Treatment

The subgenre is British Gangster and is inspired by ‘Layer Cake’ with the use of voiceover by the main character and contrast between smartly dressed characters and non-smartly dressed characters. In the opening there is a man who talks about his amazing life using a voiceover and the camera shows his life and family but then he goes into the bathroom and washes his face and when he looks up he’s changed and the tone of the voiceover changes with him, he walks out of the bathroom and the scene changes to an abandoned house where he is hiding from a debt collector. The character is now scruffily dressed and the debt collector is smartly dressed which creates a contrast between them. The character hides from the debt collector (no running or chase scenes) and he finds him and shines a light at his face and the picture freezes, although the voiceover continues for a few seconds before the scene ends. The location’s we are going to use are an abandoned house, a bathroom and a field. The abandoned house gives an eerie feeling and sets the atmosphere, the bathroom contrasts with the dark house and acts as a link between the characters new and old life. The field is an open but deserted space which implies the characters loneliness. The scene creates an enigma as the audience is left wondering why the character is being chased and why his life changed so much, if the film continued it would tell the characters story of why he changed and what happened between the two scenes shown in the opening.

Continuity Task Questions

Question 1) What planning did you do for your filming task, and how did this planning aid in the filming?

First we decided what situation to do that had all the parameters for the brief in. The parameters were walking into a room through a door, sitting down and exchanging two lines of dialogue. After we decided on the situation we chose the actors which were Sarah and Dan and the camera person which was me. We all drew out a story board of how the scene was going to go which included camera angles which made it easier when it came to filming because we just had to follow the plan, the plan followed the brief so if we followed the plan then we would be keeping to the brief. The planning also made the shooting go quickly and efficiently because we didn't have to work out which angles would look better or how to shoot the scene as we had already planned it out.

Question 2) What is the 180 degree rule, and how is this rule important to the filming task?

The 180 degree rule is keeping the camera on the same side of the actors but panning or moving it within 180 degrees. This means keeping the actors on a specific side of the camera, in our continuity task Sarah is always on the left of the camera while Dan is always on the right and this is in keeping with the 180 degree rule. It is important to the filming task because it would confuse the audience if the actors kept switching sides of the camera, so keeping them on the same side makes the action easier to follow by the audience. The 180 degree rule also keeps the audience engaged in the scene as with the 360 degree rule the audience would have to mentally orientate themselves with the camera which reduces their engagement with the action onscreen.

Question 3) What shot types and camera angles did you use in your filming task, and to what effect?

In the first shot we used a long to medium shot in the corridor with Dan walking towards the camera, the camera pans slightly to follow him as he goes to the door. This simulates the human eyes so it is like the audience are observers. The camera switches to a view of inside the room of Dan walking into the room and sitting down, the camera is stationary but pans down when he sits to keep him in view. This is done so it looks like the audience is following the action and the audience are still observing. The next shots are edits between the two speakers and one shot of the space between them where an envelope is being handed over. The camera follows the 180 degree rule in this part of the scene. The camera is low angle when showing Sarah as it makes her look like the dominating figure in the conversation, the angles on Dan are slightly high to make him look smaller and the more vulnerable character in the scene.

Shooting Map

A Shooting Map is an ariel view of the scene which shows the movements of the characters and camera. In the shooting map of our preliminary task the camera starts in the hall following Dan and then switches to inside the room where the main scene takes place. The arrows show where Dan moves and where the camera moves (If it does). The shooting map also shows which side of the characters the camera will be so it shows that the 180 degree rule is being used.

List Of Questions - General Questionnaire

1) Are You Male or Female?

Male
Female

2) What Is Your Age? …………

3) Where Do You Hear About Films? (eg; Trailers, Posters, Word-of-mouth)

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4) Which Genre Do You Prefer to Watch? (Choose Three)

Thriller, Romance, Comedy, Rom-Com, Fantasy, Action, Historical, Sci-fi, Drama, Family, Horror, Crime, Mystery, Musical, War/Political,
Other (please state) ……………

5) Where Do You Watch Films Most?

Cinema
TV
Internet

Why?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

(If You Chose ‘Cinema’ Please Answer Question 6, If Not Please Skip)

6) Where Do You Go To Watch Films?

ODEON
Vue
Cinema City
Hollywood Screen Cinema

Questionnaire Results For Media Audiences - General

I asked the question "Are you male or female" because in my proposal I wanted to know if males and females have different preferences of genres and how they found out about films. I gave 10 questionnaires out to males and 10 out to females so I would have more balanced results.



I asked "How do you hear about films" and tallied the results. I found that most of the people who answered the questionnaire found out about films through trailers, but they also found out through other means such as word of mouth and posters. I noticed that more males found out about films through word of mouth than females and more females found out about films through posters than males. It seems that males who took my questionnaire tell each other about films they've seen more than the females, this could be because they're are currently more male targetted films screening at Norwich cinemas such as '2012' and 'Jennifers Body'.



I found with this question about genres that the 10 females who took the questionniare liked Thriller and Horror more than the 10 males that took the questionnaire, and that the males liked Comedy and Action more than the females. Comedy was a choice for most of the questionnaire takers. I think that Action films was chosen more by males because Action films are mostly targetted at males, and I think that females liked Thrillers and Horrors more because of the atmosphere that they create - "It's the thrill of getting freaked out which makes you want to watch Horror films once in a while" (Female Questionnaire Taker)



Most of the males and females that took the questionnaire prefered to watch films at the cinema or on TV rather than the internet. I asked why they chose the answers they did (many of the takers choose more than one) to get qualitative data. These are the results I got:

Males:

Cinema -
"I like the big screen, it's a quiet romantic place"
"Best quality"
"Better experience" x2
"To be with friends"

TV -
"It can be with friends and family and it has breaks"
"Cheaper" x3
"Convienience"

Internet -
"Can't be bothered to leave the house"

The males had varied responses to why they liked the cinema/TV/internet. Most of the males that chose the TV chose it because of money, while the males that chose the cinema chose it because of experience/quailty and social reasons.

Females:

Cinema -
"To be with friends" x4
"Experience" x2

TV -
"Cheaper" x3
"Easier" x3

Internet -
"Quicker" x2
"Cheaper"

The female takers had less varied responses than the males, the ones that chose TV and Internet said it was easy and cheap and the ones that chose the cinema said it was for the experience and to be with friends.



Most male and female takers liked viewing films at the Vue, I think this is because it is the easiest to get to as it is in the middle of the city. Vue has more screens and screenings for newly released films so it is more prefered by both male and female teenagers.

Proposal For Media Audiences - General

I will write a questionnaire about how people hear about films, which genres they watch and where they go to watch them. I want to know if males aged 16-18 watch different types of films and go to different places compared to females of the same age.

I will ask mostly multiple answer questions to get some quantitative data but I will also ask some open ended questions for qualitative data.

Question Example:

Where Do You Watch Films Most?

Cinema
TV
Internet

Why?
...........................................

This gives both quantitative and qualitative data.

Notes on Film Openings

LA Confidential



Conventional film noir themes:
- Voiceover
- Dark room, lit with lamps
- Iconic props, guns, cigerettes
- sets a timeframe of the 80s/90s with the old fashioned type writers and attitude to family life.

Non-conventional film noir themes:
- Mood is happy
- Bright sunshine, natural light
- Jazzy music
- Colour
- Wide open spaces
- Public places

Music starts before picture. Voiceover sets a scene of LA being wonderful and amazing, but he suddenly changes and talks about the dark side of LA which contrasts his happy demenour and the jazzy music.

Main characters introduced nut not much is said about his personality. Audience cant relate to him yet. Talks about the image of LA and how wrong it is. The voiceover talks about criminals quite lightly, saying a bodyguard is a "dapper gent" which puts a upbeat spin on a dark subject.