Filming - Locations

Our opening scene features two different scenes in two separate locations that are both crucial to the narrative. The first scene is what appears to be a local park and was filmed in Tamworth Castle Grounds. We chose this location to represent the park as it highly resembles one and is big enough to film different scenes in different areas, which helps to create the idea when the film is edited together that there are passages of time and movement by the characters. Below are two pictures showing the area of which we filmed several of the shots.

Two significant areas which we filmed are the bench where the two seemed to be 'loved up' and exchanging words in audible to the audience, and the framing where we concluded this scene. We chose the bench area because it was secluded and made the exchange between the two characters more private and therefore more romantic than if there was movement or people in the background of the shot. The framed area was also chose for a similar reason as it was secluded, but upon first finding it we though it was ideal for our finishing shot as it the flowers and colour seen emphasised the romantic element of the shot, and we tried to position the wooden framing to the corners of the shot so there was no wasted space and the two protagonists were at the foreground and the focus of the shot. These two locations are shown in the photos below.

Our second scene is set and filmed in our sixth form canteen as it is convenient to film in and can easily represent the school canteen which the scene is set in. When filming we were careful to make sure the characters were positioned around the table so that the camera could see them all when we were filming group shots and also so that the dialogue seemed natural when we were filming the scene. To add to the location we decided to place a water bottle on the table in front of the characters to contribute to showing that it is a canteen and the characters are on a lunch break rather than a general table. We also decided on filming at a table in the back corner of the corner to limit what was surrounding the characters and could potentially distract the audience from the narrative but it also limited the background noise when filming.

Filming - Production Schedule

(click to expand)

This is our production schedule which shows us the deadlines we have to meet regarding each area of production to ensure we stay on track producing our opening scene. 

We aim to finish the whole production process by the last week of January which will then give us 2-3 weeks in February to complete our evaluation.

Storyboard Two - Digital

Our first shot shows the two protagonists holding hands. This is an extreme close up of their hands and will be shown as the soundtrack plays prominently in the background. Over the top of this shot and the following shot will be the title sequence.

Following the previous shot, the camera will pan out of the zoom revealing the figures of the two protagonists now known to be males. The soundtrack will continue to play in the background and the titles will continue to be shown in the corners of the screens. The characters will exchange dialogue however it will be inaudible to the audience. From this shot the screen will slowly fade to black and show the words 'Six Months Earlier'

This shot is the establishing shot. It will show the location of the following scenes; the sixth form. The title of our film will be displayed in the top right hand corner. During this shot, the soundtrack will begin to fade to nothing.

This shot is the close up of an iPhone displaying text messages. All of the messages will have hearts and kisses to connote both the recipient and sender have some sort of love. There is no dialogue during this shot. The phone will then be snatched off screen.

The following scenes all revolve around the characters seated at the table and the dialogue exchanged between them. Shots will switch from different angles of the table and different close ups of the characters faces. The shots will be edited with simple cuts.

For this shot our protagonist will stand from the table and proceed to walk away. The camera will track the character both forward and backwards. Once the character is a few metres from the table, there will be sound effect of a text message. The character will read the message and smile towards the character before the screen fades to black.

Storyboard One

This is our storyboard mapping each part of our opening scene and the shots we plan to use.

Opening Scene Screenplay (Rebecca's Version)

Fade In:
EXT. Castle Grounds-Day 
Close up of both characters, hand in hand. Zooms out to reveal the two boys holding hands. Both seventeen.Mattie is more masculine and challenges the gay stereotype.Sam fits the stereotype.  

SAM (V.O) This is the ending of our story. Perfect inst it? We never used to be so happy. Our lives used to be so hidden, we were hidden, until one day I made that change. 

Rewinds to show the days before this time. The beginning of the day of the stand up. Establishing shot accompanied by the title sequence, which is presented with music. 

INT. College Restaurant-Late afternoon 
 Long shot of Mattie at a table with a group of friends. Mattie is on his phone, being distant from the table's conversations about the a famous pop star.

Mattie (P.O.V of text messages). Presents the relationship between Sam and Mattie.
Audience hears muffled questions that are directed at Mattie but with no answer. 

FRIEND #1: James! 

MATTIE: Urm, yeah? 

FRIEND #2:  what do you think about her? 

MATTIE: Yeah... she's great. 

FRIEND #1: Who's got all your attention? 

MATTIE: Oh, no one (nervous laugh). 

The phone is snatched out of Mattie's hands. 
One friend begins to read the messages out loud in a mocking voice.  

FRIEND #1:  So, when are we meeting again? I miss you. 

Friend#1 pulls a mocking sad face and begins to kiss the air 
The phone is then passed the friend#2. 

FRIEND#2: I don't know, we nearly got caught last time, I can't afford to be seen, but soon maybe. 

Group begins to make mocking kissing noises and then all falls silent. 
Mattie manages to snatch the phone back after many attempts. 

FRIEND#1: So who's Sam? 

Mattie looks across his friends 

MATTIE: She's just a friend. 

FRIEND #2: Just a friend, ay? 

FRIEND #1: Ooo, James has got himself a girlfriend, I'm proud of you. 

Friend #1 pats Sam on the back smirking at him   
The group quietly laugh at the remark for a couple of seconds  

MATTIE: Anyway,urm, I've got to go, urm, see a tutor about some work, so urm, I guess I'll see you guys later. 
Mattie walks out of the restaurant, with his phone in his hand smiling uncontrollably. Camera zooms into Jame's face and cuts to a black screen.

Opening Scene Screenplay

            FADE IN:

Ext. Castle Grounds – Picturesque setting – Late daytime – evening

            Shot shows a close up of hands joined together. The camera zooms out to

            reveal the couple – both are 17 and male and seem happy and in love. The pair

            exchange words inaudible to the audience.

            FADE OUT: Screen shows a rewind to 6 months earlier

Ext. Establishing shot – Sixth Form Building – Day

          FADE IN: Title appears over shot.

Int. Sixth Form Canteen – Corner table – Day

Protagonist POV: Phone screen fills shot displaying conversation, the recipient goes by the name ‘Sam’ – relationship visible through the exchange using hearts and x’s.

The phone is taken from the hands holding it and taken off screen.

Camera cuts to a table of a group of friends – all around the age of 17/18 and male, protagonist seated at edge of the table and reaches for his phone which is held out of reach by one of the friends.

FRIEND #1  (mockingly, looking down toward the phone screen) Who’s Sam?

                        Protagonist visibly uncomfortable – shifts in seat.

                        Laughter proceeds from all. The phone is passed to another character.

FRIEND #2  (mockingly reads from phone screen) I’ll see you soon I promise

                        (Laughter)

FRIEND #1  (mockingly reads) I love you

(laughter)

                        Protagonist remains silent as friends await response and continue to

                        laugh and nudge him. Although clearly uncomfortable is smiling and                     

                        playing along.

FRIEND #1  Got yourself a girlfriend then?

FRIEND #2  Kept that one quiet

                        Protagonist keeps his head hung low and seems sheepish as the rest of

                        the boys continue to laugh.

PROTAGONIST  (quietly) it’s nothing

PROTAGONIST  Can I have my phone back?

FRIEND #1  (laughing) Missing Sam already

PROTAGONIST (mumbles low and sighing) yeah

                        Nobody pays any attention to him but the phone is handed back. The

                        friends drift into separate conversations as the mocking dies down.

                        The camera remains emphasising the protagonists’ discomfort.

                        Moments pass.

           

PROTAGONIST  (sense of urgency) I’ve got to go back to lesson, look I’ll see you later

                        Protagonist stands and leaves the table, the camera cuts to show all

                        members of the table paying no attention to him. The protagonist

                        notices and noticeably sighs. As he walks away the camera pans

                        backwards following him. Once a considerable distance from the table,

                        the sound of a text is heard. The protagonist lifts his phone to read the

                        message and a small smile appears in his face.

PROTAGONIST  (V/O) and this is my life.

                        FADE OUT

Mr Judge Feedback

Medal: There are some excellent posts in evidence on your blog, with great textual analysis evidence, excellent use of images. Well done. 

Mission: I'm aware that yesterdays BFI data evidence may still be in draft, can we please publish those so that we have current evidence of progression. 

The Pitch - Opening Scene Synopsis

Our chosen genre is romantic comedy because all members of our group enjoy the genre and have ideas of how we can recreate romantic-comedy to form our own opening scene. We have begun to research the genre’s codes and conventions and have applied them to our ideas to create a plan for an opening scene.

We plan to begin with a shot showing the inevitable ending of the film which when researching the genre of romantic-comedy we found is quite common to do. Some examples of films that employ this technique are; American Beauty, The Fault in Our Stars, and Love Rosie. We think as many rom-coms have quite simple narratives that take a while to get into, starting with the ending will provide us with a hook to draw in an audience and will make the beginning of the film more interesting.

For our opening scene, the ending of the film (and so the first shot) will show the couple finally ending up together and demonstrating their love in public. The shot will open with a close up of the couples combined hands and the camera will then pan out to reveal the couple is in fact two males and the protagonist of the film will be revealed. We plan to film this shot in the town centre with the backdrop of the shot being picturesque to make it more romantic, we also hope to display the idea that it is winter/Christmas as many romantic-comedies are set at this time of year and so we can stick to the convention. The shot will then fade to black and here we will introduce the title of the film. It will then rewind to the beginning of the chronological events and the screen will display *6 months earlier*.

The next shot will be an establishing shot of the school which the rest of the opening scene will be filmed at and the majority of the film would feature. At this point the soundtrack which we plan to be quite lively and playing prior to this point will begin to fade out ready for the dialogue in the scenes to follow.

The next shot will be a POV looking down toward a phone screen which will display messages to another character. Although the shot will only be brief, we plan to portray the idea that the recipient and sender are in a relationship by using hearts in the messages so even as the audience don’t get the chance to read the conversation its intention is clear. The shot will then show the phone being taken out of the sender’s hands and then will quickly cut to a shot showing a table of male characters laughing.

At this point, the person who took the phone will begin to read out the conversation and our protagonist will be mocked and clearly embarrassed. We plan to have the protagonist on the edge of the table to visually represent how he is at the edge of the friendship group; he doesn’t quite fit. When the other characters mock the protagonist we also want to display the idea that they think he is straight, emphasising how they believe he is texting a girl. This shows the audience he is currently ‘in the closet.’

At this point the dialogue for the protagonist begins, however we hope to have already portrayed the idea he is insecure by this point.  We plan for him to make a comment asking for his phone back and then an excuse to leave the table.

As he is walking away from the table, the camera will pan backwards following his movements and we plan for him to be looking miserable/annoyed. However his phone will then ping and he will lift it to read it and a small smile will appear on his face and that will be where our opening ends.

The enigma for our opening is how does the protagonist come out? And how does he end up with the other character? Although we aim to stick with the conventions of the romantic-comedy genre, we hope we can challenge them by using a homosexual couple as our protagonists rather than a stereo-typical hetero-sexual couple.

The Pitch - Our Opening Scene Ideas

(Click mindmap to expand)

The Pitch - Mise-en-scene Plan

Location:

We plan to film in 2 locations, the sixth form canteen and in the Tamworth castle grounds. The Castle Grounds scene is the first for our opening and has been chosen because it can look picturesque and provides an appropriate background for the shots we plan to film.

Our second location of the sixth form canteen is self-explanatory as the premise of the scene is that the group of ‘lads’ are on a break while at sixth form and at the end of the scene our main character leaves to return to lesson (and escape the awkward situation.) We are using the locations as representations, as for the castle grounds scene the two characters will be out in the wider world, connoting they have come out and in the canteen scene our main character will be positioned on the edge of the table to show he is separate to his friends.

Costume:

For our first scene we plan for our two characters to be wearing casual but warm clothing eg. Scarf, coat which connotes the scene is taking place in winter; the typical time of year for the majority of rom-coms. Contrary, in our second scene all of the characters will be dressed in suits appropriate to the context of the scene (sixth form). However we plan in this scene to use the outfits as a representation as our main character will not be wearing our tie whereas the other characters will showing he is different to them.

Lighting:

All of our scenes will be bright and well-lit as from our research we found rom-coms usually have very light storylines and so if our scenes are dark or dimly lit it wouldn’t match the narrative. The lighting will also help put the audience at ease and relax rather than be on edge which a darker scene may cause.

Representation:

We are planning to use a variety of concepts to represent our characters and narratives.

Firstly as mentioned in costumes, our main character is going to be dressed slightly different to the other characters to represent how he is different and secondly as mentioned in location, the character will be seated at the edge of the table to represent how he is separate to the others; he’s different.

We are also breaking a typical rom-com convention by the narrative surrounding a gay couple rather than a heterosexual relationship. We believe this is a way in which we are bringing the rom-com genre into the 21^st century where the diversity of relationships (particularly homosexual) is on the increase.

We are also representing modern relationships by using technology as a major aspect of our narrative. Relationships nowadays do have a high online presence as well as real life literal presence and therefore we want to represent both of these in our narrative with the first scene showing the couple physically together and the second showing the couple talking over text. The connection between the protagonist and the recipient of the messages will be clear to the audience as we are using hearts and kisses throughout the exchange to symbolise the relationship.

Target Audience - Audience Profiling

In order for us to gage the target audience for our final product we used different tools to research into the audiences of similar products in the romantic-comedy genre.

One tool we used was YouGov.co.uk in which you can enter a film or product and the tool will use online polls completed to form a stereo-typical audience individual. Once the website has combined its polls and surveys you are given different categories to explore for that individual, these include; demographics, lifestyle, personality, brands, entertainment, online and media.

We used this tool to research the audience for 2003 romantic-comedy, Love Actually. This is a similar product to ours as it is a relatively small budget, British production, produced by film studio Working Title. The results were as follows:

Demographics - Female, aged 40-54, social grade ABC1.
Lifestyle - Watches TV, spends time with family, interested in books and movies.
Personality - technology dependent, open-minded, feminist.
Brands - Boots, Tesco, M&S
Entertainment - Bridget Jones Diary, Adele, Friends
Online - Twitter, Buzzfeed
Media - Big Brother, Daily Mail, Whats on TV.

We conducted the same research into Pretty Woman and got similar results particularly for demographics in which the result was female around the age of 50 and personality where they are very open-minded but also reliant on the internet and technology.

We used this research to develop a similar idea for our film and used the same categories to profile what a stereo-typical member of our audience would be. We came up with:

Demographics- Female, 20-35, social grade B,C1,C2
Lifestyle - Watches TV, interested in romance books
Personality - Open-minded, internet reliant
Brands - Boots, WHSmith
Entertainment - Gossip Girl, Celebrity Juice
Online -Twitter, Buzzfeed, Instagram
Media - Big Brother, The Sun, OK Magazine

Another method of researching into our audience was simple searches and reading reviews. We read several reviews for different romantic-comedy's such as Love Rosie, and The Vow and in many of them, the critic pinpointed who he/she thinks would like the film. We found that the average audience who the films would most appeal to are females, age 20-40 which was as we expected and supported our audience profile.

Target Audience Research - BFI Statistical Yearbook Analysis

From this table we are able to identify that the genre of comedy had the highest number of releases in 2014 with 153 releases whereas western had the least number of releases with only 3 releases. Focusing on the genres of horror and thriller, horror released 37 and thriller 64. However, horror’s gross box office totalled £57.5 million with only 37 releases but thrillers 64 releases only totalled £29.1 million. This concluded that the thriller genre is more popular in terms of the films released compared to horror however horror is more profitable. The top performing releases of the two genres are World War Z starring Brad Pitt for horror, and Prisoners starring Morgan Freeman for thriller.

For our opening scene we are focusing on the combined genres of romance and comedy; one of which had the highest number of releases and a gross box office total of £158.2 million. The highest performing films of the two genres were The Hangover Part III and I Give It A Year, which we could research into.

From this table we can draw the viewing statistics and the average number of sites at widest point of release for each genre. It shows that the sci-fi genre was the most wide-spread with it on average at 422 sites however it only grossed £87.4 million: reasonably low compared to the top grossing genre of animation making £246.6 million.

In terms of romance and comedy (our opening scene genres), they are middle board and reasonably widespread with comedy on average being shown at 102 sites and romance at 59. Although not widespread comedy is proven to be one of the more profitable genres grossing £158.2 million.

This table presents average box office gross per site and the total sites for each genre. As this table is in order of most grossing to the least, we are able to easily conclude the genres with the highest average box office are Adventure and Animation, which compared to total sites is relative as animation has the third highest total sites with 9004. 

This table shows which genre had the highest gross box office based on UK films released in the UK and the Republic of Ireland in 2013. It shows that the most grossing were action and music/dance with them grossing £64.1 million and £47.9 million. The top performers in these two genres were Fast and Furious 6 and Les Miserables. However, relevant to our opening scene genre, comedy ranked third grossing £37.9 million and the top performer of the genre being The World’s End.

The top graph shows the proportion of box office each genre has for all films, just UK films and UK independent films. We can see that for All Films, the genre with the highest box office is animation however it has one of the lowest for UK films as often they are small budget and animation is expensive. For UK films, action has the highest box office and is also high for UK films and UK Independent. For UK Independent films, comedy is the genre with the highest box office and for the genre of romance, UK Independent films is the type which achieves the highest box office.

The bottom graph shows the proportion of releases for All films, UK films, and UK independent for each genre. We can see that for All films, comedy has the highest proportion of releases however for both the UK films and UK independent films, documentary has the highest proportion of releases.

Research Into Existing Products 2.2 - Title Sequence

This is our practise title sequence which enabled us to learn the order of a conventional title sequence and how to construct one. We can use this to create the title sequence for our opening scene.

Research Into Existing Products 2.2 - Studio Logos and Title Sequence

Film studio logos are projected at the very start of a film before the title sequence. They are often ignored however are a good representation of the era the film was produced in as many studio logos have evolved over time.

Below shows just two examples of the evolution of film studio logos; Columbia Pictures and Universal (two of the most recognisable.) Both have evolved from the 1910’s til present however have kept constant one recognisable symbol for audiences to remember; for Columbia Pictures it’s the lady liberty figure, and for Universal, the globe. These have become iconic and through being the initial visual at the start of the film, brands the film with their studio.

Following the studio logo is the title sequence. The title sequence has a specific order which has become convention. Some modern films have made the title sequence almost unnoticeable as it projects at the bottom of the film opening.

The order it conventionally follows is:  

1.       Studio/Producer presents

2.       Starring (main actors)

3.       Title of film

4.       Screenwriter

5.       Cameraperson

6.       Composer/music by

7.       Editor

8.       Producer

9.       Director

For our opening scene we plan to stick to this conventional order by creating our own title sequence using the titles relevant to us and projecting it over our opening scene. 

Research Into Existing Products 2.1 - Love Rosie Opening Scene Analysis

Love Rosie is a 2014 rom-com featuring Lily Collins and Sam Claflin as the two protagonists Rosie and Alex. I have chosen to analyse this as it has a very similar concept to the narrative of our opening scene as it shows the journey of two protagonists and how they end up together.

In terms of sound in the opening scene of the film, I picked out the soundtrack ‘I’ll Never Fall in Love Again’ by Dionne Warwick which plays throughout the scene in the background. When researching into rom-coms I discovered that soundtracks and music included within the film is almost always recognizable ‘pop’ music. This is because the idea of rom-coms is you want the audience to relate to the narrative and the characters and by using music familiar to them and music that exists in the ‘real’ helps the film to be seen as more realistic although most are fictional narratives.

The choice of song for this particularly rom-com opening scene is an old but recognizable classic pop song and the lyrics in particular relate to what is being shown on the screen. The very first shot shows protagonist Rosie seated in what appears to be a wedding dress and looking very shaken, tired, and upset as rest of the scene seems to pass her by in a daze. By using the soundtrack quite prominently over the shot it helps the audience to quickly build an understanding of Rosie’s situation and how she feels she’ll ‘never love again’ which instantly within the first few seconds of film builds a connection between the audience and character as you feel sympathetic towards her. This shows how crucial music is in complimenting the shots to build an initial understanding of the narrative of the film.

For camera I picked out the unusual style used throughout which is a handheld camera following the actions of the protagonists on scene. This style begins when the audience start to see Rosie and Alex as children on bouncy hoppers and continues through all the pieces of footage throughout their childhood. For me, the way the camera follows their movement’s makes you feel as if you are there, as it follows the natural eye movements of someone if they were to also be in that scene. The use of this style links back to the idea that rom-coms are supposed to make the audience feel involved and be able to relate to the characters and narratives. By creating the impression that the audience are in the scene and experiencing what a theoretical third character would feel it helps the audience to relate and connect with the characters.

The editing links closely with the camera style as from each scene from the childhood footage, it quickly cuts to a close up of an object in the scene and then the handheld camera transitions up to the focus of the scene; the two protagonists. This style of editing is fluid and flows nicely from scene to scene making the audience feel relaxed rather than on edge and like they’re watching these scenes pass them calmly rather than quickly and sharply. The slow flowing editing compliments the shots as they are showing childhood footage which makes the audience feel nostalgic and like they are witnessing a memoir of Alex and Rosie’s lives. This helps them relate to the characters further as they can also relate to their childhoods as a pose to just the characters current situations.

Finally the mise-en-scene throughout the opening scene is consistent with the genre itself. The genre of romantic-comedy is supposed to be quite bright, light-hearted and although some do touch upon taboo subjects they aren’t supposed to be serious dark films. Therefore, in the opening scene of this rom-com, all the scenes are brightly lit with a variety of colours featured in each and every scene. This makes the whole atmosphere brighter which translates to the mood of the audience, beginning their journey with the movie a light-hearted one so they don’t take any of the narrative too uber-serious.

Reseach Into Existing Products 2.1 - Genre Research

Rom-com Research from CharlDale

Representation of Homosexuality in the Media

In order to be able to successfully represent homosexuality in our opening scene/film, we researched into how the topic is typically represented in different media texts and already existing LGBT characters.

I looked into homosexuality in media texts rather than just in TV drama in order to see how individuals represented themselves in the public eye and looked at Ellen DeGeneres in particular to see how she represented her homosexuality being an influential figure.

Ellen DeGeneres is a US TV host and has hosted the popular talk show The Ellen DeGeneres show since 2003. However, she has been in the public eye since the 1980s where she began her career in stand-up comedy and then starred in sit-com Ellen from 1994-1998. In this sit-com she played the character Ellen Morgan. During the fourth season of the show in 1997 Ellen Degeneres came out as Lesbian in a public appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show and soon after her character Ellen Morgan faced the coming out process in the show. This made Ellen the first openly Lesbian actress to play a Lesbian character.
Homosexuality at the time was much more of a taboo subject than what it is now and Ellen fore-fronted the individualistic movement in media, encouraging more LGBT public-personalities to become openly-gay. Although now Ellen is seen as a lively character and comfortable in her own skin, the support towards her sexuality hasn't always been present and in 1997 and after her announcement of being Lesbian, fast-food chain Wendy's pulled out as sponsor of the sitcom. Since this, there is much more acceptance towards homosexuality especially within media however some public-personalities still feel the need to hide their sexuality for fear of judgement.

When creating our opening scene we had in mind the questions and feelings that might be faced by our character Matt and tried to portray his nervousness and fear of judgement from his peers, without wanting to undermine him as a person. In media more recently there has been criticism that although more homosexual characters are being introduced into storylines, they are often being undermined and given insignificant roles or even in dramas such as soaps, being removed from the story.

There is however now since Ellen, alot more successful TV shows and films focusing solely on homosexuality and different issues that could potentially be faced. One of which, is the film Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks which documents the story of a Gay AIDS victim who is sueing his employer for wrongful termination of employment after his diagnosis. This was one of the first mainstream movies to tackle such issue and became a very successful movie with Tom Hanks receiving an Academy Award for his role.

From researching into this movie we began to discover the discrimination that people may face simply because of their sexual orientation and although our particular film doesn't feature any discrimination it was good to have in mind when sculpting the characters personalities. We wanted to make sure that because our protagonist Matt was quite nervous to 'come out' there was depth as to why and decided the fear of discrimination and judgement from his peers could be the basis.

More recently, the acceptance of homosexuality and the normality of it is being presented more and more in mainstream TV drama. Popular examples include Modern Family where the two protagonists Cam and Mitch are in a homosexual relationship and the show follows their journey of adoption and raising their daughter. And Pretty Little Liars, which similar to our film is targeted at teens and in the early seasons follows protagonist Emily who is Lesbian and shows her coming-out journey and the acceptance she receives.

The representation of homosexuality in mainstream media is having a major influence on modern society and is helping to shape the views of the various audiences. A growing awareness to homosexuality in adult dramas is contributing to moulding how previously hostile individuals now view homosexuality and the realisation that sexuality doesn't change or define a person Tor younger audiences the increase in homosexual characters in  both TV and Film is presenting the normality and helping society modernise and accept all people regardless of sexuality. The positivity of homosexuality in media reflects on society and both encourages those who face the same issues to be open and accept themselves and other people to accept them. We hope that our film is able to have the same sort of positive influence.

Reseach into Existing Products 2.1 - Conventions of an Opening Sequence Mindmap

Conventions of an Opening Sequence Mindmap

Reseach Into Existing Products 2.1 - Genre

Where did genres come from?

In the 1920’s there were 5 major Hollywood film studios; 20^th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Paramount pictures, RKO Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. At the very beginning of the film industry directors and these film studios experimented film until they established the types of film popular with audiences. They then reproduced these same types of films over and over giving the audience what they wanted. For example, Film-Noir and Romance were two popular types of films and as they were produced over and over it genres were formed.

How did the 'Golden Age of Hollywood' re-inforce genre?

Once popular genres were established, the film studios knew they were guaranteed to generate money from the films they produced, therefore during the ‘golden age of Hollywood’ film studios began to invest more and more money into producing these popular films because they knew they were guaranteed to make a profit. This reinforced genre as the film studios rarely ventured far away from the traditional popular narratives and so the films produced remained within the genres.

Which genres became popular in Hollywood?

Naturally the most popular genres in Hollywood were the ones that returned the most money. Westerns were always very popular films at the beginning of Hollywood for example Vera Cruz starring Gary Cooper. The horror-thriller genre has also always been popular and the majority of the films produced as part of this genre have followed the same conventions and narrative. Romance and film-noir are also popular genres however these genres have evolved with Hollywood with many of the films produced breaking away from the traditional narratives.

Why do audience like genre films?

Audiences like genre films for the familiarity, most people have their favourite films and their least favourite films and so by having genres they can identify the likely narrative of a film and identify if they are going to enjoy it or not. If the audience does not know what the film is going to be about they are less likely to watch it. Films such as James Bond have continued on for now over 30 installments because audiences have always enjoyed them and so continue to watch the next one and the next one and the next one. 

Research Into Existing Products 2.1 - Film Noir Analysis: The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon is film-noir classic released in 1941 starring Humphrey Bogart as Detective Sam Spade and Mary Astor as Miss Wonderly. As many films in the film noir genre, the film is based on the book The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett released in 1929; 12 years prior to the film release.

Unlike most films from other genres, the audience are able to learn the narratives concept just from the opening scene. The film begins with the basic narrative of Miss Wonderly going to ‘Spade & Archer’ to ask them for help on locating her missing sister and getting her away from Floyd Thursby (described by Miss Wonderly as a violent character). Archer then takes it upon himself to shadow Thursby where he is shot and soon after Thursby too is murdered, Spades lack of care towards his partners murder then causes him to be interrogated as a suspect. This forms the enigma of the film, who killed Archer and Thursby?

They open the film with several establishing shots of San Francisco smoothly edited together (continuity editing) directly presenting the key location of the film to the audience. The first shot of the sequence is shown to the right. Following this, the shots delve straight into the narrative where we initially meet protagonist, Detective Sam Spade. Straight away he is presented as a stereo-typical detective for the time with a cigarette in his mouth, slicked back hair, and wearing a formal suit (shown below). The detective

stereo-type was formed back in the late 1800’s with the creation of the character Sherlock Holmes penned by author Arthur Conan-Doyle, a super intelligent character who wore tweed and was very much sophisticated but mysterious. However, as the detective stereotype travelled to America it evolved into a street-smart style detective, paged by the character Phillip Marlow. Spades stereotype was loosely based on Phillip Marlow and he is instantly set out to be a crucial character throughout the narrative, especially as the film uses restricted narration with the audience following Spades’ character and so only know as much as him

Next we meet the only two female characters of the scene. Firstly, Spades’ secretary and then Miss Wonderly both presented as opposites and each taking the role of one of two stereotypical film-noir females. In film-noir the female characters are only usually on the side-lines of the protagonists and are only portrayed as one of two characters; the honest, trusting but naive figure, or the manipulative femme fatale. In this example, Spades’ secretary is the honest trusting figure, and Miss Wonderly is the femme fatale.

The 'spider and the fly' connotation has often been used to outline the role of the femme fatale in film-noir and the tale in which she features. This film very much follows the femme fatale concept where the protagonist (in our case Detective Spade) finds the love and mysteriousness of the femme fatale (Miss Wonderly) irresistible and gets trapped in her increasingly-complex web which inevitably leads to both of their downfalls.

During the scene of Miss Wonderly speaking to the Detective, they use medium close ups regularly focusing on her face where its noticeable that she is avoiding eye contact with the detective and her gaze is always wondering. However, when the camera pulls out to a long shot it is clear the detective is leaning forward and looking straight toward her. This has two connotations, firstly the power play between the two of them with Spade being the dominant character in his body language and Miss Wonderly acting quite passive toward him. But also secondly, it could denote that she is either lieing so her words are not true or she is hiding something from the detective. This gives the impression she is not a straightforward character, and has many layers. Here she is trying to seem sweet, passive and vulnerable however she may not be as innocent as first seemed.

This powerplay is also demonstrated with a low camera angle behind Miss Wonderly consecutively followed by a medium close up of her face. This makes it seem Miss Wonderly is looking up at Spade and Archer (shown to the right) and this idea of her looking up to the two detectives shows her inferiority to them and emphasises the vulnerability she is attempting to display in the scene; it’s almost like when someone is begging or pleaing for something on their knees and they’re looking up at the superior figure.

Throughout the entirety of the film’s opening, low light and key spotlights (known as the term chiaroscuro) are used to create shadows and contrast, particularly when Spade goes back to his apartment and turns on a spotlight beside him. Shadows are also created through the characters costumes, with Detective Spade sporting a stereo-typical trilby hat and Miss Wonderly wearing a sort of fascinator. In film-noir they use harsh lighting and objects to create a sense of depth and overcome the bland black and white. They do so by using a key light, which is the most dominant light, creating contrast on wherever the light is focused and the background. Lighting is important in particular in film-noir as it sets the mood of the seen, the more light-hearted scenes such as the opening in Spade’s office is quite well lit and the shadows created such as the company logo on the wall aren’t ‘menacing’ as such. However in the later scene when he is being interrogated which is much more serious, the lighting becomes a lot more dim and harsh and the shadows are large and defined.

To match the visuals on screen, a soundtrack is also used alongside to build the mood and give the audience more of an insight into the tone of the scene. An example is when Archer is shot and the body is found, very sharp, staccato sounds are heard making the whole scene quite tense and the use of loud brass instruments makes you almost uncomfortable. Whereas at the beginning of the opening during the credits, the music is much more winding and begins to slowly build as we hear strings along with woodwind instruments such as a bassoon which put the audience at ease but also builds excitement for the movie to begin.

Overall, this early example of film noir strictly follows the stereo-typical conventions of the genre such as low-key lighting, characters and narrative while also pathing a way for future productions to follow. It’s a great example of a stereo-typical film-noir while also being entertaining and therefore earns its status as a film-noir classic.

Research Into Existing Products 2.1 - Blue Velvet Opening Scene Analysis

Blue Velvet Opening Scene

Blue Velvet is a 1986 American style Mystery directed by David Lynch about a young man who takes on an investigation after finding a severed ear in a field, which leads him to a mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals. Lynch forms a concept that the whole film is a metaphor by presenting the horrors of the film within an idealistic American neighbourhood; everything is portrayed as perfect but as you dig deeper you find the darker side of America, just as the protagonist finds out as he investigates further.

Much of this idea is formed through the mise-en-scene which is the basis of any film and arguably the most important aspect as it is visually displays the purpose and intent of the film for the audience. Without the use of mise-en-scene other aspects ie. the camera shots, sound, and editing used would have no purpose as the audience would not have any understanding of what is happening in the narrative or who the narrative features. 

At the end of the opening sequence, Lynch uses a motif with the shot heavily zoomed in on what appears to be a garden lawn and the camera travels through the blades of grass. However at the end of this motif a swarming nest of insects is revealed to the audience and this is Lynch's way of presenting the extended metaphor mentioned, as the previous shots displayed a relatively traditional suburban neighbourhood but as the camera (or so audience) delves deeper they discover the not so pleasant underworld. Just as the rest of the film will display with the soon to be featured protagonist.

Lynch effectively presented the film as twisted and mysterious with each shot throughout the opening sequence purposefully shot and chosen to build the mystery of the plot. He opens with a shot of red rose’s in-front of a white picket fence with the top of the shot lined with a blue sky (shown in the screenshot below.) However there are two connotations to this shot, the first being the most obvious which is the use of roses at the foreground of the shot as roses typically symbolise love, devotion, and passion; love in particular relevant to a friendly neighbourhood most likely filled with families. However the roses are also red, which is strongly associated with blood, danger and power as it is an intense colour and links with the shots displayed just minutes later of the death of the protagonist at the time. So, the flower alone could mean different things for different audiences, love or death. The second connotation of the scene is also relating to colour or in fact three colours; red, white and blue which are typically associated with the USA flag, confirming the location of the film to the audience. This also relates to the following shot and the so-called idyllic American neighbourhood portrayed throughout the extract as well as film. The whole concept of using the image of these roses is symbolism which features heavily throughout the film.

Following on from the connotations previously mentioned about the colour red, Lynch made the colour prominent throughout the opening scene, with it featuring distinctly in the majority of the shots up until the fateful moment when the man collapses. Lynch uses a large red fire engine in the foreground of a shot, then in the following shot of the children crossing the road he uses the red stop sign as the focus point and the first child crossing was wearing predominantly red along with a number of the following children. Lynch also decorated the background of the shot featuring the woman watching TV with a red lamp and a red toy beside it.  The use of red in the context of the film is used to almost foreworn the audience about both the death at the end of the scene, and the rest of the film and put the audience on edge consequently building suspense. The whole concept of using colours in particular red is symbolic and used to portray what is happening in the film or about to happen to the audience, the colour theme also links with the title of the film ‘blue velvet’.

A sense of foreboding is also created in the shot of the woman (assumed to be the man’s wife) watching a show on TV which shows a gun (shown in the screenshot below). The obvious connotation of this is that Lynch used this shot to put the concept of death at the forefront of the audience’s mind, building the idea that it is going to be frequent throughout the movie which is confirmed just moments later with the death of the male antagonist. Although short and in the context of the whole film may seem relatively insignificant, this shot is important as it is the first instance that the audience are able to realise the darker intent of the film, previously shadowed by the misleading 'pleasant' shots.

In terms of camera shots, Lynch stuck with wide shots throughout; with nothing other than the opening scene of the roses and the similar scene of the tulips close up. This is used to both focus on the characters in the scene while also showing plenty of the background to build the setting and location for the audience, which is crucial as this is the opening scene and therefore the first instance the audience has to form their perception of the film. The end of the scene where the camera moves through blades of grass is filmed out of focus, purposely used to create a sense of unknown which makes the whole concept more frightening as the audience have a lack of understanding on what is happening and what is about to happen.

To help build the twisted impression Lynch is trying to achieve with the use of the idyllic American neighbourhood, he uses the song ‘Blue Velvet’ by Bobby Vinton, which is slow and a very old-fashioned piece of music, which for a modern audience is most likely to be portrayed as haunting. Using a piece of music which had also been around 35 years prior to the film and recognized by much of the films audience meant that Lynch was able to make them feel more involved as it created a sense of familiarity; mirroring the familiarity they may feel to the neighbourhood. The music is contrapuntal as until the very end of the scene, it doesn’t match the ‘happy neighbourhood’ atmosphere the shots are displaying. Using the music in conjunction with the shots makes the whole scene almost sinister as it uses every day, relatable situations to make the audience feel uneasy without using conventional horrifying or scary sights. This is a technique called psychological horror and is now used in many modern films such as paranormal activity but Lynch was the person who fore-fronted the rise of this technique.

Finally for editing, Lynch used conventional dissolves and slow-mo throughout to match the shots being shown. This makes the whole scene flow smoothly and creates a sense of calm for the audience. This gives a ‘calm before the storm’ perception as the audience knows from other elements displayed in the sequence that something bad or horrifying is inevitably going to happen, but right now Lynch is portraying the scene and consequently the film is quiet, calm and serene. This technique is commonly used in the horror genre as it makes the audience calm so when the horrifying moment happens it comes across as more as a shock, frightening the audience and forming the shocking twisted film Lynch set out to achieve.