'Moneytrapped'

The Evaluation

Distribution Companies 

There are various distribution companies included in our opening, Stealth, Cipher and Hanway. However if ‘Moneytrapped’ was fully produced and executed to a professional standard the company that I would want to distrubute my product is Revolver Entertainment.

The company founded in 1997 has continued to grow and develop and is set to have its most succesfull year 2011. The company is based in the Uk and also  now has a base in U.S, expanding oppurtunites. Revolver has over 200 films it has disrtubuted in the uk alone, the company widely varies in the genre of film it distrubtes however claims to be “experts in youth entertainment” having backd urban uk films such as ‘Kidulthood’, ‘Adulthood’, ‘Anuvahood’ and ‘Dead man running’; all films set in innercity London exploring similar themes to ‘Moneytrapped’ therefore I think it would be a film they would be interested in distributing. 

Revolver is now a parent company of ‘GUNSLINGER’ “champions of fresh new talent” a brand new production company looking for new actors and directors to make there debut breaking performances. Last year the production company produced ‘Shank’ , A futureistic film of the predictions of London in 2015, the film follows Junior, a young teenager caught in the midst of a city on the brink of destruction, where he and his friends struggle to find food while also fighting for their lives against rival gangs. I believe this company would be interested in the plot of ‘Moneytrapped’ and the new unknown actors in heinsight I would choose 'GUNSLINGER' to produce the film. 

Codes and Conventions

Comparing and evaluating our film opening to others of the same genre I feel it sticks to the codes and conventions of films I researched in pre production. ‘Moneytrapped’ is a gritty, socially realistic drama; this is represented through the use of setting, characters behavior and the soundtrack. The mise en scene of settings used in the film is crucial to establish the setting. We used various urban landscapes giving an insight to the dull area they live in. The busy built up area revealed in the estate scene is crucial to imply that this is a inner-city location, we wanted to use quite grey areas, with not much use of greenery or colour to set a depressing bleak mood to the film. The use of real time in the estate scene also allows the cinematography to reveal more of the area. The characters behavior shows violence and a glimpse of a parcel wrapped in a plastic bag indicates drug dealing, themes commonly explored in the other films I researched and relevant to the youth of London today. The grime/rap music playing in the background creates an urban feel and is quite upbeat as too entice the audience, this genre of music is frequently used in films I have researched. 

Target Audience

I believe the core target audience for the film would be 15-22 year olds as teenagers can relate to the themes of the film, living in inner-city locations, working or middle class and of varied race. If I could describe a specific average viewer I think they would be, male, 17, in college, work or seeking for work. Living in a council flat in London and have been personally exposed to or involved in crime, violence, peer-pressure, drug use or deals. He would be interested in grime/rap/ UK urban music and like urban action films. This model person is only my interpretation of a person who might be interested in the film, however I think the film could attract a much wider audience. I feel a variety of people throughout britian of various ages, backgrounds or social status would be interested in watching the film to get an insight of characters lives similar to teenagers regularly neagativley exposed in the media. Studying the BBFC and the ratings other films have been awarded I would rate ‘Mobeytrapped’ as a 15, as it contains strong laguage, drug references and inappropriate themes for younger audiences.

I think the film attracts audiences in a variety of ways, namely being that it represents teenagers behaviour and explores real lifes and real issues in a realistic way making it relatable for the target audiece. The language used throughout the extended film would be current, using slang and London dialect that teenagers use daily. The soundtrack we used in the opening of the trailer is urban and using a popular unsighned artist Giggs was important to us as we felt teeagers would like the fact someone they respect is getting recognition being used in a film. The casual urban costume of characters is authentic to teenagers; hoodies, hats, trainers using labels such as NewEra and Nike.  

Representation of social groups

I think watching the opening of our film, people may think we have presented a classical negative stereotype of teenagers, especially young black youths who are always being negatively represented in the media as underachieving hostile gang members. In the full-extended film the audience would get an insight to the lifestyles of characters, their backgrounds and the reasons behind Jake’s violent behaviour shown in the opening of the film. I think this behaviour is definitely realistic and true to the behaviour of a lot of teenagers who have problems regarding a lack of money or motivation in life.

Progression and Skills Gained Since the Preliminary Task.

Since the Preliminary task I feel the standard and quality of work produced has definatley improved. The time management improved and we spent a longer time in post production to edit, add a soundtrack and titles. Personally I don’t think I have gained any new technical skills using the camera or editing software iMovie, as I was experienced previously using these technologies in media GCSE and BTEC. However I think I have learnt to compromise more whilst working in a group of people who don’t necessarily agree with me on certain ideas. I feel after some disagreements at the beginning of production we all tried to ensure we were all present when filming and editing which really helped the groups moral resulting with the group having a good working relationship.

Production Diary

Generally we stuck to our initial plans and storyboard however a few changes were made and scenes cut after advice from our teachers to enhance our opening, increasing the pace in the attempt to make it more exciting for the audience.

I think we worked well as a group and we all tried to share the workload  although there were some issues with absence which disrupted the filming process. This gave the group an insight into how important working as a team and being considerate to others is.None-the-less we pressed on and things started to run more smoothly, with the exception of some minor disagreements regarding the editing process. However we all had to come to an agreement and tried to work as professionally as possible.

Bruna and I did most of the filming whilst Nkiru and Raymond performed as actors. This worked well as when Bruna would film I could still suggest certain camera angles or postitioning of the camera and give ideas I thought would work well or improvements which could be made. The editing was a joint process, however, generally, I would use the program manually, asking for direction and consulting Nkiru and Bruna, who would generally sit next to me so we could work as a group. We felt this would be the most time effective system as they didnt know how to use the program but could still give input using this method.

When beginning to edit and piece together footage we also noticed there where not enough establishing shots of the area, especially in the estate scene, therefore Nkiru revisited the estate and shot footage of the surrounding area which really helped the audience to get a feel of the urban landscape setting. 

After filming a school scene of Nkiru hard at work in a classroom where other students were disrespectful to the teacher and unengaged in the lesson we decided it didn't work and was an unrealistic portrayal of a classroom as some actors where over dramatic in their performance. We decided to change this to a scene showing Nkiru walking into the school through the corridor carrying her folders and books, to show her studious character. We placed other students in the corridor chatting and messing around, creating a contrast in characters and highlighting that she is motivated to get to lesson, even when her peers are having fun. We then employed a split scene showing Jake leaving the school (with the implication he left to go and get his money) which was intended to be followed by the fight scene. However unfortunately we were told to cut this scene, against my personal wishes, as we were told it was better to start with the fight scene to grab attention of viewers. We also had two different soundtracks on the different scenes, the fight scene had the same British grime/rap music playing (that now runs throughout) and on the estate scene we had an instrumental beat with no lyrics playing in the background that faded out when conversation began on the stairs. We were advised it would be more consistent with one track playing throughout the peice and to mute the dialogue as to not reveal too much. I personally didn't 100% agree with these changes but during a lesson I was absent the changes were made to our film but I compromised as to not cause tension between group members. 

Final Planning

After the initial research we started to brainstorm ideas and finalised the plot of the film. I wrote this synopsis outlining the storyline of the film. We also created storyboards for the opening 2 minuets of the film we would be creating, we discussed every shot and then Bruna and I drew the sketches and Nkiru wrote the short captions.

Synopsis-

The main protagonist within the film is Nkiru, 16, a young hardworking and ambitious student, living on a rough estate in south London. She lives with her mother Doyin and her younger Sister her single parent mum has migrated from Nigeria where she was a well respected nurse, to try and better her and her children’s life and educate the children like their late father would have wanted, however unfortunately Doyin is now forced to work long hours in an underpaid cleaning job. This in-turn means Nkiru is forced to look after her younger sister and take care of the home whilst trying to focus on her studies in college. She is very determined to succeed and dreams to go to university, however, she is aware that realistically this is unlikely due to her mothers financial circumstances. The film follows Nkiru as she watches everyone around her struggle with finances. A lot of her male friends from her estate are involved in crime; burglaries, bank scams and drug dealing. They often pressure girls into working with them as drug mules. Nkiru regularly witnesses her friend’s fall into the pool of criminal activity and looks down on this always refusing to even consider getting involved. This is until she starts spending more time with Jake a local boy from her estate, she has known him since he moved their a few years ago but  only recently started to get to know each other. He deals drugs and is heavily involved in burglaries alongside his cousin an ex prison convict, and openly admits this to her. Although she doesn’t agree with this they find they have a lot in common in both their family situation, she can relate to his hard lifestyle and he opens up to her about some of his feelings. She sees the sensitive side in him that no-one else does and begins to develop feelings for him. Jake knows how Nkiru’s family struggles with money and offers her some money for “a few simple favours” will Nkiru fall into the trap of this criminal activity? 

Locations (Research & Planning)

Before filming we researched some local urban locations that we could use as settings for both scenes. An estate to film the conversation between Nkiru and Jake and an alleyway to film the fight scene.

Looking for alleyways and confined spaces with a lack of passers by to film the fight scene we visited the following locations-

We decided to film in the alleyway in image 1. We felt it  would imply a claustrophobic atmosphere, the curvature of the tunnel creating a sence of entrapment and helplessness for the character getting beaten up. I also considered that as it was dark it would create interesting silhouttes of the figure with the light shinning through from the other side of the tunnel. The brick wall portrays a gritty urban area and graffiti adds to the feel of criminal activity. The composition is also enhanced by the yellow lines on the floor framing the shot, nicely creating an arrow shape towards the tunnel drawing the audience into the action.

We then discussed different council estates we could use, keeping in mind we wanted them to look quite rough and urban.

Ideally we would have chosen the estate in image 1, however we there would be no way of getting inside the block to film the establishing birds-eye shot of Nkiru entering the estate. Therefore we chose Amphtill Estate (image 3) as a group member knew a friend who lived their and would let us into her home enabling us to film from her window on the 7th floor. The birds eye view we were then able to achieve helped to create a sense of the towering scale of the block. The location is good as it is surrounded by main roads with lots of passing traffic, creating the inner city feel we wanted.

Initial Research and Planning

To start the planning of our opening film sequence, we met as a group and brainstormed idea’s discussing a numerous amount of narrative ideas and various genre’s we could explore.

We wanted to create a film with a contrasting genre to our preliminary task; horror. Initially a group member suggested a romantic comedy, however I suggested that with the age of  the group members it would be challenging to create a realistic romantic comedy, with teenagers as actors. I also raised the point that generally British Romantic comedies tend to be based on predominantly white, middle class adults.  We then agreed to explore social realism and perhaps create a teen drama as we felt we could make it relevant creating roles other teenagers could relate with and it would be best suited to our actors and the surrounding urban locations.

We discussed individual attributes of group members so we could allocate roles accordingly. Being the only person in the group with previous experience in camera work and editing I volunteered to do both filming and editing, also offering to help Bruna demonstrating how to use the camera and use the editing software ‘iMovie’ so she could get a chance to edit and film. Nkiru and Raymond, both studying drama, suggested they would perform as actors.

We  then started the reaserch into other films of a similar genre that we could take inspiration from. We researched ‘Kidulthood’ a gritty british film set in inner-city London. Following the protagonist Trife, 15, giving a 24hour insight to his day to day struggle, caught in the trap of violence and drugs. The socially real narrative includes moments of romance, humour and poignant emotional moments. This is a hard-hitting reflection of what life is really like for 21st century teenagers. In my opinion the reason kidulthood was such a phenomenon was due to teenagers feeling they could relate to some of the troubles and decisions both Trife and other characters experience throughout the film, either personally or things they are exposed to living in a city. This is something I felt was important to the plot of our film as the primary target audience would be teenagers.

I also independantly looked into a Channel 4 TV drama ‘Fallout’ which was aired last year, written in response to the Damiola Taylor case (a young teenager who was murdered). Fallout tells the narrative of the teenagers on a rough estate in London, after the stabbing of Kwame, 16, a studious well-behaved teenager. A murder investigation takes place, causing Joe a policeman to return to his former estate (where the teenagers live) to work on the investigation. He tries to make the group of boys associated with the crime, and prime suspects in the case, to admit the killing. Targeting the vulnerable Shanice girlfriend  of the murderer Emile; after persistence of Joe eventually Shanice  confesses Emile stabbed Kwame. The drama gives an insight of the hard lives of the young perpetrators and the murderer of Kwame. This drama helps us to understand why some youths of today would arm themselves and commit such devastating acts of violence. In our film I thought it would be interesting to explore the stories behind the criminal activities of teenagers.

The writer of ‘Fallout’ Roy Williams says: 'I remember following the Damilola Taylor Case, and the feelings that I had. Anger with the killers, anger with whoever had let those kids down. I felt it was important as well as necessary to write a piece that allowed all my feelings, and the feelings of those kids and police to be expressed.'

LINK TO WATCH;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoW67lju0Uk&feature=related&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DehepBWYRquc%26feature%3Drelated&has_verified=1

I also watched the opening to 'Bullet Boy' which tells the story of two brothers growing up in one of London's most rough estate, where a minor street clash escalates into a cycle of violence  causing  tragic repercussions. The film follows Ricky, 18, who is released from a young offenders institute and desperatley wants to avoid the the temptation to fall back into his criminal lifestyle. With his right hand man 'wisdom' still very much involved in crime It seems inevitable Ricky will be dragged down with him, but it's also only a matter of time before Curtis his younger brother will be drawn in to the trouble on the estate, against Ricky and his mothers wishes.  

The Art of the Title

The titles for the film ‘Smoking Aces’ provide the first clue about the themes, style and overall genre of the film. The objects in each shot, weapons, guns and smashed glass and the urban landscape settings, convey the genre. The predominant difference between these titles and others in the crime and violence genre is the cartoon style it adopts, which is evocative of films from the 60’s. This could be seen to represent an element of comedy and playfulness within the film- even though the stills show it clearly is a film based on violent crime. The striking colours of the shots are garish and exaggerated. This could be seen to portray the film as dramatic and exciting – but again highlighting a playful or perhaps comedic genre. The dark blues and reds stick to conventions of the crime genre because they connote danger and the unknown, however the lime green, turquoise and bright pinks are unusual.

The first shot shows character X, a man smartly dressed in a long trench coat and trilby. This costume has connotations of crime and hidden identity, there is also a 1960’S Chevrolet car, which suggests the man is quite wealthy, his stance is confident and quite stern portraying power. In the corner of the screen there is a man’s head and shoulders, suggesting he is crouched on the floor. This shows the low status of character and implies he is beneath character x. This also indicates there is confrontation and suggests the idea of gangsters. The scene is set in an urban landscape and in the background a building is shown, suggesting it is set on the streets.  The blue colours could also be seen to portray that it is set at night, blue is typically associated with coldness and harshness, this could reflect the personality of character x. The text ‘written and directed by Joe Carnahan’ is quite central connoting the importance of him.

This shot shows Alicia Keys positioned to the left side of the screen, she is holding a revolver gun high up as if she is ready to shoot and the gun is positioned centrally showing the importance of this object. Furthermore this adds mystery as the shot intrigues the audience to wonder who she is shooting at. Her facial expression is quite sultry and provocative, perhaps indicating she is the sex symbol of the film. She is wearing a lot of eye makeup and her hair looks sleek and styled this also reinforces the idea she is image conscious. Alicia Keys is shown in bright fuchsia pink, this is a bold colour however it has connotations of femininity and this significantly contrasts with her typically masculine actions. This contrast is also reinforced through the continuation of bold masculine font used for the text ‘Alicia Keys’ which has been added as a form of star pull to entice people. The setting is an alleyway, which seems to be quite dingy with strong shadows allowing the audience to wonder ‘what is lurking in the shadows’?

The most dominant thing about this shot is the lime green and black stripes. This could be interpreted as the bar’s of a prison cell, indicating low status and that the character has a lack of power. There is also 3 images of a man’s face taken from different angles; however they have been merged together as to create quite an abstract image. These elements could represent and indicate a split personality portrayed through the stripes showing division of the character and the three sides of his personality. The colour is quite pastel like and subtle compared to the other colours used throughout the stills; which could indicate his personality is more subdued than other character’s. Green also has well known connotations of jealousy, which could indicate he is envious of the outside world.

This still show’s a man with a weapon on his shoulder, cars and what appears to be some kind of industrial fan. The cartoon images appear to be overlays perhaps to represent synchronised storylines running through the plot. The text 'Chris Pine' is in the same typeface as the text in the other stills. however it appears to be blurred, as if it is being sucked in through the fan which also could suggest the character has been sucked into the plot. Although the circular shape looks like an industrial fan there is what appears to be a handle in the bottom right hand corner, this resembles a magnifying glass. A magnifying glass has connotations of the crime and murder genre. The cars have connotations of speed and a fast lifestyle reinforced by the man poised ready for action with the weapon resting on his shoulder which reinforces the theme of violence.

This still is quite simplistic, the grid like cartoon style buildings in the background shows the urban setting in fitting with the previous stills. The man is positioned to the right of the screen to allow the gun to be centre stage showing the importance of the gun, again supporting the theme of violence. The camera angle of the man is also slightly tilted below the character; this portrays power and strength. The zingy green colour could also represent a vibrant and confident character.

In the foreground of the still is a rabbit and a man both central to the picture. The man in the foreground of the picture is looking up in a relaxed way with hid back towards the prisoner; this shows an element of his status and power. The background depicts a man behind bars, his face is hidden by the rabbits ear and all that is revealed of him is his muscular arm as he grabs the bars; this could represent a sense of hidden identity. The rabbit whose eyes are widely opened with dilated pupils has strong connotations of drug references. The rabbit is also a well-known sex symbol, and could represent the sexual ‘playboy’ life that is often apparent in a gangster’s life.

The following stills carry on with the theme depicting violence and action; they also stay consistent in choice of bold, bright colours used to reflect the active, dramatic mood of the film. Overall I like the titles and feel they are effective to entice an audience, the titles are coherent and give an insight and some clues to the storyline of the film.