Action Movie Settings

Some notes on settings:
Action films are generally set in cities or other built up urban areas because of how it tends to give a better sense of the speed and action when rushing past buildings, than if you were rushing through the countryside.
Any locations that connote a sense of speed and danger are important and perfect at keeping the action alive during the film.

Conventions of Action

Setting:
Typically, action film openings are introduced in one of two ways:

• As calm and tranquil with very little happening, in an area that seems safe and familiar, so as to provide an equilibrium.
• As more intense with quite a few action scenes and dialogue, so as to immediately tell a story and provide the audience with the kind of action they will be watching for and want more of.

Technical:

• Tend to use a lot of CGI or special effects so that they can show advanced and unusual things, but to also stay up to date and modern. They can also help to create a bigger impact on the audience watching though, as these effects can show realism.
• Lighting is used to show many different things such as danger; being very dark and mysterious, and happiness; being very light and bright.
• Camera shots used show different points from many different perspectives and angles and can be included in ways such as emphasising power, showing importance or focus and showing expression or action/movement.
• Sounds in action films can also be used to create equilibrium; being very peaceful and relaxing, but can then change to create tension; being very loud and sudden.

These features show how technical effects can affect the mood and engagement of audiences while watching the film.

Iconography:
Action films conventionally use a wide range of things for iconography. Some examples of these features are fast cars, guns, the police/army, some form of fighting as well as many other things.

Narrative:
The narrative in action films usually follows the life of a person, or a group of people, who are living a normal life until something changes everything and must go on some form of mission in order to help solve the problem. They typically manage to solve the problem, while picking people up and engaging in chases/fights in the meantime.

Themes:
The themes that conventionally appear in action films involve an injustice that needs to be resolved, So usually the protagonist will go about solving this problem, with themes of violence and sex throughout. A moral justice is typically reached by the end of these action movies.

Characterisation:
Characters in action films typically feature a strong man as the protagonist who may appeal to female members of the audience, as well as a sidekick who may provide comedic elements. There are usually attractive young females who may end up helping or dating the protagonist, and may appeal to the male members of the audience. These means it can help appeal to a wide audience.
They also typically include the policed or army, who may or may not be good and a protagonist who is the main instigator for the trouble that occurs in the plot.

Initial Ideas

So recently we added the idea of having the text message conversation next to the character to give the audience some insight and make them feel a part of it but we have decided that when the fight/chase scene is over and the antagonist has killed a protagonist or normal unknown person, the camera will seem to pull away from the scene as if it's pulling out of a computer screen, to then be an over-shoulder shot of someone watching as the audience this time will see and feel as though the effect of the footage being recorded and shown through CCTV. We will show that this is the person the antagonist is talking to but you never see their face to keep their identity a mystery to the audience and keep them wanting to watch past this opening to find out.

Audience Survey

Survey Responses

We constructed a survey through https://www.surveymonkey.com/ .
We did this to see what certain aspects people enjoy in an action film but also to see if there is a difference in what age enjoys what.

In the survey we asked questions such as "what aspects of a action film do you enjoy most?" We also asked them for their favourite action films and then why, some answers for this question were, "Car chases Shooting Realism Graphics Relatable puts you in the role of the character", "Action-packed, engaging story line & stunts", "They make you think could this all be possible?" "They're intense, funny and in some ways relatable! But also well edited!" We had 30 responses in total and the rest pretty much as the same thing, with the except that some said it was because of certain actors that were in it.

Looking at the screenshots to the left. We asked if people would prefer the protagonist to be female, male, if they didn't mind or other, everyone who selected other said that they didn't mind anyways. The majority of responses said that they didn't mind if the protagonist was a female or male but the second majority was male showing that a big handful enjoy the stereotypical strong male hero in action films. This hasn't effect our production much as we don't mind either however, it has swayed us towards having a female protagonist to try and get people to see females as the protagonist more and not just the stereotypical damsels in distress.

As you can see by the second screenshot, we also asked what they think is the TOP 3 most important things needed/good in the opening to an action film? As we can see by the results, humorous dialogue, a fight scene and intense soundtrack were the three that were voted the most. I was surprised to see that humorous dialogue got the most votes, I thought it would get some but not the most, this has definitely made me think about added a small amount of humorous dialogue into our opening. Looking at individual responses I found that the people who had put that Avengers- Age Of Ultron was one of their favourite action films also voted humorous dialogue and from doing some research on Avengers i know that that is a very good example of an action film with perfectly used humorous dialogue. The other two most voted, a fight scene and the intense soundtrack wasn't a surpise as they are both conventions of an action film. We will be trying to incorporate these into our own film opening to give the audiences what they will want to see.

Production Idea

We thought that an interesting idea for our film opening would be the use of text on the screen to show the messages on a characters phone or otherelectrical device. We've thought about the way this can be used to include the audience as they may feel more included in the conversation, as reading it and knowing the information others may not, makes them feel a part of it. Here is an example of roughly what we were thinking along the lines of...

1st December 2015

Today we discussed a rough plan and general overview for the way we wanted the opening of our film to include and the way we wanted it to look and pan out.

Technical Codes

• Most camera shots are fast paced and there are lots of close-ups to show the expressions on character's faces.
• Establishing shots are important because they show where the is taking place to the audience. Most commonly these shots are done from a high angle, such as a from a helicopter, as many chase scenes include things like this.
• Tracking shots are also a commonly used shot for action sequences and are very effective when used correctly and in the right circumstances. This is because they follow the scene, drawing in and including the audience, making them feel involved in the chase and action overall.
• Sound plays a huge part in what the audience feel and experience during the film. During the action any diagetic are, usually, amplified to make it more exciting.

Example of an establishing shot for a chase

 

Example of a car chase

Iconography for Action Movies

Visual Style:
Often dark colours are used, such as brown or black, to make characters seem more suspicious and mysterious as it can be seen as concealing their identity. However, the main protagonist or hero usually is shown in bright and light colours compared to everything else in the movie, making them stand out from the others and showing their importance. 

Lighting:
Lighting is usually in scene lighting such as natural daylight, searchlights and street lamps. Characters faces are also normally illuminated to make them stand out compared to the surroundings and show their importance.

Props:
Props help us to identify the action genre furthermore because of the way they convey certain things we recognise. For example, guns help to connote danger and excitement at the thought of someone potentially being hurt and a fight breaking out.

Audience Survey

 These are some results we have recently gathered from an online survey posted to Maddy's Twitter page. This survey, similarly to the other one we did, tried to gather information on what a wide variety of people from our audience would want in an action movie.
It shows that people typically prefer to see what is usually portrayed in the action genre, such as the fast-paced scenes, the antagonist (villain) being masked and mysterious and maybe even the protagonist (hero) having special powers.

24th November 2015

Today we have gathered quite a few results from the audience survey we did over the weekend. We will carrying on compiling them over the next week or so to have a final overview of what a wide variety of people in our audience may want. We also discussed a rough overview of what we want to do and where we might like to go with our production. We settled on trying to incorporate elements of action, such as fighting and chase scenes into our opening.

Audience Profiling

The audience we have chosen to focus on for our production is teenagers and young people, mostly between the ages of 12 and 16 years old. This is because our film will not contain any swearing and no extremely violent scenes. During our GCSE production, we mainly looked at the age group of 14 and above; however this time we decided to include the lower ages to see what they enjoy too, compared to the smaller group of just teenagers we had before.
A typical member of our target audience would generally be someone between our age range and would enjoy all kinds of movies. They usually enjoy doing other similar things to watching these kinds of movies, such as reading books or comics, playing video games, and using their imaginations in creative ways. They also tend to like action films that are definitely memorable and series' that are familiar to them and may focus more on either the story aspect, or the physically action side, depending on where they are in the age range and what the prefer and are like overall.

Reverse Pictures Ident Video

The first try for my groups production name and ident, I'm debating whether or not to change the music i have put onto it however, i might make several different ident versions with different music on and ask my peers which one they prefer. I feel like my Ident has a MTV vibe but i tried to link it into our name but rewinding the clip so that the astronaut is jumping backwards.

By Maddy 

Reverse Pictures Ident

Textual Analysis: The Hunger Games

Ident Ideas

Firstly, I came up with possible production names by using an online generator, some i came up with by myself. I then made sure that none were already existing production companies, which none were. I then picked the two i liked the most and felt i could make a good ident with and sketched out a logo and developed it.
The next stage is to complete the moving ident we will use at the start of our film.

By Maddy

Textual Analysis- Maze Runner

Textual Analysis - Maze Runner

Opening Scene

The Maze Runner film is a 2014 American  science fiction action thriller film directed by Wes Ball. The film is the first instalment in the Maze Runner franchise. The story is based around a sixteen year old boy named Thomas who in the opening scene awakens in a rusty elevator with no memory of who he is, only to learn he's been sent to the middle of a maze, along with a large number of other boys, who have been trying to find their way out of the ever-changing maze. This story goes through the adventures of Thomas and how he try's to escape the labyrinth. This film was released on September the 19th 2014 and has a running time of 113 minutes. This film earned over 348.3 million pounds in the box office and is distributed by 20th Century Fox. This film is based on the book series from James Dashner.

The film starts of showing the distributer of the film- 20th Century Fox. From this logo the audience can identify this film as being from Fox, the audience can then relate this to pervious films Fox has distributed and compare the films together. The sound track from this scene also gives a sense of familiarity to the audience.

After the opening credits the audience are then greeted with a pitch black screen. This black screen connotes mystery because the audience doesn't know what is happening in the scene. Another part from this scene is that there are various diegetic mechanical noises is the scene, these mechanical noises bring tension to the audience because they cannot identify the sound to a picture which then could make them confused and wary to what is going to happen next.

The audience are then shown this shot of the main protagonist in some sort of rusty lift. In this scene there is also not much light coming from anywhere except for some artificial light so it connotes that this scene could be set underground. In this scene it shows the main protagonist first waking up in this metal cage completely unaware where he is and he is shown to be throwing up. The only sounds to be heard are that of the confused protagonist waking up and the sounds of the lift gradually going up. From this the audience can see that the protagonist is in a sticky situation because he doesn't know where he is and he cannot get out. In this clip it also shows Thomas to be quite dirty, this connotes that he couldn't have washed himself for awhile because he has been trapped in this cage, also his face appears to be quite damp along with his clothes which connotes that it is very hot and cramped in that environment. Another thing about this scene is that it shows a mid shot of the character which shows his position within this shot, it shows how he just woke up and focuses on what state he is in.

This then cuts to a high angle shot of the character which shows his surroundings within the lift. The audience can then clearly see lots of supplies in the background. These supplies could connote that the lift is taking these supplies to a destination where the main protagonist will then survive off them. This scene also shows the protagonist hunched over looking below his, this could suggest that he is confused about where he is and wants to know what is below him. It could also suggest that he wants to know where he came from because of his amnesia he cannot remember the previous events so he is trying to get an answer by looking down. After this Thomas then stands up and finds that the lift is going faster and faster, I know this because the mechanical sounds become more harsh and the lift is shaking more showing that the lift is going faster. As Thomas gets up he also notices more noises within his setting. The diegetic sound is coming from a pig that is trapped in a crate, Thomas then springs back to the other side of he cage after seeing this pig. He probably over reacts because he has amnesia and all he knows is that he is trapped with a foreign species that he is not familiar with.

Thomas then begins to scramble to the top of the crate to see of a way out. While this is happening it shows a close up of his face while he is screaming 'Help'. This shows his distress and confusion over this situation and his need for help. This could define Thomas as the princess character because the princess is in distress and in need which Thomas is replicating. While he is shouting for help it then cuts to the top of the lift which has been closed off, this causes Thomas to panic because he believes that he is going to crash into the wall. Thomas then falls down onto the floor which is then accompanied by a red light that goes over the shot. This connotes danger and that something bad it going to happen to this protagonist, this gets the audience to think about the consequences, This red light then progressively changes to green which shows that the issue could have been resolved. The scene then again goes completely black which also creates even more tension because the audience doesn't know what is going to happen to this character, the only sounds to be heard is Thomas's frantic breathing which shows his distress.

The metal doors are then immediately opened to show blinding light. This connotes that the lift has know gone up from underground and is know facing the bright sun. Now you can fully see the protagonist. He is shown to have his clothes drenched in sweat, this connoted that the anxiety of confusion has effected him and has caused him to panic within this container. Thomas also try's to cover his face from the blinding eyes because he cannot see through the light. As he lowers his hands many shadows appear within the shot, this then cuts to a group of people surrounding the container where Thomas is in. The people are also shown to wear similar clothes to Thomas which could connote that they come from the same place. The main person within this group then volunteers to open the cage and get Thomas out. He refers to Thomas as a 'Greeny' which could suggest his ranking within the group, it could suggest the lowest rank because he is new. Thomas is then thrown onto the grass where the group of people look down upon him while he is stuck in the foetal position confused and distressed. Finally Thomas tries to get up and run away from the group but ultimately fails when he falls onto the grass.

By Honesty Bradshaw

Form Research

Form Research for an Action Film Opening

Flashbacks:

A scene that takes the narrative back in time, usually to a key moment, in order to reveal unknown parts of the story that are normally vital in some way. But also to give us understanding of what is happening as it helps to set the scene for the rest of the movie.

Panning of Landscape/Establishing Shot:

This is used to set the scene and inform the audience of where and when the film may be taking place. This quickly gives us a quick overview of what the film is going to be like and maybe what it’s about or based on.

Narrations:

This is an easy and effective way of getting the audience involved in the movie straight away and from the very beginning, to the end. This is a technique used to give background information on what has happened or who the characters are, giving the audience an insight so that that the rest of the film makes sense.

Action Sequence:

A fast paced start to a film also helps to attract and grip audiences to keep them watching. It also helps to automatically show the genre of the film if included in the opening in this way.

Chase Scene:

Similar to the action scene in the way that it generally helps to catch and hold the audience’s attention. It gives them a sense of involvement and does keep them gripped through this, as it helps to make them wonder what will happen during and after the chase.

Production Logos:

At the start of most films, the production and distribution logos will always be shown. This can help to show the audience if a film has a high budget since if big and popular ones are shown, it is clear that the film his going to be of a higher quality. Also, if the film des have a higher budget, the films opening may be adapted to reflect the genre and storyline of the film.

Title Sequence:

All films have title scenes too, which show the cast and production team of the movie. These obviously show the audience who is in the film, maybe even giving them more of an incentive to watch it since it may have an actor/actress they like in it.

Animation:

This can be used to portray the beginning of the film in a creative way and visually show of the difference of the film itself and it’s opening sequence.

Narrative Context:

This includes the context (who/what/when/where), as well as the pace of the narrative, which may increase as the level of engagement increases.

Soundtrack:

This is the tone, volume and tempo of the various sounds and music used. They generically start of quiet and quite slowly paced, but build up gradually over the course of the opening.

However, despite all this, some directors may prefer to have an unconventional opening to portray a sense of mystery or to give it an ‘artistic edge’. Some examples of this are a lack of credits, lack of an establishing shot or not having the main characters introduced in some way.

Avengers-Age of Ultron Textual Analysis

By Maddy 

Textual Analysis - Avengers: Age Of Ultron

The film Avengers - Age Of Ultron is when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) jump-starts a dormant peacekeeping program, things go terribly awry, forcing him, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and the rest of the Avengers to reassemble. As the fate of Earth hangs in the balance, the team is put to the ultimate test as they battle Ultron, a technological terror hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they encounter two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. It came out April 23rd 2015 and is made by Marvel. It was a success with an opening weekend of $191,271,109 (USA) (1st May 2015.) The film itself is part of a franchise and is the second film in the series.

Right at the start of the opening you have the Marvel logo which is a series of fast paced comic stripes containing classic heroes from the other Marvel comics or films. With the opening credits being fast paced it could protray the pace at which the opening sequence will be at or the action scenes themselves.

In the first scene the audience see what is known as Loki's sceptre, as it appears in the frame a chiming sound is in the background as if to connote it's power. The lighting in the shot itself is very dark, the only light is coming from the core of the sceptre with a bright blue eye catching glow that is almost like a pulse. As it is the first thing we see we can only assume that it is the focus of the quest and whatever is about to happen is because of it. Interrupting the chimes is a loud sirens "we're under attack', digetic sound followed by panicking of people rushing for guns which is a Iconography of an action film. It cut to a point of view shot of someone behind a man in a dark military uniform holding a gun an the camera is shaking as it moves forward, a handheld shot, this makes the scene more dramatic and it makes the audience feel a part of the action. The lighting in the shot is very dark with only little light coming from in front of them makes the setting feel like they're underground and enclosed making it all seem very mysterious and tense. It then jump cuts to an outside scene with explosions (digetic sound.)

This scene definitely portrays the action genre,  a fight scene is a typical event in an action film and in this case the Avengers enter in on a heavily armoured car or in some cases flying into the frame which digetic sound of gun shots, explosions, engines and lasers (digetic sound.) As the fight scene occurs the shots get faster and faster keeping the audience gripped and on to the edge of their seats. There is currently two strands, as we have the Avengers fighting to get to the sceptre but also people trying to secure Loki's spectre, these strands intertwine with each other as the spectre is the reason the Avengers are there fighting. Also, the sirens have faded to the background and the roar of engines have over took followed by an intense orchestral soundtrack that swells up with the mode of the action but also fades out whenever the Avengers speak which shows that what they're saying is important and it makes the audience focus on their dialogue. At the beginning of the fight scene the camera doesn't cut between shot but follows the Avengers in one long continuous take swapping between the characters which is also known as a tracking shot that moves between angles such as high or low angles, medium long shots but doesn't go into a close up as that means that the audience can't see the action thats going on around the character. A tracking shot to go on for this long is rarely done but only done is a film with a large budget and the equipment to do so would be very expensive. Along side the roaring of the vehicles and the shouting you can hear the impacts of Thor landing but also the impact as he hits someone with a plank of wood which would of been added in later as they wouldn't of been able to get that sound when filming also, you can hear a futuristic sound as some villains in flying suits simile to iron man's come into the frame which would be digetic sound however, the sound itself isn't man made as the sound would of had to be made by a computer to make it futuristic.

Thor himself stands out a lot compared to the setting which is dark and grey whereas, Thor is wearing a red cape which is a typical thing for a super hero to wear but also make shim eye catching against the dark setting. Thor would be seen as the stereotypical male figure which is muscle clearing showing which would definitly appeal to the female audience (male gaze), but it also shows his strength and power which is seen as typical for the protagonist/ hero type. thor also has the blonde hair and white skin almost the perfect hero as it's not as common to have a forgien or black protagonist they are ususally seen as the villians in actions films. 
When you first see Captain America he dressed in dark clothing matching the background, driving on his motorbike which dragging someone along and for me if i hadn't of known that the character was a protagonist before hand I would of questioned it as it's seen that people who drive motorbikes are mainly seen as trouble and he was dragging someone along with him which seemed cruel and the hero is meant to show mercy and goodness.



After a massive, continuious tracking shot full of action you get a slow motion shot and it contains all of the Avengers jumping over the barrier in style and still looking amazing and powerful It gives the audience time to admire them and take what has just happen but to  almost have a "wow" moment as the film goes "that's right we're amazing", this is typical of an action film. During this shot the soundtrack isn't as loud and not as intense. In this shot the incredible hulks is the main focus with all the other Avengers in the background. As he comes into the frame with his fist in the air, you hear his mighty roar which starts up the fast pace again going straight back into the fight scene, lighting up the intense soundtrack and explosions once again with Thor's lightening flying past the camera. From the scene it is also clear that they are in a snowy, remote location which is typically the perfect place for some kind of secret base or hiding spot. 

Another thing we can see in this scene is Marvel challenging a stereotype. Now women are usually seen as the damsel in distress, always needs saving and is too weak to be in the fight scene but in this scene we have a female, main character called Black Widow, she is part of the Avengers group who doesn't need any powers or suits like most of the men in the Avengers but all she needs is strength, skills and speed on her side.

The target audience for this film is 12A and i feel that is appropriate because there's not much blood within the scenes however, there is some violence and mild language but the film is mainly about the Avengers working as a team to solve the problems at hand and save people which is what heroes do but also the film targets a young audience as it's the young audience that go out and buy the merchandise (a.k.a get their parents to) which is part of the post-production ad the younger audiences look up to these heroes as role models.

By Maddy Flaherty