EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS? (I.E. OF FILM OPENINGS)



The purpose of an opening Sequence is to establish the mood and visual character of a film and introduce the viewer to all or some of these elements:

• Characters
• Locations
• Narrative/Plot
• Themes
• Visual
• Genre
• Opening Credits

Characters

The only character you are introduced to in the opening scene of my film is Jess who is the main character. This is important because it helps you to identify who the main character is going to  be, This is done in most Rom/coms because it starts off the story well and usually gives you an insite into their life style.It is also the first scene where you will see the main character which meant that it is important to portray them in the rite way so that the audience will get the correct idea. Some examples of films that have done this are Bridget Jones, Juno and 13 going on 30.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20PQBtyfNZY  (Juno)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUDR5kcmkMk  (Bridget Jones's Diary)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nHTJRCnndU  (13 going on 30)

Genres/Themes

The genre of a film is the term for any catagory within the film for example: Romance, Action or Thriller. It is important to have a variety of genres in a film but also make you you stick within a few otherwise it could make the film to complicated and hard to follow.Overall it is important to stick with the same genres thoughout the whole film which i think we personally started off well with in our opening and used the stereotypical genres/Themes you'd expect to find in a Rom/Com.The Themes of a film are the main ideas which in my case are very similar to the genre.The genres/Themes which we wanted to portray in our film were:

• Romance
• Friendship
• Comedy
• Drama

Opening Credits

The opening credits go at the begining of a film so that you know who the big names are and the production companys etc. In our opening credits we tried to blend them in with the scenes and make them at different angles so they looked fun and unorganised like our main character 'Jess' This is quite a popular thing to do in any film because it makes the titles alot more interesting if they appear in fun ways reflecting on the characters, An example where this has been done is Legally Blonde I have included some print screens of the way they have done this. Another thing we did with the opening credis was o make the appropiat ones come up wih he scene fo example when she's doing her makeup he make up artist comes up. The Opening credits would usually include:

• Director
• Screen Writer
• Main Cast
• What it is based on e.g Book title
• Producer
• Publisher
• Distributer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UUKVPC4Fq4 <link to the opening of Legally Blonde

Locations

The opening scene for my film was filmed in our actresses flat because we felt that it was very authentic haveing all her own stuff around her and we also wanted her to be as natural and comfortable as possible. The flat we filmed in was good because it reflected well with her personality and woorked well with the mise-en-scene, her bedroom was messy but everything was stylish which we wanted.