Our target audience is teenage girls from the age of 16-21, this is because that is the stage in life when relationships, love and finding themselves is around. we didn't want to set the age too young as, later on the movie if it was to continue would show a little violence from the main character Emma's mother. Also he drunken behaviour doesn't set a very good example for the younger generations, especially as how society is now.
The audience of girls at this time would be thinking about becoming more independent with university, at this time in their lives its very stressful with exams, work, school, friends and juggling all of this possibly with a relationship too.
These two girls are at the similar age of our target audience (they are 16 & 18). They are both at stages of their lives when school and collage are the main focus, the battle between balancing out family, work and school is at its peek. Our film opening will appeal to our female target audience as they can relate to the situations each of the characters finds themselves in. Also the story lines that are usually within films of this genre, the audience of girls can relate back to.
Toby is a media and drama student, he gave us helpful detailed answers.
We interviewed Fenn- she is a the same age as our target audience and can give us straight answers on how she feels about our movie opening and what you expect to see in the openings of movies.
James also does media so has more in-depth answers about what to expect in a movie opening because he has studied it.
We interviewed and filmed different people for our audience research, different genders but mostly the same age as 16-21 is our target audience age.
I interviewed Charlotte Day and Matt Cook:
1. what do you expect to see in a film opening?
"gripping opening, something to make you want to continue to watch it, the scene is set and the main or key characters are introduced."
2. What movie openings have particularly caught your eye?
" Fast and Furious 2, James Bond, Insidious, Final Destination, Taken, Reservoir Dogs."
3. What are the conventions of a teen romance movie?
"Boy and girl, friendship groups, sexual references/feelings, comedy, breaking up and getting back together, heartbreak.
4. What do you expect to see in the 2 minute opening of a teen romance genre?
"introduction to main characters- boy and girl, friendship groups, scene is set.
Horror Movies
The Exorcist
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Shining
Insidious
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Halloween
The Conjuring
Dead Silence
Psycho
Sinister
Conventions of Horror Movies Location of a wood, forest, abandoned house, lakes, subways, alleyways, run down buildings to emphasise on the innocence and darkness of the setting.
Props- chainsaws, knifes, axe, injections, guns, the weapons and props can tell what type of villain they are, and how the story will be set.
Common objective- religious aspects, supernatural icons, gore, blood, science monster- werewolves, mummies, vampires.
Character types-
Main protagonist- hero/victim
Villain- often a monster, serial killer, possessed person.
the helpless stupid person that always gets killed off early on or mid way through.
In some psychological movies there are flashbacks of the past which starts off the movie, the person then haunts/possesses the building or one of the main characters.
These are the themes found and based around on horror movies.
This is a list of horror conventions I found on the internet, it looks very helpful in terms of camera shots, sounds, and editing.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
It has the traditional conventions of a horror movie, the main character - the murderer is unmasked you do not see his face, only his body, hands ad legs. We can instantly tell its a horror movie by the lighting and setting. There is regular sighting of objects which may have a connection to him- glasses, sharp objects, a glove with knives on the finger tips. Then an innocent women implying she must he a victim, she is wearing a white nightdress, frantically panicking as she runs along a dark old warehouse trying to hide from the man we have not yet scene, but there are figurative shadows suggesting he is near.
The credits run through in white because they stand out form the dark background, there is lots of steam and smoke suggesting its mysterious and we don't know what is around the corner. The man grabs he but she shoots up and realises its a nightmare, the women's nightgown is ripped by what looks like claws, was it real?
Sinister
A true-crime writer finds a cache of 8mm home movies that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose career dates back to the 1960's.
The opening to the film is old footage of a family being hung on a tree, this sets the scene of murder and fear. It doesn't introduce any of the main characters but emphasises that this family may have something to do with the whole story, or are they just another victim of the serial killer? The film makes you want to continue watching because you have any unanswered questions already from the first few minutes of the film.
A list of the equipment we will need on the day of shooting:
A camera
Tripod
SD card
WE will get the camera from the school, because they have the best quality recorders to prevent bad imagery and sound.
Character props:
Boy- Oscar:
Expensive items/ cutlery
Latest technology
Good quality food- Proper breakfast food- toast, cereal, milk, fruit
Clean neat uniform, very smart looking
Lots of books and equipment to benefit him in school
Location in a nice, big, modern, open home/ kitchen
Girl- Emma:
Broken bottles/glasses
Mess everywhere
Last nights washing up on the side
dirt, tatty school uniform which is too small
Limited school equipment- hardly any books, if so they are very bad quality
Dirty, worn down kitchen/house.
Description of the Homes
For each of the characters as their homes are very contrasting, its important we emphasise this; Boy's House: Living in the countryside, in a large house, (he would have to drive to school), he is surrounded by land showing his wealth. the interior of the house is open-planned kitchen-diner, and the rest of the house has plenty of room with stuffed animals and wealthy looking objects. With in the first few seconds of the opening we can clearly see the differences in houses, the boys family like with luxuries and the girl has very limited things. The kitchen will be very tidy and neat since the family have the money to pay for a cleaner while they are at work earning money. Girls House: The girls house is going to be very different, its a lot smaller than the boys with broken bottles and rubbish everywhere, we will mainly use the kitchen in both openings as that is where you can contrast the homes the best and its where the family get ready in the morning for school. we would pan across the room and table showing the rubbish and dirt everywhere. Last nights washing would still be in the sink and the bin would be overflowing, but since the mother is an alcoholic she doesn't care about what her house looks like, just where the next drink comes from. the kitchen is old and tattered because the money the girls family do get is spent on alcohol.
Ideal and Chosen locations
Oscar's House
For the boys home we will be using my house- as it is in the country a modern/cottage feel to it, which is ideal for Oscars home, it has at very large room at the front which is the kitchen-dining room, there is space for filming and good lighting. My house has 4 doors to exit the house so we have options on where to film from and too. The house has a country wealthy feel to it so it will fit in well with the theme.
This is the exterior of the house, and it is on a private farming estate , with dogs in the kennels and horses in fields surrounding the main drives into the actual estate.
This is the room where most of the filming will be done, it is a large space and has wealthy features to it. The Christmas decorations will not be up when we do the filming.
The circle marker is the house and then the squares are the two entrances to the house drive. As you can see there is lots of surrounding land and trees, which works well with the wealth of the boys family.
Emma's House Laura houses will be used as the girls house. I live in Wymondham which is surrounded by lots of other houses, busy roads and manic lives. It will work well for Emma's home because she is lower class to Oscar so it would be expected that she would be surrounded by others in a hectic town. My house has the red ring around it which shows how close it is to other houses and roads. There is also no open land.
This room is where most of the filming will be done, it is a very small space and due to the walls being pulled apart and un-plastered would be ideal for Emma's house because it shows that she may not have enough money to redecorate/do it up. With the wires hanging out the wall, unfixed cupboards, pipes running down the wall and light switch not being attached, this shows how rough and unfinished it is. When we film, we plan to smash glasses and leave empty alcoholic bottles on the work surface. We would then film the work surface by panning across showing these smashed glasses and empty alcohol bottles.
As most of the filming is happening here, We have taken many different photos from different angles to show how run down and rough the kitchen looks like. This setting is perfect for the characters home.
This is the location on Google maps, as you can clearly see its surrounded by roads and other houses of similar features. We will be focusing filming in the rooms we have photographed.
A fantasy film is a genre that incorporates imaginative and fantastic themes. These themes usually involve magic, supernatural events or fantasy worlds. Although it is its own distinct genre, these films can overlap into horror and science fiction genres. Unlike science fiction, a fantasy film does not need to be rooted in fact. This element allows the audience to be transported into a new and unique world.
Fantasy Movies
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Harry Potter
Narnia
The Wizard of Oz
How to Train your Dragon
The Hunger Games
Pirates of the Caribbean
E.T.
Star Wars
Edward Scissorhands
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
This is the opening to Harry Potter Deathly Hallows part 2, about 30 seconds of the start are continued from the previous part 1, as there was a year release difference for each, the audience needed to be reminded of what happened in the last one. In Harry Potter there are multiple key characters but the 2 main ones are Harry Potter himself and Voldemort. in the opening you see Voldemort first after he finds the elder wand in Dumbledore's grave, This part shows the power Voldemort now has, it then cuts to Snape standing in a doorway of Hogwarts as he is the new headmaster watching the students at the 'dark times'.
Then after the death of Dobby, Harry id introduced looking into a piece of a mirror, where he sees someone else's face too, the scene is set as it cuts to a beach and the safe house where they are staying away from the death eaters. Hermione and Ron, Harry's best friends are sitting in the house, now most of the main characters are introduced.
Harry Potter is a fantasy by the key conventions we know and see, things happening that would never and could never happen in the real world; mythical characters, magic. Usually the props tend to be of a magical nature, in the case of Harry Potter, its wands, potions, broomsticks, etc. There is a villain in most Fantasy's , Voldemort is the main villain, along side his followers the death eaters. Also there usually is a happy ending, in HP its when Harry defeats Voldemort despite death of his friends and family, and the ruining of his school, Harry, Ron and Hermione end up happy together. The colours in Harry Potter are dark and dull, there is no bright vibrant colours but this fits in with the theme and what is currently happening in the magic world, during the 'dark times'.
Edward Scissorhands
The opening doesn't give much away about the actual movie, or what to expect. The credits run through, with who is starred, Johnny Depp is the main character, he was very well known then as was Winona Ryder who also had a large fan base, people wanted to watch this movie because they like these actors. The genre of fantasy is shown vaguely throughout, with weird machinery objects.
There is a dead body, which implies its something to do with the death of the person- he was the creator of Edward, changing him human, but died before he could put his hands normal, hence why he has Scissorhands. Its all very dark and you see the gateway to a large building, which was the factory when Edward was created, the opening is very dark and dreary, in contrast to the American street, which is colourful, bright and tidy.
AS Media Fantasy Genre Movie Opening
I have already used this video in my blog but I really like it and I struggled to find some AS media student made fantasy openings. In this opening, the 4 main characters are instantly introduce, by the speech you can see it is a fantasy, along side the dragon landing in the hills. The leader of the group is clearly the one in red as they others turn to him for advice. The scene is set is a hilly part of the country, possibly somewhere like Derbyshire. This group must have based their opening on 'the hobbit' as it has that fantasy theme to it, of a quest, no shoes, and the general scene.
This is an example of an AS media film opening in the genre of romance. the opening to this introduces the main character, a teen girl who is clearly struggling in her teenage years. You follow her to the train station where you meet the next main character the boy in this romance opening. This opening is effective because it doesn't give much away, simply introduces the main characters, the music fits and the camera shots work well. Its a typical opening to a teem romance movie.
This is a shot of the opening in how they present their titles, as it is filming, this is how our titles will run while the story is continuing. The text of this opening fits in with the genre of romance, its light and elegant.
Pretty in Pink
Teenager Andie who is not so well off is one of the not-so-popular girls in high school. She usually hangs out withy her friends Iona and Duckie, Duckie has a crush on her, but now she has met a new guy at school, Blane. He one of the rich and popular guys but can the two worlds meet?
This movie has a similar story line to our Coursework opening about 2 people from a very different background. Andie as the girl who is not so popular, working class girl who likes a popular, rich boy Blane.
Andie's comes from the same background as 'Emma', Andie's home life is probably better than Emma's as she has a very difficult upbringing. But Blane is very much like Oscar our main character in our opening because he has a choice in whether they should be together or not.
500 days of Summer
This is an example of our split screening effect. Instead of 'expectation vs reality' it would be the boys and girls different lives in getting ready in the morning for school. We felt this would be a good way to show the contrast in upbringings so you can compare it there and then , rather than switching from person to person, it will also give us more time within our 2 minute opening as we don't have to repeat each procedure of getting ready in the morning for other Emma and Oscar.
Ten things I hate about you
A new kid must find a guy to date the meanest girl in school, the oldest sister of the girl he has a crush on, who cannot date until her older sister does. I thought a part of this story line is similar to our coursework opening, as the boy who is going to date the meanest girl in school (Kat), has to learn to adapt to what she likes and how she lives her life, then he falls in love with her, which fits in with our convention of the boy having difficulties in liking the girl due to her background but ends up falling in love, the similar to our movie idea.
I am working in a group with Natalie and Laura, we sat down and brainstormed all different genres and came up with ideas, we decided on a teen romance movie, we chose it because we are aware and know the conventions, I studied various romance movies, openings and the overall movie conventions they use, e.g. the typical romance of the boy meets girl but they have problems in the way of them being together. We also brainstormed all the typical conventions of a teenagers life, e.g. school, driving, appearance-clothes and make up, illness, friendships.
Movie Synopsis:
Oscar has just started at a new school, he meets a girl Emma and they slowly become friends, then typically fall in love. But they both live very different lives, Oscar finds out what her home life is like and doesn't want anything to do with her anymore, But one night her mum has too much to drink she hits her, in a panic calls Oscar, but he doesn't know whether to help her or leave himself out of her troubled life, is it true love, will he save her, when next time there could be no phone call?
Movie Opening:
In the opening of our movie we will split the screen so the audience can see how different their lives are even when they get ready for school. it emphasizes the contrast of the 2 main characters.
There will be none/limited dialogue, only from the parents in the background which will also help us show the difference in how their parents them. "breakfast is on the table, honey" "get up you lazy, useless thing" "get your brother ready". Emma: Lots of responsibilities, has an alcoholic mother, limited luxuries and home wares, dirty. Oscar: Parents have proper jobs, clean house, smart school uniform, not many responsibilities.
In the opening the characters that will be introduced are Emma and Oscar as the main characters, their parents but will be unidentified, they will see their bodies but not faces and hear them. Character Profiles- Contrasting Lives:
Establishing Shot: A shot taken from an overhead position, often used as an establishing shot.
Close up shot: A head and shoulders shot often to show expression or emotion of a character. Also can be a shot of an object, filmed from close to the object or zoomed in that reveals detail.
Extreme Close up: A shot where part of a face or body of a character fills the whole frame, also can be a shot of an object where only a small part of it dominates the frame.
Establishing Shot: A shot that establishes a scene, often giving their viewer information about where the scene is set. Can be close up shot but often a wide/long shot that usually appears at the beginning of the scene.
Medium Shot: The framing of a subject from waist up.
Two Shot: A shot of two characters, possible engaging in conversation. Usually to signify/establish some sort of relationship.
Point-Of-View Shot: Shows a view from the subjects perspective. This shot is usually edited so that the viewer is aware who's point of view it is.
Over the shoulder Shot- looking behind a characters shoulder, at a subject. The character facing the subject usually occupies 1/3 of the frame but it depends on what meaning the director wants to create (for example, if the subject is an inferior character, the character facing them may take up more of the frame to emphasise this.
Overhead Shot- a type of camera shot in which the camera is positioned above the character, action or object being filmed.
Reaction Shot: a shot that shows the reaction of a character either to another character or an event within the sequence.
Angles
High Angle: a camera angle that looks down upon a subject or object. Often used to make the subject or object appear small or vulnerable.
Low Angle: A camera angle that looks at a subject or object. Often used to make the subject/object appear powerful/dominant.
Canted framing (or oblique): camera angle that makes what is shot appeared to be skewed or titled.
A young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building.
Director: Blake Edwards
Main Actors: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal.
In the opening to the movie, the scene is set in a urban background, with tall buildings, maybe somewhere like New York. A yellow taxi pulls up as the camera follows it when it gets closer. The main character gets out of the car in her iconic outfit, black dress, and pearls, she stands outside Tiffany's, which is the name of the movie . then its just a focus on the main character looking in shop windows and walking along the street, we can obviously tell the movie is going to be about her, then she runs across a quite road, where a man is sleeping in a car, he wakes up, obviously wanting to speak to her, he chases her to the door of a typical New York home.
The opening doesn't give much away the movie, it introduces the main character with very limited dialogue and non-diagetic music is non-existent. the scene is set and we know the movie is going to be focused on the lady.
I thought I could look at a few AS media romantic movie openings to link in with my own coursework piece and evaluate them, and consider each factor in my piece.
This media work was made in 2011, and got a grade of 95/100 which is a high A. Their task was to create a trailer not an opening. but I will evaluate like an opening,- it introduces the main characters, the boy in more depth as the movie is about him. This is what we will be doing in our movie opening, but a little different, when both boy and girl will be introduced the same amount. As a trailer this doesn't give to much away but makes you want to watch the rest of it. There is credits after each scene about the 'boy' and situations, towards the end there are rhetorical questions depending if the 'guy gets the girl in the end', after the montage of them boy trying so hard to get the girls attention and then become friends, which will lead to more?
Criticisms:
This trailer, if was a film opening would give to much away but since it isn't, the 2 minutes introduces you to what the story is about.
The trailer in my opinion has too may switches of songs, depending on the situation, I think maybe only have one or 2, if not use one only but different parts depending on the mood.
Also the camera quality is not that great, if they couldn't get hold of good cameras, then maybe editing the scenes for a little more colour and sharpness.
I will make sure the quality of our cameras are of a high standard and we have enough time to edit well too.
Love Actually follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.
Director: Richard Curtis
Main Characters: Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightly, Martine McCutcheon, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman.
The opening to the movie doesn't show any main characters, or gives off anything about the actual movie. Its set in an airport during the arrival of the passengers, a montage of when they see family, friends, lovers again after being separated from them. People are hugging, kissing showing how much they love each other, hence the name of the film- love, everyone is smiling with joy, others are crying with joy that they are together again with the pure uncomplicated love felt as friends and families welcome their arriving loved ones. The voice over is David (Hugh Grant) speaking as the main character, he player the prime minister, taking about love is always around whether we can see it or not.
This is the dialogue in the opening:
....Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world,
I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport.
General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed,
but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere.
Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy,
but it's always there - fathers and sons,
mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends.
When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know,
none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love.
If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around...
.
James Cameron's 1997 Titanic has become the all time favourite love story, about a 17 year old aristocrat, Rose, expected to be married to a rich claimant by her mother, falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious R.M.S Titanic, during 1914, on its first and last trip to America.
Director: James Cameron
Main Characters: Leonardo Dicaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Gloria Stuart.
The opening is a submarine looking at the shipwreck of the Titanic, and the ship turns from what it looked like in 1997 at the bottom of the North Atlantic ocean to 1914 at Portsmouth with happiness and cheer. There is a panning shot of the ship to the crowd emphasising the size of it, and everyone getting ready to board, cars being loaded and suitcases. There's a close up of the crowd, everyone is smiling, its just an overall joyous moment of the ship docking. Then it fades to water, in the night, portraying the fate of the ship, the music starts to fade out and the shots are now underwater of the submarine looking for Titanic evidence. The first main character to be introduced is Rose she steps out of a car with the rest of her family and friends, her clothing is clearing stating how wealthy her family are, they also have a lot of suitcases, a car and are taking first class. The docks are very busy with people of all classes merging together some going on the ship others waving them off. You follow the family as they get on the Titanic, how nice and luxurious first class is. Everyone is amazed with how wonderful it is, Rose is not so much she hasn't smiled yet, showing she isn't happy.
The genre of the movie can be told in the first few minutes of it, by the different elements- the props,setting, characters etc. Genre means the style of what the film entails, due to the conventions set in.
The most common film genres are:
Horror
Romance
Comedy
Documentary
Rom-Com
Western
Action
Thriller
Sci-fi
War
Family
Drama
Fantasy
I will be focusing on 3 film genres, one will be the coursework genre in which I will later do deeper research into. Romance: Here is a mind map of the conventions you find in a typical (teen) romantic film:
Romance movies are always popular amongst the girls, we love a good love story of which is every girls dream to find that perfect guy in the perfect way. At the start of a movie the main characters are always introduced in some way, it could be by narration and seeing or from the script of what others say, or from the surroundings of what is going on (Mise-en-Scene). The writer/director creates the film in a way that the audience can relate to, certain scenarios that the girls and boys will come across during their teenage years. There is normally a problem in the way of the 2 people not being together, either the other person doesn't know about the other, or family disapprove, or they are moving away, lots of typical conventions but the couple always find a way of being happy together again. Here is a list of classic Romance films:
Titanic
The Notebook
Love Actually
Dirty Dancing
Notting hill
Breakfast At Tiffanys
Forrest Gump
Pretty Women
Pride and Prejudice
The Holiday
How to lose a Guy in 10 days
Amelie
Serendipity
Two Weeks Notice
500 days of Summer
10 things I hate about you
These two girls are at the similar age of our target audience (they are 16 & 18). They are both at stages of their lives when school and collage are the main focus, the battle between balancing out family, work and school is at its peek. Our film opening will appeal to our female target audience as they can relate to the situations each of the characters finds themselves in. Also the story lines that are usually within films of this genre, the audience of girls can relate back to.
