conventions of action/thriller genre

Deadpool is a good example of a action film that has elements of comedy. Deadpool's opening even has comedic elements as the titles are not opening titles are not done seriously they are done so that they don't include the names of the actual people who worked on the film but instead insults or over-exaggerates qualities about them. Deadpool's opening scene is an ideal example of a gore heavy opening that has been neutralised by the comedic effects.
Hot fuzz is another action comedy film that is similar to Deadpool but less gore. Hot fuzz has more comedic aims than Deadpool as it uses action camera angles to enhance the light-hearted scenes. As the opening continues the scenes become slightly more action packed and include more gore.

No Country for Old Men is a purely action film and the opening portrays this. It is a very bland and stale opening that shows just a barren wasteland with who we can assume is the main protagonist. The opening scene shows us its action by making it tense as the man speaking is doing so very monotonous which makes the scene tense and can make the audience worry for whats to happen.

The Road is a thriller/action film that has sci-fi elements. The film opens with a nice flashback scene from the past before the fallout. When it suddenly switches to the fallout world we are shown the man and his dad trying to survive walking along a road after waking in a cave, this helps convey the thriller/action genre as it adds and eeriness to the scene making the audience worry.

In conclusion these film opening will help us build are opening scene for our film as they all include elements that we wish to include, for example heavy action from Deadpool, the lonely walking of The Road.

Prelim Task Evaluation

Final video of Prelim task.

Evaluation:

Overall I feel like the finished piece was a success. The footage capture is long enough to keep the viewer watching, it also has interesting visual and a good storyline which makes the audience want to watch.

If it was to be done again, I would write exact timings for the shots because some clips had to be slowed down so that they matched the voiceover.  

The camera recorded in 720p so that could be upgraded, and sound was an issue, after each shot there was a click of the camera closing.

Prelim Task

For the Prelim task we were put into groups with a genre that was picked form a hat. I was put into a group with Jess and Phoebe and we got the genre of Documentary.
At first we thought it was going to be difficult but after some thought and research we decided to do the documentary instead of asking to change because we had an idea about doing a documentary on serial killer because this allowed us to add other genre aspects into the documentary.
We did some research on female serial killers as we decided we should make a documentary on a female serial killer instead of male as male seems to be the norm for documentary's. We decided on Leonarda Ciancuilli - The Soap maker of Correggio.
Source
http://www.the-line-up.com/9-female-serial-killers/

This website shows the stories of female serial killers. Leonarda was an Italian female serial killer who murdered 3 women between the years 1939 to 1940. Once she killed she killed the victims she boiled the bodies down to soap and made the blood into cakes which she fed to our neighbours.
This interested us because it was different from the usual serial killer stories.

We made storyboards so that when filming we didn't lose track of what we were meant to be doing and then start making scenes up on the spot. We also made a production diary so we could keep track of what we have and haven't filmed 

Juno Opening Scene

For this task we had to recreate the opening scene of Juno.

We chose the best locations which were the most similar to the locations from the original clip and filmed our actor walking in the same style as the film opening. The original opening was edited in a way that it looks like she is walking in a cartoon world, So we attempted to recreate this effect in Adobe Premiere by changing colours and making certain colours stronger or lighter making outlines thicker so that the main character stands out.

We placed the original opening in the bottom-right corner of the screen so that we could see how close our version was to the original scene. 



Overall, this task taught us how to use some adobe premier is a different way to help us learn how to use it. It also taught us the importance of the mise en scene, editing and post-production.

Juno Storyboard

For this task we were told to study the opening scene of Juno and were put into groups to remake the scene.  

First we had to plan how we would do the filming of our Juno opening, so we analysed the opening scene and created a storyboard.
On the storyboard we included a step by step analysis of the opening scene. we included camera shots, effects and sounds included. 



If I wanted to improve the storyboard, I would of added timings for every shot as we had to slow down shots as they were to quick.

Low Budget vs High Budet Films

High Budget films 

1. Avatar - $237 million 
2. Hobbit Trilogy - $248.3 million each ($745 million total for all 3)
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead mans chest - $250 million
4. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - $250 million 
5. The Amazing Spider-man 2 -$255 million
6. Spider-man 3 - $258 million 
7. Tangled - $260 million
8. John Carter - $306.6 million
9. Avengers age of Ultron - $330.6 million
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: On stranger tides -$410.6 million

Low Budget Films 

1. Napoleon Dynamite - Budget = $400,000 Worldwide Gross =$46,140,956 Return = 5,668%
2. Once - Budget = $150,000 Worldwide Gross = $18,997,174 Return = 6,232%
3. Clerks - Budget = $27,000 Worldwide Gross =$3,894,240 Return =7,112%
4. Halloween - Budget = $325,000 Worldwide Gross = $70,000,000 Return = 10,669%
5. American Graffiti - Budget = $770,000 Worldwide Gross = $ 140,000,000 Return =8,909%
6. Night of the Living Dead - Budget = $114,000 Worldwide Gross =$ 30,000,000 Return = 13,058%
7. El Mariachi - Budget = $7,000 Worldwide Gross = $2,041,928 Return = 14,485%
8. The Blair Witch Project - Budget = 600,000 Worldwide Gross = $248,300,000 Return = 20,592%
9. Mad Max - Budget = $200,000 Worldwide Gross =$ 99,750,000 Return = 24,838%
10. Paranormal Activity - Budget = $15,000 Worldwide Gross = $196,681,656 Return = 655,506%

Film Pitch

For our recent task we had to create a presentation/film pitch for a film idea. We worked in allocated groups and were given a random genre as well as a random target audience. The challenge was to come up with a story line, along with actors, make a film poster as well as stating the influences behind the film and describe how the firts scene would start.

Our genre was a horror for everyone aged 16-21 (unisex) and was called "God's Will". The plot in short follows our priest Samuel as he thinks he becomes god whilst trying to save his kidnapped daughter from the local gang. 

Production Logo/Intro

For our film research we had to create a film production logo. This is an example


This film production logo is intriguing as it includes contrasting key themes. The dangerous and violent side of the gun, and the relaxing and calm side of the tea. It is also short and sweet so the audience isn't board watching an over dramatic, elongated intro. 




My production logo/intro 

I decided to use the dark moving smokey background as it keeps you engaged with whats happening on screen, to help this i paired it with dramatic music which ends as the explosion happens at the end.
I used adobe Photoshop to make the logo and text as i wanted a to create the effect of an 3d object having a strange liquid oozing from it, the logo suffered some visual damage, and lost some of it 3d effect when getting it out of Photoshop as adobe Premiere wasn't allowing the high quality files.
I took inspiration for my logo and Production name for the flux capacitor in "Back to the Future" but gave it my own twist and made the 'flux' a dark purple liquid. 

Audience

Uses and Gratifications theory
Focuses on Not what the media does to people but what people do with the media


This includes media in

•  Information
•  Education
•  Entertainment
•  Social Interaction
•  Escapism

Film Industry Questions
"What do we mean when we use the word film?"
A sequence of images of moving objects photographed by a camera and providing a moving set of images when projected onto a screen.

"Do you think it means the same as the word movie?"

No as 'film' is a physical reel of images being projected onto a screen where as a movie can be accessed online or by DVD

"And what about the word 'cinema'."

A cinema is where you would go to watch film be projected onto a big screen (either digitally or using physical film reel) to enhance your viewing experience



TOP 10 FILMS:

1. Scott Pilgrim vs The World
2. Deadpool
3. Back to the Future Part II
4. Hot Fuzz
5. Shaun of the Dead
6. Superbad
7. Role Models
8. Inglourious Basterds
9. Zombieland
10. Step Brothers

Evaluation:

In conclusion I enjoy films that are heavily comedic based like Superbad, but I also enjoy action packed movies like Deadpool. There are just my top ten, I enjoy other genres apart from action and comedy it is just comedy and actions film are more memorable to me than heavy plot based films. 

Editing Practice

For this task we had to practice using Adobe Premiere to get learn how to use the software and to try and create a dramatic and exciting piece. We had to mess around with the software and learn how to import, export, edit multiple and how to make it all flow smoothly.

For this piece i was give some James Bond clips to use to try and make a small scene out of. So i made it into a small trailer that synced up with the music to add more of and enticing effect. 

Representation

   
How things are portrayed and represented is a key aspect of media. Here are the key definitions involved with representation

• Stereotypes = media companies use stereotypes because the target audience will almost always instantly understand them. Stereotypes are false realities but are used so often that they are seen to be true.
• Archetypes = This is the 'ultimate' stereotype. For example people from Essex being brainless, unintelligible people who have heavy fake tans.  
• Counter type = A representation that challenges the traditional stereotypical associations of groups, people or places.

Representation = The way in which people, events and ideas are presented to the audience or the way the media take something and re-present it to us in the way they choose.  

This video shows a clear stereotype and the effects that stereotypes have a ordinary people. The older women have accepted the stereotype as they have been exposed to it from a young age and therefore it sticks to their minds. On the other hand the younger girls in this video have not been effected by the stereotype and have their own image of "like a girl". this shows us how powerful the media is that they can change a generations perception of people, but fortunately for the younger girls they haven't been over exposed to the media so they are not effected.

Film language Analysis

For this task we had to analyse the film language used in the first six minutes of the 1991 film, Boyz n the hood. There are many symbols being portrayed in the opening scene. The film starts with a grey screen and there speech being played over the top, the who are people speaking sound like they could be part of a gang and they are about to perform a drive-by, one of the speakers clarifies who it is to shoot, then the use of audio added in post adds the screech of a car wheel followed by multiple shots being fired. This is then followed by the screams of people nearby. A child is then heard saying "they shot my brother" and other phrases. This happens whilst facts are being played on screen about Black-American Male murders. This tells us that one of the films messages is teach us that the murder needs to stop, as well as a look into the life of the child and his lifestyle. We then see another use of symbolism when the screen cuts from the grey background to a zoom in on a 'Stop' sign, which could also symbolise to us that the murders need to stop. The film opening also appears to be telling us about some kids lives and how they are effected by the crime. The camera then starts to follow these children in a tracking motion The children appear to have not done their homework we can tell this by listening to the children's conversation. From this we can also tell that they are also not very well educated by the way they speak. As well as this the children are clearly exposed to the dangerous environment as they are talking about the shooting heard in the start of the opening scene. The children then investigate the crime scene, the blood on the floor is yellow and one of the kids asks why the blood is yellow, this cues the transition to the classroom scene but before this the camera cuts to some children drawings. The first drawing we see is a man in a coffin which represents the death of the man in the last scene. This is then followed with a fade transition of a black man being stopped by the police, which is then followed by a drawing of a helicopter with LAPD drawn on the side searching for a car presumably black people due to the last drawings. The camera then pans around into the classroom where a class is taking place, the teacher seems not to care about the children's education this results in the children's efforts being minimal too. One of the children makes a joke then is told to teach the class due to them being arrogant. Two of the children begin to argue, with the camera cutting from one to the other, they then start to use violent and offensive language towards each other and start to fight. This emphasises the influence their surroundings have on them, the camera cuts to a view of the fight from the back of the classroom with all of the other children cheering them on. This is a contrast to how the children will look at violence in the future.

Narrative

Greek philosopher, Aristotle who created narratives having three stages:

• - A beginning.
• - A middle.
• - And an end.

Todorov used narratives in 5 stages:

•  Equilibrium- a state of normality.
•  Disruption of equilibrium- a character or an action causes an effect which disturbs the state of normality.
• The main protagonist recognises that the equilibrium has been disrupted.
• Restoration of equilibrium- the protagonist attempts to restore the equilibrium.
• New equilibrium- Equilibrium is restored, but transformations either good, bad or neutral have occurred from the original equilibrium.

Propp set his narrative to 8 exclusive types of characters:

• The hero 
• The villain .
• The donor (helps the hero)
• the dispatcher (sends hero on his way)
• The false hero (falsely playing role of hero)
• The helper 
• The princess 
• The princess's farther

 Levi-Strauss created narratives based on binary opposites.

• - Good and Evil.
• - Old and Young.
• - Black and White.
• - Masculine and Feminine.
• - Wealthy and Poor.
• - Heterosexual and Homosexual.

From the start we see binary opposites of the couple who are getting married. This is shown by the difference in the families separated by the isle. On one side we have the grooms family who are boring and dull, alternatively the wife's family is joyful and very excited about the wedding. We can also tell this from the clothing as well, the grooms family are wearing all black and the wife's family are wearing colourful clothing. The couple then move into their house and we get another binary opposite when painting the mail box we see the clumsiness of the husband as he leaves a hand print on the box while wife is precisely painting. When going out for a picnic the wife moves up the hill fast her husband is much slower suggesting more binary opposites. This opening scene uses Aristotle's narrative theories as we can see that the beginning of the scene there is love and a strong relationship. The middle is sadness which is shown through the loss of the child and another short happiness scene for the holiday that here husband has bought. Finally ending in the death of his wife which leaves the scene on sad note. We could also compare it to Todorov's narrative theory as there is an equilibrium that is show then disrupted. The husband realises tries to fix it then a new equilibrium is established after her wife's death.

Film Opening Analysis

For this task we had to study three film openings credits/scenes and apply a acronym known as 'DISTINCT' in order to describe them. 

Ghost Ship Opening Scene

The opening scene of Ghost Ship takes place on a first class luxury cruse, we can tell this from the style of boat and clothing that the passengers are wearing. We are given the setting for the film in the very opening shot as the camera is flying over the boat. The films appears to be set in the 60's, we can tell this by the opening music, clothes of the passengers and even by the style of microphone the singer is using. Shortly this we meet who we would assume is the main character, the little girl, as she stands out the most to everyone else as she is the only child seen aboard the ship. The little girl can be seen playing with a toy which spells out 'I am so board' which could be viewed as foreshadowing what is to happen next. The captain of the ship invites the little girl to dance and she seems happy, then things take a turn for the worst as a black gloved hand pulls a lever and the music starts to distort and clips of a wire being pulled tighter is shown on screen. Eventually the soothing 60's music is overpowered by eerie dark music as the sound of the wire being pulled tighter gets louder and more frequent. One last clip of the passengers all slow dancing and smiling is shown before the camera focuses on the wire which soon snaps and in a chain sequence of events is shown to slice through almost all of the passengers on-board. The camera zoom and focuses back on the wire which is now covered in thick blood, the passengers faces are shown, the emotionless faces of the passengers shows that shock has overtaken them so they stare blankly at one another. A mans glass of champagne after being cut in half falls to the floor, this the n creates a chain reaction to where most of the passengers upper bodies soon slide off of their lower half and hit the floor. The camera then focuses back onto the little girl on captain who are the last two people standing, we are then given a camera angle through the little girls eyes as she looks back up at the captain only to see that his head has been cut in half and falls off of his neck onto the floor. This is then followed by a scream then the camera goes underwater and the screen fades to black.  


Harry Brown Opening Scene
The Opening Scene of Harry Brown starts with muffled talking and a black screen which quickly jumps into footage of English youth who are forcing one of the characters to smoke some form of hard drug. The characters appear to be in a gang, we can presume this by the muffled words that are heard "once you put your hands on this gun. you're a member for life". The other members than start to grab and push our main character then the screen cuts to black. Shortly after sounds of a motorbike are heard then the camera, which is being held in the hand of one of the two people on the bike, then catches a quick glimpse of one of the youths face, hes is seen to be shouting. This scene could be the aftermath of the drugs our main character did in the first scene as the camera is very shaky and the words that our character is shouting are hard to understand due the way he pronounces some of the words. Our characters then drive down a public pathway abusing a woman pushing a baby in a pram on their way past. They then turn around and drive back towards the woman and our main character pulls out the gun he was given in the first scene and fires a shot the misses the woman. After the shot is fired the sound of the motorbike cuts out and only a deep ringing noise can be heard with occasional sound bites of voices can be heard. Our character then fires another shot which misses and the same deep ringing noise is heard with the screams of the woman cutting in and out in small bites. The third and final shot is fired and this one hits the woman and the deep ringing noise happens but then cuts of into silence, then the camera becomes still and our characters muffled voices are heard again which soon becomes less muffled and the motorbike can be heard again along with the youths voices getting louder. These array of different sounds can be linked to the drugs which our character smoked as the excitement and the higher of shooting the gun caused him experience sounds in the way he did until he killed her then his sound appears to come back to normal which signifies the snap back into reality. Our characters then drive the bike onto a main road and are hit by a truck and the same deep ringing sound are heard for one last time then the camera shows the aftermath of the crash from the perspective of the crashed bike head which slides out and shows us the two bodies on the floor bleeding then the scene cuts out.    


Guardians of the Galaxy
The opening scene of Guardians of the Galaxy shows us our main character in a dark eerie place with the sound off looping wind being heard faintly in the background. Our main character then puts on some headphones and moves a box down towards his belt and clips the box onto his trousers. He slowly moves his hand to reveal a Sony Walkman cassette player and the song "Come and get you love" which is a upbeat, funky song, this sets the scene as a comedic parody like setting. The main character then starts dancing to the music which contrasts to the dark cave that he is walking in. As our main character continues dancing he kicks some small dinosaur looking creatures and then uses rocket propelled boots to jump over a gap in the floor, the solidifies the genres of this film as comedy and sci-fi/fantasy. The main character then over-exaggeratedly runs towards a big, dark door which hes opens with ease. The camera gives us a shot from inside the room and due to it being so dark we can only see a silhouette of our main character. The camera then quickly snaps back to a third person view of our character as he shakes a sphere that he pulls out of his pocket which then lights up as our main character can be seen heading to some other glowing energy source. The main character then places the sphere down into a slot on the floor and the music cuts out then the footage follows shortly after. From this we can tell that Guardians of the Galaxy is going to be a sci-fi/fantasy film with a lot of comedic and parody like elements, We can tell that the film is sci-fi by the strange creatures in the opening scene and how advanced the technology was for humans which would suggest that there are other types of species in this film.

Semiotics

In this task we had to talk about a poster in a negotiated reading form, so this means that we have to look at the poster from a neutral view and think about the denotations and the connotations of the poster. For denotations we look at things that we can see from first glance and write about them and then for the connotations we will look more in-depth into the image and write about what they suggest and if they have any hidden meanings.

Denotations

From these three posters we can see three characters how all seem to be getting into the car. These three characters carry the same emotion of worry/paranoia throughout all three posters. We can also see that the three characters are looking at their watches which could mean that time is key theme behind the films. We also know that the posters are for the film series 'Back to the Future'.

Connotations  

We can speculate that the three characters are all looking at their watches as they are keeping a close eye on the time. We can also speculate that the three different posters represent three different time periods by the different style of clothing, watches and car in each poster. We can also presume that the characters need to do something important with-in the certain time period of the posters by the worried looks and their faces and repeated looking at the watches.    

Genre Analysis

We was assigned a task to set up and capture images the represent specific genres. The images below represent our genres of horror, comedy and musical.

This photo captures the genre horror as a dark figure can be seen down the end of a hallway. The grey walls and the enclosed space also add to the horror genre as fear of being trapped in a close space can worry people.

This photo is representing the genre comedy as two characters can be seen trying to read a high level maths book but are struggling to understand the concept of how to hold a book as they are clearly holding it upside down. this creates a dumb and dumber like theme which solidifies the comedy genre.   

 

 

 

 

 

This photo captures the musical genre because a man can be seen playing the playing the piano. The piano alone is enough to represent the musical genre, but the fact that the man is actually playing the piano solidifies and confirms the musical genre as it is hard to mistake a man playing the piano for something else.    

Film Opening

 The opening of this films shows us a conversation between some teens and young adults as they prepare for a band practice, whilst they wait for one of the band mate girlfriends to show up. This film is for teens and this is shown by the way they emphasize noises and actions with comic book style art to add visual detail to the sounds. These effects along with the over exaggerated actions, bass of the music and visual effects to go with the appeals to a younger teen audience. This creates a genre of comedy that can be linked with teens especially those who like comic books and video games as they are referenced throughout the film and opening intro.