Ill manors poster deconstruction

The grey colouring used in the poster is a key convention of urban drama posters, to represent the concrete feel of the setting. The lighting of this poster is dark which is a reflection of the narrative and issues explored in the film. The fish eye styled framing of the image is effective in disorientating the audience and making the buildings seem even taller and more intimidating. The plain and simple text stands out from the background, this also conforms to the conventions of urban drama film posters where the white or black text contrasts against the picture. This poster subverts conventions of urban drama posters by not using a third bright colour. It sticks to a dark, dull scheme which is most likely a reflection of the sinister story told in the film. Something which caught my eye in this poster was the image of the character overlapping the typography of the title. It is something which is probably a bit ambitious for us to achieve in our poster but we could look into it when experimenting with Photoshop. The tracksuit is appropriate mise en scene to the genre and the gun is also a feature which fits with the conventions of urban drama products.

Urban Drama Film Posters: Offender

The poster for Offender follows the mainstream conventions of an urban drama poster. the colour scheme is dark, mainly shades of grey are used throughout which is effective in reflecting the concrete setting around the narrative. Also  the use of the white title against the dark background conforms to the typical conventions of an urban drama. The orange colouring of the text is typical in contrasting against the background and could represent the urgency, danger and anger within the narrative of the film. This is alike other urban drama film posters such as Fish Tank and Sket. In our poster I would like to use some inspiration from this by using a bright colour element to highlight the darkness of the surrounding images. The orange in the text also highlights the fire in the back image, which is full of anarchy and violence, it is almost sinister. The bold and simple font used is a classic urban convention so again the poster tightly conforms. The three figures standing in the front are clearly the main characters. The antagonist is made clear by him being brought forward in-front of the other characters. This again foreshadows the plot and social realism of the genre as most of these films focus on character driven stories. The use of guns provide a strong sense of urban mise en sene. It suggests the storyline involves violence and crime. The costume is appropriate to the genre; tracksuits which are dark in colouring.  The tag line is above everything as a stand alone line, it has a big impact, this is something we could consider for our poster. 'This summer...justice will be served' informs the audience of the films release date and also plays with the concept of the film, the idea of 'offending' and crime and then 'justice', it is clever in it's word play. This is something to consider when creating our poster and deciding what text to include. Social networking links are used as part of the promotion for this. We could effectively use this in our piece. 

Film Reviews and Ratings

After completely research into existing film posters, its clear to see how including a review, quote or rating can be an effective way to attract the target audience. We have decided this is something we are looking to include in our film poster, so therefore it is necessary to decide on an appropriate way of doing so. Below are images taken from a number of posters that have used a variety of ways to attract the audience through an external quote or opinion.

These three quotes are taken from the poster for The Raid 2, an action film. This particular poster features several ratings and quotes from a variety of sources. By using the bright yellow, bold, sans-serif typography (all in capital letters) contrasting with the dark background image, the reviews stand out immediately and draw attention from the reader.
In terms of the content of the quotes, the length and lexical devices varied. The first quote "Jaw-dropping", uses the well known idiom to relate to the audience thus making them trust the review. The second review also uses a short quote to impact the audience. By saying "An action masterpiece", the film is placed on a pedestal and is giving the impression that it is better than other action films. The third quote, "Masterfully tense... a monumental experience" uses a lot more wording than the others in the poster however is still very effective. By calling the film an 'experience', it tells the audience that they will not only be watching a film but be taken on a journey.

This quote is from the poster for Minority Reports. It uses synthetic personalisation with the word 'your', directly addressing the audience encouraging them as individuals to watch the film. The five-star rating is displayed in a different colour, making this stand out even more.
"One of the greatest movies ever made", is a very bold statement and could be easily challenged but cleverly entices the audience to see it for themselves.

Quite often posters mention awards and nominations in order to attract an audience. They are often well established and therefore work well to promote the film.  

The Gravity poster uses the technique of having a lot of reviews randomly placed, disorientating the audience thus conforming to the genre. It also features play on words, putting all the space related terms in a bold font. As you can see, in this particular poster, the reviews make up the basis of the attraction rather than the background image. This is a more modern approach to advertisement and promotion of films, stepping away from the stereotypical visual appeal posters usually adopt.

Ill Manors- Mise en Scene

• Opens with an establishing shot of skyline of rough estate in London. Cloudy grey weather and smoke connotes the dismal and dark lives of those living in the run down urban areas.
• Scaffolding around building is visually unattractive showing the gritty realism of urban London estates.
• People smoking, stereotypical of this class of people, perhaps forced to turn to smoking, alcohol, drugs?
• Masks covering majority of face and hoods worn up- intimidating, suggesting they are hiding from someone.
• Natural lighting enhances realism.
• Low key lighting in the car park, shadowing faces.
• Images of politicians- attacking upper class individuals, blaming them.
• Red flickering light seen before actual flames, indicating the simmering fire.
• Dog chews and excretes David Cameron, explicitly offensive.  
• Young children featured, showing how there is no escape- born into a corrupt society.
• Punch camera- threatening behaviour.
• Newspaper images, displaying the negative portrayal of youths in the media.
• Real footage from London riots.
• Riot police charging towards youths- war within society.
• Fighter dogs.
• Filming on camera phones laughing.
• Police and politicians punching members of the public.
• Smashing/ burning police cars- rebelling against the system.
• Multiple shots of fights, violent behaviour.
• Middle finger being held up, cursing government.
• Old woman being pushed in wheelchair vs. cartoon image of old woman being attacked. Reality vs. media portrayal.
• Stealing/ theft.
• Reference to gang culture.
• Throwing bricks through glass.
• Chaotic/ busy streets.

Urban Drama Poster Deconstruction

Kidulthood

• Dark, dull colour scheme, mainly using black and brown. This creates a clear ominous and menacing feeling.
• The characters are all looking, most with very confrontational stances and postures, into the camera at the viewer. This emphasises the sense of violence and gang culture, an evident theme of the film.
• The white colouring of the title, tag line and billing block etc. contrasts with the black background of the poster. These contrasting colours reflect the 'good and evil' of the urban city youths and their lifestyles.
• The slight wear within the typography of the title reflects how there are definite 'rough-edges' and a sense of decay within the film's narrative and, as previously said, the lifestyle of urban youths.
• The fact that the film is of the urban drama genre is not entirely presented in the setting behind the characters, but rather is reflected in the characters' stereotypically urban clothing (e.g. tracksuits, hoodies). The violence aspect and convention of the urban drama genre is reflected in the baseball bat that is brandished by one of the characters.

Fish Tank

• The background of the main image of the poster shows a blue sky and large white clouds. This could be said to subvert the conventions of an urban drama as many similar films use, for example, grey skies to convey an ominous and gritty feeling to complement the overall nature of the genre.
• The background also shows blocks of coucil flats, a typically used convention and setting of films of the urban drama genre. This establishes the setting of the film and is one of the aspects of the poster which refelcts the conventions of the urban drama genre.
• The light-coloured tracksuit or hoodie worn by the main character reflects the lives and lifestyles of the lower class individuals which the film focusses on.
• The orange colouring of the title ties into bright colour used in the image of the bright blue sky in the background and the overall vivid colour scheme of the poster in general. The orange used against the blue background also represents a goldfish in water, reflecting the denotations created in the title of the film as well as the running symbolism of a goldfish within the film.

Ill Manors

• The main colour scheme of the poster is a range of greys, created by the powerful background image of a harsh, stormy sky. This use of pathetic fallacy reflects the violent and turbulent nature of the film as well as its genre.
• The main image of the main character of the film emphasises the film's violent nature and theme. The character's clothing (baseball cap, black hooded jacket etc.) reflects the stereotypical clothing of young urban youths in typically urban environments.
• The fact the character is holding a handgun strongly emphasises the violence within the film's narrative and the threatening nature of the film and its themes as well as the conventions of the urban drama genre.
• The blocks of council flats in the background presents and establishes the film's setting and conforms to the convention of urban drama films and the lifestlye of the stereotypically urban London youth.

Ill Manors Trailer Deconstruction

The trailer for Ill Manors opens with this political statement by Plan B. By using this, the trailer immediately gets the audience thinking and therefore making them look at the trailer in a different light. This works as a very powerful introduction and is certainly something we can consider for our trailer.



Reviews are a key thing we have found are involved in trailers- particularly of the urban drama genre. They often include a short and powerful comment, such as "a film for our times" or "brilliant... brutal... powerful"- and are usually from well-known sources (either individuals or corporations) thus appearing reliable to the audience.



The Ill Manors trailer focuses a lot on the film's tag line, "Every action has a reaction, but what influences the choice you make". This particular statement uses a number of devices to impact the audience. The first part is a declarative statement and thus is worded in a way that sound like fact. The second part, on the other hand, is interrogative and uses synthetic personalisation to directly address the audience which the word 'you'. It provokes the viewer to respond and therefore is a good technique into encouraging people to watch the film.
The way that the tag line is presented is very manipulative, as by split it up into separate parts, the audience is forced to carry on watching to make sense of it. Each part appears over an image which strongly shows the urban drama genre. By using a mixture of both beautiful skylines and gritty street close ups, the trailer is much more dynamic and appeals to a wider variety of people.

The final typography which displays the title Ill Manors is fairly simple but has a huge impact on the ending of the trailer. The white font on black background means it is clear and draw the attention to the title itself rather than distracting with aesthetic aspects. This is a common convention of the urban drama genre as they rarely focus on the visual appeal but rather  look at the narrative and attempt to convey a message.
                                                                                       

'Black Swan' opening deconstruction

How does the opening of ‘Black Swan’ (2010) conform, or oppose to, the conventions of the psychological thriller genre?

The film begins with a ballet scene with Nina dancing which we as the audience later learn is a dream sequence. The lighting in the sequence is very low-key and is lit with a harsh single spotlight. The extreme darkness surrounding the two dancers emphasises the mysterious aspects of the psychological thriller genre. This is reflected in the fact that the audience is unaware of what surrounds the dancers or where the dancers are, for example. The white ballet outfit worn by Nina opposes the dark and mysterious background mise-en-scene as well as the psychological thriller genre as a whole. Nina’s completely white outfit holds strong connotations of purity and innocence which contrasts hugely with her dark and ominous surroundings. Several close-up shots of Nina’s feet as she dances emphasise her elegance as she moves which is reflected in her clothing. As well as this, the non-diegetic orchestral music which Nina dances to is parallel to her white ballet costume as well as to the dark and mysterious visual background. 

After Nina dances alone at the beginning of the sequence, a male ballet dancer enters and begins to dance with Nina. The male dancer wears a black costume which is in stark contrast to Nina’s white ballet costume. This contrast of black and white often represents good and evil which is a typical convention used within the psychological thriller genre. Upon entrance of the male ballet dancer, the non-diegetic orchestral music descends into a much more dark and ominous tone, contrasting with the upbeat and elegant music which played previously as Nina danced alone. This ominous background music which the two characters dance to is parallel to the black costume worn by the male dancer as it reflects the explicitly darker character of the male dancer. As the two continue to dance, the male dancer’s clothing suddenly transforms into a black, feathered, bird and demon-like costume. This unrealistic change within the sequence is a clear indication that the sequence is perhaps a dream or a figment of imagination. This reflects, and conforms to, another clear convention of the psychological thriller genre which is the unclear and almost faded distinction of reality and imagination, such as a dream.

This part of the sequence is filmed as a continuous shot which gives it some sense of fluidity and a lack of order, reflecting the way the sequence as a whole is presented as a dream sequence or something beyond reality. This part of the sequence is almost entirely made up of fast tracking shots which continuously circle the dancers. The way the camera moves around the dancers as they move give the sequence a strong sense of disorientation and again reflects a lack of order. This is parallel to the non-diegetic background orchestral music which becomes frantic as the dance performed by the two characters also becomes frenetic, contrasting greatly to the purity and elegance reflected in Nina’s dance earlier on in the sequence and that of her white ballet costume. The frantic non-diegetic background music coupled with the similarly frantic single tracking shot conveys a very dramatic style and feeling to the audience due to the disorientation that is created by multiple factors. This dramatic way in which the sequence is presented to the audience conforms to the often-used dramatic and almost tense convention within the psychological thriller genre. 

The Wire- Drug Dealer Shots

The wire is an American crime drama series set in the city of Baltimore. The most key focus of the series looks into the illegal drug trade and therefore is useful for us to take inspiration from when filming drug deals for our trailer. The location of the shots and the specific types of camera angles plays an important role in cleverly showing the drug deals. 

This shot uses a close up of the two characters hands to clearly show the theme of drug dealing. By simply shoeing the exchange of money, the drug deal is not explicit shown but is cleverly implied. As we are doing a teaser trailer it will be important for us to quickly and simply hit at the drug dealing aspect of the narrative. 

This is a typical drug dealing scene; with a mid-shot being used to show a car window dealing. The low key lighting makes this appear to be at night and therefore adds to the illegal and criminal theme, running parallel with the dark connotations of drug dealing. This would be easy for us to recreate as a shot in our trailer.

This high angle over the shoulder shot gives the scene more of a diversity. The gang being in the background could indicate some sort of violence or illegal drug dealing activity going on. the over the shoulder shot of somebody taking a photo adds the element of them being stalked or under the eye of the police (surveillance). This allows the audience to see the narrative from a different perspective, challenging their opinions and attitudes.

Lighting Deconstruction

This long shot appears to have been taken at dawn, creating a mysterious effect, The light coming in between the trees and reflecting on the wet ground gives a gritty realism to the shot which we could recreate to add to our urban drama genre. 

The orange tint to the lighting in this shot not only looks natural-nas it appears to be coming through the window- but almost makes the location appear to be dingy and dirty which is a look that we would need to create in the scenes set in the house of the protagonist. The backlighting creates a silhouette of the character which is a technique that we could really take inspiration from .               

This shot of an interrogation scene links closely with the theme of crime we want to include in our piece. The dark and dingy lighting of the room appears to be clinical but with an edge to it. The silhouette effect of the two characters clearly depicts the one way glass which is something we could experiment with recreating. 

The close up of the protagonist in the shot lights up only his eyes which is a good way of showing the character's feelings and emotions. Again, it also acts as a way of creating mystery. 

'The Minus Man' sound and editing deconstruction

This teaser trailer is from Hampton Fancher's 1999 thriller 'The Minus Man'. 

• The trailer begins with very upbeat non-diegetic background music which continues throughout the whole of the trailer. Despite being upbeat and lively, the non-diegetic background music has a very repetitive and somewhat creepy nature. Despite this, the background music is largely parallel to the images of couple living normal lives in bars and around the city, which is the focus of the trailer for the majority of the trailer. 

• The trailer uses mainly straight-cut edits, however some edits at the beginning of the trailer are broken up by short spaces of complete blackness. This gives the trailer a feeling of slight disorientation and abnormality which perhaps foreshadows some of the disturbing content seen at the end of the trailer. 

• Towards the end of the trailer, where the female character starts to run away for reasons unknown to the audience, the straight cut edits become more rapid however this is not reflected in the non-diegetic background music which continues exactly how it started at the beginning of the trailer. The visuals, created through the use of quick straight-cut edits, give the trailer an unexpected sense of urgency which ties into the convention of the thriller genre. 

• The non-diegetic background music comes to an abrupt stop when the corpses are shown floating in the swimming pool. This brings the trailer to an abrupt and dramatic stop as the female character looks on at the swimming pool. Following this momentary silence, the upbeat non-diegetic background music fades in for the rest of the trailer, recreating the creepy and mysterious feeling which was foreshadowed throughout the whole of the trailer, notably the mundane and ordinary actions of the two characters during the beginning of the trailer. 

'Superman Returns' sound and editing deconstruction

This teaser trailer is from Bryan Singer's 2006 superhero film 'Superman Returns'.

• The teaser trailer opens with an ominous and droning non-diegetic background track which plays throughout the trailer and builds up as a crescendo.

• The trailer uses very few straight-cut edits, rather it mostly uses faded edits to break up the shots. This gives the trailer as a whole a very fluid yet ominous and mysterious feeling. 

• The trailer's non-diegetic music interacts with the trailer's visual faded cut edits. An example of this is in the shot at 00:30 of the mailbox with the sunrise in the background. As this shot fades in, a non-diegetic trumpet begins which reflects the almost awakening and still mysterious effect and feeling of the trailer.

• More orchestral instruments are introduced to the trailer's non-diegetic background music as the trailer continues to gradually build the awe of the audience as intriguing and awe-inspiring shots of Superman are shown using the faded cut edits. 

• As the trailer reaches its climax, its non-diegetic music also reaches a rousing conclusion. This is reflected as the famous Superman logo is shown on screen as well as the film's release date. The build up and climax created within the trailer is an effective convention used in the superhero and action genre as it conveys mystery and an ominous feeling before an almost "big reveal" at the end of the trailer which outlines the underlying themes within many superhero films.

Kidulthood Deconstruction

I watched the film Kidulthood and have deconstructed it, picking out that mains things that conform to the codes and conventions of urban drama. These are things that we need to consider in both the planning and construction stages of our trailer. The main thing that I was able to get from watching this was that the genre focuses on the hard hitting issues faced in urban life and how this effects youths (seen through things such as the suicide and murder). The location was a key factor in the narrative of the film (set in west London). It is important for an urban drama must feature iconic shots of a city and represent the more rough and run down areas. The film focuses on many modern day issues such as racism, drugs, alcohol teenage pregnancies and gang culture (through ethnically diverse characters, and overtly sexual females). From this I can therefore see that it meets with the negative connotations of the youth brought about by the media. There are a lot of techniques used throughout the film to create a reaction, the most effective ones including:

• Point of view shots to directly involve the audience and provoke an empathic response to the film.
• Over the shoulder shots to enhance the theme of crime and create a sense that the characters are being watched or followed. This almost makes the audience feel intrusive adding a new dynamic to the film.
• High and low angle shots show varying power and authority of the characters.
• Grime style music reflects the gritty feel of the film throughout and urban location.
• Low key and natural lighting conforms to the social realism theme tackled in the film, also runs parallel with the dark message and content.
• Diegetic sound used throughout again meets with social realist genre (speech, busy streets etc.)

Kidulthood Poster

What makes an effective film poster?

• Typography 
• Choice of image
• Positioning of all elements
• Tag Line
• Colour Schemes 
• Clear indication of genre 
• Clear target audience
• Golden rule 

• Main focal point is the gang- long shot immediately introducing the multiple characters that the film follows and representation of youths.
• Characters dressed in very casual clothing showing the informality of the film and representing the stereotypical youth of today.
• Boy seen holding a baseball bat suggests the violent theme within the narrative.
• City skyline in background shows the genre as urban drama and hints that this will play a key part in the narrative.
• Mainly dark colours (black and grey) telling the audience that the film revolves around serious issues and is not light-hearted.
• Magazine quotes and ratings attract target audience. Power of three used in statement "Powerful, moving and unforgettable".
• Opts for a simple white typography contrasting with dark background so it stands out. suggesting the 'no nonsense' genre. Sans serif font gives the modern and urban appeal. The lower case 'i' in the title could be a visual signifier as to how although they act old, the are still immature in some respects.
• Tag line leads into title, suggests there could be a sequel, supports theme of young adolescent youths.
• Website link at bottom encourages audience to find out more.
• The title merges the words 'kid' and 'adulthood' suggesting how the characters are in limbo and forced to act beyond their age.

Kidulthood Trailer Deconstruction

 

Distributor: Revolver

Revolver Entertainment is one of the top distributors on the UK. This company has been associated with other urban dramas such as Ill Manors and Offender and would therefore be an appropriate thing to consider using at the beginning of our trailer. Showing the production company or distributor at the beginning of a trailer is a huge convention that we aimed to conform to. 

The trailer begins with the simple display of the title of the film. This immediately introduces the theme of the film to the target audience with the name 'kidulthood' linking to the adolescent characters and narrative. The typography of the title is in black and white, so as to conform t the genre conventions and make the title clear to read. By editing this to slowly fade out, an atmosphere of mystery is created hinting at the violence and danger in the film. 



By starting with a fast paced number of straight cut edits running parallel with the music, the audience are intrigued to see more. The shots involve a quick flash of scenes including 

The trailer begins with an establishing shot to introduce the urban setting of the film. This city skyline shot is an important feature of all urban dramas, featuring as a way of showing the dark and gloomy aspects of the city. these often show a council estate or blocks of flats. These shots are usually filmed when it is dark, or dismal weather outside reflecting the character's lives.

The close up shots of drugs are very quick but still convey to the audience that the film will tackle the theme of drugs- an issue that is stereotypically used in urban dramas. This is the fist shot that presents the theme of crime in the narrative. The lighting here and throughout the trailer is mostly natural and thus works well with the social realist theme.

This particular mid shot of the character smoking is very visually effective and is something which appears more than once throughout the trailer. This therefore suggests that we should consider filming a smoking scene so as to conform to the urban drama conventions. Many of the scenes involve the characters having their hoods up, conforming to stereotypical representations of youth in the media.

The point of view shot of the feet stomping and kicking towards the camera makes the scene appear a lot more brutal and forces the audience to sympathises with the character being beaten up. This works very effectively and is something we are particularly interested in experimenting with.

Shots of just their feet as they run away adds diversity to the visual aspect and helps to build tension appropriately.  The lack of colour in some of the shots throughout the trailer has inspired us to experiment with black and white filters over some of our footage in order to create an effective impact.



The violence in the film is presented in the trailer through scenes such as this one in which weapons such as baseball bats are seen. This is something we could take inspiration from and easily recreate in the production of our trailer. By using a point of view shot here, with the bat swinging towards the camera, the trailer has broken the fourth wall and created something which will scare and thus excite the audience.
 

Adulthood Fight Scene Deconstruction

Sound: 

The non- diegetic sound at the beginning of this scene has a very low bass and techno sound to it, conforming to the urban drama genre. The beating drums build tension and indicate that the scene will contain a kind of violence to it. The music starts the increase in pace and intensity when they begin to run towards their victim, creating the sense of chase seen on screen.  The short pause in non-diegetic music runs parallel to the arrival of the victims brother to the scene. This indicates that he is to be feared and is intimidating to the other gang members, showing his high sense of power and authority in the neighbourhood.
The diegetic sound in this scene shows a good use of foley artistry to create an effective sounding fight, through realist running, kicking and punching noises.

Mise en Scene:

The characters in this wear tracksuits, jeans and hoodies which marks the stereotypical representation of youth in the urban parts of London. Their clothes are dark greys and blacks symbolising the dark and gritty realism attacked in the scene. The fact that one of the characters carry a knife clearly connotes the danger and criminal aspect of the film.
The scene is set in the day time on a street which could highlight the idea that danger lurks around every corner at all times on these kinds of rough estates.

'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' sound deconstruction

The following teaser trailer is from the 2011 mystery-thriller 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' directed by David Fincher.

• The non-diegetic background music played throughout the whole trailer is a cover of 'Immigrant Song' by Led Zeppelin, performed by Trent Razor and Atticus Ross. The track was recorded for the film's soundtrack. 

• The fast-paced background music begins almost immediately, accompanied by the quick cut edits of the shots displayed. Despite the background music starting almost immediately, a slight non-diegetic whirling sound can be heard at the beginning of the trailer for a few seconds as the camera mounted on the car swings steadily onto the road. The sound is mainly of the wind whirling. This short build up of sound gives the start of the trailer a mysterious feeling as well as being parallel to the wintry and harsh conditions the opening shot shows.

• The non-diegetic music could be described as rapid and frantic as it holds a steady and fast-paced beat throughout the trailer. This conforms to the thriller genre as one of the main conventions of this particular genre is the use of build-ups within scenes and fast-paced sequences. 

• Different elements of the background music such as the vocals and electric guitar are harsh in order to create a further frantic feeling and almost a lack of order.

• The music is edited at the end of the trailer in a way so that the visual text, displaying the title of the film an the trilogy it is based on, changes in time with the steady and fast-paced beat of the background music. As the text is displayed, the music is distorted with the sound of strong feedback which almost acts as a dramatic climax tot the build up created by the fast-paced music throughout the whole trailer. A build-up followed by a climax are both conventions of the thriller genre.

• The single track playing throughout the whole of the trailer works well in a teaser trailer like this one, rather than the full trailer for a film. This is due to the way the visuals of a teaser trailer aim to give very little of the narrative away, with the use of a single track over the top largely complementing this idea. The use of a single track within a teaser trailer is an idea I would like to explore and perhaps incorporate in our teaser trailer.

'4.3.2.1' Urban Drama Teaser Trailer Deconstruction

This is England Deconstruction

Conventions of Form and Deconstruction

Theatrical Trailer: 

- 2-4 minutes long
- Giving away the whole plot; often including the 'best' part
- Showing a range of different scenes and settings
- Looks at a lot of the characters involved
- Increases in pace

Teaser Trailer:

-1-2 minutes 
- Showing snippets of the film without giving the plot away
- Introduces the protagonist

This is England Deconstruction

 

Mise en Scene:

• Gritty and rough looking estate
• Doc Martins, Ben Sherman shirts
• Moves from high key lighting at the beginning to low key and very dim lighting towards the end- running parallel with music and how the tone of the narrative changes and darkens.
• Underpass with graffiti shows the theme of out of control youths.
• Battered cars on trailer site marks the beginning of the downwards spiral in the trailer.
• English flag presents the nationalist theme tackled in the film.
• Recognisable and relatable settings e.g. Café, underpass, corner shop.

Sound:

• Begins with slow, melancholy music which picks up later on in trailer when protagonist meets group of friends.
• Music takes on a darker and more rock like tone when the 'bad' skinhead appears in the trailer.
• Diegetic sound of speech forms main basis of the trailer.
• Diegetic sound of the protagonist laughing runs parallel with on screen shots of the friends having fun.

Editing:

• Montage of 80s events including, rubiks cube, clubs, Charles and Diana.
• Increase in pace of straight cut edits as trailer goes on builds excitement and tension.
• Reviews and awards won by film included giving the audience a reason as to why they should go and see it.
• Slow motion of them walking through streets and jumping.

Camera Angles: 

• Establishing long shot of beach.
• Lots of mid shots and two shots to conform to the social realist genre.
• Low angle shot so they foot appears to be stomping on the camera- very effective in violent scenes.
• Close up of the protagonist's face at the end breaks the fourth wall- allowing audience to connect with issues raised in narrative and the character.

'Top Boy' deconstruction

The following clip is from the Channel 4 urban drama 'Top Boy'.

• The clip begins with the older character calling out to the schoolboy. A wide angle shot of the older character is followed by a close up shot of the schoolboy's face. The juxtaposition between the two camera angles of the characters reflects the differences between the two within the plot line of the clip and how they are viewed by the audience. The wide angle shot connotes how the older character is more detached and has an unwanted presence in the view of the schoolboy and other characters in the scene- the opposite of how the close up shot of the boy's face reflects how he is closer to the audience as he is vulnerable. 

• The way the older character is presented as being 'unwanted' is reflected within the parallel diegetic dialogue between the two where the older character uses profanities and puts clear pressure on the schoolboy to leave school and "chill with us".

• A over the shoulder shot of the two characters talking brings the audience closer into the characters' interaction.

• After the schoolboy defies the older character's orders and tries to return to school, a close up shot of both characters shows the older character violently grab the schoolboy as the camera reflects the fast-paced actions depicted in the scene by moving in the same deliberate way. This connotes the violence and danger shown within the sequence.

• As the schoolboy flees the scene and the older character starts to chase him, non-diegetic music starts. The background music is moderately fast-paced which again reflects the danger the schoolboy is in. 

• A close up shot of the schoolboy's mobile phone is shown on the floor which he has dropped whilst being chased. The shot also shows the phone ringing as someone tries to ring the schoolboy from school after learning of the violent and dangerous events earlier in the sequence. This emphasises the schoolboy's predicament and the image of the lost mobile phone also reflects the schoolboy's situation of perhaps being lost in unwanted circumstances.

• One of the final shots of the sequence shows the older character looking over a garden wall after the schoolboy loses his pursuer in the chase. This shot is a high-angle shot from the window of a nearby house as well a POV shot of a man viewing the situation from above. 

Poster Deconstruction