Narrative Structure

In this piece of research i have aimed to identify what makes certain opening sequences so successfully engaging. This is a vital part of a film that needs to be delivered to full effect in order to entice the target audiences to watch the whole film. Therefore, from the narrative structure in particular, it is very important that the audiences are engaged almost immediately from the start of the opening sequence. Furthermore, i hope that this specific part of my research will broaden my knowledge of how to construct a narrative structure in my own opening sequence so when it comes to producing my own piece of practical work i will be able to apply this appropriately. 

Learning Comment: From this particular piece of research i have identified certain conventions that are key to opening sequence's establishing of a narrative structure. This includes the clear indication of an equilibrium ('normality') as well as a slight hint at a disruption of this equilibrium through the use of several character types. i clearly saw this in the opening of Ferris Bueller's Day Off where Ferris was clearly portrayed as a 'hero' with the introduction of his sister who was being shown as the 'villain' due to her attempt of blocking Ferris' motive. As a result of this, it gave us a clear indication that there was going to be problems throughout the film - resulting in the audience wanting to carry on watching the film so they can see what issues arise for Ferris thus making this particular opening sequence successful due to the clear establishment of the narrative structure. 

Audience Research

In this piece of research we designed a survey with several questions to get a broader knowledge of what audiences actually liked in an opening sequence. As well as this, we looked at specific films in-depth to find out more about their respective awards and grossing statistics. Most importantly, we interviewed two different demographics to get a better idea of what the two demographics liked and what they disliked in comparison to each other.


http://www.slideshare.net/Chambers03/clipboards/my-clips - Please view PowerPoint presentation of our survey responses here.

The first demographic we interviewed was 50-75. The reason we chose to interview this age range was due to the fact that this demographic might not be able to access the media platforms we put our survey on thus not having a clear idea of the opinions on this demographic. Therefore, by doing this, we have a broader knowledge of what this demographic values as a effective opening sequence.



The second demographic we interviewed was 12-17year olds. The reason we did this was to get a better idea as to what is an effective opening sequence for them. In particular, we interviewed a male due to the fact that we are likely to use a male protagonist in our film. This is because from our survey we found that the majority of under 16's enjoyed watching films with action which is usually containing a male. As a result, interviewing a male gave us a better idea as to what would make an opening sequence engaging for him. And, most importantly, why he watched his favourite films. This means that we will aim to engage this particular demographic in order to get a high audience numbers.

  

Several statistics on successful films

From this research we have found how certain films have be critically acclaimed for their productions. Furthermore, we have seen how it is possible to work from a relatively small budget but still achieve huge profits. This has helped us in our research because we now know that it is possible for us to make a successful film even with our limited resources.




Learning comment: In this piece of research i have discovered how important it is to understand the audience you are wanting to engage in your film. The production of a film is based on what the majority of the target audience feels is most engaging for them in an opening sequence. For example, in our survey we found that the vast majority of males under 16 were engaged through the use of one main character. Therefore, if we aim to engage this demographic we will try to use one main protagonist in order to engage this audience right. Moreover, through interviewing two different demographics, we made explicit links between their similarities and differences of what they like to see in an opening sequence. For example, they both enjoyed watching films in home comfort (DVD), however, the younger demographic preferred watching action films compared to the older demographic preferring films with a more meaningful narrative. Having considered these responses, we will attempt to include these preferences in our opening sequence in order to effectively engage our target demographic.

Previous Students' Work

In this piece of research i picked out two students' work done from past years to give me some ideas as to how I should create my opening sequence and which techniques I have found to be effective. In addition, this task should also be able to give an insight as to what i should be aiming to create in my opening sequence.

The Edge

Grading: In my opinion, The Edge was an A Grade piece of work. I have judged it at this level due to the fact that it includes fundamental aspects that this standard of work should entail. This included, great variety in shots as well as demonstrating a clear and high level of creativity throughout the sequence. Above all, I thought the use of typography in this sequence was particularly effective and thus resulting in a high grade. In contrast, I thought the trailer for Revenge was at a much lower grade of C/D. I believed it to be on the boundary of these two grades due to the fact that the creativity shown is very basic. In addition, I thought they struggled to highlight key conventions of their film genre (horror) in the opening sequence. Most importantly, the use of ICT was limited in this sequence which made it very difficult to achieve a high grade like The Edge.

Learning comment: From this particular piece of research i have developed my ideas on how to shoot my own opening sequence. This is through the careful consideration of things such as camera shots/techniques as well as use of sound - which i have identified as being crucial to a successful opening sequence through the research during this task. In addition, i feel that this research has given me the opportunity to discover what other A Level students have produced and how they have been graded. This has been of great help to me because i am now aware of how to achieve a high grade in this practical aspect of my coursework. Above all, I found it very helpful how I was grading these pieces myself. This helped because it allowed me to understand how higher grades are achieved  and will allow me to think about what I need to include in my opening sequence to try and achieve a high grade.

Title Research

Learning comment: From this piece of research i have learnt how crucial typography is to the production of a successful opening sequence. As a result of this i will spend great amounts of time making sure i am choosing the most suitable, and more importantly the most effective, font type and colours. In reference to successful opening sequences i have analysed, i have particularly noticed how important the order of text is in showing how important specific people are in the production of the film. For example, the directors name is mentioned last in all of the opening sequences i have looked at. Therefore, i can identify this as a key conventions of opening sequences. Moreover, i have noticed how important it is to have the same font type throughout the whole duration of an opening sequence. I think this because it gives the film a clear identity and allows audiences to link the specific font to the individual opening sequence.