Blog 1

Top 3 favorite films openings

 

Mean Girls opening scene- https://youtu.be/rekn_T5ZAfw 

1. Summary of film: Cady Heron was a girl that grew up in africa and moves to the suburbs of Illinois, Cady finally gets to experience public school. However, when she gets to school, she realizes who and why everyone has their own group/ clique. Cady become best of friends with Damien and Janis. They dare her to get the inside scoop on the group called the plastics, where the leader, Regina George in the most popular but is the most cruel. Everything goes well until she turns into one and realizes why they have that title, and her friends make her realize that she got caught up. (comedy/Drama) 
2. The film opening is 3:48 
3. It starts with a flashback showing cady’s life in africa, than goes to the current time where she is about to start walking into school. She sees a Lotta new site she's never seen before but still tries to keep her head up. When she walks in to her first period, she gets a rude introduction by this one girl, and characters Janice and Damion start to guide her to different seats she should stay away from. Then she never used to her day, however is nothing like how her school was in Africa. Everyone was getting on her for doing things that she thought was normal, but wasn't to the teachers or any student there. Then came lunch, when she tried to find someone to sit with, but everybody had their own groups, so she ends up eating by herself. Then she goes home in a bad mood, because of the horrible day she had. This whole film opening contributes to the overall plot, because it shows how her view of her new school is and introduces the two new characters that will later on be best friends for. Also, the lunch scene gives a perspective on where a lot of the problems and drama will start, at lunch. 
4. Purpose: to introduce cady and the important places and people apart of the storyline. 

Blog 2

 Key elements/ features of a film opening sequence

• Music
• introduction of main characters
• sound
• establishing shot
• genre
• narrative

      Music- In a film opening, the music can tell when the movie is going to begin or it can tell you what the genre of the film is. For example, if the music starts before seeing any of the shots, it is most likely a musical. Also, music sets the mood of the movie.

      Introduction of the main characters- Introducing characters in an opening sequence gives ideas of the characters personality and how they act. It reveals what the main characters look like, their characteristics, and anything else that relates to the plot, in that short amount of time.

       Establishing shot- this reveals the main setting of the film, where important events take place. They also set the tone of the scene or the whole film.

       Genre- Different things reveal the genre in a film opening sequence. The first shots can give off what type of movie you are watching.

-The purpose of film openings are to set the tone of the rest of the film and intoduce the plot/characters. It puts out all of the key elements to give you an idea of what the film consists of and what it will be about.

Similarities in the opening scene

•  Narrations- gives background on the characters or/and their actions. This is also a technique used to draw the viewers.
• Productions/Directors visibility- A lot of the times, in the beginning of a film, the production company's name is shown. As well as the director.
• Title sequence- It can reveal the genre and information can be inferred with the title, like what the movies about, the characters used, etc.

Sources: https://www.slideshare.net/07anghwilk/conventions-of-a-film-opening-sequence 

http://nathanielgunnersburyasmedia.blogspot.com/2010/11/purpose-of-opening-sequence-is-for-film.htmlhttps://artlist.io/blog/establishing-shot/

Cinematograpghy

 Topic Introduction

Cinematography is the art of produce motion pictures. For example, the decisions made on lighting, where to shoot each scene, the certian visual aspects, etc. The important things that make up how the clips are filmed and how they look, are basically what cinematography helps out with.

Background Information

There are different types of cinematograpghy, including shot types, angles, camera movements, etc. Some shot types are close up, medium shot, and long shot

Types of movies/ movie genres

Topic Introduction

 When watching movies, they are all composed of different genres. Genres, in film, are are different elements that define the movie. Basically telling you what type of movies they are.

Background research 

There are a few different genres that are important when it comes to movies. The first one is drama, its a genre that contains stories with a lot of conflict and high stakes. Its created by rule, character, relationships, situations, atmosphere, and tension, like using silence to create tension. Most dramas are plot driven and every character is needed to move the storyline forward. Next is romantic comedy, which is a movie or play that tells a love story but in a funny way. Some characteristics that romantic comedies have are polar opposite characters, comical friends, happy endings, etc. Another one are musicals, these are a genre where songs are interwoven into a narrative, sometimes includes dancing. They have very large impacts on society and pop culture , like how we know it today. The songs from musicals usually advance the plot and develop the film as it goes on. They also use a lot of media shots to capture emotions,   while singing and dancing. Another one is action, which is basically films that use action sequences such as fighting stunts, car chases or explosion to take procedure over elements like complex plotting. In a typical action movie, the hero always has a desire to save the victim and stop the villain, the villain always gives up on his big plans, and they were always a hero and villain, plus the victim. Next is science fiction, its a genre that cooperates hypothetical and science based theme into the plot of the films . They are often associated with abstract worlds that are unknown or never hear of, undiscovered species, etc. Lastly, there is horror comedy, which is a literacy. television, and film genre, that combines elements of comedy and horror films. This sub genre sets blood, gore, and screams right next to gags, falls, and laughs. This really creates its name horror-comedy.

Content Application

For our film genre project, we were supposed to create a PowerPoint based on our research, and the information we knew on certain topics relating to our genre chosen. My group, we did the horror genre. So I collected some research on characteristics, conventions, stereotypes, history, and much more on horror films. Now with this information, I jotted it down in my notes, and transferred a lot of it to a PowerPoint that I had. Each topic had two slides that were worked on, with the information for me. A poster board was also created to name these topics, and basically show off what we've learned from research. We presented these both and shared our information on who are with the class.

Reflection

I learned a lot from doing my research and reading about the different types of movies and genres.Now I know way more about movies and types of movies I watch. There are so many different movies that I watched and don't know the genre to. Also I learned about subgenres and that there are different characteristics to each genre that makes them equally important and different in their own way.

REFRENENCES

Notes from presentations 

https://penandthepad.com/romantic-fantasy-story-ideas-

8636018.htmlhttps://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-identify-film-genres#quiz-0