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 GENRE CONVENTIONS1 Titles, Idents, Production Context

I 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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X GENERAL CONVENTIONS1 Titles, Idents, Production Context

IDENTS

WHAT ARE IDENTS?

Idents are essentially the logo of a production company which is played at the beginning of a movie.  They are the most simple aspect of a film opening.  An ident usually lasts between 4-7 seconds and there are usually 2-4 idents before the movie starts.  The more production companies involved in making the movie, the more the risks are spread.  Indie movies occasionally have no idents at the beginning.  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 are also more likely to have their own jingle rather than an audio bridge.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF AN IDENT?

They are placed at the beginning of a movie to show which production companies were involved in the making of the movie.  Idents are also used to advertise the production company.  Idents are often made aesthetically pleasing and enticing to make them memorable.  The fact that Big 5 idents are repeatedly marketed also helps to make them memorable.  The production company wants to make a good impression so that people are tempted to watch more of their creations.  Idents can also be altered to connote the genre of the movie.  This is mostly identifiable with the Slasher genre.

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

COMMON IDENTS

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TITLES

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 Working Title.
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X PRE-PRODUCTION5 Pre-Production Schedule

Scene 1 

• Wakes up on sofa - snoring and drooling 
• Playing movie in protagonists messy living room
• Not showing protagonist immediately (narrative enigma)
• Playing Scream / Halloween / Dawn of the Dead / Shaun of the Dead
• Opening Baked Beans can with pocket knife and eating them cold

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Locations

Emma's living room

Props

Baked beans

Pocket knife

Video games (PS3)

CD's

Empty energy drink cans

Burnt toast/open butter/jam with knife/mould

Mr Burrowes t-shirts 

Plates or glasses

Kruger rand money

cigarettes

Characters

Donnie

Costumes

Graphic T-shirt

Short Shorts

Odd socks

Possible slippers

Scene 2

• Protagonist in shower
• Pans from feet to head (cuts in between)
• Oblivious to zombies in bathroom
• Dropping shampoo bottle knocking out zombie
• Slipping and kicking zombie killing it
• Possible shower singing scene for comedic effect

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Location

Someones shower

Props

Shower gel (sporty) - nearly empty

Liquid latex

Fake blood

Glasses

towel

Characters

Zombies

Donnie

Costume

ripped up t-shirt

Contact lenses

Ripped up sweatpants

Scene 3

• Getting ready scene 
• Quick shots like in Shaun of the Dead
• Brushing teeth
• Going to toilet
• Putting on glasses
• Getting dressed 
• Putting on badge for blockbuster store

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Location

Bathroom

Props

Run out toothpaste

Middle class Toothbrush

Glasses

towel

Badge for work

Costume

creased shirt

Smart trousers

Name tag

Glasses

Black Smart shoes

White visible socks

Characters

Zombie

Scene 4

• Walking out of house with headphones on looking out phone
• Not looking around
• Sees girl ahead (love interest) trying to tell him theres a zombie behind him
• False scare - hand on shoulder 
• Turns out to be the best friend character who pushes him out the way
• Shouts 'get in car'
• Pulls dead body out revealing title on floor

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Locations

Emma's house

Props

Wired Headphones

iPhone 5

Microsoft phone

liquid latex 

fake blood

car

Costume

Same costume for Donnie as previously

Fred - cool friend, Black trench coat, Black trousers, smart shoes, Black socks, Black shirt

Hair gel

Cigarettes

Mia Jones - white vest, black leather jacket, blue jeans, hair in ponytail

Characters

2 zombies

1 dead person

Donnie

Mia

Fred

Dates

Practice shoot - 10/01/2020 - 12/01/2020

First shooting day - 19/01/2020

Second shooting day - 26/01/2020

X FILM OPENING EG6 28 Days Later

(This post was originally created by Spikey Films)

28 Days Later (Danny Boyle - 2002)

Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle is a renowned film director in the specific zombie genre. He is also well known for directing movies such as Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire and 127 hours.

Plot

A group of misguided animal rights activists free a caged chimp infected with the "Rage" virus from a medical research lab. When London bike courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma a month after, he finds his city all but deserted. On the run from the zombie-like victims of the Rage, Jim stumbles upon a group of survivors, including Selena (Naomie Harris) and cab driver Frank (Brendan Gleeson), and joins them on a perilous journey to what he hopes will be safety.

 Budget + Box office                                                                Opening titles

The budget of this movie was £5m

The box office was $82.7m

Stars

Cillian Murphy
Naomie Harris

Genre

Drama, Horror, Sci-fi

Ideas

Decaying title 'presents' fades away
- Blood splatter on main title

- We won't take the style of fast zombies as we would prefer to use the stereotypical style (more practical for filming)

- Security camera style

Idents

UK Film council

DNA films

Fox Searchlight Pictures

X PRE-PRODUCTION1 Pre-Production Ideas

ACTORS:

• Central protagonist - Danny Romero
• Love interest - Mia Jones
• Best friend - Fred East - intertextualises with Fred West (serial killer)
• 2/3 zombies 
• Intertextualising genre directors (Danny Boyle, George A Romero) - Danny Romero

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OTHER ASPECTS: 

• Cornetto franchise reference - possibly worms eye view - steps on cornetto wrapper - strawberry flavour connotes blood
• see zombie in bathroom + outside (chasing him) + zombie eating dead body
• Shallow focus (zombie eating body from far away)
• decaying title
• slow zombie movement type

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 VODCAST2: Titles

VODCAST

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 Working Title.  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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X FILM OPENING EG3 About a Boy

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• Fade up
• Audio bridge to first scene
• Diegetic sound from tv 
• Bird's eye view
• Tracking shot
• Protagonist - proppian archetypes
• Rule of thirds
• Narrative enigma - not showing protagonist's face
• Intertextuality with tv show
• Camera movement and zooming connoting tension
• Anchored with tense music from tv show
• Show foreshadowing events - most likely to be Jon Bon Jovi character connotes comedic genre 
• Voice over - inner monologue
• Non-diegetic sound - guitar strings
• Red Bull signifies youth, not sophisticated
• Tea cup with saucer - sophistication
• Cigarettes - negative connotations - complex preferred reading
• Campbell's hero's journey/monomyth - all narratives center on journey and progression of protagonist
• Big book - intelligence, sophistication
• Lower case bubble font block white - connoting comedic genre
• Navy blue slacks, gry blue crew neck jumper, blue shirt, grey blue monochromatic mise-en-scene - conservative guy
• Large collection of books and LPs, electric guitar, speakers - rebellious

X VODCAST1: Idents, Companies, Production Context

WHAT ARE IDENTS?

• 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

COMMON IDENTS

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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 INDUSTRY2 Why Working Title is and Warp isn't successful

Working Title

Warp

• Star-power
• BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY (Maguire, 2001)
• Hugh Grant, Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth
• Can afford A-listers (budget of $26m)
• Use for star billing on advertisement (posters)

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• LE DONK AND SCOR-ZAY-ZEE (Meadows, 2009)
• No A-listers
• Can't afford (budget of only £48k)
• Doesn't appeal to audience as much

• CGI and SFX
• PAUL (Mottola, 2011)
• Sci-fi comedy genre
• Can afford to use CGI and SFX (budget of $40m)
• Appeals to audience

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• No movie with CGI or SFX

• Product Placement
• ABOUT A BOY (Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, 2002)
• Product placement of Bang and Olufsen and Phillips 
• Companies use these Big 5 movies to advertise their products

• No movie with product placement
• Their movies don't get a lot of recognition so companies won't bother paying them to include their products

• Tie-ins
• BRIDGET JONES'S BABY (Maguire, 2016)
• Softis toilet role tie-in
• Poster for Bridget Jones's Baby on the packaging

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• No movie with tie-ins

• Tentpole/Budget
• GREEN ZONE (Greengrass, 2010)
• Starring Matt Damon
• Tentpole (budget of $100m)

• LE DONK AND SCOR-ZAY-ZEE (Meadows, 2009)
• 5 day shoot
• Budget less than 1% of Green Zone (budget of £48k)

• Genre
• SHAUN OF THE DEAD (Wright, 2004)
• Can afford to do any genre they want ($6.1m)
• Even hybrid genres such as the zom-rom-com
• Don't show as many representations

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• TYRANNOSAUR (Considine, 2011)
• Can't afford to do different genres (£750k)
• Mainly stick to social realism genre
• Show different representations

• Franchise
• BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY (Maguire, 2001)
• BRIDGET JONES'S BABY (Maguire, 2016)
• Franchise with book and second movie

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• THIS IS ENGLAND (Meadows, 2006)
• Became a short TV show

• Horizontal Integration

• Vertical Integration
• NBC Universal an example of vertical integration
• Working Title being a production company
• Warp does not own distribution and exhibition/exchange companies

• IP
• LES MISÉRABLES (Ly, 2019)
• Originally a novel
• Can afford to pay intellectual property (budget of $61m)

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• Can't afford to pay IP

• China
• Second biggest film market in the world
• A quota of 34 movies per year 
• Working Title could achieve this
• Warp could never

X THEORY2 Laura Mulvey Male Gaze

The Male Gaze theory by Laura Mulvey focuses on the sexual objectification of women in media.  Click here to find out more.  

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Carroll Clover another feminist pointed out that this isn't always the case. In Slasher movies, there is a final girl.  The protagonist is almost always a teenage girl who isn't sexualised.

• argument against the male gaze
• agencing - having a sense of ownership/control 
• Clover agrees that males are more active and females are more passive however not in the horror genre due to the final girl having agency

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.

X SEMIOTICS2 applied to Working Title posters

(This post was originally created by Spikey Films)



- Central framing (rule of thirds)
- Both characters set in the middle of the framing, clearly showing the protagonists.
- Also leaving space for the sky, connoting a romantic feel
- Plain colours (both the clothes and the rest of the cover follow a blue and black tone, therefore signifying the movie as a drama, with no comedy elements)
- Style of title (bold serif font, also helping to connote the drama theme)
- Background includes castle, which glamourises the upper-class life
- The physical contact between the characters connotes a love theme
- Facial expressions (look serious, therefore clearly not comedic)
- long-shot

- Main characters holding tools/sport equipment/flowers as weapon (makes its clear it is comedy)
- Flowers being held by female character (connotes rom-com theme)
- Zombies on screen clearly signifies what style of movie it is (zom-rom-com)
- making it a hybrid means it is approachable for more audiences (hybrid)
- widens the preferred reading (could include more negotiated reading and less oppositional reading)
- female holding the flowers (stereotyping)
- although she is also fighting (countertype)

- Pink text connote romance
- Purple font contrasts the pink slightly, as the comedy element shines through
- Female character is centre of the screen, signifying she is the main character
- 2 males and a female connotes their could be a love triangle
- Females facial expression also contrasts the romance with comedy, as she does not look too serious
- Sans-serif bubble font, also clearly shows it isn't a film to be taken seriously
- Binary opposition between male and female

- Black and white split on screen (showing good and bad side)
- Character on black side does not cross over onto the other side, whereas Tom Hardy on the white side crosses over onto the white, connoting he could be an anti-hero
- Bold non-serif font
- Suited up, therefore glamourising the upper-class once again
- Hand in pockets, showing a serious vibe
- man in a suit (stereotyping)

X SEMIOTICS1 applied to Warp films

TYRANNOSAUR

Tyrannosaur poster

• Rule of thirds, centrally framed connoting this man as the protagonist
• However, prop (wooden baseball bat), lighting, mise-en-scene etc connote he could be the antagonist
• Own binary opposition - creating narrative enigma
• Serif font signifying a drama genre
• Wrinkles - older man - older audience
• Skin head, vest top - working class
• Terraced houses on edge of poster - working class
• Dark weather - drama
• High key lighting on only one side - reflects his two different personalities - drama
• Small 'a film by Paddy Considine' denotes auteur theory
• 2 awards won & reviews to lead promotion
• High angle - surprising for protagonist
• Bare tree - drama 
• Violence - in this shot - violence to himself - self-loathing
• Contemplating - not stupid like the stereotypical working class
• Narrative enigma - what is he regretting?
• Names but not big or bold
• All upper case

LE DONK & SCOR-ZAY-ZEE

Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee poster

• Bright colours with title, stars, graffiti (not serious)
• Fat character signifies comedy in this case
• Wearing scruffy clothes, therefore not glamourising the working-class
• Underwear hanging connotes a comedy genre
• Setting = covered in graffiti (connotation of rough area) + (typical warp)
• Intertextual reference of 'Spinal Tap' 
• Stereotypes = short hair, relatively masculine colours
• rule of thirds - centred on the cover (protagonist)
• more inviting as character is directly referencing the character with hand gesture
• Text = scruffy serif font
• Narrative enigma as we don't know who the character is + his eyes are covered by sunglasses
• Long-shot/extreme long-shot
• Mid angle
• Shane Meadows made clear on cover = denotes the auteur theory
• Small text showing the actors (not famous actors, therefore no need to have their names clear on the cover)
• Not a star vacuole + film ratings on cover
• Showing off film festival ratings
• intertextuality with name (Martin Scorsese)
• Two shot