BW FIlm Opening Research

The Blair Witch Project (1999, Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez)

Introduction: I have chosen to analyse 'The Blair Witch Project' because our group has taken inspiration from the documentary style of filming, and are looking at shooting parts of our opening sequence in this style.

Film Overview:
'The Blair Witch Project' is a 1999 horror film, presented in the form of a documentary, with the entire film being shot using handicam. The generic conventions expected by the audience are not at all evident, as the documentary style of filming is very unique and not typical of horror films. Furthermore, in the opening 2 minutes of the film nothing 'conventional' happens, with no build of tension or anything 'scary'.

Representation & Ideology:

• The main social group being represented in the opening sequence is teenagers, as the audience is introduced to 3 characters, all in their teens.
  
• The second social group being represented is females, as the central character is a girl, although she is actually behind camera, she is doing most the filming.
  
• The use of teenagers is probably down to the fact that stereotypically, teenagers are often portrayed as reckless and naive. This is important for the storyline, as the central characters do not tell people where they are going, and are arrogant enough to search for and provoke a 'witch'. The representation of teenagers is therefore fairly negative.
  
• The way in which the female is represented is positive, as there is no differentiation between the males & females. However, females do often have the central role in horror films, possibly because they are seen as more innocent and vulnerable, which is often the desired effect in horror films.

Media Audiences:

• The target audience for 'The Blair Witch Project' is difficult to identify. The production team have implied that they wanted the audience to come to them, and used to internet to work out which sort of audience would watch the film.
• The fact that they used the internet as part of the promotion suggests that the target audience was a young audience, as young people prodomimantly use the internet.
• However, the mystery surrounding the film, and the fact that it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival suggests that it was also aimed at a more mature Curzon audience, who enjoy independent horror films.
• The preferred reading of the text was the make the audience believe that the footage had actually been found and was real, thus insinuating that the events of the film were also real.
• The negotiated reading of the text is likely to have been an understanding from the audience that the text is fictitious, though understanding the presentation of the text in this way makes it more believable and almost more likely to actuallty happen.

My Reading:

• My reading of the text, as a British teenager, is to identify that the text is purely fiction, but due to the age of the actors being similar to my own, I am able to relate to the events in the film which makes it more engaging.
• I also believe the text works well as it is very different from most mainstream and successful films, which adds a sense of realism and the audience can be immersed in the text because it is so realistic.
• I do not think that in this text, my reading is influenced much by my age, gender or background. Although as a teenager I may be able to identify more with the characters, and I am aware that the film is not actually a documentary.

BW Film Opening Research

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998, Danny Cannon)

Overview:

'I Still Know What You Did Last Summer' is a horror film, and the sub genre is Slasher Horror, the sequel to the 1997 film 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'.

The film seems to conform to the generic expectations of a horror film, with orchestral music with background sounds of screaming, and iconography such as churches and candles which are often associated with horror films. The first main character the audience sees is a young woman, who are often central in modern horror fi

lms as women are stereotypically portrayed as being more vulnerable. In these respects, the text fulfills the expectations an audience may have for a horror film opening.

Film Language:

Mise-en-scene is particularly relevant in this opening sequence, as it conforms to many of the norms of a horror film.

The opening shots reveal a church, with the camera behind a character walking through the aisle. Lighting in the scene is limited, com

ing through the church window, and some lighting from candles, making the scene feel dark and uncomfortable. Churches are generally conveyed in horror films to represent the struggle of good against evil, or the associated with s

piritualism such as ghosts.

Camera techniques reinforce the horror theme, with a wide angle shot from a

high angle which reveals most of the church and the woman in it. The camera slowly moves down towards her. This wide angle high shot makes the woman look very vulnerable and alone, which helps build suspense and make the audience believe something bad will soon happen.

Over the opening titles, a discordant soundtrack is played, with echoed screams and people talking. Not only does this reinforce the fact that this is a sequel, the talking possibly taken from the first film, but it makes the audience feel uncomfortable and scared from the very start of the sequence. The discordant sound continues in the church, anchoring the visuals and making the woman look vulnerable.

Danny Cannon also uses other visual techniques to convey ideas, such as filming the woman through the confession bars. This helps with character exposition, as it makes her look trapped and guilty, suggesting to the audience that she has done something wrong. Furthermore, the fact that she is taking confession suggests she is either religious, or is using it as a very last resort.

Narrative:

• The opening sequence starts the film in the traditional linear narrative structure, although the opening sequence is actually a dream, so is more about character exposition and summing up the events of the last film.
• The audience is positioned with the woman, which is made clear as she is the only character we see the full face of in the church, and the shot from behind her which also positions the audience with her. However, the use of filming through the confession bars somewhat alienates her as a character, as there is a physical barrier between the audience and her, connoting the audience not knowing everything about her.
• The major themes in the narrative are fear and confession, conveyed through the wide shots making the woman look vulnerable and the fact that she feels guilty about what she did. The other theme is Christianity, as the whole opening sequence is shot in a church.
• Tension is created and maintained by the use of the discordant music track played, as well as the fact that the wide shots and dark church make it obvious to the audience that something will happen to her, so tension is maintained throughout the sequence as the audience waits for something to go wrong.

Institutional Context:

• Jennifer Love-Hewitt was the main star of the film, although in 1998 she was only really famous for her role in the previous film, 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'. Jack Black also made a cameo in the film, which could have also been a selling point.
• The film was distributed as an industrial film by the distribution company 'Columbia Pictures', so it had a big studio backing.
• The main marketing strategy was the reliance on the first film in the trilogy, which was a success, grossing $125, 586, 134 worldwide.
• The institutional context is only evident in the opening sequence to those who have seen the first film, as they will understand the inter-textual references. To those who haven't, the institutional context is not evident.

AH Opening Scene Analysis

Cloverfield (Reeves,2008)

Genre

What genre is the film?
The genre of Cloverfield is thriller with sub-genres of mystery and sci-fi.

To what extent are the audience's generic expectations of the text fulfilled or challenged? The generic expectations of the thriller genre are fulfilled in the beginning with the first few shots having connotations with images and lettering appearing showing "Property of the U.S Government". This gives a clear indication of the genre as thrillers are often associated with institutions, such as the police or government. Furthermore, there is an establishing shot of Central Park in New York which shows the film is set in an urban location, another expectation of the audience which is fulfilled.


Film Language

What other visual techniques does the director use and why?
The director uses a handy-cam for the duration of the film which a different visual technique to the conventional techniques of industrial films. This visual technique makes the film more realistic and the audience becomes more immersed in the film as a result.


Representation & Ideology

What social groups are represented?
A wealthy middle class couple are represented in the clip as shown by the large apartment they are in over looking Central Park.


Media Audiences

Who is the target audience?
The target audience for this film would have been older teenagers and adults as this is usually the type of target audience for this type of thriller/sci-fi film.

What are the probable audience readings?
The preferred reading of this opening is that there are a couple living in New York

Institutional Context

Has a star been used?
No big stars were used for the film probably because if stars were used, the realistic edge would have been taken away from the film and there would not be much point in using the handheld camera technique to make it seem more realistic.

Which studio produced the film?
The film was produced by Paramount Pictures.

What strategies were use to market the film?
Distribution played a key role in the success of this film. The distributors played on the secrecy of the film to attract an audience as no-one knew what the film was about prior to release. Teaser trailers were released and teaser websites allowed the audience to be involved in the distribution campaign and were rewarded with clues to what the film and teasers to other films being produced by Paramount at the time of release.

AH Noir Research

There are a number of key conventions found in noir films which are often used as a stylistic technique for crime dramas. Some of these conventions are:

Themes

• Film noir ,as a style, was first brought to Hollywood in the early 1940's as German film-makers fled Germany to the USA and began influencing films with their noir genre.

• Film noir is often used for crime or thriller films and in particular, ones that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation, however the genre could easily be adapted for horror which is the genre we have chosen.
  
• The type of films that are influenced by the noir style often show pessimistic views of the world and depict a world full of corruption.
  

Some Examples of Noir Films-

Visual Techniques

• A key visual technique used in noir film's is the use of low-key lighting producing contrasts of light and dark and a dramatic shadow patterning which is something we could easily use since lighting is a key part of horror and we could be easily influenced by the style of lighting shown in noir films.

• Another classic technique is the venetian blinds which is an iconic visual technique connoting the character is trapped behind bars.
  
• In addition, the characters' faces being either partially or wholly obscured by darkness - something often avoided in conventional Hollywood films, but could be adopted by us to create suspense or horror.
  
• The use of canted angles, low angled shots and wide-angle lenses are also all techniques often used in this genre and give connotations of distortion which again could easily be adapted for our idea of horror.
  
• Lastly, night-for-night sequences are another key visual technique as many noir films are set at night to add to the thriller side of the genre. Night-for-night sequences are something we may be interested in doing since horror films also heavily consist of night time sequences.

"Double Indemnity" shows the venetian blinds technique.

Narrative

• Noir films often have asynchronous story lines, often involving flashbacks or flash forwards. This could easily fit into our opening because with our idea of finding a video camera, there could be flashbacks of the events that have occurred to give the audience an insight into what has been filmed on the camera that is found.

• Voice over narration is also frequently used to structure the storyline and the storyline is normally focused on crime, heists or cons, false suspicions, double-crosses and accusations.

Memento has a number of flashbacks and cuts to the present, the latter being shown in black and white to distinguish between the two.

Characters

• The stock characters if the noir genre which are often present are the hard-boiled detective, femme fatales, corrupt policemen and jealous husbands.

• The femme fatale character is often present as she is filmed for her sexuality. Establishing shots often catch the hero's gaze and a low angle with the addition of her costume to emphasise her sexuality.

• Visual motifs associated with the femme fatale include cigarettes with wispy trails of smoke and the possession of a gun - an unnatural phallic symbol.

Stock Characters from Sin City: Corrupt policeman, hard-boiled detective and the femme fatale.

Key Ideas from the Noir Genre

There are a few noir techniques that we could use in our opening that I have found through this research such as:

1. The use of lighting - As we have discussed before, lighting is often key in horror films and with it being so blatant and dramatic in terms of style, it is something we could easily incorporate into our opening.


2. Camera Angles - The use of canted angles and low angles is another technique that could easily fit into our horror idea as it connotes chaos and disorientation.


3. Night-for-Night - The idea of contrasting a mundane and chaotic opening to our horror could be heightened if the mundane part was in day and the chaos was at night. This would be particularly effective and add to the dramatic contrast.

Group - Final genre decision

Copy of Film opening - Genre decision on Prezi

Feedback #1

Well done - very collaborative use of the blog. Your research is investigative, thorough and relevant, using media terms throughout.

Your challenge will now be to ensure that once the genre is selected, your research is focused and relevant to concept development.

CJ Teen films: conventions and features

In researching teen films, I have found a number of recurrent features that have now become associated with the genre. This is due to the fact that film producers will reuse the same structural material repeatedly in order to keep the film appealing to a mainstream audience and to avoid risk. This has come to provide the audience with a familiar concept to get to grips with for every genre, as they can anticipate where the film is going to do next based on their accepted conventions for the genre.

Some of the things I noticed in looking at the characters in teen films:

• Characters are usually very easily definable, by the clothing they wear, by the language they use, and by the part they play in the narrative. For instance, in teen action film Kick-Ass, the three friends are easily definable as 'nerdy', as they wear out-of-date looking clothing, have an awkward gait and talk nasally.
• There will be a character opposition in the narrative, either between the lead character/protagonist and an antagonist. Specific to teen movies, the antagonist will take the form of a school bully, or other intimidating presence (usually the one with the most respect in the class/school e.t.c.).
• There will be a limited range of stock characters, and each will be heavily stereotyped. There will be the 'sporty' types, the ladykiller types, the nerdy types, the goths, ethnic minority groups - each clearly defined by their portrayal on screen.
• ...however, our perception of these groups changes depending on who we are positioned with. For instance, the viewing stance taken by the audience on 'nerds' will be different if watching a film about a teen sports star to what it would be if we were positioned within that character group.

Looking at locations: 

• Most are mainly set in or around the lead character's home town or school in order to relate the audience back to their lives as much as possible. 
• The school setting is typically used to establish conflicts and hierarchies between characters, as the classroom provides an entertaining and relative location to achieve this in.

Looking at iconography:

• The iconography used in teen films will be based around otherwise unimportant objects - for example the cigarette butt in Brick is used in order for the lead character to make a revelation about the position of another character. 
• Some of the items used will be deliberately unimpressive for comedic effect. Something as simple as a baseball or an item of clothing can be hyped up enough within the narrative to allow it to take on a sole significance within the story. This can induce an overtone of naivety within the film, in that the iconography that the object takes on can become so out of proportion to its material significance that it can make the narrative seem intentionally childish.

Looking at mise-en scene within teen films:

• The font of the lettering on the title screen can say a lot about the film. A preferred style of font used in teen films is scrawly handwriting, which underlines the fact that the film is about a school-age set of characters.
• However, sometimes the style of font is juxtaposed with the genre of the film in order to deliberately make the opening sequence look pretentious and/or show that the film is going to be a pseudo-action/horror/drama film. This is mainly used in teen comedies.
• The clothing that characters wear in teen films is nearly always very stereotypical of the character's social status. For example, the sporty characters will all be wearing baseball jackets, the popular male characters will be wearing expensive designer clothing, the popular female characters will be wearing low cut tops and sexually provocative clothing and the nerdy kids will be wearing bland outdated clothing. 
• The lighting is generally high key, low contrast. This is to attempt to recreate a realistic and almost intentionally mundane setting - emphasising the fact that the film is about real life-based events
• In terms of colour, this varies with the general overtone and subgenre of the film. For instance, in a teen horror film, the colours might be relatively subdued, with reds accentuated to connote danger or gore. Alternatively, in a more upbeat film based around teenage life, brighter and cooler colours like blue and light green might be accentuated to connote calm, tranquillity and peace of mind, or yellow to connote happiness.

BW The History Of Horror Film

I've done some background research into horror films throughout the ages, which can give us an idea as to the conventions of horror films, and the films through the years that have inspired filmmakers, and should hopefully inspire us too.

1896 - The first ever horror film, 'The House Of The Devil' was made by Georges Méliès. To the right I've included a still from the film, seeing as it is original horror. It's hard to tell what's going on, but the character shown seems

to be the archetypal villain, with the hunched back.

1910 - There were a few films between the last one and this one, but in 1910 'Frankenstein' was released. This was shortly followed by the German film, 'Cabinet of Dr. Caligari', a film which went on to inspire many film makers

1931 - In this year, Universal Studios - one of the first big studios to make horror films - released 'Dracular' and a remake of 'Frankenstein', leading the way for it to become one of the most remade horror film of all time.

1953 - In 1953, 'Ugetsu' was the first horror film made in Japan, as horror began to make it way around the world. 'House Of Wax' was also released in 3D, putting an age on the software we think of as being so new.

1960 - 'Psycho' was made by Hitchcock, argued to be the greatest and scariest horror film of all time. Hitchcock (the master of suspense) went on to make 'Birds' three years later

1971 - 'Vampryos Lesbos' proved a controversial film due to the amount of graphic sex. Pushing boundaries seems to be a trend in horror films, with the recent albeit popular controversial 'torture porn' in films such as 'Hostel' and 'SAW'.

The 1970s were an important year for horror, with 'The Exorcist' (1973), 'Jaws' in (1975), 'The Omen' (1976) and 'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978).

1980 - Saw the release of 'The Shining', another film often topping lists for the best horror film of all time. Stephen King novels featured heavily through the 1980s, with 'The Shining' to 'Pet Sematary' (1989)

1999 - was the year of release of 'The Blair Witch Project', a film which reinvented horror, and broke down many of the horror conventions, managing to scare audiences without clever camera work or music. 'The Sixth Sense' was released in the same year, another critically acclaimed film.

2004 - Set the trend of the 'torture porn' films with the release of SAW. Otherwise, the 2000's mainly saw remakes of classic horror hits, such as 'The Ring' (2002), 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (2003) & 'Halloween' (2007).

2011 - A new horror, directed by Ben, Chris & Ali?

CJ Film Opening: Teen

Superbad (Mottola, 2007) is an American teen comedy film.



The Superbad opening sequence is reflective of the style of many teen movies - the brightly coloured, animated and comedic opening sequence sets the mood of the rest of the film and lends a light-hearted overtone to the movie before it has started.

The creative use of animation to start the film is effective because;

• It uses bright colours and recognisable human figures to simply illustrate the tone of the movie.
• It adds an element of comedy to the film. The inclusion of animation is one of many ways of lightening the tone of a movie.
• We are partially introduced to the main characters; for instance, one is obviously larger than the other, and the taller one is made to seem more nerdy simply through clever use of camerawork.

Looking at the mise-en-scene in the opening sequence, we can see that;

• The colours used contrast with each other. This is used to emulate an eighties feel, as is the...
• Inclusion of a grain and image noise filter to the video. This gives the sequence a retro feel.
• Also notable is the inclusion of the eighties Columbia screen, another attempt to lend a retro feel to the opening.
• The characters move around the screen, and are consistently moving throughout the sequence.

Finally, looking at the sound, the only notable sound in the opening sequence is the soundtrack (Too Hot to Stop - The Bar-Kays). It has a funky rhythm, which is parodied by the dancing animated figures on the screen. This sort of music is usually associated with either awkward, nerdy characters or hipsters in the modern media, and it gives us a pretext as to how these characters are going to behave and act before the movie has started.

CJ Film Opening Research

In order to do some background research on film openings, I had a look at various films from the three set genres of film. In terms of films, I had a look at the psychological thriller Memento (Nolan, 2000), and The Dark Knight (Nolan, 2008). I also looked at Kick-Ass (Vaughn, 2010) and Scott Pilgrim vs the World (Wright, 2010) for teen drama research and Ju-on (Shimizu, 2002) The Ring (Verbinski, 2002) and The Shining (Kubrick, 1980) for horror research.

What I found in relation to horror movies:

• The preferred format for the opening scene will be a seemingly innocent/mundane setting, but with tensional non-diegetic music or another tension-building device.


• Characters which have little to no part in the rest of the film will be used to introduce the scene and familiarise us with the setting.


• Title screens, if used, will be simplistic and understated.

What I found in relation to teen movies:

• Methods of starting the film vary on the basis of subgenre. For instance, teen action film Kick-Ass starts with a voiced-over pseudo-superhero movie sequence, whereas teen crime drama Brick opens with a visual introduction to the lead character, with the inclusion of a situation designed to leave the viewer out of the events.


• In both these films and Scott Pilgrim, We are introduced to the lead character immediately, albeit in different ways. In Kick-Ass, the character introduces himself through the monologue voiced-over the top of the scene, in Brick, we are allowed to study the lead character for several seconds in BCU, identifying his main features, and in Scott Pilgrim, we are introduced to the lead character in third person format (we're placed with the asian girl coming into the band's room, and thus we learn more about him as a character through their interactions.


• In most of the teen film openings I watched, the colours are bright, lending an optimistic and almost naive sense to the narrative. Brick is an exception to this, being a darker film than most would imagine an archetypal teen drama to be.

Finally, my findings in relation to thriller movies were:

• Similar to teen movies, and because of the wide range of subgenres, there is no set pretext for thriller movie openings. However, the majority will start with an action scene in order to get people into the mood of the movie. This will invariably have a tensional soundtrack, punctuated by sharp diegetic sound inputs. (N.B. Psychological thrillers will have a far less defined opening sequence, and dependent on how mainstream the film is [i.e. what sort of audience is being catered to], may make use of a simplistic shot of an item of high importance within the movie [case in point; Memento, where a polaroid picture is the main focus of the first minute of the film]).


• The opening will have an unknown object/person/situation utilised in it to push the narrative into the start of the film. This is consistent with many thrillers in order to leave the audience 'out of the loop', and to keep the pace and direction of the film steady.


• A prominent character will be used in the narrative, but not necessarily leading it. This then enables the audience to progressively identify with the main character(s).

Click here for Ali Hookway's opening research

Click here for Ben Wadey's opening research

AH Film Opening: Thriller

Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)





The genre of Taxi Driver is mainly thriller with a sub-genre of Crime.

Firstly, the genre is reflected by camera techniques such as a medium long shot of a taxi driving through smoke. This creates suspense and the smoke also connotes action and violence as well as creating a sense of suspicion. In addition, the extreme close up of De Niro's eyes reinforces this suspicion and introduces tension as the audiences ponders on who this man may be.

The genre is shown through editing mainly through the expansion of time as well as fading cuts. These both add tension to the sequence of shots and suspense as well as allowing time for the audience to take in what is being shown on screen such as the taxi and the people walking in a city.

Sound plays a major role in this title sequence to establish the genre as it is a major tension builder with the raised volume of the music being played in a major key. Since there is no dialogue, music is all the more important and particularly adds suspense when the taxi slowly drives through the smoke.

As for mise-en-scene the typography adds to the thriller genre as the font is in bold yellow lettering. Colour plays a major role during the sequence with yellow and red being the main colours which connote action and city life which is where the film is set.

Genre?

What genre shall we decide on then? I'm thinking horror, as we all seem to be the most interested by it and I think from a creative point of view it gives us a lot of scope. However, I do like teen drama, seeing as we will be using teen actors and locations then we need to utilise that... Or somewhere between the two? A teen horror (Blair Witch Project).

BW Film Opening: Horror

The Exorcism Of Emily Rose (Scott Derickson, 2005)

• The film is a horror film, which is loosely based on a true story
• The opening titles are slow, with names slowly fading in and out and a black screen shown for a considerable amount of time, building tension and setting the mood for the whole film.

• In terms of mise-en-scene, the colour of the opening sequence has a dark, grey wash. The still image below is of the house, which stands alone near a number of fields, with a single character walking towards it. The location is important, as it connotes vulnerability and the idea of being alone - important to all horror films. This still also shows the title font, which is red - a colour associated with blood.

• The scene is edited to position the audience with the man who is looking around the house. The still below has two images, highlighting the use of a motivated cut, with the man turning around and then cutting to the running animals that he is looking at. This helps draw attention to small details, which aren't quite right, which continues to create the suspense built in mise-en-scene.

• The camera work in the scene is also relevant, as is demonstrated in the still below. The over the shoulder shot of the man, shot from a low angle not only makes the man look important, but makes the house look big and intimidating. It also has connotations of classic horror films where shadows and figures appear in windows.

AH Film Opening Research

Through researching title sequences I have found a number of trends that occur in the different types of genre. Some of them are:

• 
  
  The main character or characters are usually established straight away allowing the audience to be positioned with and identify who they are istantaneously.

This is shown in the opening scene of "28 Days Later" where Jim, the main character, is established since he is the only person in the sequence walking through a deserted London.

• As well as characters being established, key ideas for the film are also established to allow the audeince to understand the key concept of the film.

(Click picture to view title sequence)

This is shown during the title sequence of "Watchmen" where the audience is introduced to the concept that superheroes have played a role in many historical events and so the audience is capable of understanding the importance of superheroes in the film.

• Often there is no dialogue and instead there is music to either add horror or tension to create an atmosphere for the rest of the film.

This is shown in "Halloween" where there is just creepy music playing adding horror from the very beginning of the film.

Click here for Ben Wadey's Opening Research

Click here for Chris Jutting's Opening Research

BW Film Opening Research

To start looking at the style of film that we want to make, I looked at a number of films. I looked at films from the 3 genres: horror, (SAW, SAW 3, The Shining, The Blair Witch Project), thrillers, (Memento, Phone Booth), and teen drama, (Brick, Kidulthood).

From watching the openings, I realised that there are a number of trends with film openings:

• There tends to be little of no dialogue, especially for the first 30-90 seconds.


• The first few shots tend to be either fast cut, to build instant tension for the audience, or a couple of very slow panning shots to slowly reveal the subject and action.


• In terms of opening credits, names either appear before any footage (for instance SAW), or they fade in and out at the bottom of the screen.


• The name of the film usually appears at the end, in front of either a black screen or the film footage.


• Character exposition is important, as the title sequence often follows the character who will be central to the entire film. First impressions are important.


• With horror openings, the amount of light is often limited, for instance, in the clip below - the opening of SAW 3 - the only light is of the torch in the room, which helps create dramatic effect.

Click here for Ali Hookway's opening research

Click here for Chris Jutting's opening research

Welcome to Group 10's media Blog!

Hi. This is Ben, Ali, and Chris's media studies blog! Throughout the year we'll be documenting our travel through the realms of film production. We hope you enjoy your stay, and watch this space for more awesome film-related stuff.

Chris