a group we created surveys for 8- 10 to gain more knowledge and understanding into the different genres that we could possibly use in our film opening. My chosen genre was Horror. I asked questions based on their opinions and what they expect from a typical Horror film.

What is your favourite Horror film and why?
The Results I got from this question were varied but similar in explanation. 2 answers that I got were paranormal activity 2. This may be down to the chain of Paranormal Activity films that have been released and people finding new editions better than the first one. As the stories are linked within the paranormal activity films, they may have created a better narrative for the second release. The explanation for their choice was to do with the advertising and rumours that were spread about the film. As many people believed that the films are true stories, they find it more intriguing as their curiosity leads them to relating the film to their personal situation. Other answers were the Grudge 2 and the strangers. The reasons behind their choice were that the storylines were intriguing as the tension built up throughout the film. Another answer I got was the devil's rejects. The person is very interested in the director Rob Zombie.

What do you expect to be in horror films?
Out of all the people I asked they all responded with similar answers. They thought if it was a psychological thriller there would be innocent women who would be haunted by something e.g. a spirit or there would be a theme of metal health issues. They would also think that some characters will be dressed in destroyed clothes e.g. rags. For stereotypical horror films they would expect to see some blood and a dangerous weapon.

What sort of props/ set up do you expect horror films to have?
From conducting my survey, most people thought that would be a use of a gun or a knife. They would also expect the use of supernatural related props such as Ouija board that would be used in seeking spirits/ghosts.
They would also expect the set be partly inside and outside as an outside set would be a graveyard or a dumpsite. An example of an inside set up would be a haunted room.

From conducting my research I have gathered what people expect from Horror films. It has also made me think if I would consider having horror as my genre for my film opening. In my opinion, I think doing a horror opening won't be suitable for our group. We don't have the special effects equipment available to us and if we tried to make the opening it would be too difficult.

Rough Cut 1

Audience Genre Certification.

The Shining
Rated 15.
Drama Horror


SuperbadRated 15
Comedy.


Pulp Fiction
Rated 18
Crime/Thriller.

From looking on IMDB, I have discovered that most sub genre comedy films are certificated 15+. as they contain unique comedy remarks that could be interpreted as something offensive or not suitable for any age under 15 due to children not being mature enough or being in the right mental state. This is due to the narrative of the film and use of violence/gore that mildly appears in it. An example of a British Independent film that would have similar conventions as our opening would be Paul. The certificate for Paul is 15, this is due to the fact they have offensive language in it and there are scenes of nudity.

Another example of a film that is rated 15 is Pineapple Express. This is because it features the characters using recreational drugs. The whole film is based around the fact these two men go on a Journey to find a drug factory. Throughout the film, there are scenes of nudity, scenes of violence (due to stabbing and gun use) and use of firearms.

In conclusion, from looking at BBFC classification, I would certificate our film 12. This is because we do not in anyway encourage the use or misuse of drugs throughout our film. However, we do want to include some mild violence later in our film. We would have to ensure that in the violent scenes, we should clearly show these actions are not pain free otherwise our target audience may think if its pain free, they can do it. Our theme of our film is definitely suitable to certificate our film 12 as it is suitable for young teenagers, which coincidentally is our target audience,

Target Audience.

As our film is aimed at people who are interested in superheroes, I think they would be interested in reading Comic books such as Marvel Comic Books. This is because Marvel have a range of superficial superheroes in their range of comic books and in our film we have 3 rural superheroes. Another hobby that I target audience may have is Exploring. If a person is into exploring nature and its qualities, then I'm sure if they were to watch our film they would be on the rural superheroes side as they care about  nature as well.

I think the rating of our film we achieve in the UK will depend on how well we distribute. If we distribute it widely for example: through productions houses, art houses and film festivals, we would have an increased chance of receiving a high rating. If we were to distribute through those 3 methods, I think we would receive a rating of 3.5-4/5 due to the fact it is an independent film so it has a higher chance of not doing so well compared to mainstream films.

I think the other media works our target audience will regularly use will be TV magazines, magazines and websites. BY having access to all of these our target audience gets to collect things form the magazines, receive online offers through websites and have TV listings on when their superhero related programs are on.

films that are similar to ours, that I target audience would've seen would be Austin Powers, The Boat That Rocked and Submarine. These are all films that are related to the 1960's. As our hippie character is quite dominant in our film, we would associate hippie films to do with Rural Superheroes.

Our average audience member would probably shop for clothes online. If someone chooses to see only hybrid/sub genre films, they are more likely to wear alternative clothing. Alternative clothing is more common to be found online. Buying online means that they could search for any type of clothing and most likely get it.

We would advertise our film in cartoon magazines, comic book magazines and in newspaper agents.

I think if we were to show a trailer of a film somewhere, we would have to think strategically. We would have to bear in mind that we need to show it to a maximum amount of people as we possibly can. If I was to chose where the trailer would be shown, I would chose film festivals due to the high number of people attending them.

Film Remake

For our preliminary task we had to recreate a film opening. As a group, we chose the shining to remake a film of as we thought we would be able to successfully complete it. We used only a camera and locations and props that were available to us.

Certification.

Certification in film is classifying films into different age categories depending on different factors that are classified for that certification.

Classification is about access to film is restricted due to the material on grounds of age and censorship is cutting preventing access due to the material.

Legal Obligations are put in place to prevent any material breaking the law. As film trailers are exposed to anyone nowadays through television, some people may need to be protected from seeing the film. These audiences may need protecting from items that may cause harm. For example, children should not be exposed to material related to violence, as this could affect their well-being. Film producers have to look at the wider perspective aswell. They have to think about the society when releasing films. They should consider the broader public opinion with regard to language as curse words should not be included in films that are aimed at children under 12. 

The BBFC (British board of Film classification) certifies films since 1912. They classify all the films that are to be released in UK Cinemas/ picture houses. A new law came in 1984 that the BBFC certifies home videos. They also have to be aware of laws which protect children.

Examples of films and the reasons behind their certification.

Ali (2001)
15

• scenes of violence; infliciting pain and injury
• Strong language
• Nudity

The Nightmare Before Christmas
PG

• Frightening sequences
• Mild sex references (kiss)

Research Presentation - Comedy.

Comedy

Generic Conventions

There are three types of conventions:

• Visual
• Audio
• Thematic

These allow audiences to interpret the film, so that is why they are so important. If it is a comedy film certificate PG and  it had a bloody knife, the audience would be confused as it does not fit Comedy conventions.

Things that signify each genre:

Romance 

Comedy

Horror

Film Ideas.

From carrying out research throughout all films, we have decided to a Sub genre comedy film. our film will be, for certain a British Independent film due to not having a big Hollywood budget and our film won't be mainstream.For our film, we have already decided what the indentitities of our characters. They will consist of a Hippie, a farmer and a Nerd. These are very stereotypical terms but they fit in witht he narrative of our film.

When I got thinking ideas for the Hippie character, Austin powers came straight to my mind. This is because Austin Powers is set around the 1960's, which was the hippie decade. The use of costumes and props within Austin Powers would be of perfect use if we were to use similar things. In the following clip, you can see a variety of costumes that could potentially be a starting point for us when thinking of Mise in our film.




Following the 1960's inspired films, I also looked into The Boat That Rocked.

Jelly babies task

For our task, we used jelly babies as a substitute for characters in the making of creating our storyboard. We created our storyboard using post it notes, jelly babies and paper. We were in a group of 4 in which the tasks of creating the storyboard with the Jelly babies was divided up equally. The purpose of using the jelly babies in the making of a storyboard was to get an idea where the characters were in the frame. We were given a list of different scenarios for a film opening that had different narratives. When creating our storyboard we had to bear in mind the framing and composition of each different scene. Using jelly babies when drawing a scene for our storyboard allowed us to think of the different camera angles and shots we would use in each scene. Our group chose to do the sci- fi scenario which we had to create think of the narrative of the whole film even though we were only creating the opening which would be 2 minutes long. We had to think about the different conventions

In the jelly baby task I learnt how to create storyboards bearing in mind where the characters are placed in the scene and it gave me insight into what would be put in each scene. I learned that you have to consider what type of shot you would want to use in a scene/clip depending on what impact you want to have on the audience. For example, if I was making a horror film, my aim would be to make the audience slightly scared/uncomfortable. I could create a scene where a over the shoulder shot could be used on a mysterious unknown character. This would mean the audience will feel uneasy as the shot of the character does not reveal his identity and most people fear the unknown. I learned how we should think about lighting whilst creating our storyboards as some parts of characters or props may need to be highlighted in different ways depending on the genre of the film. Using the jelly babies allowed us as a group to figure out how the characters will be shown using lighting to reflect their emotions and feelings.

During the jelly baby task, personally I found it hard to place the jelly babies for certain frames and shots. As the jelly babies we are the same size, we weren't able to show scenes that had close ups or extreme close ups. Instead, we wrote what type of shot/angle it was as it would not be clear in the actual picture on the storyboard. As a group we first of all  did not get the reasoning behind doing the jelly babies task which lead us wasting time and made us rush when we finally  got down to completing the task successfully.


As a group, we mainly discussed what the point of the task was how we were going to place the jelly babies sin which shots and how would we show the different shots through using the jelly babies. after we decided where to put the jelly babies in the frame and write down the key info (camera shot/angle used, how long the shot lasted) we had to think how we could have a smooth transition between each shot with the jelly babies. As, if we didn't understand the concepts of Continuity, our future filming would not be up to high standards.

The task has enabled me to gain knowledge of Continuity. I think, if I did not do the task, I wouldn't fully understand as I didn't carry out a practical activity which would've tested me on my knowledge. Continuity is very important to get right within a film as the audience of our opening will not understand the narrative correctly if it came down to poor editing for continuity or having no continuity at all.

 The narrative within our story is about a person who is driving on a road at night and they see a bright light in front of the car, which they do not know the source of. Our storyboard goes through the different shots and angles used building up the cliffhanger at the end. It linked with conventions of horror due to the setting and location being at night. Also, having a mysterious happening that puzzles the main character.

We used various shot in our Jelly babies task. We used a close up - to show the radio playing an advert. The radio is a key aspect of the storyboard as it relates back to the title "Projection". This links in with our conventions of our opening as close ups allow you to see the key details of what is being focused on. if something is being focused on, then that must mean you need to pay attention to what is going to happen. We also used an over the shoulder shot to show the driver changing the radio station. This relates backs to convention of our opening as a over the shoulder shot allows the audience to get up close and personal with the character. It would make you feel sorry for the character as the audience may feel like they are betraying them for 'spying on them'.

Student Films pt.2.

What works well in student films:

• Close up shots of special effect make-up.
• Props being closely related to conventions.
• Music to set the scene (eerie for horror films).
• Tripod use - very steady.
• Using a wide range of camera shots and angles. 

What doesn't work well in films:

• Running with camera - moving handheld shot.
• Actors aren't well directed.
• No transtitions used - no continuity.
• Obeying the 180 degree rule.

Student films

When it comes to making my own film, I want it to learn from other student misatkes when it came to making their film. By analysing their films it will allow me to gain insight of what works in a student film and what doesn't.



In this student film I thought the use of non diegetic sound was very good as it fitted well with the genre being a horror/thriller. The use of the knife is a very good idea as it is a key signifier of death and violence. The use of hand held shots are also very effective as it gives off the idea that the is someone mysteriously walking around the house. Combining the hand held camera and eerie music, the atmosphere within the film is very tense and makes the audience intrigued into what happens next. In this student film a wide range of camera angles and shots were used in the opening. This means that the viewer wont get that bored watching it as it has variety.

The weaknesses of this student film is that it contains more features of a trailer instead of an opening. This is because the storyline is given almost straight away and in an opening of a film nothing really significant happens. The only thing that should happen in an opening is introducing the main characters and having opening credits. Even if this was intended to be an opening, no credits were show in the film. The only title that is show in this opening is the name of the film at the end of the opening. This is not a feature of an opening, it is a feature of a trailer.




In this student film I gather that someone is afraid of revealing themselves and the use of makeup used in the first character that was introduced firstly appears to be disfigured and shy. He is holding a photograph of a happy couple and sheds a tear when he looks at it, this could suggest that he is the man in the photograph, but due to his disfigurements he isn't with that girl anymore. As I get to know what the film is about, it means that the narrative is very easy to understand in the opening of the film. Hopefully, this is the same throughout the film. This will allow the audience to follow the narrative correctly. The use of mise in the beginning of the opening is very effective.

The negatives about this composition is that the transitions could be a bit smoother between scenes. especially when there is cross cutting happening, so two things are being shown alternately. If the transitions were improved, then the audience will feel more comfortable watching it as they wouldn't get confused. Also, the use of a handheld shot whilst running isn't effective. It makes the audience confused as they cannot clearly see where they are. I think it would only be effective if it was filmed in a Hollywood studio as they would have the budget to spend on special equipment to make certain things better.





I thought this student film was mostly positive, it was quite hard tor find negative points for it. I thought it was very effective with how the titles were faded in and out in time with the music. The music was suitable for its genre. They incorporated a lot of the generic conventions e.g screaming, low pitch music, sharp.edgy font. By incoporating all those conventions, their target audience will be able to identify that is a horror/psychological thriller. The audience will feel connected with he heavy breathing that is also playing in the background as it feels like the heavy breathing is coming from yourself.

The only negative I could find about this film was how they put the red tint over the footage. I think a bit of tint is effective when its done properly. Also, I would hope I could see the main characters face as I couldn't see her face in the opening.

Institutional logos.

Institutional logos are normally shown at the very start of the film. It is not know of for the institutional logo to be placed elsewhere in the film. Normally in a film opening, more than one logo is shown.

THE HISTORY OF THE LOGO


Back in the day, logos were very simple. They normally only consisted of simple text or a still image. As film studios grew, they developed new ways of improving their logos which caused a bit of competition between the institutions.  One of the most famous logos in history is MGM's Leo the Lion. They introduced Leo the Lion in 1921 when Universal introduced a globe in their logo.

his an example of how competitive institutions when it came to out doing eachother with logos



20th Century Pictures merged with Fox in the 1930's, they ditched their tower logo and became 20th Century Fox Pictures.

This shows the progession with Columbia Pictures with their logo.



After completing our research into Institutional logos, we had to come up with ideas for institutional logos. After coming up with several ideas, each member of the group had to decide to draw one of our ideas.

Differences between trailers and an opening.

Trailers and openings of a film are similar in a way that they introduce the film to an audience and allow them to gain some sort of knowledge in order to understand the film. However, an opening and a trailer are very different in other respects.

Trailers are a form of advertising that almost all films use this advertisement technique. It is a very effective way of advertising a new release as it gives the public/audience and idea of what the film is about. Trailers consists of different clips taken from the composed film. These different clips do not give too much away otherwise people will not go to the cinema and watch the actual film. Trailers are released firstly in cinemas before a film is about to start. When the release date becomes more closer, the trailers are released as television advertisements and released online. By being able to access the trailers online it allows people to spread the word of the film via social networking sites such as Facebook. In trailers, the title of the film is introduced at the end and has the most important credits after the title. It will also have the certification and release information of the film.

Film openings consist of introducing the main characters within the actual film. The protagonist is usually shown first and will have the most screen time. The opening will consist of the production companies title coming up first and normamly the title of the film is introduced thirdly. These are called the opening credits. The opening credits allow the audience to know who's in the film and who directed it. After the opening credits, the opening will introduce the main characters of the film.

In conclusion, the main difference between trailers and film openings is that the credits of an opening are shown at the beginning and most importantly the film name is shown with them. On the other, credits are shown at the end in a trailer. Another key difference between the two are that a trailer is a form of advertisemnet and a opening is the introducing part in the actual film.

Film timelines.

By examining film time lines, it will help me as well as my group, to understand the structure of when titles are placed. I have looked at films that have been produced by Hollywood institutions. By completing this task it has enabled me to gain an understanding of how titles differ between trailers and opening scenes. this is because there are major key differences between the two. By looking at 3 different title sequences, I have been able to gather the basic gist of how and when titles are placed.

Consideration of genre.

Genre is a category a film is placed into, based on particular conventions to appeal different, mass and nische audiences. The different conventions are visual, audio and thematic. When comes to what makes up a genre, you look at the signifiers which are key things that are related with that genre.

In this part about genre, I am going to list the signifiers of the main genres for film.

Horror

• Knife (visual)
• Blood (visual)
• Screaming (audio)
• Use of black (visual)
• Supernatural (visual)
• Low pitched music(audio)
• High angles of vulnerable characters (visual)
• Psychological theme (narrative)
• Innocent victim (narrative)

Comedy

• Pitiable Protagonist (narrative)
• Romantic Comedy (narrative)
• Spoofs (narrative)
• Foul language (audio)
• Harmless violence ( visual)
• 'Chick flick' (narrative)
• High pitched music (audio)

Action

• Guns (visual)
• Fighting/Conflict (narrative)
• Male protagonist (narrative)
• Fast tempo music (audio)
• Innocent women in need of protection (narrative)
• Hostages (narrative)
• Slang language (audio)

Sci-fi

• Aliens (visual
• Space (visual)
• Supernatural (narrative)
• Aliens taking over the world (narrative)
• Protagonist Hero (narrative)
• Antagonist Villain (narrative)
• CGI (visual)
• Slow tempo music (audio)

Among these major genres, you get films that use one of these main genres and an another element added. These are called hybrid genres and normally appeal to nische audiences.

Pulp Fiction

The genre of Pulp fiction appears to be Crime/Thriller. This is due to guns being used has harmful weapons. Guns have connotations of violence and harm. It is a very recognise symbol for Crime, which allows the audience to get an idea of what type of film they're watching without struggling. The use of curse words and foul language is also a key factor that links with crime. Due to the stereotype of people who are associated with violence, they normally use verbal abuse to exaggerate their actions.

The narrative of the film is enlightened through the use of dialogue in the opening. It allows the audience to hear the conversation of the two characters. This allows the audience to get a better understanding of the film as they so far have probably only watched the trailer for the film which would not give a specific idea about the narrative of the film. As a male and female character are introduced, it may suggest that there will be other people who would be paired up in order to carry out certain tasks.

In the opening, the main focus is on the two characters sitting at the diner table. As the camera does not pan over the setting or show their surroundings, these are the only main characters that are shown within the opening. They seem to be from the working class, blue collar workers due to their personal hygiene and appearance. As the lady is not wearing a lot of make up, it could indicate that she has more masculine features more than feminine. However, the male is shown to have a slick comb over which is related to classiness.

The atmosphere within in the opening seems to be calm for the first 4 minutes of the opening. The couple are having breakfast at a diner and seem to be not disturbing anyone in anyway as they are talking to each other. this makes the atmosphere seem very peaceful and respectable for the morning. However, when the gun is shown in the film, the tension increases and the shrieks from the people within in the diner suggest that the atmosphere has changed dramatically. As guns and screaming combine, the atmosphere has now changed to chaotic.

The main theme used in the Pulp fiction opening is Violence. Normally films would have multiple themes in the film, but by only looking at the opening, there is a limited amount of themes shown. However, the theme of violence is only shown towards the end of the film.

The setting of the opening is in an American Diner. The 180 degree rule stays in tact in the opening which allows the audience to follow the film properly. The setting allows the audience to gather that the film is based around American culture as the American Diner is iconic to the USA. The audience never see the other side of the camera so they only see the seat that the characters are sitting on.

The use of non diegetic and diegetic sound is used in the opening of this film. They are used equally through the use of dialogue and background music. The sound allows the audience to know what the characters are getting up to in the scene. It might give the audience an insight into what is happening. As the genre of the film is Crime/Thriller, the use of gun shots adds to the tension within the film. The characters aslo talk about killing people which supports the genre and theme of the opening/film.

Titles are presented in the last 2 minutes of the film opening. This film opening is very different compared to others that I have analysed. Normally the credits of a film are introduced before nay major even happens in the film or before they fully introduce the characters. The name of the film is introduced first and the rest of the titles follow from that.

A Clockwork Orange

The Clockwork Orange appears to be a Sci Fi Drama  from watching the opening. This is because the characters that are introduced half way through the opening seem to be dressed in all white and have blood stains on their clothes. The white clothing could indicate them being related to astronauts and space. Also, the use of props make it seem more Sci Fi as they are very unusual having several mannequins in very vulgar positions. for the first 30 seconds, the screen is block red. This could suggest that the film may contain some sort of horror or violence.

The narrative for A Clockwork Orange appears to be mainly around Science. The protagonist is introduced within 45 seconds of the film and a close up shot is focused on him for 15 seconds. He is shown wearing a top hat and white clothing, which is contrasting, therefore making him stand out the crowd. This could connote he may be a social outcast due to being so bold and expressive in the way he dresses. The camera starts zooming out form his face, which reveals more characters to the audience. They all appear to be wearing the same attire as the protagonist however they do not have the unique make up under the right eye. Due to the protagonist having unique make-up that no one else has in the opening, may suggest he's the leader of a group. They all seem to look very docile, which could indicate that the drink they are drinking could be some sort of rare substance. As many characters are drinking a white liquid, this may suggest that the liquid could be a key part throughout the film.

After the protagonist is introduced in the opening, the camera zooms out to reveal more characters that are in the film opening. It takes 45secs for the camera to zoom out to reveal all characters. This may increase the audience's curiosity which would make them more intrigued by the film. As they are all wearing white clothing it could signify that they are innocent as white is related to angels. However, this assumption is soon turned around when the camera reveals that most of the characters have blood on their clothing. Blood has connotations of violence and horror. The black hats could signifies death, which relates to the red on their clothing.

The atmosphere within the film seems to be very tense and uncomfortable for the audience. To be presented with a film opening that begins with a red screen may be alarming to some as it has connotations of blood which suggests that the film will contain violence. However, due to the red screen being shown for a long time, it could have the opposite effect on the audience. They may make the assumption that the film will be interesting due to the build up which creates suspense. The atmosphere in the film seems to be tense due to the slow build up of showing the characters. This could possibly indicate that the 'group' is planning something as they are taking their time to reveal themselves.

The themes I think that A clockwork Orange could have is psychological harm. As the characters hardly blink or move within in the opening, could mean that they have been brainwashed or in a hypnotised state. This allows the audience to be able to understand psychological and philosophical issues more due to being shown the effects of the harm. The blood on their clothes could mean that another theme the film could have is abuse. Abuse is related to violence which is also related to anger.

The setting in the film includes the use of props which add to the unique aspects of the film. The characters are in a room which is painted silver and has various white props and writing that stands out from the background. As no outside locations are shown within the opening, it could mean that the film has been created in a studio. This means no natural light was used but artificial light was used to highlight all the bold colours within the set. As the room seems to be quite packed, this could have connotations of chaos due to the the state of the room.

In the opening, there is no diegetic sound used. All the sound is non diegetic. The different uses of non diegetic sound used are the background music, the dialogue and sound effects. The background music is very eerie which sets the scene as the red screen is shown. The combination of these two things build tension for the audience. The dialogue is used when the camera is zooming out of the protagonist face and appears to be the voice of the protagonist. This is because the dialogue gives insight to the audience of the narrative. This means the leader would normally know what's going on in the group.

The title that is introduced firstly is the production company and it is presented within 30 seconds of the opening. As the film is based on a novel, the nest title to follow is the name of the man who created the novel. By doing this it makes the audience aware that this film is an adaptation and also it gives credit to the writer. The nest title to follow is the name of the Film. This is key feature for an opening as if it was a trailer, the name would be shown more towards the end of the clip.

The Notebook

The Notebook appears to be a romantic drama. I have made this assumption as the setting of the opening is a lake and a sunset. This would often be referred to romance. The opening has connotations of romance as the opening shows two people feature in the opening. The two characters that are presented are male and female. This is a romantic drama stereotype as it normally indicates that the two characters are going to fall in love and whilst their love grows, they come across a few issues. The continuous use of the orange and black tones is stereotypical as these warm colours are related to romance, which adds effect to the romantic drama stereotype.

The narrative of the film is romance. The protagonist of the film is introduced within the 2 minutes of the film. She appears to be watching someone who is rowing a boat in a lake. This could suggest that the lake is a key feature in the narrative of the film as it is introduced and focused on for a long period of time. The storyline is not completely introduced in the opening for The Notebook. As only main character has been introduced in the opening, it allows the audience to look forward to the whole film as the storyline hasn't been revealed yet which means that the film will be enticing. By not introducing all the characters at once the storyline builds up as it goes along.

The opening of the notebook does not introduce all Characters that star in the film. The supposedly protagonist is introduced within 2 minutes of the opening. The character that is introduced appeared to be an elderly woman who is dressed in silk pyjamas and a robe. This could indicate that she is well off and classy due to wearing silk clothing.

The atmosphere in the opening I think is intended to be relaxing and calm. By combining classical music and the sunset within the opening, it sets a calm atmosphere within the film and for the audience. This atmosphere may suggest that everything is at peace within the opening and there are no major indicators have been introduced just yet as it would not have the sunset background and slow classical music. The atmosphere may suggest that the film could be a romance as the sunset is an ideal setting for a romance to occur due to nature's beauty. The atmosphere has an impact on the audience as they would also feel relaxed as there are no sharp transitions within the opening, which makes it seem calm. On the other hand, the atmosphere could be really upsetting/sad due to the dark colours and slow music. We see a lot of silhouettes of trees, which are black, black has connotations of death.

In the whole of the notebook I think there are multiple themes that it could have. I think one of the main themes in the opening is Love. The sunset and the romantic mood contributes majorly to Love to make it the dominant theme in the opening. This is the only theme I could recognise from the opening. This theme is probably used throughout the film to ensure that here is continuity within the whole film. Other themes could be introduced in the film later on such as social status and financial status. This would mean that the Notebook could have a similar narrative to Romeo and Juliet.

In the opening of the Notebook, it appears that the setting is at sunset and by a lake. These two things are focused on the most throughout the film. This could suggest that the lake is a significant part of the film. The settinf is cliche due to the film's genre. As the Noteboook is a romantic drama, the setting is ideal to be used as it allows the audeience to get teh right impressions from the film. The warm colours in the sunset ameks everything seems so serene

In the opening of the notebook, non diegetic sound is used. The non diegetic sound used in the opening is the piano background music. The piano music sets the scene for the opening as it contributes to the romantic theme. No other uses of sound is used in the opening. This may or may not be a good thing to do in the opening of the film. Having minimal sound might entice the audience and make them follow things slowly. On the other hand, it could  be a negative thing as the audience might get bored and think that the opening is too vague with the use of sound.

Looking at the opening. it appears that the actors/actresses name appear to be in a certain order. The order may be in the order of who has the most screen time to the person who has the least amount of screen time. Since I am looking at the opening, the most important credits normally appear in the opening credits and the rest are shows in the ending credits. The first title that comes up is 5 seconds within the opening. Having 5 seconds before names are introduced, it allows the audience to be aware of the setting and the location of the scene.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

From what I can see from the opening sequence, I would say that The Girl With The Dragon tattoo must be an Action. This is because in the opening, we are shown guns, this connotes violence. The use of black makes it look sinister and evil, which is sometimes associated with violence. Black has connotations of death.

I think the Narrative starts off by introducing the main characters, but not obviously. The use of oil going over spreading over multiple things may signify oil. The oil may belong to a car. If there is fast paced music, then there could be a car chase that occurs later on in the film. The way the oil corrupts the laptop and wires could indicate that there is some form of hacking that happens in the film.

We are introduced to 2 main characters in the opening. However, you cannot make out their exact features as special effects have been used over their actual selves. This could connote that they have something to hide. One of them appears to be male and one appears to be female. Going against stereotypes, the female was helping the male to untangle himself from the wires.

The atmosphere within in the films seems quite tense due to the slick editing and dark colours. Also, how the two characters are attached to eachother makes it seem like quite an intimate moment. Although, the tension is broken when they rip off each other and become separate. Also, as the music goes up and down in pitch, it makes the audience tense up due to the sudden change. This may have connotations of unstability. As I mentioned before, black has connotations of death, it makes the atmosphere quite haunting. We also see a crow in the opening. Crows are seen as connotations of death.

Due to the action nature of the opening, I would think that the rest of the film would follow a high impact, fast, deteriorating theme. I could imagine the whole film being to destroy all man kind as this new technology is sucking everyone in. But the characters that we're introduced to, appear to break free out of this hold over them. This is represented by the flower opening and closing.

The opening has non diegetic sound of screaming/shouting in the background. The shouting is in tune, which makes it an effective soundtrack. Screaming has connotations of pain and torture. The fast pace increases appears to be increasing their speed of getting out. There are many different layers of sound, which makes it sound even more scary and terrifying.

The titles are quite hidden in the film opening sequence, this may be because the directors of this film wanted the audience to concentrate on the effects more as they probably spent a lot of money on it.

Film openings

When analysing films, I am going to comment on:

• Genre
• Narratvie
• Character
• Atmosphere
• Themes
• Setting
• Sound
• Titles.

By doing this, it will allow me to analyse film openings fully.