'Bolt' is a Walt Disney animation released in 2009. It is a children’s action/adventure film based on a girl and her ‘pet’ dog, which has super-real powers in which he uses to save his owner, who is in fact an actress, and believes the powers are real, and that he is a super dog. He doesn’t know the truth about what he does and why he does it until he is transported to the other side of America accidentally and has to find his way back to actually save his owner in a real life-risking situation.
The company distribution logo’s (Walt Disney) are the first images you see. This is good to have right at the beginning to inform the audience. The opening sequence starts off like a lovely family film, with shots of the dog playing, and a little girl falling in love at the sight of it, resulting in taking it home. The lack of dialogue at the start with the peaceful soundtrack makes the opening of the film seem like it will be a lovable movie. However, the action starts a couple of minutes in, after the blackout and the loud, deep boom, continued with the writing ‘5 years later’. There is then a ring of a phone, which usually either means two things: either something good or something bad. The blackouts between the two scenes of characters, along with the deep, dark music, builds tension and alerts the audience that something bad is bound to happen. The exaggerated diegetic breathing from the father tells us that he could be in danger, or that something is wrong. The next scene is then introduced, including a bit of sci-fi. Special effects are again used here, with the sounds and the lighting. The film title is soon followed, as the main character (also the film title) has just been introduced. Then there is a fast-moving chase between the antagonists and the protagonists. These are dressed as typical bad guys and good guys- although we don’t see the antagonists dressed in person much, they are dressed in black for most of the movie, the colour reminiscent of evilness. They are usually in protective gear with masks and helmets when travelling in their posh black cars and motorbikes, as well as state-of-the-art jet fighters with built-in guns. Whenever you do catch a shot of their face, their facial expressions are usually angry, also associated with the ‘evilness’. The protagonists, on the other hand, are dressed as normal, everyday people, with the backpack and shoes etc… but have specialist equipment, such as the glasses used in the chase scene to pass on necessary information. They travel by what looks like an average scooter, however has special powers such as fast speed and a gun to shoot bullets.
Most of the scenes are based on everyday settings, which the children will be able to relate to.
Throughout the film there are many other conventions used to make it an action/adventure film, including animated pyrotechnics, and several shots of bullet time. The film is based on rescues, battles, fights and escapes, making it a strong action film.
FANTASY GENRE.
'Enchanted' is a Walt Disney film released in 2007, and is a children's adventure/fantasy film. It consists of an animated children's fairytale that ends up transferring to the real world. The opening sequence of the film uses CGI animation, representing a classic children's fairy tale. The scene uses both diegetic and non diegetic sound within the sequence. The opening shot plays a classic Walt Disney soundtrack to connote the type of film (family and fantasy) and is followed by a voice over, which is a stereotypical convention of a children's film. Within the dialogue the main character 'Gazelle' breaks into song, which is not only used to introduce other characters, but relates to children watching the film as it allows them to interact with the music and is a regular convention of a children's fairy tale. It is also used in films such as 'Shrek' and 'Cinderella'.
The first image that appears during the opening sequence is the distribution logo, which is an immediate symbolic image connoting the brand of family type film. It is followed by a series of conventional images that are all symbolic of family movies e.g a children's fairy tale book and the title sequence containing classic bold disney font.
The start pf the film sticks to Propp's Character Types in the way it consists of the antagonist and protagonist, as well as other classic character types. However, later in the film the stereotypes are subverted as our apparent damsel in distress ends up becoming the hero.
These are both 'Walt Disney' films, which tells us that that production company aims their products at children. 'Bolt' is a PG, and 'Enchanted' is a U, so therefore we know that 'Bolt' is aimed at an older market than 'Enchanted' is. Also, from the advertisement, the title as well as the picture, we can tell that the target audience for 'Enchanted' is more girls, rather than boys.
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