GENRE EG1: Tyrannosaur

(SAM'S WORK) - input by me in green
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Budget: £750k
Box Office: $299k (Worldwide) / $22k (US)
Ratings: 84% (RottenTomatoes) / 7.6/10 (IMDb) / 3.5/4 (Roger Ebert)
Production Companies: Film4, UK Film Council, Screen Yorkshire, EM Media, Warp X, Inflammable Films
Director: Paddy Considine

IDENTS:

No Idents.

TITLES:

• serif font
• white font on black background connotes seriousness and drama
• different sizing between the titles and names to distinguish the different roles 
• the main title is centered and all capitals
• animated titles, fade in and out
• different positioning of titles
• for aesthetic purposes
• duration of title sequence: 00:00:03 - 00:02:04
• numbers of titles: 12
• In the other Paddy Considine film we looked at (Journeyman) there were also no titles before names (other examples had "with" "starring" "introducing" etc.)

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Tyrannosaur credits from harriet Barlow

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SOUND:

• soft guitar sound with notes that are a few seconds apart has an impact on our mood
• it connotes drama / seriousness
• get the serious feel
• makes us calm
• ambients sound of radio to add verisimilitude
• the incidental acoustic music is very conventional of social realist films
• it kicks in just after he has kicked his dog - this encourages the audience to empathise with the protagonist, rather than see him as a villain

1st SHOT:

• establishing shot
• starts with a close up of a male character
• narrative enigma because it's not very clear how the male character looks like due to shadows 
• using natural lights
• lowkey lighting

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CENTRAL PROTAGONIST + NARRATIVE:

• the male character is in every shot
• tracking shot when he is walking back home while having his dog in his arms
• shot variety of him
• he is always in focus
• it cuts back to him
• anchors he is going to be the central protagonist
• he is coming from the working class ( track pants, white and dirty shirt, drunk, is desperate for money)
• The music allows the audience to empathise with him, rather than see him as the villain who just kicked his dog to death in a drunken rampage
• This is quite a controversial and dark theme, something more commonly found in social realists
• the protagonist is an anti-hero: complex an din shades of grey, not a 2 dimensional stereotype
• this is similar to what was found in the New Wave movements

MISE-EN-SCENE FOR EXPOSITION:

•  small room 
•  squeaky floor
• bland colours
• anchors poverty
• The beer cans are used to confirm that he is drunk

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TRANSITION TO MAIN FILM:

• The equilibrium is disrupted when the central protagonist kills his dog
• Todorov's 5 point narrative theory:
• establish equilibrium
• the protagonist is a violent, alcohol drinking, swearing unemployed man
• disrupt equilibrium
• when accidentally injures his dog and realises he has to kill it so that it won't be in pain anymore, he later has a breakdown, and realises he must change something in his life, but has little power to change much
• the rest of the theory is not seen in the opening, but is present throughout the film

Fail or Success?

From the ratings I can tell that the movie was quite a success. Paddy Considine even got an award for the best film and best debut director award. Olivia Colman who plays Hannah in the movie got an award for the best actress.

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However, the movie didn't do well in Box Office. One reason is because it only got a limited screening in America in just 5 theatre. Also, Warp managed to get Tyrannosaur quite widely distributed on DVD and not so much in cinema which the Box Office doesn't count the sales of DVD's.
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It only grossed £299k (only the Box Office worldwide), whereas, the budget is £750k. The movie received a positive reviews and currently has a score of 83% on RottenTomatoes. Stuart McGurk of GQ magazine even called Tyrannosaur  "The best British film of the year". This is very rare for Indie movies to win awards and get good reviews from companies such as GQ or RottenTomatoes. This also indicates that the movie was a success. But still in the UK the movie doesn't sell well due to it's genre "a brutal, frank, and ultimately rewarding story of violent men seeking far-off redemption". 

For our film opening I took influence of the background music. It's a guitar with notes that are several seconds apart. For the font I like the serif font, it connotes seriousness. However, I am definitely including the white font on black background that anchors seriousness and drama. 

GENERAL CONVENTIONS 7: Transition to main film

MY INFLUENCES:

• after learning about Todorov's theory I understand much better when the main movie has started
• 3 different stages of equilibrium
• I could also use this theory for my own film opening
• how to create a dis-equilibrium

WHAT I DISCUSS IN THIS POST:

• Todorov's Narrative Theory
• understand when the main movie starts
• 3 part equilibrium 

SUMMARY:
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• represented from Todorov's Narrative theory
• it suggests that it follows a 3 part equilibrium structure 
• this equilibrium is disrupted by something (binary opposition)
• then reaches a solution when equilibrium is restored

RESEARCH(SAM'S):

The clear transitioning to the main film can be represented from Todorov's Narrative Theory. Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory suggests that all narratives follow a 3 part equilibrium structure, it progresses as suddenly something comes/happen to disrupt that equilibrium (e.g. binary opposition) and finally reach a solution when the equilibrium is restored. The transition to the main film starts with an equilibrium (everything is as it should be) then there's a disruption (by an event or change in the characters life) that's when it's clear it has transitioned to the main film.

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For This Is England it was when Shaun met Woody. Before, Shaun's life was miserable, he always gets picked on by his schoolmates. When he met Woody everything changes, Shaun felt accepted and confident with his new group.

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In Would You Rather (2013) the equilibrium is that the central protagonist and her brother have been left in debt after their parents died and the brother is very ill who needs medical help which they can't afford. Her life changes when it's offered to her to win a lot of money which can pay for her school, debts, and her brother's treatment. In order to win she has to compete in a game with other participants. 

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In Need For Speed (2014) the equilibrium is that the central protagonist stopped racing after he sat in prison for a few years. But soon he changes his mind and his life changed when he started preparing himself for that famous race he decided to take part in. As well as to revenge his friend who got killed at a car accident.

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RESEARCH(MINE):

Summary:

• Fade to black and crossfading
• Todorov's 5 point narrative - transition at establishment of equilibrium, or at disruption 
•  title cards

Mean Girls

This examples uses a cross-fade to transition to the main film

• After the protagonist has spent her first day of school being told off and sitting by herself
•  there is a clear disruption of the equilibrium established at the start of the film, where she was initially excited.
• She comes home to her parents and shrugs them off rather than engaging with them as she did at the start

Mean Girls cross-fade to mark transition

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Submarine

• This examples has a series of wide shots of the welsh countryside, then a title card
• establishing an equilibrium with the protagonist fitting in more with the countryside than 'most people' - as he puts it

  

  Submarine title card

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Baby Driver

• Quite similar to Submarine, this example had a title sequence that began with a worms eye view of a building, and the film title transitioned in with a little animation
• at the en dog the title sequence the protagonist enters the same building 
• this creates a sense of closure, and establishes an equilibrium (the protagonist is in a sense driving in circles in his life, with nothing new ever happening)
• You see a police car quickly drive past (also part of the equilibrium as the police are in a sense always just behind the protagonist (catching up maybe?)
  

  

  Baby Driver - juist after protagonist has re-entered building

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The Mexican

Quite typical - fade to black then fade up to begin the main film

• Creates narrative enigma as we just heard a car crash - who was in it? did they survive? was it actually an accident?
• Isn't done in chronological order - the happens towards the end of the film

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The Notebook

• This film begins with a serious os wide shots of a lake at sunset 
• it's really serene and romantic 
• Marks the transition to the main film with a sudden cut to a closeup shot of an old woman's face, and the music playing comes to an end

  

  The Notebook closeup shot

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