General Codes and Conventions of Film Openings

At the start of any film, it nearly always starts of with the production company name and logo, but some companies for example Universal, are linked to many other subsidiaries. These films will involve more than one company, therefore may have many names and logo's before the film actually starts. For most hollywood blockbuster films, the actual film footage does not start until at least a couple of minutes into the start.

In Halloween (John Carpenter) it uses a blue filter and does not show the main protagonist until 6 minutes into the film, but unusually this is quite early for a horror film. The first time we get any indication 

In the Bride of Chucky (Ronnie Yu) they signify where this horror is set by showing the American flag, but as well as that it includes rain and also is set at night.

Marley and Me starts of with a voice over from the main protagonist, describing his life so far. Also a two shot is used with him and a woman, which could signify it is a Rom Com.

Napolean Dynamite is a comedy film, and this is shown by the main protagonist wearing unusual clothing, and standing on his own which could signify he has limited friends.

Anchorman is another comedy, and in some cases the production company can change their logo depending on the type of film they make, for example they could change the text to make it suit a horror purpose, or animate it for a comedy. Here is an example. As you can see from the same production company logo, it changes from film to film.

Ali G Indahouse is yet another comedy, but with a twist. When the audience sees the establishing shots of all the gun crime and the city, they immediately think that this film must be an action, but then once the main protagonist is introduced they can see straight away that it is a comedy, from his visual appearance and his behavior.

Avatar is a mix of genres, which involve adventure / sci-fi / action, and this is signified by a spaceship moving through space, and a voice over involving the main protagonist explaining the journey he reluctantly takes.

The lost boys is a gothic horror, and this is signified at the opening by small body language, which in this case was the picking of the teeth, which signifies a vampire.

Never Back Down is an action / adventure film and it opens with an introduction into his behavior, which in this case is punching someone in a football match. This relates back to the genre so straight away you know what the film is about.

Harry potter and the philosophers stone is a fantasy film, and this starts by him locked in a house under a wardrobe, so at the start you do not know what the genre is.

Narrative Theory

Our task was to create a unique or already existing microdrama involving Propp's seven character types. These are the -

1. Hero

2. Villain

3. Donor

4. Princess and the father

5. False Hero

6. The dispatcher

7. The magical helper

These character types exist in nearly all modern day productions, often with multiple versions of these character types, so you can distinguish between them.

Filmic Tastes

The last 5 films I have seen are -

The Social Network

Avatar

Never Back Down

Transformers 2

The Hangover

Ice Age 3

The last move i went to pay and see at the cinema was The social network

My two favourite film genre's are comedy and action / adventure

My all 5 top favorite films are as follows -

Avatar

The Hangover

Anchorman

The Social Network

Fight Club

The hangover has to be my favorite out of all of these, because even as a comedy it made me laugh throughout it. The plot is as the title suggests, some people in Las Vegas wake up with an extreme hangover due to the alcohol and drugs from the night before. To make this such a funny comedy, everything that happens is very extreme, but still maintains realism.

Evaluation Questions

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

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

4. Who would be the audience for your  media product?

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Physcological Horror

Psychological horror tends to be less gruesome compared to traditional horror and typically contains less physical harm, as it works mainly on the factors of mentally affecting the audience rather than the display of graphic imagery seen in the slasher sub-genres. 

The main protagonist's in these films are generally male, with female victims, stereotypically blonde, busty and sexually active.

It creates discomfort in the viewer by exposing common or universal psychological vulnerabilities and fears, most notably the shadowy parts of ourselves in which most people repress or deny.

A good example of this is The Shining.

(wiki)

Film Tastes

This is the greatest film ever made http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_social_network 

Avatar Swede Description and evaluation & The Coursework Task (reworked)

 What is a swede film?

A swede is a film which has been made on a low budget on purpose, which is usually based on an popular film. These can either be made for comedy, or to see how well the film could be made on a low budget and therefore any changes to the real product can be made.

Shortlist of possible films to swede

• Avatar
• I am legend
• Lord of the rings
• Fight Club
• Harry Potter

The swede we chose!

Our idea was to try and remake the film 'Avatar', using low budget special effects. In our swede we used a range of different camera shots, editing and special effects to try and make it look as realistic as possible, but with a comical aspect to it.

The reason we chose to do Avatar was that it is a very modern film, so there is more chance for people to have seen it previously and also this film had the highest budget of any film ever.

If this was my main production what would I do differently?

I would use a larger variety of shot types, as well as focusing on one aspect of the film, for example the opening, instead of trying to cover as many aspects of the film in less detail. We would also use a more precise location and costumes. The genre would be very different to this, due to the fact that with a film like this, the special effects are crucial to make it believable, which we could not achieve.

The Coursework Task

Our coursework task is to produce a 2 minute opening to a film of our chosen genre which must include a variety of shots, sound and suitable cast. Along with that, we have to make a blog for research + planning and our evaluation.