Audience Profile

From our group's research into audience (audience research 1 and audience research 2) we have drawn up a plan of who will be our film's target audience.

Age Group: From looking at both of our questionnaire results, it is obvious that the target audience for our thriller should be aged between 15 and 25. I think this is obvious, because that specific age group tend to be more attracted to action and able to identify with male lead characters.

Gender: More males would be attracted to this film, due to the action and adventure portrayed in the film, and will look up to the male protagonist. Also results from our questionnaires suggest that more males than females prefer thrillers, primarily action thrillers, to other genres. However, we intend to capture a wider audience, as we have cast a lead female role, and would plan to have our film distributed world wide and be accessible to other countries and continents.

Occupation: The majority of the film's audience would probably be students, due to the target age range, however no particular occupation has been targetted during the creation of the product.

Ethnicity: We plan to have a mixed audience, as not only do we intend to have a mix of races in our cast, but we would hope to distribute our thriller not only in Britain, in order to capture a wider range of audience.

Aspirations: By looking at our questionnaires, we plan to target audiences that aspire to be educated and to attend university. The vast majority also claimed that they want to travel, which shows that they take an interest in the world. From this, we have decided that our audience will have high aims in life and education.

Interests: Our audience will have stereotypical interests for males, such as enjoying sports, socialising etc. By looking at our questionnaires we discovered that the target audience enjoys action and comedy TV programmes and films, and they will also enjoy listening to music such as pop. Our questionnaires also showed our audience will enjoy listening to the radio, primarily radio stations like Radio 1 and Kiss. However, about only half of our participants said they enjoyed reading Newspapers and Magazines, but the participants who did enjoy reading Newspapers said they did pay attention to the news, therefore indicating some more of their interests. Films that they may enjoy include 'Layer Cake', 'Essex Boys' and television shows such as 'Spooks', as these are all examples o action thrillers, with lead male protagonists.

'The Godfather' Opening Sequence Analysis

'The Godfather' was produced in 1972 by director Francis Ford Cappola and stars actors such as Al Pacino and Marlon Brando.

The opening begins with a very slow jazz soundtrack, which is typical of thrillers. A plain black background, which connotes wealth, death, mystery, and evil, is contrasted with white writing, which has connotations of coldness, fear, reverence, and again, death. The writing simply says 'The Godfather' with puppet strings attached to the word 'father'. This symbolises the control that the godfather in the film has, and, as the audience will discover, how he controls people below him like a puppeteer controls his puppets.

The title disapears and the audience is left with a black screen, emphasising the connotations of the colour black, and also adding mystery and suspense - we don't know what will follow. A male voice-over begins in an italian accent with the line "I believe in America", suggesting where the film is set, and we fade in to see the man (Pacino) who is speaking. The camera begins with a close up as he talks to the camera and the camera zooms out very slowly whilst he tells us about his daughter's rape. This is a thriller signifier as we instantly know a web of crime and corruption will be involved in the narrative. The mise en scene at this point is all dark, with only the man's collar being the only colour of white, reflecting the title screen with white contrasting with black. As we zoom out, however, we discover with the technique of an over the shoulder shot, that the man is infact talking to someone else. The shot now reveals brown mise en scene - a wooden table, with a couple of papers on, making it seem to the audience like some kind of office. The camera stops zooming out, and Pacino begins to cry, and is given a drink by another man (presumably alcoholic) which shows the audience the flaws of the protagonist - his emotion for his daughter, and his drinking habit. This sequence also reveals that our first thought that there was only one person present was incorrect - there are at least three men present, but it is still unknown where this is set and who the men are. The camera then tracks to focus on a close up of the two men whispering to each other, but we are unable to hear what they say.

After this sequence, the camera's position changes to show, using a close-up, the second man that was introduced (Brando). We see that he too is dressed in a black suit, and also can see typical thriller mise en scene, consisting of slatted blinds. The camera moves location again to show the entire scene - revealing four male characters, all dressed in suits, all brown mise en scene, and the only light coming from the slats in the blinds. Another over -the -shoulder shot is used to focus upon Brando, this time as a mid shot, and a red flower can be noticed clipped to his suit, giving connotations of disguised danger. We also see him playing with a grey cat, making him appear powerful as he doesn't give his full attention. The cat connotes cunningness, independance and suspicion, whilst the grey colour has connotations of respect, strength and wisdom.

Throughout the sequence, a range of shot types are used. These vary from slow zooms outwards, which draw the viewer in, to over the shoulder shots which are an innovative way of depicting a conversation. They add variety for the audience, as well as being very effective.

The mise en scene is made up primarily of a brown palette, which represents wealth, fascism, and boldness. The brown palette is very typical of American Gangster thrillers, which hints to the audience the genre of the film. The lighting use is simplistic - only coming from the slatted blinds, and a small light to the right of the frame. The clothes the characters wear are suits, indication wealth, superiority and a kind of professionalism within them. It can be noted that the character played by Brando is the only one to wear a red flower, and also can be noted wearing a wedding ring, suggesting that he is a trustworthy man, even though he seems to be the leader of this group of men, who appear to believe they are above the law, as Brando asks Pacino why he went to the police first to sort out his daughter's rape, rather than him. This, teamed with their accents, make it seem to the audience like some kind of mafia.

Overall, I found this opening very effective, as it set the scene well, and engaged the audience using its fantastic camera work and mise en scene.

'The Bill' Analysis

‘The Bill’ is a television crime drama which follows the police fighting crime in an area of London. ‘The Bill’ is shown at 20:00 on ITV and was first broadcast in 1984. The extract we watched is from the 24th series and is the first part of ‘The Forgotten Child’ story line.

The extract began with an establishing shot, which panned down to follow a car driving down an alleyway, which appears claustrophobic and dark. We hear diegetic sounds of police sirens, and focus on a pastel yellow pub, indicating to the audience that this is where the action is. The camera looks up to the police officers using a high angled shot, as we hear them discuss the time (it is 5 am) and walk towards the crime scene. The mise en scene used here is realistic, as is the lighting, as we see the bleak urban setting. We see police tape, and follow the main investigators as they look on to the crime scene. Point of view shots of the police are used to look at the girl – which tend to be close ups in order to emphasis points to the audience, such as the use of drugs and self harm. The scene is set as the audience would expect as crime scene – dreary, lots of police, police tape and diegetic sounds of sirens and police discussing the situation. The point of view shots used are from the perspective of female detective Jo Masters, and, using the same camera technique, we approach another group of policemen who are interviewing the owner of the pub who appears to not care about what has happened. The point of view shots help the audience to connect and engage with the action, as they feel more involved and as if they are another policeman.

The action then cuts to a 2 shot within the police station where DC Masters and another worker are sifting through files, looking for the girl’s identity. The 2 shot emphasises the pair working as a team, showing the importance that working as a unit plays in the police. However, once the file is found it is useless, as the information reads “Kelly Kong, brother King, lives in the jungle”. The office mise en scene is typical – lots of files and papers, which reflects the female DC as she is quite unorganised – she admits that she didn’t follow up the lead about Kelly at the time.

The camera uses a tracking shot in order to follow the DCs through the building, and a great deal of hand held camera shots seem to be used. The camera changes between being in front of the policemen, being next to them, and being behind. This adds variety, whilst giving the audience an insight into the setting. The mise en scene is typical – straight, bright corridors with lots of people walking. We see one shot through slatted blinds, which is a key thriller signifier, as this episode of ‘The Bill’ could be classed as a crime-thriller, especially as it includes key concepts such as mystery and intrigue, violence, the theme of good vs. Evil, and a shot of spiralling stairs – a more modern version of those used in Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’. As the police officers stop, we are shown shot reverse shots in order to follow the conversation and action.

The next scene takes place outside the police headquarters, as the camera pans down from the top of the tall, gray, urban building to the bleak looking scene at floor level. The camera focuses on the British signifier of a red phone box, and we see two police officers walking down the rainy street towards a woman who is sitting next to the phone box. Diegetic sounds of sirens are can be heard, as well as cars and car horns, signifying that this is set in an urban area. The conversation between the woman and the police officers are shown using point of view shots, with us looking down at the police, and up at the distressed woman. The audience will have the upper hand in this situation, as they will instantly realise that the woman is Kelly’s mother, however tension is built as we can see the woman does not know what has happened to her daughter. When Kelly’s mother tells the officers that Kelly is her daughter, close ups are used to show their shocked expressions.

The audience is then taken back into the police building, and into a childlike room, obviously used to break news to family members, which is emphasised when we see DC Masters and Kelly’s mother here. The shot is set up with DC Masters in the foreground, holding the most power as she has to inform Kelly’s mother that her daughter is dead. The shot uses a mid shot, even when we see Kelly’s mother in tears over the news. The room is silent apart from the woman’s crying, which makes it a lot more intense and emotional. The scene is realistic, using natural mise en scene, and not making the sequence exaggerated or over the top.

Several representational issues are obvious in this sequence at a macro level. Firstly, we see the youth as being victims, seeing as we are lead to believe that Kelly’s overdose was not her own fault. The fact that we see scars from her self-harm also suggests that she was stuck in a situation of which she felt there was no way out – resorting to self-harm as a way to escape her prostitute way of life which she had been forced into. Youth and also Kelly’s mother are shown to the audience sympathetically; we are not intended to blame either of these characters, and instead come to the same conclusion as the police officers.

Another representation we are shown is of the police force. We see that they are organised and modern – using technologies such as power point presentations, and remembering cases they have looked at before. However, they are also portrayed as being vulnerable, and perhaps a little unprepared as DC Masters confesses that she didn’t follow the previous case with Kelly up. DC Masters, along with the other female police officers, are shown as being dominant, which contrasts with the female character of Cartwright in ‘Life on Mars’ who is seen as ‘sweet’ and doesn’t head up action. The women, however, appear glamorised – the majority are blonde, wear a lot of make-up, and wear tight fitting clothes, which is a contrast to the kind of police women that we see every day.

Life on Mars analysis

‘Life on Mars’ is a two series police drama which follows Tyler, the protagonist who is from the present day but taken back in time to the 1970s after an accident. During this episode from series 2, an Irish man, O’Brien, is wrongly accused of planting a bomb.

The extract starts with non-diegetic rock music, as the camera zooms through a washing line of shirts. We are shown typical run-down, working class mise en scene and setting, with the washing hanging out in the street indicating that it we have entered a poor but close knit society. Suddenly Hunt and Tyler drive into the shot in their brown Ford Cortina, which has become famous for its popularity during the 1970s; emphasising the era to the audience. The car is driven quickly by Hunt, and is shown crashing into a bin on the pavement. The characters, however, do not appear to care which shows the arrogant attitude that policemen during the 1970s are represented as having.

The two policemen are shown, in a long shot, tilted to look up to the policemen, both literally and metaphorically, getting out of the Cortina. Tyler, the policeman who is used to modern day practises, lets O’Brien out of the car whilst Hunt walks, seemingly trying to ignore the situation. We view the following exchange in a series of 2 shots and 3 shots, as Tyler rouses Hunt into apologising to the innocent Irish man. The camera shot then changes to focus on O’Brien as he makes bold remarks about the racism that the Irish population were met with. Using a close up, we see his beaten face with the camera slowly zooming in as he gets angrier, intensifying his rage to the audience. This is followed by a focus pull to see him walking away to speak to others who presumably also live in the grotty area. We then return to a 2 shot of Tyler and Hunt, contrasting their facial expressions - Tyler looks guilty, whereas Hunt looks unimpressed and cynical. Tyler’s exasperation is again shown as we see an Asian man proudly taking a television to his new house, which he is only too happy to tell Hunt when he challenges him. This shows his representation of being racist, as not only has he wrongly accused an Irish man, but he is also shown not trusting the Asian man, probably due to his ethnicity. To reinforce this idea, the camera pans round to show the exterior of his house and his wife wearing a Sari. The camera returns to the 2 shot of the two policemen, followed by Hunt’s remark – “Bit parky to be out in just a nighty”, with Tyler’s expression of frustration, and embarrassment. The entire sequence is typically 1970s Manchester – the brown outfits of the characters, the Cortina, the terraced houses and the long hair. A sound bridge is used in order to move from this scene to the next.

Diegetic music from a juke box in a smoky pub is played, as the camera pans up from a close up of a glass filling up; setting the scene. The camera pans upwards to show Tyler walk in. He appears as a silhouette – backlit and bleached out to make him appear as a kind of superhero, and to reinforce the idea that he is from another time period. As the camera pans round to show the rest of the team clapping Tyler, we see a typical warm, cosy pub, with archetypal mise en scene and lighting. We are shown the police drinking and smoking through a series of long shots, over the shoulder shots, and 2 shots. We witness, through the means of a panning close up, the team united in raising their glasses to Tyler. This feeling of the team being united ends abruptly, as we see a focus pull to see a red telephone, and hear the diegetic sound of a telephone. We track Tyler approaching the phone and answer it, hearing sounds of a heart monitor and circling the character. This effect makes us feel as if we, as the 21st century, are trapping him as we presume this phone call is to do with his time travel. The sound of the heart monitor makes the audience believe that it is from the present, and we see this realisation dawn upon Tyler as we circle him.

Throughout the extract, we see several representations of the 1970s. Through Cartwright, we see the sexism that was rife in the police force at the time, as jokes are made about her underwear, and also her comment about having a female prime minister, which is met with a lot of perplexed expressions by her colleagues. At this macro level, we can also see how Hunt is presented as being arrogant, racist and sexist, a complete contrast to both Cartwright and Tyler, who act as police in our contemporary Britain are expected to behave. The piece relies on the audience having enough cultural knowledge to be able to distinguish between the two time periods, as we see the idea of a female prime minister being unheard of, jokes being made about Irish people bombing pubs (which of course did happen), exotic Asian clothing, and a very different style of policing.

Thriller Sub-Genres

Thrillers are a wide genre which often encorporate other subgenres into the narrative. Thrillers are hybrids with a wide range of subgenres; ranging from crime, to western, to comedy. I have chosen to research into subgenres of thriller in order to get a wider, better understanding of it.

Action thriller - Action thrillers generically contain a lot of violence, guns, and explosions. The subgenre often brings a in race against time aspect, and also includes chases which are the obvious action. The subgenre has a key antagonist, with notable action thriller films including : 'James Bond' films and 'The Transporter'.


Conspiracy thriller - The key aspect to conspiracy thrillers is a conflict in which the protagonist encounters an enemy whose true extent is only known by them. Thrillers including 'Three Days of the Condor' and 'JFK' fit well into this genre.

Crime thriller - These films tend to focus on the criminals rather than the authorities, and are made up of action surrounding crimes or failed crime plots, including crimes such as murders, robberies and shootings. Examples include 'The Godfather', 'Reservoir Dogs', and 'The Asphalt Jungle'.

Disaster thriller - This hybrid features a main conflict of some kind of natural disaster, such as an earthquake, volcano eruption or flood. The 1974 film 'Earthquake' is a good example of this genre.

Drama thriller - These tend to be slower paced and involve a much more character development and plot twists than typical thrillers. Some examples are: 'The Illusionist',and 'The Prestige'.

Erotic thriller - Since the 1980s this genre has been on the rise, taking aspects from both genre. One key erotic thrillers is 'Fatal Attraction'.

Horror thriller - These films are based on the theme of fear; for both the characters and the audience. These films tend to be from the point of view of the soon to be victim, making the audience directly feel the fear. Recent examples include the 'Saw' series and '28 Days Later'.

Legal thriller - These involve narratives in which lawyers have to confront their enemies both inside and outside the courtroom in order to let 'good' prevail.

Medical thriller - Films such as 'Awake' are involved in this genre. The protagonist tends to feature as a doctor trying to solve an expanding medical problem.

Political thriller - The film 'Agency' encapsulated this genre, which features plots etc within the government, and the protagonist working with or against these and trying to ensure the stability of the government.

Psychological thriller - Numerous Hitchcock films fit into this genre, as well as films including 'The Talented Mr Ripley'. The conflict between the main characters exists mentally, emotionally and psychologically as opposed to being based around physical feelings.

Spy thriller - These tend to be based around some kind of government agent who is required to fight against threats such as terrorists. The 'Bourne' series is a good example of the genre.

Supernatural thriller - Supernatural thrillers are based around conflict between the protagonist and some form of creature with paranormal force or powers. It encorporates some aspects of basic horrors, but does not focus on the theme of fear. 'Torchwood' is a television series which fitted this genre.

Techno-thriller - Techno-thrillers typically focus on the military, but essentially just technology, which needs to be understood in detail in order to follow the narrative.

After researching these subgenres, my group and I held a discussion in which we chose to focus our thriller on being an action-thriller, as we intend to use signifiers such as chases, guns etc.

(list of thriller genres from www.wikipedia.org)

Final Product

After a lot of time spent researching, planning, filming and editing, this is our final production!

Story Boards

In order to be able to film effectively, we chose to draw up a storyboard which planned the shots, the shot lengths and effects we would use. This helped us greatly with our filming process as it helped us film efficiently.

Evaluation

There are lots of typical features of thriller films which I have been able to establish during my research into the genre. These features include chiaroscuro lighting, a femme fatale, rain lashed streets, and claustrophobic settings. The genre also typically uses twisting narratives, full of mystery and intrigue. In order to create an effective thriller opening, we tried to use several thriller conventions. We planned to use action to begin our thriller, like in ‘Layer Cake’. We chose to begin with a chase in order to create a similar dramatic effect. Once we had began editing we changed the colours of our shots to black and white in order to create the effect of chiaroscuro lighting, as a tribute to film noirs of the 1940s. We also used realistic naturalistic settings, mise en scene, and lighting, which is common within British cinema and thrillers. We were heavily influenced by the urban, processed music that is used in the opening credits of ‘Sin City’, and so found a similar breakbeat record which would fit with the urban location we had scouted. ‘Layer Cake’ also influenced us in the style to use in our chase scene. Like in ‘Layer Cake’, we used hand held camera techniques rather than using a tripod for some of the shots which adds to the style of our piece. Throughout the piece we were hoping to explore the ideas that having a lead female role would bring, as well as focussing on exploring the theme of the working class and stereotypes within this.

In order to challenge generic thriller conventions, we decided to have a female, rather than the typical male, protagonist. This meant that we also based the entire narrative around the female protagonist, which is extremely uncommon within thrillers. We wanted to challenge this typical aspect of the genre because, as a group of two females, we decided that we wanted to show women in a different light to the typical femme fatale character. We intended to display the female role as a strong character, as opposed to the sexual characteristics that typical femme fatales possess.

Unfortunately, our media product tends to use stereotypical representations of characters. We use young people from lower class backgrounds as the violent people mixed up in the web of crime and corruption, which is typical of what people believe of the lower, working classes and of young people. Our thriller sees both the lead male and lead female as criminals, but, as we see it from the point of view of the young woman, we see her as the (anti) hero and the male protagonist as the villain. This demonstrates the positive representation we are giving to females, which challenges the conventions of generic thrillers. We show, however, both roles as being strong characters in every respect, and are often not sure who holds the most power.

I believe that a company that would be suitable to distribute my thriller would be a company such as Pathé Distribution, as it focuses on distributing independent British cinema to a wider audience, which is perfect for an independent unconventional thriller, such as my own. I would intend for more art house cinemas such as Cinema City - to exhibit my thriller, because I think it would appeal to the art house audience more than the mainstream one. However, it would be interesting to see how successful a British thriller based on the working classes would be at a mainstream multiplex cinema, such as The Odeon, which tends to air mainly Hollywood Blockbusters. I would also like to try out screening my thriller on the internet, to achieve a wider audience of people (from other countries etc) who may otherwise not be able to view it, by using a method of downloading, via a movie website such as Love Film. I also think this method could be very successful with the younger end of my target audience.

I believe that, like a lot of thrillers, our thriller ‘Iniquity’ would be targeted at a predominantly male audience. From my audience research, it is apparent that these males would be between the ages of 15 and 25. This is because, according to my research, males of this age are attracted to the action and adventure that thrillers include, as well as being able to relate to the male role. These males would have typical interests, such as playing sport, watching television, and enjoying films such as ‘Layer Cake’ and ‘Essex Boys’. Because we have used a female as our lead role, I believe that more young females would consume this film; as they would find it easier to connect with it. If ‘Iniquity’ was to be distributed on the internet, this would widen the target audience as it would be accessible to more than just the British audiences. An international distribution, if used, could also lead to world-wide distribution which would make it accessible to many more audiences.

In order to attract a suitable audience for our thriller, we had to plan several things. We chose to base our thriller at a block of flats, which may appear attractive to lower class groups of people, as they would be able to relate to the reality we attempted to portray. However, I think it would appeal more to middle class citizens; giving them an insight into a world that they probably don’t have much experience of. For this aspect we were influenced by ‘This is England’, which is set in a rundown estate in Grimsby, and also had a similar class of audience as we are intending. We tried to hook our audience by using naturalistic lighting, settings and mise en scene, which would enable audiences to relate to our narrative and film. Although in the filming we didn’t develop the characters, we used a young girl and a young boy as our leading roles; making it easier for both of the sexes to be addressed by our film, especially as we have used a female as the protagonist therefore challenging conventions and attracting more female viewers. We also used a narrative that would be appealing to our audience, as it is full of twists and turns to engage and engross the audience. We intended to hook and address our audiences using a first person narrative and voice-over; encouraging the audience to identify with the character.

In the process of constructing this product, I have learnt a lot about technologies used in the creation of media production. In terms of filming, I have learnt about steady use of the camera, as well as using focus pulls, panning and zooming effects. By creating the film, I also learnt about the importance of editing, using Adobe Premiere editing software. I have become able to use transitions, special effects, and edit colours within the sequence. I also had to learn how to cut clips of the film and how to make the overall piece effective and professional looking, as well as learning how to edit and insert titles. The final aspect of technology I learned was editing music and sound, which had to be down to the voice-over, the music, and for the final gun shot. I had to edit the volume of the sounds, as well as cutting the music and using effects upon it in order to make it fit better with my film. Although my group faced very few problems or limitations to overcome, we did struggle with ensuring the voice-over was clear and easily understood. For this reason we had to record several times, and edit the result to make sure it was comprehensible.

Overall, in the progression from the preliminary task to the final product, I have learnt a lot about the entire process of production. The preliminary task prepared me for the method of planning, shooting and editing, but which needed to be done in a lot more depth for the final thriller film. By working in a group I have learnt how to compromise and share ideas, as well as manage our work load and time effectively. In general, Lucy and I worked as a team; coming up and working on ideas together. I suggested using a voice-over, but we both worked on the script and recording and editing the sound. This tended to be how we worked together – suggesting an idea, and then together developing and helping in making the idea part of our production.

In order to understand the weaknesses and strengths of our thriller, we asked an audience to watch and grade our production. From looking at their responses, I think it can be said that the thriller was effective as we got a majority of 9 and 10 out of 10, with comments such as "liked the way [titles] faded out", "liked the music", "liked the long shot when they're running", "good steady shots", "perfect", "great locations", and "got me hooked!". This shows that we were successful in selecting suitable and effective locations, mise en scene, music and shot types. Out of all of the audience feedback, we only got two 6 out of 10 grades - one because it is slightly unclear whose voice is in the narration, and the other because they "didn't like transitions of titles". It can also be noted that the "voice fades out a bit". These weaknesses that were pointed out I completely agreed with, but was very pleased by the positive comments we received. I believe that the weaknesses are just as the audience pointed out - at some points the narrative is hard to understand, and the voice over is sometimes unclear, as we struggled to make it easier to hear. I think the aspect that I am most pleased with is the use of hand held camera as I think it is effective, and works well with the music and overall setting and mise en scene.

Overall, I really enjoyed producing the film, and am impressed by the result that my group and I created. I think during the course, the most important thing I have learnt about the production process is working as a team, how important planning is and how to use the technologies provided.

This is England Research

Research into Film Distribution

Audience Research 2

Audience Research 1

Working Title Films

Working Title Films
Working Title Films was founded in 1984 by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe and is a British film production company, based in London. It produces feature films and some television productions.

The company gained mainstream success after the Four Weddings and a Funeral. Working Title Films aims to produce British cinema and independent art films. Working Title Films is famed for its Richard Curtis-scripted romantic comedies, and Coen Brothers' films, but has in recent times moved into many other types of film and genre.

Working Title Films made a profit of £17.8 million in 2004. As of 2007, all its films are distributed by Universal Studios, which owns a 67% stake in the company, and many of its recent films are co-productions with StudioCanal. The remaining shares are owned by the company's founders, BBC Films, and private investors. Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan are now the co-owners of the company.

The film company also has a smaller low-budget film company, WT2 (Working Title 2) which has produced films such as Billy Elliot (2000) and Shaun of the Dead (2004).


Films produced by Working Title Films:
A Kiss Before Dying, A World Apart, About a Boy, Ali G In Da House,
Atonement, Bean, Billy Elliot, Bob Roberts, Bridget Jones's Diary,
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Burn After Reading, The Big Lebowski,
The Borrowers, Captain Corelli's Mandolin,Catch a Fire, Chicago Joe and the Showgirl,
The Calcium Kid, Dakota Road, Dead Man Walking, Definitely, Maybe,
Diamond Skulls, Drop Dead Fred, Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Golden Age,
Fargo, Fools of Fortune, For Queen and Country, Four Weddings and a Funeral,
French Kiss, Frost Nixon, Gone, The Guru, Hidden Agenda, High Fidelity,
Hot Fuzz, The Hi Lo Country, The Hudsucker Proxy, Inside I'm Dancing,
The Interpreterm, Johnny English, Libestraum, Loch Ness, London Kills Me,
Long Time Dead, Love Actually, Map of the Human Heart, Mickybo and Me,
Moonlight & Valentino, Mr Bean's Holiday, My Beautiful Laundrette, My Little Eye,
The Man Who Cried, The Man Who Wasn't There, The Matchmaker,
Nanny McPhee, Ned Kelly, No Worries, Panther,Paperhouse,Pascali's Island,
Personal Services, Plunkett & Macleane, Posse, Pride & Prejudice, R
obin Hood, Romeo Is Bleedingm Rubin and Ed, The Rachel Papers,
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, Shaun of the Dead, Sid and Nancy, Sixty Six,
Smokin' Aces, Straight To Hell, The Shape of Things, That Eye, The Sky,
The Tall Guy, Thirteen, Thunderbirds, United 93, What Rats Won't Do,
Wild Child, Wild West, Wimbledon, Wish You Were Here, The Young Americans,
Year of the Gun, 40 Days and 40 Nights

(information collected from www.wikipedia.org and www.workingtitlefilms.com)

Skins

Skins is a series that is broadcast on Channel 4 and E4, and has a mainly teenage audience. It is a comedy teenage drama, in which each episode focuses on one particular character and the problems and troubles they are facing. Despite being the subject of a lot of controversy due to its depiction of youth culture, with alcohol sex and drugs playing a major part, the series is currently airing its third series.

The extract I will analyse is from an episode focussing on the character Cassie and her problem of anorexia.

The extract begins inside a bus with realistic mise en scene, and typical looking people. The camera moves closer to the back of the bus where Cassie is sat by a window and we observe her finding a post-it note. We cut from a long shot of people on the bus eating, to Cassie’s expressions, to close ups of the post-it note which reads “EAT!!” This emphasizes to the audience Cassie’s illness. We then view a small child who is sat in front of Cassie reaching out to offer her a biscuit. The child’s hand looks like a silhouette, and the slowness of the hand reaching out contrasts with the fast moving bleached colours we see of the outside through the window. The image this creates is reminiscent of part of Michelangelo’s painting at the Sistine Chapel where God is reaching down to man. Throughout this sequence non diegetic music is playing, which makes the sequence less realistic, but more dramatic and stylish to the audience and of the representation of Cassie.

The entire beginning of the extract focuses on the representation of Cassie and her anorexia, and is full of contrast. The images of adults, children and teenagers eating both healthy and junk food are juxtaposed with Cassie, who suffers from anorexia. Cassie is shown in a pretty white dress, which, with her long flowing blonde hair, makes her appear like an angel which again is contrasted with the other passengers on the bus. She appears much more innocent and beautiful than the other people on the bus, which perhaps helps the audience understand her illness – she seems more attractive than everyone else, and is the only person not eating. Although this concept of ‘not eating makes us more attractive’ is not one to encourage, it helps us understand Cassie’s way of thinking.

Next we cut to an external shot of Cassie arriving at her house, and then follow her entering her house. The first thing we notice is the diegetic sound of her mum and dad kissing, and see a baby looking on. We follow Cassie through to where the baby is looking and switch between Cassie’s unimpressed blank expression to her mother and father. The audience is shown Cassie’s father asking Cassie if she ate breakfast. Cassie clearly lies, but it is obvious her father is far more concerned with having sex with his wife rather than listening to his daughter. We then see a repeat of this attitude from her mother, as Cassie has to remind her that it is her last day at the clinic. Cassie then is left the duty of feeding her baby sibling and changing its nappy. Whilst she is doing this, the camera cuts to a portrait by her father of her mother giving birth which indicates that Cassie’s parents are ‘hippies’. This idea is also hinted at in the sequence of Cassie arriving at her home, as we see a ‘hippy van’ (a Volkswagen Transporter) parked in the drive. As Cassie sits with her baby sibling in the bright childish nursery, there are diagetic noises of her parents having sex. We follow Cassie as she receives a text from an anonymous number, and then close up to the message: “EAT!!” After this we see Cassie take a pill and drink out of a child’s bottle, and then cover up the sound of her parents having sex with music from a child’s mobile toy. The extract finishes with a point of view shot watching the mobile spin round.

This part of the extract focuses more upon representation of adults and the family, and also again on Cassie’s illness. Although the meanings of the piece are all polysemic, it is clear that the target audience will view Cassie’s parents in a similar way. They are shown to be overactive, which will make the audience cringe, and also typically patronising ; calling Cassie ‘Kiddums’ and acting as if she was a child, despite giving her responsibilities of looking after the baby. We can see from their ‘hippy’ nature that these parents are highly embarrassing for a teenager, and the majority of the audience will be able to relate to Cassie’s situation. The audience can also grasp some ideas of reasons for Cassie’s anorexia by looking at her environment - her family are shown dressed all in white and acting childishly. We see her parents caring more about sex than important issues (such as going to the clinic and their daughter lying), which some would argue is behaviour more acceptable for teenagers. Cassie’s illness is hinted at is a way for her to take control in an area of life, and is a kind of hobby which enables her to block out her embarrassing parents.

The two scenes here are used to represent anorexia and reasons behind it, as well as family life. By using unobtrusive editing, neutral lighting and familiar mise en scene, these representations are highly believable and help the audience to engage and understand the ideas and images that are being portrayed by the director. The ideas shown throughout the piece, (family life, parents, problems with eating and weight etc) are very common within the target audience, and the director is successful in exposing these problems through realist drama conventions.