SUMMARY OF CONVENTIONS

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

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.