The document discusses the creative process behind a film opening, analyzing how it uses, develops, and challenges the conventions of real media products, particularly in the comedy genre. It highlights the use of contrasting tones, settings, costumes, and camerawork to create comedic effects and establish character contrasts, while also incorporating techniques such as montages and sound effects to enhance the narrative. The opening set-up is structured around dramatic irony, engaging the audience with the protagonist's journey from innocence to a comically disastrous fate.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products ?

2. Conventions of real media

3. Title
Much like “The Hangover” the first section of my film begins with
the middle of the film, before going back to the beginning and so
acts as a prologue.This first section of my film has a very serious
tone to it with the music and backdrop making the film appear to
be some type of drama or thriller.The words “Brian” and “Badass”
then appear and seemingly follow this type of genre, however
when the flaming “Badass” appears shorty after it acts as a
juxtaposition that would tell the audience otherwise.The slang
word is not something you would usually see in a drama but more
so an action film or more specifically a comedy. I believe this
contrast creates a somewhat comedic effect with the title being
so out of place with what initially seems to be something with a
serious and dark tone and so this is why I believe it acts as a subtle
way of informing the audience of the genre, comedy.The title also
follows the rule of three and uses alliteration in a way that makes
the title more memorable to the audience.The name Brian is also
used to create a comedic effect as it is a fairly common name and
not stereotypically the name of a hero or a “badass” in a film .The
word “Bona fide” meaning “genuine; real” is mainly used for
alliteration reasons but also again a contrast to the main character
Brian.Through the story the audience find out how inaccurate this
is and again is another form of contrast that creates a comedic
effect like the other words and font styles throughout my title.

4. Setting/Location My film opening takes place in four key locations the first being the
Home of the drug dealer, (Anthony). For this I wanted a dark setting,
that looked run down to give the opening a dark and hopeless
atmosphere much like the beginning of “The Hangover”. While this
challenges the form and conventions of a comedy it is used to act as a
prologue to the rest of the film and so when we come
to Brian’s bedroom as a child it acts as a huge contrast that both creates
a comedic effect and acts as a narrative enigma for the audience where
they question how the situation could become so dire.This is because the
bedroom of a child connotes innocence compared to the home of a
drug dealer that connotes danger and corruption. In the montage of
Brian’s childhood we see locations that follow the normal conventions
of a comedy.The montage is mainly in Brian’s house where there is
no sense of danger and the shots are well lit compared to the beginning
to now make the audience aware of the true nature of the film.The
scenes in the church further adds innocence and purity to the character
of young Brian and also shows how out of place he is at the start of the
film.The last section of the film takes place in Brian’s driveway which
is comically to big for his little pink bike. It is shot outside again following
the conventions of a comedy and using the outdoors and natural light
for the rest of the film as typically seen in most comedies like the films I
Researched such as “Austin Powers” and “Anchor-man” where this is
used to emphasise the light-heartedness of the film and the genre of
the film so I wanted to include this technique in my film opening
as well.

5. Costumes/Props
For my costumes I chose my main protagonist Brian to have
something that represented his laughable attempt of becoming a
“badass”.The character is wearing the stereotypical outfit of a biker
(leather jacket, jeans, sunglasses) who are also stereotypically seen
as dangerous and violent. However I use the outfit instead as a
comedic tool. In “Austin Powers” the charterer is set up to be the
most dangerous spy in the world however his outfit does not
represent this.When the audience first sees him in his 60’s swinger
outfit it juxtaposes this initial judgment of the character and acts as a
way of telling the audience that the character is in fact not like this
and creates a comedic effect.This is the same for Brian, he is meant
to be a “badass” however his oversized jacket and ridiculous bike
gang “T birds” acts as a way of showing how pathetic he actually is in
comparison to an actual bike gang member.The small pink bike he
uses is also used for the same reason and is also used as a comedic
tool.The costume of the antagonist Anthony is used in a way to make
him look threatening and dangerous in comparison to Brian and
show how out of place he is.The character uses shades and a hoodie
to keep the majority of his face covered and adds to the mystery and
shadiness of the character the gun he uses is also adds to the danger
that surround the character.Younger Brian is used as well as a
contrast to older Brian, the very smart outfit, instruments like the
recorder and piano and the books he reads are all used to show how
innocent and Brian is and how he is the furthest thing away from a
badass.

6. Camerawork/Editing
The start of my film opening presents to the audience a wide shot of a setting
sun. This is to set the tone and mysterious atmosphere in the first half of my
film opening. This is followed by an invisible cut where the camera pans down
and blackness gives the illusion of the scene being just one take. This effect is
used in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rope” and is used to make the scene flow well
between different scenes and the blackness is used to further the suspense in
the scene. When we first see the characters in the film, it is filmed from
outside, through a window. This was to separate the audience from the
situation and give a sense of isolation, however the camera is placed within the
building with the inclusion of the character Brian and now gives the audience a
sense of involvement in the situation and with this a sense of relatability with
Brian and so a likeability to the now established main character. Throughout
the scene there are dips to black and flickering of lights, this was to add tension
to the scene as done it “James Bond- Quantum of Solace” where the rapidity of
the transition effect added to the tense atmosphere. The turning point of the
opening to Brian’s monologue is anchored with the match cut from old Brian to
young Brian where close ups are used to clearly show both facial expressions of
the characters and is used as a contrast to show how out of place Brian is and
his true personality (innocent and stereotypically geeky). A montage of
numerous close ups are used to also show the different aspects of Brian's life
and what he's actually like. This is then followed by a second montage of close
ups and mid shots of Brian getting ready for the day, with this the audience can
see the false confidence Brian has. This creates a comedic effect using
dramatic irony as the audience know the Brian’s fate and how it will end but he
obviously does not. As Brian leaves the door there is a dip to white and
represents the hope and the start of an adventure. This is then followed by one
final montage where camera shots and close ups are used to give the illusion
that Brian is on some sort of motor bike. This is broken by the bell and the small
pike bike is revealed to the audience as the camera pans left creating a comedic
effect as the impression of a large, impressive motorbike is broken by a child's
push bike which Brian is comically too oversized to ride which he does anyway
in the final wide shot that sees him riding into the distance as the camera pans
left with him that summarises the character, an unlikely hero.
Quantum of Solace Opening

7. Story
Much like “The Hangover” the story of my film is set up with the
ending of the film and acts as a prologue before reverting back
to the start of the story. Using the section of a film that is near
the end like this creates dramatic irony for the duration of the
film.The audience are fully aware of Brian’s fate and what
happens to him at the end but are clueless to how he could even
arrive at this situation.After this “prologue” the film goes to the
chronological beginning and we see Brian much like characters
in “The Hangover” full of hope and on the start of his adventure
but the audience know how badly it ends and question how he
could arrive to the drug deal and murder seen earlier. The
opening of my film is broken into three parts.The drug deal at
the start that establishes all the characters and what they are
like, especially brain who's clumsiness leads to someone's
death. It’s a very dark scene which contrasts heavily to the
middle section where now the main character is identified,
Brian, as the plot now focuses on him (his younger self) and
tells the audience of his personality and what he is truly like and
how out of place he was in the first section.The final part of the
film shows the transition Brian has made in the last few years of
his life. Desperate to fit in and be “cool”. However the audience
can see that at heart he is still the same and cant really be this
badass he tries to be with how he talks, moves, wears and acts.
The film opening ends as brain rides off his little pink bike and
leaves the audience with a narrative enigma.What happens to
Brian? How does a person like Brian arrive at a murder and drug
deal?.This telling of the ending I believe makes the plotline
easy to follow as audiences know what to except, through a
monologue the plotline is clearly explained to the audience and
is not overly confusing.

8. Genre
In my film opening it was important for me to clearly convey the
genre of my film, comedy.To do this I used a number of
techniques to create comedic effects throughout my opening
with the use of costumes, props, editing, dialogue and other
sound effects. However the genre is not so easily distinguishable
in the first section of my film opening and this was done
deliberately.At the start, the genre of the film could be seen as a
drama with the serious tone it has and the dark themes it
conveys. However this is broken as soon as the protagonist,
Brian, first speaks.The dialogue is so out of place for a drama but
more suited to a comedy. For example after he accidentally gets
someone killed he cries out “what will I tell my mum?!”.The
statement is so out of place and unserious in suggests this
opening is actually a spoof or parody of this type of genre.After
this drug deal scene the genre is much clearer to an audience.
Costumes for young Brian and especially older Brian create
comedic effects with how stereotypical they are or being
comically oversized. Much like in the film “Superbad” many of
the scenes convey the genre of comedy through how unserious
the scenes are that contain more light hearted themes that allow
us to be able to both laugh with and at the characters because of
how they are being portrayed. In Brain's case this is a failed
attempt of becoming a badass which is most noticeable at the
end.The montage that builds up a climatic and “badass” ending
is broken by a bike bell and with the reveal of the small pink bike
that Brain rides is in my opinion the biggest indicator that the
genre is comedy as this type of scene would not be see no
anywhere else.

9. Characters
Throughout my film opening only three characters are established
with the most insignificant being the antagonist Anthony, a
violent and dangerous drug dealer.This is evident with his
costume, dialogue and props.The dark colours he wears and the
concealment of his face show how shady the character is and is
stereotypical of a thug.The dialogue and gun that he uses to
threaten his customer shows the violent and dangerous nature he
has and is conventional for an antagonist character.The character
Brian is first seen at the drug deal to but its not until his
monologue and montage of his childhood do the audience
understand who he is. In the film “Hot Fuzz” this is also done, a
monologue is present with a montage of Nicholas Angel’s past in
the police force and is used as a device to explain the character to
the audience and establish him as the main character. I have used
this to the same effect where through a montage an audiences
learns about Brian’s true personality as they are shown his hobbies
and lifestyle. Now knowing about who he actually is the ending of
the opening is focused on older Brian as he is beginning his
adventure as a badass.The character is shown to be optimistic and
eager as he starts the day but through the prior explaining of his
character the audience know already how he wont make it as the
badass he wants to be and can only guess and what happens to
him leading up to the drug deal he has arrived to which he is so out
of place in.

10. Special Effects/Titles
The majority of special effects used in my film opening consists of sound
effects and the soundtracks.The most noticeable sound effects that is
used to create a comedic effect is in the bike scene at the end. Sounds of a
motorbike are dominant in the scene and give the audience the
impression that Brian is riding something large and impressive.The sound
of a bike bell then abruptly cuts this off and reveals to the audience what
Brian is actually on.The contrast between the two sounds ,with the bell
being high pitched and seen as childish, creates a comedic effect as the
audiences’ initial perception is very different from the reality of the scene.
At the start of the film opening there is faint soundtrack playing over the
drug deal. I chose it due to how dark it is and uncertainty it conveys and
fits well with the dramatic start.This soundtrack abruptly changes to
happy ukulele music that again acts as a juxtaposition to create a comedic
effect and is used over Brian’s childhood to show the innocence of the
character compared to the situation previously seen. At the end the
soundtrack “HighwayTo Hell” byAC/DC is played and this is to firstly to
build to climatic ending of my opening, the bike scene, where Brian rides
the bike in synchronisation with lyrics to create a comedic effect and is
also fits the film well as its rock song that fits well with the persona of a
“badass”.
The titles used at the beginning of my film opening are used mainly
because the genre of the film has not yet been established. Like in “The
Hangover” the prologue used gives a sense of hopelessness and a font
that suited a comedy genre would not work well in the first section of the
film as it would be out of place. In this start the name of actors fade in and
out with a slight transparency to fit with the start of my film opening.
However by the end when the genre has been established I use a more
light hearted and colourful font style to fit the genre which appears as
Brian is riding his pink bike which gives me credit as the director, writer
and editor.