X GENRE CONVENTIONS2 General Media Language

SOUND

As sound goes, zombie movies usually have eerie music with long, low pitched notes with high pitched, short notes over the top.  This messes with the audience's heartbeat making them feel the intensity of the genre more.  In romance movies, they often have light, relaxing melodies that appeals to a female target audience.  The comedy genre can vary as there are many different ways to go about it. When it comes to foley or ambient sound, it is exaggerated for the comedic effect.

1st SHOT AND MISE-EN-SCENE

The 1st shot has a lot of narrative enigma, whether that's with the character (like Warm Bodies) or with the fact that there are zombies and the character doesn't know about it (like Shaun of the Dead).  There is a lot of exposition through the mise-en-scene as well, like in Shaun of the Dead, we can see a lot of junk on the coffee table, eluding to the fact that his character is a slob.

The mise-en-scene provides a lot of exposition for where the movie is set and about the characters.  In Shaun of the Dead, we see the messy coffee table portraying the character as a slob.  In Warm Bodies, we see a run down airport providing exposition on where it is set.

CENTRAL PROTAGONIST AND NARRATIVE

Like most films, the central protagonist is shown through the rule of thirds, a voice over, close up shots and others.  In Warm Bodies, we get the voice over and close ups of parts of the zombies body, so the audience doesn't know he's a zombie.  In Shaun of the Dead, we don't get narrative enigma of his character as the first shot is of a close up of his face, however there are a lot of shots where other characters are speaking but the camera is still on his character.

TRANSITIONING TO MAIN FILM

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X GENERAL CONVENTIONS2 General Media Language

SOUND
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1st SHOT

A lot of exposition is shown through the first shot, yet there is still narrative enigma.  The mise-en-scene provides the exposition of the characters, typically the protagonist.  The protagonist usually isn't shown completely to leave that narrative enigma and suspense.  When a movie shows the character immediately, it takes away from the suspense.  A common example of the first shots are Hand of God.  This means that it goes from a ELS to a LS all the way to a CU.  This usually occurs as a town, to a road, to a house, to in a specific window.  It shows that the character is just like anyone else and that the specific story line could have happened to anyone.  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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CENTRAL PROTAGONIST AND NARRATIVE
MISE-EN-SCENE
TRANSITIONING TO MAIN FILM
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X FILM OPENING EG5 Bridget Jones's Diary

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• Medium long shot
• Central framing - rule of thirds - central protagonist
• Black taxis - providing exposition in where it is set (London/South England)
• Doesn't have hat or umbrella - provides exposition on her
• Blonde and female - possible dumb blonde stereotype / male gaze
• Tracking her - anchors her as protagonist and voice over
• Ellipses to little southern English village - stereotypically nice (now normative)
• Red telephone box to anchor where it's set 

X FILM OPENING EG4 Hot Fuzz

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• WT2 - pseudo indie - not indie but low budget
• Conventional first shot being outdoors but not in Hot Fuzz
• Extreme long shot 
• Giving some exposition
• Rule of thirds - not concrete however light part is centered
• Props in mise-en-scene creating verisimilitude - achieving sense of realism
• Sound of sirens giving exposition 
• Straight cut not fade in 
• Boom sound sharply when sliding doors open - comedic genre
• Diegetic sound of doors opening - often exaggerated sounds added in post production - in this case for comedic effect
• Man in first shot walking fast connoting seriousness
• Centred in rule of thirds - central protagonist
• Very long walk and ominous sound in background to connote tension
• Camera tracking in
• In association with StudioCanal - not main distributor
• In association with big talk productions - not main production company
• Opening shot - 31 seconds long
• Close up of serious and stern expression 
• Comical when badge comes out 
• Identical stern expression on badge
• Disguise cut onto next shot

X FILM OPENING EG2 The Brothers Grimsby

• 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
• Columbia Pictures Presents - distributors

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X FILM OPENING EG1 Pretty in Pink

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IDENTS

• Only one company ident (Paramount Pictures)
• Now usually a few company idents

TITLES

• Wording, font use, order - all very important
• In older movies, usually all put at the end

TITLES IN ORDER 

(If in bold - bigger font size)

• PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESENTS (all upper case and sans-serif - less likely to connote sophistication) - Black and white connoting seriousness / drama genre.  Polysemic title - sans-serif font with white on black.
• A JOHN HUGHES PRODUCTION (all upper case, sans-serif).  Expected auteur theory however usually "Film" and not "Production".  

SHOTS

• Exposition shot - narrative enigma.  Some degree of context - a working class area (grass growing over pavement, rusty car, broken roads)
• Panning shot showing both sides of the track - Born/from the wrong side of the tracks - One side is a nice area than the other.