The Godfather (1972): Killing Sollozzo and McCluskey
The stills above are from the film 'The Godfather' and includes relevant examples of diegetic sound and cinematography.
In our film opening, we wanted to incorporate very similar shots to the ones shown in the scene, in which our
protagonist, a spy, enters a bathroom to freshen up and take a hidden piece of paper from behind a toilet that reveals the license plate of a car he must find. In terms of location, we imagined more of a modern bathroom but the idea is very much alike. The diegetic sound used in the clip, the constant sound to a passing train that gradually gets louder as Pacino's character comprehends the fact that he must kill the two men in front of him, is an element that has inspired us and that we would like to incorporate into our opening. We wanted to do something like this but instead of using the sound of a train, we wanted to use the sound of a plane, as we planned to set part of our opening at the airport.
In our film opening, we wanted to incorporate very similar shots to the ones shown in the scene, in which our
protagonist, a spy, enters a bathroom to freshen up and take a hidden piece of paper from behind a toilet that reveals the license plate of a car he must find. In terms of location, we imagined more of a modern bathroom but the idea is very much alike. The diegetic sound used in the clip, the constant sound to a passing train that gradually gets louder as Pacino's character comprehends the fact that he must kill the two men in front of him, is an element that has inspired us and that we would like to incorporate into our opening. We wanted to do something like this but instead of using the sound of a train, we wanted to use the sound of a plane, as we planned to set part of our opening at the airport.
Narcos, Season 1 Episode 1
These screen shots are from two different scenes from the Netflix series 'Narcos'. In these two particular scenes, I found the mise-en-scene to be very intriguing. The costume, for instance, is a an example of how we wanted to dress Daniel's character, who will be playing the role of driver. We thought this choice of costume would fit Daniel's character perfectly, as he is playing a very bubbly and talkative driver who keeps trying to make conversation with the protagonist. The clothes represent his personality as being very causal, laid back, and unsophisticated, acting as a foil to Daniel's character.
Saving Mr. Banks (2013): Taking Ms. Travers to Walt Disney
These images are from the movie Saving Mr.Banks, they are all technically close-up shots, while the second is an over the shoulder shot. In the first one, it shows the facial expressions in both of characters, which also hints at who has more power in the vehicle, this relates to our opening scene as Mahesh will be the more superior character sat in the back, whilst Daniel similarly represent the driver shown in this picture. The second image in this sequence shows the driver looking at the woman through the rear view mirror, this is simply done to prevent the character from turning his head around completely, and making it easier for the driver. It also links with the character Daniel is playing, as he can also be lazy and would prefer to look in the rear view mirror. In the final picture, the shot of the woman is a close-up shot, meant to portray her facial expressions, this correlates with our opening scene as Mahesh will also be looking at Daniel, and we want to make my facial expression stand out to the audience, therefore having a close-up shot.
Involved Institutions:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is a well-renowned American production and distribution company whose parent company is Sony. We opted to have them distribute our film for they have distributed films of a similar genre to ours. Films including; 'Skyfall' (2012), 'Spectre' (2015), and 'Casino Royale' (2006) from the 'James Bond' franchise, all of which are popular with our target audience's age group.
Lionsgate is a well-known film institution that has produced a number of successful films that correlate to our idea, in the sense that they are action films too. For instance, 'Now You See Me', 'The Hunger Games' franchise, and 'Divergent' are all examples of successful action films that Lionsgate have produced.
Film Opening Questionnaire:
Analysis of Questionnaire Results:
This questionnaire shows us the amount of males and females that are currently answering it, and it's telling us that the majority of whom are males, taking 2/3 of the results, indicating to us that we should appeal to a male audience more so than a female one.
The question asking the people what age group they're in is dominated by 13-18 year olds, telling us they're still teenagers. Aside from them being the majority, we got two people who are over the age of 36, showing they are adults and most likely teachers.
Having every option included in the question, it's pretty distributed, giving us a nice example of how different people give a wide variety of results referring to films watched on a monthly bases. which tells us how interested they are in films.
The question that asks what type of protagonist the people would prefer shows that nearly 50% of them prefer someone logical and intelligent, while all the other options put together make up around 50%, too, making it clear which protagonist people would like to see.
A very important question in this questionnaire, as our group are making our opening scene with a spy/espionage genre. Thankfully, 90% of the respondents are interested in spy/espionage films, which further convinces us to pursue that genre, seeing as the majority are interested in it.
Most of the answers to what associates most with the UK were towards Landmarks (Big ben, London eye) and Heathrow airport. This gives us an idea of where it would be suitable to set the opening scene if we wanted to base it in the UK, while giving the audience hints that it's located there, too.
It seems as though most of the people would prefer the protagonist to be a male, as 3/4 of the respondents voted so, meaning they'd much rather prefer movies that are led stereo-typically, which may be more attracting to the male gender as most successful movies have male protagonists.