1.
IDENT(S)
They won’t all be included, for example a lot of Warp Films
don’t have the Warp ident, reflects their less superior status.
The audio
bridge will start often in the less superior company, subsidiary, and this is often
the case with Working Title.
2.
TITLE(S)
Can be just white on black before the opening shot, either silent
or with an audio
bridge (’71, extremely
extended in I, Daniel Blake) and they
can be cross-cut
with action shots (Submarine or they can be other colours, red in a slasher film,
blue in A Clockwork Orange. They can
also be a montage like in This Is England,
Into The Storm. They can be all on
action shots, or start off in a separate sequence and then later the rest are
on the live
action sequences (The Infidel,
Elizabeth).
Titles will reflect roles, Deadpool is a very rare
example I can’t do something comedic like that due to exam syllabus,
restriction of creativity)
3. NARRATIVE
ENIGMA,
WITHHELDING INFORMATION FROM THE AUDIENCE.
You can either have narrative enigma where the audience is aware that information is being
withheld from them, eg.: like not showing the full body and expressions of a
character, or a plot twist like in The
Infidel the musician and the Islamic extremist being the same person the
Joker being behind the mask in The Dark
Knight.
APPLIED: I had typical narrative enigma by not showing the
full body of the main characters, but it’s gonna be a plot twist later that
Hugh is bisexual, it’s hinted at. Though a lot of audiences think that Will and
Dillon slapping bottoms is clearly anchoring it.
balanced with
balanced with
4. MISE-EN-SCENE/CINEMATOGRAPHY/SOUND/EDITING
PROVIDING EXPOSITION
Often a voice-over will introduce
characters (Submarine, Legend). This voice-over might or might
not be present for the rest of the film.
Might also get extra captions to give time and/or
location (Les Miserables), or an
introductory paragraph instead of voice-over like in Blade Runner,
5. EXTREME
LONGSHOT:
ESTABLISHING SHOT OR MASTER SHOT?
’71: Multiple close-ups
of fighting, then master shot of military regiment
Blade Runner, Legend, Psycho,: High angle extreme
longshot of city, then followed by close-ups, with Blade Runner they are cross-cut with extreme close-ups. In Psycho it
zooms in
6. SOUND - BALANCE
BETWEEN NON-DIEGETIC & DIEGETIC MUSIC?, plus AUDIO BRIGDE
Legend, Shaun Of The Dead: Only non-diegetic
music first
This Is England, ’71, : Only diegetic music as soon as live
action begins (in This Is England after
separate non-diegetic
title sequence). This lack will often connote a sense of realism.
7. BASIC
NARRATIVE STRUCTURE: Propp, Todorov, Levi-Strauss, Foreshadowing
Voice-Over/Narrator: Impossible Narrator in Legend
Linear or non-linear storytelling/editing?
It can stay in one Location or be in multiple ones: Legend, one location, the city of
London. Submarine, in the room of the
protagonist. Psycho, the narrative is
in one location after multiple shots of the wider location, the reverse of Submarine. This Is England also in the
room of the protagonist. ’71 we’re in
multiple locations.
Foreshadowing: This
Is England, second shot is of Thatcher, destructive and doesn’t know what
she’s doing. Then first live action shot, Close-up of picture of father, loss of family
will fuel the protagonist being lured into fascism, and the climactic violent
scene which is fueled by family problems, and makes the director’s opinion of
how the pointless the loss of life and its consequences due to the Falklands
was.
You might also have where the film will end signified in the
beginning, the beach in Submarine. Is
there a union jack in This Is England
opening titles and/or sequence?
8. GENRE SIGNIFIERS,
WHICH APPEAL TO AN AUDIENCE.
Red in Horror, lack of diegetic sound in social realism in This Is England, ’71, in Submarine there
is then the strange extra sounds when we go in towards the protagonist to
signify the strange, quirky French New Wave/fantasy side of the film, and then
we have the first of melancholic songs that will come throughout the film to
signify the romantic and emotional turmoil parts of the story.
In Bridget Jones’s
Diary you have the couple in the background in the first shot, which
foreshadows the narrative of unrequited love, hints that she is alone, and
thereby also signifies the genre of romance
9. CHARACTERS
- ANCHOR CENTRAL PROTAGONIST + MAYBE INTRODUCE OTHER CHARACTERS INCLUDING
ANTAGONIST, SETTING UP A BINARY OPPOSITION?
The Infidel, we
have the antagonist unbeknownst in the first
In Psycho we zoom
in from an ELS
to someone’s house, we decide to follow her, could have picked anyone in the
city, Hand of Fate approach. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy , the first film Batman Begins has the protagonist and his Proppian princess as
children (also common to feature a flashback), the other two only feature the antagonist
introduced, the Joker in The Dark Knight
and Bane in The Dark Knight Rises
plus a supporting character of the protagonist, one of the Proppian Helpers. Arguably after the success of the first film they
are building up the tension of the entrance of the Batman hero, much more extended in The Dark Knight Rises.
In Blade Runner
none of the main characters appear, however the main conflict between human and
machine, the binary
opposition, is set up.
CONVENTIONS OF THE PROTAGONIST
-
Different from the norm, they are not you’re
average character, otherwise why would the narrative follow them, no one else
other than Marion Crane and Sam Loomis are going to meet,
10.
TRANSITION TO MAIN FILM
Bridget Jones’s Baby – end of titles and music
It isn’t always immediately clear when the film is over, is
when the final title has played (The Infidel arguably ends its opening after
the main title appears, but the writers,
producers and directors are still
added on afterwards)
In Submarine this
is done through inserts:
Prologue, Part one
Can often be done through a fade-in, or end of the first
music track.
