Researching Anxiety

The main character in my film, Hazel, suffers with mild anxiety. She is a quiet, shy and insecure girl who gets sucked in by curiosity to an evil book. The book causes her many problems which turn her mild anxiety into a severe form. Even though my opening isn't being made into a full film, if it was, anxiety and how Hazel deals with it would have been a focus. However, due to the fact Hazel has mild anxiety and the fact the beginning of my opening features a flash-forward to the end of the film, I feel like its important to widen my knowledge of the issue and how it makes its victims feel so that I can portray it in a genuine and unbiased light and direct the actress on things like body language in order to make my film as real and relatable as possible.

My two sources to finding out more about anxiety are...

1. The Internet
2. A close friend of mine

The NHS ( http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/anxiety/pages/introduction.aspx ) website tells me having anxiety causes you to feel anxious about many situations, and that it can be mild or severe. It says people with anxiety are rarely relaxed and that it can cause physical symptoms as well as psychological ones which lead to the 'patient' being restless, having a low concentration span, and being tired due to lack of sleep. This website tells me some other psychological symptoms of anxiety are feeling irritable and feeling on constant edge whereas physical symptoms are feeling sick, headaches, shortness of breath,  and trembling or shaking.

Sometimes the cause of anxiety is unknown, however if its the result of a phobia, the sufferer will usually know why they are feeling anxious.

My close friend suffers with anxiety and I asked her to give an account of what living with this illness is like, you can see this below...

"Living with anxiety isn't easy, I usually feel on edge even though there's nothing around me I have a fear of, I'm not as confident as I would like to be because of it and it makes little things like just talking to people feel like the biggest task. The worst part about anxiety is having panic attacks, they can spring on at any point and I find if I think about it too much I begin to get myself into a bit of a state. I would advise anyone suffering with this to talk to someone because even though that in itself can make you feel sick to your stomach, it will also make you feel so much better and happier in yourself. I'd like to say that anxiety completely fades away and that its just a phase, but unfortunately its not, you just learn to deal with it and cope. You learn your limits and realise there are some situations you simply have to avoid, but you should slowly push yourself to keep braking these limits. There might be days where you just feel anxious, but there are so many things you can do to keep your mind occupied - go for a run, do exercise, have a relaxing bath, go shopping, or just spend time with people you love. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, dealing with this alone is so dark and if you don't seek help can lead to a downward spiral, so if you have anxiety; talk to someone."

 

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From my research into anxiety I have learnt that living and dealing with it can be very hard and lonely, I have also learnt a lot about the symptoms sufferers experience and how this makes them feel. I will incorporate some of these characteristics into Hazels character to give a true representation of what anxiety is like, even though because I'm just making an opening two minutes, it might not seem completely apparent to my audience that Hazel suffers with this. Nevertheless, I think its important to start as you mean to go on, and if 'HAZEL' was being made into a full feature film, anxiety would be a focus.

Changing my Idea

I have filmed all of the shots in my storyboard for the first half of my opening which I wanted to be a monologue. I still want it to be a monologue but have changed my mind on the idea of having many different flashbacks whilst the monologue is taking place.

During the editing process I found that very short and fast clips didn't fit in with the tone of the monologue itself, it was very distracting and unfocused in the way that the audience may have been confused especially due to the fact some of the shots were very different - in some Hazel would be crying and in others shed be happy and intrigued. Although they all followed a pattern of emotion of how the girl would feel after reading the book, they were all focused on different parts and steps of how she felt and I felt - especially after my audience research- that this could be too revealing and less enticing.

I decided that if I made the opening focused 100% on the end of the story around a lake where the girl would throw this book away, it would not only entice the audience as to why she is upset or why she is throwing the book away, but it would also fit better with the voiceover in terms of mood and atmosphere and it would just look more professional in general.

I decided to heavily focus on angles and mise en scene for the clips in the monologue section, which I will explain to you in another post. I did this to emphasise the emotion, there was more room to experiment with this when the all of the shots in the background were focused around one thing with many elements to it rather than where scenes cut from places to different emotions with each clip lasting around 5 seconds long.

I have also decided that the beginning of the film could be seen as present day, where Hazel throws the book away and at the end of the monologue we are taken to the past and shown how hazel gets the book. If I was making this into a full length film the narrative would be taken in a cycle, the beginning shows hazel throwing the book away in the present day, and the rest of the film would be catching up with that, so it ended the same way.

Props

There are three props in my film opening, all with great significance and below you will see why.

The Book

This the dark and evil book containing all knowledge of hazels past and horrific lies about her future that become true as she reads them (as explained in previous blog posts). I have a lot of old books at home so I chose one that was relatively thick and sturdy to use whilst filming and covered it in little almost triangular shapes of black paper. The reason I decided the book would be fully black with no title is because it adds to the mystery of it, it is what attracted Hazel to the book in order to cause this rollercoaster story. The layers of black triangular paper adds to its texture making the book stand out whilst its the darkest colour and giving it a rustic feel which is what I was going for.



The Failed Test Paper

The failed (F) test paper is the reason Hazel goes to the library as she decides she needs to books to help her study properly. This leads her to finding the book in the first place and due to this is a very significant event as, if she had passed she would not have come into contact with it.



Grandmothers Engagement Ring

This is Hazels grandmothers engagement ring she passed down to her for her eighteenth birthday, this is a hugely important prop as it is what makes Hazel finally realise she is the character in the book.

My Script #1

I have come up with a script and monologue for my film opening. Like I have said before the monologue will run over flashbacks in the girls life which the story will be about. The script you will see below is one I am very happy with, during filming the actors  may slip up with their exact lines however as long as it delivers the message I am aiming for and the acting is to a good standard, I shall keep it.

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Monologue         

Curiosity is the lust of the mind. It has the power to invade your thoughts making you wonder where you're going to be in a few years or who you may meet that will have the power to influence your life and the way you live it.

Life unfolds in mysterious ways, ways in which you would never expect, there are dreams and wishes, fears and nightmares, you can go for them, or you can hide from them. My story's a little more complex that that..but the real question, how do you separate what's in your head from reality? and how do you know when to stop?.

Scene 1

TEACHER: *places bad test paper on the desk* How about you come and see me at the end of the lesson?

HAZEL: *sighs and nods*

TEACHER: Hazel, I know you're trying hard but look, here's a list of some books that could help you leading up to the exam, you might find them in the library.

HAZEL: Ok, thanks

TEACHER: Alright, have a nice weekend.

Scene 2

*Hazel walking up into the library then looking through books*

LIBRARIAN: Oh hello there Hazel, can I help you with anything?

HAZEL: Oh I was just looking for some books

LIBRARIAN: Alright, we have a box full of old ones over there, you can have a rummage if you like

*Hazel walks up to and rummages through the box*

HAZEL: Umm, could I take this?

LIBRARIAN: of course! Take as many as you like they'll all be thrown out by tomorrow

HAZEL: thanks *walks out putting book into bag, leaving teachers list in the library*

Scene 3

*little montage of Hazel reading the book*

HAZEL: *reads passage from book* ..and on her 18th birthday she was given her grandmothers old engagement ring...

*Hazel immediately stands and rummages through her belongings to find the engagement ring her grandmother gave her*.

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Above is the full script along with some directions, I may film some extra scenes just in case the film opening is under 2 minutes, if I do it will all be posted on here.

Storyboard

As I have come up with a plot and an idea of what I would like my film to contain I have made a storyboard for it, I had many ideas for this, for example the order in which I would like to show the flashbacks or how many clips of a flashback there would be, however I have come up with a storyboard that I will use when filming that I feel like I would be happy with.

I shall film all of the scenes in this storyboard and if I later decide I do not like them for whatever reason or that they don't fit, I shall cut it.

The first scan of the storyboard that you can see below is all going to be under a voiceover, they are all flashbacks as the girl in the voiceover is in the present.

Like I have mentioned I have planned the flashbacks to be in reverse order, from the girl throwing the book away right up until after the voiceover when she receives it.

The first frame is of the girl looking relieved but feeling bittersweet as she throws the book away when she comes to realise the only way forward is to do so. The second is of the girl actually throwing the book away, the black square is the frame I will be focused on however I have drawn the rest of the location in so you can see its a lake, and I shall incorporate that into the clip, after that I plan to have a close up of the book falling into the water to make use of the angles I have learnt about during the year.

The third frame is of the girl crying because of her own actions that the book has lead her to do, she sends a mysterious text telling somebody that she is sorry, this is the point where she comes to realise she needs to dispose of the book. I also believe this scene would be enticing to the audience because they would be curious to find out what happened to the girl and why she is sorry.

The fourth and fifth frames are simply the girl reading and being engrossed in the book showing facial expressions to express how she feels about what she is reading.

I then had an idea to do a rewind of all these flashbacks inside the girls head and coming to an abrupt halt with the book closing, this would build tension and I feel would entice the audience massively.

Moving onto the second half of the film opening, there is no longer a voiceover or narrator and its as if we have gone back in time and are about to relive the girls story - like the titanic.

The first scene here would be the girl finding out she failed her test as the teacher places it on her desk and tells the girl to see her at the end of the lesson. In the second frame you then see the teacher giving the girl a list of books that may help her revision for her upcoming exam, telling her she may find them in the library. The girl then walks into the library. In the third box you can see the girl in the library looking through books when the librarian offers her help telling her about a box of free books. The girl then looks through these and in the second half of this box you can see her reaching out to grab a black one she seems the most intrigued by.

In the fourth you can see the girl holding the book and walking out of the library with it. I then had an idea for there to be a quick montage of the girl reading the book whilst sitting in school, walking out of school and finally reading it whilst in bed. In the final frame the girl realises she is the main character in the book as they are both linked by the same object and life story and we see her rummaging through her belongings to find it and then finding it with a look of worry on her face. That marks the end of the opening.

DISCLAIMER

• The angles I have drawn in the storyboard above are minimal, during the filming process I plan to take many different videos from different angles of the same thing, and piece them together during the editing process.
• I shall film all of the scenes above, however if they don't fit with the film or I feel like I could slightly tweak it to make the opening better, I will.

Characters for my Opening

I have an image of each character and a representation of how they will be, therefore I have put together a 'Prezi' in order to show you how I want each character to come across, and characters from other films I expect them to be like. The link to this prezi is below.

In this prezi you can see the characters I expect to have in my opening, their profiles and biographies as well as clothing styles.

https://prezi.com/qpzeixwwsloq/characters-for-my-film-opening/

Audience Research feedback

I have summarised all the research gathered in my audience research and spoke about it in the video below.

Audience Research video

In this post I will show you the audience research I have collected. I asked 6/8 people the following questions...

1. What are your favourite genres of film?
2. What do you think makes a good film opening/What would you expect to see?
3. Can you name any film openings that have particularly stood out to you?
4. What is your favourite fantasy film?
5. What do you think are the conventions of a fantasy film?
6. What would you expect to see in a 2 minute fantasy film opening?
7. What do you think of my idea, would it make you want to watch the rest of the film?

I collected this research in video form, however some people were keen to participate however did not want their face shown whilst they were speaking so I have either put up a picture of them as their audio runs or the screen will be blank. You can see the feedback from the research in the video below.

Audience Research - Survey

As an additional part of audience research I have conducted a survey to find out what my target audience think makes a good opening as well as to see how well they may be able to relate to the story.

I had 11 participants taking part in this survey.

You will see the questions in the link below and further down the results and feedback I had, in a later post I will talk about why I asked these particular questions, feedback, how it relates to what I'm doing and if I will change anything because of it.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CDTWQT5

The first question was 'What are your opinions on curiosity?', the options for this were

• Its a good thing (blue)
• Its a bad thing (grey)
• It can be both good and bad (green)

27% believe it is a good thing and 73% believe it could be either good or bad, leaving no one thinking it was solely bad.

The second question was 'What, do you think, is the best way to entice an audience during a film' with the options being

• Using emotion (dark blue)
• Using mystery (bright blue)
• Using tension (green)
• Using none of the above and instead being light-hearted (grey)

As you can see, no one thought being light-hearted would entice them as the audience, instead they believed using mystery was the best way with 73% choosing that option, followed by 18% who thought using tension would entice the audience along with a following 9% choosing emotion. These can be mixed e.g. a mysterious opening would incorporate emotion through performance.

The third question I used was 'What do you think, is/are the best ways to open a film' with the options being

• Using music to portray mood (dark blue)
• Using a voiceover to tell a story using both tone and dialogue (light blue)
• Going straight into the story (green)

55% believed using music is the best way to open a film and set the mood, 36% believed a voiceover telling a story through dialogue and tone is the best way to open a film and finally only 27% believed the film should go straight into the story.

The fourth question was a multi choice question 'what do you think makes the most effective opening?', however only 14 boxes were ticked meaning a maximum 3 people chose more than one answer, the options were as following

• focus on only one scene (dark blue)
• have different scenes but make sure they're all relevant (light blue)
• an introduction moving slowly into the story (light green)
• having a lot of insight into the story (white)
• having a bit of insight into the story (grey)
• not having much insight into the story (dark green)

starting with the focus, a small 9% thought the whole opening should focus on one scene only, 18% believed there should be a lot of different scenes but all relevant, and the majority; 45% believed there should be an introduction moving slowly into the story.

0% believed there should be a lot of insight given into the story, 9% believed there shouldn't be much insight given and 45% believed there should be a little bit of insight into the story.

Finally, the last question was 'If a monologue is used, should it take up the entire opening or only some of it?'.  34% believed that yes it should take up the whole opening with the majority of 64% saying they think a voiceover should only take up some of the opening.

Film Opening Ideas #5

One of the finishing touches of a film is coming up with the name, I have left this until the end because I knew there was a strong possibility that my ideas would change and develop with the focus of the film being on different issues etc.

I have decided to name my film 'HAZEL'. The reason behind this is that other ideas included 'CURIOUS', 'The Book' and 'Overcome', however I didn't feel as if they truly represented what the film was about, giving it the name 'Curious' made it seem like the entire film was about being curious and that it was the main emotion and feeling of the film however that is incorrect.

I think the name 'HAZEL' is good because as simple as it is, being the main characters name, it adds a sense of mystery, it shows this person called Hazel is the entire focus of the film- just as in Harry Potter. The name Hazel itself isn't common, its different, just like the situation of Hazels in the film, I feel like this was the most suitable name for my film and I really like it.

My Target Audience

As you can see from the ideas I have generated, my target audience is aimed at people who enjoy intense fantasy films along with a hint of romance. Due to this my target audience is mainly between the ages of 13 and 20, of which I would assume the majority to be female. This is because the main character is female and there is a sense of being to relate to them as well as the fact it is meant to be an emotional film; something females tend to enjoy more than males. However this doesn't mean males cant also enjoy the film as the intensity and mystery of it could be appealing to them, I would expect them to be of the same age range too (for the majority). The 'typical' person who would watch this is a teenager, whether that is going into them or just coming out of them.

I think my idea would appeal to this audience particularly due to the strong element of fantasy, it not as mature as a documentary or comedy and not as immature as a cartoon children's comedy animation or a classic 'fairy-tale', it is a type of genre that appeals to many young people - whereas a comedy may only appeal to 16+ or a documentary may only appeal to 20+. My film opening also requires a slight bit of thought and imagination which I believe are elements most suited to 13-21 year olds. You can see what people of this age range thought of my film idea in my audience research video.

As this type of film would air in the cinema and this age range is also the most popular age range for going to the cinema it also suits my audience.

Film Opening Ideas #4

In this post I will talk more in depth about problems and issues the book causes Hazel.

I have decided that I will not reveal a problem or an issue that has been caused by the book, in the opening two minutes as I don't want to give the audience too much insight into everything that is going to happen - its good to keep an element of mystery so that the audience stay enticed. However, I have decided on Issues Hazel has before and after the book that could be portrayed in my opening through the flash-forwards, and that would be present if my opening was made into a full length feature film.

My main idea that I am sticking to is that Hazel suffers with anxiety and that it is mild towards the beginning, however gets very serious towards the end. As she reads more and more into the book and realises what she must do to make things right she becomes extremely anxious and this would be one of the focuses of the film. My aim is to portray Hazels character during the flash-forwards as damaged and numb due to all the misery and anxiety the book has brought to her, I plan for the actress to use body language in a way so that the audience notice she is not settled and actually, is quite uncomfortable. When my opening goes back to the beginning, after the flash forward, Hazel has a very mild form of anxiety and it is very controllable however this may not be entirely apparent to the audience because she may just appear normal to them - this is part of her anxiety story, no one is aware of it because of her skill in concealing it. The more she conceals and her fears get stronger, the worst it all becomes, and I have decided that one of the social groups I am therefore representing are those suffering with  this disorder.

Aside from anxiety, I have decided on some problems that the book would have caused for hazel between the beginning and the end (when hazel throws the book away which again, is shown in the opening). Hazels Parents will break up due to constant arguments as they notice they are slowly loosing their daughter as her behaviour because of the book deteriorates, she becomes angry because of it. Hazel also chooses to continue reading the book which deceives her and tells her that her boyfriend was cheating on her, which leads to her constant false accusations, leading to her boyfriend having enough and actually cheating on her - everything she reads in the book turns into a reality. Although romance isn't at the forefront of this story I have decided to include a romantic relationship involving hazel just so that there can be more depth and 'normality' to it, I wouldn't plan for the film to show much of the pair being 'in love' as it is more about the book and showing how the book destroys it - I wanted to include something else in Hazels life that was realistic but that the book could also destroy, to show just how evil it was.

My Film Opening Ideas #3

 As you can see from my previous blog post about film ideas, I had got the basic idea down - that there will be a girl who finds or is given a book and that this book is powerful and will tell her a lot about her life.

I have developed this further and decided that this book is in fact evil, it tells her true things about her past to give her confidence in the fact the book is real and is telling a real and true story of her life, including both good and bad memories from it. Later in the film she will become attached to this book and it will cause her a lot of distress as well as a glimpse of happiness when it tells her she will end up in music school,  however she soon realises everything negative that she reads is coming true and that she no longer wants to know about her future however what she doesn't know is that the only way to reverse the effects of the book is to destroy it...however if she reads until the end the effects will remain permanent.

Below is a mind map with events labelled in order what will happen in the opening, I have decided to have a monologue coming from the girl about curiosity as I believe this is a strong introduction, as well as something people may question. During this monologue I would like there to be flash-forwards into the later parts of the film that are actually flashbacks of the girls memory as she is narrating her tale, I want these to be in reverse order so that the first thing we see is her destroying the book and the last is her picking up the book - which will somehow flow with the rest of the story.

After this monologue (which I only anticipate to be 17 seconds) I want the scene to cut to a school where the girl has got a bad grade and has been advised to get certain books from the library however as she is in the library looking for books and she somehow comes across it - it is undecided how.

The ending of this opening would be the girl taking the book and beginning to read it - perhaps one of the quick shots from the flashback. 

Below is a mind map for concepts of the book and librarian. The librarian could either be an evil 'substitute' teacher who is actually only there for the purpose of delivering the book to the main character, or she could be completely innocent. I have decided to go with completely innocent as there would be no motive for someone to want to hurt this girl that I would like to add in, the evil is 'curiosity' and the idea is that she is 'curiosity's victim - like the personification of a book. How it got into the girls school is one of the less prominent mysteries.

I also have different ideas for the reveal and realisation that the girl is the character in the book. You can see all of these below, you can see they are mostly based around an object however I have decided to choose the one in the bottom left corner; she realises she has the same object as this character and how they got it was the same - I have now decided that the opening would end on the girl getting this object and piecing it together with the book.

Below you can see many ideas for what the object would be and how it would connect the girl to the book, I have decided to go for a ring that she has put on a chain that was passed down to her in some way.

I've also come up with pieces of bad news happening due to the book and how they would be revealed in the opening monologue. I have decided to go for her boyfriend cheating on her and her parents divorcing - as these are the only real issues that can be reversed whereby things can go back to normal should she destroy the book.

For now, I am happy with my idea however I may decide to change them.

My Film Opening ideas #2

Since my previous mind map, my ideas have developed further concepts and ideas. I have decided to go down a route of a powerful object; this being a book.

The girl will be the main character in a book she is reading and she soon realises this as the character in the books life is scarily similar to her own. I have many ideas for where the girl may find this book and how she will come into contact with it, for example her grandma may have left it to her or she finds it in the attic at her home. I have also come up with what it is the girl reads or finds out in the book and how she realises that it is her; they own the same thing or as she turns a page she guesses the rest of the sentence and is correct. The natural reaction to this would be that she is shocked and doesn't know what to do and that the curiosity takes over.

Some things I thought the girl could have found out were that her friends weren't her actual friends, or the reason she didn't get into music school was because of her parents. Other pieces of information could be about her future, that her dad wins the lottery and becomes unfaithful to her mother or that the boy she likes already has a girlfriend or even that she does eventually get into music school. These future truths would change the way she acts and could almost break her family.

Up until now I have two ideas for delivering this story, either by this girl telling a story about her past - for example like rose in Titanic, or that she tells it in the present. I am more towards the girl telling a story about her past but in a less obvious way - like the opening for twilight where there is a monologue, however I would only like the monologue to last a few seconds.

Finally, two concepts I have for the book is that either the stories only come true as she reads them because its an evil book, or that the book was written by an older version of herself warning her about life so that she can get it right the first time.

Below is the mind map I made including all of the above.

Film Opening Ideas

Below you can see a mind-map I have made with all my ideas scattered into categories. The main genres I am interested in are Fantasy, Romance, Teen Film, Drama and Musical.

I am interested in these genres because these are the type of films I watch most often and enjoy and I feel like these are good genres to go forward with when making a film aimed at teenagers - which is what I plan to do. Even though this isn't on the mind map, I would like certain elements of a thriller to be present in the film, for example the fact at times the audience may be on edge and that some kind of discovery or secret would be revealed causing an upset - like in most thriller films (e.g. in Abduction the boy realises his parents are fake and are actually spies, and this sets off disaster for the rest of the storyline)

I want the fantasy/drama/teen genres to be the main parts of this film, especially fantasy because many people seem to enjoy watching concepts that can never be real in this day and age-or even at all, but are also dramatic films, for example the incredibly popular films; The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Frozen and twilight.

I have come up with two main concepts to be the 'backbone' of the story line, that the main character has a power or is given something powerful and finds out a secret through it. For example, the girl can read minds and through this finds out someone is after her or that her father is having an affair, or that the girl has visions of a secret she is unaware of and she later watches them unfold in her real life. Another concept was that the girl would be given a powerful object and this would reveal secrets to her, such as that she is adopted and the people she thought were her parents actually aren't.

The reason I like these concepts and therefore came up with them is because the secret aspect to it is 100% realistic in anyones life, even though chances of it happening could be small, it is not impossible-which makes the audience sympathise with the victim of these secrets or for the main character who is affected by them. On the other side, the power is 100% unrealistic and unnatural, its purely made up from fantasy and fiction, therefore the film as a whole doesn't distress the audience too much because they know they are safe and nothing in it could ever happen - its just enjoyable to watch. Here is a post about how this fantasy element changes the entire film and the way the audience feel about it due to just one element being taken away making the film seem a lot more realistic and real, click here to see it.

My idea for the main character was that she would be a teenage girl who was definitely not a villain, this was set in stone because my aim is to make the audience sympathise with her and emotionally connect to the story. The reason I made her a girl is because usually, boys are more afraid to show emotion and often appear less effected by something than they are, I incorporated this fact into the film opening because if the film opening was going to be made into a film I would want it to be an 'emotional rollercoaster' and show vulnerability, sadness and distress.

You can see I brain-stormed ideas of how this girl may have got this power or powerful object including that she was given it as a child, found it or that the power is passed through generations.

The locations the film would be set it was also brainstormed as well as how I wanted the film to make the audience feel if my idea was for an entire film; On edge, tense, intrigued, emotional and I would make the ending happy and relieving. The reasons I brainstormed those locations was because they are places teenagers would typically go, except for the attic, the attic was put down in case the powerful object was found there.

The props included a Piano, in case I decide to add a musical element to the film, a box of memories and a diary, in case I wanted to use flashbacks looking at the girls memories in the opening and other object that could have the potential to be powerful, a book or locket. I want a symbol in my film opening that relates to the magic, for example in the hunger games Katniss has a mocking-jay that symbolises rebellion. At this stage I am thinking that if I incorporate this into my opening I want it to be something hereditary, like a piece of jewellery or a keep sake.

The characters involved in the entire film for this opening are also written above, I have the typical love interest and 'ex' for the romantic element and more or less Propp's characters from his narrative theory. I have written that if an object or person has passed this power on, one character could be them (the source of power) either being a man on a street or grandparents, as my ideas develop I may think of an even better source.

At an estimate I think the type of people that would most likely watch this kind of film would be young and mostly females with some males too, this is due to the romantic element and emotionality of the film. The age range would mainly be 13/21.

As I know what genres I would like to make my film opening in, I will focus on them, do more research and slowly start narrowing all of my ideas down into one.

My Film Opening Ideas - What I dont want

From my research and previous blog posts I have decided on genres I would definitely not be interested in making a film in as well as genres I would like to and am indifferent in them. I will not do any more research into the genres I am not interested in as it will become entirely irrelevant to my film unless I want to incorporate an atmosphere such as 'tense' into my opening and would therefore slightly look into how films portray this message.

I have decided to definitely not do a horror, this is because in general this genre does not appeal to me, I don't personally believe they have much depth to them either unless they were combined into a thriller where they would then become more interesting.

Comedy is also a genre I am not particularly keen on for my film opening because I am more into the dramatic side of acting and the aspects of delivering stories that the audience can take seriously and connect to. Comedy is also a difficult genre as many people find different things funny, it can be controversial in jokes used and views put across and is therefore hard to please people with, even if they're people who usually like comedy.

Another two genres I have decided to avoid are the Doc+Mock-umentary genres this is because, personally, I enjoy and feel like the majority of the younger public would much rather watch an enticing film to relax over just been given information, as if they are in a lesson. I believe its much more enjoyable, in terms of film, to watch something dramatic or tense and perhaps less realistic - something that would either never happen (for example most films in the fantasy genre) or had 1% chance of happening because films are one of the few forms of media that can do so. Soap operas have to be realistic, although intense and dramatic at sometimes, nothing is impossible and I think that is why it causes distress to some people whilst watching it. Due to all of this I would rather steer away from these genres. Another reason for swaying against the mock-umentary genre is similar to the reasons for my disinterest in in wanting to make a film opening in a comedy genre, everyone finds different things funny, some aspects could cause offence and I would much prefer to make a dramatic and serious film opening than one that is just done to make people laugh.   

The Sci-Fi genre could be difficult to do justice as in order for it to be good you need good hi-tech/scientific looking equipment and usually a higher budget that as students, we don't have access to. Aside from this I find these films complicated and often hard for the viewer to grasp it's concepts. I want to make a film that makes the viewers ask and wonder many things however I don't want the concept to be that hard to grasp because people could get quite bored - particularly if they don't understand it. Even though I find films in this genre interesting and enticing such as The Matrix, Avatar and ET, it's not something I am interested in making. This also applies for the 'spy/mystery' genre.

Even though I know I want some conventions and elements of  thriller in my film, I don't want the entire film to be based around a thriller. I want the film opening to make the audience feel captivated and on edge about what is going to happen next, I also want a 'villain' and 'hero' in my film but that is  as far as I am concerned with making a thriller.

In terms of how the film will be made I have 3 main options: Animation on computer, Stop motion animation or filming regularly with people and a camera. I have ruled out animation on a computer simply because it would take up too much time and the software for it isn't available to me. That leaves me with stop motion animation or filming people with a camera (regular filming). Out of these two I have decided to go with the regular way of filming, so filming people rather than using stop motion animation. This is because for stop motion animation I would need to make characters out of play-doh or an alike modelling compound and I don't feel like the audience would be able to relate to the story or feel compassion for the characters if they weren't real life humans.

Looking into Comedy #1

 The comedy film I have decided to analyse is 'Step Brothers'. This is, as you can gather from the title, about two step brothers and having watched the whole film I know that they form an unlikely friendship towards the end after many many scenes of showing hatred to one another.

The opening starts with a George Bush quote about family, with them showing the author as "an actual George Bush quote". This is comedic due to George Bush's character and how it contradicts this quote. The credits all shown against a black screen in a doodle form text. This shows fun and lets us know its a lighthearted kind of film as it isn't as 'adult'.

Whilst these credits are running we hear a crunching/ruffling sound which we soon see to be a grown man overfilling a plate of tortilla crisps and cheese - finger/childrens food - again a theme of slight immaturity running with the greed. Fun music then begins to play with the man grabbing even more food than what he already has. I think the fun music is a pro in all of this at it helps set the lighthearted and comedic atmosphere.

We then see a scene with a mum leaving the house giving this man who we realise to be her son information about her whereabouts and when she will be back, another sign of adolescence.

A pattern emerges when we see another grown man acting like a child playing a guitar on a game depending on his father for food as he goes out.

This is all 'funny' because its not a social norm for fully grown men to act in the way the two males are shown in the opening, the things they are saying and doing also consist of 'adult' humour which is also something the audience would find entertaining.

After the two very similar men from different families are introduced we see their parents meet and form a connection with their similarities and attraction to each other - which is also very humorous, eventually we see the couple get married and their two children joined together.

Both of the children end up throwing some form of a tantrum in the reception at the idea of being in each others families and living together and it is at this point where the opening ends.

Like I said, I like that right at the start of the film we were given a feel for the atmosphere and story with the fun font and music. I also like the idea of a quote to set it all off as it immediately tells the audience what the theme of the film will be - family.

I think a con would be how the scene jumped from the parents first meeting to their wedding day, I believe an improvement would have been to film a short montage of the two getting to know and love each other rather than just jumping from lust straight to love. Apart from this however I believe the opening revealed and set the base for the plot very well in the amount of time it had, we saw the situation of both men and families and saw them join together with a little bit of 'step-sibling rivalry' which is enough for the audience to decide if its their kind of film.

Another thing I like about this film is that its genre is almost 100% focused on one thing; comedy. The romantic part is over and done with within the opening and the marriage scene, and the producers are more concerned in showing us the growing relationship in the two brothers.

A brief plot synopsis idea for a film in this genre
Andy is a 13 year old boy trying to find himself and fit in with all of the people at his school, when his now single and 'nothing to live for' 22 year old brother, Alex, moves in for the summer everything seems to come together. With his careless and Andy's tactfulness, they join forces in their journey of having fun, getting to know each other and climbing the high school ladder Andys desperately been wishing for.

Looking into Thriller #1

The film i've chosen to look into for the thriller genre is 'Abduction' starring Taylor Lautner and Lily Collins. 

At the opening we are given many impressions about the characters shown's life. We immediately hear strong 'screamo' rock music blaring from the car radio (which is diagetic sound) with a teenage boy sitting and leaning on the windscreen on the outside of the car as it travels at high speed.

The 3 boys all seem to be having fun, with Taylor's character shouting at the driver to 'go faster' as he shows his excitement by screaming and 'woo'ing. As the driver is shouted at to go faster we are shown close up shots of him putting his foot down on the accelerator and the speed meter getting closer and closer to the highest number. All of this tells us a lot about the characters, particularly Nathan (Taylor), who is sat in the most dangerous position of all. It tells us that he is daring and possibly careless about his life, not valuing it enough in order to be as reckless as that which suggests something could be occurring in his life that he would like to escape from.

We see they are arriving at a party and as they arrive Nathan's friends tell him he is crazy, to which he responds with 'yes I am'.

This film opening fits with the genre as a thriller usually involves lots of excitement which can almost be negative and dangerous. I think the way the film has been put together is fitting with the genre as particularly the way it opens, isn't hugely intense - it just sets the scene with the overhead shot looking down at the car and the loud music blaring, showing regular teenagers, however as the opening unravels and we see a little glimpse of Nathan's discomfort we see there will be more to the film than we think.

I think opening with music that fits with the scene is also a clever idea as people connect to music and can immediately know what the overall feel may be, for example if slow and sad music played, the audience would immediately know the overall theme for the film could be heartbreak.

In this opening I liked the music being the first thing the audience heard, I also liked that the dialogue fits with the opening atmosphere of danger and craziness. One thing I wasn't 100% keen on was that i don't feel enough of the plot was revealed, in the opening all we really see is 3 wild teenage boys and a party, there doesn't seem to be much of a deeper meaning and the opening is the most important few minutes to engage the audience and I don't think this particular opening was entirely engaging. It also goes to show how important the movie title is, because if I didn't know the film would be as intense as an abduction I most likely would have turned it off. I do, however, like the excitement behind it and the element of danger and that something could go wrong, because films that aren't entirely a thriller based genre can include them to an extent and I think this can be used to enhance emotions to make a film more dramatic.

A brief plot synopsis idea for a film in this genre

Alex, a 37 year old divorced spy, is a father of 2 and when he sees that his ex wife's fiancé is on the run and planning to bring the entire family down with him, there is nothing he will not do to ensure he restores his loved ones safety. Lies and truths will out, danger looms however love will conquer.

Looking into Romance #1

Looking into the Romantic genre, I have chosen to do a brief analysis of the opening for 'The Vow'. I have chosen this because I think it is a very powerful opening and the entire film was outstanding.

The producers open this film very well with calm slow and happy music being played as an overhead zooming in shot is used to show a couple coming out of a theatre as it is snowing, as they're linking arms we can tell they have a romantic relationship, and the falling snow adds a magical and romantic effect to it.

There is then a pan shown of the setting around them, one big blanket of snow as they are talking about how beautiful it is. The music is taken down a notch to a gentle and magical almost christmassy feel with slight jingling sounds and a piano playing high notes and he is shown kissing her head as they almost cuddle up. This tells us these two are very much in love and the beautiful setting could be a metaphore for their relationship.

As they enter the car we have a back seat view of the two which I think makes the viewers feel a part of it more as though we were in the car with them.

Emphasising the romance further, Leo, turns on the radio singing along to 'I would do anything for love' and as they're laughing and having a good time Paige says 'I'm married to a cheeser'. This shows us that they aren't just a fling, their relationship is serious and real, they're at one of, if not the biggest step in a relationship which shows the audience its depth. The fact we are shown a close up clip of the radio being turned on shows us its diagetic sound - the characters can hear it too.

As the car stops, the music does too and the fun atmosphere has almost disappeared as we can only hear the running engine and wind wipers in the background.

Paige then starts talking and begins the sentence with 'I have a theory", its still a light hearted atmosphere as she goes on to say "a girl will get pregnant if she does it in a car". The two characters begin to get intimate with each other and we see a close up of Paige releasing her belt.

Suddenly the story line gets dark, the noise is turned to a tense sound slowly getting louder as we see headlights of another car in the back mirror of theirs. Then a voiceover comes on of a present day Leo as we see that the sound isn't diagetic, he says he has a theory too. This is powerful as we can tell from the tone of his voice that this is serious, the reason we feel something bad is about to happen is because of a theory his wife had so hearing he has one with a deeper meaning as we see the two cars getting closer together builds tension and emotion in the opening.

As he tells us his theory is about "moments of impact" just after the last word the cars collide, we see the impact the collision had as the glass windows instantly smash as sad music plays in the background and as the only other thing we can hear is the smash of the front windscreen as Paige fly's through it - again because of the impact.

This all happens in slow motion and after Paige has gone through the windscreen, time speeds up, the glass falls and there is no more noise except for the intense instrumental sounds being played in the background as another overhead shot is used this time zooming out as the snow falls.

Not only is the performance and direction very good for the opening in this film, but also the techniques used and opposites, for example Barthes code of binary oppositions, the very begining of the opening shows an overhead shot zooming in with the snow with beautiful scenery and happiness, however the end of the opening is an overhead shot zooming out with the snow, but this time not so beautiful scenery, and a devastating accident. This is 100% a pro to this example of a romantic opening.

I also like how we were given an exactly perfect amount of information just in the few minutes, the intensity of their relationship (they were trying for a baby) and that something was about to change due to a fatal accident, which is inciting because we don't know what that will be or the effect it will have.

I really liked the voiceover, as from that point on, it managed to change the mood and direction of the entire opening from just the tone of the voice in the first sentence. I think voiceovers are very powerful, especially when it is done in such a way that it is a present day character referring to something that happened in their past - it shows growth. I would take inspiration from this in particular if i was to make an opening in this, or any genre.

There's nothing from this particular opening that I didn't like, one con if I had to pick at it would be that the voiceover did not carry on in the opening, it didn't come to a final sentence for closure expanding his theory on impact, however this can be seen as a good thing as after the opening the voice over may continue throughout the film - it can be a reason to keep watching, so it is bittersweet in that sense.

A brief plot synopsis idea for a film in this genre
Rosie is 25 wanting to settle down and wondering why every relationship she has been in has never worked out, she takes a trip down memory lane visiting lovers from her past only to realise exactly why she has ended up this way. An unexpected twist occurs for Rosie when someone from her past shed never even met could be the one to change her life forever...