Thursday 21 October 2010

Inspired Locations

We've been inspired by several films including those not of our genre, to use various locations that influence the atmosphere of what we're trying to portray. Scenes from films such as This is England and kids have given us the inspiration of using life like homes and real interiors as oppossed to designing sets to give the audience the notion of realism. The mise en scene plays a key role in these situations for example worn down sofa's and cusions give the domestically used effect. The way the shot is lit also plays a key role as it determines the atmosphere whether it's a warm, ambient scene or a cold, gloomy atmosphere. Choosing the right location is a crutial stage in representation of characters and how they're portrayed by the way they act in these locations.

We've looked at several locations are all still open for use such as estate blocks and the flats inside. These are perfect for our 'at home' scene as it represents our main characters background. We've also looked at different roads and streets for the 'leaving home' scene. While looking at these we had to take into account external factors such as how busy the road is, copyrights, lighting and others. For our last scene we wanted to use an urban landscape which represents a grim atmosphere so we've considered parts in and around South London.

Rough script of the fight scene

EXT.EVE.FRONT DOOR

(Bangs door) waits a for a moment (bangs door again while banging again ADEEL opens door)
Adeel: Wh-the f***, wh- what u doing man cool
Alex: It’s nothing man, its nothing safe (enters house and walks down hallway) What you been saying anyway man?

INT.EVE.FRONT ROOM

(Fades into 2-shot of the boys drinking, smoking having general conversation then…)
Alex: My dad was telling me (side close up of ALEX) how, there’s over 4 million non British citizens living in England…4 million, think about it…
( Foreign Beggars – Hold on remix gently comes in)
Adeel: C’mon man, shut u-
Alex: Think about it man…
Adeel: What, you don’t actually believe this shit do you?..
Alex: (ALEX goes silent)Think about it, 4 million that’s all im saying…
Adeel: Fam this ain’t you, your sounding like your dad
Alex: He’s right, he’s not racist, he’s a realist and he’s unemployed for wha-
Adeel: Nah nah nah nah your dads unemployed because he’s a lazy prick
Alex: What? Say that again
Adeel: Your dads a racist!
Alex: Who the f*** you talking to (stands up and try’s to grab ADEELs face, ADEEL hits his hand away) – (As beat drops ALEX brutally attacks ADEEL)
 - After the attack ALEX begins to realise what he’s done and regrets it. He grieves at his best friend as he lies on the floor helpless – He panics before running down the stairs and exiting the house.

I chose to script this scene seperately as it's invetibaly going to be the hardest to shoot.

Friday 15 October 2010

Conventions of a Drama

The film genre Drama depends mostly on the development of realistic characters and the characters everyday expierences. Dramas often cover the often raised social issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, domestic abuse, poverty, crime, racial issues and portrays how the characters face these or similar issues. Films in this genre often includes graphic scenes and scenes of violence and becomes extremely hard hitting to the audience. Very similiar to social realism, Drama's use similar filming techniques to portray characters and situations. They're similar when conforming to conventions by using mes en scene such as dramatic lighting, character persona(costume) and sound techniques - all of which are often dull. Well known dramas include The shawshank redemption, The God father, Citizen Kane and Forrest Gump. Films in this genre often includes graphic scenes and scenes of violence.

Dramas are serious, plot-driven presentations, portraying realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories involving intense character development and interaction. Usually, they are not focused on special-effects, comedy, or action, Dramatic films are probably the largest film genre, with many subsets. See also melodramas, epics (historical dramas), or romantic genres. Dramatic biographical films (or "biopics") are a major sub-genre, as are 'adult' films (with mature subject content).  - http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Analyse of a short film

The Red Balloon

Directed by Albert Lamorisse in 1956, The Red Balloon appealled to me because of Lamorisse' unique style of his period of time. He used cinematogrpahy techniques that were so original and techniques that had never been used  before. In particular i admire his use of long shots and the way he manipulates angles that conveys  the state of emotion the boy is at. I feel he chose the location well which gave him the space and different uses of angles to do these types of shots. Colour is used in a very delicate way as he uses it to portray certain acpects of the film for example the bleak colours contrast with the vibrant red of the balloon that connotes danger and threat from the other kids.
Sound and Audio is a big part of the film - he uses limited dialog only for parts where it seems necessary, in the other parts the movement from the red balloon represents the atmosphere and emotion. Sounds also used carefully in the sense that he uses small sound effects to represent a peaceful enviroment.
Although he uses the camera extremely well, one part that didn't appeal to me was a long take of the balloon as its falling and about to die. I felt lamorisse could have used techniques inside the mes en scene like lighting to represent the death of the balloon that could have influenced the emotion that the scene gives off in comparison to the ambient lighting.
Overall The Red Balloon is not only my favourite short film but one of my favourite films because of the way its shot and more importantly its originality that has inspired me.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

What is a short film?

The term short film comes from the North American film industry in the early period of cinema. The film time varies dependent on its region for example in North America it's 20 - 40 minutes and in Europe its generally seen as a lot less than 15 minutes. Genre types of short films range from short animated clips, documentary's on a short subject, music videos, soundies and abstract short films. Short films are useful in creating emotions over a short amount of time through story telling. Heres a short film that relates to the social realism/drama genre https://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00bbmf2