Conventions of Action

There will always be a hero in an action film, who would usually be a man; they would be very good looking to make the female audience be attracted to him and want him to rescue them.

A vulnerable and helpless woman is always in an action film. They tend to get in trouble with the antagonist and will need to be saved by the hero. She would be very good looking so that the male audience will be put in the heroes position and want to save her even more.

Car chase scenes are always in action films, Fast paste shots of the cars will be used to raise tension and make the audience feel jumpier.

The antagonist would usually be foreign as stereotypes see them as that anti-heroes and would be usually from places like mexico or India where many drug deals and fighting are known to happen.

The movies are usually filmed in big cities like London or New York to make the audience want to watch it even more as big cites are very good marketing areas.

The hero would usually wear expensive suits and have expensive cars and a big house which is very modern; this will make the male audience want to be the hero even more as it seems like he has everything.

The vulnerable girl would usually wear very expensive and nice dresses and would be attracted to the hero.

A big dinner would usually be held in a posh hotel or restaurant where the antagonist, hero and vulnerable girl will all attend which will build tension in the audience.

The audience usually know who the antagonist, hero and vulnerable girl is before the characters do.

Conventions of Romance.

The film almost always starts of with a girl who is either dating a boy who is not right for her when a new boy starts at a school if the target audience is aiming for the age of teenagers or if it is aiming for a wider age group it would start of with a middle aged woman who is finding it hard to find a man who is right for her.

If the target audience is a wide range then it will have a middle age woman not knowing what to do with her life and wanting to settle down and have children but not sure it will ever happen for her as she wont be able to find the right man.

Family is always involved in a romance film. There will be the stereotyped mother who is very interfering and wanting her daughter/son to have the best life but ends up just being annoying and making matters even worse even though intentions are good. The dad will be normally laid back or not wanting his daughter to move on at all. There will either be a perfect sister or brother who is seen as amazing in the parents eyes.

There will always be a break up of some sort but the couple will always end up happily ever after.

A best friends who the main character relies on to talk about there problems.

Mise-en-scene is used by the female usually looking quite innocent or startingoff as looking quite bad and ending up sweet and innocent. The male tends to be good looking to attractakll the girls however he will always end up picking the girl everyone didnt think he would.

An affair is sometimes shown whether it was meant to happen of was a mistake and no one was meant to find out; this creates tensionin the film and draws the audience into finding out what will happen. However it tends to always endup the same way.

Coventions of Horror.

Children sometimes seem to be the vulnerable person however they can turn out to be the antagonist by some sort of ghost entering them and they begin to attack there family and not sure how to stop.

Slow/long shots making the scene more intense, this makes sure it will see the difference in pace of shot when they want the audience to start getting scared.

Suspense building music, changing from slow to fast to make the audience feel scared and that the antagonist is coming

There is always an antagonist and a vulnerable person who will be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The antagonist will look creepy/scary have a low voice and usually from a different culture.

The titles in a horror film tend to be bold and white against a black background, They are played against deep music  which allows the audience to feel like they are entering danger

Mise-en-scene is shown by the costumes, they tend to dress the actors/actresses in normal clothes and set the scenes in normal locations like their homes or a supermarket to make the audience able to relate to where they are which allows them to link there lifestyles into the film.

Blood, knives ad guns are a usual convention which is almost always shown in a horror film. There will be a dark creepy house which is in an abandoned place or a person caught somewhere not being able to escape with someone torturing them.

Research and Planning Feedback

Well done Kathryn - a very nice start to your research and planning - but you need to begin to embed the footage you've commented on and post more regularly! For your analysis of opening two minutes make sure you comment on the following things to show a broad understanding and appreciation: Target Audience Narrative Characters Use of titles Pace of editing Mise en Scene Camera Composition Use of sound Genre conventions A really good start - you now need to begin to evidence detailed planning for your production, which needs to be detailed and thorough.

Explaining Shots

Shot reverse shot

Shot reverse shot is a very good film technique where one character is shown looking at another character and then the shot changes to the other character looking back at the first character-  because the characters are shown facing in opposite directions it makes the audience think that they are looking at each other  It is a very effective shot if you want to show someone either shouting another characters name and them turning around.

180 rule
The shot 180-degree rule is a  guideline showing the on-screen  relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene. A fake line called the axis connects the characters and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first character will always be frame right of the second character, who is then always frame left of the first. If the camera passes over the axis, it is called  crossing the line.

Match cutting
A match cut, is a cut in film editing between either two different objects, two different spaces, or two different compositions in which an object in the two shots will match, this makes it look like the characters are carrying on filming as they have made sure they have cut it right.

 Long shot/extreme long shot - This shot is used to set the scene in film; it lets the audience know where they are and able to link into it and feel like they are there. It is also used to show a certain type of scenery in films to get a point across like; If they wanted the film to pursue a rural background they would shot long shots of field scenery and places where it look like a rural type place - the same for any other backgrounds like urban.

What are you doing here?

What are you doing here?

For this video, i have used a variety of different locations and camera shots. I have started the camera shot as an high angle shot; this shot is good because it show me running up the stairs and someone running down them. The high angle shot can be used to make people look less important or vulnerable but can also be used to show a location. It is a very effective shot.

For the second shot we have done an over shoulder shot. This made the audience feel like they are looking at what the person who's shoulder is at, it made them feel as if they were in the clip.This shot is called an action match. This shot also makes the audience focus on the other person in the shot, it is a good way to show a conversation or to show what someone is looking at.

For the last shot we have done a close up of two faces and done a eyeline shot, this intrigues the audience because it shows us what they are looking at an in the shot it shows the person look over, this is a good shot because it helps the audience feel like they are in the clip and make then feel like they are looking over at the object. I have edited the clip and cut out a bit in the middle to make it effective.

In the end of the clip i have added a transition that fades out this is effective because it slowly ends the clip and makes it nicer for the audience to watch.

I think this clip is good because it shows a variety of different camera shots in effective ways. If i were to do it again i would use different locations to make it more interesting. I would add more transitions and label what each shot is before it is done to make it more professional and inform the audience what they are looking at.

Opening two minutes of Taken

Taken

The Opening starts with writing coming up which says "Twentieth Century Fox presents", this has been written in a block letters with the colour silver font, overlaying a black background, this makes the audience think that itis going to be a proffessional film because of the waythe writing is styled. This title is only on screen for about 3 seconds until it fades to the first clip. This makes the audience think they are about to watch a spy/action film from the styled font, choice of colours and also the transition.

I think this is a good way to begin a film because they have given the audience

information about the characters and who they are very slowly to make sure they dont ruin the storyline befire the film has properly started. They carry on giving clues along the way so the audience would want to carry on watching. The camera angles and lighting have also made this a good beginning because we first see the main character sitting in darkness on his own but then we next see him with confidence in daylight, this makes it feel as though this man actually is depressed about something but he tries not to show it.

The first part of the film has been made to look like an old family tape from a girls 5th birthday, this shows the audience a little about the girl before the film has properly started. The writing continues to fade in and out of the clip in the same writing and colours; this shows a pattern of the font and makes it look professional.The

music that has been played in this first scene sounds as though something has happened to the girl from the family video; almost haunting. On top of the slow music, there are the sounds of voices laughing and talking in the background with a slight echo after every word or sentence. This styled music and the effect of the echo's is a good way to present a first clip like this, especially as we now know it is a spy/action film. It creates a sense of mystery and curiosity because we don't know if anything has or will happen to the people we are watching in the old video, this makes us want to carry on watching so we can hopefully find out.

The old family video then changes to a different clip of a dark room, a lamp then gets switched on for us to see a man sitting there as though he has been watching this old video with us. This creates an enigma as nothing was instantly found out about who was in that first clip, making us suspect it has some relation to the man.

A long shot has been used to let you see more of the surroundings, this is showing the audience how the man lives and where the film has been locationed, this can help make the audience feel like they are actually there.

 

 it shows old take away boxes on the table in front of him and the room he is in looks very dull and uninviting, this gives of an unwelcoming feeling to the audience.The audience could get this feeling because of the use of lighting, they have made it quite dark which connotes misery and darkness.

As the clip continues we are able to see a clearer shot of the mans face when he picks up a framed photograph, this gives the audience an idea of who the main character is going to be and can let them get to know more about him.

 

, as he puts the photo down

 the camera stays focused on the photo even when the man gets up and leaves the shot. We get a chance to see the photograph that the man was looking at, we see that it looks like the same girl that was in the family video leaving us feeling more intrigued about what the film will be about, this can make the audience thik about lots of different things that could've happened to the girl as she has already been in the first two minutes alot.  

The framed photo is made to seem like a bigger deal than we would believe it to be because of the way they have put the main title of the movie next to it in capital letters - Taken.

The clip changes as the location and camera shot also change, we are now looking at a busy street on a long shot as a car pulls over to park, the state of the car is clean and very rich, hinting that the person who owns it could be wealthy and important and maybe in a good job.The same man we saw in the previous clip comes out, seeing the car he owns can change the way the audience would view him, making it seem that there is a lot more to him than we first thought. This also makes it obvious that this man is the main character by the way the camera is following him but we still don't know much about him or the young girl which gets the audience intruged to find out more.

We appear to be in an electrical shop when the shop keeper says to the man "Mr Mills, how may I help you?", by him saying this it indicates that the main character is an important person because the shop keeping addressed him as 'Mr Mills' and not by his first name. This could also mean that he is an reoccuring customer.

 

 

This could be a way of trying to keep the plot a secret to make you want to carry on watching to find out more about what is going on. The camera shot is from a high angle looking down on the shopkeeper making us feel as though Mr Mills is stronger and has a lot more importance.

Opening two minutes of Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

The music that is played during the begging of the first two minutes is very inspirational and is an orchestra piece of music. This suits the genre well and gets the audience in a mood to watch this type of film. It also tells us a lot about the story because it lets us know that it will be a serious and inspirational to watch; it also lets us know there will be sad parts as it is a low beat piece of music.

The films starts of with an extreme long shot and an army plane flying across the land; this shows us a bit about where it might be location and tells us that it is a film to do with some sort of fighting. As the plane goes out of the picture it focuses on a sun set and the words "Pearl Harbor" come up- the font they have used is a very formal and bold lettering and stands out well against the sun set.

The film then shows us that it is in Tennessee and is set in 1923; they have used a good font for this and have made it small os that the audience can see it but have to focus on the pictures which is showing us that Tennessee is very peaceful and calm.

The camera then shows two boys playing in an old plane that doesn't work, they have made it there own and are pretending to fly. This tells the audience that they want to be able to fly and wish to do this when they are older. We find out that the boys father is also a flyer which could mean that they have a close relationship and the boys are following on in there fathers foot steps.

We find out about the genre well in the first two minutes because the music lets us know that there could be some romance and drama, and the way it starts off with the fighter plane lets us know that there could be some fighting showing us that there could be some action and war films. This film has a mix of genres.

The opening two minutes is very good because it draws the audience into watching more and makes the audience automatically like the two younger boys and want to find out more about them and there family life with there dad because we find out that they are all in to the same thing; flying. Although we see the dad and two sons in the beginning we don't find out anything about there mother, this makes the audience wonder if there is a mother and makes them want to find out more making it a very good opening two minutes.

Opening two minutes of Bruce Almighty

Bruce Almighty

The opening two minutes introduces us to the main character, it tells us about his personality because he comes across as sarcastic when he says "i just did my hair" This could come across funny to the audience. It also tells us about his job; it tells us he is a news presenter but not a very famous one as he id presenting about a old couple in a bakery shop making the biggest cookie. This could tell the audience that he is not too happy about his job and could be the reason why he is so sarcastic about it.

The music that it played in the background is very light hearten and peaceful. This show the audience that it will be  an nice film to watch and automatically tells the audience about the genre.The music carries on throughout first two minutes which makes the opening seem more friendly and will draw the audience into watching it if that is the genre they are looking for.

The camera shot in the beginning starts of with a close up of the main character(Bruce)This shows us that he will be the character throughout the film. This shot doesn't show us much about his location however the shot after is a long shot showing him in a bakery and a camera pointed at him, this tells the audience a bit more about him and will draw them in to watching more.

The two minutes shows the bakery owner picking his nose. This could show how significantly bad the show that this clip will be put on seeing as he has no hi-gene and he is a baker, this shows us how low down the job that Bruce is in is.

The genre is shown straight away as a comedy becasue jokes have already been told and you can tell by the way they have shoted the film and by the type of music that is played in the background.

Although you find out a little about the main character it doesn't give you much detail about him; this can draw the audience into watching it even more because they will want to find out about the story line.

Children of Men opening two minutes.

Children of men

The opening of children of men is very good because it draws the audience in well by leaving a lot of enigmas around.it shows us who the main character will be and that something big is happening.

The films shows the genre, action/thriller, straight away because although it starts off as a black screen it has a voice in the background letting the audience know a little bit about what is happening and leads them on to want to find out more. It is a news reported woman and man talking which makes the audience think that it could be something serious has happening because usually it will be serious if it is put om the news. It will also make people think that it is a world wide problem seeing as it is on the news. It also shows an explosion later on in the two minutes which shows the action side.

When the screen turns to the characters it shows a group of people looking up at something which we don't know, this leaves us with an enigma as to what they are looking at. It is also a high angle shot which makes the audience see them as vulnerable or in danger. All of their faces look worried which hints that what they are watching isn't good.

We automatically find out who the main character is when a male pushed through the group of people looking up. He is bigger than all of them and as he pushes through it makes him seem more significant than the others. 

The camera shot then shows us what they are looking at. It shows us a tv screen with the news on. The shot is a low angle which makes it seem important and scary. The way the shot moves from there faces looking shocked straight to the tv screen shows that that is what they were looking at.

The man then moves out of the shop and the camera follows, whilst doing this it shows us the location of the film which is London and a few of the famous landmarks there like the London bus and theater. We see the police walk sown the road and there were also police on the shop which shows the audience that the police are involved in the chaos meaning it could be serious.

We see the man as a hero in a way because as he leave the shop he was in it explodes. This makes us realize that he will survive through the film. This then makes the scene seem more chaotic and we want to see what else happens throughout the film.

There is no music on in the background just the speaking of the news readers. This makes a scene that something bad will happen because of the news even without playing music because people automatically link the news with bad news.

We find out in the opening two minutes that there will be a lot of action parts because of the explosion. Although it doesn't let us know the actual story line which draws the audience in even more because they will want to find out what will happen.