RESEARCH | SCOOP IT; Horror film codes & conventions

9/09/14 |  RESEARCH | SCOOP IT; Horror film codes & conventions

Today I wanted to research genre so I used a very useful online tool called scoop it. This is a good tool because it is interactive which means it makes suggestions about the subject that I am interested in and it is a useful place to collate your research.

PLANNING | THE BRIEF

9/10/14 |  PLANNING | THE BRIEF

I am working in a group of three pupils with Oliver Davis, Charlie Walker, and Robert Tann. We have chosen Brief 7 (video), the opening sequence of a new film including titles, in any genre or mix of genres such as a comedy or thriller together with a storyboard. Maximum length: three minutes.

The plot of our film opening focuses on a woman who awakes from a blackout at her boyfriends house and hears a news report on the TV about a dealy virus circulating. She then finds her boyfriend dead in his bed and tries to hide the body, and it ends with knocking on the door.

ZEN ANALYSIS

9/09/14 |  RESEARCH | TV FILM OPENING ANALYSIS

We watched the opening to a BBC Drama called Zen. It was obvious that this was a crime drama because it efficiently establishes its genre, locations, themes and tone right from the start of the program.

The crime genre is established through the iconography including guns, other firearms, and the position of the ‘Questura’, the police headquarters.

Italianicity is conveyed through repeated pictures on the screen with a wash of the colours of the Italian flag: red, white, green.

PRODUCTION PORTFOLIO: 'Art Of The Title'

10/09/14 |  RESEARCH | THE ART OF THE TITLE; Detectives

We accessed ‘art of the title’ website analysed the opening to a French detective series called ‘Détectives’. We went through each shot identifying how this opening identifies its genre. It is easily identified as a TV opening as the opening is going at a fast pace and show the characters in the programme, films on the other hand are a lot more relaxed with the length of the titles as they do not need to rush into the programme they can build tension up for the film.
The location is identified immediately as you find yourself on a ride through les rues de Paris via a Google Streetview-style interface. The soundtrack also states; “I made it to the city of lights”- the city of lights is a nickname for Paris.

We can tell that it is a detective genre not only by the name but by all the information and graphics thrown at you in the opening sequence e.g. passport photos and information about (a possible suspect/victims) parents.

12/09/14 |  RESEARCH | THE ART OF THE TITLE 2; Sherlock Holmes

We accessed the ‘art of the title’ website and we watched the film opening to Sherlock Holmes which I really enjoyed. We know that this opening is set in Victorian times as the colour palette is very bleak and monochromatic. One main colour/effect is sepia which connotes Victorian photographic methods. The titles are all presented in cursive handwriting using pen and ink wash that gives our eyes to visual noise which is presented by the splatters around the different pages which also gives the photographs a foxed and mildewed look. CGI is used here to make the graphics morph very cleverly into three different styles; still photograph which is clearly taken from the moving image and then it morphs into a pen and ink wash drawing which is re-animated and the process is in reverse, this then cycles throughout the opening sequence. The soundtrack gives the opening a really tense feeling.

9/10/14 |  RESEARCH | THE ART OF THE TITLE 3; Mission Impossible

I accessed the art of the title website and found the opening sequence to Mission Impossible. I can tell that this is an action sequence as a fuse is being lit which is trigger for action sequences. Scenes from the film flash on and off of the screen, also being distributed with metal like credits that shine with speed and urgency. The fuse then sparks at the end of the title sequence which causes the title of the film to come onto the screen in big, bold letters.