G321 - Film Opening Analysis - Science Fiction/ Thriller: Children of Men

Children of Men (2006)

The opening sequence of this film begins with the revealing of the "Universal" institution logo. This would have been a deliberate choice made by the production company so as to present the audience with an idea of the standard of the film due to Universal's popularity and success within the film industry. However, unusually, the Universal theme sound is not used during the reveal of the logo. This complements the genre of the film and causes the audience to be unsuspecting of what is to follow. The second institution revealed is "Strike", a smaller, independent company that use Universal to distribute their films. The animation of the red, spiky shapes converging to reveal the title hints towards the thriller aspect of the film, therefore foreshadowing the narrative of the film.

From the opening of the film it first seems as though the genre of the film is to be science fiction/ action. This is due to the cold told created by the blue colour palette. The bold, block titles also mirror this genre, appearing to be strong and connoting power. However, the explosion followed by the woman walking out of the coffee shop holding her own arm which has been blown off causes the viewer to see the film as a thriller rather than an action film. However, the futuristic appearance of the city still rectifies that the film will be science fiction.



The advertising poster for the film reiterates
the target audience as being young men.

The targeted audience of the film appears to be men between the ages of 17 and 35 due to the use of explosions within the first few minutes of the film as this connotes that the film will contain lots of action and would therefore appeal more to young men. It also comes across that the film would be targeted at the middle class as it appears to be a film which would be better suited to showing in cinemas than at home and therefore the watchers would need to be in a financial situation which allowed them the opportunity to visit cinemas and pay out for tickets. However, the inclusion of violence so early on in the film makes it apparent that it would not be directed at the upper class.

The film opens on a disruption, the death of the youngest child in the world, and reveals that the narrative of the film is to be based around this matter. Aside from this, the narrative remains quite ambiguous as there is not much information given away about why this has happened and why this causes an issue in the story-world. This causes the audience to start asking questions and foreshadows the narrative including an explanation of this and that this will play a major role in the films narrative.

The opening of this film appears to be giving the audience a message to care for people's well being and focus not only on their physical state but also their mental state. The news story in the film tells the audience that the boy committed suicide as he could not cope with his fame which places importance upon the way in which we place too much pressure on celebrities and cause them to take drastic measures. It allows the audience to see that we are the cause of some people's downfalls, even when we believe we are doing the moral and correct thing.

The opening of the film reveals that the majority of characters in the film will be average and seemingly normal people. This is important as it will the audience to connect with the characters and therefore feel more engaged in the narrative. The only character the audience are given the opportunity to truly examine is a middle aged man who buys a coffee before adding in whiskey. This leads the audience to view him as the protagonist. He appears to be damaged due to his rough appearance, dark clothing and reliance upon alcohol connoting his potential failure within the film. This prevents the audience from being emotionally engaged with the protagonist and could imply that within the film the protagonist will prove his worth to the audience in the same way as he will to the remainder of the characters within the film.

The atmosphere within the opening sequence initially appears to be one of loss, sadness and confusion surrounding the death of the aforementioned child. This is shown by the blank looks on the character's faces in the coffee shop and their attention being focused on the television screen during the report. The blue colour palette helps add to the sad atmosphere and so was probably chosen to make it more obvious to the audience that these people are sad and their blank faces are due to disbelief as oppose to not caring. However, the atmosphere dramatically shifts to one of terror and fear when the coffee shop unexpectedly explodes. This drastic shift foreshadows a narrative filled with unexpected changes and reflects the thriller aspect of the genre.

The themes made evident from the opening of the film include that of death, loss, violence, fear and terrorisation. The unexpected explosion in conjunction with the news story about the boy's suicide work together to produce the evidence for a theme of death and loss whilst the explosion alone creates hints towards themes of terrorisation, fear and violence.


The setting of the film is established as being in London due to the red double-decker buses which are usually associated with the British capital. The setting of London has probably been chosen as it has connotations of both crime and success. This combination foreshadows the narrative of the film, including both destruction and success, potentially linked to the protagonist's success levels within the film. The use of this location makes it evident that the film is of a high budget as the location would have had to have been secured or edited in using green screens, both of which would cost a lot of money.

The sound remains quiet until the explosion in the coffee shop. This allows the viewer to focus on what is being said in the news report and helps to create an atmosphere of calm and sets up the equilibrium. However, the sudden loud explosion offsets the balance and connotes that the tone of the film is set to change.

Editing within the opening is continuous and slow paced causing the audience to expect this from the rest of the film. This signifies that the films narrative will be continuous and will follow a single protagonist throughout as it has in the opening of the clip, making the protagonist appear more important and setting him to be the "hero".

The lighting in the opening sequence is very naturalistic which allows the audience to connect to the characters and the narrative more as it feels more real and presents a façade of verisimilitude. It's a façade because the genre of the film is Science Fiction and therefore we know that the film itself is not going to be realistic at all, rather that it will appear as if it could happen in a very distant future as oppose to the present time.

The variety of different shots used within the opening takes away from the realistic feel of the film due to the many different angles used. However, the tracking shot of the protagonist allows the audience to feel involved with the society and the surroundings and therefore this adds to the verisimilitude of the film. It causes the audience to connect with the narrative more effectively and pulls their attention into the film.

The opening represents a futuristic London, year 2027, in a very negative way. The news report tells of how there are no more children being born as well as how the deportation of immigrants has become a social norm. This causes the audience to believe that our society is collapsing back into prehistoric ways of thinking and shows that our species is slowly dying out. The women in the clip are represented as being emotional and easily affected by the news story. This could reflect upon the narrative of the film and foreshadow future events. it could also hint towards why there are no more children and how this is affecting them.

The titles within the opening stand out from the black background and are not integrated into the clip making them appear to be unrelated and therefore not as important to the narrative. This allows the audience to infer that the narrative will require attention and therefore the titles are placed before hand so as not to detract the viewers attention.

From the evidence provided I have come to the conclusion that this opening contains both some aspects to strive towards and some aspects to avoid. I intend to also create a sense of reality and verisimilitude within my film opening so as to allow the audience to connect to the narrative however I would like to avoid the style of titles used within this piece as I feel it does not provide the audience with enough information about the film and rather distances the characters from the actors and does not provide the crew with any credit prior to the main title sequence at the end of the film. 

G321 - Analysing Film Openings

Before proceeding with our projects, we were informed of how to best go about analysing film openings so that we were able to understand what aspects constitute towards a successful film opening and which aspects to avoid so as to not cause our film openings to look like trailers or to be unsuccessful in their purpose. We were made aware of the eight key aspects of film openings (Genre, Narrative, Characters, Atmosphere, Themes, Setting, Sound and Titles) before briefly analysing two very different opening sequences; "Catch Me If You Can" and "My Best Friend's Wedding".

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

 

Genre:
Catch Me If You Can appears to be an action-crime film due to the use of police cars in the clip, the mysterious non-diegetic music and the clear depiction of one character chasing another through many different locations.

Narrative:
The opening of the film provides an inclination towards the narrative of the film being that of somebody being chased down. This character, believably the protagonist, continues to change their identity throughout the sequence therefore indicating that this will be replicated throughout the duration of the main film.

Character:
From the opening of the film it is possible to determine that throughout the film will be spies, police and a protagonist played by Leonardo DiCaprio who will change his identity multiple times becoming a pilot, a doctor and a business man to name just a few. The antagonist who will be chasing down DiCaprio's character is played by Tom Hanks. These two characters are identifiable due to the integrated titles. It can further be inferred that the woman in the opening sequence will provide a love interest for either DiCaprio or Hanks.

Atmosphere:
The atmosphere created by the opening is one of light-hearted intrigue leading to me to believe that the film will contain comedic elements. However, the non-diegetic music and the narrative suggest suspense and mystery therefore leading the audience to become intrigued about the characters and said narrative.

Themes:
The themes of Catch Me If You Can are evidently chase and identity. This is shown through the changing identity of the main protagonist and the continuous chase throughout the narrative of the title sequence.

Setting:
The iconography of the yellow taxi cab allows the audience to make the inference that the main location of the film will be New York City however the sub-location appears to change throughout and this is emphasised through the changing of the background colour, such as the blue airport and the yellow swimming pool area. Some of the locations shown are airports, the motorway, an office, a hospital, a swimming pool and a dinner party.

Sound:
The non-diegetic music builds tension through the use of trumpets and the change in the music suggests a change in the narrative and foreshadows the changing locations and identities of the characters.
 
Titles:
The titles are fully integrated into the opening and are unobtrusive, connecting to straight lines within the animation such as Amy Adam's name becoming the swimming pool ladder. This prevents them from detracting from the action of the sequence so as to allow the audience to fully understand the brief overview of the narrative.

My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) 





 

Genre:

The happy, light-hearted and comical dancing throughout the opening sequence in conjunction with the references to love and weddings in both the sequence and the non-diegetic music signifies that the film is to be a romantic-comedy.

 

Narrative:

Both the opening to the film and the film's title lead the audience to believe that the film will be about weddings and marriage, namely the marriage of the protagonist's best friend. However, aside from this there is very little revealed about the narrative in the opening which would intrigue the audience and causes them to continue watching to discover more.

 

Character:

The opening reveals that there will be a group of friends involved in the plot of the narrative and that one of the key members of this group will become a bride. This means there will also be a groom however the identity of such is currently unknown.

 

Atmosphere:

The opening of the film eludes towards a happy and joyful atmosphere which could potentially become disturbed later on in the film, thus foreshadowing the narrative to include an upset of this happy equilibrium.

 

Themes:

The iconography of the bouquets, white gown and rings connotes that the main theme of the film is to be weddings, romance and marriage.

 

Setting:

The generic signifiers such as those listed above foreshadow the setting to be that of a church or wedding reception however there is no information about the whereabouts of such.

 

Sound:

The diegetic song "Wishin and Hopin" is based around how to impress and keep a man, therefore complementing the narrative of the film. It eludes towards the bride helping one of her friends to find a partner.

 

Titles:

The titles are in a font which gives them the appearance of being handwritten, as if on a wedding invitation, and therefore giving them an integrated feel despite contrasting with the background and standing out.

 

Conclusion

To conclude, I prefer the use of integrated titles and aim to use this within my own film opening. I aim to use iconography within my opening so as to help with the presentation of genre. I will attempt to use non-diegetic music to hint towards the narrative and to set the correct atmosphere for the film and wish to take the route of not revealing too much about the plot from the opening so as to create intrigue for the viewer, therefore raising the chances of them watching the "entire" film.











G321 - Film Trailer V Film Opening

To ensure that my coursework was as professional as possible, it was first important to ensure that I knew the difference between a film trailer and a film opening. Therefore, it was compulsory to research the differences between the two so as to avoid my opening from having the appearance of a trailer.

 

Film trailers give important information about the film and tend to begin with the institution that created the film and end with the film's title. Trailers use a montage of clips from the film in a fragmented narrative to show sections of the film that will grab the attention of the audience to entice them into cinemas and picture houses to watch the film. These clips are most commonly separated by fade to/through black which makes it evident that the narrative is fragmented rather than in a chronological order. Many film trailers will include a voice over towards the end of the clip with actors names and it is common for a memorable tagline to be used so as to be more easily remembered. The A Team (2010) trailer is an example of a trailer which contains all of these aspects:

 

 

This trailer shows how a memorable tagline ("There's no Plan B") can be used in conjunction with a fragmented narrative to help promote the film at the end of the trailer so as to entice audiences.

 

Film openings include the logo of the institution producing the film at the beginning as well as details of cast and crew. The film title is usually displayed within the first 40 seconds. Within the film opening there is an introduction to characters and/or character types and a signature theme tune as well as indication towards place and historical period. The audience are given information on genre which is revealed by the use of generic conventions and are provided with information about the mood and tone of the piece. The editing style used in the film opening will reflect the editing style for the remainder of the clip and the mise en scene and cinematography used will be echoed or elaborated upon during the remainder of the film. Potentially the most important aspect of the film opening is that it raises questions and intrigue within the audience. The film opening sets up the film. An example of a film opening which contains all of these aspects is the opening to James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977):

 

 

This film opening indicates towards spies, sensual women and death as well as hinting towards a story of love and loss as well as raising questions from the audience such as "Who is this woman?", "What is the relationship between the characters?" and "What happened to make "loved" past tense?".

G321 - Preliminary Task Evalution

My piece of film has a good demonstration of continuity as the shots clearly join together. Individual scenes do not jump around and the camera appears to move with the people rather than having the people change place in the shot suddenly. For example, when Kieren is cycling, the two shots join together well and can easily be distinguished as being directly adjacent to each other.

The use of match on action was both evident and not evident at the same time. By this I mean that if you were looking for it, you would find it however, if you were not looking for it or did not know what it was, it would not be noticed as the change in shot is disguised by your mind being focused on the action in the shot rather than the shot change.

My clip clearly demonstrated my understanding of the 180 degree rule as the camera always remained within the 180 degree boundaries set out by the characters and therefore the audience would not have been confused or disorientated.

The use of shot/ reverse shot was evident at the beginning of the clip, between Kieren's phone and Kieren. The use of shot/ reverse shot was cleverly integrated into the video by being between an object and a person rather than between two people. This allowed me to shape the rest of the clip in a way which I was more comfortable with whilst still portraying that Kieren was in a vulnerable position.

If I were to film this again I would ensure that the lighting was consistent throughout the scenes to enhance the realism of the clip.

I would do this by using artificial lighting to create balanced lighting throughout. I would also use a microphone to get a crisper and clearer sound recording of the voices and to allow me to alter the levels myself. I would disclude the final scene of the school bell and would instead have had the bell ring cut over the scene of the students sat in the classroom as it is easy to see that the final image is fake and removes any sense of reality I had previously built up. Finally, I would compose the music myself so that I could make it more fitting for the clip and what was happening in it. This would also have allowed me to provide evidence of an understanding of sound editing.

My planning of this clip could have drastically improved as I was very all-of-the-place during the filming process. If I had planned my time better I would have been able to ensure that the same actors were available for the entire filming process and would have been able to spend more time actually filming and trying out different angles etc. than figuring out what I was supposed to be filming. This in turn would have meant my footage would have been of a higher quality and I would have been able to spend more time on ensuring other aspects such as lighting were correct rather than having to rush through the filming process.

Transitions were a common feature within my clip as they were used to signify the change in destination.

I believe this worked effectively as they made it clear that the perspective was changing and therefore helped to prevent the audience from becoming disorientated. by using the same transition throughout I prevented the clip from looking unprofessional and made it clearer that the perspective was only switching between two different ones.

When completing this task, I edited my footage using a previously unused editing programme. This allowed me to further my knowledge of different editing software. I learnt all of the basics for Final Cut Pro X as well as some of the slightly more complex functions such as how to mute certain aspects of clips and change the levels. I am happy with the progress I have made with this editing software and believe that I will use this same software for my future projects.

From constructing this clip I have learnt that equipment is very temperamental and that copies and backups of files should be kept continuously until there is no possible way that the footage could ever be needed again. This means that when editing, you can mix and match different aspects from the same scene and different takes to get the most perfect scene. I also learnt that all editing software is very different from each other and have their own shortcuts which are mainly non-transferrable. Finally, I learnt that technology is very temperamental and therefore you must be patient with it to achieve the best results.

I decided to work independently rather than in a group so as to be able to push my abilities to their limits and  prevent the risk of arguments and contrasting ideas which could have caused problems during the process. I believe that this was a good decision as I was still able to complete the task in the set time span and was happy with my final product. I aim to work independently for my future tasks also as I am able to focus more alone and can explore and improve my own abilities further.

G321 - Filming My Preliminary Task

When filming my piece, I found it was difficult to film the arc shot as I didn't have access to a Dolly and therefore first attempted to do this shot by hand which I found too shaky. I then decided to be as resourceful as possible and so placed the tripod on a desk chair and wheeled it however this prevented me from being able to arc as quickly as I would have liked as this would have caused the camera to fall off the chair and break.

I also found it difficult to film Kieren skidding the bike as the tripod was unable to go low enough for the shot and so I had to balance the camera on the floor. This meant it was quite unstable and as a result of this Kieren had to be careful when skidding the bike so as not to break the camera. To resolve this, he did not stop the bike completely and after the skid, cycled out of the frame. This will allow me to edit the clip so as to make it appear that Kieren did stop the bike.

When filming the shot in which Kieren speaks, I realised after filming that Kieren had been looking in the wrong place when speaking. This caused me to have to film this section again so as to comply with the 180 degree rule.

The main issue I had with filming my preliminary task was that my actors were unreliable and therefore filming dates kept having to be moved. This impacted on the filming as it meant having to spend less time filming than I would have liked so as to be able to film everything I wanted. However, when I started to near the deadline for the task I started dictating when I would be filming rather than asking and this made a big difference to whether my actors were in the right place at the right time and in the correct costume.

I made the decision to work individually as I feel I am able to work better this way and remain more focused on the task in hand without being distracted by people around me. I feel like I made the right decision in doing this as I was able to achieve all that I set out to within the given time and I was happy with my final film.

My favourite aspect of filming was when I was filming shots 13 and 14 because we had a lot of time to play around with these aspects whilst waiting for other actors to turn up. This resulted in many outtakes, some of which caused by my actor purposefully doing things completely wrong. This made the filming process more fun and light-hearted when it was starting to get very stressful and beginning to frustrate me. This proved that good working relationships between everyone involved can result in an enjoyable process as well as a successful outcome.

G321 - Preliminary Task Video

This is my preliminary task. It is a clip from a TV school drama which shows how two students usually start their day. Due to working individually, any input in this clip came from me, bar acting. This includes storyboarding, scripting, filming, re-filming and editing.

G321 - Preliminary Task Shot List

Scene No.	Shot	Duration in secs	Shot Type	Camera Movement	Location	Int/Ext	In/Out	Equipment	Description
1	1	2	Medium Shot	Arc around Anna	Classroom	Int	In	Camera, Tripod, Table, Chairs x2, Mobile Phone	Anna ringing friend from classroom.
2	2	1	Extreme Close Up	N/A	"Living Area" Sixth Form Block	Int	In	Camera, Tripod, Table, Phone	Phone vibrating on table and ringing. Extreme Close Up on phone.
2	3	2	Extreme Close Up	N/A	"Living Area" Sixth Form Block	Int	In	Camera, Tripod	Eyes opening with panic. Extreme Close Up on phone.
2	4	1	Extreme Close Up	N/A	"Living Area" Sixth Form Block	Int	In	Camera, Tripod, Table, Phone	Phone vibrating on table and ringing. Extreme Close Up on phone.
3	5	2	Medium Shot	N/A	Classroom	Int	In	Camera, Tripod, Chairs x2, Mobile Phone	Anna looking at phone concerned.
4	6	5	Close Up	N/A	"Living Area" Sixth Form Block	Int	In	Camera, Tripod, Sofa	Kieren bending over and tieing up shoes. Close up on shoes.
4	7	1	Close Up	N/A	"Living Area" Sixth Form Block	Int	In	Camera, Tripod, Sofa	Kieren walking off shot. Close up on feet.
5	8	2	Medium Shot	Arc around Anna	Classroom	Int	In	Camera, Tripod, Table, Chairs x2, Mobile Phone	Anna ringing friend from classroom.
6	10	5	Long Shot --> Close Up	N/A	Approach Path	Ext	Out	Camera, Tripod, Bike	Kieren cycling down approach path towards camera.
6	11	2	Extreme Close Up	N/A	Bike Sheds	Ext	Out	Camera, Bike	Kieren skids in front of camera, tyres screech. Extreme Close Up on wheel.
7	12	3	Long Shot	N/A	Classroom	Int	In	Camera, Tripod, Tables, Chairs	Miss W questions Anna.
8	13	2	Long Shot	N/A	Classroom/ Corridoor	Ext	In	Camera, Tripod, Tables, Chairs, Headphones, Bag	Kieren crashes into door and fumbles with handle.
8	14	2	Long Shot	N/A	Classroom/ Corridoor	Ext	In	Camera, Tripod, Tables, Chairs, Headphones, Bag	Kieren enters the room.
8	15	2	Medium Long Shot	N/A	Classroom	Int	In	Camera, Tripod, Tables, Chairs, Headphones, Bag, Whiteboard	Kieren enters room, pulls out earphones and walks across room.
8	16	4	Medium Long Shot	N/A	Classroom	Int	In	Camera, Tripod, Tables, Chairs, Bag, Phone	Kieren walks round table, throws bag down and sits.
8	17	2	Long Shot	N/A	Classroom	Int	In	Camera, Tripod, Tables, Chairs, Whiteboard	Long shot of Miss W talking to students.
8	19	2	Close Up	N/A	Classroom	Ext	In	School Bell	Close up of school bell.

This is the shot list which I used in conjunction with my storyboard to create my preliminary task. By creating this shot list it allowed me to focus on my desired outcome and helped the filming to be done faster as it prevented me from becoming distracted and filming unnecessary clips. It also allowed me to determine which equipment I would need for each shot and gave me the opportunity to film shots out of order so as to not have to repeatedly change my location.