Notion form was made by Zahra and rest is done by Meral Zahid
In order to get more insight about our audience we conducted a survey and sent the link to this notion form to all our family and friends in order to collect the data. Surprisingly, we were able to get 88 responses with our collective effort as a team.
The majority of our participants fell between 16 - 24 years of age who were females (AKA our friends), which is a major bias. The more relevant statistics include the fact that, when asked to select their favorite genres, no participant selected “Film noir” or "Action". Most respondents considered film openings important. Their preferences of different types of film openings were fairly spread out, but the highest frequencies were held by "inciting incident" and "day in the life". The film opening that stood out in any genre's top spot was taken by 3 Idiots (no this is not reference to us and is indeed an amazing film) and me before you that had been repeated in responses in other's there was a common theme of dark cinematic films such of Christopher Nolan's and on the contrary 90s rom com. At least these responses helped me get some recommendations to binge watch during my summer vacation. The best drama film opening award goes to pride and prejudice followed by Enola Holmes and batman. That was not what I had expected, with a few people even forgetting if they ever watched a drama. *inserts crying emoji The statistics show that historical fiction drama is one of the less preferred sub genre of drama to watch. A few selected portion of participants do prefer this sub genre and would most likely be our niche audience who we are targeting with our film.
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Period dramas give viewers a special chance to investigate various times and viewpoints. The genre is broad, encompassing everything from fictional characters living in the past to dramatisations of real people's lives, and even real people appearing in made-up situations. Before the Industrial Revolution, the stories frequently focus on high society or court life in post-medieval Europe. These productions are often targeted primarily to female audiences and feature female protagonists.These aristocratic ladies are commonly depicted in the narratives as they manoeuvre through upper-class society, frequently with themes of romance and adolescence present.
The main audience for historical dramas is females between the ages of 17 and 50. Because it covers such a wide range of topics, this genre has a very wide audience. Historical dramas appeal to a wide range of audiences, in contrast to specialised genres like teen films, because to their diversified casts of characters and storylines. These dramas frequently have romantic plotlines, which adds to their attractiveness to female viewers. These shows frequently include strong female characters, which appeal to the female audience. Like works like "Pride and Prejudice," period dramas frequently include complex plotlines that examine the emotions and feelings of their characters. These stories frequently centre on character interactions, which appeals to female viewers who like love dramas. "Breaking Bad" is a drama, but it doesn't always fit into the period category. The show was initially intended to draw male viewers between the ages of 20 and 49. However, the demographic started to diversify as its popularity increased. Even while the audience is still largely made up of men, the show has been able to pique interest among viewers of all ages. The racial complexities of the story offer still another level of interest. The majority of the audience is represented by the two primary protagonists, who are both white. However, the introduction of various characters, such as those who are Black and Mexican, broadens the appeal to a wider readership. However, not all period dramas cater solely to a female audience. A darker, more violent narrative is presented in shows like "Dorian Grey," and this could appeal to a variety of audiences. In a similar vein, 'Breaking Bad,' though not a historical drama, is renowned for its intense and violent content, standing in sharp contrast to classic period dramas.
Historical drama is a sub genre of drama but has further sub-genres that categorise movies into genres more specifically. We have selected historical drama as our main genre for the film opening. Also known as period films and costume drama, historical drama delves into the past and history of different people, cultures, countries etc. They give us a sense of what the old ages looked like. It includes Historical Romances, Adventure films and Swashbuckler. Swashbuckler, by definition, is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship and many other talents. Talking about the historical accuracy, most historical films constitute a fictionalised narrative of actual historical events and/or people. Famous examples of this are Chernobyl, Les Misérables, Titanic, Apollo 13 and film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays. Films that are known for focusing on the accuracy of the historical events/people are known as docudramas as they are a as precise as it can get representation and most of its parts are factually correct. Period romance,by far, is one of the most famously known genre of historical drama. It takes the audiences into the past love lives and heartbreaks of the previous generations. Pride and Prejudice is the most famous period romance film. An adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the very same name,it successfully shows the Victorian Era of England,which took place in the 19th century. Not only is it about romance between two polar opposite protagonists,its also about the societal values and the status of women in that society. How do historical dramas work? A historical event or person is picked and the events that surround that particular moment in history are studied. A timeline and reaction chain are established to provoke the targeted reaction out of the audience as the film ensues. "Verbal and visual seeds" are planted as references to the facts of the actual event that took place. Verbal seeds can be an accurate quote by a person or an excerpt of the radio news that were announced. Visual seeds are the places where those events took place. In a docudrama about a person,it could be the area where they lived their life or places where events of significant took place. Scriptwriters have the choice to envision real life figures as main characters or fictional. Research on the character is very important as factually inaccuracies are not well received by the audiences. Relationships of the main characters with other supporting characters must be studied to build a narrative as correct as the writer is able to. Part of their significance can be trying to get to know why the protagonist did what they did. Complexities of their relationships adds to the interest of the viewers and makes the movie look more dramatic. Manners of speech of that particular age must be primarily taken into account to make the audience visualise how people talked and behaved. Those patterns can be studied with those of today to distinguish what caused that change. Proper research must be carried out on every element before the production process has started. Setting has the most powerful effect on the viewers as it takes them back to an era in which they didn't exist and help them make a mental picture of that particular time period and place. It could be compared with same time periods and different places to show the disparities of first world and third world countries as well. The genre, Drama, is very diverse and has various types/sub-genres that have more specific types of plots and basis special to each film in that particular sub-genre. These types include: Action Drama: Action drama films tend to have the following elements: dynamic fight scenes, extensive chase scenes, and heart-racing stunts correlated with dramatic story and character arcs. Examples include: Inception, The Matrix, Die Hard and Dune. Crime drama: Crime dramas explore themes of truth, justice, and freedom. Examples of crime dramas include The Godfather, Goodfellas, Chinatown and Pulp Fiction. Drama Thriller: The protagonist is reluctantly drawn into the story as he has to save the world/affected innocent victims from the insane criminal, who has a very dark and secret past. Examples include Se7en, Shutter Island, Black Swan and Zodiac. Fantasy Drama: Eric R. Williams states "the hallmark of fantasy drama films is "a sense of wonderment, typically played out in a visually intense world inhabited by mythic creatures, magic and superhuman characters." The costumes are a depiction of the inner struggles of the main protagonist of the film. Examples of fantasy drama are The Lord Of The Rings series, Life Of Pi and Where The Wild Things Are. Horror Drama: The main characters of the story are isolated from the rest of the world. Horror drama involves very violently graphic scenes and the main characters are killed one by one as everyone tries to save themselves. Examples of this suhgenre are Psycho, The Shining, It, mother! and Hereditary. Life Drama: Also known as Day In The Life, life drama signifies the small events in the main character's life and lifts their importance. The small issues are multiple and overlapping each other making them feel and look so huge. Examples include The Wrestler, Locke and Fruitvale Station. Romantic drama: Romantic drama revolves around the central themes of love and heartbreaks and happy endings. Some of the best romantic dramas include The Notebook,La La Land,Annie Hall and Her. Science Fiction drama: The protagonist and their allies face an unknown threat that could potentially wipe everything off the earth. The threat could be in the form of a very powerful creature or a scientific scenario. Science Fiction includes Arrival, Blade Runner, Metropolis and Blade Runner 2049. War Drama: Based in a war setting, war drama follows a group of people who fight to survive the enemies and there's an expectation that the hero of the film has the power to defeat the enemies even when the opponents are at a greater advantage in weaponry, armed soldiers and overall political scenario. War drama films include Apocalypse Now, Life Is Beautiful, Come And see. Historical Drama: It is also known as period drama and period piece. It focuses on dramatic events in history. Examples include Apollo 13,Schindler's List,Hidden Figures and Dunkirk. Well known screenwriters and directors in this genre: Christopher Nolan: Best known for his excellent,mostly non linear storytelling,Christopher Nolan has directed Dunkirk and Oppenheimer (2023). Vishal Bhardwaj: He has directed some of the most critically acclaimed movies in the history of Indian cinema. Haider,Omkara are the indian version of Shakespeare's plays Hamlet and Othello,also recognised as some of the best movies ever produced by an Indian Director. HISTORICAL DRAMA TROPES/PLOTS:
Slice of life: Slice of life explores the simplicities of life in a specific time period. It shows a bigger picture instead of focusing on a particular aspect such as romance. Examples include Lady Bird,A Very Long Engagement. Family Saga: It focuses on a family or multiple families over a long period. Migration: Moving across a country or to another country for the pursuit of a better life or due to chaos in home country. Examples include Manto,The Immigrant and Eden Is West. Historical taboos: Things that were not considered the norm at that time. Examples include Mississippi Masala,Othello,Haider,Omkara. Revolutions: Also known as social upheavals,they are the movies which constitute of events that changed the course of the history and impacted the future drastically. Examples include A Force More Powerful,Ablaze,Forest Gump,The Bentley Effect. Retelling of a historical figure's life: One of the most famous example is the Imitation Game,which explores the life of a british mathematician,Alan Turing and an element of historical taboo is also shown because of Turing's sexuality. Political Struggle: Tensions between politicians,people in power and governments are shown. Examples are Lincoln,On The Basis Of Sex,The Ides Of March.
Other types of films included in this genre are holocaust films, British Raj films and WW2 films etc. These films focus on the problem faced by the people experiencing an important event in history.
Notes I took: (I had multiple execution ideas for this film opening so the notes are a bit jumbled up)
Dual perspectives besties/friend group/ sisters Inspo: ginny and georgia/ never have i ever/High School(2022) Sound fades out -ms marvel- earphones Parallel stories- intersect- Rush out scene- Edgar wright Girl runs away from home for the first time in hopes of finding herself. (the mc) Confronts her feelings, finds beauty in the mundane and a newfound appreciation for the world. -introspective about life “Sometimes life becomes a little too simple and slowly we start to realize we aren't even living. We run on autopilot living vicariously through stories of others.” For my second idea, I drew inspiration from high school drama shows and brainstormed creative ways to make our film opening stand out, given that typical teen movies tend to be cliché. The idea was to follow the perspective of the main character's best friends instead of the main character herself. We could try to experiment with dual perspectives but I am unsure at the moment as of how that would work. Usually main characters are self absorbed in their own problems and the best friend is the side character purely existing to continue their story. Friendships aren't that simple and perfect, so I want to show that and explore more on how it feels to be a side character in someone else's story since many of us might relate to. The film opening would start with an overhead shot of our main character laying on the grass, with dramatic music playing in the background. This is interrupted by our actual main character the best friend, we initially see an over the shoulder shot of her saying "what are you doing" while smiling as she also lays down on the grass and laughs with her friend. During this we see a establishing shot of them under a huge tree. As she lays down we are back to an over head shot that slowly pans from the main character to the best friend, as it pans to the best friend everything becomes slow-motion, the sound fades out to a cinematic soundtrack and she looks straight into the camera and smiles. "I just hope we could stay like this forever.". This cuts to the sky and our movie title is displayed on a beat, following the beat the subsequent clips are playing as the best friend narrates, "During senior year we have been through a lot together, Zara lost her scholarship to yale, got prom cancelled. Umm..yeah long story. We failed our driving tests, got called to principles office again and again and again, but somehow as always things have gotten better. Kind of." The clips would match the voice over and the music beats and finally there would be a hallway shot of both girls walking towards their class. This voiceover shows how the best friends problems have barely been mentioned. "Sunya, you're mom's calling you." says Zara. Sunya seems zoned out and snaps back into reality by Zara's voice, picking up the call. "Sunya beta(child-in Urdu), I just want to know if you are okay? I can email the school if you want to take some day more off from school" her mom says to her. In post production I'll have to edit the audio to be as if coming from a phone. "No mom, I am fine and anyways I have Zara here with me so don't worry. I am sure dad would have wanted me to stay strong." she says while glancing over to Zara who is already busy with working out her schedule. We see an expression that convey as if she's not sure if Zara is even here with her, it shows hurt and sorrow. The film opening would end at this scene. This film opening shows this strong friendship these two girls have and one of them is grieving her fathers death. Zara seems unaffected by this which is hurting Sunya but she is afraid to also lose her best friend as well. The opening sets up a rift between the two characters, although not verbally but through expression. In beginning, I wanted to deliberately keep the change subtle, losing a best friend through fight is easier but falling apart like this hurts a lot more so I want to capture that. Slowly the story would develop and there willl be fights and drama but for now I am focusing on the film opening. (future Meral: This idea has led our group to agree on further exploring sub genres of Drama to further research on in order to create our film opening) Me and Zahra had decided to take some time and come up with ideas separately so that we could discuss them when we both are available. Confused as to where to look for an idea, I decided to make a mood board comprising of all the different visual styles that inspire me and categorizing them into similar aesthetic groups. This helped me come up with multiple short ideas that could potentially be our film openings. Amongst them one was to film a horror film opening that would be found footage, kind-of like sinister and another was to encapsulate the feeling of loss and depression by showing a girl and how she puts a fake smile on her face to encounter her friends only to come back to isolation exhausted. The second idea did appeal to me to use RGB lighting to visually represent the girls feelings but when discussing with Zahra, she raised a valid point of it requiring extremely good acting to convey such strong emotions and if our actress is unable to do so it might make the whole thing seem a little off. The second mood board is quite rough since its just further narrowing down to the aesthetic once we knew we wanted to incorporate our culture into the storyline. I just took some screenshots from Pasoori MV and Aangan Television-Drama and also added those in here. IDEA#1:
I had been recently re-reading The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes series and it is one of my favorite books of all time. I recently also watched Knives Out and it has a very similar vibe to it, although I am not usually drawn to murder mysteries but it certainly caught my attention. The extravagant set and a story of the rich provides a great escape from reality. I drew inspiration from this, Pinterest and my Dark academia playlist on Spotify to come up with my first complete idea for the film opening. At first I just wrote down some notes and pitched it to my teammate.
NOTES: (I tend to write very short notes to capture the idea swiftly but it usually ends jumbled up so I have explained it further as well) A single wrong decision leaves to death- Start with abstract dark academia footage. Main focus a chess move, hides protagonist only see her from behind in a dress, match on action as she moves around in ordinary clothes holding a book mesmerized by it.
To overcome my creative block I lost all consideration for whether filming this would be feasible or not and just let my imagination flow. Let me explain my vision now.
Characters: Main lead-Emil Friend#1-Sam Friend#2-Sunya The film starts with static shots of objects in a room that are symbols of wealth and a grandfather clock showing hours from 7pm to 12 am, these clips will alternate as Secrets and lies by Ruelle plays in the background. Each shot shows progression of time as the lighting in the room changes from the natural light entering from the window. We see a guy pick up a book (it has no title and seems quite worn out) and so he just casually moves to the second door in the room. As he opens that door we see his silhouette from the other side and the yellow lights in the room illuminating him, as soon as he takes a step forward someone slits his throat and we only see the silhouette of the killer. "No, you can't hide your secret and lies" line in the song aligns with this clip. The song continues with instrumental only and fades into the background as the next scene shows a class room of unamused students as if they were the audience to the previous clip. This contrast of reaction joins the two clips and would help create a smoother transition. The bell rings so everyone gets up and leaves. A tracking back shot of a student is used to lead up to the library. "Emil, do you have any idea how long you guys have been here? You missed English lit class." says Sam not giving Emil a chance to reply. "You have been obsessed over this game for so long, what's so special about it?" It would be an over the shoulder shot showing Sam's face, her opponent and the chess board in front of them. Followed by a extreme close up shot of her moving her pawn to check mate. There are quick shots as the game speeds up after the she brings her queen back to the board and takes the final step to killing the king. During this quickly paced closeup clips of the board and her expression, there are flashes of the unmasked killer slitting the persons throat in first clip. Emil's starts breathing faster and finally takes a big sigh of relief as she ends the game and gets up. " I just needed a break that's all and besides I have already submitted the final essay." Sam sits down and shares a concerned expression with Sunya who had been playing chess with Emil. There is a match on action as she walks out the library door, back to the first scene. We see a POV shot of the killer which shows gloved bloody hands with a corpse in front of them, shaking as they pick up the book lying at the side. As the killer looks up they see a little girl who is scared, she has a great resemblance to Emil. We hear a thud of the book dropping and the screen goes black. We decided to keep the film opening 3 to 4 minutes long, showing sequences of the fictional story’s text to reveal more details about its plot and incomplete sequences of her past to create enigma amongst the audience.
Over the past three months, our AS Media Studies class has delved into the intricacies of textual analysis for film openings and TV series clips. Allowing me to learn more ways to categorize my genres further, as I zigzag through this post (just as the plot Jane the virgin) also allow me to update you so far. We all have formed enough theoretical knowledge of camerawork, sound, narrative, editing, mise-en-scene, and representation in film. Through blogging our film analysis, and our nine-frame research, we have applied our knowledge and sharpened our analytical skills.
As we anticipate resuming classes on 9th Jan, we will be tackling section B of P1 in this upcoming term and hopefully finish our AS blog in time for summer vacations. From betrayals to twitter fights, teaming up for our film project became like hunger games. One by one members dropping dead (by dropping the subject) till the final six were left. Initially, I was part of a group of four and we were getting on pretty well but as soon as I sent my idea in the group they wanted to break the group up. Two of our own group members had been teaming up and that left me and Zahra. In the end I believe it was for the best. I met Zahra on the first day of school in media class and later also I ended up in the same math class as her as well. Since I just recently joined this school for A-levels I didn't know anyone here, we both sat together in class but didn't talk much. Slowly we got used to each others company and started opening up, finding much in common between us. She is the kind of person who would remember the entire cast of any film and has a quite unique taste in movies. Mostly opting to watch movies with an important message. She is a full on literature nerd who writes long essays for her every blog posts and that kinda intimidates me since being a science student I am not used to writing a lot but on the other hand its therapeutic. I am more of a visual person and that really translates in to my love for films. Once we got to discussing ideas for our film opening, we both didn't know where to start. So then our film opening research began.
![]() I don’t like the aesthetic of free guy and that’s what happens when you try to meet deadlines . I spent hours trying to find the perfect film, 9 frames and way to present it so that I could be satisfied with it. I did the entire nine frame analysis again on PowerPoint only to realize it isn’t compatible with Weebly. I’m debating on just posting it as a video on YouTube and embed it because the transitions are smooth and I worked so hard on it. To improve my skills I wanted to find a better video editor (currently using VSDC) and that led to me going down the loop hole of finding every free video editing software, comparing its specs and features. Already tried: Davinci resolve - great for color grading and cinematic editing but it keeps crashing :( VSDC - overall it works well with small projects. Its easy to add effects, luts and to do basic color correction Filmora - simple and easy to use however it had watermarks when I exported the project. I was so disappointed.
We recently just studied about shot types and angles in class and so I made this shot cheat list to come back to and review all the basic shots and their most common use.
Long shots are usually used as establishing shots in order to give the audience a full view of the setting in which the narrative takes place. This builds a connection between the characters and the setting . Full shot allows audience to see how characters express themselves from both facial expressions and body language. Medium shot is most regularly used in movies as it allows both the actor and setting to visible. Close up focuses attention on object or expressions that play important role in the storyline. Film opening include a introduction of the protagonist in a way that communicates their main skills, qualities, quirks, and weaknesses efficiently and visually, alongside we are also introduced to the characters world (location, time period and setting). This usually gives a brief view of how things are before the narrative of the film takes place to compare to afterwards at the end. Film openings use elements of tension and surprise to hook the audience and set the main tone and genre of the film that is followed throughout the film. Lets take a look at two different openings and take a closer look of elements in film openings:
Film openings play a crucial role in shaping audiences first impression, setting the mood and building anticipation for the rest of the movie. In today's world, people have quite a small amount of attention span, so these film openings are a chance for the director to take creative liberty and find ways to engage the audience to gain a positive response. This is often achieved by using techniques of foreshadowing and elements of relatability.
On the contrary, superhero movies have quite an intense starting, such as that of 'The Avengers(2012)'. It is usually in a dark setting which seems to be the villain's lair and suspense builds up adding to the audience's anticipation of the villain, who isn’t shown straight away. We can know from the first minute that this movie is set in an alternate version, featuring alien species and a mysterious cube with magical properties. A glimpse of an army also hints to imminent action. The deep and coarse voiceover adds to the feeling of mystery. These elements, when shown, grasp the attention of audiences with a specific taste for action and sci-fi. They are purposefully not shown in depth but just a few moments to intrigue the viewer. In conclusion, the primary purpose of a film opening is to leave the audience eager to see the rest of the film. If the film manages to excite its audience during its opening it's very likely to be successful and have a better rating since our perception on something is very much affected by its first impression on us.
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