Pictures of the setting of my film.

Synopsis

Synopsis

My production is a real-life drama based in Stoke Newington, Hackney.
The main character, Keiron, finds himself being dragged into a local gang that hang around his estate. He has been lured in by the idea of respect, money and the excitement of it. He begins to realise that he can make a choice and that he has a chance to turn his life around. He is a talented footballer with offers from lots of teams. When a scout for Charlton Athletic shows interest Kieron considers leaving his life of crime for ever and starting a good life. The film is about the choice that he makes.

The film starts off with Kieron leaving his estate in the morning, about to go for a jog around the block. He is confronted by his former gang as he starts to jog. When he looks up and they are blocking his way his heart stops for a second, he freezes. Then before anyone can say anything, turns around and dashes off leading into a chase scene. The gang chase Kieron until he is caught by one of them, then they beat him up violently. I have an idea for a shot when the viewer can see through his eyes and a baseball bat causes him to black out.

The rest of the film shows how Kieron got into the situation and it leads up to the scene that the film starts off with. When it gets to the end it cuts off quickly and the credits come on.
I'm going to have a quick sequence when Kieron leaves his friends to hang out with the hoodrats. Also I want to do a scene of a football coach talking to Kieron about a trial for Charlton, while fellow gang members watch from a distance. After the good news Kieron jogs over and tells them in a happy mood. However they are not and do not want him to go for it. Kieron realises through talking to one of his football friends that he wants to get out of gang association and play semi-professional league football, but it doesn't go down well with his boys..

Mood board

Statement Of Intentions

My film is going to be live action. I'm going to set it mostly near where I live and have already started to work out some of the shots on paper. I intend to use a long alleyway nearby to shoot the chase scene.

Plot

I have worked out a rough plot for my film. It's based in Stoke Newington, Hackney. The main character finds himself being dragged into a local gang. He begins to realise that he can make a choice and that he has a chance to turn his life around. He is a talented footballer with offers from lots of teams. The film is about the choice that he makes.

Influences

The Ends, from the BBC film network.

Silent Witness.

Bullet Boy

Kidulthood and Adulthood

La Haine

I'm going to study the style of filmmaker/actor Mathieu Kassovitz. Kassovitz was born in Paris, the son of Chantal Rémy, a film editor, and Peter Kassovitz, a director and writer . Kassovitz's mother is French and Catholic and his father is a Hungarian Jew who left Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He has directed films such as La Haine, Gothika and Babylon AD. The film that inspires me is La Haine, a hugely successful and very controversial film in France dealing with race relations which won the Cesar Award for Best Film. Both the content and style it is shot in are major influences to the kind of film I would aspire to create. However it is filmed in black and white, If possible I would like to do the same with my production.

What I like most about the style that Kassovitz uses to shoot La Haine is the gritty and unhappy atmosphere created. I think filming it in black and white plays a big part in this. There seems to be a tense feeling throughout the film. Kassovitz also uses an interesting documentary style transition at the end of each scene, when the time appears on a black screen. There are a lot of different stories happening at the same time, the ongoing battle with the police, tension building up with two of the characters, how the characters make their money through drugs,which all tie in with the main storyline. I would love to be able to incorporate these techniques into my production, I know if I can achieve this my production will be unlike anybody else's.

I have already worked out some effective shots I would like to use, but after watching La Haine, a few more jumped into my mind. I think the shots of the three friends walking were always good, I like how the camera follows them and keeps a close shot. I would like to try to use this technique when the main character is walking with a friend. I have worked out a shot of the main character setting off to jog but then he is confronted by his fellow gang members, it turns into a chase scene. I have worked out some of the places I'm going to use to shoot my production, all of which are nearby.

I want my film to send a strong message, one that is relevant to teenagers growing up in London. It is not going to be a positive film, it's going to be sad and a gritty reflection of street life and I would say it belongs in the drama genre. I'm going to attempt to create a daunting feeling throughout the film, a feeling that tension is rising and something bad is just around the corner.

I've also been giving some thought about the type of music that would suit my production. With the exception of The Ends all of my main influences have music that suit them. There is an escape scene in Kidulthood that is a great example because the music suits what is going on perfectly. I will use extracts of copyrighted songs because I don't have permission.
I am considering using two songs I have for my film, they are both upbeat but quite aggressive. One is perfect for the chase scene I plan to do and the other would be good for an establishing shot/title sequence.

Casablanca

Misc-en-scene

The misc-en-scene in Casablanca gives an effective portrayal of what it was like at that time period. The furniture suits the fashions at the time.

Classic Hollywood Cinema

3 examples of Classic Hollywood Cinema

• Casablanca
  
• Psycho
  
• King Kong
  

Why is Classic Hollywood cinema formalist rather than realist?

 A variety of film techniques are used in classic Hollywood film, continuity editing for example is a formalist element. Continuity editing gives the illusion that the viewer has the best view in the house. Fading in and out is also unrealistic though it tries to give a simple quick changeover from one scene to the next. 

German Expressionism

What are the key features of German Expressionism?

The key features of German expressionism are dark lighting, use of shadows, absurd sets, boldly painted walls; all put together they help to portray a feeling of insanity. The misc-en-scene is an important ingredient in German expressionist film, the walls are usually painted with bright colours and bold shapes. 

Where can the influence of G.E. be seen in film history?

To what extent could Run Lola Run be classed as a formalist film?

Personally I would class the film 'Run Lola Run' is a formalist film.
The film has a clever narrative which is twisted to give the audience entertainment and a hint of frustration because it is repeated three times. There is a change from live action film to animation that occurs three times; this backs up the formalist side to the film. There is also a lot of bright red throughout, along with other bright colours that seem out of place in the mostly dull coloured film.
However, despite the obvious formalism throughout the film, there are many realistic events and situations. Manni is to in some dodgy business with an organised criminal group. He's in a sticky situation involved with money and is thinking about robbing a supermarket to make up for it.
Lola is determined to help him, whatever it takes; I see this as a realistic aspect to the film because it shows how much she cares about her boyfriend.

Class Formalist Film

In our formalist film class project I contributed to the sound department of the production.

Tom, Imran and I walked around recording nature sounds, in the end we didn't need them.

We also recorded a dog barking but we don't need that either because the film changed so much and the dog became a giant chess piece.

The answers.com definitions for formalism are as follows:

1. Rigorous or excessive adherence to recognized forms, as in religion or art.

2. An instance of rigorous or excessive adherence to recognized forms.

3. A method of aesthetic analysis that emphasizes structural elements and artistic techniques rather than content, especially in literary works