LF:Powerpoint Research Task 3: Genre

Media Genre

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James/Luka

I am happy with your choice of theme however looking at the films you are researching, boxing films themselves are not actually teen dramas; often protagonists are adults. Therefore it seems that your film's genre will be a hybrid of a teen boxing film; following conventions of both the boxing narrative arch, with stock characters and themes also explored in teen drama (mentor, teen, binary opposition with parent/teen etc.) You will need to consider genre along those lines and present tomorrow showing how your film will cross over these two genres.
Be careful labelling posts with films like 'Raging Bull' as Teen Drama as this is incorrect.

Group: Thriller/Sport Timeline

Raging Bull (Scorcese, 1980)

• Raging bull was first screened in 1980 in black and white; it follows the stock plot of a working class masculine man becoming extremely successful inside the ring; however it also covers issues outside the ring where he struggles to control his emotions when it comes to relationships and his family.

• I feel as though Raging Bull started a long list of films that follows a similar plot of the protagonist prevailing at the end of the film. The genre appeals to a large audience and I feel must have influenced the creation of other successful boxing related films such as the rocky series.

• I feel Robert De Nero plays a very good role through out the film of being a tough American/Italian fighter in which the general public can relate to as he portrays certain heroic characteristics whilst boxing.

Group: Thriller Timeline

Fight Club (1999), Genre: Thriller

Fight Club is an American based film, where Edward Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job in American society. He sets up a fight club, where he builds up different levels of relationships. The unnamed protagonist gives the film an on the edge feel, and also introduces the overlapping from the original sport theme, in to a thriller.

The setting of all of the clips we have reviewed all have a similar urban/crime feel to them with an old school look, which we will need to establish to get across the main theme and style to our opening.

Group: Sport/Thriller Timeline

Ali (Michael Mann, 2001)

• The film Ali is a film created resembling the life of one of the greatest boxers of all time Muhammad Ali, Will Smith plays the main role in the film attracting a large amount of viewers.

• Some of the shots used throughout the clip have given us some great ideas, for instance the POV shot of Ali hitting the speed bad is a very well constructed shot and we believe we can create a similar effect.

• All of these films seem to have similar themes that are conventional to thrillers/sport genre. For instance the urban background and the run down boxing gym are all present, therefore I feel as though are stock location should be in similar environment.

Group: Thriller/Sport Timeline

Million Dollar Baby (Eastwood, 2004)

Million Dollar Baby brings an emotional twist to it, along with the usual boxing theme and conventions. The idea of an underdog building up through the ranks to the top, is an idea we can relate to, especially with the films good use of montage editing to portray the time difference, which we could integrate in to our sequence.Furthermore Million Dollar Baby approaches the sport genre from a slightly different angle using a woman as the main protagonist. In doing so it breaks the stereotypical mould of only male actors playing the main role in a boxing related film.

Group: Thriller/Sport Timeline

The Fighter (Russell, 2010)

The fighter is a very recent film which we have looked at, and are very excited to go and watch in the near future. From watching the trailers we can immediately see a great connection between our idea, and the layout to this film, especially with the boxing context, and the conventions used, such as the training gym.

Group: Selected Genre

Luca and I have come to a joint decision on our selected genre being a‘thriller'. I feel we can draw parallels between a thriller and sport to create a very successful opening clip. In other successful thrillers such as Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the Dark Knight there have been combat related themes that add to the film.

J.I - Teen drama, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Wright, 2010)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a teen drama with a sub genre of comedy. The films about a young musician, Scott Pilgrim, who's met the girl of his dreams, however he realises there's going to be a few obstacles for him to overcome before he can have her.

Straight from the beginning the audience are situated with the young genre entertainment, with the Universal sequence theme tune being altered by a keyboard to an alien type, electronic theme tune.

The text which establishes the opening to the scene along with the dialogue over the top, is a technique which is used regularly when relating to a teen genre as it creates a sensation of personal thoughts, which teenagers can relate to.

The kitchen scene allows the audience to establish the characters within the film and the different character personalities, this is reinforced by the simplistic pop up of text with details of the characters. This is used within this genre to set out a clear characterization of them from the beginning, as this plays a big role in the plot to teen genres to get a real understanding of their behaviour.

Text is also used to present some basic words when the digetic sound is heard. This adds to sub genre of the comedy, however relates to the teen genre, with the basic text appealing to the teens as a comic strip type layout.

The music used is also targeted towards a teen genre, with a rock and roll type style which connotes a rebellious, daring character, which a lot of teenagers idolise to be.

LF:Genre Research: The Dark Knight- Thriller

Director: Christopher Nolan

Genre: Crime, Thriller

• As soon as the clip begins the protagonists are established through the use of costume. The masks create a sense of insecurity for the audience and immediately create some thought patterns. Furthermore the audience is then positioned with the villains and there is an emphasis put on makeup. I feel if we were to make a thriller makeup could become very effective as it can be used to hide someone’s identity increasing tension.

• The music used throughout the scene increases tension and adds a certain aspect of excitement, when the first robber gets shot the beat picks up and so does the rate of editing.

• The location used is a classic bank robbery; however there are certain twists throughout the plot elaborating on the joker’s wicked ways. For instance they are all smartly dressed in an unusual purple suit which suggests that the joker is bordering on insane. As the clip progresses through the use of dialogue the audience can interpret the joker’s ability to manipulate peoples. If we can use a similar effect and spend a lot of time thinking about the script I feel we can create an image of a stereo typical villain on how he can use other people to do the dirty work.



J.I - Horror, The Exorcism of Emily Rose (Derrickson, 2005)

This film is an American Horror film which is based on the story of Anneliese Michel, and follows a self-proclaimed agnostic defensive lawyer who is defending a priest, on the charge of negligent homicide after he recently performed an exorcism.

The opening of the sequence begins with just a black out screen with the use of digetic sounds in the background to add suspense from the start. The loud noices of crows immidiately add an eerieness to the clip, with them having a screaming like sound. The scream of "Emily" connotes something bad has happened, along with the desperation in the voice.

The title sequence in red connotes blood, and horror which is emphasised with the use of barbed wire surrounding the words, suggesting a feeling of entrapment within the storyline of the film.

The use of location is also an iconic recognizable feature within a horror film, an old looking house with no surroundings, giving a situation which anything could happen, with no one knowing. The use of lighting also backs this up with real dull, dark lighting, suggesting there is no joy what so ever. The low key tone of music goes along with the setting adding a sense of mystery.

The sound of digetic footsteps used in the opening blocks out all over sound, making the audience focused on this persons movement, who however we still don't know who is. Also the movement of the camera following the character, is a common technique used within horror films, to put the audience in this characters point of view, and experience the tension.

The camera shot from a low angle up at the window of the house, revealing the eerie character from behind the curtain, gives the audience the impression that something isn't quite right, and that he has something to hide, which they will discover through watching the film. This sets up the audience to be on the edge of their seat for the remainder of the film, which is crucial in a successful horror.

LF:Million Dollar Baby training scene (2004)

Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Sport, Drama

• I feel the use of montage editing is effective during this scene as it cuts to the different types of training that she takes part in order to improve her skills. We could also utilize this technique in our opening scene.

• Furthermore the props in this training scene are similar to the props at our local gym for instance the speed ball and the ring.

• There are two recognisable protagonists throughout the clip, the woman boxer and here trainer, we could also adopt a similar technique of training on the pads.

• The shot of the female boxer on the speed bag has provided some inspiration for a shot we could use during our opening scene. Instead of having a medium close up we could use POV showing the hands coming out striking either the speed bag or an ordinary heavy bag. I feel this could be a very unusual but interesting shot.

• If we wish to use montage editing the setting is obviously very important, in this clip they use an old run down gym exposing boxing to be a working class sport furthermore they also show her running a vital part of being s successful boxer. We could use a similar technique with a local boxing gym.

• The colour wash in Million Dollar baby seems to be very dull and dark, however we are looking to shoot in black and white to try and create a more authentic feel as seen in Raging Bull

LF:Snatch fight scene

Director: Guy Ritchie

Genre: Crime, Thriller

• Again this clip is not an opening scene however I believe that if we want to include a fight scene within our copening scene there are certain effects that we could take from this fight scene that would be very useful.

• The use of sound throughout this clip in my opinion is first class. The non digetic sound creates a fast paced atmosphere and involves the audience. Furthermore when one of the boxers gets knocked to the floor the music then stops adding suspense and tension, in addition as the fight progresses and the punches become more painful non digetic sound is utilized once again as the punches almost sound like bullets when they land. They have also created a great unlicensed atmosphere with the crowd, the stock characters act almost thuggish outside the ring creating an authentic feel.

• In this fighting scene there is also a great example of a POV shot in which we could create a similar effect of positioning the audience with one of the boxers.

• Furthermore again the setting is a dull dusk underground venue adding to the crime aspect of the clip. We could hopefully achieve something similar either shooting in black and white or colour washing it in a mild yellow, green/grey.

LF:Genre Research: Raging Bull opening scene: Sport

In my opinion the opening to Raging Bull is one of the most inspiring openings in the sport genre. Raging Bull was first screened in 1980 and had Robert De Nero playing the main character.

Firstly I feel as thought eh music used throughout the opening scene really emphasizes the beauty of boxing, and portrays the sport as an art not a war, the music has quite a slow tempo and a major key. The music is very soothing but at the same time still entices the viewer to concentrate on the hooded figure in the centre of the ring. Furthermore the font and colour of the text are simple but effective. The bright red provides subtle clues to boxing is a brutal sport and is not for the feint hearted however as this coincides with the music I feel as though the beauty outweighs the violence.

In addition seen as we are thinking of making a thriller/sport genre film I love the way costume is used throughout the clip to maintain a sense of curiosity about the character. The audience is clearly positioned with the protagonist in the clip however his face is never on show, you can draw clear parallels between this technique and the joker’s makeup in The Dark Knight, I feel is we can use a similar method it could be very successful.

Furthermore the opening to Raging Bull has given me the idea of shooting the opening scene through the ropes as it brings in certain aspects of iconography but at the same time is very simplistic and we could easy adopt a similar style. Thus the use of black and white and flashing camera lights are superb. I feel it provides a real insight into the world of professional boxing and would provide us with a really unusual virtuous shot.