Research into your chosen genre including images and embedded video

Overview

The type of film we have chosen to make is a Drama. This genre of film comes with many generic conventions and features which are seen frequently in the films in this genre. I will use the research in this post to help me when I am making my film opening to make sure it accurately fits into the genre of Drama.

Drama films are one of the most popular genres of film, Drama films tend to have many features which make the a Drama, but also helps to keep the audience engaged in the film and keep them interested and connected to the storyline and the characters.

The aim of a Drama film is normally to make the audience feel emotionally connected to the plot and characters, but also to make them put themselves into the life of the characters involved in the film, this can give the viewer many mixed emotions as they could empathies with some of the characters as they may have had similar experiences in their life to the character. Some people enjoy Drama's as they can be very cathartic; this is when the audience uses the film to relieve or express their own emotions and feelings, because they can relate to the character and their situation. 

A drama is structured in a very specific way so it has climaxes and anti-climaxes, this keeps the audience involved and keeps their attentions, it builds tension and anticipation for what is going to happen in the next part of the film.

Sub Genres of Drama Films

Drama films have many sub genres, these are more niche genres within the genre of drama, they are more focused on a certain type of plot or character, they are a lot more focused than a normal drama film.

Biopic - this is basically a biographical film, a film about someone, past, present or even sometimes future, the film basically follows them or a group of people and their lives, it is similar to a biography, which is a book about someone, but instead it is a film about someone. Although this sub-genre does cross over into other genres as it can be used in any other genre, it is still classed as a sub-genre of drama for that same reason.

Historical Drama - this sub genre often gets confused with a biopic, but instead of following a person or group of people it follows an event or group of events which have happened in the past, for example the World Wars or films like Troy (2004), which is based in 1200BC or Gladiator (2000), which is based in 180AD. These all document large battles or moments in history through film.

Period Drama - period dramas, sometimes known as costume dramas are dramas which are based usually from anywhere from the 1700's to the 1900's, they are similar to historical dramas, but instead of documenting an event they document the way of life during that time, they normally have underlying themes of adventure or romance, but overall they are dramas as they use props and costumes to capture the atmosphere and feelings of that time period. Example of this genre are films such as Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Jane Eyre (2006).

Dark Comedy/Drama - this genre normally deals with very taboo subjects such as murder, rape, illness, war and violence. Although the film uses comedy to initially bring up these subjects and introduce them, there is drama because these are subjects people dont always feel comfortable talking about, therefore the characters in the film normally shed light on them through the comedy used. An example of this is Pulp Fiction (1994).

Tradegy - This sub genre normally deals with a main character, group of people or family that have suffered or at some point in the film suffer from a big, life changing, normally bad event which impacted their life a great deal, the film normally follows them dealing with and overcoming this event. An example of this is Dear John (2010).

 

Why are we remaking a film opening?

 The point of remaking a film opening is to get a perspective on how much work we need to put in to create a good opening sequence and how much planning pays off when creating the titles. Remaking a film opening gives us the idea of how much work and planning goes into a film opening without actually having to come up with ideas ourselves, we have the guidelines and we can follow them. Also, creating something that already exists with our group gives us an idea of how we work together as a unit and whom is best at what things for quick efficiency when creating our actual opening.

Why we chose the opening? 
The film opening we chose was Superbad. This is because the genre of the film is not something we'd like to do for our own opening sequence and so we would like to experience and prove that we are able to create openings for another genre of film. Also, the sequence requires some level of animation and we would like to be able to experiment and try to recreate the animation on the software we have at school to practice for our own opening sequence. Superbad isn't the easiest of openings, we'd like to push ourselves to see if we could create something of some level of quality and gain new skills when working with the animation.

Chosen film opening 

My group have chosen to remake the opening scene from the film SuperBad, we have decided to do with as it will challenge us with how we film it, it doesn't have many camera angles, however it does involve a lot of directing in terms of how our cast cooperate and also how they perform. It will also challenge us in terms of the way we edit it, as we want to remake to look as similar tot he original as we can, we are going to be using Final Cut Express to edit it apposed to IMovie as we think it will look more professional and will help us practice for when we make our real film opening.

Difference between a mainstream and an independent film opening

Skyfall (2012)

Mainstream

Skyfall is a mainstream film, distributed by Columbia and MGM pictures, this means that the company overall for the film had a very large budget to work this, they also had many famous actors, and also they had the fact that the film is part of an already large and famous franchise. The titles for Skyfall contain a very large up budget scene where James Bond the male protagonist of the film falls off of a waterfall and is dragged to the bottom of a river by a large hand, this is obviously a special effects and to do this it costs a large amount of money, this is something that can happen in a film like Skyfall because it is mainstream. Also the titles in the opening of this film are very basic, which isn't rare for a mainstream film, but they still suit the genre and overall atmosphere that is put across in this film opening, however the whole of this opening contains a great deal of special effects and sequences which can only be achieved through having a great deal of money a technology, this is something independent companies wont have, but mainstream will, like the makers of Skyfall.

This is England (2006)

Independent

 This is England is an independent film distibuted by Optimum Releasing and produced by the studio Film 4, which is owned by Channel 4. The fact that this film is independent and produced  by an independent company like Film 4, which are well known for making indie films, with low budgets, means that overall the makers of the film wouldn't have much of a budget to work with when making the film. You can tell from the very start that the company have saved a very large amount of money by using old news clips and footage from the time instead of actually filming all of the events that are happening in the opening, this shows the audience that the company dont have a very big budget, but it also gives the film a very edgy, almost vintage look and this helps set the mood of the film and also helps the audience see what genre the film is. The titles used in the opening of the film are also very basic which is common of independent films, they are just simply white on a black background and they have a font which suits the genre of drama/crime film. The titles simply fade in from the clip and fade back out to the clip. No special effects are used in the opening as all the violence and events in the clips are from actual events.

Difference in the two openings

One of the main things that sets the two openings aside is the animation in the Skyfall opening and the lack of content and material in the This is England opening, the animation in the Skyfall opening is possible due to a large budget and the correct equitment, even if This is England didn't re-use old clips they wouldn't have been able to make an opening sequence like Skyfall because they don't have enough money and also it wouldn't suit the genre of the film. The picture on the left shows the difference in quality between a clip from Skyfall and a clip from This is England, the clip from Skyfall (top picture) shows a high quality animation of the main character, it is of good quality meaning it looks professional, however the picture on the bottom from This is England shows a piece of footage from London in the 1970's the fact that it is actual footage and not a recreations shows how the studio doesn't have a very large budget. Another thing which sets the openings apart is the fact  that Skyfall has a piece of music which was especially written and recorded for the film by the well known singer Adele, however This is England uses a piece of music which wasnt especially made for the film, this shows how the studio for Skyfall can afford to do something like make a personalied piece of music for their film. The overall finish and look of the openings are very different as well, Skyfall looks very crisp and well finished, it looks classy and very professional, where as This is England comes across as having a very rough, vintage finish, although both of these overall looks for the opening suit the genre, it also show how they are very different from one another.

How film openings attract audienes and audience theories

Film openings contain many things that are used to attract and entice an audience into wanting to watch that particular film. One of the key things they do is give hints at what the genre and the story line may be throughout the whole of the film, doing this doesn't give away everything that may happen in the film, but it does make the audience think about what might happen and make them want to continue to watch the film. Another thing that happens in film openings is credits, this happens to the audience can see who the film is made by and who is starring in it because then the audience may recognise some of the names and be more likely to continue to watch the film.

Film openings also contain audience theories, for example the hypodermic needle theory is normally present in film openings, this is when a film gives out a message or information and it is directly received by the audience and it subconsciously affects our behaviour and thoughts. This theory is usually present in film openings because if a film opening effects or teaches the audience something then it is likely to interest them and make them want to watch it more. The uses and gratifications theory understands why and how people watch certain types of media opposed to others to satisfy a certain need. This theory is present in many film openings as people will be trying to satisfy a certain need, normally something like entertainment or personal identity.

Se7en (1995)

Se7en is an example of how a film opening can attract an audience due to appealing actors and story line, but also have a negative effect in terms of the Hypodermic Needle Theory and the Uses and Gratifications Theory. This film opening presents many clues about the story line of the film due to the fact you can see many close up shots of someone creating what looks like a book about various people or in this case victims. This film opening will also attract the audience as it has two very famous actors starring in the film 'Brad Pitt' and 'Morgan Freeman' whose names are presented to the audience only a few seconds into the opening. These points can be seen as positive as so far they have attracted a large audience to continue to view the film. However in the film opening and later on in the film there are negative effects which begin to happen, the main plot of the film is investigation, in depth, a chain of brutal murders, this plot is also visible in the opening as you can see the murder plotting and making the book about the victims. Movies about murder and violence are normally prime examples of how the Hypodermic Needle Theory works, people will watch this film and see the violence and murder and this could possibly give a small amount of the audience ideas about doing something similar to what is in the film without them even realising. Also people who have murderous thoughts and feelings may go to watch this film to satisfy and indulge these thoughts.

This post will help me when I come to making my film opening as it has given me an insight into what is typically found in a film opening and also what that does to draw an audience in and give them a big intrest in a film.
 

 



Jelly Baby Activity

My group used jelly babies and post it notes to create a story board of a film opening, we did this to help us get a better understanding of what is found in a film opening, how we would remake one and what we would need to put into our film opening.

We got a better understanding of the structure of a film opening and it also helped us make decisions about our one. It helped us chose wether or not we do our titles in a very professional way or just did them simply by layering them on top of the clip.

 We also got a better understanding of when and where the titles come up, during the activity we made decisions about when important peoples names come up, things like the title of the film, the starring actors of the film and the director of the film.

 Overall this acitivy has helped us work better as a group and has given us a better understanding of what is found in a film opening and what we need to do to make ours look good.



Genre and how Generic Conventions are shown

Horror

A horror film normally contains many obvious and typical generic conventions which help set the mood of the film and help the audience understand the plot better, and these conventions are normally used to strike fear into the audience. Sound is used normally to make people jump and add empathises to the situation that is happening in the scene, normally a soundtrack is used throughout which sets and holds the mood of the film, but also extra sound effects such as screams and bang will be used to make people jump and create fear. Also titles and credits are normally in black are red as these are dark colours which are associated with horror and fear. Another conventions which is almost always present is death, especially if it is near the beginning of the film, if a death occurs near the beginning of the film, especially in a gory way it is most likely a horror film. The lighting in the film will usually be dark throughout, it will normally be set in an isolated dark area such as a forest at night, for example The Blair Witch Project, or in an isolated building or house like in the Saw Movies.

Insidious (2010)

Insidious is a horror film and you can tell that from the very beginning of the title sequence due to many generic conventions found in the clip which are typical of this genre. From the very beginning you can hear very uneasy, scary and unnerving music which sets the mood of the film and the opening, this is typical of the genre horror as it helps the audience understand the mood of the film and the scene. Also throughout the opening the titles and credits are in red and the effects used on them show are similar to blood, this is typical of the genre horror and also hints at what may happen later on in the film. The lighting throughout the opening is also very dark, this is also due to the fact it is in black and white aside from the titles, this gives the opening an air of mystery and adds fear.

Romantic Comedy

A romantic comedy usually has many obvious generic conventions, you can normally tell from the very beginning of a film if it is a romantic comedy or not, this is due to many things. A romantic comedy normally features a couple, and features the narratives of 'True Love' and 'The Perfect Couple' normally it presents to the audience a perfect and also unrealistic portrayal of love in the modern day. Normally modern upbeat pop songs are used along with small clips of music to reflect the mood of the character and help the audience understand how that particular character is feeling. Another theme in a Romantic Comedy is usually overcoming an obstacle, it is rare for a Romantic Comedy with the male and female already being romantically involved with each other, usually they have to overcome an obstacle to be together and essentially 'live happily ever after'. In a film opening of a Romantic Comedy the two main characters which are going to feature are normally shown going about their everyday lives, and normally how they met is shown as well. The film Friends With Benefits shows how the couple have to overcome the fact they don't think they are meant to be together.

Knocked Up (2007)

Knocked up is a Romantic Comedy and the opening credits of this film feature many stereotypical generic conventions that a Romantic Comedy would typically have. For example in the background there is a non-diegetic piece of music playing setting the upbeat tones of the opening and of the film. The titles used in this film opening are very basic and are the colour white, this shows that the audience should be focusing more n the people in the opening as opposed to the titles, also the colour may hint at a wedding in the future of the film. The storyline so far shows the male which will be featuring throughout the film, the opening it used to introduce his character and personality, this is something a lot of Romantic Comedy's tend to do. Also the lighting in this opening is very bright showing how the storyline may be upbeat.

 

Action

An action film typically has very obvious and straight forward generic conventions, which show the audience that the film is of that genre from the very start of the film in the opening sequence. Normally an action film has a very sinister, tense piece of orchestral music during the opening sequence to accompany the titles of the film, this adds tension and suspending to the beginning of the film, capturing the audience from the very beginning and keep them interested and anticipated for what is going to happen next. Typically an Action film has an antagonist and a protagonist, they are the normally the central story line and the film documents their fight or mission to overcome each other. Typically action films are set in cities, as the hustle and bustle of a city setting usual makes the film more interesting and dramatic, they tend to involve large skyscrapers and car chases. Usually an action film has a 'Damsle in destress' character who is sometimes the centre or interest of both the protagonist and antagonist. Also this female character and the protagonist may have a romantic relationship, this will broaden the type of audience he film will get as more women will be likely to come and see it if there is an under lying romantic storyline.

 

Batman (1989)

Batman is an action film and is a perfect example of the generic conventions of this genre as it presents a stereo typical action film storyline. The opening of this film is very simple but also very effective as it sets the mood of the film, and gets the audience engaged and interested but also doesn't give much of the rest or the plot of the film away. The opening is a very high and long shot filmed from a helicopter, it is showing the audience the city at night, while the titles of the film appear over the top in a yellow/gol colour, the font of the titles are very plain and original which is rare for an action film as they tend to have very modern, edgy titles, but because this film is slightly older it has more basic titles. The music used in this opening is very dramatic, which helps build tension and is very common for a film opening of this genre, the music builds and peaks when the title of the film appears so the audience are aware.