Research and planning- Film Genre

The main film genres: http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Main film genres but with sub-genres: http://www.imdb.com/genre/

Film genres are used so that it determines the mood of the film and the elements included in films such as setting, dialogue, characters, costumes-colours etc. 

Research and planning- The Brief for Main Task

This is the brief for the main task, I have already thought of which people I would want to work with and they have also agreed to work with me as I know that we would all work together well, we would listen to each other and that we could try to combine our ideas for the opening of the film so that no one would take control and have only their idea for the film. I also have an idea for the opening of the film, which is more of a thriller genre as I find that you could create more suspense. As a group, we have to remember to that it is a opening of a film and not a trailer and also it has to last a maximum of two minutes.

Research- Analysis of 21 Jump Street opening (comedy)

The first scene has a black background with text which is blue, big and in capitals to show the audience the time period. The colour blue also connotes cool and stereotypically a 'guy colour' which links in with the context of the film as it is about two characters who are male and one of them trying to act cool like the other one.

The next scene is from a high angle shot, which enables the audience to look directly down at the character, it also shows part of the bus as well as the people coming out but does not reveal the face of the character which enables the audience to want to know who the character is. Non-diagtic music is playing which is a song by Eminem, which creates a comic mood and connects to the character as the character is represented as someone trying to look like Eminem in the next few scenes.



The next scene shows the film company and production company etc. It is also in the format of black background with blue and also red coloured text, the two colours connote together connote hero and cool. Red may also connote danger in the context of the film.

This is a mid shot of the character from behind which creates a bit of suspense as the audience does not see the character's face, which makes them want to know what the character looks like, and in the context of the film, it creates comedy as when the character's face is revealed, he is revealed as someone trying to be like Eminem and also has braces.

It then shows the title of the film, which again uses the same colours and background previously. It is also bold, big and clear to read for the audience.

Tracking shot is used to follow the character but from a front view of the character as it shows his facial expression and suggests what type of character he is to the audience.

These two scenes show over the shoulder shot and enables shot reverse shot to show the conversation, so it can be seen from the character's point of view and also the facial expressions of the other character speaking.

Close up shot is used on this character to show that this is one of the main characters in the film and to show his facial expression about the conversation the two characters were having previously. The dialogue also links in with comedy which is the genre of this film.

Research and Planning- Analysis of 500 Days of Summer opening (Romance)

                                                                                                           
The beginning of the film shows the title of the film which is a bold text in capitals so it is clear to read and it is simple and it is white coloured so that it stands out. The background is very creative as it shows the tree and building, but it is animated/edited as it is like a drawing. At this point, there is also non-diagetic sound playing which is whistling.

The next scene then skips to day '488' which tells the audience what day it was. And it then goes to the scene on the right, but the way it went to the scene on the right was very creative as the bench was already drawn (left picture) but then transforms into a real bench-reality (right picture). It is also an establishing shot which shows the setting and the two characters on the bench, which already gives a sense of romance which is linked with the genre of the film.

These two pictures are a mid shot of the two characters, which also is from the side of one character, so it is point of view shot which allows the audience to know what character to look at. 

This is a close up shot taken of the two characters' hands, which suggests that the two characters have a very close friendship or relationship which also links to the genre of the film as being romance.

This scene has the same background as the first scene, but it goes back to day one, as it then tells/shows the audience what happened before on day one.
                   

This scene immediately comes after the previous scene, which is a zoom shot as it zooms on the character in the middle, showing that it is about that certain character. At the same time there is a voice over telling the audience about the character in the middle. So it is already like a love story.

A mid shot is used to show the other character whilst the voice over is still telling the audience how the love story began and who that character is. So the shots taken match what the voice over (narrator) is saying.

The next scenes show the film company and production company which consist of the black background and white text, which makes it clear, simple and readable. The background also follows onto the scenes showing the cast in the film, but also uses image which gives a visual for the audience. At the same time, music is playing which has a happy/love tone to it which is non-diegetic.

Research and Planning- Analysis of The Hunger Games opening (Action)

The first scene shows a black background with white text to show further information to help the audience understand what the 'treaty' was. The use of the white text makes it bold, clear and understandable to read with the background being black which also might connote mystery as it is dark, mysterious and it is very simple. Whilst the text is appearing on screen, there is also music playing which is quite calm, which effects the mood of the audience as they would also be calm but wanting to know more information about the 'treaty of the treason'.

The transition used for the text is fade which also adds on to the effect of the audience which makes them feel still calm as it is not so fast and the text does not move around, it stays in the same position so that it is easier for the audience to read and understand.

At this point in this scene, the title of the film is revealed 'The Hunger Games' which also connected to the text of information about the 'treaty of treason' and at the same time there is a voice over from a character speaking, this enables the audience to want to know who the character is.

This scene comes after the scene previous, it then shows who the character is who was speaking. The colours completely change from the previous scenes, in this particular scene, the colours present are blue, black, white and it is also quite bright which may suggest that it is at the moment a 'happy' setting/mood.

Shot reverse shot is used to show that it is a conversation between the two characters, also allowing the audience to see the facial expressions of both the characters each time they speak. Both the characters contrast, as the character on the left is wearing blue clothes and has blue hair which connotes bright, calm and happy, whereas the character on the right is wearing a black suit which connotes darkness, mysterious and perhaps a bad character. The character on the right also has red on his shirt and red connotes danger, warning, and blood- perhaps he has blood on his hands (killer). And by the way his beard is shaved is very different and quite mysterious. 

It suddenly then goes to this scene which is an establishing shot, the lighting here is obviously showing that it is in the day/early morning, but it is also quite dull. There are not many houses to be seen, it looks quite abandoned and old. There are a lot of trees shown which suggests it is set in a rural area. This scene also shows the name of the place on the bottom right corner of the scene in white, which is simple, bold and clear to read. At this point when it moves from the previous scene to this scene, there is the sound of a girl crying, but the next scene after shows who the girl was, this is effective as it does not immediately show who the character was to the audience, which creates suspense. 

A long shot is used to show the character running in the setting of the scene which is quite rural and includes a lot of nature. Also non-diagetic music is used which is quite calm music and contains humming noise which is quite soothing and peaceful, which may suggest that the setting is also quite calm and peaceful. It also creates suspense for the audience as they do not know where she is running to. 

Research and Planning- Analysing the opening of the film 'Seven' (Thriller)

The first scene is an establishing shot-wide shot. Cinematography- the camera is positioned low down and tilted up, it could suggest that someone is watching the character and/or feels that we as the audience have intruded into his room, as the camera is positioned in a place where you can actually see the door open as you can see here

Mise en scene- It is quite dark, there is only a lamp to give a little bit of light (low-key lighting), so already this could connote mystery. Also it could show the vulnerability of the character in bed, darkness could foreshadow something which is going to happen.
There is a bed, lamp, picture, window, curtains, furniture=bedroom. The old furniture and books represents his age- intelligence, old, clever and sophisticated





Sound- the sound is off-screen= diegesis are sounds like talking and cars outside which suggests he lives in the city.

A close-up shot is used to show that the object which he is putting on the table, which is his glasses, this could also add to the character's vulnerability as it shows that he has to wear glasses which also suggests that he is quite old, as all the elements add up in the mise en scene that the character is quite old.

Close-up shot on metronome, the sound of the ticking noise is diagetic, the beat/rhythm of the ticking noise is steady but quite distinctive as it creates suspense because it is like the beat of the heart.

After the opening scene which shows the character in his bedroom, it suddenly goes to a black frame, which creates suspense and surprise as the audience does not know what is going to happen. It also creates tension, and it is quite scary also because when it goes to the black frame it uses a sound effect which sounds like thunder/explosion which is quite surprising and creates more tension.

This is an extreme close-up shot of what appears to be a book, it also shows someone's hand turning the pages over, so this also creates suspense and mystery as to who the person is? What kind of book is it? So it makes the audience question, so the use of this shot is very effective. The production company is also placed in this scene, because normally at the beginning of films the production company, title, cast etc. are shown. It is placed in a creative way as you can still see what is going on in the scene but at the same time you can also read/see it clearly. The text is in capitals, the colour of the text is white and the font is not fancy/elegant writing, it is quite bold.












The next scene goes to another black frame, again with white, bold text, which is quite a horror type of text and whilst this is showing, music is playing which is non-diabetic, the music has a genre of horror/thriller. The second picture shows that the first scene faded into the next, so the text stayed the same but the background changed. The background in the second picture shows two hands which are drawn with a red line drawn in the middle, it is also quite dull, so this also creates suspense as to what is going to happen and why there is a sketch of two hands.


In the next scenes, there are a series of extreme close-up shots used:

The use of extreme close-up shots are very effective as it creates suspense and tension for the audience, as you can see the objects which are shown, but as the audience we do not know what the objects are/are used for, so we begin to think and ask questions as to what will happen next. You can also see in all of the extreme close-up shots shown above, there is always someone's hand shown handling the objects, which also creates suspense and mystery because it does not show the whole character.

The four screen shots shown above are also extreme close-up shots but they also contain text which shows "casting by" and "music by". The two screen shots on the left has a black background so that the white text and the image shows clearly, black connotes darkness, mystery, thriller and horror which relates to the genre of the film. Also, the first screen shot on the left shows an image of a person's face with a line crossed through their eyes, and then there is an edit to show that the whole face has been scribbled in, which suggests something about the character, that the character has anger or a plan to do something with that particular person.

This is an establishing shot which sets the scene of a city and also shows the day which it is so it gives a bit of important information to the audience which may make sense during the rest of the film to the audience.