For our final piece, we have a choice of which genre to use for our film opening. In order to help decide which one we shall choose, we have been set the task of remaking the opening first minute of films from the comedy, horror and thriller genres.
The options for comedy included:
- Juno
- 50 First Dates
- Superbad
In my group, we decided to remake Juno and I have evaluated each opening and stated the reasons why we did/did not choose that film. Since I already know the genre of these films, i will evaluate them in terms of narartive, characters, themes, atmosphere, sound, setting and titles.
Juno (2007)
The open, linear narrative of this opening introduces the audience to the main character without giving away the plot and potential themes. This makes the audience ask questions about the film and story. The main character of Juno is identified straight away as the opening follows her around an urban area and the title of the film (or the character's name) appears beside her. The themes are not clear but the childish font of the titles and sound suggests relationships and maternity. The country style, non-diegetic soundtrack is light generating a happy and relaxed atmosphere whilst the lyrics speak about relationships and love, themes in the film, intriguing the audience. The style of the titles are childish, suggesting themes of youth and the colours suggest an entertaining, happy story. The film title is shown towards the beginning along with the institution first followed by the actors, etc. The font is bold to grab the audience's attention and to make the opening more interesting.
As our final choice, we decided as a group that the opening would be challenging and would enable us to produce an individual and creative interpretation of it whilst using all the same camera angles and transitions where possible. There are many transitions available to experiment with and we liked the overall look of the opening, allowing us to gain experience and potential ideas for our final piece.
50 First Dates (2004)
The open narrative for this opening introduces the audience to several characters creating an episodic narrative which allows interest to be built amongst the audience as to how they are all linked together. Several characters are shown and in a typical opening, these would be the main characters but as an episodic narrative, it's the story of them that shows the audience the main character. As the characters are female from various backgrounds shown through their costume, the audience (which would be dominantly female) can relate to them and this hooks them into the film further. The non-diegetic music of Hawaiian style music is iconic connoting holidays whilst second non-diegetic music is upbeat reflecting the happy atmosphere. Also, the diegetic dialogue is about dating and romance suggests the themes of dating and relationships whilst the title also suggests love. The atmosphere created is light and happy, reflecting the themes and sound. The establishing shot of an island sets the scene for the story the characters are about to describe and the various locations the female characters are in allows the audience to relate to them and ask questions about how they all link together. Finally, the titles are in a wavy style beginning with the institution and blue to resemble the ocean connoting peacefulness and calm associated with holidays. However, the final title of the opening, '50 First Dates', is revealed in various colours to make it stand out to the audience.
There are many characters in this opening and as a group, we decided that if we were only to use members of our class that it would be time consuming and thatwe would have to rely on them without knowing if they would be available for filming when we needed them. It was felt that in comparison to Juno that we would not get to be so creative.
Superbad (2007)
The narrative for this opening is open and linear and it does not reveal much about the film except for the cool style and comic tone that will appear throughout the rest of the film. The characters' faces are not revealed and the bodies of the main characters are silhouettes, creating suspense and making the audience ask questions about them. However, the actors playing each character are identified through the title appearing beside them as they begin dancing. Themes in the opening are not clear but the humourous, 'old-skool' dancing reinstates the genre whilst suggesting youth and creates a cool, relaxed atmosphere. The non-diegetic soundtrack with a 70s vibe creates a fun atmosphere and makes the audience anticipate what will happen next. The setting is most likely a studio, used so the special effetcs could be created easily. It emphasises the comedy of the opening and genre without giving much away about the plot. Finally, the titles are appear in the traditional order of actors first before the producers and director at the end in a formal font which does not reveal much about the film to keep the audience guessing.
Superbad is a simplistic opening with few camera angles though there are many special effects and transitions. Unfortunately, we are unable to use Final Cut Express as we don't have the time to learn to use it and shall be sticking with iMovie. This does not have the functions we need in order to recreate the opening effectively and in the way we visualise it and decided to stick with Juno.
