Tuesday, 2 May 2017

Brotherhood analysis

I have chosen Brotherhood as my influential film that I will be analysing. Brotherhood is similar to our film, the whole film is based around gang violence and focuses on the same social groups as we would like to focus on in our opening, already there is a similarity.



Editing

0-30 seconds-Montage- Black flashes (flashback)- gives insight into the past of a certain character. This film is a sequel to the film adulthood, and the final instalment to the hood trilogy. This montage is a short reminder to the audience what has previously occurred prior to this film.

31-32 seconds- Title-10 years later- highlights time scale from when the montage of shots occurred. There is a bang sound to every word that appears. Emphasizing the importance of the time jump. The lettering is in capitals which again stresses the importance of this jump in time.

32-33 seconds- Sound bridge- there is a sound bridge from the title into the next scene (rave), this transition is smooth and sleek. It immediately picks up the pace of the film which starts to give the opening some character to it. Perhaps we could incorporate this type of sound bridge in our opening.

34-35 seconds- change in pace - this sped up motion of the rave conveys the idea that the rave has a crazy atmosphere and people are enjoying themselves.


Cinematography 

0-30 seconds-Montage-The range of tense camera shots highlights that there is going to be a lot of tension in this film. Perhaps in the form of conflict as there are signs of violence in these first few shots. For example, there is a particular shot where we see a man hit another man over the head with a brick, the next shot is of the victim falling to the ground.



31- scene change- the scene change is covered up from the effects of strobe lights in the first shot of the rave. This is a very smart way of transitioning using cinematography, I would like to use this type of transition using cinematography in my opening, perhaps when our victim enters the forest.

32-50 seconds- during this 22 second segment there are a range of shots that are used. For example, at 33 seconds a high angle shot over the crowd establishes the setting, it gives the audience an idea of the setting they are in , then there are multiple close ups and medium close ups of the ravers dancing to the music.


42 seconds-High angle shot- We get a glimpse at how close the audience is to the stage, this is an important shot as later on in the opening a big event occurs on the stage, including the audience.

55 seconds- Long shot of 6 men-we are introduced to a new setting and 6 new characters that are going to appear.


56 seconds- Close up- there is a close up of a name. "Royston Peel", this introduces the audience to the new character. Perhaps this is the main character. They are in dressing room 2, this could mean something later


57 seconds- Extreme close up- We get a glimpse of a man in a suit. Perhaps this is "Royston Peel" who's name we saw in the previous shot. The man has a angry/annoyed look to him. This shot allows the audience to connect with this character as they are able to visually see how he is feeling.


1.01 seconds- Close up of hand- hand has a glove on. It could be suggested that they are trying to hide their identity by trying to cover up their finger prints. We see through the window in the back that it is night time, This creates a tense atmosphere as someone is waiting in a car.


1.02 seconds- Extreme close up of man's face- this extreme close up gives us, the audience, an insight as to what the man looks like, perhaps this is the main character as we haven't got another extreme close up from any other character. His facial expression suggests that he is focusing on something or perhaps thinking about something as his eyes are not moving.

1.03- 2 shot- We see two more hooded men in the back of the car, this highlights that there is more than one attacker, perhaps they are there as sidemen to help them. Their choice of clothing suggests that they are part of the stereotypical 'gangster' sub-culture.

1.04-close up- We then get another close up of the person we saw previously, tapping his fingers. The fact that we see him again reiterates his importance. This shot could be suggesting that he is going to be the main attacker in this opening.

1.05-2 shot- In this shot we learn that there is another man in the back of the car with the other two men. Again his clothing choice as well makes him fit into the stereotypical 'gangster' subculture.

1.36-Medium shot of car with attackers- The significance of these characters is being shown here. They obviously have some importance in the opening. However, that is not clear yet.

1.37-1.38-extreme close up of phone with attackers face- "Do it"- This message automatically creates a tense atmosphere as we do not know, as the audience, what "Do it" means. We can only assume that something bad is going to happen.

1.39- Close up- We see "Royston peel" again- The repetitive shots of this character highlights his important. We can only assume something bad is going to happen to him.

1.47-1.51- High angle to low angle shot of attackers exiting the car- Perhaps these attackers are taking a risk. The high-low shot suggests there is a loss in power.

1.53-2.06- Graphic match of Victims and Attackers walking- This builds tension as we now know something is going to happen between these two groups however the audience does not know what yet.


2.21- OSS- Attacker is outside the club the supposed victim is- Slow mo creates tension.
2.35- Zoom in shot- shows the attackers face, can assume his intentions now- his hood is still up so he is trying to stay incognito. Perhaps trying to conceal identity so he doesn't get caught.

2.43-OSS, Can see lights from stage, suggests this is where the attacker is headed.

2.45- 2.47- Tracking shot of attacker- in slow mo- adding to the tension. Starting to guess what he is going to do.

2.48-Long shot- The victim is singing and looks like he is enjoying himself along with the crowd. Creates a clam/enjoyable atmosphere for the audience.

2.50-2.52- Birds eye shot of attacker walking through crowd- This illustrates the attacker's motive, he is heading towards the stage, we can only guess he is going to injure the performer that is on the stage.

3.01-3.02- Extreme close up of the gun the attacker is now holding- this confirms the attackers intentions, he is going to shoot the singer on stage. This immediately creates a mix of emotions- sympathy, Sadness. Also the red dress could be symbolic of danger.


3.05- Close up of attacker with gun aimed at "Royston peel"- There is no turning back for the audience. He is going to be killed.

3.06- Birds eye shot of attacker aiming the gun- Highlights how close he is to the stage, again reiterating that

3.07-OSS of a shot fired-This automatically creates sympathy as the audience now knows that he has shot the victim who is now dead.

3.27-3.30- Low to high angle shot of attackers driving away- this shows that they have some sort of power now they have shot the victim, this contrasts to earlier when there was a high to low angle shot of the attackers.

3.32- Push in on dead body-This highlights the importance of the dead male who we assume is called 'Royston Peel", they played a pivotal character that was the pivoting point in the plot

3.41- Over the shoulder shot of letter- has the name "Sam Peel", we can assume that this is "Royston Peel" brother. This would relate to the title of the film which is 'Brotherhood'. Also this creates sympathy as he has just lost his brother right before his very eyes.


Mis-En-Scene





Monday, 17 April 2017

Evaluation Questions


Question 1-In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


1. In Brotherhood (2016), one of the main titles highlights to the audience that there is a change in time. Its placing is dead centre of the screen, there is also a 'Bang' sound effect for each word when they come in. A sound bridge is also placed towards the end of the title. In my opening I decided to use the placing of the influential title for my production title, I didn't like the bang for every word so i decided not to follow this convention of our influential film. Instead I chose the option of using a cross-fade, although this is a very basic effect I felt it worked with the other shots surrounding this title. I also tried to follow the convention of the sound bridging, although this was quite difficult to do with my editing software so i was not able to add a sound bridge.

2. The opening of the film Brotherhood (2016) is set in a public location, a nightclub, although there is a sense of security as there is a bodyguard outside, however this setting highlighted the vulnerability of all the party goers that were inside the club as later on there was a shooting. This is something that i wanted to portray in my opening, the idea that nowhere is safe and public safety has decreased over the years. My opening is located along streets and a public accessed forest, this public location highlights to the audience that there is danger wherever they go. I decided to follow the conventions of my influential film for this matter. 

3. In Brotherhood (2016) costumes use semantic code. In Brotherhood, the 'Gangsters' are dressed in all black, this highlights to the audience that they will take on the villainous role in the movie. Again this is a convention I tried to follow in my opening. The gangster in our film, although not dressed in all black does wear a stereotypical 'Gangster' outfit with hooded jacket so we cannot see much of the face.

4. There were a lot of inspiring camera shots in Brotherhood (2016), however one particular shot which interested me was the high angle shot of the dead victim at the end of the opening. This is also a technical convention that I tried to follow. This high angle shot highlights the vulnerability that the victim had before he was shot dead. In my opening I used a high angle shot of the victim once she had been killed like the victim in Brotherhood. There is also very tense stringed instruments playing in the background during the influential camera shot, I decided not to follow this sound convention and instead had an emotional piano play in the background, I felt that this created more sympathy for the victim which is what i wanted. 

5. The story in the opening of Brotherhood (2016) is triggered by a certain shot. This shot is a close up of text message that reads "DO IT". This message implies that these group of men are going to do something that is going to shake up the story. I found this action code very interesting and decided that i would implement this in my opening. I decided to add a close up of a message on the 'gangsters' phone that reads "If u wanna be in the gang shank up the gyal" this slang is stereo typically associated with the gang culture, this highlights to the audience what he is going to do. 

6. Brotherhoods genre is fully highlighted by one certain shot in the opening, this shot is where the main leader of the attackers lifts his gun up and points it towards the victim on stage. This shot is a pivotal point in the opening as the audience now has understanding of what the film is going to be about. As we filmed out in public using a pretend gun would have been hard as people may have became suspicious and called the police, especially in today's world with terrorism as an active threat. We thought, as a collective,  it was best not to bring a pretend gun on the day of shooting. I really wanted to follow this convention so I put a sound effect of a gun being shot after our victim trips over, this is also used as a sound bridge onto our main title. This non-diagetic sound highlights to the audience that she has been shot. Again implying to the audience that our film will be action/thriller genre. 

7. A lot of character representation is very stereotypical in the opening for Brotherhood (2016) for example in frame 7, we can see that the main character who is  is dressed in clothing that we typically associate with a 'gangster', in my film i decided that i would use the conventions of stereotypes. or example in my frame 7 you can see that the victim is your typical girly victim. I think this stereotype is something we see a lot of in horrors/thrillers hence why I used this representation of the victim. 

8. In the opening of Brotherhood (2016), there was a 30 second piece of editing i really enjoyed. This was a montage of what had happened in the previous films to the prequel, Brotherhood. I really enjoyed this editing style as it refreshed the audience's memory of what has happened. It also highlights that this film will be based upon the consequences of those events. In my opening, towards the end I decided to use this editing convention as it worked well when I was trying to create tension during the chase scene. I used a montage to show different point of views from the attacker and victim. 

9. Lastly, during the opening of Brotherhood (2016) there are 2 main types of music that can be heard they are Rap and Jazz. Rap can be heard and seen, as there is a rapper on stage after there is a transition to 10 years later. I decided that rap would fit well with the theme of my opening, Rap music is again stereo typically associated with this 'gang' sub-culture. As it would be weird if there was a rapper rapping along the streets, it was obviously more appropriate if the victim listens to it through her headphones. That's when i thought of frame 9, where she presses play on music. I dubbed out any other sound so it sounded like the audience couldn't hear the outside world like the victim. I still used the convention of rap however adapted it to suit my film. 

Question 2-How does your media product represent particular social groups?








Question 3-What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?


Question 4-Who would be the audience for your media product?




Question 5-How did you attract/address your audience?










Question 6-What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Friday, 17 March 2017

Planning-Equipment


Item
Where and when will the item be obtained
Cost
Who is responsible for getting it?
When is it being used? (date/ production stage)
Who will be using it?
What training is needed?
Notes (e.g. ‘charging required’)
Camera
2 days before shoot from school
£0
Me as I am cinematographer
16th Feb
Me as I’m cinematographer and I am responsible for filming
Knowledge in being able to film professionally is needed. I can find this in masterclasses on YouTube.
Full charge is required so we can shoot for long periods of time without interruptions between shots.
Tripod
2 days before shoot from school
£0
Me
16th Feb
Me- I will using this along with the camera.
None
Extension may be needed for certain shots
Extra Batteries
Whenever needed- from school
£0
Me
16th Feb- if needed
No one, until they are needed when we are shooting.
None
Make sure these batteries are new so they have not been drained of charge before.
Camera bag
2 days before shoot along with camera.
£0
Me
16th Feb
This will hold our camera for safety to reduce damage if dropped
None
Make sure that the camera fits I the bag and there is no risk of damage to camera.
Computer-Editing
Whenever we are ready to edit after post-filming.
£0
Me
 
Post-filming
As I am editor I will need to edit all of the film and I can’t do this without a computer with editing software
Experience and Knowledge in editing is needed. Knowing how to cut, implement non-diagetic sounds etc is important.
I need to make sure each shot is safely imported from the camera to the computer.

Wednesday, 15 March 2017

Music I have found & Proof that music is not Copyright

I have found suitable music for my media film. However I need to provide proof that my music is not copyright.


This is one of the pieces of music that I will be using. It says in the title no copyright which means that I am able to use it without any license.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YMK3ZFfyuc


This is the second piece of music I will be using in my project, I am going to use this for a chase scene as it just adds the right amount of tension that it needs. It states in the title of the video that it is copyright and royalty free, however if you look in the description there are term and conditions to use this piece. When I upload my media film to YouTube I need to make sure that I credit him by either posting a link to his channel or a link the piece of music I am using by him. He also asks to make a donation and subscribe to his channel however this is not mandatory. This track is licensed under a ‘Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License’. You can find the link to that license here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujsCRw-eA0o


The third piece of music I will be using, is by the same composer as above, Ross Budgen, again the same rules apply, I have to credit him in my description of my YouTube video which I will do. Again you can find the license for this piece of music here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/