‘’when you can live forever, what do you live for?’’

TWILIGHT

Establishing characters and settingIn the opening minute of Twilight you only see the establishing shot of the forest and the deer that the cameras follow up until 1.06. The camera follows the deer on a run through the forest until an ‘object’ or ‘thing’ catches the deer, showing that this establishing shot later has something to do with the film. The setting of the film in the opening sequence also reflects the narrative of the film. As the forest is where Edward lives and is also the main setting for Forks being set in the middle of nowhere. The establishing shot also allows us to see where Bella is moving to, and helps us understand Bella’s feelings. Pathetic fallacy is also used throughout the opening sequence or for at least a minute, to create the mood of Bella.

The deer in the forest is clearly an icon for the film, as it sets a sense of stalking and hunting, which is what the genre of the film is about, ‘Vampires’ which again tells the audience what the film is going to based around.

Icon for the film.

Actors in the filmTwilight is a big Hollywood block buster and therefore you expect there to be A-list actors and actresses in the film, the opening credits do not show the characters names within the first two minutes, but they do show the main character, Bella (Kristen Stewart) in the opening sequence.

As the main character of Bella is shown first, and only herself is shown, you can see no clear relationships of the characters for the first 2 minutes of this film. The only thing that suggests her relationships is when she talks about her Father and going to live with him in Forks.

There is no substantial link between Bella and Edward in the opening sequence, unless you link the predator of the deer to Bella being hunted by Edward.

Sound

In the opening sequence there is a voice over of Bella speaking about her life in Arizona and how she is moving to Forks with her dad (Charlie). The non diegetic sound of Bella’s voice engages the reader as they can hear a voice but they do not yet know who is speaking, the first initial impression is that the voice you can hear in the opening sequence is definitely going to be of a main character in the film. Diegetic sound is used when the deer is being hunted and as it is running through the forest, you can here the sound of leaves, branches and the ground crunching as the deer is running, makes the audience feel as though they are running with the deer to get away from whatever is chasing it.

Font and Credits

In the opening sequence there is no credits and therefore no clear font for what the audience can see. When the opening sequence gets to about 2.04 seconds and this is when we see the title of Twilight cast over the forest of Forks (where Bella's father lives).This suggests that the director and producer wanted us to focus on what was happening in the first 2 minutes rather than looking at what people star in the film. As the opening sequence shows the audience the genre of the film.

Camera Angles and Editing

Mise-en-Scene

Lighting- the lighting of the opening sequence is very dark and this suggest that the theme of the film is going to be quite dark and mythical which fits in well with the genre. Props- the props used in the opening sequence are very minimal as there is no real setting of where props can be used. The only part of where this is shown is when Bella is holding the cactus, resembling she lives in Arizona with her mum. Setting- the setting of the forest is an icon for the latter stages of the film and where most of the events take place. Costume- Again the only costume we see is of Bella, the costume she is wearing shows the film is set in recent years, but also shows her social class, as the clothes don’t always resemble wealth or being poor, so this shows she is middle class.

Target Audience

Age- the age range of the audience for Twilight is aimed at mainly the primary audience of 12-15 year olds and the typical people that go to watch it and buy the books, posters and box set show that the film is based around the younger audience, although it can be watched by an adult audience the primary target audience is definitely for younger teenagers.

Gender- the gender is most probably for both genders but you find that a lot of girls tend to watch Twilight more than boys, this may because of the characters involved are attractive young men that girls want to go and see at the cinema. The film also has a masculine role as there are scenes in the film with special effects or the conflict scenes between the groups in the films. This shows that although the film is aimed at all genders, the film as fallen towards a more female audience.

Reason for viewing- the reason that people may go to see Twilight is for escapism, to get a way from their real life and relax and watch something that isn't anything to do with their lives. Maybe it is to collect the films, if you have seen the first two, they may go and see the final two because they feel like they need to watch all the films and see them all. Another reason is to go and see them for entertainment to be entertained and watch their favourite actors or actresses in the cinema.

Nationality- Twilight is a mainstream American blockbuster but has been successful all around Europe especially in the UK therefore their target audience based around nationality is mainly Americans and Europeans. As this is where it is mainly shown and viewed. The genre of the film also effects the nationality, as it’s a vampire based film this definitely shows the American side of this film. The Atlantic cross over to the United Kingdom also effects the nationality of the film as even though this film is American it has also become very big over here in the UK.

Family role- people may go to view Twilight in a group of friends, including a group of girls because this film is merely been made for girls. But some people may go to view this with their daughter or younger sister as part of a family role. The main reason people may go to watch it as a group of friends is because they are at the age they are starting to go to the cinema on their own which makes it become more of a social function.

Media Institutions and distribution

Summit Hill Entertainment, Temple Hill Entertainment and Maverick Films all own Twilight in an ownership, therefore for all of these companies produced the film together. Summit Distribution distributed the film with the help of many other distributors Warner Home video being one of them along with Summit Home Entertainment.

Links between the target audience and the production companies are very similar to my other films as Summit Entertainment purely produce films to entertain people, they will target at the mainstream audience, the people that go to the cinemas and watch films based on their taste in film or for their entertainment.

The release date in the cinemas were 19th December 2008, making it popular in the Christmas holidays for their target audience of 12-15 year olds to watch. Twilight has an age restriction of 12A making the film accessible to their target audience but if the viewer is of the age of twelve or under they have to be accompanied by an adult. The film includes the scenes of drama, fantasy and adventure.

Twilight has now been out for 3 years, meaning that it may have been broadcasted onto the TV for viewing at home and on basic TV programs. Although I have no history of when it has been shown on the television, the film company may sell Twilight to a TV channel for example, itv1 or film4 before Twilights next film in the sequel is about to come out at the cinemas. This will give fans and viewers that watch the film tune into that channel to watch it, as the following week they are going to watch the latest one in the sequel that’s out at the cinema. The film would most probably be show at around 6.15 pm on a Saturday night as this is when their target audience is able to watch it at the weekend, when they haven't got school the next day.