Film Reviews.

                                                                      TAKEN 
                                                 

Taken is a French - action thriller. It is based on a former CIA agent Bryan Mills whose teenage daughter Kim goes away on a trip to Paris with an older friend. Bryan doesn't agree with her and her friend Amanda travelling by themselves, since he knows the danger they can get into out there on their own. However he agrees with her mum to let her go, before she leaves he gives her a mobile phone that can work internationally.
As the girls arrive at the airport they meey a guy, who offers to share a cab with them due to that decision he finds out where the girls are staying; Kim then finds out that Amanda's cousins who were meant to be keeping an eye on them are actually in Spain. Whilst Kim is on the phone to her father, she sees Amanda being kidnapped by intruders.
Bryna instructs Kim to go the nearest room and hide underneath a bed, he also explains to her that the men are going to take her, and gets her to quickly describe them; she's then pulled from under the bed. Bryan had recorded the conversation between him and Kim, he goes to a former colleague who tells him that based on the recording she's been taken by an Albanian human trafficking ring. Bryan then travels to Paris in order to find Kim and Amanda...futheron in the film he finds Amanda dead and finds Kim at a large party for an auction of girls, Kim is the last offer and he manages to save her.

NAPOLEON DYNAMITE 

Click here to view Napoleon Dynamite Trailer. 

Napoleon Dynamite is a comedy film, it's about a teenage boy Napoleon Dynamite a high school student who lives with his older brother Kip and their grandmother. His grandmother lives a a secret life  involving riding quad-bikes in the desert, and having mysterious boyfriends; Napoleon's older brother whose 32 is unemployed and also boasts and teases Napoleon that he gets to stay home all day and meet girls on the internet, and training to be come a cage fighter.

Napoleon isn't the most popular in his high school, throughout school he daydreams all day about fantasy creature and spends his time drawing them; he also has to deal with bullies daily. He usually makes up stories about himself to make himself seem more interesting, also to make himself appear dangerous he responds to being questioned with unprovoked anger. 

Napoleon and Kip's uncle Rico comes to look after them after their grandmother injures herself guad-biking and doesn't trust them to look after themselves. Uncle Rico is a middle-aged former athlete, him and Kip decide to come up with a scheme to make money quickly, by selling different items door-to-door. Kip wants to use the money in order to meet his internet girlfriend, whereas Rico wants to use the money to help him get over failing his dreams and to win his ex girlfriend back. 

Criminal Minds: Case Study

Throughout the Christmas Holidays Criminal Minds is one of the main TV shows I've been engaged in. Its an  American crime drama, which premiered on the network CBS September 22nd 2005. One of the main reasons why I enjoy this show is because it differs from other crime dramas, by focusing on profiling the criminal (psychologically), rather than the crime itself. The series follows a team of profilers from the Behavioral Analysis Unit which is part of the FBI. The show was created by Jeff Davis and produced by The Mark Gordon Company in association with CBS Television Studios.
Criminal minds is shown here in  the UK on t 'Skyliving,' channel. The programme is aired at different times during the day which could be from 1pm- onwards where they play back-to-back episodes, or at night usually from 10pm.
Criminal Minds

Criminal minds did have a spin off; Criminal minds: suspect behaviour which debuted February 16th 2011, but due to low ratings the spin off was then cancelled after 13 episodes. However on March 14, 2012  CBS renewed the original Criminal Mind for an eighth season, which premiered September 26th, 2012.
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour

CAMERA SHOTS, EDITING, SOUND & MIS EN SCENE
Common shots used in Criminal Minds include, high angle, birds eye or mid shots these shots are usually used to introduce the location/setting. Even though the main set is based in Virginia USA, being a crime drama locations vary throughout each episode, from country to country. The movement of the camera over looks the location, as it does the opening credit which states the name of the location appears at the bottom of the screen, this usually takes place within the first 2mins of the show.

Here are some examples watch from 0:00-1:00
1st example
2nd example
3rd example

Non diegetic sound is used with the opening credits/title, the soundtrack used embodies the tension which reflects how the audience would feel watching this programme.

Sound is an important part of the narrative, as it helps tell the story; the use of non diegetic sound helps maintain the pace of the show it also helps the audience identify what's going on, for example when a crime is taking place, the pace & rhythm of the music may increase. However the diegetic/ambient sound used helps the audience understand the narrative and location, e.g city, (street sounds), as well as the dialogue. The dialogue and communication between the characters is vital as it's the key way for the viewer to get an understanding of what's going on and the relationship with characters within the team. 

The camera shots and editing used also helps the establish the relationship with others, and the intensity of certain situations that take place. Fast cutting, jump cuts and cross cutting are used to portray tension/danger or to create suspicion. A lot of continuity is used to help the flow of the show, the audience get a clear understanding of what's happening. Medium shots and Close ups are used usually with long shots which is done to show the emotion and actions of a particular character. To build apprehension and to position the audience into feeling uncomfortable steadicam is used a lot in Criminal Minds especially when a crime is taking place, this is done to avoid having to cut to another scene. However hand held cams is also used to maintain the realism within the show, which makes it's it more entertaining.

The lighting in Criminal Minds is used creatively colours such as, black, blue and brown are used to represent the police work force, also both high key and low key lighting are used. High key lighting is usually appears when a crime has been solved, whereas low key lighting is often used to encode suspense. Smart/casual clothing is usually worn by the BAU, usually the clothes are plain dark colours to emphasise the specialist nature of their work. Each of the characters carry around a F.B.I badge and gun; occasionally they'll wear F.B.I vest when going to catch a criminal. The props used in the show are considered important, as they represent the genre and gives the audience a clear understanding. Throughout the series of Criminal Minds there'll be objects/props such as; guns, badges, crime scene tape, police cars, flash lights, jail cell, computer technology which is mainly used to help profile suspects.

The filming takes place in Los Angeles, California. Production companies behind it are, The Mark Gordon Company, ABC Studios and CBS Television studios. So far Criminal Minds has lasted 8 seasons and has 173 episodes.

American Ratings

Season	Episodes	Timeslot (EST)	Original Airing			Rank	Viewers (in millions)
			Season premiere	Season finale	TV season
1	22	Wednesday 9:00 pm	September 22, 2005	May 10, 2006	2005–06	No. 28	12.63[39]
2	23		September 20, 2006	May 16, 2007	2006–07	No. 24	14.05[40]
3	20		September 26, 2007	May 21, 2008	2007–08	No. 24	12.78[41]
4	26		September 24, 2008	May 20, 2009	2008–09	No. 11	14.95[42]
5	23		September 23, 2009	May 26, 2010	2009–10	No. 16	13.70[43]
6	24		September 22, 2010	May 18, 2011	2010–11	No. 10	14.11[44]
7	24		September 21, 2011	May 16, 2012	2011–12	No. 15	13.20[45]
8	24		September 26, 2012	TBA 2013	2012–13	No. 12	13.18 (to date)[46]

Teenagers in the media

My favourite TV shows

My popular TV programmes

Xfactor

The X Factor is a music competition to find new singing talent; this has been one of my popular shows since it aired in 2004. Being a constant and popular viewer of The X-Factor I've seen many changes, from the level of talent, to the judges, and presenters being changed. The X Factor is a reality show, which makes it even more exciting since we see aspiring singers from the public audition in front of thousands including the judges, being ordinary people from the public we could never know what to expect from their auditions which is what makes it even more fascinating.
Misfits

Misfits is a comedy-drama television programme, it's Britsh Science Fiction based on young youth offenders sentenced to community service, each of them gain a supernatural power which they obtained from an electrical storm. How the storm happened is still unsolved. The reason why I enjoy the show because the plots and storylines are intriguing each time, and as a viewer it positions me to keep engaged in the programme. The characters being british youths makes the show even relatable, also the fact that it's science based which isn't very popular to teens, but by making it into a comedy-drama contradicts the stereotypical view on science/supernatural. Each of the characters have different characteristics, which varies with the audience, and as a viewer we're able to have a certain connection with any one of the characters.
Geordie Shore

Geordie shore is a reality tv show based on young adults from Newcastle living together; the show mostly concentrates on partying, fights and relationships. Being a reality tv show makes this one of my favourite programmes, as you never know what to expect each episode. Another reason why I enjoy this show is because the cast being reality stars, makes them even more relatable as a viewer; the programme itself is entertaining and unpredictable which keeps me constantly tuned in.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task 
This is our video for our preliminary task, click here to view.

EVALUATION:
Our preliminary task involved us having to make a 2 to 3 minute clip which we had to film and edit ourselves. The main aim of the task was to use a variety of editing and camera techniques, the genre of our film was a crucial decision that we had to make, our overall outcome was that we'd have a twist within our genres with both comedy and horror. We then had to decide who our audience would be aimed at, we knew for definate that it would be for teens, but we had to consider what age range we would go for, after our discussion we then thought 12A. After doing some research I found out that age range for the majority of horror and comedy films were 18+ for horror and 12A for comedies.
Throughout the task I think my team worked well together, each of us contributed a fair amount to the task and we had to come up with a plan for our piece, each of us had a task to concentrate on. Nga created the script and storyline, Jodie and Reanne completed the storyboards and I done the floor plan.


To help us create our film we done extra research by watching a couple of horror and comedy films, and to try and pick up on the conventions in all of the films; by concentrating on the camera angles, lighting, mis en scene and the different types of sound used. After watching these films we had to consider what type of camera shots and angles we were going to use of our film, keeping in mind that our genre is horror/comedy we realised that we had to use a variety, that would help make it clear.
We also had to remember we had to include 'The 180 degree rule,' 'Shot reverse shot,' and 'Match on action/continuity;' and a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she then exchanges a couple lines of dialogue.

Before we could start filming we had to decide as a group which one of us was going to take on what role; at first Nga was in charge of lighting, Jodie was doing the editing, Reanne was the cameragirl and I was the director. However Reanne was having some difficulties using the camera, so I took on the role with filming instead since I've had experience with filming before, and Reanne became director. We managed to include '180 degree' and 'Match on action/continuity.'  

Shot Reverse Shot Issues 

Once we had finished filming our preliminary task, we then realised that we didn't include the 'Shot Reverse Shot' technique which was part of our task. So we then decided to film a seperate clip showing the Shot Reverse Shot technique and that we understood what it was, which is shown in the video below.

As for the sound both non-diegtic and diegtic sound was used; diegetic sound was used throughout the film from dialogue to ambient sounds in  the background. Non -diegtic sound was added during the editing process, the editing process is where the match on action and continuity was cleaned up and fixed. To edit our film we used a programme 'iMovie,' to edit we found it quite simple to use as some of us had experience using it before, and we taught other members how to use it which they picked up quickly. During the editing we had to make the sure that the timing of each clip was procise, and the continuity was clear; we also added some non-diegtic sound such as, the clock ticking and background music playing throughout the clip.

Overall I think creating our preliminary task went smoothly because, we made sure that we researched and planned what we were going to be doing. We also communicated well throughout the task with one another, and everyone knew what their role was within the group; we were also organised, and stuck to our time scheduele. Setting and up and packing our equipment away was also done properly, when editing our final piece we all contributed ideas which we thought would help improve our film.

Influences for Preliminary Task

Since the genre of our film is based on horror, we thought that these particular films influenced our ideas on our task.The key idea are the running scenes that are shown in both films, however at the end of our film there's going to be a comical effect, which was mostly inspired by Scary Movie; our filming having the scary concept to it yet funny, which would position our audience to go from feeling uncomfortable to feeling relaxed towards the end.

Planning2

Storyboard

The storyboard shows clearly what our story is about and the order of it. Below each image is a brief description explaining what camera shots and angles are going to be used and the different types of lighting. The storyboard also had to show where the match on action, 180 degree rule and other techniques are going to be used, and why we were going to use them in that specific scene.

Floorplan

The floorplans show a clear positioning of the lighting, cameras and characters, and any other important props that may be in the scene. There's a floorplan for each one of our scenes, since we're doing three different scenes, three floorplans were made for each of them. 

Production Schedule

The production schedule made was to help keep us organised throughout, we made a list of the timings that we were going to film, what floorplan we were going to film at that exact time, and also what props/actors we'd need for that particular scene. The timing of the shots also have to be in order with the number of shots we have to film. 

Preliminary Task: Planning

Storyline

A student falls asleep in class and wakes up to a dark empty school, he/she panics and then run out of the classroom down a long corridor (dark and spooky) opening doors on their way but all doors are closed with empty classrooms. She finally gets to the end of the corridor to an empty room where there is a person in a seat in the room with one spotlight on the person seated.

Genre:

Horror

Roles within group

Director – Reanne

Camera girl – Mica

Lighting – Nga

Sound/editing – Jodie

Script

Character (Pants whilst pausing): Sorry I’m late

Character2: I’ve been waiting ages for you (DEEP AND CYNICAL VOICE)

Character 1: I came as quick as I could, I didn’t realise the time

(Character 1 looks at clock to show eye-line match)

Character 2: Oh well it doesn’t matter now, take a seat

Character 1: Ok (nervously and takes a seat)

(Character 2 slowly reaches for a briefcase & opens it)

(Spins chair around)

Character 2:  So which one should we give mum for Christmas (JOLLY TONE)

(Lays out a pack of cards in front of character 1)

Props/Objects needed

·                     Briefcase	·                     Desk	·                     Computer Chair
·                     Christmas Cards		·                     Clock

Preliminary exercise

Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. This task demonstrates match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Film review

Menace II society

Menace II society is a film based on black teenage youths living in the streets of Los Angeles. The film is narrated by the main character Caine Turner whose 18 years old, who talks about his life being a drug dealer and a car thief. His best friend O-Dog whose known as a viscious thug, gets into an altication with a couple that own a local store, who accuse both him and Caine of attempting to rob the shop. Out of anger O-Dog shoots the shopkeeper and his wife and then decides to rob him. Caine and O-Dog are hired by a local hood Chauncy, for a car insurance scheme but are caught in the process and arrested by police, a detective attempts to link Caine to the store killings by matching fingerprints. Caine is then released and continues to hijack cars, and begins to enjoy the 'hustler' lifestyle.

Throughout the duration of the film we begin to see how the effect of Caine's new life effects himself as well as others around him. His cousin and one of his crew members, he's also shot at twice, the first time he survives but the second time which happens at the end of the film he is fatally wounded.
The genre of this film is Crime/Drama, which is not only portrayed through the storyline, but also through the use of certain cinematic techniques .

The editing used in this film help portray the genre of the film; continuity editing is used throughout the film. The pace of the film is particulary fast, which supports the action scenes in the film which involve, shooting, fighting, and driving. However slow motion pace is also used, the slow motion builds tension in certain sequences. The continuity editing helps carry the narrative forward, 180-degree is used when characters exchange dialogue and shot reverse shot. Flashback are also used during particular parts of Caine's narration in the film, flash effects and different transitions; fades, wipes and dissolves portray the past events and the passing of time as he's explaining. Eliptical editing is another technique used in the film, jump cuts, cut away, cross and inter-cutting were used; these support the action that is taking place within the movie. The cross-cutting helped build suspense between the group when Caine and his cousin were attacked, and his friends were on their way to meet them.

Overall the storyline of the film was very effective, loads of teenagers could relate to certain scenes in the film. As the viewer I felt that I could relate or have some sort of feeling towards the characters which is an important aspect to have in a film; even though the film is more than 10years old watching it never seems to get old.

                                                      Madea's Big Happy Family

Madea's Big Happy Family is a comedy drama film based on a family trying to come together during the illness of Madea's niece Shirley whose dying from cancer and has less than 4-6 weeks to live. Shirley is desperate to get all the 3 of her kids Byron, Tammy, Kmberly and their family to come around for dinner so she could announce the news, but due to on-going conflict between the children she can't seem to get them to get along and stay for dinner. With nothing seem to be working out another family member Aunt Bam decides to call upon Madea to help get Shirley's kids together. The first night Madea manages to get them to come for dinner an intense arguement occurs between Tammy and Kimberly, the arguement ends with Byron finding out that Kimberley who thought was is sister is actually his mother.

Even though there's a serious storyline behind the film, but there's also comical moments in film involving Madea which I continuously find hilarious. Not only is it the obvious funny situations in the film that show it's a comedy, but also the mis en scene thats involved. The lighting is very bright throughout which gives it a postive feel, also the character's costumes are bright and colourful. Apart from the cinematic techniques, some of the character's acting was over the top such as Sabrina whose Byron's ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child, her over the top acting also brought the funny concept to the film.

Madea's big happy family is one of my favourite films because it's a comedy that has a very serious stroyline line with an important message. Having this could position the audience to not only have a good time but learn something whilst watching it.

Editing Techniques; Dark Knight Example

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight being an action film uses a range of editing techniques to bring the genre to life. At the beginning there's a panning shot used; the panning shot is used to grab the audience's attention at first. The long duration of the shot conveys the intensity of the scene, and creates tension. The genre then starts to take up it's conventional roles, the pace of the editing starts to increase; cross-cutting is used between scenes to show the action happening.Fast cutting is also used to show the transition from scene to scene. Continuity is used; match on action, 180 degree, and shot reverse shot.

 

Shot reverse shot

A Shot reverse shot is when one character is shown looking at another character that is usually off-screen. It's made to give the impression that they're looking at each other, since the character is facing the opposite direction.

Match on action

A match on action shot is when a shot is cut from one to another, the editor cuts the shot to another so that it matches the previous shot.

Mis en scene - 3D software

I used a 3D imaging softtware to help create my own mis en scene setting briefly, I decided to do something very simplistic. In this image I wanted to show a farm house, and a farmer with his daughter. I done this by choosing appropriate costume for the characters, and suitable props.

Mis en scene

This image is a medium - close up, so we're able to see his facial expression, costume and prop. The mis en scene shows the character is facing towards and looking directly at teh camera, with the gun pointing straight towards it; this puts the audience in an uncomfortable position.
The gun in his hand isn't in that much focus, the gun being out of focus causes us to concentrate on his face and his expression more. The highkey lighting in the image implies that he is the good guy, his costume also gives off the same impression, and shows that he has some sort of authority; on the other hand the fact that his top button is undone, suggests that he's a good person that's been caught up in some sort of situation.

Camera shots

EWS(Extreme Wide Shot): Extreme wide shot is usually used as an establishing shot, the shot is captured from far back from the subject that it isn't visible.

Medium Close-up: Half way between mid shot and close up

Extreme close up: Extreme close up shows major detail

Very wide shot: The subject is visible (barely), but the emphasis is still on placing him in his environment.

Point of view shot: view from the subject's perspective

Weather shot: Weather itself can be used as the main subject, it can be used as background etc

Two shot: A shot that include to two people in the frame.

Over the shoulder shot: Look at the subject, from over the other person's shoulder

Cut in: Another part of the character is shown in detail

Genres

HORROR GENRE:
This horror film fits into horror genre conventions; the film contains one of the conventional horror themes which is 'supernatural.' The characters in the film involved, are creepy children that are used/involved; the film is featured in small community/haunted houses and isolated places.
The cinematography is used in Paranormal Activity involve both low and high angle shots, hand-held camera to put the audience in an uncomfortable position, P.O.V (point of view) shots are used from the victim's perspective. The music used is usually slow and creepy which helps build the tension and non-deigetic sound is also used in certain scenes to create tension.

Sub-Genres:
Many genres that have sub-genres with their categories e.g : Crime & Gangster (genre) - 'Bad girl movies' (sub-genre)

Hybrid Sub-Genre:
More than 2 genres put together e.g : Romcom



            ROMCOM GENRE:

Monster-in-law follows the traditional rules of a ROMCOM convention; the film has a three part structure, a boy and girl meet, they fall out in the middle of scene and a torn apart, and are later reunited and fall in love. Something comes inbetween the couple which causes them to break up or distsant themselves from one another, throughout the film they realise that they're made for each other and they get back together.

The main character (girl) in the film is a loveable character, and down to earth so the audience are able to connect with them.

Throughout the majority of the film lighting is bright which creates a postive/happy atmosphere. The lighting used in this genre of film usually reflects the tone or mood of a certain scene.

The setting of the ROMCOM follows teh usual ROMCOM conventions, the main settings in this film take place in places such as; beach, park and character's homes.

My Genre Convention:

CRIME&GANGSTER ;

• A gangster ( bad guy)
• Girl (romantic interest)
• Gangs
• The boss
• Fighting is involved
• Gun violence
• Criminal activities
• Death

Character Types

·         The hero- usually male, is the agent who restores the narrative equilibrium often by embarking upon a quest (or search). Propp distinguishes between the victim hero, who is the centre of the villain's attentions, and the seeker hero who aids others who are the villain’s victims. The hero is invariably the texts central character.

·         The villain- who usually creates the narrative disruption.

·         The donor- gives the hero something; it may be an object, information or advice, which helps in resolution of the narrative.

·         The helper- aids the hero in the task of restoring equilibrium.

·         The princess (the victim) - is usually the character most threatened by the villain and has to be saved, at the climax, by the hero. The father's (who in fairy tales was often the king) role is usually to give the princess away to the hero at the narrative's conclusion. He may also despatch the hero.

·         The dispatcher- sends the hero on her or his task (who can typically be the princess father)

·         The false hero - appears to be good but is revealed, at the narrative's end, to have been bad Characters can fulfil more than one sphere character type, for example; a princess may also be a helper.

Eg: Shrek

The hero - Shrek

The Villain -  Lord Farquaad

The Donor - Donkey/Dragon

The helper - Donkey

The princess- Princess Fiona

The dispatcher - Lord Farquaad