Research

I will be looking at opening scenes of different opening films. I will be looking at a number of different films and why do they use the stereotypes, camera shots and lighting which they do. These will give me ideas for when it comes to making my opening scene for my coursework.

He's just not into you

Presentation's link is below:

As this film has a female voiceover describing what is happening, this will be a great film to use in our research how films use voiceovers as we want to include on in our production. As a young girl is the first stereotype, this is an example of the stereotype of love I want to use in my production.

Tangled

 

I will be looking at the opening scene from the film Tangled which was created by Walt Disney. This film was created in 2011. It came in the Top 20 in 2011 and came 13th with a box office gross of £20.47 million in 445 cinema due to Rentrak. 



Poster of Flynn Rider

The start of the film opens up to this scene of a poster of a man named Flynn Rider. We connote from this that he will be a main character of the story. While this scene is on, we hear his voice telling us the story a princess during the whole opening scene. This is non-diegetic sound as we have a voice over. The setting of the poster in the woods connote that Flynn could be hiding as he is wanted and that is also could connote why we don't see him. As he talks to us, we watch the long shot of the poster and we zoom in to it as we hear Flynn talking. from the story he is telling, I tell that this film is going to be a fairy tale.

The Kingdom

 While we still hear the non diegetic sound of Flynn's voice, we zoom to an island which connotes that it is will be one of the main settings for the film. We watch the kingdom grow and the island develop which connotes time passing by. We watch the kingdom and island grow from a long shot which shows all of the island and not just parts of the island in detail as it is the start of the film and we will see the island in close up when we are watching the film. This makes the viewers want to watch the film so they see the island in detail. The lighting in this scene is bright show that this kingdom is joyful.

The king worried about his wife

The music when we zoom on this shot is joyful until we come to the shot of the king and queen’s painting in a close up shot then a pan over the  queen in her bed as she is ‘really sick’. We see her husband the king at her side with a worried face as we cut to a close up. This could connote that he wants to be there for her and as he loves her, he is worried what could happen as she is about to have a baby. The close up of the baby could also show that the king and the knights and staff behind him are worried about her and the baby. Their costume also show that they are royal as they are wearing gold and a crown which shows that they are rich and their power over the kingdom.

Witch hiding flower

We cut to an old woman wearing a purple cloak and carrying a green light. This is to connote that she is evil and only uses the flower for its power to heal to sick and make her young forever. Green and purple connote that she may be a witch as a stereotype witch wears these colours. As the queen is sick, the kingdom is looking for the flower. She hides the flower with a handmade bush so they don’t find the flower while she can still use its powers to heal. The music turns from a dark unsettling sound into a dark magical sound to connote that she is magical. Once the knights have taken the flower, she is watching from a distance in the dark which connotes that she is an evil witch and she wants to get the flower back as they are taking it from her.



King, Queen and Princess

This is a reverse cut of the kit and queen after we have cut from the evil witch. Everyone in this shot is smiling which can connote that there lives are getting better from the queens illness. The light in this scene shows everything is joyful again. Most Disney films use really bright lighting to show who is the good side and who is the evil side. This is because they have viewing to loads of different ages and they need to change the film so everyone can understand this. This film has also done this by making sure Flynn rider talks in a comedic way and feel like he is a friend due to the way he is talking to us. As one of each of the king's and queen's hand are on the lantern, this could connote that they are both equally in power of the kingdom and are both equal to looking after the princess. As we trace the lantern, this connotes that the lantern will be an important prop in the story. This may be because it symbolizes light and the kingdom due to its flower which is the kingdom's symbol.



Princess' magical hair

Then we cut into a dark room which is the king's and queen's bedroom and have an eye view of the baby princess. This could connote that we need to know the importance of the princess' hair and her. It also shows that she will be a min character of the film. As we have a close up of the magical hair in mid shot, this connotes that the hair is also important and that people what to cut it. Then we cut to the witch which we saw earlier. We have a close up of her face with the light from the hair on her face. This could connote that until now we need to know her face in detail and also that she will be another main character in the film. We go back to the princess' magical hair and watch the witch cut a small part. During this cut, we watch the magical hair lose its power. This is an important shot as we need to know this for the story line and Flynn rider is telling us what we need to know so when the rest of the film starts, we know that we need to know. This is because the viewers are at different ages and the information we need to know will help younger viewers understand the film.

Witch stole the baby

After the witch has cut the princess' hair, we hear the princess crying which is non-diegetic sound as we cut to the king and queen realising that something is wrong. This connotes to the parent's instant worry they have. We see the worry and panic in their faces as they realise what is happening. We cut to the witch stealing the baby at the window. Before she goes, she shows her face which could connote that she wants to be know to the king and queen as they stole her flower so she is going to steal the princess' magical power which she received from the power of the flower making her mother better. The setting is also dark to connote that its night with the moon in the background of the witch to show stereotype that most of the evil things of the world happen at night. Plus it also shows the personality of the witch as she is a dark and mysterious person.

We then go to the title of the film which is then set in a bright light setting to show that its not all dark and gloom anymore.

 

This is a good film for my research as we have background information which I want to included in my production. As this film as a different character who is on shot for the voice over makes the target market think who this person is. I want to keep the same actor's voice over with the same actor who is on set. This is because I don't want my target market to be confused.

Splash

Presentation's link is below:

This opening scene is great to use as a resource of our production as the children meet up and fall in love in that first sight of each other. As this is what we want to include in our production, we will see how they used to create the scene with music and try to use this in our production.

 

Target Market

For our media production, we sent out questionnaires out to different people to fill in. This is one below which has been filled out:

 

 

 

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