Children's film opening analysis

The Magic Roundabout

• Starts gloomy & dramatic -gripping their attention immediately
• Gloomy beginning contrasts with the actual narrative
• Bright colours - to make it appear attractive & exciting
• Introduced to main characters & personalities
• Use of music to draw attention to the scene, ie dramatic music at the beginning & cheerful music during the narrative.

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

• Introduces significant props -golden ticket. This raises initial questions making the audience want to find out what they are for.
• Events in the credits are dramatized to appeal to children (hot air balloons carrying chocolate)
• Introduces the main character; a child, meaning they can relate to him. -His family.
• 'Wonka' lorries are brightly coloured in contrast to the dull, snowy setting, making them appear exciting.

Toy Story

• Introduces main characters, Andy. Shows the toy's hierachy as it is obvious that Woody is in charge. 
• Andy playing with his toys appeals to the children as they enjoy doing this too. 
• Contrast between the different persona Andy creates for the characters to their real personalities. Children often give their toys personalities & act as though they are real.
• Bright, exciting colours
• Action of the staff meeting grabs audience attention straight away.
• Leads the audience to wonder why the toys are so worried about Andy's birthday party.

analysing the opening of children's films

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX07j9SDFcc
Lion king opening:
- african music which goes with the setting
- establishing shot of scene
- low angles show all the animals
- panning shots show the faster animals moving (birds)
- main characters introduced, as the music increases, the brightness of the picture also increases. Happy scene
- music gets louder when the main character is introduced so its more significant
- we are aware that the main character is the cub because the whole opening shows the animals coming together, the music is loudest when the cub is held in the air
- the cub held in the air shows that he has more power than everyone else, and everyone is below him


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG3L98NFyro
Finding Nemo opening:
- diegetic sound
- panning shot is used to find source of sound
- establishing shot used to set the scene
- naming of just one egg shows the character is significant
- showing what their home is like, shows how it will change by the end of the film, constant referring back to safety of the location
- colourful
- darker colours showed when something bad was about to happen
- happy scene
- when the mother dies, it shows that their home is no longer safe - contradicts to what we have seen and what the father says about their home



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbK6w14OxAI
High School Musical opening:
- introduces the team first 'Wild Cats' name, the team is essential in the film
- goes into a song, people know it will be a film full of songs, catchy songs that children would learn the words to, enjoyable
- music stopped at important points, bad points of the opening the music went low and not as happy, when the other main character was introduced the music got louder and happier - shows she makes things better in the film
- fast moving
- the whole opening was about the team, shows they have power and have importance
- when he took a shot it went slow motion, which shows its important, anticipation for the audience to see if the shot went in or not
- when they have a solo part it shows they are a main character, also when the music goes quieter and they are singing it will get the children's attention



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEULS4BWpZg
Sky High opening:
- non diegetic sounds which goes into diegetic sounds when super heroes are intoduced
- know the genre of the film straight away
- comic book writing to go with credits to go with the genre
- establishing shot of the house to show setting
- the main character is introduced, he speaks in the opening to introduce his parents
- made it obvious there is a contrast between him and his parents, make the audience question why that is
- comedy when his bed breaks & when he can't lift the weights
- important information given when his parents are talking so we will know whats going to happen

Preliminary Task

We were given the task of creating a short film to experiment with different shot types & editing. Along with this task we were given a list of certain screen shots which we had to include;

• Establishing shots
• Close ups
• Match on action
• A reaction shot
• Long shot
• A film of conversation

When filming the 'over the shoulder' shots of a conversation we had to follow the 180 degree rule. This meant that the camera could not film from the other side of both characters.

We noticed when watching back our short film that we made a slight mistake with the positioning of the camera and the cutting of the shots. From the reaction shot we accidently included a jump cut to a different position, this interferes with the flow of the sequence.

One thing we thought we did really well was the cut between the close up of the door and the scene in which Kisu walks through the door & into the room. This is called a 'match on action shot'.