Opening film analysis of fright night - 2011

Fright night opening film analysis

Analysed the first 2 minutes.

Fright night opens with a close up shot of a tv playing some sort of tv advert for a horror programme which is ironically called ‘Fright night’ this is combined with the diegetic sound of the voice over on the tv illustrating about the show, the shot slowly zooms out to show a wide angle shot of a modern living room area, with the stereotypical lamps, chairs, photo frames and coffee table. The shot also reveals a dog standing on the coffee table eating some sort of leftover food, a non-diegetic sound of thunder leads the camera to pan to the left showing the rest of the room until it focuses on a white door slightly opened. The camera
then flips back to show a medium shot of the dog now looking at the door, this is combined with the enhanced diegetic sound of his heaving panting. It goes silent for a second before the camera switches back to show a young male character being thrown out of the white door with additional sound effects eg. Crashing and bashing sounds for his abrupt landing. This most likely makes the audience jump as they didn’t expect this to happen. 

The camera then switches back to the white door but this time shows another character's arm flopping down before it changes back to a medium shot of the male character looking into the room in disgust as he witnesses some sort of creature eat this character. This
is combined with the diegetic sound of the creature chomping and crunching. This reveals some enigma codes for the audience as they want to know what’s going on and what this creature that is eating a human is. The camera then flips to a long shot of the character running away from the white door and towards the dog before he trips and falls. This trip and fall is very cliché in a horror film. A medium shot is then used to show the character running of screen and the dog running off through the cat flap. Whilst this is going on
there is repeated non diegetic sounds of thunder and cries from the creature and low key lighting and dark tones to make the atmosphere scarier. An over the shoulder shot from the male character's perspective reveals a dead female character lying on a bed covered in blood, the director chose to make her outfit white and the sheets on the bed white so it would highlight the blood being used and shock the audience.

The camera then flips back to a close up shot of the male character once again, this shot doesn’t just show how sweaty he looks it also shows the fear in his eyes. A short tracking shot is then used to show the male character climb underneath the bed, avoiding another male victim's body pouring with blood. A medium shot of the side of the mattress shows the male character using his hands to reach for a gun, as he's fiddling with the gun the camera switches to a bird's eye view shot to show the female victim’s body still on the bed, the male victim's body still on the floor and the male characters head poking out looking around and also searching in the male victims pockets. A close up shot reveals the male character trying to put some sort of key into the gun.              

Mini - Major movie studios research

Mini - major movie studios research:

Lionsgate Entertainment:

Lionsgate entertainment was
founded in 1997 in Vancouver, Canada however its current headquarters is within
Santa Monica, California. It has many subsidiaries including 'Lionsgate films'
and 'Summit Entertainment'. They are known to produce and distribute films
which are believed to be controversial and follow the genre of gory, horror.
There first major success was 'American Psycho' which produced a total of $34.3
million dollars at the box office and only cost $7 dollars to produce. However
when they work with 'Summit entertainment' they produce/ distribute
predominately science fiction films for example 'Divergent' and 'Twilight'.

DreamWorks animation:

DreamWorks animation is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature
films, television programs and online virtual worlds. It was founded by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg in 2004. There main genre is
animation/ cartoon some successful distributed and produced films include 'Shrek', 'Madagascar' and 'Kung Fu Panda'. However the film that produced the most grossing profit worldwide was 'Shrek 2' which bought in a total of
$441,226,247.

Metro- Goldwyn Mayer:

Metro- Goldwyn Mayer is an American media company involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. It was founded by Marcus Leow in 1924 however its headquarters are currently in Beverly Hills, California. They mainly produce and distribute films like comedies and action films examples are '22 Jump Street', 'Skyfall' and 'the hobbit'. However the most successful film was a horror film called 'Hannibal' which bought in a total of $165,092,266 in 2001.

Film institution research

What is a film studio?
A film studio is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production company.


There are currently 6 major film studios these include Paramount, Warner bros, Columbia pictures (sony), Walt Disney pictures, Universal pictures and 20th century fox.

Paramount:

Paramount studios have been running since 1912 and is currently the longest operating and only major studio remaining in Hollywood. In 1927 paramount won the very first award for best picture in 1927, before moving to the current studio lot they are now working in. They worked with many legendary industry talents such as directors like Cecil B, Alfred Hitchcock and more recently Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Tom cruise, Angelina Jolie and many more. They don’t only just share the love for films, in the 1960’s they discovered a passion for TV and decided to expand into this market, creating TV programmes like ‘The Brady Bunch’, ‘Star trek’ and ‘Happy days’. The genres best known for paramount was family films for example ‘Titanic, ‘Top gun’, ‘Forrest Gump’, ‘Saturday night fever’, ‘Grease’, ‘Shrek’, ‘How to train your dragon’ and many more. Paramount had also recently entered into production and distribution arrangements with DreamWorks. Paramount’s most successful blockbuster was titanic bringing in a gross profit of $1.843 billion.

Warner Bros:

Warner Bros studios was founded in 1923 in Hollywood, it was created by the 4 brothers Sam, Albert, Jack and Harry. Their headquarters is now in Burbank, California. With many unsuccessful attempts to make it as one of the top film studios, there turning point for Warner Bros was when they released ‘The jazz singer’ in 1927. The film has seven subsidiary companies (have shares in the business) for example ‘Telepictures’, ‘Cartoon network studios’ and ‘New line cinema’. Warner Bros are most famous for their action, adventure and thriller genre, example of their most successful films include ‘The dark knight rises’, ‘Suicide Squad’ , the ‘Harry Potter’ films and ‘Batman vs Superman’. Warner bros most successful film in terms of the gross profit was ‘The dark Knight’ which was made in 2008 and brought in a gross profit off $534,967,647.  The dark Knight was probably most successful as Morgan freeman, Williams Fichtner and Heath Ledger and many more award winning actors and actresses played a part in this film. 

Columbia Pictures (Sony):

Was originally set up as CBC film Sales Corporation in 1918 in Los Angeles, California but in 1924 was re—named Columbia pictures. Its headquarters is now in Culver City, California. Stars such as Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden around the 1940’s/50’s were very successful actors or actresses for a period of time for Columbia pictures. By 1951 they became a major producer for TV comedies for example ‘Father knows best’, ‘Bewitched’ and ‘The Monkees’. In the 1990’s Sony put in billions of dollars to buy a higher interest of Columbia and bought out Time Warner. Columbia pictures release a lot of action, adventure and Sci-fi films for example ‘White house down’, ‘Men in Black’, ‘Skyfall’, ‘Total Recall’, ‘Spider man’ and ‘Karate kid’. However they also do release some animation films like ‘The Smurfs’ and ‘Surf's up’.

Walt Disney pictures:

Walt Disney pictures was founded in 1928 in Burbank, California, it is a division of Walt Disney studios and is owned by Walt Disney Company. The majority of Walt Disney pictures release with Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures films. In 1926 Walt Disney released the first short film of ‘Mickey mouse’ and in 1937 saw the release of ‘Snow white and the seven dwarfs’. Walt Disney pictures mostly produced comedies or dramas, some of their most successful films include ‘The jungle book’, ‘Toy story’, ‘the princess diaries’ and ‘Monsters inc’. The most successful film based on gross profit was ‘Star wars; the force awakens’ bringing in a total of $936,662,225.

Universal Pictures:

Universal pictures is owned by
Comcast through the Universal Filmed entertainment group, it was founded in 1912 in California but its headquarters is now located in Universal city. It has a number of subsidiaries including ‘Dreamworks animations’, ‘Focus features’ and more. The top 5 grossing films worldwide include ‘Despicable me 2’, ‘Jurassic park’, ‘Minions’, ‘Furious 7’ and ‘Jurassic world’. With ‘Jurassic world’ bringing in a grand total of $1,670,400,637 in gross profits in 2015 worldwide. With famous actors and actresses like Jennifer Aniston, Tom Cruise, George Clooney and many others being in many of their films.

20th Century fox:

20th Century fox was founded
in 1935 by Darryl Zanuck and Joseph Schneck. Its current headquarters is in Los
angeles, America. 20th Century fox did go through financial and production
problems in the early 1960’s  but shortly
afterwards they were back on track, releasing in the tv production and music
label industries not just films. ‘Avatar’ was there highest grossing film
worldwide bringing in a total of $2,787,965,087 in 2009. There most successful
films made were predominantly in the action and adventure genre for example ‘X
men’ and ‘Star wars’. The famous actors and actresses include Sandra Bullock,
Tom hanks, Will Smith and many others featuring in their many releases of
films. 

Horror genre opening film analysis of nightmare on elm street - 1985

Nightmare on elm street opening film analysis

Analysed the first 2 minutes.

Nightmare on Elm Street opens with a short tracking shot of a character's feet, the character is wearing worn out work boots and is standing in some sort of factory as there is dirt, oil and pipes by his feet this is combined with non-diegetic eerie music playing in the background. Using a close up shot, the audience see the character pick up a brown bag, the camera then quickly shifts to a birds eye view shot of the character emptying the bag with knives, nails and screws onto a table these are typical mise-en-scene used in a horror film. A close up shot reveals the character's hands ruffling through the knives and nails to pick up a knife in one hand, the camera switches to another close up shot of the characters hands again but this time of him picking up a workhouse glove. This entices the audience to watch more as they want to know what the character is going to make. 

There is then a series of short close up shots showing the character making some sort of glove with knives on the end of it, this is connected with the sound of the characters diegetic heavy breathing, the enhanced diegetic sound of the instruments being used to mould and manufacture the weapon and the continued eerie non diegetic background music, the music is mainly high pitched instruments to build up tension. The character's hands are grubby and dirty to show that he isn’t worried about his appearance and that he has probably been working on this for a long period of time. This creates some enigma codes for the audience as they want to know who this character is and why he is making this weapon. This heavy breathing makes the audience feel uncomfortable as they feel like they are so close to what’s going on and like they are being breathed on. The final shot before the title appears is a bird’s eye view shot of the characters hand with the glove on he goes from clenching his fist to releasing it to show the audience the final product he does this with a combined diegetic sound of him saying ‘Rahhh’ along non-diegetic music increasing in volume and pitch. The way the character hasn’t said anything and only made noises shows that he is more animal like than human.

A title then appears with a black background and red bold writing, these colours are typical conventions of a horror genre. The camera then quickly moves to a low angle shot to show a sheet hanging and 4 knives bursting through it with a shadow of someone’s hand, this is connected with a non-diegetic sound of someone screaming and a storm. It then flips to a close up shot of a young female character looking around in distress and sweating, she then looks directly into the camera where it shows an extreme close up shot off the character. Her eyes are quite striking to the audience as you can really see her fear in them. The audience then see a long tracking shot of the female character running through a damp and dark corridor of a factory, constantly looking behind her. This suggests to the audience that she is either running from something or looking for something. This is a stereotypical cliché of a horror film a damsel in distress running from a villain, the use of her white gown reflects how pure and innocent she is. The character stops at a medium shot to the camera, still looking around anxiously a sudden off screen low pitched sound is made to startle the character and make them turn around to show the audience the shock and fear on her face. The camera then switches to show a medium shot of a goat running through the factory with a combined off screen sound of a character's deep laugh. The audience begin to feel like there is some sort of chase going on by the female characters horror and body language.            

Horror genre opening film analysis of saw I - 2004

Saw I opening film analysis

Analysed the first 2 minutes.

Saw opens with an extreme close up of the side of a man’s foot, placed up against the edge of a bath, this shot also reveals the plug which seems to be covered with mould and dirt. The camera then quickly shifts to another extreme close up but this time of the male characters face suddenly waking up under water and gasping for air this is combined with the diegetic sound of the water moving and the bubbles he created from his gasp. It switches back to a close up of his feet awkwardly trying to it up and splashing about uneasily. The camera then focuses again on an extreme close up off the characters face coming out of the water, shaking the water off anxiously. The diegetic sounds of water splashing about increases in volume as he manages to pull himself up and out of the water this is combined with diegetic sounds of the male coughing. It shifts back to a close up of his
bare feet pulling out the plug and for a split second shows an extreme close up
of the plug beginning to drain the water away.

The camera then shows a medium shot of the man coming out of the water, choking and struggling for breath. From this shot the audience see more of the bath tub as it is completely covered in dirt and worn out, also it reveals to the audience that his foot is chained up at the end of the bath. The fact that the bath is small shows that the man is cramped and trapped. The dirt and mould up the walls and the chained highlight that he wasn’t here by choice. This creates many enigma codes for the audience as they want to know why he is there, how he got there and why he is chained up. The low key lighting and use of dark colours sets the scene, this is very typical of a horror film. The medium shot reveals the male character is in shock and is shaking viciously in fear. The camera then switches back to an extreme close up shot of a key with a light attached to it go down the drain this is combined with a diegetic suction sound as the last of the water is drained away.

A medium shot then shows the male character attempting to climb out of the bath but failing and falling out quickly this is merged with the diegetic sound of the characters cries of pain
and his enhanced thump when he lands. A continuous shot shows him standing up and following the chain to the top where it is attached to pipes. The male character then uses dialogue to cry for help as he looks around him nervously. A slow low pitched off screen sound similar to a creaking door stunts the man to stop and cry out “Is there anyone there?” Whilst the main character is still using his hands to feel around the room he starts to talk to an off screen deepened voice of a man.

The camera then jumps to a high angle shot of the lights turning on combined with a diegetic sound of like machines in a factory processing things. It then shows 4 cuts to and from a number of lights switching on and the character squinting as he struggles to open his eyes. The camera then zooms in on his face to show a close up shot, where he is using hand gestures to try and block the lights as they are too bright. The camera then flips to a character's perspective looking up at the lights as they are out of focus and blurry combined with the diegetic sound of his groans and the lights flickering. The camera then shows a medium shot of the male character twitching his eyes whilst still trying to make out where he is. The camera then flips to the opposite end of the room where it shows another female
character holding on to a broken pipe, sweating and also looking baffled and worried.

A wide angle shot reveals the original character beginning to slowly walk forward leaning over to look at something on the floor, it also reveals more of the setting as the audience now discover that the room is completely shut off, surrounded by broken pipes and old, dirty toilet equipment eg. Bath, toilet. This is combined with non-diegetic screams and cries setting an eerie tone. The camera then pans down to show a close up shot of a dead male character with blood pouring out of his body and his head caved in. The camera then suddenly spirals outwards to show a bird’s eye view shot of the dead man's body it shows him holding a gun and a tape recorder. Blood, guns and chains are all typical mise-en-scene used in a horror film. The audience then see 3 close up shots, 1 of the dead man's head still pouring with blood, the 2nd of the tape recorder and the 3rd of the gun, this is combined with tense and eerie music. The camera then switches to and from the male characters as they look in shock and disbelief of what's going on.

Romance genre opening film analysis of Ps: I love you - 2008

Ps: I love you opening film analysis

Analysed the first 2 minutes.

Ps: I love you opens with a female character storming angrily through a tight corridor followed by a male character swiftly walking to try and catch up with her, they are both dressed formally suggesting that they have just came from some sort of social event or date together. There is non- diegetic upbeat background music playing, which is predominantly string instruments that suggests some tension between the two characters. There is low key lighting and quite soft colours which suggests the mood is quite dramatic and sullen. As the female character leaves the shot to walk up the stairs the camera focuses on the male character using a close up shot, the male character then uses hand gestures and uses dialogue to ask the female character “have I done something wrong”. This immediately entices the audience and creates enigma codes as they want to know what’s happened and why they are fighting. This is a typical convention for the romance genre.

The camera shifts to the female character for a couple of seconds where it shows a close up of her face, this shows her baffled emotions to the audience that she can’t believe he doesn’t know what he’s done wrong. The camera then switches to a high angle looking down on the male character to show to the audience that in this moment in time the male character is weak and useless compared to the female character who is powerful and in control. The camera then shifts 4 to 5 times back and forth to the male and female character, the male character is still chasing the female character up the stairs whilst continuing his dialogue questioning what he’s done wrong. This is a stereotypical chase and break up scene which reflects the genre of romance.


The camera then switches to a birds eye view shot showing the continuous chase. Using a medium shot we see the male character catch up with the female character and grab her to get her attention and for her to stop running from him. They use a brief over the shoulder shot from the male’s perspective to show the female sigh and look in disgust as the male is persistent and is beginning to get under the female's skin. The audience then views 4 quick cuts showing the male talking to female and then back to the female’s expression, the female during this whole period of time still hasn’t said anything. This reflects to the audience that something seriously must be up. A medium shot shows the female pushing past the male and storming into the apartment, as this happens the non-diegetic music increases in volume to reflect the female’s mood.


The setting switches to an apartment, using a wide angled shot you see the female character walk through the door with the male following. This is the first time the audience hear the female character speak and begin to argue back. This is quite significant because it took her so long to say something back to him, this is a typical convention of a female because they often bottle all there feeling up and then explode and let it all of their chests. The is then 8  shortcuts of medium shots going back and forth from the male to female as they argue, whilst they are arguing they both begin to hang up their clothes in separate parts of the rooms. It then shifts to a high angle looking down on the female who’s sitting on the end of the bed as she takes of her shoes, this change in power switches back to the male as he states how he is the only man she has ever had. The camera then switches to a close up shot to show the female throwing her shoe at the male with aggression on her face, a quick cut to the male character shows him getting hit by the shoe. This excites the audience as they enjoy watching something they can relate to and everyday couple arguments are common.  This further more creates tension between the two main characters.


As the argument continues it shows a number of medium shots with both characters using hand gestures to show there confusion. This makes the audience feel very uncomfortable as they are almost a part of the argument. The camera then shifts to show a wide angle shot of a divided wall with the female on one side with her dressing table and the male on the other side with his dressing table. This separation is interesting because it highlights the contrast in the rooms and the characters themselves. The female's side shows her dressing table painted white, her various products on it and is surrounded by light. Whereas the males side shows his dressing table painted brown, his various products on it and is surrounded by dark colours and low key lighting. It is very stereotypical for the male character to be putting his wallet and car keys in his top draw compared to the female who was removing her earrings and necklace.

Target audience for romance films

The target audience is typically females and are usually rated 12 or 15 meaning that the target audience age generally ranges from 12 -24. Most people watch a romance film to get the feeling of a relationship and romance between the two main characters and see what one day could hopefully happen to them. It is generally watched by groups of teenage girls or couples, it is popular with couples because it creates a nice atmosphere for the couple to enjoy each other’s company and to relate to what they see on screen.

Codes and conventions of a romance genre

The amazing spider man 2 opening film analysis - 2014

The amazing spider man 2 opening film analysis

Analysed the first 2 minutes

The amazing spider man 2 opens with a non-diegetic sound of a church bell ringing combined with upbeat action music, whilst the audience sees a black screen with a red spider on it fade into a tracking shot of the character falling from the sky. It then switches from a number of high and low angle shots to show the character breezing and flipping through the air magically using web shooters to swing from building to building. The music continues with a combined sound of the main character screaming with joy and some off screen sounds of the cars honking and moving in the city of New York. The audience then see a point of view shot where the character is flying through the air, very unrealistically, this is merged with swooshing sounds which would have been enhanced to create more tension and excitement for the audience. The camera then swaps to a long shot to show the character using the web shooters from his hands to swing from building to building. This intense and exciting first 40 seconds highlight that this film links to the genre of Action and Adventure. The camera then switches to a wide shot to show a helicopter following Spiderman through the city for a brief second combined with the diegetic sound of the helicopter and the continued non diegetic background music. It then shows a low angle shot of spider man flying down almost towards the camera, this shows his power and dominance in the scene already.  Whilst this is happening there is a voice over off some sort of news report stating how there is a police chase going on.  

A wide angled shot shows a large van crashing and exterminating through a set of cars and pieces of rubble going everywhere with additional enhanced diegetic sounds of the cars smashing into one another and glass hitting the floor. The camera shifts to a close up of a bald character, dressed in black and wearing gold chains around his fingers and neck with a distinctive tattoo across his forehead driving the van aggressively shouting and laughing. This character meets the description for a stereotypical convict/ prisoner. The camera pans up the vehicle with enhanced sounds of the car zooming through the busy traffic streets. The audience then sees 3 short shots of men dressed in all black carrying guns running across the roofs of the moving vehicles. It then shifts back to show a close up shot of the driver once again however this time his emotions show more infuriation and hatred as he pursues to carry on driving recklessly. We then see a wide angled shot of the van crashing through two police cars and an extreme close up shot of the front wheel driving over the police car, smashing through the windows and ultimately crushing the car. During this there is a mixture of enhanced diegetic and non-diegetic sounds of glass smashing, tires screeching and cars honking.

The camera then switches back to Spiderman where it shows him once again flying through the air and swinging from building to building however this time the camera follows him in a slow motion to focus on his presence it also highlights to the audience that he is going to be a crucial part of this film. This is combined with an off screen sound of a civilian shouting “Spider man” in a relived way as he is hopefully there to help. It then shows a wide shot of Spiderman sitting in the villain’s window talking to him sarcastically about how he is going to save the day.     

Coming of age genre opening film analysis of Mean girls - 2004

Mean girls opening film analysis

Analysed the first 2 minutes

Mean girls open with a close up, low angle shot of the main characters parents talking to what you expect to be a young child.  The audience realise this is soon patronising when the camera cuts to the female teenager character who stands up and smiles eagerly. There is non diegetic African music playing in the background, combined with a medium shot of the father taking a photo of the mother and daughter and then a close up shot of them two smiling. The music continues quietly whilst the teenage character does a voice over explaining how she was previously home schooled and the stereotypical convention of her was that she was a freak/religious. The camera cuts from her mother crying to a flash back of a medium shot of her competing in a spelling bee. Whilst she continues her voiceover explaining how she grew up in Africa but had to move recently, the audience view 6/7 photos of her as a teenager living in Africa amongst the animals.

The camera then switches back to an over the shoulder shot of her parents waving her goodbye as she steps across the road to the entrance of high school. As she takes the step there was a medium shot combined with a diegetic sound of a bus flying past, and an off screen sound of a scream in shock from her parents.  Fast and upbeat non diegetic music begins to play as she crosses and begins to make her way up the school path. The camera switches to a mix of a tracking shot and a characters point of view shot as she sees a group of boys wearing the stereotypical jerseys play fighting and a group of characters dressed in predominantly black trying to put a fire out.  It then shows a close up shot of her confused and anxious face as she continues her path. As the character makes it to her classroom, the camera switches to a medium shot of her and another teenager, they share dialogue and the girl soon realises that this girl doesn’t want to speak to her or be her friend combined with some off screen sounds of people giggling. This highlights that this film comes under the coming of age genre as you know this character is going to have to go through some growing up to get to where she needs to be.     

Target audience for the coming of age genre

The target audience is typically young teenagers normally aged between 12 to 18 as they can relate to the films as they are currently in the stage of their lives were they are growing up into adulthood. In particular girls enjoy this type of film because most coming of age genres have a sub-genre of romance linked in with it. With the stereotypical character, the audience can sympathise if the character is struggling and needs to go through a learning phase. They can also relate to the character's image and personality.

Codes and conventions of a coming of age genre