Conventions of a Children's Film Opening

Our film conforms to the conventions of a children's film opening. This is done through the introduction of the macro-elements in our film opening. The macro-elements are narrative, setting, characters and genre.

Narrative-a narrative is established in our film opening. This was created when we made our storyboard. Having a narrative helps to engage the audience and makes them want to keep on watching the film to find out what happens.

Setting-a setting is mainly established when we used the green screen, this is because you are able to see more of it unlike the wooden table on which the rest of the opening was filmed. This connotes that it will be the most important/most used setting in this film.

Characters-there is only one character introduced in our film opening. This helps to connote that he is the main character as he is the first that audiences see.

Genre-a genre is established when the man walks into the pencil case and comes back out in a fantasy setting. This whole process suggests to audiences that it is of the adventure genre.

We feel that we managed to incorporate these conventions quite well into our children's film opening, but we also feel that there is room for improvement (include more to make these conventions stronger within our film)

Character comparison

We decided to compare our character to Woody from Toy Story as we feel that they are quite similar-both adventurous toys that get into trouble/mischief. They are both animated as well.

Both our character and Woody take the main role in the films. We can tell as they appear on screen most connoting that they have the highest importance in the film. Both of these characters could be role models for children as they encourage them to be brave.

Target Audience

Looking at the classification lists we decided that our film should be classified as a 'PG' This is because we have included a fantasy setting in our film opening. This comes under the horror section when classifying films. It states that fantasy settings may be a mitigating factor when considering horror.

Another factor that should be considered when classifying this film is when the toy man gets shut inside the pencil case. This is because it may create a sense of fear in some children as the character is trapped.

Evaluative points

Overall we are pleased with this film. We feel that we were able to use the software well, which enabled us to make a good quality children's film opening. During the process of making this we did have a few problems.

One of these problems was trying to get the plastercine into a shape that resembled a human, we also found that it was hard to get it to stay in the same shape and to get it to stand upright and not fall over. To get over this we decided to use a toy man as we found it was easier to get it to move. 

Another problem that we came across was green screening the last part of our film. The piece of paper that we used was not a bright enough green meaning that it was hard to merge the background image into the footage that we had. We also had some areas of shadow in the footage meaning that the overall effect of the green screen was not as good as it could have been.

Alice, Morgan, Jazmine

Final Film

19th October 2011

This was the first day of filming. We decided to film in chronological order as we thought it would be easier to note what we had filmed and what we still have to do. During this day of filming we shot our opening sequence using iStopMotion. 

We positioned the camera at a birds eye angle. We chose to do this as we thought it would be easier for the audiences to read/see the information that was being given to them. The bright colours used of the pieces of paper was used as a way to attract our target audiences attention and draw them in, making them want to continue watching.

Props used