Under 18's - Because our film features alot of under 18's in it is my job as the producer to makes sure that their best intrests and kept in mind during the making and distribution of this film.
Crime - Movies with a criminal theme like ours often require a lawyer so that film companies can avoid getting sued. We can't afford lawyers so were just going to be very carefull to protect the indentities of people in the film.
Corporations - You aren't allow to use a corporation or buisness product or name in your film because it can either give them a bad name or have the assosicated with something they don't want to be, this can end in things like law suits.
Outside help - If you use outside help in making your film e.g. hire a stunt man then you have to mention them and give them credit for the work they did , also you have to pay them whatever was promised or their probably going to sue you.
Power Point presentation with all the laws and rules for creating a film or documentary are on my computer.
- Notes for my Documentary to help with pre Production
Because our documentary is based on graffiti we have to try harder to get artists to interview because the whole point of being a graffiti artist is that nobody knows who you are. We will have to use our connections inside the graffiti community. It’s going to be easy to find people to interview about graffiti because we can just stop random people in the street and ask for their opinion.
The documentary is going too biased towards the ideals and opinions of the graffiti writers in the movie as I personally believe that this adds a more interesting edge to a documentary, as opposed to making a boring observational documentary.
Supersize me could have got in serious trouble commercial references as this documentary could have and probably did seriously damage the reputation of MacDonald’s which could in turn lose them million, they could have been sued by one of the richest companies in the world just for making a documentary.
Graham Noels leaves his job at st pauls. Protestors.
Nick Clegg explains where a billion pounds will be spent.
Roman O bramovitch is sued
being born today had a specific importance
St pauls story -
Presenter keeps a straight face and is serious throughout.
Voice talking over footage of Graham Noels at a press conference.
The voice over explains the story and goes into more detail that the
initial piece of information we were given.
Protestors didnt want to force him out , but they still did none the less.
In interviews with the protestors it was clear that they felt bad that he
felt he had to quit his job because what they were doing.
Bishop of London is going to replace Graham Noels and take over all his responsibilities
On location interview
Impact
1.Threshold: The bigger impact the story has, the more people it affects, the more extreme the effect or the more money or resources it involves, the better its chances of hitting the news stands.
2.Frequency: Events, such as motorway pile-ups, murders and plane crashes, which occur suddenly and fit well with the newspaper or news broadcast's schedule are more readily reported than those which occur gradually or at inconvenient times of day or night. Long-term trends are unlikely to receive much coverage.
3.Negativity: Bad news is more exciting than good news. Stories about death, tragedy, bankruptcy, violence, damage, natural disasters, political upheaval or simply extreme weather conditions are always rated above positive stories such as royal weddings or celebrations. Bad news stories are more likely to be reported than good news because they are more likely to score high on other news values, such as threshold, unexpectedness, unambiguity and meaningfulness,
4.Unexpectedness: If an event is out of the ordinary it will be more likely to make it into the news than an everyday occurrence would. As Charles A. Dana famously put it: ''"if a dog bites a man, that's not news. But if a man bites a dog, that's news!"''
5.Unambiguity: Events which are easy to grasp make for better copy than those which are open to more than one interpretation, or where understanding of the implications depends on first understanding the complex background to the event.
Audience identification
1.Personalisation: People are interested in people. News stories that centre on a particular person, and are presented from a human interest angle, are likely to make the front page, particularly if they involve a well-known person. Some people claim this news value has become distorted, and that news editors over-rate personality stories, especially those involving celebrities.
2.Meaningfulness: This relates to cultural proximity and the extent to which the audience identifies with the topic. Stories about people who speak the same language, look the same, and share the same preoccupations as the audience receive more coverage than those involving people who do not.
3.Reference to elite nations: Stories concerned with global powers receive more attention than those dealing with less influential nations. This also relates to cultural proximity. Those nations which are culturally closest to our own will receive most of the coverage.
4.Reference to elite persons: The media pay attention to the rich, powerful, famous and infamous. Stories about important people get the most coverage. Hence, the American President gets more coverage than your local councillor.
Pragmatics of media coverage
1.Consonance: Stories which match the media's expectations receive more coverage than those which contradict them. At first sight, this appears to contradict the notion of unexpectedness. However, consonance refers to the media's readiness to report an item, which they are more likely to do if they are prepared for it. Indeed, journalists often have a preconceived idea of the angle they want to report an event from, even before they get there.
2.Continuity: A story which is already in the news gathers a kind of momentum – the running story. This is partly because news teams are already in place to report the story, and partly because previous reportage may have made the story more accessible to the public.
3.Composition: Stories must compete with one another for space in the media. For instance, editors may seek to provide a balance of different types of coverage. If there is an excess of foreign news, for instance, the least important foreign story may have to make way for an inconsequential item of domestic news. In this way the prominence given to a story depends not only on its own news value but also on those of competing stories. This is a matter of the editors' judgement, more than anything else.
- The movie contains lots of interviews with various types of health specialists e.g. doctors , physicians and nutritionists.
Their is also a lot of live action throughout the documentary for example when Morgan throws up at Macdonalds , this makes the documentary more interesting because it distracts the viewer from the facts and numbers that are mentioned throughout interviews with professionals.
Other aspects of the live action is the delivery men that work for Macdonalds.
Moving images combines with an interview in the scene where the film maker interviews a girl who is speaking about how she feels uncomfortable with how the media portrays women. Pictures of magazine girls come on to the screen during the interview which links to what she is saying but at the same time almost makes fun of her.
List the interviewees in the extract.
- Kelly Brownell - PHD , Proffesor , Yale University ( Clearly an important and intelligent person which adds to the film makers point.
Jacub Sullum - Senior editor for reason magazine - The filmmaker makes it clear to the audience that this is an intelligent person by including things such as his certificates in the frame during his interview. He also makes the link beetween smoking and eating macdonalds and raises the point that smoking is just as bad but we don't have a go at people for eating.
John F.Banzhaf - Law Proffesor - He is interviewed in a Macdonalds , while children run around in the background having fun , this backs up his point that people eat macdonalds because they have good memories of it when their young.
What is the relashionship beetween the voiceover and the images shown.
When the voice over is making a point he includes video clips or images that relate to what he is saying so it helps you understand and relate what he is saying to a moving image.
D) The music used in the soundtrack is a song meant to be funny , but at the same time it has clear links to the plot of the documentary with lyrics like "MacDonalds will make you fat". It's a fun song for children but with an underlying message to adults that understand the situation with Macdonalds and their food.
E) Throughout the documentary many different modes and techniques are used to give the documentary a unique twist and approach to getting their point across to the viewer.
The most obvious mode or technique in my opinion is the use of the performative mode because it requires the film maker to be a participant and gives an emphasis on the subjective nature of the documentary. Morgan is the main protagonist in this documentary and we are constantly being reminded of the subject nature of this documentary.
The secondary mode used in Supersize me is the use of the expository mode or "the voice of god".
It involves a narrator talking other live action and moving images saying things that relate to and build on information already given to us in pictures or moving images.
You could also say that this documentary includes the use of observational mode , this is when the documentary takes a sort of window on the world point of view a just observes whats going on . we see this in supersize me when their are scenes of fat people going in and out of Macdonalds and ordering food.
-Look at the poster image. How does this confirm or contradict your expectations of Kidulthood?
From the poster of Kidulthood its obvious that this is a movie about young people, and was made for young people. It portrays these actors as dark and gritty, for example Sam on the front cover is wearing a full tracksuit and carrying a baseball bat. The name of the movie doesn't really make you think of knife crime and youths fighting so the poster contradicted my inital expectations from when I heard the title. The name Kidulthood makes me think more about grown up kids behaving maturely but contradictory to these they spend most of the movie acting like angry children.
Why do you think the title Kidulthood was chosen?
I believe that the title was chosen with the intent of making a point about how kids are forced into adulthood at a young age. The word kid makes you think of children running around playing it parks and playing simple games so when mixed with the word adulthood it completes switches the meaning of the word and combines the meanings so they meet somewhere in the middle.
Setting the Tone
The action is set in a school playground. How does this contradict traditional associations of the playground and what effect does this have?
Traditionally when you think of a playground you imagine children and games so for the director to set the action and drama in this location makes a point to the viewer and shows us that these aren't sterotypical children running around having fun, its a much harsher reality and its clear that these people have been forced into adulthood at a young age to survive and fit in.
How is tension and/or agression conveyed through the body language and facial expression of the each group of characters?
Each group of characters potrays the feelings through different use of body language for example the social outsiders (nerds) appear timmid e.g. always having their shoulders hunched up and looking at the floor, where as the bullies (sam and friends) always stand tall with their shoulders back looking like their confident and looking for a fight.
Is it easy to identify the outsiders , if so how ?
I personally found it very easy to identify the outsiders they were always the ones that looked uncomfortable throughtout the movie , the qiute ones that are always keeping to themselves and trying to steer clear of the louder more aggresive groups in the movie.
How does the film maker build tension into the story of sam and Claire at this point?
The film maker set it up so that we see Claire ,(sams girlfriend) with Jay in the playground and Jay is so scared of Sam that he calls Claire by a different name incase somebody heard that he had been with her.
This shows the Sam is a character to be feared, and because Claire is disloyal its implied that later on in the movie their actions will come back to hurt them.
What words would you use to describe the images of trife we see in the opening sequence of the film? How do they support what is going on around him? How do they contrast with them?
In the opening scenes we are introduced to Trife when we see him drilling a gun in the school and then he goes outside and smokes weed with his friends. This fits well to the storyline because you wouldn’t expect to see a fifteen year old drilling guns and smoking drugs.
How does the soundtrack add to the feeling of tension?
The sound track is a gritty song; it implies trouble or something bad. It’s also the type of thing that the kids of today listen to.
What are the main stories in the film Are these representative of the majority of young people?
The main strories in this film are the relashionship beetween Trife and Elisha, the fighting beetween Sam with Trife,Jay and mooney
What kinds of activites do we see the kids doing throughout the day?
These kids smoke weed alot in this movie , they get into several fights and have disrespect for everything and everyone around them e.g. smashing up shops , shouting at security guards.
How do you feel about the language used in the film? Is it an accurate representation of how young people speak?
In my opinion the language used in the film is a fairly accurate representation of how teenagers in speak although I feel that they might have overdone it because throughout the movie they never stop speaking like that, they make it seem like youths speak a different langauge which adds to the whole steretypical view that teenagers are bad , different and always cause trouble.
How do you feel about the incident where Trife is accused of stealing the burberry cap? How does the filmmaker influence our throughts by the way in which it is presented?
I think the filmmaker was trying to bring up racial prejudices in britain because as soon as Trife enters the shop the security guard follows them , although on the other side of the argument when three people walk into your shop with their hoods up, being rude and loud their fairly likely to be stealing something.
On one hand I feel bad for them being followed around whenever they go and being made to feel like criminals, but on the other I can see where the security guard is coming from because they looked like the type of people that might steal.
How are the adults in this film represented in this film represented?
Most of the adults in this movie are portrayed in a positive light but at the same time its like these adults are afraid of the teenagers for example when the teacher tells Trife to go to lesson Trife stops at stares at him like he's going to hit him and the teacher just shuts up and turns around.
The adults in this film that are shown in a negative are Trife's uncle and his friends , the storyline goes into a dark twist when ever his uncle is involved in the story , for example Trife drilling guns and cutting people. I think this movie would have been unfair if the filmmaker had chosen to victimise adults for the whole movie while teenagers ran around causing havoc.
How do you feel about the way in which young people are represented by the media in a A)film b) print media?
After events like the student riots and the constant knife crime in areas of London its easy to see why people are starting to form negative opinions on the youth. The unfortunate effect of all the negative portrails is that even good teenagers that have respect and behave properly are hit with generalised banner that were all fighting, killing and using drugs.
What do you think the reaction of someone aged 50+ might be to the film? What would you say to them?
I think if anybody over 50 saw this film they would start to form a really bad impression of kids today , it would probably be enough to make old people stay at home for fear of bumping into teenageers.If I could speak to them after watching this movie I would explain to them this is a vicious portrail of teenagers and that they shouldn't take it seriously as its a docu-DRAMA.
Do you think the film raises issues of gender or race?
Throughout the movie their raises issues of gender for the way that a girl is punched and beaten up for being a virgin but when says thats she had sex with somebody they call her a slag and continue to beat her up. Race is also an issue the comes into the movie during the scene where the security guard accuses Trife of stealing.
In what ways do you think the film could help empower young people?
I think if this movie is empowering young people then its doing it in a very negative way , through fear tactics , the only reason they would be empowered is because adults are scared of them after watching movies like Kidulthood full of teenagers stabbing eachother and taking drugs.
Activity 2
What is meant by the term docu-drama - research the term and post to your blog.
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction.
Contrary to docufiction, which basically is documentary, filmed in real time, “reality” in docudrama is filmed at a time ulterior to the events it portrays. It is based on narrative and fiction. Docudrama producers sometimes use as location for a realistic setting (fiction) a natural stage - see stage (theater) -, the place itself where the dramatised events are supposed to have occurred: it may mean a false documentary or journalistic narrative, like The War of the Worlds (radio drama), by Orson Wells.
Research gang culture and crime in the west London area:
Do you think Menhaj Huda has portrayed the real West London, a small section of West London or dyou believe he has sensationalised the whole film?
Has the producer stereotyped his characters ? If so How?
6 Oct 2011: Murder trial over Sofyen Belamouadden death hears Victoria Osoteku, then aged 18, was 'at heart' of mob's organisation
Knife crime among young people is a growing problem in the UK according to a special BBC programme on Sunday.
In the last year more than 20 teenagers have died as a result of knife attacks in the UK - that's almost one teenager every two weeks.
In 2003,
I dont think Menjah Huda has portrayed the real West London the crime rate in West London isn't as high as other parts of London. I would agree with the statement that Menhaj Huda has sensationalised the whole film.
He has taking something that rarely happens and made it seem like a daily occurance in the life of a teenager.
This is a knife crime documentary - "Straight from the streets"
It gives you an idea of the difference beetween the docu-drama take on knife crime and a real life documentary about it with facts and interviews.
Adverts like these are put in magazines and newspapers so that teenagers can see them and report knife crime.
Know someone with a knife? Text Crimestoppers
Originally piloted in 10 areas across England and Wales, Crimstoppers' knife crime texting service is now available nationwide. You can text Crimestoppers anonymously on 88551 if you know someone who carries a knife. Texts pass through a special server to maintain your anonymity - Crimestoppers cannot trace your phone number or any details about you. More about our texting
All the characters in this movie have been stereoyped all the teenagers in this movie are doing something wrong weither it be drugs , fighting or generaly causing havoc.
If I had to choose a documentary that represented knife crime properly and showed people whats really going on in poor areas with high rates of knife crime I would definetly choose "Straight from the streets".
Which types of footage are used in the opening? Why do you think the different types have been used - what is their function?
Creepy music is played through the intro to add atmosphere.
The opening scene shows a photo of Aileen as a happy child so you can see the change throughout the documentary. A clip is also shown of Aileen saying she regrets everything. We also see clips of the victims families saying how they feel about the whole situation and finally dead bodies are shown to show add shock factor.
What Documentary techniques can you identify in the sequence?
Old clips from TV showing news reports from the time the murders first happened and clips of Aileen shouting about how the system is treating her.
What information is given by the voiceover ? What is the relationship beetween the voiceover and the images.?
Throughout the documentary the voiceover explains the images and what their relevance is to the documentary.
What do we find out about the centeral subject ?
We find out the Aileen is either really intelligent and is trying to get herself killed so she doesnt have to sit in prison all her life, or she is completely insane and is trying to cheat her way out of life in prison.
How is the opening sequence of a documentary similar to the opening sequence of a fiction film (eg introduction of characters, situation,plot,themes,attempt to attract and keep audience attention)?
It delivers the situation and the plot to the viewer straight away which keeps you involved in the documentary and makse you want to learn more about it.
1.Name of Documentary: The selling of a serial killer
2.February 4, 1994
3.Nick Broomfield
4.Comedy , Thriller
5.The documentry was filmed in various states across America.
It was shown at the sundance film festival and was later released to DVD.
6.The purpose of this documentry was to inform and to entertain and it succesfully did both of these things by teaching the viewer and showing them how Aileen's story went.
7.The documentary has a political and social message. Aileen is against the police throughout the film saying their controlling her mind and she goes on to say how the world is against which would be the social message you could take from this documentary.
8.I think that the producer and director Nick Broomfield left everything that he recorded in his movie and everything was appropriate for the theme of the documentary.
9.The documentary was edited so all the most important clips that tell most of the story come first before anything else.
10.Nick Broomfield narrarated the whole documentary throughout the entire documentary it becomes aparent to the viewer that Nick has built a relashionship with Aileen and feels bad for her as if the system has done her wrong.
11.Interviews are used throughout the documentary to show real life accounts of what Aileen was like and how she was till the day that she died.
12.Noddies are present in some of the interviews when Nick zooms in on Aileen when shes shouting and screaming about the police.
13.The crew isn't visible throughout the documentary , until Nick has to hide the camera so that he can catch Aileen saying something she refused to say on camera.
After watching the documentary I came to the conclusion that Aileen is insane.
I think Nick Broomfield portrayed Aileen exactly how she is but he didn't really speak to the police who were involved in her case so we couldn't really get both sides of the argument.
I don't think she deserved the death penalty she was just an angry prostetute.
Aileen Wuornos, a hitchhiking prostitute who killed six men along Florida highways, was executed by injection today after dropping her appeals and firing her lawyers. Ms. Wuornos, 46, became the 10th woman executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed in 1977. Oklahoma has put three women to death; Florida and Texas have executed two each. In her final statement, Ms. Wuornos referred to Jesus and a blockbuster movie. "I'll be back like 'Independence Day' with Jesus, June 6, like the movie, big mother ship and all," Ms. Wuornos said.
After she was arrested at the Last Resort bar, in Port Orange, Fla., in January 1991, on an outstanding charge of carrying a concealed weapon -- an arrest that would quickly lead to a charge of murder and culminate in her execution in October 2002 -- Aileen Wuornos, a stocky, straggly-haired woman with desperate eyes and a foul mouth, didn't hesitate to tell judge and jury exactly what she thought of them when she appeared in court.
