X IDEAS1 Initial pre-research idea/s

GENRE

• Romance
• Comedy
• Rom Com hybrid
• Horror / Zombie

WORKING TITLE

• Where it all started (Rom/RomCom/Zom) 
• Back then (Zom)
• She said (RomCom)

WHERE IT ALL STARTED / SHE SAID

• Could be a teen rom com 
• The classic underdog as the protagonist who finds love
• Set in a school
• Typical Proppian archetypes such as the prize (who is the stereotypical popular girl at the start) and the hero (the stereotypical jock character in the beginning)

WHERE IT ALL STARTED / BACK THEN

• Zombie movie
• Showing what it is like now with all the zombies 
• Flashbacks to before and then when the outbreak started
• Protagonist, a female lead, rather than the stereotypical male lead in zombie movies

MOVIE INSPIRATIONS

• Mean Girls

...

...

• She's All That

...

...

• Warm Bodies

...

...

X ML3 Thoughts on previous AS coursework films

CROSSWORD

...

...

This is my favourite film opening.  I think the sound, mise-en-scene, cinematography and editing works really well together in order to create this hybrid genre, teen rom-com.
I like how the first 40 seconds builds up that narrative enigma by only showing small aspects of the protagonist.  For example this extreme close up shot, and all other shots within the first 40 seconds don't show the audience who the character is.

 

Extreme close up shot

I also like how it's edited for the clothes to fall on the floor in time with the beats of the music.

Medium close up shot

There are 37 shots within the first 40 seconds which is great for a younger target audience.

The only aspect of this opening I don't like is the scene where the protagonist gets pushed into the lockers and it gets replayed.

I think that this scene could be done in such a way where it doesn't look so strange by having a different angle because it is quite hard to see what is going on here as the male character is in the way.  Also I don't understand what voiceover was used during that point as it sounds like they didn't finish what they were saying.

X ML2 Analysing cinematography of past coursework

...

...

• 3 idents used - 21 seconds
• 7 seconds each
• Audio bridge into opening shot
• Roughly 107 shots

GOOD EXAMPLE OF ANGLE USE

• Worm's Eye Angle
• Shot from the ground
• Creates narrative enigma

• Dutch Angle
• Signifies something is wrong 

• Low Angle
• Connotes the person above being in control and being the dominant character

POSSIBLE INSPIRATIONS

• Using a large variety of different shots
• Think about different filters to use
• Possible audio bridge
• Using many shots
• Quicker shots
• Tense music

X ML1 Basic media language - shot types, angles

...

Shot types from westhamwindows

...

X THEORY1 The Auteur Theory

Richard Curtis

DEFINITION

• The director has a distinctive style (like Tarantino)
• They tackle social issues
• Assumption that the director is the creator (ignores the editor and writer etc.)

RICHARD CURTIS (A COUNTER EXAMPLE?)

Screenwriter, film director, film producer, television producer.

Known for Love Actually (2003), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and About Time (2013).  Associated with a subsidiary of a big 5 conglomerate NBC-Universal.  Very successful in commercial terms - his movies don't usually get critically acclaimed!  

...

...
...

...
...

...

Has a distinctive style.  Typically rom-coms (hybrid) with white, middle class, southern English actors.  Doesn't tackle social issues such as racism, sexism, poverty etc. but arguably disguises it therefore he is not considered an auteur.  

However... he's known for working with a mainly female centred genre.  Just as is the case with others such as soap operas and women's magazines, this is considered "trashy".

Filmography

SHANE MEADOWS

Shane Meadows

Director, screenwriter, actor. 

Known for Dead Man's Shoes (2004), This Is England (2006) and TwentyFourSeven (1997).  Associated with an Indie company, Warp.

...

...
...

...
...

...

Has a very distinctive style.  Mainly social realism genre with characters with different representations - e.g. working class, northern English.  Tackles racism, mental health and poverty.

• fits definition 
• warp minimal box office
• win lots of awards
• flawed and complex protagonist who by the end you sympathise with 
• low budget 
• racism, mental health, poverty all included
• actors with different accents and races
• social realism genre
• Dead Man's Shoes - hybrid - psychological thriller and social realist

X SOURCES2 Useful blogs + 1st links list!

https://mediabritishcinema.blogspot.com/
https://asmediafilmopening.blogspot.com/

X SOURCES1 Playlist of films I’ve researched

These are all of the films I've referenced to in my blogs and done some research on. I haven't gone into lots of depth on all of these films.
...

...

• High School Musical 3 (Ortega, 2008)
• Focus (Ficarra, Requa, 2015)
• Baby Driver (Wright, 2017)
• Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee (Meadows, 2009)
• Tyrannosaur (Considine, 2011)
• Legend (Helgeland, 2015)
• Bridget Jones's Baby (Maguire, 2016)
• Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004)
• The Theory of Everything (Marsh, 2014)
• Warm Bodies (Levine, 2013)
• Zombieland (Fleischer, 2009)
• Pretty in Pink (Deutch, 1986)
• The Brother's Grimsby (Leterrier, 2016)
• Scream (Craven, 1996)
• This is England (Meadows, 2007)
• About a Boy (Weitz brothers, 2002)
• Ali G Indahouse (Mylod, 2002)
• Atonement (Wright, 2007)
• Wish You Were Here (Leland, 1987)
• Friday the 13th (Nispel, 2009)
• Four Lions (Morris, 2010)
• Bridget Jones's Diary (Maguire, 2001)
• Hot Fuzz (Wright, 2007)
• Dawn of the Dead (Snyder, 2004)
• Dawn of the Dead (Romero, 1978)
• 28 Days Later (Boyle, 2002)
• Mean Girls (Waters, 2004)
• She's All That (Iscove, 1999)
• Paul (Mottola, 2011)
• Billy Elliot (Daldry, 2000)
• Love actually (Curtis, 2003)
• Four Weddings and a Funeral (Newell, 1994)
• About Time (Curtis, 2013)
• Dead Man's Shoes (Meadows, 2004)
• Twentyfour Seven (Meadows, 1998)

X Why I like Focus!

...

...

Poster for Focus with Will Smith and Margot Robbie

WHY I LOVE THIS MOVIE

I love this movie because I love the action comedy genre and it has two of my favourite actors in it, being Will Smith and Margot Robbie.  The fast paced editing makes it really exciting which I love.

WAS IT A SUCCESS?

Rotten Tomatoes review

Box Office Mojo review

The Numbers review

AGE RATINGS

MPAA - Rated R for language, some sexual content and brief violence

BBFC - 15

X IDENTS/TITLES: Baby Driver

Baby Driver

...

...

Idents, Companies & Production Context

• 4 idents
• Sony - 14.12 seconds
• Tristar - 13.58 seconds
• MRC (Media Rights Capital) - 8.28 seconds
• Working Title - 12.53 seconds
• Average length - 12.13 seconds
• Sony, MRC, (maybe Working Title) - simple idents
• Tristar, (maybe Working Title) - complex idents
• Order - Sony, Tristar, MRC, Working Title
• Tristar is a Sony subsidiary so it makes sense to put Sony before

SONY

• Black screen until the O in Sony begins to appear
• Roughly 6 seconds in, a high pitched note plays at the same time a ray of light makes the other letters visible
• All letters turn white, then a fade of light blue to white to dark blue
• Zoom into the letter O and rumbling noise and bells play
• High pitched noise still plays

TRISTAR

• Dark shapes which look like trees until another ray of light shows and the set becomes light and shows white fluffy clouds 
• White pegasus runs from extreme long shot until a long shot
• Swoosh sound as pegasus opens its wings
• 'Tristar' appears above and behind the pegasus in a gold, bubble, sans-serif font and 'a Sony company' appears in a smaller gold, bubble, sans-serif font below
• Pegasus goes into slow motion as titles appear
• Swoosh again as it fades to black
• High pitched noise continues throughout 

MRC

• Blue box appears from left to right
• Letters and box fades into view and focuses
• Fade to black after
• High pitched noise still playing

WORKING TITLE

• Circular orange light appears
• White chalk or pencil drawing a circle in this orange spot
• Drawing turns into blue rings
• Blue rings spin around and the working title font in white appears
• Swoosh sfx when blue rings start spinning
• Ringing sound continues throughout
• Fade to black
• Ringing audio bridges into first scene

Titles

• Titles start at 6:23
• End of song Bell Bottoms playing as titles appear - song fades out

• Tristar Pictures and MRC present
• Sans serif stencil font in white, all upper case but 'and' and 'present' in a smaller font than 'tristar pictures' and 'mrc'
• Thin yellow strip underneath 'Tristar Pictures and MRC' and above 'present'
• Appears the same time a tyre screech sound effect
• Line comes from the right of the screen and the words come out from the line
• Font gets bigger until it fades out

• Again another yellow line comes in from the left of the screen 
• 'A working title' on the top, 'big talk pictures production' underneath
• Same font
• 'working title' and 'big talk pictures' in a bigger font than 'a' and 'production'
• Font gets bigger until it fades out

• Again another yellow line comes in from the right of the screen but goes into the middle of the screen
• 'a film by' on top, 'Edgar Wright' underneath
• Same font
• Top line in a smaller font than the bottom line
• Font gets bigger until it fades out

X My Fave Film

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 (2006)
KENNY ORTEGA
Produced by Walt Disney Pictures & Borden and Rosenbush Entertainment + Distributed by Walt Disney Studios & Motion Pictures
Production Budget: $11m    Global Box Office: $253m
...

...

High School Musical 3 poster

Box Office Mojo

MY OPINION

• I like the songs
• I like the characters
• I like the plot

X The AS Brief!

...

AS cwk guide 10 steps from DB3igs

...

X About this blog and blogger!

MY AIM


My aim for this blog is to record everything I do in Media to show my growth in knowledge of the subject.  I achieved an A on my GCSE in Media so I have a good understanding.  One of our close study product topics was on film so we researched the films I, Daniel Blake and Dr Strange.  I've used Final Cut Pro X to edit my own vlog and also directed it.

WHY I CHOSE MEDIA

I chose Media because I am fascinated by it and enjoy learning about different theories etc.  I want to go to university specialising in Media and then go into a career involving Media.

WHAT I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO

I'm really looking forward to directing, producing and editing my own product.  I'm also excited to learn about new theorists and their theories as I find them very interesting and I like to see if I can spot them when outside of school.

WHAT I'M NERVOUS ABOUT

I feel least confident in my skills of research but I'm prepared to change that this year.  I'm also nervous about research.