Music Idea

For our film opening, we are finding music that is fast beat and have a sense of pop rock.
Here is a great example: http://www.freeplaymusic.com/volumedetail.aspx?volume=22155

Conventions of Film Opening (Prezi)

Task 11 - Certificate Ratings

Universal 
Everyone can watch it, there is nothing unsuitable for children.  At U there will not normally be reference to illegal drugs or drug misuse unless there is a really clear anti-drug or educational message which will be understood by a younger audience.  Characters may be seen kissing or cuddling and there my be reference of 'making love'.  For example, Tangled.

Parental Guidance
Everyone can watch it, but certain sciences may be unsuitable for young children.  It may contain mild language and sex.drug references.  It may also contain moderate violence.  Drug reference may be permissible if there is a clear anti-drugs or educational message which will be understood by children over eight.  For example, Wreck-it-Ralph.

12A/12
The 2 certificate is just for videos, DVDs and Blu-rays.  12A is for films at the cinema only.  Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for try young children. Children under 12 years old are only allowed to watch it if accompanied by an adult who is at least over 18.  It may contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drug, strong language, violence, sex and nudity.  For example, Iron Man.


15
Only those who are over 15 years old are allowed.  Nobody younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15-rated VHS, DVD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, as long as there is no strong or graphic detail. Some sex scenes can be quite long at this category and may involve some nudity and movement. Though nudity may be allowed in a sexual context there should be no strong detail.  There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.  For example, The heat.

18
Only adult are allowed.  Nobody younger than 18 can rent or buy a 18-rated VHS, DVD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language at 18, and the work could explore themes relating to this. There is no limit on the number of uses of strong (eg 'f***') or even very strong language (eg ‘c***’) which can be passed at 18. Uses could be aggressive, directed, frequent or accompanied by strong violence.  There can be strong and detailed portrayals of sex at 18, including full nudity. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.  For example, Evil Dead.

R18
Can only be shown at licensed adult cinemas or sold at licensed sex shop, and only to adults, those aged 18 or over.  Films under this category will contain hard-core pornography.



http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Board_of_Film_Classification

Task 10 - Conventions of Film Openings

Film opening are really useful as it establish a atmosphere so that the audience fall into the same mood as the film they are watching.  Film openings does not have to be big, it just has to catch audience's attention.

Successful film openings bring a well developed idea of what the film is going to be about which will make the audience settle into their seat desperately wanting to know more about the story and the characters. Some film openings also foreshadow or give hints about what will happen later on the film.

Conventions:

• Most film openings are around 2 minutes long.
• It introduces the key characters, Protagonst, Antagonist, sidekick etc.
• It introduces pre plot or beginning of the narrative.
• Establishes platform.
• It shows key credits such as production company, star system and director.
• Most sounds are non diegetic sound.

The film opening of 'The Cinderella Story' is a really successful opening as it really caught my attention when I watched it.  The film begin by showing us a classic fairytale-like castle which makes me immediately link back to the fairy tale 'Cinderella'.  Sam's character was presented really well as I know that Sam close to her dad since it show a lot of different scene of Sam doing different activities with her dad.  The shot showing us the evil look of her sisters looking at Sam suggests something bad will happen to Sam later on in the film due to her sisters.

Task 9 - Title Sequence Timeline

Task 8 - Iconic Sounds

Chick flicks use a lot of music with a fast beat and good feel as it creates a positive feeling, it usually uses really lively song as their opening music as it creates a happy mood for the audience to look forward to. Here is an example from 'She's the Man'.

Most Chick flicks have those sweet moment when the boy and girl are together.  Here is a example from 'A Cinderella Story' when the girl and the boy are dancing, this creates are warm feeling and make the audiences feel joyful.

Apart from all those music, there are also sound used in Chick flicks.  In many Chick flicks, there are a lot of girls fighting with each other or back stabbing their 'friend'.  Here is a example of 'scream' sound used in 'Mean Girls'. Apart from screaming, there are also a lot of crying sound which make the audience feel pity and sympathy to the character.

Apart from all of those pop/easy feel music, rock musics are also used in Chick flicks.  Here is an example from 'St Trinians', this music has really heavy beat.  Rock music are not really expected in Chick flicks as the target audience are mostly young girls.

Task 7 - Typical Synopsis

Tearjerkers
Tearjerkers are films about emotional crises.  They always evoke sadness, tears and sympathy on the characters mostly due to disease, family problem, relationship....Most tearjerkers have strong female fighting for what they want.  A really good example is 'The Notebook'.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tearjerker




Romantic Comedies

Rom-coms are films based around the romantic relationship of the characters.  They are light-hearted, humorous and always have humorous plot-lines.  The main idea of a rom-com is that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. An example of a rom-com is 'Friends with Benefits'.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/romcoms








Guy Comedies
Guy-com are films aimed mostly at man where feelings and emotions are discussed from the guy's point of view.  They may contain things most guys enjoy, like sport and strong language.  Most guy-com are about guys dealing with their marriage, their future or life.  An example of a guy-com is 'The Hangover'.

Task 6 - Audience Expectations

We went around our school asking girls aged 16-18 what they would expect from a chick flick. Here's what we found out; 

Gigi King, 16, says "I'd expect  a chick flick to include lots of girl stuff, gossiping and should have a romantic story line" 

Becky Thorne, 17, says "Chick flicks should definitely include two people falling in love and having to overcome an obstacle. They should be funny and the best chick flicks would be starring High Grant and Sandra Bullock"  

Shona Reilly, 16, says "There should be lots of girly conflicts; cat fights and back stabbing. There has to be a romantic interest who is desired by more than one individual. Girl Power should be a big focus, it should feature strong and independent young women!" 

Alexa Rusakoff, 16, says "From a chick flick I would expect there to be a lot of girly banter; there should be plenty of ongoing gossip and a lot of flirtatious encounters. Slumber parties and house parties resulting in break ups and make ups. In the end the girls will stick together and help each other out, there's always a happy ending" 

Many other girls within our target audience agreed with these statements and all felt strongly that the film should be comedic and include a love interest. 

Task 5 - Nine Shot Analysis

The first shot is a production company credits, which is the Warner Bros. Pictures.

The second shot is another way of showing the production company, but this time, it is in a fairytale-like font which suggests to the audience that this film is a reproduction of a classic fairytale.

The third shot is a camera flying over the cliff and eventually arrive in front of a classic fairytale-like castle. The name of the production companies and the name of the actress, Hilary Duff, fades out while the camera was onto of the cliff.
At this point, there is voice over of a girl telling the beginning of the story.

After showing the title of the film, the camera zoom out from the castle inside the globe and showing a man holding the globe shaking it.
At this point, the audience can guess that the little girl is the main character as she appears on the first shot, and the man will be someone important to the girl, the dad.

Then the camera pan really fast to show the view of the town, what the girl and her dad was looking at.
There are also sound effect of cars, which is a non-diegetic sound.
At the end of this shot, 'This Will Be' by Natalie Cole started playing as a non-diegetic sound.

The next shot is a shot showing the dad driving the car with the girl.
At this point, music starts playing and names of actress and actor appear on the screen.
'This Will Be' by Natalie Cole is still playing from the previous shot.

The next shot is showing the girl hitting the baseball.
This is shot from quite a low angle which suggest the girl is quite strong and superior.
'This Will Be' is still playing, and there is also a voice over of a girl telling us about her background over the song.

The next shot is showing the the dad looking at the ball flying over the camera and the girl dropping the baseball bat and run as the dad catches her.
This shot suggests to the audience that the relationship between the girl and the dad are quite close.
There are still names of the actor and actress appear on the screen.

The next shot showing the diner of her dad.  The camera is panning diagonally upward to the dinner name board which catches the audiences' attention.









http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpJEwOzwdMg

Task 5 - Nine Shot Analysis

The first shot is the production credit which is a company logo. 

This gives me ideas of how i can do my own company logo and reinforce the convention of putting production company credits right at the beginning of the film.

The second shot is zooming in showing a work place which suggests to the audience where the main character  come from and her background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1dbtQpdyqU

The third shot is showing the name of the producer.

The blue background fades in to the previous shot.

The forth shot is showing a builder handing a card for another builder to sign. 

Again, the camera is zooming into the builder showing us the builder signing the card.

The fifth shot is showing the the name of the studio, Morgan Creek.

Again, the blue background fades in.

Again, this is another shot of another builder handing the card to another builder.  At this point, the audience still don't know what the card is for, but as it is shown twice, it may be something important for Syd.
This time, the camera is panning upwards so showing the the builder signing the card.

The seventh shot is a screen showing the name of the director.
And again, the blue background fades it.

The eighth shot is again, another shot showing another builder handing the card to another builder to sign.
This time, the camera is panning diagonally upward to showing another builder signing the card. 

The ninth shot is showing the name of the the actress playing the main character, Amanda Bynes.
And again, the blue background fades it.

Task 4 - History

The first ever film which was considered as a 'Chick Flick' is 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' which is released in 1961, it is also commonly know as one of the classic films from the golden age of cinemas. Molly Haskell suggests that Chick Flicks are really different from the 1940-50 women's films because she feels that they are more defiant and upbeat, post-modern and post-feminist.

Several Chick Flicks are based on classic fairy tales or the story of Cinderella (eg The Cinderella Story, Pretty Woman) or Shakespeare (eg She's the Man, 10 Things I Hate About You).
For a few years prior to that 'chick flicks' were the sexually exploitative films, like those made by directors like Russ Meyers, which were designed to appeal to male sexual fantasy.

The transition in the commonly understood meaning of the term came with a spate of films that had particular appeal to women. Foremost amongst these was the 1991 film 'Thelma & Louise', starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. This had the promotional tagline 'Somebody said get a life... so they did'. The film, which had a women writer, was extremely successful and led to film studios becoming aware of a potential new audience.

Most Chick Flicks are based on stories that are already around so I would love to base my film opening on story that is already around because I think it wound be fun to make a twist on something that is famously known.

Task 3 - Conventions

• Chick flicks are normally upbeat and perky and includes lots of romance and comedy elements.
• There is never much violence in chick flicks because the target audience are normally young girls or young women.
• The main character must be female and must be considered  "strong" and "independent" when it comes to facing adversity and overcoming obstacles in the film.
• The "problems" in chick flicks are normally bad parents; bullies; ex-boyfriends; crush; best-friends and more....besides, there must be a love interest in a chick flick.
• Chick flicks must have certain moments where the main female character is really emotional due to them being upset by their problems.
• Most chick flicks are based in a high school (e.g. Mean Girls, Wild Child).
• The plot is mostly based common interest/issues of teenagers (parties, crushes, popularity, friendship, high school, first love, rebellion, cyber bulling....).
• The story line is always as simple as 'boy meets girls, boy are girl fall in love, boy finds her again just in time for the credit to role.'. (http://www.examiner.com/article/history-of-chick-flicks)

A typical example is Wild Child, where Poppy Moore has to move to a English School due to her parent then got into trouble with her friends and boy-friend.

Task 2 - Directors

Mark Waters - The director of Mean Girls

Born: June 30, 1964 in Wyandotte, Michigan, USA

Films Directed: 

• The House of Yes
• Head Over Heels
• Freaky Friday
• Just Like Heaven
• Mr. Popper's Penguin

He is the brother of screenwriter Daniel Waters and has been married to actress Dina Spybey since 2000.  He is a graduate of the American Film Institute.  He often directs light-heated, family friendly films.

Waters was one of the 120 invitees to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2006.

He had won the Franklin J.Schaffner Award from the American Film Institute, USA and has been nominated for a lot of other awards, including the Independent Spirit Award, The Grand Jury Prize from the Sundance Film Festival.

"Daydreaming allows you to play out scenarios where you miraculously save the day.  You play out scenarios in your head that are kind of crazy, and the you personally, heroically resolve them."

Robert Luketic - The director of Legally Blonde 

Born: November 1, 1973 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Films Directed:

• Monster-in-law
• The Ugly Truth
• 21
• Killers
• Paranoia

He is the elder of two children of an Italian mother and Croatian father.

Luketic cultivated his film career early when he won his first award for "Best Film" at the ATOM Film Festival at the age of 15.  He then went on to study Victorian College of Age - School of Film and Television, one of Australia's most prestigious film schools.

The film Legally Blonde grossed close to $100 million domestically and was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, which marked Luketic's feature film directing debut.

Task 1 - Collage

Possible Ideas

I have watched lots of films in this half term which gave me lots of ideas for my film opening, here are my favourites:

• The Notebook - I like the simplicity of this opening, and the music also give people a calm and relax feel.

• Koizora - I like how there is mini clip between the main actress/actors name which makes them stand out from the other character's name.  I also like the voice over which leads us onto the rest of the film.