Camera Angles and Examples

Created with Padlet

Key Conventions of Film Openings

Opening Analysis of Multiple Genres

Pretty Woman

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Conventions

• The Logo's of the production companies who funded, created and/or distributed the film. 
• Luxurious setting to show the wealth of the protagonist.
• An intelligent and witty protagonist with bad experience with love.
• City landscape to establish where the film was set.
• Title fades in, large, sophisticated font.
• Upbeat music.

Style of Opening

The style of opening is narrative; it is shown mainly from the perspective of the protagonist. There is a little dialogue, not a great deal but enough for us to discover the protagonist successful career but also show his romantic issues. There is more time taken for the scene than in the credits themselves.

Information from Credits

Bold, sophisticated white font, wipe transition with Los Angles streets in the back ground. Travels from the Hollywood hills down into the main city and then the credits end and the film begins. We are shown the company logo's before the first scene begins, then after the first scene we are shown the names of the principal actors, director and production time. 

Narrative/Storyline

We see a successful, intelligent man working at a party celebrating his success, we see him being broken up with by his respective partner of the time due to not spending enough time with her; he doesn't react with sadness or anger showing he has little emotional attachment to her. We learn through a conversation with one of his ex-girlfriends that he struggles to commit and spends too much time working. He leaves the party in his friends car and travels towards the city. 

Final Destination 3

Genre: Horror

Conventions

• The Logo's of the production companies who funded, created and/or distributed the film. 
• Sinister, low pitched music to build tension and make the audience afraid of what is about to happen. 
• Dark Setting, late at night, dark set in what looks like an abandoned fairground. 
• Sinister version of childish setting. Contrast between the dark setting but the usually happy connotations matched with horrific music, to build tension 
• Narrative Motif(object with significant meaning shown several times)- cards shown a great deal, creates theme of chance/luck.
• Ticking to build tension 
• Screams of rides used to create a sense of torture and horror. 
• Hook- a mystery that makes the viewer want to keep watching

Style of Opening

It starts with a title sequence set around a abandoned fairground, this create sense of foreboding and fear in the audience, this then continues to the opening scene which uses a hook to make the audience want to keep watching. 

Information from the credits.

We first see the company logos of the production companies who created, funded and distributed the film and then this is followed by the names of the lead actors and the production team, casting directors etc. 

Narrative/ Storyline 

A group of friends go to a fairground, a girl photographs a fairground ride and the writing in the picture changes from the title of the ride to a threatening message, this makes the audience want to see more. 

Reservoir Dogs

Genre: Crime Drama

Conventions

• The Logo's of the production companies who funded, created and/or distributed the film. 
• Credits feature shot of the actor in character matched with their names.  
• Adult Language - this creates a blunt perception, rather than sugar-coating the scene, it opens the film with blunt honesty and openness.
• Gloomy, unsophisticated setting, creates a sense of bluntness in the film.  

Style of Opening

It is a narrative opening and almost seems like it is from the perspective of one of the men in the scene, making the audience feel as if they were experiencing it themselves. it is blunt and but somehow more believable than other films of this type. 

Information from the credits.

• The Logo's of the production companies who funded, created and/or distributed the film. 
• Credits feature shot of the actor in character matched with their names.  
• Directors name featured before the cast shows he is a successful. 
• Gold, thin font is subtler than what would be used in the horror genre.
• The names of the director and actors before the title.  

Narrative/ Storyline 

A group of men discussing several different issues such as tipping waiters or books.

Pulp Fiction 

Genre: Crime Comedy

Conventions

• The Logo's of the production companies who funded, created and/or distributed the film. 
• Light setting, it feels safe and warm, you don't expect something bad to happen. 
• Introduced to the characters, we see them as nice characters before we see their actions.
• Adult Language and slightly racist terminology
• Cheerful music in the background, contrasts to their conversation about crime and their actions.
• Abrupt change from sweet and cheerful to loud and threatening. 

Style of Opening

The opening is a narrative, showing a couple having couple, we learn that they are criminals debating how to commit a crime. We see private moments which make the characters seem like a normal couple and makes the change to dramatic criminals all the more tense. 

Information from Credits

Yellow curvy writing suddenly pops up on screen suddenly. The Production Logo's are included in the main credits rather than before the film which is more common. The director's name came before the title and the cast showing he is more important. The title moves up into the shot with bright yellow letters with a shaded effect, this gets smaller and smaller and until another credit appears on top of it as it fades out. 

Narrative/ Storyline 

A seemingly normal couple are in a coffee shop when they start discussing robberies and their wish to start robbing banks instead of liquor stores. They decide a good idea for a robbery would be to rob a restaurant, once they agree on this they change into a more crass, violent pair as they begin to attack the coffee shop.  

Sabrina (1954 Version)

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Conventions 

• The Logo's of the production companies who funded, created and/or distributed the film. 
• Voice over 
• Short shots of the different places in and around the house to give the impression of a large estate 
• "Once upon a time..." stereotypical beginning which explains all the information and context leading up to the starting point of the film
• Classical music in background
• Lionel shown to be intelligent by holding a newspaper

Information from Credits

The credits are shown before the first scene unlike in more modern films where there is usually a short scene before. This fades out and the names of the three leads appear. The title appears next, in a light, old fashioned font, some of the producers names feature under the title in a small font. 

Style of Opening

The opening is again narrative which is demonstrated by the voiceover, explaining where the film is set and introduced the main characters. We see some of the moments from the protagonist's perspective. 

Narrative/Storyline

A chauffeur's daughter on a great estate falls in love with one of the estate owner's sons, the irresponsible bachelor, who had been divorced many times, she watches him seduce women jealously, longing for him to notice her.

Stuck In Love 

Genre: Romance Drama

Conventions

• The Logo's of the production companies who funded, created and/or distributed the film. 

• The first line makes the audience want to know more "I remember that it hurt. Looking at her hurt" this makes us wonder who this 'her' is and why it causes the protagonist pain. 

• Slow, soft music which becomes slightly unhappy towards the end when we discover the girl the narrator talked about was in a relationship with someone else. 

• Voice over

• Introduction to three different characters with subtitles being either typed or handwritten to link to the theme of writing 

• Characters look like they're talking to the camera when they're actually speaking to someone off camera, this creates an effect similar to that of a interview.

Style of Opening

It is a narrative opening, this is shown by the voice over letting us see what the character is thinking, we also are given a diary entry of sort, also showing us their thoughts and highlighting the key theme of writing throughout the film and establish the theme of writing. It is mainly dialogue giving the audience a good impression of the characters. 

Information from Credits

Aside from the production company logos, we do not see the main credits until we are five minutes into the film. The credits appear over an image of two of the protagonists; a father and son cooking thanksgiving dinner, the music is cheerful, emphasising the word home. The font is in white curvy writing, which create a light happier feeling rather than the dark tone sometimes used in horror.

Narrative/Storyline 

There a three separate story lines shown in the opening, showing three members of the same family, the first focuses on a teenage boy, heartbroken about a girl who we see kissing another man, the next is a blunt but witty woman who speaks to a man for about her opinions on time and life but when she see's that he doesn't understand she offers to sleep with him, showing us she is quite promiscuous. The last storyline shows a man watching his ex wife arguing with her new partner through her window. These three story lines and characters come together in the credits where we see them all together preparing dinner and learn that they are all related.  

The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey

Genre: Fantasy Adventure

Conventions

• The Logo's of the production companies who funded, created and/or distributed the film. 

• Soft music which makes the audience feel safe and happy but in parts get higher and tenser. Flutes are used to create a sense of safety and peace.

• Voice over, beginning the story.

• Several different camera angles such as match on shots, low angled shots, high angled shots etc.

• The voice over is directed at another character perhaps in a letter, this makes the audience feel as if they had a personal connection to the protagonist. 

• Themes of wealth, destruction and corruption. 

• Foreboding voice over, this makes the audience want to keep watching

• Hook-we see the destruction the dragon causes but we don't actually see it, this makes the audience curious and want to keep watch.

Style of Opening

Once again it is a narrative opening, we are told the story through a voice over. We briefly see the protagonist however most of the opening is the story of what happened to lonely mountain rather than a long introduction to the character.

Information from Credits

This has a remarkably short set of opening credits, only showing the production company logos, the production company names and the titles. The names of the cast and production team are shown in the final credits after the film ends. The font used is made to look like handwriting, it is gold and three diminutional making it looking like the title is made of solid gold which links to the theme of wealth in the opening. 

Narrative/Storyline 

A 'hobbit' (fictional creature which is similar to a human) sits down to write his life story. We learn about the back story of Thorin a dwarf prince, who's kingdom was once a wealthy, prospering land which mined for gold and jewels, a greedy dragon who lusts after gold attacks the lonely mountain, the dwarfs flee.

Skyfall

Genre: Action

Conventions

• The Logo's of the production companies who funded, created and/or distributed the film. 

• Dramatic theme song, creates tension and excitement for the audience. Followed by a slow hum to create tension, this is followed by some high notes which makes the audience feel afraid. The music with a dramatic fast tempo during the car chase. 

•  Several different types of shots used including match on action shots, action shots, closeups and more.

• Hook- when the the opening credits begin, the protagonist is seriously injured, implied dead. having been shot, the audience will want to keep watching to find out what happens to him.

• Split scene- the scene is split between Bond and his adviser building tension.

• Protagonist falls into the water, credits begin. The credits use graphics to make it look like bond is being dragged deeper and deeper into the sea. 

Style of Opening

The opening is an action opening, within a few moments the first action sequence has begin which leads to a car chase and then a fight. This builds tension in the audience but doesn't establish the character although as a sequel that wasn't necessary.

Information from Credits

This has a very elaborate credits sequence, it starts when Bond falls in the water, he is pulled by a mysterious through the ground as the title appears. Before this we see the name of the lead actor and the writer of the original books. The font is crisp and white, almost clinical, the font of the title is bold and white but is deteriorating in places this could be to represent death. The title sequence has a heavy theme of death, the cardboard target of bond is shot and bleeds, then we see other corpes under water which then continues to several graveyards where we see one with the name Bond. This theme continues through the titles but we also see some implied fight scenes and destruction shown with the raining of blood and the fire. 

Narrative/Storyline 

Bond tries to catch a criminal and recover a hard drive containing MI6 confidential informational, the criminal escapes the house, Bond follows. We see a elaborate Car chase which then moved onto bikes until they both reach a train, they fight but Bond's accomplice attempts to shoot the criminal but shoots Bond instead, he fell into the water and the credits began. 

Media In My Life

In comparison to my parents or even grandparents media has greatly changed my life. An example of this would be the traditional image I grew up with of my father at the dinning table in the morning drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, this would once be the most conventional image in the country however nowadays you're more likely to see people reading the news off their phone from Facebook or twitter while drinking some pretentious new variation of coffee from an international coffee brand like Starbucks. Through advertising and modern technology media has managed to distort the simplest of traditions in our society. 

My life personally is greatly effected by the media; not only do I study Media in school but I and most people around me use media sites like Facebook, twitter, google or various similar sites to communicate, answer frivolous queries or even just to check the time, this seems to be quite common as brands like apple have started releasing an apple watch so people can check their social networking sites as easily as reading the time.  Outside of school there are few things that don't involve media. I  generally take my smart phone with me everywhere and with devices like 3G this means I have access to Facebook or any other social networking site at anytime, this means I can speak to my friends at anytime. While this seems like an incredible thing, it makes it difficult to complete minor but essential tasks, be it homework, chores or dog walking it becomes harder and harder to turn off these devices. Even going to the theatre now, the moment the curtain falls for intermission almost everyone in the audience has their phone out and is checking Facebook, embarrassingly this included myself. This really shows how dependent or even addicted to technology my generation is.

However I don't think I could live without the aforementioned media 'essentials' let alone the older forms of media such as like radios or print produced items like newspapers; without these older forms we would have no understanding of what was going on in the world. Modern Media also has many advantages which greatly benefit us, an example of this would be campaigns to improve society, usually trying to achieve equality, with issues like racism, sexism and homophobia like the 'He for She' campaign, which has recently become extraordinary popular through sites like Facebook, Twitter and youtube where people can share videos so everyone they interact with on these applications can also see it and spread awareness. So despite the issues media causes in my life I am extremely grateful that it is helping each generation become less ignorant than the last.

Also these modern versions of traditions aren't necessarily bad; by reading the news on our phone or tablets we save an incredible amount of paper and countless trees.

There is a great deal of regulation in modern media, monitoring sex, violence, swearing and making sure that everything labelled as news at least partially accurate, although though they are unable to prevent a great deal of misrepresentation in the media. However on sites like Twitter there is little to no regulation allowing people to say whatever they like about anyone, this allows severe cyber bullying to take place.

To Conclude, as whole I truly love media, I can't imagine not being able to talk to my friends outside of school however there are many faults and issues in modern media such as lack of regulation on social media or misrepresentation in the press. Although modern media has its many advantages, it helps friends keep in contact, it raises awareness about important cultural issues. I believe that sites like facebook and twitter are incredible inventions that are sometimes spoiled by people with bad intentions and that small comforts in life like television or newspaper are incredible.

Definition of Different Shots

Match on Action Shot

This is when the shot subtly cuts to an object or to look at something from a different angle and then back again without the audience noticing as they would if you were to cut to a different person or setting.

The shot that he original is cut to must show the same action, in the same context and timing so together it looks like one fluid action rather than a sequence of shots that could be film days apart rather than seconds. 

Shot/Reverse Shot

When a character is shown looking at another character off camera, then we are shown the other character's reaction before cutting back to the first character.

Another example of this is a shot of an explosion/villain causing havoc, then cut to the protagonist's reaction and then back to the action aka the villain. 

The 180 Degree Rule

The 180 degree rule is a guideline on where to place the camera to capture to people standing directly opposite them. The camera is placed in a few different places in a circle surrounding the two characters to capture the scene from different angles so the shot can focus on the expression of the character currently speaking or reacting. 

The object of focus must stay in the middle of the shot and the camera must stay on one side of the axis for every shot.

What is 'Suspense'?

Suspense is a feeling of excitement and morbid curiosity caused by a tense moment in a film. Alfred Hitchcock, a legendary horror director defined suspense as the audience expecting something bad to happen but do not know when and have no way of preventing it. It creates an enjoyable sense of fear and adrenaline for the audience, this is one of the main reasons some people find the horror/thriller genre entertaining. 

The Thriller Genre relies mostly on suspense, named for 'thrilling' it's audience with fear and suspense. This is usually created with cliffhangers, to leave the audience wondering what will happen next in the story. 

Suspense makes the last moments of films the most memorable because they are the scenes which effect the audience most; the building up of tension makes the revelation or image that it results with more effective because the audience expect it to be something shocking or disturbing. Suspense is the 'hook' of many horror films, the audience's curiosity being the reason they keep watching.

This can be achieved by music with an increasing tension, mimicking the audience's heartbeat to create a mood of foreboding and imply fear. 

Conventions of the Horror Genre

Research into Genre

Adventure- The Adventure genre focuses on a story of a protagonist traveling a great distance and attempt to complete a apparently impossible mission. 

                                     

Western- Westerns are films primarily set in the late 19th century in the America old west. They usually contain a law abiding protagonist battling a cruel villain. 

    

                                      

Drama- Films where a majority of the scenes are tragic or full of angst, often betraying tragic characters battling with real life issues like depression, sex addiction etc.

                                        

Fantasy- A film where the main concept or themes focus around the supernatural e..g witches, vampires etc. 

      

                                         

Crime- The crime genre shows us crime's being committed and/or the criminal's life to make the audience think about why the criminal did what they did. 

                                         

Film Noir- The Film Noir genre describes old hollywood crime stories, usually made around the 1940s or 50s or at least filmed in that style.  

                                          

Romance- A Love story about a two people the audience want to eventually get together who face a  difficult obstacle. In a Romantic comedy there is ultimately a happy ending, however in a Romantic Drama or Tragedy there is often no hope for the characters, leaving the audience heartbroken over star-crossed lovers. 

                                        

Action- The Action Genre is similar to the adventure genre with a protagonist send to complete a seemingly impossible task with many obstacles on the way except action films contain more elaborate visual affects and action sequences, e.g. car chases, explosions etc.

                                        

Comedy- A film which aims to make the audience laugh and leave the cinema happy, some are outrageously funny and crude while others feature a dryer and wittier humour. 

    

Historical- A film telling a story about true events/people, often dramatised for dramatic Affect.  

Sci Fi- This Genre is similar to the fantasy Genre except instead of featuring the supernatural, it uses scientific understanding, creating a futuristic theme. 

Musical- These films tell stories like other films with musical numbers woven in through the most dramatic moments. 

Animation- A Genre that uses computer graphics or sketches to create computer animated images which are matched with voices to create a film. Also commonly referred to as cell animation.

Documentary- this genre uses real footage of real people, trying to betray a important message, usually attempting to change people's views on society.

                                      

Mystery- this genre is similar to the crime genre however instead of focusing on the criminal themselves, it focuses on the protagonist solving the mystery.  

                                      

Horror -This genre aims to shock or scare it's audience by playing on their primal fears. Horror films often feature supernatural beings like ghosts, vampires or evil witches. This can cause the genre to overlap with the fantasy, mystery and thriller genres. 

                                     

Thriller-The Thriller genre is similar to Horror however instead of the more morbid subjects of the horror genre, thriller relies on surprise, terror and building anxiety of the audience.