Part 8 Evaluation

Looking back at your Preliminary task , what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full project? 

 





Digital Technology :

The digital technology i used for the making of my preliminary task , was the use of HD cameras as well as I movie programme. As it was my first time using an I movie programme i had to adjust to it , my preliminary task exploited my Skills on the Imovie i believe. Due to the fact i was new to the software and had never before touched this sort of programme and was not used to editing. Which meant i had to learn a lot of things in a short period of time , and my whole preliminary task was rather lacking the skill which i later gained. However the use of a HD camera did benefit in my preliminary task , because it was mobile for the sort of task i was asked to do. Therefore i realised that the continuity editing would not be easy but it would look very good if i used it on this HD camera. The continuity editing on this preliminary task was a bit rough however i still managed to keep it smooth. This was one aspect which i bettered when making my British social realism opening sequence , i had better contiguity exercise. Another thing which i bettered in my opening sequence was my skills on i movie , the credits on my opening sequence where used more wisely and efficiently than in my preliminary task,

 

 

Creativity :

During my preliminary task the story line was a bit brief and was used a lot. However i did keep a mystery in a character creating enigma. However one disadvantage would Be that this was very common and not very innovative. I took this experience of being very common and used it to inspire me when i was making my British social realism film. In my plenimary task i didn't use many British social realism themes which did prove to be a downfall. For my British social realism opening sequence i had bettered the story line immensely. By using more elements of British social realism as well. However the main factor to my success of the opening sequence compared to the plenimary task was the originality of the work. It was all original which required out of the box thinking , but inspiration from other British social realism films. For example the enigma between what character was talking to my character compared to my story line of Yusuf boycotting his religion to do sports shows how i have improved in creativity. My opening sequence has a darker theme towards it as well as a darker story line,

 

Post production :

The editing on my plenimary task , consisted of a titles as well as credits. The disadvantages was that there was a massive jump from my Title to my actual piece on the plenimary task. Whereas in my opening sequence for my British social realism was better as i faded the black background into my boxing glove for the first shot. This proved to be a lot more effective than my other title because the preliminary task title had no relation towards what was going to happen next. This shows how i have developed my skills because i can now use the software to my advantage , as well as the facts i can use the shots which i got better. Because in my plenimary task there was a lot of unwanted shots but i had no option to use them which caused a massive jump , however in my opening sequence i used this to my advantage and this occurred for my fade in fact. Where i faded the black background into UN-wanted footage of my boxing glove.

 

 

Research and Planning :

First of all the planning for my plenimary exercise did not go bad at all. The key scenes were shot , and the specific type of shots needed in order for a certain effect were done. However a drawback of our planning would be that we did not take into consideration our access towards a few things. For example our planning had said we needed a dark room with no light coming in. We could not pull of the room with no light , this affected our production immensely as we could not get the best effect. However in my opening sequence we took into consideration what was available to us and how easy it was to access it. And we wrote a lot more options for it which is where our research came into it. It went down a lot better as our boxing alleyway was not accessible however we used another alleyway shown in my final opening sequence. This shows that our skills in research and planning has bettered immensely as instead of comprising we had different alternatives set up and we made sure that it does not effect my production of my opening sequence as it did effect my production of the preliminary task.





Evaluation Part 7

Part 6 Evaluation

Part 5 Evaluation

How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

The main character in my media product , is a young British Asian by the name of Yusuf. His character is of the typical British teenager . Throughout my media product he is portrayed as a very passionate teenager for his sport. He is also shown as being ambitious due to the fact he starts from the estates of Essex and eventually starts making his name in the boxing ranks of Britain.

This close up shot of our character ,Yusuf, in the mirror is the first shot showing the character properly. The use of the close up shot , enabled the audience to see that he is Asian as well as having a mosque hat on his head. This close up was the first real sighting of our main character. The audience will stereotype him , their first impressions of the character will be what they stereotype him to be. The stereotypical views we aimed to achieve from this shot was ; " He's a terrorist". This stereotype is very often linked with Muslim people. Another stereotypical view we tried to achieve from this shot is that he is a typical Asian " chav" . This stereotype will be because of the costume of the character , as he is in a tracksuit. Which shows poverty , as well as having an association with crime because most British social realism films tend to show young criminal characters in jogging bottoms or dressed down characters if they are committing their petty crime. Lastly another stereotype which we intended to be shown from this close up shot , was that it shows his dedication. This is because he is going to the mosque , showcasing his qualities as a Muslim. However this denotes the fact that our character is not in fact dedicated towards his Religion but his hobby ; Boxing.

From this over-the shoulder shot , a lot is revealed about our character. He is looking back to his house , and secretively taking his hat off. This rebellious act , almost immediately puts a different slogan on the character in terms of the audiences views. He went from being an obedient and dedicated young boy ,to a rebellion and secretive teenager. I say teenager due to the fact most teenagers are mostly associated with these traits. In British society , teenagers are looked upon as if the cause of all bad things after a series of shocking events in the united kingdom , such as the London riots. Now our character Yusuf , has automatically changed the audience's views on the himself , and his social group is now more like the youthful British social teenagers which Britain look down upon.

This is a long shot of our character , the long shot helps us to establish the scenery. The background clearly shows that it is very run down and the character is running through an alleyway. One thing which British social realist films emphasise on a lot , is the use of unvarnished things. Meaning they show everything how it is without trying to make it better. They do this to show how bad areas are sometimes. We decided to add this shot because we needed to add a bit of British social realism ideology in order to get the right feel to the film. And this location gives the audience the feeling of poverty , hardship. These are main themes which occur in British social realism. The use of the mise en scene in our location has helped us adjust towards the British social realism genre , now the film is given a different stereotypical view because poverty is portrayed and it shows the character is living through tough times.

This is an establishing close up shot. This shot reveals a lot about the film itself. First of all the mise en scene ; It is a mosque. The mosque does look very makeshift , showing that the local mosque is not funded well which obviously means the neighbourhood which the character lives in must be no different in terms of status and image. Again this links into the ideology of film four of having unvarnished subjects , it also brings the elements of British social realism themes into it as it reveals poverty and hardship again. One other connotation from this close up is the narrative. This is the pivotal moment within the story , Yusuf ignores the mosque calling and instead has his sights on his boxing session. This gives the audience the sense that he is widely dedicated that he is even risking sin from his god. It also creates an enigma to why he is boycotting his religion. In terms of the stereotypical views given on this shot , it would be that people will say the young Muslims don't realise the importance of Islam. More widely people may come to the conclusion that the youth don't value religion.

Part 4 of evaluation

Part 3 Evaluation

Part 2 Evaluation

Part 1 Evaluation

When producing our very own media product , we had to stick to our plans such as our productions schedules , scripts and other planning made by our partners regarding the production of the film. However although these were big factors which decided our production , the "Brief" which we were working towards was our main priority. The Brief was entirely what i was working towards. The key elements of the brief i needed to follow was embedded into my film. These key elements consisted of : Ensuring my target audience is for my media product 16-24 year old , Create the first two minutes of a British social realism film which should show the graphical musical and editing style to it , to meet the audiences expectations of the media product and finally that all the audio (soundtrack , music etc.) and the camera work (visual) are all original.
Our title for our media product is , "southpaw". There are many connotations towards this title. The term it self , Southpaw , is a boxing term. Boxing is our main theme , and the whole films is based around the sport. The term means a boxer who has the forefront of his stance (defence) by his right hand. Whereas the opposite of this is orthodox. We chose this title because it mixed perfectly as we had the boxing theme as well as the fact our character is not orthodox at all meaning he is not the usual boxer nor is he the average young person. This is because our character is different to all other boxers , due to the fact he is forbidden to Box in his religion however makes the sacrifice. The other main connotation of our title goes back to our definition of southpaw itself. Southpaw again means the boxer defends himself with his right hand and the left being the stronger. Islam being the religion of our character , does not respect the use of left hand. In the religion it is forbidden to eat with the left hand , it is also forbidden to greet somebody with the left hand as well as give things as well as take things with the left hand. It is almost like the dirty work hand. This is very relevant towards our story line because the character is in fact forbidden to Box in his religion and hes parents disagree with it. And the fact that Southpaw is a boxing term , which clearly states that the boxer uses his left hand most effectively we decided to use it because our character using his left hand most effectively means he is doing a forbidden deed which boxing itself is forbidden for our character. In our opening sequence we show our main character Yusuf , who deceives his father by telling him his going to the mosque. Where as in actual truth he takes off his mosque hat when he leaves the hat , in irony the moment he takes his hat off is the moment he changes. he then jogs to the route of his boxing gym. However he comes across the mosque , and ignores the mosque calling and carries on going to the boxing. Throughout this opening sequence i have touched many British social realism themes , one of them is the occurrence of poverty. With many of the backgrounds and scenery it was easy told that the place required more work towards it or some maintenance as it looked very gritty and run down. These were places such as the mosque and the alley way in which Yusuf was running in.

The opening sequence sets up the movie in the right direction , because now people understand the main theme in this film which is of course the whole "Boxing Vs Religion " case.  Also the opening sequence emphasises the snub of the religion , which is a very important scene within the whole film. Because in the latter stages of the film this decision comes back to haunt him in terms of Karma.

This is the narrative for the opening sequence from my Treatment :

" The opening sequence will consist of: Yusuf leaving hes house where he is meant to be going mosque however when he arrives then stops and then Carry's on past the mosque to go hes boxing training instead. On the way home he is then faced with a problem as he is confronted by a Gang .

The clothes that will be worn will be normal jogging bottoms and jackets as it shows how the middle class live. the music will be Grime as it is a common genre of music for the lower class people and for people that like sports. "

My opening sequence relates towards my treatment effectively , because the narrative of my opening sequence is exactly what actually happens other than the fact of the gang. I didn't add the gang bit due to the fact i felt there were too many elements from British social realism and it would just be an overload. Instead i decided to focus more on the poverty , religion and grime topics of British social realism.



Southpaw Final opening seqence

Production log 9

What have been the key issues in the post production ?

This week was the last week in terms of our whole post production as well as post production. Meaning our Final opening sequence should be more or less ready by this week. We started the week by looking over our adjustments from the feedback we had got , and then asked for advice from external people out of the class. They had suggested we re film one scene , in which the camera was shaky at the point Yusuf was running down the stairs.
After addressing this situation of the stairs , we felt that we was more or less ready with the production as well as post production.
However we did leave out the titles and production logo till the end as we thought it would be easy. This did seem at the time a good decision however it did prove to come to haunt us. The titles and production logo took a lot longer than we thought. Therefore we had to spend many sessions after school , during break periods etc. in order for us to get all the titles and the logo itself in. The font it self which we made from live type had already been sorted, it was just a matter of making the production logo and importing all the credits and Titles. We acted upon this issue by coming back frequently during that week and spending more time as we felt we had to buy time for us to finish our product at its best quality.

 ( final production logo )

Overall this post production week has been very hectic and busy , which i would change if i could go back. And will note when i do post production and production next year , i will learn how to plan things better as well as organising my self better in order to get the work done at its best quality as well as on time.

(Credit used)

Production Log 8

What have been the key issues of your post production ?

Earlier in this week we managed to finish all of our work . After this we had shown the class our work , and we had received feedback on the work itself. This feedback turned to be increasingly important towards out post production. This is due to the fact some of the things we did not notice in our production such as mistakes , or non continuity editing we had received feedback on it. Which meant we could address all these mistakes. We also received feedback on how we could improve the work it self , therefore it sets up our post production schedule. As we will prepare to get done what the feedback says then add any other things needed.
One issue which was addressed quite often by the feedback was the lack of camera quality , therefore we have decided to use titles where the quality of the camera lacks. Also we have addressed this by maybe using extra footage which i addressed in my previous production log , the footage we kept could be used to make the camera work look better.   Overall one situation which we could have handled better was our time consuming for production then we could have made a better draft , meaning we would get better feedback which will obviously benefit us because we would change the things needed.

Production Log 7

What have been the key issues of Production ? And what decisions did you make about these issues ?

This week was the second to last week till the final deadline. Therefore there was only two deadlines to finish off production as well as post production. This had mounted pressure on us and resulted us to in fact performing very well this week. From the call sheet we have shot most of the scenes , and now there is only a bit of production left then we are ready to edit the movie.  Although there was no key issues again this week , we did feel as if we have not not spent enough time on each shot in case we need this for back up. Therefore we went back and did a few back up shots in case it was needed for post production. Other than this was no major concerns up till where we are at , apart from reaching the deadline in time itself.

Production log 6

During my first week starting production, we failed to keep to our call sheet as  there was no contingency. My partner had failed to come to the class due to sickness, therefore we could not proceed with the shooting. This has delayed our filming , which gives us limited time to get everything done now. Meaning more work will have to be produced each session. This pressurises a lot , and could man the end result of our project will not have reached the full potential due to the congested amount of time we had in order to finish the production.

Therefore i have decided to introduce contingency , and it is a major factor in our production now. This is because failure to stick to plans will ruin the pace of work , which eventually means we tend to rush the work. Which we can not afford to do , therefore contingency will be a priority for us. The way  i will introduce this contingency , will be that to find a back up person in order to do hold my camera and do my camera work for me due to the fact i will be acting and cannot do both at the same time. If this plan fails as well then my final straw would be to re-schedule the shooting , or editing to a closer date .

Production log 5

During this pre-production week , not many issues have occurred at first , however when in the thick of the work a few issues had delayed the process and the speed of the work. One issue that occurred , was the locations which we had to input in our " location recci's ". This is because we had to assess whether it was suitable to use this location, as well as think if it is open to us using. More precisely, we was mulling over the idea of doing the training of my character in a home made gym. However after watching more British Social realism clips and montages we realised to get a better effect we should show more run down areas and we decided to show these run down areas on the way to the gym. Which now gives our film a different urban and gritty look towards it. Our final problem was the production schedule , which we was unsure on whether we would need more sessions for different parts of the opening sequence. However we planned our film slowly and with the help of production script it showed us how many shots there was therefore we adjusted the dates to how many shots we was capable of producing in one session.

Production log 4

This week has taught me a lot about my target audience , this is because i have conducted a lot of research upon them. One of these research consist of my focus group video which analyses my target audience properly as well as defines them well.

The information i have learnt about my target audience has helped me to adjust my ideas for my opening sequence , for example making the whole idea a bit more appealing to the feminine side of the target audience.  Although i have already learnt about institutions involved in the production of social realism films , however now that i have laid out more information. I have realised that analysing films such as Fish tank , Four lions and Looking for Eric ; that the institutions indulge a very sad topic or dark theme within the film and make sure that the audience feel this sort of theme and understand the message they are trying to send this.

Therefore i have analysed this and will try to emulate this due to the fact , i am portraying Islam , a religion which Four lions (2010) used , however was not able to trigger that comforting feel for Muslims them selves . This is because Four lions was more of a comedy rather than a hard hitting British social realism film , therefore i will try to avoid the comedy and emphasise on making the Film hard hitting. I will do this by portraying the characters well and dedicated to their religion and i will portray the religion in a more attractive and opposing way. Unlike Four lions who almost used the Religion to trigger a laughing matter.

After assessing four lions and their institutional views as well as their method of production , i have valued my film as a more serious film and a more comforting film for the Muslim people out there. As well as comforting for the other people to know that their is a different dimension towards what some British social realism films have already tried to portray and that there is always two views to a situation , and my film will be echoing this ethos a lot.

 

Treatment

Treatment

Title: Southpaw

 

Target audience: The target audience of our film are mainly British males from the age of 17+ and are interested in British social realism and the dark topics that Hollywood fails to use, they are also interested in sports mainly boxing  and religion . The types of things that they will be watching are Crime dramas and regular kitchen sink dramas and films.

The reason why our target audience will be attracted to this as it mixes modern day boxing with religion and the gender will be attracted to the boxing side of there film and it would also attract Muslims as the boxer is Muslim and has a struggle to decide over his religion or hes dreams , the theme religion will attract allot of religious people were the boxing will attract the sports people.

The USP of our film is the fact that we have mixed religion with boxing as there isn't any big films that have mixed the combinations of both things that requires someone to be dedicated to. Another one is that we have used Muslims as the base of our BSR film and there isn't many films that use this as a base.

Representation:

The protagonist in our film is a Muslim boxer called  Yusuf Majeed and is a stereotypical Muslim however enjoys boxing and is hes dream to become a professional boxer as he is boxing at a armature rate yet. He feels that hes parents will disapprove of hes boxing therefore keeps it from them and tells them that he is doing other stuff like going prayer and other stuff.

The antagonist in our film is not a person however is the situation that yusuf faces, this is the main theme of the film as it is the choice between the hes dream and hes religion.



Technology:The technology is our film will be very basic as we don't have allot of facility's to use however this is a good thing as it makes the opening sequence looked unvarnished therefor will have more of an affect on the audience. The technology will consist of hd cameras,  boom microphones , screening, imovie and other computer based editing systems, these will all be used to make our film more realistic and to add focus on certain parts and characters.


Conventions- The main character yusuf subverts the normally stereotypical Muslim type as he does boxing and it is against there religion however he is also obverted as he is into the normal stuff that Muslims are but just isn't dedicated, the parents are also observed as they are the typical Asian parents , there into there religion and are quit strict.

Narrative- The summary of our story is : there is a Muslim kid called yusuf that has a dream of becoming a professional boxing fighter however faces a big problem as he is also religious and it is against hes religion  to fight therefore he is left with a decision of religion or boxing.

The opening sequence will consist of: yusuf leaving hes house where he is meant to be going mosque however when he arrives then stops and then Carry's on past the mosque to go hes boxing training instead. On the way home he is then faced with a problem as he is confronted by a Gang .

The clothes that will be worn will be normal jogging bottoms and jackets as it shows how the middle class live. the music will be Grimm as it is a common genre of music  for the lower class people and fr people that like sports.

The camera will be rough and unvarnished most of the time as it creates more verisimilitude and makes and makes the audience get more of the personality of the characters.


Style & iconography- the music will be grime as it adds more of a affect for the youth and is the type of music that the audience will listen to and the character.

Yusuf who is our main character mainly wears tracksuit bottoms and tops as he is very sportive and cannot afford allot of expensive clothes and stuff.

The editing and camera work will be unvarnished as it adds more affect and makes the audience see more of the personality of the character.

Institution- Film 4 would produce a film like this as it is a BSR film and there wouldn't be much distribution as film 4 cannot afford allot ,  the exhibition will mainly be in normal cinemas all over England as it relates to allot of issues that are faced in different areas such as religion.

Production schedule

Call sheet

Final Shooting Script

Location Reccie's

Narrative Structure

Exposition :

This will be the first sighting of our main character , other wise known as our Protagonist in the film. It will be a restricted shot of our character , and it will be in present tense of our character it self. In fact the first real character we will See would be the characters mother. The mother will be shouting at the child , and telling him to go to the prayers. We will have a shot of our characters back from the mirror next to his front door , this will reveal his clothing which can have an input of the representation of the character. This shot will consist of continuity editing as the character will ignore his mother and leave the house. All this would be filmed in present tense to have an effect on the audience that they are involved with the protagonist from the start of the film and they will feel as if they are on his roller coaster along with our character Yusuf Majeed.

 

Agent/s of change:

The antagonist is introduced into the story line. The boxer is having a very good run of form , he has won all of his fights , and receives a call from the BOA (British Olympic association). He has a bout with another potential contender for the preliminary fold for the British Boxing team. However his luck and persistence is broken at one point , and this is his challenger for the fight to his potential Olympic spot.

Conflict complication

As our character is a Muslim , a follower of Islam. The religion is against boxing. However the character is not just a devoted Muslim but his mother and father think that too. This means they do not of his boxing career at all up until his fight which has caused a lot of media attention , the fight which determines his role as an Olympic athlete for team GB. Due to the fact he has gone unknown through his amateur career , it was a surprise that he was getting called up. Also he is from the urban city of London , which gave him a lot more media attention. Therefore his father was fully aware of hes fight , and it came as a shock. Yusuf does not approach his parents on the day of the fight , and heads out to his fight in Leicester which he had explained to be a mosque trip. His father attends the bout and his appearance at the stadium certainly has an effect in Yusuf's performance.

 

Elaboration

Yusuf may come across as a very devoted Muslim towards his parents , however he has not been the most faithful and he knows it himself. The area which he lives in , is stricken by poverty in many small segments of the area. Unfortunately yusuf is among these few segments , and for his boxing gear as well as boxing license he needs to get hold of a fee funds. He results to delivering large packages to people. He has doubts on what are in these packages however he was told that they are drugs . And he chooses top ignore the fact and just see out the few jobs in order to pay for his boxing dream. Slowly he mixes with the wrong sort of people , and is now asked to go a step ahead in the drug trafficking business. He was asked whether he would be part of selling his own cocaine. he refuses but the people just keep coming back for him. although he has two personalities and the other is locked up in the ring , his second personality is unleashed on to a thug when they approach him again. also the school he attends is a mixed school , therefore he is not shy of women as much. He develops feelings for a Sikh girl , and he confronts her. They both like each other , therefore decide to go into a relationship , as this is forbidden in Islam as well as the fact the two religions have got conflict between them his father is furious when he finds out about this as well as his job and boxing hobby. Yusuf's father bans him from leaving the house only for school , as well as mosque which his father escorts him to both. Worst of all he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant with their baby.

Climax & resolution

Yusuf is being boxed out of his social life by his parents , however at school he hears a lot of discussion about his boxing career spreading. The BOA looked into his fight , as he was winning going into the third round and only a minute to go his opponent managed a freak victory due to Yusuf's shock of his dads appearance. They review his situation and offer him a chance into the preliminary squad. Yusuf jumps to the occasion , not even asking his parents he accepts the offer. They find out and he offers to leave the house , where he compromises and comes to an agreement to stay at his girlfriends house. A potential Olympic athlete now lives with his pregnant girlfriend only at the age of 18 with no parental backing but he has a dream.

Coda

Yusuf's parents realise they have possibly shut out his life at a young age , therefore approach him. They accept what he has become , and apologise and even offer for his girlfriend to be apart of the family. Fresh from his bronze medal in the Olympics , he gives up boxing and devotes his life as a Muslim and a breadwinner for his new family. A shot 5 years later , shows the son of Yusuf being trained in his boxing gym with Yusuf now married and a devoted Muslim with a topi (muslim clothing ; hat).

audience research

Meet my audience & Results of research

Results to research ?

Do you know what british Social Realism is ?

My sample had answered no , therefore i had explained that british social realism was what we see in everyday life of british society , where themes such as : violence ,petty crime ,domestic violence ,racial injustice and other themes are shown.

Have you seen any BSR films ?

Even though they was not familiar of the definition of BSR films , after explained they proved to have seen a film of it. Adulthood , kidulthood , four lions were used as examples from them.

Do you know what themes are ?
Most people had said no or was slightly unsure , therefore i had assured them on the meaning telling them that it is a topic which the film is based around.

What themes emerge in these BSR films / What are the reoccurring themes?

After talking of the films : shiftey , four lions , looking for eric. themes which they believe came up a lot was violence in all films. Also the themes used in individual themes was drug abuse , terrorism , comedy and racism.

Would you spend money watching a BSR film?
They stressed that it was not a film they would take much interest upon , in fact they would use piracy via Internet or home exhibition in order to view the films.

Would my idea appeal towards them ?
Again they would not dig into their pockets to watch the film in the cinema

What would you change to make it more appealing ?
The girls had stressed that my idea was too much of a male attraction and it would be neglecting the female side of the audience , therefore if a love story was involved they would feel more attracted to the story.

Overall does BSR appeal to you ?
Since i had asked them similar questions , i was not brought to surprise when they had said no. However they did say that it had a different dimension towards American mainstream films which is a positive if people are looking for something new. They also said that a genre which needs to be more embedded into the ideas and films is ; comedy.

Sound reprsentation of british social realism film

British social realism visual style

Production Log 3

What have you learnt about opening sequences and title devices ?

In the past week i have monitored films and how theyre use of credits are effective. I had examined the position of the credits as well as titles. I also managed to workout the connotations of soem of them. For example the hierachy of the characters are shown by the order of what characters come first and last , and whether they are alone on the screen or if they have other people on the screen along with them. One activity i did was creating the visual time line for a british social realism film. (east is east)

How will this inform your production ?/ What methods will you use ?

Since i have used a british social realism film , made by film 4 itself i will try to use what i have seen film 4 use on the credits of east is east. For example the opening sequence of east is east was msotly music , however i did not find this as effective. And i will therefore change this and embed more conversations and dialogue in my opening sequence. However there are good things to take from the opening sequence of east is east , and one of them would be that it establishes most characters and the main characters. It also gives us an insight of the situation in the film. I will try to emaluate this in my production as it is very effective and creates enigma , which then means people will feel excited and want to watch more of the film.
One other method i will use is that , i will have more on screen titles than east is east . Although not too much that it looks like a trailer. Also i will try to use the high angle shot used by east is east in my production in order to set the scene of my opening sequence.

Visual time line of the institutional info

Possible locations for British social ralism

Peckham

This is a landscape of Peckham. The area is well known for its run down and derelecit area , these areas have become a habitat for some of the most ruthless gangs in Britain. The buildings look very old and will not be expensive to live in , there are many council flats as well. This would be an ideal location for my british social realism film due to the fact it is run down and shows poverty as well hardship. One other reason would be the fact that if has british references , due to the fact there are many notorious gangs from this place , and an image of where many incidents happen will enlighten people of what actually happens in Britain.



Members from the well known peckham based gang , gas gang.



Hackney

From this picture you can see the clothes outside , this is outlining the severe poverty in the Hackney Estate. As they do not have a garden to put their clothes up , neither is there a tumble dry or neither can they use their heaters . Also there is a lack of space , adn it is very congested. This is a very good location for a british social realism because again it shows the circumstances of some British people who are going through poverty. With poverty being a major theme in british social realism this image reveals the poverty in this area , however there is also violence in this estate. Pembury estate , it is called , it was part of the London Riots . The theme violence emerges from this due to the fact they are looting and fighting police. This is even better due to the fact it shows the ultimate corrupt estate as well as poor , you can see they are un educated other wise they wouldnt resort to such a level of violence.



Anger demonstrated on a car , by the people of Hackney



Newham

This is a landscape of Newham. It is said to be the poorest borough of the United Kingdom. along with the most un employed people of Britain. This is straight away a fantastic destination for a British Social Realism , because people are not educated , therefore they resort to many other crimes. There are a lot of drug trafficking in Newham also , as well as the fact they was involved in the riots as well. Most of the buildings are council flats. Therefore British social realism films can show this unvarnished borough and it will probably create the most moving effect towards the audience, because of the fact it is severely corrupt.

This is a picture of a rapper from Newham , he raps about selling A class drugs including ; Cocaine. His appearance shows that he is of the youthful population , hwoever is well dressed due to the fact he is sellign drugs. However you can see the way he is rapping he is making gun signs with his hands , as well as the fact as rapping about gun shoot outs. Therefore somebody like this rapper , Morrison, defines what happens in Newham . One final thing is the bakground , it is almost an empty area , therefore he chose to do his song in a derelict area. Which shows even he is trying to show his hardship and where he lives is very poor. This would be a fanatstic place for a British social realism film.

Isle of dogs  

As you can see from this picture that most of the buildings in this picture are all flats. Also there are no cars , meaning that people cannot afford it therefore have to use the oublic transport. The fact that this is in london , is great for a british social realism. This is because most films show the good side of london , the nightlife and the expensive stuff. However they are not showing what truely goes on behidn the scenes , therefore to base a film in the isle of dogs will raise awareness of British realism.

This picture defines exactly what the unvarnished side of British social realism is. The picture above shows the pretty side however the other picture of the estate shows the rather unvarnished side. One thing british social realism films use is un varnished places , therefore this place will be perfect to shoot a british social realism film.

How british social realism themes are used

Racism

This is a theme which is embedded into British social realism a lot , due to the fact Britain has a big history with a lot of migration occurring especially after the world war 2.  One prime example of this would be the film based in the 1960's , which was only after the forklands war however still coming to terms with the world war 2. The racism act was towards a middle aged asian man , who was stereo typically in a cornershop which most asians are associated with even in todays day and age. The theme was put across by the dialect of the scene , when one of the skinheads said , " He's dad died for his country , what have you done ?". This goes back to the stereo typical view people had in them days that all the foreighners and the migrants were stealing the english people's jobs. Another dialect which proved to be part of the racist theme in this film was , "Paki". This creates a bad atmosphere to the adueince. It shows what the asian people had to go through in them times , which makes people feel sorry for them and they themselves become emotional.

Poverty

Film 4's ideology is in fact to show the hardship of a british life , aswell as the gritteyness of Britain itself. Therefore poverty creates this theme and it also salutes their ethos perfectly. an example of where Poverty is potraid is the film , "looking for eric". Eric himself is a postman and is shown in his uniform , this makes him look very casual and working class. Aswell as his house being very small and almost clustrophobic. It is very dirty also with things all over the place , which reduces the space even more. With the help of mise en scene; Props and costume, it identifies the status of the characters , aswell us giving us a negative representation of the whole place it self (Manchester). 

Violence/ Curroption

In the later films of british social realism , they are more based in the later generation of Britain. These stories are set mostly in the run down urban areas of britain. One thing which sums up the appearance of these characters would be a chav. Also another theme which is acted upon on in british social relaism filsm is violence. I have linked these two themes because the later films show a different dimension of violence. In a film such as "Kidulthood" it shows that violence is being potraid in an association or a gang. This is also shown in another british social realism film , "Attack the block", where they also perform violence in a group. Britain has undergone many gang violence , it has most definately become the most popular crime to be going on in Britain. British social realism films act upon the real outgoing of British society and embed it into their films , which give the audience a picture of how corrupt the younger generation and to what extent they take their corruptness and use it in violence , by killing people , severely injuring and many other obscene scenarios.

Drug Abuse

Drug abuse is a horrific image to imagine , as you see perfectly ordered people perish due to their addiction to drugs. British social realism reflects on the recurring theme of drug abuse , and it has a very negative impact on the audience. As they feel very disturbed , hhowever they also realise as to what goes on in Britain and it raises their awareness . Which defines british social realism films aim , to raise awareness of what actually goes on in Britain. One film which shows Drug abuse is the film , "shifty" , this is a film where a young man has a made a living off selling cocaine. However he is destroying families and killing people slowly by providing them the drug. It is a very moving film which shows drug abuse is a very sensitive theme and british social realism themes use it it to its extent as it shows what it does to peoples live and it shows that it does go on in a country which has achieved so much internationally.

 Sex

Sex is a very common theme which emerges within the british social realism films , it has been shown in many films in this generation as well as previous times of the birtish indurstry. People will almost get the image that sex is a thing we are addicted to. However recently there have been rather disturbing images of sex and a different presentation of it , over the recent years.  For example under age sex is being shown quite a few times , FIshtank , 4 3 2 1 a swell as the kidulthood trilogy ( kidulthood , adulthood , anuvahood). These all shows teenagers who are easily recognisable as too young for sex , however this sighting of under age sex shows that the representation of british people is negative and they are careless. These sex sighting only occure with in the poor urban areas mainly. 

Production Log week 2

What have you learnt about social realist codes and conventions in relation to audience ?

Over the two weeks , we have analysed a lot of opening sequences. And even from the opening sequences it is visible that social realist codes are basically the genres of social realism it self. This also counts as the conventions , as most the themes used are based of british social realism genre itself. This themes are such as , political violence, murder , gang warefare , violence , poverty and many other striking themes. This can relate to their audience , due to the fact its what happens in a day to day british life style for some people. Or they may even see it. Therefore the audience can relate to it , as British Scoail Realism films normally target for british nieche markets. Also in the opening sequence i have learnt the way to use the credits and introduce characters , such as reccuring characters themselves in opening sequence.

How will this inform your production ?

This will help me , due to the fact i need to make a british social realism genred film. And to emaluate the good uses of credits , and titles of a british social realism film will be ideal for me as i am trying to show the examiners that this relates to the british nieche audience. Also i will use the texts they have used and take it into mind , as well as the way they use it because this will help me come up with my own ideas as well as try to make my opening sequence better.

What texts do you find particiularly influential and why ?

I have been evaulatating east is east for my work. The use of credits they have used is very good , and the texts they use is very modern . However the credits do not finish only ater 3 minutes. this is a prolonger process , even though the quality of the texts are good and draw attention towards the audience. Which makes them like the film more. It says insitutional information the most , which i will try to use as it has influenced me because it makes the british social realism theme more relevant.

Use of films in British Social realism

What is the link between British Social realism themes and the real world ?

British social realism films and the news have a common base. It is all based on things which happen in britain itself. Whilst watching the news it reveals many devastating things which you look upon and feel bad towards to. 
"#MyJihad is to kidnap and terrorize the kuffar. What's yours?" - This is a quoted line from a case of a youthful Islamic group who are in support of the alleged terrorist acts going on in Syria  The men are ages among 18 , 21 and 33. Therefore a fairly young group. This almost links with the British social realism film " Four lions " (2010) . I was immediately engaged on to the story as it reminded me a lot of the whole plot of the four lions film , in fact and im sure a lot of people who have watched the film are thinking the same thing.  Like the young men in the four lions characters , they have got the wrong conception of the Islamic term of jihad. And plan to base their jihad on a terrorism act. Jihad which is an Islamic term for every Muslims duty , it means to "strive in the way of god ". Terrorism is a highly violent procedure , Islam certainly does not promote this sort of corruptness in fact it promotes peace. As most people would know that Islam means peace.  Therefore the line immediately shows the people involved in the real life association of the terrorism act are no different to the characters in four lions. Even the term "kuffar" is used , which is repetitively used in four lions.  This is a perfect example of how the link between the British social realism genre and the real world problems are so intact , because the real life case study is almost the same as four lions. Which shows British social realism films are showing what truly happens in the British society .

What is unique about how themes are explored in British social realism films ? 

British social realism films are set in normal situations. They make out as if the actors are living the usual life of a British person. They do include difficulties , such as a bad area to grow up or an alcoholic mother. And many other scenarios which i am sure many film institution used. However BSR include things which you don't see in your average Hollywood film. They include vile and disgusting sightings which effect you very badly. In a sense they do go over the top in trying to portray what sort of violence goes on inside parts of Britain . One theme is domestic violence , films such as Final destination are every brutal however it has become a sort of entertainment as it is all fictional based. An opposite of this would be the 1997 film " Nil by mouth" . This is a great example of domestic violence , and it is very moving. As the woman is being very brutally beat up by her husband  And he fact that they do not show the woman being beat , leaves us to imagine how she looks. This has an immediate effect on the audience , and it makes us feel sorry for her as well as disgusted. This a great example of how unique the way British social realism films portray their themes.

Are there any themes which are essential to British social realism films ? What are they and why are they essential ?

In British social realism films , they reveal many themes which go on in Britain.  These themes consist of violence , racial injustice , drug and alcohol abuse. Without these sort of themes BSR cannot make people realize that Britain has many shocking things which happen. these themes of violence , are things such as killings , fights. Racial injustice is another theme which strikes as very important in BSR and it is essential because as people thought that we are getting rid of racism the fact it still occurs . Makes people very sad , meaning the BSR films ethos has worked as they try to show what literally occurs in Britain.

Production log week 1

What have you learnt this week from looking at the mark scheme and peer assessing previous work ?

Looking at the mark scheme gave me an idea of what a perfect coursework piece would look like. It also enabled me to take a look at what a very low quality piece of work would look like. However the main thing i gathered from analysing other peoples work via the mark scheme is that the understanding of the task it self has improved drastically. I now fully understand the objectives of the task. I hope to carry this knowledge on to when i do my own project , and can embed it in my own work to gather the most marks i can.

How will this inform your production ?

Me looking at previous work will help me in my work , because i will  try to see what they have done good and bad and possibly adapt it towards my work. But the most beneficial thing would be the mark scheme. I have assessed the mark scheme and have even tried to mark a piece of work. Therefore for me to be in the position of the examiner marking a piece of work , i now fully acknowledge what is needed for a good piece of work. Such as the criteria , i will try as hard to make my work to the best of quality.

What will you try to emulate/avoid?

From the coursework i have assessed i have seen top of the range quality work. I will try to assess their videos maybe once or twice , and see how they are getting so many marks. I will try to emulate this , and all the other good things their video has. however on the other side i have assessed very poor quality work , and i tend to not copy their traits. Things such as poor quality of shots have been used , i hope to avoid something like this. As well as the other things which pull down the marks , such as the theme not matching to British social realism. And finally some of the editing was poor , for example continuity editing was very poor on one piece of the work. Therefore i would assess my work just like i did with the previous work and i will try to emulate the good coursework however avoid the lower-end coursework which were docked marks for silly things.

illustration of conventions in opening sequence

What is British Social Realism ?

Over the years , Britain has acclaimed a lot more publicisation. One of these reasons are due to the fact the film genre ; British Social Realism is emerging as a favourite for a lot of people. It is a genre which reveals what goes on in the Society of britain. And i say revealed due to the fact it is something to be ashamed of , at times. There are funny films which are based in this genre , one outstanding film example of this would be four lions (2010) .

However even four lions does not end in a merry manner , all 4 main characters are killed at the end. Other british social realism films mostly consist of violence , politics , racist injustice , and many more.

One main trait they have is to show the un-varnished britain. The gritty every day life of the run down places in britain. The films make you endure a lot. Sometimes you go through an emotional rollercoaster along with the characters in the film , as britain is not so pretty and british social realism does reveal this to its British nieche audience. These are other examples of British social realism films in the past decade.



social realism time line