Initial Notes on Film Openings

Van Helsing

• Stephen Summers, 2004
• Music- unsettling but it sets the genre.
• Setting- castle, suggests a high budget.
• Gothic
• Bigs stars- Hugh Jackman, Kate Bekinsdale
• Includes intertextual references
• Action/Horror/Sci-Fi/Gothic/Fantasy... Hybrid genre.
• $160m budget.

Marley & Me

• David Frankel, 2008
• 40 seconds of company credits
• Sound and Editing signify change in mood.
• Big stars- Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson
• Romcom
• $60m budget.

Where The Heart Is

• Matt Williams, 2000
• Big stars- Natalie Portman
• 20 seconds of credits
• Based on a book
• Audio bridge included
• Exposition through dialouge
• Romance/Drama... Hybrid genre.
• $15m budget.

Rock n Rolla

• Guy Ritchie, 2008
• Exposition through voice over
• Central Antagonist rather than Protagonist
• Action/Crime
• $18m budget.

 

Donnie Darko

• Richard Kelly, 2001
• 40 seconds of company credits
• Drama/Mystery/Sci-Fi/Thriller
• $4.5m budget.

Anchorman

• Adam McKay, 2004
• Exposition through vocieover
• Main Protagonist is shown through the whole opening sequence
• Comedy
• $26m budget.

Hot Fuzz

• Edgar Right, 2007
• Intertextual references
• Exposition though voiceover
• Crime/Comedy
• Big Stars- Simon Pegg
• $16m budget.

Burn after Reading

• Coen Brothers, 2008
• Big stars- Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton
• 1 minute title sequence
• Exposition though signs and subtitles
• Film Noir/Black Comedy/Cult Film
• $37m budget.

My Filmic Tastes

(1) List the last 5 movies you've seen



Paranormal Activity
Marley & Me
The Water Boy
Bridget Jones’ Diary
Twilight


(2) What was the last movie you paid to go and see in the cinema?

Paranormal Activity

(3) What are your favourite TWO film genres?

Rom-Com
Comedy




(4) What are your all-time top FIVE films?

Napoleon Dynamite
Marley & Me
The Bourne Ultimatum

Twilight

Donkey Punch

(5) Which ONE of these is your absolute favourite ... and why (be fairly detailed on why!)*

Napoleon Dynamite- It’s so stupid, it’s funny. You don’t have to think really hard as to what’s going on and it’s just really random. The idea of it is unique and you just wouldn’t ever think of making something like it, because it’s just a weird theme.

7 Evaluation Questions

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract/address your audience?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Prelim Task

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

The coursework is worth 50% of the AS (same at A2) and the marking (detailed later) is divided into 3 sections:RESEARCH AND PLANNING: 20%


PRODUCTION: 60%


EVALUATION: 20%

The work is marked partially by the teachers observations and also the approach and level of organisation, but it's mostly its a DVD and your blog that are marked.








This is our prelim task...

Microdrama & Narrative Theory

This is another film that we did, basing it on Propp's charactertypes theory. In this microdrama we used a villain, a donor, a magical object, a princess (and her father), the dispatcher, the hero and the false hero. Doing this drama helped us understand Propp's theory more thoroughly.

 

Sweding

Sweding is the term for 'erased and recreated' films. This came from the 2001, Michael Gondry film Be Kind Rewind.

The 5 films that I have thought of, which I may be able to swede are;

 

Harry Potter

• I would change it so that the main character was female (Harriet Potter), and I would make them do all of the spells wrong, and I would include them playing Quidditch. I would do all the bits that you see on the trailer for the real film, however I would just make them amusing.   (this is the one I will do.)

Hot Fuzz

• I would make the police be lazy  & do as much as they could to get out of work. I would take all of the better parts of the film, and sum it all up in 2 minutes.

Kill Bill

• I would change the title to 'Chill Bill' and have the main character running around with a sword, but the person she goes for just shouting "chill bill!" instead so she didn't hit them.

Twilight

• I would have all of the characters running around biting each other, whilst there is one sensible one trying to et everyone to stop. I would put the best bits of the film into 2 minutes. 

Casino Royale

• I would swede the opening sequence, where Bond is chasing someone. I would have someone chasing someone else around a stupid place, e.g. a park.

The final result of our sweding task was as followed;







We weren't as pleased with this as we could have been. We wanted to recreate the trailer but some of the points were impossible for us to do within the time space we were given. However, when we screened this everyone seemed to laugh and find it quite funny, which in the end.. is all for the best!

The Coursework Task

Preliminary Task: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair oppposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanged a couple of lines of dialouge. This task should denomastate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

Main task: The title and opening of a new fiction gilm, to last a mzximum of 2 minutes, All cideo and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate, with the expection of music or audio from a copyright-free source.

Assesment Criteria:
25482314 G321 Simplified Marking Criteria as 1 Sheet 1