CONVENTIONS – media language including genre, narrative, representations

IN THIS POST: MORE CONVENTIONS RESEARCH: FIRST SHOT, SOUND, MISE-EN-SCENE ETC. 

FIRST SHOT

It's common to see the first shot as an ELS (extreme long shot), this is because it characterizes the setting. It provides the audience with exposition, possibly denoting the country (maybe with the help of a title) or the social class. In "Pretty In Pink" we can denote the working-middle-class neighborhood. 

However, in some romcoms and comedies, the opening shots will immediately reveal the protagonist (e.g. Bridget Jone's Diary, Grimsby). This will be done with an MLS (medium long shot), which helps anchor the who's hero's journey (Campbell's monomyth) we will follow. 

In Tyrannosaur, this convention is broken with an ECU (extreme close-up) with dark lighting and a shallow field of focus to create a narrative enigma and to set the tone while still anchoring the protagonist. 

In Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, a technique called Hand of God is used. It consists of creating narrative enigma through a series of ELSs panning back and forth, zoning in on a certain place little by little. This is something we tried to replicate in the following PRELIM exercise and something we might consider for our slasher opening.

SOUND; GENRE SIGNIFICATION

In openings, the most effective signifier for the genre is sound. In horror openings, for example, tension will immediately be created with some low pitch drawn-out notes mixed with high-pitched short notes. A heartbeat-like beat may be implemented to mess with the physiology of the viewer. 

In a romcom, you may have a commercial/known song, which creates engagement with the audience, another option is an upbeat soundtrack that shows the lightheartedness of the film. A voiceover can also be used, this technique immediately gives heaps of exposition and we get a sense of age, gender, class, and narrative all in one go. 

MISE-EN-SCENE

Mise-en-scene is important to maintain verisimilitude, a good example of this is in "Pretty in Pink". Not only does it maintain verisimilitude but it provides an interesting exposition on the Proppian archetype of the Hero. Her room denotes normative gender representation as it shows pink objects and typically feminine things to enjoy. 

CENTRAL PROTAGONIST + NARRATIVE + AUDIENCE REPRESENTATION

Narrative enigma is important to film openings, it is about creating polysemy and keeping the audience on its toes. Multiple signifiers such as the rule of thirds, camera panning, and costume may start to anchor the preferred reading. These helpful signifiers connote the potential Proppian hero archetype whose journey we're following (Campbell's "hero's journey" monomyth). Audience representation is important to commercial companies like Working Title as a larger audience will bring more revenue. This is why BBFC age ratings tend to be low (12-15) for WT movies, they also include genre hybridity to appeal to the 4 quadrants. 

Yesterday:

Basic information...

• Directed by Danny Boyle 
• Theatrical release: 2019
• Wide Release 2,500+ theatres
• Global release
• Box office (worldwide): $153m

The ELS opening shot provides an exposition on who is singing, reinforced by the audio bridge of diegetic acoustic guitar with vocals. There is an element of a narrative enigma as the man's face isn't revealed yet, there's also an aspect of voyeurism with the window framed into the shot. The hero's journey (Campbell) is anchored when this figure becomes the focus of the next couple of shots, even in new locations.

The genre is connoted through Yesterday's title. The blue background and yellow text are playful in contrast and may anchor the preferred reading to a rom-com, comedy, or dramedy. However, the serif font connotes a serious undertone so comedy can be ruled out as it would have a sans-serif font, perhaps even a bubble font. A social realist genre can also be ruled out, a social realist film conventionally uses white-on-black text as well as a serif font to connote drama and seriousness.

It's unusual to see a POC (person of colour) represented on screen as a protagonist/lead role in Working Title productions as their protagonists are usually Caucasians from either the United States or a "familiar" part of the UK (London with Southern British accents). To keep their large American audience engaged with an Asian British man, he has a Southern English accent and the film is set in LA, in addition, the supporting characters are predominantly American. 

(A direct contrast to Warp's social realist dramas)