Mise en scene

I want my film to have a independent, gritty feel to it, in a similar vein to Dead Man's Shoes

, This Is England, Snatch, and other great films that expose the grittier, decaying side of working class England. I have come up with the term 'Rural decay' which is in a similar vein to Urban Decay but instead represents the many dilapidated shacks and farms that have been abandoned in the countryside. Part of the idea is that you can get away with whatever you want: -to use a cliche- 'noone can hear you scream'. If i was to make the film, i'm sure one of the taglines on the adverts would be: "If a man dies... [shot of finger pulling trigger] and there is noone...[camera zooms out, revealing a vast panoramic view] around to hear it... [shot of killer covering body in woods, continuing with his life as if forgotten, cut to cityscape of people going about their lives] did it even happen at all?
A good example of the type of feel i want my film to have is given off in this Libertines video, even though this is set in the city as opposed to the country:

This clip explores the twin issues of gender and ethnicity in a number of ways; the first and foremost issue is that of the Irish working class man. We can clearly hear his irish accent and we immediately see he has been beaten up. We also hear that he has been wrongly accused, which presents the Irishman as possibly being a victim of racism. He also refers to his father moving to England and being abused, indicating a history of it as well - much of the hurt caused by racism is magnified if it is longstanding. He makes a reference to the Irish being given all the labouring jobs that the english don't want to do: "Shovelling shit" he calls it, and his rough clothing verifies this. There is also the mentioning of the asian woman's sari as a 'nighty' - it could be interpreted as a misunderstanding, but more likely, Gene is making a racist joke. This is, from what i can gather, a decent representation of men's attitudes to discrimination in the '70s. It was often seen as comical; a good example would be Alf Garnett:

There is also examples of sexism: the reference to a woman prime minister was met by derisive laughter from the other officers, indicating an inability to respect women.

The Soloist

The Soloist was actually filmed in the Skidrow area of Los Angeles itself, with the camera crew working with the homeless in order to achieve a realistic effect and to create a sense of pride in their work. The movie was created when the producer discovered a number of columns written about a homeless guy called Nathaniel, and decided to make a film about it. Jamie Foxx, who played Nathaniel, spent some time with him in order to get a feel for the part, to copy his speech patterns and create the image of a schizophrenic dude. The film company also pulled in a chinese guy who could play good cello, and taught him using his own system. The director's aim was to help to break down the stigma surrounding the homeless.

Pitch

A thriller with elements of black comedy, focusing on teenagers using a prefabricated set of rural decay. Dead Man's Shoes meets Snatch and Kidulthood.

The Soloist

The release date for the Soloist changed from November 08 to April 09. They spent 60 million on it but only recovered 31 million; this was blamed on the release date being moved. The advertising budget went to 'Revolutionary Road' and ' Benjamin Button', because they believed they would have more chance of winning an oscar. It was also pulled from the AFI festival on the 30th Oct where the world premiere was to be shown considering its 'cinematic innovation' and 'renewal of a traditional realism'. Hollywood had thought The Soloist to definitely win an oscar, because it was directed by Joe Wright. He directed Pride and Prejudice, but this was his first american film, and all the funding from this film came from America, therefore the film is category E. The film had mixed reviews, it has a 6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes.

Camera shots

Camera shots i'm looking at including within my film:
- Close Up,
- Long Shot,
- Tracking shot
- Pan,
- High Angle,
- Point of View,
- Low Angle,
- Over The Shoulder
- Tilt,
- Medium Shot,

These are my storyboards for my final piece.