action/adventure

There are many sub-genres for action, but the largest is action adventure.

Action adventure is the largest of them all. This sub-genre started to make itself known to the film industry in the 1970s.

The development of an action adventure film has been running since the 1970s, where it started of as a  small genre with not many films using it, to it being the highest budgeted film genre and most widely used within the film industry.

There are many iconography used in action/adventure, such as:
Props:
• Guns
• Swords
• Explosives
• Cars

Location:
• Familiar places
• Exotic places
• Places the audience can relate to

Costume:
• Scruffy/explore clothing
• Suites (usually for the men)


One of the most famous action/adventure film series are the James Bond films, these films include all the traits of an action/adventure film. They all have a protagonist (James Bond), an antagonist, the helper (both the girls he meets and the M16 00’ program), explosions, cars, guns and swords.

Genre

Genre meaning  a specific category in film…

Films are split into genres such as:

Action adventure: action adventures usually include big budget, high energy and many explosions. They can also involve less explosions and more discovery and adventure.

Comedy: comedies are usually family friendly and are made to make the audience laugh.

Crime: crimes are usually full of mystery and sometimes adventure. The mystery is the part that the viewers like as it keeps them guessing through out the film.

Sci-fi: sci-fi films usually involve heroes, aliens and many other scientific and fictional characters. These films aren’t just made for the nerdy kids and the geeky kids, there made to get the audience thinking “what if”.

Drama: dramas are usually serious and this is where most of the “based on true events” films fall under.

Horror: horrors are made to scare the audience, and are made to invoke our biggest fears.

War: war films are mostly true events and are made to show the audience the true horror and disaster of war on both land and sea.

Westerns: westerns are one of the oldest and was one of the most used genres of the american film industry. Westerns are now becoming re-invented and a lot of film companies are spoofing them like
“A million ways to die in the west”.

analysis of the opening to The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby


This film is quite a modern take on the 1974 film “The Great Gatsby”.

The opening scene to this 2013 film, is quite repetitive. It starts of with the tittle sequence, which is shown within 1920s art and in black and white. It then fades into colour and then goes black. This implies that this is a re-make of an older film, by going from black and white to full colour.

It then cuts to long shot of a lake in the night with one green blinking light in the distance. This sets the atmosphere which is dark, mysterious and very gloomy. Then a narrative voice starts and its telling us of its past and how everyone those days just partied and got drunk.
This sets the location as no-one who was poor could party all the time, so it must be set in a rich part of the city/town.

We aren’t really introduced to any characters yet but we have been introduced to the voice, telling us of what the times are like. So we can only imagine that the voice is one of the main charactors.

analysis of the opening of Forest Gump

Forest Gump

The opening scene for Forest Gump is a very famous film and holds one of the most famous lines in the film industry “momma always told me, life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what ya gonna get”. Sadly this doesn’t happen in the opening scene, but does happen just after.

The first thing the audience sees is the tittle sequence, this is happening throughout the whole of the opening scene. Whilst the tittle sequence is happening there is one very long tracking shot of a feather falling though a town till it reaches the the main actor (Tom Hanks)

The location of this scene is a friendly town and not a very big one as well. There is a distinct atmosphere of this scene, it is almost happy but at the same time its is quite depressive and sad.

analysis of the opening of limiless

Limitless

This opening scene is very fast paced and there is a lot that happens within the first 2 mins.

The tittle sequence is very basic and happens in a few seconds, there is a black screen and the names pop up with a diegetic bang every time. Then it all goes quit and the screen remains black. There is then a voice that says “obviously I miss calculated a few things”.

The screen then cuts to a large metal door and there are diegetic sounds of men shouting and banging loudly on the door. This sets the atmosphere as being threatening and already sets a point where a lot of action can happen.

We are also introduced to the main character. He is standing on the edge of a building and looks like he is going to jump of the edge. This signifies that there is some form of threat and is probably the men at the door!

my favourite film opening

My favourite film is “Pain and Gain”, I like this film as it is actually based on true events and is full of action, mystery and there is a bit of comedy in there too!

The opening scene of this film starts with the title sequence,  showing the viewer who is acting in the film, who produced and who edited this film.

The rest of the opening scene includes, many cuts and lots of different camera shots, such as long shots, mid shots, tracking shots etc.

The sound are mostly the same throughout the whole scene, with the diegetic sounds of the main actor breathing,shouting and the odd swear word, also of the cop cars and the sound of the actor
being hit by a car. And the non-diegetic sound of a slow almost up-beat tune playing

analysis of the opening to skyfall

Skyfall

This film starts off, as all Bond films do with the first scene from the film, with Bond appearing around the corner at then end of a corridor of a hotel, he then walks toward the camera into a small bit of light and we can see it is definitely james bond (Daniel Craig). This sets the atmosphere as strange and very tense.

The scene then goes onto a car chase, followed by a bike chase, followed by a fight scene on the top of a moving train. This is where bond gets shot in the chest and falls into the water below. This has the audience thinking “is bond dead”?

The scene then proceeds to the usual exotic tittle sequence. This sets a new atmosphere of  mystery and surprise.