The Purpose and Conventions Of TV And Film

Main Exercise 

The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of 2 minutes.

Conventions

Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something, so in the case of media it means to communicate a specific message or an excepted pattern of code.

The Purpose 
The purpose of a film opening is to show action and begin the viewers interest so they get immediately hooked into the film. The film opening will also clearly state the genre of the film, you will also most likely see either the protagonist or antagonist. 

Timing Conventions
The time a film takes to open. Large budget films usually use 5 - 7 minutes openings whereas low budget films are used to be seen with 2 - 3 minute openings.

Set the scene
Used to show where the scene of the opening is set and the general mood of the film.


Introduce the key characters
Introduces protagonists, antagonist and even sometimes side characters etc.

Key Credits
Shows the production company, director, actors etc.

Equilibrium
An event or plot point that happens in the film that is key to the story.

Codes

Media students identify three categories of codes that may be used to convey meanings in media messages.

Technical codes - Which include camera techniques, framing, depth of field, editing, lighting etc.

Written Codes - These are the form of headlines, captions, speech bubbles and language style etc.

Symbolic Codes - This is mainly based around clothing and the colour scheme etc.