Conventions of an Opening Sequence

I anaylsed the opening sequence of the film Syfall.

                        http://issuu.com/joeshepherd/docs/art_of_titlex

Production Log: 1

In the first week of my coursework, we looked at the mark schemes first, so we can get an idea of what is needed to get more marks. Looking at it has helped me understand the task, and i know more of what to add into my work to get better marks. I will use this in my production, by trying to meet all of the points in the mark scheme so i can try to get as many marks possible.

I also looked at past students work, and analysed their work whilst looking at the mark scheme. From this i learnt what things should be avoided, and what i should try to add into my work. It also gave me a template for ideas, by looking at their work i will try to make something creative and original. So this will help me in my production and play a big part in the creative stages of thinking of my idea by trying to add the good things of their work and not the bad things into my ideas.
                       

  This is one of the students work that was analysed.

From this first week i have learnt to avoid things like bad editing, and using similar shots. For example in someones past work, the match on action wasn't done correctly. This made their piece of work not flow very well, and lost marks. So i will make sure the editing is perfect to get full marks. And they used similar shots which was creative enough so i will use a wide variety of shots. Also i will try to emulate things like attention to detail, and creating my own music. In the past students work, one person when filming made very close attention to things in hes work, and he gained more marks for this, and also other people created their own music to be even more creative with their work, which i will try to find someone to do this as well so i can get full marks possible.

Past Students Work

This is a picture of my analysis of past students work. I watched 5 different peoples opening sequence and wrote strengths and weaknesses of their work.















To view it written up click here:
http://issuu.com/joeshepherd/docs/media_past_students_work_sheetx

Straight Edge

I think the first shot was done very well. The mise-en-scene used is very conventional of a BSR film, with all the graffiti etc, and i think the girl being there gives more of a hint on the storyline. I would improve this by maybe showing more of the location in the mise-en-scene and add an establishing shot before it.

The second shot, a close up of the boys face, gets the audience familiar with one of the main characters of the film, and the facial expressions after seeing the girl on the floor drinking connotes to the audience part of hes personality. To improve i would make it closer to hes face so its more of a close up shot so the audience can clearly denote hes facial expression.

The next shot i think is done quite well. By using low key lighting, making the scene look dull, is common of Social realism films, as it helps set a dull mood to the audience because it makes the scene look more rough and effective, so they get more into the film as it tries to portray the mood of the characters. 

The 4th shot was done quite well, drug abuse is a common theme in BSR films, as its very stereotypical of young generations in urban areas to do this. This makes it more of a BSR film, however to improve this shot i would add more attention to detail of the teenager using the drugs, like doing a close up of the drugs in the bag, to make it more realistic and effective.

The use of text in this shot is done very well. By making the credits go down the side of the screen next to the girl sitting on the window, was a great was of doing it as it fits perfectly into this shot, and doesn't take the audiences attention away from whats happening, but at the same time, it looks like the girl is looking at the credits, so it makes the audience take note that they are there.

In the sixth shot, we denote the male character strangling the female character. Violence is a very typical theme seen in most BSR films, so it conforms to conventions of the genre, and by doing this at the start makes the audience want to watch the rest of the film. And the use of dialogue, like swearing also relates to BSR films. But to improve i would show more attention to the violence show the audience a bit more of it to get them more involved and interested.

The 7th shot is also done well. Blending the title into the actual film, is much better then adding graphics into it, as it keeps the audience more interested to watch the opening sequence, as reading lots of graphics gets boring, but by adding the credits into the film makes it more interesting. To improve i would do this more in the film as it wasn't done that much.

In the next shot, which is the first shot we see, is a definition of the title of the film. In the background there is a voice over explaining the definition. This shot introduces the audience to what the films all about, and gives them an idea of the themes and situations. But to make this shot better, i would put the voice over into the film, instead of over a graphic, to make it more interesting.

The last shot is of the production company. In this shot they used hand held camera work, that looked quite rough. This adds to the conventions of BSR as they use rough, minimalistic camera work, and by using the hand held shot adds effect to the film and makes it look like a BSR film. 

Link to video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HQQtWqOHYs

Cycle

In the first shot, of the police van driving through an estate, is done very well. When the audience denote a police van, it connotes to them that crime is a theme in this film, and as crime is a conventional theme of BSR films, it works very well. Also the mise-en-scene looks like council houses, which adds effect to the roughness of the film and gives it the British culture feel.

By using a long shot in the second one, the audience can denote 5 people wearing hoodies and tracksuits. This portrays to the audience that gangs and violence may be a theme and situation, as teenagers in hoodies is usually stereotyped to gangs, violence and drugs. This shot also introduces to the audience some of the recurring characters that will be seen throughout the film. But to improve i would show more detail and come a bit closer to the characters so the audience can see them more clearly.

The third shot is the starting shot of this opening sequence. It goes straight into action of a character running, which is called a smash mouth. By using a smash mouth approach, it grabs the audiences attention straight away and gets them thinking, and creates an enigma which then makes them want to watch the rest to find out what the action is all about.

In the next shot, we denote the gang robbing a lady in a empty place. This connotes to the audience, that crime is a theme in the film which is conventional, and shows the stereotypes of gangs, that they always steal etc. However to improve this shot i would retake it at night, as this would increase verisimilitude and relate to the stereotypes more, because more robberies happen at night time, so making it in day time doesn't make it as effective.

The 5th shot is a graphic of the title. I think this isn't a very good shot, as the title looks very plain and boring. It isn't very creative and doesn't really link to the film in anyways. So i would change to design to make it fit more to the films themes and situations.

The next shot is also done quite badly. Firstly, the editing is quite bad, as this shot is very very long, which takes up a lot of the opening sequences time, and doesn't make it very interesting because nothing really is happening in the scene to make it such a long shot, so i would put more cuts in to make it more interesting  Secondly, we can denote a window at the back, and it is daylight, but then later in the scene, which is only a minute in the world of the film, it suddenly becomes dark, which is bad camerawork and editing that should be fixed to make it more realistic. 

In the 7th shot, the lighting is very dark, and makes it hard for the audience to see what is happening in this shot. Dull lighting does add a dull mood, but in this shot its too dark, so to improve it i would make the lighting a bit brighter so the audience can denote whats happening more clearly.

The next shot, we denote the characters talking. The dialect in these scene are very typically of BSR films, and matches the stereotypes of the teenagers and gangs as they use slang. So the dialect used in this scene makes it more realistic for the audience as it relates to real life, which also gets the audience more involved as they may relate to it.

Finally, in the last shot, we denote the production company of the film. I think the logo and name is quite creative, and the way they have shown it makes it look like a BSR film straight away as its nothing to fancy like Hollywood films do, its just dull and simple.

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HQQtWqOHYs

British Social Realism?

British Social Realism is a film movement. The films are representative of real life, and deals with themes like racism, poverty and hardship. The characters are based on real people who are usually working class, and the films use unvarnished, minimalistic camera work and editing. British Social Realism films have changed over the last 50 years, in the same way society in England has, as they show the hardship of modern times, and they deal with different situations then before.

This is a picture of my social realism time line. 

From the 1960's to the 2000's, a lot has changed in BSR films. The miss-en-scene in the films has changed a lot, as times have changed so has England, and in modern times the areas look more rough and unwell kept. The themes and situations through time have also changed, more recent times, especially in 1980's has become a lot more about violence and crime, but in the 1960's it was more about poverty. So BSR films have changed quite a bit over time.

Fish Tank Analysis & Research

Secondary Research:

BBC films, who produced Fish Tank, also have made some of the most successful British, like StreetDance 3D, and An Education. They co-produce around eight films a year, working in partnership with major international and UK distributors.

Fish tank was release in 2009. It had a budget of around 2million, and won a bafta for outstanding British award and 2 British independent film awards, best director and most promising newcomer.
In the opening weekend Fish Tank gained £103,180 and made £598,162 overall in the UK. So fish tank was a flop as the budget for this film was around 2million, but critics gave it a good reviews.

The film has a niche British audience as that is what BBC films usually aim for. The film would have an audience of people who live in bad conditions, and people with aspiration to be someone, as they can relate to the film in this way, the age range would be 16-25 as the story line is about a teenager, and had many soundtracks from the Hip Hop and R&B genre which mainly appeals to younger generations.

The film was released on blu ray and DVD.

                                

Themes and Situations

One of the themes in Fish Tank is sex. Throughout the film, the main character, Mia liked Connor, her mums boyfriend. We see them getting close in the film and she turns to him for comfort, Near the end, Connor had sex with Mia, even though he had sex with her mum as well, so sex is quite a big theme in this film.

Violence and aggression is also a situation in this film. When Mia tried to free the horse, the 2 male characters that were there harassed Mia and picked her up,this is very aggressive behaviour especially because its two males harassing one girl. This keeps with the conventions of social realism films as they represent real life, which in some parts of England from working class people there is a lot of violence and aggression.

Another main theme in this film is breaking the law. All through the film people are breaking the law. One example would be when Mia had sex with Connor. Connor is an adult, while Mia is only 15. The legal age to have sex is 16 so this would be classed as rape. This conforms to social realism as there is always crime in social realist films as there are many laws being broken in real life and these films just show it to the audience that these things happen.

Representations

Mia's sister Tyler, challenges the typical stereotypes of a child. Usually, in most societies little girls are seen as sweet, innocent and cute. However Tyler is portrayed as the complete opposite. She is rude, smokes and drinks, which is all illegal for a child of her age. She has become like this due to the rough area that she lives in. This conforms to British social realist films as it shows children in rough areas are not innocent as they grow up learning these foul things, and it shocks the audience that they are seeing this kind of behaviour.

The stereotype of Mia's mum breaks the typical mother stereotype. In the film she is seen to be very sexual, even with two children, and also aggressive towards Mia and her sister. Most mothers are portrayed as caring, loving mothers who puts her children first, but here it is not really the case. This shows British social realist films as they show the dull, depressing side of life, so portrays the mother in this way and Mia has to look after herself which shows the hardship of their lives.

In the film, we see Gypsies when Mia goes to try and free the horse. They are mostly typical gypsies as they are seen to be violent, live in a caravan that doesn't look very nice, and generally look like they haven't got much money. This is typical of the gypsy stereotype as they don't have a lot of money and they are violent. One of them who becomes Mia's close friend goes to a car dump to find parts for hes car as he doesn't have enough money to buy it. This is typical of social realist films as it shows real life situations and uses real life people to use as their representations.

Mise-en-scene 

The costume that Mia wears in the film looks very rough and cheap. The clothes look very dirty like they are not washed very often, and she seems to wear the same clothes nearly everyday. This use of costume emphasises the fact that they are struggling for money, and is common in British social realist films because it makes the characters more realistic of the stereotypes they are trying to portray.

In the area that the live in, the street looks very untidy and dirty, and the flat they live in also looks very dirty and not very well kept. This use of Mise-en-scene shows the audience that the area they live in is not very nice, and connotes that they are living rough and working class. This is common of British social realist films as it shows the rough, poorer areas of the country.

Many parts in the film are very low key lighting or quite dull in the day time. This sets a dull mood for the audience and connotes to them that they are living in a rough life, as it shows the characters mood which would connotes they are never really in a good mood either. Dull lighting conforms to British social realist films as the story lines they use aren't meant to portray happiness, so using the dull colours sets the dull mood.

Music and Sound Effects

The  music in this film is mainly from the Hip Hop and R&B genre. One example would be Cassie's song 'Me and You' which was played at the beginning of the film , when a bunch of girls were dancing. They would  use songs like this to increase the verisimilitude as its would the representations of the characters would listen to in real life, so songs like this would be typically in social realist films as the working class lifestyle listen to these genres of music.

There is a lot of diegetic Foley sound in the film like cars driving past and babies crying. This use of sound, for example the baby crying, would increase the verisimilitude for this film, as they live in rough areas and have a hard life, in these areas the baby's standard of living would not be as good and may not have caring parents so they would cry a lot, and also it emphasises the dull, depressing mood of every ones life. This is typical of social realist films to make it more realistic for rough lifestyles.

Camera Work and Editing

They used a lot of hand held camera work in this film. This shows the budget for the film was quite low, as they could not afford good equipment to take nice shots. But also hand held shots make it seem more rough and aggressive  This would be used a lot in social realist films, because they usually don't have a large budget, so they use hand held to keep their costs lower, but it does also add the rough affect to the film which makes it seem more realistic as well.

Also, they film uses many long shots and establishing shots. The long shots show a lot of the background and area that the characters are in, and the establishing shots show the audience the area. In the film when Mia breaks into another flat, they use a long shot to show her point of view, and it shows the rough area below her. This would be seen a lot on British social realist films as it denotes to the audience the bad areas and connotes their standard of life style.

In the film we see many long clips. One example is when Mia is dancing with her mum near end of the film. They would use many long clips when editing, because as the budget for social realist films aren't very high, this would have been away to save a bit of time, which would be common in these films to keep a cheaper 
budget.

Dialogue

The dialogue used in Fish Tank is very rude. Tyler uses words like 'C*unt' and 'F*ck'. These use of words, especially from a young child, increases verisimilitude, and connotes to the audience about how young children are raised in working class, tough areas of London, and shocks the audience that they hear this stuff from someone so young. This use of dialogue conforms to conventions of British social realist films because the young generations of tough areas in Britain do use this language, and as they aim to make films based on reality, it relates to real life situations.

Also, the dialogue used in the film is very uneducated. the characters speak slang words. This also makes it more realistic, and it connotes that people in this sort of lifestyle aren't very educated, and are very aggressive, which Mia being kicked out of school also emphasises they are not very educated. This is common in British social realist films because it also relates to real life situations as the use of slang is mostly what the young generation in urban areas use, so they connote to the audience how urban areas are life.