Friday 16 September 2011

Film Openings

First Film: Saving Private Ryan Opening scene



Genre:The genre of this text is Action, Drama, History, War.
Conventions:From the genre we can tell that the conventions of this opening scene is explosions , guns and also soldiers.

The techincal code is the camera shots as it's a ECU (Extreme close up) This is to emphasis an object such as the American flag which is in the ECU camera shot.The symbolic code in this opening scene is the lighting as it's dual, this maybe to show emotion on the characters face.A symbolic code of this opening scene is the facial expressions as the man who is crying , showing his emotions which is also a connotation as he is sad and upset.Another symbolic code in the sequence is the setting as you can se by the environment it isn't very friendly as it is in a grave yard.

The key signifier's is the united states flag and also the France flag which gives you a sign that the war was about to countries.At the start of the opening scene you can hear the background music of drums and trumpets being played which can signifier's tension.Another signifier is when the man walks into the grave yard which signifier's death. The sequence of the movie tells us that the content will be graphic as there is war within the film because of the two national flags (United States and France flag)

My expectations of the movie is solders - hero's , i also expect flash backs and a lot of action with sounds of explosions but also sad emotions as the opening of the film the character in the grave yard is upset of someone's death.The audiences that are being targeted are around the age of 15 as there is a lot of swearing within the film , i would say this is targeted at people who like war films with loads of action in it.

Second Film:Step Brothers Opening Scene




Genre: The genre of this film is Comedy
Conventions:From the genre we can tell that the coventions will have jokes within the film and also funny scenes (I.E pranks)
The Symbolic codes in the opening scenes is the setting , the main two characters which is the step brothers are at home with a convention that they have nothing to do with there lives and are lazy.Another symbolic code in the opening scene is the costume , the two main characters wear casual clothing nearly the same sort of style which may show that they like the same things.A technical code is body language and the action of one the main characters , The step brother sniths some pants which is a convention of laughter to make you laugh.



Another techinical code in the opening scene is the camera shot of a ECU ( extreme close up) of the food in the microwave , this tells us that they don't have a healthy life style
A key signifier in the opening scene is at 0.54 where he's playing the guitar on the games console , this could signify that the step brothers are lazy and that they like to play games which could suggest that they aren't really grown up as adults.Another key signifer is at 1.08 , this is where one of the step brothers shouts back at his dad which could signiy to us that he is demanding and also rude.

This sequence tells us that the content of the movie will contain a lot of funny scenes with the two step brothers ,you can tell from this the opening as there are a lot of similarities between the two step brothers which suggests that the step brothers will be best friends in the film, also the movie could contain a little love/romance between the parents of the two step brothers as this can tell us that the film will be about a start of a family.

My expectations of this movie is that the step brothers become friends and do funny stuff such as pranks and also jokes.Another expectation is the parents to become a couple as they have something in common which is having a older son living at home.

The audience being targeted is people that like films with funny actors/scenes with jokes.I know this as you can see at 0.41 to 0.52 , you can see that there is a little dirty humor going on , another reason is when the step brother is playing a guitar (0.53 - 0.56)  as you wouldn't expect a old person at home playing a guitar on the playstation which is also humor to the targeted audience.

Third Film: Lords of War  Opening Scene




Genre:The genre of this film is Crime, Drama  and Thriller
Conventions:From the genre we can tell that the conventions of the opening scene will be fighting as the genre of this is crime , Another convention is scenes where you will have tension as the genre has drama in it so you would expect scenes like that.

The symbolic codes in this film is the setting.The setting is in a desert or remote place environment . The environment suggests that the type of plot or story will be prensented in a environment with crime , no law to stop people from doing something such as killing someone.Another symbolic code is the actions/body language in the opening scene , the actions of the characters (2.20 - 2.56) is that these are the bad guys as they are invole in weapons which signiers that they don't show emotion as one of the characters shoots at a young boy.

A techincal code in this opening scene is the camera angles , there are a lot of camera angles in this opening scene (0.24 to 3.01) The camera angles are in a angle in which it's in a object as you see the camera is moving from place to place which is constant - it seems there is no shot to shot it's constant filimg.From the cmaera angles and shots it's telling you whats it's like in a bullet - Life of a bullet such as how it's made and what it's like when fired.

The key signifiers in the open scene is the bullets at the start of the opening scene.The bullets signify war as this is part of a weapon to kill or harm someone.The bullet also signiers crime as the bullet kills a young boy from a character who found the bullet on the floor.Another key signifiers is the bullets being dropped on the floor , this can signify mistakes or accidents throughtout the film.

The sequence tells us that the content of the film will have a lot of death as there is weapons in this film which suggests who are the weapons and bullets for and what do they intend to do with them.Another reason is that the  sequence tells us that the movie will be about a war as the characters are in uniform and also their vehicle is an army truck .My expectations of this film is that there will be mistakes and acidents from the characters and also to be a lot of crime.

The audience being targeted is people that like a film with drama, thrill and also war.From the opening scene I know this as they have put weapons and a young boy being killed in the opening scene which will appeal to the audience as this will make them interested and will want to carry on watching the film to know why the young boy was killed and what will these weapons do.



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