Conventions of an Opening Sequence

Institutional Logo:

Every film has an institutional logo to show how famous and rich the film would be. It doesn't mean it's going to be good but it shows that it's going to have a huge impact on the filming industry. Also, it helps the audience identify a movie, so if they watch a movie that they love and think is brilliant, they will know that others movie's from the same company are going to be good.

  
Title:

Many opening sequences include titles to let the audience know what they're watching. It is also used to hint at what the genre could be. For example, the font could be silver and shiny to represent a science fiction movie or the font could be red and have drips to imply it is a horror.

  
Credits: 

This is a simple but effective way to let the audience know who is going to be in the film. This lets them know just by writing the names on the screen within the opening sequence. This is another way to let the audience know what genre the film is going to be and who is going to be in it. For example, if Jack Black was shown, it would be a comedy. 

Intro to Characters:

They would show a shot of a character in the movie to create tension and to show how good the film is going to be depending on the popularity of the actor.

Narrative Enigma:

This is when there is a mystery in the opening sequence and it doesn't tell you everything, leaving you intrigued and wanting to find out more therefore you watch the film. For example, at the start of ‘Zombieland’ the voice-over doesn’t tell you how the virus started, he just tells you rules on how to survive the virus.

  

Colours:

Colours help you understand more about the genre of the movie because each colour has a specific symbolisation for it. For example, red signifies blood, death and danger whereas green signifies nature, freedom and jealousy.


Sound:

Sound is another main convention because the type of music sets the mood of the genre. For example, in Jaws the music "da DA da DA" is sharp and scary so you can tell it's going to be jumpy/scary and it helps the audience identify and be more on the edge of their set when they are watching it. Also, because it is so bold and repetitive, mostly everyone knows it and when they think of sharks they always hear the theme tune (well i do anyway!)


Linear Narrative/Non-Linear Narrative:

Linear narrative is when the film goes in order and it makes sense to the 

audience so they feel comfortable watching however non-linear narrative is when the movie starts from the ending, for example..in Hangover and Hangover 2 it starts of with the audience not knowing what happened and then the characters gradually find out what they did the night before to make the movie make sense.

Research into Genre

The genre that my group have decided on is Crime - Thriller. We thought this would be interesting and fun to work on because it is such a wide subject. Furthermore we thought it would be challenging and it would help us improve on our ideas and expand our imagination when it comes to this topic.

Conventions of this genre:

Colours:
Colours we thought that would suit this genre are:

• Red = Blood, murder, death, danger, love and these are the main things that would be included in this genre.
• Black = Death, murder, mysterious, powerful, bold, masculine, dark, shadowy and these are included in this genre.
• Silver = shiny, technology, futuristic and these are the type of things that are also included for example, knives, tracking devices if someone is being followed.
• Yellow = eery, fun, hazards, bright, fire. I thought this are also suitable for this genre because they are included in these types of films. For example, the police tape at murder scenes are yellow or fires that someone has caused are bright.

Locations:

This is why I like this type of genre because it can be set anywhere. However, in films it is mainly set where it is quiet and not public so no one could find out or it could be right under peoples noses so the victims have a chance to escape. This is good for the audience because they then have a sense of freedom and victory because the victim is going to stay alive.

Props:

Props are good for these films because when they use them, the audience associate it with a character. For example, in the movie Scream, the villain always has a mask that is noticeable and has a long mouth so we know it's him.

Characters:

Most of the actors have their specific genre that they always suit. For example, Bruce Willis is mainly in action films hence why he's been inDie Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengeance and Die Hard 4.0.This proves that he suits this role and the audience like him therefore they keep watching all the movies. this is also the same for Harry Potter, as he has made 7 movies and the audience like it because they can watch him grow as a character.







Themes:The general themes of this particular genre are normally something creepy and mysterious. For example, something like murder or somebody getting stalked. This creates the audience to feel drawn to the film because they want to know about the storyline and whats going to happen. Furthermore, revenge could be included in this and the plot could be a character getting someone back in their own deluded way. This helps the audience to know what is happening and give them an idea of whats going on within the movie.

Why the audience enjoy this genre:The audience enjoy this genre because it includes most crimes that happen everyday therefore the audience have some experience on it even if they haven't actual experienced it themselves. It puts the audience at ease because they know what it's going to contain so if they are scared or bored they already know what theyre going to watch. However, this could sometimes ruin the movie so they have to keep them on their toes at all times. 

Famous Examples of this specific genre:

• Chronicle
• Spider-Man
• The Woman in Black
• The Bourne Legacy

These are main examples of this type of genre because they contain each of the elements that I have discussed for example, the location of The Woman In Black is a small village and a deserted-creepy house. This allows the audience to know when something bad is going to happen when the characters go to the stereo-typical locations.

 

Preliminary Task Evaulation

How did the filming go?

The filming went good...We each had a role in the group so the work was evened out. We each had a go and we enjoyed it. We included each of the elements that were asked and we were able to do so, also we filmed the same scene a couple of times to make sure that we got the best angles. However, we had some difficulty with the tripod allowing us not to move the camera smoothly but we worked around this and got our shots to our standards.

How did the editing go?

We each had input into the editing and we finished it, we didn't argue and we agreed with eachothers comments and took notice of what each of us said. Using the computers was fairly simple because we had some experience on them before, we did need some help here and there from the teachers but it wasn't anything major and it was only to show us an example of what we wanted to do.

Problems we encountered?

We didnt have a full group all the time so we had to rely on the rest of the group to get it finished however we successfully finished it in time for the deadline. This affected the group because people were getting annoyed and we didn't work as a group at first but we each realised how important it is so we knuckled down and got the work done.

Strengths of the task?

We each had our own input and ideas within the task and we successfully completed it. Our ideas were simple but effective allowing us to complete it to the standards that we wanted. We each had some experiences of the camera and the computer for editing which helped us get our task done quicker to complete the task.

Weaknesses of the task?

Because some of us weren't there for every time we did some filming/editing...we couldnt take on board what they wanted to say and have all of their input into the task. This annoyed people who were here doing the work and caused friction within the group however we ignored this and got on with what we had to do and the missing group members caught up on the work when they were available.

What you will remember to do the same next time?

Have the actors ready and to know when they're free so we are ready to film and we don't fall behind in our tasks. Also, we will plan everything that we want before filming so we know what to do and not get stuck with any ideas that we haven't thought of making us fall behind.

What will you remember to do differently next time?

I will know the exact times the everyone is free for filming and editing so not just two of us have what we want in the video and not the rest of the group. Also, we will plan out what our clip will be about so we don't get stuck on what to film.

Preliminary Task Video

This is my preliminary task video.