A2 Prelim Evaluation

1- Pre Production (story boarding/prop list etc)

The first part of the prelim task was to storyboard the music video, for this we needed to note down every element of the video including costume, angle, time of shot etc up to 1 minute 14 secs. For this you needed to be very patient as everything needed to be commented on and written down correctly so the shots, costume, angles etc all looked the same in the prelim as they did in the real one. For the story-boarding, i worked with a friend to make the process easier and faster to finish so we could get started on the prop/costume list, using the information from the story board we made a list of what every person needed to bring in for filming, for example: ties, guitars, shirts etc. so we were all prepared for filming in the next lesson. We also gave Dale the role of being director, so he gave out all the roles of who he wanted people to be in the video, and direct everything from who sat where, to who did what!

2- Production (filming etc)

The production stage was quite easy to get our heads round once we knew what we were doing, we had to be in our costumes before the lesson started so we could go straight in and start filming, the first bits of filming we did was of the teacher, like the extreme close ups of her eyes, and turning off the light switch etc, after that the 3 band members were filmed, the guys operating the camera had to film from the exact same angles as in the actual video so there was alot of moving around and re-positioning of people, we had 2 lessons to shoot both the interior and exterior of the video, we shot the interior obviously inside in the classroom, then the exterior just outside the library in a little courtyard, where the 3 band members and the 'class' had to dance and sing, the exterior took less time to do than the interior as there were less shots of people, and the main focus were the 3 band mates, it took quite a while for the 3 band members to jump and land at the same time though, which took up alot of time! The filming went as planned, we just then had to edit it into a proper music video!

3- Post production (editing footage etc)

I was away for this element of the process but i know the mac's were used to edit the footage, and that it took 2 lessons to do, we had to sync the music with the footage and make sure the shots and angles looked similar to those in the actual video.

A2 Prelim- Busted That's What I Go To School For

Representation On Social Class and Status

This is a clip from Downton Abbey called 'Angel of the Morning',the name of the clip immediately creates a stereotype about the featured character, classing her as an 'Angel' dipicts the image of her being angelic, innocent, perfect etc. The clip is a montage about a woman called Lady Mary Crawley, you can tell straight away from the establishing shot that she is upper class as she is being dressed, most likely by her personal maid, she is having her corset tied up. When she is being dressed there is a focus on someone who i'm assuming is her mother, before it fades into a long shot of her being dressed. At 34 seconds, there is a close up, and there is a distinct social barrier made, when Lady Crawley is standing infront of the mirror finalising her outfit, there is a girl who could possibly be her sister, standing behind her, focusing on her importance and complimenting her on the way she looks. The name of the programme Downton Abbey, suggests the social class of the people who live in it, and the rooms in which we see Lady Crawley being dressed in are expensively decorated and the furniture we see looks somewhat luxury. In every shot we see of Lady Crawley, she is always nicely dressed, her hair is always perfect and she nearly always looks happy, although, in one particular clip when she is out roaming the Abbey's grounds, we see her look at her surroundings,alsmot doubting and questioning them, which gave me the impression that she isn't happy with her life there, but we also see cips of her laughing, smiling and looking like she is thoroughly enjoying her life of luxury, the last clip we see of her is smiling and sipping champagne, her facial expression connotes happiness and she holds up her champagne glass, saying 'cheers' or acknowledging someone, and clearly thinking 'this is the life!'

Spooks (MI5) - Danny's Death

Representaion of Ethnicity-

Stereotype of a Young British Black Man in his 20's-

-gangs
-drugs/drug dealers
-thug
-dangerous
-oversized clothing
-doo rags
-speak with their own idiolect
-gobby/loud mouthed
-don't really care, go against the law
-protective over their families
-anti authority



Spooks- [MI5] Danny's Death.

Danny's death in this clip from the TV series 'Spooks' shows a man dying with dignity. The clip shows two terrorists holding hostage two MI5 spys, one man (Danny), and one woman. The clip opens with the MI5 boss listening on the phone to the heartless and deeply moving conversation between the terrorist and Danny. The terrorist tells the boss that all he has to do is say one name, (insinuating the person he choses' life would be spared), the woman tells he boss of MI5 that she loves him, and not to choose either of the hostages and not to listen to the 'psychopath' holding a gun to her head. Danny then starts talking about how if he was born somewhere else, then maybe he would be standing there holding the gun, and if the terrorist was born somewhere else, then maybe he would be the one sat chained to a chair, he comes across as a very brave and intellectual person, as he is well spoken, shows pride and seems very selfless. Danny speaks about how the terrorist has lost all humanity and if he wasn't sat chained to the chair, then he would be up in his face, saying 'fuck you, you death worshipping facist!' moments after this, he is shot dead. When speaking to the terrorist, Danny seemed to show no fear, just anger, and pity. The image we get from this about Danny is the fact that he quite obviously hates terrorists, the words he says creates the idea that he feels sorry for them, as he calls them 'unlucky' and says thet at they have no kindness or pity left in them, he shows a high level of pride, and says that if he was born somewhere else, maybe it would be him bearing the gun, maybe this relates to skin colour and ethnicity? The main terrorist, looks like a typical, middle-class business man, well dressed and smart, we can see this as he is wearing a beige suite with french cuffs, his hair is slicked back, and he looks very presentable and professional. The other terrorist on the other hand, looks exactly how you would expect a stereotypical terrorist to look, dressed in all black, wearing a balaclava and holding a huge rifle. The mise en scene is rather basic, all we see is dark shadows and white light which creates the impression of interrogation. The music however, is very depressing and haunting, seconds after danny is shot, music which sounds like an islam prayer is played, it makes the scene very emotional and eerie and gives an arabic and religios atmosphere to the situation, there is also some whale song being played during the music, which makes you question the choice of music even more, did the producers want the audience to feel confused?. Throughout the clip, you hear drum beats, which create the feel of a heart beat and a very tense atmosphere, we see the terrorist stroking the womans face near the beginning of the clip, i think this is a very sarcastic, mocking and evil attempt to try and reassure her that everything is going to be okay, when thet both know full well, that either her, or Danny is going to die. We can see that she is clearly in great distress and the terrorist doing this clearly makes the situation more unbearable, also, we see her face after Danny has been shot, and there is a very distinct blood stain round her mouth insinuating that she has been hit quite hard. The clip has a mini narrative structure to it, which in the 3/4 minutes it is on for, i think is very clever and well planned, aswell, there are obvious binary opposites in the clip, the MI5 boss, (Adam) and the terrorist holding the gun, they are both high up in their jobs, having to make decisions and at a crucial point in their jobs/careers.

What Class Are You?

Upper Middle Class/Working Class.

Dad- Sales Development Manager
Mum- Telesales Manager

Working Class-
-shop assistant
-hairdresser
-painter/decorator
-window cleaner
-salesperson
-footballer
-sales person
-builder


Middle class-
-Lawyer
-Armed Forces
-footballers
-Lecturer/Teacher
-Police Officer
-Priest/Vicar
-Businessman/woman
-Scientist
-Manager
-Business owner
-Journalist
-Artist
-Army Officer
-Actor/Actress

Upper Class-
-Aristocracy
-Royalty
-High paying jobs for people who don't do much work

Let The Right One In-

Let The right One In

The film ‘Let The Right One In’ is a Swedish horror film, based on the relationships between Oskar, a 12 year old boy, and Eli, who looks around about the same age but happens to be a 200 year old vampire.

Applying the theories and views of Propp, Todorov and Levi-Strauss, you can definitely notice them in some, or maybe even most elements of the film.

Propp’s views were that all characters had a role, in ‘Let the right one in’ many roles are played. Oskar, can be seen in some respect as the hero of the film, throughout the film, he gains confidence and learns a lot about himself and others around him. The villain role would be represented by Conny, the boy who bullies Oskar, throughout the film, Oskar seeks revenge on Conny, by hitting him in the face, but the real revenge is when he gets violently killed in the end scenes of the film along with his older brother and two ‘followers by Eli, Eli would be seen as the donor, as she helps Oskar tremendously throughout the film, and also the princess, but in this film, the fact she is a vampire shows that she has a very dark side. The false hero is represented by Oskar’s so called ‘friends’ who trick him into going to a swimming club, so that he gets trapped and possibly even murdered.

Todorov’s view is that every story begins with an equilibrium, this is then disrupted and then restored. The equilibrium at the beginning of the film is that the Oskar is just a quiet school boy, who gets quite badly bullied. The equilibrium is then disrupted as the relationship between Oskar and Eli quickly starts to develop, and he then starts to gain confidence and ends up hitting Conny in the face/ear with a pole, which makes him bleed. The equilibrium is then restored to a degree, but Oskar is bullied again, and his bullies are brutally murdered by Eli. The last we see of Oskar is when he is on the train, so we don’t know what exactly happens to him, so therefore the equilibrium is not fully restored.

In ‘Let the right one in’ there are many binary opposites, Levi-Strauss’ theory was that narrative structures contain these. Binary opposites are for example; good vs evil, rich vs poor and black vs white. In this film the most apparent binary opposite is good vs evil. This is noticeable in both Oskar and Eli’s personalities throughout the film, Oskar is seen as being a kind, quiet and hard working school boy, and enjoys spending time with his dad, but we also see some very dark aspects of his personality, we see him pretend and act out what he would do when he stabs Conny, he talks to him self and shouts ‘squeal! squeal like a pig!’ this also refers to Oskar’s nickname ‘Piggy’, so we see his potential revenge scheme. As for Eli, to look at, she seems a harmless, innocent, kind and caring 12 year old, and we see her opening up to Oskar and protecting him by all means, especially when she murders the bullies, she is also a vicious immortal creature, who survives on the blood of innocent humans. Both of their personalities reflect off one another in some respects, the fact that they bring out the raw kindness in one another, and the pure evil, the binary opposite in the film between Oksar and Eli is good vs bad, and boy vs girl.

The mise en scene in ‘Let the right one in’ is quite basic, the film starts with a blizzard, we see this rather a lot throughout the film, aswell as the block of flats, and Oskar’s school. The block of flats look quite retro which suggests the setting is neither modern nor recent, as does the costume, and the fact the public congregate in café’s. The soundtrack is also very basic and repetitive, the music used creates a very awkward and peculiar atmosphere and makes you feel uncomfortable and think that something is always going to happen, which in a way is good as it prepares you for some of the gorier and ‘jumpy’ parts of the film. The soundtrack also reflects the moods of the characters and situations, for example when Oskar is with his dad, the music is happy and uplifting but when Eli is about to commit one of her murders, the music turns eerie and builds up the suspence, I think the contrast is very important as it helps with the atmosphere and the different emotions within the film, music can have a tremendous impact  on the audience.

The camera work I think is very clever, it varies between a series of long shots, mid shots, close ups and pan shots, I remember in one part of the film, the camera is slowly zooming in, which creates the feeling that we are sneaking around Eli’s apartment, and seeing what the intruder is seeing. I think the fact the camera work isn’t too complicated, and it lets you focus a lot more on what’s going on and the surroundings of the film, as there is a lot happening and to take in.  The representation of both characters and place is quite stereotypical, Oskar, who lives with his mum, lives in a nice presentable apartment, is clean, smartly dressed and does well in school, Eli, doesn’t even wear shoes, looks dirty, (blood round her mouth) lives in a very basic, not much too it apartment, with not much furniture. It relates to the binary opposites of rich vs poor, a lot people would be able to this as many are in the same situation.

I really liked this film, I found it a bit strange, but it made me want to watch it again, I liked the twists and the story line which made it seem quite a unique film. The film is portrayed in quite a traditional way, as it follows the theories of Propp, Todorov and Levi-strauss, but veers off into a different direction and creates a feel of supernatural reality if that makes sense.