Film opening 2 minutes analysis of The Proposal:

The proposal- Romantic comedy analysis. The genre is introduced by two characters (male/female), they both live different lifestyles, but work at the same job. The female however is challenging stereotype because she has higher authority in the work place compared to the male, you can tell that it’s going to be a boss and employee relationship. I can tell that the film is set in New York because of the of the buildings outside of the females window, you can see the type of buildings as the camera pans past her head while she’s on the running machine and its followed by yellow taxis . The forest start is normally associated with a horror film, but from the music you can tell that it isn’t a horror. The non- diegetic music is light, upbeat and soft which introduces the genre being quiet positive. The woman is represented as strong, independent and bossy. Her appearance is neat and tidy; she is wearing a black suit which is ironed which is black and white, with her hair sprayed back perfectly. The way that the woman’s house is laid out is spotless; there is no mess anywhere which reflects her personality and her appearance a lot too. An example is when the woman goes into her kitchen and all the surfaces are spotless and everything is in its place. On the other hand the male is the complete opposite. Even though he is again in the same everyday setting of his house, he is running late and rushes out of bed to get washed and dressed, whereas the female had already got up early and started the day off with exercise. Also his room is dark and in a mess, nothing seems to be in order for him. You can notice the difference between the positive of the woman and the negative of the man by the lighting, as she is up bright and early enhances how clean her house is as well as how dull his room is for how unorganised he is. There are a range of wide shots during the opening of the proposal; this was done to introduce the setting, including mid shots to introduce the characters too. All the staff sends E-mails to each other saying for example ‘it’s here’ and ‘the which is on her broom’ which shows that nobody in the work place likes her. You can tell by the way she walks in and everybody turns to do work as she struts through the office with a lot of negative attitude. The popping sound of the E-mail keeps it light hearted however again introducing the genre of the humour side to it. It’s very clear that there is no relationship towards the two, however it follows the traditional ‘two opposites attract’ and one helpless person left out which would be the woman in the coffee shop who had already made the man’s orders ready for him and he skipped the line, he tells her that she ‘literally saved his life’, the gestures could suggest that she may be a secret admirer/ lover, which follows the usual storyline. The subtitles order: Touchstone pictures, Mandeville films, Presents amans productions, Touchstone films, actors names.

Film opening 2 minutes analysis of Sweeney Todd:

Sweeny Todd is a film about the life story of Benjamin Barker who plays Sweeney Todd.
The Genre for this film is horror/ drama, which I believe is made very clear from the opening of the film.

The mis en scene is dark and creepy, with props which stand out such as splattered blood, a dramatic set up of the chair in the middle of the room, lighting and thunder is exaggerated and all of these are stereo typical examples of horror films. I believe by following stereo types it helps the audience to gather a feeling of what the rest of the film is going to be like which is important in terms of attracting the right audience. So, from the props and mis en scene I am going to look at how I can include some of these into my own film, maybe looking at what type of street the main person is on, what she is wearing or what the kidnapper is wearing maybe for example.
The dark atmosphere is great as it all links in with the footage as well as the soundtrack played in the background. Following the conventions of horror films, again showing the audience that it may be gory.

The film starts with the DreamWorks logo, which is well known and may already make a first impression on the audience who is about to watch the film. It is important to include logos or clips of production companies for example as I am looking to follow conventions of existing films closely.  
Soon after the logo, it is followed by loomy, creepy music which seems to be played on a organ or a similar instrument. Soon after the music seems to be mainly high stringed notes with drums and sometimes trumpets when a title appears or an action is about to be taken during the film. This is a good technique used to show that something bad is about to happen, also the sounds tend to increase in speed which is also tension building and can be another technique that I use for my own film.
The fonts that are used during the film are very gothic and serif, giving it a more serious styled look, also suggesting to the audience that maybe a serious action is about to take place. Little hints like this during the film is also something that I would like to try and include to keep the audience engaged with what they are watching and hoping they would want to watch more.

The titles throughout the film opening are all red and white, normally on a black or dark background which suggests danger (red) and something genially bad. This is a hint to the audience that something bad is going to happen, usually associated with blood and again is just making it more clear to the audience also what type of film genre it is. 

Institution Research:

For my institution research, I looked at films that are similar to mine and help influence me to make certain aspects of my film. The Taken films were distributed by 20^th Century Fox, this is only one film out of many that have been distributed by them, for me I saw a lot of action films made by them which links into my genre nicely. The first Taken film was produced by M6 Films, Canal+ and TPS Star.

Another film that I was looking closely at was Hush which was released in 2008, a British horror/ thriller which had a similar storyline to my own. The film is directed by former BBC Radio 1 DJ, Mark Tonderai, and stars William Ash and Christine Bottomley. The film was produced by Warp X, UK Film Council and Film4 who supplied the funding for the film. The film was distributed by Optimum Releasing.  However Hush was distributed by Optimum releasing which is a film distributing company working in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company releases many films, including foreign language films, anime releases such as Studio Ghibli's films, and independent British, Irish, and American films in the United Kingdom and sometimes Ireland.

Even though these are the two institutions iv looked at for the two films that relate well to my film, I also have a variety of production companies to choose from, which for me is beneficial, as when I create my film I am able to see what would suit it better as in the process of creating/ planning my film little things may change, but despite this at the moment I believe that I am most likely to choose 20^th Century Fox as it is targeted many films such as my own.

I need to choose one that relates well to my film as for example if I chose Buena Vista Pictures it wouldn't make sense as firstly it no longer exists and secondly all their films was targeted towards children, just like Walt Disney Pictures who have now taken over.

Certificate Research:

U standing for Universal is rated to films which are suitable for all viewers. Examples include many family films such as Toy Story, The Beauty and the Beast and Sharktale.

PG standing for Parental guidance is rated to films which are also suitable for any age. However, some scenes may be unsuitable for young children under the age of 8. Such scenes may contain mild language and sex/drug references. Some examples of PG rated films are A Cinderella Story, Home alone and Maleficent. 

12 standing for films which are suitable for people of the age 12 and above. 12A rated films are usually given a 12 certificate when released on DVD. An example of a 12 rated film is Mean Girls.

12 standing for films which are suitable for people of the age 12 and above. 12A rated films are usually given a 12 certificate when released on DVD. An example of a 12 rated film is Mean Girls.

15 standing for films which are only suitable for those aged 15 and over. Films within this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, and consistent use of foul language. Some scenes can also include strong violence and strong sex references, nudity without graphic detail. Sexual activity may be portrayed 
but without any strong detail. Sexual violence may also be shown if discreet and acceptable by context. Some examples are The Devil inside or Insidious. 

18 are films which are only suitable for people aged 18 and over. Films within this category do not have limitation on foul language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed; explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context. In addition some scenes in films within this category can also include very strong, gory, and/or sadistic violence. Strong sexual violence is permitted unless it is excessively graphic. Examples of films within category include: Taken, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Spring Breakers.

From my certificate research I believe my films rating is best of rated as a 12 or a 15 it has still been undecided, I am undeceive between the two because by having a 12 rated film I am able to have a wider target audience, including more younger people who have a bigger deposable income, but then I thought about the age teenagers tend to get a job is 16 anyway which is over 15, by allowing me to rate my film as a 15 I’m able to include a range of explicate scenes which fit in with my story line. Similar films to my own are also rated as a 15 such as Hush, so therefore I am looking more towards picking a 15 rating, even though this takes away a small proportion of my audience, it also defines it to a more particular one for myself to work with.

Font Research

Font research From some research I looked at, many opening font types follow a trend of producing a font that is consistent creating brand loyalty. By having brand loyalty means that the films advertisement team will have the same fonts throughout the whole campaign, for example on the bill boards, on the website and on posters. By doing this it lets the audience to recognise what film it is, even before any footage or sound. For my films opening titles I began to look at existing horror/ action films to see what types of fonts they used. From what I found the genre of film it is plays a part in how the font looks, for example if it was a ‘chick flick’ the font type would stereo typically be pink with swirls or a girly nature. So, because of this I had a look at the fonts used in similar films to mine such as Taken or Hush. Hush’s font types are quite basic and clear but are a serif font, like the picture below that I screen shot, it also has a slight un-even lining to it, this is the type of font I want to use for my film, its clear but has a slight off putting about it suggesting something is wrong maybe. Also that font is carried on throughout the other marketing campaigns such as the front cover or posters, again another campaigning technique that I would want to take up. For my opening titles of my film I looked at some fonts that I would be able to use easily, the main things I looked for when I was picking fonts where that it is serif, and clear enough to read, also I looked for that uneven feel to it that created enigma and mystery, maybe the thought that something bad may happen.

Peer Assessment

Strengths: 

• Very clear and interesting ways of presentation. 
• Excellent analysis of planning of your own film, very well thought out. 
• Good use of variety of IT. (especially the presentation of your screen-grabs) 
• Excellent analysis of additional films similar to the one you want to make.
• Diary posts are very well used and thoughtfully placed throughout your  

Targets: 

• Could maybe add you tube videos

My shot list for my film opening.

On a exel spread sheet I made some notes of my shot lists for the opening two minutes of my film. With this I was able to incluse how many different shots I will have, how long they will last, what will breifly happen in them and also what sound would be included. This helped me think about how fast or slow I want to to go and why, for example the shot changes speeded up a lot more when I was trying to build tension for the audience, I also used exel as it is an easy software that I can change anything that I needed to without loosing anything or having to do it all again.