Film Language

Film Language

Camera

Frame- Extreme close up, Close up, Mid shot, Medium long shot, Long shot and extreme long shots.

Angle- there are two different angles you can have in media. You can have a worms eye view which is from the floor looking up or you can have a birds eye view which is from the sky looking down.

Movement- is the way in which the camera is moving. You can have a tracking shot, steady cam or handheld. The moment of tilting the camera up and down is called "Tilting" up and down. The movement of moving the camera left and right is called "Panning" left and right.

Editing

Transition- is a technique used to connect different scenes together smoothly.

Order Of Narrative- The order of narrative is the the timeline of the film e.g. The film may start with a flash back to when he was young and then it may got to him a year later and the film will show you his child hood or the important parts that will be part of the story later on in the film.

Pace- The speed in which he video is being played e.g. in slow motion or sped up.

SFX- special effects are used a lot in horror films and action films. Special effects can be used to create an explosions, gun shoots, injuries and special powers. Special effects can be made through green screens, editing and make up.

Mise En Scene

Costume- what are the characters wearing? does this give us a clue on what time period it is and what wealth bracket they are in.

Lighting- high key, low key and natural.

Actors- class, age, body language, gender, ethnicity and sexuality.

Makeup- could also show us class.

Props- This could give us an insight into possible disabilities such as a walking stick or we could find out that a character is a wizard if he is carrying a wand. Props give us big clues about the characters.

Sound

Dialog- Is any one talking during the scene or adding to the suspense by speaking?

Diegetic sound/ non-Diegetic sound- Diegetic sound is background noise. Non- Diegetic sound is a narrator.

Music- Is music used to add to the excitement of the film or the intensity of the film.

"Boys In The Hood" Analysis

Camera
The film starts with a black screen that says "One out of twenty-one black America males will be murdered in their lifetime". The it transitions to another quote which says "Most will die at the hands of another black male". The film then shows a frame close up on a "Stop" sign. This is a sign showing that the producers think that all these killings should stop! It then shows a long shot of some kids walking to school. The camera then pans left as the kids walk left. The camera then shows a mid shot as the kids stop to talk. This heightens the intensity because one of the kids says "Do you want to see something. The camera then uses a blending transition from the red blood on the floor to a painting with red in it.

Sound
At the start we can hear some adults swearing and saying in slang something about a car and a gun. In  the start the adults seem to be angered by something. The adults then say is that them and his friend says yes. You can then hear repeated gun, screaming and tires screeching (Someone trying to get away). The opening scene sounds like a drive by. A drive by is when someone shoots someone as they are driving past in their car. The start has diegetic sounds because its all background noise of the shooting.

Mise en scene
The kids at the start are dressed a little bit gangster like. The girls are dressed rather "slutty" even though they are young. The boys are also wearing full tracksuits with gold necklaces. The is the stereotypical American gangster look. The reason the film uses such a strong stereotype is because they want people to understand from the start that they come from gang orientated families. The lighting in the opening scene is natural. The characters look low classed, around the age of 12. The body language of the boys shows us that they are trying to look tough because they walk with their arms swinging and shoulders back. This is a very masculine/tough guy look. The gender of the characters were mixed (boys and girls). All the character were also black and are all heterosexually. The characters would also be strongly be against homosexuality because homosexuals would get beaten up in their neighbour hood. The setting is a run down neighbour hood in south LA. South LA is well known for gang wars.

The point of this film is to try and stop the violence between the gangs in LA because the theory is that the government put all the poorest people in one neighbour hood, so they would slowly kill each other. Its an easy way to get rid of the poop people. This theory is backed up though because sometimes it would take emergency service 2 hours to get to a crime scene e.g. Murder. This shows that the police aren't really interested in what happens to them.