Textual Analysis

My textual analysis will be on the film This Is England which falls into the British Drama sub-genre of film. I analysed the first two minutes of the film.

The film begins with a shot of a photo of what one could only presume is the characters farther. The tattered wall in the background leads the audience to believe that the character is of a working class nature and there are football stickers which lead us to believe that the character is merely a youth. There is no music, just a silence, until his alarm goes off, in which a news broadcast begins on the radio, he promptly switches it off.

The camera then pans around, revealing the main protagonist whom is a child of around telve years of age. There is no dialogue, though he does mummble and groan as her stretches which is accustom when getting out of bed.

It then cuts to a medium-long shot of the main character, again there is niether dialogue or music, but again the cut helps to establish the childish nature of the character through the use of posters in the background.

It then cuts to an establishing shot of the house that the character lives in, it is clear to see that he lives on what appears to be a council estate. The shot also helps the audiuence to establish the time period of the film through the viechelles parked to the right of the shot.

It then cuts to a long-shot . We then see the character leave the house, he is dressed in stereotypical 80's clothing, from the bomber-jacket to the flare-like jeans, this again hints at the time period of which the film is set. Aswell as reinforcing to the audience the enviroment in which the film is set in.

It then cuts to an establishing shot of what appears to be the local news agents, one which we could rarely imagine existing today. From this shot we also get to see the estate from a different angle and we it helps us to get a sense of the size of this built up area. There is still no music playing or dialogue.

There is then a medium shot of the character entering the shop, this shot then pans into the store as he walks in.

We then see a medium-close up of the character reading what appears to be comic book, he begins to laugh as he flicks through the pages. The shot also purposly shows the shop-keeper behind the counter, leading us to believe that he is going to have a big part in the scene and to give the audience the interpretation that the shop-keeper is watching over the character as he is higher up.

It then cuts to a medium shot of the shop-keeper going about his duties.

It then cuts to a medium-long shot of an altercation begins between the two. The main character is refusing to purchase the magazine but continious to read it. From this we recieve the connation of the class of the character through his accent, which is of a thick midlands descent and would be percieved by many as sounding "common". The shop-keeper who appears to be of a  middle-eastern origin pesists to the youth to leave is store. This scene is used to show the friction between races in the 1980s.

It then cuts to a medium shot of the shop-keeper who insists that he is phoning the police.

It then cuts to a medium-long shot. The character then leaves the store in which he is abused by fellow youths.  He then makes a rude gesture towards them.

In the opening two minutes, the scenes help to establish the character aswell as his enviroment, this is done via the use of mise-en-scene, props, dialogue, different shot types and decor.

My Final Media Text - The Flashforward.

Final Media Text - The Flashforward from Cameron Jones on Vimeo.

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt from it in the process?

From my preliminary task to my finished media text i have learnt many things which include;

The ability to film/edit my footage to a coherent and greater quality standard - In my preliminary task we had to film a conversation between two people with inclusion of a match-on-action and an over the shoulder shot. The conversation between the two characters was fragmented due to the length pasues between the dialogue and the angles of which they were filmed at were of a poor standard. In my final media text the dialogue is pieced together in a more natrual free-flowing manner, due to me taking more care in the editing process. I also filmed my characters from a range of angles, which helped the film from not becoming repetitive, and helped to give the audience an incline of the characters deamonor through the use of different shots.

The ability to manage the film-making process-  I have learnt that the film-making process is a team effort, even if you are the director, making working as a team a vital ingrediant in the making of the film, as without the actors/actress there is essentailly no film. Therefore you must be open to ideas and get on with your actors/actresses. Timing is also an issue, as filming could be disrupted for a number of reasons including weather and illness to actors/actresses, which was a difficult process, though i was able to complete my film is two-takes, which showed that i had idea of what i was doing.

The ability to work independently - Aswell as working in a team, i have also learnt that working independently is an important attribute when creating a film, this was especially true as i chose to work alone. This meant that i had to come up with an idea, plan and group together people who were not affiliated with the subject, which was difficult but all let me create my own vision. I learnt how to spread out my time effectively, so that i could get the work load done, and set up the basis for my film.

Question Six: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of making this product?

I have learnt a number of things during the process of creating my media product, these include;

1. I have learnt how to effictivley use a camera in order to create a film - I have learnt a variety of techniques in which can be used to not only create a coherent film, but to create meaning. In the process i have learnt to use shots such as the match-on-action and the over the shoulder shot, both of which are used to make the film more understandable and less one dimesional. I have also learnt how to use the 360 degree rule, another technique used to make the film more coherent for the audience, as going against the rule can cause the audience to feel confused. I have also learnt that the angle of the camera can convey meaning, such as the high-angle shot and the low-angle shot, i used a lot of these within my film, as the represnt the adult dominance over the child. I have also learnt the importance of close-ups in film.
   
2. I have also learnt about the importance editing - The process of editing is when the film comes together. I have learnt that editing can be just as lengthy process as the filming itself. We used Corel Video Studio Pro x3 to edit my film and have learnt how to encorporating music and sound effects into my film aswell as color correction techniques, transitions, adding titles as well as learning to manipulate the audio used in my film.
   
   
3. I have also learnt that enviromental factors have an affect on your film - Throughout my film i encountered weather problems such as wind and rain, thus had the an effect of on the audio quality and look/feel of the the film, which meant i had to consider the weather before filming, meaning that i had to cancel filming on many occasions. Also filming at night had a profound effect on the visual quality of the film, as unnatural lighting can have an unnatural yellow contrast which lowers the quality of the film, this teaching me that technology can be affected by outside factors.

Question Five: What elements of your text would attract your target audience?

There are many elements of which I considered and embedded within my film to attract my target audience. The first element i considered was the language used within my film. The dialogue used is extremely simple and clear, this is important because the majority of my target audience would become uninterested during the duration of the film if the dialogue was any more complex, for example if there was an increased use of words of a more advanced vocabulary.

Pacing was also an important element, as narrative pacing is what captuvates the interest of the audience. My film is extremely quickly paced, essentially throwing the audience into the action immediatly. This is important because the target audience would be used to blockbusters and such, which follows a very similar pace.

The use of a young protogonist will also attract teenagers to watch the film, this is as they will be able to relate to the character. The use of the young protagonist will also attract those with children of a similar age bracket. The urban representation of the character may attract those of a similar disposition to watch the film, as they may have increased chance of developing empathy for the character and may be able to relate with him to a greater extent.

Question Four: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The first of my target audience would be:

Gender - Male

Age - 15 to 25

Nationality - White British

Interests and personality - Those who watch my films will have a keen interest in popular cultre, such as music and film, whilst also being up to times with current technological advances in society. The audience will be those who have an active social life and seek thrills.

They would spend their money on? -  They would spend their money on materalistic items such as clothing, video games, films and music, the kind of items that are produced to reduce boredom and to entertain. They would also spend their money on socializing such as going to the cinema, gigs and eating out.

What type of media consumer are they? - This target audience would have interest in British teen-drama's/comedies such as Skins and The Inbetweeners, whilst also opting for drama's such as This Is England 1986. They would enjoy films such as Sin City, 300 and The Illusionist whilst also enjoying the odd blockbuster, the thrill of horror movies such as The Shinning and alien invasion film Attack The Block and cult-comedies such as Superbad and American Pie. They might not read novels, but may read popular culture magazines such as film magazine Empire and Nuts/Zoo. They would also use their mobile phones to visit soical networking sights such as Facebook and Twitter via the devices.


The second target audience will be;

Gender - Male

Age - 30 to 45

Nationality - White British

Interests and Personality - My film will be aimed towards a male who has children of a similar age as the protagonist, they would also be a family man, who spends a lot of time with his children. They would also have a healthy social life and have some knowledge of cultures developing in society through media outlets such as the news.

They would spend their money on? - They would spend their money on their family, whilst also buying items such as gagets, iphones and computers to forfill their male needs. They may have a tendency to rent before buying their films and tend to watch films when they are on TV as oppose to buying also. He would never really go to the cinema and would only go to socialize at the pub, once a week or so.

What media consumer is your audience? - My audience would watch tv espisodes such as Luther, Dexter and HBO mini-series, as oppose to watching soap opera's. He would also enjoy classic horror films such as An American Werewolf In London and the Halloween films, and would watch any movie that had a relativly interesting synopsis. They would have little interest in modern music, but may still listen radio one for causal listening.

What Kind of advertising would the film attract? -

• The film would attract advertising for Adidas and other sporting good products as the audience will be predominantly young males, which is their demographic for the product.

• Phone companies could also advertise as the audience would be up to date with technological advancements and therefore they would have keen interest in the latest gadget's that will come out, as having the newest phone is considered "cool".

• The film could also attract advertisers of fast food, such as Mcdonalds and KFC, as the outlets are very popular with young people and those with a family.

•  It could also attract advertisments from video-games for the xbox, PS3, Wii ect, this is as male demographically are the audience for video-games and therefore an advertisment for the new Call Of Duty would be pinpointing the correct demographic.

Question Three: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Though in my Institutional Research I outlined Miramax as a potential distributor/producer of my film, i have decided that the best media institution to distribute my product would be Dimension Films. This is as they have and continue to produce many horror movies, low budget or high, for example they are responsible for the production and distribution of the Scream Films and Hellraiser films, which have gone on make millions combined.  They also have a long history of introducing "forgein films" to the american market, such as Wolf Creek (Australia) and Shuang  Long Hui (Hong Kong) and this would be key in achieving the widespread audience of my film. The Weinstein Company would also produce the film as they are under the same branch as Dimension Films and has provided the money for production for British films such as Nowhere Boy.

My film has also kept within the guidlines of the British Board of Film Classifications, as it fits perfectly within the certification of a 15. My film also includes elements of gore without moving into sadistic killings, which also pigeon holes it in a 15 certificate. There is also a repetition of what is considered as "swear words" of which brings the classification above a twelve.

Question Two: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Jason Fry

Jason Fry could be described as the average representation of a British child from a working class background. He attends a secondary comprehensive school and spends most his time playing the Xbox and playing outside with friends. He is a smart-alike and always eager to impress through any means possible. When he is sucked into the events which unfold, he greets them with neither fear or an over-whelming feeling of vulnerability like many children would of his age, but meets it as a challenge. He knows from right and wrong and attempts to do the right thing, even if he does not always succeed in doing so. He is uncharacteristically intelligent and independent which makes him the perfect candidate to try and get to the bottom of the happenings. His parents lives are also in jeopardy, so he is volatile and desperate, which has the inability to change anybodies character.

Clothing

It could be suggested that Jason's clothing represents what has become in Britain the hooded youth stereotype, as throughout my film we never see him without his hood up. This has its negative connotations as those of an older age bracket (40 years +) may look upon him as another wasted youth in today's society. In my film i attempt to challenge this stereotype by constructing a like-able and morally correct individual whom the audience can empathize with. On the other hand  the hoodie stereotype has its positives, as successful films such as Kidulthood have proved. The character's appearance alone my attract those of a younger age bracket ( 25 year and younger) to see the film. This is as there has been an increased interest in the emergence of the hoodie culture and hip-hop music. My media could be used to try and detract bad press of which youth's receive and attempt to bridge the increasing separation in society between the misunderstood youths and adults.

Body Language

Throughout the opening sequence of my film the character is running and hiding, in which shows the characters vulnerability. This shows that although on the outside he looks antagonistic through his choice of clothing, he is just a child, which is a message that should be projected into society. When he has his back against the container he is frozen which suggests that he is indecisive about his next move and is terrified of a threat of violence by the pursuing character.

Facial Expressions

His facial expressions throughout alter from blank (when playing his xbox) to fear (when he is being chased) but never does he break-down hysterics which shows his strength in character, considering age, though this is conventional in a horror for a character to experience moments of terror. His facial expressions do change when he is having his flashforward, thus to indicate a change in time and location,

Camera Angle, Editing and Sound

In my film editing and sound were important components in showing the representation of youths. The rapid style of editing during the chase scene was essential to show the fear exuded by the main character upon fret of harm, as an adult male would most definitely run from an unarmed man who wanted an envelope, though a child would, we never see the male adult character running at any point. Music is also used to emphasize the vulnerability of the character and built up the suspense surrounding the situation. Though the most important factor is that the young protagonist has no dialogue throughout the sequence, which may hint at the agenda that children have no voice in society and are therefore below adults, as a throw away character has more dialogue than the leading character.

Winston Stewart 

Winston is merely a throw-away character is not vital to the plot of the whole film. His character's nature if volatile and rash, which is understandable considering he has a device in his chest which potentially (and does) blow up his vital organs.

Costume

He is dressed in an orange jumpsuit which hints that the character may have worked in a factory with dangeous chemicals, though this is not vital to the plot, the orange jumpsuit is worn to show the aimless nature, of the choosing of the victims. Though it could be interpreted that the jumpsuit could be provocative and adds to the characters menance, as it is usually associated with attire worn by those incasarated in american prisons, and thus it may, subcosciously add the connotation to the audience that he is an antagonist.

Body Language

The body language of the character is also important as this is a key ingrediant as to give the audience the idea that he is in an unstable frame of mind and therefore therehe is unpredictable.

Facial Expressions

The facial expressions shown by this character are those of anger and helplessness, which suggests that the character whom is an adult has been reduced to the emotional level of our protagonist, a child. My film also deals with the death of the character. Facial expression are key here, as it appears his slips in and out consciousness before falling down to his knee's and dieing.

Camera angles, editing and sound

The character is filmed using a few high-angle shots within my two minute shot, this is used to make him seem bigger and therefore the more dominant and threatening of the characters, this again makes him seem the more powerful of the two character and therefore, these shots alone assert adult dominance over the child.

The sound has also boosted for the dialogue of the character, which shows that he is the more bullish than the child character who has no dialogue whatsoever. The music could also be used to imply that he is a threatening character, through the use of chilling strings as he creeps up on his "victim".

Question One: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the conventions of real media products?

My film is an amalgamation of two different genres; horror and drama. Though horror is the clearly the more predominant of the two genres within my two minute clip. With this in mind, my film uses principally the conventions found in a horror film.

Conventions Used

One of the conventions used is the manipulation of colour. In my film I darkened the colour of my footage to create an obscure, nightmarish ambiance about the film. This in tern intensified the frightening feeling one would expect from watching a horror movie. I have also used an eerie soundtrack to accompany the movie, which helps to build tension whilst reinforcing the creepy nature of the occurrence on screen. For the movie I also adopted the Paranormal Activity philosophy of achieving scares; by adding loud noises. I did this via boosting the volume of the music unexpectedly at pivotal points in my film. Like many horror movies I have used blood/gore to effect. I have used blood create an element of realism about the death of a character, this as blood is a key way in which to display realistically a violent and gory element in a film. It is rare to find a horror film which does not feature any blood. In reference to my textual analysis on This Is England, I have also used inanimate objects to develop the personality of my character, this was done by the inclusion of the board games and swimming certificates scattered around the bedroom. This is done in much other drama’s to give the audience an incline of not only the age and gender of the characters in the film but the social class of the characters.

Developed and Challenged

I have also developed the role of children in horror films. For example in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Danny an eight year old boy is used merely to play upon the symbolic disposition of the child, as they are usually a symbol of both innocence and vulnerability. In my film I develop upon this as my young protagonist is also used as a symbol of innocence and vulnerability, though asserts himself as fearless. I have also developed upon the role of the child in a horror movie via casting a child as the protagonist, and in doing so I have challenged the genre convention as children are usually cast as throw-away character, the causation of the horror or minor characters. One of the few films to challenge this convention is The Sixth Sense, though the child character within this film has a very low level of subsistence. This differs from the young protagonist in my film as he is essentially alone throughout the movie, making him a fairly strong and almost unique horror character.

I have also combined two genres when making my movie - so therefore this challenges the conventions which make up a horror/drama film. This is shown via the use of the construction of the character in the first two minutes, this is very rare in a horror as the characters that usually feature are throw-away characters and has no character development, this can be seen in conventional slasher movies such as Scream ect. My film also tries to create a sense of morale, unlike many other horror films which only serve the purpose of entertaining and scaring their audiences. The film also challenges conventions of the drama genre, this is via the use of a science-fiction element (the flashforward), this is as drama's usually try and keep within the realms of realism.

Synopsis

An average eleven year old boy, Jason Fry suddenly has a flash-forward that will prove to change his life forever. He sees himself being chased by a man demanding an envelope. The man suddenly falls to the ground with blood pouring from his mouth, subsequently he dies. After the flash-forward an envelope is pushed through his letterbox, the same of which is displayed in his premonition, there is no sign of who delivered it. Inside the envelope he finds a list of 10 codes with times an hour apart displayed by their side with locations and a phone number. There is also a paragraph scrawled along the bottom of the list which reads “You have one code to spend and each code is worth a life, your parents are both on the list. I have installed a device inside of them that will cause their heart to explode if you fail to meet the deadline. The catch is you can only pick one to save, choose wisely”. Faced with an impossible decision Jason must find out who’s behind the sadistic game before his parents are both subjected to a painful death.

Character Profiles

Name : Jason Fry
Age: 11

Bio - An average eleven year old who enjoys nothing more than to play on his xbox, kick a ball around and play with his friends suddenly has a preminition of a stanger chasing him, in which the stranger dies under perculiar circumstances. Uknown to him, he holds an envolope with the code to save the life of one person, unfortuantly both his parents are on the list.

Appearance - Slightly scruffy, always wears a hoodie because his hair is untammed.

Personality - He's is street-wise and cheeky, but is ultimatly vulnerable, although he has a brave exterior.

Name: Winston Stewart

Age: 19

Bio - Not much is known about the sulphar plant worker. The only thing that is know is that he has a device in his chest that threatens to destroy his internal organs if he dosen't get the code sealed in the envelope held by Jason in time.

Appearance - Skinny, clean shaven and hair gelled hints that he might have pride in his appearance.

Personality - N/A

This is as the character is essentially a throw away character and will not appear in the rest of the film, so therefore there is no need to explore his character.

The making of the fake blood.

Fake blood is an essential prop used in my film, as blood is a significant indication that a character within the film is hurt or dying.

To make the "blood" was time consuminng as it was difficult getting the correct consistancy and colour, but it was worth it to get the correct effect for the film.

To make the blood i used;

• One bottle of Red Food Colouring
• One bottle of Blue Food Colouring
• Maple Syrup

• Flour

I mixed around 100 mls of syrup with 25 mls of flour. Once stirred i added two cap fulls of red to one of blue, and altered between the two until i achieved the correct colour.

 The blood would be applied to the actors once filming, it is described to have tasted awful, meaning the actor could only hold the blood in his mouth for a short duration of time, making the filming of the blood scene's extremely difficult.

Setting Board

The setting is extremely important for the film. It can set the tone and the mood of the film nearly instantaneously. For example; if a film is set within a prison, the audience will receive the connotation that the characters are in an unpredictable and volatile setting.

In my film the setting is meant to be desolate and therefore creates a sense of confusion and isolation for the characters as well as for the audience. The setting will also help to transfer the fear of which the characters are experiencing onto the audience and acts as an intensifier of the dark and dismal mood in which the film hopes to convey.

In this shot there you can see the disused container in which the intense scene will meet its end. The elongated nature of the container makes it an essentially part of the scenery; this is as it can be used to show both the characters without them seeing each other, which is essential when somebody is hiding.

The second shot shows the winding nature of the paths of which the protagonist will run through. The winding and enclosed walls either side can be used to reinforce the feeling of isolation.