Film Four Ideology

Looking For Eric
This film shows Film Four ideology by representing the worst of Britain, in this film it shows the bad behaviours of teenage kids and gangs. This illustrated through violence and threats made in the film. In addition to this the film defines failures and lack of success in this film. This is shown by Eric, a middle aged man living in a house with two teenage kids and having no contact with his wife as he walked out on her and he had a baby with her. Film Four films are commonly known for have a sad ending but however this film has a surprisingly happy ending as Eric gets united with his family. Another example of Looking For Eric representing Film Four films is by Eric's profession, he is underclass and works as an postman had leads a boring miserable life, "his kids don't give him the time of day" "my wife refuses to talk to me". The location for this film has cultural references, being a postman, the parks, the shops. The language of the characters are usually Northern accents and cockney. Therefore Looking For Eric shows a great emphasis on Film Four Ideology.




Submarine
Submarine shows the use of Film Four ideology, the film shows this through the character of Oliver Tate by showing his life being boring, he also gets bullied and wishes for a girlfriend, he monitors his parents sex life by using the light, this is part of Film Fours ideology with characters leading unspectacular boring lives. This film has heavy British culture references including the clothes that they were, the various locations, the beaches, school and also the accent. The film however has quiet a happy ending as Oliver resumes his relationship with Jordana in contrast to the realistic harsh endings and ambiguous endings Film Four endings typically have. In addition to this it also shows realistic situations that people go through such as Jordana's father being depressed and having break downs, the mum developing a brain tumour which makes her vulnerable to losing her life, as well as this there are also some sexual references as the mum gives her ex boyfriend a hand job. Overval the film shows Film Four ideologies as it focuses on some real life issues that occur in reality in contrast to escapism. 




Four Lions
Four Lions focuses on the bottom and worst of Britain, it represents important issues such as racism and terrorism as humorous problems, when they are not. It shows the mundane and lack of success in Britain through these four characters. In part of the film where they are filming each other as terrorist, there is use of very rough, wobbly, hand held camera work. This film also reinforces the dominant ideologies such as typical stereotypes 'All Muslims are terrorist". This therefore touches upon sensitive political opics such as terrorism, for instance America are very sensitive with this problem. This film also uses unknown actors who have a particular accent from Sheffield, Yorkshire and England, this is therefore culturally British. The use of the countryside adds to the British references. Overall this film shows Film Four ideologies in different ways from political sensitive issues to humorous racism. 

Edit Workshop Evaluation

My group used the 180 degree rule by placing my character on the right and Jaya's character on the left, this had to be provided through out the whole film, on the other hand if we did not keep to that arrangement then the rule would be broken and therefore we would lose a mark. We made sure that our eyes where a 1/3 way down the screen in order to have included the rule of thirds in our film as that was in the brief provided. As well as this we used match on action in the stairs scene, we positioned the camera two ways to film the match on action, low angle and high angle. In order to film that I ran half way up the stairs, the camera was on tilt and low angle and to film the rest I ran up the stairs from half way, this was a high angle shot and the camera was on pan, we tilted it forward.  

The challenges we faced during the the course of this project was finding a good location, a setting were could film all our film without having any problems occur. However are initial idea of filming in the interview room was out of reach as that room was always occupied. We thought we could film everything in Loxford Polyclinic as that would suit our idea, that would of been the ideal location of the film. Unfortunately instead we filmed outside the clinic and used that as a establishing shot and we filmed in my partners house to film the consultant room. On the other hand it still looked very clinical even though we  incorporated the school into the film. If we were to film again then I would make sure the whole filming took place in the Polyclinic to make it more real and unique instead of using the school setting. Also I would of made sure that me and my partner took a variety and various shots so when we edit, we would have more choice of shots.

During the post-production I myself had a lot of trouble, I had never used the software before and I was not familiar with way you edit your film where as everyone else in my class had been familiar with it. One of the most difficult challenges was finding the right shot to put in the film so it would flow, I would have a perfect shot then I would have a dodgy shot. However I overcame this problem by asking the teacher for instructions and then following it out, and as for the dodgy shots which would be bad because of something little I had to re-shoot. If I was to edit again I would provide back ground music to add to the realism of the film and make shots a bit longer so you are clear with whats happening. As well as this I would have more shots of me smoking or with cigarettes so its clear to the audience I am a addicted smoker and that I'm trying to seek help. 

I feel as if we had many strengths In our film, we came up with a unique idea not a typically common idea that would be repeatedly used for a scenario. The idea of being a smoking addict is more serious which makes the whole project seem real. Our planning was a strength as we had made story boards with various scenes which we would benefit from and use in our presentation. These story boards were reliable and useful as they were a guide to filming and reminded us of all the shots that would be included in a scene. The camera we used was of high quality and it was bonus that we could take them out overnight from school premises. The editing software was good as it enabled us to include a lot of features in our film such as; sound, animation etc. On the other hand as I was not familiar with the software I had difficulty editing which made more process of making this film very slow and stressful. Another weakness of this project is that it was rushed slightly at the start of the film, it happens very quickly so the audience may be confused, this was because only the first few seconds of the shot were good so that resulted in their being rushed shots.

The overall improvements I would make to this film is to make it more graphic by including different transitions to scenes to make it look more professional. I would of used a variety of shots like reaction shots, fine cutting etc. As well as that I would of included more close ups, high angle low angle instead of one of each to increase my understanding of these shots and to increase detail of character. I would of also changed the location and filmed it in one location to make it more real and less complex. Overall I would made a lot of improvements including changing location, using more shots, taking advantage of the technology provided and spending more time on this process. All those factors would of made my film my successful and more realistic to gain top marks. 

Match on Action, Low angle 

Match on Action, High angle

180 Degree Rule, Right

180 Degree Rule, Left

Rule Of Thirds

Finishing Continuity Excercise

Continuity Editing Exercise

The scenario that I had to work to was a character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character, then the character will make a few exchanges of conversation/dialogue. My scenario that me and my partner worked to was a smoking addict and a councillor.The smoking addict had an appointment to see her councillor in a polyclinic. We had to demonstrate we had a fully developed understanding of the key media language skills which consisted of: rules of thirds, 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot. 

A shot reverse shot is when you shoot to what a person is looking at then back to the  original shot. A match on action shot is when the same action is carried on all the way through two shots. The rule of thirds is when your eyes or the actors eyes are on the top horizontal to ensure characters are looking at each other a 1/3 of the way down the screen. Finally the 180 degree rule is when you always stay on one side of invisible line, only time you can break this rule is by filming while crossing the line. 

On the film I was making I worked with Jaya, our group was successful as we both had good skills including acting to bring to this project, we had individual skills which we could make use of in the film. We developed the scenario by thinking of a unique idea, instead of a commonly used one. To bring us to this idea we brain stormed ideas onto a piece of paper and decided which one would be more realistic to shoot within a given time period and how we can include the key media language skills into it. 

The storyboard was quite useful as it was a guide to how and what shots we would film. It reminded us how to film the shots and the positioning of the camera if it should be pan or tilt. As we filmed we changed around a couple of shots, for example the long shot we change to an establishing shot and we also added shots in, for example we added a over shoulder shot so that we can see the opposite person's reaction. As well as that we added close ups, so you could see the persons facial expression or a specific part of someone this gives you information of the person maybe feeling. We used a variety of shots including high angle, low angle, establishing shot and so on. 

Storyboards

We did not specifically stick to our storyboards, we cancelled out some shots because of the timing.