Juno

The next film opening from the social realism genre i am going to analyse is Juno.

The first thing that comes to our attention when watching the opening sequence for Juno is the music....... Its a happy, jolly folk type song, it sets the tone of the film so from the beginning we can tell the film is going to be light hearted and funny even if it is about a serious topic.
The music also helps to keep the fast pace of the intro.

The opening sequence of this film doesn't give much away as its just focuses on a character walking with a milk carton (and we know this can't be the main focus of the film) but as i said earlier it really helps to set the tone of the film and give us a feel for it.

This film opening is quite different to many other openings because it turns the sequence in to a cartoon. This gives us the impression that the film is 'fun'.

The opening sequence uses lots of different types of shots and techniques and is constantly switching between them quickly. Some examples are: Tracking, Long shots, Zooming in and out, Close ups, Birds eye view.

The whole of the sequence focuses on the girl walking, because its primarily focused on this one girl this leads us to believe that she is the main character. She is dressed in scruffy clothing thats not particularly girly (hoodie and jeans) and her walk and stance is not particularly girly either this leads the audience to think maybe she's a 'tomboy'.
Her clothes and walk give us the impression that maybe its the morning and she's only just got up.
At the end of the clip she just throws the milk carton away and this makes us think she's got a 'can't be bothered' attitude.

Visual style: Her red hoodie makes her stand out from the background. The background colours are dull mainly beige and dull pale blues are used.

The most important think to notice from this clip i think is that the girl is the main and only focus and this suggests to the audience the film is going to revolve around her without many other characters.

Fish Tank

We have been set the task to analyse two film openings from our chosen genre. I have chosen social realism so i will be looking at two films from that genre.

The first film i am going to look at is Fish Tank.

This is a long clip so i only analysed 2 minutes 30 seconds, because i thought that the rest of the clip wasn't so much of an opening sequence and therefor not appropriate for the task.

 Titles- The font is small and simple, the letters are all in capital and aligned in a box shape, this reflects the name of the film 'Fish Tank', its almost like the words have been squished in to a actual 'Fish Tank'. The text is white which contrasts on the black background, these colours are dull, done before and simple.
The title lasts for around five seconds and a deep breathing sound is played over the top.

Characters- We first see a young girl aged from around 16-18 she seems to be out of breath, She is dressed in sports wear. She looks quite scruffy, she is wearing large hoop earrings and dark eye makeup.
When the girl first speaks she uses a lot of slang and swear words, this gives us the impression she's rude and the language she uses makes us think that maybe she's from a low income family.
About half way in to the opening sequence we meet some more characters briefly, three young girls, 'Tyler' and her two friends, They are probably aged around twelve. They are dressed in skimpy outfits trying to look older than they actually are.
The main girl (Mia) throws a stone at one of the flat windows. This shows she's rebellious and has no regard for other peoples property.
We then see a older man who we assume is her friends dad or maybe step-dad, he responds to her with violent language. All of this portrays her neighbourhood as 'rough'.

Location- Not long from the beginning of the sequence we are shown a establishing shot of the location from a window of a flat. Immediately we can guess that the film is shot on a council estate because of the tightly packed houses we can see and the loud shouting noises we can hear outside the window.
The next location we see is the outside of the flats on the estate, the girl is now wearing matching grey tracksuit bottoms and hoodie. This type of clothing is stereotypically worn by someone who's 'chavvy', 'lazy' and a bit 'slob' like. However this type of clothing is often worn a lot for sporting activities.
We can also see more of the surroundings in this clip. Some young girls are sun bathing on the grass, we can see a park and some very tall buildings/flats. The buildings are dirty and dark. However they have been painted with a bright turquoise colour, this maybe done to make the area seem brighter, happier and more modern.

Lighting- At the beginning of the clip the lighting on the actress is dark so we can't see her in great detail yet, maybe this is so the audience does not know everything about the character yet.

Sound- There is no backing track or music in the background however there is background sound of the environment and surroundings on location this suits the codes and conventions of the genre social realism, all of this makes the film seem more realistic and relatable.

Production logos- The beginning of the film has lots of production logos (four to be precise). Some of these contain background music some don't.

Our chosen genre....... Social Realism!

My group and i have finally decided that the genre we want to focus on for our film opening is social realism!
We have chosen this genre because we think its the most practical for the task. Its cheap to make, there is no need for extravagant location, props and costume. And actors have to be non professional, realistic and believable and this is easy to achieve.

Here is some more information on the genre social realism......

Social realism is a film that focuses on the different issues that represent the modern society.

Social realism conventions
-Realistic settings
-Realistic events and situations
-Believable filming technique
-Hard luck
-Economic hardship
-Life struggles e.g. Broken families, drugs, drink, relationships, unemployment etc.
-Gritty style
-Location shooting (not studio) - Social realism films are filmed on actual, real life locations such as parks and council estates. By using locations like this it makes the film seem more true to real life, and therefor the audience can believe in the film and relate to it.
-Wide shots - This is done so the audience get a good understanding of whats going on, or where the setting is and they are able to use these wide shots because of the fact the do shooting on location not in a studio.
-Semi improvised scripts - This is done in order to achieve realistic dialogue.
-Humour and seriousness
-Non professional actors - Or unknown actors are used because it adds reality to the film, as an audience we can build our own judgements on the characters. Also most social realism films have a very small budget and using un professional or unknown actors is cheaper.

Drama!

The next genre I am interested in using in my film opening is.......
Drama! Drama is a genre that relies on the emotions and relationships that develop with the realistic characters. While drama relies heavily on this kind of development, dramatic themes also play a large part in the plot as well. 
Often these dramatic themes are taken from intense, real life issues. Whether heroes or heroines are facing a conflict from the outside or a conflict with themselves drama aims to tell an honest story of the struggles humans face.

Because the features of dramas are so commonly used there are many sub-genres here are some examples.

Sub-genres:
-Crime Drama and legal drama: Character development based on themes involving criminals, law enforcement and the legal system.
-Historical drama: Films that focus on dramatic events in history.
-Docudrama: Professionally trained actors are used to play the roles in a current event, that is 'dramatised' a bit.
-Psychodrama
-Comedy drama or dramady: Is in which there is a equal amount of humour and serious content.
-Melodrama: Uses plots that appeal to heightened emotions of the audience. Melodramatic plots often deal with crises of human emotion, failed romance or friendship, tragedy, illness and emotional and physical hardship.
-Romance: dramatic film that dwells on the elements of romantic love.
-Tragedy: A drama in which a characters downfall is caused by a flaw in their character or by a major error in judgement. 

Because the drama genre is so broad many camera shots/ techniques are used however typically i think establishing shots are used quite often especially in a historical drama, this is because these types of films are often filmed in famous or much loved areas. Also establishing shots are important when the film resolves around its surroundings.
From the dramas that i have watched i have noticed that usually these films involve large casts and therefor the films tend to have many characters. this means long and medium shots must be used when filming a scene involving them all.

examples:

Action!

I have been focusing on 3 specific genres, these genres are the ones that i am most interested in using for my film opening.
The first genre i have been researching is action! Etty and i created a presentation on the genre action here it is.....

Films and their Genres!

We have been looking into film genres to help us decide what genre to focus on when filming our film openings.

Here are some of the main ones that we have been looking at.....

Science fiction/Alien films

-Features a creature from another world                     -TA (target audience) mainly males aged 15+
-Ruthless killers                                                          -Graphic violence and supernatural horror
-Dramatic moments and scares                                   -Vulnerable characters
-Conflict between characters/races                             -Main character usually survives
-Often don't see what character looks like                
 until the end or climax. However we are shown
 close ups of the monster etc.

Camera work- Extreme close ups, special effects (CGI),
Sound-Tense dramatic music, sound effects

Examples:

Romance Films

Romance films can be defined as a genre where in the plot revolves around the love between two people. A issue is usually explored within love, including; love at first sight, forbidden love, love triangles, sacrificial love. The tone of a romance film can vary greatly. wheather the end is happy or tragic, Romance films aim to evoke strong emotions in the audience.

-Primary focus is on relationship
-The majority of romantic films have satisfying or optimistic endings, however this is not always the case for example in romantic tragedies.

Examples: 

Comedy

Comedy is a genre of film that uses humour as its driving force. The aim of a comedy film is to illicit laughter from the audience through entertaining stories and characters. Although the comedy film may take on some serious material, most have a happy ending.
Comedy film has the tendency to become a hybrid sub genre because humour can be incorporated into many other genres.

Features:
- Light hearted
- Light costume
- Exaggerated situations

There are different sub genres of comedy here are some of the many:
- Black comedy: Deals with disturbing subjects such as death drugs and war.
- Cringe comedy: A comedy of embarrassment, in which the humour comes from inappropriate actions or words.
- Spoof comedy: The recreating of a book, film or play for humour it can be used to make fun of or ridicule a certain production.

Examples:

Thriller

Thriller is a genre that revolves around anticipation and suspense. The aim is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. Thriller films are often set against a problem- an escape, a mission, or a mystery. It emphasises the danger that the actor/actress faces. The tension with the main problem is built through out the film and leads to a highly stressful climax.

Some sub-genres are:

- Action thriller 

- Crime thriller

- Film-Noir

-Psychological thriller

- Science fiction thriller

- Religious thriller

Examples:

Evaluation!

We have finally finished filming and editing, and our preliminary task is complete! I am happy with its outcome however there were many difficult obsticles we had to over come on the way! Such as......

-We had awful time trying to get the clips from the camera on to the school computer and whenever we succeeded on getting them downloaded we would arrive the next day to find them gone again!
But we over came this by doing the editing at home that way we were sure that our work was safe!

-It was quite tricky trying to find music that suited our scene as its quite a specific theme. But after hours of searching we finally found something that fit!

-Finding time to film was quite difficult because the actors only had certain times that they were free and these times didn't fit with when we were free. So we decided to film after school instead that way we all had a unlimited time and weren't in the way of any other classes that needed to use the mobiles.

-Also some of the transitions between clips are not as smooth as I would like them to have been.
To improve the transitions, next time we need to leave space at the end of everything we film so we can edit the appropriate timings etc.

My Preliminary Task!

Filming!

The location and our actors (Luke Shields and George Collins)

 Laminated photos of the unknown crime!













Me filming a over the shoulder shot of the two actors (Below).

Preparation!

 This is my story board that I have created for the preliminary task. It includes all the shots that we would like to use in the scene.
Such as...
-Extreme close up shot
-High angle shot
-Low angle shot
-Close up shot
-Medium shot
We would also like to incorporate camera techniques like tracking, panning and tilting.

 This is the script Etty and I created that will be used in the task.

We finally decided on our location (the school mobiles). In order to use the mobile we had to get permission from Mr Cook. We contacted him via email (to the left is our email conversation regarding permission to use the mobiles).

Instead of him emailing back he arranged for us to have a small conversation with him later that day about the terms and conditions of using the mobiles.

Planning the preliminary task!

Here is the mind map I have created for my preliminary task. It includes all the key ideas needed to carry out the task.