Q.2 Evaluation

Q2. How does your opening sequence represent particular social groups?

My media production deals with one main social group which is lower class- poverty, although my film also deals with upper class and working class social groups.

My main character:

• Lauren Ealing
• Is a young British black female.
• Aged 18.
• Has no real occupation but sells drugs.
• Born and raised in Canning town in a 5 bedroom house, at the age of 14 she ran away to escape her parents rules and boundaries. She moved into a foster home in the slums of Stratford and became heavily involved in drugs.
• She was a mother until her child died.
• A victim of abuse.
• She suffers from epileptic fits.
• Had a very troubled childhood in that she was on the run for along time, and moved from foster home to foster home.
• From the opening sequence you can see that Lauren is a drug addict from the way she is walking, and how she is handling the use of drugs. She looks experienced and in a sense comfortable. But the audience later finds out that she is depressed at the loss of her daughter. Due to this she is now suicidal and is on the brink of death.

Another social group which is in my film is upper class. Lauren Ealing is from an upper class background. Her parents own a very successful business but are very strict. Her mother Sharon has problems of her own, and never paid much attention to her daughter due to her business which takes up most of her time. Her father Owen is cheating on his wife with a younger female and pays most of his attention on pleasing his wife so she doesn’t suspect his wrong doings. Lauren runs away from home, and now she has become independent but dependant on drugs, just like her street friends whom know better.

My opening sequence represents particular social groups through location. The location of the sequence is in a broken down basement. I used this sort of place because I thought it would be a great way to show someone from under the poverty line, living in a run down basement. This shows the grittiness and the harshness of the situation of Lauren and some of the people in the lower class. Also if we used an ordinary bedroom it would’ve been harder for the audience to grasp a feel of what kind of life Lauren is living and would take some reality from the film and the opening sequences. The costume of the main character Lauren Ealing is very urban and street orientated, the look of her appearance is that of someone who doesn’t care for themselves, someone from the lower class. Lauren is from the lower class and this is why I went with this costume choice. When making the film, I put a black and white effect over it. I thought this would be a great way to show the darkness and grittiness of the situation in hand. It would also show the social group Lauren is in because you wouldn’t associate this kind of predicament with someone from the upper class; because people tend to believe the wealthier you are the fewer problems you will have and the happier you will be.

The other key characters in my film are Lauren’s best friend Tanisha, a drug dealer Big Boss, and her social worker Tim. The drug dealer Big Boss is very aggressive, overpowering, and a very dangerous man. He is feared by many and Lauren buys drugs and sells for him. He is from the same social class as Lauren is in now. This character represents someone from the lower class because he is illegally selling drugs for an income, and you can assume that only someone who is from that class which means they are so desperate money they would put his/her freedom on the line to make some cash. I got this perception of a gangster and drug dealer from Quentin Tarantino’s‘PULP FICTION’. I feel the actor Ving Rhames played out a gangster really well and that where I got my inspiration from. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233/

When casting the role of Lauren Ealing I found the right actress first time round through auditions. There were know problems, but a few things I had to alter in making the character right for playing the role of  a drug addict this came in the form of appearance, costume and facial expressions. The things I  was looking in an ideal actor was someone who was willing to act like a drug addict weeks before filming, so they could get in the mindset of  a drug addict. And also someone who is willing to get hair and make-up applied in what ever way necessary, and I found this person.

Overall I feel my opening sequence in’ FORSAKEN’ represents social groups through factors like hair and make-up, costume, location etc. These things make my production my opening sequence very effective.

Q.1 Evaluation

Q1. In what ways dose your media product USE, DEVELOP, or CHALLENGE forms and convention of real media products?

My film is about a young female which is addicted to drugs since a very young age; at the tender age of 18 she had a child. She loved her child dearly but she couldn’t obtain the responsibilities of a mother. Her daughter died at the age of two due to an accident on the mother’s part, which has led her into deep depression and her at the brink of suicide. She later kills herself. The main genre of my film is drama. The codes and conventions within my film which conspire with those of a drama are normally drug use, relationships, love, disappointment, happiness, even realism or some sort of dilemma etc. The aspects of the genre drama that my film includes are drug use throughout my film and the opening sequence, also the relationship between the mother and daughter, the dilemma is in that this girl has been addicted to drugs since a very young age and is now having detrimental effects on her life, also in my film there is sense of realism how this women is a drug addict and is depressed theses sorts of things happen in real life but maybe not to this extent. So I feel my film follows the codes and conventions of a drama, more specifically dramas about drug use.

In my film FORSAKEN the main themes are drug use, a loss of a loved one, depression, heartache, suicide, abuse, a bad child hood and many others. From my opening sequence you can gather these themes. The heavy use of drugs suggests they person had a bad childhood because if they didn’t they would probably know the implication of heavy drug use. The character within the sequence also looked comfortable with the environment which leads you to think this is not the first time she has taken drugs. The whole sequence points to suicide in the sense of her surroundings, and the amount of drugs and drug related objects on the table. Although the fact that she actually kills her self as she overdoses supports my suggestion of suicide as a theme. A loss of a love one is another theme related to my film, from an aural point of view you can hear crying through most points of the film which suggest there is a baby involved. As the actress goes to kill herself we see pictures of a child, which links in with the noise of a baby. Also at the most vital part of the sequence where the actress is in the process of killing herself we see pictures of the baby which means the baby is very significant and important. So you can gather that the child has died because she is not with her mother and because the mother commits suicide.

My film FORSAKEN challenges the codes and conventions of a drama, in the choice of gender for the main character Lauren, which is heavily involved with drugs from a very young age, is a female. In most films this kind of character is normally played by a male. Like in the film 1 DAY which is also a drama, Dylan Duffers one of the main actors is a drug dealer and user. Or in another British drama Adulthood directed by Noel Clark, Adam Deacon is also a drug dealer which proves that our character personal challenges the codes and conventions of a drama. In this production there is a young child, who dies due to lack of care by her mother, but in most dramas the child wouldn’t die but in our film the baby dose, this challenges the codes and conventions of a drama.

Our film starts from the end and then goes back to the beginning, the form of my opening sequence is of most films it begins with the production name, then it goes on to the establishing shots, thirdly the actress/actor is introduced and the basic narrative, finally we then see the credits and the producers name. An example of this is in ‘WATCHMEN’ a Warner Bros and Paramount production; it follows the basic form of an opening sequence.

In my production the main actor Reka Samuel is a drug addict. In drama’s to keep with the dramatic themes most directors have there actors exaggerated in there roles. We followed this convention in that my actress’s character was over exaggerated in the sense of her clothing, facial features, and hair to make her more believable and fit the role of a drug addict. In the film ‘TAKERS’ Marianne Jean-Baptiste played a role similar to this a drug addict, this is how I perceived my actress Reka Samuel as. Mrs Baptiste character is much exaggerated. Through this acting she made the film more of a success, and her character was really interesting, and I feel this is due to the exaggeration of her character. My film ‘FORSAKEN’ challenges the codes and convention of a drama in that the main actress is a mother and you wouldn’t really associate mothers with drugs, because a stereotypical views of a mother is someone who’s neutering and a provider, but in this case she is a young defenceless mother whom is addicted to drugs. In addition to this you would assume a drug addict would be contemplating on her next fix and funding her drug habit, not harbouring a juvenile.

The format of a narrative normally starts with a equilibrium, then disruption, followed by resolution, and then finally the new equilibrium. But our film is very different, from the beginning of the narrative disruption occurs throughout. Our film is also very different in that it is in a non linear format, because the ending is the beginning the film and then it flows back from there. This is similar to Quiento Tarrintino’s famous ‘KILL BILL’ in how it is constructed, and it is why we had the confidence to portray our story like this, especially in that ‘KILL BILL’ was such a so success.

We used many sounds in our film such as the backing track, natural sounds, and special sound effects such as a baby crying and a flat line monitor. In drama genre related films and programmes you get a lot of dramatic sound effects such as flat line monitors because there are a lot fights and accident that keep us interested, which may lead in going to a hospital where subsequently you might here such sounds such as in drams like Eastenders and Holby city, and also in films like Kill Bill were Cameron Diaz in a hospital bed. A baby’s cry in a drama is a symbolism of exaggerated realism so babies cry is very drama related and follows the codes and conventions of a drama.

Regarding Mise en scene I followed the conventions of a urban/drama in how I used the black and white effect for the majority of the sequence, but then put highlights on the photographs of the child to show the importance of the photo and how pivotal this character is the main characters life Lauren Ealing .I also made sure the viewers couldn’t see the whole of the actress’s face to create mystery and enigma one famous example of enigma was in Queintin Trarrintino’s Pulp Fiction with the golden breifcase. This is a very common drama based technique to create mystery in a scene. It is also used in soap opera’s like Eastenders. My opening sequence also challenges the conventions of a drama through Mise en scene because there children’s toys on the table of the basement. You would normally find children’s toys in family films and fantasy films but in this case it is in an urban/drama.

To conclude my media production ‘FORSAKEN’ mostly uses the codes and convention of a drama in how we presented the main character, and how we used dramatic sound effects such as a flat line monitor. Although it also challenges the codes and conventions because I used a female actor instead of a male and also we used a lot of children toys which would traditionally used in fantasy’s and family films.

learning from other films

Easteneders Denise is alive.(relevant 30secs in)The hidden basment or layer which is seen is similar to the one we are thinking of using, this is where i got my idea from and built up around it with a storyline, i began to think how can the character end up in a basement and then it came to me a thriller themed film on a mother wanting to commit suicide over her late daughters death. Also whitin this short clip it shows us i want the actor to look even through a silouhette. Also my idea of a light ray partly came from this clip aswell as from other clips. This clip has been very useful in congering up ideas.

learning from other films

Devlin- community outcast (relevant 3mins)From this piece i have opened my eyes to a variety of ways i could portray suicide. In the video the screens looks fuzzy, this helps to show how depressing the situation is and we may use this effect to do so. The black and white is again used mainly to a sad predicument, and it also makes it look more serious. In this piece we see the female actress pick up the drugs but not actually take it but see the results, this has given me ideas of how we can persuade the audience the actor has administered the drugs realistically. The camera shots were shots close-up and mid shots and this worked really well because it builds intensity within the shots. This has taught me keep shots very closed and detailed so the audience dont get distracted by the background. This scene is an example of how you can use no dialogue but yet still make your scene effectice and get your message across. This has shown me the types of drugs i should use to make my film realistic.

learning from other films

Phill on crack:The music in the scene has shown me that, if you do a drug scene the music dosent have to be depressing. The music used shows a huge contrast, to the activity they partaking in which plays with our senses a little bit. This scene relates to depression and so dose ours so as a director it gives me faith that my film idea is relavent an a actual realistic scenario. The first shot u see in this clip is the drugs layed it gives us another to show our pice, and is easy for the audience to get a grasp of the scene and ultimately what the story is about. Originally our story is placed in a dingey warehouse but seeing this scene has made me realise we could do it in a room of some sort, which may make our piece more practical and easier to configure. Also props wise this scene gives us an incite to what we could use to make our scene more real like bootles, lighters, elastic bands, etc.

Analysis of opening sequences

"WATCHMEN"* what are director’s aims?The directors aim is to show different types of superheroes and there personalities, and it also shows comic values as they take the picture. The director wants the audience to know the film is a comic.* What are the audience thinking, wondering, feeling, asking?The audience are probably bewildered by the song choice and the imagery, they are not parallel to eachother. They are probbaly feeling happy and excited for what is going to come.* How does this engage the audience?The camera zooms in and engages the audience, the music leaves you woundering what kind of film will it be, also you want to know why is there superheroes and what do they.* What are your favourite bits in these clips and why?The thing i like most is that, in the opening scene it opens as a photographer, its a way to establish the characters.

"DAWN OF THE DEAD"* what are director’s aims?Is to scare the audience, the title disperses like blood would. The red signifies an grousome and goury aspect of the film.What are the audience thinking, wondering, feeling, asking?The audience are probably scared, within the sequence it shows clips of people running during trumatic moments, you begin to wounder why are they showing people running?, what is there to be scared about?. Also the news bulletin solidifies the audience fares on the film.How does this engage the audience?The music has a message to it, and it helps to engage you because you want to hear the wording of the song and the imagery used is very fast, and flashy, therefore you try harder to concentrate on whats going on. The use of the red title engages us it signifies thriller, and blood to our minds.What are your favourite bits in these clips and why?My favourite bit is when the title turned into blood, and the news bulletin because from that i gathered what the story would be about, and feel without these to parts the onpening title sequence would not of bee as effective.

"ALIEN"what are director’s aims?The directors aims were to create an aiery effect,and try not to satisfy any cliche's.What are the audience thinking, wondering, feeling, asking?The audience wounder what kind of alien movie isit going to be, because it could easily be a Sci-fi or a thriller. The opening dosent really give anything away. They probally feeling optimistic.How does this engage the audience?Opening engages the audience because it shows space, and the audience want to understand the writters conception of space. Also people always want to know how aliens look like,k so the title ALIEN, is straight to the point and tells us what it is about.

Pulp Fiction - Drug Scene

This clip is from Pulp Fiction
The setting of it is in a room, a casual room. It shows us that we dont have to use a very grim room to show the use of drugs because in this room it is just in an ordinary and we can see the effectiveness of the scene.
The props within this scene vary from things like a spoon, a drug bag, to a lighter this is the types of things we are going to use in our film to portray a very grim and drug related theme.
Towards the end of the scene you have a lot of close ups, and extrem close - ups to show the detail of what they are, i feel i will use this technique in my film, because i feel this is effective way to show is important and a key factor within a scene.