Analysis of 3 films

The three films I have chosen to analysis are Ghost, High School Musical and Bring it on Again. Within the first five minutes of each film I have identified a number of aural and visual aspects. These helped me gain an insight into what might the genre and the audience appeal be for each film.
Ghost:

The setting at the beginning is in a dusty room in which objects are covered up by white sheets. The look of the room also puts you on edge. The sound of someone braking through something cuts out the background music. An image of a whole in the ceiling appears, a woman and two men are standing underneath it looking up. They are renovating a house and it looks derelict. The setting then changes to in the city where it becomes very loud due to the open air. Noises such as cars beeping and drilling can be heard. The two men are walking in the city wearing smartly dressed suits. This implies they could be businessmen going to work. As I only got to see the first five minutes of the film, not enough happened to decide on a proper target audience.

High School Musical: The beginning of this film starts with a slow, relaxing instrumental being played. This is followed by a visual image of a school building covered in snow. The snow communicates what time of year it is; winter season. The title of the film appears on top of this image. The writing is in bubble writing and consists of the colours red and blue; blue being the outline colour. The bubble writing made me assume that the audience appeal would be of young children. More written language follows this. At the bottom of the screen it states that it is 'New Years Eve', this also demonstrates it is winter. Aural aspects such as children screaming and party blowers are heard over the music. Visual aspects such as balloons, party hats and banners are then seen. These aspects demonstrate it is a children's party and that they are enjoying themselves.

The music fades and a Mother tells her daughter to get ready for a party. However, the daughter wants to finish reading her book first. This implies she likes reading and is not keen on going to the party. The scene then changes to a sports hall where a boy is having a basketball lesson with his coach. A woman appears and tells them to get ready for a party but they do not seem interested in going as they want to have another game. The setting switches onto another party, people are singing in the background and the dj is organising who is up next as it is karaoke. A spotlight goes on the boy who was playing basketball and another spotlight goes on the girl who was reading. They both look shy but eventually get up on stage. The boy gains confidence and starts to sing. He thinks she will not join in so walks offstage but he turns back as she joins in with the song. They end up singing a duet together and from this I think it is going to be a romantic film.

Bring it on Again: The film begins with an instrumental drum being played and the background is dark until a spotlight appears on the floor. A girl walks towards the spotlight dressed in a skirt and vest top, which indicates she may be a cheerleader. She stands with her hands on her hips, this also implies this. Another light is dimmed above an older man sitting at a desk in front of the girl. He seems to be judging her performance. He first compliments her then changes his tone of voice and attitude and shouts at her, becoming rude and aggressive. Food gets thrown at her and a scary recorded laugh is played in the background.

The scene changes to the girl suddenly waking up in the back of a car after having this terrible dream. Her parents tell her she's arrived at the college. She looks out of the window and there are lots of students walking around.

After these two scenes, dance music is played loudly and the majority of the title 'Bring it on' appears on the screen in blue writing. Blue fireworks strike from the bottom left and right of the screen. The rest of the title 'Again' is then shown with a firework image behind it aswell the aural sound of a firework in the background.

As it is her first day of college she does not know her way around so she asks people to direct her to where she needs to go. She finally sees someone she knows and the girl directs her and helps her with her bags and boxes. These opening scenes have given the audience an idea of what the film may be about, mostly through the cheerleading dream at the beginning. In addition, the music, costume and judge hints that the film is going to be about dance. Therefore, the target audience of the film is going to be for teenage girls.In the opening of the film, scary music is being played in the background which is followed by written language. This consists of the producers names, the actors who star in the film and the title of it. The background colour is black and the colour of the writing is white. This makes the written language stand out and readable. The opening of the film is quite daunting and the aural language puts you on edge. These aspects make you think that the film genre is going to be a thriller.