Research into the action genre by Daniel Robb

Research into the action genre from Daniel-Robb

'The Sopranos' Title Sequence Analysis - William Haines

Using the website ‘Art OF THE TITLE’, I studied the opening title sequence of the crime show ‘The Sopranos’ (Released 1999). The episode opens with a mob boss, Tony Soprano, driving around New York. We see the world around our character from the view of Tony, we see what he sees. The camera moves around rapidly, constantly changing scenes to things such as statues, signs and bridges. Most, if not all the shots are taken from the passenger seat, some of the shots are looking at Tony, such as his hands on the wheel. While all this happens, text appears on the bottom, displaying the key actors, directors, producers and the other important people who worked on the episode. Some films and shows keep their sequences short, often only showing a few key people at the start, often the Director and the Producer. This show starts with a long title sequence, we see a lot of Tony’s journey, thus there is time and space for most of the people who worked on the show. Unlike many modern films, the title sequence contains video footage. Films and shows today, tend to favour creative illustrations. ‘Spectre’, ‘Quantum of Solace’ and ‘The Crown’ are prime examples of creative and artistic opening title sequences.

Until the title is displayed at the end of the title sequence, we can not really guess the exact genre of the show, that is because many film and shows genres are set in cities. The title is the name of the show with a gun replacing one of the letters, the letter ‘R’. The whole sequence sets the tone for the episode, especially as the colour grading is mostly grey.

The music of the show is quite upbeat, which really contrasts with the gloom appearance of the city. The impression that I get from the music is that the show is set in a friendly environment, which heavily contrasts with what the scenery tells me.

Individual Genre Research - Jamie Sykes

Genre Research - Action/Crime from J4mieSykes

Pre-Production Questionnaire Results

Pre-Production Questionnaire from J4mieSykes

Pre-Production Questionnaire

This is the questionnaire we used to interview people on their film preferences and their opinions on our film.

 

Pre-production Questionnaire

Please place a cross [X] in the relevant answer on multiple choice questions

1.    What is your age?

 

12 – 14 [  ] 15 – 17 [  ] 18 – 21 [  ] 21 – 49 [  ] 50+ [  ]

 

2.    What is your occupation?

 

…………………………… (If unemployed or a fulltime student please specify so)

 

3.    What is your gender?

 

Male [  ] Female [  ] Other [  ] Rather not specify [  ]

 

4.    What genres of film do you prefer?

 

Action [  ] Adventure [  ] Sci-fi [  ] Romance [  ] Comedy [  ]

 

Or specify your own ………………………..

 

5.    How do you prefer to consume films?

 

Cinema Release [  ] DVD [  ] Online streaming service eg. Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. [  ] Illegal sources [  ]

 

Or specify your own ………………………..

 

6.    Do you have a favourite film and what is the genre?

 

Specify details ……………………………………………………

 

7.    Please read the following storyline:

The main protagonists of the film are ‘Johnny Demarco’ and ‘Nikolai Kamarov’, they are driving through a fairly busy outer city street in a Green 1969 Mustang GT Fastback, the pride of Nikolai's extensive collection. Nikolai is angry and Demarco looks nervous. Nikolai's car is full of bullet holes and covered in scratches all around the metallic green body, the windows are cracked. The two men are conversing about the failed drug deal and how it happened. As this occurs the audience are seeing flashbacks of the events in small snippets. Each snippet is approximately 10-20 seconds long.

Demarco is stood with several other dark figured men in a wet, murky alley way. At the side of the alley way is Nikolai, parked up in his green muscle car. The trade starts off smoothly but soon turns bad when an immediate whirring of sirens appear from nowhere. Red and blue police lights fill the dark alley way and the men are surrounded. An all-out shoot out begins in the alley way. Demarco jumps into the passenger seat of Nikolai’s car and the two men escape unscathed, barely.

As the car revs up and pulls away from the gunfight the title music starts and the actors names, group logo etc. appear on screen.

 

8.    Do you understand the storyline of the film?

 

Yes [  ] No [  ] Somewhat [  ]

 

If you answered ‘No’ or ‘Somewhat’ please elaborate:

 

……………………………………………………………………………………….................

 

9. What type of locations/environments would you expect to be in this type of the film?

…………………………………………………………………..

10. What type of music would you expect to accompany this film?

 

R&B [  ] Soul [  ] Hip-Hop [  ] Pop [  ] Rock [  ] Electronic/House [  ] Other [  ]

Research into similar films by William Haines

Our film storyline revolves around drug deals, gang leaders and traitors. Making it a crime film. I looked for similar films, ‘The 51^st State’ or 'Forumla 51', (Director Ronny Yu, 7^th December 2001), roughly follows the same idea. It follows the life of an American master chemist who plans to score big on a once in a lifetime drug deal. Of course the film needs a story and drama, so it unsurprisingly doesn’t go as planned. This puts the chemist in a lot of trouble, including financial trouble. This is a similar film in that it revolves around a drug deal gone wrong which is what our film is also about, the beginning of our storyline is the drug deal going sour. Which sets the premise for the rest of the film, which is exactly what happens in the film “The 51^st State’. The reviews are not good for the film, receiving a 23/100 from Metacritic.com, this might be a problem as it shows that our formula for a film has been tried and tested with it failing. The film also has an average of 4.1/10 on Rotton Tomatoes.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/formula_51/

The film doesn’t contain well thought out stunts or car chases, which really brought the film’s ratings down, our film would have these components/microcomponents, as they are a signature trademark of crime films.

Title Sequences Research by William Haines

Title Sequences often introduce the world, most Title Sequences contain sweeping establishing shots of the world you are about to experience. Through these epic establishing shots, you establish a location. Title Sequences in super hero films tend to showcase the town as well as it’s residents, this creates a lingering sense of danger throughout the rest of the film, knowing that many lives are at stake. Some Title Sequences happen on the ground, we are introduced to our character who may be getting dressed and getting ready for his boring job (Typical of Dramas). The sequence may introduce you to the hero, who is perhaps

saving someone or something.

There are a few title sequences which are literally just words. The iconic Star Wars Title crawl was just words yet it was surprisingly epic, it introduced you to the world using words. It featured in all 7 films (as of 2017) and served to introduce that particular timeline or character arc. For example, it explains why The Force Awakens took place a fair amount of years later and why we are following those characters.