Kidulthood Opening Sequence

The fifth clip i am going to be analyzing is Kidulthood directed by Menhaj Huda and was released on the 3rd of March, 2006 and is a British drama about teenagers in west London growing up with violence, sex and drugs surrounding there day to day lifestyles.

The opening sequence shows the bully Sam, (Played by Noel Clarke) Dictating rules in the playground

The scene begins with mysterious calm music and the sound of children making noises in the background, making the film open in a verisimilitude environment. The camera shows a slow motion close up of a boys muddy footwear whilst he is playing football to show the audience that the scene will remain within the playground. After the camera quickly pans left and right to the key characters, as this happens the camera shot resumes to normal, then continues moving swiftly. Then we meet the main character Trevor, who unlike everyone else, is inside drilling a hole in to an object that isn't apparent yet to the audience; but this tells us Trevor knows what he is doing and is highly intelligent and in control of what he does in his life. Moving on, the scene starts to get sexual as Jay played by Adam Deacon is seen kissing Claire against a tree which tells us that they are sexually active and have experience. Next the scene goes back to the Design Technology room as an extreme close up shot of the drill going down, and the concentration on his face tells us he does not want to be caught at that particular time.

We get the first glimpse of Sam's character as he scares Katie by creeping behind her and spits on the back of her head in a wide shot. This gives us the feeling that Sam does not know how to treat anyone with low-self esteem in a good manner. Sam asks around for Claire and Moony is cautious of this as he tells Jay to hurry up and stop kissing her. The film shows alot of ways to portray realistic events within a teenagers social life as already we see sexual scenes, slang, and bad language.

Meanwhile Trevor is done drilling a hole in an object, he walks out of the room alert, and as he walks out the camera goes closer for a mid shot. He places the gun in a yellow salt grit crate and looks back to see if anyone is watching. A jump cut is used to show him jogging towards his friends and he starts socializing and starts to light a roll of marijuana; showing us that Trevor and his group of friends do illegal drugs.

As the bell rings, the teacher tells Trevor to get inside before the second bell and over the shoulder shot is used to show Trevor's serious face and it strikes fear on the teachers facial expressions. The boys (Trevor, Moony & Jay) are walking to class, talking about Alisa and then the camera captures them in a wide-shot, but then zooms into a close up when Sam arrives. A jump cut is used to show the dominance of Sam as he slaps Trevor three times.

The story changes towards the classroom as Katie gets bullied as soon as she walks in. As they violently attack her, the camera goes towards Katie's point of view as if the audience can see what she's seeing. After the scene goes back to Sam and Trevor's friend as he pushes Trevor, another jump cut is used in order to show the intensity of Sam's intimidating image. Its is thouraghly repeated as he slaps Jay.

By Keith Lule

Rollin' With The Nines Opening Sequence

As we come into the film, we see various shots of an unknown man reloading different types of guns and telling us about them, we see a close up of his gold teeth and smoke coming out and then we see the title “Rollin’ with the nines”, sirens, gunshots, helicopter sounds all building up. The film starts off with a two shot of what seems to be some promoters of rap music in a radio station telling people about this new release, within that time we see various shots such as medium shots and close ups. As we move on we’re hearing this new release as we see long shots of the city and the community, we see eye level camera shots of the different areas of the community, we see community police officers, we see motor bike riders raging passed with the camera slightly following it, then we see camera movement and a tilt downwards of what seems to be a local stores. Then we see the camera blurred then into focus with young people interacting with each other and then various other shots of people in the area living a normal day with the subtitles etc. as we come to an end of that, we see medium shots and close ups of these young people talking about music and what seems to be their new “career”, their talking about getting money with this new CD they have produced and recorded as they’re talking about this there are close up shots of jewelery shining which is relevant to what they’re talking about “the high life”, before this they’re arguing and discussing about this CD, a couple of two shots and, many close ups and medium shots of the number of people in the room discussing about this CD. As this scene comes to an end, fast paced music makes an intro and we see an establishing shot or an extreme long shot of the London city, and a pan horizontally moving from left to right, in the background we see fireworks. We then see various low angle long shots of the different buildings and sights of the city and Leicester square and another pan (scanning the scene left to right), this then fades and a limo comes into focus. Hopping out of the limo the new so called artists or “stars” make an entry to a club, enjoying themselves, various edited shots of males and females dancing etc. we see more than one smile on faces.

This will help our film because there are certain elements in the film such as urban background and lifestyle which hits our point of interest

By Rejaul Karim

Bullet Boy Opening Sequence

The next clip i am going to be analyzing is the opening sequence to Bullet Boy (Director: Saul Dibb, Date of release: 2004) This film is also a social realist film set in London telling us a story about a man who has just been released from prison, trying to straighten out all the problems he has in life.

The first opening sequence shows his first outings in London after his prison release.

The scene begins with a blurred prison cell door, but then zooms into Ricky, the prisoner, on his backside on a couch. As he is released from the prison cell, he walks towards the camera and a mid-shot is formed to show his emotion as he is almost in the clear. An long-shot is used to show the complete difference of the criminal and the police officer, as one is dressed in an informal dress code, whereas the officers are dressed in an formal manner. The plot changes a driver of the car is shown close up, trying to light a cigarette and finds out there is a youth in his car. As he stops and gets out of the car to open the boot of the car, an extreme long shot is used to show the location of where he is. He opens the boot and in frustration, questions the youth and his intentions of staying inside his car boot. After the extreme long shot is showed of the car going in to the distance, to show the audience the young youth might not make it to the destination he was meant to be at to meet his brother. The driver then stops slowly as he is speeding on an abandoned road and regrets leaving the child alone. He then reverses and tells him to get in the car. As the youth and the driver reach the prison, there is a close up if Ricky stepping outside for the first time in many years. As soon as the dialogue starts between the driver and Ricky, it is clear to the audience that they are close friends and the youth is the little brother of Ricky. When they hug, a wide shot is used to show the relationship of the two people. Afterwards an over the shoulder shot is used to show the relationship between Ricky and his mate, the love they have for each other from the hug we see in that shot.

This extract would help us in recording our clip as it includes all the manoeuvres that we would like to use.

By Keith Lule

1 Day analysis

The clip I am analysing is the opening sequence of the film 1 Day ( Directed by penny wool cock and released on the 6Th November 2009) this is a socially realist/urban film set in the inner cities of Birmingham telling the lives of two gangs and the troubles money, drugs and guns can put you in to and also mainly a day in the life of a hustler.

The establishing shot shows the Gang leader (Angel) coming into the prison canteen. The scene opens with a mid shot of the two major prisoners sitting down at the table playing chess, straight away a pan is used to show the character Angel coming to join them at the table. As Angel confesses that he is given an early release he is offered a deal with the big prisoner to do a major crime involving money. The film uses alot of different ways in which it portrays the different gang members for example an over the shoulder shot is used when the deal between angel and the big prisoner was happening telling us that angel cannot say anything back to him due to fear also it gives the audience an insight of the importantance of the conversation.

Flash being the main actor of the film is going through a big struggle as he owes angel alot of money, as everything is pilling up in his hustling life things start to get abit wierd for flash. we see this by the amount of close ups that the director has used to show flashes facial expression and how worried he is at every problem that piles up in his so called 'shotting life'. This shows the different characteristics by using various shots such as high angle and low angle these angle shots show the difference between every gang member that flash associates with and the opposition side also.

Mise en scene plays a very important part of the film for example the props used in the film creates verisimilitude in the film, Guns,bandanna's and also flashy cars these are all real life situation's in a hustlers life stereotypically seeing things. The Clothing used in the extract matches the clothing of a typical so called gang member; the typical American style caps, bandanna's etc. The reason these clothing were used because it shows a real scenario obviously someone who grew up around all of this would not go for a smart look, these aspects of mise en scene create a sense of realism and trueness.

There are many diegitic and non diegitic sounds used in the opening scene, one example of the diegitic sound is when the prison guard opens the door for angel we see it happen and also hear it at the same time. An example of non diegitic sound used was when flash is being called from the cell by angel and his ring tone goes off we cannot see his phone go off we only hear it. Many sound bridges were used a steady beat was being played from scene to scene showing flash driving about going to his other vehicles to pull out some money making items.

I reckon so far this is the best social realist/urban film i have watched so far maybe because i am attached to the street life and surrounded by it all the time. This film in general would help our film extract alot as it would be based on a similar sort of theme. Our movie will be based on the stereotypical views of street life.

by Shihab Miah

Adulthood opening sequence

Adulthood opening sequence

The clip I am analysing is the opening sequence to Adulthood (Director: Noel Clarke, Date:20th of June 2008 ) This is a socially realist film set in West London telling of a group of young adults and the trials that they face.

The opening sequence shows a murder outside a nightclub.

The scene opens with the music building up gradually and people in an outdoor club, there is a split screen showing the youths male and female dancing to the music. There are various shots showing the youth of today and their different social classes also statuses, the story sticks to the stereotypical views of todays urban youths. The camera tracks a female who bumps into a male which seems to be attracted to her she misleads him towards her intimidating boyfriend and the dialogue starts with an over the shoulder shot of him. Suddenly a car turns into the corner of the outdoor club and a long shot is used to show the car as it will play an important part in the opening scene. A jump cut is used to show driver looking at the youths and the youths looking back. A low-angle mid-shot as the driver of the car looks left and right, as the driver couldn't get a glimpse of the youths through the side, a sudden smash on the car window of an unfocused character added in tension. A sense of verisimilitude is used when the bullet flashes to give the audience an insight of realism. The opening scene ends with a mid-shot of the boys scared and a close up of a boy deciding whether to run and he does end up running into the unseen part of the tunnel where he thought he would be safe.

A lot of mise en scene were used in the beginning of the clip, which tells a lot to the audience for example props ;the director chose his props wisely by choosing the typical clothing of the youths of today. By doing this the director has engaged with the audience giving them an insight that the clip creates verisimilitude also gives a sense of trueness and realism.

Shihab, Rejaul & Keith

Preliminary Task

Our preliminary task was show us how to take various shots and to follow the rules of filming. This had to be done by telling a short story and to help the audience follow it and understand it. Our story is of the diary genre showing a typical day in Paddington Academy when a student is sent to the principals office. We kept it brief, however we learnt alot from it. We were able to show match on action by having Rejaul walk through the door and then enter from the other side. This should convince the audience that this action has happened at the same time and in the same place. The reaction shot was brief too, but we managed to show the emotion of disappointment as Rejaul being told off, and our choice of it taken at high-angle was successful in making Rejaul look small, although this would have been made better by a low angle or eye level shot of the teacher. Also, next time we would make this a close-up shot rather than the mid-shot we used so the audience would be clear in how upset he was. The other thing was, when rejaul the main person in the preliminary was walking down the hall, it was long, so we had to use a couple basic effects to shorten the length.