Research:
Film openings:
300
300 Opening Credits:
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Further Analysis:The animated opening to the epic '300.' showcasing histories greatest war battle moments. Blood is used as the text for credits, which is free flowing that disperses on screen. The sepia coloured background brings out true red in the blood as animated warfare is dragged and brought around the scene. The opening credits are key in this film as viewers remember the intense action shot in the background as the text credits are picked up apon.
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Seven
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Se7en Opening Credits:
Further Analysis:
Seven sends out a distorted uncomfortable atmosphere amongst the audience. The opening credits start with a book lit from behind creating a silhouette and the font is sketched in, the font looks childish and it switches from back to front and becomes bold and then screeches downwards.
This opening uses different lighting such as low key lighting, this sets the mood of what the film is going to be about. The soundtrack used in this opening fits in with the genre as it is a scratchy thriller soundtrack. There seems to be a storyline which ties in with the film in this opening. This attracts to the audience because they want to know what will happen in the film. |
Memento
Memento Opening Credits:Further Analysis:This starts in a unique way compared to most films and although it is short it is memorable because it is not slow and gets straight in to the action. It follows the murder conventions of a thriller and because of the image also the detective side. You also wonder why the murderer is taking a picture of the crime scene ?
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The opening of Memento is quite peculiar as it goes backwards. It starts with the Polaroid picture and as the character shakes it back and forth the picture starts to disappear, at first the audience isn't aware of what is happening but then the bullet goes back in to the gun and the victim comes back to life.
The blood also draws backwards. I think this is quite effective as it shows the crime scene in reverse it shows the audience what has happened so as appose to asking who did it. The audience will wonder why the murderer had done
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Dracula
Further Analysis:Bram Stokers Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppella is a horror film. It contains all the conventions such as the smoke and fire at the beginning and the darkness that complements it.
The soundtrack creates a dramatic and tense scary atmosphere. At the end it also contains the elements of blood and death. However although it is a horror film it has elements of romance in it - it could be classified as a horror romance which is a peculiar genre to have. Dracula has always been a horrific character however this opening sequence shows his past and creates more sympathy for him through love and religion. The passion shown at the beginning of the scene and the close ups of Dracula's face at the end of the scene shows his strong emotions towards his wife.The strength of their passion is also shown through the editing of he face dissolving in to the screen after the war. He is also fighting for religion which is ironic as vampires are afraid of the Christian cross. The Dracula in this opening wears a muscle suit which shows strength, this is actually an element for a hero, the fact he is going to fight in a war for religion also shows he has morals - the war is shown in silhouettes to create more sympathy towards Dracula as you cannot see their expressions. All this contradicts its genre however later on in the film elements of the true Dracula shine through. The sympathetic side of Dracula is shown in the opening as that way straight away we feel towards him and we understand the reason for his actions. |
Dracula Opening Credits: |
Survey Breakdown:
The survey contains 10 questions as survey monkey will only allow 10 questions. The survey was sent to both males and females as it would make the research more even, the male and female numbers are also the same number which makes our research more accurate. We have already decided that we wanted to have the opening revolve around an autopsy therefore we thought it would be better not to send it to anyone under the age of 15 as that age may not be appropriate for people under the age of 15 because of blood and gore. We were aiming for a teenage audience which is why majority of the same fit in to the 16–20 category however the mini sample of 21+ will also give us an insight to what an older audience would prefer compared to the teenage audience and if the ideas are similar the target audience age gap can increase giving us a wider audience. Horror was the least popular genre with the majority teenage age group. Thriller and Action were the most popular, Se7en was a very intriguing opening and that seems as tough it is a crime/murder mystery film. We gathered a lot of ideas from the opening of Se7en and wanted to develop our opening through the ideas of Se7en. Therefore we decided Thriller would be a better genre for the opening, not only does it fit in with our autopsy idea but it is also the most effective genre because the openings for thrillers tend to be quite exciting.
This question gave us ideas of what the connotations of the certain genres are or what people thought the connotations were. This is what people thought of when they thought of that certain genre... Horror - Ghosts, Girl ghosts, death, Thriller - Gangs, Race against time, suspense, twists, exciting, keeps audience interested, Pulp Fiction, Psycho, Inception, Dark Knight, The Departed, Kill Bill Action - Bourne and James Bond films, Explosions, blowing up cars and buildings, robbery, destruction, comedy, weapons, explosions, spontaneous All - Unpredictable, unexpected From this we can use the ideas of unexpected clips, suspense, twists and keeping the audience interested through excitement or mystery in our opening. From this question it gave us an idea of what openings are the most memorable to this specific age. Openings are one of the hardest things to remember from a film therefore an opening has to be very unique for it to be remembered. The Dark Knight was one of the most popular opening on this list so the analysis of that opening is vital to expand our idea to a specific audience. (Analysis is under the survey results) the different reasons to why the opening was memorable are because it is exciting and straight to the point or it is mysterious and giving a background to upcoming events or events that have passed. This plays on out idea of the autopsy as we are foreshadowing an upcoming event but also portraying an event that has already happened. It will be mysterious because we will be using close ups and extreme close ups making it so you do not see any of the characters face except the victims which creates chills as the audience will only see the bad outcome and they will not get answers to why that has happened to the victim, leaving them in the dark. This puts the audience straight in to the plot and gives them mystery which according to the survey is what makes an opening memorable to them. This question gave us an idea of what type of thrillers people enjoy and from this they prefer the more psychological thrillers. Inception is mentioned three times and that entire film is focused on the mind and dreams however, it is also about a crime - they break in to someones mind (Analysis at bottom of page). The silence of the lambs is also liked because of its psychological storyline. On the other hand some of the answers can be interpreted to show the liking of gangsters and criminals. The Godfather, Pulp Fiction and Public Enemies all consist of shooting an crimes as appose to being psychological. From this we can tell that using the idea of the opening being psychological through the mystery is a good idea as it applies to what our audience enjoys. Also the idea of contrasting the victim with the murderer is a good idea because it adds to the criminal side of the genre which is also enjoyed by our audience. This question gave un an idea of what type of opening the audience would prefer. Majority want the opening of a film to be mysterious however before the survey we did contemplate using the idea of having the opening as the ending so the film would jump straight in to the action. However mystery will work better with our autopsy scene which is perfect as the audience prefers this idea. We are going to use close ups and lots of cuts, fades and flashes to create a mysterious opening. For the victim it was a good insight to what the audience prefers, many people want a teen victim, the results were even on whether the victim would be a teen male or a teen female. A female victim is very common as they are seen as weaker and more vulnerable, they are the damsels in distress waiting for prince charming. Having a male victim is more rare, it isn't totally different as it has happened before but it is not as common as female so we decided to have a male victim. Blood and Gore can be hated but it can also be loved however, most people in the survey think it is ok. The opening will be of an autopsy therefore there will be blood however it will also have a psychological aspect - balancing out the two elements. It was both females and males that chose its ok however the 2 people the chose despise and hate it were female and the 6 people that chose like and love it were both female (2) and male (4) This question was a little strange however it gave us an insight of what an average person would do if they had to murder someone and this could help us decide on what type of wounds the victim will have. After looking at the results the best answers were... - Giving the victim morphine and burning them so they don't feel it - Stalking them - through a weapon From this we thought when we are showing the criminal could have videos or CCTV camera screens following the next victim. We also thought of having burn marks and cuts on the victims body. From the answers we thought the murderer would have to be very smart as this wouldn't be his first murder. |
Survey Research
Inception:
The opening of inception starts of slow and blurred. We see the ocean and then we see someone laying on the floor but we do on see his face properly, it is misty and there is water splashing over the camera. He is also laying on his side which makes it seem we are also on our side distorting the audience to the assumingly confused character.
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