2. Opening sequences establish characterisation, setting, genre and
narrative. So following this I have included every one of those aspects
into my final product. With characterisation we have used a teenage
girl, dressed in black leggings and a hoody, representing her in a
social group as the audience may see her as someone who's a treat or
a bad person because of what she is dressed as. We kept this
character very mysterious so the audience cant figure her character
out straight away and give away what will happen in the rest of the
film.
Codes and conventions of
opening sequences.
Purpose: to establish the
mood and see the
character of the film to
introduce to the viewer.
To include:
• Characters
• Narrative/plot
• Locations
• Themes
• Genre
Film company to be shown
at the start as they are the
important members of the
production.
After looking at many different thriller openings, (such as Edward
Scissorhands) and also researching codes and conventions of thirller
openings, we observed that always at the start, well in every genre of
film too, the first thing you see is the production company. As a group
we decided to also put our production company logo (Vertigo Films)
as the first thing our viewers will see as they are very important
members of the production.
(Vertigo Films, our prouction company, top.
20th Century Fox, Edward Scissorhands
production company, bottom.)
3. Here I have screen shotted the first two scenes of our opening, in
these two shots alone, they describe the list of conventions I
mentioned previously;
Location/setting- the shot of the church shows that we have set our
opening in a dark town with old eery buildings, this could also show the
genre, with the lighting being very dark, this could show that the genre
is to be a thriller. In my second screen shot, this straight away shows
the character, as you see a teenage girl holding a small package -
which could show that the package is something to do with the plot of
the film.
The purpose of creating our opening the way it is, was to make it look simple. We knew that trying to add to
much to try and make the audience understand would make it look too much like a trailer. For example, the
whole way thorough the opening, Alex’s character is holding a small brown package, no where in our opening
does it show why she has the package, what is inside or where she is going with it. We left it this way on
purpose to keep the audience asking questions in their mind, help them try and create their own story on where
the character is going and why she has the package, we really felt strongly about our opening containing as
little as possible, just for the fact that the audience wont find it obvious, and wont be able to guess what is going
on, and what is going to happen.
For the rest of the opening, the sequence goes through many different close ups, and medium and wide shots
of different buildings, and wide shots of alex’s character walking with the package. Three quarters of the way
through, we included a voice over;
“The package contained something even more beautiful than we can describe. The encrypted message was a
way of serving a message to the village. The only problem was, it was of sentimental value to others. The
others we were hiding it from. The meaning of myself delivering the package was an act of care that also made
me become more vulnerable. Vulnerability was something i hadn’t experiences until this night.”
We wrote this monologue to be a voice over to be confusing for the viewer, again to leave that aspect of
leaving questions in their minds such as what the voice over is trying to say, which could again help build a
picture of what the package is about and what it contains.
At the end of our sequence, we show the character putting down the package in front of an old building, which
then switches too the same shot of the old church before ending, which we put in again not to give anything
away, as the next scene could lead into anything.
4. (Alexandra Davis, Female 17)
Our main character Alex
played was a teenage girl, 17
years old. We showed
significance within her clothing
as the plot of our opening is to
do with her character, and the
package that no one knows
about. So we dressed her in a
dark hoody, and dark
leggings, we also had her to
have her hood up, as we
wanted this to represent that
she had something to hide
too, as it looks like she is trying
to hide her body and face.
We also tried making her look
quite anti-social with her
clothing, but we wanted her to be
someone who adults would label
a ‘hoodlum’ so we thought having
her long blonde hair down could
make her look more like a louder
and bolder person, because she
isnt afraid of her appearance.
With how emotionless we
made the character look, we
thought it could also bring an
idea that the audience may
think that she has left home, or
if she's running away from
something that she has just
done bad previously.
In my opinion, I think that this
character really suited our
target audience, as some
viewers may be able to relate
either to how she looks, or
how they think she is feeling or
what she has done. Also I
think her character is very
good to get an opinion on.
5. A film distributer plays a huge role in the films success, as they control the marketing how the film should be
advertised. This helps get the word out for the film, to give it a buzz, to get viewers and make money. So for
this fact we wanted a well known distributor for our film, and to be able to put their logo for the first thing our
audience see before watching our product. Distributors also decide where the film will be played at and how
long it will be played in that particular place for. They are also very important for small, independent films, which
is what our product is, as we have made a low budget, independent British film. This is because they are less
known and don’t usually use the big Hollywood stars that studio pictures do, therefore It is very important to get
the distributor and the film known when it is a small low budget film.
Vertigo films is a British film production and film distribution company based in London, England. They have
been responsible for the production and distribution of many successful, well known films such as Bronson,
Monsters and Street Dance 3D. We chose to have Vertigo films to be our film distributor because they are one
of the leading British independent film production and distribution companies. Their company would be perfect
to use for a low budget film like we have made. Using larger distribution companies like 20th Century Fox and
Warner Bro’s would be very hard and costly to get them to distribute such a low budget independent film.
6. We decided to make our film rated 12, we agreed that we wanted our target audience to be 12 and above, but
to focus specifically on older Teenagers, as we thought that our film is easily relatable, and would be more
interesting to someone of that age range. According to the BBFC, a film rated 12 is about;
What does the 12A symbol mean?
12A means that anyone aged 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied. The A stands for
‘accompanied’ and ‘advisory’. Children younger than 12 may see the film if they are accompanied by an adult
(eg someone over the age of 18), who must watch the film with them.
What’s the difference between 12 and 12A?
The 12 certificate is just for videos, DVDs and Blu-rays. 12A is for films at the cinema only.
Is there a lower age limit for a 12A film?
No. However, the BBFC considers the content of 12A rated films to be suitable for children aged 12 and
over, and we would not recommend taking very young children to see them. Works classified at these
categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.
An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. To help
adults make this decision, we provide BBFCinsight for all films.
How important is the tone of a film at 12 or 12A?
The overall tone of a film or DVD, and the way it makes the audience feel may affect the classification. For
example, a work which has a very dark or unsettling tone which could disturb the audience would be less likely
to be passed 12A even if the individual issues in the film were considered acceptable under the BBFC
guidelines. Similarly, if a work is particularly positive or reassuring this may stop it being pushed up a category
from 12A to 15.
7. Will there be uses of strong language in a 12 or 12A work?
The BBFC’s Guidelines state that there may be strong language (eg ‘f***’) at 12 or 12A, but it must be infrequent. The
context of the strong language is important. Aggressive uses of strong language may result in a film or DVD being
placed at the 15 category. There is some allowance for puns on strong language at this category.
There may be moderate language (eg uses of terms such as ‘bitch’ and ‘twat’ at 12 or 12A).
Any discriminatory language will not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language (for
example homophobic or racist terms) is unlikely to be passed at 12 or 12A unless it is clearly condemned.
Do 12A films contain sex?
Sex may be briefly and discreetly portrayed at 12 or 12A. Verbal sex references should not go beyond what is suitable
for young teenagers. Comedy may lessen the impact of some moderate sex references or innuendo but frequent crude
sex references are unlikely to be accepted at this category. There may be nudity in 12A films but sexual nudity should
only be brief and discreet.
Heterosexual and homosexual sex and sex references are treated the same.
What sort of violence can I expect in a 12 or 12A ?
At 12A, moderate violence is allowed but it should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or
blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if they can be justified by their context (for example brief sight of
bloody injury in a medical drama).
Action sequences and weapons may be present at 12 or 12A, and there may be long fight scenes or similar. Weapons
which might be easily accessible to 12 year olds should not be glamorised in 12A and 12 works.
Sexual violence, such as scenes of rape or assault, may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated at 12A. Such
scenes must also have a strong contextual justification.
Can horror films be passed 12 or 12A?
Yes, some horror films are passed at this category. Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted at 12 or 12A
as long as disturbing sequences are not too frequent or sustained.
What about other issues like imitable behaviour or drugs at 12 or 12A?
Dangerous behaviour (for example hanging, suicide and self-harming) may be present in 12 or 12A works but will not
dwell on detail which could be copied or present those activities as pain or harm free.
Discriminatory behaviour should not be endorsed by the film as a whole.
There may be infrequent sight of drugs misuse in a 12 or a 12A but the portrayal should not be glamorised or provide
instructional details.
(Source: BBFC Website)
8. When my group first thought of our idea, we chose to make a questionnaire on what our
target audience would like to see. From this we took most of the highest scoring answers
and included this into our opening.
After creating our first draft of the movie opening, we got some feedback from our teacher as well as another media teacher from another school.
They gave us some constructive criticism such as changing the background music, which we were really happy with the choice of music we
had, so we made the decision of making it quieter so it wasn’t too over powing and all the viewer will focus on. We also got told that the package
the chatacter was very hard to understand and quite confusing, with this comment we were very confused on what to do as we didn’t want
anything to be given away, but we didn’t want the audience to lose interest because they are too confused to carry on watching and we didn’t
want them to ‘zone out’ because we don’t know what is going on. So we added a voice over of a short monologue that would help the audience
in creating their own picture in their mind of what the package contains and what it is about, before carrying on watching the rest of the movie to
find out what it was actually about.
9. After making our final version of our opening, we asked a short number of participants in our
target audience range to write down answers to three questions;
What BBFC Rating would you give?
What genre do you think this opening is?
What do you like/ dislike about the opening?
We asked these just to make sure our opening gives out the right messages to who we are
trying to deliver it best to.
Here we received positive comments and they were either right or very close to the correct
answers that we set out for. This made us happy that we have achieved attraction from our
target audience as there was no negative comments.
10. Using Sony Vegas editing a coursework product sucessfully in my GCSE’s I thought it would
be a good idea to edit with for my A-Level product as I was comfortable using it and I knew
what I was doing with it. As It is easy and user friendly. Also using the schools own video
cameras was a hard decision as they pick up a lot of natural sound, but seeing as we
thought adding in music in the background and also recording a voice over, we thought they
would be okay to use. I also learnt that practise makes perfect, and also a lot of time is
needed to achieve as best as you can. We spent a lot of time in filming and editing our
opening, and I think that is why we are very impressed with what we have produced. We
also learnt that there is a lot to producing a film as we thought, doing things we didn’t think
we had to think about such as a risk assessment and having to ask for music permission is
something that we never would of thought of!
11. When filming my preliminary task, we took hardly anything into account such
as, lighting, costume, props, character types, location, sound, music, dialogue
and having a risk assessment. Also in our editing stage, it didn’t take us long at
all, simply because it is only a ten second clip compared to our opening.
Overall we can see that putting a lot of time and effort into our product has paid
of into something we are very happy with. Sound is a very big thing we took
into account when comparing our finished product with our preliminary task, as
you can hear a lot of background noise in it and you cant hear the characters
convocation very well (now we know that during editing we could of taken those
pieces of sound and made them louder.)
