With our opening sequence we followed typical conventions of the fantasy genre closely to have certainty in creating an opening suited to our target audience. It was important to show a clear indication to the genre type and a hint of the story to come in a way that didn’t present the audience with too much information, allowing them to slowly ease into the story, a typical technique of fantasy openings.
To begin we wanted to start with a interesting shot, to capture attention, after watching Edward Scissor hands I noticed the first shot begins focused on a shadow on the ceiling then slowly panning downward to the door. Although to be it was an unusual shot it had a great effect of attracted my attention and created a soft and magical atmosphere almost immediately. I knew this was something I wanted to use and kept it in both our storyboards, without have seeing the shot example myself I wouldn’t have imagined it being so effective and with our location perfectly fitting our original ideas it worked well in presenting the mystical feel to the opening. The Light itself, which begins as the main focus creates a warm glow and a projects a flower pattern across the ceiling, a beautiful effect that suited well to the world and style of our main character. Although we planned to use a ceiling light in the shot beforehand, after seeing the location we decided it should defiantly be the focus of the opening shot. From the mid shot of the light we pan downward to the slowly opening door. Revealing the little girls room.
At this point I feel using the modern setting has a better effect on the audience, from our research we found that films which begin in a familiar setting settle the audience into the film and allow them to focus more attention on the magical aspect. In addition the doors opening and effect of the light still suggest the fantasy theme strongly along with the music, a combination we also used from Edward scissor hands, only challenging the idea in the tone of our shots, the lighting and shot are a lot warming and inviting than in Edward scissor hands shots, which was our main message through the sequence of inviting the audience into the story.
Our sequence moves on to show an establishing shot of the room itself, using tracking to create the effect of walking through the door. To a series of close and pans around the room. This is mainly to introduce the character and story to the audience, similar to the concep
t in Labyrinth. The slow panning and movements are used to maintain the soft and innocent atmosphere keeping in time with our music.
All the while the credits appear using dissolves over the moving image. We used this compared to full screen credits so as not to interrupt the flow of the film and to give main focus to the camera shots themselves the whole time, and not attract too much attention away from the picture. We included all the credits until the last panning close up of the table and fairy book as we shots after that have a change in tone in both music and mise en scene, also with Little Blues appearance we didn’t want the titles to capture any attention compared to the picture on screen. Using this will aid to attract our audience because it keeps the continuous flow and atmosphere throughout the sequence, a convention of the fantasy genre which can be easily recognised, we also found this a successful technique in attracted attention in examples such as Edward Scissor hands.
Throughout the sequence the mise en scene depicts the fairy tale theme and the aspects of the character. We used various moving objects such as the clock, the carousel and the snow globes to almost bring the room the life. Keeping the magical atmosphere and also to interest the audience further. The lighting and pace remains consistent up to the end of the credits, with slow cross fade transitions following suit. We wanted to keep a constant pace and feel up to the close up of the fairy tale book to make the audience as comfortable as possible, presenting Little Blues world as one of constant happiness and of a typical routine life for a young girl. By doing this we aim to allow the audience to recognise this lifestyle and relate it to similarities within there lifestyle, interesting them further.
However we chose to change tone with the close up of the teddy bear, the lighting is darker and the shot differs to the line of pans used so far, with the change in depth of field it changes the mood and the audience should feel the underline tension as the shot almost reveals something hidden further behind it. This shot is also longer and remains still compared to previous shots, emphasising the change of mood and its importance over the shots so far. This should increase the audience’s interest and create anticipation to see the reason behind such a change.
The music also is a main influence in creating the change of mood. We timed it for the music change to specifically fit the shots, one of the reasons we used this piece was the sadder note the music drops to toward the end of the music, fitting well with how we planned to drop the happy tone toward the shots of Little Blue and the picture frame. This was our technique to forebode the relationship of the family and its issues between the sisters.
In addition returning to the mise en scene the entire room was designed to suit our character and to introduce her to the audience thought this, as the main heroine it is Little Blue who will engage the audiences focus the most and it’s her morals, ideas and kindness that we want our target audience to learn from and understand. The dolls house represents the family home and family theme while adding to the innocent, girlie nature of the room.
The books along the shelf consist of all fairy tales hinting the genre and her love of it, we placed them disorderly to suggest her constant use of them.
The snow globes and moving objects once again are to continue the magical atmosphere, things moving and twirling by themselves as if by magic.
The pens and drawing are not only to show her age but to reinforce our theme of colour, something that is often makes the story memorable like Little Red Riding Hood.
The mirror and jewellery boxes reflect a typical girl vanity, suggesting also a slight maturity to her which could be supported by her actions toward the end of our story as she refuses to use the sweets to gain her sisters love.
The Cinderella book is a key prop; we used a specific page to again hint at the themes and plot to come, with the image of the small girl relating perfectly to Little Blue and the appearance of the witch later on.
The fairy lights added to the warm gold to the scene and became a key focus before our cross fade to the main title.
All this is adapted from our research which we found gripped us as the audience and those of our target age, with its soft, tender and easy feel with hints of underline drama is well suited to capture and maintain our audiences interest, also the visuals of the room itself should be a feast for the eyes and keep the audience constantly busy. This not only attracts the audiences attention but allows them to feel the atmosphere of the scene, engaging them and creating the effect of being wrapped up in the story.
The use of the photo frame was of great importance as it was not only the clearest hint to the story especially when accompanied with the music but it is a key point in the audience relating to the characters. Our family is the embodiment of a average modern family, Its common in today’s society to have step fathers, sisters, mothers etc. and also for interracial families and relationships and its becoming easier to represents these in media as time goes on.
We also felt it was important to show this representation as not only will it engage the audience further because of the familiarity to the family but also to show this example is a child suited example of facing these issues and create awareness that all family life will encounter its own issues.
Our story also suggests much about the typical antagonist, that she doesn’t have to be the evil stepsister, she has a choice in her family relationship and she was never evil, but just the same as Little Blue.
Over this project I have viewed and researched many films of the fantasy genre with I used and adapted to our media product, even recently I myself have watched Harry potter and the half blood prince, a famous example of a fantasy series, In which I noticed similar conventions to Little Blue, such as in Dumbledore’s office, it embodies a spectacular magical mise en scene of the moving portraits, every object and item spinning and whizzing around the room by itself. Not different from our use of snow globes and the carousel. This is a film I would expect all ages to see and relate to the fantasy genre.
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