Main post 6- History of your chosen genre

The history of Comedy

I have embeded my Prezi presentation of the history of comedy below:



The link below shows a website which explains different aspects of the comedy genre:

http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/comedy

The comedy genre came about in 1895 when silent films where shown on television programmes. Of course because dialogue and speech was not present in these times, it was difficult for comedy elements to come across to the audience. It relied alot on slapstick and burlesque humour.

However, at time progressd on and technology was becoming much more advanced, between the 1930-50's, the silent film era was growing out of fashion and dialogue comedy was progressing with popularity. This type of comedy included things such as innuendo's, puns, paradies and sarcasm. This type of comedy in the 50's has in a few ways influenced our opening sequence production, for example we are going to be including subtle elements of sarcasm for when there is conflict between the two different personalities of the characters.

In the 1960's, the comedy however became more of a darker nature with it appearing in in more serious films such as spoofs. Films such as Monthy Python used surreal comedy which was when they has consecutive humorous scenes which did not link together well and had no logical progression in it. This has not in many ways shaped the way we are going to film our opening sequence simply because we have an order into which we are filming, if we had it in a no logical order this would not make sense to the viewer and cause confusion.

From looking through the history of the comedy genre, it is evident that most of the films in the 2000's are not as popular as those made in earlier generations. To back this view up I did some research about the top grossing comedy films and found that the only film made in the 2000's that made it within the top 10 was Meet The Fockers. The image below shows the comedy genre box office results (It should be noted that by 'comedy' this means the genre alone and not any sub-genres such as social comedy or romantic comedy):

Main post 5a: Macro/micro analysis of an opening sequence from your genre

The first sequence I am going to analyse is 'Hot Fuzz'( Action/Comedy):

Macro

At the beginning, the studio company 'Universal' appears, whilst this is appearing however there is background police siren music in the background. This establishes what the film is going to be based around (the police) to the audience, and this is quite stereotypical of an opening sequence. The narrative throughout is from the point of view of the main policeman who is talking through his achievements and general life. The narrator and policeman themselves are represented in a stereotypical way of what is expected of a policeman. They are portrayed in a strict and professional manner. Due to the many jump-cuts which adds a fast pace, it is soon evident to the audience that the film is going to be of an action, however the comedy elements add to this also.

Micro

In most of the shots, the camera is mainly placed in front of the main character. This makes it more personal to the audience because they can get a sense of who they are and their type of character. In most of the shots at the end, the character makes eye contact with the camera, which is theoretically the audience. This adds to the comedy element of it because it shows he is not serious, this is quite subversive because policeman are usually shown in a serious way, which in this case for the comedy aspect they are not.

The music in the background is of a upbeat and 'jolly' nature, this also adds to the comedy element of it. The editing has made the sequence more into jump-cuts, to show the audience that it is from the past. The producers want to show that what they are seeing is a series of flashbacks, so making the shots jump-cuts makes it more fast pace. However, there is a lack of credits throughout the sequence, which is subversive of an opening sequence. The only credit which did appear was at the beginning with 'Universal pictures present', usually in sequences they usually show the directors and producers names, as well as the characters.

The second sequence I am going to analyse is 'Zombieland'(Horror/Comedy):                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Macro

The narrative seems like it is from the point of view of a bystander, someone who has survived the 'zombie apocalypse'. Throughout the sequence, they are somewhat talking to the audience and telling them what to do to survive, but in a comedic way. Also, certain social groups are portrayed in a certain way. For example,  it claims to be the case that the more overweight people at the 'first ones to die' due to their weight, and this is a conventional representation because stereo typically they are seen to be weak and incapable of doing many things. It is evident from the offset that the genre is of a horror/comedy, this is because at the start it is visible to the audience there is many elements of blood and gore, such as the zombies. However, the producers have made this comedic because of the narrative throughout, they are talking in a conversational and personal way which makes it more engaging and this is an opportunity to establish the genre to the audience.

Micro

At the beginning of the sequence, it seems as if they have used a handheld camera because the shots are very jumpy. Also, most of the shots here from the point of view of either the narrator themselves or of a victim who is witnessing this zombie mayhem. Using point of view shots here makes it more personal from the very start to the audience, they can see what it's like from the victim's view and in some ways be able to understand their emotions and feelings, as if they are the victim themselves. When editing, the producers have used a type of bubble writing when showing the credits, which is very conventional of a film like this. If they used a horror type of writing then this would confuse the audience to whether it is a comedy or horror. Using horror costume and make-up and comedy credits establishes that this is what the genre is.

The editing used throughout are mainly jump-cuts. This makes the sequence more fast paced which gives the idea to the audience that the film itself is going to be action packed and fast itself. As it gets to the mid-point of the sequence, when most of the credits are shown, a heavy metal music starts. This is very conventional of a horror film. There are many special effects used as well , the producers have edited the 'zombies' to look even more gruesome than they actually are. From this, I have a feeling that the film is more on the horror side instead of comedy because it outweighs it.



Main post 5- Title timeline

In our production, we decided that it is going to be a social comedy genre. It will include the contrast of two personalities of the characters, because of this our group decided to look at the opening sequence of 'Starter for 10' and make a timeline from it because it has the same concept we are doing in our production.

'A period comedy set 1985, the story chronicles the adventures of Brian Jackson, student in his first year at Bristol University. A somewhat gekky gifted accumulator of knowledge, Brian has been a fan since childhood of University Challenge. That TV show's famous catchphrase - 'Your starter for 10' - give the film it's title. Soon after arriving at university, he seizes upon the opportunity to join Bristol's University Challenge team. He promptly falls for his glamorous teammate Alice, though he may be more compatible with his Jewish counter-culturalist friend, Rebecca. Additionally, Brian finds himself caught between his new life, amongst the academic university set, and his old, with his working-class family and friends in the seaside town of Southend-on-Sea, Essex.' 

When we were looking at the sequence of this opening, each member of our group was given a different aspect to look at. For instance, one person would look at the pace of it and the camera shots, whilst another person would focus more on the credits of the film. From looking at the timeline we found that overall it used slow jump cuts throughout, and it also focused on one item through all the shots, and this was Brian's suitcase. We concluded that we could perhaps have one aspect which was featured in all the shots, for example a piece of clothing or even something featuring in the background, which could add some mystery.

Main task 4a- Plot Development

This is the timeline for the 'Girl with the dragon tattoo' opening:

Timing        Description

0.07-         'Columbia pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures present'
0.09-         'A Scott Rudin Yellow Bird Production' , in the background appears metal objects/bars.
0.12-         'A David Fincher Film', the background shot of dark black water.
0.15-         'David Craig'
0.18-         'Rooney Mara' background shot of black liquid or water going across the screen.
0.21-         'The girl with the dragon tattoo' appears and black liquid covers this title'
0.24-         'Christopher Plummer' with image of keyboard in background'
0.28-          'Stellan Skarsgard'
0.33-          'Steven Berkoff' image of animated person/manniquen like'
0.36-          'Robin Wright'
0.39-          'Yorick Van Wageningen'
0.41-          Image of something on fire
0.44-          'Joely Richardson' with cables/phone chargers running through it
0.50-          'Geraldine James' lit match falling from above
1.03-          'Goran Visnjic' Wax/manniquen image
1.08-          Image of animated bird on fire
1.14-          'Casting by Laray Mayfield'
1.18-          'Costume designer Trish Summerville' image of person sinking in water
1.23-          'Co-producers  Berna Levin, Eli Bush'
1.38-          'Director of photography, Jeff Cronenweth' with manniquen person being destroyed
2.04-          'Flower growing, surrounded by black liquid'
2.09-          'Screenplay by Steven Zaillian' image of wasp
2.21-          'Directed by David Fincher' images of arms reaching out of water/liquid.

Timeline for our film

Below is the timeline for the opening sequence my group are making. It inclues a detailed description of what is happening at each point in the sequence up to the end which is 1 minute 40 seconds. The description includes mise-en-scene and what camera shots and sizes are used. This can be helpful as a starting point to producing a shot list.

Synopsis

• Title of the film:- School's out
• Genre:- Social comedy
• Target audience:- 12 years old+
• Logline:- 'Two opposite students are tasked with finding the missing people from their school.'
• Full synopsis:- There are two students, both with different personalities and interests, a 'geek' and a 'popular' student who both wake up in school with little regonition of what has just happened. They realise the whole school is missing apart from them two. They both try and find everyone by searching around the school, but they didn't realise that a earthqauke alarm went off. By looking around the school, they are trying to find clues from everyone's whereabouts, along their way they learn about eachother and become closer from this'.
• Opening sequence outline:- It will start off with the students waking up, looking confused to where they are, and they will be shown to get up and leave the classroom, and then go to the previous classroom they were once in.