BRASS MONKEYS - Screening to the year / Audience Research.

On wednesday the 10th December there was a screening of our project in the main hall and we invited people to come along and enjoy our finished product as seen above. However, to ensure that this was not wasted, we handed out a small questionnaire that i made with only about 6 questions. We picked out the questions carefully and realised that they were the 6 that would provide the best results. We gave out about 8 questionnaires in the end which is a big enough sample to give us seful criticism to work with. The majority of our feedback was in fact extremely complimentary, and to be honest some of the suggestions on how to improve our work were not ones that were possible to include. For example more violence, blood and guns, is simply something that would not go with our light gangster genre as we took that path rather than the heavy gangtser route. however as you can see in our film the genre is easily identified with the amount of violence that is involved. I am pleased to say that all other comments on the questionnaires were exactly what we hoped for, and there was nothing else to improve.

The afternoon of that screening turned out to be an enjoyable day for us all as we managed to get the chance to see everyones final opening sequence and we managed to get feed back from our target audience of age 16-30 year olds with students and teachers.

Final outcome 'Brass Monkeys'

The final outcome to our opening sequence 'Brass Monkeys' was a great success. The voice-over has been inserted into our sequence by Mitch and it enhances the way our audience percieves our film in a positive way. As a group we are extremely pleased with the outcome and are sure that our audience will enjoy it. Wednesday afternoon will be an important time for all groups as we will be playing our sequence on a big screen for an audience to watch and give feedback via a questionnaire we have devised, this will be the crucial point in weather or not our sequence will be a success which we are sure it will.

new script!

after cutting and editing most of our clips, in some cases, having to rearrange them, we realized that the previously wrote monologue for our sequence would not fit the images correctly, and so i had to write a whole new script.

the fancy cars, the violence & the drugs, none of this means nothing, unless you have got ambition, and you pushed your way to the top of the food chain.

ive never really been into violence, I was raised well in a council flat in Bromley by bow, still one thing thing my old man told me before he done the vinnie, was never let anyone take you for a mug, and theres only so much disrespect you can take until you snap. and that’s when you realise, money don’t grow on trees, cos if it did, you wouldn’t be a criminal, you’d be a gardener. if theres something you want, you gotta go out there and get it.

that was the regular us two months ago, wheeling and dealing, and for a while, nothing could touch us, but what goes up, must come down.

see that handsome fella, thas me, gary vince jones, but call me jonesy, the rest of the boys say that im too serious, but how comical can a villan be?

that’s lennie, hard as nails, but as daft as a brush, and although hes a head case hes a right softie with birds.

that’s lennies brother bill, and I know what your thinking ‘ what a tart, but underneath that Gucci suit hes as rough as the rest of us, and hes as tight as a ducks butt. ..

the term gangster is thrown about a lot these days, where as we prefer the label, lowkey business men. now theres two associations this side of the thames that you don’t wanna get involved with, that’s us, and knash and his affiliates, and as much as we like doing business with them, I prefer to stay well away from em’. hes what you call all the gear, and no idea. and hell lose it at the click of a finger, some say hes over the top, but I know how much of a good business man he can be’.

i recorded this as a studio quality mp3 file in my bedroom studio at home. i am more than happpy with the outcome, and after it has been conjoined iwth the footage, i believe are final version of the sequence will be complete.

'THE LAST SHOOT'

our last shoot, only required myself and my brother and his friend as the actors. the pool table shot of knash and his associate. it was a long process, because i had to fill the boys in with what i needed them to do, and after about an hour of filming!!yes, you heard me, an hour for one shot, we finally got the footage we needed. in their defense, they have no acting experience whatso ever, but they actually exectued the roles very successfully.Then i set the camera on the tri-pod, to record my self for the footage of my characters expostition. ineede to repeat the actions i needed again & again, to assure i had a lot of footage to choose from.

Progress in our Work

With just two days untill the deadline, it is important that we all know what we have to do to get this finished in time. We are on track to get it done, and we will work through our spare time, and try and keep finding things to improve it. The Footage we needed is all captured, and we are just playing around with the best editing techniques to make it look like a proper film rather than a home movie.

Editing Process

Mitch has been our main editing man during the course of our opening sequence, while my self and Jonny have had a go ourselves to share up the tasks but Mitch proved to be much quicker and more familiar with the way the editing works. In a previous lesson, we provided a rough cut to the class and teacher. This gave them their first taste of what our film was going to entail. We found this process very helpful due to the fact that constructive criticism came back aswell as alot of good points. We have made the audiences response one of our main priorities so that we can create the best film possible, and the feedback came back that we need to make one or two of our shots sharper and fasten it up a bit. Another one of our problems was we had a screen split into three seperate parts, each playing clips of our footage. The problem that arose from this was that it was too much for the audience to look at at once but just recently we have made adjustments to this and have found a substantial alternative to make sure it is easily viewed. At the time, being a rough cut, it made the group pose the question 'what is it really about?' and it bacame slightly unclear on what our purpose was. However, we did explain promptly afterwards that a voiceover was going to be inserted which will explain everything going on and make things a whole lot clearer. Mitch will be responsible for making the voiceover, we all agree that mitch has the best cockney accent to match and conform to the genre and explain everything fluently.
Just recently we have decided to abandon the idea of having two different backing tracks in our sequence. It didnt sound right in the end and there was a huge contrast when we had to change between one song and the other and it sounded unprofessional and not as good as it could be. It was a hard decision as to which song we were going to chose, we all, as a group, liked both songs equally as much, hence why we chose to have them both at first, but we came to a conclusion of having 'dirty harry- by the Gorrillas' as our main backing track. Once we played the whole sequence through again with just one backing track it was evident that it sounded much better and had an increased professional outcome and we found ourselves extremely satisfied with what we had achieved.

EVALUATION OF OUR LAST SHOOT

Overall during the course of our last shoot it went very successfully. We kept our locations open and travelled around various places in order to suit our genre to the best locations possible. I think that we found some fantastic locations and used them to the best of our abilities. These locations were St Mary’s Cray, Bat and ball and 7oaks. We shot over 22 minutes of footage all of which was of a high quality and the group and I were very pleased with the way in which the day panned out. We decided to re-shoot the previous car scene and we were very lucky to get similar weather to the first shoot, it was extremely cold however which also matches the inner meaning of our title ‘Brass Monkeys’, which we also made reference to in one of the scenes by Mitch and I. At first Jonny wasn’t going to feature in our opening sequence at all, but we thought it would be good if he did on the day. Jon was able to do a very good job in the acting and now has established himself a ‘hard man’ character in our film. During the filming, we didn’t come across a lot of problems but there were a couple of small ones. These being that at the place we were shooting (outside St Mary’s Cray station) there were a lot of people walking about and we needed to wait until it was clear to perform certain scenes. Another one of these problems was that one piece of our footage was taped over which was completely accidental but we were lucky that we had numerous high quality back-ups at our disposal.
The use of various weapons, for example a snooker que, golf club, small hand held bats and a thick chain, helped us conform to the typical violent British gangster genre and made us all look the part. Another way in which it helped us get into the role of being a well groomed gangster was that we all turned up in smart clothing and suits to enhance the way the audience interpretates our characters and views our overall sequence, while becoming familiar with our genre.

Planning for our next shoot (what we are going to do)

This weekend we are planning to get the majority of our work finished. Last week I was not available to do filming due to work related issues but I am able to carry it out this weekend. Mitch has made sure that all of his friends who are playing certain important characters in our film are available and ready to do filming and we are looking to capture all of our scenes on our story board well. Saturday morning will be the main focus in getting all of the scenes out of the way apart from one. Mitch has agreed to do the golf scene on Sunday morning unaccompanied without myself and Jonny present. The reason being for this is because Mitch lives within walking distance and it is easy to get to for him and will not be too time consuming. We have already asked the golf course for its permission to shoot on the course as one of Mitch’s relatives is in charge there and said it will not be a problem to shoot a scene there.

Evaluation of our first shoot

After editing our first shoot of the car scenes we find that we are not completely satisfied with the outcome. In one of the scenes a member of the public walks past and smiles at the camera, we did however find a way around this by zooming in more on the car which eliminated the member of the public from the scene. Myself, mitch and jonny as a whole were not happy with the resolution and the picture after having to zoom in on the car. We have decided to do the shoot again in hope we can find a better outcome. The only downside to this is that we may have to shoot all the other scenes again if the weather is completely different to how it was last weekend. After careful observation and some critical thinking on how we can improve these scenes we have decided to change our outfits. In one of the car scenes when mitch and Jonny get into the car they are wearing more casual clothes which does not display the imagine that we are trying to convey of our characters. When shooting this weekend we are going to be dressed smartly in suits to give ourselves the image we are looking for (Well groomed serious looking men).

Backing track choices

We have now come to the decision of using the following two songs; dirty harry- by Gorillas and 'Little pretty bitty one' by Thurston Harris. However we have decided to slow down the tempo of the song 'Dirty Harry', the reason being for this is so it could fit the voiceover and overall as a group we thought it would work better.

Evaluation of the first shoot

At the weekend me and mitch decided to get some of the initial shots taken of the maserati. Unfortunately Jack had previous arangements, so the main part of our shooting will be next weekend where Jack is available. Me and Mitch went to the location we set out on the story board, Bat and Ball, as it looks very urban there. Whilst out on shoot we also found a better location in the industrial estate, where we got a shot of me, running down the stairs and getting in to the car. We managed to cut the footage to make it seem like mitch is driving, however it is actually mitch's Dad. The shots we got were exactly what we needed, and we got them in quite qucik time, so then me and mitch went back to mitch's recording set up to start working on the voice over, and music timing. We were very pleased with the day over all, and now we have something to work on and edit, in between other shoots.

camera booking

As a group we have decided to book our cameras out for sunday. This is a convenient day for all of us and will be able to get a lot of shooting done. We are going to shoot the footage at the golf course. We have asked for permission to shoot on this course and the accessibility will be easy. Although the weather forecast is not always spot on, we have checked it and found that sunday is the best day out of all other days. For our shoots to achieve the right footage we are looking for the weather needs to be of a reasonable standard. We will find it more difficult if there is heavy rain and wind to pull of the golf course scene.

Backing Tracks

To begin our film, there will be a narration carried out my Mitch, we will have the song 'dirty harry' by the Gorillas over the top of this. This song is typically British and we are confident that it will make our film sound better. We like the upbeat and quirky atmosphere that the song gives off and could imagine a top rated British gangster film using it. During our film we will have a scene where the car is pulling up into the drive, we have thought of a film that we all really like the sound of, this song is 'little pretty bitty one' by Thurston Harris. This is the type of song song you would not expect to appear in a British gangster film, we are trying to achieve the same effect as 'Resevoir dogs', it challenges the conventions of a typical gangster film and makes it sound more relaxed and easy going atmosphere.

Setting up Premier Elements

We set up our project, made sure the scratch disks matched the D-drive and changed the settings to 'same as project' in order to achieve the maximum amount of memory we can for filming.

i experimented with the idea of a movie poster for our production, just for an idea.

Technical Analysis Evaluation

From working on my techical analyisis list of shots, i have really come to terms with how many shots must be used to actually gain the stance from the audiences point of view. Over all in the opening sequence of 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' i counted 30 frames. They used many techniques to gain the attention of the audience, especially in the very first scene where they used shots from different angles and distances of the main character 'Bacon' played by Jason Statham. It lets the audience have a look at the character from all angles, and it also places us as an audience in the role of the crowd around him selling his merchandise. the slow, steadicam action flows around the main character and the 180 rule is used very well in this scene. We then see visual techniques used in the chase scene, including slow motion, freeze frames and lighting effects on the stairs. There is also a voice over, on top of the freeze frames, which is a method our group is using for our feature, this has helped us look at ways to make this work in more detailed. This is a reason as to why i chose to do this film again, even though i did as well in my other analysis. It's really helped me understand what techniques to use to make a captivating opening scene in British Gangster.

CF feedback background research

Well done – you have worked hard to inform your creative process with detailed, focused research into audience and existing films. Your strength is using ICT to organize your group work through discussion. The pitch was very entertaining and your concept is very well thought out visually. All group members are making clear contributions to the research and you are clearly working well as a team. However, I would still like to see some reccie shots up on the blog as well as the full storyboard which needs to be presented to me.

Your planning mark currently stands at a low level 4- although there will be a slight variation between group members due to the level of film analysis.

In order to secure a level 4 planning, you must take care to organize your shoots, particularly wih the number of people involved, You must make sure that you manage time and equipment efficiently as Jonny and Mitch you did struggle to get film analysis in on time. Jonny – I can’t see your technical analysis here either.

I’m looking forward to seeing Mitch in his “tailor-made” role!

Mrs Fernandez

BLANK COPY OF OUR QUESTIONNAIRE

Brass Monkeys Questionnaire

In this questionnaire we hope to find out what you the audience think are the best ways to create a good British Gangster film. We have put together a questionnaire with various questions; we would like you to answer them as honestly as possible. Thank you for your time.



1. Name………………………………………………

2. Age 15+ 20+ 25+ 30+ 40+

3. Occupation………………………………………......

Here is a list of gangster films:
snatch The Business Pulp Fiction Layer cake


4. If you can, rate each film out of 10 in the boxes provided. (1 being the lowest & 10 being highest)

5 What did you like most about your highest ranked film in particular?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

6. What do you expect a GOOD British Gangster film to include?

(Please tick)

. Well groomed men in suits?

. Flash cars?

. Mansions?

. Street life?

. Boxing?

. Violence?

. Drugs?

. Hot Country setting?

. Guns?

. Female characters involved?

. Mixture of races and cultures?

7. What gender do you expect your main character to be?
(Please tick)
Male

Female
8. How do you expect your main character to act in a British Gangster film?
(Please tick)
. Tough . Shy

. Laid back . Polite

. Unapproachable . Ruthless


9. If you can: Write down Three pieces of cockney slang can you think of?

…………………………………………
…………………………………………
…………………………………………


10. Who is your favourite actor In the British Gangster genre?

……………………………………………………………………….


11. How important is the role of violence in a gangster film?
Is it……… (Please tick)

Extremely vital A good idea Not important

A mere convention

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH NUMBER 11 'EXHIBITION'

To guarantee that the film will be a success it will normally contain a lot of top stars. However on the other hand if you have lesser known stars it will still generate excitement and a lot of talking points and gain publicity. There are only a handful of top stars in the world which will grab the audience’s attention and make it a hit publicly. As well as having huge stars, having a good director can also direct attention to the film, it can determine weather the film will be good or not in some cases and it will gain better publicity if the top names are involved with it. Not that much money is gained from ticket sales by the exhibitors; most of the revenue is made from selling things like popcorn and drinks to the public who have paid money to watch the films. British made films may sometimes struggle compared to the major Hollywood blockbuster films, simply because their budget is far greater and they cannot compete. Over the past few years things like piracy have had a major effect on distribution. Secondly the development of digital data storage using the internet has made the distribution have a serious cause for concern In the future. Estimations have been made and they reckon that 50 percent of people In the US and the UK will be able to use digital projection by the year 2010. This will mean that distributors with low budgets will have to lower their prices in the future and will mean bad business for themselves. If a film is not performing the cinemas will not put up with this because they cannot afford to lose valuable income and wait weeks for the film to get better and people to enjoy it.

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH NUMBER 10 'MARKETING'

Advertising companies and PR agencies get involved similarly like those if a new brand of ‘deodorant’ became available. Companies like these use marketing channels available to them to sell the film; they are experts at doing so. The marketing channels are divided up into two categories: ‘above the line’ and ‘below the line’. The one that includes trailers, TV spots, poster campaigns are ‘above the line’, this is the most sufficient way to get directly to the audience. However ‘below the line’ is more subtle, things like publicity and press coverage are involved which can be valuable to the films as they can help to promote it and start word of mouth more efficiently that plain and simple advertising. Toys and games use product licensing which is very popular this is because it provides the film with publicity and also accounts for more revenue overall. The distributor will oversee any decisions made to help sell the film; they will commission and produce all the publicity and advertising for the film which will also include any materials used in the cinemas. There is a team of marketing specialists in the distribution company who publicly market the film. They will find a hook and make this the films unique selling point and will make it stand out above its rivals. They estimate how the film will perform and put a budget for how much it will inevitably cost. You have to understand what the audience want at all times to be successful. It is the marketing team’s responsibility to do as well as it possibly can to achieve the best of its potential, they must find specific audience which will match the film and find people who will enjoy it, and persuade them to actually go and see it and spend money on it. By having a significant marketing budget film distributors benefit greatly compared to other producers. Poor advertising is ineffective and damaging in the long run. If you advertise the film poorly then it could end up being made aware to the wrong set of people, a negative word of mouth can be generated which could inevitably destroy the films reputation before its even got started. UK and international journalists are seen as very influential ‘middle men’ on getting the film some publicity and getting it rolling. To present new opportunities for film distributors to market their product in more targeted and cost efficient ways they have more digital technology available.
If you are someone who only has a low production budget to make your film then you can use viral internet marketing to create an online obsession to film by setting up chat forums for people to comment on. Building a good relationship between distributors and exhibitors is crucial to the business especially to large multiplexes such as Hollywood studios. Exhibitors try to look for films which will bring in a large amount of people; they are depended on large blockbusters coming in to increase the revenue. Specialist staff is employed by cinemas to watch all the films and plan a schedule. The name given to these types of people are ‘programmers’, they make all the key decisions in the exhibition world. They will base their decision purely on what they assume the audience will want to see and then chose films appropriate to this. The next step is to make a deal with the exhibitors and the distributors and chose how many screens the film will be on and who gets paid what for it.

Institutional Research Number 9 'PRE PRODUCTION'

In the post production of the film making there are a variety of things which need to be attended to in order to create a decent overall film. Selling the product is a vital stage in the process; the producer will try to secure a sales agent who specializes in film sales. This will contribute to making the whole process quicker and more efficient. The commercial success of any film will generally be down to the sales agent and will stem from the quality of the job he delivers in selling the product. The sales agent will fall directly between the producers and the distributors, they will help access and valuate the product and negotiate distribution deals. The market itself is supposed to be known inside out by the sales agent in order to get the best possible chance of distribution. In order to actually produce the product to the general public the process can prove to be complex and time consuming. The producer of the film is unlikely to be able to produce the product to the public by themselves. Expert help will be needed by film distributors to market the film to its audience in a way in which they will attract customers to go and watch it. If the film does become successful then the producer themselves will have to secure a number of contracts getting the best possible deal for themselves and to gain as many territories as they can from the film distributors.
A successful trailer must sell the key elements of the film to the right type of audiences (as explained in the packaging stage). The value of the film must be showcased on the trailer to an industry audience; however it could often be used in a cinematic trailer. The main selling points of the film should be identified and made clear to all and ascertain what is unique about the film compared to others, and leave the audience in no doubt about what the film might end up like. The producer may put together a promo, this is where they commission the trailer themselves in order to sell the film. Only when the distribution company is attached will they start commissions on their own trailers and TV spots which will add gravitas to their overall marketing strategy. The trailer is printed on film for exhibition in screening rooms to groups of buyers. From the master print a number of further DVD copies are made to help the sales process run smoothly. If the viewers enjoyed the trailer then the producer can then use these copies to show more of the film to potential buyers. The sales pack holds information about the crew and cast, a synopsis of the finished film and information involving potential target audiences. This particular package contains additional materials which are relevant to the marketing and distribution of the film. A ‘one sheet’ will be included which has key information about the film. If the distributor can give the sales agent more tools to work with this will help them compete with other film producers and distributors and will increase their chances. A number of reports will be put together by the sales agent to access how the film will cope and how successful it will be on box office.
All over the world there are representatives from distribution companies looking out for the next best thing. They are looking for a film with excitement and provoke a war between rival distributors. Producers are put under an immediate disadvantage because they only have a set amount of money in which they can buy certain films in a year. To put themselves ahead of the competition of rivals, producers make critical acclaim one of their top priorities, it inevitably shows that the film is of a high quality from the start and creates a good impression. The enthusiasm of the audience also helps, it shows that people will want to watch the film when it is released. Once the producer has put everything into place they now know that their film is ‘hot property’ and they are now ready to sell it to various distributors around the globe.

we had discussions about the dialogue in the opening sequence, and because we really dislike the idea of background noise, we have decided to use a voice over for character exposition, and a slight description of the plot. we explored various films of the same genre to get an idea of their use of voice overs, we decided snatch used the most appropriate style, for what we wanted. here is the opening dialogue voice over of Turkish in ''Snatch''.

My name is Turkish.
Funny name for an Englishman, I know.
My parents were on the same plane when it crashed. That's how they met.They named me after the plane.Not many people are named after a plane crash.
That's Tommy.He tells people he was named after a gun.But I know he was really named after a famous th century ballet dancer.Known him for as long as I can remember.
He's my partner.Doesn't mean we hold hands or take walks.It means I try to keep him out of as much trouble as he inflicts on me.I give him a hard time.
Keeps him in check.But really, he's like my brother.What do I know about diamonds? I'm a boxing promoter.I was a happy boxing promoter until a week ago, and then:What do I know about diamonds?Don't they come from Antwerp?

After examing the use of cockney type language used in here, we have decided to write a simular script, to add to thetypical conventions of a british gangster film.

gangster mood board

Institutional Research

The Idea
Idea's come from the whole world around us. Inspiration is in other films, newspapers, TV, books, magaines, biographies and just normal conversations with people where you may have a sudden brain wave. Many films are based on real life events e.g. 'Calender Girls'. These real life stories can capture the audiences inspiration. Producers are the ones that make the film come to life. They take the great idea, and turn it into a reality. They know which would sell to an audience and which wouldn't because they are in the position where they have had experience. The producer will often come up with a completed script to attract an audience. They often find a repected writer to help, and this person will attract other well respected film makers such as the director. The director knows how to make the script become a reality, and knows how to portray the film on screen. It is more common for a producer to go to a director with an idea rather than vise - versa. The reputation of the director is a key selling point. The writer helps by defining the idea, the plot and the characters and makes it tangible.

Development & Finance
The Producer pitches the idea with a treatment and skills of persuasion. Funding is needed for the project, for the writer and director etc...this money is called development funding. The producer will pitch his idea to potential investers who he/she thinks will believe in the story from the treatment. Occassionally the roducer may have a production company who can invest themselves, which is of great benefit to the company, however this can be very high risk as they do not know whether the inspirational idea is going to work with an audience. The producer will approach film companies with a pitch, however the companies will always have projects of their own, and ideas of their own which they may believe is better. The producer can offer future sale and broadcast rights to the film in return for the development funding and script. Not only this, but the producer can also turn to a public investor such as the UK film council for support and grants. The UK film council is a limited development that is used to enhance the variety and production of scripts. The producer can also pitch the idea to private investors, however this can be much more difficult to try and persuade them to invest their own money.

Script development
To produce a script the writer creates a synopsis and he/she and the producer agree, or disagree on the key events and scenes in the film. It is important that they must share a common understanding of the film as it is crucial to gaining a good relationship when working so closely together, not only in terms of genre and audience, but also in terms of budget.
There are different ways to create the script as there are so many different styled writers etc. So writers produce a step outline before they start writing. It contains all the scenes and all the important events that will make up the script. One of the hardest parts of the job of screenwriting is that part of the writers fee is based upon the first draft. When the writer and producer are happy with the screenplay, they will send it off to the financers, who are all likely to have an in put on the film with their own ideas. The final draft is once it is locked off, and everyones happy. it is ended when the writer gets paid. The final part of script development is the sales treatment. This uses more emotive language than the original synopsis and includes all the twists and intriguing characters.

Packaging
The producer then has to package the script for commercial purposes ready for financing. A common way of making the script more commercial is by attaching big stars to it. The bigger the name, the better. However these actors cost money, and so the producer must find out how much the film will actually cost to make. Investors will want to know how the producer plans to gain the money, and how they plan to pay it back.

Financing
naturally, the more money the director has to spend on a film, the better the film should be. in order to raise the funding, the director will be required to travel. private individuals, companies or business' may want to invest in the film, and the producers lawyer writes up contracts to seal the deals. the producer can even raise money beofre the film is made, by selling the rights. furthermore there are departments of banks, that specialise in lendnig money and financing films. however before investing the money in the production an agreement is made to complete the film. as insurance. once the financing istaken care of, they producer can start production.

Pre-production
onca the dpartment is hired, the script is distributed and pre production begins. Then the casting director, the director and the producer begin to identify the cast. then a story board is constructed, where every plot is planned in advance. the productiondesigner then plans how evey aspect of the film will look, and hires the designers for them to be built. effects shots take much more time to construct than just normal shots

The shoot
the shooting begins and the funding is released. the camera department are fully responsiblefor getting all of the shots that the director requires to tell the story. once the soundand lighting have been setup and the make up has been finished, the shot can begin. the actors and actresses, must create and emoitonal world, and draw the audience in. special effects must be carefull executed, avoiding injury and danger. if the film falls behindschedule, financers may get involved.

Post production
as the processed footage comes thourgh the editor can start to edit the film. once thepicture is secured the sound editing crew, edit the sounding to the film. digital effectsare then added by specialist effects composers. the colour and wash of the film is then edited. after the picture lock, the sound levels are then mixed by a sound specialist. after the filmreaches the final lock, it is then ready for duplication.

Discussions on Soundtracks

In our group we have discussed various different sound tracks to emphasise actions going on in our film. Sounds tracks are a vital part of any film to draw the audience in and shape their views and expectations of what is going to happen in a film. Backings tracks, if chosen the right song, and depending on what image you want to create can, either connote fear or make the audience expect something bad to happen. It can also relax the audience and calm down a situation. We have discussed using 3 of the following instrumentals; 45 king, Jay Z- guns and roses and Dirty Harry- by the Gorillas. We haven’t yet decided which song to use but the one we favour mostly is Dirty Harry by the Gorillas. This song has an upbeat and quirky feel to it and is perfect for what mood we are trying to create in our film. We have decided to use just the instrumentals from the songs so that it does not interfere with the dialogue of the characters. It has proved a hard task to try and find a song which matches totally with the dialogue. In which case we have made the wise decision to stick to just the instrumentals which will be just as effective as a sound track with someone either rapping or singing in the background.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH

In our audience research we handed out 20 questionnaires receiving a response rate of 20 filled out returns. It was a time consuming process having to wait around for people to hand back the questionnaires to myself. In the end we managed to get all of them in and managed to gather a lot of helpful information which we will put into our film in order to meet the satisfactions of what most audiences enjoy about British Gangster films. I devised a questionnaire with asking variety of open and closed questions trying to achieve quantitative and qualitative data, which inevitably to give us guidance on what the audience is looking for in order to maximise the quality of our film. Overall most replies came back; here is a list of the necessities which most people will expect to see in a British Gangster film genre.

Male leading character
Mansions with luxury goods
Drugs (however we are not going to use this idea)
Violence
Guns
Weapons

Furthermore when I scanned through the questionnaires we found out that peoples most favourite British gangster film out of, the business, snatch, layer cake and pulp fiction was snatch, scoring an impressive 10/10 rating closely followed by 9/10 for the business and pulp fiction and layer cake both scoring 7/10. From these ratings we can look at the techniques used by the director of 'snatch', being the most favourable film out of all the examples we can try to use some ideas from this film which will increase the positive audience reaction towards our final film. After careful assessments of our questionnaire replies we also found out that 16 out of a possible 20 respondents felt that the main character in a British Gangster film should act tough, ruthless and seem as though they are untouchable. The reason being for this is simply because that is normally how a most successful British gangster films portray their main characters to act in this way and this is the norm to most viewers and they expect that when they see a film matching this genre. Matching the audiences expectations is key, meeting their requirements will determine weather or not the outcome of our film will succeed and be enjoyed by people viewing it. We have made this top of our priorities list but are also trying to come up with some new ideas to make our version more excitable but inevitably keeping in some of the common ideas to maximise our chances of making an exemplary film.

LOCATION DISCUSSIONS

After a group discussion, we came up with an idea of shooting part of our film in london. However Jonny works on a weekend which would be the main days which we will be shooting. This location will prove difficult and will cost alot of money to keep taking trips to and frow from tunbridge wells to london. Mitch came up with the idea that we could shoot at another location nearer his house at 'Orpington' we have found a good location but are not yet 100% sure if we are going to use it but it is certainly a possibility which we will all talk about and take into account. We have most of our locations cemented in place but we are always discussion alternatives in which we can find an even better location but have not yet cemented any in place. I came up with the idea of using my house as a location for one of the main entrance scenes in Mitches dads mazerati, i think my house would be a perfect location as i have a long windey drive with huge black electric gates which would emphasise the feel to our British Gangster genre. However after more thought we realised that where my house is located it is not in the most convenient area, it would prove hard to get to and is a long way away from Sevenoaks where we will be shooting most of our scenes.

Evaluation of our Pitch / Slide Show

On the Friday 24th October, Jack, Mitch and I presented our pitch to the rest of our class. The slideshow I made was great at putting across our ideas and we used this as a prompt rather than reading straight off the slide. People can read! The pitch was introduced by me, and then Mitch took over with the Treatment which was excellent to portray our film. Jack talked about the audience research, and then we spoke about reasons for our title of 'Brass Monkeys' which is posted previously on our blog. The pitch actually went really well over all, and i think the whole class really liked the idea of it all. This gave us an insight to what our end audience may think of it and we are very confident with what our idea is. Universal Studio's here we come...!

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS 'SEXY BEAST'

First of all in the opening sequence of the film you get a long shot of the sun. There is a voice over and a static imagine of the beaming sun. It then shows a medium shot of a man lying down on a sun bed extremely sunburnt whilst explaining in detail how hot he is feeling. There is then a MS of him, but in the background there is a young foreign boy sweeping by the pool which is a LS. It then uses shot reverse shot and shows a MCU of the man sunbathing sitting up in his sun bed. It then reverses back with a MCU of the foreign boys face. Then back Again to a MCU of the man sunbathing. Another shot reverse shot of the boy sweeping the pool with MCU and again switches to the man sunbathing with another medium close up. It then shows a LS of the man lying down on the sun bed. Then switches to a longer birds eye view, showing the man and the pool next to him which gives you a clearer picture of the surroundings and the luxuries this man has around him. You notice that he has custom made love hearts at the bottom of his pool emphasising his wealth and luxuries.
It then cuts to a woman driving in a car with the camera behind her head. CUTS TO extreme long shot of the scenery at the location where she is driving. CUTS TO CU of the man lying down on the sun bed once again and then slowly goes to a medium close up of him sitting up-right. The camera then tracks his movement as he bends down to pick up a cold wet flannel. He then orders the boy who is sweeping the pool to get him some beers. It then shows a long shot of the boy walking to get the beers on command, showing the high status of the man and at a click of a finger he can order people to Waite on him.

Technical analysis ''Layercake''

all of the camera work in the opening sequence, is on tracking, the movements are very smooth and steady. firstly there is a slow zoom out of a van door exploding, and once the camera has focused on the main character in the shot there is a slow slow pan round on tracking into other characters at the bank, then
there is then a continuous pan to the right, which eventually fades into another scene or time phase in the seventies, and so this is effective because the pan gives us a feeling of moving on through time. then there is another fade, which indicates that again, we are moving to a different setting. followed by a slow pan to the left through the prison looking at all the different prisoners then another fade into a supermarket shelves, with BCU's of the products on the shelves and there is a
slow pan as we see the products labels. The reason there is a slow pan is so that the audience can see the products in very close detail, as the monolougue requires clear vision to make sense. after this, the camera zooms out slightly, and changes speed as it pans left to follow the character introduced. in conclusion, from the techinical side of things the opening sequence of this film is very cleaver and effective as it is like a timeline, the monologue leads us through time, and the cameras shots and effects help the audience experience the story so far through the monologue and 4 shots.

Discussion - 23/10/08

Whilst planning our pitch to the class we decided that not everybody would get the name 'Knash' as our original connotations of the title were to mean the cockney slang 'Jonny Knash' - 'CASH'.

After much deliberation me jack and mitch figured we would stick to the idea of using a title that signifies cockney rhyming slang although use something a little more meaningful, which also gives a sense of the cheeky side to our film as we want to portray our characters as likeable, and humorous. We finally arrived at what we think is an exellent title for a british gangster film - 'Brass Monkeys'.

The actual way someone would use the term 'Brass monkeys' is to say the weather is cold. which actually represents the iconic british weather in london. We also found that Brass monkeys can mean slang for testicals. This is great for our film as it isn't a name that will offend anyone as the term brass monkeys is not rude, although it has connotations of cheekyness and gives our characters 'balls'.

The business

The Business is a 2005 British crime/gangster film, set in the 80’s written and directed by Nick Love. We can tell that this is a British gangster film this from the opening sequence because there are various stock character and conventions of a gangster film. For example the cockney accents inform the audience that the two characters originate from south London. Also their clothes are typical 80’s track suits, which would have been fashionable at the time and so it connotes that they have a lot of money and can afford the latest fashions.

The generic expectations of the audience towards a British gangster film are completely fulfilled by the opening sequence, as there are typical conventions of a British gangster film, such as violence, the use of guns, the use of drugs and the use of foul language.

The film is set in the 80’s and so the opening sequence completely conforms to the characteristics of the genre. We see use of drugs, violence, guns, foul language and abuse towards women, just in the opening 2 minutes. This shows the audience that the film is going to be jam packed with conventions that completely conform with the genre of the film.

The Mise en scene in this sequence is very meaningful, straight away we are aware that they are in a foreign country, the bright sky portrays that we are not in England for a start, because it is no the stock weather that we would expect in the UK. Also the run down buildings, the dusty foot paths, the dried grass and the colours of the two characters skin is tanned. This connotes that they have been in the country for quite a while and they have possibly immigrated Also the two girls on the footpath are tanned, have dark hair, Hispanic looking, wearing red high heels, but also holding a balloon, connoting that they are poor, through their mixture of clothes. All of these mise en scene indicate where the film is set.

There are multiple camera techniques used in the sequence, the first shot used is an establishing shot of the two men running, which shows us the location and the mise en scene. The director then uses MCU’s to establish various characteristics of the men, for example how tall they are, what race they are, their facial expressions and what clothes they are wearing. This all conveys meaning. A handicam is used at one point, when the men are running, to make the audience feel like they are part of the action. This builds up tension.
When they raid the building MCU’s are used to show in detail their facial expressions and then a freeze frame at the end of the scene, whilst the character uses dialogue to explain the predicament at hand.

80’s music is used in the sequence to support the clothes and informs the audience of the time phase that the film is set. Its also upbeat music which conveys action. Diegetic sounds are used and emphasized to also enforce action.

The first dialogue used in the sequence is at the beginning over a blank screen. We learn from these few lines of dialogue what danny dyer’s character is like. We learn that his father is a criminal and that evidently he is going to follow in his fathers footsteps. The dialogue is all cockney which indicates where they are from. And there body language connotes that they are important. Their actions connote violent behavior which portrays them as roofless criminals.

The narrative in this piece is very straight forward, the opening sequence is a scene from the middle of the story, and we see a glimpse of the operations that the two characters run. We are then informed about the story through the characters dialogue used twice in the sequence. Through this dialogue we are then placed on the criminal’s side and we start trying to relate to them.

The main characters that have been introduced so far have been identified. To a rough extent, we know the personalities through their dialogue and actions. But we are left wondering whether they have always been like this.
The music is the main creator of tension in this sequence, the build up to the raid scene is highly successful through the running and the type of music that is used.

There are 3 main groups that are represented in this sequence; there are young adult white criminal males from London, which is stereotypical that these type of people would be criminals. There are young adult Spanish males, also represented as criminals. And the last group to be represented is young adult, Spanish, females, and they are represented as quite vulnerable characters, as this particular female, fails to hurt one of the male characters.

I think the main ideological discourse used in the sequence is that to be successful you need to have money, and to have money you could be a criminal, this becomes mainly evident through the dialogue- ‘‘My old man told me to stay away from drugs, money and women, thing is, it don’t leave you much else to do, does it?’’

I believe that the target audience for this film are young adult white males, as this is the group of people who are mainly cooncentrated on throughout the film.

Discussion 21/10/08 - Dividing up the tasks

Outside of the classroom, jack, mitch and I decided that we needed to divide up the different tasks that needed to be done. We came to the conclusion that the treatment would be completed by Mitch as he is the one who would read it in the style of a British Gangster from cockney London. We also came to the conclusion that we needed a questionnaire to be handed out for audience research. This will be done by jack and handed out ready for our pitch to the class on friday. I shall do the storyboarding as i also do art, so have some sense of being able to draw and present it well.

Feedback #2

Your preliminary task shows real promise for the construction and from your discussion posts I can see that you are working creatively to put your pitch together. However, the film analysis needs some work - Mitch and Jonny, your contributions are incomplete. All of you need to look at ideological discourse and rework these sections of your analysis for a level 4.

Music??!

we had various discussions about what music we are going to use for the soundtrack of our film. automatically me & jonny refereed the term gangster, to modern day, gangster rap. something like below:



But then Jack pointed out to us that that genre of music, will not confrom to the genre of our film, as our film is a
British Gangster film, not an urban american gangster genre. so we had a think about the expected type of music that would conform and
agree with our genre, and we got into thinking about light rock. maybe something form the ''mods & rocker'' days.
maybe something like this:



but it stil did not completely fit in with our film, and so none of us could think about a specific piece of music to fit. but then I remembered a piece of music i heard, which was sort of light rock, with a modern day upbeat kick to it.we reviewd the piece and agreed it could be very successful intwined with our opening images. unofrtunately the piece is not available on youtube. but it is called Guns and roses by Lenny Kravitz & Jay-Z.

Costumes

we have had various discussions about the type of costumes that we want our characters to be wearing. We have all agreed that the costumes that our characters are required to wear are all very similar. as our genre is british gangster, the generic expectations are very formally dressed, smart looking characters. for our main characters there for we are going to wear suits and shirts without a tie, we think that this is appropriate for the time phase of which our film is set. we also want to give the impression that our characters are in some way successful, to cause an enigma for the audience, so they wonder how they have become wealthy.
in resevoir dogs for example the characters wear suits, with ties. but ewe think for our film, this is a little too formal, so we are going to exclude the ties.

'The Business' Opening scene

Preliminary Task

Analysing the Opening Sequence to the Film 'Pulp Fiction', directed by Quentin Tarantino

The film 'Pulp Fiction' belongs to the genre American gangster, at this point in time (1994) Tarantinos work inspired a 'new wave' of gangster directors to do something different. The typical codes and conventions which you are likely to see in an American Gangster movie and their main iconic traits which come with this genre are violence, drugs and crime etc. This film plays with familiar conventions and the audiences expectations, it conforms with the idea of postmodernism and keeps the audience guessing because it is always challenging the ideas of a typical British gangster film. Both the characters are expressing their love for eachother but are also plotting to commit crime and robbery's, BUT it is more like Bonnie and Clyde, the way in which they act towards eachother is not masculine, violent nor dark etc instead they are a loving couple and are both willing to do anything for eachother but however, in a illegal method. In the opening sequence of the film the audience’s expectations are not properly fulfilled and the reason behind this is because these two people look like ordinary members of the public. However basing your opinion on first look is misguiding and it’s only when you begin to listen to their conversation you notice that they live a more excitable and risky life compared to that of a normal law abiding citizen. They are sitting in the coffee shop like all the other regular people and their dress code does not stand out from the rest and look out of place when you associate them in an iconic gangster film. Your stereotypical view of what a gangster should look like is, well dressed in an expensive suit, looking slightly more upper class than all the other people. The director of the film plays around with the characteristics and codes and conventions of the genre because this is not what you expect to happen in an American gangster film. The two stock characters do not share the same image which you expect to see in a gangster film but their actions and behaviour certainly match. The director also leaves the audience guessing weather or not these two stock characters are actually gangsters or just ordinary tough living people who for some reason decide to rob a calm coffee shop.

The mise-en-scene is set inside a coffee shop/restaurant, this connotes a sense of security where you would expect peace and a place where people can interact with each other and socialise. However tension between both sets of people is caused when the stock characters decide to hold up the coffee shop and this completely disrupts the calm and friendly atmosphere and inevitably causes a dis-equilibrium. In the early stages of becoming a Gangster, their behaviour is certainly pointing them in the right direction, the use of repeated swear words and the pointing of guns convey meaning and purpose to the crime they are about to commit. The background which is used is just focussed on the two main characters and a window. The audience is given a clear view and are able to spot the trees which connote a sense of calmness and tranquillity this helps to camouflage the characters from their true intentions by showing a neutral background. The use of weapons in the first scene shows the two characters as violent and using excessive force to get what they want, this connotes that they are tough mentally and will cause injury to the other people if they were to resist instructions and refuse to hand over the money.
The opening camera shots and angles are used to create different effects on the audience and emphasises what is happening to create excitement and tension and inevitably dis-equilibrium. The camera is positioned at a MS for most of the opening sequence, it captures both the stock characters facial expressions and is easy to see which person is talking and the way they shape their body to emphasise intent or anger. The overall opening sequence is not fast paced edited, it is dialogued driven between the two characters and used continuity editing. The camera then switches to the waitress’s face with a BCU; the denotations of her face make her out to look friendly and helpful. She has a smile upon her face to emphasise the friendly atmosphere around the coffee shop and helps deceive the audience’s expectations that something bad is going to happen. The bright friendly smile also connotes innocence to herself and perhaps to the other people positioned inside the shop. The use of a point of view shot helps the audience relate to what one of the main characters is seeing and helps the audience relate more to what is going on. There is only a small amount of various camera shots during the opening sequence of pulp fiction. Most of the way through it just stays on one steady medium shot of the two stock characters and listens to their conversation. The use of sound is used to anchor images while they are sitting in the restaurant you can hear a fait sound of a piano playing in the background to the main set. This connotes a sense of maturity in the restaurant and the calm, peaceful atmosphere is helped created by the use of a piano. Furthermore in the background you can hear people talking around the restaurant, this conveys an innocent social atmosphere around the main two characters that are essentially plotting the reasons why they should partake in an armed robbery. There are no backing tracks in this opening sequence of the film right up until the couple stand up and begin to point their guns at people, the opening sequence then stops and you have a freeze frame and then music begins to play. This connotes that when there is action taking place for example holding up the coffee shop, music is essential to shape the audiences view of these two characters and inevitably it creates an enigma. The degree of dialogue in this first opening sequence is pretty much constant throughout. There isn’t a great change in the way the characters talk to each other, their conversation is very simple which helps them fit in with their surroundings and people around them. At the end of the opening sequence both of the characters stand up and begin using excessive swear words (particularly the woman character) this connotes them as looking tough and efficient at what they are trying to achieve and they will inflict damage on other people and even go as far as killing them. Before they stand up they use non verbal dialogue as a way to show the audience that they are a couple by passionately kissing each other. This connotes a sense of unity between the two of them and they have each other covered at any given time because they feel strongly about each other.


The narrative in the opening sequence of the film 'Pulp Fiction’ is structured to show the audience how people can just camouflage themselves so easily to fit in with others but on the inside they could be plotting to commit a crime. It shows the innocence and the laid back atmosphere which starts out inside the coffee shop/restaurant and how quickly it can turn bad and people can just change the way they act at any given time if they chose to. The audience is led to believe that this is just a normal couple sitting inside a friendly restaurant and at first glance you would never expect them to be gangsters. However once you listen to the conversation they are having, it becomes a completely different situation and the audience has increased suspicion over them and to what they are going to do next. You picture your typical iconic gangster to be completely different to these two, you expect them to be smart, well groomed men and have a large scale of people fear them. The two stock characters however are not iconic to its genre ‘American Gangster’. The two stock characters in the shop are alienated and are somewhat tear-aways from the working class people in America. They have completely different views on how the should go about earning their money and they believe the best way to do so is to break the law and steal money. They adopt a one track mind and use violent and criminal methods to gain money via big robberies in banks supermarkets etc. The two stock characters towards the end of the opening sequence cause dis-equilibrium and disrupts the calm mood and sends people into panic. The opening sequence then come to an end and an Enigma is caused where people want to find out what will happen next in the restaurant. The major themes in this sequence are not extremely evident throughout, however, the use of violence, weapons and harsh language are typical and iconic of a gangster film. From listing these themes the audience can clearly see which genre this specific film belongs to as it shows typical traits of a British gangster film and is easily recognisable. The tension in the opening sequence is not very evident when the two main characters are sitting there like normal every day people until they start to talk about various robbery techniques and plotting their next one. When the two characters stand up and start pointing their guns at people the tension is maximised because it creates an enigma for the audience and also will create tension for the other characters in the scene.
The only social group which is being represented in the opening sequence of this film are mainly young male audiences and even now female audience can relate to this because one of the characters is a woman. The fact that one of the characters is a woman creates an ideological discourse because in the modern day society you would not expect this behaviour to stem from a woman and people stereotype that men are the only ones that commit crime. The audience are not able to side with the characters because a dis-equilibrium is caused and the way in which the stock characters act towards the general public, the audience watching can relate to this and put themselves in the point of view of the other people inside the restaurant and imagine the distress they are putting up with. Therefore the audience will have no sympathy for these two stock characters and portray them as the enemy. The ideologies which come with being a gangster is to be well groomed, wearing smart suits, own a posh car and live in a spectacular house. However at the start of this opening sequence it is unexpected and the ideological discourse is that you see these two main characters to be wearing normal clothes which fit in with the law abiding citizens around them.

The target audience is mainly aimed to the more mature audiences, the age certificate tells you that it’s a 18 rated and will not be suitable for anyone under this age bracket. However, now women can relate to this film simply because a woman has been introduced and is being portrayed in this way. Men can also relate to this film and a lot of young males are interested in this type of genre and is therefore targeted towards these groups of people.

Reviewing Preliminary Tasks

When we began to plan our preliminary task on a short filmed conversation we planned our ideas on a story board. The reason being for this is to gain a clear idea of what we were going to do and had a clear set of guidelines which we could untimately stick to or change. We found it helpful to draw out a story board before hand so we are not left improvising all the time during production of our clip. In our case we didnt have to change anything about our storyboard and we stuck to the guidlines which we set for ourselves.

Analysing the Opening Sequence of the film 'The Business' directed by Nick Love

This film ‘The Business’ belongs to the genre ‘British Gangster’. The main codes and conventions which you would be likely to see in a British gangster movie are things to do with drugs, crime, violence etc. All of these things are iconic to your everyday successful gangster movies. The audience’s expectations are not essentially fulfilled during the opening sequence for reasons simply because you portray stereotypical gangsters to be well groomed men, dressed in dark suits and have a mysterious look about them. In the opening minute of the film two men break into a house each armed with a gun and ordering the people inside the house to hand over illegal drugs, these two men however look as though they are lower class citizens dressed in tracksuits, not what you first expected to be gangsters. However the actions taking place by these two men match the iconic behaviour that you would expect a gangster to do, e.g. pointing guns at people and committing crime. The two stock characters at the beginning swear excessively to scare the people who’s home they have broken in to in order to make them hand over the drugs which makes them out to be tough men and extremely efficient at getting what they want. So already you get the impression that there is a clash between the two, the characters behaviour certainly matches those of a gangsters but their image however does not. By just looking at the opening sequence we do not know if their image is going to stay the same of inevitably change to match the description of your stereotypical image of a ‘gangster’. The director plays around with the overall characteristics and the codes and conventions which you would associate with gangsters so the audience are somewhat left to guess if the stock characters are just normal tough men or fall into the category of a ‘gangster’.

The mise-en-scene in the opening sequence adds to the characters overall image and gives the audience an insight to what the characters are like. The iconography and use of weapons (in this case guns) shows that the characters are portrayed as hard men and burst into a house showing no respect for someone’s property and they disregard the law completely and show little amount of fear to consequences if they are caught. The setting is based in a rural part of what looks to be Spain; this is not however an iconic place where you would see gangsters, you would more likely see them in the city or outside a mansion, sitting by a pool with a cigar which is your stereotypical picture you create for yourself when you think of gangsters. This denotes that the stock characters involved are not very well off and shows the poverty stricken land they are on. The use of weapons in the first scene shows the two men as violent and using excessive force to get what they want, this connotes that they are tough men and will cause injury to the other person if they were to resist instructions and refuse to hand over the drugs. The outfits which the men are wearing make them out to look cheap and not the iconic look of a gangster, wearing smart suits etc. During the gun scene the lighting is very dull and dingy this conveys a sense of wrong doing and the dark lighting could connote that what the two men are doing is wrong and is frowned upon.
The opening camera shots and angles are used to create different effects on the audience and emphasises what is happening to create excitement and tension and inevitably dis-equilibrium. The opening camera shot which is used is an ELS, the two men are jogging towards the camera and as they become closer you realise it is looking up from a worm angle shot, which connotes that the two men are big and powerful and by running towards the camera makes them look intimidating and scary from below. The cinematography changes throughout when they are running, the two men are looking from left to right as thought they are worried about anybody watching them. They run past two young girls and slow down to walking pace to decrease suspicion and make themselves look innocent before leading up to a crime. The shot sizes change throughout and then switch to a medium shot, you can now see clearly what the two men are wearing, and in this case they are wearing which looks to be cheap tracksuits and not expensive smart suits which you would associate a gangster to wear with all the money gained from dodgy deals. This could connote to the audience that these two men are on their way up and need to start out with the basics before they become a proper gangster fitting in with smart suits and looking the part. When the two men break into the house, there is the use of shot reverse shot. This enables the audience to see the facial expressions used by both parties; its switches back and forward and you can clearly make out who is on the attack and which people are on the defensive. A close up shot of Danny Dyers face shows worry and vulnerability and it looks as though he is the weaker man but is just acting on instinct by holding a gun to gain control of the people inside the house while the other man searches and uses a more verbal and violent approach to get the drugs as quickly as possible to make a quick get-away. After the first scene you find out that the crime they had just committed has already happened and now are looking back on it. It comes up with ‘a few years earlier’ and now begins to show you how this crime which had just been showed came about and what they have done to get themselves into this position. The use of a big close up on a group of men’s hands and what looks to be a ‘joint’ shortly followed by a birds eye view shot, portrays a group of males status and shows their vulnerability to make them look small and gives them a negative image while they are standing in a secluded area rolling a joint in secret, which gives you the bigger picture that what they are doing is frowned upon in society. Now the audience can relate to the characters and has an idea on what the film is leading up to.

The use of sound is to anchor the opening sequence in this film ‘The Business’. The director uses a backing sound track while the two men are running; this connotes a sense of urgency as though they are trying to do something quickly and efficiently. Furthermore the sound of an aeroplane flying above a group of men shows their low status and makes them look small, in the smoke given off by the plane the spell out the words ‘be someone’ this connotes to the audience that a message is trying to be given out that simply they need to make something of their lives and inevitably ‘be someone’. At one stage in the opening sequence it is at night time, night time could connote a sense of gloominess and a negative atmosphere is set, the backing music is introduced to emphasise the negative atmosphere and shapes informs the audience that something bad is going to happen. In addition another backing sound is introduced when Danny Dyer is sitting with another man and a few brief sounds are quickly played to connote a sense of urgency and the crime which has been planned is all falling into action very fast. To end the opening sequence you hear a plane taking off, this suggests that one of the stock characters has already been put on a plane extremely promptly and is being whisked away to another country. Within the opening sequence there isn’t a great deal of dialogue between the characters, this does not allow the audience to get a clear picture on what the characters are like and are not able to familiarise themselves with them or gain a sense of personality amongst stock characters. The only insight we get to the characters through dialogue is the excessive amount of swear words used which allows the audience to get a vague picture on what some of the characters may be like. When one of the main characters is outside, watching in to see a man hit his mother, you can tell the non verbal language connotes tension and anger building up inside. A sudden burst of adrenaline makes the character run towards the house but still using non verbal language and uses violence to sort the matter. At one stage during the opening sequence the director shows a blank screen and then puts a voice-over over the top of this. The voice is of one of the stock characters with a small speech ending it with, ‘I’d rather be someone for a day, rather that a nobody for a lifetime’ this signifies a do or die attitude and believes that people should do whatever it takes to make themselves something in their life and not to waste it and do nothing for a lifetime. This creates an enigma and the audience’s natural reaction is to want to find out how they are going to make something of their life.

The narrative in the opening sequence of the film ‘The Business’ is structured to show the audience the future and how the men end up, it then rewinds back a few years and tells you the story and how these two characters lost it all. The methods of Levi Strauss use binary oppositions to create conflict during the film. In this case the binary oppositions are bad vs. bad, it shows conflict between both groups of people’s wrong doings competing against each other to commit crime, sell drugs and use violence to get where they want to be in society. The audience are put in a false sense of security and want to know what is going to happen next, inevitably this causes an enigma and the viewers want to find out weather or not the two characters make something of their life or not. Throughout most of the opening sequence the audience are shown a lot of Danny Dyer. Towards the end of the gun scene a freeze frame effect is used to focus in on this character which positions the audience to understand that the film might be based around this character, which you later find out to be true. The main characters are slightly alienated in the opening sequence due to the fact they are somewhat torn away from society and their actions are frowned upon, and do not behave like a normal person. The people whose house the two main characters have broken into could lead the audience to believe that they have done something to upset these two men and begin to ask themselves questions to weather they are part of another gang or a feeder of drugs to a rival gang. The major scenes in this sequence are extremely evident throughout, the use of violence, weapons, harsh language and drugs are typical and iconic of a gangster film. From listing these themes the audience can clearly see which genre this specific film belongs to as it shows typical traits of a British gangster film and is easily recognisable. The tension in the opening sequence is evident when the two main characters break into the house and hold up a group of people to steal drugs. The use of guns leaves the audience in a proiaretic state wondering if they are going to shoot the people in the house like they are threatening to. The tension is maintained by the constant shouting and orders given out by one of the main characters and by keeping the gun pointed at various people in the group who own the drugs. However the audience does not know for what reason these men have broken into the house for and why they are using violent methods like this to get the drugs, they look to be in such desperation they do not care about consequences anymore.

The only social group which is being represented in the opening sequence of this film are young male or middle aged white citizens. These men are made to look like the bad ones but in some respects the audience likes to side with the criminals and these men are seen to be iconic and people do in fact like them The two stock characters in the opening sequence are represented in a bad light, the ideological discourse of how to be a man is to act in a violent manner and to use physical actions to get where you want to be. The ideologies which come with being a gangster is to be well groomed, wearing smart suits, own a posh car and live in a spectacular house. However at the start of this opening sequence it is unexpected and the ideological discourse is that you see these men to be wearing cheap and unattractive tracksuits and the audience does not expect this, so you begin to work out as the opening sequence is of what has already happened and this is how the ended up after living the high life of a gangster.

The target audience is mainly aimed to the more mature audiences, the age certificate tells you that it’s a 18 rated and will not be suitable for anyone under this age bracket. It will normally be aimed towards young males because they see this film as iconic and can somewhat relate to the things which are happening in the opening sequence

Analysis 'Rise of the Foot Soldier' Julian Gilbey, 2007

Julian Gilbey’s ‘Rise of the Foot soldier’ is a film that can be placed in one of two genres. It initially begins as a hooligan football film, much like ‘Green Street’ and ‘Football Factory’ however the reason I have chosen to analyse this opening sequence for my British Gangster planning, is that it essentially contains all the conventions of a British Gangster genre. In this way the audiences generic expectations are immediately challenged just from the opening shot of the three dead bodies being inspected. This is then followed up by the voice over of Ricci Harnett’s character ‘Carlton Leech’ introducing the main characters including himself and giving us a basic summary of his early life. What challenges the expectations of the audience is not necessarily what is said or shot, but more to do with the mood and tone change from the soft music with the dead bodies, to the conflicting fast paced voice over summary. The text is shown to conform with the typical characteristics of the genre after the early title, however before then it seems to treat these characteristics in a playful way by showing extraordinary denotations and connotations and letting us as an audience see that the trouble ‘Carlton Leech’ gets into will be far more than your typical British Crime/Hooligan generic film.
From the very start we see how the film language creates an enigmatic feel for the audience used to pull the audience towards the screen and gain their attention. Mise-en-scene is something that conveys not only meaning, but that enigmatic feel. The first shot shows a wooded, ‘snowy’ area, along with slow music. This put together alongside with the different view shots connote a very dark, and chilling mood to this film and perhaps portrays to the audience a much more serious side to the narrative and not only this but anchors the way that Julian Gilbey has used playful techniques with the characteristics of the genre, and also is contradictory to the feel that is shown in the up coming swiftness sequences. Something that is signified in the early moments of this swift and rapid sequence, is the mise-en-scene that instantaneously convey the characteristics of British Crime; via clothes, location and dialogue. The clothes worn are typical of football fans, we have the hooded jackets and coats, the warm winter football hats and scarves, and the white trainers, that connote they care about what their appearance is like, even though in no more than a few minutes they could be covered in blood. The location used is the football stadiums and also the outside of the stadiums which denotes their ‘turf’ that they own, and clearly signifies the typical characteristic of the genre in the tunnels around the stadium where the fighting takes place. This is all conveyed through the film language and the diegetic and non-diegetic sound is used to anchor this mise-en-scene and body language. The non-diegetic voice over, done by the character ‘Carlton Leech’ (in which this true story is based around) is spoken in a very hard tone by Ricci Harnett and the audience understand this due to the inappropriate language used and hard swearing every other word; this is also anchored through the diegetic dialogue, with the use of shouting and football chanting manner of the football fanatics…or in fact, fighting fanatics.
There are different social groups in the opening sequence and i think these are represented in the rest of the film as 'Carlton Leech' works his way up the ladder of respect. The first are clear gangsters or mobs. They are the three dead men, who we know to be gangsters of some sort as they are wearing the typical clothing, with leather jackets, and boots all in black. We also notice they are the Britsh Gangster characters as the way they have been killed is so brutal. The next social group we see are the football hooligans which is clearly what 'Carlton Leech' started out as. He explains this in the first seen when he is narrating the story, from when he was sixteen years old. After this we see the housewive. The gangsters girl. The woman that tries her best to 'change' her 'no good' husband but ends up failing.
When looking at the first sequence on a macro level, it is possible to think of the first footage as a way to represent the fall of British Crime scene in the late 1980's. The film is advertised to show that this true story was one of the most recognised gang slayings in history. This film just immediatly inhibits that idea by shooting the first shots of three infamous gangsters; dead. Also in the ideoligical discourse of the film we see how these hooligans, or gangsters and crime lords, live in a very male orientated world. We see the wife, who is helpless. Other than that we see no woman unless they are objectified. The men are represented in a way that shows they are the boss. No woman can question them, or they accept the consequences. Surely this is not the world we live in today, which also leads back to the first ideological discourse of it being the end of the gangland. These are all the preffered reading of the film, along with that of violence. The film consistantly contains violence. Perhaps to much violence, which is why the target audience is young males of around 16-30 years old. Men love watching violence and love watching objectified women, with violence. Is there too much violence though? is there really any need for it? This is the negotiated reading, which possibly alot of woman or, older fashioned, higher minded men would think of it. My personal thoughts on this film is that it is exciting, entertaining, and quite disturbing to think that this film was actually once what went on. Perhaps my age and gender are great factors that effect my reasoning to enjoy this film, and i can definately see why other people would find it offensive, ghastly, and innappropriate. Maybe society needs to see true stories like this now and again. It lets society realise these faults, and help stop it.

‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ Guy Ritchie, 1998

Guy Ritchie’s ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ has brought together everything the audience would expect with the British Gangster genre in the opening sequence itself. He manages to fulfil these generic expectations in a number of ways. Straight from the start we see the London based cockney accents with the playful rhyming slang which gives a sense of wit as Jason Statham’s character ‘Bacon’ plays with the audience using irony and sarcasm in the way he is trying to sell his stolen goods to a crowd. In this way the characteristics of the genre are conformed to by the text, however used in a playful manner, especially as the chase comes on as it shows excitement, and at the same time lets the audience get to know the characters who comply to the genre.
The stock location is critical to the mise-en-scene in the opening sequence as it represents the gritty side of London with pub in the background as they run away from the police, and the building work to the left of them along with the warehouse they run over the gate into. All of the components in the frame of the opening sequence immediately sum up the ideology that is believed in for the gritty side of cockney London. A great example is when ‘Bacon’ and ‘Ed’ come sliding across the stairway, and the brick wall is shot, with the graffiti. An alternative part of the mise-en-scene that conveys a different kind of meaning is the way the characters are positioned. To start with in the first shot, ‘Bacon’ is positioned in the very middle of an audience who crowd around him in a circle. This focuses the attention on the main speaker. Another way in which Guy Ritchie manages to construct peoples attention to him is the garage situated behind him. This garage has bars going across which act as a leading line towards ‘Bacon’. The other example of Guy Ritchie using leading lines towards the positioning of the characters is when he places the camera at the bottom of the steps as the hand rail shoots towards both ‘Bacon’ and ‘Ed’. Along with the characters positions, their location and their cockney language, the characters costumes play a great role in conveying meaning to gain the preferred meaning from the audience. The collared coat, and scarf worn with the collar up shows a trendy sense of style to ‘Bacon‘. Gangsters are forever concerned about their image and the way the collar is worn upwards shows he wants to look fashionable and that he cares about his image. The clothes gangsters wear normally represents how much money they have. The suit coat demonstrates that he wants to look expensive. These costumes has portrayed the non-verbal language to the audience, along with the lighting. Lighting and colour play a vital part in conveying meaning through mise-en-scene. We see the dull, yellow wash used by the production team in the first sequence which certainly with the slightly grainy, pixelated image enhances the idea of gritty London. This then changes to dark lighting when the voice over enters the sequence which is used to depict the gangster, rebellious side and also creates the enigma as the voice over introduces the story. Compared with the voice over to introduce the story the way the text comes up for the titles has to convey the enigma. What is the reasoning for ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’? This expresses the representation of guns to the audience.
Not only is it the mise-en-scene that is used to convey meaning to the audience, but the camera shot size, movement, and angle do also. I think it is particularly strong in the chase from the police as the steadicam is used to sweep through the actors which help make the audience feel as if they could be standing their or walking past watching it all happen. This technique with the steadicam is also used whilst the audience stands within the crowd at the first shot, allowing us to visualise Jason Statham’s method of portraying the character of ‘Bacon’. In these opening shots we as the audience are given shots from different angles, and sizes, which all help initiate the enigma of the characters, starting with short shots on both characters when they first enter the scene. In the very first camera movement of the film we see the camera move towards ‘Bacon’ as if we are walking in to the crowd to find out what is going on. These camera images are anchored by the effectiveness of sound. Whilst the camera is viewing ‘Bacons’ irony in his speech we occasionally hear a slight laugh or giggle in the background which anchors the humour and not only this but as the credits come up we know the chase is about to happen due to the track playing the enigmatic music in the background and this beat just kicks in as ‘Ed’ tells ‘Bacon’, “Bacon… Coppers!”. As well as this music the dialogue plays a huge part in adding to the enigma of the characters such as ‘Bacon’s’ cheeky attitude towards conning people but in a way letting them know that he is conning them. For example “We can’t get them again, they’ve changed the bloody locks”. An additional affect the director has used is the slow motion with the voice over. This completely introduces the film to the audience and also introduces the characters. This brings us into the narrative.
The narrative is structured as a story told by one of the big bosses of the British Gangster genre. The audience is being told the story as it goes along and this first sequences is the introduction…”It’s time to move on, and he knows it.” The director, Guy Ritchie, uses the typical themes throughout the film and these are introduced in the opening sequences. We know from the voice over that one of the initial themes is going to be violence as he is moving on to something bigger than just selling stolen goods. We also realise the theme is going to involve, these two what seem to be ‘best friends’ ‘Bacon and Ed’, getting their cheeky selves in to trouble or gaining big money. In this way the tension is gained and the voice over helps to maintain it by introducing that tension to the rest of the narrative for the entire film.
Throughout the opening sequence there are four typical gangster film social groups that are shown. We start of as part of the civilian crowd with the steadicam. We watch the main part of ‘Bacon’ who is clearly the show man of the group. He’s witty, and yet brings a sense of intimidation to the character as well which possibly enhances the ideology of the British gangster. He has the partner who could maybe be the brains behind the planning, ‘Ed’. We also have the ‘coppers’, the police. They are shown to be quite stupid in the opening sequence as they can’t keep up with the partnership of ‘Bacon’ and ‘Ed’, which definitely shows the ideology that gangsters could always get away with pretty much anything in those days. All these ideologies are represented by the semiotics used in the opening sequence such as the police hat that denotes a policeman and comes with connotations of good verses bad, and robbers verses coppers. We also have Jason Statham’s shaved head, which signifies a ‘hardness’ about the character and perhaps rebelliousness.
This connects with the target audience, as we would think that Guy Ritchie is probably aiming this film at young, sixteen to thirty year olds as they are the people that it most relates to. Especially those that live on that side of London. This also means they are the ones most likely to gain the preferred reading set out by Ritchie. This would be that Gangs are dangerous, yet can be shown to be fun and the people that are good at heart will probably be the ones that come out on top to rule, where as the horrible gangsters will always end up the worst off. Compared with the negotiated reading that could be gangs are too dangerous and this should not influence young minds. In contrast to this we have the aberrant reading which would be something like gangs are easy and fun to be in and you’ll never get hurt.
I as a British teenager would go with the preferred reading of the text, as it shows that the good hearted come out on top. This is in no way related to my age or gender, although I assume that older adults with children would take a completely different reading than me as they would look at it as dangerous and influential. I also feel this maybe influenced by my background as I am not from the gritty side of London and would not know what it would be like to be part of the gang underworld such as the one portrayed by Guy Ritchie’s film.
An ideological discourse within 'Lock Stock' is gambling. The character 'Ed' gambles alot of money in a very short space of time at the beginning of film, and the rest of the film involves them trying to pay back the debts to the big boss. This ties in with the the ideology of capatilism. It reinforces the idea, however challenges it in the way the men go against the law to gain this money through drugs and robbery. This however is good way to re-present reality of how this stuff goes on in the real world. It is an artificial version of reality in the gritty side of london in this time and can be viewed on a macro level like this.