Film Opening

Film opening - 2 minutes

Conventions 

“what the audience expect to see"

• Credits
• Name of film- expectations
• Main character- who they are/ introduction
• Location/ geography- where? When?
• Music that helps set the mood/ tone
• Narrative- whats going to happen? what has happened?
• Genre- mood and tone
• equilibrium disruption

Children of Men opening analysis (Uses and Gratification Theory)

GRATIFICATION

“pleasure gained from satisfaction of a desire"

Jay G Blamler and Elihu Katz

• Surveillance (information)
• Personal identity
• Escapism/ diversion
• Relationships

Rolland Barthe

Enigma code

Action code

2027

• Military helicopter- monitored x oppressed
• Depressing, dirty, messy, grim, oppression 
• In London- culturally diverse (Asian dominated- Chinese carts and tuk tuks)
• Development- old buildings, fumes, traffic
• Rubbish everywhere
• People giving up
• Organisation and care

Audience Theory

Effects theory

• Effect of media is direct x powerful
• Audience is passive

Hypodermic Needle

Media messages are injected straight into passive audience

Copy Cat

Recreate or Reenact 

Desensitisation

The more an audience experiences a shocking event, the less shocked that they become of it.

Cultivation

Suggests that continued exposure to certain situations will change our views on them. 

Notes

IDEOLOGY

Hegemony 

The set of beliefs established by the dominant class of society, that accepted by the rest of society.

False consciousness

A way of thinking that prevents a person from perceiving the true nature of their school or economic situation.

GENRE

Animation?- process

source- comics

theme- space (sci fi)- location

audience- kids film, chick flicks

What is genre?

Process, source material, themes, location, audience response, story, characters..

NARRATIVE

Tzvetan Todorov (Russian folktales)

1. A state of equilibrium
2. A disruption of the equilibrium
3. A recognition that there has been a disruption
4. Dealing with the disruption
5. A reinstatement of equilibrium, usually different to the first

Levi Strauss

Binary opposites

A set of opposite values which reveal the structure of texts

Shapes and representation

CIRCLE

• Welcoming
• Fair
• Harmless
• Nice
• Repetitive
• Cute
• Friendly
• Chubby
• Positive
• Whole
• Full
• Timely
• Earth
• Infinity
• Cycle
• Cosy
• Good

TRIANGLE

• Harmful
• Nasty
• Rude
• Violent
• Frank
• Angry
• Bitchy
• Rebellious
• Deceptive
• Villainous
• Bad

SQUARE

• Balanced
• Sturdy
• Logical
• Justice
• Protective
• Control
• Strict
• Uncool
• Strong
• Mature
• Neutral

Editing

Order and duration

↳ Creates meaning

Continuity editing → Invisible

Design to create logical coherence for the audience.

Use of space and time is clear, easy to read.

Eye line match

1. Character looking offscreen
2. What the character is looking at

Match on action

The movement of an object or a character is continued/ matched in the next shot.

Establishing shot

• sets location
• sets time (period)
• sets mood/ tone

Camerawork in Heat

Codes And Conventions

Conventions- what we expect to see

Codes- system of signs that create meaning

• technical- use of equipment e.g. cameras, editing, sound
• symbolic- what they do with props

Technical codes

Sound- cricket noise

editing- to the popcorn - sound

Symbolism

Cricket noise- isolation

Popcorn- build up of pressure