Locations: - St. ives, under bridge, maybe dark? - council estates in st. ives - st. ives town centre (outside woolworths) main area - inside house.. party?
Ideas: - Credit crunch, to show how it effects the working class. - house party, effects of drugs & alcohol, on teenagers - young character gets involves in gangs/ drugs/ alcohol/ partying due to neglecting parents.
Shot ideas: - shot of drunk character who's vision is blurred, camera is facing him/her at a mid shot, showing us what he's seeing whilst facing him.
What information does the sequence give you about the film? How does it do this?
In the opening sequence of Kidulthood (Menhaj Huda, 2006) there’s many sections that give away a particular amount of information for the film to come. The first, and most obvious would be right at the start, before anything appears on screen, there’s non diagetic sound of school children playing, shouting and laughing. This sound turns into diagetic sound, as we then see the establishing shot of the playground. This indicates that the children or “kids” will have to unwillingly grow up and mature. Such as children acting like adults, or going through adult like situations, which is what actually happens throughout the film.
There are shots of the main character, which then move onto the next ones, this is so the audience knows who to focus their attention on. There are also several still shots of the boys playing football, which is a child & adult game. For that particular shot the time is slowed down, this would show that the normal time for a child to transition from child to adult, may be warped, and not normal.
The shots flicker from the playground to a drill. There’s only close ups and extreme close ups of the drill and its parts. This emphasises what the character’s doing and makes the audience question that it may be morally wrong or illegal somehow. One of the characters is handing out invites to his party; this is a typical thing for teenagers to do. He also mentions that his parents are away, which shows he’s rebelling, which is also a stereotypical trait of a teenager.
Adult authority is undermined by the children, as when the teacher is telling them to get inside, the protagonist merely looks at him, and the teacher grimaces and turns away. This emphasises the control they have over the authority figures in their life.
The group of boys start talking about sex, this shows that they’re already breaking the law by having underage sex, which is something you’re supposed to do when you’re “adult” enough. They also talk about girls in graphic terms, which’s similar to men, adults would think that young children shouldn’t be talking about things like that. This indicates that the characters sexual relationships will have a big role to play in the rest of the film.
The “bullies” of the film are purposely embarrassing their “victims.” It flicks back and forth from the boys, to the girls, separating the sexes, which is what young children tend to do. There’s no satisfaction from seeing their embarrassment, it doesn’t achieve anything, which highlight the childlike trivial issues they’re fighting about.
Rap music is also used in parts, which is generally associated with violence and gangs. This indicates what stereotypical characters will be shown in the film. It also shows that they’re in a rough, working class neighbourhood
Definitions and conventions of the five given genres
Social realist: a film that generally depicts culture to the given area. Usually in a suburban area with working class characters. Often uses handheld cameras, to give a documentary feel. The narrative is usually someone fighting to improve their life, which focus on current events. Often inexperienced actors are used. Natural sound and lighting is used. Examples: Malcolm X, Land of Freedom, Milk.
Teenage romantic comedy: Humorous scenes, relatable but often far fetched. Exaggerated scenarios, often based around prom night with very stereotypical characters. Usually based on heterosexual relationships, and generally a happy ending. Examples: High School Musical, Never Been Kissed, Mean Girls.
Crime caper with an ensemble cast: There's usually a leader of a group. storyline is based around sophisticated crime. Consequences of criminal actions arent seen in the film. Usually set in cities. Audience get a sense of subconcious relief by watching characters break free of society's rules. Identification encouraged with the criminals. Examples: Layer Cake, Oceans Eleven, Snatch.
Supernatural thriller: Usually to do with the paranormal and supernatural. Generally a hero or heroine, who has to save someone or retrive something. Sometimes having to find the "answer" to something. Examples: Minority Report, Donnie Darko
Adventure (Children): The characters are constantly placed in danger, usually trying to find something or someone, often involves magic or the supernatural. Usually have to face a fear, something that is explained earlier in the fim. Examples: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia.
After looking through sound effects CD's we wanted a calming, almost childlike sound. We decided to use a music box, which made it seem very innocent, and went well with our production sequence.
We also added some animation to the words "twin" and "production" using key frame, we made the words come out from the frame. We also faded in the words, making "twin" come first and "productions" very shortly after.
We forgot to mention who's in our group. There's Ram, she's the one with black hair Then there's Harriet, she's small and blonde and, there's Danielle, who's got blonde curly hair.
For this project we'll be making a film opening for a certain genre. We'll be doing all the planning and development on here.
For the layout of our production sequence we decided to have two plain people, similar to the small images on the front of toilet doors. They'd be blank, with no faces and have same colours, but one of their heads would be the same colour as the others body. Twin productions would be over the top, in a formal font, in a neutral colour of white or black. The background would also be neutral.
