What's in the News?

' Famous Drunk dad faces disease if he doesn't stop'

The headline above could portrays a British Social realism movie,  as it illustrates the effects of a drinking addict leading to many consequences. The themes will be based on drugs, parenthood, childhood, depression , isolation and death. The main character is called Mike, a Dad with many struggles and choices to decide which, all lead to his disease and depression. He has two sons, one is 17 and one is 14 called Chris And David and a wife, called Margaret who is thinking of divorcing him.

The plot of the movie is that Mike lives in a very upper class area, in Chelsea. He feels that everything around him is changing for worse, as his sons do not care much about his life as they, are caught up in their own life in addition , to his wife having problems and arguments.  Even though they live in a large house, Mike feels that he is much more civilised and at home at his pub, he co-owns the pub with a man called Anthony. Mike feels that Anthony, is arrogant and over his head which he finds annoying and struggles to work with. Mike also has a drinking problem which, he finds help with his depression ironically -  Consequently, he has heart disease and suspects that the drinking was a part of it, he often has random black outs which he feels, put him to peace as he forgetting the past and his mistakes put him at ease.  One day, Anthony is found dead at the pub one night, Mike was near the scene when it happened but, because of his blackout he can't remember what happened but is happy, to find himself in one piece but, is also disturbed by this event. He is questioned but can't remember. He becomes owner, which is a struggle for him as he finds himself consuming all the stock to fill his drinking needs consequently, this disturbs the business and puts him in debt which, leads to the divorce with his wife. Out of desperation, he works with a drug dealer who puts drugs in his pub with the drinks, the sales suddenly go up but no one knows, that the drinks are drugged which makes the pub very controversial . Even though , it gets famous , it often gets some hate and this troubles Mike, he has to cope with his heart disease while keeping the secrets of his pub secret however, this becomes a struggle as he finds one of  his son addicted to these drugged drinks. Mike is not an independent moral genius, so he finds this hard to either make money for himself and others, or stop his son from this addiction by telling the truth and shutting down his pub.


Headline 2

Schoolboy who faces suspension for running 'black

market' tuck shop to sell rest of stock on eBay

The headline above may not portray the conventions of a british social realism movie however, they can be changed to suit it. For example. the sweets could be replaced by drugs showing, corruption of youth due to the selling of drugs in school. The main character 'Tommie' faces these struggles of bullying,isolation, drug addiction and corruption of youth

The plot of the film has a restricted narrative of Tommie, a boy who goes to school like every other kid but, is isolated from other peer groups and usually bullied. One day, he hears kids talking about drugs and how they are running low and, that they will be willing to pay a high price for certain drugs . Tommie, meets a drug dealer who is a friend of his Dad surprisingly. He takes the boy under his wing to sell these drugs in school and share the profit with him, this gets tommie very popular and rich. However, these rumours spread and is on the brink of getting bullied of getting these drugs for free; he has to stand up for himself and fight aganist the bullies or he will be 'grasped' in order, to make enough money for uni by the end of the year.

Headline 3 -A hero's return! K-9 police dog Reiko has bullet removed from his spine after being shot by murder suspec

This headline portrays the themes of a britsh realism with war, violence and justice.  These themes can be shown through the use of the freindship between a police dog and a police officer who work together. Also, war between gangs and the police can be shown as the dog gets in danger thus, making the police officer it's protector as it's faces violent murderers.

The plot of film could be that one day, a police officer called Jake, decides to train his dog to become strong and smart. He takes it on courses where he learns to sniff for drugs and bite when nessecary. Some people find this cruel however, he finds it great as he bonds with his dog alot more. One day, the dog gets shot by a gang and the police officer has swore revenged and justice for them ever since they got away. As a result, years later the dog returns and he embarks a mission to sniff our their drugs and put them in jail to create justice.

Opening Sequence ( 21 Jump Street )

Opening Film ( 21 Jump Street Opening Sequence ).

 

In this sequence,  it portrays the lifestyle of 21 jump street, it contains images and scenes of partying, doing drugs, crime, school life and romance. Throughout these themes, they illustrate that the two main characters struggle to progress in life with these constant barriers to obtain, the lifestyle of 21 jump street. They use fake identites to also maintain this lifestyle, by putting on costumes such as: casual clothes and police uniform. They live in a normal everyday estate near a school, and they work at a police station where they, hide their identities to look like a student. Alot of props they begin to learn and use are: police baton, guns and police cuffs which, vary from working in a class doing: science, drama , labs and much more student activites that, they are forced to do in order to 'fit in'.

This typography within the opening sequences portrays one of the main characters plaied in the movie by the actor Channing Tatum. The typography is in shining bold font creating it as the central figure denoting this, also it connotes the actor himself as the central figure. Moreover, the font in bold creates a connotation of the character as, strong himself due to this font. Also, it silver colouring connotes steel, again showing a strong figurative character with, the bullets in the background connoting a dangerous lifestyle.

   The 21 Jump street institutional logo is denoted in bold red and blue font, the big font makes the title the central dominant attraction for the audience, keeping it in key iconography. Nevertheless, it is connoted through the two colours flashing like a police siren as a result, giving off connotations of police protecting, serving and justice. However , the movie subverts this as, the police are often crazy,wild and out of control giving off a juxtapostion of a hidden meaning within the title.




- In this scene, the background has explosions with the directors, this could connote the explosive lifestyle within the movie or, how much of a big impact the directors had on the movie, almost celebrating them in a way.














- In this text, the background is pink with hearts flying in the sky showing, quite a soft lifestyle. The pink background connotes a feminity side of the person or, maybe represents a girl which gives impressions of what the characer could be like or how they act. The font is also quite bold and eye-catching which attracts the audience





In the scene with the music disc in the background, it resembles the music maker ' Mark Mothersbaugh' work as, it connotes the hard work put in the music rooms and the amount of realism as, it resembles it.

 In this scene, it displays 'Dave Franco' name in rainbows and a happy field, this connotes that this actor is quite calm,happy and maybe gentle, giving off impressions of what the audience should expect from him. 
















- In this scene, it illustrates who the story was by, it creates quite a synchronous scene with the typewriter, it connotes the effort put into the story as the typewriter moves quite fast, the white colour is quite eye-catching and attracting to the audience.

































The timeline I have done is from the movie '21 Jump Street'. The pattern of the title sequence begins to start with the developers and producers

and the actors near the end resembling the matter of importance. Right at the start (0:07), the developers come first showing the hierachy they have as, they have put in the effort and developed the movie. As a result,  funding the movie to build up to it's high expecations and reach to markets and cinemas. Also, they put the story and who influnced it after aswell,( 0:22) as '21 Jump Street' is not an original idea. It says it is' Based on the televison series' and who created it as, it plays a big part in influencing the story of the movie. Moreover ,it avoids any copyright within the movie as, the creators can claim copyright as stealing their idea. However , they put it near the start to show important they are as, even though they didn't make it but they influenced it. Nevertheless, the editor comes around (0:45) near the middle as, he may not play a role in the movie or is actually seen but, this person is behind all the cut scenes and how the movie flows, he creates continuity and makes sure the audiences who spectacte this, can spectacte it cleary without no confusion.  After this, finally the actors come in all in order. The first two actors that are on screen are Jonah Hill (0:48) and Channing Tatum(0:51). The reason these two characters come in first , because they are the central dominant figure in the movie, they are the main characters who the audience pay attention to as, they make up most of the movie due, to having most screening. Nevertheless, they are big budget actors who are quite famous.  Near the end, they introduce a special guest at (1:01) ' with ice cube; the reason the word 'with' is used as, he may not be a professional actor but, he is untrained and the role he plays suits his own ethncity. Also, he has a very big target audience which can attract them, to watch the movie due to this famous rapper.  Near the end, they introduce the casting (1:20), as without them, they would of not been able to get the fitting roles for the characters in the movie.  At, (1:25) and (1:29) the music and costume designer come in, for rememberance, as the music builds up the atmosphere in additon, to most of them being famous songs. Also, the costume designer comes at the very end as, the mise-en-scene in this movie plays a big role due, to it being alot about changing identity keeping it key, for it not go wrong and be suitable.

Overall, the timeline has helped me gain understanding on how, I should make my own opening sequence. The timeline has made me understand, the professionalism that takes in place within just a 1 minute clip, the name and screening has to take place cleary for the audience to know and understand the representation of importance. Nevertheless, the connotations and denotations have made me understand, the typography or iconography the images contain to, brighten the audiences expectations and impressions. As a result, I must use this in my opening to create, this realism of an opening sequence.

BSR Timeline

1960S - Cross roads to crime
Crossroads to Crime is a 1960 British crime film where a man called Don Ross discovers a gang of lorry hi-jackers from the back of a transport cafe.  Connie Williams , Sergeant Pearson  scoffs at Ross's concerns that the criminals are responsible for a series of vehicle thefts along the A1 Road. From this, we can tell that the themes are crime, violence, theft , mystery and murder. More evidence is from the text ( trailer ) , which shows several uses of diegetic sounds connoting violence. gangs and murder within the film. Nevertheless, the diegetic noises is a soundtrack of trumpets playing, at a fast pace connoting excitement within the film and giving an impression of danger. It is set around the A1 Road in London which gives opportunities for high pace chases which, involve yet again violence but, thrill for the audience.  - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATAeuCVXqLQ&safe=active


1970s - PerformancePerformance is a 1970 British crime drama film,Chasis a soldier in an east London gang led by Harry Flowers ;his specialty is intimidation through violence as he collects pay-offs for Flowers. He is very good at his job, and has a reputation for liking it. His sexual liaisons are casual and rough.  The themes used in this text are, madness, sanity , sex , and violence. It is set in east London. The sound used is Rock music, which connote a rebellious tone towards the characters and mood, it also uses diegetic noises of gun shots which show violence and connote an insane world.

1980s - The Long good Friday.Harold Shand , an old-fashioned London Gangster is aspiring to become a businessman, albeit with the financial support of the American Mafia, with a plan to redevelop the  London Docklands as a venue for a future Olympic Games. Yet again, the themes in this text are violence, guns, gangs which is set in London. The sound used often are diegetic noises of explosions which, give connotations of an atmosphere of violence and danger nevertheless, most of the people wear suits which give connotations of a luxurious life and high-class people.

1990s - TrainspottingTrainspotting is a 1996 British crime comedy drama film.  Trainspotting have alot of themes of drugs,violence, crimes , sex which are, seen as conventions of a British social realism film. The characters are quite rebellious and carefree with no direction in life.  They also used rock music,   which give connotations of also rebellion and rejecting the norms of society. Nevertheless, the costumes they wear is also quite dirty, which show the poverty they live in and the carefree manor of not caring how they look.


2000s - Billy Eillot

Billy Elliot has quite different themes which are protest, riots , depression , poverty , inspiration and ambition. These are all connoted through Billy Elliot persona ,to subvert the generic stereotype of boys being masculine. He does this through being rebellious and practicing things he loves.  There quite a few shots of medium shots of billy practicing his hobby, showing the work he puts in to be different from society. They use alot of fade-to-black transitions to show a slow pace throughout the text and the time-line of the movie.

2010s - Four Lions

Four lions have themes about Terrorism and comedy, which is often seem as a juxtaposition due, to the terrorism being horrific and not funny, giving off a satire tone. It is set in London and Pakistan and often alot of medium shots of the  environment with the main characters in it, to give off a sense of the world they are and , maybe how out of place they are. They often wear religious clothes, to show their serious mood about their religion and how they respect it. The sounds are often explosions, giving off connotations of danger while, there are diegetic noises of the people arguing giving off the satire mood.

Overall, the themes of British social realism have changed over time having more conventions, themes and meanings as, usually the old films in 60s-70s would be based on only one theme which, would usually be crime and violence. However, this is now expanded to drugs, rebellion, protest and even satire comedy to lighten the mood of the kitchen-sink-dramas. 

Production Log 4

This week we took a good look into other British social realist movies that conveyed the working class life with quite a few themes and mise-en-scene. For example, KES displays a boy who is often bullied and isolated from society, who is a working class boy that leads him to make friends with a bird. This widened my knowledge of how to portray poverty by using themes  that can conform to you.

We also completed an evaluation on our preliminary task to see our mistakes and strengths so we can take benefit of it into the future.

Cont Evalaution

                                                                           Evaluation


Throughout our media project we have encountered, pros and cons which, help us understand our movie in a better perspective. I worked with adam who, edited differently from me but, with the same clips.

As the movie progresses, we have used a various use of camera shots. We used camera short from long - to close up at the same time, keeping consistent continuity                This shot shows Adam in distress and shock, we have used a close up to express this so that the audience are more clear. We haven't used natural lighting but the opposite as, it creates more of a distress atmosphere to express that Adam is in trouble.

The extreme close up of adam, gives more emphasis on his shocked emotion making the atmosphere more tenser. Moreover, we didn't use natural lighting in this scene as we decided to change it, it made it un-natural as it put more emphasis on the emotions portrayed in the scene, the atmosphere becomes more tense because of this.

This shot, is a extreme long shot of Adam running through the distance, we have used natural lighting to express the dull background and lighting. It expresses that Adam, has made a mistake is his life and is running away from it. It is eye level angle to avoid any confusion. within the audience and, keep it an understandable level.




Challenges
One challenge we faced was having the speech in dialogue quite clear, as sometimes there would be ambient noise distracting the audience therefore, we had to look for various quiet locations that would get rid of the ambient noise. Therefore, we used a classroom. One problem with the classroom is that it made it less realistic as a job interview would not take place, in a environment like that.  Also, our costumes were not ideal as well, as dam is usually wearing a school ID badge making it not look like a job interview, this could create confusion within the audience. Nevertheless, we also had a lot of interruptions within the scenes we was trying to film due to mostly people walking in and out, making the background less realistic within our scenes. Luckily, there was no weather problems of rain when we were filming outside, therefore creating the natural lighting more suited for the atmosphere we was filling in.
180 Degree Rule
The 180 degree rule was broken throughout the film which, was a challenge we faced. However, we have learnt from our mistakes of how important the 180 degree rule is while filming. Because of this, this could create  a lot of disorientation within the audience because of the broken rule.
Match on action
The match on action rule we had to follow went well, as most or near to all of the scenes had good continutity leaving no disoreintation within the audience or any other scenes. Thus, this makes our movie much more clearer to watch without any confusion also, the pace of movie is at a steady pace due to the camera movement and cuts going at a steady pace.





Overall, the movie had good editing and use of lighting and camera shots with angles. However , we made quite a few mistakes for our first production. Firstly, we got the 180 rule degree wrong which, unfortunate creates disruption within the audience and also an unsteady pace of editing. We also, didn't use much of match on action, this would of been better as it made the pace of the movie much faster and fluent.