RESEARCH AND PLANNING: Preliminary Conclusions

1) What have the deconstructions told you about the openings of movies?

The deconstructions I did have helped me understand that the first two minutes of a movie are vital for setting the overall mood throughout. As a result of doing these I have learned that movies carry many subliminal meanings and concepts, be them intentional or entirely co-incidental. With viewing the first two minutes of these films many times, I was able to pick up on these hidden concepts and meanings, which then helped me to have a greater understanding of the film as a whole.

The first two minutes of a film are usually either used to introduce the audience to the main character(s), to outline the main plot of the story, or to set a particular mood to be held by the audience throughout the production. These are all ways to receive and maintain the audience’s attention. Through my deconstructions, I have learned that the mood of a movie can be set in a variety of different ways. These methods can be through; connotations, music or the behaviour or actions of the cast. Connotations are used as a way of signifying certain concepts or moods without obviously communicating them to the audience. For example, the use of greyscale (black and white) filming in a horror movie may suggest themes of a sinister or eerie nature, whereas the use of bright primary colours in a child’s animated movie may suggest moods of a happy and care-free nature. Music is one of the most obvious ways of establishing the mood of a movie. For example, fast-paced or up-beat music may connote a mood of urgency whereas classical or baroque styles of music may establish moods of a more gentle nature.

For the first two minutes of a film to be effective, it needs to catch the audience’s attention, without giving too much away as regards the plot. A long conversation between two characters may not be an ideal way to begin a film as the audience could lose interest, thus giving them a negative outlook on the entire film. However, by beginning the film with exciting, funny or visually pleasing footage, the viewers are more likely to remain interested. A montage of shots is another technique that can be used in order to create curiosity among viewers. The use of credits at the beginning of a film is commonly used to create interest for the audience. However, this method only really works for films starring well known actors, as the sight of their name in the first two minutes of a movie may grab the attention of viewers and create further interest in the film. Also it might offer some clarity as to what genre the film will be, because some actors specialise in appearing in only certain genres of films. For example, Brad Pitt will be associated with action films and Hugh Grant will be associated with romantic comedies, as they are the specific film genre they most commonly 

appear in.]

2) What has your target audience research told you about likes, dislikes and viewing habits?

My target audience research has told me that 82.6% of people who took part in my survey enjoy watching horror films. This is certainly a reassuring result as the project my group and I will be working on will be a horror film. On the negative side however, we found that werewolves were not the most popular of horror film characters.

The results of my survey have also told me that Britain is the most popular location for the production of horror films. This is helpful information as I now know to research British Horror films to find out what specific features are best to include in my final film.

3) How have you used the above research to make planning decisions regarding your movie?

From my deconstructions I learned that most films are slow to get going, and don’t often contain much information regarding the main plot line. As a result I have decided to keep the beginning of my movie simple and straightforward. I won’t include much specific detail about the plot line, however I will try and include enough to add suspense and leave the viewers wanting more.  My deconstructions have also taught me that the first two minutes of a film is usually where the main characters are introduced. For example, the first two minutes of Hot Fuzz was made up of a montage of shots accompanied by a narration of the main character’s life history. After learning this, I decided I should include the main characters in the first two minutes of my film so the audience can familiarise themselves with them before the storyline gets more complex.

From my target audience research, I have found that the majority of people I asked enjoy watching British horror films. This gave me the idea to research a selection of horror films produced by British production companies as to get ideas of the acting, filming and post production techniques. 

RESEARCH: Target Audience Research - Survey

In order to collect information about audience likes and dislikes, I created a survey on surveymonkey.com
Here is the survey.


In the survey, we asked the following questions:

1. Do you enjoy watching horror films?
2. What was the title of the last horror film you watched?
3. Who is your favourite horror monster?
4. Are there any horror directors/writers/producers that you are a particular fan of?
5. Who makes the best horror films?
6. Is there anything else you would like to add concerning horror films and what you like/dislike about them

82.6% of the audience answered that they enjoyed watching horror films, which immediately meant good news for our film.
Not so good news was that no one chose werewolves as their favourite character, compared to the 43.5% that favoured Serial Killers and Psychos.
The British horror industry was most popular with 40.9%, followed by America, Asia, then Europe.

At the end of the survey, I asked the audience whether they had any comments on the production of horror films. These two particular comments stood out:

"I think horror films have to be gritty and at least an 18 rating. I don't think you can properly scare anyone if you have to remove swearing and dumb down the horror."
"They are just too boring these days ... We've moved on from horrors now ... They're boring."


 We posted the link of the survey on Facebook:

PLANNING: Storyboard

PLANNING: Film Brief and Director's Pitch

Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum
of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced
by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a
copyright-free source. Both preliminary and main tasks may be done individually
or as a group. Maximum four members to a group. 

The opening two minutes of a werewolf movie. A teenage couple drive to a secluded spot for a romantic evening. Using the Bus Technique, a Farmer interrupts, but then he is attacked by the werewolf. Shot in the style of a low budget B-movie, the audience doesn’t see the werewolf, but it’s introduced through Point Of View shots.

My group and I intend to shoot on location near Kilsby. (see photos below)
We need to consider lighting, as it will be a night shoot. Our initial plan is to work with the car’s headlights, camping lanterns and external torches

We devised a list of props and equipment that we may need during filming:

We need to obtain permission to use the song 'monster' by a band called The Automatic. This song is rather in-keeping with the movie because it is they type of music that teenagers would listen to in their cars. As a group we came to the decision that the song would work very well with the motion picture. We decided to compose the following email to be sent to the record company in order to obtain permission for the use of the song.

RESEARCH: Movie Deconstruction - Toy Story 2

Title: Toy Story 2

Director: John Lasseter

Co-Directors: Ash Brannon and Lee Unkrich

Year of Release: 1999

Genre: Animation

The scene begins in space, where all that can be seen is distant stars. Then, the words “Gamma Quadrant, Sector 4” appear on the screen. These words appear to be written in a Sci-Fi/military theme, which suggests there will be an element of action in the following moments. When the text disappears, we see what is thought to be an asteroid, hurtling through space towards a planet. In the next shot, we realise it is in fact Buzz Lightyear flying towards the planet at a great speed. As he approaches the planet, upbeat orchestral music begins and builds to a crescendo, at the same time, the glow of colours around him intensify. This suggests that he is a heroic character.  In actual fact, the glowing is caused by the intense heat from the planet’s atmosphere. The fact that this character can withstand such temperatures shows that he possesses considerable strength and resilience.  After infiltrating the planet’s atmosphere, he soon reaches the surface where he activates his wings and rockets. We see Buzz flying dangerously close to the uneven ground, narrowly dodging the sides of a narrow ravine and other obstructing rocks. There is a great use of Point of View (POV) shots in this sequence. We see the action through the eyes of the character, which is quite thrilling for the audience as he is travelling at immense speeds and executing expert aerobatics.  All the other external shots of the character show him relatively central on the screen. These central shots, along with the Point of View shots tell the audience that this scene will revolve around him.

We then see Buzz landing gracefully in a crater on the planet’s surface. The graceful landing further enhances the fact that Buzz Lightyear is a character of considerable skill. In the next Point of View shot, we see the reflection of Buzz’s face in his visor, again reinforcing the point that the scene is focussed on him. The sound of heavy breathing increases tension and adds a sense of mystery in the scene. Buzz then starts taking his Mission Log, which gives the audience further knowledge of what he is doing. He says “All signs point to this planet as the location of Zurg’s fortress.” He then goes on to say, “but there seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere.” As he says this, red dots appear all over him, suggesting he is being targeted by many enemies. He looks up to see him surrounded by thousands of robots aiming lasers at him. This irony adds to the comedic value of the film, even more so by the fact Buzz was not wrong when he said there was no sign of intelligent life, as the robots are computerised machines. The audience sees Buzz think for a split second, then jump into action as he dives and fires his laser at a crystal deposit in the ground, this refracts his laser in many directions, thus destroying all the robots in near perfect symmetry.  As the robots are destroyed, the explosion creates a mass of green smoke. We see Buzz flying upwards as a result of the explosion and crashes to the ground a short distance away from the blast zone. This shows that Buzz, although extremely skilful, is not perfect. He narrowly avoids getting crushed by falling debris and takes cover by some rocks, then a camera-like robot emerges from a hidden flap in the rock next to Buzz. The camera looks from left to right, then focuses on Buzz.  As soon as the camera gets a glimpse of him, there is a look of terror and panic in the camera’s expression. Although the camera doesn’t have a face as such, the lens widens and a satellite dish-like object on top of the camera spins quickly. This is a form of personification, as the animators have given emotion to a computerised object, again adding to the comedic value of the production. Buzz then jumps in front of the camera robot and shoots it with his laser. All that is left of this robot now is the jointed arm it was attached to, which soon retracts back into the hole in the rock in a comedic manner.

RESEARCH: Movie Deconstruction - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Title: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Director: Mike Newall

Year of Release: 2005

Genre: Fantasy

The movie begins with tense orchestral music which builds to a crescendo as the camera focuses on the ‘Warner Bros. Pictures’ logo. The camera zooms into and passes through the ‘Warner Bros.’ Logo to show a wall made of skulls. As the camera vertically pans down the wall, we see a snake emerging from the mouth of one of the skulls and slithering up a grassy path in a dark, misty graveyard.  The skulls along with the misty graveyard emit a sense of death and the snake itself could represent evil. This is because in the Bible, Satan takes the form of a serpent in order to persuade Eve to disobey God’s orders and eat the forbidden fruit. As the snake progresses through the graveyard, it reaches a tomb accompanied by a statue of the Grim Reaper. The serpent slithers up the tomb and in the meantime the camera approaches the statue and vertically pans upward to give the impression that the Reaper is imposing itself on the viewers, again, supporting the sense of death in the scene.

The next shot is an establishing shot of a small cottage in the foreground, and a large mansion in the background.  The mansion appears to be enshrouded by mist, which suggests it may be involved in sinister goings on. Up to this point, the setting seems to be quiet and uninhabited; however, a light suddenly appears in the upstairs window of the cottage, suggesting that we are likely to encounter the first human character in the film.  The first we see of this character is of them striking a match over a stove, with an intension of boiling the kettle.  After he puts the kettle on the stove the man steps back and stretches out his arms and fingers. This signifies that his arms could be stiff as a result of arthritis. The man is distracted from making tea when he looks out the window and double-takes to see a flickering light through one of the upstairs windows of the mansion. He throws the teabag down in anger and mumbles “bloody kids” as he walks off to investigate. His reaction to seeing the flickering light may imply that he has either had trouble with local youths trespassing in the mansion previously, or he has a stereotypical view of young people, and instantly accuses them of being the culprits.  He picks up a set of keys from a hook, which could suggest he is some form of caretaker or grounds keeper of the mansion. It has now become obvious that the mansion is probably derelict, as if it were inhabited, the man would not find it unusual for a light to be flickering from one of the rooms.

We then see the old man walking through the gardens towards the mansion. He looks uneasy as he walks, reinforcing the possibility of him being arthritic and finding movement a chore. The man walks up the stone steps and approaches the door to the mansion, finding it unlocked, which further arouses his suspicion that there are intruders inside. He slowly crosses the threshold, to see the hallway ridden with cobwebs and dust, which supports the viewers’ suspicion of the mansion being derelict.

RESEARCH: Movie Deconstruction - Hot Fuzz

Title: Hot Fuzz

Director: Edgar Wright

Year of Release: 2007

Genre: Action Comedy

The film begins with the sounds of many different types of police siren and the ‘Universal Studios’ animation, followed by the ‘Working Title’ Production Logo. The sirens denote that the film will be based largely on the police service, although at this point, the audience is still unclear as to what genre the film will be.

       The first clip is a long shot of a person walking down a dimly lit corridor in a fairly modern building (possibly a police station). The person is walking quickly, with heavy footsteps, which could imply that he is in a hurry. As he walks closer toward the camera, the camera slowly and gradually zooms in, focussing on the subject. When the character gets closer, we can see that he is wearing a police uniform, which supports the idea of the film involving the police service. As the police officer becomes in clear visible range, he takes off his hat and holds his warrant card up to the camera, thus establishing character and role. There is a slight element of humour in this action as the character’s facial expression is exactly the same as of that on the photo on the warrant card. This is the first signal that the film is in the comedy genre.

       Next, there is a montage of clips along with a narration about the character’s background, including his qualifications, training and career. Early on in the montage, there is a close-up of the main character’s right shoulder, showing one of his epaulettes with the number 777 on. The number 777 is often thought to be the number of God. As opposed to 666 being the number of the Devil. This could denote that he is a ‘god-like’ person. The transitions between shots are heavily emphasised by the use of quick, bright flashes and loud ‘whooshing’ noises. This may create a sense of urgency and importance about the montage.