Questions for "Our friends in the North"

How does Mary change and how does this represent the wider context?

Mary changes in the second clip from the first clip because shes much more independent, she's now studying and sticks up for herself in several moments of the argument. However Tosca continues to pick Mary apart when she doesnt reply. This can show a slight behaviour of Mary from the first clip and can show her weaknesses.
Tosca and Mary have children now which can make them seem like a happy family however it seems to have made them drift apart and Mary says "We were too young" this represents a strong - willed attitude in Mary and that shes now more up to date with women rights and independency.


What signs are there that Tosca and Mary hold different ideologies? Who is struggling with the shift in hegemony?

Throughout the second clip Tosca seems in control. Tosca's ideology is that the woman should pay their way and should not take their husband and family for granted. Tosca says "Im forgotten about these days" Mary used to show affection for Tosca a lot but now she's gained independence by studying she has her own life to live and Tosca shows he's offended by this. Tosca refers to "paying different women" to do the jobs he expects Mary to do. Mary thinks that women have the right to do what is best for themselves and look after their family. Tosca is struggling with the shift in hegemony as Mary has gained independence and is moving forward and doing something productive, Tosca doesnt approve of this and thinks she should cater more to him.

Preliminary Task

"Our friends from the North"

How are the cameraworks and editing used to emphasise difference in the clip from 'Our friends in the North'?

This two shot of Helen and Nicky shows unity and shows that they are in a relationship. However the pillar between the two of them may show some sort of division, maybe a division in the society or a division of knowledge. The smiles on their faces show happiness but are they real? they could show happiness on the surface and another emotion internally.

This two shot/over the shoulder shot of Tosca and Mary shows that they are uncomfortable and awkward. The effect of using over the shoulder shot for this shot gives it an enclosed feeling and they seem to feel restricted. Both of the characters eyes are on Nicky which can connote that Tosca and Mary both are uncomfortable in the presence of Helen.

This shot of all of the characters at the table shows discords in a few ways.

Helen and Nicky are both holding their menus while Tosca and Mary's menus have left them lying on the table, this can show that Helen and Nicky give that extra bit of effort with simple things.

All of the characters apart from Helen are all smiling and laughing, this is just after Tosca offends Helen by saying "They're those pink things with boggle eyes" he makes her uncomfortable, he passes judgement on her because of her well-spoken manner.

Close up shot of Helen shows shes feeling like the Northerners are ganging up on her. Her facial expression looks like she is somewhat insecure. The effect of a close up shot of Helen lets the audience see all her emotions. However this shot does make Helen look stern and stubborn.

This shot of Tosca dropping the spaghetti off his fork shows his silliness and ignorance. This simplicity of eating spaghetti and Tosca finding it hard can show the simplicity of himself and how he's judging Helen because she's a southerner and has no real evidence on if she's a nasty person.

Two shot of Tosca and Mary shows awkwardness as Mary is looking at Tosca subtley after he interupts her. Tosca doesnt think twice about it because he looks away and down at his food.

This is also an over the shoulder shot which makes the situation enclosed.

This close up shot of Helen makes her look worried as this is just after Mary says "Here, it will help you to talk down your nose".

This shot of Helen makes her look evil however she has just been insulted so we feel sympathy for her.

1. Audience research

The audience expectations of Independent/mainstream films

Looking at the two video clips, which one would you say is the independent film?

1. Gender: Female
Age: 19
Answer: The first clip

2. Gender: Male
Age: 17
Answer: The first clip

What do you like/dislike about the difference in the mainstream and independent film clips?

1. Gender: Male
Age: 44
Answer: I like that in the independent film everything is done as it is seen so it looks authentic. There are no special effects like in the mainstream film.

2.Gender: Female
Age: 16
Answer: I like the effects in the mainstream film because it gives a suspense however it doesn't look realistic like the independent film.

If you went to the cinema to watch London to Brighton thinking it was a mainstream film. Would you be dissapointed?

1. Gender: Female
Age: 22
Answer: Yes, i think so. I'd be expecting much more glamorous locations and more surreal action.

2. Gender: Male
Age: 18
Answer: Yes, deffinatley. If i paid to go and see a mainstream film I'd be expecting to see some well known actors/actresses.

Location - pros and cons.

Location for the Cathedral:

Pros -

• Realistic.
• If its dark or getting dark then its good noir lighting.
• Can look authentic
• Great significance
• Natural scenery
• Natural non-diegetic sounds
• Natural diegetic sounds
  

Cons -

• Rely on the weather
• Day and night - winter days are short so filming has to be done quickly
• The location could be shut
• pedestrians
• restricted areas
• Unwanted Non-diegetic sounds
• Unwanted diegetic sounds
  

Sound effects

1 shot - No sound
2 shot - Music starts (David Beard - Fragile)
3 shot - (music) The character Eve lights a cigarette
4 shot - (music) Eve's phone rings and an unknown number is displayed. She answers.
5 shot - (music) A few lines of dialouge is exchanged: Eve says "I'll be there. Two minutes"
6 shot - (music) Eve begins to walk out of the gate and down towards the meeting point.
7 shot - (music) Eves footsteps in the snow.
8 shot - (music) As Eve approaches the man she set out to meet (Harry) he walks towards her and he subtly passes an envelope, however they share no other contact.
9 shot - (music) Eves footsteps in the snow (walking away from Harry)
10 shot - (music) footsteps in the snow.
11 shot - (music) Another character (unknown) begins to follow her.
12 shot - (music) Footsteps in the snow.
13 shot - (music) The unknown character pulls a gun out from his back pocket and shoots Eve.
14 shot - The music stops and there is complete silence.
15 shot - The unknown character takes the envelope out of Eve's hand and walks away.
16 shot - Footsteps walking away.

Characters, casting, responsibilities and type.

The man in the car (Paul) - smooth, quiet, erind.
Woman (Eve) - Femme fatale, devient, powerful, glamourous, demanding and careless.
Approaching man (Derick) - Innocent, buissness man, good appearence, well postured.

Casting: vague ideas.

• Man in the car - Paul - (Ed Brown)?
• Femme fatale - Eve - (Daisy Grundy)?
• - Eve - (Kirsten Pacey)?
• - Eve - (Molly Clifford)?
• Approaching man - Derick - (Matt Shields)?

Responsibilities:

• Alice - Camera, Directing
• Dan - Camera, Directing
• Elodie - Camera, Directing

Type of thriller - Crime

Setting

The cathedral

• Femme fatale standing alone.
• She lights a cigarette and her telephone rings.
• She tells the other person on the phone "I'll be there in two minutes".
• The woman starts to walk through the cathedral grounds.
• Eventually she approaches a man who is waiting for her.
  
• There is a briefcase exchange.
• The man walks in the opposite direction to her and she walks in the opposite direction to him.
• The camera shows a point of view shot of somebody following the woman towards the river.
  
• A man is behind her with a gun.
• The man shoots her and she falls to the ground.
• The man who shot her takes the briefcase and walks away from her body.
• Close up shot of her eye as she wakes up and the audience realise she is not dead...
  

Ideas for thriller opening

Settings:

• The civil service
• the city
• cow tower
• parks
• flats
• car parks
• cathedral

The civil service -

• someone getting chased towards it.
• someone getting pulled into it.
• someone walking their dog.

The cathedral -

• briefcase exchange
• violence.

thriller research "the beach"

The Beach
Directed by Danny Boyle. An adventure, drama and thriller.
Thriller Clip:
The main character 'Richard' meets a strange Scotsman who goes by the name of 'Daffy Duck'. The next morning Richard finds a hand drawn map, pinned to his door of a hidden island in the Gulf of Thailand which they briefly spoke about the night before. After he recieves the map he finds Daffy has commited suicide.

Danny Boyle uses many signifiers in this film.
He uses dull grey-ish colours throughout the beginning of the film which lead to the idea that throughout the dull greyish colour this is when Richards agenda and outlook on life is at the worst. This is at the pivotal moment when Richard finds suicidal Daffy dead in his room. Danny Boyle creates tension by using cross-cutting and a series of close-up shots to create emotion. As soon as Richard walks through the door into Daffy's room he immediatley shuts the door behind him, this creates claustrophobia signifying an enclosed space. However, During the time Richard stays on the tropical island the lighting is more brighter and colourful which can then tell us that this is when Richards outlook on life is at its best. When the three characters swim to the island it shows Richard swimming infront of the other two characters to show that he is the leader and that he is leading the characters into trouble.
When Richard travels to Koh Phangan with Sal. Richard's experiences of The 'perfect' life on the exotic island are soon to be gone. Richard finds that this is the moment his life on the island changes. We understand this with the camera techniques as it follows him with a hand held camera to shows distortion. The lighting is permanently dark within the mise en scene.
Like in the more traditional thrillers an ironic character would normally be carrying a briefcase, in this case Richard is carrying a rucksack which we never get to see what is in it until he gets on the island. This can signify his personallity as we dont get to see the full, real Richard until the end when he had an epiphany.


- This screenshot shows the hand drawn map given to Richard from Daffy.
Close up shot get the audience involved.









This screenshot shows the enclosed space where Richard

finds suicidal Daffy in his hostel room.


Theres a voiceover throughout the film to bring the audience into the action and make them feel apart of it.
The way it has gone down the wall can show that this is the pivotal moment where Richards life is falling to a landing spot.









Low angle shot makes Richard look like he is in control of the
situation. he is powerful.

This shot shows noir lighting with little, not so flamboyant lighting seeping through the small windows in the top of the mise en scene signify that although this action of Daffy diying can show that there can be some hope in this situation. As Richard had just found out before he found the body that Daffy had given him the only map to the tropical island.

"Essex boys"

Director - Terry Winsor

Production company - Granada film

User ratings - Highest rating - female 19-27

First shot

The dark, noir lighting suggests a creepy feeling which adds suspense to each mise en scene.
The fact that Jason Locke speaks with an essex accent makes the audience realise that he is not an upper class member of society, he is a kind of "Jack the lad" character. This links the the title "Essex Boys" which gives the sense of the characters being cocky, masculine and laddish.
The first shot shows a dark garage with cobwebs which shows claustrophobia. The voiseover is used to get the audience engaged. So it is like the character is personally talking to each person in the audience.
The shot of Jason Locke through the window of the car shows distortion of Jason Lockes reality as the window is dirty and grubby.
The shot of Billy in the front of the car with the lights across the window connotes the lights as prison bars and a sense of Billy being locked in to Jasons shifty agenda. The fact that a few of the lights on the window are red immediatley shows danger.

Advert questions

1) Most fake tan adverts are normally aimed at women from the age range of early twenties to middle aged. This advert is aimed at both men and women of those ages because of the male in the picture making males feel like they can buy fake tan without worrying about how they might look while buying this product. My advert might be shown in a magazine or on a poster in pedestrianised locations. The values of the audience for this advert have high standards for themselves and for other people because they use fake tan to meet the criteria of society.

2) Photoshop helped me create my advert because i used it to add different images by using the layers option. I added text to give my product a name and a slogan to help the audience remember what my product is and what it does. I made the fake tan bottle itself glow by using a feature which made a light focus on one part of the image and place it where you like, I also made the picture brighter and added a dream like effect around the extra image i added on top of the original image.

3) My advert is a product for people that want to look 'nice', being tanned is what most people in todays society (in England) see as being pretty or good looking. The people that buy this product want to fit in with the expectations of other people. The slogan reads "from pasty to tasty" this makes 'pasty' people feel unattractive as most people don't want to have skin like them.

"Once upon a time in America"

Director - Sergio Leone
Genre - Gangster Thriller

The first shot is of Eve - the glamorous femme fatale.
It shows Eve as a silhouette at first to show mystery. The chiascuro lighting adds to the fear.
The non diegetic sound is "God bless America" this is an ironic contrast with the plot of the film as this film can be seen as mocking America.
The next shot is a close up of the femme fatale, this involves bright lighting to bring the audience into the action and create a tense atmosphere.
The camera changes to a high angle, tilt shot of Eves bed. It shows bullet holes in the shape of a body, this is seen as a warning to Eve about what can happen to her partner noodles and what is about to happen to her. This immediatley introduces a murder within the first few minutes of the thriller film and is a great generic signifier.
The murder of Eve goes against the traditional thriller convention of the femme fatale. When Eve is shot there is shot of three men who are all framed with an arch way above them. This shot alone establishes that this film is a thriller.
The mise-en-scene suddenly cuts to more violence. Within a few minutes of the opening scene we have already seen the femme fatale get shot and a character getting beaten up. During this scene there is a continuous use of close ups to engage the audience and to create fear.
There is a low angle shot of a cop with a gun to make him look superior and powerful.
Sergio Leone also utilisers the generic lift shaft by using a worms eye view to make the lift look dangerous. The lift is producing tension.
There is a point of view shot/worms eye view shot of the character Noodles from the character who has been beaten up, this is the very first time we see this character. The purpose of this shot is to encourage the audience to emphasise with both characters the sense of confusion.

Presentation of films

London to Brighton

Production
Vertigo films aimed to make low budget British films.

Marketed - the commercial processes involved in promoting and selling and distributing a product or service.

London to Brighton was marketed using advertisements in the newspaper, on posters around city centres, posters on buses and bus stops, at the cinema when seeing another film and on television.

Distribution
London to Brighton is available on download.
There was a huge lack of international distribution, as the film was not shown in America.

Exhibition
Odeon Panton St
Curzon Mayfair
Ritzy Picturehouse, Brixton
Rich Mix Cinema, Bethnal Green
Duke of Yorks Picturehouse, Brighton
Hyde Park Picturehouse, Leeds
Southampton Harbour Lights
Picturehouse @ FACT, Liverpool
Tyneside Cinema
Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh
Empire Sunderland
Cornerhouse Manchester
Belfast Film Theatre

- All Odeon cinemas across England

How successful was London to Brighton?
London to Brighton was awarded six awards and was nominated for six awards these were:
- Jury prize - UK feature (2006)
- Festival prize - best feature film (2006) - won
- New directors award (2006) - won
- Golden Hitchcock (2006) - won
- British independent film award/best achievement in production (2006) – won
- Douglas hickox award (2006) – nominated
- Raindance award (2006) – nominated
- ALFS award – British actress of the year (2007) – nominated
- British newcomer of the year (2007) – nominated
- British producer of the year (2007) – nominated
- Evening standard British Film award (2007) – most promising newcomer – won
- Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer (2007) – nominated.



Red road

Production
Red road is the first of three films with the same characters but different directors.

Distribution
By tartan films (USA)

How successful was the film?
21 wins and 7 nominations
2006 Cannes Jury prize
BAFTA Scotland 2006 - Best Screenplay
BAFTA Scotland 2006 - Best Actress in a Scottish Film (Kate Dickie)
BAFTA Scotland 2006 - Best Actor in a Scottish Film (Tony Curran)
BAFTA Scotland 2006 - Best Director
BAFTA Scotland 2006 - Best Film London Film Festival 2006, Sutherland Trophy awarded to "the director of the most original and imaginative first feature film"

Definitions

mise en scene - Everything in the scene being shot, including props and people.
Connotation - A metaphorical or symbolic meaning
Denotation - Act of indicating or pointing out a name

Advert analysis

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