Thursday 9 September 2010

Opening 2 minutes of a feature film

Character:


American Beauty;


Lester, he's 42, and believes he is going to die next year. But feels like he's already dead. He lives in suburbia with a wife called Caroline who matches her shoes to her gardening implements and a daughter Julia who is a typical teenager, insecure about herself. His family think he is a loser, and he feels he has lost a part of himself, sedated, but thinks he can find a way to get back to how he used to be. His neighbour is called Jim who's partner is also called Jim, they have a white and brown dog. They have a white picket fence. 


I think Lester knows that he may have a terminal illness and that because of that he believes he will die in the next year, he may be feeling sedated due to taking drugs for this illness. I think Lester will do something out of the ordinary as he appears to have the picturesque suburban lifestyle. He'll do something crazy and really live the last year of his life.




Jerry Maguire;


Jerry Maguire is a sports manager, he has the fate of 72 athletes dreams in his hands, he takes on average 346 phone calls a day. He's very business like, dresses very smart with slick hair. Mingles well with crowds and gets his name out there. becomes famous off of other people's talents. Looks after his clients well, but he is becoming unhappy with the people some of his clients are turning into. He's an expensive person, the way he dresses and talks. His house is very cluttered which suggests that he doesn't have much time for himself, it is only for other people. Work is his life. 


I think Jerry may possibly end up quitting his job and ends up showing how professional athletes should act to people and be like. Stop the younger unknown athletes from becoming the famous ones. 


I think both Jerry and Lester are both unhappy with their lives, and will both do something to change who they are and what they do within the course of the movies. I do not think that Jerry has a family as all his time is dedicated to his work, which suggests that he's lonely. But also Lester seems lonely as well even though he is surrounded by his family as he doesn't appear to have a good relationship with them, so I think they are both very similar characters. 


Early Doors;


Ken is the landlord of a pub, he appears tobe very cheap as he was refilling expensive brandy with cheap brandy. Sings loud, quite jolly, like a landlord seemed talkative and knows the locals who come in, and who it was who died. Happy but lonely as he was all alone and singing loud to make the place appear to be full. Normal routine, same every day, quite monotonous, same regulars coming in, probably not many younger customers as it was quite an old fashioned pub. 


Ken may lose the pub, he may have money issues as he is being cheap with the brandy, and there was the one customer, which may insinuate that he is having financial troubles and the pub and his routine may be taken away from him. Appears that all Ken has is the pub and he may go out and discover the world a bit more away from the pub. He'll go to the seaside. 


All 3 characters so far all seem like lonely men, whose lives are only really in the one place but it's all about to change. Each man probably won't like the changes at first, but will grow to love their new lives and never think about going back. 




Opening Sequences


London to Brighton;
Nitty Gritty, the sudden introduction worked well, brings you straight into the film, quite intense, lets you know part of the storyline and where the film is heading straight away. Possible one to remake, fairly basic settings and props used. Felt like there was a lot going on, when it was fairly straight forward what was going on. The lighting and time setting gives off a theme that may run throughout the film, makes it all seem a lot darker and worse than it may be. 


The Graduate;
Very basic, majority of introduction is spent in the same setting, well timed with the music, reflects on the character, colours used are very plain, clean cut. No words, only noise is instructions, either from the pilot or at the airport. Character has been at uni, is used to instructions, going back home, has been far from home, maybe wanted to be as far away as possible. Quite submissive, didn't interact with the people around him and didn't really pay attention to those walking past. 


Napolean Dynamite;
Credits fit into themes of the film, stuff used in the film is used in the credits, gives an idea as to the characters lifestyle. Quite tough to remake how to do it.




Possible Ideas for openings


Happy Go lucky - Cycling through a busy London street
(500) Days of Summer - cycling at night, jumps straight into the film
Juno - Animated credits blending in with the story
Little Miss Sunshine - Shots of the different characters
Fight Club - main character narration
Shaun of the Dead - walks into room in a zombielike state
Run Fat Boy, Run - Wedding prepartion
Rocky Horror Picture Show - The mouth talking
Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging - Running in an olive costume
Underworld - Selene on a ledge
Harry Potter?
Lord of The Rings - Smeagle's past life
Pirates of the Caribbean - Wedding in the rain
The Crow - walking
Bridget Jones - Singing/ Narration
Music & Lyrics - POP video
Labyrinth - Talking/Story telling
Moulin Rouge - ...?
Love Actually - Airport narration
Billy Elliot - ...?







No comments:

Post a Comment