The document provides an analysis of the opening sequence of the film Twilight. It establishes the characters and setting of Forks, Washington through establishing shots of the forest. Bella is introduced as the main character who is moving to live with her father. While no other characters are shown, the hunting of a deer hints at Edward hunting Bella. The target audience is identified as 12-15 year olds, particularly girls, interested in fantasy, drama and attractive actors. The production companies aimed for mainstream commercial success around Christmas release.

1. TWILIGHT
‘’when you can live forever, what do you live for?’’

2. Establishing characters and setting
In the opening minute of Twilight you only see the establishing shot of the forest
and the deer that the cameras follow up until 1.06. The camera follows the deer
on a run through the forest until an ‘object’ or ‘thing’ catches the deer, showing
that this establishing shot later has something to do with the film. The setting of
the film in the opening sequence also reflects the narrative of the film. As the
forest is where Edward lives and is also the main setting for Forks being set in the
middle of nowhere. The establishing shot also allows us to see where Bella is
moving to, and helps us understand Bella’s feelings. Pathetic fallacy is also used
throughout the opening sequence or for at least a minute, to create the mood of
Bella.
The deer in the forest is clearly an
icon for the film, as it sets a sense of
stalking and hunting, which is what
the genre of the film is
about, ‘Vampires’ which again tells
the audience what the film is going
to based around.
Icon for the film.

3. Actors in the film
Twilight is a big Hollywood block buster and therefore you expect there to be A-list
actors and actresses in the film, the opening credits do not show the characters
names within the first two minutes, but they do show the main character, Bella
(Kristen Stewart) in the opening sequence.
As the main character of Bella is shown first, and only
herself is shown, you can see no clear relationships of
the characters for the first 2 minutes of this film. The
only thing that suggests her relationships is when she
talks about her Father and going to live with him in
Forks.
There is no substantial link between Bella and Edward
in the opening sequence, unless you link the predator
of the deer to Bella being hunted by Edward.

4. Sound
In the opening sequence there is a voice over of Bella speaking about her life in
Arizona and how she is moving to Forks with her dad (Charlie). The non diegetic sound
of Bella’s voice engages the reader as they can hear a voice but they do not yet know
who is speaking, the first initial impression is that the voice you can hear in the
opening sequence is definitely going to be of a main character in the film.
Diegetic sound is used when the deer is being hunted and as it is running through the
forest, you can here the sound of leaves, branches and the ground crunching as the
deer is running, makes the audience feel as though they are running with the deer to
get away from whatever is chasing it.

5. Font and Credits
In the opening sequence there is no credits and therefore no clear font
for what the audience can see. When the opening sequence gets to
about 2.04 seconds and this is when we see the title of Twilight cast
over the forest of Forks (where Bella's father lives).
This suggests that the director and producer wanted us to focus on what
was happening in the first 2 minutes rather than looking at what people
star in the film. As the opening sequence shows the audience the genre
of the film.

6. Camera Angles and Editing

7. Mise-en-Scene
Lighting- the lighting of the opening sequence is very dark and this suggest that the
theme of the film is going to be quite dark and mythical which fits in well with the
genre.
Props- the props used in the opening sequence are very minimal as there is no real
setting of where props can be used. The only part of where this is shown is when Bella
is holding the cactus, resembling she lives in Arizona with her mum.
Setting- the setting of the forest is an icon for the latter stages of the film and where
most of the events take place.
Costume- Again the only costume we see is of Bella, the costume she is wearing shows
the film is set in recent years, but also shows her social class, as the clothes don’t
always resemble wealth or being poor, so this shows she is middle class.

8. Target Audience
Age- the age range of the audience for Twilight
is aimed at mainly the primary audience of 12-
15 year olds and the typical people that go to
watch it and buy the books, posters and box set
show that the film is based around the younger
audience, although it can be watched by an
adult audience the primary target audience is
definitely for younger teenagers.

9. Gender- the gender is most probably for both
genders but you find that a lot of girls tend to watch
Twilight more than boys, this may because of the
characters involved are attractive young men that
girls want to go and see at the cinema. The film also
has a masculine role as there are scenes in the film
with special effects or the conflict scenes between
the groups in the films. This shows that although
the film is aimed at all genders, the film as fallen
towards a more female audience.

10. Reason for viewing- the reason that people may go
to see Twilight is for escapism, to get a way from
their real life and relax and watch something that
isn't anything to do with their lives. Maybe it is to
collect the films, if you have seen the first two, they
may go and see the final two because they feel like
they need to watch all the films and see them all.
Another reason is to go and see them for
entertainment to be entertained and watch their
favourite actors or actresses in the cinema.

11. Nationality- Twilight is a mainstream American
blockbuster but has been successful all around
Europe especially in the UK therefore their target
audience based around nationality is mainly
Americans and Europeans. As this is where it is
mainly shown and viewed. The genre of the film
also effects the nationality, as it’s a vampire based
film this definitely shows the American side of this
film. The Atlantic cross over to the United Kingdom
also effects the nationality of the film as even
though this film is American it has also become very
big over here in the UK.

12. Family role- people may go to view Twilight in a
group of friends, including a group of girls
because this film is merely been made for girls.
But some people may go to view this with their
daughter or younger sister as part of a family
role. The main reason people may go to watch it
as a group of friends is because they are at the
age they are starting to go to the cinema on
their own which makes it become more of a
social function.

13. Media Institutions and distribution
Summit Hill Entertainment, Temple Hill
Entertainment and Maverick Films all own
Twilight in an ownership, therefore for all of
these companies produced the film together.
Summit Distribution distributed the film with
the help of many other distributors Warner
Home video being one of them along with
Summit Home Entertainment.

14. Links between the target audience and the
production companies are very similar to my
other films as Summit Entertainment purely
produce films to entertain people, they will
target at the mainstream audience, the people
that go to the cinemas and watch films based on
their taste in film or for their entertainment.

15. The release date in the cinemas were 19th
December 2008, making it popular in the
Christmas holidays for their target audience of
12-15 year olds to watch. Twilight has an age
restriction of 12A making the film accessible to
their target audience but if the viewer is of the
age of twelve or under they have to be
accompanied by an adult. The film includes the
scenes of drama, fantasy and adventure.

16. Twilight has now been out for 3 years, meaning that it may
have been broadcasted onto the TV for viewing at home and
on basic TV programs. Although I have no history of when it
has been shown on the television, the film company may sell
Twilight to a TV channel for example, itv1 or film4 before
Twilights next film in the sequel is about to come out at the
cinemas. This will give fans and viewers that watch the film
tune into that channel to watch it, as the following week they
are going to watch the latest one in the sequel that’s out at
the cinema. The film would most probably be show at around
6.15 pm on a Saturday night as this is when their target
audience is able to watch it at the weekend, when they
haven't got school the next day.