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My film has been inspired by two of the most popular films amongst young people Kidulthood directed by Menhaj Huda and Bullet Boy directed by Saul Dibb. I feel as if these two films show and tell an urban story which is what my group and I want to do with our film.

Kidulthood is a British drama about the life of several teenagers who live in west London. A suicide, impregnation and murder takes place. Written by Noel Clarke. The reason this film inspired me is because of the story behind it, i felt as if young people who live in London really can relate to the story and this is the same effect I want to have on my audience. Also the main characters are all presented in the same age group as the characters of my film so I feel as if the two can be seen as similar.

Bullet Boy is a Britiish drama starrting Ashley Walter who plays Ricky. He was just left prison and decides he wants to establish himself in the neighborhood again but wants to turn his life around for the better. His friend Wisdom starts up a conflict with a local gang member Godfrey about hitting his car mirror. Godfrey shoots Wisdoms dog in revenge, so Wisdom takes revenge and attempts to kill him. He fails and results in him and Ricky getting killed.

This film inspired me because, I feel it is the best British urban film to date, the story does a good job at drawing the audience in, which is what any film maker wants to do, the film also constructs representations, class and stereotypes through mise-en-scene very well. Each of these skills are what I have tried to input into my film.

Camera Shots & Film Analysis

Using good and specific camera shots for particular scenes are one of the key skills I need to input into my film. It is something I have realised as I watch films since I was taught the skill in my AS Media lessons.

Training Day
Director- Anton Fuque
Genre- Police Drama
Starring- Denzel Washington & Ethan Hawke

From the picture above we can see there is a two person shot "2 shot" being used. From this shot we can work out who plays the roll of "being in charge". Ethan  Hawke is in the background indicating that he has a lower status than Denzel and the positioning of his hands can be interpreted as "hey, what are you doing?". Also, Denzel is walking in front wearing all black clothes to emphasise his sinister mind, he is holding a gun and walking away from what seems to be a murder he has just committed. From this one camera shot alone it is very easy to work out who plays what roll and it shows how important camera shots are as they too tell a story.



Batman - dark knight
Director - Christopher Nolan
Starring - Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart & Heath Ledger

In the above picture we can see an over the shoulder shot, this shot is usually used during a conversation to show a persons point of view, and to show the facial expressions of the person while speaking. This shot switches between two people during the whole conversation.

These are just two of examples of two camera shots I will be using in my film and these are just two of many films which have inspired me to do so. 

Equipment

The equipment I am using is very popular amongst people who enjoy filming and editing for whatever reason, it could be blogging, broadcasting or just freelance film making, it does the job perfectly. I am using the latest apple mac 21 inch, Sony hdv mini camera with microphone attachment that records in full 720p HD and Final cut pro to edit the films.

I used Final cut pro on the Mac to edit my footage, I has never used Final Cut before so it was really tricky to get my head around. However, after an induction lesson and a few tries of editing videos, i got the hang of it. I found it hard to do transitions and make them look smooth. Now my final edit of my film should look very good for a beginner editor.

Apple Mac










Sony Hvd mini with mic attachment









Final Cut Pro

Recce

A recce is a rough run through of a film to work out its suitability for filming and assessment of any potential lighting or sound issues. Quentin Tarrintino  the director of  Reservoir Dogs uses a recce. In the first scene of the recce version its was a long shot in a empty warehouse with a man lying on the sofa. The characters were quite distant from the camera. This recce version was focusing on the audio rather than visual probably because he thought he would have more problems with the sound compared to camera shots.


We only shot the opening scene of our film and it turned our pretty decent. Which was the opening conversation and the fight scene. We did take costumes into account, as well as mise-en-scene. The film was not scripted but a rough storyboard was used. we only shot the opening scene of the film due to the fact that we had a time limit with the equipment so we did not want the film to seem rushed. 


 We ended up using the same location for our main task as the location said a lot through "mise-en-scene", sound was good and there was no   potential distractions to disturb us whilst we were filming.

Here is the Recce for my film. 

Brief - To Film & Edit The Opening Of My Own Film

My group and I have been briefed to create a 2 minute opening of our own films of any genre and including titles. My group and I decided on a film with the title of "Man slaughter"  as it will be about two friends who have a serious fight and one ends up dying. It is based on the average teen living in the "Urban London", the average and most extreme situations they might encounter. By doing this task I hope I improve my camera skills, editing skills and develop my knowledge of how to use camera shots to grab the viewer's attention as well as making a good film. However, i have developed a good knowledge of mise-en-scene´which is basically everything you can see but not hear in the film along with iconography which is costumes, props and their meaning and how I can input my knowledge in my film.

I will also have to film and edit a Recce along with a preliminary task.

Introduction to editing

Since I have begun my media course I began to learn how to edit videos so we can apply the skills to edit our movies. We began to learn basic skills such as: titles, transitions and effects. The equipment I will be using is a Apple mac computer, Sony HDV camera & Final Cut Pro. I begun to learn the equipment I have access to use, it's very popular amongst people who like shooting and editing films for their own pleasure.  The first bit of filming we done was our preliminary task, which you can find on the relevant post. I also learned a few tricks off Youtube tutorials.


Once all the footage is filmed, I would upload each clip to Final Cut Pro by using a fire-wire. Making sure its in HD for the best quality. I would then cut each clip down to the parts I want and put each clip together in a sequence on the timeline, then use transitions to fade clips where necessary. Finally I would add music and titles and export the footage.   

This is one of the videos I watched.

Audience Types

The audience I am aiming for ranges from the ages 15-24 and living in an urban area. Simply because I feel these are the ages the characters will most appeal to. However, anyone from the age of 15 can watch the film and hopefully enjoy it. From my general knowledge and friends, films like Bullet Boy, Kidulthood & Adulthood are some of their favorite UK urban films. I thought if i can make my film similar to them then maybe I would have a bigger audience, and generate a big fan base if my film to be done properly and hit box office. The genre of our film is Urban Drama, so people that do live in urban areas will be able to relate the story more and will be able to understand why certain parts of the story is being told the way it is.