Questionnaire and Analysis

Below is a link of the questionnaire that we designed. We went to Edgware shopping centre and found 20 participants to answer questions based on the drama genre and drama films. There were 8 males and 12 females.

Questionnaire - click here

Analysis

Meeting 4: Final Idea

Specific genre research: Romantic dramas

After we had come up with our initial ideas, we did further secondary research into film openings of the romantic drama, which is the genre that we decided to focus on.

A romantic drama includes a story of love and passion, romantic intrests, infatuation, forbidden love, romantic rivalry and displays of affection. Viewers enjoy romantic dramas because they feel like they can escape into the world of love and romance. 

Guzaarish (2010) Hindi, drama, romance

The film focuses on a magician who has become paralysed in an accident. He sets off a furor when he makes a petition to the court to end his own life, but falls in love with his beautiful nurse of 12 years.

Idea 1

In our film opening the main character (Steve) is a newlywed, who became paralysed from the neck down on his wedding night in a car crash. A year after the accident his wife is feeling burdened by the big responsibility she has of looking after him.

Idea 2

Idea 2 is slightly similar to idea 1 in the way that the main character (Michael) is paralysed. But Michael is the younger brother of Scarlett. They are orphans and were raised by their grandmother. Scarlett dreams of becoming a doctor but her dreams are thwarted as she is impeded by Michael's disability.

Romeo + Juliet (1996) Romance, Tragedy, Drama

Romeo and Juliet is the classic love story of two people who are forbidden to be together because of their rival families.

Idea 3

In this idea, there would be a a couple who come from two different cultures, one Asian and one British. They would be forbidden to be together because of their differences in lifestyle.

Gone with the wind (1939) drama, romance, war

American classic film in which a manipulative woman and a roguish man continue a love affair during the civil war in America.



Idea 4

A young ambitious woman and a care free young man begin a relationship, even though they are both in relationships.



Meeting 2: Specific genre research

During today's lesson we had to come up with initial ideas for our main task. We created a spider diagram with a range of ideas branching from the centre.
We decided to come up with different ideas for each film genre that we enjoyed to watch, we then used our favourite movies as inspirations for our ideas. 
Below is a picture of the spider diagram we made, with the ideas we came up with:

From the spider diagram of initial ideas, we decided on three ideas that we would like to use for our main idea and developed them.
Idea 1:
Genre: Romantic Drama
Location: Flat and Office
Characters: Sarah a woman in her 20's, Sean also in his 20's and Natalie a close friend.
Plot: Sarah and Sean are forever fighting and having arguments, recently they have been growing further and further apart and becoming more and more engrossed in their work. Eventually they decide that they both take a break from each other and from their worklife as suggested by a close friend.

Idea 2:
Genre: Drama
Location: House, road, park.
Characters: Michael - autistsic savant, Lily, Michael's older sister.
Plot: An autistic savant who has an amazing ability to work out large mathematical sums is at risk of being placed into a care home, as his older sister can't take the strain anymore. He takes a walk, as the drama is too much for him to deal with, his sister is scared as she can't find him.
Inspiration: Rain Man

Idea 3:
Genre: Medical Drama
Location: Hospital
Characters: Steve - paralysed man in his early 20's and Jane - Steve's nurse who is 10 years his senior.
Plot: A man who has been paralysed after being involved in a traumatic car accident, starts to fall for his beautiful wife in hospital who is 10 years older than him, can he win her heart?
Inspiration:

Idea 4:
Genre: Thriller
Location: Train station, road and house.
Characters: Chris as a boy, Chris now in his late 20's, Chris's lawyer - Jane and Amelia a 16 year old girl.
Plot: Chris was wrongly convicted of raping a 12 year old girl when he was just 16, the girl and her family both lied about the rape, and Chris got 10 years in prison. on his release he sets out to seek revenge on his lawyer who he thinks didn't do enough to defend him and the girl and her family who stood in court and lied to everyone to send him down.

Inspiration in terms of the plot: Shawshank redemption and Cape Fear.

Meeting 1: Secondary research film openings

We watched 4 different film opening of different genres to get an idea about what types of codes and conventions to include in an opening.

The films that we looked at were:

Cape Fear (1991) thriller

• Music, with brass instruments, used to build up tension and anticipation in the audience to make them wonder what will happen next.
• Reflection of water, which is coloured dark orange, creates a fearful atmosphere.
• The production logo represents the film company. The logo turns to water effect, which gives the audience an idea about what will happen next.           
•  As the first shot of the water comes up on screen, the music begins with a loud sound, it then becomes slow and quiet and slowly builds up to fast and loud, creating tension and fear among the audience.

Rain man (1988) Drama

•  MGM logo comes up on the screen, well known company.
• After the logo fades, the screen stays black for a while and then white titles in black and white fade onto the centre of the screen slowly in capital letters.
• Screen fades from black to an establishing shot, and title of film appears, showing that the film is beggining.
• Music starts to play as we see a red car, music is fast, upbeat and energetic suggesting a busy atmosphere.
• Main character is established and perceptions can be made about him from his appearance and the music playing.

Somethings gotta give is a 2003 film starring Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson

 

Title sequence:

• Production company logo comes up on the screen
• Upbeat, dance style music played in conjunction with females walking in slow motion.
• Emphasis is placed on the females walking along the road, in attractive clothing, it draws the audience into the action that is taking place.
• Actors names are in capital letters
• The character titles are shown on either side of the screen to emphasise opposition between the opposite sexes, representing binary opposition.
• Dialogue begins over titles.

Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 horror comedy film

Title sequence:                   Shaun of the dead opening credits

• Production company logo shown first, in conjunction with music and dialogue, slowly rising from a low volume to a high volume.
• Music is a sci- fi, eerie style, which relates to the Horror genre.
• Title of film matches the genre of the film.

Juno is a 2007 comedy drama film

Title sequence:

• Film begins with an extreme wide shot to emphasise how lonely the main character is.
• It then becomes a wide shot and then a close up, so that the audience can see the expression on her face.
• The title sequence is in an animated form, music is playing alongside the sequence
• Actors and characters names are placed near objects or places that define them in the film.

Below is a clip of the title sequence for Juno

Love Actually