This theory is used to hook the audience into the film from the beginning to end, this keeps them guessing until the last scene of the film.
Narrative Enigma in an opening scene is especially important as you need to leave the audience full of questions, so they contuine watching the film to find out the answers.
The enigma in 'Bullet boy' has a lot of questions for me which as the film goes on i would like to find out. These being just some of the questions i was thinking as the opening scene progressed.
Bullet boy
Bullet boy
- Why’s he in Jail?
- How did he get found out?
- Why does the boy want to travel to see who?
- How longs he been in jail?
- Where’s he driving to?
- Who’s the boy in the boot?
- Who’s the brother?
The same with the film 'Fishtank' leaves a lot of narrative enigma as you don't have that much dialogue to go on but the main macro feature you see is where it is based.
For example: some of the questions the audience could be asking in the opening scene are,
Fish tank
- Whose Kealey and what have they both done to fall out?
- Why is she so angry?
- What has she done to annoy her?
- Is she the main character?
- Where exactly is it set?
- How old is she?
The Enigma Code- the viewer asks questions about the narrative and questions on the part of the reader of a text or the viewer of a film.
The Action Code- shows plot events that lead to other actions. Suspense is created by action rather than by a reader's or a viewer's choice to have mysteries explained
Guide to code and conventions of British Social Films
The main key factors to a Social Realism films are they backlash against the Hollywood glamour, the whole fictional approach doesn’t apply in social realist films, and it hits real social commentary issues. A British Social Realism film is likely to be produced if it tackles a specific social issue. These issues include: gang culture, drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, gun crime, and unemployment. dysfunctional families. The films are aimed at 'niche' audiences, mainly having a lower budget then other films. Having the simple miser en scene approach being with the small audience; Working Class audience it attracts to as it is normally based on a working class family/person. Instead of focusing on the stunts, animation and effects it focuses on conversation and the real issue on what the film is based on. Mainly using diegetic sound.
Films such as Billy Elliot, The fish tank and Adulthood and films which show real life issues in society. The costumes actors wear in these films are generally local market cheap clothes, and can be simple chav clothes to help them understand the characters style and to fit in with their friends. Money and environment. Certain colours and designs are important here. With social realist films it shows enormous historical and cultural variation in performance from one issue to another.
Films such as Billy Elliot, The fish tank and Adulthood and films which show real life issues in society. The costumes actors wear in these films are generally local market cheap clothes, and can be simple chav clothes to help them understand the characters style and to fit in with their friends. Money and environment. Certain colours and designs are important here. With social realist films it shows enormous historical and cultural variation in performance from one issue to another.
I use all of these shots in my opening 2 minutes of our film, the shots we use depend on the emotion or image we want to portray.
Timeline of British Socialist Films
1950's/1960'sShows how the male and female roles were at these times. Show a young angry man which reflects how they men were round about this era. This is shown in the film 'A kind of loving'.
1980'sThis films shows how in the 80's commuities and people tackle trying to find their identity alone. This is shown in the film 'My beautiful laundrette'.
1990'sThis era shows how people tackled off social issues such as recession, businesses and minors lossing their jobs, showing loss of their brass band. This is shown in the film brassed off.
2000'sTackles recent social issues such as knife crime, gang violence and single parenting. Bullet boy for example tackles gang violence and knife crimes, whereas 'Yasmin' tackles racism.
Who funds the films?
The UK Film Councils film fund is the production and development heart of the UK Film Council.
They support filmmakers in the UK who are emerging or world class and capable of creating distinctive and creative work.
There are three funds offering around £17 million Lottery funding per year for the production and development of films.
They support filmmakers in the UK who are emerging or world class and capable of creating distinctive and creative work.
There are three funds offering around £17 million Lottery funding per year for the production and development of films.
What films have been funded by the UK Film Council
This is England - Production Company - Film 4 and UK film council
Fishtank - Production Company - UK Film Council and BBC films
The British Broadcasting Corporation Films is firmly established at the forefront of British independent film-making and co-produces approximately eight films a year. Working with major international film distributors, BBC Films aims to make strong British films with range and ambition.
Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established. Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel 4. The company has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom. The company's first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears, which was released in 1982. Before 1998, the company was identified as Channel Four Films or FilmFour International. Later, the outfit was re-branded as FilmFour, to coincide with the launch of a new Digital TV channel of the same name.
Distrubition
Vertigo Films is a UK Media company founded in 2002 to create and distribute commercially driven independent cinema. In 2002, Vertigo Films was created by producers Allan Niblo (producer of Human Traffic and South West 9), James Richardson (producer of Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang)), director Nick Love (screenwriter and, prior to company formation, director of Goodbye Charlie Bright and The Football Factory), distributor Rupert Preston(distributor of Chopper, Chasing Amy and Bride of Chucky, among others), and entrepreneur Rob Morgan.
Verve Pictures is an independent UK specialist film distributor, with particular emphasis on British and independent films.
As an off-shoot of Verve, Drakes Avenue Pictures distributes independent films on DVD, with a special interest in contemporary arthouse and foreign films
Metrodome Distrubition
What surprised you about storyboarding the opening two minutes?What surprised me is how long the shots say on screen. The actual shocks when talking move from one shot to another quickly, the longest i had stayed on a shot is 5 seconds. So it shows from the opening scene it draws you in with the fast changing of shots. They tend to change the shot slower when showing the credits, with fading in and out. The longest shot was definitely when the title of the film Bullet boy came up.
What conventions were apparent?
From the beginning the surroundings are apparent as it starts in a police station showing a young man (properly age 19, 20, 21). This shows social realism as a happy with life person wouldn't look bored in Jail. There was no one there to collect him either; therefore showing us he has no immediate family members or friends there for him.
What codes and conventions might you carry forward into
your production and why?
The type of music they used was dramatic and helped us understanding it isn’t just a Hollywood glamour film. The places they filmed in and the location was a working class normal person environment, not a film setting which would not happen in everyday life. Already in the opening you can tell the story can relate to people, for example when they come out of Jail, with their family getting in the way.
What conventions were apparent?
From the beginning the surroundings are apparent as it starts in a police station showing a young man (properly age 19, 20, 21). This shows social realism as a happy with life person wouldn't look bored in Jail. There was no one there to collect him either; therefore showing us he has no immediate family members or friends there for him.
What codes and conventions might you carry forward into
your production and why?
The type of music they used was dramatic and helped us understanding it isn’t just a Hollywood glamour film. The places they filmed in and the location was a working class normal person environment, not a film setting which would not happen in everyday life. Already in the opening you can tell the story can relate to people, for example when they come out of Jail, with their family getting in the way.
Marco and Micro features are very important in a film as they are both as important as eachother in my opinion, as the macro would not be complete without the micro and the micro only matches when the macro fits in with it. A brief overview on both features. The micro and macro features of Fishtank are:
Macro
The big picture set in a working class estate, picked an aggressive women main character. A girl looking for her friend who she has fell out with. She gets angry with a girl who insults her and head buts her, this represent and un lady thing to do which represents and more aggressive female than in other films.
Micro
The main character doesn’t look like she is wearing neat fashionable clean clothes. The camera angles show that they look at her but also include the setting behind her as well to show the council estate. By using mise en scene they made her look like a chav, this is embraced by the music they choose; and the way the girls are dancing.
180 degree rule
In filmmaking, the 180° rule states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposithe side, is known as a reverse angle.
Shot-reverse shot
Shot reverse is a film technique, where one character is shown looking at the other character, where then the other character is looking at the first character. The characters are shown in opposite directions. This is show the viewers assume they are looking at eachother, this is known as contitunly editing.
