Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Hardware

We used a handheld SONY camcorder and DV tapes. On this we had a testing procedure where we checked; the focus setting because we used it in our film opening in a zoom of the baby in the last scene.
However we didn't altar the the white balance setting as we felt that the level it was already on reflected our genre well.
From pre-productions we learnt how to transfer footage from the camera to the macs via a leed this ensured no footage was lost during our final production.

In the shot of Shannon (Jen Roberts) tidying up we wanted to show the struggle of never having time for herself but always having to tidy up for other as well as herself, from her perspective, so we innovatory worked around this by designing a head-cam, this was done by sellotaping the camcorder to a bicycle helmet and worn by me, the shot then looks as if its from Shannon's eyes despite being worn by me and my arms in the shot still worked, as our arms looked very similar and didn't have any distinctive marks or nail varnish on.


Tuesday, 24 March 2009

Group scenario

We incorporated Levi-Strauss' concept of binary opposition into our film opening with the character of Shannon (played by Jen Roberts) being a binary opposition of Linda (played by Sarah), as Linda who's a more outgoing sexually active, nonacademic character is the binary opposite of her best friend Shannon who's a quieter more well behaved character, this is established in the beginning of our film opening but later contradicted as its revealed Shannon is a teenage mum so effectively a binary opposition of her past self.



We also can loosely apply the narrative theory of Propp to our media film; in terms of the characters section, this is ideal for our target audience as we're all mainly indoctrinated from a young age to naturally follow props theory of 'fairytale'.

Social realism is our chosen genre and effectively a modern/21st century fairytale, also including small sections of post-modernism through using a montage of quick action cuts, as oppose to long continuous shots used in 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Halloween'.

1 The villain-Tom

2 The donor-mum

3 The hero- Mitch-nerd

4 The helper- Dave(Mitch's best friend)

5 The princess- Shannon

6 The dispatcher -Linda

7 The anti- Shannon dad

The idea that we have chosen to develop on is a social realism film following how a teenage girl and her friend cope with the first being a young mum. These girls both come from a working class background in the north of England. The opening of this film focuses on revealing to the audience that Shannon is a mum and is not just a normal teenager. The continuation of the film would follow Todorov's narrative structure. Above are the characters from the film set into Propp's character roles. This film mainly follows Shannon and Linda as the central protagonists. It follows how the two cope with Shannon being a teen mum and how they cope with it, it also looks at how the two try to regenerate her social life. With the introduction of Tom to Shannon's love life, he gives her the choice between him and her baby. This situation is resolved with the emergence of Mitch and his friend Dave. Shannon and Mitch fall for each other creating a new stable equilibrium.

The primary target audience for this film is females teenagers. However it may broaden beyond this.

Wednesday, 18 March 2009

Target audience and BBFC


The age group that our media product is targeting is about 15-19 years old, as our film has a similar aged cast of which this age audience (youth culture) will easily be able to relate to whilst sticking within the BBFC ratings.
When we compared it to the film 'Adventureland' on the BBFC website our film had much the same criteria for the classification of a 15 which were that it 'contains strong language and soft drug use'(directed by Greg Mottola) as did 'The boat that rocked' which 'contains strong language and moderate sex references' (directed by Richard Curtis)
After this comparison with other BBFC rated films we felt confident in labeling our short film opening as a 15, as our film 'contains strong language and soft drug use'.
Our film opening does only include a Caucasian cast however we feel it'll appeal to a wide range of ethnic groups as many mainstream productions continue to sideline mainstream talent, but don't seem to suffer commercially for this, its therefore gained a hegemonic status.
This film is primarily aimed at the female gender as the cast are all female and our genre is social realism which usually appeals to the more educated viewer (ed reading) which females generally are when looking at GCSE grade statistics http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=1892
'Film has been called an instrument of the male gaze, producing representations of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from a male point of view' (Schroeder 1998, 208). We took the male gaze into account in having 2 different representations of women 1 appealing more towards females (sensible) the other more towards males (sexually available) i.e. an attractive girl wearing a low cut top or short skirt.
The class profile of our characters is generally C2DE, meaning that it will appeal to those classes as they're more likely to be able to relate to the issues tackled but without ignoring the more sophisticated ABC1 audience as they will find it easier to watch without being boring as it may require some partial ed reading.
Our cast are from Yorkshire so do have Northern accents which may make it difficult in the box office rating as theres not much cross-over appeal, so we would at least aim for the UK-wide audience, as we don't maintain a hegemonic status.
Distributors such as 'Working Title' would be a good company for distribution of our film as it maintains strong brand loyalty after the success of films like, 'Billy Elliot' and 'The full Monty', which are both set ,up North with Northern accents and of the genre social realism. However if distributed by Warp-X we would probably only do well up North where the audience can relate easier to the film such as that fate of the film 'This is England', (set up,up North, with Northern accents, genre:social realism).
Some films that could be linked to our film, to help communicate the ideas behind it are; 'Kidulthood' in that they're both social realism films , with the same aged cast and both aimed at the youth culture, we could also refer it to 'Wish you were here' as both films have females as the central protagonist, both include a teenage pregnancy, aimed at the same audience and are social realist films, all these features from the 2 films will help the audience to identify to ours in that their fans will want to see our film.
Unfortunately we were unable to directly target the 'pink pound' besides the revealing clothing worn by the girls as it wasn't applicable for our particular social realism film.
Our typical would-be-punter is likely to be a typical female teenager (aged 15-19), under age drinker, sexually active, within the socio-economic group of C2DE, likely to be placed by the media in 'hoody' or 'chav' stereotype/culture.
'Maslows hierarchy of needs' as its basically a pyramid system hierarchy for motivation, it has many levels and all levels must be completed before a state of self-motivations reached.
This links to my target audience as psychologically my consumers are likely to be in the 'safety/love and belonging levels of the pyramid, as they may not be in a loving satisfying relationship or be in steady employment. My film relates to people in this level as the characters in the film are also in this level and deal with similar issues relating to 'Maslows hierarchy of needs', so the audience are more likely to feel empathy with and understand the characters and their story.
The characters in our film and a lot of our target audience therefore lack self motivation so are unable to move on emotionally grow or mature they're in a mental state of paralysis.

Microdrama



From the process of constructing our microdrama ive learnt how to use the technology;apple macs and the software imovie in which ui learnt how to cut and edit a short film whilst incorporating transitions, sound and title sequenceing.


I also learnt how to use a sony handheld camera and tripod, all of which are demonstrated in our microdrama, preliminary task and film opening.


For our microdrama we used Todorovs narrative theory;


Stage 1A state of equilibrium is defined.


Conor has a magic lipgloss once applyed gives him magical powers such as the ability to fly.


Stage 2Disruption to the equilibrium by some action or crisis.


Tom and Toby steall the lipgloss fromConor and use it


Stage3The Character(s) recognition that there has been a disruption, setting goals to resolve problem.


Toby becomes addicted to using the lipgloss meaning the powers now in the wrong hands


Stage4The Character(s) attempt to repair the disruption, obstacles need to be overcome to restore order.


Tom Amelia and Conor try to reteive the lipgloss from him to stop the madness


Stage5Reinstatment to the equilibrium. Situation is resolved, a conclusion is announced.


Toby dies after falling from a great height


A breif explanation of the terms:


omniscient narrator- a narrator that knows about everything happening in the story ie plot, characters all perspectives etc


linear narrative- like a story organized in a linear sequence literally goers from begining to middle to end without any deviation eg tracing relationships with cause and effect, as oppose to a non-linear narrative- is where events arent in chronological order so the stories mixed up eg to mimic the structure and recall of human memory

Friday, 13 March 2009

Genre: social realism



BBFC: 15



Target audience: 15-19 mostly female teenagers



Narrative: The film starts with 2 teenage girls around 14-15 getting ready for a night out, both of which are from a working class background (C2 or D) living in a council estate.

As they leave the house its made apparent to the audience that one of the girls is a teenage mum.



I'm going to use a variety of different shot types in my film opening, each of which will help connote meaning and portray the preferred reading to the audience. These will include shots such as low angle of girl 1 sat on the bed connoting power within the girls friendship, once the girls leave, a panning shot from the door to the baby highlights the issue of teenage pregnancy which in turn helps identify the genre, rule of thirds is used when both girls are using the mirror to connote a binary opposition between the 2, a range of close-ups are also used to help identify the narrative e.g. a close-up of the girls applying make-up. An eyeline match is used when the 2 girls are looking into the mirror, I've also used the 180 degree rule throughout to maintain continuity. For my transitions simple cuts will be used to further anchor the genre of social realism.



Sound and music- Near the beginning of the scene digetic incidental music is used to reflect the change in mood.At the end of scene I'm going to use non-digetic incidental music as the door closes the music slows to an almost sombre level as the camera pans across to the baby to create sympathy for the baby.



The location used is outside a house in a council estate, and my sisters bedroom. In the mise-en-scene we are going to use natural lighting in the bedroom, use a number of props the main ones of which will be a bottle of alcohol, the make-up, homework and magazine. For costume the girls start off in school uniform to anchor they're ages, then change into more revealing outfits for going out in, which matures their look.



Characters/casting-We considered what our main characters would look like but due to availability we are going to use 2 of our friends, but who do meet some of the character requirements needed. Both of the characters link into the 'chav' culture, this stereotype is reinforced with the under age drinking and teenage mum. However a counter type is created with girl 2 completing her homework as you wouldn't expect a girl within this culture to be concerned with the aspect of education.



Our film opening can be intertextually linked to 'Kes' and 'Wish you were here' because both use teenagers as the central protagonist.

Friday, 6 March 2009

Feedback

When we asked our class (which are our target audience) what they thought was the target audience for our film, they said they thought it was they're kind of age i.e. teenagers.

Emily Outerside: Thought we attracted the teen target audience through the music used which is quite stereotypically girly dance music.

Sophie Gannon: Thought the fast pace editing identified with the target audiences way of life, and was intertextually liked to many other films aimed at our target audience.

Laura Beck:Thought that having the title 'Thursday Night' over the scene of the council house at the beginning of our film helped to establish the time and setting of our film, as well as the socio-economic group of the characters.
She also liked the narrative enigma, Alex Snowden agreed saying that the twist kept the audience on their toes wanting to watch more of the film and find out the story behind the baby, also signifying the socio-economic group of the central protagonists being C2DE helping to attract a wide target audience who were able to relate to the issues in-hand.

Georgi Cooke: Thought that the cuts being in synchronisation with the music worked well as it enthisized the actresses movement, keeping the audience interested, although using actress with more common accents may have helped anchor the location more thoroughly, including the genre of the film being social realism a more deliberate Northern accent would be a common convention.
We did take this into account (despite both actresses being from up North) requesting the actress's to speak in a more deliberate Northern accent when we re-filmed certain shots and added in others, however if we'd had more time we'd have filmed it all in this way, as making they're accents quite obviously Northern is a key convention to social realist films however may have narrowed it down to a more regional target audience.

Tom Copland: Thought although the actresses age connoted the target audience for our film including slightly more stereotypically central protagonists at a slightly older age may have helped further anchor the prefferd reading of target audience for our film.
If we had enough time to do this we would have done, as it would help to attract a wider target audience.

George Needham: Enjoyed the choice of shot angles we used however thought it may have worked better if we'd filmed the whole film on the same setting i.e. all on wide screen.
If we were able to re-film the film we would have done so in this way, as it would have improved the depth of field giving a wider view to our audience and looked more presentable throughout, however we didn't have enough time to do so.

Rough cuts







These first two shots were intended as two separate over the shoulder shots to show facial expressions and reactions of both of the characters through their conversations. However after we had filmed the first shots we put the conversation together and realized that throughout the conversation we didn't actually have many shot varieties and they were all the same over the shoulder shots so we wanted some variation and we re-shot the shot as a two shot with both the characters in the same shot. Even though i thought the second shot of jenny saying 'its in for tomorrow' was a good shot we changed it due to shot varieties.








The first of these two shots is of Sarah (Linda) telling Jenny (Shannon) that she doesn't really need to do the work as she is getting high grades anyway and to get the party started! We chose to re-take this shot for a number of reasons. one of these reasons is because when Sarah saying to Jenny ' what do you care your getting A's anyway' this doesn't signify that Jenny is from a working class background because stereotypically working class teenagers don't so as well at school as middle and upper class teenagers do. So we didn't feel that this was appropriate and that it didn't fit in with our genre or story line for that matter. Another reason why we chose to re-take this shot is because wee felt that 'lets get the party started' also didn't fit in with our genre of realism because when your at a friends getting ready you don't usually say that its slightly unreal and more fake we wanted something a little more casual. So really we didn't feel that this shot fit in or was appropriate for our approach.
There were many reasons why we did a re-take of the next shot. when we did a re-take we shot the exact same, the dialogue was the same it was just a few things that we changed. One of the things we didn't think was right with this shot was the fact that we wanted to show that jenny (Shannon) did actually care about her baby as we find out at the very end of the opening few minuets that she has had a baby although there are things that signify this throughout the opening few minuets. We didn't think that even a mother at a young age would go out not thinking or caring about her baby, she is still going out but just showing she cares. Another big problem we had with this shot is that we could find a babies cot in time for filming so we used a washing basket in this shot to put the baby in but when we put this shot in with all of the other shots we realized that it didn't look realistic at all so we knew we had to change it because of that, i think that was the main factor why we changed it.

The group

There are two of us in our Group, myself and Amelia Crossley. I decided to work with Amelia because she is one of my good friends and we work well together. We both had similar ideas which meant it was easier to come up with our final idea and we both live near each other so this was perfect for filming purposes and organising things. We both put in the same amount of work so we haven't split things up we just work together on everything.

Cinematography and editing

We decided to use the shot of Linda saying 'That's sorted then, lets get ready' as a link to our quick cut richly filled montage, as oppose to Linda saying 'Lets get this party started' as it better suited our genre and appealed more to the target audience, as the 2nd option could be described as cringey not managing to get the point across.
We also decided to use a mid-angle 2 shot near the beginning of the conversation between Linda and Shannon, to better establish the location and status of the characters, it also provided us with a wider variety of shots and helped create spacial awareness and the relationship between characters. As oppose to more close-ups and shot-reaction-shots as we already had a lot of these.
We used many close-ups within shot-reaction-shots to convey the emotion felt from the speech in conversation, seeing the characters direct reactions helped the audience to relate to the characters emotions more easily.
We chose to use quick cuts as our transitions because, this is an editing convention in social realist films so not to distract the audience from the social issue. In other genres fancier transitions e.g 'dissolve' are used to engage the audience in a less impacting storyline. Or maintain continuity as a transitions like 'warp out' links to the theme of sci-fi which is a film genre.

Software




From the process of constructing our microdrama I've learnt how to use the technology;apple macs and the software Imovie6 in which ui learnt how to cut and edit a short film whilst incorporating transitions, sound and title sequencing.
I also learnt how to use a Sony handheld camera and tripod, all of which are demonstrated in our microdrama, preliminary task and film opening.

When using Imovie6 i found it easy to pick up and develop my skills efficiently so was quite simple to use once shown how and exploration of the software had taken place.

Once i was able to use it well i found that it contained a very useful wide range of editing tools;cut, transitions, opening titles, ending credits and sound effects, which were suitable for a variety of genres.

However it was sometimes difficult to navigate, and i was unable to have multiple layers of films or sound.Also using the same clip multiple times proved difficult.

Casting








Jenny Roberts (Shannon) Ellen Page



























Sarah Jepson (Linda) Amanda Seyfried



I consider my cast appropriate as they're of similar age and look similar to already famous actresses who play similar roles.


Jen Roberts and Ellen Page share the same body type, facial features, ethnicity and hairstyle/colouring. Also Ellen Page acted as the central protagonist in a film called 'Juno' in which she played a teenage pregnant mother, which relates to Jen developing that convention in our media product further as our films about coping with the baby once born. The character of 'Juno' is also less outgoing and a bit nerdy, which is how Jen plays her character of Shannon.


Sarah Jepson and Amanda Seyfried also share the same body type, facial features, ethnicity and hairstyle/colouring. Amanda Seyfried stared in a film named 'Mean Girls' in which she was both a bad influence to friends and had been badly influenced by friends, she was also portrayed as a ditsy non-academic all these features were included in Sarah's character.


Our media product represents the particular social groups of youths/working class by showing characters within the same socio-economic group (C2DE)dealing with the same common issues and acting in stereotypical ways for this group, e.g underage drinking, sexually active etc..., however does have a slight binary opposition for comparison as Shannon despite being a teenage mum in this group isn't portrayed as a outgoing 'tart' but a more introvert nerd, this would therefore address a wider audience.These issues provide something for the audience to relate to.


The convention of 'tartyness' is reinforced by the girls wearing uniforms at the beginning which is used from the media products of films; 'ST Trinians' and 'Kidulthood', however developed by Jens personality which doesn't match the common stereotype although her past actions of being a teenage mum do so, this is anchored by her making her self up (hair and make-up) and wearing revealing provocative clothing.

The form of outgoing was used by Linda being a louder and more outgoing, sexually active character used from the media product of the film 'Wish You Were Here', where the central protagonist is also like this as well as intertextuallity having the same name.


We also attracted our audience by having a the same gender, ethnicity and similar age cast whilst including 1 minor role which was a middle-aged character (Shannons mum), this could possibly give the chance for mothers and daughters to watch along together as they may be going through similar issues as they do in the film.

Production schedule and production notes

Week commencing: 16th March
Monday 16th march
master establishing shot of house (external)
Hand held camera, point of view shot tilting up the stairs (internal)

Tuesday 17th March
mid shots, mid angles (conversation) (internal)
mid shots, high angles (conversation) (internal)
two shot, mid shot, slightly high angle (conversation) (internal)
high angle shots (conversation) (internal)

Wednesday 18th March
close up shots (montage) (internal)
Extreme close up shots (montage) (internal)
Head cam (montage) (internal)
Walking away from camera (montage) (internal)
zoom shot (montage) (internal)

During shooting we did however have to make changes and editions to the screenplay which meant scheduling re-shoots. We noticed the need for these shots during our initial editing of the opening. By arranging these re-shoots we were able to increase our coverage whilst also giving extra time to create new content both in the screenplay and also spontaneously during the shoot. We did the re-shoots the following week so that we were able to incorporate the new shots quickly.

Screenplay

Name: Thursday Night.
By Amelia Crossley and Josie Mears.
Pre Productions Script. 06.03.09
AJ Productions
1. EXT-OUTSIDE COUNCIL HOUSE IN A DEPRIEVED AREA.
2. INSIDE HOUSE.
One MOTHER in her late 30’s is walking up the stairs towards a room where GIRL 1 and GIRL 2 are situated. Mother opens the door.
MOTHER
Just off out for a bit girls … see you later!
3. IN THE GIRL’S BEDROOM.
GIRL 1 is sat on the bed reading a cheap magazine wearing a tight bright top and jeans with lots of makeup on. GIRL 2 is sat on the floor ahead of GIRL 1 doing academic homework, wearing jeans and a plain, dull, loose top. GIRL 1 looks up.
GIRL 1
Stop being so boring.
GIRL 2
What?
GIRL 1
Seriously you need to get out more!
GIRL 2
But its due in tomorrow.
GIRL 2
Its not that easy you know, especially for me.
GIRL 1
you can let your hair down once in a while you know! Oh My God did you see Vicky's skirt today, how short it was?!
GIRL 2
Oh right yeah. so are you excited abut seeing tom after Dave's last weekend?
GIRL 1
Eurgh no what a minger that was a total mistake! Anyway what was up with you that night?
GIRL 2
Oh i was just a bit tired, been up a lot the night before.
(looking over to her right)
Anyway i thought you liked tom?!
GIRL 1
Not half as much as i like his mate!
GIRL 1 texting on her phone while GIRL 2 rolling her eyes.
GIRL 1
Whats wrong with that? I'm only having a good time.
GIRL 1 passing her phone to GIRL 2. GIRL 2 gives GIRL 1 a slight smile.
GIRL 1
That's sorted then, lets get ready!
GIRL 1 pouring alcohol in shot glasses. GIRL 2 stood behind wardrobe as she hands out a skirt and then comes out of the wardrobe herself. GIRL 1 stood in front of the wardrobe and puts her thumb down. GIRL 2 stood just out of the wardrobe nods her head and throws the skirt onto the bed. GIRL 1 looks into a mirror and is layering mascara, already has eye shadow on. Head cam used showing GIRL 2 picking magazine, calculator and baby toys up. GIRL 2 gets up from the floor and walks over to the bed and puts the things she has picked up under the bed.GIRL 2 puts lip gloss on as if she is looking into a mirror. GIRL 1 is stood in front of the mirror straightening her hair. Both GIRLS in the shot facing each other taking a shot of alcohol. GIRL 2 walks out of the wardrobe with a dress in her hand and faces the camera with a smile on her face. GIRL 1 stands in front of the wardrobe with a glass in her hand drinking out of it and put her thumb up, enthusiastically. GIRL 2 puts her shoe on while GIRL 1 is putting tights on who then lifts her leg up as she is reaching for the bottle of alcohol and knocks a glass over which then smashes. Both GIRLS are now in the shot, take a look down to where the glass is and then look at each other a laugh. Still with both GIRLS in the shot they again take a shot of alcohol. Both GIRLS looking in the mirror fixing their hair. Side shot of the girls still looking in the mirror. GIRL 1 walks towards the door and looks back as she is going through the door.
GIRL 1
Come on then Shannon lets go!
GIRL 2
Coming!
GIRL 1 has left the room and GIRL 2 is walking towards the door, turns the light off but then walks towards baby in cot, kisses her hand and places it on the baby's head. GIRL 2 then continues to walk out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
Camera then zooms into the baby sleeping in the cot.

Storyboard




Common codes and conventions of film openings

'Wish you were here'
Released in 1987
Produced by Sarah Radcliffe
Written and directed by David Leland
Music by Stanley Myres
Film 4 Zenith production in association with Working Titles
image of young blond girl connotes innocence wearing gas mask reflects time frame of 1950's after the war, edited shot in black and white further anchors the preferred reading of the time it was set, non-digetic wave sound is played which turns into digetic sounds it fades into establishing shot panning along screen of location-typical British seaside (cold weather) also using a grey filter over the scene which anchors the preferred reading of the genre social realism, as this makes it look dull typical of most social realist films juxtaposed to the sunny glamour of hollywood movies.
The red text of actor/actress's names fades in and out giving a sense of unease when mixed with a dull scene and upbeat music, which creates tension.
The rule of thirds suggests that humans naturally read from left to right, the actress who plays the central protagonists name appears on the left so that the audience is drawn to hers first, creating importance before reading the co stars name, as we read a picture in the same way, this is accompanied by digetic asynchronous sound of the waves and seagulls along with the postcard style title incidentally named further anchors the preffered reading of the location being by the seaside, along with the iconography of a broken pier to reflect it being past its 'glory days'.
Something else social realist films use as a common convention to anchor their genre is to show typically British day to day mundane tasks, such as walking the dog as this film does with a man walking his dog along the beach, this enable the British audience to relate to the film more easily as they've found something in common forming a kind of relationship between the 2, therefore symbolising that its a social realist film.
The camera then slowly pans towards the left of the screen whilst zooming out at the same time , probably done by using a crane, this give the audience the bigger picture to look at.
A woman's voice now starts to sing along with the music her lyrics being incidental (also ironic) to the film, also using exposition as the style of music is typical of the 50's, so helps to inform the audience of the time in which it was set.
The camera is then zooming out partially subjectively from the deck chair which stuck in the railing this is a symbol which signifies somethings not quite right including an element of paralysis linking into conventions of tragedy as its an omen foreshadowing the central protagonists future as there is then a visual bridge to her from here on we know shes going to be different from other characters at the time as she rides her bike into the shot creating more association between the 2, as the other deck chairs stand orderly not paralysed but able to be moved and moulded by society.
As she does this she the central protagonist rides past a woman wearing yellow pushing a pram this is a prophetic visual bridge to her for and the3 end of the film, as she ends up having a baby pushing the pram wearing yellow in the final scene, anchoring the theme that she never really grows and moves on.
The central protagonist is blond and wearing a pink dress connoting femininity but a binary opposite of her character being a strong woman riding a bike so fast.The camera zooms in on her face shes wearing little make-up and has short messy hair reflecting her up front personality and although shes blond she still has short hair which is a male like tendency making her less of a binary opposite as looks slightly like a boy.
The blue windmill attached to the front of her bike connotes innocence, as its a childlike tendency to customize your bike in this way, the blue windmill is a symbol of her demise out of control as she rides faster it spins faster which represents her getting her self deeper and deeper into trouble not being able to stop-loss of control.
The sound then turns digetic as she rides past a dancing woman on a box, who's old tanned and in a short orange dress this signifies the the seediness of the town but that they keep hope till the end.
The British flags are an iconic sign, by the side of her are an example of iconography, helping to anchor the location and even genre as Britain is famous for social realist films, the scene then fades out to black along with the music.


Notting Hill
Released:1999 Directed by:Roger Michell
Written by:Richard Curtis
Produced by:Duncan Kenworthy
Executive producers:Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Richard Curtis Production companies involved:Universal, Polygram, Working Titles
Genre:Romantic comedy
cross-over appeal:-big names such as Hugh Grant (stereotypically British, e.g accent, floppy hair, which is what USA familiar with when think of Brits) Julia Roberts (US fan base-loyal USA as they know shes a good famous actress, therefore will think the same of the film and pay to go see it)-despite being set in Notting Hill in London provides USA audience with familiar stereotype of Britain just on a smaller scale.
Rhys Ifans brings an element of comedy to the film obviously Welsh brings in a wider audience as signified by his accent.
Starts off with news like dialogue, whilst non-digetic music weaves into it punctuated by the female protagonists first shot on the word 'shes' being creating a visual bridge, whilst shes being photographed by the paparazzi connotes her importance and implies her celebrity status ironically in and out of the film.
The camera constantly pan/tracks possibly by crane across the screen the showing a montage of pictures of her in a range of different looks which connotes a range of possible moods and personalities portrayed by the media, although shes always smiling looking comfortable implies shes used to the frame
Longer shot of her kissing male shows her private love life and connotes the genre of romance, further anchored by her name in pink text and mise-en-scene of her wearing a heart necklace.
Long high angle shot of her sat on the pavement heightens her vulnerability and 'normalness' so that working class are able to relate easier with her despite playing the character of a celebrity.
Main actress has pale skin representing purity implying shes a nice truthful not sexually active girl.



Train Spotting:Genre of this film is social realism. Train spotting is aimed at a specific audience and that is youths. In the opening few minuets there is fast paced music-Iggy pop- which then goes into a sound bridge. The first thing you actually see on screen is the main character running towards the camera. There is then a voice over so there is an internal narrative. The film starts off with young people dealing with drugs and a baby in the room. The first few minuets show this which make the audience want to carry on watching it because they want to know what happens to the characters.

Kidulthood
This film is a drama. In the very opening we can here a sound of a gun shot and a knife this could signify what the film will be about. The camera is used as a handheld camera to give the effect as though you are actually there, it also gives the film a realist effect. We can see that it is filmed in a working class area by the scruffy uniform the characters wear. One of the characters is a stereotypical girl we can see this by the big earrings she is wearing and they way her hair is done. There are blurred shots which show the sexual content and this then targets the audience. This film was released in 2006 and the budget of it was £800,000. Kidulthood has had a few bad reviews.



Pirates of the Caribbean
This was released in 2003, 3rd August. Director was Gore Verbinski, Producer was Jerry Bruckheirmer, Production companies- Walt Disney. Many A-list stars in this film such as Johnny Deep. This film had a Hybrid Genre, you cant state just one genre. The titles are in golden writing which signify treasure and money. There is fog in the opening few minuets with a ship coming into the scene slowly which could signify adventure. There is a low angle of the boat which signifies upper class. There is a point of view shot when the man is stood behind the young girl and then there is the umbrella which is a visual bridge. Then when the other boat is on fire this signifies conflict and fighting. When they rescue the boy from the water the young girl finds a necklace on him, the necklace is iconography. There is non-digetic music- a heart beat rising. The dialogue in the first opening minuets shows who is in charge (exposition). The flags are total opposites as there is the British flag and then the flag with the skull on it.




Bullet Boy
Director: Saul Dibb Released: 2004 Starring: Ashley Walters, Luke Fraser, Clare Perkins and Leon Black. The first opening minuets start with a big fire explosion with smoke which then forms itself into the BBC Films title. This could signify what they film is going to be about, guns and violence it could also suggest the genre of the film which is Realism. The music slowly starts as very quiet and slow as we fade into a close up shot of a young African boy who is one of the main characters and who looks as though he is in a small confined, dark space as he shines a light the light gets brighter and we fade out of that and into a shot of a African man who is the second main character and he is in a prison cell. This could also help signify what the film is going to be about. The music starts to quicken and gets slightly louder but then starts to slow down and get quieter as the female police officer comes to release the man. There are then two police officers signing the man out of prison who are actually both White British. This could possibly signify cultural differences and status. The music then starts to quicken and wipes into a point of view shot as though you are looking out of the front window of a car. We then go to a shot of another character that is driving the car and lighting a cigarette. We start to hear banging, the man stops the car gets out and finds that the young boy from the very beginning is in the trunk of his car and he pulls the young boy out. This is filmed using a long shot so we can see the surroundings which is countryside so the characters are in the middle of nowhere this could perhaps suggest mystery. Throughout the opening few minuets there are many close ups of faces showing facial expressions of the characters. The dialogue that the man in the car and the young boy in the trunk of the car use is very stereotypical gangster. The editing of the first few minuets is very slow and longer shots have been used. This gives the film a realist effect.



Collateral



Plot- Max Durocher is a night-shift cab driver in Los Angeles. Hes planning a limo company called 'Island Limos', but has been a cab driver for 12 years. One night, he picks up a character named Vincent who seems like another ordinary passenger. But when he drops Vincent off at his location and waits for him as asked, a body falls on his cab, and it becomes clear that Vincent is actually a hit man. and hes got 4 more stops to make.Set the scene in LA with western faces and the dialogue coming from Jason Stathams character.



-Taxis signifier of working class men trying to make a living, with the chaotic surrounding, when Max closes the door this goes away, his escape from everyday stressor's in life.



-Multi cultural references of the foreign newspaper and the bloke speaking french provides anchorage for this.



-The white men watching over the taxis connotes power (boss). Sticking to the stereotype of white men leading and other races working for them.



-Majority of the faces seen in the first 2:40minute clip are male. Aiming towards a male audience.



-It also give an insight into the crooked underworld of LA where foreigners call the shots, with a pre-meditated bag swap.



-Its very much placed within multiracial harmony and hegemony throughout with La being a multi-cultural city. This is hinted at during the short 2minutes with people from all backdrops.



-The opening 2 minutes of 'Collateral' had various signifiers of target audience and appeal.



-Michael Mann chose to present Los Angeles as being very multi-cultural with different nationalities from French, British, Spanish, Asian, not just American.



-This signified by the people in the frame but also the props used such as the foreign newspaper.



-All of the adult men in the opening sequence are male, which is a strong signifier of male interest as the audience but also in the film itself, with LA being a mans world.
-The US and UK movie posters differ as the US posters contains both Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx both big names in the US.



-Whereas the UK poster only has Tom Cruise as he is more well known here providing cross-over appeal to the UK.



-Its a 'Paramount Motion Pictures' film



-Distribute by 'Dream Works SKG'



-Both belonging to 'Viacom'



-Budget of $65,000,000



-Made in the opening weekend: $24,701,458 (USA)



-Made in the opening weekend: 2,238,200 (UK)



-Its not unusual for Paramount to take on different types of movies like this, as they produce a large amount of movies ranging from 'Jimmy Neutron' to 'Jackass the movie'



-Michael Mann has also directed films such as 'Ali' and 'Miami Vice' both in the same style as 'Collateral'. All starring Jamie Foxx, but under different conglomerates.



-In the opening sequence the genre isn't clear for a persons first viewing, unless the plot is known. This creates narrative enigma



-However we're orientated towards Jamie Foxx and the theme of taxis and different races, with the documentary-esque style of filming, it hints at social realism.



-Michael Mann as a director, uses the same methods for each film he does especially in recent films, such as 'Miami Vice' and 'Ali'.
-Michael Mann follows Levi Strauss's theory of the narrative enigma at the start of the film as its unclear to the genre of the film, other than the suspicious bag drop.



-Mann also uses Todorovs theory of conflict-conflict-resolution. Which is apparent as the movie progresses



-From the outset its clear as to the antagonists and protagonists will be as special attention is given to them.



-The film itself takes roughly 19 minutes to get the plot and situation crystal clear to the audience.



Exposition is quite key in the opening 2 minutes but not essential as can be picked up as the film progresses, we considered it by learning the central protagonists name (Shannon) in the 2nd to last scene when Linda says to Shannon 'Come on then Shannon, lets go'.We also employed Levi Strauss's theory of narrative enigma by the conversation between Shannon and Linda where Shannon says 'oh, i was just tired, was up a few times the night before', this creates a question for the audience as they're not quite sure what shes on about until the end of the film opening, when its revealed to the audience the reason why she was up the night before was because shes a teenage mum, so was looking after her baby.




Some of the common conventions for the genre of our media film are;



Lighting which is low key which is more mundane and plain which differs from Hollywood which is high key glitz and glam. Characters are usually working class, northern, single parents, focused around male protagonist, with the socio-economic group C2DE. The location is usually in a working class area, which is usually run down. The shooting style is often more documentary style as oppose to Hollywood, and more shaky (possibly handheld/headcam). It tends to highlight current social issues within those areas. Costume is plain dull and may include uniform/working clothing as seen in 'Kidulthood'.



Wednesday, 4 March 2009

Preliminary task

Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing the room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple lines of dialogue.

This task should demonstrate match on action which is a shot used to maintain continuity along with the 180 degree rule, which allows space to be cut from the movie but doesn't appear to, to the audience, e.g a car leaving the screen on the left and reappearing on the right.A shot/reverse shot e.g when 2 characters are talking, a shot is taken from 2 different angles/sides or the conversation and 180-degree rule which is all of the shots are taken from one side of the axis of action . We also used a few jump cuts especially between our match on action where the camera jumped slightly, next time in filming we will try to eliminate this in order for the film to flow more easily.



We developed a short storyline, including the 3 needed shots;match on action, shot/reverse/shot and 180 degree rule,created a storyboard from this, listing the shots we planned to use along side this and wrote the script deciding a brief screenplay, cast the actors from our group as they were very suitable for the roles they played, charged and set up a hand held camera without tripod and filmed using our prelim.

After this we uploaded the film onto the computer onto imovie and cut and edited our films separately, after this we added sounds over the top to entice movement, anchor the location and enhance the emotion felt, we also added some transitions to help with the time frame, finally we added our title sequence at the beginning of the prelim.

Overall our prelim task was successful easily slipping in the criteria of shots needed, although next time we would edit more clearly, make more use of the lighting for example by putting the lights on, and have more coherent speech, enabling the film to flow more easily.

Tuesday, 3 March 2009




Notting Hill

Released:1999
Directed by:Roger Michell
Written by:Richard Curtis
Produced by:Duncan Kenworthy
Executive producers:Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Richard Curtis
Production companies involved:Universal, Polygram, Working Titles
Genre:Romantic comedy
cross-over appeal:-big names such as Hugh Grant (stereotypically British, eg accent, floppy hair, which is what USA familiar with when think of Brits) Julia Roberts (US fan base-loyal USA as they know shes a good famous actress, therefore will think the same of the film and pay to go see it)-despite being set in Notting Hill in London provides USA audience with familiar stereotype of Britain just on a smaller scale.
Rhys Ifans brings an element of comedy to the film obviously Welsh brings in a wider audience as signified by his accent.
Starts off with news like dialogue, whilst non-digetic music weaves into it punctuated by the female protagonists first shot on the word 'shes' being creating a visual bridge, whilst shes being photographed by the paparazzi connotes her importance and implies her celebrity status ironically in and out of the film.
The camera constantly pan/tracks possibly by crane across the screen the showing a montage of pictures of her in a range of different looks which connotes a range of possible moods and personalities portrayed by the media, although shes always smiling looking comfortable implies shes used to the frame
Longer shot of her kissing male shows her private love life and connotes the genre of romance, further anchored by her name in pink text and mise-en-scene of her wearing a heart necklace.
Long high angle shot of her sat on the pavement heightens her vulnerability and 'normalness' so that working class are able to relate easier with her despite playing the character of a celebrity.
Main actress has pale skin representing purity implying shes a nice truthful not sexually active girl.

Monday, 2 March 2009

Initial ideas
Target audience: Teenagers about 15-19 years old

Possible BBFC rating: 15

Genre: Social realism

Characters: 2 friends(teenage girls) and a baby, possible boyfriend, possible stereotype of easy girl/juxtaposed to sensible girl, and womaniser boyfriend, crying baby.

Casting: friends and drama students

Locations: house, bedroom, possible school

Narrative: 2 girls getting ready to go out with friends possible boyfriend, to drink/take drugs, leave room, and see baby in a cot in the corner.

Mise-en-scene/props/costume: Run down looking house possibly council house, girls bedroom make-up posters, revealing clothing alcohol, tablets/needles, cot.

Music: (All copyright free) Some fast lively whilst girls are getting ready combined with quick cuts, slower more daunting music to go with realization of teenage mum panning across to the baby in a cot.

Shots: Start off with master establishing shot of house, then long shot of a room, next lots of close-ups and shot reverse shots using quick cuts, while the girls are getting ready to go out drinking/drug using with friends, eventually panning over to a baby left in a cot in a corner (high angle).