1. For the 9 frames I went to www.artofthetitles.com and decided
to analysis the film ‘THIS IS ENGLAND’ because it’s the closest
film to our genre.
2. The first frame is the location of where the film was shot, somewhere in the
Midlands but mostly in Nottingham. This is an establishing shot with the
title of the film appearing. As you can see the shot is suggesting that the plot
of the film is set in an urban environment which also includes a council flat.
The council flat represent a working class society which also could imply the
type of characters that will be portrayed in the movie.
3. In the second frame you can see 3 young white men. The young men
emphasis on the target audience and also the type of genre of the film. The
men are skinheads who insinuate that the film is set in a different time
period, preferably between the late 50s and early 60s. Also the skinheads
hint that the characters are involved in violence, racism and political riots.
This is further emphasised from the suit that they are wearing; they are all
wearing black suits which imply that they are in some sort of gang.
4. The third frame is from a night club. The club is filled with Caucasian musician
and fans. This suggests that the film will include some music references. The
fans look very agitated. This shows that society at that time period where
very angry students especially during the 60s as there was a lot of
movements taking place in the United States which also influenced students
in England. Also during that decade, drugs, sex and rock ’n’ roll where very
influential. The frame conveys this idea, especially with the effect of lighting
used as it gives it a more realistic sense of a night club taking place.
5. As we can see the fourth frame is a close up of a boy and girl kissing. This
conveys the genre of the film. We also get an implication that the film will
involve some romantic plot and possibly sexual activities. This frame also
brings forward the age classification of the movie. The frame suggests that
the characters are lover and perhaps there will be a story behind their
relationship.
6. The fifth frame is of three young boys whose back are faced behind the
screen and they are covering themselves with an England flag. The lighting
in this frame is a 3 point lighting. The effect this brings to the audience is
that it makes the film look realistic and also emphasises on idea of it being
almost like a flashback of a time period in England that’s actually
happened. The 3 boys are also skinheads, which suggest that the film will
involve a lot around a political debate and racial issues.
7. On most of the frames there are number codes that appear. After doing
some research I discovered that those numbers ‘echo the numbers of
soldier’s dog tags who’ve died because… [SPOILER] the lead character’s
father has passed away [in the Falklands Conflict]’. This information
highlighted my thought that the movie will have some historic context. The
way the codes have been used to show this is subtle as it will not offend
anyone but still keep the audience in suspense.
8. This frame is showing a fight at a seaside. The lighting of the frame comes
across as very old which conveys the thought that the film is not set in the
current decade and perhaps the 20th century. The fight scene could be a
document clip from a previous fight or riot that took place at the seaside.
This shows that the film will include some historical background which
gives a clearer sense of what time of film it is and what it will include. In this
case a lot of violence.
9. The 8th frame is of British soldiers. There’s also a big flag being held. From the
research I previously done I can deduce that the soldiers are at the Falklands
war. They are all lined up walking together in single files at the centre of the
camera. The frame is a long shot as it emphasises on the environment but the
subject (the soldiers) are still visible.
10. The last frame is of Margret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan who are iconic
members of politics. As a whole this tells me that the film will explore
perhaps some sensitive topics such as racism, bullying and politics. The
lighting of the frames are three point lighting. Three point lighting are
usually used for reality shows, soaps and documentary. In this case its used
in a documentary form because of the historic clips.
11. Overall, throughout the 9 frames there’s a clear indication of what the target audience
for this film is. The target audience for this film is young adults and middle aged
Caucasians as throughout the frames those are the ethnicity shown. The frames also
come across as a documentary as there are documentary clips from the past
government and riots that happened in England. The 9 frames have taught me that for
our opening film we should include some historical content or shots of previous riots
that happened in London to give a clearer indication of where our film is set and what
type of genre we are creating. We should also think closely of how to dress our
characters to make it more consistent with the theme and coherent with our research
and plot and also the time period that we are trying to create. The conventions in the 9
frames are that the titles appear in most of the frames. We will try to incorporate these
conventions in our opening sequence. Even though ‘This is England’ isn’t a ‘urban crime’
genre it has similar customs to our genre, for example majority of the frames are either
mid-shots or close ups. These are the conventions that are seen on a lot of urban crime
because they show the body language between characters and close details that the
producer wants to show. All these conventions will be taken into consideration and
incorporated in our opening film so that our film fits the criteria set.