The title of our film challenges the general conventions of our comedy film due to it's being slightly obscure. The fact that the title doesn't give much away is a challenge to the conventions in that based on our research into films such as the hangover and dude wheres my car, the titles for those films are very representative of the events that will be occurring within the films.
In contrast our titles fit in with the conventions of our comedy genre due to the way in which they exist the screen. This is due to it's being fairly quirky and fun, meaning that the audience is already seeing clear demonstrations of the genre. The font and colour of our title also helps us to present the genre in that it's quite a happy/fun colour/font, it's almost like bubble writing which would portray our genre through the more happy/comedic/childlike feel.
2. Setting/location.
The choice of setting/location helps us to set the scene of our comedy film, as the characters waking up in a park is quite a strange place for them to be. This is made stranger through the fact that they are just waking up meaning that they've done something rather strange for them to end up sleeping in a park. That the whole opening sequence is centred around a tree rather than moving to a more typical/normal location, further suggests our genre as it keeps the audience in the stranger more unusual place, and as such adds to the comedy, especially considering that one of the characters is left there whilst the other walks away at the end of the sequence.
3.Costume and Props.
The costumes are simple everyday clothes which helps us to represent our chosen genre and sticks to the general conventions of a comedy film. The simple costume helps us to represent the characters as typical everyday people that have been put in an out of the ordinary situation. This relates to comedy conventions and also makes the characters easier for the audience to relate to. The use of everyday props but in a place where they wouldn't normally be found (party poppers in a park for example) sticks to the conventional use of everyday props in comedy films. The items being taken out of their general context and being put into the opening sequence of our film which is set in a part, makes the situation comedic. Use of general props out of context is a convention of comedy what we have managed to use within our sequence.
4. Camerawork and editing.
We've related our opening sequence to general comedy conventions through camerawork in that we've used a lot of close up, and mid-shots. The conventions of camera in comedy films is that the shots need to show the reactions of the characters to the events of the opening sequence. We've decided to also not use many/any shots with a long duration. The ASD of comedy films tends to be fairly high, as such we've kept our ASD quite high also in order to keep with the conventions of comedy. We've also made use of framing to add comedy where Louis is in first seen in the tree. Most of the editing for our film opening was sequencing, but we did also have some moments where we sped up and a shot in order to create some comedy. We've fit in with comedy conventions by not using a lot of editing other than sequencing, we've used minimal effects and have kept the look of the opening fairly simple.
5. Story and how the opening sets it up.
The story of our film is that the two main characters and some of their friends have had a night of drinking and a rather strange party, they wake up the following morning unable to remember what happened or understand how they've gotten where they are. This is set up in the opening sequence through the flashback and Louis' obvious confusion upon waking up. This fits in with conventions of comedy through the fact that they then go on a journey to find out what had happened, something that 'Dude, where's my car!' and 'The Hangover' also do.
6. Genre and how the opening suggests it.
The chosen genre for my groups opening sequence is comedy, and I feel that on the whole we have managed to clearly show this to the target audience. We have demonstrated this genre through our presentation of character/the manner in which the characters are introduced, use of props, gimmicks and Dialogue. Character presentation helps to represent the genre also in that comedy films typically include characters that the viewers can relate to and align themselves with. As such my group has kept the style/clothes of our main characters fairly simple and casual, whilst still maintaining the comedic element of having the buttons on Louis' shirt done up wrong. Another aspect of character presentation would include the characters speech. We have also kept the way in which the characters speak very simple and natural, so that it flows well and can be related to by the audience, this means that the audience gain feels better able to relate to the characters we've created and as such we are able to fit with the conventions of a comedy film. As mentioned previously the props we've used in our sequence help to communicate the genre to the audience through their unusual context/ the strange way they've been used. The dialogue helps to present the genre as we tried to make it quirky, interesting and comedic in it's confused nature. The dialogue shows the characters personalities which helps the audience to relate the the characters.
7. How characters are introduced.
The characters are introduced in very strange ways with Louis falling from a tree having been woken up by his phone ringing, and Barry waking up taped to a tree. This helps our film fit to the general conventions of a comedy film due to the fact that it's a strange location which creates humour and interest. It also fits with comedy conventions as they enter the scene in such strange ways yet seem somewhat uninterested in the fact that they've fallen from a tree/remain taped to a tree other than their initial confusion. This reaction at the same time seems to challenge conventions of comedy in that based on the films we watched and used as references, the characters tend to be more concerned and react more than we had our characters react.
8. Special effects.
Comedy films on the whole seem to use minimal special effects, similarly we have used very few special effects, adding only a slight colour/brightness change in order to show the flashbacks as being flashbacks. The colour changes added a slight misty effect over the flashback shots which helped to signify the haze through which he'll remember the events of the night before due to the alcohol. Other than this there was little/no real use of special effects which fits with the comedy conventions.
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