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 PRE-PRODUCTION18 Pre-Production Schedule Updated

We've discussed a few things about what we want to change for the film opening.

SCENE 1

• Hand of God
• Shows whole town, to street, to house, to living room

Location

• Near Emma's house

Props

• None needed

Characters

• Nobody - looks desolate

Costumes

• None needed

SCENE 2

• Wakes up on sofa with pizza slice on him
• Has a game controller in hand
• Game (specifically a zombie game) playing on TV
• Doesn't show protagonist immediately (narrative enigma)
• Shows a lot of the mise-en-scene - messy and dirty
• Takes a swig of vodka

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via GIPHY

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Location

• Emma's living room

Props

• Pizza
• Pizza boxes
• Cigarettes
• Chinese take out boxes
• Lighter
• Ash tray
• Work shoes
• Black leather jacket
• Pocket knife
• Video games
• Game controller
• Cans of beer
• Cans of CocaCola
• Cans of Fanta
• Cans of Red Bull

Characters

• Donnie Romero

Costumes

• White shirt, rolled up sleeves, pocket on left side, half tucked in
• Black work trousers/jeans
• White socks
• Black belt
• Thin gold frame glasses

SCENE3

• Donnie takes off clothes to get into shower
• Gets into shower
• Singing Ghost Town by The Specials - intertextuality with Shaun of the Dead
• Zombie comes in
• Donnie gets soap in eye
• Tries to get a towel and hits zombie in the process
• Bends down to grab towel
• Knocks zombie out when standing up
• Grabs toothbrush and brushes teeth

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via GIPHY

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Location

• Emma's bathroom

Props

• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste (empty)
• Glasses
• Plain white towel
• Empty shower gel

Characters

• Donnie Romero
• Zombie

Costumes

• Donnie
• Nothing in shower (can't see swim shorts)
• Towel around waist
• Zombie
• White top - bloody and cut up
• Grey zip up hoodie
• Dark blue straight leg jeans
• Black socks

SCENE4

• Goes into bedroom
• Smells all the clothes on the floor
• Is disgusted until he finds one that's okay
• Picks it up and puts on

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via GIPHY

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Location

• Emma's spare bedroom

Props

• Clothes spread out all over the floor

Characters

• Donnie Romero

Costumes

• White towel around waist
• Rick and Morty graphic tee

SCENE5

• Goes into kitchen
• Quick shots of
• Putting kettle on
• Putting in tea bag
• Pouring kettle
• Milk
• Sugar
• Tastes it 
• Puts in more sugar
• Putting bread in toaster
• Toaster pops
• Scraping off burnt bits
• Putting jam on toast (strawberry - like blood)
• Takes a bit
• Jam gets on face

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via GIPHY

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Location

• Emma's kitchen

Props

• Kettle
• Toaster
• Jam
• Bread/toast
• Mug
• Teabag
• Milk
• Sugar cubes
• Butter
• Knife

Characters

• Donnie Romero

Costumes

• Rick and Morty tee
• Shorts
• Odd socks

SCENE6

• Can't find keys in hallway
• Rings keys
• Finds them in pink slippers
• Grabs change from bowl
• Puts trainers on
• Leaves house

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via GIPHY

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Location

• Emma's hallway

Props

• Keys - with keychain that plays music
• Pink fluffy slipper
• Paper which says "Keys hear" with an arrow pointing down
• Wooden chest
• Shoe rack
• Asics trainers
• Coat rack
• Change
• Ceramic bowl

Characters

• Donnie Romero

Costumes

• Rick and Morty tee
• Shorts
• Asics trainers
• Odd socks

SCENE7

• Walking to shops
• Listening to music
• Mia trying to tell him there's a zombie behind him
• He can't hear and is amazed a girl is speaking to him
• False scare as Eddie pushes Donnie out of way from zombie
• Pull dead body from car
• Get in car
• Drive off
• Drone shot of car driving off
• Reveals title

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via GIPHY

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Location

• Near Emma's house (outside)

Props

• Old phone
• Earphones
• Spatula
• Rolling pin
• Knives
• Lots more kitchen utensils
• Car

Characters

• Donnie Romero
• Mia Jones
• 2nd zombie
• Eddie Pegg

Costumes

• Donnie Romero
• Rick and Morty tee
• Shorts
• Odd socks
• Asics trainers
• Mia Jones
• Dress
• Denim jacket / blazer
• High heels with chunky heel and buckles
• 2nd zombie
• Ruined top with blood
• Zip up hoodie
• Jeans
• Eddie Pegg
• Trench coat hiding all the kitchen utensils
• Black trousers
• Black socks
• Black shirt

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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via GIPHY
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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 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 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 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 IDEAS4 Improved Film Opening Pitch

SETH OF THE BRAIN DEAD
Working Title at the moment.  Intertextuality with Sean of the Dead


Scene1

• 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

Scene2

• 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

Scene3

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

Scene4

• 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

LOCATION

PROTAGONIST

• Male
• 18 years old
• Attractive - female gaze
• Named Seth

FILMS/TV

• Star Wars
• Star Trek
• Indiana Jones
• Sherlock
• Breaking Bad
• Shaun of the Dead

GADGETS

• Watch (casio digital)
• Phone
• Glasses
• Spare glasses
• Pocket knife
• Can opener
• Pens

ITEMS OF CLOTHING

• Graphic tee
• Straight cut blue jeans - thrifted - slightly worn/faded
• Glasses - taking them off and wiping them as nervous tic - helps with not seeing
• Possible button up over tee
• White high tops 
• Possible long black trench coat

PLACES HE'S BEEN TO

• Library
• Diner
• Game Store
• Home

FOODS/DRINKS THEY LIKE

• Slushies
• Milkshakes
• Monsters 
• Hot dogs
• Pizza

RANDOM FURTHER DETAILS

• Only child
• Love interest
• Works at blockbusters
• Really good at darts

EXTRA NOTES

• Impact on comedy to bring BBFC rating down to a 15 from an 18 
• Wears a World's End tee - direct intertextuality
• Plays video games
• Has junk food and empty cartons etc.
• To connote working at Blockbusters - name tag / card
• Blockbuster movies
• CD - possibly use as coaster or plate
• Empty cans
• Cigarettes
• Opening baked beans with pocket knife
• Box TV with playstation 2
• Set in this day and age but has all old gadgets
• DVD player - Dawn of the Dead / George A. Romero DVDs
• Link DVD - in Halloween playing movie at start - Scream played Halloween movie
• Triple hybrid rom-com-zom

SECONDARY CHARACTER

• Female
• Around 18 years old
• Attractive - male gaze
• Named Chloe
• Binary opposition to Seth
• Badass, very dominant and confident
• Doesn't let her guard down in opening
• Wears athletic, tight clothing (like Lara Croft)
• White vest top, slightly cropped, rip by neck
• Black skinny high waisted jeans
• Black leather jacket

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 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

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

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• She's All That

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• Warm Bodies

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X ML3 Thoughts on previous AS coursework films

CROSSWORD

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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.