Reference Films

"He's Just Not That Into You"
(New line Cinema)

This film revolves around several different people, with completely different stories.
The opening credits tell exactly what the meaning of the title is. We see several women of different ages, and even cultures, pondering over the same thing, when they don't exactly get the attention of the person they like. Be it a black woman in Africa, or a teenaged girl in America, all of the women shown in the opening titles were wondering the same thing. This comes under the stereotype of typical 'girls', who constantly fret over their appearance, being obsessed with  clothes and make-up, desperate for the attention of their male peers, and being  somewhat shallow, caring about materialistic and 'plastic' things. They are all shown distressed at the fact that the person they liked was not feeling the same way for them. Majority females can relate to that as they would start thinking: "Yes, I've been through something like that in my life." Instantly, the audience wants to know how the rest of the film might relate to them, keeping them glued to their seats. This is one of the more sensitive issues in any female's life, and the film has been made very cleverly to attract the female audience. Along with that, shots of more women are shown as the 'friends' giving each other support and encouraging each other. The audience can also relate to that, as anyone with good friends knows how realistic the shots were, seeing as how every friend tries to cheer each other up.

There is use of voice-over with one of the lead females, where she is explaining her view of where the problem lies in social relationships. Even though there are several other characters in the film, all with equal screen time, but the voice-over lets us know that this was the person who was going to tell the story , and from the very beginning, we subconsciously keep her story above all the others. In chick flicks, we will never see a male's voice as the narrative or the voice-over, so the opening titles of this film stay exactly to the genre.

The title of the movie is not shown at the beginning. First, a flashback of one the protagonist is shown, from when she was a child. Then, as she started talking about the main story of the film, shots of different women were shown, all discussing the same thing. These shots have been made specifically to lead upto the title of the film, explaining entirely what the rest of the film will be about. Once all the shots have been shown, the title appears, fading in from black.

 What makes it pretty obvious that it is a 'chick flick' is that, in the opening credits, only women are shown, displaying their views on the same topic. Since the majority, and targeted audience, of this genre are women, the opening titles have been made completely according to their interests and way of thinking.

The reason I chose this film as a refernce is also because of its realism. When I watched it, I felt that I could understand the scenarios and stories very clearly. It relates to my film in such a way that it mainly narrates the story of the protagonist girl in a manner which is very relatable. In my own film, I would want the audience to connect with the realistic personalities of the characters - mainly the character of the unwealthy girl. When I thought of this character, I created it because I believed that every young girl in her teenage years goes through a period of time in which they focus most on social acceptance, making mistakes and doing crazy things in the process. I wanted to seem like a part of growing up. The opening credits of "He's Just Not That Into You" does something similar, as it depicts the views of different females, of all ages. It deals with a similar dillemma in any teenaged girl's life. Which is why my film can directly be compared to this film, as it deals with very real-to-life problems of characters that the audience can easily relate to.

 "The Back-Up Plan"
   (CBS Films)

The story reveolves around the female protagonist  has given up on finding the man of her dreams but still wanted to become a mother. Therefore, the opening titles are made specifically to show her desire for having children. The opening titles sequence is made entirely in animation, without any dialogues, and so, there is no narrative or voice-over used. Since the story is not being told, instead, only a slight idea of it is being displayed. The animation is based mainly on fiction, seeing as how it has shots showing random things transforming into something related to babies, e.g, glasses of champagne turning itno a baby's bottle of milk. This makes the sequence very energetic and hilarious, keeping the audience excited and keeping them away from boredom. The sequence still manages to give the basic idea of what the film was about by slowly giving the audience easy hints. Throughout, it is very simple to understand and does not build up to anything, instead, maintains the same pace the entire time. The title is shown at the very beginning. The sequence does not build up to the title, unlike "He's Just Not That Into  You". The title itself does not explain what the movie is about, but since it is shown in the beginning, it is aided with attractive animations, explaining clearly about the main plot.
 Such animations usually apeal to the female audience, keeping them engaged in what would happen next in the story. The kind of animation used can be deemed as very 'girly' and is appropraite, according to the genre.
 Even in the animation, the most screen time is given to a female cartoon character. From this, we can guess that after the opening titles, the lead, or protagonist, in the rest of the film will also be female. The female cartoon character is shown wearing stylish and trendy clothes, which makes the audience a little more curious and interested in her. 
The music used in the sequence is very joyful and bouncy, giving the feel of an entertaining and light film, which will mostly be filled with more humour and less drama. Since it is the 'romantic-comedy' genre, the audience can tell from the opening titles that the story surrounding the film will not be very intense or serious, but will most likely be an entertainer.
Since the sequence is made entirely in animation, it does not exactly relate to my film.The opening credits of this film relate to my own in the way that, I do not plan to use any dialogues. Another way is that in both this sequence and mine, the use of objects is very strong. The objects play a huge role in depicting the story. The objects help identify the personality of the characters. In my film, the props will show the differentiation between the two characters - one being the rich girl and the other being the unwealthy, conservative girl. The animation is very girlie, and my film will have the same girlie elements, including the wardrobe of the characters. The shots and angles used in this film can also come into use. Since the props are the main focus, they need to be shown in such a way that they don't bore the audience or seem monotonous. If the props used in my film are not shown properly, the whole concept of the differentiation if lifestyles and the personalities of the characters would be lost. Therefore,  "The Back-Up Plan" uses very unique and different camera shots and angles which depict the purpose of the props clearly. The same purpose would be shown in my film with the reference of "The Back-Up Plan".



 "Aquamarine"
(20th Century Fox)

 This film is mostly fantasy-based, surrounding the story of the mythical creature of a Mermaid. The story is instantly part of this genre as it becomes attractive to majority of the young female audience, because characters like fairies, mermaids and princesses are most popular amongst them.
The first shot is shown as under the sea. The camera is shown moving beneath the water, using the shot of point-of-view, showing the view of the mermaid. Ofcourse, since it is the point-of-view shot, we can not see the character, and can not picture it. It could easily have been a merman. This is not hard to guess, as under water shots for the opening titles are not used often. This unusual beginning makes it easy to guess that it is showing the mermaid's view. Since this view is so unusual, the audience will not be distracted from the screen, as they will want to keep seeing whatever the mermaid would see. As the camera keeps moving forward, the opening title is shown. The font of the title is showcasing the main story of the film, as the alphabets are the colour of aquamarine and are shown with the underwater reflection effect.
The background music gives a very serene and calm feel, with the use of the character's voice displayed as singing and giggling. These attributes instantly let us know that it is definitely a female voice, hence, 'mermaid', and not 'merman'.
 Such a character keeps the attention of the audience.
The underwater shots are at a slow pace. But after the first credits, the shot is taken to above the water, onto the surface, where different things are shown which the audience sees in everyday life, e.g, humans, the beach, buildings. Therefore, the audience can tell that the scene has changed and it is no longer the view of the mermaid.
Back on land, the music changes immediately, using fast paced shots of youngsters enjoying the summer on the beach, carrying umbrellas, and having fun. The song used is very energetic and fast, and also had lyrics about the summer time. We can tell that this is the setting of the film, and this is where the story will take place. The change of scenery is very clever, as the audience does not get bored with the opening credits when their attention is diverted somewhere else. From serene and calm, to energetic and exciting.
 Since the scenery had been changed, we can tell that there are more characters that were to be introduced into the story, along with the mermaid. Even during the shots of the youngsters having fun, the audience is anticipating which one of the 'humans' will be involved in the mermaid's story.
The opening titles of this film can be divided into two seperate parts. One shows the view-point of the mermaid, and one shows teenagers having fun on the beach. The main way that this sequence can relate to my film is the use of music. Firstly, the mermaid's point-of-view uses serene and calm music. I would do something similar for the beginning of my title sequence. The first shots would be close-ups of both the girls. At that moment, the audeince would not know how the characters are different or how they are connected. Here, I would use slow and calm music. In the second part of the sequence of "Aquamarine", fast-paced music is used to show an energetic environment. I will again do something similar with the music. Once the frame zooms out and shows long shots of the rooms of both the girls, fast music will immediately be used. The differentiation between characters will begin and the audience will be told that the main story of the film would be about the different lifestyles of these gilrs, and how both their lives would be connected to each other. The way of showing this 'connection' is also the same in "Aquamrine". The two parts of the sequence show that someone from the youngsters on the beach will be involved in the mermaid's story. Similarly, in my film, since the two girls will be shown doing the same activities, and using almost the same objects, but still showing the difference in lifestyles, the audience will start guessing how these two characters would be related.