Character Analysis - Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands is not a typical children's film main character. His face is scarred, clothes leathery and black, his eyes are distant and he has a quiet personality, but to add to that, he doesn't have human hands. The fact that his hands are made out of scissors is blatently stated through his name "Scissorhands", but you get a feeling from the very first appearance of Edward in the film that he is going to teach us a serious moral lesson, which would be unknowingly learnt by the children who watch this film. 

Although, I can remember at the age of about ten, cowering away from this strange "man", so what makes his character so memorable? One thing that makes him so memorable is the fact that he doesn't speak very often, and when he does speak, he says very little and speaks simply, whereas all around him are people who spend most of their life gossiping and talking. This makes his character stand out from the crowd and after Edward gets banished, out of fear of death, that the children viewing this learn that gossiping can cause people harm, which effectively teaches them that bullying is unacceptable and nasty because of the way Edward is treated because he is different.

Even though his hands are very creepy and make them strange, they also make him unique and different from all the other characters. His hands give him a gift as well: He is able to style and cut hedges, groom dogs and cut hair creatively. This makes him well loved and accepted by the people around him and also teaches the viewers that having skills and gifts are not a bad thing. 

Edward Scissorhands is very memorable because he is not an average character, and complimented by the beautiful story, and accompanying orchestra, this is a beautifully memorable film.

Storyboard

These are the picture's of our final storyboard, after a change in idea of what should happen in our sequence, we decided that the story will go as follows. Kyle, Benny, Lucy, Spud and Mitch, the friendly dinosaurs are playing a game of dares. Kyle is dared by benny to go knock on Old man Boris' rock, who is a nasty, grumpy old dinosaur, and then run, the story then continues to Boris gradually becoming nice and kind due to the young dinosaur's influence.

This is our storyboard:

Soundtrack Sketch

This is our soundtrack sketch for our children's film project. We experimented with many different sequences and decided that our sequence had a more country feel to it because of the bright colours and cheerful dinosaurs. We feel that this type of music will also appeal to our target audience of young children because it is upbeat, light hearted and easy to listen to.

Pictures Of Rachel's amazing dinosaur plasticine models

 Kyle V2

 Kyle V1 Lucy The whole group Bruno

 Mitch

 Spud

 Titch

 Benny

Some of these characters may not be used in the final product, most were created just as examples of the dinosaurs which could be made.

Plasticine

This is a VERY badly put together stop-frame of how I created one of the plasticine model dinosaurs to be used in our opening sequence. It was about 1 o'clock in the morning and I couldn't find the tripod... please excuse the jumpy screen, it's me picking up the camera and taking a photo, moving the model, picking up the camera again, you get the picture.

Homework - Analysis of a Memorable Film Character

Toy Story - Buzz Lightyear

What makes Buzz Lightyear so memorable is that he is a hero. He is smooth, he is cool and he is cunning. All these attributes make one of most memorable children's film characters of all time. An example of this could be: 'Woody', from Toy Story; he probably appears more often than Buzz. However, Buzz's character is a lot more suave; therefore he is 'the one they talk about' and of course is, more memorable. Buzz Lightyear has now become somewhat of an icon and millions of merchandise have been sold all over the world.

The first ever shot of Buzz Lightyear, 'surprisingly', is a low angle shot. Probably to portray his character as being superior in some sort of way. There is also some music to go along with his entrance. They introduce his character by showing that he is a crowd pleaser, egotistic, and impressive; when he 'flies' and when he is showing off his gadgets. Another opening sequence convention is that they draw the audience in by making it intresting and action packed at the start.   

Title Sequence and Introduction of Main Character

The video here is the title sequence and introduction of the main character in the 1973 Disney film 'Robin Hood'.

The opening sequence is of a story book, in which the characters move as the titles of the actors that voice them are shown underneath. This is paired with lighthearted music and sets a calm relaxed feel suitable for any age. The colours of the characters clothes are bright, this attracts the target viewer; children of all ages.
   At 3.47mins we are first inroducted to robin, by Alan-a-Dale, the minstrel rooster. The song he plays continutes the laid back feel of the title sequence and puts the viewer in a relaxed mood. Robin is just having fun with his best friend. This portrail of his character makes him very likable and he is instantly established as the 'good guy' of the film.
   Although this film is an animated cartoon, the mise-en-scene can be easily identified as light-hearted and calm. The lighting looks the natural light that would pour through the trees on a bright sunny day. The costumes are appropriate to the time period that the legend of Robin Hood was set in. For many children, Robin Hood is a familiar character as they may of heard stories before, his clothing makes him instantly recognisable as the character they may of heard of in stories. If they haven't, then his introduction reflects the Robin of legends, a likable hero that stole from the rich and gave to the poor.

   I find this opening a good inspiration for the genre of childrens film that I would like to produce, I hope my group thinks so too. It sets a calm relaxed mood that instantly attracts the target viewer and establishes the position of main characters in a way that is easily understand able and fun to watch.

Initial Ideas for our Children's Film

• We have decided to use plasticine models for our children's film. 
• We have also decided to use a positive moral frame work to achieve our target audience of children under the U classification. 
• Our first idea is to use plasticine models to make a series of dinosaurs which will include one dinosaur called Kyle, who is a bully, but deep down he only bullies people to impress others. He goes through a short journey of self realisation with a little help from Kevin. Kevin is the second main character in our film. He helps Kyle not to bully people and tells him how people should interact with each other nicely. 
• Obviously our aim is to make the plot and moral of the film clear within the opening sequence of our film.
• We intend to include various opening scene conventions such as: production company title/title of film; credits (introducing of director, actors etc); introducing characters/relationship between characters (Kevin and Kyle), storyline and setting (the village they live in); theme song/sound track (happy music made on garage band); hook in the viewer (a enjoyable opening sequence to make audience watch the rest of the film); mise en scene/lighting and colouring (bright and happy colours like monsters inc that we researched and analysed)    
• The way we intend to make the opening sequence is by using the program istop motion. 

Childrens Film Classification

The Classification for U is: A "U" film is suitable for children aged 4 and above, and should contain high positive moral framework and not too much free violence, if violence is used it should be counterbalanced by the positive morals of the film. If it is suitable for a pre-school child, it will be indicated with the classification.

The classification for "PG" or "Parental Guidance" films is: Some scenes may not be suitable for a young child to watch. A child may be able to watch from the age of 8 or 9, unaccompanied by an adult with out disturbing them mentally, but the classification of "PG" advices parents to consider  if the film is suitable for the viewing of younger or more sensitive children.

BEAUT moodboard

Gorgeous isn't it? We thought so. We chose images that communicate happiness and well being. But a movie would be boring if everyone was happy all the time, so we may mix in some controvercy in a way that will educate young people about subjects such as discrimination. The overall mood, which will be the outcome of our film, is happiness and equality for everyone. Hurrah :)

Analysis of childrens film opening

This is a children's film opening sequence made by last years AS media students. It establishes the character Albert and his social position. He is an outcast, and is severely bullied by his peers. However, this serious subject is shown in a humourous way as Albert sits in his hat, showing no reaction to the people throwing stuff at him. This humour is what makes this clip appealing to children. It is also accompanied by lighthearted music, this fits the mood of Albert's expression, unaffected by the bullies.
   Every shot is focused on Albert. This allows the viewer to feel included within his daily activities. On the bus, the camera is hand-held to reflect the movement of the bus. In class, the camera is still, as is Albert.
Albert's location is very well established as each shot follows a different aspect of his day at school.
He is always positioned on the right-hand side, and his background changes, as do the people throwing things at him. I find this highly affective as we follow his daily routine of being generally disliked by everyone who knows him.

   The lighting is appropriate to his environment, there is nothing out of place or artificial the make make the viewer doubt the reality of the situation.
   The credits are in a font similar to the hand writing in a school book and accompany Albert's day in a very non-intrusive way. By the credits appearing in a way you don't notice, the viewer is more likely to believe the reality of Albert's situation.

Analysis of Past students Children's film opening sequence

Childrens film 2009, "A Christmas Dream" by Taylor Hayward, Shanna Paterson, Matthew Crouch.

Their opening sequence introduced various concepts which opening sequences should include. Such as, the screen shot below shows the title of the film and establishes the setting. The setting with the misty dark weather reflects the "Christmas" theme. The title is in a simple clear font which children would be able to easily read. Also during this title the theme music, which reflects christmas music.

It also introduces then characters and main props, such as the dolls.  And the narrative shows us the age of these children through the use of their voice and mannerisms.

The editing throughout this opening sequence is continuity editing and they have edited this sequence well.

Although this sequence does have its limits. The title sequence doesn't introduce the production company, thus making them loose credit for this production. The Music could have been continued further after the theme music at the beginning, the christmas jingle could have carried through to emphasis the atmosphere of christmas time. The lighting throughout the sequence is dull and doesn't reflect the general bright mood of christmas, maybe a few fairy lights could have been added and maybe some christmas decoration, such as tinsel, or maybe a christmas tree.

Also after the establishing shot of the window of the house, there is a zoom towards the window of the house which we find a bit pointless because all it shows is an empty window, there could have been christmas decorations to make a point of zooming in on this particular window.

Also at the end of the sequence, the action is left mid scream, they could have continued the action a bit further to make the narrative clearer for the audience. Although this could be a positive element because this could be used to capture the audience and make them want to watch the rest of the film.

Analysis of Childrens Film Opening Sequence - Monsters Inc.

Title sequence, Introduces the company and credits of the production team that created this film. We found that the music behind the titles was very chirpy and cheery and created a happy tone to the film and set the genre of the film, making it accessible for children.

We also found that the initial title sequence (the first 3minutes) uses bright colours and introduces the type of characters in the film, the monsters and a key feature of the film was displayed, the doors of which the monsters traveled through to get to the human world, emphasizing their importance. Also the use of bright colours improves the cheeriness and accessibility of the film for children. this is shown in this screen shot.

After the initial title sequence (after the initial 3 minutes to the end of the sequence), the main characters and setting are introduced, Sully and Mike, and we see that they have a strong friendship. Also it shows their relation with their fellow monsters, as shown in the screen show below.

We can see that they are greeting their fellow monsters in a friendly manner. Also the lighting and colouring and cleanliness of this street in this section gives an impression that this is a friendly neighbourhood community and makes the audience have the impression that this place has no flaws, and the children who watch this are able to see that these characters are decent people through their bold bright colourings and particularly sully's fluffy shaggy hair, makes him seem like a nice monster.

Preliminary Task

We went a little nuts with the effects and music to experiment with Garageband and Final Cut.

This is our little story about a girl called Claire, who goes on a quest for a pencil. And a boy called Steve, who can't keep his face straight.