Generic Conventions in Film Openings

For this task, I am going to research into the genres involved in the film industry to fully understand what each of them are and what sort of audiences they attract. I am hoping this task will give me a good overview of the genres so I have a better understanding of them and I have more of an idea of what genre my own film opening could be.

Adventure

The genre 'adventure' is a category in which films contain content like travelling to a destination to get something or save someone, a disaster of some-sort that is causing a big problem, exploration in exotic locations, historic references or unrealistic/exaggerated situations. They tend to have an exciting story that isn't possible to happen in the 'real world'. I do like a lot of films from this genre and I would say it's one of my favourites because you get to see the world from a different perspective and I makes you wonder of the possibilities of what our world could be like if something like what occurs in a film happened or whether it's happening somewhere beyond us. Since 1995, 'adventure' has been ranked the most popular genre by a share of 22.49% compared to the other film genres. It's made a total box office of about $45bn with 708 films. An example of a recent popular film that is of the genre adventure is 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children' which is based in the real world, but contains elements that are unrealistic and can't happen. I believe that adventure films target audience range so drastically because they often draw in all types of people from different ages and genders which is why I think it is one of the most popular genres. I am interested in using this genre for my film opening as I really like it and have many ideas for it. However I believe it will be quite difficult to make a good adventure film without out it looking to basic because we don't have a big budget to spend, so we can't travel to an exotic location or buy the equipment to create CGI.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children trailer:

Comedy

The genre 'comedy' is a category in which films contain content like an exaggerated situation that is however realistic, a sense of humour towards characters and their relationships, a funny storyline with generally a happy ending, content that possibly should be taken seriously but isn't, and people doing things that consider them as ignorant which amuses the audience. I enjoy most comedy films but I don't often watch them as I am not entirely keen on them because I would prefer to watch something with an in-depth/interesting storyline. Comedy is ranked 2nd on the most popular genres watched since 1955 with a share of 21.39% and made a total box office of around $43bn, yet it has had around 2302 films released so a lot more money has been put towards these films compared to adventure films. An example of a popular comedy film is 'Mean Girls' which bases of a realistic but exaggerated storyline where content isn't taken seriously so its enjoyable and funny to watch. The target audience for a comedy film can range from all ages but it depends mainly on the storyline of the film and what its about. For example 'Mean Girls' would probably attract teenage girls because its based on the life of teenage girls at school where as the film 'The Hangover' would probably attract men aged in their 20s because of the age of the characters and that its based in Las Vegas, yet they are both comedy films. I am interested in using this genre in my own film opening because I think it will be easier to create something based on comedy as most comedy films don't need advanced technology in order for it to suit the genre.

Mean Girls trailer:

Action

The genre 'action' is a category in which films contain content such as stunts, chases, fighting scenes, explosions, non-stop motion, good guys battling bad guys, guns, natural disasters and a realistic/well-known location. Action is probably my favourite genre because I feel that they often draw me into the universe of the film well and they have a meaningful/in-depth storyline. Action is ranked 3rd in the most popular genres since 1955 with a share of 18.22% making a total box office $36bn with 816. So generally this genre has worked out better than comedy but as action films contain a lot of stunts, they need a big enough budget to get the equipment to perform it. A popular & recent action film is 'Deadpool' which contains things like stunts and fighting scenes, and bases off a storyline with a 'superhero' defeating the villain. Action is mainly targeted towards males aged from around 12 and up because the characters in these films such as the hero and the villain tend to be male as stereotypically, things like fights, explosions and chases tend to be considered as masculine. I am interested in using this genre in my film opening as even though we don't have a big budget and don't have access to a lot of equipment involved for stunts, you don't necessarily need to include it within the first few minutes of a film while still keeping some qualities of an action film.
Deadpool trailer:

Drama
The genre 'drama' is a category in which films contain content such as a serious but in-depth plot line, realistic characters, settings & situations, and can emphasise other genres such as comedy and action. I have not seen many films that are specifically of this genre but judging with what I have seen alongside TV programmes, I find this genre quite intriguing because it reminds me of a horror movie but in a real life situation as a lot of tension and dramatic irony is used to draw in the audience as it makes you want to understand the story. They can often be based on real stories that have actually happened which helps you to learn more about our world and things that you are unaware of that are happening or could happen. Since 1995, the genre of 'drama' has been made into around 4442 movies which is the most movies made for one genre. I believe it is so popular because often a lot of films that are action, adventure, comedy etc can also contain drama so they are categorised as that as well. However it is ranked 4th with a share of 16.64% and has made approximately $33bn. An example of a specific drama film is 'Deepwater Horizon' which I haven't seen but by looking at the trailer I can tell that it has a serious, in-depth storyline and is based off of a true story. Drama films generally target an older audience because of the mature plots they have however it ranges drastically on who watches them depending on what the story is and who the characters are. I like the idea of using this genre for my own film opening but I would combine it with another genre because I don't have many ideas towards introducing an in-depth storyline at the beginning without it looking too basic so I would include possibly action so there will be action going on as well.
Deepwater Horizon trailer:

Thriller
The genre 'thriller' is a category in which films contain content such as jump scares, constant build ups of tension, draws the viewer into the universe of the film and puts you in the perspective of the main character, and performs an unrealistic but possible storyline. I like thriller films because when your put in the perspective of the main character and tension is being built up, it brings up a lot of emotion and makes you worry or feel the same way as the characters. This draws the audience into the film while taking them out of their comfort zone. This genre has been ranked 5th compared to the other genres with a market share of 8.50% with a total box office of $17bn. Around 895 films have been made of this genre since 1995 which quite a small amount compared to how many drama films have been made. Like drama, thriller is the sort of genre that is often combined with other genres and isn't specifically titled for a film. An example of a thriller film is 'Jaws' with contains and unrealistic storyline but elements of possibility as its about a shark attacking people which can and has happened. I am not so interested on including thriller within my film opening because I feel that you need to get to know the characters in order to put the viewer in their perspective otherwise it isn't as emotional.
Jaws trailer:

Genre Statistics

By doing this task, I have a much better understanding of what the definition of these 5 genres are, how popular they are, what sort of content an audience expects to see within a specific genre and what sort of audience is targeted for them. I looked at these 5 genres in particular because I definitely knew I wanted to base my film opening on one of these and know that I have researched them, it has helped me what sort of genre is best to do and has brought me more ideas. I have narrowed my options down to action, comedy and thriller but I am considering combining them as I have some good ideas for them all. This has helped me a lot with choosing them and now I need to start bringing my ideas together to begin creating my film opening.

Sources:
http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html
http://the-numbers.com/market/genres

The Impact of Certification

Certification can create a big impact on the film industry because films that contain certain content may be restricted to certain age groups which decreases the size of the audience and therefore the size of the income. Institutions need to be aware of who their target audience is and what content they will involve in their films because if their target audience is aimed at people younger than the certification, then it is likely that the film won't be successful as people who would want to watch the film aren't allowed to watch it.

The Woman in Black (2011) is a horror film that experienced a problem towards certification. They wanted to release the film as a 12A so therefore the film would be open to a wider range of people so there would be a bigger audience and a bigger income. However there was a debate about whether the film should've been released as a 15 because of the many scenes that contained supernatural horror and threat towards the main character and others. Yet the film managed to release as a 12A which was beneficial for the films institutions and was very successful.

By doing this work it has helped me to understand more about how important it is to consider the age of the target audience for your film and the content you will involve because certification can cause a great impact towards removing part of the audience who want to watch your film which then decreases the amount of income you will get.

 

 

Certification in Films

Certification is an important aspect to look at when choosing a target audience for a film. This is considered because if a film was made that was targeted at an audience of 15 year olds and the certification is 18 years and above, then you may not get a big audience as the whole age group the film is targeted at is cut off, and therefore there is not a lot of income. In order to lower the certification, companies need to consider what will be involved in their films so it's appropriate for certain ages to watch as the higher the certification, the smaller your audience will be. Certification exists because certain films contain certain content that may cause effect on people depending on their age. For example, a film containing violence would not be appropriate for a young child to watch. This is here to warn people what sort of content is involved and who the film is suitable for. The British Board of Film Classification (bbfc) regulate the certification for films in the UK to keep younger people safe from seeing inappropriate content.

 

Types of audience certification:

• U - Universal - may contain mild bad language, brief fight scenes, positive messages and have a happy ending.
• PG - Parental guidance - suitable for all ages but may contain mild bad language and moderate violence.
• 12A - Accompanied - suitable for people aged 12 but must be accompanied by someone older than 18.
• 12 - 12 years old and above - may contain mature themes, discrimination, moderate language and moderate violence.
• 15 - 15 years old and above - may contain adult themes, drugs, strong language, violence and sex references.
• 18 - 18 years old and above - contains strong/gory violence, hard drugs, and no limitation for strong language.
• R18 - Restricted 18 - no content restrictions as long as it's within the law.

By doing this task I have learnt about the different certifications in the film industry so I now briefly understand what content is not allowed for certain age groups.

 

 

 

 

Film Opening Timelines

Deadpool Opening - 

X Men Apocalypse Opening - 

Furious 7 Opening - 

Overall by doing this work it has helped me to understand what sort of order films put in the titles as I have learnt that they mainly begin with the names of institutions, then cast, then crew and finish with the title of the film. So now I have an idea on how to order my film opening when it comes to making it.

Student Film Opening Detailed Analysis

For this task I am going to analyse a student film so I can see what sort of things people have done who are in my position to get some inspiration. I chose a student film called Redemption because I think it was created very well and I want to see what sort of ideas they came up with when having a sort time frame and a small budget.

Genre

The genre is action and you can tell because of content such as; the non-diegetic music is quite subtle and mysterious making the situation seem suspense, the setting is located in London and the lighting is natural but dull, the costumes the character wear and their props as the men wear suits and have guns & cars. As the genre of action is very obvious, this shows that it is a mainstream film.

 

Narrative

This film opening focuses on a young male who is planning on stealing a brief case from a man who looks to be high up and quite powerful. It is quite a brief story which is good because it doesn't give much away about the plot of what the whole film would be. However I think it is slightly too brief because as a viewer, I am confused with what the situation is as I don't know who the characters are meant to be and why the boy is trying to get the suit case. Also at the end I think they should've finished it when the boy left with the case instead of adding the part where the man caught him because it didn't look right as in a more realistic point of view, wouldn't the boy be running away from the scene and making sure no one was following him instead of standing on a open road waiting to be caught? Yet I do think they introduced the film well by stating the location and building up to the action.

Character

There were only 4 main characters involved in this film opening which was the young male who stole the case, a man who owned the case and seemed of high class, and his guards. I liked how they began with showing the young male before showing the scene where he met the man because it introduced him and what he was doing which makes the audience take his side of the story. I think he looked slightly too young compared to the man he was dealing with. Also the guards seemed quite young too and not very threatening.

 

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is quite dull and natural making it look like a realistic situation. The weather is cloudy which you can see in every shot so they didn't make any mistakes with sudden changes of weather. The man who the younger man is dealing with looks quite threatening but doesn't seem it as he doesn't appear to be a confident character which he should be. To me the younger boy looks more threatening. There are a wide variety of shots involved which allows the audience to see the situation from different perspectives.

 

Themes

The theme of this film opening is quite suspense and fast paced which suits the narrative of the film opening as it's an action film. It builds up tension by introducing the young male then introducing the older man showing that they are going to come together and something is going to happen. It is fast paced once the boy takes the case because the guards are chasing him and trying to shoot him.

 

Setting

The location is set in London. In the first few shots of the young male he is overlooking London from on top of 20 Fenchurch Street (sky garden) and then we see him leaving the building. We then see another location which says to be 'south London' which is filmed in a multi-storey car park. These locations work well for the film opening because it's realistic and suitable for action.

 

Sound

Throughout most of the clip from the beginning, there is suspense non-diegetic music which builds up the to the fight scene as it brings tension and warns the audience that something is going to happen. When the fighting scene does happen the music is a lot faster and more dramatic matching with the situation. There is a small amount of dialogue which is subtle because it allows more action to take place instead of telling the story as the audience don't know what's going on and will want to watch more to find out. However, I think the guards or the man should've said something when the younger male took the gun. There are also non-diegetic sound effects added for gun shots to make it more obvious when they were meant to be shooting.

Titles

The titles are very basic and neutral which suits the theme of the film. However, I feel that they are too basic, and you don't really realise they are there throughout the sequence. Once the dialogue starts, there are no more titles shown until the end which is good because a lot happens during that time but I still think there should have been some added in because the action goes on for quite a while in the overall film opening. I also think the title of the film came in at the wrong time and should have been shown at the end because nothing dramatic happened before hand making the film opening seem like it stops there and it doesn't emphasise the film as a whole. However, I like the animation for the title as it suits the theme and genre of the film.

 

Overall, by doing an analysis on a student film it has allowed me to look more in-depth towards what someone else has made and how they made something successful in a small time frame with a low budget. I have learnt about what works and what doesn't when looking at the ideas they had and I can compare them to mine to see whether my ideas are any better and improve on them. This task has helped my understand how important it is to make sure the narrative makes sense otherwise you leave your audience confused with the situation so they won't be interested in watch anymore.

Redemption film opening:

What Makes a Good Student Film

For this task, I am going to look at what students have included in their film openings that makes them good so I can get some more ideas and see what sort of things they were able to do with a small budget.

1) Beginning with and establishing shot

I have noticed in a few student film openings as well as mainstream film openings that they begin with an establishing shot of the location. This gives the viewer an idea of where this moment of the film is located, the time of day, what the weathers like and the overall setting in general. I could use this idea in my own film opening by finding somewhere high up to film from in the sort of location I choose to set it in. It also shows the genre of the film as it sets the mood and the situation.

2) Non diegetic background music

I think including background music in the opening is a good way to set the mood for the film and introduce its theme. Without music it would sound very plain and make the opening more boring. The opening sequence for 'Drive' included non-diegetic music throughout the whole piece.

3) Small amount of dialogue

You don't want to give the whole story away within the first two minutes and by having less dialogue you make the viewer want to watch more as they don't know what's happening. It is often better to introduce a film by showing what's going on rather than describe it. Also if there is too much talking, the audience may find it hard to listen to watch they are saying as well as read the credits. In this student film opening, there is only a small amount of dialogue near the end which is a good amount because it doesn't give the story away and is relevant.

4) Begin with close ups

Instead of beginning with an establishing shot of the location, another way to make a film opening good is to begin with close ups and slowly reveal what's going on to build up suspense or to try and figure out the situation before you see it. This is used in this student film opening as it begins with close ups of the victim so you don't know where he is or whether he is alone. Close ups are also used in the Deadpool film opening as it slowly reveals the situation.

5) Don't give away the story
As this is meant to only be the beginning of the film, you don't want to give away the story. Instead it is better to focus of introducing the story by referencing the genres and showing the characters or a main character in the film. Also it makes the film opening less intriguing for the audience because they have nothing to look forward to for the rest of the film so they wouldn't want to continue watching it. A good way to introduce a film is by beginning with a flash-forward so that the viewer can see an important part of the story and then they will want to know why it happens and then what happens after it. I believe this could have been done for this student film opening as it seems like they give away a main part of the story at the beginning but then the rest of the film could be about what caused this situation and we could learn who the characters are.

6) Make the titles suit the theme of the film
I think this is an important aspect towards making a good film opening because by having the titles suit the theme of the film and the colour scheme of the opening, it makes it look for professional. This is an example of a student film opening where the text looks like blue fire which I don't really think suits the colour scheme of the shots as it looks orange a green, not bright blue. However, in this film opening for Dawn of the Dead the titles are red and have wiping animations which turns them into blood and this really suits the film as it matches the theme of gore and zombies.

7) Leave the opening on a cliff hanger
By leaving the film opening on a cliff hanger, as long as the story shown in the film opening is intriguing, this will make the audience want to continue watching the film which is a good aspect to have otherwise the film opening wasn't interesting enough. In the Deadpool film opening, I felt like I wanted to continue watching the film to find out how the car ended up like that, what happens to the characters and what is actually going on in the scene.

8) Make sure the costumes suit the role of the character
The costume a character wears says a lot about who they are and what their status is. If you have a man in a suit, it tells the audience he is possibly quite high up and has a lot of power where as if you have someone in a tracksuit then it tells the audience that he could be lower down and causes trouble or that he is up to something. When it comes to costume, I have noticed that in a lot of student film openings, people have used random masks to hide the face of the villain. I don't think this approach looks good if you don't show it in the correct way as it can look cheap and unrealistic. The first student opening shows a way of how a mask was used badly and the second shows how a mask was used well.

9) Use a wide variety of shots and camera movements
Having a variety of shots allows the audience to view a situation from different perspectives which makes a film opening more interesting. In this student film opening I like how they created a close up shot that is focused of a flower, then as the person runs, his foot presses on it killing it. This may foreshadow the death later in the film opening.

 

I also like the idea of placing the camera on someone's head so it looks like you're seeing from their eyes so you get their perspective. It almost makes it feel like you as the viewer is that particular character whilst this shot is played which draws the viewer in the universe of the film more and causes more emotion. For example, in the first screen shot from a student film opening where the camera looks down at some ones hand holding a gun it makes the viewer feel more worried because they are put in the perspective of that character who has to make the choice of killing someone. 

10) Don't show direct footage to make it look more mysterious
I watched a couple student films where the filmed an important shot for the film opening but not directly, and they did this by filming the action in the reflection of water. I liked how this was done because it makes the scene much more interesting and mysterious. I could also do this by filming in the reflection of a mirror or a window.

11) Consider lighting & add a filter when editing
In this student film opening I noticed that the lighting was low key when we saw the man sitting on the chair, and when we saw the flashbacks of him before he was kidnapped, the lighting was high key. Filters were also added as in the low key lighting there is a green/blue tint to the look of the shot making it seem cold and spooky, and in the flashback shots, the colour of the shot was warm and the colours were almost faded like we are looking back at vivid memories. I like how they exaggerated the look of the shots because they set the mood better and really compare the situation he is in now compared to before.

To conclude, by doing this task I have learn a lot about what's good and bad that students like me have done in their film openings which has helped me visually see what works and what doesn't before I make a similar mistake. This has helped me collect some ideas towards types of shots to include, what sound to include, the storyline, and generally what to look out for when creating my film opening.

Independent Research on Film Openings - Transistions Used In Fast & Furious 7

For this task I am going to analyse transitions used in the Fast and Furious 7 opening sequence. I am specifically going to look at the transitions between shots and titles to see what is used and how it suits the film. I chose to look at transitions because I haven't done any research towards this, so I think it will help me when it comes to editing the titles in my own film opening to make them more interesting. I chose to look at Fast and Furious 7 because its an action film which is one of the genres I may choose for my film.

Transitions between shots

In this film opening, I noticed that the whole first 4 minutes was done in one take so most of the sequence doesn't contain shot transitions. However, a very interesting/well done transition is used where the camera tilts up at the sky and keeps rotating to a shot of a car driving in the desert. As the camera tilts back up it follows the car which I think gives a really good effect as I focuses on the car and makes it look faster. This transition is only used once throughout the sequence which is good because it makes it more unique and if it happened too many times, it might make the viewer dizzy. I think they did it by doing a shot of titling the camera upwards so that you could only see the blue sky of the first shot, then doing another shot of the camera flipping in a full circle while the car drives underneath it, and then when editing, blended the sky of each shot together so that they would fade into one other to make it look smooth so that the viewer wouldn't notice the shots changing. This is the only transition used between shots in this sequence. As its switching between a shot from London to a shot in the desert, the transition could indicate something like the earth spinning or we are flipping over to another story as it highlights that they are two shots completely different from each other location wise.

Title transitions

There are a lot of transitions for when the titles appear and disappear throughout the sequence. It begins with the normal animations of the institutions behind the film. The first few titles use a transition where the letters spin as they appear and disappear. The idea of involving movement on the letters links to the theme of the film which is fast paced and involves a lot of motion therefore the titles portray it slightly too. I like them because they aren't too fast paced otherwise you wouldn't get to see the transition properly. Also they are basic but work well with the situation because at the beginning, not a lot of motion is going on. This transition is used frequently throughout the sequence. On the first shot, the text 'London, England' appears in the corner using a wipe transition. This isn't necessarily a title that has anything to do with the credits so using a different transition draws your attention towards it and indicates that it's something else. It then wipes back to disappear. The next few titles that appear have transitions that fly in from the side and fly towards the bottom of the frame. In this part of the sequence there is more action going on so they suit the situation. Also they are moving fast like a car, matching the theme of the film. I like the exit transition of 'Michelle Rodriguez' because it moves in the direction of the elevator doors as they open which I think works well. During this part of the sequence, as the titles exit the frame, the letters almost fall apart which matches the theme of action because it reminds me of debris flying from an explosion. When an explosion happens at 3:38, the title moves with the debris towards the edge of the frame, keeping a flow of motion. Another transition I like is at 3:50 whereas the section of the building falls, it wipes away the text. This happens a few times afterwards as well when the car moves towards the text which wipes it away. Then finally at the end when the film title appears, the wiping transition is used as well as the spinning of the individual letters which I like how a car is used to move across the road which the letters appear on to as it really emphasises the theme of the film and the title.

By doing this task I have learnt about the sort of transitions used for titles in the film opening for Fast and Furious 7 and how they portray the themes of the film. This has helped me understand that I could create a similar sort of thing depending on what the theme of my film opening is, instead of them just appearing and disappearing in the corner to make them more interesting and recognisable for the viewer.

Fast and Furious 7 opening sequence: