ADULT ROM-COM EG1: Four Weddings And A Funeral

WHAT I ENDED UP APPLYING

• The protagonist being and getting out of bed 
• Added more narrative enigma rather than having them being in the first shot already

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• The protagonist getting out of bed after realising they're late

Four Weddings 

And A Funeral

Mike Newell, 1994

BBFC 15 rating, MPPA R rating

Opening length:

LEAD ACTORS: Hugh Grant
                                 Andie McDowell

GENRE: Romantic comedy (adult)

PRODUCTION C0s: Working Title
                                         Channel 4 Films
                                         PolyGram

DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures

BUDGET: $4.5m = £2.8m

BOX OFFICE: N/A (UK), $52.7m (US), $245.7m (worldwide)

CRITICAL KUDOS:

ROTTEN TOMATOES:  Critics 95%, Audience 74%        IMDb: 8.0/10

From wiki: 

The film was very well received with critics, currently holding a 95% "Certified Fresh" approval on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating, "While frothy to a fault, Four Weddings and a Funeral features irresistibly breezy humor, and winsome performances from Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell."^[6] Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "delightful and sly", and directed with "light-hearted enchantment" by Newell. He praised Grant's performance, describing it as a kind of "endearing awkwardness".^[7]The film had its detractors. Writing for the Chicago Reader, Jonathan Rosenbaum called the film "generic" and "standard issue", stating that the audience shouldn't "expect to remember it ten minutes later".^[8] Time magazine writer Richard Corliss was less scathing, but agreed that it was forgettable, saying that people would "forget all about [the movie] by the time they leave the multiplex," even joking at the end of his review that he had forgotten the film's name.^[9] The character of Carrie was voted one of the most annoying film characters of all time in a British online poll.^[10]

TRAILER:

IDENTS:

Polygram Filmed Entertainment being the most superior here.

TITLES:

Inter-Titles, one on black and one on a cake

Polygram Filmed  Entertainment and Channel Four are the distributors of the film. Working Title is the production company. White serif font on black background. A flower-like emblem. "invite you to" is breaking the convention of neutral writing, and signifies the comedic and absurd nature of the film. The emblem signifies romance. The  of a serious background can be seen as the serious, romantic element of the narrative.

Followed by titles on live action.

THE OPENING SHOT:

...

NARRATIVE, EXPOSITION:

...

MISE-EN-SCENE:

...

EDITING:

...

GENRE SIGNIFIERS:

...

REPRESENTATION:

GENDER: ...

ETHNICITY: ...

SEXUALITY: ...

AGE: ....

CLASS/STATUS: ...

ABILITY/DISABILITY: ....

REGIONAL IDENTITY: ...

NORMATIVE OR COUNTER-HEGEMONIC?

...

SOUNDTRACK:

....

TRANSITION TO MAIN FILM:

....

ADULT ROM-COM EG5 - His Girl Friday

WHAT I ENDED UP APPLYING

• The voices calling across the hall as diegetic sound.

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• The slapstick elements

Bringing Up Baby

Howard Hawks, 1938

BBFC U rating, MPAA Not Rated

Running length of opening: 

LEAD ACTORS: Katharine Hepburn

                                 Cary Grant

GENRE: Screwball comedy 

PROD + DISTR: RKO Radio Pictures

BUDGET: $1.07m

BOX OFFICE: $1.11m

From wiki:

Despite Bringing Up Baby's reputation as a flop, it was successful in some parts of the U.S. The film premiered on February 16, 1938 at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco (where it was a hit), and was also successful in Los Angeles, Portland, Denver, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C.. However, it was a financial disappointment in the Midwest, as well as most other cities in the country, including NYC; to RKO's chagrin, the film's premiere in New York on March 3, 1938 at Radio City Music Hall made only $70,000 and it was pulled after one week^[46] in favor of Jezebel with Bette Davis.^[47]During its first run, Bringing Up Baby made $715,000 in the U.S. and $394,000 in foreign markets for a total of $1,109,000;^[34] its reissue in 1940 and 1941 made an additional $95,000 in the US and $55,000 in foreign markets.^[46] Following its second run, the film made a profit of $163,000.^[34] Due to its perceived failure, Hawks was released early from his two-film contract with RKO^[34]and Gunga Din was eventually directed by George Stevens.^[48] Hawks later said the film "had a great fault and I learned an awful lot from that. There were no normal people in it. Everyone you met was a screwball and since that time I learned my lesson and don't intend ever again to make everybody crazy".^[49] The director went on to work with RKO on three films over the next decade.^[50]Long before Bringing Up Baby's release, Hepburn had been branded "box-office poison" by Harry Brandt (president of the Independent Theatre Owners of America) and thus was allowed to buy out her RKO contract for $22,000.^[51][52] However, many critics marveled at her new skill at low comedy; Life magazine called her "the surprise of the picture".^[53] Hepburn's former boyfriend Howard Hughes bought RKO in 1941, and sold it in 1959; when he sold the company, Hughes retained the copyright to six films (including Bringing Up Baby).^[50]

CRITICAL KUDOS:

ROTTEN TOMATOES:  Critics 95%, Audience 90%        IMDb: 8.0/10

From wiki: 

The film received good advance reviews; Otis Ferguson of The New Republic thought the film very funny, praising Hawks' direction.^[38] Variety praised the film, singling out Hawks' pacing and direction, calling Hepburn's performance "one of her most invigorating screen characterizations" and saying Grant "performs his role to the hilt";^[39] their only criticism was the length of the jail scene.^[40] Film Daily called it "literally a riot from beginning to end, with the laugh total heavy and the action fast."^[41] Harrison's Reports called the film "An excellent farce" with "many situations that provoke hearty laughter,"^[42] and John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote that both stars "manage to be funny" and that Hepburn had never "seemed so good-natured."^[43] However, Frank S. Nugentof the New York Times disliked the film, considering it derivative and cliché-ridden, a rehash of dozens of other screwball comedies of the period. He labeled Hepburn's performance "breathless, senseless, and terribly, terribly fatiguing",^[44] and added, "If you've never been to the movies, Bringing Up Baby will be new to you – a zany-ridden product of the goofy-farce school. But who hasn't been to the movies?"^[45]

TRAILER:



The whole film can be found on Dailymotion here.

SYNPNOSIS:
Classic screwball comedy following palaeontologist David Huxely who is engaged to the dour  and workaholic Alice. He faces a marriage trapped in hard work with little romance, who is determined that their marriage contain "no domestic entanglements of any kind."
He is about to meet a new woman in his life, Alice Swallow, a free-spirited and, possibly pre-cursor of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who will turn his life upside down in the pursuit of a leopard that he has been sent from Brazil.
The opening sequence introduces us to the engaged couple in their place of work.

IDENTS:

One ident for one company responsible for both production and distribution, as was more common in those days, lasting for 15 seconds and then fading in and out to the titles.
It has a signature sound, that of s radio signal, appropriate for its name.

TITLES:

Separate inter-title sequence before the live action starts, which was the norm and convention back then, but can still be seen such as in films like This Is England and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and is still seen after a live action opening sequence in the Bond franchise.

THE OPENING SHOT:

An extreme longshot, an establishing shot which we are going to close in on

NARRATIVE, EXPOSITION:

Instead of a title telling us date and setting, like we sometimes see, mise-en-scène is used to anchor the location.



We get introduced to one of the main two protagonists of the narrative.

TODOROV:
This is an equilibrium, the disruption will happen later with the introduction of 
We are at the same location that the film will end on, when the dinosaur smashes to pieces, so the dinosaur at the moment represents the old equilibrium that must be destroyed for a new one to exist.

MISE-EN-SCÈNE:
For verisimilitude their are multiple scientific objects around the room to connote that this is a place of scientific study.
Huxley is dressed in a typical white garb which a majority of people know, making it one of Barthes's cultural codes.

EDITING:

At the beginning we cross-fade into shots.

GENRE SIGNIFIERS:

Two parts of the love triangle are present here, and conflicts about different opinions on family life.

REPRESENTATION:

GENDER: The female dominant in the relationship here. However the woman is shown as the typical torment for the man.

ETHNICITY: Just Caucasians present, this is pre-Civil Rights Movement.

SEXUALITY: Represents the norm of the time, heteronormativity, homosexuality was a punishable criminal offence.

AGE: This is a film mainly focussing on young middle-aged characters, teens and children are not present in the opening sequence. The old Professor stereotypically stands for intellectuality.

CLASS/STATUS: Middle-class, Alice Swallow has delusions of grander when she reacts to Huxley using the phrase: "I'll knock him over", she responds by saying:

David, no slang, remember who and what you are.

ABILITY/DISABILITY: Able-bodied, no physical or mental disabilities, unless you count the glasses of, which are more there to connote his status as a scientist.

NORMATIVE OR COUNTER-HEGEMONIC?

All in all this is a very typical representation in US cinema of the time, however we do get a more unconventional emasculated male who throughout the film will never be the true strong, masculine action hero.

SOUNDTRACK:

Start off with the first track for the titles from the soundtrack, we then get.
For the discussion between the characters we only get their voices as diegetic sound, with them projecting across the wide space, this adds a sense of realism.

TRANSITION TO MAIN FILM:

There is no sound added, just a cross-fade into the next scene, the change of location is the main transition, the protagonist is now on his journey as Joseph Campbell would say.

TEEN8 - Dazed & Confused

WHAT I ENDED UP APPLYING

• The car driving in, symbol of status 
• Opening sequences mainly consisting of teenagers, 
• The cool hand , realised it reflects some parts of teen culture
• The representation of teenagers in general in my film opening was quite tame in comparison with here, I was constrained in terms of representing nicotine and drug consumption, plus none of my actors smoked, so it would have been not possible for them either. 
• My main female characters went against the gender stereotype of lavish lipstick, with their even being a binary with black lipstick. 

Dazed and Confused 

Richard Linklater, 1993

Length: 

IDENTS:
Universal Pictures with their signature sound.

Gramercy Pictures ident, reflects their status that they are shown while Alphaville and Detour Filmproduction are not included. 



TITLES:
All the titles are white serif, with all lower-case apart from capital letters, no words are fully upper-case.
First three titles are white on balk 
Gramercy Pictures Presents
An Alphaville Production, In Association with Detour Filmproduction

Dazed and Confused


THE OPENING SHOT:
We get a tracking shot

NARRATIVE, EXPOSITION:
We close-in on inside the car, with an extreme-close-up of a cigarette being licked.
We are then introduced to the multiple students in groups

EDITING:
All the different groups are shot in a single take, the camera remains static after the opening tracking shot.

GENRE SIGNIFIERS
AGE: We only get teenagers in this opening, and they are smoking, rebelling against laws.

GENDER: Lipstick in second shot, promotes traditional gender image of beauty, women's body is for display.


SOUNDTRACK:
UGC Soundtrack on Spotify, including the songs excluded from the official so

...

Name of a magazine

Opening EG5 - The Danish Girl

WHAT I ENDED UP APPLYING

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE

The Danish Girl

Tom Hopper (2015)

BBFC 15, MPAA R

Running time of the opening sequence: 4:00 mins 

Lead actors: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander

Genre: Period drama

Budget: $m
UK/US/World Box Office: £k, $k, £k. 

Production co's:  
Production financing:   
UK, US theatrical distributors: Universal 
 
LINKS: IMDB; RottenTomatoes  BoxOfficeMojo; The-  Numbers; Wiki; Official site/page; Facebook; Twitter

TRAILER

IDENTS:

Two idents: Universal and vertically integrated subsidiary Working Title, as is always the case for Working Title their ident is dubbed over with diegetic sound, however in this case Universal also have been dubbed (has been done, as I saw in Shaun Of The Dead for example, and has been done in early examples such as The Breakfast Club). Pretty Pictures along with other companies's idents are not present. 

A landscape/extreme longshot

....

The rule of thirds is applied, background is in shallow focus. This anchors her as an important character, and without any foreknowledge of the film, one could immediately connote that she is the protagonist, the Danish Girl. 

The time and location is given through a white caption in white upper-case letters. Again reflection, connoting the theme of artistic expressionism.

...
ONE OR TWO PROTAGONISTS?
From the editing it appears that we are following a couple. It is not quite clear, for we follow the two home together, we see them in bed together. Following the husband eventually signifies that he is the main character overall of the narrative.
The actress Alicia Vikander was nominated for and won (ceremony) the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, there was some controversy that she hadn't been nominated for the Best Actress category.

SOUNDTRACK:
The diegetic sound of water and rushing wind is soon added to the incidental non-diegetic sound.

This, like Psycho, only consists of incidental music, unlike historical films of more recent times like This Is England ,there is no music of the time to play alongside the film. The classical-like soundtrack fits the melancholic atmosphere of the film.

First 5 Shots #2 - Bridget Jones's Baby

WHAT I ENDED UP APPLYING

• I

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE

• The

TITLE

Director, 2009

PRODUCTION COMPANIES: BBC Films, 
                                                 UK Film Council,
                                                 Aramid Entertainment

DISTRIBUTOR: Universal (US)
                          Optimum Releasing (UK)

GENRE: Political satire 
               (subgenre of comedy)

LEAD ACTORS: Peter Capaldi

                            Tom Hollander

                            Chris Addison

                            Gina McKee

                            James Gandolfini

BBFC:  15                 MPAA: Not Rated

BUDGET: £612k       
BOX OFFICE: $3.5m (UK) $2.4m (US) $7.8m (worldwide)


CRITICAL KUDOS

ROTTING TOMATOES: 94%                     IDMb: 7.5/10

REVIEWS (from wiki)

A full list of reviews listed on IDMb here.

TRAILERS:

...

SYNPNOSIS:

...

SHOT 1

Medium longshot, immediate exposition of the protagonist, no narrative enigma (very brief the snow blocks some of her). Very little information is withheld, she's English, she's RP/middle-class connotations, she's a spinster. Sexuality not known yet, could be that she prefers women but highly unlikely. In background too couples. This creates a binary opposition, forever single/happy together. The whole plot of the film is to get her married to "Mr Right", and in the context of the whole. 

SHOT 2

Disolving transition into an extreme longshot of the snowy landscape a

SHOT 3

Panning shot to reveal cottage-like home. To signify her feeling of discomfort, dreaded anticipation of returning home?

SHOT 4

A woman is answering the door. This is counter-hegemonic in terms of patriarchic. However they seem to soon break the Bechdel Test by talking about a man.

SHOT 5

This is both a high and a dutch (also known as canted) angle, we still see no father or other male figure near the door, can be read as non-normative and counter hegemonic. Wealth is signified, along with the RP-accent this anchors a middle class family.