Initial film

Peer assessment

Josh achieved a level 3 because he used a range of genre conventions and codes and used key terminology such as identifying cliches, camera angles, characters etc.

Josh's target is to make links between films and identify a wider variety of techniques and their effects.

Analysis of The Notebook opening scene

At the very beggining of the scene, the first thing that happens is the music begins to play. The music is smooth and mellow and creates a calm atmosphere. The first thing presented to us visually is the opening credits. The actors name - Ryan Gosling, appears in the bottom left hand side, it has been placed there so that it doesnt distract you from the shot of a lake on the screen at the same time. The establishing shot of the lake is the first camera work that is shown. This shot includes a sunset, reflecting on the surface of the water. This makes the scene look peaceful and gives the audience member a sense of warmth and happiness. The credits continue to show in the bottom left hand side, followed by the title of the film which appears over a new camera shot. The second shot is a close up of the man rowing his boat, which you see from a distance in the first shot. In this second shot the sunset is still an overpowering factor and its colour is what sets the mood. The next shot follows the man in his boat, the man is a silhouette on the red sky. This makes the shot look slightly mysterious as you are not yet introduced to the characters face and the warm colours like orange and red can be associated with love which is the main theme of the film. This shot fades out for the following shot to come in, these shots are all solely lit by the sun reflecting off the water which helps in setting the romantic mood. Another shot is taken of the rower, however this time it is side on whilst he rows, this allows audience members to see what he is doing. The shot is supported my the motion in the water, the continual movement of the water indicates a journey, but then the next shot views the man from a distance, and the joureny becomes unclear as you can see for a long time either side of him. At this point the credits switch to the bottom right hand side of the screen. The next shot to be taken includes the sunset in the distance. The left side of the frame is dark and black compared to the right side which is full of colour.This shot has been taken to allow the audience to see where the man is because it is difficult due to the lighting and positioning of the sun. Within the next shot, birds are shown flying near the man, the birds may represent freedom, much like what the man has, alone in the water. They fly from left to right, slowly and gracefully, they take there time, as does the man in the boat. The next frame shows birds flying across a house in the background. There has now been a link indicated between the man and the house. The next shot is a follow up of a woman who is looking out to the water and seeing the birds fly her way. A shot is taken of the woman through the window of the house, followed by a close up where you are able to see what she is doing, this is where you see that she is looking across the water. It gives audience members the impression that she waiting for the man in the water, or that she is looking for him. The font used in the opening credits is small and curved, it is a gentle font which will not distract the audience from what is actually taking place on the screen. All of the shots last for a long time, this has been done to create a slow atmosphere, it matches the fact that the man is obviously in no rush. The slowness effectively changes the way that audience members interpret what is occuring in the opening scene.

Romance cliche / codes and conventions

Romance Cliches

• Kissing in the rain
• Enemies become lovers
• Boy meets girl
• Characters are very attractive
• Male characters are like Prince Charming and end up rescuing the damsel in destress
• There is usually a wedding
• The girl usually has a protective father
• She has friends who are gossips
• There is often a gay neighbour

Codes and Conventions

1.Audience: Aimed at female audience.

2.12 – 15 certificate to maximise the audience

3.A typical romance genre would include sexuality, status, gender and relationships.

4.Narrative: falling in love, dating, kissing

5.Often a voiceover is used to introduce the love theme

6.Main characters are introduced – attractive female and male

7.Setting: they are normally set in an urban environment, a beach, a school etc, places where a chance encounter would happen.

8.When a romance film opens, it is likely that much of the setting will be shown to the audience from the use of establishing shots and wide shots showing characters and much of the setting and area behind them.

28 Weeks Later - Opening scene

The beggining of 28 Weeks Later has an electronic soundtrack which crescendos and builds up in correlation with the action. When the sequence is in full play, the music speeds up to accompany and accelerate the action. These techniques raise suspense in thhe audience and keep them on the edge of their seats.

The title and credits of the film are bothe written in small basic white font against a blackbackground.Both of theseonly appear for a few seconds, whichis long enough for the audience to absorb the information, but not so long that they become bored.Theuse of these colouras is well thought through as they both heavily contrast eachother. The small white font almost looks like it is beiung swallowed up by the black background and the colour white has connotations of purity compared to the evilness associated with the colour black. This could be related to the context of the film as it may represent how the humans must struggle against the infected, it is effective as the audience member may begin to feel insignificant and understand the hopelessness in trying to fight the infection.

The opening sequence uses a variety of sound effects. They very beggining of the film is without a soundtrack, however there are sound effects present, such as the rustling opf newspaper and the sound of glass knocking together gently. These are not irregular sounds, so they wouldn't phase the audience, however it is effective in lulling them into a false sense of security and the silence is effective as it raises tension and suspence.

In the opening scene we are introduced to six different characters with completely different personalities. For example there is an old couple who own the cottage and are supposed to be very sweet and caring and a scepticaland sarcastic man, who has all but given up. The effect of having so many characters at this point in time, is so that the audience can find one character they can relate to and want to succeed.

Target audience for horror films

The usual age for someone watching ahorror movie is between15 and 25. During young adulthood they are in the key stages of developing themselves and learning about the world, they are keen to experience new emotions and feelings. Horror films to generate a sense of thrill and exitement, which is more easily obtained from a young person than an older one.The younger audience are also less susceptible to being put off the film by violence or unnatural images which may make older audience feel negative towards the film.

Males are more likely to be interested in horror films than females. This is because a lot of the contents of horror films such as violence and gore suit the male stereotype aswell as the eagerness to take part in thrilling experiences.

Overall horror films are aimed art the working class community. This is also due to the level of thrill and exitement which is gained from a horror film at a relatively cheap price. If higher classes choose to watch horror films they are usually sub genre with another genre such as romance or action. This is due to the higher level of satisfaction middle class individuals seek when watching a film.

The audiences at horror films are often groups of friends. However they are also popular for couples. This could be because it is a chance for a male to act tough infront of a female and the comfort needed after watching a horror film could be satisfactory in making a date successful.

Conventions of the horror genre

Horror films are designed to:

•  Cause dread &alarm
•  Evoke our hidden worst fears
•  Captivate & entertain us in a liberating experience
•  Often conclude in a terrifying shocking finale
• frighten and panic

Depending on the audience watching horror can create different types of fear:

• Vulnerability
• Terror of the unknown
• Nightmares
• Alienation
• Revulsions

Settings:

• Urban environments
• Dark streets
• Narrow alleyways
• Small communities or iscolated places

Anything that connote isolation or being alone. Often, sometimes places with ‘dark’ history, like abandoned houses, hotels and insane asylums.

Locations for any good horror genre film could be:

•  Abandoned houses
•  Barnes and farms
• Cities
• Cabins
• Creepy hotels
• Graveyards
• Pirate ships
• Basements
• Hunting places

Character types:

• The main protagonist, often the ‘victim/hero’ of the movie.        
• The villain, often a monster, mutated freak, alien or serial killer – tend to have a trademark characteristic as to how they kill (e.g. weapons and who they kill)
• The stupid/immoral teenagers that always get killed
•  Creepy children
• Police officers (either good or bad)
• Many others: Ghosts, zombies, demons, psychopath, stalker, weirdo, werewolf, cheerleader.

Themes:

• Good vs Evil
• Depression
•  Religion
• Childhood issues
• Revenge
• Supernatural
•  Beyond death
•  Science gone bad
•  Zombie Apocalypse 
•  Nightmares
• Madness
• Insanity
• Lust
• Envy
• Suicide
• ‘self-consciousness’ – making you question what is real and not.

 

The Dark Knight

Released:	25th July 2008
Genre:	Action
Price:	A
Estimated box office:	£20,000,000
Director:	Christopher Nolan
Film cast:	Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman
Certificate:	12A
Distributor:	Warner Brothers
The Story:	Sequel to "BATMAN BEGINS" (2005) directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale.

 

Set within a year after the events of Batman Begins, Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new district attorney Harvey Dent successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City until a mysterious and sadistic criminal mastermind known only as the Joker appears in Gotham, creating a new wave of chaos. Batman's struggle against the Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to "confront everything he believes" and improve his technology to stop him. A love triangle develops between Bruce Wayne, Dent and Rachel Dawes.

 

 



Typical target audience member of an action film.

The typical rating for an action film is a 12-15 certificate, this means that youth audiences are able to watch action films. Studios include themes, recognisable settings and action stars that would attract a youth audiencs. For example, the setting of an actioon film is often in a city like London or New York; Action stars may be Bruce Willis, Daniel Craig and Matt Damon. Action films are fast paced with tense music and feature lots of explosions and fights. A youth audience would like to see fights, explosions, gunshots, death and car chases. The audience would engage with this genre because it would entertain them and let them escape from their daily life. Also, teenagers like fighting and adventure computer games so an action film would appeal to them.

Codes and Conventions

1. More narrative action codes - enigma codes - puzzles
2. Clear binary oppositions – good versus evil, hero versus villain
3. Star Marketing: Audience identification/expectations (Cruise/Pitt/Willis/Thurman/Jolie/Stallone/Craig/
4.     SchwarzeneggeDi Caprio…).
5. Romantic sub-plot, humorous dialogue
6. Relationships with new technology (youth audiences)
7. Use of close up of the villains face, which is often masked. Establishing shot of the setting where the action will take place.
8. Fast paced editing
9. Sound - diegetic sound of gunshots and explosins. Dialogue has a foreign accent. Non-diegetic sound - tense music to match the action.
10. Setting- usually takes place in a busy city where the public could get hurt.

Typical cliches in the action genre are: A psycho with an eye patch is good, especially if he's a one-eyed giant with a machete. Nobody drives a car in action films: off-road vehicles only.