Evaluation question 7

Now that I have finished my film I can look back on the original preliminary task we created and see how it compares to our final film.. In this preliminary task I noticed we used very basic cinematography with not using a variation of shots, whereas in the final film I think we vastly improved on this by using a wider array of shots which make the film look a lot more appealing and just makes the cinematography better as a whole. This is shown as we mainly just used mid-shots throughout it with a few other shot whereas in our final film there is a complete array of different shots used.

 However the main thing that I think we improved on from this preliminary task to our final film was our editing. This is because in the preliminary task we only really used basic cuts, shot-reverse-shots and the 180 degree rule, however in our final film we used jump cuts, we changed the colour grading in certain shots, dissolves and many other things. This as a whole completely changed the quality of our final film making it so much better. This can also be slightly attributed to the different tasks at hand as in the preliminary tasks we only had to create a short conversation using editing techniques such as shot-reverse-shot, 180 degree rule and match on action whereas with our final film we had to create the first two minutes and title sequence of a fiction film which allowed us to have a lot more creative freedom. Besides this though I still feel we greatly improved our editing from this preliminary task to the final product. 

Overall, I think we improved immensely from the preliminary task to the final film as we used a lot more techniques in our filmmaking that made it a lot better. I think that the preliminary task allowed us to practice these techniques such as shot-reverse-shot so that we could improve upon them in this final film.

Evaluation question 6

Throughout the process of creating the first two minutes of this film I believe that I have learnt quite a lot in terms of the technologies used. For example within the pre-production especially I used Blogger a lot to detail our plans for the film and what we were going to do, as I have never used a blog before this was new to me so I had to learn how to mage it all from the beginning. I now feel I have a strong understanding on how to use Blogger and blogs in general as I have now amassed around 30 posts on this blog which are all using different things whether it be standard writing like this or embedding a powerpoint on with the use of Slideshare. Blogger was very useful to use as it has allowed me to keep all of my work to do with this film all in this one place that is easily accessible and also has been good for comparing with other people in my group as it is a shared blog. Also during post-production a completely new technology to me was Celtx the software which enabled us to professionally write a film script. This was something that I had never experienced before and had to learn from scratch but looking back on it I think the film script turned out very well and does look professional. The decision was made to use Celtx instead of just something such as word as Celtx creates true scripts and has everything that is necessary for creating a script whereas with word it doesn't provide you with the tools needed to create a script therefore making in redundant as it just wouldn't look professional enough.

During the production of the film we used the editing software Adobe Premiere to fully edit our film. This was something that was a big challenge when first using it as none of us had edited much before, however when we began to understand it we grasped the basics and were able to edit our film. This is one area where I believe we could have improved on as I think if we had learnt more about this software we could have made our title sequence a lot more interesting through editing. Even though I believe the title sequence looks quite good at the moment I do believe it could have been vastly improved if we learnt more about Adobe Premiere. Another successful use of technology was the cameras we used to film as these were very easy to use and we were quickly able to learn the basics and get to filming. I think this is shown in our final film as I think the cinematography as a whole is very good. After this during post-production  I also used excel a lot to create pie charts to showcase the results gathered from our questionnaire in an easy to read format. This was something that I think went very well as we can now show all the results we gathered in a very presentable way and that is why we decided to use excel to create these pie charts.

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation 5 from HarrisonMarsden

Post-production questionnaire results from HarrisonMarsden

Post-production Questionnaire

Green Street Title Sequence Analysis

 The films title sequences begin with this shot which shows the director of the film Lexi Alexander. This shot then uses a dissolve into the next shot which shows people running through a train station dressed in clothes such as stone island which instantly tells the audience they are football hooligans as they are being very loud whilst running through having a joke with their pals.

The main titles of the film begin here though when the main character is travelling through an airport and we begin to see all the actors who are involved in the film. I believe the use of titles in this film is very effective as it is quite subtle and they aren't overly large or obnoxious but actually look good and come onto the shot seamlessly. This is something that I would like to incorporate into my film as I believe the titles are better being quite subtle. The titles also feature non-diegetic music which I believe makes the titles quite emotional in the case because the main character has had bad news so it fits. In my film I want to include non-diegetic music within the titles to portray the initial mood of the film. However because my films plot is a lot happier than this at the beginning I plan on using a more upbeat song to fit with this.

The main title for the film is put onto the screen through the same way as all the main actors names. I think in this case it works well due to the sad tone of this beginning so none of the titles should be obnoxious or in the way and instead subtle. However within my film I plan to make the title of the film more noticeable perhaps by fading to black to bring the name of the film onto the screen then. After this the title sequence carries on the same as what I have already described. Overall I believe this is a very effective title sequence and is one that I plan to take inspiration for when we create the title sequence for our film.

Evaluation Question 3

 
I think that if my film was to be distributed, the film company Warp Films would distribute it. This is because our film is about football hooligans which is quite a niche market and not something that big American companies would be interested in. Also through looking at other films Warp Films have produced it seems like they would be the perfect candidate to distribute 'A Day aht' in Sheff' due to their films being very obscure and targeted at a niche audience so I believe this film would be a great film for them to distribute. Warp Films are responsible for producing and distributing such films as This is England, 71', and Four Lions which are all unique and controversial films, This is England especially links to our film as it shows a more realistic look on youth culture and shows what people actually are involved in within their lives.

 

 
 
 
If Warp Films were to distribute this film I don't think much would change as our film doesn't need a high budget as it doesn't involve special effects or anything that is in dire need of a high budget. This is show through other football hooligan films that I researched such as Green Street and The Football Factory which don't involve special effects and weren't produced on huge budgets. Therefore this means that the company wouldn't have to interfere with any of our creative ambitions and would have just let us make the film in the style we wanted to make it. This is shown on the Warp Films website as they say how you wont find generic films here so this just shows how they don't care about appealing to the masses and want to make a film as best as it can be for that targeted audience.

Evaluation Question 2

Due to our film being about football hooligans we are obviously representing people within that social group. I believe in some ways we are using stereotypes as we have the characters drinking alcohol and also a shot including drugs. This clearly supports typical portrayals of football hooligans as in the media people apart of this culture are often seen as being quite rebellious and not abiding to the laws. There is also a shot in our film of one of the characters in a fight, this is very stereotypical of football hooligans as they are often portrayed as being very violent, obnoxious and constantly getting into fights. 

However in some aspects of this film I believe we challenged stereotypes as we have a scene where the characters are all sat at home just watching football which is something that is very down to earth and that a lot of people can relate to as just because these people get in fights that doesn't mean they can't do things a normal typical football fan would do. I believe this is a very human moment that strongly challenges stereotypes of these people. Also due to our characters being around the age of 18 this means we are also representing young adults. In this case I believe we used stereotypes as we show the characters drinking in this which supports that young adults often drink alcohol and this is a big thing for them at this age. Another way how I believe we used these stereotypes is through our use of cinematography and constantly shooting all the characters together as this shows their strong bond and friendship together as a group and how they all see each other as equals, this is because at this age young adults are shown to care for their friends and are always together.

We also strongly represent men in our film as all of the main characters are men. I think we strongly use the classic stereotypes of men in our film as our film features characters who are going out getting drunk, love football and also love fighting. This uses stereotypes as men are shown to enjoy drinking, sports and also to be very violent. However i also believe we challenge these stereotypes as well as in the scene in which one of the characters is involved in a fight, he is shown to be haunted by it and cant get it out of his head. Even though this is only brief it shows a point of weakness and raw emotion for a man when usually males are portrayed to never show emotion. We also used editing and sound to challenge this stereotype by using a very high pitched noise as he is getting punched suggesting his fear of what happened and how much it hurts him to think of it. We also made this shot very distorted and used a very obscure colourway to show his disappointment and shame that he has in himself.

We also represented this group of people through our sound and specifically the music played within the opening sequence. This song falls under the indie rock category similar to other bands like the stone roses and Oasis who are instantly recognised as being a huge part within the sub-culture.

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation 4 from HarrisonMarsden

Evaluation Question 1

When we were creating this first 3 minutes and opening title sequence of a film we have used many codes and conventions of films within the football hooligan genre to allow the audience to understand what genre it is. At the start of the film there is a strong use of iconography with lots of shots of clothing brands which are instantly recognisable as being involved with football hooligans, alcohol and drugs.
 


 

Throughout this opening sequence there is an indie rock song played which is the genre of music popular within this culture. We made this music very loud as this film is a feel good film and we wanted to get the audience excited and anticipated for whats to come from the very beginning of the film. We however decided to tone it down when the lads are just sat in the house and just include the diegetic sound of the TV in the background as they are all just relaxing and it makes the film feel realistic as this is a very down to earth moment and shows their lives don't just revolve around violence. In this film we established the narrative through the conversations between the characters as they talk about their predicted score for the Sheffield Wednesday game today and also through a flashback as we see one of the characters in a previous fight which confirms to the audience that these characters are hooligans and are most likely going to get in a fight.

 Our use of mise en scene in this opening sequence is very similar to other films of this genre as the costumes we used include many clothing items which are associated with football hooligans with the brands and type of clothing. This helps make the film feel realistic as it is similar clothing seen in other films such as Green Street and The Football Factory and makes these characters feel like they are real football hooligans. We also used props with bottles of beer as we did it subtly with the characters sat drinking before the match which seems as if it is a common occurrence that they do a lot. 

Within this opening sequence we used a lot of fast paced editing to fit with the pace of the film. We also used rhythmic editing to fit with the non-diegetic music which I think creates a very nice effect where we incorporate jump cuts to fit with the beat of the song. The cinematography of the film we used many long shots and medium shots to show both the actions of the characters and their costumes for example when the characters are walking to the house. However we also used close ups for when the characters are just relaxed talking so you can see the facial expressions between them as they have their conversations. For the actual titles of the film we decided to use a very simple but sophisticated font and also just the colour white for them. This is because from researching other films within this genre such as Green Street this is how the titles are and I believe it looks very nice and works extremely well.

a day aht' in sheff - final film

Shot List

Iconography

Iconography is an important part of films as it allows people to instantly understand what genre of film it is. In football hooligan films there are a lot of things that all feature in iconography. One example of this is clothing such as Stone Island, North Face, Pretty Green, Ralph Lauren, Adidas and many more, this is because these are all common brands that are associated with football hooligans and when these brands appear in films you know that the characters are apart of this culture.

 

Another part of iconography are the football teams badges. This is because obviously football is a huge part of this culture and the teams are the reason people are fighting. This makes the teams badges very recognisable for football hooligan films and allows people to instantly identify the film as having to do with football and then with the other iconography with the clothes people recognise it as being a football hooligan film.

This is something we are definitely going to include in our film as we want people to understand straight away what genre of film they are watching and iconography is extremely useful in doing this.

Character Profiles

Name - James McGovern
Age - 19
Hobbies - Football, fighting, drinking
Bio - James McGovern was born and raised in Sheffield by his mother and father, Angela and Paul McGovern. He was inspired by football hooliganism from an early age and always wished to follow his fathers footsteps in the Owls Crime Squad, the Sheffield Wednesday FC firm. Growing up within Chapeltown he went to Ecclesfield Secondary School where he found his two best mates who shared his unique passion, Jack and Harry. Ever since they met the three of them have been going to every match possible. James have never been shy to jumping into violence, sometimes it even seems that he enjoys the fights more than the football itself.

Name - Harry Wall
Age - 18
Hobbies - Football, fighting, fishing and drinking
Bio - Harry Wall was born in Manchester then moved to Sheffield after a few months of being born. Growing up around Sheffield he quickly became accustomed to the main two Sheffield football teams. Even though his parents support Manchester City he began to support Sheffield Wednesday due to his friends at Ecclesfield Secondary School. He has always liked fighting due to his Dad being a boxing instructor and always teaching him to hold his own ground and stand up for himself. This made him and James get on very well when they first learnt about what they loved to do. This was a friendship that has lasted through many scraps through the years.

Name - Jack Smith
Age - 19
Hobbies - Football, drinking and music
Bio - Jack Smith was born and raised in Hillsborough, Sheffield by a single Dad due to his Mum dying in childbirth and has been a massive Sheffield Wednesday fan since being a young kid. Growing up all his life revolved around was football, due to his dad being a massive fan and taking him to every game he could. This helped form a great friendship between him, Harry and James. Unlike the other boys, Jack has never wanted to go looking for fights and doesn't enjoy them as much as the others. However his love and loyalty for the two gets him involved in the fights just to help his best mates, but ultimately it is his passion for the game that keeps him coming back every week.

Cinematography and Camerawork

The cinematography in football hooligan films usually involves a use of match-on-action heavily, especially within the fight scenes. This is used a lot as it improves the fight scenes by making them more intense as it seamlessly switches angles, this is used in tandem with fast paced editing all to improve the film and make the fight scenes feel more brutal and grounded in reality. A common shot used in these fight scenes to make them more intense is a close up, this is due to the raw detail and expression within the characters face as they're doing what they are doing.

Handheld camerawork is often common place within this genre of film as it becomes more immersive for the audience using this type of cinematography making it more intense and the whole scene more realistic. Here is an example of the handheld camera in action in a fight scene from The Football Factory.



Another common shot in football hooligan films are medium shots and long shots. This is so you can get a broad view of all of the carnage that takes place within these fight scenes and how many people are actually involved in them. I have also seen long shots used to show crowds at football matches in these films, this shows the huge amount of people that love this sport and have a huge passion for it.



Settings/Locations

 

Typically in football hooligan films the films are set in suburban, working class areas in England. Typical cities are Manchester and London as they are stereotyped for being locations that are very involved with this culture and the type of people who are showcased in them. The setting and location within these films are very important as it is usually a big part of why these characters are getting involved in this culture due to them growing up in a working class environment, perhaps a council estate, where football is a big thing within these communities. Its not only the estate that is an important location within these films but the whole community and location surrounding them. Locations such as alleys and under bridges that are out of sight from the rest of the community and more importantly the police are usually the places where the fights take place as in open it could be too risky for fights to take place.



Another very common location in football hooligan films are the football grounds themselves. Obviously these are one of the most common locations as the sport itself is one of the biggest parts of the film and we get an insight into how much the sport means to the characters and how much they enjoy it. This is seen in Green Street predominantly when the firm go to a West Ham game.

Storyboard "Day Aht In Sheff'"

Risk Assessment

Treatment 2

Treatment 2
Title- Day aht in sheff
Duration of film- 2 mins
Audience- 16+ People who like films about football hooliganism.
Distributer- Momentum Pictures
Synopsis of film- James wakes up to "Hi Ho Silver Lining"playing from his alarm clock. Instantly realised today was match day, but not any normal match day. Today was the quarter final of the FA Cup against Sheffield Wednesday's rivals Sheffield UNited He kicks the covers off and kicks his wife out of bed and starts chanting at the top of his voice. He then goes downstairs, gets out a cereal bowl and a box of cereal. He pours the cereal into the bowl and soaks it with a can of Fosters. Then eats his cereal whilst on the early sesh. Soon to go upstairs to take a quick shower and chuck on his clobber. Gets his cap, stone island jumper, jeans, scarf and adidas trainers straight on and off he goes. Quickly kissing his wife and telling her he will stay safe. He then makes the walk to the weatherspoons with his lads for a cooked breakfast, a few pints and a bit of banter. Followed by a train journey to town.
Suggested elements
Comedic- Beer on cereal
Clothing- Stone island
Good Charcterisation

 

Treatments

Treatments

Treatment 1
Title- Day aht in sheff
Duration of film- 108 mins
Audience- 16+ People who like films about football hooliganism.
Distributer- Momentum Pictures
Synopsis of film- James Mcgovern is a middle aged old fashioned football hooligan. He follows his team Sheffield Wednesday home and away with his mates. On this particular day, it's derby day Sheffield Wednesday vs Sheffield United at Bramall lane. They go to the pub before the match and get extremely drunk. Then they go to the match and before kick off they have a few more beers in the concourse. The match gets underway and 20 minutes in the blades lead. But, just before half time Wednesday are level eruption in the away end with James and his mates showing gestures to the home support. After even more beer at half time. The get back into the stands, United take the lead again much to James' anger. Then anger turns to delight as the Owls equalize again. Then in the dying seconds just as James is preparing to meet the BBC (Blades Business Crew) they see Wednesday win the game. Delirium ensues as James and his mates go wild. After the match they meet the BBC the fight begins bricks and fists been thrown. No sooner as it begun that James sees one of his mates Chris having his head caved in by a member of the BBC. James hurries over and stops the lad from doing anymore damage but it's too late.
Suggested elements-
Clothing- Stone island
Realistic enviroment
Atomosphere at match
Fight scene
Immersive