Opening Sequence Analysis, The Hangover.

I have chosen the opening sequence from "The Hangover".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKtHA8EFgIo&feature=related

This opening sequence is from our chosen genre, Comedy.

The sequence starts with non diegetic music being played in the background, and there is a removal van outside a house. This symbolises that one of the charaters that we are going to see in the film may be moving house at the beginning of the film, and this could set the plot for the rest of the film. After this we see that the house is actually being turned into a wedding venue as we get a close up and establishing shot of a wedding cake and the house being turned into a wedding venue, ready for a wedding ceremony to take place.

Already, we have established a place and time. We know the time and place as there are establishing shots within the first few seconds of the sequence. We can see that it in a typical housing estate in America with hot, sunny weather, so we can have a good guess at it being summer. We see a shot of what looks to be like a removal van, which poses questions to the audience, and we see the house in the background which looks very pretty and decorated. The audience would be thinking that maybe a main character is moving house. Next we see an establishing shot of a wedding cake, this immediatley makes the audience realise a wedding is going to take place. Next, we get introduced to a main character, Tracy. The audience can immediatley recognise her as the bride. We know this as she is sat in her gown ready to have her make up done with the rest of her family, this would generally happen at any wedding that takes place.

The opening sequence also sets up the audiences expectations. We can see that there is a wedding set to take place and where abouts it will take place. We can tell this because we see shots of lots of people preparing for a wedding, for example, there are chairs being set out, and flowers being arranged, all of which happen at a typical wedding. In the first 20 seconds of the opening sequence, we see an establishing character, Tracy who is set to get married to another main character, Doug.

Already, we have been set enigmas that we want answered. For example, already the audience will be asking themselves if Doug's friends will find him, and they will also ask themselves if the wedding will take place.This involves the audience in the film, and makes them want to watch more to find the answers to their questions. this also makes the film more enjoyable for the audience. In the opening sequence, when Tracy is on the phone to Phil we get set a theme. We understand that the 4 men have been out on a night out before the wedding, and as we also know that the film is titled "The Hangover" we ask ourselves if the fact they cant find their friend has anything to do with the party the night before, this also makes the audience want to watch more and find out more.

Feedback 27.1.11

Well done lads, you are making good progress here. Please divide up the research tasks and wok through them as homework. See me if you need explanation for any of them. You also need to each label the posts you've worked on. I have to mark you individually for your contributions to reasearch and planning so I should see some individual as well as group posts.
Keep up the hard work!
Mrs A

Preliminary Task

The task is to name the top 20 films of all time from your chosen genre. Also i have to name the top 20 films of all time and how many of them qualify for your chosen genre.

	Released	Film Name	Total Box Office
1	2009	Avatar	$760,507,625
2	1997	Titanic	$600,788,188
3	2008	The Dark Knight	$533,345,358
4	1977	Star Wars Ep. IV: A New Hope	$460,998,007
5	2004	Shrek 2	$441,226,247
6	1982	ET: The Extra-Terrestrial	$435,110,554
7	1999	Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace	$431,088,297
8	2006	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	$423,315,812
9	2010	Toy Story 3	$414,984,497
10	2002	Spider-Man	$403,706,375
11	2009	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	$402,111,870
12	2005	Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith	$380,270,577
13	2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	$377,027,325
14	2004	Spider-Man 2	$373,524,485
15	2004	The Passion of the Christ	$370,782,930
16	1993	Jurassic Park	$357,067,947
17	2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	$341,784,377
18	2003	Finding Nemo	$339,714,978
19	2007	Spider-Man 3	$336,530,303
20	2010	Alice in Wonderland	$334,191,110

 These are the top 20 films of all time, according to how much revenue they have brought in. Our chosen genre is comedy, and as you can see, none of these films are of the comedy genre.

Preliminary task

The first ever production from JRC films, REALLY COOKY FILM. We were commissioned to create a preliminary task, which was a continuity sequence including filming and editing characters. The tasks we were set to film were:

- Opening a door
- A shot reverse shot
- Good use of the 180 degree rule

The genre of our preliminary task is a Thriller which a comedy twist towards the end.  The use of a thriller genre was by using black and white effects which is a typical effect used on horror films such as the 60's phenomenon, "Psycho". We tried to create a tense mood in the film by using eerie music and the sounds of a ticking clock to represent that the victims time is up. The heart beat is there simply to add dramatic effect for the audience and add to the tension of the sequence. The violin drone and the heart beat combined add to the thriller genre which is shown in the drama series "Jeckyl". Also, the sound effects such as the creaking door also adds to the tension of the film.

There is a juxtaposition in this film with the two selected genres being opposites, the change in genre happens when the presumed stalker bursts into the room but with a friendly manner. The change of attitude is also shown with the switch from black and white to colour. This represents a change from a tense atmosphere to a relaxed one. The audience will realise this change and will feel more comfortable and understand the joke. The use of colloquial language "oreyt lad!" instantly adds a friendly, amusing tone to the film. The music also stops meaning the eerie atmosphere stops allowing the amusement to ensue.

We believed that the film went swimmingly for our first ever production and we are very pleased with the final outcome. However we believe that there would be a need of polishing up the camera angles and a more flowing mood to the editing.

JRC.

Conventions of an opening sequence-

The opening sequence of a film can be the most important part. There are certain forms and expectations in a film that are needed to be followed; the first element of an opening sequence is to reassure the audience by demonstrating the conventions of the chosen genre. The audience will need to be reassured that they are watching the right genre that they have payed to watch, this is done by the uses of  mise en scene, for example if the film was of a horror genre you would expect to see blood, weapons and items that would scare the audience. Locations need to be represented to the specific genre for example crime genres with the bad guys usually in warehouses or the good people being police and in police stations or at the crime scenes. The cinematic style will also be subconsciously reassuring the audience and this can be represented in horror films with bad guys represented with a low angle shot to show their superiority compared to the innocent victims usually depicted with high angle shots to show their vulnerability and innocence. Editing can also be a part of the reassurance with fast paced editing normal to action genres in chase scenes. Secondly the opening sequence must set up audience expectations for example in plot and media language, looking specifically at media language in a gangster genre film, a gangster that speaks in good English and not the usual colloquial language that consists of swearing would puzzle the audience and would not be there expectations . SFX are also usually expected for big budget films and action films like in Batman were there are explosions and special effects. Thirdly there will be an Introduction and establishing of characters and usually the main character. The character ideologies and their personality may also be shown to give their view on the events that will be presented, this would be shown in action films with the main characters being strong and having deep voices making the audience believe in their ability and no false hope. The main characters are usually shown to help the audience assert what side they are on. Fourthly, Enigmas drive the films forward and make the audience more intrigued in the film; enigmas are usually set up in the opening sequence to make the audience hooked on wanting to know the answers and this will make them want to watch the rest of the film. Like in crime films their maybe a murder and the enigmas are who killed them and how were they were killed which the audience want to know. Fifthly an initial equilibrium in the opening sequence will be shown and this will be indicating that at some point later in the film their will be disruption or disruption could also be shown at the start too. There will also be an introduction of any themes and motifs linked with to the ideologies in the film. Finally there will be an establishing of space and time. This can be done in numerous ways such as establishing shots of the area that the film is based on, there could also be a caption telling the audience of the place name of the area were the story is, or for example period genres show the date that the film is set and there could also be a voice over that is present in fantasy films with the voice over saying such things as “In a land far, far away” like in the film Shrek.

Initial ideas-

Our initial ideas for the first JRC production are to create an opening sequence for a new light hearted comedy motion picture. We intend to bring popular, often used subjects of comedies into our own film and add our own personal JRC twist to the final product. Examples of these things are geeky things like fantasy and computer games as they are often featured in comedy films. Films that have inspired us are Superbad, hot rod, role models and kick ass. The opening sequence basically consists of a training montage (with music). A geek begins to train up for something which we are not entirely sure of, hilarity ensues. The fast cut shots of a loveable geek doing rigorous exercise routines are sure to crack the audience up. The irony of a geek trying to work out is always a hit as it contradicts the traditional stereotype of the character of a geek. When we think of exercise and workout routines we automatically think of big, muscular, masculine men and not of a small, weak, snot nosed, fantasy obsessive.  Because of this juxtaposition, the audience will automatically see the humour and realise the aim of the joke. We hope to be successful in the production of our film and also hope to develop our ideas further to create a side splittingly good motion picture.

Greetings Earthlings!

Good Morrow from JRC!