The impact of technological convergence
on the film industry.
Technological convergence has impacted
the film industry to a large extent. The new technology means that the film
industry can be advertised in all forms and to almost every audience. The use
of social media websites and advertisements within technology help attract the
attention of a wide range of audiences and helps the film industry grow.
Films such as Skyfall used technological
convergence to its advantage by using different methods of advertisement. For
example Skyfall had a twitter page, a website, had its own brand of aftershave
and more. These products promoted the film to wide range of audiences.
Crime
My movie has many aspects of the crime genre. Examples of films that are in the crime genre are:
The Godfather
Snatch
Goodfellas
Pulp Fiction
Scarface
The Usual Suspects
Aspects of this genre, which I have replicated in my opening sequence include:
These films are based on a criminal organisation and focus on different characters of this organisation, focusing on the hierarchy and greed within the organisation.
The characters in this genre wear suits, which show the professionalism and seriousness of the characters.
Films in this genre often include meetings in quiet places to avoid suspicion and attention of the criminal activities taking place.
Aggressive behaviour from characters with authority.
Themes of loyalty and respect (shown through the attitude towards Big Jon).
Name of Set Designer, Costume Designer, Hairdresser, Make-up Artist, Visual Effects Director
Name of Editor
Name of Director of Photography
Name of Producer
Spider-man 3
In this opening title sequence as well as recapping the events of the previous film, the titles introduce the cast of the film. The titles also involves animation of the venom symbiote invading the screen, which fans of the spider-man comics would know, represents the fall of spider-man which is shown later in the film. The sequence also uses colour to its advantage, with the black symbiote, taking over the white webs, which represent evil taking over.
Catch me if you can
The sequence sums up the plot of the entire movie through its use of animation and credits. The animation of credits attract the viewers attention and keep them interested. The credits become part of the environment, with people walking into and hiding behind the credits, which shows the theme of the movie which is of escape and hiding. The opening credits tell the audience what to expect for the rest of the film through the animation of the text and the animation used.
Snatch
In the opening sequence of Snatch, rather than display the credits in conventional order and fashion, the credits tell the audience of the characters names. This suggests that the characters have a more personal role than most characters do in other films, or that all of the characters are important and deserve their own credit. As the text comes up, the screen changes colour for each character, showing their individuality. The font appears as if it has been stamped on the screen, which conveys the theme of their being an aggressive attitude, which will be shown throughout the rest of the film.
What happens? The sequence focuses on all the characters and cuts between them with .... editing. The characters names are introduced through the credits. The tempo if the introduction is fast, indicating to the audience what the rest of the films tempo will be like. The fast cuts and aggressive nature of the characters builds tension. The themes shown in the opening scenes convey a theme of greed, gambling, violence and anger, a theme which runs throughout the rest of the film. I wanted my opening sequence to match the tempo and have all the themes conveyed throughout.
How is it similar? The genre of the film is crime-comedy, similar to my film. Different characters are introduced at a fast pace, with each of the characters being in different surroundings. The cuts are fast, which build suspense and tension and bring the reader in, as well as show the characters to be interesting. One of the characters introduced in my opening sequence, 'Brick Top' was an inspiration for the character of 'Big Jon'. In the opening Brick Top shows his authority and his violence is shown immediately, as the first thing that the audience can see is him hitting someone with a hammer. Immediately after seeing this the viewer is shocked and it can be seen that the character of Brick Top has authority. I tried to do show the authority of 'Big Jon' by making him boss a minor character around, again to show that he has dominance.
The Godfather
What happens? In the opening scene the character of 'Vito Corleone', the Godfather, is introduced as well as Amerigo Bonasera. Bonasera, a minor character in the film, is pleading to Corleone for him to do him a favor. After begging, Don Corleone agrees to help Bonasera with his problem regarding two men who were not punished for a crime they committed.
How is it similar? Through the use of dialogue and close ups in the shots, Corleone is shown to have a great presence of authority, I tried to replicate this with the character of 'Big Jon'. For example I have shown the character 'Big Jon' to have authority over all of the characters by close ups and the reaction of characters towards him, however the character 'Big Jon' is less patient and more aggressive than the character of Don Corleone.
The Dark Knight
What happens? The opening sequence starts off at a fast pace and is filled with action, the scene is a bank heist. Throughout the opening sequences there are many unexpected deaths and a plot twist at the end. These unexpected deaths and plot twists unnerve the audience and leave them in anticipation of what will happen and draws the viewer by the suspense throughout the rest of the film. A theme of hierarchy and loyalty are shown by the betrayals and backstabbing, which occur commonly in the sequence, which lead to the audience doubting all of the characters loyalty for the remainder of the film.
How is it similar? Both sequences introduce characters who are partaking in criminal activities and contain a plot twist in the end. However in this sequence more action takes place and characters are killed off throughout the opening sequence, again mirroring the film; the more the film progresses the more deaths there are. A theme of hierarchy and loyalty are shown in this sequence as are shown in our opening sequence.
The music in this opening sequence is Dean Martins 'your nobody till somebody loves you'. The song choice emphasizes the movies theme of the 1990's swing revival and sets the tone for the rest of the film. As well as setting the tone for the rest of the movie, the song has meaning and the lyrics of the song sum up what the movie is about and it is only after watching the movie, where we can see this, adding to the replay value. There are also no moving images in the background, which emphasizes the importance of the song.
Goodfellas
In this opening sequence as well as take the audience back to the time in which the movie is set in, the song 'rags to riches' describes Henry Hill, the protagonists hopes of becoming a 'gangster'. The song helps create a positive atmosphere, which contrasts with the previous scene, where murder and violence are shown. The optimistic nature of the song fits in well with the opening sequence overall and helps with the overall theme of the movie.
Live and Let Die
The title song for live and let die creates a tense atmosphere through the use of an orchestra, which comes at the audience in bursts and surprises them and sets them up for the rest of the film. The pyrotechnic explosions during the climactic moments of the song mirror the events of the film and let the viewer know what to expect.
