Audience Profile

Here is someone typical who is likely to watch a romantic comedy. Ms Robins here loves to read romantic comedy as we can see from her profile pic. 

Audience Profile

Initial Ideas

Rom Com Initial Ideas

Names of Film Titles

Romantic Comedy

Institution- Production and Distribution Companies

Audience- How are films consumed?

Production Log

After having undergone research for what film openings are and what is shown in the first 2 minutes of one I have a much more better idea of what I want in my filming. I have many ideas in my head know as well that research has helped me gain an more creative insight in film openings. Having looked at different genre's and the genre I would like to focus on -Romantic Comedies I now know what I would like in my film opening and what aspects I would like to change. I intend to start planning everything like putting together my initial ideas as well as continuing to research more.

Representation of Male and Female Characters in Romantic Comedies

Representation of Males and Female Characters in Romantic Comedies

Codes and Conventions of Film Openings

In order to construct a film opening their are certain codes and conventions that need to be followed.

Codes and Conventions of Film Opening

Production and Distribution Idents

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Universal Pictures studios is one the biggest conglomerate studio in the World. It was founded by Carl Leammle in 1926. It is the second oldest movie studio in The USA beaten by Paramount Pictures. Being one the largest movie studio's in the world it has produced and/or distributed many blockbusters over the years. Here is a list of some it's most prominent films:-

• Jurassic Park (1993) 
• Gladiator(2000) 
• ET(1982)
• Fast and Furious Series(2001-present) 

Here is their Ident 

Paramount Pictures another big conglomerate studio. Paramount Pictures was founded in 1914. The company is a subsidiary of U.S. media conglomerate Viacom another congloemrate and a big player in the media controlling a lot big shot companies. Films they have been involved with that have been commercially successful:-

• Indiana Jones (1981-2008)
• The Godfather (1972)
• G.1 Joe (2009-present)

Here is their Ident

20th Century Fox is another conglomerate company again a part of the 6 major studio's present in today's generation. The company is involved in producing and distributing many successful films and tv shows. The company was founded in 1935 by William Fox. The banner is a part of the Fox empire. Some films they have distributed or produced:-

Star Wars( 1977-present) Remade
X-Men(2000-present)
Die-Hard(1988-present)

Here is their production Ident

Having talked about film company idents, these idents have been adapted over the years in order to suit the genre of the films. Here is an example of Walt Disney Pictures another conglomerate company.

Here is their original Ident

However for their hit film Frozen(2013) their iconic logo is adapted to fit the genre of the film as well as being successful with adding narrative to the first few seconds to the opening with using the logo. This another successful way to attract the audiences attention. As you can see subtle changes such as adding snow fits in with the film's genre as well as meets the audiences expectations. As well as that the film called Frozen itself was released around winter adding to the wintry season and theme of the film.

Frozen Ident

Film Openings- Romantic Comedy- The Silver Linings Playbook(2012)

Film Openings- Romantic Comedy- The Notebook (2004)

The Notebook is a film based on the best selling novel by Nicholas Sparks. The film was released in 2004 starring Ryan Gosling and Rachael Mcadams. The opening scene is very detailed and adapted greatly in the first 2 minutes drawing the audience in to watch the whole film. However not much is revealed keeping things under-wraps as to what was to come next. The films shows wide shots of the sun setting with the river used as a reflection. This soothes the audience and the calming shots relax the audience greatly. They even reinforce the romantic drama genre of the film. The long establishing shots and wide shots. The bright and red orange colour's calm the audience as they are a part of a natural hue.  Both colour's represent desire love and passion which the film has a fair share of but the audience know this just by watching the first two minutes. We see two white birds flying across the wide shot they could symbolises dreams and hope flying away this follows a tracking motion than closely linked to a over the shoulder shot used of a women looking out they could represent her memories flying away from her. The scene gives a tranquil feeling to the audience. The soothing music is a beautiful touch to have as it goes well with the calming and soothing scenes used in the first 2 minutes of the opening.  The soft piano tune portrays the love and beautiful things surrounding it. Overall the first 2 minutes of The Notebook are effective in keeping the audience not only interested but present the romance drama genre beautifully.

Film Openings- Mr and Mrs Smith (2005)

Mr and Mrs Smith (2005)

Mr and Mrs smith is a action comedy starring a list actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The film at the time was very high profile due to the tabloids hinting an affair between the two leads of the film.The scene opens with Brad Pitt's character talking than cuts to the production ident of the film cutting back to Brad Pitt's character speaking.The opening sequence opens with a two shot of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie the lead cast of the film. They are in a marriage therapy session as the audience can tell from the dialogue 'We've been married for 5 years'.However there is comical correction by Angelina Jolie saying '6 years'. This presumably suggests the stereotype women are more observant than men and tend to pay attention to small things compared to men.  From the characters clothes they look affluent and rich symbolising the capitalism of America, the rich, the 'American Dream'. They are both wearing smart attire but it is not too smart. Their clothes echo their formality as well equality in their marriage. There is a voice-over heard talking back and forth interacting with the characters however he is never shown in the frame. The mise-en-scene of the office is shown to be a expensive interior designed room with an expensive taste. This again reinforces the two characters 'rich' status as they can afford to have expensive therapy sessions with a 'first class' therapist as shown from the surrounding of the office. The first few minutes of the film are misleading as it represents itself as a romantic comedy between a couple but it soon changes when the scene cuts to a military helicopter than revealing to the audience this is a action comedy with a romance in it. This is an unconventional start for a action comedy. There is no non-diegetic sound in the first 2 minutes of this scene keeping the genre of this film mysterious. The opening introduces all the idents in between the opening going back forth between the titles. The action scene with the helicopter is the first scene that introduces violence in the film a huge contrast from the therapy scene where everything looks and feels sane with no commotion as the helicopter scene. The first few minutes of Mr and Mrs Smith (2005) are very effective inn drawing in the audiences attention.

Film Openings- The Godfather (1972)

Film openings are the first thing an audience see's when they watch a film. It usually starts with the production and distribution company logo's. The names of the actors or cast, usually the prominent actor or main lead get more screen time than the other actors. As well as that the directors name appears as well. For my film opening research I will be researching these 4 aspects in them Mise-en-Scene, Camera Shots and Angles, Sound and Editing. The two films that I will be looking at are The Godfather (1972) and Mr and Mrs Smith (2005). I have picked different genre's in order represent how different genre's are presented in the first 2 minute opening sequence.

The Godfather 

The Godfather I find is an Interesting film opening to look at as it's not only part of the Gangster and Crime genre but is a legendary film, a classic. The first 2 minutes of Godfather are very brief and only tease what is to come next. Directed by the famous Francis Ford Cappola and starring the great actor Marlon Brando the film is one his best performances. The first sound we here is a very slow jazz soundtrack which is conventional of certain crime films the genre this particular film belongs to. The film starts with a black background connoting the darkness, mystery and corrupt themes the film has. This is than contrasted with the write writing the tile itself of the film 'Mario Puzo's, The Godfather' is written in white. White connotes peace, purity and innocence. The contrast is made very clear and used to empahises the over arching theme in the film what things seem to be are not what they need to be. If you look closely the title 'The Godfather' has puppet strings attached to it at the bottom. This is a clear symbolism of power, control and domination 'The Godfather' has who the audience have not been introduced to. It is almost like the relationship between a puppet and a puppeteer as the puppeteer controls the puppet without that control the puppet is nothing. The dark theme as the writing disappears and the audience is left with a black screen as well as adding to the suspense element of things as the audience do not know what will happen. This continues as 47 seconds into the opening sequence we here the first set of dialogue spoken by an character. The voice over is spoken by an distinct Italian accent. This is the first set of diegetic sound we here after hearing the non-diegetic sound of the slow and eerie Jazz music. The black screen in about 49 seconds fades into the man who is speaking and the first line the audience hear is 'I believe in America'. This is clever way of telling the audience where the film is set instead of a longitudinal establishing shot. The camera begins with a close up of his face but slowly zooms out eventually letting the audience know about his surroundings.The clever technique of over the shoulder shot is used as we see the man is talking to someone else as we see another man's finger in the sequence. The de-saturated lighting further reinforces the dark and criminal theme of the film never letting the audience forget what may come later on in the film. The man whose name we do not know is talking about an women's rape, presumbly his daughter. He looks visibly distressed narrating this story shown by his facial expression.The Mise-en-Scene they are located around reveal a brown wooden table the man is sitting with a few documents or papers on the table letting the audience know this is an professional enviroment such as an office. The clothes the man is dressed in are very smart as he is dressed in an black tuxedo signifying his social status, that his is 'rich' or upper class. The editing is very slow paced highlighted by the zoom, a technique maybe to signify there is no hurry as highlighting the way they think e.g. planning everything out before you strike.The scene highlights a sort of justice scene as the man appears to be asking some sort of justice for his daughter's rape. This is what I personally interpreated it as in the first 2 minutes of the opening sequence. I found this very interesting to watch. 



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