Film Opening to Finding Nemo

Anaysis of opening and genre conventions

The film begins with the setting of where nemo's parent live and it shows that lots of fish families live there too. There are fish families palying and there is a lighthearted mood within this first clip. The first character we are introduced to is Nemo's dad Marlin and his wife. The film is a typical family film as it revoles around family situations and children can relate to these. Marlin and his wife swim down to look where their eggs which will soon be their children fish and this shows us that the parents are protecive of their children and care for them. Towards the end of the opening clip there is a tradgy as a shark become present and this instantly changes the mood of the scene, it become tense and the mother panics. The mothers naturaly instict is to save her children, this ia a very stereotypical reaction of a mother. Unfortunatly the mother dies and only a few of the eggs survive and one of them is nemo.

This film is sutable for children because:

• It is an animation
•  It is comical 
• Children will relate to the stiuations
• It show parent and child relationships
• The language is appropriate
• There is no violence

Use of Sound

THE USE OF SOUND IN CHILDREN'S FILM OPENINGS
In Beauty and The Beasts film opening the music begins subtly and gradually gets louder. The cartoon characters are singing to the music. Also there is sound used to emphasis the voices of some of the characters dialogue. However, in our opening we are not having any dialogue, we are setting the scene for the film. Furthermore we will use sound to back up the atmosphere. For example, on the dark gloomy scene we plan to use bursts of thunder noises to create a mood and atmosphere. At the start of the film we will use a calm light music perhaps to represent a new day. 

About Fairy Dust

Setting
Our setting is kept the same during the opening of our film, however we are changing the atmosphere of the setting. By this I mean we are having part of the opening as a happy/vibrant scene and the other half as a dark gloomy atmosphere. The background is a castle with a basic blue sky and green grass. We are keeping it simple because of our U Certificate.


Colours
For the happy atmosphere we are using pretty girly colours to emphasis the target audience. We have used glitter for stars and pink clouds. The fairies in the opening are sparkly with bright pretty colours. On the other hand, we are using dark gloomy colours so that the children can detect the change of atmosphere. We have dark lightening and the fairy for the dark scene is dressed in similar colours.


Characters
Our character are all fairies, 3 fairies that get along well. Also there is a rival fairy who is evil.


Sound/Music
We are using light music for a calm effect on the happy scene and then we have used stronger music with thunder bursts for the opposite atmosphere. 

Credits

We have used different fonts in a variety of colours and size to make the credits child friendly. Using bright colours is appealing to children as it comes across as bubbly, where as if we were to use dark colours in an italic font, children would be less interested as they concentrate on the colours rather than focusing on exactly what the credits say. However we have still made the credits bold and they will move slowly so that the children are able to see them well. Our title is Fairy Dust, we want to give a magical feeling to the credits as it is the first thing the children watching the film will see. We want to present the opening as a fantasy setting which has magical effects. 

We have decided to have the credits overlaying a constant background image of the castle. This will allow the children to see that the film is set at castle which is the background. We want to keep the background for the credits simple so that the correct target audience is achieved. 

U Certificate

Our Children's film opening is a U. We have followed the definition for the U Certificate to make our opening. We did some research on the BBFC website and found this information.  See Reference 1.

REF 1

Universal – Suitable for all

It is impossible to predict what might upset any particular child. But a ‘U’ film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. ‘U’ films should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.

If a work is particularly suitable for a pre-school child to view alone, this will be indicated in the Consumer Advice.

Discrimination

No discriminatory language or behaviour unless clearly disapproved of.

Drugs

No references to illegal drugs or drug misuse unless they are infrequent and innocuous, or there is a clear educational purpose or anti-drug message suitable for young children.

Horror

Scary sequences should be mild, brief and unlikely to cause undue anxiety to young children. The outcome should be reassuring.

Imitable behaviour

No potentially dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy. No emphasis on realistic or easily accessible weapons.

Language

Infrequent use only of very mild bad language.

Nudity

Occasional natural nudity, with no sexual context.

Sex

Mild sexual behaviour (for example, kissing) and references only (for example, to ‘making love’).

Theme

While problematic themes may be present, their treatment must be sensitive and appropriate for young children.

Violence

Mild violence only. Occasional mild threat or menace only.

We think that this certificate is appropriate for our children's film opening.  Reference 1 : http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/u/

Research

I watched the begining of a childrens film to get some ideas for genres.

Children’s Film Genre Conventions Analyse

Film: Diary of a wimpy kid

The film begins with a comical scene where the character has a brown mark on his trousers; this already gives the film an appeal to children with silly, light humour. We are then introduced to another character who is a stereotypical child from school; he is fat and an embarrassing friend. The main character has been put in an embarrassing situation and the audience can sense what is going to happen next. Another stereotype, a typical evil older brother is now introduced and he provokes the embarrassing situation, the situation is then elevated as the main character attempts to dig his way out of it, he is left mortified and hating his big brother.  All of these things make the viewer sure that the film is aimed at children and that the genre is comedy.

List of Credit Names

1. Director - Tom Smith
2. Producer - Emily Jones
3. Editing - Charlotte Day
4. Voice of Bella - Olivia Christmas
5. Voice of Rose - Polly Debnam
6. voice of Daisy - Chloe Beeton
7. Voice of Midnight - Iona Macintosh
8. Sound Effects - Sam Wilson
9. Set Design - Tony Jackson
10. Animations - Holly Grey 
11. Cameraman 1  -Austin Glitter 
12. Cameraman 2 - William Stone
13. Cameraman 3 -  Adam Edwin

This is the list of credits that will be featured in our film opening.

Making Fairy Dust

These are some props made by Polly.

Preparation

mind maps

mind map

list of equipment needed

cast list

story board

For our children's film we have been preparing stencils of fairies, lightning, stars and clouds. This is all preparation for our film.

We have 4 fairies within the film. 3 of the fairies all have different personalities within the film and different colours which represent their characteristics. The last fairy will be the vilan in the film, and compared to the others the colours and backgrounds of this fairy will be dark and evil.

The stencils of lighting, stars and clouds are all for the background and this will give the settings of the  fantasy world that the fairies live in.

We will also be making a castle that the fairies live in and this will be the main background for our opening childrens film.

We will be having glitter and bubbles to add to the fantacy effect and the credits for the film will be in the opening and will be shown with the world of the fairies!     

Fairy Dust

Add caption

We have come to the decision that our childrens film opening will be about fairies. It will be a fantasy opening and will be based around a fairy with two personalities.

The faires will have their own colours that show their personalities and distinguish them from each other!

Prelim

Our prelim had to be filmed twice as the first location wasn't suitable due to the background noise so we refilmed in a quieter location. we had to film different types of shots, these were a close up, an over the shoulder shot, long shot, establishing shot and a reverse shot. our film consist of a simple conversation including the different shots.

Some of our shots did not turn out as they should have. some were jumpy, we broke the 180 degree rule so as you watch the conversation the actors are on the wrong side.