Skip to main content

Introduction

By
Hello! I'm Tilly and this is Amy! 

This blog is going to outline our Media A Level project, starting with our pitch and preliminary task until our final project, a 2-minute film opening of our own design.

 The final project will incorporate the conventions of film openings, such as establishing the setting, genre, primary characters, aesthetic, establishment of enigma and, most likely, it will include opening titles. We will also include various camera shots, camera angles, camera techniques (e.g. handheld camera adds tension, verisimilitude and can create POV shots) and a diverse cast. We also hope to create enigma and interest in the film. 

We have chosen to explore the family adventure movie genre. As we don't have the technology to create CGI animated children's films (or the budget), we will be attempting a live-action children's film instead. Examples of this type of film include 'Home Alone (1990)', 'Cheaper By The Dozen (2003)', or 'Ramona and Beezus (2010)'. These films are particularly successful due to their use of comedy (mainly slapstick), family values and heart warming narratives in combination to make them relatable and endearing, as well as the potential to create sequels and spin-offs.
In our project, we will also be using the idea of a children's imagination as the premise for the narrative.The film will begin with our main characters playing in a park. Using cuts we will compare the reality of the scene with what the characters imagine is happening in the scene. For example, one of the characters is pretending to be a superhero, so in shots where they are playing pretend, he will be wearing a superhero cape as a physical representation of what he believes is actually happening. This is a visual technique often used by children's television, e.g. 'Mona the Vampire (1999 - 2003)' or 'Lizzy McGuire (2001 - 2004)', but is also utilised in children's films, such as 'Bridge to Terabithia (2007)', 'Spirited Away (2001)' and 'Alice in Wonderland (adaptions from 1903 onwards, mostly recently 2016)'. This is an idea that's not limited to family films however, as the concept in used in darker films such as 'Pan's Labyrinth (2006)' and 'Ted (2012)'.

From this experience, we hope to gain valuable knowledge on cinematography and editing, as well as how to construct an interesting and believable narrative. We also hope to use new techniques and learn from our mistakes as we move along with our project. Finally, we aim to make an aesthetically pleasing, gripping, humorous and genuinely intriguing opening that will endear audiences and give us important experience in the media industry.

Comments

  1. Ben Escott10 March 2017 at 09:03

    Is Ted supposed to be a product of Mark Wahlberg's mind?? I think it's an interesting choice of genre but not easy to pull off. Sme of the films you've mentioned are fairly special effects heavy which may make life difficult. Home Alone style might be an easier direction to go in.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Moodboards

By
Hello! For our project, we have designed some moodboards to give us inspiration and insight into the aesthetic of our film: The first mood board is representative of what elements we want to include in our film, notably childhood wonder, exploration and, most importantly, imagination. They also depict the type of mise-en-scene we want to present in our film opening. For example, we plan to use everyday clothing as well as colourful costumes to show the visual contrast between 'real' and 'imagination' as well as a means to represent our characters in a childish but endearing way. As for setting, we hope to use a playground, possibly with a woods or forest-like area behind it to add to the general feeling of outside play and adventure, where the characters can use the play equipment as props to act out the stories in their imagination. We also wanted to include aspects of family by having the main characters being children of a young, pre-teen age. The mood bo...
1 comment
Read more

Bridge to Terabithia - Textual Analysis (2)

By
Textual Analysis of a Film Opening:  Bridge To Terabithia Bridge to Terabithia tells the story of Jesse Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) and Leslie Burke (Anna-Sophia Robb) and their vivid imaginations, creativity and their growing friendship as they face evils in their everyday lives, such as facing a bully or Jesse's strained relationship with his Dad. The film uses special effects and drawn animation to create a whimsical world that draws audiences in and keeps them invested. 1) Conventions The opening of 'Bridge to Terabithia', firstly, adheres to general film conventions by including the logo animations for two production companies involved with the development at the beginning of the opening, these being Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media. The clip starts with an opening establishing shot of what we presume is our main character's house, outside of which is a truck and a small green house. From this visual information, and the size and architectural st...
Post a Comment
Read more

Basic Pitch and Conventions of the Family Film Genre

By
Basic Pitch What genre will your film opening be? The genre of our film will be a live-action family adventure. We would like to incorporate various themes, most notably 'imagination', that will help build the idea of family values and heart warming story lines, as well as endear the audience to the characters.  We plan to have the film made in a live-action format, with visual actors, as we currently do not have the budget or the skills to animate a full film opening.   Some examples of films we are looking at within this genre are: ' Ramona and Beezus (2010) ', ' Cheaper By The Dozen (2003) ' and ' Bridge to Terabithia (2007) ', which all feature these aspects.  What are the codes and conventions of this genre? There are various codes and conventions within the 'Family Film' genre, such as:  Comedy elements, usually slapstick or unfortunate scenarios happening to (often rude) adult characters e.g. Harry Lime and Marv Merch...
Post a Comment
Read more