Anyway, here is the 3 film openings, or rather two due to the fact that I really over analysed it and used up the amount of words required, but read it and you should realise how obsure the films that I watched are.
The 2 films
RH
Mickey’s house of villains
The first film I will do is the Direct-to-DVD feature based on the TV series “house of mouse”, it may have a higher percentage of re-used cartoons, and childish and c_a_p_ but it has got the kind of movie opening that has the potential enough to be reviewed.
First of all is the camera, now the first thing audiences come across would be Rule of thirds, as the orange-white moon is at the centre of a purple background, this is to establish to the audience that it is Halloween due to its typical sinister colours.
Then by using a crane/pan shot, the shot transfers to a silhouette of what appears to be trees, now this is done so that the company indent and the title of the film could be visible and stand out to the audience for easier reading (for a cheap direct-to-DVD opening the director sure knows what he’s doing to make things the way it should be).
Then we crane/pan to a establishing shot of the theatre, this is to establish to the audience the location of the feature to familiarise them to the same place as the TV series, or just generally the location.
The editing of the opening film is a simple long shot; this was done to accommodate suspense and the camera shots and effects the director intended, and enough time for the audience to properly establish themselves to the film.
A specific rarity was the breakage of the 180-degree rule breakage, which is known as crossing the line, now according to a guide, doing that brings in more attention for the audience to watch the film, which is useful in this case as it shows the Disney characters coming towards the audience with easy-to-follow expressions on their faces.
The mise-en-scene features the background in a purple colour with a white-to-orange moon, this was to establish to the audience the sinister and Halloween side of the film as the house would later be taken over by a cheap cameo bucket load of Disney villains.
Leaves during the silhouette part of the opening to establish autumn (and as usual, Halloween to the audience).
The location of the feature is a mid-town club (as told by the size of the buildings), now the outside of the building was shown to the audience to establish the same theatre they see in the cartoon show, and just a theatre for the ones who did not, it generally makes it easier to establish.
As for the costumes, it is just the outfits from their original films, to get the audience familiar with the Disney characters, only the cartoon character known as max has got a costume that establishes on what his job is.
Set design (or artwork) is of course similar to the show with only attachments of a purple background, thus making it cheap art in the process, but is good enough for being a Direct-to-DVD feature to the show.
Finally, the lighting Low-key lighting is of course again to settle the fact that it’s Halloween (but animated characters are strangely not coloured to be part of the lighting, it’s what you usually get with cheap animated films).
The sound of the film is diegetic sound of footsteps (if technically seen in a live action perspective) to tell the audiences that the characters are walking, and also utilises non-diegetic organ music accompanied with the violin as typical Halloween instruments to establish that it’s Halloween, in fact everything of the movie represents the show, but with certain things to represent the Halloween and villain side of the film.
Canals and Canal Boats (narrated by Robert Powell)
The final film would be a direct-to-video documentary about Canals from Castle Videos; I thought it would be worth doing something quite unknown and rare with a nice non-diegetic score.
First is of course is the Camera, now the first thing audiences would expect is a dissolve from black to a Establishing shot of forestry and farmland, shot from a high angle and using pan moved to the canal, this was selected to surprise the audience to what the documentary may be about.
And for the rest of the program, the crane shot was used for ability for high angle shots, as well as filming scenes at the middle of a canal, once you’ve got the surprise at the earlier bit, then there needs to be more establishing for the audience as to what they will be watching.
As for Editing, the first scene is a long shot, this allows a more calming approach to the documentary as it allows the camera shots suggested in the camera section to be utilised, then there are several dissolves and several cuts after that shot at a reasonable tempo to maintain calmness and understanding on what’s going on, now it’s noted that the dissolves and cuts is matching to the music (aka parallel sound), which will be explored at the sound section…
…Now, but before I do that, I will describe the fact that Non-diagetic water and a non-diagetic motor was heard first of all, it’s tell able due to the way the sound fades in and when the music comes fades out, this is to surprise the audience to this particular canal and water sound, as to what the documentary will be all about.
Speaking of music, the music itself if a mixture of piano and digital, this is a calm sort of music to the time and era of when this documentary was made, now of course it’s non-diagetic, in fact, the music itself is the main focus of the opening as it is parallel to the editing seen earlier, and then it suddenly has a diminuendo and a few seconds later a narrative, the reason for this is for the audience to get attention and later find it’s a narrative.
Finally is the Mise-en-scene, now the first thing an audience expects is a live location of Forestry/farmland, which is a calming start to the video, which drives the audience in.
The locations of the opening show typical Canal locations, now this drives the audience in due to the fact that they could be wondering what these things are meant to be and how they work so that they could drive in to the movie to look into the answers.
The costumes are the traditional ones you find with canal boat crews, this is for the audience to get use to the concepts of history, and there are tourists with modern day clothing to set a contrast, which the audience might notice in a positive way.
The props is similar to costume and locations, just something for the audience to raise questions about what those thing are, which the most identifiable are Canal boats and locks.
Finally, mist of this documentary takes place outside; therefore the lighting is natural ambient lighting for the audience to just be calm about it.
The final score is an opening that makes the audience curious as to what they may be watching or what that particular object is, as well as a calm opening with music that is parallel to the editing.
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