Genre- what types are there?

Films have a certain genre which they can be catagorised by, there are some main genres that then have a lot of sub genres. 

The main genres are explained below with examples:

Adventure/Action- A broad category which can include multiple subgenres such as comedy, comic book, thriller, drama, sci-fi, and martial arts. Some popular Action & adventure movies include the Indiana Jones and James Bond series.

Family- A family film is a film genre that is designed to appeal to a variety of age groups and, thus, families. They include family, kids, infants, toddler, comedy, classics, adventure. Popular family movies include The Wizard of Oz and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Romantic Comedy- Romantic-Comedy is a genre that attempts to catch the viewer’s heart with the combination of love and humor. This subgenre has taken over the box office, and has evolved into its own genre. Popular romantic comedies include Sleepless in Seattle and Pretty Woman

Science Fiction- The science fiction genre, an exciting collection of intellectual and physical adventure, overlaps a great deal with all other genres. Popular sci-fi movies include The Matrix and Jurassic Park.

Horror- Horror film is a genre that aims to create a sense of fear, panic, alarm, and dread for the audience. These films are often unsettling and rely on scaring the audience. They include alien invasions, ghosts, gothic horror, comedy, zombies, monsters, nature gone wild, occult, sci-fi, and supernatural. Popular horror movies include The Thing, and Night of the Living Dead.

Drama- Drama film is a genre that relies on the emotional and relational development of realistic characters. They include heavy subjects like addiction, childhood, adventure, comedy, coming of age, courtoom, crim, family, gangster, medical, melodrama, musical, period, police, presidential, psychological, sports, and tragedy. Popular dramas include The Godfather and Forest Gump.

Comedy- They were originally created to help people forget about their problems, and change the way they see their lives. Comedy movies are available in such subgenres as dramas, thrillers, dark humor, family comedy, heist, horror, military, mockumentarys, romantic, musical, slapstick, spoofs, sports comedy, sketch comedy, among others. Popular comedies range from Classics like the Three Stooges, to comedy spoofs like Scary Movie.

Animation- A popular category for children of all ages. They typically feature popular celebrity voice over work, beautiful artwork, and profound musical scores. Animated movies include Japanese anime, musicals, family, and adult humor. Shows likeSouthPark, Family Guy, and Adult Swim offer animation entertainment for more mature audiences, while Disney & Pixar offer some of today’s children’s favorites.

What Is A Film Opening?

In films, television programs, etc, the opening is shown at the beginning and lists some of the most important members of the production and introduce or give an incite to the main storyline. 

Sometimes they might just be vague clips of video accompanyed by music or VoiceOver or give the introduction to the main character. Openings credits are often included in the opening and are generaly used to identify the major actors and crew. In movies and television, the title and opening credits may be preceded by a "cold open," or teaser (brief scene), that helps to set the stage for the episode or film.

Where opening credits are built in a separate sequence of their own, the correct term is title sequence (such as the familiar James Bond title sequences. A good example of this is Skyfall, shown on the left).

Broken Picture- AS Trial Run

Character Biography- 

Name- Brenden Cross 

Age- 17 in the oppening but flashes back to 8 months with his 2 year old sister. 

Lifestyle- Ran away from home when he found that hi parents were unhappy and wanted a divorce but didnt tell their children because they wanted it to stay a secret until they were old enough and finished education. 

Residency- Ran away from home when he was 14 and now lives in a childrens home. 

Family Life- None, havent seen his family for 3 years but wants to see his sister again. 

Close Friends- Only one friend in the care home with the same life problems and divorced parents. 

Where are they in the first 2 minutes- In the support office of the care home because his partents want to make contact with him again, he has found an old picture when they were happy but it was in pieces, he fixed it with sellotape but when screwed it up again. 

Who Are They With- His personal social worker to discuss his future and his parents making contact. 

Where do they see themseleves in 5 years time- With his sister again but would hope to maybe see his parents again.

Filming & Planning:

The Use Of Narrative

A narrative (or story) is any account of connected events, presented to a reader or listener in a sequence of written or spoken words, or in a sequence of (moving) pictures. In todays lesson we learnt that the use of narration in an oppening of a film can enhance it. The use of a clear voice is very effective and can really help to involve the audience and portray the storyline better. 

 

Morgan Freeman is a good example of a very edffective narratives voice and acting role, here is a video with his to 10 roles which gives examples of his voice:

Is Big Fish a character driven narrative, or does the narrative shapeits characters?

In my opinion I feel that Big Fish is a film that’s narrative is driven by its character. I think that Tim Burton thought of the main character of Edward Bloom and then shaped its narrative around his main personality and character. The story is of an old man who is dying in rural Alabama, his son returns home to see him one final time. He asks his father to tell him the truth behind the elaborate and unlikely stories he has been told since he was a child - but his father insists that every word of his tall tales of circuses, bank robbers, Siamese twins and the main story line of a massive real fish that he once caught.

 The main narratives are: 

•Non-linear narratives – flash backs, flash forwards, dream sequences, alternative “universes”. There are a lot of flash backs that are used for the story’s of Edward Bloom that tell the story to the audience. The use of the dream sequence is also a key part to the ending of the film in which Edwards son finally tells his own story before his father dies. 

•Dual-narrative – two characters “narrate” the story… or two characters show their different perspectives (old and young Edward Bloom). 

•Symbolism: when something gives a larger and more abstract idea/meaning. For example the daffodils above symbolise new beginnings for spring which is what Edward has started) or the attribution of symbolic meaning or character to something. 

•Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to imply a resemblance (e.g. the ‘your quite a catch’ referring to the large fish that Edward says is real and that he caught it). There are a lot of metaphors in the film that help to shape the narrative, the main narrative is driven by the character who wants to people to believe his story’s and his main story of the massive fish in the lake. This idea is repeated throughout the story with metaphors like the quote “truth is I’ve been thirsty my whole life” which is linked to the story of the big fish living in water and this quote links with the fish living in water because its saying the character wants to be the fish a live ‘in a big pond’.

•Lighting, colour and shapes symbolically work to metaphorically convey the themes and ideas of the film via the production design. Most lighting is natural which gives a normal view of the stories and makes them more believable. Before Edward is about to die there is high key artificial lighting that could suggest he is about to be relieved and become free. 

Todorov: 

•Equilibrium- The beginning when Edward Bloom is telling his son his story’s and he is very interested and then the story skips to his son in later life when he is getting married and that his father is still telling the same old story’s and he is now bored of them and realises they are lies and made up. 

•Disrupt- Edwards’s son has now fell out with his father because he thinks he is just telling lies and embarrassing him and his father. This is then disrupted by Edward falling ill and his wife calling his son because she thinks it’s serious. They then talk again, Edward tells the audience and his son’s wife more of his stories and gives his life experiences. 

•Restored- Then Edwards son finds a document and finds a friend from his fathers past and then reveals that not all of Edwards story’s were lies but just changed to make them interesting for him, he finds that his Father helped improve the lives of a lot of people and when returning back to forgive his father properly he finds he has had a stoke and is in hospital. He then speaks with his father before his death and finally tells the last story of his father becoming the fish in the lake that he always used to speak off. This then completes the story with both a happy ending of the father and son becoming happy again and Edward becoming free but sad due to his death.

Propp: 

•Protagonist- Edward Bloom/William Bloom 

•Antagonist- Some friends 

•Heroine- Edwards Wife & eventually freedom 

•Donor- Circus master, tells Edward where to find his wife. 

•Father- Edward to William 

•Helper- Friends (circus, poet, etc) 

To conclude I think that all of these factors contribute towards a large narrative that was driven by the character. The character of Edward Bloom had developed a lot of the metaphors and mise en scene that build the very clever and interesting story lines that work well tougher. The audience is told the whole story first through Edwards’s eyes, which gives the impression that, the narrative is based around this character but then is made more believable and true because of his son that finds the truth. Because of Edwards’s stories the mise en scene is affected like the dark and spooky scene when Edward is going through the woods or the natural scene with the daffodils that has strong feeling and love. This narrative is also affected with the main story of the big fish living in the river that Edward fished in, this story line is brought up through the film with the water/fish related quotes that Edward says like “you’re quite a catch” that then enforces the fish storyline. This could mean that Edward wants to be free and ‘a big fish in a small pond’. Finally I feel that Tim Burton meant for Edward Bloom to shape the narrative based on his character and this is why his character is so strong and clear.

Run Lola Run Analysis

Below is the presentation which myself and Jake gave to the rest of the class. The presentation has two questions for the structure of Run Lola Run.

This is one of the photo montages which the presentation refers to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZueKltTQXOk

Please note to watch the videos in 720p HD so they will be clear and easy to read.