Poster Analysis - Zahid Ahmed

Audience Feedback - Draft 2 + Final

Audience Reaction Sheet- Second Cut:

Q1) The film contains a variety of shot size/angles

Strongly Agree(4)/Agree(3)/Partly Agree(1)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q2) The camera is steady where appropriate 

Strongly Agree(3)/Agree(3)/Partly Agree(2)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q3) Shots are well framed

Strongly Agree(4)/Agree(2)/Partly Agree(2)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q4) The mise-en-scene selected is appropriate

Strongly Agree(1)/Agree(7)/Partly Agree(1)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q5) Appropriate transitions have been used

Strongly Agree(2)/Agree(4)/Partly Agree(1)/Disagree(1)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q6) Sound levels are consistent and audible in the film

Strongly Agree(0)/Agree(7)/Partly Agree(0)/Disagree(1)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q7) Titles have been used appropriately

Strongly Agree(3)/Agree(4)/Partly Agree(1)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q8) The film belongs to Horror/Thriller genre

Q9)The film makes sense

Strongly Agree(1)/Agree(4)/Partly Agree(2)/Disagree(1)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q10) Rate the film on a scale of 1-10

1  2  3  4  5  6  7(2)  8(1)  9(4)  10(1)

Q11) Suggest three improvements to make the film better

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Audience Reaction Sheet- Final Cut

Q1) The film contains a variety of shot size/angles

Strongly Agree(5)/Agree(4)/Partly Agree(0)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q2) The camera is steady where appropriate 

Strongly Agree(4)/Agree(4)/Partly Agree(1)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q3) Shots are well framed

Strongly Agree(1)/Agree(6)/Partly Agree(2)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q4) The mise-en-scene selected is appropriate

Strongly Agree(4)/Agree(4)/Partly Agree(1)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q5) Appropriate transitions have been used

Strongly Agree(3)/Agree(5)/Partly Agree(1)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q6) Sound levels are consistent and audible in the film

Strongly Agree(3)/Agree(3)/Partly Agree(3)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q7) Titles have been used appropriately

Strongly Agree(5)/Agree(3)/Partly Agree(1)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q8) The film belongs to Action/Thriller genre

Q9)The film makes sense

Strongly Agree(5)/Agree(4)/Partly Agree(0)/Disagree(0)/Strongly Disagree(0)

Q10) Rate the film on a scale of 1-10

1  2  3  4  5  6  7(4)  8(5)  9  10

Q11) Suggest three improvements to make the film better 

Poster Analysis - Mahfuz Sami Ahmed

Textual Analysis

                                                        Textual Analysis Transporter 3

Transporter 3 is an action movie, it’s the third in the transporter film series it came out in 2008 and it was directed by Oliver Megaton. It was released into cinemas on November 26, 2008. The film has an open narrative set in chronological order.

Narrative Structure

Equilibrium-The story starts with two workers on a ship who are under the impression that they transporting.

Disruption-The two workers are set to go and steal some alcohol as they believe that their ship is transporting alcohol however as soon as they start searching for it they discover that they actually caring a cargo full of toxic waste which ends up killing them. Meanwhile the protagonist is being pressured to set on a life threatening quest.

Restored Equilibrium- The protagonist drives the car into a train carriage and after a long battle and struggle he successfully transfers the explosive device on his wrist to the antagonist he then sets the vehicle away from the train in order to trigger the explosive he just attached to the antagonist hand, the antagonist is then killed and then the protagonist is saved. Also the ship with all the toxic waste is retrieved by police and all men on board are arrested. Then then movie ends with the protagonist fishing into the ocean.

Genre codes and conventions

What makes the protagonist of this movie conventional is the fact that his a male which is very conventional for action movies and also he is being very protective of this females his meant to transport, it is very conventional for protagonists to be set on a quest to save a female or protect her from antagonists which is exactly what happens in this movie. Therese’s also a lot of props which can be linked with the genre of action such us the high speed car which is used for high speed chase scene which again is very conventional theme within action movies and especially in the transporter series, also there’s an explosive device attached to the protagonists hand which places his life in danger which again is a very common theme within action movies the protagonist is always at an disadvantage which he needs to overcome. The antagonist uses action props such as guns and knife. This movie could be also associated with the genre of gangster action due to the fact that the protagonist only wears suits which are not very conventional for action movies.

Movie Segment Analysis

In the following paragraph I will be analysing in depth and detail a short two minutes clip from the film.  I will be talking about the use of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDFNk_cqcWQ

At the start of this scene you can see the protagonist being faced against a lot of opponents however he doesn’t  show any fear at all the director shows this through the use of a close up on the protagonist face to show that his fearless. The director uses longshots and panning in order to show that the protagonist is surrounded and has nowhere to run this is used in order to create tension to the audience and make them believe that the protagonist has no way of escaping the fight. As he starts getting surrounded by his opponents he doesn’t show any fear he actually calmly analyses the situation and waits for the opponent to strike 1^st which is again a convention of action fight scenes against multiple enemies. The director uses slow motion during the fight scene in order to create tension because as we can see one enemy’s getting finish another two are attacking him at the same time; slow motion effect is a very conventional piece of editing during fight scenes in action movies. As the fight progresses we can see the female character watching from inside the car as the protagonist is beating one enemy after another, however when one of his opponents grab a weapon we can see a close up of her face which shows that she is worried for the protagonist which is very conventional theme in action movies that during a fight there’s a female character on the side watching the fight. The director uses editing in order to speed up some of the protagonists movements this is because he wants to create an ideology that the protagonist is invincible when fighting against multiple enemies.  As the scene progress and the protagonist is  winning the fight, one of the leader of the enemies is cowardly retiring which is very stereotypical representation within action movies of villains. The antagonists use weapons which are conventional action props. Another conventional thing about this scene is the fact that the protagonist comes to use the weapons that were used against him. Towards the ending of the scene we can see a shot of two antagonist being trapped being placed underneath a car and the director uses a zoom in close up to show the fear and panic on their faces as the car falls down on them. At the end of the scene we have a shot of the protagonist looking back at the car to make sure the girl is safe. This shows the audience that he cares a lot about the girl and that he wants to protect her.

Poster Analysis

Review Content - Mahfuz Sami Ahmed

Timeout – Taken Review

The next review I am going to analyse is the “Timeout” review of taken.

The reviewer Nigel Floyd uses formal language to communicate with the audience. It may suggest that the reviewer’s target is aimed at an older age group compared to Empire’s informal language.

Nigel Floyd focuses mainly on narrative, actors and directors of the film. The first section starts with a small amount of information on the director and producer and it also contains references to other films that the director and producer have worked on. Further into the review the reviewer talks about the narrative of the film, mainly focusing on the disruption of the film and the relationship between the two characters in the film.

The last section, talks about the main protagonist of the film “Liam Neeson” in depth and explains the effect of having a well-known actor playing a hard liner, through the character within the film.

Empire Magazine – Taken Review

I am going to be analyzing the review of “Taken” by Dan Jolin from The Empire Magazine.
I have chosen Empire Magazine because it is one of the bestselling magazines in the United Kingdom. Firstly, the layout of the review is very simplistic and it is most beneficial to the readers since it contains the star ratings, number ratings, cast, and crew and Film details. It also allows people who haven’t watched the film to get a general overview of the film.

Dan Jolin writes this review in a very structural format, there are 3 sections to the review, plot, review and lastly, verdict. He briefly describes what the story’s equilibrium is based on and then jumps to the review. I believe this is a good way of writing a review because the readers will be more interested in another person’s opinion on the film to judge their own opinion.

The review is very informal in my opinion and it gives the feeling that Dan Jolin is talking to friend rather than an audience. For example, when he says “This involves Daddy creepily obsessing over her 17th-birthday present”. This quote shows that it is very informal and a bit comedic despite the film’s genre being thriller/action.

An additional example of this is when Jolin says “she and her slutty (read: dead-meat) pal”. This is informal in my opinion because he uses the words dead-meat and slutty. In a formal review, you will not find words like this.

I believe the review is a bit stereotypical in some terms. For example, Jolin calls Arab’s “cold-eyed” which could offend some Arabs, however, since the review is extremely informal, individuals may let it off. Dan Jolin also mentions that the director is Pierre Morel and he feels it is a significant to state the fact that the director himself is French.

Lastly, Dan Jolin writes a sentence to conclude his review on Taken. Dan gives the film a rating of 1 star can says that it is “A venomous little actioner that mistakes bile for adrenaline” which I don’t really agree with but it is his opinion.

Review 1

Poster Draft Final

Review Layout Draft #1

Positives

• Positioning of the reivew, verdict and synopsis is good.
• Film details positioning is good.
• Title ad tagline is positioned in the correct place.
• Good sub-heading.
• Unique layout.

Negatives

• Image is too small.
• Colous don't work well together
• no pull quotes.
• page number looks strange
• Fon't doesn't look professional
• Film details are in the wrong place.

Poster Draft #2

Positives

• Good Layout
• Colour scheme is relevant to title
• Slogan is good
• Font is good
• Swirls look good
• Good use of colours.

Negatives

• Genre is not clear
• Needs a picture
• Monoux Logo is too big.
• USP is not clear
• Use actual "Age certificate logo"

Bound By Blood - Poster Draft 1

Audience Feedback

• Good Image used
• Good font used for poster
• Good Tagline
• Good Graphics
• Appropriate Title
• Good link to blog
• Nice Production Name

Cons

• Release date
• Missing credits
• No Logo
• No Credits
• Missing image

Textual Analysis : Mahfuz Sami Ahmed

<!--[if !vml]--> The film I am going to analyse is called “Taken”, it was released on the 26^th of September 2008. The director of Taken is Pierre Moral who is also the director of another famous film called District 13. The genre of Taken is an action/crime/thriller.

Equilibrium

The Protagonist, in this case, the father “Bryan” is a divorced man who’s pride and joy is his seventeen year old daughter. His daughter, “Kim” gets information on a tour of museums in Paris and she asks her father for permission to go. Bryan, being the caring father he is, isn’t so sure about his daughter’s idea but for her own happiness he agrees to her request. However, his daughter hid the fact that her and her friend were actually going on tour with their favourite band.

Disruption

The disruption escalates when Kim calls up her father, Bryan, to notify him that she has made it to Paris safely.  Suddenly, she realizes that in the opposite room her friend is being kidnapped by men in black clothes. Terrified, she silently whispers the situation to her father while crying hysterically. Listening to her father’s instructions she hides under a bed and waits but before she could confirm her location to her father, she is pulled out from under the bed, screaming for help, and then there is a silence. With no sounds on the opposing line, Bryan assumes that her daughter has been kidnapped.

Repair

Bryan then sets on a journey to find track down his daughter in Paris and pay them back for what they did to her. Using his skills he gained from the past, he slowly and eventually susses out the criminals and finds out that his daughter has been sold to prostitution. He watches as many rich men bid money on her.

New Equilibrium

Bryan forces a buyer to buy his daughter back and once he retrieves her, he escapes back to America with her safe in his arms.

What makes Taken’s narrative a very unique narrative is that it is more of an awareness of some of the crimes that have happened in real life. Although Taken is not directly based on a true story, it holds some of the many criminal characteristics that we would imagine happening in actuality.

Genre codes

Firstly, the main character (protagonist) is very typical of the action/thriller genre. This is because we learn that he has gained past professions and experiences in the CIA. This is usual for this genre type because we expect the character to have some form of experience which will lead to the action genre of this film. In this case, the film contains guns, cars, explosions, crime and murders, which is predictable within an action/thriller genre. For example Rush Hour & Sherlock Holmes is some films which contain these aspects. The

Protagonist is aged between his mid-30 to his early 40’s which is also typical of this genre because it shows that the character is experienced. Furthermore, throughout the film, the protagonist’s body language is usually a confident, solid character who the audience rarely see fall to their knees towards the antagonists, which is also distinctive because as the audience know, the protagonist, at the end of film, always wins.

Secondly, we have the daughter of the protagonist. The fact that she is a female plays a huge role in a typical action genre film. The women in most action films are portrayed as helpless victims and are usually saved by the protagonist, For example, in transporter, we find a female victim in the back of the protagonist’s car, tied up with cello tape on her mouth. This is typical of the role that women play in an action/thriller genre film. In this case, the

Daughter is kidnapped and saved by her father (protagonist). However, being a daughter instead of a partner the audience is able to empathize with the characters.

The crime in Taken is also very typical in the genre of action. French actors play as the criminals in the film and they are in charge of the kidnapping. This may be a racial conflict against French people; however, Taken is not based on a true story. Though there have been situations of kidnapping of young girls being sold to the sex trade. Every crime is almost typical of an action genre, since there has to be a need for the protagonist.

The editing in Taken consists of straight cuts and fast transitions to show the tension in the movie and to highlight the most action-packed scenes of the film. However, a slow motion zoom is also used when the protagonist is speaking on the phone to his daughter’s kidnapper and this creates even more tension. The smaller the screen gets, the more futile it seems for the protagonist to save his daughter. This also allowed the audience to see the protagonist facial expression change immensely to a hopeless look.

Furthermore, when the protagonist is talking to the kidnapper, there isn’t a shot reverse shot, which made the film become a restricted narrative because the unknown individual on the other line has not been introduced to us; therefore the individual’s identity remains a mystery to us until the protagonist has revealed it. This leaves the audience with as much knowledge as the character in the film which creates tension and a sense of empathy.

The extract I am going to be examining is: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVXLzcaMObg&feature=related)
This short clip contains some of the various shots and shot sizes in the action packed scenes of Taken as well as the simplistic narrative scenes between the protagonist and his Daughter.

In this short sequence, we can see that many of the scenes are in a low key lighting state. This creates a danger atmosphere as many of us would consider the dark or night time to be the prime time of crime. In addition to lighting, many of the gun scenes look as if they rely on natural light and this is to make the scene seem as realistic as possible. This is very distinctive of an action/thriller genre film.

The editing in the scenes is also very distinctive to the genre. For example, the scenes consist of fast cuts which occasionally use wild transitions to make the audience focus on the action. These fast scenes also create a sense of tension because as an audience, the fast shots make it seem to us like we are in the fight scene with the character. There are many continuity shots to show the results of the fight between two characters. Every aspect of the fight scene is monitored to make it as entertaining as possible for the audience.

Furthermore, the props also play a huge role in relation to the action/thriller genre. For example, the use of a weapon is very typical of this genre and these gun scenes usually contain most of the action. In addition to this, explosives to create mass destruction are also used very often in an action/thriller genre movie to create suspense and a sense of awe. Some of the characters locations may also represent who they are in the film. For example, in one scene, a group of characters are sitting at a table. They are smoking, drinking and gambling. 

This clearly demonstrates that these characters are the bad guys of the film. On the other hand, the protagonist wears a business suit and walks into the criminal’s location with a suitcase.

The sound and music within the sequence is usually diegetic. However, in some cases there may be background music playing. For example, the gun shots and sound of things breaking is diegetic since the character can hear them too but the low volume of action music also plays alongside the diegetic sounds.  This is usual in an action film. The sequence does contain some non-diegetic music when the fights and gun scenes are taking place; however, they are very low in volume since the diegetic sounds create most of the excitement.

Most of the shots are in medium, close or long range and this allows the audience to see everything that happens within the scene. The long shot give the audience an overview of the situation and allows them to see the body language of the characters while the close-ups show the facial expressions on each character. These shots are typical of the action genre because the audience is focused on the characters actions rather than the backgrounds.

Finally, the protagonist body language throughout the entire sequence is rigid and sturdy which represents a masculine physic as well a sense of heroism. It implies that the protagonist will take risks and will fight through the hardships to have a happy ending. This is expected in a action genre as most of them usually have a clear equilibrium.

Film Review Content Alex

Transporter 3 Film Review by Empire Magazine (http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=135716)

Throughout the review empire magazine are using very formal language and talking in 3^rd person, the critic mainly focuses on the actor’s performances as Frank Martin (Statham)  didn’t perform in many films and his actor career has just started recently. However the critic believes that the director ignored the importance of secondary characters such us Natalya Rudakova’s Valentin. He uses character quotes to bring humour into the review. He criticises the director and he outlines the good parts of the plot which he could have “overused” or improved. He mainly talks about Frank as an actor and his potential as an actor however he believes that this movie is a step back in his acting career. He uses a variety of formal vocabulary to describe the underperformance of the actors and the directors.  He talks about previous works by the director and the franchise.  He then goes into talking about the plot in relation to the genre and says. The verdict tends to be a short four to five line paragraph in which the reviewer explains the strengths and flaws of this movie.

Rotten Tomatoes Transporter 3 Review (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transporter_3/) Unlike other magazines rotten tomatoes take a different approach to reviewing movies, the very top paragraph would a brief summary of the movie what happens in it and who is part of the project e.g. actors, director and producers. However there’s more than one person writing the review article it is usually a very high number of critics and they don’t do a full review if they do not like the movie then they give is a negative rating and only talk about what made the movie unenjoyably for them however if they like it they will give it a tomato and say what they did enjoy about the movie and sometimes suggestions as to how they could improve it, based on the amount of rotten tomatoes and tomatoes the film gets it will add up to its percentage and then the audience would grasp an idea of what most professional critics think which is a really great way to approach when reviewing a movie as sometimes it’s hard to criticise a movies based on one’s opinion.

Recce Report

Annotation of film reviews (layout)

Shot List

Production Schedule

                                Production Schedule

Production Company: Bondz Productions            Date: 14/09/12

Director:  Alex Mihai

Crew: Mahfuz Ahmed, Alex Mihai, Zahid Ahmed                                           

                                  
Details of Activities                                               Date: 14/09/12

Pre-production:

The Pitch: Alex will be doing a brief introduction of the movie by Friday 14^th of September

Feedback on Pitch: Alex will be analysing the possible problems identified by the audience during our pitch. He will do this by 21/09/12 

Proposal: Mahfuz will be doing a proposal for the movie in which he will be talking about the synopsis, purpose of the movie, and description of content and target audience by 21/09/12

Draft Poster (hand drawn) – Mahfuz and Alex will do two hand drawn posters. This will be done by 28/09/12

Treatment: Zahid will be explaining our idea in detail talking about things such as Mise-en-scene, shots and overview of the narrative by 21/09/12

Audience profile: Alex will be doing a detailed description of the target audience for our movie in which he will be talking about our primary target audience and secondary target audience this will be done by 21/09/12

Resources for Mise-en-scene: Zahid will be explaining what sort of props will be using in our movie by 21/09/12

Annotation of Film Reviews (layout) – Zahid, Alex and Mahfuz will each individually be working on annotating three different film reviews layout. This will be done by 05/10/12 

Annotation of Film Reviews (content) - Alex, Mahfuz and Zahid will each individually be annotating the content of at least two film reviews from their textual analysis. This will be done by 05/10/12 

Textual analysis Alex, Zahid and Mahfuz will each individually produce a textual analysis of a similar movie theirs this will be done by 28/09/12

Screenplay: Zahid will talk about the structure of the scenes and the dialogue in them in a detailed planned structure he will do this by 05/10/12

Shot List: Alex will be doing a detailed shot list of the movie in which he will talk about camera shots, sizes and movement by 28/09/12

Recce Report: Mahfuz will be taking pictures of the locations and he will assess the possible problems we may face when filming. This will be done by 05/10/12

Storyboard: Alex and Mahfuz will be drawing detailed shots of our story this will be done by 05/10/12

Risk Assessment: Zahid will assess the risks we might face when filming. This will be done by 05/10/12

Production:

Filming Days Monday 8^th of October to Sunday 30 October 

Filming Rough Cut One: 08/10/12 – 04/11/12 

 

Filming For Rough Cut Two 10/11/12 – 25/11/12

Post Production:

Editing for Rough Cut One: 05/11/12 -25/11/12

Editing for Rough Cut Two 26/11/12 – 30/11/12

Final Cut Deadline: 01/12/12 – 07/12/12

Storyboard

Risk Assessment

Draft Posters

This is our original poster idea, we mainly concentrated on the image we will use within our movie.We tried to show that this is microcosm of our movie by putting the antagonist in his brothers shadow.

This is our original second hand drawn draft poster. As you can see, we have annotated our draft poster by labelling the credits, font sizes, fonts, ratings, reviews and many other conventional aspects of a film poster. Although it is not an accurate drawing of our idea, it will look much better when we finally complete it. The poster shows the protagonist at the font with his briefcase and his brother in his shadow, behind him. This is a microcosm of our story line. In addition, it shows the relationship between the two main characters.