'Recce'

A 'Recce' is the pre-filming at a location which might possibly be a location used in the film. The main purposes of a 'Recce' is that used to save money and to see if it fits the directors vision whether it is suitable for shooting, including access to necessary facilities and assessment of any potential lighting or sound issues. We had to locate, scout and figure out when, where and how we were going to film our scenes for the main task.

In our 'recce' we filmed one of the scenes at a staircase,outside Haringey Sixth Form Centre. We later on realised that this was not a good idea as it would not be good for the mise-en-scene for our film. The two boys are meeting up to talk 'business', usually this would not be done at a college as they are dealing drugs. We later on decided to film it somewhere out on the streets (maybe in a alley way). As the two boys are up to 'dodgy' business and this would be a better place to do this.

Similar Texts

Director: Charles Stone III

Genre: Drama/Action/Crime

Paid in Full (2002) is a drama/action/crime about a Afro-American worker of a dry cleaning business named Ace. He is seduced by the easy money his friend Mitch is making by dealing drugs. Soon, Ace finds himself drug dealing after his friend Mitch goes to prison. Through a lucky break and solid interpersonal skill. Ace moves to the top of the Harlem drug world. Unfaithful employees and rivals conspire to bring about Ace's fall. His kingdom is destroyed after a year of hard work, after successful betrayals.

"Paid In Full" has a similar genre to the film Me and my group are filming. Our Film (Money Matters) is a drama/crime similar to "Paid In Full". In my film Dahir (Flex) & Oraldo (Darren) are both trying to work their way to the top of the crime world, by dealing drugs and eventually their greed for money betrays their friendship. This is similar to "Paid In Full" as Ace is trying to do the same thing, but his success becomes his downfall at the end.

Director: Ivan Frank

Genre: Drama/Urban Life

Belly 2: Millionaire Boyz Club (2008) is a drama/urban life about a character named G born into a life of crime. After spending 8 years in prison he is out on the streets back to his old ways which is selling drugs. G falls in love with a girl named Alexis who is a undercover cop. Alexis Ends up getting kidnapped and G comes to her rescue.

"Belly 2: Millionaire Boys Club" also has the similar genres to my film (Money Matters). This movie is about a life of crime and making 'dirty money', which is also a big theme in my film.

I choose these two films as they have similarities to the film I will be producing with my group. Both films have similar genres to my film. The film I will be doing is a Drama/Crime and both these moviesare drama's and they also involve crime, street life and making 'dirty money'.

Initial Ideas

For our initial ideas we first decided on the genre of horror, but later on changed it to drama/crime as we realised our story was more crime and drama based. Initially we were only going to use two main characters in our film which was two boys, but we later on decided that we needed a girl to play a small part in the film. In our group discussion we talked about using the film "Paid In Full" as a similar film and base our film on it as we can get ideas from. After a long group discussion about the film title we came up with "Money Matters". We decided on this title as it draws your attention and you know what the main focus of the film is. For our film initially we were going to use the real names of the characters, but after consideration we decided to come up with character names as this was more suitable for the film. Dahir's name is going to be Flex, Oraldo is Darren and Reyhan is Vicky. We decided to change our characters names as this would suit more into our film.

Hard Candy and Training Day Analysis

We watched and analysed two films:

Training day (Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke)

This is a police drame film following a LAPD cop over a 24-hour period in the gang neighbourhoods of South Los Angeles.

The police guy is in the middle of the shot, he is isolated from the group and this shows he doesn't really belong there, but he is equal as it is eye-leveled. The camera moves but he is still in the middle meaning he has equal power. The audience is privileged in this scene as we are shown the sinister way one of the gang members is looking at the police officer, but he cannot see this. The audience are shown different reactions and things that the characters do not notice or see, this makes us think something is wrong and we start to question whether somthing is going to happen. Some of the people are smoking this alarms us as this represents danger.

When the police officer is lying on the floor is is at a high angle from his view and low from theirs, showing us who is in control. The police officer in inferior and the gang members are now superior. We are also shown the water, drain this alarms the audience that time is running out. The police officer tells them a story and when the girl starts to tell the truth the shot straightens up and comes to eye level.

Hard Candy (Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh)
This is a psychological thriller film focusing on a "pedophile" and a 14 year old girl who he attempts to seduce, but she has very different ideas.

The music at the start is very sad/depressing and also building tension this instantly changes the mood of the audience. Then we are shown a computer screen which shows a conversation between two people a male and female which we can easily establish because of the colours used (red-female, blue-male). We can also tell that he is an older as his screen name appears to be lensman and she is thonggrrrrl. The shot then starts to zoom into the screen which is drawing in the audience and the intensity is growing. The conversation is sexual and the man seems to be in charge as he is asking all the questions, this is stereotypical. The sound is diegetic, this creates a sense of realism and also privileges the audience as it lets us in.

In the next scene we are shown a eastablishing shot of a plastic fork, this shows the person is no longer at home as the fork is plastic and these are usually used in cafe's. We are also shown a chocolate cake which represents sexuality, curvey/thick women and being provocative. The girl lets out a "hmmmm" which is again sexual as it is an orgasmic sound. She meets him in a coffee shop showing she is trying to be mature (adult-like) and does not want to be seen as a little girl. The girl is wearing red this represents danger, little red riding hood wears a red hoody (also the man is the wholf/predator), but on the other hand it could also stand for lust, romance and love. The shot goes into a point of view shot, which lets the audience know how he is looking at her whether he is preying on her. They are both at eye level as he sees her as his equal (fair game) although he is an adult and she is still a child. The shot then focusses on the two characters, she gets embarressed and the camera moves towards her showing her vulnerability.

At the beginning of the scene they are both shown in seperate shots as they are strangers and still getting to know eachother, but they are shown in the same shot after he makes a joke which brakes the barrier and they seem more comfortable with eachother. He is wearing glasses which tell us he intelligent also another barrier between him and her, it also obstructs us as an audience as there is something in front of his eyes. The girl has a white light above her representing innocence and purity. Then the shot moves out showing the audience we have to get back to reality.

Preliminary Task

In our preliminary excercise we had to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task had to demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse and the 180-degree rule.

In my my preliminary task I worked with the following people my ; Setari, Neshee and Reyhan. We filmed a character opening a door and crossing the room. The room was the sixth form toilet and the character was Setari. We created a drama about a girl named Setari looking at herself into in the toilet mirror as she was stressed out about her unexpected pregnancy. She then walks out of the toilet door and walks to the staircase where she meets up with her friend Nese. They exchange a few lines of dialogue, where Setari tells Nese about her unexpected pregnancy. We used a wide variety of shots such as; close up, long shots, reaction shot. We filmed the two characters having a dialogue and we applied the 180-degree rule filming over their shoulders, depending on which character is speaking.

I learned how to apply the 180-degree rule when two characters are having a dialogue. I also know what type of different shots should be used in different scene. For example we used a close shot to show the emotions of the character, this also draws the audience in and gets them to emphasise with the character. We also used a high angle shot to show that she is inferior as the character was not in control of the situation.

Brief

For my brief I have to do a preliminary exercise. This involves me working with a group of four people. The task involves us filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character and then these two characters have to exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. We have to make sure that we use different shots, use the 180-degree rule in the right way and our task should also demonstrate match on action.

For the main task I have been asked to do a opening of a new fiction film with the opening titles. It has to last a maximum of four minutes and a minimum of two minutes. I have to work with a group of four members and we have to come up with a original script and storyboard. The video and audio material must be originally produced by me and my group members, with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

The members of my group are; Reyhan, Oraldo, Dahir and myself. Our initial idea is to do a Drama/Crime film which is the genre and our audience would be 15+.

The initial story about a teenage boy named Dahir is a drug dealer and Oraldo is the buyer. Oraldo buys drugs from Dahir and eventually he is unable to pay Dahir back. Reyhan is Oraldo's girlfriend and as a result of him not paying Dahir his girlfriend gets kidnapped.

Introduction

My name is Yusra Osman and I attend Haringey Sixth Form. I am currently studying As Media Studies, As English Literature and As Sociology. My favorite subject is English and I would like to become a English teacher at a primary school. After I finish my A levels I would like to take up teaching in Brunel University. I also really enjoy Media Studies as it is a subject which is more creative and gets you to be imaginative, which I really enjoy doing as it is very different from my other two subjects. I enjoy reading books, surfing on the Internet, playing football and going out with my friends.