Case Study - Four Brothers

Four Brothers

Institution
Name: Four Brothers
Director: John Singleton
Producer: Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: 30 September 2005 (UK)
Genre: Thriller, Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Certificate: Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language and some sexual content.
Country where made: USA
Budget:$30,000,000
Box office returns: Gross revenue was $92,494,381
Awards: 2 wins & 7 nominations. Won awards for Image Award and Breakthrough Artist
Award
Running Time: 109 minutes

Four Brothers is an action packed, adrenaline fuelled action thriller film with sub genres of crime, drama and mystery, which are similar genres of The Dark Knight. I think that the target audience for this film would be mainly males with an age range of late teens to early adulthood. I think this because there are many aspects of the film that would appeal to this kind of target audience. Repeating themes such as violence, crime and also scenes of sexual natures are generic conventions that would appeal to a male, early adulthood audience. The certification of this film is R (15 in the UK), which would also suggest a target audience of the range I have specified. The user rating of IMDB for this film is 6.9 out of 10. This is a similar user rating to that of The Number 23, but just beats it by 0.7. One user of IMDB reviewed the film as "How refreshing - a movie that actually exceeded my expectations!". This shows us that the film is something new and has a bit more about it that makes it stand out from other films.

Technology
With technology ever changing and evolving with time, popularity of films have increased dramatically, mainly down to advertising. There are many ways in which the film can advertise including: banners on the internet, trailers on the tv and cinema, film posters in bus shelters and on buses, websites. As there is more technology when it comes to advertising, the general public's knowledge of the film will be increased. This may make more people come to watch the film in the cinema or purchase the dvd. New technology may have also increased audiences access of the film. For example, there are many ways in which people can watch films now days including: cinema, dvd, tv, ipod/itunes, streaming online (illegal). As there is easier access to watch films, and alternative methods to watch films, there will be an increase in accessibility.

Codes/forms and Conventions of the thriller genre:

Four Brothers starts off with quite an upbeat, funky pop song that sounds as if it is being played on some sort of radio, (It turns out to be the car radio). The first image we see is that of 2 dice tied onto the car rear mirror. The dice show a number 2 on each dice. My interpretation of this is that altogether there are four dots, 2 from each dice. This could reflect on the four brothers that are the main characters in the film. We later find out in the film that two brothers are white males, and the other two brothers are black males. This could be what the dice are representing, 2 separate dots on each, but once added together make four, representing the four brothers. It is quite an unique and clever way that the film starts off, with the immediate relation to the four brothers. The first character we see is an old lady driving a car listening to the radio. When she stops the car the radio stops and the only sounds we here is the sound of wind. This has a very contrasting effect on the catchy, upbeat song just a few seconds ago, and the sound of wind embraces the audience that something bad is about to happen. We see the old lady walking into the shop by the use of a very interesting low angle, long shot. In the edge of the shot we see a car and hear its engine running. This gives the audience a feeling that the car has some significant in the film. IT also gives the audience the impression that the old lady is being watched, giving a mysterious vibe to the film, which is a typical convention of thriller films. The next few shots we see are in the shop, when the old lady is telling off a young boy about stealing sweets. This gives of signals of corruption in the area as a young boy is stealing. The next few shots, the audience gets a real understanding of the old lady's personality. She is telling off the young boy for stealing and teaching him the error of his ways and how stealing is bad and it has consequences. This shows that the lady is caring and trying to help the young boy. However, she is also playing a trick on the young boy, telling the shop keeper to ring the police, but she is just pretending to try and scare they boy and teach him a lesson. This shows the audience that she is also a fun character, that still shows traits of youth. One line the lady says to the boy is very powerful and really emphasises her caring character: " I happen to believe you're worth more. But YOU'VE gota believe it". This is very affectionate and shows the audience what a caring lady she is, and that she wants the best for the young boy. In contrast to her almost whispering advice to the young boy, in response to the boys answer, she puts on a more sterner voice and says " are you bullshitting me" and " Now I want you to head straight home, you shouldn't be out at this time of time anyway, ya' hear me?". This again makes her seem like she is trying to put her point across about how important it is to change his behaviour for the better, and that she isn't a push over. It also makes her seem like a motherly figure, and possibly that she has had similar problem with her children in the past, which later becomes unravelled. In these few scenes alone, it has enabled the audience to get a relatively deep understanding of the lady and the setting in a way because it gives the audience an impression on the way their society is.

The next few clips is when the action starts to kick in, and the film begins to share many conventions of thriller films. Two masked men burst through the shot window carrying guns, demanding cash. The use of weapons are often used in thriller films and emphasise the theme of violence and corruption. The lady is hiding from the gunmen behind a shelf but releases a gasp of shock after hearing the sound of a gun. This causes the gunmen to investigate the noise, find the lady and end up shooting her. The murder sequence of the lady consists of some interesting camera shots. It consists of one continuous shot, starting with a long shot of the shot, as if someone was looking at the shop. Next the shot zooms in slowly and then pans across following the path of the escaping gunmen. They are cheering at their success of robbing the store, which suggests they feel no remorse or guilt in killing two innocent people. This leaves many questions unanswered for the audience as to why two people would kill an innocent shop keeper and an old lady, could they have been put up to it? The non-diegetic soundtrack has a spooky and eerie feel to it with high pitched notes played frantically by strings, which is a convention of the thriller genre. The shot transaction is a fade out to signify the end of the sequence and introduces a new character and a new scene of a man driving his car, shown by a camera shot that is of the angle that would in the car in front of the mans car.
In contrast to the previous sequence, the title sequence is a bit more relaxed and generally has more positive imagery. I would class the soundtrack as music you would expect to here in a hotel lift, jazzy/lounge/blues music. This helps to set the tone of a quite calm and relaxed environment. As the audience, we get the impression that this town is new to the man, or he has returned after a long time, due to the frequent facial expressions and shots showing the man look around out of his window to see the scenery. The man is dressed in a leather jacket and has gelled back hair. This gives an impression that he is quite a cool, laid back kind of guy.
The credits are introduced on the screen by fading in and out at random positions. The font is BOLD and in capitals. It seems quite similar to military fonts which could reflect on the use of weapons and the theme of violence throughout the film. The text colour is in red and white. The colour red connotes thoughts of violence as you can relate it to blood. This could suggest that there will be blood in the film. Red also connotes imagery of danger, which could again be later revealed throughout the film. White has contrasting connotations such as peace, innocence and love. This could represent that the four brothers are loving at heart, and deep down just want to do what is best. In comparison to " The Number 23", which includes the theme of isolation, Four Brothers is quite the opposite, with the whole film about the brothers discovery how important family is and bringing them closer together. This is quite unusual for films of the thriller genre to end with happy imagery and a positive imagery, however it adds a nice touch to the film after the powerful, violent scenes previously in the film.

Four Brothers 1

View more documents from harrywbfmv.

Shooting Schedule

Here is my group's shooting schedule for our Thriller opening sequence. We have handed these out to all of the actors/actresses involved and kept a copy ourselves to remind ourselves of the dates/times and props and equipment needed.

Questionnaire Evaluation

Please click to enlarge

Characters/Actors/Actresses

Untitled

View more documents from c09harrison.

Here are some photos to show the actor and actress we have decided to use that Richard made.

Possible Locations

Possible Locations

View more documents from RC09MEDIA.

Script

Script


Opening Scene – Isolation of Norfolk


Sound of car starting and die


Scott: AHHH! …………………… give it another go….
Hope: What?
Scott: Give it another go!!


Car starts and dies

Scott: I don’t think that it’s going to work
Hope: Really!?
Scott: What’s with the attitude?
Hope: Well, for one were lost! Second were broken down. And Thirdly if you had just listened to me when I told you to get the car serviced before we left, we wouldn’t even be in this situation!


Hope starts to get out of the car


Scott: We are only lost because of you and your damn map reading!
Hope: I wanted to ask for directions but no you said that you knew the way.

Hope is out of the car


Scott: and why do your friends even live out here?....Its the middle of nowhere!
Hope: so it’s my fault now, is it? Do you no what at least I still talk to my friends, where are your friends?
Scott: Well I lost my friends when I met YOU!


Hope scowls at Scott and walks off


Scott: where are you going?
Hope: away from you!
Scott: Oh don’t give me that!


Scott is trying to phone the recovery company


Scott: Are this stupid phone! Why can’t it make a simple phone call!

I have been looking at the website Freeplaymusic.com
it is a website that allows you to download and listen to copyright free music. We have decided that the song entitled Spirit would be an appropiate piece of music that could feature in our opening sequence of. Please click Here

Thriller Music

When looking for thriller music, for the opening to our thriller film, i went to the website freeplaymusic.com which is legal and free.
When I was searching for horror themed music I found this useful page
http://www.freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?t=v&i=1353
To get to this page i clicked on Dramatic Soundscape vol 1
This music is what i was thinking to use in the opening.

Character Background Information

HOPE: Hope is fun, charismatic, and loving towards her boyfriend, Scott. The couple live in London, however they are in Norfolk staying with some olds friends when their car breaks down. Hope can sometimes a bit unintelligent and naïve which later becomes revealed in the film. I would compare her to Paige Edwards, the character that Paris Hilton plays in the Horror/Thriller film, House Of Wax. Her character is similar to that of Paige Edwards because they are both quite unintelligent and also both quite glamorous.

SCOTT: Scott is a football fanatic man who is in a relationship with Hope. Scott is having a hard time at work so him and Hope have decided to have a mini break to stay with some old friends in Norfolk. His stressful life has caused his and Hope's relationship to become a bit of a low and they find themselves arguing more than usual. Scott can develop a bit of a temper, which is unravelled later on in the film.

KILLER: The killer does not have a name as this emphasises his mysteriousness. Not having a name also suggests that he does not have any friends/family as no one knows his name. The killer is a big build and very strong. His personal character is not very easy to understand, but throughout the film, parts of his character become unravelled. I would compare him to the Jason in the film Friday the 13th as they are both mysterious characters and their character and personality is revealed through their behaviour throughout the film.

My Magazine

In my magazine I have decided to include a features that would appeal to my target audience. My target audience of my magazine are young adults of mixed genres aged 12-24.
My magazine is going to be a magazine that comes out every fortnight. Each fortnight I am going to include a cover story of a band that will include interviews of bands and photos that will roughly be 4-5 pages long.
I am also going to include free posters of bands each week. This will be a big selling point of my magazine as it will appeal to my target market and make them want to buy it.
Other features I have decided to include consist of a feedback page where customers can write in and talk about bands and hot topics. I am going to also include aspects of different genres of music, selecting the main headlines of each genre and including articles on the topic. This will widen my target audience and help me sell more copies in shops. I will include a gig review section where I will have reviews of recent gigs all over the U.K so readers can find out about all the great bands out there. Another feature I have decided to include is a article that introduces new and upcoming bands to the scene. In these articles readers can find out a little bit about the band and also help the band out by raising awareness and getting their name out there.
My magazine will include a review section of all the new c.d’s that have been released recently and the reviewers will give a 5 star rating system and a short summary of the c.d that will enable readers to find out how good the c.d is.
I am going to include a page that will allow readers to email in and review new and upcoming bands, albums, music videos and much more. This will enable the audience to interact with the magazine and make the magazine more popular.

Magazine

Here is the magazine front cover that I created using photoshop during the induction unit.

Hollyoaks Title Sequence

The first image we see whilst watching the opening/title sequence of hollyoaks is the glamorous eye of a female character opening in time with the music. The iris of the eye is a really magnificent blue that stands out and, along with the eye makeup, helps bring out this characters glamorous look. The title of Hollyoaks appears in the centre of the eye. This could suggest that the main themes encountered in Hollyoaks is glamour and youth.
The theme of youth and glamour is also reinforced throughout the title sequence as each character is introduced. All of the characters appear to be trendy and quite young, mainly early 20’s, with the few exceptions of characters that appear to be in the 30’s. As well as reinforcing the theme of youth and glamour, the characters would appeal to the programs target audience. I think the target audience for Hollyoaks would be teenagers, so by including late teenagers, young adults in the title sequence, the target audience might be attracted to the program as they are of a similar age. The female characters appear to be quite classy and good-looking. This would appeal to the programs target audience as people may aspire to look like them, or to have a partner like them
The representation of a few characters stand out, and could act as a way to draw in a wider audience. For instance there is a wider variety of characters including sport fanatics, Goths, good-looking characters and geeky looking characters. The Goth who is dressed in black, has dyed black hair and has a lip piercing. The black colours connote darkness and depression, which could reflect on his character. The sports characters, both a boxer and rugby player, again reinforce the theme of youth and energy.
The sound track is very upbeat and rocky. This would appeal to the teenage target audience as it is in a similar genre of music most like. The upbeat song also could represent the programs action packed episodes that is quick paced and interesting.
The final image we see is of the title hollyoaks. The title has been amended to have symbols of male and females in both of the letter “O”’s. The semiotics of the title connote males and females. As this is at the end of the sequence, it could represent the main theme of the program, about friendships and relationships between males and females.

Quesitonnaire

Media Questionnaire

View more documents from RC09MEDIA.

Case Study - The number 23

The Number 23

1)Institution
Name: The Number 23
Director: Joel Schumacher
Production company: Contra Films/Firm films
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
Release Date: 23rd February 2007
Country where made: USA
Budget: $30 million
Box office returns: Gross revenue was $105,036,499
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Drama
Certificate: Rated R for violence, disturbing images, sexuality and language.
Awards: 4 nominations
Running Time: 98 minutes
2)Audience
The Number 23 is a thriller film, with sub genres of mystery, drama and aspects of horror As this is quite a diverse range of genres, I would expect that the films target audience is quite vast. From looking at the films genres, I think that the target audience would mainly be fans of horror movies as from looking at the film poster and trailer, the horror aspects stand out a lot, suggesting that this film is aimed for horror lovers. The user rating of IMDB for this film is 6.2 out of 10. One user of IMDB commented: "A well written thought provoking story". Another said "A below-average, washed-up wannabe psychological horror film". The film looks like it has achieved to please the minds of the majority of the viewers with an average rating of 6.2 out of 10, however there are some people that suggested that the film had too many flaws and the plot line was lost towards the end of the film.

3) Technology
With technology ever changing and evolving with time, popularity of films have increased dramatically, mainly down to advertising. There are many ways in which the film can advertise including: banners on the internet, trailers on the tv and cinema, film posters in bus shelters and on buses, websites. As there is more technology when it comes to advertising, the general public's knowledge of the film will be increased. This may make more people come to watch the film in the cinema or purchase the dvd. New technology may have also increased audiences access of the film. For example, there are many ways in which people can watch films now days including: cinema, dvd, tv, ipod/itunes, streaming online (illegal). As there is easier access to watch films, and alternative methods to watch films, there will be an increase in accessibility.

4)Codes/forms and Conventions of the thriller genre:
The title sequence of The Number 23 consists of an off-white backdrop of paper/parchment in which a lot of numbers appear in black. The numbers show some calculations, which could put forward the theme of working things out, e.g the plot and the mystery. There are also a lot of number 23's jotted about in the screen. This could suggest that this is a main idea and recurring event, that the audience would expect to see in the film. In contrast to the black and white, there are blotches of red stains, that look like blood, that smear across the screen. The fact that the red smears look like blood could suggest that the film is quite violent and brutal, which emphasises the sub-genre of horror. The use of parchment and the text's font is as if someone is typing them up using a type writer and when the blood is introduced it could signify that the person is going threw pain to write down the information, which could later be rectified in the plot. As the title sequence goes on, there is more and more blood up to the last point where the screen is full of blood and the number "23" appears. This could represent that the person using the type writer has died and the number "23" could represent the cause of their death, creating a lot of questions for the audience. The colour red really stands out in contrast to the more neutral black and off-white. Red also connotes thoughts of danger and blood. The non-diegetic sound track is quite eerie and features a lot of drums. The use of drums makes it seem spooky, possibly representing violence because years ago, drums have been used as war drums to scare the enemy. The range of dynamics also help build up a lot of tension by having soft music followed by dramatic loud music. The sound track sounds quite electronic and the use of sound effects and phasers give the track an almost sci-fi feel to it, which again builds up tension.


There are many aspects throughout the film that genre is utilised. The main example of this is the fact that the mysterious theme is slowly unravelled throughout the film. Throughout the film, many questions arise, that later become answered. This is a typical feature of thriller and horror films and keeps the audience interested and engaged in the film. The first shot we see is an establishing, followed by a slow zoom to Walter, who is sitting in his van. The use of the establishing shot is a useful technique of setting the scene and giving the audience a quick, simple and effective understanding of the location and situation. These opening shots show Walter in his everyday life, on duty as a animal control officer, about to finish his shift, the time is shown by a point of view shot looking at the radio clock in the van. A few minutes until he has finished his shift, he receives a call in from a women secretary who has a grudge on him after a Christmas work do. We then see a flashback, represented by rewinding very quickly. Flashbacks are typical conventions of thriller films and they act as a explanation of occurring events. A scene with his family at home shows summarises his life and shows the audience that he has a good, enjoyable life and gets on with his wife and son. This could act as a contrasting device as towards the end of the film, him and his family become more corrupted. The next scene, Walter is attempting to capture a vicious bull dog. An interesting shot used in this scene is the point of view shot of the dog behind the cage. The camera moving out from behind the cage signifies the movement of the dog as he confronts Walter. Walter gets bitten by the dog after failing to capture him and has a serious, deep wound to his arm. This could act as foreshadowing of events to come as blood is involved and Walter is very stressful. Another convention of thriller films present in the film is the use of fast paced editing when a action scene is involved. Fast paced editing makes the audience feel as they are in the situation as it is real time and everything is happening so quickly. It also helps show perspectives of other characters to give the audience a fuller understanding. Fast paced editing in action scenes also contrasts with slow, calmer cuts and editing in other parts of the film, which gives variation to the film and makes the action scenes seem more excitable.
Isolation is a key theme in this film and a typical convention of thriller films demonstrated by uses of long shots and the main character, Walter on his own a lot of the time. Walter, who plays the main character, gradually becomes more and more isolated as his mind becomes possessed. The isolation creates thoughts of being vulnerable and the audience may develop a fear of the character because as he becomes more isolated he becomes more Infatuated. Another convention of thriller films utilised in The Number 23 is the use of foreshadowing through means of the mysterious book. Foreshadowing is a device used that give hints and clues about things that become developed in more depth as the film unravels. There is also cases of red herrings when it comes to discovering what the actual number "23" is all about. The use of red herrings is to send the audience in the wrong direction so that there is a twist in final scenes of the film. This makes the ending a lot more effective and is a typical feature in thriller films and mystery films/TV programs. For example murder TV programs such as midsummer murders often use red herrings in a way that makes the audience believe that one character is the murderer, but in actual fact, later on in the program the audience discover that it is actually someone else who was less expected that was the murderer. It is a very effective way to end a film/TV program as it makes the audience think and possibly leaves them in awe.

Mise en scene

The Number 23 Photo 1

View more documents from RC09MEDIA.

The Number 23 Photo 2

View more documents from RC09MEDIA.

The Number 23 Photo 34

View more documents from RC09MEDIA.

Meeting 2

Meeting 2


For the second meeting we discussed the storyline and the people to the play the characters.


Plot: Sun almost setting over the isolated scene - another isolated scene in Norfolk in the distance you can see a car with the bonnet open and a man standing over it, the sound of the engine starts and then dies. The camera moves closer to the car so that you can see the female in the car. The shot changes to a mid shot of the back of the man looking at the engine he then closes the bonnet and sighs. The couple than start to have an argument about how they are lost and the car is broken down, throughout this there will be a switching of over the shoulder shots, and also some shot that show they are in a fight i.e only showing one of them, I got this idea from the film Vacancy. After the fight the girl walks of saying “I’m going to try and get signal” in a bad attitude. There will be some selection of shots showing her walking and getting signal. While she is doing that the boyfriend gets out the car and moves around, their will a shot of the field and a shape move in front of the camera, giving the sense of someone being there. It will then show a shot of the reflection in the window of the car, showing the boyfriend being stabbed. The women walks back looking at her phone saying I cant get signal “anywhere.” After realising that her boyfriend isn’t at the car she looks about and shouts a his name, she starts to looking in the car and sees a note, it reads I have found a town down the road meet me their. As she is walking down to the town there is a shot where the camera is in a hedge you see a hand with blood dripping down it and in the background the women walks past it not seeing it. It will then end with the sun setting fully.


Though the opening there will be parts that have mysterious and spooky music to go with the conventions of a thriller
For the blood we are going to use watered down ketchup, with a little HP source to make it less red. If this turns out a bit too tacky and looks unprofessional we will use fake blood instead.


Characters:
Killer - Jack Rolph
Women (yet to be named) - Harriet Millsopp
Man (yet to be named) - Will Durham

Meeting 1

Meeting 1


For our first preproduction meeting, on making an opening to a thriller, we decided to talk about any ideas that we had, and this is what we came up with:


Richard put forward an idea that he had been thinking about it was to film a sunset over a flat rural area, this would be to show the isolation of the area.
Another idea that we had was maybe filming some people moving in a city and then to speed it up. Also to have a person moving though the people, very slowly though so that he can stand out, this would be to show the persons abandonment from the world. I came up with the idea of having the sound of a heart beat matching his footsteps as this would help build up tension.


After a few ideas we decided to make the genre thriller and horror, we believed that this would be the most suitable genre for our film as most of the ideas that we came up with where for the conventions of a horror and thriller. We then came up with more ideas for this:


We had an idea that maybe a character had visions of an arm with blood dripping down.
For the plot of the film we thought maybe of a modern jack the ripper story.
For the location we thought maybe isolated area in Norfolk or maybe in a multi story car park.
We thought that the maybe the first person that the killer kills might be a hitchhiker.
We then thought of a person who has a broken down car in the middle on nowhere.
We also thought of putting in a twist at the beginning. We thought of a person that we would make out to be the main character in the beginning and then later would turn out to be the victim of the killer.
The killer may have a signature to his crime i.e symbol, weapon of choice.

Ratatouille and Flushed Away

Flushed Away is a computer animated British film that was released in December 2006. It was directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell. The film had a partneship between Aardman Animations and Dreamworks Animation. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures in cinemas. Flushed away was released on dvd in the UK on the 2nd of April 2007. The box office perfomance collected $64,488,856 in the United States, which was below the average of other CGI films from Dreamworks Animation, but a healthy $111,814,663 from international markets for a worldwide total of $176,319,242. Flushed Away was Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. It also gained another 6 wins and 10 nominations. The certificate of the film is PG as it contains some crude humour and mild language. The plot summary is as follows “The story of an uptown rat that gets flushed down the toilet from his penthouse apartment, ending in the sewers of London, where he has to learn a whole new and different way of life.”
Ratatouille is a 2007 computer-animated film produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was the eighth movie produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005. The title refers to a French dish which is served late in the film, and is also a play on words on the species of the main character. In its domestic opening weekend, Ratatouille opened in 3,940 theaters and debuted at #1 with $47 million, the lowest Pixar opening since A Bug's Life. However, in France, where the film is set, the film broke the record for the biggest debut for an animated film. In the UK, the film debuted at #1 with sales over £4million. As of January 13, 2008 the film has grossed $206,445,654 in North America and a total of $624,445,654 worldwide, making it the third highest grossing Pixar film of all time, just behind Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. The film Won an Oscar and had another 43 wins & 20 nominations.
Both of the films share similar assets. For example, both films use computer-generate imagery (CGI). Both films use animorphism, which is where animals act like humans and can speak. The use of animorphism is a typical convention of animation/feature films and particularly pleases a younger audience. Both films have also released merchandise, making the film even more successful in terms of advertising and revenue.

Cutting It

Cutting It follows the traumatic life of hairdresser Allie Henshall, alongside her lovers, her rivals and her dysfunctional family. Allie Henshall and Gavin Ferraday run a successful hairdressing salon called Henshall Ferraday. Their plans to expand the business are dashed when a rival company called Blade Runner opens a salon right across the road from their premises. Blade Runner is owned by Mia and her husband Finn, and to complicate matters Finn used to be the love of Allie's life. It was a popular BBC television programme set in Manchester, England, which ran for four series between 2002 and 2005.

Production Tips

Diegesis.

Sound in movies play an important role in creating meaning and understanding for the audience. Sound comes across in two forms; diegetic sound, and non-diegetic sound.
Diegetic sound is sound that is present in the scene and where characters are aware of it. Diegetic sound is any sound presented from a source within the film's world. Examples of non- diegetic sound include dialogue, sound effects which are heard by characters, (for example gun shots, thunder, or explosions) background music which is heard by characters (for example the radio or CD players).
Non- diegetic sound is sound that is only there for the audiences viewing experience. It is added in after the shooting and can come in forms or soundtracks, atmospheric music, voice-overs or narration. Non-diegetic sound is sound that source
Is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action.
Some types of sound are both diegetic and non-diegetic. An example of that is a characters voice-over. It is diegetic because the character is aware of the sound, as he/she are saying creating it. It is non-diegetic because other characters will not hear it.

Micro and macro origination

When aiming a film at a target audience, you need to take into account the micro-macro strategy. This will enable you to include conventions of a particular genre or style of film. The microelements would include types of camera angles, music, style of titles, dialogue, setting and pace of the film. All of these elements will add up to a macro theme and set of representations that will help you accomplish a particular genre of your film. For this reason, pre-production tasks are very important so you can develop your ideas and make sure that your approach to filming is not out of step with the conventions of the type of film you are making.

Camera work and framing

In order to obtain a steady shot whilst shooting a film, it is best to use a tripod to maintain a smooth shot. If you are aiming to create an effect of a realist/documentary shot then a handheld camera would work well. Most shots are still shots. This allows the audience to pick up any movement that happens in the scene, whether it being by characters or objects. This allows movement to become an effective exception to the norm. Zooming is rarely used in films as it can come across quite amateur, so unless you are trying to capture the amateur effect, it is best to avoid zooms.
Film uses fewer close ups than TV. This is mainly because the viewing screen in film is a lot bigger. When you are filming, you should make sure to select a wide screen framing. With film, it is recommended to use mainly mid-shots and long shots, with close ups used sparingly.
The rule of thirds is a concept in video and film production in which the frame is divided into nine imaginary sections. It is best to avoid the central square when it comes to positioning objects, as the eye is drawn to off-centre areas. Putting people and objects off-centre will focus the audience’s concentration on the image.
Using a range of shots is essential to the film. Combining a range of shots enable you to capture action, emphasise location and put you in the characters perspective. These shots will allow the audience to get a better understanding of the film and the range of shots will make it a more interesting viewing experience.
Camera angles can give off impressions and connotations of characters. For example a low angle shot would connote that the particular character is big and powerful. A high angle shot would make a character seem small and defenceless. Simple techniques like these give the audience an understanding of the character.
Other tips that will help make your film seem more professional include: make sure that you practice the type of shot you about to take a few times before actually recording. This will make the shot seem of better quality, as you will have learnt how to capture the shot effectively and professionally. Test microphones are working correctly before you start recording so you don’t end up with a silent movie by mistake. Be a perfectionist and re-film a shot if the camera accidentally shakes, or if you are not pleased with the shot you have taken. Try out different camera shots so that you can include a range of different camera shots in your film.

Mise en scéne

Mise en scéne is an expression used in theatre and film to describe the design aspects of a production. It is all about the atmosphere and continuity of the film and essentially is all about detail. Try and choose the correct props, costumes, lighting and locations to create the right kind of vibe you are trying to create in your film. Try to make your mise en scéne consistent. This will make your film flow more and seem more professional. Try to avoid silly mistakes such as costume changes mid sequence as this will make the film seem very unprofessional. Poorly chosen props, along with bad acting will make your film seem very unprofessional and you should try and choose actors and actresses that also take drama so that they are more comfortable.


Lighting

Here are five tips copied from Michael Massey article for Media Magazine about how students can make use of lighting without the use of expensive and professional lights.

1) Use natural light- sunlight, in shadow, in mist, through rain- depending on the effect you need, and bearing in mind that you will have to be flexible about time if you need to wait for the right conditions.
2) Use cheap and cheerful artificial light- as long as you have carried out the risk assessments, you can make use of candles, firelight, torches, car headlights, security lights, neon signs and street lighting.
3) Create colour filters- you can easily shine light through coloured liquids, vases, ornaments.
4) Position the light source for effect- lighting a scene from above, below or in an obscured way will create different kinds of atmosphere (mise en scene), so experiment with this using the kinds of light source listed above.

The grammar of non-linear editing

You will need to observe the rules of grammar that apply when it comes to editing and creating continuity in your film. You also need to choose the right rhythm and pace of the editing. Using effective transitions between clips will make your film seem proffesional and help make your film slow. You should try to use hard cuts for 90 per cent of your editing, this is a simple, but effective editing technique.


Combining sound, image and titles.

When it comes to putting together footage with suitable sounds and titles you need to make very careful decisions. You need to choose items that are suitable for you films genre. Try and choose fonts that are appropriate for you films genre, such as gothic, scary font for a horror film. You should use trial and error when it comes to choosing the best font. Choose a reasonable time for the titles to appear on screen, you don’t want it to be on there for too long, but also you don’t want it to whiz past not allowing the audience enough time to read it. You also need to take into account what effect the titles have on the audience’s understanding of the narrative, genre and representational aspects that you need them to grasp quickly since this is an opening sequence.
You should choose music to add ambience to the start of your film that helps build a lot of tension. You should think about the semiotic function of the music and make sure the music is the same pace and tone of the sequence.

Sommers Town- After Viewing

4) How would you categorise this film in terms of genre? Does it remind you of any other films you have seen? I would class the film summertown as a drama/feel good film. The film includes many aspects of a range of genres including comedy, crime, and to some extent an adventure film. I think the main purpose of Shane Meadows including these sub-genres is to broaden the target audience for the film, and make the film appeal to more people, as there are many different bits that would appeal to different people.

5) What do you think is the film’s appeal for audiences? The main features that would appeal to the audience would be the fact that it is filmed in black and white and created on a low budget like a traditional English film. I think that the setting of the film also reflects on the traditional English film cultures as this films characters are mainly of the working class and show the life of the working class, which is a convention of traditional English films.

6) As well as being in black and white, the film is subtitled during a conversations in Polish between Marek and his farther; there are also sections in French. In what ways do these factors affect your responses to the film, the situation and the characters? I think the way that the film is in black and white helps the audience get involved more with the film. It really helps to set the scene of the film, and the effect makes it seem like a traditional English film. I think the subtitles have been put in place so that Marek and his father can still retain their original language, which has a nice effect to the film.

7)To what extent do you think the audience is expected to be ‘comfortable’ with this portrait of two teenagers? I think that the audience start of quite surprised at the fact that Tommo is so young, but living on the streets without any friends, family or money. As the film goes on and the plot unravels the audience may take a liking to the teenagers witty and pleasant character and become involved in the film by becoming happy when he meets Marek. The two teenagers come amongst each other in a café, but don’t get off to the best of starts, which could be to do with the fact that they are only teenagers and can be immature. The film portrays teenagers as occasionally trouble makers, but mainly out to please, which is why the film has a pleasant feel about it.

8) A sign on the estate reads “ children playing on these grounds is prohibited”. In what different ways do Tomo and Marek seek to amuse themselves within this enviroment? Do you think the film encourages us to judge any of their actions? In such an enviroment, you might think that the two teenagers would find it hard to have fun without causing trouble. However, they find a wheelchair and decide to treat the French waitress (who they both have crush’s on) to an escort home. I think the two boys make the most out of the enviroment they are living in. It comes across that Tommo is the more outgoing one of the two, and Marek is still finding his feet, however this still does not stop him enjoying themselves.

9)What message of childhood adolescence do you, or could you, take away from the film? A key theme of the film is friendship. Both of the boys have such a strong friendship towards the end of the film as they have been through some quite hard times together. Both being new to London, they needed each other and it was good for them to have someone there for them.

10)Do your reactions towards the boys change at different pionts in the film? Which moments in particular?
a) Encourage you to sympathise with the boys: I think throughout the film the audience sympathise the two boys simply because of the fact that they are so young. Both boys are new to London and the fact that Tommo got his only possessions stolen of him makes the audience feel sympathetic towards him.
b) Make you unsympathetic towards them: One scene In the film where I felt unsympathetic towards the boys is when they steal the bag of laudry and the clothes turn out to be woman clothes. I think this particular scene is quite comical and adds a spark to the film and prevents it from being serious but lighthearted.

11)some of the other characters include marek’s father, Mariusz, Graham the cockney neighbour, and a French waitress, maria. To what extent would you agree that Meadows is playing with stereotypes in his representation of these characters? The sterotype of Marek’s father is a polish labourer who is muscular and very hard working, (according to his boss, one of the best workmen he has ever had!). Maria sterotypes the typical character of a French woman, as she is pretty and very friendly to the two boys. Graham plays the typical cockney neighbour who is willing to sell anything to make some money. He is very friendly and has a keen interest for football, which is a typical convention of someone of his character.

Sommers Town

As part of national film week, my media group and I went to watch the film called Sommers Town. The film was directed by Shane Meadows and made in 2008, however the film is in black and white (until the last few scenes where it changes to colour). Sommers town is Even though the film was made in 2008, I think the purpose of choosing to shoot in black and white is to make the film seem like it was in the 1950’s which is the time period in which the story was set. In 1950’s they wouldn’t of had colour in films, so maybe Meadows was trying to recreate the same effect as original black and white films did. Some people may say that they don’t like the fact that it’s in black and white, others do like it, but after the first five minutes you completely forget the fact that it is colourless as the film is really interesting.
Sin City was directed by Frank Millar/Robert Rodriguez and was released in 2005. The genre of the film is action/crime/thriller. The film received many awards, 16 wins & 29 nominations. s an Robert Rodriguez is amercian filmmaker, writer, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He is best know for making profitable and crowd pleasing independent and studio films with low budgets and fast schedules by HollyWood standards.
The Man Who Wasn’t There was directed by the Coen brothers. The release date of the film was 26Th October 2001. The film was Nominated for Oscar and another 19 wins & 32 nominations. The genre of the film is crime/drama. They are known in the film business as "the two-headed director", as they share a similar vision of their films.
Rumble Fish was released on the 21st October 1983 and was directed by Francs Ford Coppola. The genre of the film is drama and was nominated for Golden Globe and had another 2 wins & 1 nomination. Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is an Italian-American film director, producer and screenwriter. Away from showbusiness, Coppola is also a vintner, magazine publisher and hotelier. He is a graduate of Hofstra University where he studied theatre. He earned anM.F.A. in film directing from the UCLA Film School. He is most renowned for directing the Godfather films, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now.
All of the above films are share themes of drama/crime. This could be linked to the use of black and white footage as the colour black connotes dark thoughts and maybe could relate to the film.

1. The film is named after Somers Town, the part of London in which it is set. Most of the filming also took place on location in that area.
a) Given the London location, what iconographic sights and sounds might you expect from the film?
As it is in London you would expect to see quite a lot of the famous landmarks, such as Big Ben and the houses of parliament. Also the film is set in the 1950's when the chanel tunnel was being made so you would expect to see clips of that. Marek and his dad comes over to England from Poland in order for his dad to be able to work on the crossing. I would expect to hear quite a lot of non diegetic sounds that reflect on the busyness of London and in particular the trafic congestions. There may be sounds car engines and buses.
b) What are you expectations about character and narrative based on this setting?
The setting of this film seems like quite a poor area of london, and you might expect to see people living in cramped and uncomfatable places. The main character Tommo plays a typical teenage boy character, but he still retains the fact that he is still young as throughout the film he finds himself in many bad situations.

No Country For Old Men

No Country For Old Men is a thriller film that was released in 2007, directed by the Coen brothers. We watched the ten minutes in class and looked out for typical conventions of thriller films included in the film.
The film is set in United States–Mexico border in 1980. The opening scene features a voice over of Sherriff Ed Tom Bell, and lots of shots of open landscape. This creates a quite eerie feel to the film already, as it is very quite and builds a lot of tension. The shot of the open scenery gives off the theme of isolation, which is a typical feature in thriller films. There is sound of wind in the background, which again promotes the theme of openness and also gives a spooky effect to the film. Apart from the outside noises, there is no non-deigetic sound in the first few scenes. This creats tension for the audience and allows them to focus on the storyline and it also makes the outside noises more noticable.
We are later introduced to the psychopathic murderer when he gets arrested by the sheriff. The look of the character gives the audience the impression that he has no feelings at all, and he shows no remorse after murdering people. The outfit the character shown in the mis en scene is all black. The connotations of black are dark character, and usually a bad person, in this case a murderer. The man does not really say very much, which arises suspicion and mystery about his character.
The first murder scene takes place in the police station. The sheriff has just come off the phone to another sheriff, raising questions about the oxygen tank occupying the man. Whilst the sheriff is doing this, in the background we see an unfocused image of the man untangling himself from the handcuffs. He successfully does this and then moves over to the sheriff. As soon as the sheriff puts the phone down, the man is strangling the sheriff with his handcuffs. There is a lot of blood spurting out of the sheriff’s body, which is another typical feature of thriller films.
A few scenes later, we are introduced to another character, a hunter who is shooting deer. He is dressed similarly to a cowboy. He shoots one deer in the back, but it does not die instantly so the man has to trace the deer’s steps and find the it. Whilst doing this he comes across another trail of blood and follows it above a rock face. Bellow the rock he sees three trucks and dead bodies with guns on the floor. This tells us that there has obviously been a gun fight which is a typical feature of a thriller film. The man goes down to get a better look. He searches the vans, possibly for goods, or for clues of what exactly happened. He cp,es across an injured, but alive man in one of the trucks. The injured man begs for water, but the other man practically ignores him and searches the rest of his truck. He finds a large amount of what appears to be drugs in the back of the injured mans van. This hints to the audience that the gun fight could related to drug incidents. The man then just leaves the injured man to die, which shows he is quite heartless. Another thing noticeable in this scene is that the man doesn’t really seemed to be shocked at all at the scenario in front of him, suggesting that he has scene death before, and he is not effected by it.

Final Cut Pro/Express

Final Cut Pro is a film editing software created by Apple. The software has a simple, yet affective layout that allows navigating around the software to be a easy hassle free process. The software enables you to edit video footage that you have taken on DV tapes. The software features a well-structured browser, where you can create bins to help you organise your project, a viewer which shows you what your are currently editing/viewing, a timeline which shows the time of each clip and allows you to layer clips on top of each other, and finally a canvas which shows contents of the timeline. Apple have also created and released In 2003 a less expensive version of Final Cut Pro, entitled Final Cut Express. It uses the same layout as Final Cut Pro, but it features less of the “film specific” tools, as it is an less advanced form. Final Cut Express retails around £100 and Final Cut Pro retails around £400 so there is quite a significant price different between the two versions. The software is currently only available on Apple Macs.

Thriller

Thrillers are films that include frequent overlapping sub-genres. They are normally filmed from two characters point of view, for example the “baddies” point of view and the “goodies” point of view. Along with this, cross cutting is used to distinguish a divide in the two groups, and also to allow the audiences to see what each group is doing at different parts of the film. The characters in thrillers are often characterised by the clothes, and look of them. For example if there is a man dressed in black who has a scar across his eye, the audience would presume that this man is trouble and possibly the bad character. Themes of thrillers are generally murder, terrorism, and loneliness. Thrillers can also include for-shadowning, this will build up the audiences tension and anxiety as it may give away hints as to what will happen at the end of the film. Many thrillers effectively use the contrast or light and dark. This also help sets the scene for the audience. Music also plays a big part of thrillers, with fast, uppasted music for energetic action scenes, and if something is about to jump out, generally the music builds up as the fright is about to imerge. Here is a list of the top five thriller movies according to imdb: The God Father, The God Father Part 2, Pulp Fiction, The Dark Knight, Rear Window.

hey my name is harry white and i attend reepham college. I study media, economics, chemistry and human biology. I did media at gcse and got a grade A overall. The purpose of this blog is to show all pre production of the course. I hope you enjoy :)