Production log 3, 4 and 5 !

Sound Analysis of British Social Reaslim in Fish Tank

Today I will be analyzing the sound in the British Social Realism film - Fish Tank.

To watch my analysis on YouTube , just press play below.

Conventions of Institutional Credits in This Is England

In class we have been discussing on the different features an opening sequence must have in a film.
Today, I will be analysing the film This is England to show how a popular British Social Realism film was first presented to the audience.If you are interested in watching the particular clip I have analysed,click here.

A short summary - This is England has an opening sequence of 3 minutes and 35 seconds long, but my production is to be 2 minutes long.The opening sequence begins with the iconic 'Roland the Rat' to show the beginning of an archive of old tv show clips that represents the era.The use of different old clips illuminates the different aspects of British life and culture,this then hints to the audience that this film will be about what England was like in the 80's.It is an important convention for an opening sequence of a film to suggest what the film will be themed around.

A particular theme that is heavily focused on is politics, in particular , the time of Margret Thatcher.
This is denoted from the close ups of Thatcher herself and wide shots of political outbursts and protests at the time.

However, the music used is from a Jamaican origin,which emphasizes the variety of culture at the time and how Britain was becoming increasingly more multi-cultural along with the footage of British figures,contrasting the reggae music to the people who were predominately white in the clips.This means the theme of Race is represented through the opening sequence also because the film has in fact got a scene where a young black man is beaten because of his colour,which reflect the Jamaican music with the white people used in the old clips.

In my own production, I am thinking of doing this in a similar fashion with TV news clips to represent the modern day and also use lots of different shots to highlight the setting and how in London there is a wide range of ethnicity and origin.

-00.06 seconds

"FILMFOUR and UK FILM COUNCIL present"

The first title is used to display who produced and financially supported the making of this film so they audience are aware of who they are.This gives the opening sequence a good start because clarifying it is FILMFOUR presenting this ensures that the film will be good as they have a high success rate for films.

00.10 seconds

"In association with EM MEDIA and SCREEN YORKSHIRE"

This title is used to exhibit to the audience who the film commissioner/producer were associate with in the developing of the film.This is mostly just used to give them some credit.

00.16 seconds 

"A WARP FILMS production"

This tells the audience who produced the film so they can acknowledge them with other films made of a similar genre perhaps.

00.21

"In association with BIG ARTY PRODUCTIONS"

This is just to tell the audience who the producers worked with to give them credit.

00.23

"A SHANE MEADOWS film"

Here,the Director is exposed quite early on the opening sequence so the audience are aware of who directed the following film before they watch any further in the opening sequence to give his title more dominance.

00.37 

"This is England"

Title of the film is placed after the Director's name to highlight the link between the film director and the film itself.All previous titles were blacked out but there is more a contrast for the film title because it is overlayed on the archive clip of the housing area.

0.44-

Actors e.g "Thomas Turgoose"

From 0.44 we begin to see the name of the actors used in the film.They come in the order of the highest payed actor to the least. Of course the highest payed actor would be the person who in the lead or is a well-known actor.The numbers used under the actors names represent the number of soilders died during the Falklands War.

2.07-

"Script Supervisor 

DIARMID SCRIMSHAW

Casting

LOUISE MEADOWS

DES HAMILTON

Hair and makeup Supervisor

DONALD MCONNES"

At 2.07 we get a list of credits for the Script Supervisor , Casting Director and Hair and Makeup Supervisor, this tells the audience who was in charge of certain areas in this film.Unlike the Director who got to have black out title with only his job title on it, it is suggested these Supervisors perhaps were either not credited enough or did not have alot of input for the film as their titles are put together,giving no sense of individuality as they are overlayed over the archive to blend it.

This continues with other crew members such as the Costume Designer , Hair and Makeup Designer, Production Designer, Music Supervisor and Original Music.

Director of Photography , Editor , Line producer, Co - Producer and Executive Producers.

3.14

"Produced by Mark Herbet"

Torwards the end we are finally notified who the film was predominately produced by and at 

3.25

We are introduced to Shane Meadows name again as the Writer and Director which highlights his importance in the film.Second crediting Meadows gives the audience more recognition for his name which inturn makes them more aware of the Director so they can learn about this style of work.

Institutional logo-

From the institutional logo , we can denote white block text overlaying in front of a block of flats.Not all windows have curtains and you can see the grass is quite patchy.Near the front of the entrance we can denote a group of young kids waving.From this , we can connote that England has big rowdy families because of the windows with washing present and the kids we see at the entrance.England is represented as a poverty stricken area because a block of flats is shown in  a lower class area rather than a big warm house in a richer area and not all the residents can afford curtains!

The institutional logo is written in white block typography with the words "This is England".The white colour along with the word "England" highlights how England harbors the majority of white British citizens.The relevance to colour and country sets up the possibility that racism can be a theme as well as the representation of white people in England.

Typography-

From the typography we can denote white block text overlaying different clips of the combined archive.Underneath the titles we denote some random numbers.I can now tell you that the numbers represent the British soldiers that were killed in the Falklands war, this is linked to the storyline because Sean lives with only his Mummy as his Daddy was killed in the Falklands war.

The colour white can be associated with either purity or lifeless to symbolise death, due to the opening sequence using archive clips of war mixed in with people dancing acts as an enigma for the audience as they are unaware of what the exact narrative follows.

The typography is also plain in a block style , giving a sense of practicality which sets the mundane feel that BSR films should exemplify because it is boring and simple and doesn't give any themes away.


What did I learn about Titles/Typography in

class?-

In lesson we learnt that to make our typography look more professional,it should be overlayed on the footage instead of being blacked out.

A nice idea I would like to use in my own work is the concept of motion tracking,so my writing follows nicely with what is shown on screen.

Here is a tick list of titles I need to include -

• Film 4 Logo
• Film title
• Name of the actors
• Casting director
• Costume designer
• Film editors
• Music editor
• Production designer
• Name of the Producer and Director 

Commissioner Fact file

British Social Realism Themes

Hey there! Today I will be focusing on different themes that are portrayed in British Social Realism films.

First is 

Film - Ill Manors

At 0.15 we denote a young female looking downtrodden once she has walked out a shop.She says to the male next to her "He ain't interested,lets go somewhere else.".These characters are outside a fast food place on the streets.At 0.25 we denote the male walking into the shop looking rather aggressive as his walks briskly into the shop with his face contorted with annoyance.Ed (the male) eventually makes a deal with the shop owner for him to have sex with Michelle (the young woman) for only £20.This connotes that Women are reduced to such low levels of integrity and are seen as sexual objects.This scene in Ill Manors is focusing on the theme of prostitution and how women use their bodies for business.In my own production I will represent the female characters in a similar fashion with poverty hovering over the theme.I will represent poor lowerclass women struggling for money and will gloss over ways they may do so to feed their families to make my audience sympathise with my characters.

There is also a song that relates to this scene and the particular character of Michelle created by the writer Plan B.You can listen to the song below!

Now moving onto ...

Film - My Brother the devil

At 0.33 we denote from the following gif below ,two men sitting very close together on a sofa.One male puts his arm around the other.He then begins to massage his arm a bit with his thumb.This connotes affection and a very close intimate relationship between the two men.

At 2.26 two men are goofing around and laughing playfully.They begin to get extremely close together as they fight over the camera.We then denote the two men closing in on eachother kissing.This represents experiencing sexuality and love through the means of their intimate relationship.

In my own production , I will try to explore sexuality by introducing the concept of 'first love' with my characters.This may be depicted from how the boy and girl talk to eachother to suggest a beginning of a relationship.

Next is ...

Film - Yasmin

At around 0.47 seconds , we first denote two men walking into a room,we denote red carpet with gold designs and two men dressed in Muslim etire.We can connote from this that these two men are religious as they are entering a Mosque.The lack of sound here illuminates this strongly to represent the devotion and serious tone of a Religious place and the respect they have in a place of worship.This gives the theme of religion something you can identify with because it follows a similar fashion an ordinary muslim would endure when going to a Mosque but also follows most religions because of the silence and respect shown when you enter any Holy Temple.

Let's take a look at ...

Film - Billy Elliot

Billy Elliot follows the story of an 11-year-old boy who finds a passion for dancing.He is from a working class family and wants to aspire his lifestyle onto doing what he enjoys.In the final scene,the transformation of Billy finally escaping is denoted from the dull London train setting.This connotes an every-day mundane place and location,soon we denote an older man dancing ballet.The older man is Billy now he is older,further highlighting how his dreams came true.Just a regular lowerclass boy who is now performing his own shows in a theatre infront of hundreds of people.In my own production , I want to represent a lost boy/girl who is aspiring to something,ofcourse I can not show the ending as my work is to be only 2 minutes long,but I can still suggest a dream of the lost boy/girl to the audience through the combination of an establishing shot of the run down area and some dialouge of the actor who wishes to be somewhere or someone else.

Finally ...

Film - Fall of the Essex boys / Essex boy retribution

The lifestyle of a drug dealer is pretty flashy and full of adrenaline.At  0.14 we first denote several buildings with bright lights,connoting the big buildings and nightclubs within Essex.We then denote a bar full of alchoal and drugs and a male talking to a police officer,connoting that these men are drug dealing in the local club.This film is centered around Essex boys leading the new high paced drug cartel stealing all the local profit.This film is full of violence and the actors all have an aggressive nature,thus representing drug users and dealers to be on edge constantly which is a good depiction and message to the audience.You can watch this film on Netflix and find surveillence on what it's like in the drug dealing business in Essex.

In my own production work,I want to represent the location to be rather rough and urban.Along with dirty streets you will find your typical drug users,so this film has inspired me to perhaps have some very aggressive actors who can portray dominance of drug dealing and also the consequences of it.

Social Realism throughout the ages

Media Socialism through out the ages from flowerpoolamp

Analysis of mise-en-scene in Ill Manors

Ill Manors

Above is a scene from the urban film "Ill manors" set in London.Today I will be analysing how mise-en-scene is used in this BSR film to represent the film's characters and how it displays the British Social Realism genre.Ill manors happens to be one of my favourite films so I am looking forward to analyisng this for you today! 

 

Production Design
(At 2;21 and 2;23)

Above we denote lots of cars,city lights and alleyways from 2;21 to 2;23.The roads are denoted to be dirty and murky with underclass houses.This connotes that this film is set in an urban estate area in London,representing the characters to be from a lowerclass background as the area is not of that of a higher class which would have more colours and bigger houses.This links in with personal identity as the director, Ben Drew (otherwise known as Plan B) wanted the audience to connect with the film on a deeper level, adding context to the location as well as being personal for the audience who are from this area.Drew specifically chose an estate area that was real rather than a production set to give the audience a representation of themselves and to enhance the realism.

Lighting and Colour design

At 4:36 we denote two men standing in a closed off area.One male seems to be looking around whilst the other has his hands in his pockets.Ed , who is looking around, is connoting someone quite suspicious who is on the look out for trouble,which mirrors Arrow who has his hands in his pockets because he is trying to keep a low profile whilst looking shifty.The lighting used here is natural,to add to the realism of this film.There is no artificial lighting here and the shadows across Arrow's face highlights this further.The natural lighting helps give you the time of day it is,in this case,night,and the natural lighting makes the situation look more realistic.Standing by a closed off area whilst looking shifty and looking around determines the audience's view that these characters are up to no good.In fact,in this particular scene, Ed was selling drugs to Ted.The drug dealer vibe is well represented here because what do you expect from two men standing in the shadows.Drugs is also a common theme in BSR films,from drug dealing to full on drug abuse!

Another aspect of Mise-en-scene that we can study here is the costumes they are wearing.They are wearing dark clothes so they can easily slide into the shadows and their clothes are easily accessible that anyone can buy.This connotes to the audience that these characters are lower class.A factor that is great for any Director of a  BSR film is that the wardrobe worn can be the actors own clothes which is the case here.

Actors

At 3:48 , a  man who was at the local shop here was drinking, this is not an actor but just an everyday male from the area.

"The Actors used in this film were all from the local area that we found from around the estate" Ben Drew states in an interview.Unknown actors who were just kids from the area were used because Drew's ideas were to establish your everyday yob,literally from the streets,put into a situation that the audience could take in as suveillence of Britain and to gain a first hand perspective on the gritty life the storyline follows.Unknown actors are used in BSR films in general because professional hollywood actors would take away the realism,because as a viewer you would know they were acting,if the actor was unknown you could believe the scenario was more realistic.

Colour

Screen grab from 7:29

The colours used throughout this film were all dark or bland.The colours used were prominently grey and blue which is often used as an overcolour in post-production of BSR films.The characters wear dark colours to distinguish them as mundane people you would often walk past in the street and to illuminate how there is nothing special about them.This also mirrors the setting in London because London is connoted with dreary rainy weather, so they interlink.

Era

At 3:43 we denote an iPhone,which connotes that these characters are in the new digital age.Phones are used alot in this film because most of the characters use them for dodgy dealings.However,looking at some of the phone models used back in 2010 when this movie was made,a few things have changed,such as newer iPhone models.Regardless of this,the BSR film was used to represent the present day and how the youth socialise and make contact today.


In my own production

Given the research across the three texts of A room for Romeo Brass, My Brother the Devil and Ill Manors,I will use similar mise-en-scene in  my own work.
Taking inspiration from A room for Romeo Brass, I will use a blue overcolour to give a cold tone to my work.
Taking inspiration from My Brother the Devil , I will use an urban area such as some estate flats to give my footage a gritty feel.
Taking inspiration from Ill Manors, I will use everyday actors from the local area.

Defining British Social Realism

What does British Social Realism mean?

My definition : British Social Realism (BSR) films represent everyday people in their daily grind.Archetypes such as the lost boy are often portrayed as unsuccessful and struggling.British social realism films often have a blue overcolour edited over the top to highlight the dull mood and mise-en-scene.Although these films may vary where they are set in Britain,they all explore problems  typical Britons face.Another way to refer to BSR films is kitchen sink drama.Your kitchen sink is the dullest  and mundane object in your house,which reflects the mood that BSR films try to parade to their audience.We depict negative scenarios and BSR films rarely ever have a happy ending!

BFI have written about the contributions the BSR genre has made to film.You can check this out here.

Realism in film requires a plausible range of character action and reaction within the specific circumstances depicted.
Social realism explores through modern society issues such as drug use,corruption of the youth,poverty and crime.

An Analysis of Representations in 'The Selfish Giant'.

Today I will be analysing seven different social representations from the film The Selfish Giant , I will also summarise a few points on how I will be using these representations in my own production work.

Regional Identity

(At 19:35 we are shown a grotty public area.)

At 19:35 we can denote a wide shot showing some graffiti and a few broken stores as well as your regular postbox.This connotes that the area is a place where most people would go because the postbox would be used by local people and its still habited due to the still present national lottery sign.The graffiti highlights this type of area is ran by your typical ASBO's and the buildings are dingy and natural lighting is used to show you the natural greyish tint of this area, however a grey blue overcolour used.The national lottery sign in the shot suggests this area is full of lowerclass and working class people who try to win the lottery to escape this lifestyle.This represents the characters who are in need of money and a better home , for example, Swifty's mother fits the archetype of  the lost woman , she is an example of a person who would benefit from winning the lottery as she owes people money,which Swifty covers from doing dirty work in the scrap yard.

Age

(At 11:08 , Arbor is calling attention to his young age.)


Age is represented harshly through the characters of both Arbor and Kitten.At 11:08 we denote Arbor acting like a normal boy his age should.He is in class messing around trying to call on his friend Swifty,this contrasts to 39:30 where he earns money from working at the scrap yard.Kids of his age shouldn't be working in such a dangerous environment,yet the scene where Arbor earns some money shows him acting much older than he is.Arbor does not value education due to his poverty situation,he is thrown into the process of making money at an earlier age to make ends meet at home.Kitten is at least double his age and is a grown man,he allows Arbor to work for him which is not responsible.This takes away the fine line between an adult and a child because they can do the same work and Kitten may act like a dominant man,but he is not respected or admired.In fact,Kitten takes advantage of the fact that Arbor is younger by taxing him when he is still under the age of 16!

Disability

(ADHD is shown at its worst through Arbor and depression is shown through Swifty's mother)

At 1:07 to 1:30 we denote Arbor banging furiously under his bed,his face is contorted with rage to illuminate the idea he is aggressive.This connotes that his disorder,ADHD is not controlled because he seems to still be suffering the symptoms quite severely.A little bit later on in the film,Arbor's mother briefly talks about Arbor's medication,there is little attention to his illness and his medication is taken and given very casually.I believe Bernard uses this to represent how different families cope with different types of illnesses and how this lowerclass family in particular do not provide enough for Arbor.At 9:18,Arbor acts abusive towards his mother which further shows how his ADHD is not under control , one symptom Arbor is showing here is oppositional defiant disorder.Disability is represented to be brutal and Arbor's disability is not sugar coated.Another example of disability is explored through Swifty's Mother.She is represented as someone who is weak and failing as Swifty has to pay the debt collectors because she is too hopeless to provide for her and Swifty herself.

Social Class

(Poverty is shown through Arbor's ripped clothes and through the selling of the sofa at 13:34)

Through out the film ,we denote Arbor wearing nearly the same outfit throughout with tears and holes.This connotes that Arbor's family is unable to afford proper clothing for him and he is living a slum like life.Lower class children such as Arbor are often targeted to be bullied because of their background ,this is shown at 14:51 where fellow classmates of his are saying his housing area is "disgusting" and when Arbor tries to retaliate they call him a "tramp".The director uses the lost boy archetype in particular to make the audience sympathise with Arbor's poverty and show you a first hand perspective on what its like living in these poor conditions and how he differs from even the middle working class people.The selling of the sofa at 13:34 exaggerates the extreme lengths family households have to endure to make ends meet.Price drop is represented as the failing man and his name simply exuberates his lack of value.He is seen selling things at a discounted price which not only reflects the lowerclass society,but also him as a character and how as a man he fails to provide.
Another powerful representation of a lower social class is at 18:12 when Arbor's mother is talking to the headteacher.There is a great contrast between their intellect as the headteacher represents a higher social class and Arbor's Mother as the lower.She complains that he is using much more intellectual language to intimidate her which determines our view that poor people are seen as irrelevant and looked down upon. 

Gender

(Men are represented as manual workers and women are represented to be weak)

One key location of the film is the scrap yard.The scrap yard exhibits male manual workers doing quite laboring jobs to earn money,highlighting the theme of masculinity.Arbor also teases Swifty for being too soft and tells him to toughen up,thus representing the male gender to be more dominant and brutal.The horse racing is an act of bravado between Kitten and the other workers to see who is the 'alpha'.Women are seen as weak and useless,this is shown as Price drop shouts at Arbor's mother to get back inside and he bosses her about and Swifty's mother is weak suffering from depression.The only strong female in this film is Kittens love interest as she works at the scrapyard, but even she is seen as  'weak' as she only does the money work rather than the heavy lifting.The director has represented gender in a much more old-fashioned way because the men are the only ones doing the tough work and women are seen as weaker and are objectified.On the other hand,when Swifty dies,Arbor looks to Swifty's mother for comfort,representing women as the more maternal role (refer to 1 hour 23mins)

Sexuality

Sexuality is not particularly explored in this BSR film,but homophobia is strongly seen.Casually they will call eachother 'gay' which hints at homophobia being engrained in their culture and from their society.There are no characters who are gay or lesbian but the subtle homophobia suggests that if one was to be gay or a lesbian then they would be discriminated against.This illuminates the old third-world type of society because gritty areas such as this are not as open with sexuality.This also acts as surveillance for the audience as they acknowledge what it is like living in these areas that are homophobic and for personal identity if they feel sensitive to the controversial issue.

Ethnicity

(Characters are all predominately white,only one other minority group (asian) is shown which is at 11:52)

(White people are seen as chavs)

All the stock characters used in this film are white,with the exception of one Asian boy at 11:52.This connotes Bradford to be ran by white people in particular.The white familes are often big,which is denoted at 12:58 when they had to all line up to get their dinner and sit down.These white families are the ones facing poverty and they are shown to be quite rowdy as the kids swear in the street which gives the impression they are not taught any manners at home.In conclusion, white people are represented as chavs because all they wear is cheap accessible clothing which is often dirty or ripped like Arbors or just a simple tracksuit.Kitten is also referred to as a "pikey" which means a traveler so we know that most of these white people may be gypsies rather than your traditional Christians.

Production log 2

Hey everyone!

This week we got to watch the enthralling film 'The Selfish Giant' . Whilst watching the movie ,we analysed different areas that were represented to fit British social realism conventions.
We also looked at archetypes in BSR films such as;

• The lost boy
• The failing man
• The weak but aggressive man (bully)
• The downtrodden woman
• The saviour
• The follower
• The female with a conscience

This helped me think of ways I could explore storylines that fit the BSR genre through the characters and how my characters will be presented in my work.

So far, I am planning to use a teenage boy as the lost boy who is from an urban area which was inspired from the grisly estate from Fish tank , which is a BSR film I watched in my spare time. The follower could be the lost boy's bestfriend or brother and the failing man could be the father.When I think of how a bully would be denoted with certain wardrobe traits, I think of a drug-dealer.I still am currently planning further how my characters will be represented amongst the mise-en-scene.

In class we also got to discover different camera shots that we could use in our production, one shot I am interested in particular is DOF.

Depth of field

-Depth of field is used in both photography and filming. DOF is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear more sharp , for example if two people in my footage were having a conversation , I would apply more focus at the person closest to the camera and have the second person out of focus or vice versa.

What else did I focus on this week?

Location

This week I learnt how different locations were used to represent a characters social class as well as their regional identity.Most BSR films use run-down estates and broken building establishments to set the scene.

For my production work , I am thinking of having the establishing shot used first which will be a track around a dirty estate.

In BSR films ,the people who would be in the background were just ordinary people from the area which gave the audience some surveillance as to how these estates and urban areas are really like.This is something I will also consider when filming,instead of worrying about background noises and extra background characters,I will leave it natural to keep the realism and to really represent the location than having it fixed.

Influential Texts

My favourite British social realism film is Ill manors.The actors were just ordinary kids from the surrounding area and the settings and locations are not far from where I live.Ill manors is an inspirational film because it represents different characters of different ages suffering in their daily grind.The film was written by Ben Drew (Plan B) who isn't a professional hollywood director, he is actually from the East London area, so his experience and personal attributions really gave the film more heart. Ill manors tackles political and social struggles.If you are interested in this film , feel free to watch the music video from Plan B himself which summarises the film.

Further research

In class we learnt about different social realist codes and conventions , but I have done some further research on how particular film directors have given their films a gritty representation.These conventions I will use in my own production.Here is a list;

Aesthetic conventions

• Handheld camera - an almost documentary style- I will do this when filming around the location.
• Gritty settings - I will be using urban areas such as an estate or flat.
• Naturalistic lighting - To keep my work real, I will use natural lighting and no artifical lighting , but I will be using a blue overcolour to create a much more somber tone.
• Improvised elements to script - The dialogue between my actors will not be scripted and will be improvised. If  I film a conversation , I will film a few times to get different shots to keep my audience interested.

Functional conventions

• Real life issues tackled - I will create a beginning scenario in my production , because I am only working on a two minute clip, I will only hint at a storyline.
• Characters with depth - I want my audience to feel personal identity with my characters so I will ordinary people as BSR films hardly ever use hollywood actors.
• Usually have a political message - raising the concerns of the time - I am thinking of using actors around my age to represent the youth and how they are seen from a different perspective to link to the news we often see about riots and asbo behaviour today.

EVALUATION OF PAST STUDENT WORK

Today I will be writing an evaluation of the previous year's work. I will write distinctive strengths and weaknesses along with some comments.

I will go into detail with two pieces of work in particular that I thought had a great contrast with each other , and then write a short summary evaluation for the rest.

Lets begin with the two most contrasting pieces of work.

Click here to view the video.

I marked this as 24/60 and the actual mark was 29/60.

Strengths -

The footage starts off with a longshot pan of the location.This is a great establishing shot as it helps the audience get a feel for the setting. 

The students vision was made clear because it was filmed on location which made it look more realistic.

The typography fits well with the storyline and has been carefully chosen.

Weaknesses-

Although the title represents the storyline well , the graphic has been blacked out which takes away the smooth editing. BSR films usually have titles with a transparent background that goes over the footage.This relates to my own work I will be doing myself soon and evaluating their work has given me a tip on what I need to ensure in my own editing.

The titles/credits are too small so its hard to read.This is an issue because the audience wouldn't know who the actors were if this was a real film.'Bridges' has a lot of room for improvement in editing because the sound levels are all over the place and the dialogue against the music goes out of sync.

Now lets take a look at Drained!

Click here to view the video.

I marked this as 33/60 and the actual mark was 58/60.

Strengths -

Drained had a good range of shots, for example at 0.33 the actress brushing her teeth is shown in different shots which makes the audience more interested, even if the action is mundane and simple.

I also like how the title of the film is placed over the washing machine which is used a prop to set the location.

I like how the camera shows the actor when walking at 1:13 to highlight the location of the laundry store.'Drained' has great mise-en-scene as the characters are made clear from their wardrobe also as the manager is dressed much smarter than the young woman.

Weaknesses-

The music is boring and does not fit in for an opening for a film , especially a BSR film.The music was upbeat and classical but music in BSR films should be more urban and gritty. I have chosen 'Drained' to contrast to 'Bridges' because in my opinion it follows more conventions used in a BSR film. They both strongly differ from the storyline to the location and music.They both have their strengths and weaknesses and I have learned from analysing these two pieces of work in particular what to include and what to look out for in my work.

'Bridges' has helped me to consider the location I film in more and to make sure my title has a clear background rather than a black one and 'Drained' has helped me to consider using a variety of shots but to make sure the music fits the genre.


    

The first thing I noticed when watching their work was the music which fit well with the theme because it represented the teenage character and their region.South paw was interesting due to the lack of dialouge and had a good breaking up of clips with titles , but there was a lack of closeups and not enough mise-en-scene to give more a representation of the area and social class.I marked this as a 30/60 and the actual exam mark was 34.

I was first pulled into their clip with their establishing shot which illuminated the location greatly.The typography and music fit in with genre but the music level was too loud and there were too many longshots which gave their footage a lazy appearance.I marked this as a 25/30 and the actual exam mark was 32/60.

The storyline was clearly shown through their work and I found the plot to be unique and there was a good range of shots to show the repetition of the main character.character. Unfourntately , the lighting was very lowkey and you could barely make out the characters and the graphics were blacked out and should of played over their footage.I marked this as a 40/60 and the actual mark was 57/60.

Suffocation was brilliantly put together with the titles and range of shots, I particularly liked how the titles were stacked above the folders on the desk and the music sounded like an opening to a film and wasn't too abrasive so it fit in well. On the other hand, the ending needed more polishing and I think this was due to a lack of time for editing. I marked this as 55/60 but the actual mark was 42/60.

Last to evaluate is Maze.Maze had good graphics,a good range of shots such as close-ups and high angles along with long shots and midshots.The theme and location fitted well together.In my opinion,the music wasn't synced well with the dialouge.I marked this as 55/60 and the actual mark was 56/60.