Video

Contextual Research

No matter what genre a film is, it will always be produced to fit a certain criteria, using moving image forms and conventions to hit the target audience and in the interest of their producers.  The titles are still the first thing to be shown during a film, this is to allow the viewer to see how produced the film. This technique works effectively as blockbuster conglomerates are household names; such as Fox, Pixar, New line Cinemas, Paramount Pictures and Warner bros. Also shown during modern day film, would generally be the main cast, director and the films title. This is done because it makes a name for the actors to make a name for them self’s, or if they are already famous it encourages the audience on the quality of film. Such as if Tom hanks is featured in a film it is likely to pull crowds, as he is a well-known popular actor. However older films used to show the main amounts of credits at the beginning of the film, including cameramen, soundmen and minor cast actors. The reason for this was because it allowed audiences to settle as; adverts were not around in that period thus the film would start.

Other conventions, which all genres of films normally apply, is establishing shots, this gives the viewer the time period, or location. Also helping to establish what genre it may be such as the modern adaptation of ‘Star trek’, which straight away sets out to be an action packed Si-Fi.. Other then establishing shots, are typically star shots giving the audience a clear idea on who will play the lead role, for example If a famous actor such as Tom Hanks in ‘Saving private Ryan’ there is a clear low angle as it holds on him for a lengthy period of time. Music is also key in the opening to films as a fast pace opening could imply action, or for example sound motifs used straight away to establish a character for example the famous jaws piece, or the titles to ‘James Bond’ sequence.  The Mise -en- scene in Films important because as a person may have an item, which is important for the rest of the Film, the same principle is for locations, for instance ‘The Lord of the Rings- The fellowship of the ring’ makes a clear reference to its importance and what the rest of the film will evolve around. The lighting with in the opening of film each hold different conventions, for example green refers to, fear and a sinister atmosphere typically used in horrors such as the ‘Saw’ series. Another colour used to create atmospheres or emotions is the red, which has multiple meanings, as love is referred to the colour red, mise en scene can be correlated with colours and lighting, as the prop of a red rose shows strong loving emotion, as in ‘Beauty and the beast’. Red can also show blood and dominants, even used in Nazi propaganda showing power and highly used to represent death.

Analysing a specific film in detail I can see many of these conventions have been used to create effect. Edward Zwicks Blood Diamond an adventure thriller, typically the very first thing you see is the production company ‘Warner Bros. Pictures’. The beginning is extremely informative as it straightaway informs the viewer what time period (1999) and where it is located in the world (Sierra Leone). It are brief titles describing the country’s condition and welfare, if I viewer was unaware of the film they would be able to make an educated guess on what contents may include within the film, The music is fast paced African music, consisting of drums showing powerful and tempo is steadily increasing, giving the suspense and thinking something will happen. The First character shown is the Solomon Vandy he is opened out with what I known as a star shot, the camera is held on him for a long period of time, with a low angle. The lighting is very minimal as he only has a match to light his room the light gives a golden glow on his face, the convention for the Colour gold is wealth purity and honour, as he is living in a shack he is clearly not wealthy but the next shot is one of his son and the rest of his family showing his family is his wealth. The next few shots consists of establishing shots, all of which have the same colouring of deep gold, showing the pureness of the land and riches it holds. You can tell that the film will be an Adventure thriller as the beginning the titles said how much death and poverty is in in Sierra Leone, as well as the political unrest, and rebels taking the land by force.

Another film of with similar genera type is the Coen Brothers ‘No Country for Old Men’ as predicted the first things shown are Paramount pictures and Miramax films once this was shown the film’s title was shown (No Country for Old Men). Correlating with ‘Blood Diamond’ as the production company want to show the audience it’s their artefact being viewed. There is no music of any sort played during the beginning, and the only sound is the voice over and the subtle sound of wind. The voice has a strong Texan accent; this informs the reader of where in the world the film is located (Texas) also he uses typical American dialect such as; Sheriff. Highlighting this point is that there are multiple establishing shots showing waste land Texas, by doing this the audience is aware of where in the world the film is without any physical land mark or prompt. The establishing shots are slow paced allowing the viewer to take in the surroundings showing how vast and baron the land is with no obvious life shown any ware, giving the viewer a sense of unease. The sound of the wind also adds to the feel of unease as nothing has been shown to be comforting but rough and wasted. The viewer is then given the subtle conventions of how the film will pan out. The dialogue heard is of the Texan sheriff talking of crime at its ugliest. For example a14 year old girl’s murderer being sent to the electric chair and how he is going to hell, this subtly prepares the viewer for the events that unfold. As later shown when not three minutes into the film a police officer was brutally murdered. The murders face was not shown until he had the police officer on the floor while strangling him, introducing what seems to be the villain of the story.