An analysis of Status in Rome

An analysis of Status in Rome.

Having watched the clip of a period TV drama, I can identify how status is represented. We see how ‘slaves’ are shown through them working. We also see how the higher status men in the army are portrayed by them working behind a desk, are not doing anything practical. The status of women is shown to be very low, through the only female character we see. Also, through the dialogue the soldiers use, when they talk about women, shows how low they think of women.
Camera is used in this clip to show the status of people. The clip opens with an establishing shot of the scene that pans, not only does it set the scene for the audience we see men, the soldiers seen as slaves, working. They are seen as slaves as the camera just shows them working from far, we don’t get a sense of personal belonging to the soldiers. They are also are shown to be doing a service and only needed for this. Furthermore, it is in a high angle, connoting their low status. We also see a slight hint of a slave working in a room, but the camera just pans so we only get to see that someone is standing doing some work, we also get a mid-shot of him, when he is being spoken to, but he never speaks back, showing the stereotypical view of slaves, that they are not allowed to speak, unless asked to.
We see two guys having a discussion, in an office, where one is sitting behind the desk probably looking at some paperwork; this shows that he has a higher status than all the other characters. This scene opens with a two-shot, showing that they having a conversation. In addition it is in a low angle shot; therefore they appear more on screen connoting they are both of a higher status. In the scene the older character is in the room looking around and discussing some issues that have risen, however even though he confronts the other character we get a sense that he has not got a higher status than him, but has a higher status than the other characters. Through the close-ups used of their faces, not only do we get to see their facial expressions, but through the facial expressions, status can be explained. For example, the close up of the older character is serious, however the other characters face shows that he is not bothered what he thinks, and that its up to him what he decides.
The scene moves, to outside scenery, and we immediately see a soldier through a long we do not get the full picture of what he is doing, but as the camera pans and moves closer to the character we see that there is a female character. The two characters are having sexual intercourse; however it seems to be just a “one-time” thing as it is outside, in public behind a tree. This shows that the women status is very low and not valued at all. We see very little of the female character and she has no speech throughout. With the camera following the male character, adds to the sense that the female character is not important and is there only to give the male character ‘pleasure’.
Towards the end of the scene, the main male character addresses another character, the camera shows him in high angle, connoting that he has a lower status to the main guy, also he addresses him with “sir” adding to the sense he has a lower status. The main character addresses another character, maybe his son, by “boy”, the boy is shown in a high angle to him, stating that he also has a lower status.
To conclude, this TV drama shows status through camera very efficiently, even though it is very straightforward. The camerawork in this clip is very clear to distinguish the representation of status, as in who has a higher status and who has a lower status. The representation of the lower status is very stereotypical, for example the female character represents women in a stereotypical way in that time period. The representation of higher status is also stereotypical in that time period, showing that men, have a higher status. Also in the clip has a majority of male characters, this indicates the target audience.

An analysis of gender in skins.

The clip I watched (FIRST 5 MINUTES): Skins Series 3 episode 1

An analysis of gender in skins.

Having watched the 5 minute clip of skins, I could see there was a clear distinguish how gender is being represented. Gender is portrayed through the different characters shown, the young teenage boys, middle aged men, teenage girls, and the elderly are all depicted differently. The young teenage boys are represented to be rebels and the typical teenager boy, the middle aged man is shown to be a usual working man, the teenage girl is represented to be a normal girl but is not bothered what is going on around her, the elderly women, is shown to the typical aged women that is quite fragile.

From the beginning of the clip, we can assume that the character being shown will be a teenage boy, this is connoted through the ‘close-up’ edit of the trainers with the character skating. Also, it is a long take to create the tension of who the character is. The shot then changes into a different angle where we see the teenage boy for the first time, this is a low angle of the teenage boy skating towards the camera. It then changes into a high angle, making us aware that the teenage boy is skilled in skating and that he has done this several times. The shot changes to a straight on angle with the boy landing. These scenes are all done by fast forwards and short takes, to make the scene faster so it creates pace and excitement. Also the cuts create a story, as we follow the character skating therefore he is going towards a destination; this is what we call an action code, as the audience know the story is moving on. These few scenes are all matched cut, as the images match and have an invisible edit. Having an invisible edit creates verisimilitude as it makes the audience forget what they are watching is not real and are taken into what they are watching. These scenes have verisimilitude, as it makes the audience believe that the character is really experienced in skating. Too add to the feeling that the character is very experienced we see a close up of his feet as he slows down and eventually stops. As he stops, he takes out his phone looking at a message that was sent to him, a close-up is used of the phone, so the audience know who sent the text message and what the text message says. This editing allows the audience to know what is going on in the story. What we read in the text message “Sparking ur last spliff” portrays that who ever sent the text message is another teenage character that has relationship with the character. The context of the message “UR” and “SPLIFF” conveys that it is a young teenager due to the language. We then get too see the characters’ face, through a mid close-up, we see that the character is not bothered about it, and just accepts it. His emotion is shown through the close up.

We then move to another scene, but still in the same area. As the three teenage friends sit down and talk, they see a car accident. The driver, a middle-aged man comes out of his car angry; we see his emotion through the close up of his face. Having a close up of the characters face, after the incident, is called a reaction shot, as the shot is used for the characters reaction to the event. Also having a scene with the friends having a conversation and a scene with a car accident is called a cross-cut, as we see two narratives here. Having more than one narrative in a TV drama is usual as it creates entertainment, and makes it more interesting for the audience. The editor then goes to use the shot where there is a long-shot of the scene. This allows the audience to see what is going on. Also, it shows that the middle aged man is in a suit representing his age, and that he is the stereotypical working man. As we hear one of the teenagers laughing at what is happening, this represents that they are teenagers and find things that are generally serious amusing.

As the middle aged man approaches the elderly women, we see that she is very frightened due to the way he approached to her. Also, as he chose to approach an elderly woman, he assumes that she knows what happened, this portrays that elderly people are the one’s who know everything that has happened as they tend to be nosey. As he continues to insist that she knows what happened and that she is his witness, it is all kept within the 180˚ rule. Also to represent that she is an elderly women, he asks for her mobile number, but she says that she has not got one. This portrays her age, and being very stereotypical that the aged population do no own a mobile phone.

To conclude, the clip of skins shows gender through the technical aspect editing. Many different types of editing were used, mainly matched cut, emotion, and story. The matched cut was used for invisible edit, in order for there to be verisimilitude. Emotion through the shot type, close-ups, was used so the audience know what the character is feeling through facial expression. Also having a cut due to emotion can create the mood/feeling the editor intended to have on the audience. There were a few scenes, especially at the beginning where a mixture of long and short takes were involved. Having long takes is good to create tension within in the story, and by having short takes creates excitement as the pace is fast. The editing used in the clip at the beginning, when the character is skating and only the feet are shown, shows the age as well as the gender being a teenage boy, however this has a polysemic effect as the audience may feel that not only teenage boys skate and wear trainers like shown in the clip, it may have been a female character. There are two possible interpretations of the image.

24 Hour Party People Essay

Compare and contrast 24 Hour Party People's production to that of a Hollywood film.

Having watched the film ‘24 Hour Party People’ (Michael Winterbottom, 2002) which is an independent film, I can compare and contrast the film to a Hollywood film. ’24 Hour Party People’ has several production companies involved, these co-productions are Baby Cow Production, Channel Four Films, Film Council, FilmFour, Revolution Films, and Wave Pictures where as Dead Man Running only had two production companies, which are Next Generation TV and Film, and P&T Productions. As ’24 Hour Party People’ had many production companies involved this indicates that it is an independent film due to this it requires more production companies to spread out the cost, as most companies don’t want to pay a lot of money in an independent film as they feel they wont make the money back, where as in Hollywood film they would only have one to two production companies as the production companies are willing to give more money to a Hollywood film that have a mainstream audience, since they feel that the film will make more money. The film breaks the fourth wall several times, for example at the beginning tony Wilson saying the scene was symbolic of what is to come on many levels. "I don't want to say too much, don't want to spoil it. I'll just say one word: 'Icarus'. If you get it, great. If you don't, that's fine too. But you should probably read more." Also at a concert, The real Devoto, portraying a janitor cleaning the bathroom sink, then turns to the camera and says "I definitely don't remember this happening." Breaking the fourth wall seems to be like something an independent film would do, as they tend to do things opposite to what is expected to do, to make the film different.

The Target audience for ’24 Hour Party People’ is a mature, yet young audience, appealing to both males and females, however the majority would be a male audience, as most of the actors are males. The audience will be between 16-30 as you see many concerts in the film with young people drinking and smoking. They would also be of a working class background.
The main synergy used in ’24 Hour Party People’ is music. Before the film starts, it opens with a song from “Happy Mondays” in the opening credits. Tony Wilson attends a concert at Manchester 1976, by the Sex Pistols, this uses synergy as the film and the band sex pistols are promoting their media product. ’24 Hour Party People’ uses this synergy to promote their film, and the sex pistols uses the synergy to make awareness of their band, both appealing to the same audience at the same time.
‘24 Hour Party People’ used new media technology in the film. The film was filmed with a Sony DSR-PD150, which has an affordable price to it but also a very professional camera, which has XLR audio inputs and produces great picture. The film is a video format, filmed in DV and printed with a 35 mm film format. 35mm film has the highest quality. Evidence of new media technology used within the film is during the scene with the birds, when the birds where falling from the sky, dead. Even though this was not real, it was shown in a very realistic way; this affects the production company in a positive way as it allows them to create a scene with verisimilitude, which helps the audience be affected positively as well, as they see it being real and believe the story. There was also another scene which shows elements of new media technology being used, there was scene where ‘space ships’ were involved, in order to create this scene sound effects for the space ship noise was used and special effects to get the space ship appear in the scene. This had a positive effect for the production company as they were able to do this using the new media technology. on top of this, towards the end of the film there was a scene where special effects were involved, this was the scene where “God” was speaking. Where as in Hollywood films they tend to use the best camera available, usually costing a lot, but due to new media technology it has got cheaper, and also the special effects in a Hollywood film is far more advanced as they use the best editing software’s and best equipment, only because they have the money to do this.
Having FilmFour and Channel four films as one of 24 Hour Party Peoples’ production company, this allows cross-media convergence, as ’24 Hour Party People’ can have trailer adverts on the TV channels, film four and channel 4 to create awareness for the film, also they could use it for home exhibition, as they could have the film played on the channels.
’24 Hour Party People’, gives a representation of Britishness, mainly Manchester, as being negative, as we see guns, drugs which results in having a drug-gang, increasing the likelihood of crime, wee see a drive-by shooting which adds to the film showing British negatively. Also, it shows Manchester as being a musical place, as there are constant concerts shown, which also shows people drinking a lot there. The film as shows huge elements of people who want to go into the music industry and the majority of people who are shown are young people who like to party, this reflects the audience.
To conclude, 24 Hour Party People and a Hollywood film have similar elements that show they use new media technology, cross media convergence, and synergy. 24 hour party people uses new media technology to create verisimilitude in their film, they use synergy and cross media convergence for mainly creating awareness of their film. Cross-media convergence is used mainly for advertising the film on TV and for home exhibition, the movie may be more successful through home exhibition than cinema exhibition, therefore having TV channels such as Film Four and Channel four, home exhibition will be useful for an independent film.

An analysis of Gender in “Cold Feet”

An analysis of Gender in “Cold Feet”

After watching the small clip of ‘Cold feet’ I can distinguish how gender has been represented. Male and female are shown very stereotypically. Women are shown to be the typical ‘housewife’ where as the men are shown to be the characteristic ‘working’ husband.
This essay will explore how gender is represented through Mise-en-scene. The first female character we see in the clip is denoted to be in the kitchen, cooking, this emphasizes what a stereotypical ‘housewife’ does. This representation of women has a polysemic effect as the audience may see it positively or negatively. If the audience were old fashioned, they would see it to be an positive, accurate representation as they agree with what is being shown, however if a younger audience was to watch this they would see it to be a wrong representation as they believe that women are not only suppose to be a ‘housewife’ and can have a career. We also see the first male sitting at the dining table that seems to just come back from work, which is portrayed through his costume, since he is wearing a suit. This signifies that he is the typical ‘working’ husband. To support the idea that he has just come back from work, the lightening in the dining room/kitchen has a low key. This conveys the time of day, which is evening.
In the next scene we see another couple at a supermarket, shopping for ‘baby materials.’ However, what we see is that the female character is the one doing the shopping and knows what the best materials are, where as the male character does not really now what he is getting and what is the best. He would rather go for the cheaper materials. This connotes how stereotypical of the two genders are seen. The female character who knows what she is doing and the male character who is confused about the whole thing. This is clearly shown when the female character picks up an expensive item which is supposed to be the best, but the male character insists they go for the cheaper one as he believes there is not a difference but the price. This representation of men also has a polysemic effect, as the audience may see this to be accurate or inaccurate. The majority, female audience would see this to accurate as it goes with what they believe in, there ideology of this representation, however the male audience will find this to be inaccurate as they feel that they are just as good at shopping for baby materials as the females are said to be. The lightening in this scene is shown to have an ambient type of lightening to create the atmosphere of it being in a natural environment.
To conclude, in this clip of Cold Feet, the representation of both genders are shown through Mise-en-scene. The female characters portray the characture representation of women, being the typical housewife, which is connoted through the actions/performance they do. The male characters are shown to be the stereotypical ‘working’ husband and also being the classic father who doesn’t know what he is doing. Both representation has a polysemic effect, being either negative or positive, depending on the audiences point of view.

Fantasy Film Making Part Two

Fantasy Film Making Part Two!

BRASSO FILMS - NO SYNERGY.

Budget Review.

Synergy: £0
Production Budget: £250,00
Money Remaining From Stage 1: £0
Current Budget: £250,000


Crew.
Director - Andrea Arnold - £200,00 -

She has a good reputation for a female director, and has won several awards, which connotes that the films have been successful.

However female directors are not taken seriously in the film industry. (there is only a 6% of female directors, which shows that female directors are not known.)

Production Team - Amatuer but trained british - £10,000 -

The director can learn more experince, and it also increases mobility in location as the production team will not be big.

The production have no experience, so they will not entirely know what they are doing.

Editor - Amatuer, Untrained British (Manisha Matharu & Shiima Sharif) - £0 -

Gives the editor an opportunity to show their skills, and how they can edit on such a small budget.

However they dont know what to do as they have no experience.

Special Effects - NONE.

Total cost for crew: £210,000

New techonology.

Camera- Canon XL-H75 Camcorder (x2 £14027.70)

We chose to have the best, top of the range cameras, as we did not have a big budget we thought it would be best to spent most of it on the best cameras.
However, we spent most of the money on cameras, and could affect us as we may not have enough money in the end.

Tripod- Manfroto 503 HDV, 525 RKIT Tripod (x2 £1078.70)
It is Lightweight, rigid and stable gives accuracy of shooting, also it allows us to do different types of shots and angles accurately.

Lighting- Laniro Gulliver Kit n.15 Fly (x2 2058.50)
This is a very good lightening equipment, which allows our film to look proffesional on a small budget.

Tapes- Sony High Definiton DV tapes 63 min (x100 £680)
As we have brought 100 tapes we can get everything we need, and be able to re-shoot scenes to make it perfect, and we can get a variety of shots
Too many tapes, some may be unused and will be a waste of money which could have been used for something else.

Computer- Mac Pro- 8 core (£2,499.00) + Screen 27inch 3.06ghz (£1,349.00)
Using the best computer there is, to get the best quality editing and it being fast.
Computer may crash, and ALL work will be lost, and will mean we have to start again and waste time and be behind.

Editing Software: Final cut studio = £799.00
Using the best Editing software. better than iMovie.

Special Effects: NONE.

Budget: £232,510.90
total cost crew: £210,000
Total cost for equipment: £22,510.90

REMAINING BUDGET: £17,489.10

TV Drama Homework

TV Drama: Hollyoaks - Episode: 12th November'09

This Episode.

Who made the show?
The show was created by Phil Redmond.

What Channel was it on?

It was on Channel 4.

What Time?
6:30pm

What sub genre?
The sub genre in today's episode was focusing on, Relationships, Friendship, and Illness Issues. These sub genres are socially realist.

Who is the target audience?
The target audience are for teenagers/young adults, aged 15-25, outgoing, that face everyday teenage problems. Also for middle,working class background.

What was the narrative?
In this episode, a character, Anita Roy tells Suzzane Ashworth that her daughter Hannah Ashworth has had a re-lapse and is anorexic again. Suzzane doesnt want to believe this, and says that Anita is a trouble-making liar, like her brother Ash Roy. Where Hannah, Nancy, Kris and darren are stuck at HCC (Hollyoaks Community College), where hannah and nancy, bestfriends who have fallen out, are constantly arguing and end up in a fight, but then they all sit down and end up talking about how they miss there bestfriend, Sarah Barnes, who tragically died a few episodes ago.

What was being represented?
- Anorexia was being represented in this episode, through Hannah, which is shown when she had her first relapse in the previous episode and is continued in this.
- Parental trust was represented this is connoted when Suzanne disagrees with Anita's accusations and says "I've only just got my daughter back because I didn't believe her last time, and I don't intend on losing her again..." This represents that she had made a mistake once in not trusting her daughter but she is now.

Cinematography and sound

Cinematography And Sound.

Cinematography Before!

Before the invention of Digital technology film was recorded on big reels of 8mm, 16mm or 35mm film. After filming, it would then be edited on a machine called a moviola, which the editor would have to cut and paste the film, frame by frame. A Moviola is a device that allows a film editor to view film while editing. It was the first machine for motion picture editing when it was invented by Iwan Serruier in 1924. The Moviola allowed editors to study individual shotsin their cutting rooms, as a result to determine more precisely where the best cut-point might be. The vertically-oriented Moviolas were the standard for film editing in the United States until 1970s when horizontal flatbed editor systems became more common. Yet, a few high-profile film makers continue to prefer the Moviola editor Michael Kahn famous for his work Steven Spielberg.

A Moviola A Flatbed Editor

Special effects had to been done by the props department, and were done very unrealistic and did not represent realism. In 1857, Oscar Gustave Fletcher Reilander, created the first "trick photograph" , by combining different regions of 32 photographs into a single image.

Producing a film is far more time consuming and expensive, as the editing equipment cost more before digital technology. The moviola cost $600 in 1920 (equivalent to $20,000 today), very few was sold. It is time consuming as the film editor had to spend alot of time cutting and pasting the frames together, also the film editor would have to be paid for the time they spent, making it very costly.

Digital Cinematography:
Digital cinematography is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images rather than on film. Digital filming/capture may be done on tape, hard disks, flash memory or other media which can record digital data. As digital technology has now improved, digital cinematography is now increasingly common. Many mainstream Hollywood movies now are shot partly or fully digitally. Such as the first Major Hollywood film to be recorded entirely digitally was Star Wars Episode II in 2002.

Digital Cinematography acceptance was done when Slumdog millionaire became the first movie shot mainly in digital to be awarded the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.




HD and 3D
Is an upgraded version of digital video which has a higher resolution (more dots per inch). HDDV is not as clear as 35mm or 70mm film. However, eventhough it is much easier to edit, it is not as clear as a 35mm or 75mm film.
There has been a resurgence in 3D in the last 10 years. where there has been new digital techniques being used.
'Avatar' a film that has been done by computer. This is an example of a computer generated film.

Beggining in the late 1980's Sony began marketing the concept of electronic cinematography making use of its analog HDTV cameras. In 1988, the introduction of HDCAM recorders and

1920 × 1080 pixel digital video cameras based on CCD technology, which is now re-branded as digital cinematogrpahy, had finally began to gain grip in the market. In May 2002 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones became the first high-profile, high-budget movie released that was shot on 24 frame-per-second high-definition digital video, using a Sony HDW-F900 camera.

Digital Vs.Film Cinematography:

Portability: Digital cameras are not massive and difficult to transport than a film camera.

Sound recording: Film cameras need sound to be recorded seperatley, which is why the clapper-boards are used to get the sound to match the visuals. Where as digital cameras can record the sound, having less equipment needed to film.

Budget: 16mm or 35mm film cameras are very expensive, as well as buying the camera and having stock (tape) to film, will cost at least $50,000. The opposite, digital tap is very cheap and can be easily shot for under $10,000 using digital methods.

Technological convergernce has revolutionised Cinematography and sound for the institutions as digital camera's are able to film the viuslas aswell as sound, and they dont have to worry about whether the sound and visuals match. New media technology has had an impact on the audience through cinematography and sound, as it allows the audience to see a sense of realism in the film, due to better new technology, films are able to have special effects that have computer gernerized images, which makes it have verisimilitude, as the audience dont see that the images have been created, where as when there was only old-media technology special effects were created via the props department and it looked unrealistic.

Digital technology, (storing and transferring data), a few examples of this in cinematography and sound is, digital cameras/video, sound technology, editing softwares used after filming (IMOVIE,Final-cut) to do this you need a PC or MAC., networked information.

-Editing. (Jamie Chandler)

-Special Effects and graphics. (Demi Caldeira)

An analysis of sound in skins.

An analysis of Sound in Skins.

Having watched the clip of Skins, I can illustrate how age is represented through sound. There are various sounds in the first few minutes of the clip. Tony, a young teenage character is woken up by his alarm clock, this is a diagetic, external sound, which represents that he is a teenager, as the majority of teenagers will have alarm clocks to wake them up to go to school. As tony wakes up and switches of his alarm, music comes on, this is probably non- diagetic but they make it seem to be diagetic. The music is a synchronous sound, as it goes with the pace of editing, and as the images being seen, which is tony doing a little workout session the music goes with the image as some people may listen to this type of music whilst working out, this can make the audience immerse themselves in to what they are watching. Through the music that is being played it portrays that tony is a teenager, also with the images of him caring about his appearance shows that he is a young person.

Tony then plays his own music, this is a diagetic, external sound, as tony plays it himself. The music is rock, which most teenagers listen to, which represents his age. Th music is upbeat, which makes the audience feel energetic. Effie another teenage character in the clip is already out, however looks like she has just come from a night out, the music that is being playing in Tony’s room also plays when Effie is outside, this is a Non-diagetic sound, as Effie cannot hear the music. This also emphasizes that Effie is a teenager, through the upbeat,rock genre music..

The dialogue in this clip from the Dad is more of a teenage sort of language, as the he is swearing throughout the majority of his dialogue. Also, the mode of address, which tells the audience how to react is informal, teenage-like and colloquial, this would represent that the Dad is young, which in fact he is not. Where as Tony’s dialogue is much more formal than his dads. The dialogue from the Mum, is informal, but through the language and tone she has, allows the audience to see a sense of relationship between the characters.

To conclude, through sound we can see that age is represented. We can see evidence of this through Tony, as he is represented to be some what a stereotypical teenager, as he listens to rock music and cares about his image, but also goes against the stereotypical teenager, as his dialogue is mature,his room is very tidy, and wakes up on his alarm, where as the other male teenage character who is still sleeping, his room is messy and the little dialogue we hear in the 5minutes clip is him swearing.

Key Quetions Homework- Channel 4

Key Questions!

- There is some similarities between the early Channel 4 and an independent film production company, as they both have very simplistic camera work and it is always mainly filmed as a documentary, also they both aim to appeal to a diverse society. Channel 4 and an independent film production company both have a niche target audience, as they both have controversial themes that not many people enjoy. Also their camerawork is unconventional which makes it hard to watch, they dont always stick to the camera rules.

- In 1993 Channel 4 moved to target a more mainstream audience, this affected channel 4's achievement and assignment decisions, as they had to think about having programmes that appealed to a bigger audience and had to stray from their original remit. During this time channel 4 gained control of its own advertising sells. They started to show programmes like Friends and ER. These appealed to a mainstream audience, and had a different design to what they had before for example My beautiful laundrette, and mini pops.

-Channel 4 has lead major originality in british television, as channel 4 first took the risk to have contraverisal themes and have a completely different ideas to other territistial channels. In 1987 Channel 4 began its "Dispatches", which is well known to tactle difficult and contraversial material. By doing this, it opened doors for other channels to produce more difficult themed programmes. Therefore channel 4 has lead originality in British television.

- As Channel 4 began to target a mainstream audience, it also started to stray from it orgianl remit, as a public service broadcaster to showcase innovation and diversity in television. It has started to become just like another broadcaster on television. As showing programmes like Friends and ER between 1993-1999, made it stray from its ethos. Friends and ER, are programmes that a bigger audience enjoy watching, due to its comedy and not many serious topics are shown on the programmes. Also in 2000, channel 4 showed Big Brother. This was the channels most successful programme ever, with 10 million viewers for the first few series. Programmes like this have no value to people apart from providing entertainment, it has no educational factors or have anything that is controversial that is similar to how channel 4 was in the early years. In the beginning channel 4 had individuality and was different however now, it has no value and has not got the same effect as it did in the beginning.

-The channel 4 factual programming today has not got the same effect as it did 25 years ago, as Now it does not deal with the issues in a more serious matter as they are delicate, controversial themes, however 25 years ago, it was dealt more seriously and people was educated much more back then.

- One can argue that channel 4 has some elements that it still maintains its original remit, for example it still has some educational programmes that tackle difficult themes, and it also "appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society". Furthermore, it has a programme (Big brother) from Europe, which is part of their remit.

- Channel 4's ownership of film 4 production is an example of vertical integration as Film 4 Productions, produces the film, and channel 4 Distributes it. The parent company (Channel 4) owns multiple companies (Film 4 Productions) across different stages.

Fantasy Film Making: Part One.

Fantasy Film Making (Part One)

The first lesson on fantasy film making, as a group we randomly picked a production company, Brasso Films (British independent), we then picked a budget (also randomly) of £0.00, and finally we picked a scenario which was 'A slasher, horror film in which the victims are trapped in a high school with a psychopathic killer'.
After getting the production company, budget and scenario, as a group we came up with a synopsis for the story. As we are a British independent company and have no budget, we had to give this some thought on where we would film as we need to have real places and use real people.

Synopsis:
Normal teenage school life. A group of friends all go to the same school, there is a couple 'Stacey and Craig'. However this is a slightly dysfunctional relationship. Craig is always cheating on Stacey. One day Stacey witnesses a passionate kiss with Craig and her best friend Lisa. Having seen this she storms off, and heads home. Very Emotional she goes to the basement. A dark basement with a desk. She then picks up various photos of different girls, Craig cheated with, and sticks up on the wall, placing Craig in the middle. Stacey opens the draw, and takes out a knife, she looks at the photos, and stabs each one, one by one, whilst doing this she has flashbacks to the day where she saw Craig cheating on her with the girls. The final picture she stabs is a picture of Craig. The order she stabs the photos, is in the order they will die. The next day Stacey tells all the friends that they should break into school, and have a little gathering/party. They all agree, Stacey and another friend go to a local convenience store, and picks up some alcohol and snacks. That night they all meet, (Stacey, Craig, Ben (Craig's best friend), Jack ( Craig's best friend), Lisa, Lauren, Hannah and Caroline) outside the school. They break in. Everyone gets drunk, apart from Stacey and Ben. After an hour or so, everyone goes around the school in small groups. However, Craig insists that he goes with Lisa. Stacey becomes angry, and storms off, she takes out a knife, and begins to follow her first victim Caroline. She corners Caroline in the girls toilet, and tells her if she screams she will kill, and she begins to tells her that she knows she slept with Craig. Caroline tries to deny this, which Stacey even more angry, as she is insulting her intelligence, Stacey picks the knife up and runs across Caroline's face, Caroline begging her not to hurt her, Stacey makes marks on Caroline's face, and carves the letter 'S' on her cheek. She then stabs her in the chest several times. She does this to all the others, except she cant find Hannah. She moves on, as she is about to find Lisa, she sees that Ben, has already beaten her to it. Ben has already killed her and is standing over her body. She storms in and has a massive argument with him. He then confesses to her saying that he was doing it for her, and the he loved her. Stacey is too angry, but then realises that Ben is only helping her and she remembers all them times Ben was there for her. She admits that she has feelings for him too, and they kiss romantically. She says to him, "leave Craig to me, i want to hurt to him just like he did to me". Ben goes looking for Hannah, and Stacey goes for Craig. When Craig sees Stacey he asks her why shes covered in blood, Stacey lies saying she had a little accident. They have a conversation, and Stacey confronts him about the affairs, he denys them all. She gets angry and pushes him up against a wall, holding a knife at him, Craig becomes extremely scared and confesses immediately, Stacey backs down. Craig pushes her, her head hits a table, and knocks her unconscious. Craig runs out. He runs into Ben, and Craig tells him everything that's happened, Ben laughs at him and says "I know." They fight and Ben pulls out a knife, Craig pushes Ben and grabs the knife and stabs Ben in the leg. He runs towards the front gates, he finds Hannah hiding at the reception, and they try to open the doors, however Stacey is running and screaming towards them as well. They realise they have to press a button behind the reception desk, Craig runs and does this. The doors open, and they both run out. Stacey is behind them. Craig and Hannah runs to the park where they see a man, and tells them to call the police and ambulance. Stacey is still running after them. After a few minutes later, the police show up, and arrest Stacey. The police and ambulance go in the school where they find the other bodies and Ben. At the hospital, Craig and Hannah are getting cleaned up at getting questioned by the police. There Parents come.

The story ends with, showing a court case of both Ben and Stacey when they are being sentenced.

Location/Sets:
As we had a budget of £0.00, we had to find real locations that were free of cost.

• The School "High school"- Free - Various locations (Dark drama studio, science room, gates, etc) - Most murders.
• House- Free- Dark Basement - Used when putting photos up and planning.
  
• Shop "Convienece store" - Free- The Shop - Used when buying Alcohol and Snacks.
  
• Park- Free- Used at the end.
  
• Hospital - Free- A hospital Bed - End scenes.

Character & Actors:
We had to use real people, i.e ask friends to take part in the film. The five main Characters are,

• Stacey - Played by Lucy Rigden ( A friend ) - Main role, Murderer and in a relationship with Craig.
  
• Craig - Played By Jamie Chandler ( A friend) - Main Role, in a relationship with stacey but cheats on her, and plays one of the victims.
  
• Ben - Played by Orlstyne Wilson ( A friend)- Best friend to Craig, and is the second murderer.
  
• Lisa- Played by Abby Woodhead (A friend) - Best friends with stacey, One of the girls who craig cheats with, and plays a victim.
  
• Caroline- Played by Siobhan Cunningham (A Friend)- One the girls who craig cheats with. A victim.
  

All these actors will be free of cost.

Music:
Again, as we had a budget of £0.00 we had to find people who will be willing to play some music for the movie. These people will be mainly friends.

• Violin- When trying to create suspense.- Shivani Desai ( A friend).
  
• Rock- When they are drinking in the school, and the opening scene when they walk into the school. - band name called Saifa (friends).
  
• Piano and Violin- Closing scene, the end, making it slow and soft- Shivani Desai ( A friend).
  

Budget Review:
Budget : £0.00
Total costs for sets and locations: £0.00
Total Cost for actors: £0.00
Total cost for music: £0.00
Remaining budget: £0.00

Audience:
The film will have a niche target audience, as it is an independent film. Independent films tend not to have many marketing and promotions so not many people would know about the film. Independent film companies rely on word of mouth. The targeted age for the film will be for 15 - 25. I chose this target audience as it will be suitable for 15 year old's as they will be able to watch horror films, also because of the young actors and the storyline it will appeal more to the 15-25 audience. The film is aimed at both male and female audience, as it has both genders in the film. The audience the film is aimed at will be, outgoing, like to have drinks, also people who are interested in horror films like this such as, Awaken the Dead, Hallows Eve: Slaughter on Second Street, these two movies are examples of independent movies, but they could also like Hollywood horror movies, the exorcist, The omen. The film is aimed at all ethnic groups. The location of the film will be in London, and a working class background, therefore the film will target a more working class background who live in London.

Representation of Britishness:
The film shows britishness in a both positive and negative way. It shows the representation of how police officers and doctors work in Britain, also its shows the law of Britain, when the two character get sentenced. This gives an insight to other countries on how Britain works. The film shows that the young generation of Britain are educated (this is shown in the film when they go into the school) However, it also shows that Britain is quiet violent.

Feedback

Evaluation of Pre-lim exercise.

Good Points:

The digital technology, has clear shots and there was a good use of 'match on action'. Also, camera angle was good and the over shoulder was used well.

For the creativity, it was an original story line that would happen in some teenagers life, so therefore they would be able to relate to it. Also by the actors wearing regular clothes, adds the sense of reality to it. In addition, the ending was creative, when the hands separated was blurry.

For Post-production, the graphics used was good and the music set the mood. Also the music flowed with the suspense of the story line, for example 'the heartbeat' used at various points added to the feel that the teenager is nervous, this adds to the tension of the story line. The graphics at the beginning was good, the way the title came together and then faded out.

The research and planning was done very well, for example, taking one of the actors 'sukhvir' out of her free time to come and film. Also, getting the room as i had to ask permission before filming there.

Bad Points:

I could have used a better setting to film, to make it more believable and help set the scene more.

Some of the shots did not flow as well as it should, (for example the close up of my face and then the over shoulder.)

Improvements i would make:

If i was to film it again i would film it in a living room, so it will be more realistic and help set the scene for the audience. Also, i would make sure the editing flowed well to make it seem more professional and well done.

The Final Edit.

Comparitve Analysis

Hollywood Vs. Independent

Comparative Analysis

East is East and Superbad are the two films I have chosen to look at. East is East, is the independent movie, it was released in 1999 and directed by Damien O’Donnell. One of the production companies involved is Film Four. Where as the Hollywood movie I chose was released in 2006 and directed by Greg Mottola. Superbad had one of the big Hollywood production companies, Columbia pictures. Both Movies are comedies, yet has different storylines and deals with different themes.

Actors and Characters:
In Superbad the actors are Hollywood actors that have been in previous movies, for example Michael Cera, who plays one of the main characters in the film (Evan) was also in a movie called Wayside School (2005). The actors are shown to be glamorous and have been “Air brushed”. However, in East is East the actors look like real people. Even though some of the actors have been in a few movies and TV programmes, they haven’t made any big hits and are not well known.

Sound:
In East is East, some of the music played are bollywood, this appeals more to the Asian audience. Also, their dialogue and the way the speak sounds like the way people talk in real life. Where as in Superbad they are upbeat and dance songs. This appeals to the younger generation as they are more likely to listen to this, especially when they go to parties songs like in Superbad will most probably be played. The dialogue is mainly the way teenagers speak.Even though the music used is different and has a different target audience, it still has the same effect on people when they listen to it, the music in East in East and the music in Superbad are both upbeat.
- Superbad (soundtrack)
- East is East (soundtrack)


Camerawork and Editing:
It is quite obvious which film is independent and which is Hollywood. In East is East there was not that many camera movements, it was very simplistic. There was not much variety of shots, only straightforward shots. However, in Superbad there is much more variety. The editing in East is east is also basic and simple. There are not many transitions used. In Superbad there is more editing used and SFX. In Superbad and East is East there are some scenes were it is filmed in the car, which is difficult to keep the camera steady.




Mise-En-Scene:
In Superbad, it was actually filmed in Southern California. But it also had other locations, such as the liquor store scene, the parking lot, Supermarket, The high school, the track and field scenes, “party house”, and the mall scenes. They used a lot of different places to film the movie, as Hollywood movies can as they have the money. In East is East it had some variety of locations, it was filmed in Manchester, and had other places, like the fish and chip shop, the house, the street, the club and France. As East is East is an independent film, it had to have Found locations.

Conclusion:
To conclude, the independent film “East is East” had a low budget of £1.9m, but still was very successful in the UK and the US grossing over £10 million. The film also did extremely well through rentals making £12,300,000. It was distributed by Channel 4 Films (UK theatrical), and in the US by Miramax (theatrical). The film did very well for an independent movie.

Where as the Hollywood film “Superbad” had a high budget of $25,000,000 and made a gross revenue of $170,871,719. The film won four awards and was nominated for 8 awards. Both films did extremely well, even though East is East is an independent film it still did remarkably well. This just shows that both independent and Hollywood films can make brilliant movies even without the “amazing” equipment.