Analysis on Seven Pounds Opening Sequence.

MISE-EN-SCENE


Mise en scene plays a significant role  in establishing the genre of the film , for example the use of location immediately suggested the type of genre the film was as in the opening sequences the character is located to be in a hospital environment which suggest drama. As hospital creates the atmosphere of tension and anxiety.
mise en scene demonstrated the type of genre of the film in the opening sequence through use of body language of particular characters were illustrated, for example will smith  starring as Ben, signifcantly illustrated the emotion of sadness and depression through his body language which the audience can sympathise with the character. 

hospital scene- 








SOUND:
The use of sound also signified the type of genre of the film for example the use of ambient sounds at the beginning of the opening sequence, 'bird york-have no fear' created the atmosphere of purity and innocence which we often get from a drama film in addition the use of naturalistic sounds of animals creates the atmosphere of freedom and carelessness . in general the music used helped the audience sympathise the characters actions and finding his behaviour acceptable. furthermore the use of narration at the begining of the opening sequence , perhaps signified that Ben is often in his own little world, cut off reality and independant from society.

ambient scene+voice over opening scene- 

independent from society- 


CAMERA
The continous use of two shot emphasised the main characters relationship with other characters, possiby suggesting that Ben isnt cut off from reality as first thought. in addition the use of high angle shots aslo demonstrated the genre type of the film and it made the audience certainly feel sympathetic to Ben as he was oftenly seen alone and emasculated compared to other characters. furthermore a point of view shot is viewed as ben was in the car before the car crash this allows the audience to see things from his perspective, placing us literally in his shoes  and encouraging us to empathis with her as a character.

Ben Thomas (will smith) relationship with Ezra-






CHARACTER
In the opening sequence of the film the character presents himself to the audience very vaguely, it thus creates a sense of mystery where you spend most of the time wondering, what he has done that is torturing him so? this leads the audience to sympathise  with Ben as we get the impression that his past still haunts him. in addition  in the opening sequence the audience get the impression of a narrative enigma where we wonder what exactly is he doing for these people, why has he chose to change their lives once again this make the audience want to view more. As the character seeks repentence through his actions.

snatch opening sequence

Analysis of Snatch.

Sound:

The music is running all the way through the clip and is non diegetic. The music that is used is quite upbeat and gives an impression of whatever they are doing and shows they are up to no good. Throughout the clip nothing else can be heard other than the music, until the very end when the clip goes back to the first character holding the diamond and we can hear him 'kissing' the diamond and placing it in his briefcase. This emphasises to us from the opening sequence that the whole film should be revolving around this one diamond and all the characters that we are shown in clip have a part to play also.

Mise-En-Scene:

The opening sequence of this film indicates what type of charcters they all are as we are all introduced to them. Most of them are all quite a typical shift lopking type of character and from what we can see they all appear to be crooks and all involved in some sort of crime going on.

Most of them are all wearing suits but with their top buttons undone to imply that they are trying to pull off the 'business man' type of look but are not actually a 'business man' you can trust. They are all quite agressive looking and men who you would not double cross or want to fall out with.There is no females within the opening sequence, implying that perhaps there is no need for them in the type of jobs they are doing, and seems quite a very stereotypical film with the males dominating and 'running' everything.

Props that have been used the whole way through, has been money and the diamond. This shows how this is all the characters seem to care about and focus on and gives us an idea to what the film is revolved around.

Camera:

There are many camera angles that have been used in this opening sequence, however most of them are fairly similar and are medium shots showing each of the characters from the waist upwards. This is usually because all the characters being shown are sitting down at a desk, giving the audience an idea that each of these characters have a type of authority.

Analaysis of Kidulthood

sound:

Music used in the film falls in to the genre of grime and hip-hop, attracting the target audience of urbanites who experience similar situations as the characters. The music used is produced by urban artists such as ‘Dizzee Rascal’, ’Lethal Bizzle’.

The mise-en-scene clearly indicates the genre of the film through the different types of urban settings and also helps to define the target audience; the characters are predominantly teenage. The clothes the characters wear also signify social status- Sam does not wear a uniform, as he is older , but his clothes also signify that he is ‘different’ from the others and helps to establish him as the ‘villain’ which is outcasted away from the other characters . He also wears a hoodie, clothing which has connotations of anti-social behaviour this creates the sense he prefers to hide his identityand prefers to illusrate more of a dominant  intimate personality through his actions.

The clothing worn by the actors is street wear commonly worn by the average teenager living in London. Teenagers can identify with the clothing and understand the ideology underpinning the text. Examples of clothing include hoodies, caps, trainers and jewellery. The settings in the film reflect the realities of inner city life: council estates, shopping arcades, public transport. Much of the action takes place on the streets and may give the text authenticity and believability. 

Class- conflict between the working and middle classes. The film begins with a middle-class schoolgirl being bullied by working-class pupils. This contravenes the ruling class ideology, as the working-class are represented as having the power. Throughout the film, the characters are going against the values of society, They do this by having underage sex, taking drugs, and committing criminal offences. Trife, Jay and Mooney are falsely accused of stealing by a white security guard- here, the ‘white ruling class’ is seen as wielding the power. And we also wittness the stereotypical view upon the young black generation.

throughout the opening sequence of Kidulthood we gather the understanding of binary opposition

Middle class vs. working class

Authority vs. anarchy

White vs. black

Age vs. youth

conventions of the opening sequence

In the film 'The Hangover 2' there is a non-linear narrative where the story line is not in order, as the characters are first seen in a difficult dilemma  which the audience will haveno understanding of therefore leaving some answered question                

 for example;


 Another conventioned used in an opening sequence is an introduction of the main character which is used to help the audience indentify the main character so that they can build their own opinion of the character throughout the scene.An example of introduction to the main character is used in the film 'Forrest Gump'.

Another convention of the opening sequence is in 'The Simpsons movie'  we see the convention of the title approaching the audience thus engaging the viewers and getting their attention. title are an effective convention in a openiong sequence as the auience/viewers become knowledgable of the title  and would know instictively what kind of genre it is etc.

Horror/thriller

  comdey/sit com                                                 Romance

 < Adventure.                                    
Production brands such as Pixar are seen throughout the opening sequences of Disney movies such as; 'Toy story' , 'Monster inc' and 'Despicable Me'. to promote the industries experties for example  the audience would recognise Pixar to be involved in adventure type of genre where as when the audience see a company such as 'loins gate' which is significant for doing horror based films they would have a rough idea on what type of genre the film heading to become.

the conventional opening sequence in SE7EN we gain the hint of the genre and its opening plot due to the use of color which was mostly black , red , grey to represent  mystery and evil in addition at the begining of the opening sequence we experience genre signifiers which are indicators towards the audience to give them a hint of what type of genre is the film heading to. for example in the film 'SE7EN' at the very first scene we wittness a mysterious characters who shows alot of anger and chaoticness through is actions, thoroughly crossing out people faces on photos ... immediatly the audience will pick up on this and therefore come to the conclusion that this film is a horror or thriller film. 

conventions into genre & representation in films - british crime/drama

Conventions into Genre - British Crime/Drama

Codes and conventions of crime/drama genre vary depending on the cultural context of the film, but they are likely to include , alcohol, illegal substances,weapons, parties, raves, sex,murders,shootings, relationships, social groups and gangs,turf wars.
The classic codes and conventions of crime/drama film came from American films, where one of the most widely used conventions are the stereotypes and social groups and the main sterotypes in this genre associated with these kind of films.

It is mostly young black people who are involved in these types of films, so teenagers who have been in a gang of maybe just a group of friends or an organised syndicate, will recognise and relate to these type of films. The story lines usually play out, that the characters then will get into illegal things, doing small crimes or using drugs and over time getting more serious and then having to deal with the consequences. This can then be adapted to the british scene instead of America so teenage boys in London mostly refferd to as 'chavs'  by the genral public, commiting all sorts of crimes or just causing trouble. For others british crime and drama films this seems to show the more grittier and realistic side than American films, which usally seems to glamourlise this kind of lifestyle e.g. gangstars driving expensive cars, living in big houses, having lots of money etc, but British films show the more realistic side of it and the problems the characters face and dealing with the consequences after.

     

conventions into Genre

conventions of Horror is shown through the use of mysterious and negative colors used in posters. .

 The use of dull colors clearly reitterate the type of genre the film is  towards the audience in addition the audience will associates the color read to sense danger or even death the effectiveness of the convention of color then creates an image towards viewers of disturbance.

inaddition the use of images in Horror posters remain unclear thus making the audience think was does the director really want us to see. for example the poster of successful Horror movie 'The Ward' creates a sense of mystery as it remains unclear for the audience to know whats to come in the film  by first look, the director then craftly leaves  obstacle of questions for the audience to overcome as the image remains very distinctive. 

preliminary Task Video

The filming was harder than I thought it would be, sticking to the 180 degree rule and making no continuity errors were specifically the hardest parts, especially with the short time allowance we were given to film. I feel the editing went well considering the clips we had to work with- I especially like the cut at the beginning in which it then turns into a panning shot, also another bit of editing i felt worked well was the action match at the end.
The biggest problems our group encountered was planning the filming scenario and the filming itself- because we had such little time we felt rushed into deciding a scenario and not necessarily planning it in detail.
Strengths of the prelim task I feel was the editing in certain parts- including the action match which came out much better than I firstly expected, and some of the cuts which fitted in well together and weren't jumpy, also another strength was that we included all the editing and camera shots that were required of us.
Weaknesses of the prelim task were mainly the poor acting on behalf of my self and Abdi, also the duration of the final piece was not very long- lasting only around 30 seconds which do not allow us to include a lot of different shots.
Next time we will remember to plan a lot more before we start filming so we have a strict plan to stick to and we all know our roles etc... Also we will include a wide variation of shots to maximise our potential of the highest grades.
What we will do differently next time is film more clips to allow the scene to be longer, also ask better actors to film, we will film outside of school to widen our accessibility to better & more realistic locations.

About me

my names abdi ismail, media has taught about the use of camera editing and sound effects used in films , furthermore media has also taught me how media institutions  such as Hearst magazine proliferate  hardware and soft ware to  expand to their target audiences. My favourite film is seven pounds starring my guy will smith he is an inspiration to all young black men