Analysis of the first two minutes of High School Musical

High School Musical is your typical romance film and uses every cliche in the book while following the traditional conventions. It's created by Disney which suggests that its aimed at children, this would mean that the language will be simple and the acting will be exaggerated (because if the acting was serious then the children would get bored) and the scenery will be colourful and clean.

The film starts with an establishing shot of a ski resort and text on the screen tells us that its new years eve. This is significant because new years eve suggests that something new could happen (which is shown in the first song later in the film) it is also close to Christmas which is a child's favorite time. The next scene shows the audience inside the resort and the audience are shown teenagers socializing and being friendly, the significant part of the scene is the use of props as this is a teenage party and you would expect drugs and alcohol but because this is aimed at a younger audience the teenagers are friendly and drinking juice. The next scene shows the audience the girl that is going to meet the guy of her dreams and live happily ever after, she follows the typical conventions as she seems geeky as she is reading a book while everyone else is partying and perhaps shy. The cliches of our female protagonist help to aid the younger audience as its like a message to them saying its fine to be different, this would make parents want their children to watch the film. The next scene shows the audience the man that will fall in love with the girl from the earlier scene, he too follows the conventions as he is sporty and good looking, we know he is sporty as we are introduced to him while he is playing basketball. The fact that he is sporty means that you could suggest that he is also popular which is another romance cliche.

Overall I think that this is a clever way to open the film as the young audience feel safe and happy that it follows the typical conventions of a romance film.

Analysis of an opening - Batman The Dark Knight

The film opens with an establishing shot of Gotham City and then zooms into a skyscraper causing the audience to put all their focus on this building-this creates an enigma (and is the first of many enigmas shown in the opening scene) as the audience wonder why they are having to centralise their focus on this building. The camera then moves over to a window on the building that shatters due to something from the inside-this creates another enigma as the audience wonder what is about to happen. The next shot then shows two men in the building shooting a grappling hook to another building opposite them, this answers the enigma of how the window was smashed, however it creates many more as the audience now wonder why the men are wearing clown masks. This creates tension and suspense making the audience gripped to the screen. The film then continues and more enigmas are created and answered, the next scene shows a man holding a clown mask and it makes the audience wonder why he has been singled out before he gets in a car. The audience notice that all the characters have large bags with them and masks on suggesting that they are criminals and could be performing a heist. The next scene show three people in a car (one of which is the guy that the camera focused on) and they have a conversation about the Joker-this gives the audience an insight to who these characters are as they work for the Joker who is the main antagonist. The director uses enigmas to creates mystery and make the audience question his motives however it doesn't make the audience too confused and doesn't take the fun of the action out of the opening scene. The music starts off subtle but then the tempo starts to increase as does the pitch to suit the scene, the drums start to become louder when the guys are moving from the main skyscraper (the one I spoke about before) to the building adjacent to it-this creates tension as the it shows the audience that the characters are in danger.

Overall the use of music, editing and mise-en-scene create enigmas and tension to get the audience hooked to the screen and heighten the drama that the characters are in.

Costumes Reseach

The main protagonist and antagonist could be wearing suit to show their superiority over the the other characters. The main protagonist could have a grey or navy suit like the one Daniel Craig uses in the James Bond films (shown in the images above). The main antagonist could have a black suit (shown in the image to the right) which would follow the typical costumes of an action villain-however we may have the main antagonist wearing a light coloured suit such as a cream suit (shown in the image below) to subvert the typical stereotypes and so that he is not easily spotted which could shock the audience and create suspense.  

Props research

Props

• Guns
• Knives

We may use guns such as pistols as they are the usual weapon for the main protagonist, an example of this would be James Bond as he always has his traditional Walther PPK. We could also include more destructive and exciting weapons such as machine guns or grenades to create explosions. The guns would be spray painted black to look more realistic and also hidden from the sight the enemies. We could also use a knife as back up to the gun for stealth scenes or close quarters.

• Earpiece

We could use an earpiece to allow the main protagonist to be updated about his missions and follow his instructions, the villains may also have earpieces in order to communicate with each other. The ear pieces would have no cables and look professional as if it were a real prop from a James Bond film.

• Briefcase

A briefcase could be used in order to create an enigma. It would either be black or dark brown which would look old and stylish. The briefcase could contain anything from money to weapons which makes the audience question and wonder why it has been used.

• Mobile Phone

We may have someone with a phone to show that he is wealthy and maybe a business man that is distanced from the characters as they have ear pieces. The main antagonist could use it to show that he is more superior to the rest as he is different to them.



That is our list of the props we may include in the opening two minutes of our film.

Mood board - Action Film

 Just some images to give us some ideas for our film.

The pictures of weapons connote that our film will be categorised in the action genre section.
The mask and briefcase suggest that a mysterious background could be included which is true as some of the characters are special agents.

If we were to use any of these props it would mean that we would either have to borrow them from friends or buy them ourselves-this seemed to not be the ideal approach so we adjusted our schedule and decided to go with a fast paced opening of a chase scene with a final confrontation.

In fact we didn't use any of the props below as we didn't want to go in guns blazing and instead started it with a chase scene that kept our audience on the edge of their seats.

Brainstorm of the Opening 2 minutes of our film

Film Certificates-18

Films rated 18 include extreme scenes of sex, violence and strong language. People under the age of 18 can't view these films even with parental guidance which is similar to the certificate rating of 15. Many films are rated 18 because of the explicit scenes of gore or sexual nature, an example of this would be Saw;it includes a large amount of gore and disturbing scenes such as torture. I think the certificate rating of 18 could be suitable for our film however it will limit our audience as teenagers will not be able to view the film. For this reason we may chose to go with the certificate of 15 because our film will not be too gory or explicit for the teenage audience.

Film Certificates-15

A film rated 15 means that people under the age of 15 can't view the film. These films usually contains more gore, explicit language and sexual scenes. They are more serious and have a thicker plot line and are usually aimed at an adult audience, however some films have the explicit detail cut out in order to appeal to a wider audience. A great example of this is the film "Taken 2", the first film "Taken" was rated an 18 due to all explicit detail and swearing but then "Taken 2" was made to be a 15 to attract a wider range of audiences. The certificate 15 may suit our film because it will include an appropriate amount of gore and swearing to keep our audience interested.

Film Certificates-12A

The certificate 12A means that an audience member can't see a film if they are aged below 12 unless they are accompanied by an adult member. These films are a huge step up from PG films as they include some blood and mild swearing, however they do tend to use one strong swear word in their films. They become more mature and the situations are a little more serious but still very mild. 12A films mainly target teenagers because they are old enough to see it, however they do sometimes make it appropriate for adults to encourage them to bring their children that are aged below 12. A great example of a film that uses the 12A certificate is James Bond; it includes a lot of action and serious scenes which appeals to all audiences. This could be an appropriate certificate for our film because our film may be based around the idea of James Bond, however we may include more mild content so it might not be the perfect certificate for us.

Film Certificates-PG



PG is the film classification that stands for parental guidance, meaning that people should not watch it without consent from their parents. PG films include some scenes such as non explicit nudity but not in a sexual way and are still aimed at a young audience, an example of this is the Simpsons movie which has a short scene of a naked boy. I don't think that this will be an appropriate certificate for our film because our film will be targeting an adult audience and a PG would not seem serious enough to them causing us to lose our audience.

Film Certificates-U

When a film is created is goes through a process know as film classification to decide who is suitable to watch it, this gives the audience an insight of what the film may contain because if it has blood and swearing then it could be rated at 15.

The film classification U stands for universal and it means that it is suitable to all, this means that anyone can watch them. They are usually aimed at young children from babies and upwards. Most U rated films are animated and aimed at children 4-8, however some can target larger audiences such as toy story 3 and star wars. Most U rated films include adventures and not many scary scenes because they are aimed at families. I don't think that this certificate will be suitable for our film as our film will be more serious and aimed at an older audience.

Questionnaire-Action genre

1) What is your favourite type of opening?

 
Chase scene

Shoot out

Fight scene

Other (please state)

 
2) What fighting style do you prefer?

 
James Bond

Jason Bourne

Jackie Chan

Sherlock Holmes

 
3) What do you think the main protagonist should be?

 
Muscular

Intelligent

Good looking

 
4) What sort of location do you prefer?

 
Iconic buildings

Landmarks

Large landscapes

Quiet and discrete location e.g. a village

 
5) What do you prefer to see in an action film?

 
Action scenes

Exotic locations

A battle between the main protagonist and antagonist

 
6) Do you prefer an action film to be realistic?

 
Yes

No

 
7) How would you like an action film to end?

 
Cliff-hanger

Traditional (when the hero defeats the evil villain and gets the girl)

A twist

Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope-Opening Titles

The film opens with the iconic 20th century fox institution, it then shows the producers, which is in green text-the green text connotes sci-fi which indicates the genre of the film to the audience, also the producers are Lucas Arts who also created the Indiana Jones trilogy showing that the film Will be action packed with adventure. The music then starts with a fast tempo with a black background-this could suggest that the background is space and the film will take place across the galaxy. The tempo then starts to decrease when the credits start rolling, and the plot of the movie appears. The text is in yellow so it stands out on the black background and the plot tells the audience what the film is about.The camera then pans away and shows an establishing shot of the galaxy suggesting that the film is set in the future and the action will take place on land and in space, making the audience feel excited by what could happen next.

Prelimnary Task Evaluation

Ryan, Connor and I used the cameras to demonstrate our continuity in filming, we chose to use the main hall as our setting because it was unique and discrete which was needed for the characters to carry out their work. The characters greeted each other with respect showing the audience that they are accomplices and have a positive relationship. The characters exchanged a few lines between them with the choice of using a gangster accent to show the genre and plot of the film.

Throughout the clip various shots are used; such as mid shots, two shots, tracking shots and many others. We open the scene with a close up of our main protagonist, Connor Moreton, we then move onto a tracking shot of Ryan entering the scene, the tracking shot shows the audience the movement of Ryan and makes them feel as if they are there. The camera then pans away and the shot becomes a low angle shot showing the character's dominance. We then move onto an over the shoulder shot showing Ryan take his bag off and greet Connor-this shows that our two protagonists respect each other and have a positive relationship and the bag also creates an enigma as the audience wonder what is in the bag. The shot then changes to a two shot which shows the audience the setting and both characters together. We then move onto as close up of Connor saying "you got da dough", to which then Ryan replies "yea I got too much of it" this shows the genre and plot of the film and implies that Ryan has committed a crime.

To improve our scene we should have shown the tracking shot at Ryan's level instead of being a high angle which makes him look weak, and we would also have the scene without people in the background. Music could also be added to show the tempo of the characters which would make the scene more effective. Another thing is the editing which could be better with scenes clear;y cut because in our film it looks like Ryan is stopping when he is supposed to be walking towards Connor.