Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Main Post 7 - Focus Group
Focus Group
We got four people from our target audience, two of each gender and a slight variation in age, we told them the plot of the film and described our opening sequence to them and recorded their feedback, the clip above shows the questions asked regarding our choosen genre, we collected all of our finding on the clip above, we asked them what they would expect in the rest of the film, and our predictions were correct, we also asked if the title sequence would make them want to see the whole film.
Main Post 6 - History of Your Chosen Genre
Mystery
Mystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of crime film. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.
Suspense is often maintained as an important plot element. This can be done through the use of the sound track, camera angles, heavy shadows, and surprising plot twists. Alfred Hitchcock used all of these techniques, but would sometimes allow the audience in on a pending threat then draws out the moment for dramatic effect.
Mystery novels have proven to be a good medium for translation into film. The sleuth often forms a strong leading character, and the plots can include elements of drama, suspense, character development, uncertainty and surprise twists. The locales of the mystery tale are often of a mundane variety, requiring little in the way of expensive special effects. Successful mystery writers can produce a series of books based on the same sleuth character, providing rich material for sequels.
Until at least the 1980s, women in mystery films have often served a dual role, providing a relationship with the detective and frequently playing the part of woman-in-peril. The women in these films are often resourceful individuals, being self-reliant, determined and as often duplicitous. They can provide the triggers for the events that follow, or serve as an element of suspense as helpless victims.
History
The earliest mystery films reach back to the silent era. The first detective film is often cited as Sherlock Holmes Baffled, a very short Mutoscope reel created between 1900 and 1903 by Arthur
Marvin. It is the earliest-known film to feature the character of detective Sherlock Holmes, albeit in a barely-recognisable form.
The earliest true mystery films include The Gold Bug (1910) from France and The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1914). Both are derived from Edgar Allan Poe stories, which is appropriate as Poe created detective fiction as well as the first private detective character, C. Auguste Dupin. In 1932, Universal Pictures renamed him Pierre Dupin in Murders in the Rue Morgue, an atmospheric horror-mystery starring Bela Lugosi. The film was remade twice more in 1953 and 1971. Poe's second Dupin story, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, was filmed in 1942.
Charles Dickens' unfinished 1870 novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood was completed by another author and eventually adapted to the screen. Two films, now believed lost, were made in 1909 and 1914. Universal produced The Mystery of Edwin Drood in 1935. The story was remade again in 1993. Universal, known mostly for its long list of classic horror films, also created perhaps the first supernatural horror-whodunit hybrid with Night Monster in 1942.
American author Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958), is credited with inventing the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing (as well as the phrase, "The butler did it"). Her 1920 "old dark house" novel (and play) The Bat was filmed in 1926 as The Bat, again in 1930 as The Bat Whispers, and a third time in the 1959 remake, The Bat, starring Vincent Price.
Undoubtedly the most famous of the amateur detectives to reach the silver screen was the archetypal Sherlock Holmes. He first appeared in 1903, and has been portrayed in scores of films by a multitude of actors. Perhaps the earliest detective comedy is Buster Keaton's Sherlock, Jr. from 1924. The only American-made series starred Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Dr. Watson. Together they made 14 very popular films between 1939 and 1946. The first two, at 20th Century Fox, were period piece mysteries set in the late-Victorian era of the original stories. By the third film, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942), now at Universal Studios, Holmes was updated to the present day. Several films dealt with World War II and thwarting Nazi spies.
Other famous literary sleuths who were brought to the screen include Charlie Chan, Ellery Queen, Nancy Drew, Nero Wolfe, and Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. To date, 32 films and dozens of television adaptations have been made based on Christie's novels alone. British private detective and adventurer Bulldog Drummond was featured in no less than 24 films from 1922 to 1969 and was the prototype for Ian Fleming's James Bond character.
Monday, 24 January 2011
Main Post 4 - Group Meeting
We had a meeting and we decided the film should be a Thriller as this would be quite simple to create, the film will be a Mystery/Thriller, the plot of the title sequence start with a pov shot of a person in a car watching as the gates empty from school and the person will watch them as they walk down the road and will get out the car and start to follow, this is just the foundations of the plot, we will add more to it as we continue to decide what to do.
Lauren: From looking at the research we conducted, Rom-Coms, Dramas and mysteries come out on top.
Charley: I think we should do a drama with a twist of mystery, as I think comedies will be too difficault for the timing we have, and are also hard to appeal to a large audience as humours vary.
Ben: I agree, I think it would be a good idea...a to shot a mystery drama with a variety of clever shot sizes.
George: Yeah these are all good ideas, I think we should consider basing the plot around a kidnapping of some sort in order to match our genre.
Lauren: Yes, that’s a good idea George. We should try and film something that will not only grip viewers through interest, but also to teach people the importance of staying safe while outside of home.
Charley: I think we should do a drama with a twist of mystery, as I think comedies will be too difficault for the timing we have, and are also hard to appeal to a large audience as humours vary.
Ben: I agree, I think it would be a good idea...a to shot a mystery drama with a variety of clever shot sizes.
George: Yeah these are all good ideas, I think we should consider basing the plot around a kidnapping of some sort in order to match our genre.
Lauren: Yes, that’s a good idea George. We should try and film something that will not only grip viewers through interest, but also to teach people the importance of staying safe while outside of home.
Friday, 14 January 2011
Main Post 3 - Research into Opening Sequence Designs
That a title sequence goes straight into the film
Sets a great expectation for the film
Make the typography involved with the film
Audio is very important to the title sequence
After looking at all of this information i have realised our title sequence as it will be a mystery type sequence, music could be very essential towards it and definitely the text, it must all seem as if it could run straight into the film after the title sequence.
Sets a great expectation for the film
Make the typography involved with the film
Audio is very important to the title sequence
After looking at all of this information i have realised our title sequence as it will be a mystery type sequence, music could be very essential towards it and definitely the text, it must all seem as if it could run straight into the film after the title sequence.
Main Post 1 Conventions of An Opening Scene
Conventions of An Opening Scene
- Title of the film
- Credits i.e. Introducing the main cast/crew
- Editing Jump Cuts, etc
- Places that may be in the film, like a town or house etc
- Gives an idea of what some characters are like, it depends on the genre, for example if an action it could have a character packing a gun or something similar, making us think he is a bad character
Casino Royale:
At first in the title sequence it shows straight away what genre it is, maybe because it is a well known series of film, but still shows that, then it goes onto the Title of the film, obviously telling us the name, there is quite a rocky soundtrack playing behind, the title sequence shows multiple fight scenes, again showing the genre, also has a shot of a gun, so it gives us ideas of what is to come, mostly everything in the title sequence has something to do with gambling, for example the roulette table, the cards, even the gun shots, so this gives us the impression there may be gambling, also the title suggests this, it finishes with the trademark 007 codename for James Bond.
Catch Me If You Can:
The first thing that draws to my attention in this title sequence is the music, it is a very mysterious track, that keeps changing when you listen, this gives the viewer a reason of not knowing what to expect.
Also there are various amounts of planes throughout the sequence, this gives the impression it could be about a plane, the title sequence is a story in itself, it shows a man running away from what is supposedly a police officer or a person of a higher authority, this makes us want to see what the story unfolds to be, this is why this title sequence is so effective because it gives elements of Mystery and Action. Also what is again mysterious that everything is brightly coloured, this is odd as we have an idea(when watching) what the genre is, so this gives even more mystery of what could happen.
- Title of the film
- Credits i.e. Introducing the main cast/crew
- Editing Jump Cuts, etc
- Places that may be in the film, like a town or house etc
- Gives an idea of what some characters are like, it depends on the genre, for example if an action it could have a character packing a gun or something similar, making us think he is a bad character
Casino Royale:
At first in the title sequence it shows straight away what genre it is, maybe because it is a well known series of film, but still shows that, then it goes onto the Title of the film, obviously telling us the name, there is quite a rocky soundtrack playing behind, the title sequence shows multiple fight scenes, again showing the genre, also has a shot of a gun, so it gives us ideas of what is to come, mostly everything in the title sequence has something to do with gambling, for example the roulette table, the cards, even the gun shots, so this gives us the impression there may be gambling, also the title suggests this, it finishes with the trademark 007 codename for James Bond.
Catch Me If You Can:
The first thing that draws to my attention in this title sequence is the music, it is a very mysterious track, that keeps changing when you listen, this gives the viewer a reason of not knowing what to expect.
Also there are various amounts of planes throughout the sequence, this gives the impression it could be about a plane, the title sequence is a story in itself, it shows a man running away from what is supposedly a police officer or a person of a higher authority, this makes us want to see what the story unfolds to be, this is why this title sequence is so effective because it gives elements of Mystery and Action. Also what is again mysterious that everything is brightly coloured, this is odd as we have an idea(when watching) what the genre is, so this gives even more mystery of what could happen.
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