Cinematography Research – Shadows

One of the techniques that I particularly want to achieve in my film opening is the use of the characters’ shadows in order to let the audience’s imagination tell them what is happening instead of actually having a visual of the situation. This effect will also be enhanced by the sound effects used and so I will need to think carefully about the music/sound aspect of the scene as well.

As research, I looked at the beginning of the film Van Helsing (2004) and when the vampire kills Dr. Frankenstein, their shadow is shown instead of themselves:

This adds drama to the scene and so I hope to use this technique when the witch kills the male persona ‘Dan’.

Possible Music

There were two main ideas that I have thought about for the music in my film opening. The first idea was to take a well known nursery rhyme/children’s song and put an eerie mood to it. The first song that I thought of was The Teddy Bear’s Picnic because of the pace and rhythm. However, I could not find a song that had the similarity of The Teddy Bear’s Picnic but had a horror twist to it.
   After looking at a range of royalty-free music sites, I finally found a site that contains royalty free music by Kevin MacLeod and one of the songs was Pop Goes the Weasel, but had a horror and creepy edge to it:

Pop Goes the Weasel

I then looked at some atmospheric music and found a good piece by him also that contained breathing sounds which gave it a really good eerie mood and would fit nicely with the mise en scene and the narrative. This music would also build up the tension to when the witch appears out of nowhere:

Right Behind You

Sleepy Hollow (1999) - Fantasy/Mystery/Thriller

After looking at an 18 classified film and a 12 classified film, I thought that it would be a good idea to research into a 15 classified film in order to know the difference between the three classifications. I then decided that a good film opening that relates to my project is the film called Sleepy Hollow (1999) that was also directed by Tim Burton – who directed Sweeney Todd (2007) that is an 18.
   At the very beginning of the film, the audience are shown the main credits of the film using a smoky/misty background in order to create tension and there are children singing in order to add the holy and religious feel to the opening scene. Then panning shots are shown of a person’s last will and testament and drips of red candle wax are shown to drip down upon the parchment (using a close up shot). This red wax could remind the audience of blood and therefore would have connotations to death and foreshadows that there will be murder involved in the next following events.
   A carriage is then shown carrying an old man (presumably being the man that has just embedded his signature into the red wax). The music is then intensified and creates tension for the audience along with the sound effect enhancement of the horses’ hooves hitting the road as they gallop. The mise en scene in general for this scene is gloomy and the use of fog creates a mood of uncertainty.
   There are mid-shots of the man in order to show his expressions, as previously there is a long shot of a scarecrow in a field and the lightning illuminates the scarecrow in order to intensify the mood. There is a supernatural noise following this and the audience see a horse running beside the carriage on the other side, which makes the audience know that something is not natural with the horseman and that there will be something nasty happen to this man. A loud and enhanced noise of a sword leaving its scabbard is heard and a slicing noise also in order to create the tension that something has happened outside involving the horseman that just went past. The audience then know that the man inside the carriage should not look outside but he does, only to have a shot moments later of the carriage driver having no head and the man’s reaction to this.
   The music is now very fast in rhythm and close up shots of the carriage wheels are shown to show that it is out of control and that the man should jump out of the carriage. Furthermore, by using the mise en scene of a crop field as the setting for where the man tries to escape through, it gives the scene a definite supernatural and thriller genre because the audience cannot wait to know whether this man survives or not. A mid-shot of the scarecrow is shown again with the lightning effect and further close-ups show that the man is really scared of his wellbeing – which is portrayed well by the use of the scarecrow being present (symbolism).
   There is another sound effect of the scabbard and the sword and then the camera zooms in to show his reaction and his head is cut off. There finally is a shot of the pumpkin for the scarecrow’s head with blood splattered all over it; mixing the Halloween theme with the scene here.
   The typography used for the titles are white and have an old fashioned style to them, creating the sense that this film is set in older times (1799) before the date is displayed to the audience. The mise en scene of the costumes and the carriage also allows the audience to gain the old fashioned feel to the era in which it is set.
   The audience that Tim Burton directed this film because it includes his artistic style of his filmography and they can relate to his previous films while watching this one. To conclude, this research of this film opening has allowed me to expand my knowledge into the sound effects that would be successful in using in my film opening and how lighting and sound has a great impact on what we as an audience watch.

Blade (1998) - Action/Fantasy/Horror

During the researching process, I thought that it would be appropriate to look at a range of certificated films in order to see if they have any conventions to the genre and which ones corresponded with each classification. Therefore, I looked at the film opening scene of Blade (1998) to see the difference between this 18 film and the 12 film The Brothers Grimm (2005).   The film opening scene of Blade is very clever because it introduces the villains to the audience right from the very start (the vampires) using horror and shock factors in order to bring the audience into the film. The main persona of this scene (a young male) is lead into what the audience believe is a slaughter house and the male is slightly confused on why he is lead there. The mise en scene in the slaughter house appears to show bodies being carried in the bags and not farm meat which along with his reaction creates uncertainty and foreshadowing for the audience because they know that something cruel will happen to this man.
   When they both go into the main scene location the audience see what appears to be a party/club scene where a lot of young people are raving to music – therefore making the music diegetic in the narrative because the it is part of the narrative sphere of the film. The music used is modern and brings the scene together because it is combining folklore (the vampires) with modern elements to draw the audience into the situation.
   Lighting is used in order to intensify the situation and also to convey the modern twist because of the strobe lighting picking out the characters’ expressions and the effect of everyone’s faces going from light to dark continuously – maybe representing the people of looking human and normal but are actually have a dark side to them; their vampirism.
   The horror genre is introduced to the scene when the sprinklers overhead start to release ‘blood’ out to the vampires and the main persona (the man) is stunned by their behaviour and the cinematography helps the audience to know his distress because of the close-up shots used of him and the vampires surrounding him. Because the blood is used, the audience know about vampires and their relationship with blood and so understand the situation with just this use of symbolism.
   In terms of the typography used, the style of the titles are simplistic and are bold, enabling them to stand out to the audience while they are still watching the scene behind them. The use of the red font colour also has connotations to danger and lust – which is a common theme throughout folklore involving vampirism.
   Marvel Entertainment (one of the production companies of the film), have been very successful in creating films from comic series and because the audience were probably aware of the character Blade from the comics and had a background knowledge on the characters, it draws the audience into the scene to when the main persona of the film Blade appears and defeats all of the vampires; which also creates the fantasy and action genre because of the conventions of vampires and fighting being involved in the scene.
   The audience for this text is aimed to be over 18s because of the classification of the film being an 18. Therefore, the audience should intentionally have been created for over 18 year olds, unless one detail in the film was looked in greater detail and classified it as an 18. Because of the horror and fantasy genre combined, it should be aimed at younger adults (18-25) but could appeal to an older audience also because of the action elements to the film. The uses and gratifications theory can be applied to this film because the audience being 18-25 for example, could suggest that they watch Marvel Comic films in order to divert from their lives – a way of escaping life and enjoy watching someone else have the tougher time than them – which can be used simultaneously with the entertainment aspect in order to attract the audience into the narrative.
   Overall, by looking at this film and looking at The Brothers Grimm (2005), I know that there are different ways of approaching the genre in order to achieve the entertainment value of the film for the audience and that also different techniques can be used in order to approach the narrative without having to use the bad language and violence aspects to make it suitable for an older audience – the intertextuality to folklore for instance.

The Brothers Grimm (2005) - Adventure/Comedy/Fantasy

At the beginning of the film The Brothers Grimm (2005), the audience are immediately introduced to one of the traditional Brothers Grimm stories in order to place the audience into the folklore. Iconography is used because the audience associate ‘magic beans’ with the folktale Jack and the Beanstalk and so have background knowledge on the plotline and an idea of the narrative just because of this symbolism. The mise en scene used in the opening scene is of a poor family’s house and this is shown by the minimalistic furniture included in the room. Also, it is snowing outside which has connotations to innocence (showing that the family are not intentionally poor because their sister is sick and needs treatment). Moreover, snow has connotations to death because of the winter season killing plants and animals due to the cold – which could suggest that the sister could be dying.
    The music used is soft and has a saddened tone to it in order to show that there is something wrong with the sister and that she needs help by her brother selling their cow and collecting money for a doctor. After the scene, the music livens and it the tone is changed to a pirate/fantasy theme; which could suggest that there will be some magical aspect to the film or will include forgery/criminals. Sources of light are mainly from the candle and window in order to pick out the shadows and set the mood of the room. The mood shown is dim and this ties in with the snow and the connotations to death and gloom.
   Cinematography is used well in the scene because long-shots and mid-shots are mostly being used and this creates the idea of them being small compared to the rest of the world. The only close-ups that are used are to show the important details of the narrative in this scene – for instance, the magic beans and the wooden horse that they use for firewood, in order to pick out the main details but showing the minimal quality of their lives as well.
   The genre of fantasy is incorporated through the use of the folklore aspects (such as the magic beans) and this intertextuality enables the audience to relate to their childhood and be more involved in the narrative. Intertextuality is used throughout the film in order to allow the audience to use their previous knowledge of The Brothers Grimm tales and add their own twist to it.
   Dimension Films (one of the production companies of this film) have created an impact on the film because they have produced many of the popular films such as Scary Movie, Scream, Spy Kids and some of the later Halloween films. This means that the USA based company have added their own culture and influence into the Germany original stories, which widens the audience to overseas and makes the humour entertaining for a larger audience.
   Because the film is a 12, the audience can intentionally be younger because it only contains some moments in the film when horror and violence are used. Because of the fantasy and adventure genre of the film, escapism can be created for the audience (uses and gratifications theory) and an older audience can be present because of the humour and comedy aspect of the film.
   The main aspect of this research was the idea that I could use intertextuality of the many folktales in my introduction in order to bring the audience into the narrative and familiarise them of the more famous tales (such as Snow White).

Analysis of Transitions

A Christmas Carol

Conventions of a Film Opening

<< Background information on the film Sweeney Todd (2007).

By looking at the opening sequence of Sweeney Todd (2007), I have noted down the timings and the titles/credits used during the animation sequence. Using the Prezi Presentation tool, I have written down the timing of each title given and have included an image of every other title to show the font colour and font used.

Sweeney Todd (Intro) - Timeline on Prezi

Typography – The font style used is an older looking font in order to create the atmosphere that the film is set in the Victorian period before any characters are introduced. Also, the white font colour against the darker backgrounds enables the names of the main cast and departments to be seen clearly by the audience.

The animation of the blood really adds atmosphere to the setting because the audience may be already aware of Sweeney Todd and so the blood in the rain at the beginning and the main aspects of the narrative being shown (such as the chair and the pies) makes the audience feel involved in the narrative at the very beginning and makes the plot exiting and draws the audience in.

There are roughly about five seconds between each

 title, enabling the audience to gain the title’s information but not leaving them there too long for them to bore the audience. By only doing five second intervals, the audience can be drawn into the narrative because of the fast paced titles and the background being very dramatic as well.

This research has enabled me to know which names are included in the opening sequence to a film and what typography goes well with the mise en scene (including the font and the font colour).