How does Essex Boys use conventions of immorality and bleakness through the use of the mise en scene and characters?

Peaky blinders

Preliminary task

Outline of the brief

Our preliminary task was a task to film continuity. We had to film actors opening a door, walking, and then film two people having a conversation together with a few lines that we had made up. Our task was to make it short so our video was around 1 minute and 30 seconds and it had included every thing that we needed to make it fit to the requirements.

Planning

First of all we had to plan the film so that we knew what and how we were going to do this. We started off by walking around the school area to get ideas of where we want to film and then wrote these areas on our large A3 paper which was for brainstorming and then came up with a conclusion of where we were going to do it. We then made a floor plan of all the scenes and also came up with a script. Our script did not come off the internet so we had made the script ourselves. The script gave us time to plan out how are characters will act and also gave them time to remember the lines. The storyboard was next to make in which was similar to the floor plan except we are explaining what is happening with more detailed drawings so that we have a clear understanding of what to do when filming so we had an easier idea when we actually begun. Once we had made our floor plan and story board it was time to add where all the cameras would be. This made it even more easier when it was time to start filming as we wouldn't of had to have looked for good positions to put the camera as we already knew where it was going to go so it saved quite a lot of time. We added how we are going continuity and also the 180 degree rule. Something that i would have changed about this task is acting out the scenes before filming it as we would have had better acting which would of made it much smoother to watch.

Techniques

For this task we had to use different types of camera shots and also had to do a lot of editing which took up most of the time hence why we didn't have much time to film a more smoother video. We used our knowledge from lessons to film a range of different shots such as an extreme close up, head room, nose room, long shots and also over the shoulder shots when filming. For our first shot, we filmed the actors shoes first to hide identity to get a more mysterious feel of who our character is and with the music added the audience can have a slight idea of who the character might portray. We were inspired by the scene from 'peaky blinders' when the two gangs were walking to each other with the one leader in the front and everyone behind and also how they dont show the identities right at the start either. We then used another actor which came out behind the leader as one of his men to walk to the next actor which is when the conversation starts. For the conversation we use over the shoulder shots as it makes it clear who is speaking and also when they are speaking. We made sure that we kept the 180 degree rule in our shots so we didn't break the rule. One of our last shots were an extreme close up on the actor which has less power so we can see that they are anxious about the whole situation. When editing we used music to make the first actor seem powerful as we didn't show the identity either and then kept the contrast all the same. For transitions we used a dip to black transition as it looked very smooth when changing to the next cut. It was also inspired by many TV programs which use the dip to black transition also for example popular film Recess: School's Out:
Right after the Sad Times Montage for T.J. after his friends leave for camp, then fades back into the next morning.

Main learning points

This task has helped me learn many different techniques of filming and also how i can plan these type of tasks for the future. This is because as i know how to use the camera for things like zooming in and out and also how to use the tripod properly, it will save me a lot of time when i do my next filming task so i can work on making the acting much better and smoother. It has also helped me how to edit videos. Before this task i wasn't able to edit videos but now i can edit videos really easy now so it will also help next time so it gives me more time to work on the stuff i struggled more on such as filming the conversation. If i was to do this task again i would make sure that i film more than once so that the continuity is much better for example the actors moving ahead in certain shots and then they are slightly moved again. I can now also establish a character through the music and setting of the shot. An example from our first scene when we filmed the first actors shoes with music in the background which distinguished that the character is quite a superior character as we dont get to see his identity. Mistakes that i will try to avoid in the future is planning with a better story board and script. this is because we didn't have much time to do this as the actors were absent for 2 days so planning this was all individual so next time i will do it with a group which will mean that there are more ideas which will then make a better film.

(Edit) Strengths and weaknesses of our film.

The strengths of our film was that we used a variety of different shots for the same scene right at the start which was composed well. Another thing was positive was that most of our shots were filmed very steadily. This was because we mostly used tripods for most scenes which meant that the camera shouldn't have moved at all. Things which were wrong with our film was that we mostly had continuity but at other times such as when the conversation started we lacked continuity. We also broke the 180 degree rule also close to the end. Another problem we had with the film was with the sound. This problem was not entirely our fault as we had filmed the conversation outside which meant that we were bound to have audio problems when hearing the conversations. A reason why some of it was our fault was because we filmed the conversation too far for one of the cuts. This meant that the audio had to be increased manually with the effects which made it also harder to listen in to. Lastly, our main weaknesses was filming steadily. With the tripod we had made our shots good but at the start of the scene we used the camera handheld so the filming was not too steady and needs improving for the next task in the future.

Big lebowski

Introduction

MK Dons are the best club in England