Film opening that I want to represent (portfolio project)

 Part of my research for my film opening project is to understand how I want my film opening to be and how it should be. These scenes are supposed to introduce the movie in small aspects without giving the entire movie away, but to reel the audience into watching it. I have chosen The Princess Bride, The Bodyguard, and 500 Days of Summer to analyze and discuss how the directors introduce their production and how they explain their storyline.

The Princess Bride-                                                                         

The opening starts off with a baseball video game being played by a young boy. Who is home sick in his bed? His mother walks in, checking in on his illness. Also, to inform the boy that his grandfather is visiting him. The boy tells his mother that he is not happy that his grandfather is here. This creates a distance between the two characters, not so much conflict. The grandfather gives a gift to the boy, a book, which the grandfather then explains how this book was given to him by his father and how this book has action, romance tortue revenge, etc. As the grandfather settles in to read " The Princess Bride", the camera fades to another scenery which is in complete contrast to the original scene of the bedroom. As we are introducing two new characters, Wesley and Buttercup, the audience observes the tone of the film as seen from the lighting and background music. This movie is now created as a sub-romance movie. The lighting being in warm hues and the soundtrack having a calm, soothing note, the audience can view this as a movie in the love category.

500 Days of Summer-

The opening shows 2 characters, male and female. There is a narrator talking to the audience about the story of the boy. The narrator goes through the boy's life, saying the boy would never be happy until he meets the one. The girl was not showing the same belief. This shows an early contrast between the two characters before they have even met. The narrator shows bothcharacters lives as children and shows the audience how their completely different beliefs and personalities are. The narrator ends off by saying this is a story of how a boy meets a girl, but this is not a love story. Meaning the characters will not be together in the end. Foreshadowing the ending to the viewers.

The Bodyguard-

The Bodyguard opens with a gunshot and a character with a gun aiming off in the distance behind the camera. The character is seen as the protector of this film, ' The Bodyguard', because he is protecting someone who is hiding under him, and the title is being edited in front of this character. As the camera pans out to see a dead body on the ground, there is a shift in scenes to a nightcap between the two men from the previous scene. The man hiding was the protector boss, who apparently hired the protector as a bodyguard. The projector then lives to go back to his home, which barely has any lights on while he eating dinner . The scene then cuts to paparazzi and fans holding out pens, pads, and dolls for what seems to be signed by a celebrity. The doll from the fans is brought to the celebrity dressing room, and then it explodes. Interrupted by a radio in the protector's backyard as he is being lectured by a manager of the celebrity. The manager begging for the protector to help the celebrity creates a distance between their two worlds, the protector and the celebrity. The manager pleaded how they wanted the best fir the celebrity, and how he wanted to show the manager how good he is at his job, the protector gets throwing knives and aims to hit a wooden pole. At 2 missung attemp,t the protector then makes three in a row. Showing that the two missed previously were just him joking off to the manager.

my sources-

Creative85. (n.d.). The Bodyguard – Intro [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOAXOzoUStA

YouTube. (n.d.). The Princess Bride – Intro clip [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiyZRtqi_8w

500 Days of Summer. Directed by Marc Webb, performances by Joseph Gordon‑Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2009.

My characters and target audience (portfolio project)

 This blog post refers to the characters and my target audience. Since I have chosen my genre as a romance, I have chosen to do more of a romance drama rather than a comedic one. I believe I have figured out my plotline and who I want my audience to be. Since this is a romantic drama, for example, Me Before You, A Walk to Remember, and Serendipity, I want my target audience to be a majority of females between the ages of 18 and mid-30s. The viewers will be people interested in romance films and novels. Who will have an emotional connection in my movie between the two love interests.

For my storyline, I want my female protagonist to be named Evageline and my male protagonist to be named Lawrence. Lawrence's granddaughter, who will make a short appearance, will be named Vivienne. There will be background characters that will remain unnamed but will have small lines throughout the opening. For example, I will use the background characters speaking lines as background noise as my main character speaks or voice-overs. This will create continuity for my opening. I want my film to take place in the future so that the majority of the film, which is a flashback, is set during the 1990s or 2000s. So that my costuming can be achieved. 

My sources- 

Pampers. (2025, November 20). 71 French girl names and their meanings. Pampers Parenting. https://www.pampers.com/en-us/pregnancy/baby-names/article/french-girl-names

https://gruvi.tv/post/movie-audience-demographics/#:~:text=By%20Gender,embracing%20a%20broader%20cinematic%20experience.

My Film references-

My Portfolio Schedule

 For my portfolio project, I want to be organized so I don’t become bombarded with work every single day. I hope to follow this schedule and not procrastinate my film opening or my blog posts.

What I Plan To Do(Dates included)

1/23-1/30

• research romance film openings
• figure out my plotline

2/1-2/3

• finish plotline
• Create my script
• Create a storyboard

2/4-2/9

• cast my actors
• create costume/prop ideas
• Find set locations to film
• find soundtrack

2/10-2/29

• start filming
• Add Foley sounds if necessary

3/1-3/7

• Try to finish filming by the last day
• starting editing on the last day
• Go back to research and compare my opening to other productions

3/8-3/12

• edit
• do voiceovers, if necessary
• Go back to research and compare my opening to other productions

3/13-3/16

• CCR-research directors, movie behind the scenes, and interviews
• Review everything to make sure there are no mistakes

If I make any changes, extending or shortening my time lane, I will update my blog or talk about it in upcoming blogs. But hopefully, I will not need to and stick to this schedule I have created. 

Portfolio Project Genre #1

 For the first genre for my film opening, I have thought of romance.

As films about romance have created a huge dent in the film industry, we know today. I believe romance would be a safe route to take. All romances are about two main characters falling in love, based on how their storyline goes, and building a relationship with one another.

 As for the target market goes, it is mostly females, typically aged 18-54. The cliche romance throughout most movies ending usually consists of happy ever after, giving their audience a happy ending to see the credits roll. There are specific tropes that tie to the romance genre. Such as enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers, forced relationship, second chance, and love triangle.  

Through these plotlines their would be either external and/or internal conflicts between the two characters. Marketing these types of films would be seen as a very intimate relationship between the protagonists. For movie companies, strategically, movies would be released connected to holidays, including Valentine's Day, Christmas, and summertime.

The two most famous productions that fall under the romance genre are "The Notebook" and "Titanic." So, I believe that romance is the genre I'm going to pick because of knowing the genre extremely well, and I have a vision for what I'm going to do. 

                            Cassavetes, N. (Director). (2004). The Notebook [Film]. New Line Cinema.

               Cameron, J. (Director). (1997). Titanic [Film]. Paramount Pictures; 20th Century Fox.

my sources-

Meet the Romance Reader. PRH Insights, Feb. 2021.

Gilbo, S. (2021, February 9). The 10 things every romance novel needs. Savannah Gilbo. https://www.savannahgilbo.com/blog/romance-conventions

Brown, C. (n.d.). Demographics of romantic readers. Author Cygnet Brown. https://authorcygnetbrown.com/tag/demographics-of-romantic-readers/

Portfolio Project Genre #2

 A genre that I was thinking about doing for the portfolio project is the Murder-Mystery sub-genre. 

The murder-mystery sub-genre focuses on the topic of a usually homicidal murder, and the main group of characters are considered the suspects. With a detective trying to solve the murder, there is always one suspect who looks like the obvious murderer. However, these films often introduce a plot twist that pins the murder on a character the audience would never have suspected.

The target audience is usually between the ages of 25 to 65, more popular among women between the ages of 35-65. Through marketing strategies, during trailers, it has quick clips but with multiple clues to have the audience try to decipher what's going on. 2 film productions that represent the murder-mystery genre are "Knives Out'' and "Murder on the Orient Express."

The plotlines throughout the films usually consist of either introducing all the characters at first, then witnessing the murder, or the other way around. The tropes would be femme fatale, "butler did it", unreliable narrator, and the bad cop good cop detective. Through the story, the detective would be going through different clues to figure out the murder. 

I don't know if I want to go through with this genre, but it did intrigue my interest due to the anticipation and confusion it brings viewers.

Johnson, R. (Director). (2019). Knives Out [Film]. Lionsgate.

Branagh, K. (Director). (2017). Murder on the Orient Express [Film]. 20th Century Fox.

                                  

my sources-

WatchMojo. (n.d.). Top 10 Murder Mystery Movies. WatchMojo. https://www.watchmojo.com/articles/top-10-murder-mystery-movies

TV Tropes. (n.d.). Mystery Tropes. TV Tropes. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MysteryTropes

O’Rourke, Ryan. “40 Best Murder Mystery Movies of All Time.” Esquire, 2021. https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/g35128596/best-murder-mystery-movies/.

The Change In My Blogs

 From now on, within my blogs, I will be talking about my Cambridge exam.

For this exam I will be creating a film opening based on a specific genre which must be in a 2 minute duration. The project will consists of various amounts of research and many amounts of creativity. I will begin my project by researching different types of genres I want to do my film opening to be based on. When finding my genre, I will start to in vision my target audience and how I want opening to be seen as.

With my research and plot for the opening done, I will begin to make my cast by hiring my friends to be in the film. I will be filming the opening with my friends b  as the characters including the main actors in the credits. 

As an ending to my opening I will use specific editing techniques to create a more direct style to add to the story.