Form:
The form of a film opening normally follows the conventions of
- Introduces the genre
- Introduces the narrative
- Introduces the main character
- Introduces the institutes behind the film
- Builds up enigma
In reference to the conventions above we found some films that used similar form in their openings:
Submarine-2011
In this opening the character and setting is introduced. We also learn quite a lot about the main character through the use of a voice-over. We wanted to use a voice-over like this to learn what Craig was really like.
Genre (USED):
This prezi shows the conventions of the genres of our film and how we have/have not followed them:
Narrative Structure (USED):
A key theory that we used was the Todorov's Narrative Theory.
An example of this theory being used in a film is in 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl' (2015). This is a teen comedy-drama where a social misfit, Greg, an American high school student makes films with his only real friend Earl. The disruption comes when his other friend Rachel begins chemotherapy. But there is another disruption when she dies. The resolution and new equilibrium is when Greg sends the film he made of Rachel and the book he wrote to the college he hopes to go to.
Another key theory we used was Levi Strauss' Binary Opposites Theory.
The theory of binary opposites is also used in the film 'elephant' (2003)- which follows the lives of many teenagers including two gay boys who are bullied but then commit a school shooting.
- normal vs radical teenagers
- bullies vs bullied
- good vs evil
- everyday life vs sudden change
Within narrative theory we have used the character to tell the story and move the plot along. We have also used:
- Real time- in the bullying sequence
- Ellipses- in the fast paced b-roll of getting ready to go out and being at the lake
- Linear- following the natural order of him having breakfast, getting ready and then going out
Stereotypical Characters (DEVELOPED):
In our opening we have used stereotypical characters and ones that break conventions (Propp's Character Theory)
Here is an example of a bullying sequence with some stereotypical character from the film, 'I am Number Four':
This is similar to our opening as there are stereotypical bullies who pick on the 'weaker' student. There is also the protagonist/hero who comes to help and a guy helping out another guy like our opening.
Style (USED):
Our film looks and feels like a British Indie film which we have constructed through the use of techniques such as grading, voice-over and shot types.
- Music= acoustic guitar and upbeat
- Dialogue= English accents showing it is a British film
- Pace= varies between fast and slow
- Rhythm= some beats in the music match the cuts
- Colours= blue/orange in setting and costume-give a warm feel
We used a couple of jump cuts to increase the pace at times but also to surprise the audience.
This was the inspiration for one of our jump cuts where we swap from a mid-shot into a close-up.
This was the inspiration for one of our jump cuts where we swap from a mid-shot into a close-up.
Titles:
These are examples of the titles we used in our opening. The font we used is 'A Song For Jennifer'. The titles are slightly opaque which helps to create the 'quirky' nature of our film opening. We used our titles at the beginning on a pale blue background but then used them over the shots in the rest of the opening.
A film that was the inspiration for out titles was Submarine. We followed the idea of having spaced out text to create a rectangle but we adapted it for our film by using lower case instead of all capitalised.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, our opening conforms to, develops and challenges some of the conventions of a British indie romantic-drama. This allowed the audience to recognise some of the key features but also experience new ideas.
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