BAIL EVALUATIONGEORGE TUNNICLIFFE

Brief Plot Summary

My film follows three young offenders who are all about 18 years of age. The boys appear chatting in a prison cell together and the majority of the film consists of each one telling the story of how they became arrested through a series of flashbacks.

The film is based on a play written by Roy Williams and I believe is in a category of its own through its use of flashbacks and slang terms, it does not conform to stereotypes of a typical British drama as to begin with no gore/ swear words are used, it is all left to the viewers imagination.

NABSI feel the character Nabs is most similar to in terms of other teen dramas is the character of ‘Cook’ from skins. With this in mind I decided to allow Nabs to take on some of his common traits such as a distinctive walk and his over-violent nature.

A character I also took inspiration from was that of Danny Zuko from Grease as he is a teenager who puts on an act to create a sense of authority when really he is very sensitive underneath the act, this side of Nabs is shown as the film progresses.

Voiceovers

I chose to use voiceovers or commentaries over our video to give a feeling of the characters reflecting over their previous mistakes, I also believe it helped to show the emotion of the characters as they reflect on their mistakes in life.

I took inspiration from the film ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ as I believed the voiceovers used were extremely effective in showing characters true thoughts and emotions.

Lighting

The lighting I used within my film was predominantly natural as the flashbacks used were all outside and I feel it helped to create a sense of realism. I also chose to choose natural lighting as in some ways it can reflect a mood already created by a specific character. For example in Nabs’ flashback the sky appears dull and it is a cold winters day, this cold reflect his harsh, unforgiving mood. I feel the use of light within my film is essential in conveying the hidden emotions of the characters, for example the dark grey of the sky around them could show to an audience that they are feeling depressed or unhappy. With this in mind I made sure that no scenes were filmed upon very sunny days with bright natural light as I feel this would create the wrong setting.

However for one scene in particular I chose to add a filter as I intended to show Nabs’ character in a dream like state as Neela dumps him.

Establishing Shot

It was important to me to have a strong establishing shot that indicates to an audience what the film will be based around. I also believed it to be important to leave a lasting image to provoke thought within an audience.

I chose to shoot the Police Station through the surrounding fence as I believe it connotes rebellion as well as showing the building from the characters perspective.

I also chose to include a non-diegetic soundtrack consisting of

Opening CreditsFor my opening credits I decided upon a still image of each character introducing them one by one. I decided to do this as I had seen the technique done in the film ‘Trainspotting’ and found it to be very effective.

I kept the soundtrack running through these stills so that the film didn’t appear to be disjointed at any time.

Placing each actors name in a different place upon the screen was also a deliberate decision as I felt it did not match the typical forms and conventions, which tend to create a sense of continuity which overall makes the credits seem dull and insignificant.

Editing A number of jump cuts and shot-reverse shots were used throughout my film, these were used to not only give the idea of a naturalistic conversation between characters and keep the story fluid, but also to create a sense of suspense as the action quickly unfolds.

There few a few instances in which we decided to use the camera without a tripod so as to blend the camera holder in with the characters so you could watch it from their point of view, I believe this was very effective at some points yet at others it could look very unprofessional.

Costume

Costume Continued • The costume used within my film was chosen to reflect the

stereotypical rebellious British youth e.g. tracksuit bottoms and hooded jackets. I feel this conforms to how a typical gritty teen drama would be shown.

• Most of the costume used is worn in an attempt for the characters to conceal their identities, again suggesting they may be troublemakers.

Dialogue

• The actors within the film used a number of slang terms through their conversations, this follows the typical forms and conventions of a teen drama set in Britain as again it follows common stereotypes of youths.

Poster

At first I decided to follow the forms and conventions of an already successful film poster as I believed little text allowed a reader to concentrate solely upon the image. However after making my poster I soon decided that it appeared too bare and contained too little information to interest an audience so I made some alterations.

Included names of cast members and overall reviews from well regarded newspapers.

Mugshots link with the prison theme & feeling trapped

Poster ContinuedI believe my poster conforms to the forms and conventions of many other posters as the main character is shown to be in the center of the frame.However the central character is also the only character featured upon my poster indicating he is perhaps the leader or of more importance than other characters.

I researched posters from films such as The Dark Knight & Ghostbusters as they have become iconic films and can easily be identified by the majority of people, meaning they are able to leave their posters looking very simplistic yet effective.

Double page spreadI constructed my dps to appeal to a younger audience of around 16-21 year olds as this is the main target audience for my film.

I took inspiration from various magazines but paid particular to ‘behind the scenes’ articles that showed actors both in and out of character.

Pull QuoteLetter drop

Text is neatly structured and not too bulky

I decided to slightly alter my original draft as I felt the text was too bulky and could potentially put off a reader so I decided to cut it into small, neater sections.

My Finished Ancillary Texts

In conclusion I am very pleased with how my final pieces have been created, however after seeing them together I almost feel like they are about two completely different films as the poster is very dramatic and simple yet the double page spread is seen to be a lot more lighthearted and less serious.

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

Narrative• Todrovs theory states that after an equilibrium the normal

state is disrupted by an outside force. In my film scenes are no necessarily in chronological order and a disruption is caused when specific characters enter into flashbacks.

• The equilibrium is broken as the characters begin to commit crimes, this is accompanied by heavy rock music in the non-diegetic soundtrack. These factors show a clear transition between the stages of equilibrium and disequilibrium.

• Vladimir Propp is a narrative theorist who stated a theory that there are different character types within any given film. The character known as Nabs in our film can be seen to be the villian with at some stages Ash acting as the accomplice as they bully Delroy. However Propp may argue that these other characters cannot be defined under the archetypes he suggests as they behave in ways which are too similar.

My Audience Feedback• The main point being made while I collected my feedback

from adults/teachers was that they liked the fact I had chosen to not glorify violence by focusing upon it too much within the flashbacks, however other younger viewers tended to believe that it was too ‘tame’ to not show the shopkeeper being cut by Ash.

• Overall I believe I made the right decision by doing this as it ultimately means my film is accessible to a much larger sized audience than if it was very gory and contained profanity.