EVAL Q1a - Conventions

The purpose of a film openings is to hook an audience. This is particularly important when watching film through the mediums of video on demand and television, which trends of convergence are leading more and more people to do.

So the opening should set out the themes of the film and introduce the main characters and possibly settings. 

LENGTH

It can be varied in length, for example  12 minutes with James Bond films, however it will usually not exceed 7-8 minutes, and will be between 2 and 5 minutes, with sometimes it being even less, but I never encountered a film opening 

Lengths of film openings:

• Legend - 01'43
• The Danish Girl - 01'39/02'18
• The Infidel - 04'01, titles still carry on afterwards
• Blade Runner - 04'31/06'55
• Psycho - 06'20
• Tyrannosaur - 02'56
• Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence - 03'02

My film opening is not allowed to exceed more than just under three minutes, so I ha

Length of adult rom-coms

Bridget Jones's Diary -  4'00
Love Actually - 2'49/7'00

Length of teen films

• Pretty In Pink - 03'57 
• Submarine - 01'51/05'03 (opening music has ended by then, but then a prologue is added on, quasi creating two film openings)
• 10 Things I Hate About You - 02'01/04'58 - Opening music stops, but titles carry on, you could say this starts the movie's plot as the first love story is started, the lack is made known (Propp)

Transition into main film

TYRANNOSAUR
Non-diegetic sound has stopped, leaving diegetic sound, as the camera cuts to a different location with different sound.

MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE

After the title sequence played out as the protagonist is escorted by guards the non-diegetic sound fades out as the scene cuts to their intended location, and just as the music ends the diegetic sound of militiary commands are heard.

PSYCHO

As the camera fades into the main film, the music also fades.


NARRATIVE ENIGMA:

I wanted their to be a final tease that could make people want to watch the rest of my film, with them questioning, "Whose hand is that?". . The music also fades while it is in the first scene of the main film.The film would go on further using narrative enigma, with shots of the mother getting ready to leave to return to her daughter. 

Conventions of the protagonist

In order to create conflict, the protagonist will either be an outsider, or be rebelling against an establishment or norm.

• The Infidel - A Muslim who finds out about his Jewish heritage. He struggles to identify with his the Jewish community while feeling more and more isolated from his Muslim roots
• Psycho - She turns into the Other, is on the run from the authorities.
• Legend - Crime lords, above the law
• The Danish Girl - a transexual at a time when it was considered madness, Ellie meets superstition and bigotry in her journey to. Also the artists are portrayed as isolated and different from normal society
• This Is England - Shaun doesn't feel integrated in his school at all, is bullied, which is why he turns to the skinhead community and soon is so overcome with happiness by finding friends
• Tyrannosaur - The protagonist tries to be civilised put can't help to lash out at society

ROM-COM & TEEN FILMS

• Bridget Jones's Baby - Embarrasses herself infant of everyone, and is the only one in the family not to have gotten married yet.
• Submarine - The opening extreme longshots add to the feeling of isolation
• Pretty In Pink - The protagonist is the binary of her wealthier classmates
• 10 Things I Hate About You - Kat is named the Shrew by everyone,  and at the start of the film is avoided by her whole school that she sees as shallow and defendant misogynist institution, she goes against her gender norms.
• Heathers - Veronica tries to go along with the Heather's clique and follow their rules, but is frustrated by this as the plot develops (main influence on Rachel's feeling of not fitting in with other girls, along with Mean Girls, but portrayed a bit more down to earth)

Secondary character 

also feeling some degree of otherness, in the romance story this can be seen as making the perfect match 

• Bridget Jones's Baby - Mark Darcy is seen by everyone as a sombre and emotionless bore
• Pretty In Pink - Blane McDonough doesn't feel quite right with his peers, questions their "rules"
• Submarine - As Oliver puts it, Jordana is "moderately unpopular"
• 10 Things I Hate About You - Patrick Verona is also feared by most, and is close to Kat's unpopularity,
• Heathers - In this case Jason turns out to be even more of a darker character than Veronica

Teen's Relationship with Parents

The idea of a parent gone long gone is a common trope that I have seen in teen films such as Pretty In Pink. They will even have died sometimes such as in The Edge Of Seventeen, when the protagonist is 13. 

This trope  was also often used as a narrative device for troubled teenagers in Skins.

In this case, here's an example of a mother having left the family, and the father ignoring the daughter (in this case however there are too brothers whome the father does give some attention)  1:15 to 1:58 for the exchange of dialogue which anchors this issue. 

Conventions of the antagonist

Binary Opposition:

• The Infidel - Liberal vs Conservative Muslims
• The Danish Girl - Cisgender vs Transgender
• Blade Runner - Humans vs Replicants (Creator vs Creations)
• Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence - Prison Guards vs Prisoners
• Pretty In Pink - upper-class, well-dressed vs middle/working class vintage clothing
• 10 Things I Hate About You - The Beautiful People vs The Outsiders

They will often be standing for values that can be seen as fake

• The Infidel - Arshad Al-Masri turns out to be the ultimate con, pretending to be a conservative muslim when he is hiding from his past as a disgraced singer
• The Danish Girl - The values that the transphobic society tries to uphold naturally seem cold and heartless and attract the audience's antipathy, particular at the death of the anatagonist. 

VOICEOVERS

Voiceovers are often used to anchor the protagonist. However, this is not always the case. In Legend, it is mainly a story about the Krays, Frances is the secondary protagonist, and more of a commentator. In The Breakfast Club, while Brian's character is the one the audience is made most to sympathise with, it is more of an ensemble group of characters. 

But my film opening challenges the convention of only having the protagonist doing the voiceover, like in Manhattan, Bridget Jones's Diary, Submarine, The Edge Of Seventeen,  and has more than one character, in the case of About A Boy where we have two protagonists, they both do the voiceovers. In this case there are three voiceovers. I did this wanting to confuse the audience a bit at who they should sympathise with, and how they should follow. 

INTERTEXTUALITY

• Pretty In Pink: Father in bed and neglectful (increased here to alcoholic and video game addict), pulling up stockings and putting on earrings
• The Devil Wears Prada - putting on stockings
• Trick R Treat - Mistaken Wave, Goth Look, Humiliated by Jock
• About A Boy - monologue
• Submarine: panning shots and photos on wall, sound of beach and seagulls adapted for urban environment, trains, cars and city birds
• 10 Things I Hate About You: photos on wall
• Car, a trope of the popular boy I have seen in 10 Things I Hate About You & All The Boys Love Mandy Lane
• Wild Chid: zooming out
• Heathers + Mean Girls: Three popular girls whome in this case the protagonist tries to get a long with, here Rachel, but the girls aren't the main adversaries,
• Napoleon Dynamite: Diegetic titles and Bow wow wow soundtrack
• My Beautiful Laundrette, The Tall Guy: One of the few rom-coms with an Asian protagonist
• My Beautiful Laundrette + The Tall Guy: rare Western rom-coms with an Asian protagonist
• Some Like It Hot - Look of Tony Curtis template for Hugh

TV

Skins: The look of Frankie was the main template for the character of Billy as The Other, as well as getting up from her bed and dressing herself in her room.

• Sugar Rush: The basic storyline set-up of the first season is quite similar, plus a small detail to hint at sexuality: toothbrush on floor (masturbation)
• Orange Is The New Black: "Dream on Big Boo"
• Breaking Bad: The crossword-like titles

LITERATURE: SHAKESPEARE

Referencing Shakespeare was fitting as he is the grandfather of the romantic comedy (playlist of his plays categorised in that genre).

There have been several remakes of Shakespeare's plays set in modern times, both direct adaptations of the text and loose inspirations, most notably 10 Things I Hate About You. The first time, Cameron, part of the secondary love story, sees the girl of his affections, he quotes the character he is based on when in the same situation.

An even directer quote comes from the teacher 

00:30 - 00:46 - The quote of the sonnet.

I used it further to underline, the quirky otherness of the protagonist. 

Unintended Intertextuality 

• Pretty In Pink: Location near a trains
• This Is England: The protagonist is also getting out of bed.
• Simlarities with the slice of life genre, members of my audience who watch anime observed this, they have a different reading

Due to all these intertextual references, Roland Barthes would say that I am not the true author of my text. But neither are any of the people who contributed to the production of all the influences on my work. Barthes's landmark essay "Death of the Author", says that

"an author is not simply a "person" but a socially and historically constituted subject."

The site where I read this quote goes on further to connect it to Marxist theory, saying that history taketh the man, not as Hegel said man taketh the history. This is part of a movement rejecting Enlightenment, which put man (patriarchic society) at the centre of everything, instead of God as in the Middle Ages. It is another criticism of human arrogance.

The auteur theory can also be applied. I myself have experienced how many people have contributed to the final cut, feedback from my teacher and audience, Ms Thomas setting up the art studio with all the high-quality paintings drawn by students (prosumer) the elements of Billy's room that Hannah already had, some moments of spontaneous improvisation from the cast, like the bottom-slapping between Hugh and Dillon.

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

Propp's 7 characters:

• The Hero. In the fairytales Propp analysed they were nearly always male, here Billy is the heroine
• The Villain - Hugh
• The False Hero - Hugh fulfils both functions
• The Princess - Rachel
• The Helper - Jake
• The Donor - Not present 
• The Dispatcher - Not present
• The Father - Billy's father, however as hinted in the narrative the mother also will play an important role

Carl Jung's anima and animus:

• The father - any authority figure. The father has no real authority here. Any teachers of authority are yet to appear
• The child - This represents the future, becoming, rebirth, the promise of new beginnings
• Mana or spiritual power - The hero figure,
• The maiden - Representing purity or innocence and naiveté Rachel
• The wise old man - Not present
• The trickster - Always causing trouble for the hero. 

The troubled youth who feels like an outsider can be traced back to James Dean, his character in 1955's Rebel Without A Cause is the archetype for the teenage Other.

Also the bad boy characteristics of Hugh can be traced back to Marlon Brando in 1953's The Wild One.

Ideas That Didn't Make It

• The Sound of Music/Bridget Jones’s Diary: The Edge Of Reason parody, kissing waking up like in Sugar Rush (but without masturbating) to maybe dog licking face like in Ali G Indahouse (that bit would have been problematic due to Hannah having no dog)
• Disabled best friend like awkward friend Heathers wanted protagonist not to be with, Rachel would have ignored her to appear cool to Hugh. Though it would have been too much.