Film Opening - Final Product

Our final film opening with the final changes to contrast and brightness.

Film Opening - Pre-Contrast/Brightness Changes

Our final film opening without the final changes to contrast and brightness made as I  decided after this was uploaded that I needed to make final changes to contrast and brightness levels to brighten up some of the more boring scenes.

Film Opening - Planning

Our main, end of year media task is to produce a film opening for one of the following genres

• A "relationship" comedy/drama made by an independent production company, aimed at young adults.
• Science fiction British adult audience.
• A mainstream action film that will appeal to both 15-25 year old males and females, based on a comic book. (The comic can be either real or fake as long as it has not already been made into a film of course)
• A film that is based on real event from the last 10 years, that appears to be independently funded.

We are allowed to do pretty much anything we like as long as it fits within one of these genres, here are our ideas for each of the genres

1.We tried to of different story lines for this genre rather than stick to the common RomCom convention of 'Boy meets girl...' For example I proposed the idea of a bromance themed film similar to 'I Love You Man' (possibly the funniest film in the world). We also discussed the idea of a relationship between gay people or even the relationship between an owner and his/her pet. We're trying to be different and expand the relationships genre by thinking outside of the box.

2.Although we wanted to be seen as different when presenting our film opening we wanted, with this genre to take this subject extremely literally by using stereotypes, codes and conventions to show things such as space and technology. We would like to focus on something related to either aliens, space or time travel as we think this would make an interesting and exciting film opening. We would have to seriously consider our settings and costumes to make our genre choice as obvious as possible and to make our story line clear if we were to choose this genre. 

3.When we thought of action within comic-adapted media I immediately thought of the old Batman series with Adam West, I suggested we could include creativity into the film opening by making our own sound signs of things saying "pow" and "wham" in a sort of pop art technique. We then started to think about using stop motion and create a comic book sort of layout or have scenes with comic book images in to give you the retro action superhero feel. Imogen being a Psychology student thought back to something she learnt about Dissociative Identity Disorder/DID (formerly know as Multi-Personality Disorder/MPD) and suggested we could create a typical comic book superhero with a twist, he has DID and is also the villain but doesn't know, however she later told us about something else she learnt about, The Three Faces of Eve, in which a woman, Eve had multiple personalities some of which knew about the others. We decided that if we picked this topic our hero would also be our villain but only the villainous personality would know about the disorder. We haven't thought much into the powers or names of the villain or  the hero but we can decide this at a later date. We have to try to make this so that it isn't at all funny as it could be seen as mocking DID and people with DID.

4.We like this genre as we have thought of a lot of story lines and techniques we could use to present scenes and can even indicate that flashbacks happen. The story line we have came up with is an ex mental patient who had a diary during her time in her ward. If we choose this genre we'll use an inner-monologue to make a personal connection to the audience as she tells her story. We then want to include cut away shots of the scenes she is talking about which had previously happened in her ward to give the impression that she is having flashbacks and is often thinking about the events that took place during her time on the ward. We'll also have a councilor character so that we can see the events from two perspectives.

Analysis - Comic Adapted Action Films

We were mostly leaning towards the RomCom and Action (Comic Adapted) genres so have analyzed these genres to a greater extent than Real Life and Sci-fi

Comic themed films are often films based on real comics and graphic novels. It is common for these films to be based on superhero comics such as Iron Man, Spiderman, Xmen etc. However lots of comic themed films aren't superhero based for example Alien Vs Predator, Surrogates, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (based off of 6 awesome graphic novels) etc.

I honestly had no idea that Surrogates was based on a comic, but it's a pretty cool film.

Comic book films based from superhero comics often use a similar narrative: A normal guy lives a normal life (usually). Something happens for him to have some sort of power(s). A villain or criminal arises, creating havoc over the main protagonist's home town. The protagonist triumphs over the criminal and he's sent to prison (or in some cases is killed by the main protagonist). However comic adapted films which aren't superhero themed do not follow any particular narrative ie The Mask, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Sin City and 300 have no formulating pattern in their narratives.

Comic adapted superhero films are often set in real life places such as New York (Spiderman) or Kansas (Superman) however certain comic adapted films are set in fictional cities such as Gotham (Batman)

In superhero movies such as Superman, Batman, Iron man, Spiderman etc the audience first get a preview into their normal life, ie in the first Spiderman film we see a nerdy Peter Parker living his remarkably average life, we also get a feeling that there's something wrong, he lives wit his aunt an uncle which gives the impression that his parents are gone/dead which makes us feel sorry for and get closer to him, the more the audience like the protagonist the more we want to see him succeed. A similar thing happens in most superhero films.

Analysis - Romantic Comedies

RomComs are the love child produced when romance and comedy made disgusting love to each other in the 1920s, I wont go into detail but Romantic Comedies/ RomComs/ Romedies were the result. Romance stories generally emerge and are presented in the way that a comedy film would be presented

The narrative of a RomCom is a typical three part structure. A boy and a girl will meet, and for some reason, they will be torn apart. Throughout the film, they will realise that they are meant to be together, and try and back to each other. In the resolution of the film, although it might not be a happy on, the characters will meet again and work out went wrong between them. Throughout the film, there will be an implied theme of true love conquering all barriers. 

The audience must be able to connect with, and relate to, the characters in a romantic comedy. They need to be likeable and down to earth, so that the audience support them ans their relationship. We are usually introduced to the best friends, and maybe some family members, of the two main characters. Although they are there to offer their support, they are usually the main source of humour in the film.

Horror films tend to have a score, where music (e.g. orchestra) is used instead of songs. In romcoms, there will only usually be songs used. The songs that are used in the film will usually be well known pop songs, so that the audience can recognise them easily. They must relate to the story being told in the film. The songs can even assist in the story-telling process. 

Romantic Comedies are commonly set in big, well known cities such as New York, Paris or London, this is done because these cities are quite well known as romantic settings which helps to set the theme of the film very early on. They also do this so that whether people have been to these places or not they can recognise the places from memories or from other media such as television and feel comfortable watching a film set there.

 

Film Opening - Brief

• A "relationship" comedy/drama made by an independent production company, aimed at young adults.
• Science fiction British adult audience.
• A mainstream action film that will appeal to both 15-25 year old males and females, based on a comic book. (The comic can be either real or fake as long as it has not already been made into a film of course)
• A film that is based on real event from the last 10 years, that appears to be independently funded.