Textual Analysis of 'The Princess Diaries 2'

At the beginning of princess diaries 2, it shows a black screen with the writing ' Walt Disney presents' the camera then pans from the black screen which soon appears to the audience to be coming from a students graduation robe. There is natural light used which makes the screen bright.

There is happy instrumental music played over the top of the opening scene. There is also dialogue used, the first word that is said that stands out is 'diplomas' this tells the viewer that it is set in a university in America. the president then says 'all going out into the world as individuals' this gives us the idea that we will be following one of the grad students lives. It then cuts to the parents watching the graduation, a mum and dad stand out in the crowd as shes wearing a red dress which could show love and happiness, and the father is in a suit which indicates he is proud and confident, they look like they are wealthy as the lady is pregnant. The camera angle then changes to a vertical tracking of all the mortarboards being thrown in the air, the sky is blue and the atmosphere is happy. The camera then cuts to a close up of a couple of mortarboards and behind them appears to be a tiara, indicating that there is a princess that goes to the university, this links in with the title. The title of the film comes up as the tiara is in the air, a writing is gold and written in a royal font it says ' The Princess Diaries 2- Royal Engagment'. 

the camera angle goes into a master shot of all the friendship groups hugging and being cheerful, this puts the audience in a happy mood, and to expect a love story not a horror. The friendship group that the camera is focused on has a body guard standing next to them. The bodyguard is wearing small black glasses and a suit, he escorts the 'princess' out, you don't see her face while she walks towards the right side of the camera. It cuts to a sunset with an aeroplane going through the sky, it then cuts to inside the plane and horizontal tracks from the waitresses legs to the diary which the girl is reading through. There is a voice over of what the girl is thinking while flicking through her diary, telling the audience all about her life and what has happened since the first film. On the plane the seats a a brown leather and the air hostess is wearing a red uniform, this colour indicates royal and links back to her mothers dress, making the audience wonder if she is going back home. the voice over says ' I can't believe it's been 5 years since grandma told me I was a princess'. There is flash backs to her passed used here showing her reaction when she was told and her mum and her mums boyfriend being happy together, expecting a baby. The camera then goes back to to her on the aeroplane and we now see an over shoulder shot of her looking through her diary of what's already happened. After having an insight into the princess life the audience are left wondering where she's going  and what's going to happen. Next we see a subjective point of view looking through the aeroplanes window showing the town of Genovia. The light in the town appears to be bright and the town looks like it's been looked after. There is an aerial shot going from a tilt to zooming out as the red car, which indicates the royal princess has arrived, leading to the palace. Incidental music is played over the top of the scene which compliments it as it gives it a sense of posh and royal.  The Camera angles goes in to a Master shot showing the bodyguards outside of the castle in purple suits, which are the same colour as the flower beds. Then the camera cuts to a lady wearing a grey suit holding a red folder, there is dialogue used and shes says  'welcome home Princess'

 

Textual analysis of 'Edward scissorhands'

The opening of 'Edward scissorhands' we see the 20th century fox logo, there is snow coming down quick around it, from this we can guess that it's going to be a lonely sad film, and not a love or comedy. There is incidental music playing throughout the opening credits, the music is a mysterious instrumental song and changes Every time a new title comes up, the music starts off instrumental with children's voices, this makes the film have a dark nature effect to it . It fades out to a close up of a machine which is possibly in a factory, the camera angle doesn't show the audience the surrounding of the machinery, it leaves them wondering. the camera then tilts  and forward tracks towards a door, the door is an old fashioned black castle door, this gives the impression that its a horror or something scary is going to happen. The caption 'Edward scissorhands' comes flying on the screen and the tempo of the music gets faster and the frequency gets louder. The words tall, thin and white which makes them stand out on the black background, they are tilted which indicates that something is not right the word Edwards comes away from the scissor hands in a scissor like motion, the camera zooms in at where the blade would be if they were a pair of scissors. The camera pans around gargoyles that are covered in spiderwebs, this gives the audience the impression that its not looked after and no one lives there. It then forward tracks up the stairs, there is little light used here giving it a haunted effect. There is lots of extreme close ups of machinery with captions that are at an angle. The machinery all represent a body part such as hands, face, body and shapes. This shows that maybe the machinery is creating a human, like Frankenstein.

The camera zooms out of the mansion sitting on a hill top on its own surrounded by snow, this shows that it's isolated and lonely. The camera then zooms out showing the back of an old women's head, the audience then realise that they were looking thought the subjective s point of view. The women walks away from the window towards the bed, the bedroom has an old fashioned fireplace and loads of snow globes on top of the fire place. The angles goes to a two shot showing the old lady sitting on a big arm chair and the little girl in bed waiting for a story, the fact there is a little girl indicates to the audience that it cant be that scary. There is dialogue used and the old women says ' I guess we would have to start with scissors' it's then we realise the lady is going to tell the story.

The camera cuts back to inside the castle, looking through Edward scissors hands eyes showing the neighbourhood. The homes have lights coming from them, which gives the neighbourhood a loving look , the camera then zooms out to over the shoulder shot showing Edward looking out the window. In the next scene, the camera shows the neighbourhood in day light, all the houses, cars and clothes are pastel bright colours which gives the film a sense of fairy tale and makes the audience more relaxed about the film. The lighting and colours show that the film isn't going to be all horror. It has some love elements to it. The camera angle then cuts to an Avon lady getting turned down by all neighbours and she gets back into her car and looks through her mirror to find the mysterious castle in her reflections, the darkness of the castle contrasts with the rest of the neighbourhood. The audience are left on the edge of their seats as the Avon lady drives up to the castle, 

 

 

Textual Analysis of Just like Heaven (2008)

Just like heaven is an American Romantic Comedy, realesed in 2005. The director of the film is  Mark Waters, and it is Staring Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo an Donal Logue. It has won one award and has been nominated once.

At the beginning of the scene, we see the 'Dreamworks' logo which has been placed on white fluffly looking clouds, this is linking in with heaven and a fantasy life. There is a sound track playing over the top, the music is a steriotypical love song which tells the audience that there about to watch a rom com. Next there is an Ariel shot going through the clouds and zooming into the ground where the girl is sitting surrounded by rosies. The camera angle represents angels floating dowin to earth and drifiting in a dream, the colours of the clouds turn to a light pink and red this indicates that love is going to take place, the rosies surrounding the girl are iconic valentines day gifts which also link in with love, dreams and hope. As the camera is panning around the girl, a caption apears on the right side, it says 'Just like heaven' its not till no the audience know that the girl is surrounded by what she thinks is heaven, the words are pink linking in with the love theme. The ladie sitting in the field of roses is wearing a white and pink dress and has short strawberry blonde hair. A hand comes and shakes her on the shoulder as the scene cuts from her fantasy life to her reality life, the song says 'dream' and then the music stops, this indicates to the audience that she has finished daydreaming about what she wants to happen in her life, instead of being at work. The camera angle is a close up of the womens face, we realise from this that she wasnt the women in the dream as she has blonde hair, this links to the fact that maybe she cant put herself in that life yet as she hasnt got a partner. She is wearing a doctors outfit this shows that she is very inteligent and maybe has no time for someone else in her life.

The sound goes into a modern,contempry upbeat song while she is dashing through the hospital, the camera angle is a revearse shot this could show that she has done this all before, the camera pans as the people walk past her talking to her about what she needs to do and what has happened, by now the audience can see that her life is busy. There are cut shots used to show that time has gone by and she has been at work for hour and is still coping, every know and then we see her at the coffee machine, this tells the audience that shes drinking loads of coffee to keep herself awake. The customers that she has to deal with are of all ages and she knows how to deal with everyone of them, there is a man threatening another doctor and she comes along and injects him which makes his sop this shows that she is always helping. The sound is happy and upbeat and the lighting is bright and cheerful, this is putting the hospital in a good light. The scene then cuts  the girl and 3 other women in the toilets, this is a steriotype that all girls go to the toilets together and talk, from the dialoge between all the women, the audience notice that Elizabeth is surrounded by married women with children, talking about how stressful their life is, one of the ladies puts there hand on Elizabeth shoulder, in a patronising way and says 'your so lucky all you have to worry about is work' this shows that they arent appreciative of all the hard work Elizabeth actually puts into her work. There is a mirror shot reflecting Elizabeth face, this is when the viewer sees er real emotion and notices that she is sad and lonely. There is another reverse track of Elizabeth walking through the hospital on the phone to her sister, who appears to be match making her with one of her old friends, her sister uses dialogue and talks about the last man she set her up with, this indicates that shes not lucky when it comes to love. Her sister is married and has kids and a house, this is a steriotype for being happy, sshe is in the kitchen cooking, looking after the children and on the phone. 'You dont know the meaning of busy' this indicates to the audience that her sister cant get around the fact shes working all day everyday and she is always busy, but her sister doesnt see this, she just sees that she goes to work and comes home. Elizabeth sister also says ' beggers cant be chooses' implying that Elizabeth is desperate and she is getting older and no one will want her if she doesnt hurry up. When the phone call has finished the camera angle goes into a Hand Held shot filming from behind Elizabeth showing her listening into the conversation between the two doctors infront, she then walks towards the boss and he sasay 'go home have a break' her body language completly changes at this point she looks lost as in she has never been given a break before and is excited to get home. There is ambient sound of can keys and traffic. On the way home in the car it is raining, which shows that something good isnt going to happen to her. Elizabeth rings her sister to say that her date is running late, but Elizabeth speaks over the top of her telling her about her job promotion she is more bothered about her job than meeting people. She turns the sound track up in the car showing that she is hay abt gng hme and getting ready for a long journey back. The camera angle changes to the subjective point of view and is now looking through the window at a lorry coming her way, all of a sudden the scene turns to white and she goes back into her dreamland again, this leaves the audience wondering if she is dead or not.

 

Textual Analysis of the 'Twilight(2008)'

Twilight was realeased in 2008, staring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. The film has won 23 awards and has been nominated 9 times. At the beginning of 'Twilight' the camera angle is an Aerial Shot which sets the scene in a forest, we can only see natual lighting which appears to be dark, this tells the audience that the sun is setting. Incidental music comes in as the camera is moving and and the audience gets a birds of view of the deer drinking water from a pond. It cuts from the birds of view to looking straight at the deer, as soon as it does this the viewer hears a voice over of a girl talking, her tone of voice is calm, which makes the audience relaxed and not on edge at the fact they can hear the girl but cant see her she says 'but dying in the place of someone i love, seems like a good way to go' this tells the audience that film is about people risking their lives and dying. The camera cuts to an extreme close up of the deers face looking through the grass, it is a hand held shot which could show that the deer is being watched. The camera then goes back to showing the area and the camera tilts from the looking at the night sky back to the floor, we start to hear ambient noises of the trees rusling together in the wind, the frequency of the incidental music gets louder and the tempo gets faster, this puts the audience on edge into what will happen to the deer. It is now a hand held shot which gets faster and faster towards the deer, it then cuts to a fast horizonatal tracking of the deer running away, this puts the audience on edge

When the deer runs between two trees a figure jumps out between the tree and jumps on to the deer biting it, the camera angle used is a two-shot showing the distance between the 'vampire' and the deer, there is a bright light which shines behind the vampire this makes it very difficult for the audience to work out what has actually happened. The screen goes blank making the audience wonder what has just happened. Next the sky is blue and the camera tilts toward Bella's face showing a close up shot, her face expression shows determination, the camera back tracks while she is walking through the field. there is an over voice sound of her talking about what has gone on in her life, this is giving the audience am insight into her life and what has happened and what is going to happen. as the camera zooms in the screen goes white and there is a master shot of the car reversing off her drive. there is a soundtrack playing as the car drives off, the music has a country tone to it this gives the audience that there going to the countryside or somewhere that is old fashioned. The camera cuts from different landmarks, this shows a passage in time.

 

The camera angle is now am aerial shot of a forest with a layer of snow sitting on top of the tree tops, a caption comes in to the shot saying 'twilight' the letter 'g' has a swirl that keeps going this shows that something isn't right and it's repeating. The lighting is dark this indicated that its a lonely place to be and the snow shows that its cold and isolated as the snow doesnt look touched. It then cuts to a panning of the old fashioned American police car driving over a bridge, as the camera pans it zooms in showing fast action. The police car indicates that the film is going to have a lot of  danger and crime in it.

overall the opening of twilight, leaves the audience sitting on the edge of their seats, wondering what's going to happen to the girl that's just moved to a new town, and what was that figure that ate the deer.

Textual Analysis Of the opening Halloween

The film Halloween (1978) is set in a middle class American town called Haddonfield,Illinois, USA. This made the film more realistic to those who lived in a middleclass town.

At the beginning of 'Halloween' there is an empty black screen and iconichorror theme tune playing over the top, this builds up a horror atmosphere, thestereotypical horror theme tune runs throughout the whole of the openingcredits. The first title is of the company who made the film this is placed onto a black background making it stand out more and showing its importance. Theblack background shows darkness and murder, the writing placed on top of thedark background are red, yellow and oranges there’s colours are stereotypicallinked in with Halloween and the colours could be related to fire and danger.The words go from red to yellow back to red; this should indicate that there ismore bad than good in the horror film. A Traditional looking pumpkin is placed at the left side of the screen, thisis another iconic feature linked into Halloween and it lets the audience knowthat something bad might happen in the film, the fire inside the pumpkinflickers this shows that something isn’t right. The camera zooms into thepumpkin showing its getting larger; this could indicate that’s its going totake over. The pumpkin disappears and the text is smaller and turns to whitestill on a black background, the is showing the importance of the text as it isdifferent, the text says where the film is set and what date it is, at the endof the credits ' Halloween Night, 1963' is flipped backwards this shows thatsomething isn’t right. At this point the horror music changes to a sound bridgeof children singing a Halloween nursery rhyme, at the end the all shout 'trickor treat' this is telling the audience that life is still the same, nothing badhas already happened to the town. There is no sound playing after the openingcredits, it goes straight into a long shot showing the area around the houseand puts the audience on edge as they don’t know what part of the scenery tolook at, this is used in horror movies as it’s a great way to capture the audience’sattention. Next it goes into a hand held shot making the film more realisticand jumpy, it is forward tracking towards the big building, which appears to bea typical middle class American building with which is assumed to be where themurder is going to take place. The lighting is dark which builds up suspense asit makes it difficult for the audience to see, this is typically used in mosthorror movies as they want their audiences imaginations to be wondering whatwill happen next.

At this point we realise that were looking through the subjective point ofview, this puts the audience on the edge as the murderer is looking at thehouse and walking towards it. Instead of trying to get into the house there isa forward tracking going from the side of the house to the window where theperson looking in the window can see a girl and a boy kissing on the sofa, thisbuilds tension as the horror movies audience who live in these type of houseswill be thinking it can happen to them. This is commonly used in horror moviesas the people in the eye of the killer, don’t know that they are being watchedoutside the window this puts the audience on edge and builds up tension. Insidethe house is a typical 70's American house. The boy inside the house picks up aclown mask and puts it on jokingly, the clown mask is a stereotypical Halloweencostume. The light is coming from the flickering tv in the corner or the room, this links in with the fire flickering inside the pumpkin on the opening credits. The audience are still watching from the eye of the 'criminal' and it’sstill a hand held camera angle. We know that something bad is going to happenas soon as the killer enters the kitchen and grabs a knife from the kitchendraw. As the character walks up the stairs, this is the part that builds tensionand puts the audience on the edge of their seats. The person were lookingthrough the eyes of has grabbed the clown mask which was used down stairs bythe teenage boy messing around. The audience is now looking through the mask, thesecuts out a lot of the scenery and we can only see what the killers see. Theyenter the girl’s bedroom she is sitting naked at her dressing table brushingher hair. The sound gets higher pitched and there is dialoge coming from the girl sitting at the dressing table she shouts 'mike mike mike' this completelyconfuses the viewers as the girl knows who it is that we have been following,he then stabs her repeatedly. Mikes breathing gets heavier and heavier; maybehe is shocked at what he has done. It’s not till the end of the opening scene weno longer are looking through the eye of the murderer, the camera shot nowturns to a crane shot zooming out from the building, we realise the killer is achild. The crane shot shows the victim’s brother who murdered her standing withthe weapon (knife), and his mother and father standing next to him looking athim in shock. There is high frequency incidental music and the lighting gets brighter as the camera zooms out, this makesthe audience more relieved that they now know who the killer is, but still on edge into what will happen next.