Using the film opening from “the lord of the rings Fellowship of the ring” I shall contrast its opening with “the Simpsons Movie” and discuss how the conventions and camera shots help to draw in both of their targets audiences, which for the Lord of the rings film (lotr) would be the fans of the films and other fantasy or adventure film fans, or even those who enjoy Peter Jacksons films. Whereas the Simpsons Movie audience would be those who enjoy the tv series, others who enjoy an American style comedy, cartoons or fans of Matt Groening’s work (such as Futerama).
When the introduction to lotr starts we don’t have any actual video shots just a black screen with the opening titles being rolled over, as the introduction continues a narrative is used to start telling a back-story for te rest of the film. I think the narrative is used to explain to those who are not fans of the books how the events after the introduction have come to pass, and to those who are fans to remind them of the events that have happened a couple of thousand years before the films setting, so I think this helps to draw in fans by starting to tell them the story. Contrasting this with the Simpsons movie which starts with a humorous series of long shots and close ups of a cartoon that the Simpsons watch called itchy and scratchy, and then reverts to Homer making a fool of himself in the middle of a cinema with a long shot of the cinema screen with homer in mid shot. I think this is an unconventual way for a film such as this to introduce itself because it is unlike the introduction to the tv series which starts with the opening title. I think this differs from lotr opening which shows the title very early in the introduction.
Secondly after the first title sequence in lotr it cuts to a series of long shots which show a starting of a war in “middle earth” and uses a series of long shots to show the extremity of the fight and to get the amount of action in shot as possible. Also it uses mid shots to show certain special characters. I thin this is a very conventional way of portraying a war if we look at a film such as Brave heart it also uses a series of long and mid shots to portray the shot, so I believe it is a conventional way to show a fight. This is different compared to the Simpsons movie which after the first small sequence cuts to the title openings like in the TV series however seems to change some of the sequence with new shots such as Mr. burns in a mid shot. I think the shots used in the Simpsons movie introduction are different to that of the lotr because they are both trying to capture a completely different view of the area, lotr is trying to capture a background story of a war and so uses conventional long shots, but on the other hand the Simpsons movie is focusing on a few select characters in the introduction so only uses more mid shot and close ups because it does not need to show such an array of characters as the other film does.
I think these shots used such as with lotr the long shots draw in the audience because if the audience target is those who love action the prospect of a war fills that and by using long shots you see much more of the action. And to die hard fans of the book the mid shots used on the main characters appeals to them because they get to see who plays their character and how there role has been portrayed by Peter Jackson. Where as on the other hand the first shots used of Itchy and Scratchy daw in the audience because it is a recurrence within the tv shows which has been bought to the big screen and so draws in its audience, so by using the mid shots to portray there hate for each other it creates humour for the comedy addicts. Therefore I believe that the shots are specifically used by both introductions to draw in their audiences, and they are different only because they are a different genre of film and both have different target audiences.
In conclusion I think that both films use different shots of the camera to draw in their audiences because of there very different genres. Also I think that the conventions of the introductions are fairly similar to other films of their genre with lotr being similar to a fight in brave heart (however not the introduction of brave heart). I believe that the introductions do very well to draw in the target audiences they are looking for by the use of the shots and they way they start the introductions.
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