In my audience research, I tried to ask a mixture of younger people and older people on the media products they consumed, how they consume them and what sort of things they enjoy.
From the research, I learnt that my target audience tend to watch films at the cinema. This would help me hugely in terms of both showing and advertising and promoting my film, as I now know that a lot of people in my target audience's age range enjoy going to the cinema, and so both advertising in the cinema and showing my film in the cinema would be a good idea. I also found out that people like film openings that are very fast paced and action-filled, whilst still being introduced to the setting and main characters so they can get to know them a bit. I have already planned to introduce my main character and the setting straight away, so I don't think I need to change anything about my plot in regard to the things I have found out in my video.
Thursday 29 December 2016
Saturday 24 December 2016
My Plan So Far
The idea that I have chosen to do is focus 2, idea 1. The basic idea of this is finding something normal in a normal place, but the object's nature and the location don't match up. With this, I have thought about using a pair of shoes, and potentially something with it like a briefcase. I wanted to have these in a train station, for a number of reasons - it's a normal location, a lot of people visit it, and I already have a few ideas of different shots I could do incorporating features of a station. It's also an interesting place for someone to leave something like a pair of shoes and a briefcase, as it's not very likely that they would have taken off their shoes while waiting for a train and forgotten them when their train comes.
I am working on my own for my film opening, as I think it makes things quite a bit easier. It allows me to create a piece of work that is entirely my own - I don't have to compromise on any ideas that my group may not agree on. It also allows me to work on my own schedule - I would only have to arrange filming around when my actor(s) are free, not when the actor(s) and my group are. Also, working on my own allows me to improve skills in all areas of making a piece of film - when working in a group, one person tends to film, someone else does the editing, someone does the casting and planning etc., meaning that not everyone gets a chance to practice everything. However, working on my own allows me to do this, as there's nobody else to do it for me. Finally, working on my own meant I had to do all the research on my own - I think this is a good thing, as if you split the research, it's really just a case of copy and pasting half the work onto your blog, whilst working on your own means you have to do it all and therefore probably have a deeper understanding of everything. However, there are drawbacks to working on my own. The main one is the sheer quantity of work I have to/will have to do by myself, as I have nobody to split it with - although overall, I think it's a good thing in terms of understanding, it's a bad thing in terms of the fact that I might struggle to meet deadlines while concentrating on my other subjects. The only other drawback I think could really affect my work is the fact that if I struggle with anything, be it coming up with ideas, or having problems during the actual filming process, I will have nobody to help me. However, I don't think this is too big of a problem, as I will have the person I cast as my main character, and potentially a few people I bring along to film with me.
I think, based around my initial ideas for the plot and where it could potentially lead, I am going to create it in the style of a drama film. I think it'd work best in this style, as it's based around a situation that could happen in real life, and doesn't have any elements of action, romance, or sci-fi etc. I also like the fact that it's a drama opening because it's a genre I know quite well - I have watched a lot of films in this genre, and so along with my research, I have a reasonably good idea of the conventions of a drama film.
My narrative will be mostly linear, but I am thinking of including a few cuts to other things of an ambiguous time, to show off a bit more about my character and also to break up the structure into something more interesting. However, I'm going to keep these short and unspecific in terms of what time they are at, since they are purely used to convey information about the character, and not about the plot.
In my film opening, I am only looking to use one character. This is mainly because I think it would fit better with the plot, and it would make it a lot more effective as the main character is meant to come across as boring and lonely. However, it is also partly because of ease/effectiveness in terms of the quality of filming - if I had two characters, it would be a bit strange not to include some sort of dialogue between them, but having it at the train station would mean there's a lot of background noise, which would make the quality of it bad. Also, I think it would be a lot harder to find two characters of that age (so they look connected in some way), who I can co-ordinate to film at the same time/same place.
If I end up sticking to my plan, I am going to be using a train station, Norwich Road, and Long Stratton Road. I have decided to use these roads as they are long, relatively plain and straight, and they are often not hugely busy. All of these things are important as they are things which won't distract the audience, and they are also kind of reflective of the character's personality/life. I might also include a coffee shop or a kitchen of some sorts, just to include for a few seconds.
I know that I will definitely not use dialogue, due to the reasons that I have included in my dialogue research section. Also, as said above, I know that I don't want to use more than one character, due to dialogue, casting, availability and plot reasons. However, I am definitely going to either record a soundtrack myself, or use an already made one over the top. This is because, especially due to the lack of dialogue, I need something to fill the silence, as if there is nothing it'll probably be quite boring. I know that the soundtrack I am going to use won't be fast or very upbeat, as I want something that will emphasize the mood of both the character and the scene. Also, for this reason, I don't want to break the fourth wall, because I don't think it will carry on the mood I want to portray. However, I think I want to have a little bit of narration, but it really depends on if I can get the right person - if they don't have the right voice, it probably will take away more than it adds.
I am working on my own for my film opening, as I think it makes things quite a bit easier. It allows me to create a piece of work that is entirely my own - I don't have to compromise on any ideas that my group may not agree on. It also allows me to work on my own schedule - I would only have to arrange filming around when my actor(s) are free, not when the actor(s) and my group are. Also, working on my own allows me to improve skills in all areas of making a piece of film - when working in a group, one person tends to film, someone else does the editing, someone does the casting and planning etc., meaning that not everyone gets a chance to practice everything. However, working on my own allows me to do this, as there's nobody else to do it for me. Finally, working on my own meant I had to do all the research on my own - I think this is a good thing, as if you split the research, it's really just a case of copy and pasting half the work onto your blog, whilst working on your own means you have to do it all and therefore probably have a deeper understanding of everything. However, there are drawbacks to working on my own. The main one is the sheer quantity of work I have to/will have to do by myself, as I have nobody to split it with - although overall, I think it's a good thing in terms of understanding, it's a bad thing in terms of the fact that I might struggle to meet deadlines while concentrating on my other subjects. The only other drawback I think could really affect my work is the fact that if I struggle with anything, be it coming up with ideas, or having problems during the actual filming process, I will have nobody to help me. However, I don't think this is too big of a problem, as I will have the person I cast as my main character, and potentially a few people I bring along to film with me.
I think, based around my initial ideas for the plot and where it could potentially lead, I am going to create it in the style of a drama film. I think it'd work best in this style, as it's based around a situation that could happen in real life, and doesn't have any elements of action, romance, or sci-fi etc. I also like the fact that it's a drama opening because it's a genre I know quite well - I have watched a lot of films in this genre, and so along with my research, I have a reasonably good idea of the conventions of a drama film.
My narrative will be mostly linear, but I am thinking of including a few cuts to other things of an ambiguous time, to show off a bit more about my character and also to break up the structure into something more interesting. However, I'm going to keep these short and unspecific in terms of what time they are at, since they are purely used to convey information about the character, and not about the plot.
In my film opening, I am only looking to use one character. This is mainly because I think it would fit better with the plot, and it would make it a lot more effective as the main character is meant to come across as boring and lonely. However, it is also partly because of ease/effectiveness in terms of the quality of filming - if I had two characters, it would be a bit strange not to include some sort of dialogue between them, but having it at the train station would mean there's a lot of background noise, which would make the quality of it bad. Also, I think it would be a lot harder to find two characters of that age (so they look connected in some way), who I can co-ordinate to film at the same time/same place.
If I end up sticking to my plan, I am going to be using a train station, Norwich Road, and Long Stratton Road. I have decided to use these roads as they are long, relatively plain and straight, and they are often not hugely busy. All of these things are important as they are things which won't distract the audience, and they are also kind of reflective of the character's personality/life. I might also include a coffee shop or a kitchen of some sorts, just to include for a few seconds.
I know that I will definitely not use dialogue, due to the reasons that I have included in my dialogue research section. Also, as said above, I know that I don't want to use more than one character, due to dialogue, casting, availability and plot reasons. However, I am definitely going to either record a soundtrack myself, or use an already made one over the top. This is because, especially due to the lack of dialogue, I need something to fill the silence, as if there is nothing it'll probably be quite boring. I know that the soundtrack I am going to use won't be fast or very upbeat, as I want something that will emphasize the mood of both the character and the scene. Also, for this reason, I don't want to break the fourth wall, because I don't think it will carry on the mood I want to portray. However, I think I want to have a little bit of narration, but it really depends on if I can get the right person - if they don't have the right voice, it probably will take away more than it adds.
There are quite a few shots and angles that I have in mind, although when it comes round to filming, if they don't fit in with what I am doing, or if they look wrong in the editing process I don't mind leaving them out. This means I will have to be quite careful to film the same part from a number of different angles/distances, so if something ends up not looking great, I can redo it.
Friday 23 December 2016
Friday 16 December 2016
Idea Development
After brainstorming ideas for my coursework, I evaluated all of them, listing the pros and cons. Pictures of these are below.
This was incredibly helpful in deciding in which direction to go in terms of plot for my final piece of coursework, as when I got to the evaluation stage for each one, I had an accurate idea of how successful my outcome could potentially be and what challenges I could face. Doing this really helped me think more deeply into each idea, and so I didn't really have to think too specifically about which one I wanted to use, as I really decided in the process of making these lists.
Thursday 15 December 2016
Coursework Planning - Initial Ideas
After spending a while doing some research on many aspects of film/film openings, I decided to start coming up with ideas for my coursework. To begin the process of thinking of a plot, I decided to mind map everything that I like in a film opening - colours, angles, editing techniques, shot types etc. I decided that I would then try and come up with a plot that could incorporate these things effectively, as I would then be able to include and focus on things I feel are my strengths. This is the mind map which fully entails all of these things:
After mind mapping my favourite techniques, shots and colours, I then tried to focus on a few of the locations I had at my disposal that fit in with these. I did this step next because I thought that knowing where I could film would eliminate a lot of ideas which I couldn't create - but it would also allow me to think of non-conventional plots to contrast the locations. Below is a picture of the mind map I created, including reasons why I thought those locations would fit in with my filming preferences.
It was around this point I came up with a few focuses I thought could develop into potentially interesting story lines. The first focus I thought of was the idea of breaking the norms of everyday life - since all my locations are features of everyday life, it would be easy to incorporate all of them into it. The colour scheme, editing technique and camera angles/shots that I like would also fit well with this - since they aren't what you see in typical, everyday films, having jump cuts, darker colours and non-conventional angles fit well with the theme. The locations symbolise the ordinary, and the way it's filmed and the plot both would symbolise breaking that norm. From this first focus, I came up with a few plot ideas. The first one I thought of was someone on their way to work, but half way through their journey, they decide to call in sick and go somewhere else. I thought this would be a good film opening, as if you introduce the character at the very start as being boring and overly ordinary, and end it with them beginning to stray off that path, it leads to a lot of questions - like, what are they going to do that day? or, why did they decide to do it? The second idea I had involving this concept was someone who is different in society - either, they are different from the start, or they begin to discover their differences. I thought this would be really interesting to do in terms of colour, as I could potentially plan it so everyone is dressed in dull, monotonous colours (as is the background/location), while the main character is either already dressed in bright clothing, or throughout the opening they begin to be. Finally, my third idea was a bit different to that of my others. I thought of doing a romance-type opening, with two characters, with contrasting personalities. I thought this could be vert interesting as it could be shot from both character's POV's - one bright, one dull, but at the end of the opening, when they meet, the dull POV could see something in colour for the first time. It would be very interesting to experiment with symbolism within this, as it could be a metaphor for a type of mental illness. It would also be interesting to experiment with shot speeds, and cut lengths, as they could easily be seen to reflect the character's state of mind. The mind map below shows these ideas, with other small variations.
The second focus I came up with was the concept of finding something somewhere where it's out of place. I thought this was a very interesting concept to look into, as again, it can very easily incorporate the tediousness of everyday locations, as well as the abnormality of the out of place object. When coming up with potential plots for this, I decided to take two routes - the first being, finding an ordinary item in an ordinary place, but the location and the item don't match up - e.g. a bed in the middle of a field, or clothes hanging from trees in a forest. I thought this would make for a very engaging film opening, especially if you end the opening with the character(s) finding the object - it leads to a lot of questions, like, where did the object come from? who's is it, and why did they put it/leave it in such an obscure place? - meaning they'd be eager to watch the entire film to find out the answers. The second way I could develop a plot from this was an obscure item in a normal place. This could be anything from finding an object which looks like it's from the future, to finding an object that looked like it was created a very long time ago. I thought this would potentially be interesting as unknown objects that look like they are from very different time periods could develop into an intriguing story line as to how the object came to be there. The mind map below details these ideas, plus a few more I came up with.
After mind mapping my favourite techniques, shots and colours, I then tried to focus on a few of the locations I had at my disposal that fit in with these. I did this step next because I thought that knowing where I could film would eliminate a lot of ideas which I couldn't create - but it would also allow me to think of non-conventional plots to contrast the locations. Below is a picture of the mind map I created, including reasons why I thought those locations would fit in with my filming preferences.
It was around this point I came up with a few focuses I thought could develop into potentially interesting story lines. The first focus I thought of was the idea of breaking the norms of everyday life - since all my locations are features of everyday life, it would be easy to incorporate all of them into it. The colour scheme, editing technique and camera angles/shots that I like would also fit well with this - since they aren't what you see in typical, everyday films, having jump cuts, darker colours and non-conventional angles fit well with the theme. The locations symbolise the ordinary, and the way it's filmed and the plot both would symbolise breaking that norm. From this first focus, I came up with a few plot ideas. The first one I thought of was someone on their way to work, but half way through their journey, they decide to call in sick and go somewhere else. I thought this would be a good film opening, as if you introduce the character at the very start as being boring and overly ordinary, and end it with them beginning to stray off that path, it leads to a lot of questions - like, what are they going to do that day? or, why did they decide to do it? The second idea I had involving this concept was someone who is different in society - either, they are different from the start, or they begin to discover their differences. I thought this would be really interesting to do in terms of colour, as I could potentially plan it so everyone is dressed in dull, monotonous colours (as is the background/location), while the main character is either already dressed in bright clothing, or throughout the opening they begin to be. Finally, my third idea was a bit different to that of my others. I thought of doing a romance-type opening, with two characters, with contrasting personalities. I thought this could be vert interesting as it could be shot from both character's POV's - one bright, one dull, but at the end of the opening, when they meet, the dull POV could see something in colour for the first time. It would be very interesting to experiment with symbolism within this, as it could be a metaphor for a type of mental illness. It would also be interesting to experiment with shot speeds, and cut lengths, as they could easily be seen to reflect the character's state of mind. The mind map below shows these ideas, with other small variations.
The second focus I came up with was the concept of finding something somewhere where it's out of place. I thought this was a very interesting concept to look into, as again, it can very easily incorporate the tediousness of everyday locations, as well as the abnormality of the out of place object. When coming up with potential plots for this, I decided to take two routes - the first being, finding an ordinary item in an ordinary place, but the location and the item don't match up - e.g. a bed in the middle of a field, or clothes hanging from trees in a forest. I thought this would make for a very engaging film opening, especially if you end the opening with the character(s) finding the object - it leads to a lot of questions, like, where did the object come from? who's is it, and why did they put it/leave it in such an obscure place? - meaning they'd be eager to watch the entire film to find out the answers. The second way I could develop a plot from this was an obscure item in a normal place. This could be anything from finding an object which looks like it's from the future, to finding an object that looked like it was created a very long time ago. I thought this would potentially be interesting as unknown objects that look like they are from very different time periods could develop into an intriguing story line as to how the object came to be there. The mind map below details these ideas, plus a few more I came up with.
What do I want to include at the moment?
STYLE
Create a hip-hop montage
experiment with split screens
PLOT
Starts with an action e.g pressing or turning something
CAMERA ANGLES/SHOTS
Short cuts w/ exaggerated sounds
Pan quickly from one object to another and edit out the blur in the middle (looks like you're panning from one location to another)
Lots of different shot types (long, short, pan, high angle, low angle)
Make sure to film from different places (e.g. don't just film the back of the car or the side of the car)
Think carefully about the placing of things in relation to the meaning
Split screens ???
EDITING
Edit any jump cuts or shot changes to be in time with the music
SOUND
No sound or maybe very low sound w/ overlapping music
LIGHTING
Dark?? dark bluey/grey tones
PROPS
Shoes and maybe a briefcase - they have to contrast w/ each other (old shoes, new briefcase)
CAST
Middle aged person - preferably male but maybe female?
LOCATION
Somewhere isolated and lonely to match the tones/colours
Create a hip-hop montage
experiment with split screens
PLOT
Starts with an action e.g pressing or turning something
CAMERA ANGLES/SHOTS
Short cuts w/ exaggerated sounds
Pan quickly from one object to another and edit out the blur in the middle (looks like you're panning from one location to another)
Lots of different shot types (long, short, pan, high angle, low angle)
Make sure to film from different places (e.g. don't just film the back of the car or the side of the car)
Think carefully about the placing of things in relation to the meaning
Split screens ???
EDITING
Edit any jump cuts or shot changes to be in time with the music
SOUND
No sound or maybe very low sound w/ overlapping music
LIGHTING
Dark?? dark bluey/grey tones
PROPS
Shoes and maybe a briefcase - they have to contrast w/ each other (old shoes, new briefcase)
CAST
Middle aged person - preferably male but maybe female?
LOCATION
Somewhere isolated and lonely to match the tones/colours
Wednesday 14 December 2016
Hip-hop Montage - Practice
As practice for my coursework, I decided to experiment with different ways of filming. Following my post on montages, I thought it would be an interesting idea to create a hip-hop montage, as it's something I've been considering in my final piece. You can watch it here:
It took me around 30 minutes to film, and two lessons to edit. To get the sound effects, I downloaded a clip from Youtube, which contained a few of the montages from the film. I then put it into Audacity, and edited and saved each specific sound, until I had one for each action.
I think my finished product was fairly successful - I feel I replicated the style quite well, and adding the sound effects was especially effective, as it made it seem a lot closer to the original film. I found it relatively easy to film and edit, as Requiem for a Dream is one of my favourite films, and so I was fairly familiar with the shot lengths in terms of both speed and focal length. I also think the repeated shots made it a lot more interesting - they don't do it in the film to the extent I did in mine, but I think it looked quite good as it added a twist to it that wasn't necessarily expected.
If I did it again, I would probably rethink some of the shots. Doing one shot in a number of ways allows for a lot more ease in editing, as if one doesn't look right then I have a lot to choose from. Also, I need to be more careful with continuity within shots - sometimes, the background is repeated when it shouldn't be - e.g. the spoon goes off to the right side of the screen, while the coffee machine is on the left, but when I zoomed in and put it on the table, it was on the left side infront of the coffee machine. This isn't hugely noticable in the final piece, as it moves so quickly and it's not the main focus of the shot, however you can still notice it and so next time, I need to make sure something like that doesn't happen.
After creating this, I have decided I would definitely consider doing it in my coursework - I think it's a really good way to start off a scene, and it's great for showing a lot of action/movement in a little bit of time. However, I don't think I would do it to the extent I did here - since the cap in my final piece of coursework is around 2 minutes, I'd rather more of it be content the audience has time to focus on, so I would maybe only do it for 10 seconds or so.
I think my finished product was fairly successful - I feel I replicated the style quite well, and adding the sound effects was especially effective, as it made it seem a lot closer to the original film. I found it relatively easy to film and edit, as Requiem for a Dream is one of my favourite films, and so I was fairly familiar with the shot lengths in terms of both speed and focal length. I also think the repeated shots made it a lot more interesting - they don't do it in the film to the extent I did in mine, but I think it looked quite good as it added a twist to it that wasn't necessarily expected.
If I did it again, I would probably rethink some of the shots. Doing one shot in a number of ways allows for a lot more ease in editing, as if one doesn't look right then I have a lot to choose from. Also, I need to be more careful with continuity within shots - sometimes, the background is repeated when it shouldn't be - e.g. the spoon goes off to the right side of the screen, while the coffee machine is on the left, but when I zoomed in and put it on the table, it was on the left side infront of the coffee machine. This isn't hugely noticable in the final piece, as it moves so quickly and it's not the main focus of the shot, however you can still notice it and so next time, I need to make sure something like that doesn't happen.
After creating this, I have decided I would definitely consider doing it in my coursework - I think it's a really good way to start off a scene, and it's great for showing a lot of action/movement in a little bit of time. However, I don't think I would do it to the extent I did here - since the cap in my final piece of coursework is around 2 minutes, I'd rather more of it be content the audience has time to focus on, so I would maybe only do it for 10 seconds or so.
Tuesday 13 December 2016
Montages
A montage, in filmmaking, is a technique in which shots are edited together into a sequence to condense information down into a few seconds. Montages are used for many things - in some situations, they are used to show a passage of time passing, and in some they are used to convey a lot of information in a short time. However, they are sometimes just used for creative editing.
There is a great example of a montage in the film Over the Top (1987). It's very effective, as it showcases the many different contestants in the arm wrestling contest, and the scale of it all. There are a total of 30 cuts in the one minute clip. The shots in this clip are relatively close up, which is a typical convention of montages, as they allow the audience to focus easily on what the director wants them to - if they flashed past too quickly, with no real indication of what there was to look at, it would be confusing for the audience, as they wouldn't get the same meaning from it.
The training montage in Rocky IV (1985) is another good example of a montage. Again, it makes use of editing together short shots in sequence to show Rocky's training workout - it emphasizes the extent of his hard work, as it shows him doing many different exercises. However, this montage does something else, too - it uses juxtaposition to help us root for Rocky. It greatly contrasts his training, which is out in the wild and close to nature, with that of his opponent, whose is in a high-tech gym facility - leading us to want him to win, as he appears more real and down to earth.
Fast cutting is a technique used when making a montage, in which no shot lasts much longer than 3 seconds. It is usually used to show fast-paced chaos, as it makes the audience focus on a lot of things in a short amount of time. It can also be used to imply time moving forward, or a change of location, as using a lot of short shots allows this to be represented in a way the audience will understand what's happening. Notable examples of fast cutting include the shower scene in the film Psycho (1960), and the can-can scene in the film Moulin Rouge! (2001).
The hip-hop montage is a style of montage most famously used by Darren Aronofsky. It's different to a fast cutting montage, as hip-hop montages tend to emphasize an action through close-ups. Aronofsky used this technique most noticeably in his films Requiem for a Dream (2000), and Pi (1998), to portray drug use. I think this is a very effective way to portray the character's state of mind, especially during drug scenes, or ones where a character is in a jumpy state of mind, as the exaggerated noises, repeated shots, fast cuts and close ups emphasize energy and intensity. Unlike montages, which are used effectively to show the progression of time, I find that hip-hop montages, especially in the clip above, warp time and make it a lot harder to tell what's happening when. However, this is nicely paired with the jumpiness and intensity they also convey, as they go hand in hand when reflecting a character's state of mind.
I would definitely consider using montages in my film opening. I think that they're incredibly effective at showing off a space in a short amount of time, and so are perfect for film openings. I am more drawn toward hip-hop montages for my coursework, as they are a lot less conventional, however, these can be tricky to get right and so I think I would have to practice a bit. I think contrasting a montage of some sort with a long, still establishing shot would be interesting to experiment with, and so I think if practicing filming them goes well I will attempt to write one into my coursework.
There is a great example of a montage in the film Over the Top (1987). It's very effective, as it showcases the many different contestants in the arm wrestling contest, and the scale of it all. There are a total of 30 cuts in the one minute clip. The shots in this clip are relatively close up, which is a typical convention of montages, as they allow the audience to focus easily on what the director wants them to - if they flashed past too quickly, with no real indication of what there was to look at, it would be confusing for the audience, as they wouldn't get the same meaning from it.
The training montage in Rocky IV (1985) is another good example of a montage. Again, it makes use of editing together short shots in sequence to show Rocky's training workout - it emphasizes the extent of his hard work, as it shows him doing many different exercises. However, this montage does something else, too - it uses juxtaposition to help us root for Rocky. It greatly contrasts his training, which is out in the wild and close to nature, with that of his opponent, whose is in a high-tech gym facility - leading us to want him to win, as he appears more real and down to earth.
Fast cutting is a technique used when making a montage, in which no shot lasts much longer than 3 seconds. It is usually used to show fast-paced chaos, as it makes the audience focus on a lot of things in a short amount of time. It can also be used to imply time moving forward, or a change of location, as using a lot of short shots allows this to be represented in a way the audience will understand what's happening. Notable examples of fast cutting include the shower scene in the film Psycho (1960), and the can-can scene in the film Moulin Rouge! (2001).
The hip-hop montage is a style of montage most famously used by Darren Aronofsky. It's different to a fast cutting montage, as hip-hop montages tend to emphasize an action through close-ups. Aronofsky used this technique most noticeably in his films Requiem for a Dream (2000), and Pi (1998), to portray drug use. I think this is a very effective way to portray the character's state of mind, especially during drug scenes, or ones where a character is in a jumpy state of mind, as the exaggerated noises, repeated shots, fast cuts and close ups emphasize energy and intensity. Unlike montages, which are used effectively to show the progression of time, I find that hip-hop montages, especially in the clip above, warp time and make it a lot harder to tell what's happening when. However, this is nicely paired with the jumpiness and intensity they also convey, as they go hand in hand when reflecting a character's state of mind.
I would definitely consider using montages in my film opening. I think that they're incredibly effective at showing off a space in a short amount of time, and so are perfect for film openings. I am more drawn toward hip-hop montages for my coursework, as they are a lot less conventional, however, these can be tricky to get right and so I think I would have to practice a bit. I think contrasting a montage of some sort with a long, still establishing shot would be interesting to experiment with, and so I think if practicing filming them goes well I will attempt to write one into my coursework.
Genre
Horror movie openings all use quite similar techniques which tend to reveal their genre. The first convention of a horror movie can appear very early on - when the film corporation names appear in the first 10 seconds or so, sometimes the producers put a slight spin on it by incorporating horror-like colours or effects to it. Another thing they typically do is use typography to set the scene during the credits - this is especially important when the beginning of the plot doesn't reflect the genre. A lot of films incorporate font or a title sequence that shows the horror genre, e.g. scratchy font or words that looks like they're dripping blood. Another convention of typical horror movies is music - creepy music is often played during the title sequence to give an indication of the genre that is to come, which is very effective as it sets the mood before the film even starts. Finally, horror films often use close ups of blood etc. to show their genre, as this is a good way to get an audience in the right mood, and captivated by what is to come. An example of a horror movie opening is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film opens in a way which is quite typical to a horror film, first showing a woman peering at the camera, which is in place of an unknown object. This adds a sense of vulnerability to the audience, as right from the start a woman is making eye contact with us from a higher angle with low lighting, making us as viewers feel smaller and less powerful. Next, there are a lot of close ups - again, these are all shown in low lighting, which gives us a sense of the unknown and unsafe atmosphere that is going to come. The content of the close ups are also conventions of horror movies, as they are old, black and white photographs of younger children - which are often seen in horror films about death or supernatural forces. Finally, there is a lot of blood and close ups of people's bleeding/disfigured flesh, which is obviously related to horror movies, and also sets the scene of what the specifics of the film are about. The target audience of this genre tends to be older teenagers or young adults, as a lot of the blood, gore and jump-scares of horror are too much for younger viewers., and people aged 16-25 are usually a lot more geared toward thrill seeking than adults, and so it suits them a lot more. Also, the main characters in horror films tend to be young families, young couples or just young adults, and often the main character of the film tends to make up a large part of the audience as they're easier to relate to.
Sci-fi movie openings have very specific conventions, which is how they reveal their genre. The main way they do this is in the establishing shot - since most sci-fi films are set in the future, an establishing shot that shows this is very important in terms of the audience understanding the type of film. Close ups of technology, costume and props are also very common in science fiction, as it puts the focus on the new machinery, clothing, and items, giving the audience a sense of futurism. Finally, narration is another convention of sci-fi films. Since sci-fi's include a lot of things that are unrecognisable and unfamiliar to us, narration helps a lot with setting the scene and revealing to the audience what's happened between the present day and when the film is set. Gattaca is a film set in the future, about a world where you can alter an unborn child's DNA. The opening sequence of this film matches a lot of the conventions of other Sci-fi films. Firstly, there are many close ups - at the start of the opening sequence, the camera shows microscopic fingernail clippings, hair shavings, and skin pieces all falling to the ground. They appear very big, and make a loud noise when they land - this not only gives the audience a sense of what the film is going to be about, but it shows the importance of DNA throughout the film. There's no narration within the title sequence, however, this may be due to the lack of immediately present futuristic technology - later on in the film, there is narration, which is introduced as the changing DNA part of the film comes into play. However, even though there is a lack of futuristic technology, the house the title sequence is set in isn't like a modern family home - the floor is made of dark wood and the rest of the walls and furnishings look like metal - it's very hospital like, which is a key thing in giving away the genre within the opening credits. The target audience of sci-fi films I think can be any age, but they tend to be for mainly males. This is because science and maths are typically male dominated, and so men would stereotypically be a lot more interested in watching films along the lines of these subjects.
Teen movie openings are almost all based around their own conventions - if they didn't incorporate them, they wouldn't really be classed as 'teen movies'. Most of the conventions in this genre are based around stereotypes of the characters - for example, you have the popular girls (unintelligent, short skirts, slutty etc.), the 'jocks' (bullies, unintelligent and obsessed with sports), and the outsider (the main focus of the film; someone who sees the others for who they truly are). These are almost always the main characters - the main convention of teen films plays on these stereotypes, and results in the unpopular girl getting the popular guy. Conventions of teen film openings are usually the introductions of these characters. The Breakfast Club is a very typical teen movie. In the opening two minutes, all the characters are introduced, and they are all stereotypes of one type of clique. The fact that they are all in detention together in school gives the audience an immediate idea that eventually, all the characters are going to come together and we are going to find out about the non-typical, individual side of each of them. They are all revealed in succession, along with their parents (when they are getting out the car to go into school) - by doing this, we can very easily tell who belongs to which clique, as for example, Claire gets out of the car, and her dad says something about her skipping school to go shopping. Brian, on the other hand, gets told off and then told to use the time to study by his mum, and John walks in on his own, being very reckless and almost walking in front of another car pulling up. This introduction of each stereotype individually allows us to know more about each character, and therefore when watching it, we care more about what happens to them. Teen movies are highly targeted toward teenage girls and young (female) adults. This is because they tend to be either about romance, which is seen to be a lot more suited to females than males, and also because the protagonist is almost always female in those types of films. They also tend to represent 'female experiences', and since they always end with the girl getting the guy, they hold the ideal outcome for most teenage girls.
Action movie openings have a lot of different conventions, but they all relate to each other in the same way. Action movies conventionally have fast paced music to get the audience excited, missions that need to be completed to save something important, and an evil force trying to stop them. Big explosions, fast pace chases and a lot of tension play a huge part in every action film, and so you could conclude that overall, the main convention of an action film is fast paced action, and speed. In action movie openings, the audience will get the feeling that all of these things are about to happen, as they tend to start off with a normal person, and something going wrong. Batman is an action film. The titles aren't the most stereotypical, as they are quite slow paced in terms of the content, but there is fast, tension filled music to contrast this. Also, since Batman is quite a well known film/brand, the slow reveal of the Batman logo does build up suspense, and make you feel like something action filled is going to happen. The colours and lighting are both dark, meaning you can't actually tell what is going to be revealed until the very end of the opening titles, which again, adds suspense. The titles themselves are nothing special - they are in yellow font, centred on the screen. These don't particularly add anything to the opening in terms of revealing the genre, but they do contrast nicely with the dark colour scheme, and also since the Batman logo is black and yellow, it creates an image of that in your head before the film even starts. There's a core target audience who would probably want to watch action films - typically young adult males, with an interest in action, thrills and excitement. They usually go see these films with other men, as action films contain things that are stereotypically "masculine" - things like car chases, explosions, gun fights, melee fighting, etc. However, a lot of films are cross-genre now, and often action films tend to have elements of romance and comedy in too, and so the audience for action movies tend to be a lot more widespread than they used to be.
Crime movie openings have few conventions. Crime movies themselves always have protagonists and antagonists, and so one main convention of a crime move opening is to introduce the protagonist. They also tend to start off just like any other film, as they want you to see the protagonist as a normal person - so when something goes wrong, you sympathise with them, and want to watch the rest of the film to find out if they are okay. They also often include police or detectives, which are sometimes introduced early on in the film, and sometimes introduced later on once the antagonist is known. The Godfather: Part 1 opening kind of reflects these conventions, as although most of the opening is based around the credits, they do show a lot of furniture/props in a house, albeit for an aesthetic reason. Who we assume to be the protagonist is shown a few times in the beginning, in normal, everyday situations, such as a cafe, sitting in a chair, and being outside. The target audience for crime films is generally stereotyped as being aimed at men, due to use of violence, the justice system and villains. Normally the lead protagonist tends to be a strong, dominant male, and so other males would relate to this and probably want to view the film. People over 15 tend to watch crime films, as they often include blood, violence or gore, and so are not suitable for younger viewers.
How do marketing companies attract an audience?
The title of a film is what first catches our attention. It can make a big difference as to whether or not the film is successful at the box office, meaning that the choice of a title is a crucial part of the marketing campaign.
Trailers are also used to attract audiences. When we watch a trailer, we are seeing the most exciting, funny, significant or dramatic parts of a film, which creates a lot of excitement as we then want to see how the story shown in the trailer is pieced together. Trailers are also usually fast paced, using very short clips from the film, which means the audience has to concentrate hard to understand what's going on. Also, narration is used in a trailer to create a ‘want–to-see‘ reaction in an audience, by raising questions about both the plot and the character that you can only find out by watching the film. The trailers are carefully marketed - they are shown on TV at certain times on certain channels, as to attract specific audiences.
Sci-fi movie openings have very specific conventions, which is how they reveal their genre. The main way they do this is in the establishing shot - since most sci-fi films are set in the future, an establishing shot that shows this is very important in terms of the audience understanding the type of film. Close ups of technology, costume and props are also very common in science fiction, as it puts the focus on the new machinery, clothing, and items, giving the audience a sense of futurism. Finally, narration is another convention of sci-fi films. Since sci-fi's include a lot of things that are unrecognisable and unfamiliar to us, narration helps a lot with setting the scene and revealing to the audience what's happened between the present day and when the film is set. Gattaca is a film set in the future, about a world where you can alter an unborn child's DNA. The opening sequence of this film matches a lot of the conventions of other Sci-fi films. Firstly, there are many close ups - at the start of the opening sequence, the camera shows microscopic fingernail clippings, hair shavings, and skin pieces all falling to the ground. They appear very big, and make a loud noise when they land - this not only gives the audience a sense of what the film is going to be about, but it shows the importance of DNA throughout the film. There's no narration within the title sequence, however, this may be due to the lack of immediately present futuristic technology - later on in the film, there is narration, which is introduced as the changing DNA part of the film comes into play. However, even though there is a lack of futuristic technology, the house the title sequence is set in isn't like a modern family home - the floor is made of dark wood and the rest of the walls and furnishings look like metal - it's very hospital like, which is a key thing in giving away the genre within the opening credits. The target audience of sci-fi films I think can be any age, but they tend to be for mainly males. This is because science and maths are typically male dominated, and so men would stereotypically be a lot more interested in watching films along the lines of these subjects.
Teen movie openings are almost all based around their own conventions - if they didn't incorporate them, they wouldn't really be classed as 'teen movies'. Most of the conventions in this genre are based around stereotypes of the characters - for example, you have the popular girls (unintelligent, short skirts, slutty etc.), the 'jocks' (bullies, unintelligent and obsessed with sports), and the outsider (the main focus of the film; someone who sees the others for who they truly are). These are almost always the main characters - the main convention of teen films plays on these stereotypes, and results in the unpopular girl getting the popular guy. Conventions of teen film openings are usually the introductions of these characters. The Breakfast Club is a very typical teen movie. In the opening two minutes, all the characters are introduced, and they are all stereotypes of one type of clique. The fact that they are all in detention together in school gives the audience an immediate idea that eventually, all the characters are going to come together and we are going to find out about the non-typical, individual side of each of them. They are all revealed in succession, along with their parents (when they are getting out the car to go into school) - by doing this, we can very easily tell who belongs to which clique, as for example, Claire gets out of the car, and her dad says something about her skipping school to go shopping. Brian, on the other hand, gets told off and then told to use the time to study by his mum, and John walks in on his own, being very reckless and almost walking in front of another car pulling up. This introduction of each stereotype individually allows us to know more about each character, and therefore when watching it, we care more about what happens to them. Teen movies are highly targeted toward teenage girls and young (female) adults. This is because they tend to be either about romance, which is seen to be a lot more suited to females than males, and also because the protagonist is almost always female in those types of films. They also tend to represent 'female experiences', and since they always end with the girl getting the guy, they hold the ideal outcome for most teenage girls.
Action movie openings have a lot of different conventions, but they all relate to each other in the same way. Action movies conventionally have fast paced music to get the audience excited, missions that need to be completed to save something important, and an evil force trying to stop them. Big explosions, fast pace chases and a lot of tension play a huge part in every action film, and so you could conclude that overall, the main convention of an action film is fast paced action, and speed. In action movie openings, the audience will get the feeling that all of these things are about to happen, as they tend to start off with a normal person, and something going wrong. Batman is an action film. The titles aren't the most stereotypical, as they are quite slow paced in terms of the content, but there is fast, tension filled music to contrast this. Also, since Batman is quite a well known film/brand, the slow reveal of the Batman logo does build up suspense, and make you feel like something action filled is going to happen. The colours and lighting are both dark, meaning you can't actually tell what is going to be revealed until the very end of the opening titles, which again, adds suspense. The titles themselves are nothing special - they are in yellow font, centred on the screen. These don't particularly add anything to the opening in terms of revealing the genre, but they do contrast nicely with the dark colour scheme, and also since the Batman logo is black and yellow, it creates an image of that in your head before the film even starts. There's a core target audience who would probably want to watch action films - typically young adult males, with an interest in action, thrills and excitement. They usually go see these films with other men, as action films contain things that are stereotypically "masculine" - things like car chases, explosions, gun fights, melee fighting, etc. However, a lot of films are cross-genre now, and often action films tend to have elements of romance and comedy in too, and so the audience for action movies tend to be a lot more widespread than they used to be.
Crime movie openings have few conventions. Crime movies themselves always have protagonists and antagonists, and so one main convention of a crime move opening is to introduce the protagonist. They also tend to start off just like any other film, as they want you to see the protagonist as a normal person - so when something goes wrong, you sympathise with them, and want to watch the rest of the film to find out if they are okay. They also often include police or detectives, which are sometimes introduced early on in the film, and sometimes introduced later on once the antagonist is known. The Godfather: Part 1 opening kind of reflects these conventions, as although most of the opening is based around the credits, they do show a lot of furniture/props in a house, albeit for an aesthetic reason. Who we assume to be the protagonist is shown a few times in the beginning, in normal, everyday situations, such as a cafe, sitting in a chair, and being outside. The target audience for crime films is generally stereotyped as being aimed at men, due to use of violence, the justice system and villains. Normally the lead protagonist tends to be a strong, dominant male, and so other males would relate to this and probably want to view the film. People over 15 tend to watch crime films, as they often include blood, violence or gore, and so are not suitable for younger viewers.
How do marketing companies attract an audience?
The title of a film is what first catches our attention. It can make a big difference as to whether or not the film is successful at the box office, meaning that the choice of a title is a crucial part of the marketing campaign.
Trailers are also used to attract audiences. When we watch a trailer, we are seeing the most exciting, funny, significant or dramatic parts of a film, which creates a lot of excitement as we then want to see how the story shown in the trailer is pieced together. Trailers are also usually fast paced, using very short clips from the film, which means the audience has to concentrate hard to understand what's going on. Also, narration is used in a trailer to create a ‘want–to-see‘ reaction in an audience, by raising questions about both the plot and the character that you can only find out by watching the film. The trailers are carefully marketed - they are shown on TV at certain times on certain channels, as to attract specific audiences.
Character
In my opinion, the main character(s) are very important to introduce within the opening of a film in which the intended focus of the film is the characters and/or their actions. This is because, in most cases, whoever the audience is introduced to first is the character they tend to have the most of a connection with, and this is the whole reason they want to keep watching to the end. Even if the film follows Todorov's narrative structure, when we know an equilibrium will be restored at the end, that connection with the character is incredibly important - we want to see how they ultimately overcome the bad things that happen to them, and we want to see them develop in themselves. However, in some films this isn't true - if the audience is first introduced to the bad characters, they are done so in a way in which will create dislike for them, and so they'll be rooting for someone good to come and 'save the day'. In films where the focus lies elsewhere, e.g. the location/scenery, we are introduced to that first instead - however, few films tend to focus on things other than characters, as it's an incredibly easy way to get someone to relate to and engage with the film - since, the characters are often like them in many ways.
Character profile of: Sara (Requiem for a Dream, 2000)
Sara Goldfarb is the mother of the main character, Harry, in Requiem for a Dream. She is a widow, with not much money, who spends most of her time sitting in an armchair in front of the TV watching diet shows. Once she gets a call from a TV show she enjoys, asking if she can appear on it, she decides to lose weight to fit into a red dress she wore to Harry's graduation. There really isn’t anything wrong with Sara at first; she just wants to lose a few pounds, misses her husband and wishes she saw more of her son. However, her mental state falls as she falls prey to a doctor who prescribes her diet pills too fast, resulting in her quickly spiralling into addiction.
I think what makes Sara so interesting as a character is the fact that she's so ordinary, yet her life is so out of control. She appears to become obsessed easily - first with her TV shows and her son coming to visit, second her red dress, and third, food and the diet pills. This makes her an unusual character to watch as we can relate to her in the fact that she is like a lot of people's mothers/grandmothers - she's widowed, with a son, and she lives on her own. However, the addition of her being obsessed with diet shows, pills, her red dress, and food almost juxtaposes this, which is why we find her so interesting. Also, the fact that we feel sorry for her in the beginning (because she's lonely, her son keeps stealing from her, and she can't fit into the dress that means so much to her) makes her a lot more iconic as a character, as when she spirals into diet drugs we feel very protective as if she's our own mother or grandmother.
Sara adds to the narrative of the film as she gives us a whole new plot to follow. While her son, Harry, is addicted to hard drugs, Sara becomes addicted to diet pills, which has similar, if not worse effects. This is very effective in terms of adding to the narrative, as people don't tend to see diet pills as particularly bad, but after seeing the effect it has on Sara, especially how similar it is presented to her son's drug addiction, we get a sense of how serious it actually is.
In the opening two minutes of Requiem for a Dream, we are introduced to Sara. The first thing we find out about her is that she has a son, called Harry (or Harold as she calls him), and he is stealing her TV set. She comes across as quite paranoid and scared, as she has chained her TV set to the radiator - we can figure out that it's not the first time her son has done this, and certainly won't be the last.
Character profile of: Caden (Synecdoche, New York, 2008)
Caden Cotard is a theatre director. At the beginning of the film, he lives at home with his wife (an artist), and his young daughter, Olive. After sucessfully producing his own version of Death of a Salesman, he receives a McArthur grant, and tries to create a play in which he can be brutally honest, realistic, and encompass his whole self. He does this by setting up a small version of New York in a warehouse, replicating real life. However, his life begins to falls apart more and more - his wife is now his ex, his daughter is growing up somewhere in Berlin, and his body is falling apart. As he buries himself deeper and deeper into his masterpiece, he begins to confuse real life with his play, which is populated with dopplegangers and small replicas of the real world.
To me, Caden is such an iconic character because he is what makes us draw all the main conclusions and ideas that Kaufman is trying to present - our lives have no meaning apart from what we bring to it, and there is no higher power that will make it make sense. He represents realism in the way that he is unglamourized, but not in the way that we would expect from a film - he seems to be unintentionally imperfect, portraying the idea that beauty and fascination in a person's life, such as the one Caden creates in his warehouse, doesn't lie in dingy streets or clogged gutters, but in the small imperfections that are everywhere. Caden makes us deeply consider life, death and our connections with people, through just being an ordinary person with a vision, and this is why I think he is such an iconic character.
Caden adds a lot to the narrative of Synecdoche, New York - he is the main character, and the whole film is based around him and his connections with his family, friends, co-workers, and his life. He makes the plot a lot richer, deeper and intense, and he is someone that we pity, empathize with, and love at the same time.
In the opening two minutes, we learn about Caden's normal life. The first part of the opening sequence is him waking up and going downstairs - in this, we learn that he isn't particularly well off, as his house seems quite small and dingy. The radio is playing when he wakes up, and a shot of him in bed that lasts a while allows us to hear the person on the radio say, 'It's seen as the beginning of the end', along with many other quite dark phrases, which tells us that maybe something bad will happen to Caden. After he goes downstairs, we learn that he has a wife, and a child called Olive.
Character profile of: Tyler Durden (Fight Club, 1999)
Tyler Durden is introduced to the main character, the Narrator, after there is an explosion at his flat, and Tyler offers him a place to stay. They meet on an airplane, on one of the Narrator's business trips, where Tyler reveals that he makes and sells soap for a living. Tyler lives in a broken down, abandoned house, and takes a very primitive approach to life - believing we life in a materialistic society, and that to truly evolve, we need to strip everything right back to the basics. They begin a club for recreational fighting, and off of it springs a project to disrupt society, called 'Project Mayhem'. However, near to the end of the film, it is revealed that Tyler is actually an insomia-driven creation of the Narrator - an idealistic version of him, and everything that he wants to be.
Tyler is an iconic character in my opinion, because he brings up a lot of interesting points about the society that we live in. He makes the audience consider the fact that we don't necessarily need to be as materialistic as we are, and he also makes us question the way that society is run. Because we relate to the Narrator so much in the beginning in the way that he hates his job and is bored with his life, we tend to automatically want to listen to what Tyler says when he is revealed as the Narrator's 'second personality'.
Tyler is a very iconic part of the narrative. He not only makes the Narrator's life a lot more interesting, and adds a lot of depth to it, but he also provides an incredible plot twist near the end, which changes almost everything about the film. He provides the main theories and ideas in the film, as it's entirely based around the transition of action from conformation to anarchy, showing his importance, as without him, the development would have gone a lot slower/not happened at all.
In the opening sequence, we aren't introduced to Tyler at all. He is in the beginning scene, but he isn't in camera - the audience doesn't know that it's him, unless they have seen the film before. However, this is effective in terms of character development, as when we are introduced to Tyler later on in the film (if you recognise his voice from the start), we are left with a lot of questions - the relationship between Tyler and the Narrator is incredibly different to what is shown in the opening sequence.
Character profile of: Sara (Requiem for a Dream, 2000)
Sara Goldfarb is the mother of the main character, Harry, in Requiem for a Dream. She is a widow, with not much money, who spends most of her time sitting in an armchair in front of the TV watching diet shows. Once she gets a call from a TV show she enjoys, asking if she can appear on it, she decides to lose weight to fit into a red dress she wore to Harry's graduation. There really isn’t anything wrong with Sara at first; she just wants to lose a few pounds, misses her husband and wishes she saw more of her son. However, her mental state falls as she falls prey to a doctor who prescribes her diet pills too fast, resulting in her quickly spiralling into addiction.I think what makes Sara so interesting as a character is the fact that she's so ordinary, yet her life is so out of control. She appears to become obsessed easily - first with her TV shows and her son coming to visit, second her red dress, and third, food and the diet pills. This makes her an unusual character to watch as we can relate to her in the fact that she is like a lot of people's mothers/grandmothers - she's widowed, with a son, and she lives on her own. However, the addition of her being obsessed with diet shows, pills, her red dress, and food almost juxtaposes this, which is why we find her so interesting. Also, the fact that we feel sorry for her in the beginning (because she's lonely, her son keeps stealing from her, and she can't fit into the dress that means so much to her) makes her a lot more iconic as a character, as when she spirals into diet drugs we feel very protective as if she's our own mother or grandmother.
Sara adds to the narrative of the film as she gives us a whole new plot to follow. While her son, Harry, is addicted to hard drugs, Sara becomes addicted to diet pills, which has similar, if not worse effects. This is very effective in terms of adding to the narrative, as people don't tend to see diet pills as particularly bad, but after seeing the effect it has on Sara, especially how similar it is presented to her son's drug addiction, we get a sense of how serious it actually is.
In the opening two minutes of Requiem for a Dream, we are introduced to Sara. The first thing we find out about her is that she has a son, called Harry (or Harold as she calls him), and he is stealing her TV set. She comes across as quite paranoid and scared, as she has chained her TV set to the radiator - we can figure out that it's not the first time her son has done this, and certainly won't be the last.
Character profile of: Caden (Synecdoche, New York, 2008)
Caden Cotard is a theatre director. At the beginning of the film, he lives at home with his wife (an artist), and his young daughter, Olive. After sucessfully producing his own version of Death of a Salesman, he receives a McArthur grant, and tries to create a play in which he can be brutally honest, realistic, and encompass his whole self. He does this by setting up a small version of New York in a warehouse, replicating real life. However, his life begins to falls apart more and more - his wife is now his ex, his daughter is growing up somewhere in Berlin, and his body is falling apart. As he buries himself deeper and deeper into his masterpiece, he begins to confuse real life with his play, which is populated with dopplegangers and small replicas of the real world.To me, Caden is such an iconic character because he is what makes us draw all the main conclusions and ideas that Kaufman is trying to present - our lives have no meaning apart from what we bring to it, and there is no higher power that will make it make sense. He represents realism in the way that he is unglamourized, but not in the way that we would expect from a film - he seems to be unintentionally imperfect, portraying the idea that beauty and fascination in a person's life, such as the one Caden creates in his warehouse, doesn't lie in dingy streets or clogged gutters, but in the small imperfections that are everywhere. Caden makes us deeply consider life, death and our connections with people, through just being an ordinary person with a vision, and this is why I think he is such an iconic character.
Caden adds a lot to the narrative of Synecdoche, New York - he is the main character, and the whole film is based around him and his connections with his family, friends, co-workers, and his life. He makes the plot a lot richer, deeper and intense, and he is someone that we pity, empathize with, and love at the same time.
In the opening two minutes, we learn about Caden's normal life. The first part of the opening sequence is him waking up and going downstairs - in this, we learn that he isn't particularly well off, as his house seems quite small and dingy. The radio is playing when he wakes up, and a shot of him in bed that lasts a while allows us to hear the person on the radio say, 'It's seen as the beginning of the end', along with many other quite dark phrases, which tells us that maybe something bad will happen to Caden. After he goes downstairs, we learn that he has a wife, and a child called Olive.
Character profile of: Tyler Durden (Fight Club, 1999)Tyler Durden is introduced to the main character, the Narrator, after there is an explosion at his flat, and Tyler offers him a place to stay. They meet on an airplane, on one of the Narrator's business trips, where Tyler reveals that he makes and sells soap for a living. Tyler lives in a broken down, abandoned house, and takes a very primitive approach to life - believing we life in a materialistic society, and that to truly evolve, we need to strip everything right back to the basics. They begin a club for recreational fighting, and off of it springs a project to disrupt society, called 'Project Mayhem'. However, near to the end of the film, it is revealed that Tyler is actually an insomia-driven creation of the Narrator - an idealistic version of him, and everything that he wants to be.
Tyler is an iconic character in my opinion, because he brings up a lot of interesting points about the society that we live in. He makes the audience consider the fact that we don't necessarily need to be as materialistic as we are, and he also makes us question the way that society is run. Because we relate to the Narrator so much in the beginning in the way that he hates his job and is bored with his life, we tend to automatically want to listen to what Tyler says when he is revealed as the Narrator's 'second personality'.
Tyler is a very iconic part of the narrative. He not only makes the Narrator's life a lot more interesting, and adds a lot of depth to it, but he also provides an incredible plot twist near the end, which changes almost everything about the film. He provides the main theories and ideas in the film, as it's entirely based around the transition of action from conformation to anarchy, showing his importance, as without him, the development would have gone a lot slower/not happened at all.
In the opening sequence, we aren't introduced to Tyler at all. He is in the beginning scene, but he isn't in camera - the audience doesn't know that it's him, unless they have seen the film before. However, this is effective in terms of character development, as when we are introduced to Tyler later on in the film (if you recognise his voice from the start), we are left with a lot of questions - the relationship between Tyler and the Narrator is incredibly different to what is shown in the opening sequence.
Narrative
Narrative, in simple terms, is storytelling. In film, narrative form is used all the time, as without it, the story would have no structure, and therefore wouldn't make sense. For example, narrative form could be used in a short sequence - if there was a wide shot of a building, a close up of a person looking up at it, and then a panning shot of the same person walking inside a (not necessarily the same) building, the audience would automatically assume that it's the same place, due to narrative structure. This is because the sequences in that order make sense - they tell a story of a person looking at and entering a building, and although they could be on opposite sides of the world, the narrative form putting them in that order makes sense.
In horror, the narrative structure tends to go like this:
- (1) Introduction to the main characters, shown in a normal location
- (2) Characters venture into a strange/threatening setting
- (3) Something bad happens - someone gets injured, killed or a monster is revealed
- (4) The surviving characters fight back, putting them at greater risk
- (5) The film climaxes with a dramatic showdown between the main characters and the monster
- (6) Either the monster or the main character(s) survives
- (7) Order is either restored or the audience is left in suspense wondering what will happen next
An example of this narrative being used in a horror film is in Woman in Black (2012). In this film, the main character is grieving the loss of his wife (1), when he goes to an old, empty estate previously owned by an old woman (2). The villagers want him to leave as they are keeping a secret - the house is haunted by a woman dressed in black. The woman in black then appears - killing a child (3). Then, the main character decides to try and stop her, by pulling her dead son out of the marshes where he drowned, in the hope that she would stop taking revenge on the people of the town (4). The climax comes when the main character puts her sons body in a room, and she enters it, screaming at him (5). This is film is slightly different in terms of narrative structure in the ending - before the 'monster' dies, order is restored (7) when the main character returns home, but she claims her final victim when she kills the main character's son on the journey home (6). This twist at the end is quite a good use of unusual narrative - it doesn't make the audience confused as to the genre, but it provides one lasts sense of horror right at the end, when they are expecting nothing.
In a comedy, the narrative structure is fairly similar to that of a horror, but with a few key differences. The narrative structure of a comedy usually goes like this:
- (1) Introduction to the main character(s)
- (2) Something happens which disrupts the normality/happiness
- (3) The characters try and fix it (usually in a humorous way)
- (4) The problem is made worse by the character's actions**
- (5) The problem is fixed
- (6) Everyone is happy again, and normality is restored
**This doesn't always happen in comedies - however, it does sometimes as it's a good plot twist
A comedy which follows this structure is Finding Dory (2016). In the beginning, we are introduced to the main characters, in normal settings (1). Then, when Dory begins to remember her parents, she ends up getting captured and taken to a marine life centre - unable to escape (2). Then, enlisting the help of an octopus also trapped in the centre, Dory begins her plot to escape (3), but as soon as she does, finding her parents along the way, Marlon and Nemo get trapped in a truck (4). However, they manage to escape again, with the help of some of their friends, (5), and the film ends with everyone returning home, and continuing their lives with their new friends/the family that they have found (6).
In action films, the narrative structure usually goes like this:
- (1) Introduction to the protagonist - in some cases, our knowledge of their special abilities is made clear
- (2) Something goes wrong, and the protagonist is made aware they need to fix it (to either save themselves or other people)
- (3) The protagonist tries to solve the problem
- (4) The climax comes when the protagonist is in the middle of fixing things - usually involving car chases, explosions or fighting
- (5) Everything is sorted - the protagonist wins, the bad force is defeated and peace is restored
The Karate Kid (2010) is an action film. It mainly follows the above narrative structure for an action movie - first, we are introduced to Dre, and we learn that he has moved to China (1). After meeting a girl, and realising he likes her, he begins to get bullied by a boy at his school (2), and so takes up kung-fu in order to defend himself (3). After training really hard, and becoming good at it, he enters a tournament, and after being injured very badly, he ends up having to fight the boy who has been beating him up (4). Ultimately, he wins, and earns the respect of both the bully and the rest of his classmates (5).
The narrative structure of a drama film tends to go like this:
- (1) Introduction to the protagonist
- (2) We find out their problem/a problem is created
- (3) They try to solve their problem/their problem is almost fixed
- (4) There is a climax where we don't know the outcome, and then the problem is either is fixed or everything is destroyed completely**
- (5) Peace is restored
**Given the conventions of the drama genre, sometimes it's not always a happy ending - the main character could die, or their goal could be ruined.
The narrative structure of a drama film is followed in Finding Nemo (2003). A clown fish named Marlin lives in the Great Barrier Reef, with his son, Nemo (1). Nemo ends up getting lost after he ventures into the open sea, and he ends up being abducted by a boat (2). Marlin goes looking for Nemo, meeting a variety of different fish along the way (3), and ends up finding him with the help of his new friends (4), and they go back to the reef where they live (5).
The narrative structure of romance films is fairly similar even throughout the different subgenres - it usually goes like this:
- (1) Introduction to the main character
- (2) Introduction to their love interest, and we find out why they can't/won't be together
- (3) They begin to realise they like each other
- (4) Something happens which keeps them apart (climax)
- (5) The problem is overcome and they are able to be together/there is a tragedy and they can't be together
In the romance film, West Side Story (1961), this narrative structure is shown. Firstly, we are introduced to the main characters in each gang (1), and we learn their gangs are rivals (2). We then see them fall in love across a crowded room at a party (3), but soon after, following the death of someone, their two gangs get in a big fight (4). In a Romeo and Juliet style ending, someone tells one of the pair that the other is dead, and so they promptly take their own life (5).
However, despite the differences between the structure in each genre, the conventions of narrative throughout can be simplified to this:
- Opening: establishes the setting and introduces the main character(s).
This narrative structure is very important because it helps the audience engage with both the characters and the plot - whatever the genre, a connection with or interest in the main character(s) is vital, as it means you care what happens to them. This is what the opening and build up do - you get a sense of their normal life through the setting and their relationships with other characters, and in many cases, if you are their target audience, you may relate to them, connecting with them more. After this relationship between you and the main character(s) has built up, the problem is revealed. This is a great way of making someone want to keep watching, instead of tuning out half way through, as they already care and empathise a great deal with the main character(s), and so when something goes wrong, they would want to keep watching to see the problem solved. This is exactly what happens next - a series of events occur in which the characters solve their problems. This also keeps the audience watching, as it's often either tense, fast paced or action filled, and during this time, smaller problems can be created, which makes the outcome unpredictable. This keeps people watching, as when they think the problem is solved, or when they can see a predictable way of solving the dilemma, something else goes wrong, which makes them unsure of what will happen. Finally, the resolution and the ending take place. In the resolution, the problem is solved, and in the ending, the characters reconcile and everything that went wrong is sorted out. The ending of a film is in some ways, the most important part, as it shows the ideal situation in terms of what you wanted for the characters from the start - e.g. the criminal being defeated, two people falling in love and getting together, or something really good happening to the main character. Overall, narrative structure is vital to making a successful film, as it is what keeps people interested and caring about the characters and the plot.
Todorov's narrative theory states that most stories follow the same 5 step pattern/path. The first step of Todorov's theory is equilibrium. This is when the majority of characters are happy, content and getting along. There isn't anything bad happening, and everything is as it should be. Then, Todorov states that there is normally a disruption. This is the first part of the problem - something bad happens, which will disrupt the happiness and peace between the characters.The realisation then happens, which is when the full effects of the disruption unfold. The characters realise the extent of the problem, and it's chaos. However, this doesn't last long - Todorov's next step is restored order. Restored order is when the characters attempt to resolve the problem and repare the damage. The final part of a story's plot is again, equilibrium. This is when again, everything is good as the characters have solved the problems.
Todorov's narrative theory is applied in many films, such as the film Pride, which was released in 2014. The equlibrium in this film is at the start - when the main character attends a pride parade in London. Everything is good at this point, as he meets a group of friends whom he likes, and they accept him for who he is (unlike his parents). With this group of friends, they decide to start raising money to help the families affected by the British miner's strike of 1984. However, the disruption comes when the National Union of Mineworkers reject the groups support due to the nature of society at that time, and the reluctance to be associated with a gay group. The realisation is centered around this too, when the group, now named LGSM (Lesbians and Gay men Support the Miners), struggle to find people to support. Next, the film moves on to restored order - LGSM's support is accepted by a small mining village in Wales, and then the equilibrium happens when the alliance made between the two groups of people is accepted and assisted by wider society.
Vladimir Propp's narrative theory was created in the early twentieth Century. It involved the analysis of Russian folk tales, breaking them down into their simplest narrative forms. After analysing hundreds of folk tales, he discovered that all of the main characters could be categorised into 8 types:
According to Propp, once a character had been identified and categorized as one of these 8 types, it is very predictable what they are going to do next - each character has a 'sphere of action'.
Claude Levi-Strauss was a social Anthropologist (meaning he studied people). In particular, he was interested in studying myths of tribe culture - he explored how stories subconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. He named the difference between a word and it's opposite the 'binary opposition' - realising that words were just a symbol for society's ideas, and to understand the meaning of a word, you just had to know it's opposite. Modern media theorists have adapted his narrative theory to reveal underlying themes and symbols in media texts.
In horror, the narrative structure tends to go like this:
- (1) Introduction to the main characters, shown in a normal location
- (2) Characters venture into a strange/threatening setting
- (3) Something bad happens - someone gets injured, killed or a monster is revealed
- (4) The surviving characters fight back, putting them at greater risk
- (5) The film climaxes with a dramatic showdown between the main characters and the monster
- (6) Either the monster or the main character(s) survives
- (7) Order is either restored or the audience is left in suspense wondering what will happen next
An example of this narrative being used in a horror film is in Woman in Black (2012). In this film, the main character is grieving the loss of his wife (1), when he goes to an old, empty estate previously owned by an old woman (2). The villagers want him to leave as they are keeping a secret - the house is haunted by a woman dressed in black. The woman in black then appears - killing a child (3). Then, the main character decides to try and stop her, by pulling her dead son out of the marshes where he drowned, in the hope that she would stop taking revenge on the people of the town (4). The climax comes when the main character puts her sons body in a room, and she enters it, screaming at him (5). This is film is slightly different in terms of narrative structure in the ending - before the 'monster' dies, order is restored (7) when the main character returns home, but she claims her final victim when she kills the main character's son on the journey home (6). This twist at the end is quite a good use of unusual narrative - it doesn't make the audience confused as to the genre, but it provides one lasts sense of horror right at the end, when they are expecting nothing.
In a comedy, the narrative structure is fairly similar to that of a horror, but with a few key differences. The narrative structure of a comedy usually goes like this:
- (1) Introduction to the main character(s)
- (2) Something happens which disrupts the normality/happiness
- (3) The characters try and fix it (usually in a humorous way)
- (4) The problem is made worse by the character's actions**
- (5) The problem is fixed
- (6) Everyone is happy again, and normality is restored
**This doesn't always happen in comedies - however, it does sometimes as it's a good plot twist
A comedy which follows this structure is Finding Dory (2016). In the beginning, we are introduced to the main characters, in normal settings (1). Then, when Dory begins to remember her parents, she ends up getting captured and taken to a marine life centre - unable to escape (2). Then, enlisting the help of an octopus also trapped in the centre, Dory begins her plot to escape (3), but as soon as she does, finding her parents along the way, Marlon and Nemo get trapped in a truck (4). However, they manage to escape again, with the help of some of their friends, (5), and the film ends with everyone returning home, and continuing their lives with their new friends/the family that they have found (6).
In action films, the narrative structure usually goes like this:
- (1) Introduction to the protagonist - in some cases, our knowledge of their special abilities is made clear
- (2) Something goes wrong, and the protagonist is made aware they need to fix it (to either save themselves or other people)
- (3) The protagonist tries to solve the problem
- (4) The climax comes when the protagonist is in the middle of fixing things - usually involving car chases, explosions or fighting
- (5) Everything is sorted - the protagonist wins, the bad force is defeated and peace is restored
The Karate Kid (2010) is an action film. It mainly follows the above narrative structure for an action movie - first, we are introduced to Dre, and we learn that he has moved to China (1). After meeting a girl, and realising he likes her, he begins to get bullied by a boy at his school (2), and so takes up kung-fu in order to defend himself (3). After training really hard, and becoming good at it, he enters a tournament, and after being injured very badly, he ends up having to fight the boy who has been beating him up (4). Ultimately, he wins, and earns the respect of both the bully and the rest of his classmates (5).
The narrative structure of a drama film tends to go like this:
- (1) Introduction to the protagonist
- (2) We find out their problem/a problem is created
- (3) They try to solve their problem/their problem is almost fixed
- (4) There is a climax where we don't know the outcome, and then the problem is either is fixed or everything is destroyed completely**
- (5) Peace is restored
**Given the conventions of the drama genre, sometimes it's not always a happy ending - the main character could die, or their goal could be ruined.
The narrative structure of a drama film is followed in Finding Nemo (2003). A clown fish named Marlin lives in the Great Barrier Reef, with his son, Nemo (1). Nemo ends up getting lost after he ventures into the open sea, and he ends up being abducted by a boat (2). Marlin goes looking for Nemo, meeting a variety of different fish along the way (3), and ends up finding him with the help of his new friends (4), and they go back to the reef where they live (5).
The narrative structure of romance films is fairly similar even throughout the different subgenres - it usually goes like this:
- (1) Introduction to the main character
- (2) Introduction to their love interest, and we find out why they can't/won't be together
- (3) They begin to realise they like each other
- (4) Something happens which keeps them apart (climax)
- (5) The problem is overcome and they are able to be together/there is a tragedy and they can't be together
In the romance film, West Side Story (1961), this narrative structure is shown. Firstly, we are introduced to the main characters in each gang (1), and we learn their gangs are rivals (2). We then see them fall in love across a crowded room at a party (3), but soon after, following the death of someone, their two gangs get in a big fight (4). In a Romeo and Juliet style ending, someone tells one of the pair that the other is dead, and so they promptly take their own life (5).
However, despite the differences between the structure in each genre, the conventions of narrative throughout can be simplified to this:
- Opening: establishes the setting and introduces the main character(s).
- Build up: relationships between major characters are created. These characters, their backgrounds and relationships with each other are developed.
- Problem: a dilemma or some complications. The main characters are faced with problems to overcome, puzzles to solve or bad forces to defeat.
- Events: a series of events/actions as characters try to overcome an obstacle, solve a problem, or discover the truth (etc.). Other problems, which are shorter and usually easy to solve may arise in the process.
- Resolution: the protagonists win, problems are solved, and/or the truth is revealed.
- Ending: characters reflect on the events that happened, they reinstate relationships and look forward.
This narrative structure is very important because it helps the audience engage with both the characters and the plot - whatever the genre, a connection with or interest in the main character(s) is vital, as it means you care what happens to them. This is what the opening and build up do - you get a sense of their normal life through the setting and their relationships with other characters, and in many cases, if you are their target audience, you may relate to them, connecting with them more. After this relationship between you and the main character(s) has built up, the problem is revealed. This is a great way of making someone want to keep watching, instead of tuning out half way through, as they already care and empathise a great deal with the main character(s), and so when something goes wrong, they would want to keep watching to see the problem solved. This is exactly what happens next - a series of events occur in which the characters solve their problems. This also keeps the audience watching, as it's often either tense, fast paced or action filled, and during this time, smaller problems can be created, which makes the outcome unpredictable. This keeps people watching, as when they think the problem is solved, or when they can see a predictable way of solving the dilemma, something else goes wrong, which makes them unsure of what will happen. Finally, the resolution and the ending take place. In the resolution, the problem is solved, and in the ending, the characters reconcile and everything that went wrong is sorted out. The ending of a film is in some ways, the most important part, as it shows the ideal situation in terms of what you wanted for the characters from the start - e.g. the criminal being defeated, two people falling in love and getting together, or something really good happening to the main character. Overall, narrative structure is vital to making a successful film, as it is what keeps people interested and caring about the characters and the plot.
Todorov's narrative theory states that most stories follow the same 5 step pattern/path. The first step of Todorov's theory is equilibrium. This is when the majority of characters are happy, content and getting along. There isn't anything bad happening, and everything is as it should be. Then, Todorov states that there is normally a disruption. This is the first part of the problem - something bad happens, which will disrupt the happiness and peace between the characters.The realisation then happens, which is when the full effects of the disruption unfold. The characters realise the extent of the problem, and it's chaos. However, this doesn't last long - Todorov's next step is restored order. Restored order is when the characters attempt to resolve the problem and repare the damage. The final part of a story's plot is again, equilibrium. This is when again, everything is good as the characters have solved the problems.
Todorov's narrative theory is applied in many films, such as the film Pride, which was released in 2014. The equlibrium in this film is at the start - when the main character attends a pride parade in London. Everything is good at this point, as he meets a group of friends whom he likes, and they accept him for who he is (unlike his parents). With this group of friends, they decide to start raising money to help the families affected by the British miner's strike of 1984. However, the disruption comes when the National Union of Mineworkers reject the groups support due to the nature of society at that time, and the reluctance to be associated with a gay group. The realisation is centered around this too, when the group, now named LGSM (Lesbians and Gay men Support the Miners), struggle to find people to support. Next, the film moves on to restored order - LGSM's support is accepted by a small mining village in Wales, and then the equilibrium happens when the alliance made between the two groups of people is accepted and assisted by wider society.
Vladimir Propp's narrative theory was created in the early twentieth Century. It involved the analysis of Russian folk tales, breaking them down into their simplest narrative forms. After analysing hundreds of folk tales, he discovered that all of the main characters could be categorised into 8 types:
- The Villain - Struggles against the Hero.
- The Dispatcher - Character who informs the Hero and sends him on his quest.
- The Helper - Helps Hero during quest.
- The Princess/Prize - Hero deserves to marry her, but cannot throughout the film because of the villain, often the quest is ended with the Hero and the Princess getting married.- Her Father - Gives Hero task and identifies False Hero- The Donor - Prepares the Hero- The Hero - Reacts to the donor and gets married to the Princess.- False Hero - In order to marry the Princess, he takes credit for the Heroes actions to impress her.
According to Propp, once a character had been identified and categorized as one of these 8 types, it is very predictable what they are going to do next - each character has a 'sphere of action'.
Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician (study of cultural signs and symbols). He came up with 5 codes which he said were woven into any narrative. These are:
- The Hermeneutic Code is the 'voice of truth'. It's the way a story avoids telling the truth or revealing all the facts, in order to drop clues throughout to help create mystery.
- The Semantic Code is a code which suggests an additional meaning by way of connotations in the story.
- The Symbolic Code is very similar to the Semantic code, but it acts on a wider level - organising Semantic meanings into broader and more deep sets of meaning.
- The Cultural Code is exactly as it's name suggests - it looks at and acknowledges an audience's wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideology.
- The Proairetic Code is the way that tension is built up, leaving the audience to guess what is going to happen next.
Claude Levi-Strauss was a social Anthropologist (meaning he studied people). In particular, he was interested in studying myths of tribe culture - he explored how stories subconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. He named the difference between a word and it's opposite the 'binary opposition' - realising that words were just a symbol for society's ideas, and to understand the meaning of a word, you just had to know it's opposite. Modern media theorists have adapted his narrative theory to reveal underlying themes and symbols in media texts.
Monday 12 December 2016
Narration
Narration means any kind of explaining or telling of something - it is usually used in reference to storytelling. Narration is a good technique for explaining to the audience what's going on in a scene, but it's also good for telling the audience things that they don't know.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) is a comedy film. It uses narration in a very interesting way, which is quite different to many other narrated films - there are many places in which the narrator breaks the fourth wall. In one part of the film, he says:
Adaptation (2002) is a drama film. It, again, uses narration in a different way to many films - it describes what the character is thinking, but also, straight after the narration is used, there is a very meta joke about how voice over should never be used. The narration itself adds to the drama element of the film, as we want the main character to succeed and so it provokes emotion from us, and to some extent so does the joke - he is putting himself down a lot, and then he is put down further by the teacher, for something nobody knows he is even doing. Therefore, I think this is a very good use of narration, as it's not only unusual and funny, but it makes us feel for the main character, which is essential in a drama film.
American Psycho (2000) is a comedy-horror. Narration is put to good use in this clip - firstly, it is said from the point of view of the psychopath, who is untrustworthy, which makes it a lot more interesting to the viewer as we have no way of knowing if what he says is true, and secondly it gives us an interesting insight into the superficiality and detachment of his personality. This is incredibly effective, as it not only intrigues the audience, it makes us feel quite anxious and off about him - he comes across obsessive and overly organised, but the tone of it tells us it's in a bad way.
In the romance film Annie Hall (1977), narration is present. It's used to good effect in this opening, as it tells us a lot about the narrator's childhood. It gives us enough information so that we have an insight into him as a child, and therefore we can guess what he is going to be like as an adult. The narration also puts across the idea that he wasn't very well liked as a child, and struggled with a few things, maybe giving us an insight to the rest of the film. Overall, the narration is quite effective in this - it doesn't take away from what's happening on screen, and it develops the character into someone we like and feel we know - something which is important in a protagonist of a romance film.
There's narration in the opening to the action film V for Vendetta (2005). This narration is very important to the film, as it sets up the entire film - the narrator explains about the origins of the Guy Fawkes legend, allowing us a possible bit of foreshadowing as to what the film is going to be about. Since the voice is of a female, and as dictated in the script we don't see any characters apart from those of Guy Fawkes' time, we make a guess from this that the protagonist of the film is going to be female. Overall, I think it's an effective use of narration, as it sets up the feel and plot quite nicely.
The content of narration is very important to making it effective. Narration should only be used to add to the scene - it's not very effective if it simply says what's happening on the screen, as the audience can already see it - they don't need it said to them too. It shouldn't go on for too long as to provide too much unnecessary information, but it should also make sure the audience can get the gist of what's happening.
One of the other most important things in film narration is the voice itself. When doing a voice over, unless the specific scene requires it, it's very important to sound natural, like you are actually having a conversation with the audience - if you sound awkward and forced, the audience won't feel comfortable either. It also makes the content of the voice over a lot more convincing, as it feels like it's coming straight from the narrator's head, not being read from a script. Also, this reason means that the narrator should be able to convey enough emotion to be able to read the script convincingly - telling the audience what's happening is important, but so is putting the correct emotions into your voice, so they can tell exactly how it makes the character feel. Finally, the narrator of a film should be able to speak clearly, and have a well paced, rhythmic voice that is easy for the audience to follow and listen to - since narration should only be used to explain something that's not easy to see on screen, if the voice over isn't clear either, it will make the film incredibly confusing.
I don't think I would necessarily choose to use narration straight away, as after researching, it is quite hard to get right. I think if you don't have the right person doing it, then it won't be very effective, as they have to have the right tone of voice, talk at the right speed, have good articulation, rhythm, and volume. Therefore, I think I'd only use narration if it was essential to the audience's understanding, as I don't want to take anything away from the scene if it doesn't work out.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) is a comedy film. It uses narration in a very interesting way, which is quite different to many other narrated films - there are many places in which the narrator breaks the fourth wall. In one part of the film, he says:
"And that's how she got to the same party as me. Oh shit. I skipped something. Damn it. This whole robot bit. I made a big deal, then I like totally forgot. Fuck, this is bad narrating. Like my dad telling a joke. "Oh, wait back up. I forgot to tell you the cowboy rode a blue horse." Fuck. Anyway, I don't know if you want to see it now, but here's the fucking robot stuff for your viewing pleasure. Can I say "fuck" more?"This is a very good example of narration, because not only does he talk about what's happening in the scene, but he adds a lot to the comedic value of it by acknowledging the fact that he is narrating, and, as we now realise, doing a poor job of it. It also does what narration is meant to do - add to what's happening on the screen.
Adaptation (2002) is a drama film. It, again, uses narration in a different way to many films - it describes what the character is thinking, but also, straight after the narration is used, there is a very meta joke about how voice over should never be used. The narration itself adds to the drama element of the film, as we want the main character to succeed and so it provokes emotion from us, and to some extent so does the joke - he is putting himself down a lot, and then he is put down further by the teacher, for something nobody knows he is even doing. Therefore, I think this is a very good use of narration, as it's not only unusual and funny, but it makes us feel for the main character, which is essential in a drama film.
American Psycho (2000) is a comedy-horror. Narration is put to good use in this clip - firstly, it is said from the point of view of the psychopath, who is untrustworthy, which makes it a lot more interesting to the viewer as we have no way of knowing if what he says is true, and secondly it gives us an interesting insight into the superficiality and detachment of his personality. This is incredibly effective, as it not only intrigues the audience, it makes us feel quite anxious and off about him - he comes across obsessive and overly organised, but the tone of it tells us it's in a bad way.
In the romance film Annie Hall (1977), narration is present. It's used to good effect in this opening, as it tells us a lot about the narrator's childhood. It gives us enough information so that we have an insight into him as a child, and therefore we can guess what he is going to be like as an adult. The narration also puts across the idea that he wasn't very well liked as a child, and struggled with a few things, maybe giving us an insight to the rest of the film. Overall, the narration is quite effective in this - it doesn't take away from what's happening on screen, and it develops the character into someone we like and feel we know - something which is important in a protagonist of a romance film.
There's narration in the opening to the action film V for Vendetta (2005). This narration is very important to the film, as it sets up the entire film - the narrator explains about the origins of the Guy Fawkes legend, allowing us a possible bit of foreshadowing as to what the film is going to be about. Since the voice is of a female, and as dictated in the script we don't see any characters apart from those of Guy Fawkes' time, we make a guess from this that the protagonist of the film is going to be female. Overall, I think it's an effective use of narration, as it sets up the feel and plot quite nicely.
The content of narration is very important to making it effective. Narration should only be used to add to the scene - it's not very effective if it simply says what's happening on the screen, as the audience can already see it - they don't need it said to them too. It shouldn't go on for too long as to provide too much unnecessary information, but it should also make sure the audience can get the gist of what's happening.
One of the other most important things in film narration is the voice itself. When doing a voice over, unless the specific scene requires it, it's very important to sound natural, like you are actually having a conversation with the audience - if you sound awkward and forced, the audience won't feel comfortable either. It also makes the content of the voice over a lot more convincing, as it feels like it's coming straight from the narrator's head, not being read from a script. Also, this reason means that the narrator should be able to convey enough emotion to be able to read the script convincingly - telling the audience what's happening is important, but so is putting the correct emotions into your voice, so they can tell exactly how it makes the character feel. Finally, the narrator of a film should be able to speak clearly, and have a well paced, rhythmic voice that is easy for the audience to follow and listen to - since narration should only be used to explain something that's not easy to see on screen, if the voice over isn't clear either, it will make the film incredibly confusing.
I don't think I would necessarily choose to use narration straight away, as after researching, it is quite hard to get right. I think if you don't have the right person doing it, then it won't be very effective, as they have to have the right tone of voice, talk at the right speed, have good articulation, rhythm, and volume. Therefore, I think I'd only use narration if it was essential to the audience's understanding, as I don't want to take anything away from the scene if it doesn't work out.
Saturday 10 December 2016
Lateral Character Movement
Lateral movement is defined as 'of, relating to, or situated at or on the side'. Therefore, lateral character movement is basically, the direction in which a character or object is travelling across the screen - this may seem like a small thing, but it can have a huge effect on the viewer and their perception of a scene.
After watching this video, I found out quite a few things. Firstly, the way a character is moving can change how you see them in terms of their personality. The video states that there are three axis a character can move on - right and left, forward and backward, and up and down. These movements are crucial to how we as an audience perceive them - a character moving forward, toward the camera, seems a lot more powerful, dominant and aggressive. A character moving away from the camera therefore seems a lot weaker, and maybe even scared.
This is all fairly obvious, as someone taller and closer is definitely going to appear more scary, and someone smaller and further away is going to seem weaker, but then the video asks, why does the lateral movement have an effect on this too? How can the way a character is moving across the screen change how we see them?
Firstly, it comes from time, language and culture. In western culture, progression is seen as going from left to right. Our writing (and the direction we read our books in) goes left to right, in videogames the characters move from the left to the right, time graphs indicate time moving on as you come from the left and move to the right - all of these things subconsciously make us feel that movement from the left to the right equals progress, time passing, and achievement. From this, many film scholars have realised that people will perceive left to right movement different from right to left movement - they'll see it as more natural, progressive, and comfortable to watch. A study proved this - 8 clips were shown to an audience, which had the character moving from left to right. Then, the same 8 clips were reversed, so everything went from right to left, and it was shown to a different audience. The left to right clips were perceived to be a lot more positive by the audience, and the right to left clips were thought of as not as good. There are many examples in the video (which is linked above) which prove this idea of lateral movement's effects on the audience, and the aforementioned study is also talked about.
Other factors play a role in how we interpret a subject's movement within a frame. For example, there's a concept in aesthetics that defines the actual angles of lateral movement -- the lateral movements that are either angled up toward the top of screen or down toward the bottom of the screen. These are defined as easy/hard ups/downs. They're broken down as such:
After watching this video, I found out quite a few things. Firstly, the way a character is moving can change how you see them in terms of their personality. The video states that there are three axis a character can move on - right and left, forward and backward, and up and down. These movements are crucial to how we as an audience perceive them - a character moving forward, toward the camera, seems a lot more powerful, dominant and aggressive. A character moving away from the camera therefore seems a lot weaker, and maybe even scared.
This is all fairly obvious, as someone taller and closer is definitely going to appear more scary, and someone smaller and further away is going to seem weaker, but then the video asks, why does the lateral movement have an effect on this too? How can the way a character is moving across the screen change how we see them?
Firstly, it comes from time, language and culture. In western culture, progression is seen as going from left to right. Our writing (and the direction we read our books in) goes left to right, in videogames the characters move from the left to the right, time graphs indicate time moving on as you come from the left and move to the right - all of these things subconsciously make us feel that movement from the left to the right equals progress, time passing, and achievement. From this, many film scholars have realised that people will perceive left to right movement different from right to left movement - they'll see it as more natural, progressive, and comfortable to watch. A study proved this - 8 clips were shown to an audience, which had the character moving from left to right. Then, the same 8 clips were reversed, so everything went from right to left, and it was shown to a different audience. The left to right clips were perceived to be a lot more positive by the audience, and the right to left clips were thought of as not as good. There are many examples in the video (which is linked above) which prove this idea of lateral movement's effects on the audience, and the aforementioned study is also talked about.
Other factors play a role in how we interpret a subject's movement within a frame. For example, there's a concept in aesthetics that defines the actual angles of lateral movement -- the lateral movements that are either angled up toward the top of screen or down toward the bottom of the screen. These are defined as easy/hard ups/downs. They're broken down as such:
- Left to right from top to bottom: easy down
- Left to right from bottom to top: easy up
- Right to left from top to bottom: hard down
- Right to left from bottom to top: hard up
For example, in the training montages in Rocky, his character is seen running up some stairs, from left to right. This is an 'easy up' angle - and in this scene, we perceive him as powerful and strong will, and an overwhelmingly a good character, but this is reversed in the other picture - the zombies in World War Z are already perceived as bad, but this is exaggerated by the 'hard up' angle, which enforces the idea that they are bad.
- Left to right from bottom to top: easy up
- Right to left from top to bottom: hard down
- Right to left from bottom to top: hard up
For example, in the training montages in Rocky, his character is seen running up some stairs, from left to right. This is an 'easy up' angle - and in this scene, we perceive him as powerful and strong will, and an overwhelmingly a good character, but this is reversed in the other picture - the zombies in World War Z are already perceived as bad, but this is exaggerated by the 'hard up' angle, which enforces the idea that they are bad.
So, overall, I think I am going to try and utilize this idea of lateral character movement affecting the audience's opinions of a character in my final opening. I think it's a great way to subtley tell the audience whether a character is good or bad, without actually saying directly or making them do anything obvious. It also allows for a lot of different camera angles and shot types to be used, and so it will make the opening more varied.
Friday 9 December 2016
Dialogue (+ Dialogue Continued)
Dialogue is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people.
The action-adventure film Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) is another example of not using dialogue in the opening of the film. This doesn't last as long as There Will Be Blood - as dialogue is only absent for around 7 minutes, but again, it's a great example of emphasizing things other than the characters. The lack of dialogue also allows us to focus on other sounds - the eerie, dripping noises of a leaky tap, and the creaking of the windmill. Switching between these ambient sounds without introducing dialogue builds incredible suspense, as we have no idea who these men are - we don't know if they're good, bad or neutral - all we know is that there is a lot of tension in the air.
The opening scene to the romance film Dear John (2010) has a little dialogue in it. However, the dialogue it does have sets the scene really well - along with the music in the background, making it happy and lighthearted, we see some characters interacting like it's a normal, every day situation. For a romance, this is important, as the purpose of romance films is to make us feel emotional - it's hard to do that without relating and connecting to the characters.
In the opening to the horror film The Ring (2002), there's no dialogue. The character goes downstairs only to realise that the TV is on, with just static on the screen, and so she turns it off. As she walks out of the room, the static comes back onto the screen. Having only her in the scene, and nobody else there for her to exchange dialogue with (she calls out to someone, but they don't answer) amplifies the eeriness of the situation, as she has nobody to help her figure out what's going on the that scary situation - she's completely on her own and defenceless to what could happen.
The Big Lebowski (1998) is a comedy film. In the opening, there's no dialogue, as it focuses on people bowling. In place of the dialogue, there is music playing, as it gives the audience a chance to get to know the characters by face before they talk and their names are revealed - since there are so many characters introduced in the opening, finding out all of their names at once and having to concentrate and take in what they're saying would have probably been too much information to process at once. It sets up the light, relaxed atmosphere often present in comedy films.
The comedy Pitch Perfect (2012) uses dialogue in it's opening two minutes. The dialogue it uses gives away the genre, as the two commentators sitting up in the booth both say funny things about the performance that's going on. They are also making light of the situation using their words, and so I think as a comedy it's important for that dialogue to be introduced - without it, the opening scene would just be the group singing for quite a long time, which could potentially get quite boring.
Using dialogue in my coursework could lead to quite a few problems. Since I have no access to any proper sound equipment, I would have to use the in-camera microphone. This is a problem for many reasons - firstly, the camera pre-amp (the part which prepares a weak signal for amplification) quality may be quite bad, meaning the audio will have a lot of noise in my final piece. Also, since most in-camera microphones are omnidirectional, meaning they pick up audio from any direction, the actors may only occupy 10% of the area the microphone is listening to. This means the sound of the camera operator breathing could easily be as loud or louder than the actors talking. The noise the camera itself makes can also be quite loud - changing focus, zooming, or panning may cause the mic to pic up extra sounds that will be present in the final version.
However, not using dialogue could also create a few problems. Depending on the plot I come up with, dialogue may be necessary for the audience to actually understand what's going on, or it might be needed to make it more interesting. Also, if I have to use an actor who is uncomfortable with close up shots, their emotions and facial expressions may be hard to capture - so dialogue would be necessary for communicating that.
I think the importance of dialogue in the opening two minutes of a film entirely depends on the plot - but I also believe that, if done right, it isn't necessary to make it successful. On the one hand, it puts across very easily how your character is feeling, and so it's easy for the audience to understand their emotions. However, on the other hand, sometimes, saying nothing can convey more information about the character and their emotional state than saying something ever could. If the film is largely character-based, then it is a good idea to include dialogue in the opening two minutes - it helps the audience form a connection with them faster, which is essential, as establishing the protagonist early in the film keeps the audience interested and rooting for them. However, this can still be done in many ways other than dialogue - for example, in the opening scene of Am̩lie, we know she is the main character in the opening without her saying a thing. If it's not character based - for example, if it focuses on the location, colours or cinematography, or it has a main theme as it's focus, like time travel, war, or tragedy, introducing dialogue in the opening two minutes might not be as important as a really good establishing shot/a sequence of establishing shots might be. Overall, I think dialogue doesn'۪t (and shouldn۪'t) have to try and tell the story on screen, because if the writer, the director's vision and the actors are doing their jobs properly, then the story should already be in motion. Therefore, I think that the role of dialogue is to reveal character and add layers to the drama, and so isn't necessary as such, but sometimes it can enhance the film.
The drama film There Will Be Blood (2007) is a very unique example of not using dialogue in the opening two minutes. In fact, for the first 15 minutes, there's no dialogue at all - although it's a drama film, it still manages to pull this off very well, as not having dialogue allows us to completely focus on the character's actions and the location's atmosphere - establishing and highlighting the danger and constant peril of working in an oil mine.
An example of a drama film opening with dialogue is Fight Club (1999). The dialogue intensifies the scene, as there are almost no other ambient sounds. Since the building they're in is so silent, their voices echo, which captures the audience's attention - this is very important to do as the dialogue is the only thing that actually explains what's going on.
However, there is dialogue in the action film Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Although there is only a little, I feel it does add to it, as it helps explain something that is happening - what is said in the exchange between the two characters tells us that they/we are in danger, as someone wants to kill them. This adds a huge serious undertone to the opening, which would be a lot harder to make clear to the audience without adding dialogue.
The drama-romance film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) is quite different to the examples of film openings with no dialogue that have previously been mentioned. The lack of dialogue represents the main character's loneliness - he ends up talking to the audience in narration like we are his friends, as he obviously has nobody else to talk to. It also emphasises the stillness of the opening scenes, which in turn relates to how boring his life is.
The opening scene to the romance film Dear John (2010) has a little dialogue in it. However, the dialogue it does have sets the scene really well - along with the music in the background, making it happy and lighthearted, we see some characters interacting like it's a normal, every day situation. For a romance, this is important, as the purpose of romance films is to make us feel emotional - it's hard to do that without relating and connecting to the characters.
The thriller/horror film Jaws (1975) opening scene uses dialogue to help us get to know the characters, whilst also helping us to understand their relationship. From the dialogue, we understand that the two characters don't actually know eachother - something which would have been hard to convey without dialogue. It also kind of gives us an indication of what is going to happen - we find out that one of the characters is very drunk before he begins to swim, which is a slight indication that something will probably go wrong.
The Big Lebowski (1998) is a comedy film. In the opening, there's no dialogue, as it focuses on people bowling. In place of the dialogue, there is music playing, as it gives the audience a chance to get to know the characters by face before they talk and their names are revealed - since there are so many characters introduced in the opening, finding out all of their names at once and having to concentrate and take in what they're saying would have probably been too much information to process at once. It sets up the light, relaxed atmosphere often present in comedy films.
The comedy Pitch Perfect (2012) uses dialogue in it's opening two minutes. The dialogue it uses gives away the genre, as the two commentators sitting up in the booth both say funny things about the performance that's going on. They are also making light of the situation using their words, and so I think as a comedy it's important for that dialogue to be introduced - without it, the opening scene would just be the group singing for quite a long time, which could potentially get quite boring.
However, not using dialogue could also create a few problems. Depending on the plot I come up with, dialogue may be necessary for the audience to actually understand what's going on, or it might be needed to make it more interesting. Also, if I have to use an actor who is uncomfortable with close up shots, their emotions and facial expressions may be hard to capture - so dialogue would be necessary for communicating that.
Attracting Your Target Audience
There are many things that can be done to attract your target audience.
Firstly, the actual content of the film is a major part in attracting target audience. If, for example, you were trying to attract young adults, it would probably be a good idea to make your main characters of the same age. This is because people are often the most comfortable around those of their own age group, and so they're more likely to relate to and want to watch the character's journey through the film. Also, the location is very important in attracting your target audience - if your film is set in a high school, you'll attract more teens than adults, as they are familiar with the setting. If all of these things are made clear in the advertising stage, then you should successfully attract the target audience you are aiming for.
Secondly, advertising the genre is a way to attract your target audience. As detailed in the target audience post, different genres tend to have different age groups and genders who enjoy them more - advertising a horror film by just using clips from the beginning, when nothing bad has happened, will not attract people who enjoy horror films, as they won't recognise it as a genre that they enjoy.
The actual advertising that you do is also another important thing in terms of attracting target audience. Where you advertise your film is crucial - if you are producing a family film, advertising it on late night (2AM, 3AM etc.) channels which feature mostly soaps or TV dramas won't be at all helpful, as the children themselves won't see it, and most likely parents won't either, as they tend to hold 9-5 jobs. Likewise, advertising for a horror movie on a children's TV channel will be ineffective, as they won't watch it and want to see it, and the intended target audience won't know about it. Social media is a great way to advertise films, as you have a lot of people of all ages online - parents, teenagers, and the elderly are often active users of Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, and so advertising almost any genre online is often beneficial. However, you may have to fine tune where you advertise it, so it's more specific to your target audience - more adults use Facebook than children, so advertising films aimed at them on Facebook would be favourable. Promoting your family film on a children's gaming website, or a website that is aimed at parents may also be a good choice, as both children on the websites, and potentially parents monitoring them may see it. Advertising in a cinema may also be a good way to attract your target audience - if you were screening an action movie, and screened the trailer for your action movie before the film started, you'd be reaching the exact right target audience - they wouldn't be there if they didn't enjoy action movies, and so will be very likely to want to see yours. This is the same throughout any genre, and it's very effective as it guarantees your target audience will see it. Finally, advertising in public places, such as on the side of buses, at train stations, and on poster boards are good for films that have a broad target audience, such as comedies, because there's a very wide range of people who will see it.
Firstly, the actual content of the film is a major part in attracting target audience. If, for example, you were trying to attract young adults, it would probably be a good idea to make your main characters of the same age. This is because people are often the most comfortable around those of their own age group, and so they're more likely to relate to and want to watch the character's journey through the film. Also, the location is very important in attracting your target audience - if your film is set in a high school, you'll attract more teens than adults, as they are familiar with the setting. If all of these things are made clear in the advertising stage, then you should successfully attract the target audience you are aiming for.
Secondly, advertising the genre is a way to attract your target audience. As detailed in the target audience post, different genres tend to have different age groups and genders who enjoy them more - advertising a horror film by just using clips from the beginning, when nothing bad has happened, will not attract people who enjoy horror films, as they won't recognise it as a genre that they enjoy.
The actual advertising that you do is also another important thing in terms of attracting target audience. Where you advertise your film is crucial - if you are producing a family film, advertising it on late night (2AM, 3AM etc.) channels which feature mostly soaps or TV dramas won't be at all helpful, as the children themselves won't see it, and most likely parents won't either, as they tend to hold 9-5 jobs. Likewise, advertising for a horror movie on a children's TV channel will be ineffective, as they won't watch it and want to see it, and the intended target audience won't know about it. Social media is a great way to advertise films, as you have a lot of people of all ages online - parents, teenagers, and the elderly are often active users of Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, and so advertising almost any genre online is often beneficial. However, you may have to fine tune where you advertise it, so it's more specific to your target audience - more adults use Facebook than children, so advertising films aimed at them on Facebook would be favourable. Promoting your family film on a children's gaming website, or a website that is aimed at parents may also be a good choice, as both children on the websites, and potentially parents monitoring them may see it. Advertising in a cinema may also be a good way to attract your target audience - if you were screening an action movie, and screened the trailer for your action movie before the film started, you'd be reaching the exact right target audience - they wouldn't be there if they didn't enjoy action movies, and so will be very likely to want to see yours. This is the same throughout any genre, and it's very effective as it guarantees your target audience will see it. Finally, advertising in public places, such as on the side of buses, at train stations, and on poster boards are good for films that have a broad target audience, such as comedies, because there's a very wide range of people who will see it.
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