1. FREEDOM WRITERS
ASSIGNMENT 5: FILM STUDY &
CONVENTIONS IN A FILM
BY MONAE - COLOUR BLUE
&
NICOLE - COLOUR RED
EDITING DONE TOGETHER

4. •Racial conflict
•The film is about teens
•Students going through a hard time in life
•A struggle but shows you can succeed
•Negative stereotypes
•Aspects of poverty and racism
•Can relate to troubles and stress of school

5. GENRE: DRAMA
• The main genre Freedom Writers falls under is
drama.
• That is because of the serious issues involved
Such as:
• Poverty
• Domestic violence
• Racism
• Death.

6. Subgenre Evidence
Tragedy drama • Little boy accidently shooting himself.
• Paco shot dead in the corner shop
Romance drama • Mrs Gruwell & her husband.
• Ending in divorce.
Crime drama • Gun crime.
• Growing up witnessing shootings.
Historical drama • The holocaust museum
• The woman that hid Anne Frank

7. The hybrids included in Freedom Writers are:
 Courtroom
 Historical
 Domestic violence

8.  Freedom Writers defined under
Budget based, racial identity,
the location, story content
• Ethnicity focus: the characters
of all different races (e.g. Latino,
black etc.)
• Budget: $21,000,000
(estimated)
• Well known actress Hilary
Swank seen in more serious
films

9. MITTELS THEORY
Mittel‟s theory is that genre is uses codes and conventions to sell
products.
I can agree because:
 Racial prejudice is portrayed
 Based on a true story „The Freedom Writers Diary‟
 Based on a book
Examples of this genre
 Dangerous Minds (ex-marine teacher struggles to connect with
her students in an inner city school)
 Take the Lead (the real story of a dance teacher who believed in
the talent of a group of problem kids)

10. SEMANTICS
Characters White middle class character
Troubled teens
Different ethnicity groups
Story trait Teacher facing “Un-teachable, at-
risk” teenagers
Teens witnessing shootings,
murders of random people or of
friends and family
Shows different categorisation
The influence of Negative
stereotype given to them
A key to freedom
Turn their life around

11. SEMANTICS
Location Real-life settings of the ghetto
Shootings near a shop
At high school
Courtrooms
Jail
Balcony/home
Costume Loose, street like clothing
Teachers smartly dressed
girls dressed similar to the boys
male teenagers giving a
negative connotation
Props Weapons, such as knives and
guns (strengthen the negative
views).
Classroom props such as
tables, chairs and a board etc.

12. SYNTAX
• The syntax of the film is that the power of one person can
have a good impact on everyone else.
• Also that everyone has and will make the wrong decisions,
you just have to learn from them.

13. - In addition, the “Toast For Change” scene is very bright with all the natural lighting
involved from the outside. It also has quite bright colours in this scene grab. Blue
representing nature, calm, and fresh and yellow representing bright, happiness and
summer.

14. Darker Natural lighting bounces
background of Eva‟s face
to show
•Intensity
•Hidden
•Enclosure
Lighting creates
This was a close up shot shadow to seem
to show Eva facial sorrowful
expression

15. CONVENTIONS
Conventions of genre/sub/hybrid Examples from range of real films
Students disrespecting teachers The Breakfast Club. Out smarting the
teacher.
Poverty Slumdog Millionaire – The kids grew up in
poverty
Stereotypes of individuals Philadelphia – The man with aids was
stereotyped
Family loyalty My Sister‟s Keeper – Family helped her,
through her battle with cancer.
Sticking with your gangs The Godfather – You need to stick together.
Racism The Secret Life Of Bees. – The black boy
getting arrested for being with a white girl.
Racial prejudice Crash
A struggling relationship The Time Travellers Wife
Character dealing with a problem Pursuit of Happiness

16. CONVENTIONS ANALYSIS
Conventions of Examples from your film Comparison to other
genre/sub/hybrid (bullet points and films in the same
screen grabs) genre/sub/hybrid?
Racial prejudice  White characters Crash – White cop shots
have higher authority a black guy for reaching
 Eva‟s dad being into his pocket.
arrested (Thinking he had a gun.)

17. …
Conventions of Examples from your Comparison to other
genre/sub/hybrid film films in the same
(bullet points and genre/sub/hybrid?
screen grabs)
A struggling  Ms Gruwuell The Hunger Games –
relationship relationship with her Peeta exposing his
husband feelings for Katniss on
 Struggling national tv.
relationship with Katniss not fully
students at first returning his feelings.
 One of the black
characters with his
mum

18. …
Conventions of Examples from your film Comparison to other
genre/sub/hybrid (bullet points and films in the same
screen grabs) genre/sub/hybrid?
Character dealing with a  Eva‟s dad in prison Pursuit of Happiness –
problem  Black female The man is homeless,
character gets broke and has a child to
beaten by her dad look after.
 Being kicked out.

19. CONVENTIONS ANALYSIS
Conventions of Examples from your film Comparison to other
genre/sub/hybrid (bullet points and films in the same
screen grabs) genre/sub/hybrid?
Racism -Separated in to their The Secrete Life of
racial groups in the Bees.
classroom
-Gangs sticking to their
own race
-When the black boy
gets an insulting picture
passed around the
classroom.

20. ………..
Conventions of Examples from your film Comparison to other films in
genre/sub/hybrid (bullet points and screen the same
grabs) genre/sub/hybrid?
Students disrespecting Students stating that they will The Breakfast Club.
teachers not have respect for his Out smarting the teacher.
teacher just because she is a Ignoring his rules.
teacher. She has to earn it.

21. ………..
Conventions of Examples from your film Comparison to other
genre/sub/hybrid (bullet points and films in the same
screen grabs) genre/sub/hybrid?
Stereotypes of Because they were form Philadelphia – The man
individuals the lower class, the with aids was
head of department stereotyped
looked down on them.

22. DOMINANT IDEOLOGY

23. Details of Target Secondary Explanation of why they would be
audience audience Audience attracted to watch the film
Age 13-19 20-40 Its about education / the star of the film.
Gender Girls Boys The violence within the film may attract
them.
Ethnicity Mixture White The target audience may be attracted as its
(Blacks, about their backgrounds. The secondary
Latinos, audience may be attracted to see how
Asians) different white people portray themselves
to other.

24. Audience
Details of audience Target audience Secondary Explanation of why they
Audience would be attracted to
watch the film
Social class •Lower class Upper class -Variety of classes shows
•working class mixture of opinion
•lower middle class -Can change how different
•upper middle class classes think
Social group •Young boys (gang •Chavs -Attracted to gangs, violence,
members) •Punks drugs and life
•hippies -Shows the hard way of living
-Shows you can achieve no
matter what your story was
Sexual orientation Straight •Lesbians - May be of their interest
•Gays
•bisexuals
Profession/ Role •Students • Parents •Related to their life
•Teachers • Workers •A good message from the
• Historical film
People •Educate them

25. Reasons why people watch the film Explanation
Entertainment - In their holiday they began to make their
changes, for example:
Moving back in with the mum
Throwing the gun away
Telling the truth in court
- They are breaking free from the old
them.
- Making a better person out of
themselves to get out of the
stereotypes.

26. Reasons why people watch the Explanation
film
Personal Identity - The characters are from different
backgrounds
- They all share different norms and
values within their culture
- They tend to look after their own

27. Reasons why people watch the Explanation
film
Integration & social interaction • It‟s about different races.
• Those different races would most
likely come together to discuss
the film.