British films

One of my media teachers once told us that "The British film industry is famous and unique for its amount of films which are about ordinary people". I gave this some thought, and although I can think of a few films like this, such as Bridget Jones' Diary or Love Actually, I can think of far more revolving around other things, mainly crime.

To see if I can prove this hypothesis right or wrong, I have decided to take samples from all of 2008's British films, and another selection from films all over the world, and compare the amount of them with ordinary people as the main character(s).

Wikipedia has given me this list of British films, although it admits that some may be crossovers.

Yes means that the film is about ordinary people; no means that is is not about ordinary people.
Bear in mind that these opinions are all subjective

British

Adulthood - No
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging - Yes 
The Bank Job - No 
Be Like Others - Yes
Brideshead Revisited - No
Cash and Curry - No
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - No
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures - Yes
The Cottage - No 
The Duchess - No 
The Escapist - No 
The Grind - No 
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - No 
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People - Yes 
Quantum of Solace - No 

4/15

From this list, 27% are about ordinary people.

Other

Other films, chosen at random from this wikipedia page. To select films, I shut my eyes and touched the screen, and took the film closest to my finger. Coincidently, they were all American, although considering the amount of American films in comparison to most other contries, this is not too surprising.

Cloverfield - Yes 
Teeth - Yes 
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins - No 
Smart People - No 
Kiss the Bride - No 
Postal - No
Twilight - No 
Extreme Movie - No
Morning Light - No 
Choke - No
Hounddog - Yes 
Body of Lies - No
What Just Happened - Yes 
The Family That Preys -No 
Beer For My Horses -No

4/15

From this list, 27% are about ordinary people.

As both selections; "British" and "other" show the same amount of films about ordinary people (27%), I can assume that the hypothesis is false.

Reflection on influences, and how they affected our take on our film

As a group, we wanted to create a thriller that would use various aspects of the thriller genre from its creation to the present. This would lead us to create a thriller that would appeal to a wide target audience, and would use successful techniques that have already been proven by their success. We watched various thrillers, choosing them for their success, release date and sub-genre. To name a few, we watched: The Third Man: Possibly the most famous thriller of all time, we were inspired mainly by the clever camera angles and mise-en-scenes used in the film, as well as the contrast between black and white to create a very powerful image. Vertigo: Hitchcock is often referred to as the "father of thriller", and Vertigo is among his most famous. We were mainly looking for the use of camera angles in this, and we took several shot ideas from this film, in particular the staircase shot we used. Layer Cake: A very conventional modern thriller, Layer Cake uses some very powerful, effective camera techniques and its use of music made us realise that music could be very effective in our film. From Dusk Till Dawn: The first half of this film is a thriller, and is very edgy and quirky, which gives it a unique flare which separates it from the crowd. We wanted to make sure that our film was not conventional in every way, and had a different feel about it. Ichi the Killer: This Japanese thriller also has a very unique style, created by its odd sense of humour and our relationships with the character, as well as a confusing narrative. Its use of crime syndicates and how the people in them operate was interesting, and gave me a lot to think about in terms of how the members of different ranks communicate. This led to the choice of our two characters, and how the son of a crime lord communicates with other characters. Sin City: This the comics which the film was directly based on was heavily inspired by the film noir subgenre of the thriller genre, which we wanted to incorporate in our film. As this film was inspired by so many other famous thrillers, taking ideas from this saved us a lot of time. For example, the use of black and white, the theme of corruption and the birds eye staircase shot. The boss's son in our film was also closely modeled on Roark Junior. Se7en: This film gave me the most inspiration, and this is clear from many features of our film, such as the style of text and music. Its nihilistic narrative was also inspirational - I find that too many films have happy endings, especially in thrillers, which should leave the audience with a lot to think about. Se7en had an ending which made me really think.

Why Britain needs a film industry

Economy

The British film industry creates jobs for a large range of people, not just for the people you would expect such as actors and directors; but builders, technicians, costume designers and many others. "The report said 33,500 people were directly employed in the film industry in 2006." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6911999.stm) The industry also generates a lot of money, as popular British films such as the James Bond series or Bridget Jones’ diary are sold all over the world, and a large amount of the revenue is taken in by the UK. The films themselves don’t create all the money though, as film based products such as games and posters bring in a lot of money, as well as advertising the film, which leads to bringing in even more money and advertising the film further, as well as creating more jobs. Especially today, where the economy has largely collapsed, the film industry is one of the few which is still bringing in large amounts of money. This can be proven be this quote from the BBC's website. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6911999.stm) Films made in the UK contributed an estimated £4.3bn to the country's economy last year[2006], research released by the UK Film Council has suggested.

Tourism

Films have an adverse effect of drawing tourism to the area where they were filmed. I personally remember going to visit the castle where parts of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" were filmed, just because the film had been filmed there, and even at least 20 years later, souvenirs of the film were still being sold in gift shops. I found this quote taken from an article by the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6964375.stm). "The Harry Potter films led to a 120% rise in visitors to Northumberland's Alnwick Castle, and had brought about £9m worth of tourism to the region." This is significant proof that the film industry has a powerful knock-on effect on tourism.

Choice of actors for our Thriller - Actors and auditioning

Choosing actors to play the two characters for our Thriller project didn't take as long as we had thought it might. We had to look for four things, availably, quality of acting, past experience in acting and physical looks for the part.

In the end, we only looked at two people for the part, who both took them, Lukman Hussin and Tanwyn Smith-Meek.

Lukman Hussin: I thought that Lukman would be a perfect candidate for the part of Smith due to his past acting experiences (as mentioned in another post, he currently plays the lead character in a film) and his age. Having two 16 year olds play the parts would look wrong, whatever we did, as 16 year olds wouldn't fit the part of “modern gangster. Lukman is 25, and so age is not a problem. He also has dark skin, which we thought would reflect the dark nature of his work, and has the advantage of being easier to shroud in shadow successfully. This also helps to attract a more multicultural audience to our film.

Tanwyn Smith-Meek: The best thing about Tanwyn being an actor in our thriller is that he is a part of the group. This has several advantages:
1. He would commit far more as his acting is roughly proportional to his grade.
2. He understands the piece better, and therefore the emotions and characteristics of the character.
3. We don't have to worry about him not being able to come to filming.
4. We have group meeting with him so he can rehearse with us.
5. As an active member of the group, he is aware of any changes to the plan as soon as they are made.
As well as all of these aspects, Tanwyn aspires to become an actor and takes a Drama A-Level, and has earned an A for his Drama GCSE. He is also a member of an acting group, and has been in several plays, so we know that he is a relatively good actor. The only problem with Tanwyn is that he has no film experience, and acting on stage and for a film is a slightly different talent.

We also considered Lukman's younger Brother, Ibrahim, who is in our year, and is more readily available, and we could relay information faster. Ibrahim earned a C in drama, so his performance would likely be average. He is also unexperienced, as he has never been in a real play or film. In the end, we decided that Lukman's experience, acting talent and age would be more useful than this.

Thriller intro updates 2

This is an updated version of the Thriller project, which has been dramatically changed since the last time. This should be the final version, although things are sure to change in the filming and editing process.

Location: This is mainly unchanged - most of the filming will take place in the same car park already discussed, although we have decided not to ask for permission to film there, as the chance of getting rejected due to health and safety etc against getting noticed and asked to leave we thought would be higher. If we were asked to leave, we would move to another location which we could make to seem the same place, probably the John Lewis car park. The location has not been changed as the basic themes have not been changed - making the mise-en-scene seem dirty and corrupt is one of the definitive features of the film.

Characters: We have made some minor changes to the characters, although actors are the same as before.

1. First is the one we see in the intro who will be played by Tanwyn Meek-Smith. He plays the cocky son-of-a-crime-lord with a serious god complex. This was inspired by the similar character from "Sin City". His name is John Vanik.

2. Nearly completly unchanged since the first drafts, the only difference is that Smith has been renamed to Smith. The names were both chosen to make him seem neutral and emotionless, but we thought that Smith made him seem too dull, as well as too pretentious, which really wasn't what we wanted him to seem like, hence the change. As a character, he remains practically unchanged. He still says nothing or next to nothing in the intro and still kills Vanik. We also considered hiding his name throughout the film, (which is also done in "Layer Cake") as his name is never revealed in the intro. This would only have an effect on the plot synopsis and the full film script.

Props: These are also mainly unchanged, except for the addition of a tripod for the camera and changes in clothing. The fake gun has also been discussed and we will use it, but carefully. The complete list is as follows:
Trenchcoat - For Smith to wear as trenchcoats are very stereotypical features of thrillers, especially worn by private detective or those who work alone, which suits Smith's character- Acquired
Black t-shirt - For Smith to wear underneith the trenchcoat as black is viewed as the darkest and often most dangerous colour - Acquired
Trilby hat - For Smith to wear as a trilby hat is a generic thriller signifier and has the added advantage of hiding his face from the viewer, making him an interesting and mysterious character - Acquired
Fake gun - For Smith to use - Acquired
Black trousers - For Smith and Vanik to wear for the same reasons as above; black is a dark, dangerous colour- Acquired
Black shoes- For Smith and Vanik to wear - Acquired
Suit jacket - For Vanik to wear - Acquired
White shirt - For Vanik to wear - Acquired
Briefcase - For Smith and Vanik to hold - Acquired
Tripod - For holding the camera steady - Acquired
Video camera - For recording - Acquired
Mini DV tape - For recording - Acquired
Skateboard - For holding the camera - Acquired

Meeting schedule:This is completely unchanged. Our group still meets up four times a fortnight to have a group meeting, as well as in lessons, and most planning is done in the four one hour slots where all four group members have free periods. In week one we meet on Monday at 10.00, and Thursday at 11.20. In week two we meet on Wednesday at 9.00 and Thursday at 11.20.

Shooting schedule:

Thursday 27th of November

4.05: End of our last lessons in school
4.10: Leave school in our group
4.50: Meet Lukman outside his house (which is very near the car park)
4.55: Reach location and start filming all the parts which are shot in the car park chronologically

≈6.40: Finish filming for the day

We will film in the same order that the shots are shown to save time organising the shots in the editing stage. This should allow us to have a clear idea of what we are doing, as we can directly follow the storyboards, which will save us time and effort in the long run.

Thursday 4th of December

4.05: End of our last lessons in school
4.10: Leave school in our group
4.50: Meet Lukman outside his house
5.00: Reach first location (the overpass and underpass by Grapes Hill)
≈6.20: Finish filming for the day

Intro summary:
Scene 1: Beginning with a black screen, a diegetic song (which has not been decided, but must fit the mood) would begin playing. The black fades away, revealing a street-lit urban environment at night (preferably while raining), the first shot is a low down side on close up of a pair of feet walking towards the left, and the camera would pan at the same walking speed, to signify walking forwards as I thought that walking right gives the idea of walking backwards. The feet would be very well dressed, the viewer would be able to see a pair of expensive black polished shoes and smart black trousers, to show that the criminal world is better dressed and more professional than the rest of the world. One of the themes is that the criminal world is no longer the "underworld", but the higher world, following the "layer cake" idea in the same film. This is why the intro is mainly shot in a high location. The camera at the criminal's feet also tell us this. The shot would fade in and out of various urban settings to seem like time has gone much further than it seems. This could be shown by starting at twilight and ending much later.
After about 30 seconds of seeing the same pair of feet travel what appears to be a long way, the feet stop, the camera moves around and looks upwards, revealing the silhouette of the character looking up at a brightly lit car park. All non-diegetic music cuts out at this point, leaving the character with the sounds of the road. The scene ends, and fades out.

Scene 2: This scene opens with a blurry shot of the man walking down a passageway, made blurry to give the feeling that he is being viewed by a camera, which he is. The camera could be shown at a later time, although this is not yet decided.

Scene 3: The camera rests at the top of a spiral staircase, while Character 1 climbs it and narrates. What he says has not yet been decided. The problem with this shot is that I think it would get boring, and does not create that "hook" that all good intros have. We could compensate for this by including more shots of him at the top and bottom of the staircase, and cutting down on the dialogue.

Scene 4: The two characters meet, and although this part is very vague so far, Character 1 is killed by Smith. This scene will have a lot of camera changes and will be where all the action happens. This part is likely to take up a lot of the time, as it is the most exiting part of the intro, which we need to make the intro work

So far, we have a lot of issues with the plot, and until we settle on one completely logical plot which makes sense, this is bound to keep changing. The largest issue I have with the film is that it isn't very gripping, and provides little to hook the audience besides the gunshot, and this is right at the end, and so is not very effective (a good hook engages the audience very quickly). This is something that will have to be fulfiled with editing or interesting camera shots. If the film had its own unique style ("A Scanner Darkly", "Sin City"), then this would make up for it.

Script: This has been changed as it was originally far too long for the 2 minute film limit.

INT. CAR PARK STAIRS - NIGHT
JOHN: These days you see too many people complaining about their situation. The way I see it everyone has their chance. Too many people just don’t see it. Now I’ve got my chance. Start when you’re young, and when life moves on, you’ll have no reason to complain.

INT. CAR PARK - NIGHT

JOHN: Smith is it? (SMITH nods slightly) Thought so. (Silence) Well? (Silence) Ok. (Laughs) I’ve brought your stuff, well your boss's stuff. (SMITH Looks away) Hey, you listening to me? Do you speak English mate? You fucking idiot. What’s the matter, are you pissed off cause I'm a bit late. You do know who I am don’t you? (Silence)I'm John Vanik, you know, the son of fucking Harvey Vanik! I’m sure he sounds familiar. (SMITH looks up) Yeah, that's right, you know who he is don't you, one of the most powerful men in this business. You didn't think he’d send his own son to do shitty jobs like this did you? No they normally send little pricks like you to do this kind of shit. Are you not interested in what I’m saying? Look, I could have you fucking killed, dickhead! You'd be better off showing someone like me a bit of respect. (Silence) Fine, fuck you. You'll regret this. (JOHN throws the briefcase at SMITHS feet then turns around)

SMITH: (Puts his right hand into his pocket and slowly pulls out a pistol, it hangs by his side for a few seconds and then he carefully aims it at JOHN who continues to walk, unaware of the danger he is in. SMITH smiles. Blackout. Bang!)

(This is very likely to change depending on time restraints)

Storyboard:

Possible music for our thriller

I've recently been looking at finished thriller intros from another school, http://www.longroadmedia.com/ and I noticed that every one of them had music in the background which was in most cases very effective, and I couldn't imagine them working without it. Thanks to this, I have gone in search for a song which would fit the mood of our thriller, and give it its own unique style. After a long search, I found this song.

"The Four Of Us Are Dying" by "Nine Inch Nails"
This song, as well as being available on the Internet for free in very high quality off the Nine Inch Nails website, fits the mood of our thriller perfectly. The steady rhythm holds a pace slightly faster than walking speed, which I think really adds to the mood, as it would have the effect of making the character seem impatient, and the slightly-off beat from the song in contrast to the shoes would make the viewer tense and impatient too, which sets them up for the film, and makes them relate better to the characters and film as a whole. The song has no lyrics, which is essential for the film, as lyrics would make the music seem more like a part of the mise-en-scene, and would make it less of the background music that we want and more a song that the audience can listen to separately to the film. The song is in a minor key, making it seem negative and foreboding, which is perfect for the theme of the film, which, as a thriller, must be quite negative. This will give the viewer the right impression of the film from the start, meaning they are ready for the style of film very early on. There is an eerie mix of distortion and clear, vibrating tones all the way through this track which gives a mixed message, and keeps the track interesting throughout. This would make the film seem confusing and complex, which is exactly how we want the audience to feel given the amount of double crossing and change in our views of the characters throughout. The eerie warbling undertones on their own are very effective, as they add to the atmosphere of the film and aid to make everything seem confusing and corrupt, as the simple noise is one normally associated with things going wrong, for example, when you hold a lot of buttons of a keyboard down you hear a similar tone. The distorted guitar would have the effect of making the city where the film is set feel dirty and corrupt, which fits in with one of the key themes of the film.

I think that the mix of the orderly repeated drum track underneath the confusing and seeming-random overtones make the track seem very confusing and complex, which fits the theme and style of the film perfectly, which is why I definitely think that this song should be at least experimented with when we begin editing.

Update: We have been told by our teacher that we are not allowed any copyrighted music in our thriller, which means that we can not use this song.

Update: I realised that I had once read that Nine Inch Nails encourage remixes of their songs, and had a look on their website regarding copyright. The album "The Slip" on which the song features, is released under a Creative Commons licence, meaning we can use it.

This is England: Case Study

This is England (18) (2006) – Directed by Shane Meadows

Certification (ratings partly taken from www.IMDB.com)

UK: 18
Australia: 15
Ireland: 18
USA: Unrated
Sweden: 11
Finland:15
France: U
Germany: 12
Netherlands: 16
Notice the diversity of the certificates, especially the U from France. The ratings are mainly highest in the UK and Ireland, which is likely to be due to the setting and themes of the film, as the pessimistic, controversial views of the film are likely to have a stronger effect on English people, who can relate far better to the film.
Given the amounts of swearing, violence and controversial material, including racism and anarchism, I would have expected the film to receive a 15 rating on average, which proves true (the mean average of these ratings is exactly 15), although for the reasons stated above, It seems right to raise the certifiate in the country on which the film focuses on in a negative light
The U given from France seems wrong, however, as even though the film is not about that country, the use of swearing and violence alone normally push a film into the higher ratings, and this film has a lot of both. It is always possible that IMDB got the rating wrong, but when searching for the French rating online I found no results. Also note the “Unrated” USA rating- that the film was not rated tells me that the film is not at all popular, and was either not released in the US at all, or was barely sold there. As a British film that wasn't even shown in a majority of British cinemas, this is not surprising.

There are locations in the UK that overturned the certifications, as they thought that the film should reach the target audience of teenagers.

Locations
Set and filmed in Britain, the film never reveals exactly where it was set, although it was mainly filmed in Grimsby and Nottingham, suggesting that the film was set around those areas, in the center of Britain.

Company Credits

The production companies for the film are as follows:
Big Arty Productions
EM Media
Film4
Optimum Releasing
Screen Yorkshire
UK Film Council
Warp Films

Warp Films is a part of Warp Records. Based in Sheffield, it has 3 full-time staff, including Shane Meadows.
They state: "Warp Films is an independent film production company which aims to mirror the ethos of its partner music label Warp Records. By keeping the creative process at the core of our approach to filmmaking, Warp Films aims to create fresh and innovative feature length and short films to be viewed by a wide audience. Our current priorities are nurturing and developing existing talent, as well as discovering new exciting filmmakers." (Taken from Wikipedia)

The UK Film Council (UKFC), set up in 2000 was created by the Labour Government to promote the film industry in the UK in order to "stimulate a competitive, successful and vibrant UK film industry and culture, and to promote the widest possible enjoyment and understanding of cinema throughout the nations and regions of the UK", as they put it. It is funded through sources including The National Lottery.

They aim to find ways to encourage investment in British films, such as tax relief. They currently spend £16,000,000 on the British Films Institute to help achieve their goals, as well as spending money to aid other projects or companies, such as the New Cinema Fund,which supports creativity, innovation, new talent and cutting-edge filmmaking.

(Data taken from their website)

Film4 Productions is a part of Channel 4, a British broadcasting company. They have backed a large number of British films, and are "dedicated to the production of smart, distinctive and contemporary feature films."

Distribution

In the UK, the film was distributed on DVD by Optimum Releasing, a British company that works to release relatively unheard of films in the UK, and are most famous for their contract with Studio Ghibli.

In the US, the film was distributed by IFC Films, a company which mainly releases independant films and documentaries.

Reviews

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/apr/27/drama2

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article1705669.ece
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2007/04/23/this_is_england_2007_review.shtml

The film has recieved very mixed reviews from British reviewers, with 3, 4 and 5 star ratings from them. However, none of the reviews offer information into why it recieved such a low rating, and so I can only assume that the film has very different effects on different people. The facts in the reviews were very similar in each, however. Turgoose's acting was praised highly in each one, and the power of the film was also talked about a lot. Notice that the images chosen in these reviews were all of Turgoose getting his hair shaved off.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/05/05/tribeca-movie-review-this-is-england/

http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/05/05/tribeca-movie-review-this-is-england

http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/785/785042p1.html

These three American reviews are very like the three British ones in the way that they all have very mixed ratings, from 3/10 to 4.5/5, and again, Turgoose's acting is praised. Searching for any differences between UK and US reviews, I noticed one thing - the image used in the US review was of Turgoose holding a slingshot. This image suggests violence, and from this, I searched in the reviews for any hints that the US reviews focused more on the violence than the rest of the film. This search was moderatly successful, and allowed me to notice that while the UK reviews focused more on the first half of the film (if divided in to two parts; before and after Combo) whereas the US reviews focused more on the second half. Although all this information is too vague to make a conclusion, I can comment that it seems that the UK reviewers were more interested in the social issues and conflicts at that time, whereas the US reviewers were more interested in the more violent, contraversial parts. I assume this is because of the film being about England, and therefore UK reviewers can relate more to the issues of the time.


User Comments

10/10 - Author: vauxhall19 (UK) - "This really is the most important British film for years, dealing skilfully with tensions around nation, belonging and masculinity. It feels entirely convincing and deftly moves between comedy, pathos and menacing violence. The occasional clichés can be forgiven (guess what? The flag wavers are all sinister psychos!) because this film is clearly the work of someone who lived this time and place. A lesser director would have lapsed into stereotyping the gang as knuckle-dragging nasties but Meadows' portrayal is hallmarked by humanity and sympathy. The recurring Falklands War footage seeks to remind us (at least those of us who lived through this period) of the slightly crazed jingoism that swept Britain at that time. This film's stature will only grow over time."10/10 - Author: allowallo_135 (UK) - "I thought this film was brilliant, it shows the gritty,horrible racism and what it was like to live in england that time. Some bits could have been improved but overall i thought it was a very good film, brilliantly acted. At some points you had to grit your teeth and watch some horrible bits in the film, it made me cry at the end. It's about a boy who's being bullied at school and passes by some skinheads and he becomes part of their gang, and then the tables are turned as an old friend comes out of prison and the some of them go with him. it's definitely worth watching, a very good film. It shows British life in the 1980's in a brilliant way but it's not still like that!!"

7/10 - Author: jimifilm (US) - "I saw this movie in ny- overall it kept my attention- The kid was really great- he was spunky and had a strong heart and his rise in the gang was captivating. There were some things I didn't like here though- I felt the director directing- there were a few poetic shots that I felt detracted from the overall focus of the film which was this kid's coming of age/responsibility.. The bad guy was standard skinhead bad guy and reminiscent of American history x and other racially didactic films but that didn't bother me as much as some of the shots the director would interject, drawing away from the root of the story and reminding us this is a movie. The kid went through trauma and his blue collar pride- which gave him rise in the gang, is what made me root for him. I wish the end was better though- the film as a whole was engaging but statement at the end, or lack thereof, didn't finish the story for me and was nothing new. overall entertaining but not brilliant- as it started out to be."

Gold Standard

16 is the required to pass

A1 - 4/4
A2 - 4/4
A3 - 4/4
A4 - 4/4
B - 4/4
C1 - 2/2
C2 - 1/1
D1 - 1/1
D2 - 1/1
D3 - 1/1
D4 - 0/1
D5 - 1/1
D6 - 1/1
D7 - 1/1
D8 - 1/1

30/16/31 - therefore pass for tax relief

Movie connections

American History X - Similar themes; violence, racism, gangs, urban environments.

Awards
BAFTA Awards
2008 Won BAFTA Film Award Best British Film
Mark Herbert
Shane Meadows

Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Screenplay - Original
Shane Meadows

Bangkok International Film Festival
2007 Nominated Golden Kinnaree Award Best Film
Shane Meadows

British Independent Film Awards
2006 Won British Independent Film Award Best British Independent Film

Most Promising Newcomer (On Screen)
Thomas Turgoose

Nominated British Independent Film Award Best Director
Shane Meadows

Best Screenplay
Shane Meadows

Best Supporting Actor/Actress
Joseph Gilgun

Best Supporting Actor/Actress
Stephen Graham

Best Technical Achievement
Ludovico Einaudi (original music)

Empire Awards, UK
Year Result Award Category/Recipient(s)
2008 Nominated Empire Award Best British Film

Best Newcomer
Thomas Turgoose

Flanders International Film Festival
2007 Nominated Grand Prix

Gijón International Film Festival
2007 Won Young Audience Award ("Enfants Terribles")
Shane Meadows

Golden Trailer Awards
2008 Nominated Golden Trailer Best Independent Poster

London Critics Circle Film Awards
2008 Nominated ALFS Award British Breakthrough - Acting
Thomas Turgoose

British Director of the Year
Shane Meadows

British Film of the Year

London Film Festival
2006 Won UK Film Talent Award
Mark Herbert

Mons International Festival of Love Films
2008 Won Best European Film
Shane Meadows

Young European Jury Award
Shane Meadows

Newport International Film Festival
Year Result Award Category/Recipient(s)
2007 Won Best Director Award
Shane Meadows
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480025/awards

Other films made by Shane Meadows

King of the Gypsies (1995) (10mins)
Small Time (1996)(60mins)
Where's the Money, Ronnie? (1996) (12mins)
Twenty Four Seven (1997) (96mins)
A Room for Romeo Brass (1999) (90mins)
Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002) (104mins)
Dead Man's Shoes (2004) (90mins)
Northern Soul (2004) (30mins)
The Stairwell (2005) (15 seconds)
This Is England (2006) (100mins)
Somers Town (2008) (75mins)

Thomas Turgoose

In this audition, the casting director interviews Thomas Turgoose by asking him simple questions so he could get a basic idea of what Turgoose is like. Meadows wasn’t looking for an actor to play the part; he wanted someone who could be themselves, who is naturally like the character that he wanted. In a conventional audition, Turgoose would have never got the part, but Meadows claims to have seen a part of himself in the boy, who even asked for money to audition. Then, at the audition, he shows little interest until the interviewer mentions money - which catches his attention very quickly. It is his character which Meadows states to have appealed to him. “He had that survival instinct”.

Shane Meadows stands out from many other directors because of his life experiences. In his talks with Long Road Media, he explains how many other directors try to create a film about working class people, but fail to pull it off due to lack of experience, and this is why his films on the topic are so successful. As a boy, Meadows grew up in an environment very similar to Shawn’s, and even admits to falling in with a similar crowd at the age of 12. Discussing his earlier films, he states that none of them were ever expected be shown professionally; they were just him and his friends playing around with a camera, often filmed in a few hours, although he clearly takes filmmaking seriously. He also claims to go mainly be instinct, by feeling, and that his feelings are what leads him to create a lot of his best films. He treats filming as a learning experience, and every time he films something, he learns something new. This is how he first learned to direct – he borrowed a camera from a friend and taught himself everything he wanted to know.

Hollywood comedies

I don't like Hollywood comedy. Nearly all of them have the same simple backbone, and all the Owen Wilson (who I like) in the world can't improve them. The simple formula, which ties into the "beginning, middle, end" idea is "character has any emotion, character sinks into depression, character is far happier than ever. This fits most of these comedies; think of "Dodgeball", "Wedding Crashers" or "Starsky and Hutch" (the film).
It's understandable though. The series of events is perfect for relating to the audience, who, when watching a comedy generally like to leave on a high note, which is why the contrast from rock bottom to top of the world works so well. Still, every film having the same series of events makes a film too predictable (in my opinion). I want to see more films like "Monty Python's Life Of Brian". In my opinion, the last five minutes of that film had a far better pick-me-up than any Hollywood film I've ever seen. There's something about the nihilistic ending in the surreal world which makes me happier to be in our world.
I also thought about calling this post "Hollywood comedies: Behind the Ben Stiller!", but it was too much of a mouthful. It annoys me that most Hollywood comedies have the same actors, which have actually been given a group name, the "Frat Pack", which refers to Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. As previously stated in another post, most Hollywood films are intended for a teenage male audience, and so having a male lead character is the best way to make the audience relate to them, which tends to be an appealing factor of a film to an audience. Seeing the same actors also makes the audience comfortable and it is instantly reassuring to see an actor that you know in an unknown film. This is the same principal for the generic plots in all of these sorts of films- it's familiar, which gives the film the same feel as other similar films.
In conclusion, all the same repeated things in films are for the same target audience, and while that exists, so will the films.

Iron Man - Another clichéd superhero movie!

I enjoyed "Iron Man". Sure, it was predictable from the title screen, the characters had the same recycled personalities as all the other Marvel superheroes, and the dialogue was cheesy and generic; but as soon as your mind shuts down, the film is a brainless joy.
The story itself is the same basic trash: "Man who is better than you" is kidnapped by terrorists in an middle eastern country, who want him to create a missile. Man escapes by turning himself into a superhero, (in this case creating a robotic suit for himself) survives a fall from about a mile, (because the suit has some sort of super-padding made from rocks which is surprisingly effective) realises that the second-in-command of his company tried to kill him and has a long fight with him, ending with the ironic death of the second-in-command.
To best understand why the film was so simple and stereotypical, you have to look at the target audience. On front row, Bet Midler claimed "Hollywood makes films for adolescent males who want lots of action but little dialogue and minor character development." This is largely true, and when Hollywood release a film that goes against this, it always still has a wide target audience, look at films such as "Casino Royale", which had far less action than the previous Bond films, with a lot more emphasis put on the characters. However, "Casino Royale" still had a large target audience as it attracted fans of the past films, as well as drawing in a new crowd who were interesed in the 'new Bond'. Companies want to be sure that a film will sell before spending millions of dollars on it.

Amateur filmmaking

Recently, I had the opportunity to "star" in an amateur film as a dead monk tied to a tree. Thankfully, my horrible acting skills were not questioned, and I wasn't in an uncomfortable position for too long, unlike the main character of the scene, who had to be set on fire. But I digress. My friend Ibrahim's brother Lukman Hussin (who's playing a role in our film) invited me to play an extra in a film where he plays the main character. Lured by promises of fire* and ninjas**, I decided to take him up on that offer, as I thought I'd learn from the experience.
The scene filmed was a 5 second sequence where the main character (Lukman) looks out of a window and sees his friends all being attacked, and in one case, set on fire. There were 6 actors in total in the scene, four characters fighting, one dead (me) and one being set on fire. Although the camera was only rolling for 5 seconds, we were there for over an hour. All the fighting had to be planned out and practiced, and the fire suit had to be readied. Although I realise that a simpler dialogue
scene would probably take far less time, I had never really given much thought into the filming process. The planning was all done before hand, and was as perfect as it could ever have been. The camera was simply set in the right position and turned on and it was the acting which took so much time, although I am sure that this is something that depends on the circumstance. Still, it was interesting to see how similar the storyboard and actual shot were, in some places identical and in others unrecognisable. The planning was in the acting too though, all the costumes were ready to put on, and copious amounts of cooling gel was prepared, as well as a fire suit and fire extinguisher. Although there were still decisions that had to be made on the spot, everything was done swiftly and smoothly. As there could only easily be one take, it had to be done perfectly. All that said, there were a lot of things which were not planned so well, such as everyone forgetting to take a lighter save for one actor, and deciding to take some petrol to burn just as we left was a very wise decision.


So did I learn anything useful from the day? The most informative part of it I found to be the experience of being in a film set. Simply being there gave me a good idea of what to expect and how the filming process is carried out, which was definitely worth learning. The importance of planning was another thing I learnt, as every shot was planned out, ready to film. I know that if one thing had gone wrong, we could have been there at least another hour; it was luck alone that there was a lighter in one of the actor's pockets.
*Sorry, I was too tied to a tree to take pictures.
**The film is a martial arts-musical with ninjas and monks.

Thriller intro updates

So far as a group we have created a basic storyline for the intro that we will work on as well as choosing the actors to play the roles and the location.

Location:
Mainly filmed in the car park discussed in an older post, although some parts will be filmed in places resembling the car park (to film the shots of guns which we can't show in a public place) and several places with good views of the cityscape or city. These must look very urban, with the cityscape shots looking brightly lit with coloured signs, and the shots of the city itself looking dangerous and dirty. Places for these shots have not yet been decided.

Characters: We will only use two characters, who are as follows:

1. First is the one we see in the intro who will be played by Tanwyn Meek-Smith. He plays the cocky gangster with a serious god complex. Is never given a name, so will henceforth be referred to as "Character 1"
2. Second is the one introduced in the second half of the intro, acted by Lukman Hussin, who plays the main character of the film, named Smith, one of the more important people in a gang. Kills character 1.

Props: For the mise-en-scene, we will need the right style of clothing for the characters, which will be a suit for Character 1 and a trenchcoat and trilby hat for Smith. We will also need a fake gun, and the problem with this is that we can't go waving a fake gun around for fear of being arrested, so we will need to make some modifications to the script and storyboard soon. We need a video camera and a skateboard to rest the camera on to get a smooth shot of the feet. We need to find out where we can get these items, but they should be easy enough to come by.

Meeting schedule: Our group meets up four times a fortnight to have a group meeting, as well as in lessons, although most planning is done in the four one hour slots where all three group members have free periods. In week one we meet on Monday at 10.00, and Thursday at 11.20. In week two we meet on Wednesday at 9.00 and Thursday at 11.20.

Shooting schedule:

Thursday 27th of November

4.05: End of our last lessons in school
4.10: Leave school in our group
4.50: Meet Lukman outside his house (which is very near the car park)
4.55: Reach location and start filming all the parts which are shot in the car park chronologically
≈6.40: Finish filming for the day

Thursday 4th of November

4.05: End of our last lessons in school
4.10: Leave school in our group
4.50: Meet Lukman outside his house
5.00: Reach first location (the overpass and underpass by Grapes Hill)
≈6.20: Finish filming for the day

Scene 1: Beginning with a black screen, a diegetic song (which has not been decided, but must fit the mood) would begin playing. The black fades away, revealing a street-lit urban environment at night (preferably while raining), the first shot is a low down side on close up of a pair of feet walking towards the left, and the camera would pan at the same walking speed, to signify walking forwards as I thought that walking right gives the idea of walking backwards. The feet would be very well dressed, the viewer would be able to see a pair of expensive black polished shoes and smart black trousers, to show that the criminal world is better dressed and more professional than the rest of the world. One of the themes is that the criminal world is no longer the "underworld", but the higher world, following the "layer cake" idea in the same film. This is why the intro is mainly shot in a high location. The camera at the criminal's feet also tell us this. The shot would fade in and out of various urban settings to seem like time has gone much further than it seems. This could be shown by starting at twilight and ending much later.
After about 30 seconds of seeing the same pair of feet travel what appears to be a long way, the feet stop, the camera moves around and looks upwards, revealing the silhouette of the character looking up at a brightly lit car park. All non-diegetic music cuts out at this point, leaving the character with the sounds of the road. The scene ends, and fades out.

Scene 2: This scene opens with a blurry shot of the man walking down a passageway, made blurry to give the feeling that he is being viewed by a camera, which he is. The camera could be shown at a later time, although this is not yet decided.

Scene 3: The camera rests at the top of a spiral staircase, while Character 1 climbs it and narrates. What he says has not yet been finalised. The problem with this shot is that I think it would get boring, and does not create that "hook" that all good intros have. We could compensate for this by including more shots of him at the top and bottom of the staircase, and cutting down on the dialogue.

Scene 4: The two characters meet, and although this part is very vague so far, Character 1 is killed by Smith. This scene will have a lot of camera changes and will be where all the action happens. This part is likely to take up a lot of the time, as it is the most exiting part of the intro, which we need to make the intro work

So far, we have a lot of issues with the plot, and until we settle on one completely logical plot which makes sense, this is bound to keep changing. The largest issue I have with the film is that it isn't very gripping, and provides little in the way of a hook. This is something that will have to be fulfilled with editing or interesting camera shots. If the film had its own unique style ("A Scanner Darkly", "Sin City"), then this would make up for it.

Script:

INT. CAR PARK STAIRS - NIGHT

JOHN: These days you see too many people complaining about their situation. The way I see it everyone has their chance. Too many people just don’t see it. Now I’ve got my chance. Start when you’re young, and when life moves on, you’ll have no reason to complain.

INT. CAR PARK - NIGHT

JOHN: Smith is it? (SMITH nods slightly) Thought so. (Silence) Well? (Silence) Ok. (Laughs) I’ve brought your stuff, well your bosses stuff. (SMITH Looks away) Hey, you listening to me. Do you speak English mate. You fucking idiot. What’s the matter, are you pissed off cause I’m a bit late. You do know who I am don’t you? (Silence)I’m John Vanik, you know, the son of fucking Harvey Vanik. I’m sure he sounds familiar (SMITH looks up) Yeah that’s right, you know who he is don’t you, one of the most powerful men in this business. You didn't think he’d send his own son to do shitty jobs like this did you? No they normally send little pricks like you to do this kind of shit. As you can see though, I’m still pretty young, this is just practice really, I’m just building my way up, you know. It’s not easy being the boss’s son; no one dares to mess with me though; but at the same time have a lot to live up to. But hey, I’m sure I’ll do fine; one day I’ll be taking my fathers place. Are you not interested in what I’m saying? Look, I could have you fucking killed; dickhead! I’m talking to you; you’re not very polite are you. You’d be better off showing someone like me a bit of respect. (Silence) Fine, fuck you. You’ll regret this. (JOHN throws the briefcase at SMITHS feet then turns around)

SMITH: The money has been wired into your account. (JOHN turns to face him)

JOHN: What?! I know the money’s been wired into our account. That’s beside the point. Why bother opening your mouth now? (Laughing) You’re a cheeky bastard you are.

SMITH: Sorry.

JOHN: It’s a bit late for an apology mate. I’ll have to seen about you. You’d better watch it. (Turns and begins to walk away)

SMITH: (Smirking, he puts his right hand into his pocket and slowly pulls out a pistol, it hangs by his side for a few seconds and then he carefully aims it at JOHN who continues to walk, unaware of the danger he is in. SMITH smiles. Blackout. Bang!)

Plot synopsis of thriller

"Sin City" Screenshot

Click the image to enlarge it.

Use of the rule of thirds in "Spirited Away"

Animated films have the unique advantage of being able to work many things to perfection. Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" is a prime example of this. In this case, I want to look at the camera angles used. As there are no real cameras used, there are things that can be animated that could never be done in real life, such as the shots where Chihiro and Haku fall out of the sky together. Although this shot could be done in real life, it would only be done with the use of special effects such as blue screen and a lot of work on the computer. However, what I want to get at is the precision of the camera angles used. When Miyazaki wants to use a shot that uses the rule of thirds, he does it precisely, making sure the shot is balanced perfectly, unless changing this reflects on the moment of the scene. Take a look at these stills from the film. I have added added to them to show where attention is directed and why.

Click on an image to enlarge it or open it in a new tab or window to view the full size image without affecting this page.

The perfect framing used in this film are probably going to be far better than anything a camera could achieve without a lot of cropping, which is why I have decided to make sure every shot in our film slightly zoomed out, so that the shot can more easily be cropped to perfection. For example, if we had the camera just on a character's face, and then realised that he was slightly to the left, we would have to take the shot again. However, if we filmed the shot as a mid shot, so there is a lot of room around the person, we would have a lot more freedom when it comes to editing, for example, we could slowly zoom in in the editing phase or move the frame to the perfect place. The rule of thirds will be something I will keep in mind for our thriller.

Shooting locations

We plan to have a short part at the beginning of our film where we see feet walking, fading between different locations, and we have two locations planned for this, both of which you can see in these images.
This is an overview of the two locations, showing that the two are very close together, which has the advantage of being able to film both locations in the same day.

This location is an underpass which would be well suited to a thriller due to a very urban mise-en-scene. The underpass is often full of litter, and the walls are covered in graffiti. The lighting is also very unnatural and cold, which adds to the "dangorous" city effect we want to portray in our film.This locations is on a bridge, offering a very cinematic, urban view of the cityscape. At night, when we will film it, there will be the lights of the cars and buildings of buildings in the distance, which is a thriller signifier, used in many famous thrillers such as "Layer Cake" and "Sin City"

Cinema Research

Cinema research carried out in 4 cinemas over the weekend of the 25th of October 2008

The long awaited questionnaire results!

Click on the images to make them bigger!

I will try to modify and sculpt my thriller intro ideas to fulfil the largest target as possible, using these results to tell me how to do that.

Using the data from this and another questionnaire completed by myself, I have created a target audience that my film will be based around.
Target audience for my thriller film
Every decision thriller film was chosen carefully, making sure to check that the target audience was never forgotten. As I planned the initial ideas, I took the most popular results from my questionnaire into mind, especially the question regarding favourite types of thrillers. While doing this, I also had to make sure to take the other aspects into account, such as how easy it would be to film, or how I would get the actors. Some things were impossible to do, even if they are popular with the audience. For example, science fiction thrillers would be very difficult to create with the limited budget and technology given to us. For this reason, the first thing I decided on was to create an action/crime thriller. The two genres are quite easy to combine, and were both popular, 22% and 13% of interviewee's favourites in my results respectively. The two genres are also quite easy to work with, and link in to several other genres, such as the film noir and action genres. The choice also ensures that 35% of the people I got results from are more likely to enjoy the film, and therefore, hopefully, 35% of all moviegoers. I could have chosen the psychological thriller genre, which has the largest percentage, at 30%, but it would be far harder to work with and successfully use in only 2-3 minutes.
I focused more on the male results from my questionnaires as the results for the question “What is your favourite genre” was dominated far more in males than females, with 33% of males sampled choosing thriller as opposed to only 14% of females sampled choosing thrillers. Due to this, I decided to pay a lot more attention to the male results than female, so that the film is perfect for a select target audience. From this, I have decided to have a male protagonist, to best relate to the ideal viewer. With a stereotypical male-aimed film, there is often a woman portrayed mainly as a sex object, as in films such as “James Bond”. This is another feature that would fit given my target audience.
My data is not clear enough to be able to find a specific age group that would be best suited for my film, but I can make assumptions based on cultural stereotypes and facts, as well as using research from other members of my group to find an average. As teenagers tend to have a lot more free time and free money, normally due to lack of bills, etc. to pay and very little to do in free time, I can imagine that they go to the cinema more than someone in a full time job who needs to spend their money on necessities. Due to this, I will aim to keep my film at the 15 rating, as there should be no need to have something in the film that certifies an 18 rating, meaning that I will likely have more teenagers watching the film, and therefore more viewers.
Both males and females in the results from my questionnaires watch films regularly, with 100% of both genders watching films 1-2 times per week, and 58% of all people sampled watching films “every few days”. This data tells me that if films are such a popular genre, then my film can afford to have a wide target audience as it is unlikely that a person could watch 1-2 films weekly of the same genre and not either get bored or run out of good films from that genre. On top of this, 67% of males prefer to watch films with other people, meaning that a group that watches films is likely to see a variety of films chosen by different members of the group unless they all have a very similar taste in films. These two facts combined tell me that it is likely that many people watch a large range of films in a short amount of time, so what the film is about is probably not as important as it would be if people only watched films that directly attracted only themselves. In short, the sub-genre and plot ideas; although important, do not necessarily need to be too bespoke for the people who will watch it.

Perfume Advert: Result

After several hours Photoshopping, I have produced two different designs for the perfume advert project. I tried to keep my results close to my sketches, changing bits that would not work or did not look good. I went for an angelic, dreamlike effect to best suit the theme and target audience, and to keep an interesting theme to the advert which could be carried through to other parts of the product.

To create this image, I used 2 main layers, the girl in the foreground (a friend of mine) lying in the grass, and the more colourful backdrop, which was created using a photo I took of a sunset mixed with a set of brushes that look like stars. I first changed the colours and made sure to remove all the blemishes in the model's face. Then I dropped the photo on top of the background and used the eraser tool on the foreground to make it show through. I then created the font for the word "dream" using "Century Gothic", which I then edited slightly. The font itself I split into three colours and played with until I found the perfect fit. The colours themselves I will mention later. I took the perfume bottle from a site on the Internet and changed it to better suit this image and mirrored it on the floor. I wrote a sentence to anchor the image, and then ended up with the finished image.

This one would be used as the advert that would appear on magazines and posters as it is the simplest and better follows my original plans. The advert was mainly designed with a A4 magazine advert in mind, which is why it is the right size and is positioned in the right way for it. The positioning of the parts of the advert were all very carefully thought out, and I played with the positioning for a long time before settling with what I have now. The image has been changed in small ways at least two times since posting it on here, as I got some feedback from teachers and friends. The advert is created in a way that makes the viewer follow the "lines" of the advert, for example, look at the top left corner, then notice the hand, then the face, then the other hand, and finally the bottle. This works in starting from the upper right too, but you would instinctively follow the arm along, leading you to the title and the bottle, two central parts of the ad. This further leads you on to the other hand, going to the short piece of writing which explains why you should buy the perfume. This works well, as it shows the perfume, and then explains it. The face is very central, and does not need to be linked to, as it stands out so much due to the editing on it. However, I do fear that the grass makes it harder to link between the "middle", being the face, and the rest of the advert, although the colour of the grass links in well with the other colours used, especially the blue. The ring of colour around the outside is also used to guide the eye, as it moves around in a circle, showing the viewer all the parts of the advert subconsciously.

The second image I created, using the same method. This image would be best in A3, spread across two pages of a magazine, with one face on each page, but it could work in other places too. I based it around the last idea I had sketched out, and changed it to be aimed at women, not men. This change meant that I had to make the woman seem dominant, hence her looking at the camera while the man looks at her. However, if I were to take this photo again, I would reflect this by having her head higher than the mans, so it made her look more important than the man. Overall, I am not sure that I would want to use this advert due to the other design being superior.

The first problems I had with the advert was the lighting, as I could never get the sun to be overhead and still bright, so instead I used softer lighting, and made it look like the sun was out by using the "soft lighting" layer effect, "brightness and contrast" and "colour balance". The latter was used a lot to make each individual bit stronger, especially the hair, which I boosted a lot, particularly in the first advert. One of the major problems I had later was that the grass was too sharp and clear, and looked wrong surrounded by the soft background and skin, so after playing with it for a while to find a solution, I decided to use a strong "gaussian blur" on it to make it look less focused.

I think that my choices while editing fit my target audience really well, and everything I wrote about on my initial design still stands, but there are some things that I could not show on my sketches that I have shown here, such as the effect I used for the backdrop. It fits really well as the soft colours and slow transitions between them keep it out of focus and keep attention on the model, as well as working as anchors, telling the audience what the image is all about. I also changed the colours and cropped the image to best support my yellow/pink/blue colour theme which goes towards showing the image as soft and innocent, as that colour theme is mainly used in association with babies and women, which are mainly seen as innocent and pure, especially the sort of woman I am advertising to. The women chosen for the two adverts were very carefully chosen, as they both represent the feelings I was trying to get across. This is one of the reasons that I prefer the first advert to the second. The model in the first advert looks far more at ease, which fits into the style of the advert. She also has better physical qualities for the theme, as well as easier to edit. After realising that it would be too hard to have a naked model for the advert, I decided to have a white dress, which suggests innocence and purity. However, after taking the photo, I realised that using the close up shot, it would be easy to Photoshop the dress out entirely, meaning I could essentially have the naked model as in my sketches. As the image was cut off at about neck height, it also removed the problems of making the image "family friendly" which would have been hard to solve without the perfect shot and length of hair like that in my sketches. Another quality I prefered in the image was the hair. I thought that ginger hair was too striking, which didn't fit in to the soft, dreamlike quality of the advert that I wanted. I did try to edit this first, but it is very hard to completely change hair without it appearing fake, which is why only small changes are ever used, which is what happened in the first advert, changing the dull brown colour to a more vibrant one. However, it was brightening the highlights in the hair which gave it the soft, perfect, bright quality which they both have, especially in the first advert. The eyes were important too, and I wanted to make sure they were blue, as it is a natural eye colour which not only fits the theme, but are also the lightest, most striking natural shade.

The starry sky effect I used on top of it was to relate to dreaming, as well as keeping with the idea of innocence. Stars are often associated with dreaming and dreams, and are regarded to be objects of hope and purity, which is what I needed to show in my advert but failed to show in my sketch. We were told to take a picture of a perfume bottle off the Internet, and so I searched until I found one that suited my design, which happened to look similar to my sketches of an ideal bottle. My problem with it was that it was hard to make it look transparent, as the white background shows through the bottle. To resolve this, I added colour to it and made it look like the bottle was showing the colour underneath it, which worked quite well and made the bottle look transparent, to an extent. I also experimented with ways to use the bottle first, in an attempt to find out how the bottle could be worked with well and created one design, "Flow". It is through playing with this that I thought of using the white background the bottle is rested on to my advantage. I also took the idea of the reflection from this design, and this was influenced by the "Insolence" advert that I looked at near the beginning of my blog. I also really liked the ripple effect I created, but I didn't think it would have fitted into my current designs.

In the end, of the three adverts I had sketched out, I only chose to use two of them. The one I did not use was the full length figure. Although I did try to use it, and took several full pictures, I could never get it to work, and I think its because of the grass that surrounded the figures. As I already mentioned, the grass effect didn't work as well as I had hoped, as in my sketches and imagination the grass was taller and neater, swaying all together in the wind, with the sun giving it an emerald green hue. In reality

though, the grass was too short and the lack of sun made it too dull and lackluster. Even with editing, it still didn't look good, so I abandoned that idea. Here is an image I spent a bit of time on while trying to get to grips with the theme and how to go about it.