Jaws-Opening Sequence

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Opening conventions- The opening sequence starts off with the "Universal" ident and then the it then "a Zanack/Brown" production. Then the camera angle is the POV of a shark travelling through the water. The credits are now directly in the middle of the screen and fading out as the shark goes on almost as if the shark is eating up the cast

Narrative Function- There is no narrator in this opening sequence and I think it's better that way as it makes the whole sequence more authentic and the lack of non-diegetic sound makes sure the audience is not taken away from the film. This is key as the suspense needs to built leading up to the shark attack. And hearing a voice over would reduce that impact.

Characters- There are 3 main characters in this sequence. The first two were the boy and girl that run away to the shores from the rest of the group. We know that they are the main characters because the shot stopped moving and focused in on them(the boy especially). The last character is the shark itself  and we never get to see it. This is relevant to the genre as many horror films do no show the "villain" clearly and rely on the audience to build their own perception on how scary the villain actually is.

Film Lang- MES, Cinematography, (Light and Sound)- The lighting is quite low key at the start with the use of natural light coming from the campfire. You can also see the use of a key light to amplify the effect of the natural light . Then a filler light is used to soften the harsh shadows the key light creates. The moment where the girl enters the water the sunset is in clear view which implies that something bad is about to happen. Also the whole colour scheme of the sequence changes into dark colours as they run from the campfire the shore. This again show the impending doom as the dark colours bear the connotation of something bad or mysterious.

Film Lang- Movement, framing, Editing and Sound-  The camera follows the two of them up until the girl gets into the water. This is very important the following of the couple increases the expectation of something happening to them. There are a lot of underwater shots and shark POV shots which puts the viewer in the eye of the shark. The now famous Jaws soundtrack just increases the suspense as the audience knows the girl is going to get attacked.

Opening Sequences-Cleaner

Opening conventions- The film starts off with an indent and then the credits play over the scene. The camera zooms in after every scene change. This entices the audience as there's an element of uncertainty present. The music played is initially is quite demure and morbid. Then the element of contrapuntal music is used when the jazzy tune is played.

Narrative Function-The role of Samuel L Jackson being the narrator is to describe what his is and what is basically going on. On the contrary to the job he is actually supposed to be doing(cleaning up dead bodies) his voice is quite upbeat and cheerful. It's almost as if he is very indifferent to the situation he's in. Which is a quality he needs in a job like this. The interesting part of this narration is that he's reveals as the main character at the opening sequence

Characters- There aren't many characters at all in this opening sequence. We can already see that Samuel L Jackson as the cleaner is obviously the main character. Other than him we can see the woman whose just witnessed her dead in her kitchen. After that there are cameos of dead bodies, funeral attendee etc. Then we see the flabbergasted woman at the end. Samuel L Jackson is supposed to be the narrator but we can see shots of him during the opening sequence as the cleaner. This is non-diegetic sound but at the end of the whole sequence it becomes diegetic as he starts talking to a group of people.

Film Lang- MES, Cinematography, (Light and Sound)-  Throughout the opening sequence the colours primarily used are greys, blues and blacks. These colours are not associated with happiness and positive feelings. But the music and the narrator's voice tone doesn't reflect that. There is hardly any on -screen sound and it's overshadowed by the narrator and the music. This takes the audience away from the scenes and brings the narrator closer to audience.Most of the scenes contain a lot of shadow with a little bit of light. This can emphasis the fact that it's a depressing, demure profession but this film is portraying it in a satire kind of way.

Film Lang- Movement, framing, Editing and Sound-  The camera zooms out throughout nearly every scene, showing a bit more of the surrounding with each zoom. The titles and credits appear on rooftops and on other surfaces. This makes the titles sequence more unique.

Film Schedule

Filming

Initially we had planned a different story to the one we have now. The original story was Jade being alone in the house and then she starts having visions and starts hallucinating. Seeing visions of me and Jess attacking her but it never really happens. We didn't all agree on that story line, so we changed it to something we could agree on. The new story line was Jess being held captured by Jade and I was the secret villain who was in connection with Jade.

The storyboard was devised by all of the group but Jade drew the pictures and wrote.We then organised the schedule .We said we'd film on Sunday the 23rd of January But we weren't all free so, we decided we'd film the week after. We organised the I took the camera, tripod and tapes from Steve. We starting filming at Debden Station on the 1st of Febuary.

Narrative Image notes-1

"How effectively does the opening sequence from 'Children of Men' (2006) use the forms and conventions of film openings? What is your personal response as a member of the audience?"

In Children of Men the director uses key methods and techniques to make sure the opening sequence is effective enough in captivating the audience. Children of Men is a science fiction film released in 2006.It stars Clive Owen and Julianne More. It's loosely based on P.D James Novel "Children of Men". It's set in 2027 London. The basic summary of the plot is every human has become infertile and there are no longer any children being born. No child has been conceived since 2009. This information is revealed in the opening sequence.

In an opening sequence the aim is give a snippet of what the bulk of the storyline will be. But they must never give too much away.  From just the very few seconds of the opening sequence we can see that the world is a dreary, morbid place at the moment. We can see also see that although its set in the future the representation of it is not so far-fetched that the audience wouldn’t be able to relate to it. For example we can see cars, coffee cups and standard police uniform. Most futuristic films feature robots and or incredibly advanced technology. So far we don’t see that in the opening sequence.  Another one of the key components directors use in the opening sequence are references throughout the scene which give the audience a clue in what will happen next.

Firstly the scene starts off with a newscaster broadcasting the news while the audience can only see a blank screen. This creates the effect of confusion. The newscaster mentions that troops are now occupying mosques and the deportation of illegal immigrants will continue. Already the tone is set as negative.  It’s important to make it explicit to the audience from the start what type of genre it is. And this is evident by having the almost “doomsday” like newscast and the dreary tone throughout. People will know it’s a thriller. Next we see Clive Owen barging past some people in the coffee shop. The colours of their attire are dull, mostly composed of greys, and black. When he asks for some coffee we can see the sign “café”. Which shows the words in the future haven’t changed that much as the similarities between culture now and in that future aren’t that far apart.

We next see a news report on the youngest person alive at the time. In this scene we can see policemen, office workers and just normal bystanders. We can here diagetic sound coming from the TV screen and non-diagetic sound which was some ambience like music.  This shows that this must be a really important even if a diverse range of people off the street all submerge into a coffee shop to hear the news. The presence of police officers makes a strong impression that there is impending danger. And that assumption is correct as the POV camera starts to follow Clive Owen out of the coffee shop. The POV follows him for a couple seconds then it slows down and focuses on the surrounding for a moment.

First Initial storyboard