Group at Work

During our production time as a group we learnt many things and learnt how to use different softwares and technologies to produce our opening. Individually we mastered and became accustomed to all these new technologies.

Paul Screen Grab

Channan Screen Grabs

In What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I will be analyzing two different scene shots from our British Social realist film Brother. I will be explaining how different elements and aspects of to screen shot in relation to our film help us portray and conform to the Genre. In modern Social realist films the audio used tends to to go against previous social realist films which used diagetic sounds/audio. Modern Social Realist now tend to use Non- Diagetic music and go against this convention of diagetic audio.

Shot 1
This particular shot has the conventions of the use of a hand held camera shot. We chose to use the effect of hand held shooting because it will make the audience feel like they are walking with the character, thus it showing to be an over the shoulder shot. The audience has not yet been introduced to this character, they have yet to see the characters face but are shown the back of the characters head. By looking at the character there are conventions to how the modern teenager is seen today via the character earing headphones, having a rucksack and waistcoat, all of these things are seen to represent the youths of today. In terms of Mise en scene the location is made evident from the sign (Boxed in red). Despite using a middle class character we tried to set our opening in areas that will conform to Social Realist films and so choosing to film this shot in this location really had a emphasis on this. The audience gets more of a view of the location and as shown in a red box there is a light at the end of the tunnel, this could easily be seen as a positive aspect but instead we used it as a distraction for the audience.

Shot 2
This shot has many conventions to that of social realist films, such Long shots. This Long shot shown in the image below could not be planned and so the actor had to improvise many time sin order for us3 to gain an authentic and real effect. In terms of the location we tried to show the locality of where our opening was taking place. Most openings are filmed in known places to the audience and this is what we took heed of when shooting in the train station, the train station was Tulse Hill which is fairly known. The location is in contrast to that of the character. the character is made to stereotype the youths of today fairly related to gang culture and the different aspects into how the audience and people how relate to this characters portrayal.


The characters isolation is shown evidently with no one else surrounding him. Conventionally these aspects are in relation to the working class of today and we challenge this because we focus on the characters individual. We stick to the general conventions though with location having the graffiti on the walls. We develop this shot by having many other contrast as well such as the lighting in the shot. On the left hand side it seems more lighter but on the right it reveals to be a more shaded. Overall for these two shots I think we manipulated these conventions into our own to portray the Genre and relation to the aduience.

Adeel Screen Grabs

Snap Analysis

I will be analyzing two different snap shots taken from our British social realist film: Brother. In this piece I will be identifying various elements which help portray the genre and feel to our film.

To begin with here is a snap taken of a long shot of Kasper played by Olly Merson. I believe this is a very powerful shot as it shows Kasper rising up the stairs in a black hoody, this automatically gives our character a sense of importance, as he is the only individual in the center of the shot. This shot conforms to the British social realist genre in many ways, for example we have chosen to give it a very cold and gloomy look through the use of using a blue filter this helps us set the mood of the scene- the mise en scene helps depict negativity. This can be seen by the characters dark clothing, this represents the character to the audience as a dark and isolated individual-this is also evident due to no one being within the environment where he usually is. The characters dressing sense also conforms to the stereotypical representation of South London Youths, this was done in order for a wide range of young audiences to relate to the character.

The shot was taken in Tulse Hill Station, London – this works well for the genre of our film as it is an area which is used by members of the public, it is not a high class area or glamorized in any manner therefore contributing to the realism for our film. Some of the locals can relate to such an environment and for those who are not familiar to this British environment this shot helps portray the real urban side of London.

Below is another shot of the same character, as he is walking through another train station. In comparison to the shot before it is evident that there is now more lighting - this is mainly due to the fact we want the audience to be aware of the environment as the next scene is going to be quite powerful and intense. The intensity of the following sequence is supported by some of the things portrayed in the mise en scene, for example, Ollie is yet again in an isolated area - the clock which is in the center of the shot, is within a red frame; the colour red itself has connotations of danger therefore warning the audience as well as symbolizing the arrival of something threatening. For this particular shot, what really conforms to the conventions of our film would be the isolation of this character - we have used a long shot to almost exaggerate the fact that he is so isolated in such a big train station

Hector Screen Grabs

Shot 1:

This still from our opening 'Mon Frere', is an example of conformity to the genre of British social realism. In terms of mise en scene, the use of a blue filter generates the atmosphere of being depressing, dull and real which is a technique often used in social realism's, for example 'Nil by mouth'. The camera shot only exposes part of the scene which limits what the viewer can see making them uncomfortable. The use of a close up makes the shot graphic and by using graphic features it makes the opening feel more real. Generally speaking the costume is effective when attempting to conform to the stereotype seen on different cultures in South London, especially the urban culture. When representing the youth culture in London, using clothing and the way they wear it for example hoods up can be used to intimidate the viewer and build tension, like this still image. Props like the train in the background is clearly representing the urban culture and furthermore, British urban culture.

Olly grab.

Shot 2:

This still taken from 'Mon Frere' helped our film conform to our chosen genre of British social realism. It conforms in more technical terms like filters and shot type rather than mise en scene. We used a blue filter which if often used in used social realisms to create the depressed, quite atmosphere. In Gary Goldmans 'Nil by mouth' and Jo Carnahan's 'Narc' the use of a blue filter is used to represent isolation and when referring back to the close up in our film its evident this atmosphere is being portrayed as its a close up showing only one character.

The cast chosen was vital in order to represent the British culture and what stereotype he's conforming to. We aimed for the careless, young adult stereotype and did this by carefully selecting features like haircut, facial features, clothing. His shaved head conforms to this stereotype as it shows he's not capable to controlling a styled hair cut and makes him look more urban and rough. We used Vicks under his eyes to make his eyes slightly swollen and make him appear tired, rough and clearly show he's distressed. Referring back to our genre, British realism's document the lives of real Brits living in poverty or domestic violence which of ten puts the character under severe stress and has to portray them in this way using several techniques.

Conrad grab.

Final Screening- Brother

After making changes from our previous screening we have come to our final screening.

This screening was a way in which we could gain feedback and comments in relation to the film and mostly the changes we made. Yet again we had problems saving but we managed to over come this problem.

We produced a short Questionnaire based upon our footage and the changes we made based upon our last questionnaire we filled out.. We asked general questions from which we could gain the audiences opinon and also their critiscism. In our Questionnaire there were questions.

Verbal Feedback:

Written Feedback:

Good

Liked the foot transistion and the sound effect at the end. (fight scene)

The beep noise and the fight sounds creations

The arguement between the two guys good

Conrad scene showed pretty well in comparison, the blue fiulters and white flashes yet again makes it effective in portraying the character

The fade of music into different scenes was good

Reshoots were effective

Use of similar characters

Title fade to black

Bad:

Confusing as to what character is who.

Continuity was slighlt lacked

Flashes were not continous but cold have been longer

Title could have flashed in rather than fade in , to make it cointrast the white flashes

The train sequnce is not as striong as the first sequence, hard to differriate

Lack of lighting could ba a problem...

Filming Day 3

We decided that we would go back and re-shoot some of our scenes based upon the feedback we gained from our first screening. A major change we made as introducing a new character to the sequence. W introduced Olly into the sequence in order to make the two scenes we have merge. We ensured that we made Olly slightly similar to Will. With this change our storyline kinda changes as well. With this character we tried many of the same shots as only but reenacting them as a mirror effect. The benefit was that we caught the same lighting as the Will shot and so they Were not too different. We say this change as a positive aspect as we all chipped in and really engaged in making the sequence better that before.

First Screening

Today we screened our Opening Sequence to an audience. This screening was a way ion which we could gain feedback and comments in relation to the film. When trying to screen our opening, we encountered many problems such as, when editing our footage and adding the titles and credits we came to noticed that we could not save our sequence. This proved to be a serious problem as we had made editing changes and if these were lost our footage as whole could be affected and the audience may not receive the same effect as we would have hoped. In the end we screened our opening sequence on a smaller screen that we was working on.

We produced a short Questionnaire based upon our footage. We asked general questions form which we could gain the audiences opinion and also their criticise. In our questionnaire there were 5 questions

Feedback: The Nervous bit

There were two types of feedback we received, Verbal Feedback and Written Feedback.

Verbal Feedback

When given the chance the audience were able to tell us verbally what things they liked about the film. We were given credit for the use of the blue filter in the fist ha;f of the opening scene. Also the use of our camera shots, like the train station shots were considered to be effective. The fact that our footage was flowing really well showed the audience that we had a solid continuity effect. The use of the loud music in the 2nd scene was very effective and seemed to correlate to the actual footage and what was happening in those scenes. The use of the natural sounds in the first half e.g the birds in the background gave the film a feel of realism. There were many improvements that were stated and these were that the window zoom in shot needed to be more longer as it seamed out of place and had no real relation to the footage before and after it. The contrast between the two scenes were very evident and too sharp.

Written feedback

The written feedback that we received was very positive overall. We were congratulated on the use off effects such as the White light flash to cut into different scenes. Also the use of our different camera shots such as over the shoulder shots when Will was walking through the tunnel. We were commented positively on how our camera shots worked really well in contrast with the music. The music was really a good factor as well because it was evident to see that it was non diagetic. Again we were credited for our use of the blue filter in the first scenes of the opening.

The comments made regarding things the audience did not like and did not find effective was again the cut between the zoom in the sky shot and then to the when Will is walking through the station; this scene also hand diagetic sounds of people talking and this could be considered as a filming error. Also the change in these scenes is also evident from how the colour of both scenes are in contrast their for making the two scenes seem not linked. We were also commented on the ending and how it was abrupt .

Naming Our Film

Our Film name is Mon Fere. Mon Fere means my brother in french and we felt that it really gripped the opening as well as relating to the french audio we have in the second scene. We had various discussions on whether the title Mon Fere conformed to what we were trying to portray which is British Social Realist Drama. Having a French Title may give viewers the information that it isn't that British at all. We came to conclusion that We would use the French Title but have the British one as Back up.

Title 1: French Title

Title 2: British Title

Editing- The Titles

What Titles are usually used for British Social Release Drama?

Channan and Paul researched Titles for British Social Realist Dramas. We looked at the film that we previously mentioned such as Kidulthood, Adulthood, East is East and Nark. When looking at these films we realised that the font used for most of these titles were bold and plain. Also the fonts stood out on a black background.

Using Live Type

Channan Learnt how to use Live Type and found that we could achieve various effects such as a shadow that ripples. However constructing the titles were easy in this program but previewing it was not at an advantage as we could not use the footage at the same time and so Paul and Channan Had to preview it on a white canvas. By using Live Type we got a vague idea on What we wanted our credits and titles to be. lt took the time to research different fonts and try apply it to our film.

We came to realise that in order to transfer the credits to the footage would take a long time and would be time consuming as well as cause technical difficulties. As the editing process continued the timings required for the credits kept changing. Another problem we encountered was Live Type's lack of basic effects their effects were always advanced and over the top. There was no facility to use fade on a text which was the look we initially wanted. We decided to simply input the text straight into Final Cut after the majority of the editing was finished. We laid the text on a black canvas and made the text stand out by making in white. When changing to live cut it was more easier to preview the effect and position it to where we wanted.

Written By Channan and Paul

Posted by Channan Toussaint

Editing- The Footage

During the production of 'Mon Fere' we used the software Final cut premiere. Initially our group had no idea on how to use the software but after some tutorial sessions we felt we had the basic skills needed to produce our opening film. The reason why we used final Cut premiere is that it is a very complex software and it enables us to use many functions and apply many professional looking techniques to our footage. It gave us the freedom when editing

and also gave us the opportunities to explore the different elements when editing. Some of these elements include:

• File rendering

• Transition Effects

• Imagery

• Audio

• Overall Control over the time line
  

One of the Main effects was the transition which included 4 White Flashes with a slow motion take in between. Although this was significantly technical but due to the freedom of final cut we were able to use this effectively.

Although Editing was an effective process, there were many major inconveniences that occurred. First of all it was not until our second editing session that our footage was uploaded. This was because our camera was not compatible with final cut due to dropped frames. To overcome this problem we had to import our footage into I-Movie and then upload it into Final Cut. We also encountered problems such as audio, where the natural audio were not as effective as we hoped and so we had to make alterations to this. We also had frame rate problems due to the camera.

The use of the blue filter helped us as it made the opening conform to the Social Realist Genre. We added transitions and recognized using these were also useful for breaks and to show our opening credits. Overall by using Final Cut we were able to enhance our opening and add effects that made it a portrayal of a Social Realist Drama.

Filming Days

Day 1:

We decided to film at our first Location Paul's house. At first we wasn't sure on how to make our film opening come to live in front of us and so this day was really about testing out different shots we could use as well as seeing how we can manipulate our location in order to make it portray the film genre as well as our storyline. In the scenes that we shot we only needed our first character which was Conrad. As already stated he played the youth worker. Our storyline for Conrad was that he would be a youth Worker with clear problems that could be picked up on by the audience and so we deliberately made him look messy and unattractive. To do this we requested that this cast member shave their head and we smudged toothpaste on the side of his mouth to make it look real dirty. Overall many shots were taken of this cast member displaying the character in many ways. Overall this first day of filming was really productive based upon the group as a whole knowing what we would do next in terms of the next scene.

Day 2:

Our second Location was the train station scene, for this scene we would need Will. For this scene we had already thought of many good ideas and so we made them effective by carrying them out and seeing what went wrong and what went right. We managed to carry out effective filming and carry out a range of shots to use in our opening. We did have one minor issue and that was the change in light but this we could not change and so we made the use of hat we had. We had shots such as tracking shots , close ups and medium shots to display this character to the audience. The reason why we carried out so many shots was to see if the shots could affect the audience and how they would perceive it.

The Crew

We as a group had specific roles for which we each had some input into how the filming session were carried out. Individually we all brought our own personal skills and qualities and this enhanced our group as a team.

Meet The Crew:

Adeel Ikram

Co-Director, Footage Editor , Producer, Casting, Researcher

Adeel will be behind the research process in trying to ensure that we stick to catering for our target audience. He will also be a key person when editing the footage takes place as he has experience in this field. Regarding casting Adeel will also ensure that the cast chosen represent our stereotypes and ensure that they are dressed appropriately when filming. Adeel will also have an input in relation to the camera shots used and filming process.

Channan Toussaint

Blogger, Text Editor, Photographer. Producer, Researcher

Channan Will recording all our days in relation to the film openings e.g. all the changes we had to make. Channan will also be producing the titles using live Type as well as with Final Cut express. In relation to the film Channan will be taking on shot photos of our filming process. Also all the necessary research that needs to be carried out will be done by Channan and she will also have an input into the shooting of the film opening.

Hector Dockrill

Director, Footage Editor, Casting, Music, Producer

Hector will be in charge of filming the film opening and also using can carrying out the various camera shots. Hector will also be responsible for the casting of the characters that we will be using. Hector will also look into the music and ensuring that it conforms to t he opening and the film Genre. Along side Adeel he will edit the footage ensuring that it is up to scratch and audience effective. He will work alongside everyone in the production of the film.

Paul Douglas Feddon

Text Editor, Casting, Music, Producer

Paul will editing the titles and text on the footage alongside Channan. he will also help out with casting of the characters and ensuring that their availability will be effective for us. Working alongside hector he will be responsible for the music choice as well and ensuring that it is not copy righted material.

Blogged By: Channan Toussaint

Filming Changes

There were many changes that we made before we started initial planning. The changes that we had to make was:

• The filming locations
• Audio Suggestions
• The Cast

Changes to the Filming Location:

Initially we decided to film at Streatham Hill Train Station. We could not film here due to the station being revamped and it was not safe. We still wanted to film at a train station and did not wish to change this factor. As a group we had to find another train station where we could film as well as not encounter the public rush. By the public rush we mean trying to avoid the busy times at which the station may be over flowed with commuters. After searching and discussing the possible train stations we decided to film at Tulse Hill Station.

We decided on this station because it is in an area where there is not many people, and also it is convenient for the group to travel there freely. The Station also is not that busy during the week and so this would be an ideal change in train stations. We also liked the areas within the station such as the walk through alley way and the actual platform area.

Audio Suggestions:

We found out that we could not use any copy righted music within our opening. This really affected how we would try and stick to the conventions that we are trying to portray. Hector and Paul have tried to find current music that has not been copy-righted. This could be a risk as there may be copy right restrictions that may prevent us from using it. The audio is what we consider an important component because it is what defines one of the characters.

Presentation

We presented our first presentation in relation to our film opening. We gave a brief outline into what our opening would be about as well as gave a separate presentation regarding our storyboard. With carrying out this presentation we were given feedback as to whether our ideas were good or needed re-thinking.

Presentation 1: 'The Pitch'

(Technical Problems occurred when trying to upload the Presentation)

Presentation 2: Storyboard

Casting: Who and Why

When choosing our cast member's, their were many factors that we needed to consider when picking key cast member's. As already stated the only person from the group taking part in filming is Paul (Who will not be a main character). The factors we considered when choosing our Cast member's were:

1. Whether they conformed to the stereotypes we are portraying
2. Whether they have some relation to the character they are playing
3. Whether their appearance will conform to the stereotype that we are portraying.

Initially we had many people lined up to play various characters in the opening sequence. The characters we will be casting for are:

• The unnamed youth worker.
• Young DJ
• 3 Males for a fight Scene

First Casting: Youth Worker Ages

We started casting for the Un-named Youth Worker as this character is a main character.

Jack Joyce- Age 17

Jack Ward was our first consideration for this role. To ensure that we made the right decision we made Jack react a point in our opening sequence in order to see if could fit the stereotype we were trying to conform to a 23 year old youth worker who under the influence of drugs. We came to an agreement and decided that Jack was not ideal for the role of this character. Jack had the right demeanour and look for the role but he is about 8 years younger than the character and so he lacks the presence and sense of experience needed.

Josh Osbourne- Age

Josh Osbourne was another consideration for this role. We made him react a small scene in our opening sequence. When this test was carried out we realised that he fit all the requirements and could handle the characters emotions and status on camera. Also he we didn't need to give him pointers and directions regarding how to look and how to generally handle the demeanour of the character. We encountered one problem though when looking to cast Josh, and this was the fact he revealed that he might not be able to make filming days and was unsure of his availability. As a group we decided not to cast him but keep him as a back up if we did not find another person to fill this role.

Conrad Stegnar- Age 16

Conrad Stegnar was our final consideration. Like the other people we considered we made Conrad carry out a reenactment of our opening scene. When looking at how Conrad handled the character we were really impresses as to how much he conformed to the character and how we could manipulate his appearance to enhance this stereotype. Also his initial appearance was ideal as well. The only problem we ran into when casting Conrad was his ability to look older than his age. As a group we cam to a decision to implement different measures in trying to make me look older than he is.

Second Casting: Young DJ

We started casting for the character Young DJ who also another main character.

William Ward

When considering Will, we initially pointed out that his appearance and how this could either enhance the character or hinder the character. As we are casting for a young DJ, it happens that Will is an actual DJ and this could also help when filming as he already fits in the characters shoes a bit, the only problem we came to with Will was his availability and the fact his appearance may be too young for us. As a group we decided to keep Will as a back up Cast member.

Olly Merson

Olly had confirmed he would be available to take part in the opening sequence. When giving him a scene to re in-act, we saw that he didn't look like the type of character we were looking to portray. As a group we saw that he looked to much of a sweet boy and didn't have that rough edge we needed, and there for this was undesirable for this character as the character is meant to represented as a hardened youth.

Alex Eagles

Alex had fitted all the character stereotypes we needed. the only problem we had was Alex's availability to film and whether he would be reliable enough. Alex also played out the scene we gave him but his lack of concentration showed as he was unable to keep full focus throughout the scene we gave him. His appearance on the other hand was conforming to the character that we wished to display.

Final Casting Decision:

After discussing the people who we wished to cast for our characters, we decided to go with:

Conrad Stegnar to play the youth worker.

Will Ward to play the Young DJ.