Codes and conventions of crime drama

Codes and Conventions of a Crime/Drama

Typical codes and conventions of a crime/drama film would be:
- A chase scene
- Involvement of props that can be harmful such as knifes or guns.
- The villain would usually have some unidentified problems that will be revealed at the very end of the film.
- The hero who saves everyone will have a partner.

- Characters will usually include someone vulnerable and gangs.
- Crimes will usually be murder/dramas will usually be to do with family of the protagonist.
- Conflicts due to difference in policing.
- Betrayal.

Logo

This is the Logo for our production company.

Richard Morrison Presentation

This is the presentation for the title sequence artist we had: Richard Morrison.

Twist of Fate Presentation

This is the pitch for our film idea.

Media Lesson 2

This week in our media lesson, we did another powerpoint presentation on Richard Morisson who creates title sequences for films. We included the films he has made titles for, information about his life, then we described two title sequences for films he made.

Analysis of Anatomy of a murder (1959) 

Mise-en-scene/Camera

The colours used in this title sequence are black, white and grey. The grey in the title sequence can mean many different things in a film, it could mean that the film is either very depressing or dull. It could also mean that the film is a very dark one which would be backed up by the title which has the word 'Murder' in it. From what you see in the title is very similar to work that he usually does, he has a silhouette to move around the screen, this is there to represent a crime scene, he gets it to move around so that he can have the titles in different parts of the body.

Sound/Editing

The music used in this title sequence is very mysterious yet cheerful feel to it, this creates the effect the film will be a light-hearted crime thriller, condescending what I said early about the film being dark due to the colours. The body parts move around the screen to show the different people who have created the film, they mainly used the arms, in a few shots the arms came on screen and wiped away some titles to reveal some more.

Napoleon Dynamite Title Sequence

The Napoleon Dynamite title sequence

The Napoleon Dynamite title sequence is a very simple and easy title sequence to have been created. The title sequence used everyday objects such as: plates, a wallet and foil to show everyone the people who created the film. They put ketchup and other forms of condiment on the plates or the food to show who produced the film and give all the credit. Some of the objects shown on screen represented the persons name they were showing, the way they show you the title of the film is by pulling up an I.D card which shows the name Napoleon Dynamite, this is a very clever technique because the title of the film is also the name of the main character, by showing the I.D card you get to see what the main character to looks like and know the name of the film.

The items that appear tell us what kind of person the main character is, at one point you see a Alien club card, which tells us that the main character is nerdy and likes conspiracy. The food that is shown is really greasy and fattening which shows that the main character is unhealthy, you also see some handheld gaming console showing he is also a gamer, which are usually represented as also being nerdy. At another point you can see a shuriken made out of tin foil which means that he likes to play with what he uses for food, people would usually represent this as being a sad thing to do and people would probably bully him.

Media Lesson 1

In the class we did a presentation as a film pitch for project that we were given. In the presentation we discussed the plot, actors, budget, release date, profit and log line. 


The first Mickey Mouse cartoon, circa 1929, features both Mickey and Minnie, but its main title, “Plane Crazy,” is lackluster:

Over time, the very appearance of white-on-black title lettering became a visual trope, recurring as it does in practically every Woody Allen film. Allen relies on the device primarily to build a visual identity, although its economy is a practical advantage, too.

The way he relies on the devices to build a visual identity is interesting and could be a useful idea for when we make our title sequence.

The concept of score visualization first conceived by Oskar Fischinger in his film “Studies” anticipates the effects created by Saul Bass in “The Man With the Golden Arm” (1955) and later by Susan Bradley in “Monsters, Inc” (2001):



The way the title starts gives me a detective feel, this can link back to our film since it is to do with gangs and crime, however I feel that this could be a very helpful title in inspiring ours. 





The revolutionary title sequence for “Se7en” (1995) by Kyle Cooper was named by New York Times Magazine as “one of the most important design innovations of the 1990s”:



The sound and music used in this title sequence, gives a very creepy and on edge feel, however the way they have used random sounds such as a record scratching to add to their title can be used in different ways.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/10/04/the-art-of-the-film-title-throughout-cinema-history/