In this vodcast i will be looking at music played in film openings. Some music is diegetic where the source of the sound is visible on screen or when the source is implied to be present in the action of the film. There is also non-diegetic music where the source is neither visible nor implied to be in the action on screen. We will be looking at some warp films, some working title films and some films with the zombie genre.
Le donk and scor-zay-zee
The movie Le donk and scor-zay-zee was directed by shane meadows and was released in 2009 with a 5 day shoot with a 48 thousand pounds budget
There is an audio bridge of the diegetic sound of a crowd cheering/screaming and a helicopter from a black screen to the first shot.
This is foley sound as it was added in in post production, however it cleverly creates verisimilitude
There is also the faint sound of music in the background.
At around 27 seconds, there is the sound of someone talking from a walkie talkie
At around 45 seconds, the sound of the crowd gets louder and then non-diegetic music starts playing without a fade which then continues to play over the animated title sequence.
This music is incidental as it was made for the movie
This non-diegetic music signifies a comedic genre with a younger target audience as it is a hip hop rap genre
VODCAST
The first shot is very important for a movie. This needs to set the scene for the audience whilst still leaving some narrative enigma. The exposition can be shown through the mise-en-scene. The first shot often shows the protagonist in a variety of different ways, for example, the rule of thirds. I looked at Bridget Jones's Diary (Maguire, 2001), About a Boy (Chris and Paul Weitz, 2002) and Hot Fuzz (Wright, 2007).
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In this vodcast, I speak about the titles in different movies. I've looked at some Working Title movies as well as Warp movies. It is clear that a title is very important as it anchors the genre and the preferred reading. This is shown through the font, colour, size and case. It is interesting as a few movies don't have any titles at all. The order is also important to look at as this will help us create our film opening. I look at Tyrannosaur (Considine, 2011), This is England (Meadows, 2007) and Four Lions (Morris, 2010) from Warp and Bridget Jones's Diary (Maguire, 2001) from WorkingTitle. I then looked at some zom-rom-com genre specific movies such as, Zombieland (Fleischer, 2009) and Anna and the Apocalypse (McPhail, 2018).
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Idents are usually placed at the beginning of a movie.
These identify which companies have been involved in the making of the movie.
They usually last between 4-7 seconds per ident so a total of 8-28 seconds overall.
There are usually 2-4 idents before the film starts, however indie movies sometimes have none.
The bigger conglomerates such as the Big 5 (Warner Bros., Paramount, NBC Universal, Sony and Walt Disney) get a lot more screen time for their idents rather than smaller junior companies.
The Big 5 also usually don't have audio bridges over them.
Idents can be slightly altered to connote the genre of a film as well.
VODCAST
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... POSSIBLE INFLUENCES
Having possibly 1 or 2 idents with their own jingle
Having 1 ident with audio bridge to movie
Considering our film opening can't be that long, probably a maximum of 10 seconds per ident
Possibly having something altered about the ident to connote the zom-rom-com hybrid genre
... POSTMODERNISM
Argues that all the 'isms', eg. capitalism, communism, are now meaningless - the meta-narratives no longer have the power to explain the world or reality. It is of course self-contradictory: postmodernism is an ism!
Strinati argues there is a collapse in the high/popular culture divide - all are now equally valid.
Such notions lead to playfulness. The concept of postmodernism denies definition to some extent, but Dominic Strinati outlined 5 key characteristics in 1995 that are often cited:
Breakdown of the distinction between culture and society
An emphasis on style over substance
Breakdown of the distinction between high art and popular culture
Confusions over time and space
Decline of metanarratives ['grand theories such as Marxism, Christianity and ... modernism have lost their currency for modern societies']*
DECONSTUCTIONISM
The ironic use of existing conventions in a knowing way; the audience is assumed to be in on the irony. EG: in Scream the Matthew Lillard character cries out dramatically "I'll be right back", an old horror trope being that this denotes a character will be killed. The other teens at the party respond with that in mind, in a scene where they're sat watching Halloween. Craven is poking fun at, or critiquing, the very genre he helped to create with 1972's The Last House on the Left.
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This occurs across all media - this Depeche Mode video is a classic example, deconstructing the band's poor, tawdry image and the male gaze.
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A simple but profound concept originating with Kristeva - the preferred reading (Stuart Hall) of two texts are linked; the viewer needs knowledge of the earlier text to be able to follow the preferred reading of the newer text. TV shows like The Simpsons are built on this, and there is a strong vein of this running through the slasher genre.
To help generate cheap publicity for his 1978 proto-slasher Halloween, director John Capenter cast the daughter of the Psycho's scream queen.
In Scream, the characters are watching Halloween. SIMULACRA Scary Movie exemplifies the ideas above - it takes intertextuality to a new level: Scream had the working title of Scary Movie, and this film is a satirical remake, quite literally signposting the conventions (eg the Carmen Electra scream queen sees a sign giving the options for either death or safety... and runs up the stairs where the death sign points to, as the dumb scream queens tend to).
These movies have been much analysed, not least for gender representations. Baudrillard might argue that this leads nowhere as there is no ultimate meaning behind an endless sea of signifiers; Scary Movie is an expression of many existing ideas or signifiers, which cannot be tracked back to any concrete 'true reality' or meaning.
Ideas like encourage playfulness, as seen in these two films.
Expect to see multiple film idents - film industry is risky so co-production spreads risks - see distributor ident as well as production company idents
Low budget end - often see TV channel idents (BBC etc.) - also possibly see UK film council (now called BFI - British Film Institute)
Working Title - subsidiary of vertically integrated Big 5 conglomerate NBC Universal - not as important (junior company) as conglomerate so last in series to appear and audio bridge to movie or not used at all
Working Title - first look deal - therefore distributed by Columbia, Sony so no WT or NBC Universal ident is shown
FILM OPENING
Narrative enigma - don't know where it is set however can see faces
Very shallow field of focus
Big close up
Very thick and wide sideburns - working class - possibly connoting comedy genre
Slightly long and unkempt hair
Gold chain
Man more in frame than woman signifies him as protagonist (he's also on top)
2 shot
Red filter connoting set in past or porn
Further exposition through mise-en-scene
England football team large tattoo on back - big fan - association with working class
Football jersey in shot
Can of lager - working class anchorage
Comedic genre pushed at start
Assumed bedroom - narrative enigma - actually in store
Sales - cheap beds
Rule of thirds
Girl covered - anchors man as protagonist
Single mums wearing shell-suits and smoking - stereotype of working class with father leaving
Contrasting with This is England
Graffiti and boarded up buildings
Didn't get much box office - too distinctively English for an American audience - had to change name from Grimsby to The Brothers Grimsby
