Codes And Conventions Of Film Openings

Most film openings starts off by showing the audience the company logo that made the movie. In the bad boys opening scene it starts off by showing the company logo which is a lady carrying a torch draped in the American flag representing Columbia (0:13) which tells the audience which company made the film and who owns it. The opening scene for scary movie starts off by showing who made the film which is Dimension Films which also tells the audience who owns the movie and made it.

The establishing shots for the movie Scary movie and Bad Boys are completely different. In the film Scary movie it starts off by showing a extreme long shot showing a house (0:04) which creates an effect, which is showing the surroundings and where the movie is going to start before seeing the characters. Where as the bad boys film opening starts off by showing an close up of a car wheel the main characters are driving. (0:34) The film opening for bad boys don't show us first where it is set it just gets straight into the film.

At the end of film openings it shows the title of the film but doesn't mention any of the characters, producers and directors names. At the start of the film opening for bad boys some character names are mentioned but in the film opening for scary movie no character names are mentioned.

The genre conventions in these openings are quite different; In the scary movie opening there are elements of comedy with some horror but they didn't  make the horror extremely scary they do it in a hysterical way to make the audience laugh which is why the genre is a hybrid comedy and horror. In bad boys there are also elements of comedy just like in scary movie.

Filmography
2000 - Scary Movie (Keenen Ivory Wayans)
2003 - Bad Boys 2  (Michael Bay)

Wicker Man - Opening Scene

This is an opening scene from the movie Wicker Man. The genre of this film is a horror but by watching the  opening scene you wouldn't think it is a horror straight away because of the high key lightening used. An opening scene is used to engage the audience, showing them exciting segments of the film, which immediately strikes the audience attention.

At the beginning of the opening scene it starts off with a ground shot of a doll been thrown out of the window of a car. (0:01) and the police man on motor bike picks it up and goes and gives it back. This shows that the police man is trying to help and could expect this through out the film (0:02) The camera shot used is a close up which shows the characters facial expression and shows the audience that they are on a road in the middle of no where because you can just see hills and trees.

The lorry crashing into the car is used to make the audience jump and also cause some confusion to the audience because by watching the first opening scene it looks like it is going to be an action movie and not a horror. (0:46) When the car is on fire and the police man runs over to try and save them. He couldn't get to the front of the car so he runs to the back and trys his hardest to save the little girl from getting killed, he reaches his hand in to pull her out which tells you that he would risk his own life just to save some one els who is a stranger to him.

The little girl is just sat there looking at him, not trying to escape and also she has no facial expression its just as if she is looking at something close up. She isn't looking scared or shocked which is what you wouldn't expect if this was to happen in real life. (1:03) which gets the audience thinking and asking themselves to think that maybe the little girl could be involved in the events that occurred.

Filmography
1973 - Wicker Man (Robin Hardy)

Bad Boys Opening Scene

This is an opening scene from the movie bad boys . The genre of this movie is a hybrid, action/adventure. An opening scene is used to show the audience a bit about what the movie is about and try and persuade the audience to watch the whole film.

At the beginning of this opening scene it shows you an image of a car wheel the main characters are driving. This gives the audience a clue that there are going to be allot of car chases. There are also some elements of humor in this opening scene when Martin Lawrence  drops his food in Will Smiths car, this is to make which is used to make the audience laugh.

The key technical codes of this opening is that there are allot of different camera angles the first camera angle is called a ground shot which is showing a extreme close up of a wheel of the car the 2 main characters are driving (0:36) The audience haven't saw the characters yet just the car. This would give the audience an idea that there will be loads of car chases during this film.
The target audience is aimed at teenagers and adults because there are explosions, violence, car chases and also bad language. This movie wouldn't be suitable for young children as they might think it is the right thing to do and start causing trouble and using bad language because they want to be like the main characters in the film.

Filmography
2003 - Bad Boys 2  (Michael Bay)

Scary Movie Opening Scene

This is an opening scene for the film Scary Movie. The film genre is a hybrid, Comedy and Horror. An opening scene is used to engage the audience, showing them interesting segments of the film, to make them want to watch it. Also the opening scene, shows typical horror/comedy concepts, which immediately strikes the audience.

Scary movie is different to any other scary film, this is because the way in which the killer murders people is more amusing. However in a normal horror film the way the killer murders people is a lot less funny, such as in a horror film there would be loads of volience and blood everywhere but in scary movie the way he kills the young woman isnt voilient the killer does it in a more hysterical way. (3:54)

One of the symbolic codes of this particiluar opening scene is when the young girl is running out of her house and she stops for a moment to look at the signs. (3.07) She ignores the safty one and runs the way the death sign is pointing, this is to make the audience laugh and also it is a clue that she is going to die because she had a choice between running to safety or running into a death trap. She ran the death way because she might of thought they was opersit and the killer was trying to confuse her. Also when the young woman is running and the car drives into her and she flys up in the air this is also used to make the audience laugh. (4.10)

At the begining of this film when the young woman was on the phone there wasnt any background music and the lighting used was dim lighting which represents she dont know what is going to happen but the lightening is dim because the killer knows what he is going to do and the young woman dont know she just thinks some one is having a laugh with her on the phone. when she knows she is in danger their is music in the background and the young woman runs out side where it is dark.

2000 - Scary Movie (Keenen Ivory Wayans)

A movie poster for my groups film genre

This is the film scary movie. The genre of this film is a horror and comedy. The reason it is a comedy and horror is because it is aimed to make people who watch it laugh but also scared at the same time. The low key lighting is used for the scary parts in the film and the high key lightning is mainly for the comedy parts.

This poster is a big clue it is a comedy and horror because there is low key and high key lightening. Also there facial expressions don't generally look like they are frightened in this poster. The one wearing the mask looks as if it is smiling and looking happy which will more then likely make the audience laugh.

In this scary movie poster there is a mixture between dark colours  and bright colours. The dark colours represent evil and the bright colours represent happy and jolly. The title is red which could represent blood and violence. In other horror films when the killer strikes and murders people it makes the audience feel scared and might not want to watch it anymore. But when you watch a comedy and horror film 'scary movie' it makes the audience laugh when the killer murders people.

The poster is communicating to the audience by not making it so scary and putting comedy into the poster which will make the audience think it isn't going to be that scary before they watch it. By looking at the picture they would be able to tell that there is going to be some comedy in it.

First Descision

Our first decision was deciding our groups for making the opening of a film of a Genre of your choice. In my group there is myself, Siobhan Powell, Rhys Birch and Scott Cook.

The Genre we chosen is horror with the elements of comedy. we chose this because we all liked Horror movies and comedy movies so we thought we would mix them and do a horror/comedy. We think it would be the best genre to get the best grade.

Analysing Movie Poster.

This is a movie poster from the film Legally Blond 2. The Genre of this movie is a comedy. The three codes and conventions of this film are it uses high key lighting and bright colours, which will show it is a comedy because in comedy's the lightning is sunny and bright which represents happiness and laughter.

This movie is aimed at females. You can tell this is aimed at females because of the colour pink which represents soft, beauty and sweetness. The dog is a big clue that this film is aimed at females as well because you wouldn't see a male walking around with a little dog dressed in pink. You would more likely see males walking around with a big dog such as a rottweiler. The colour of the sky is a light blue which suggests it is going to be sunny and bright and not rain this is also a clue to the audience to show it is going to be a comedy.

The camera shot used in this poster is called 'long shot' this shows the whole subject in their environment. Also the body language and facial expressions tells the audience it is a comedy because the character looks happy and jolly. Also it is important that a long shot is used in this poster because the film is about her looks as well. The title is Legally Blond so it is important you see the hair colour because it is what the whole point of the film her being blond.