Tyrannosaur Enrichment

How can you Enrich your narrative?

This film is useful as it helps me get a better idea of how to make a character three dimensional, each character in the film has their own agenda but it is clever as it shows that despite some characters appearing hard and tough they have their own insecurities to deal with. This will help me create deeper characters for my TV series

What Elements can bring your Characters alive?

I feel to bring a character alive you have to make them three dimensional, if a certain character is strong and hard he still needs to have some insecurities for the audience to relate to him. Another thing that can help bring characters alive is better relationships. The characters within my TV series should have clear and deep relationships to gain audience sympathies and to help them relate to the character.

How will you actively seek to serve your chosen audience?

My target audience is late twenties to thirties i feel i can attract this kind of audience by cleverly telling a more mature story which is less involved in romance and is more targeted with a clever plot and writing. I feel like this target audience appreciates a clever plot over romance of gore and i want to try and make my ideas reflect that.

Todorov's Theory Of Equilibrium: Rain Man

Equilibrium: Charlie Babbitt is working selling cars, his father is alive. He has no knowledge of his brother. He takes a trip to Palm springs with his Girlfriend, on the way he gets a call that his father has died.

Disruption: His father has died and he goes to his funeral, he has been estranged from his father for some years and when he goes to collect his portion of the will he finds that his father’s money has not been left to him. He finds the Pay-out of the will has been given to a man in a mental institution. He finds this man out to be his brother.

Recognition: He ‘Kidnaps’ his brother Raymond, having recognised that he will not get the money without using Raymond as leverage.

Repair: He has bonded with Ray over their trip and once he is in Los Angeles he hands him back over to the mental health workers.

Return: Charlie continues with his car business, has a healthy relationship with Raymond.

The Selfish giant film Analysis

                                                

The Selfish Giant is a 2013 British drama film directed by Clio Barnard. It is inspired by the Oscar Wilde story of the same name. It follows the lives of two teenage boys growing up in an impoverished area of Bradford in Northern England. The film is centred on the friendship of two boys, Arbor and Swifty. Arbor has attention deficit disorder which causes him to act out and misbehave even if it is not his intention to do so; this causes issue for the pair who because of Arbor are excluded from school. From there they decide that selling scrap is a lucrative idea, and stealing from railway lines, power lines, and anything they can find can get them money from the local scrap dealer, Kitten. It is a story about living with crime and also the friendship between Swifty and Arbor, it is clear that it is a strong one as the film opens onto Arbor having an episode until Swifty appears, and holds his hand to calm him down. It would seem that he is the only one that can do so, as further on in the film Arbor has an argument with his drug addicted older brother which causes him to fly off into a rage until his mum turns to Swifty and asks him to get Arbor off to school as it appears he is the only one who can calm him down.

Kitten also owns at least two horses and takes part in amateur cart racing with them, after a failed cart race he notices Swifty’s natural ability with the animal and asks him to take part in the next race, this causes a rift to from between the boys as Swifty’s ability with the animal causes much jealousy for Arbor as he Is often the more dominant one in the relationship.

Swifty is a large, but quite boy who is always described as “Soft”. This eventually leads to his downfall as because of this softness he forgives Arbor for killing a fowl whilst testing a power line, this is foreshadowing for later in the film as this fowl seems to represent Swifty who eventually is killed by a power line himself as Arbor is forced to steal it having been caught taking copper from Kitten. The scene in that shows Swifty’s devise is a powerful one as it is the end of the relationship for the boys, the beginning of the film opens to Arbor raging and Swifty consoling him, holding his hand and their relationship ends with a black, charred Swifty still clutching Arbor’s hand.

The sequence after Swifty’s death is a powerful one, Arbor takes to sitting outside Swifty’s parent’s house in the rain. He clearly fills guilty for Swifty’s death and keeps going back to the house for forgiveness despite countless rejections until finally Swifty’s mother relents and hugs Arbor as they share in the grief of loss.

There is one finally scene with Swifty involved, after having been forgiven he still lies under his bed unmoving until his brother comes and tries to talk to him, as Swifty did when he was in one of his rages. His brother is unable to make him come out and becomes annoyed, grabbing and pulling Arbor. After this there is a scene where Swifty is lying down next to him, holding his hand, like at the beginning of the film. We are unsure if this is a dream or a cut back to another time Swifty consoled Arbor.

The film with Arbor, brushing the horse that Swifty loved. Taking care of it like he couldn’t Swifty.

My Brother the Devil Review

 

My Brother the Devil is a 2012 British film written and directed by Sally El Hosaini. It follows two brothers, Rashid and Mo, who are born to two Egyptian immigrant parents. Mo is young and impressionable and looks up to his older brother Rashid and admires him for his lifestyle. Rashid is a criminal but he does not want that life for his brother, at every opportunity he reminds Mo to stay in school and keep straight, unlike himself. The brothers live in Hackney, a diverse place culturally but also dangerous, Rashid struggles to keep his brother out of the gang that he is drawn into. An encounter with a photographer named Sayyid makes Rashid question if what he is doing is right and starts to become scarce around the gang which raises a lot of suspicions, and allows the younger Mo to find a way into the gang. The film is a clever take on Muslim culture, as the young Mo idolizes his brother to begin with until his brother’s secret comes out and the fact that he is Gay. Mo is not accepting of this and instead formulates a lie in which Sayyid and Rashid are in fact part of some jihadist plot. This is clever because it shows Mo’s acceptance and even admiration of the fact that his brother is a criminal yet once he finds out about his sexuality he feels that him being a Jihadist is better than him being Gay.

In my opinion I felt that Rashid’s character arc was poorly done, the way his reveal of being gay was handled felt unimportant and was rather used as a plot device to disrupt the equilibrium as it did not feature prominently or even show he struggled with his sexuality to begin with which made the sudden reveal seem forced and just there to cause a disruption where as if it was shown that he struggled with his sexuality from the outset it would have made the reveal more powerful and had some meaning. This is my biggest gripe with the film as it’s take on gang and Muslim culture was powerful and Mo’s character arc was done well yet it seemed the writing for Rashid was not up to the Level that Mo’s was.

The Selfish Giant Scene Analysis

In the first scene we saw a boy angrily hitting the bottom of his bed, clearly distressed. We then see a hand appear as it grips the boys hand and calms him down. The director does a close up of the hand to show us how close the bond between the two boys is. The next scene is the two boys on the back of a horse drinking, they are near some train tracks and it is late at night, this is a good indication as they witness a crime committed but take the copper wiring before the criminals can. Here we see the aspect of living with crime as the boys do not give a second thought about taking the wire. 

They then show the boys in the early hours of the morning, they are trying to sell the wire off to an axe wielding man with a dog, clearly this is not normal behaviour for young teenage boys to be doing but given their situation it does not seem to bother them. The next shot is of the two boys at staying at arbors house as they wake up, Arbors older brother gets annoyed that Swifty is staying there. He sees himself as the man of the house as he calls it "His house" the mother, whom is clearly not in control then interject saying that it is her house. It is clear the family is poor by the state of the house, such as the kitchen and the clothes they wear.  

Film Proposal

Type: Short Film

Genre: Thriller, Drama

Themes: Hopelessness, confusion  

The story begins on a bright scene, the colours are vibrant and happy music is playing. The characters are brought into frame, a young man and women with their two kids having a picnic in the park, from there the story would progress throughout their day as they have a seemingly wonderful time and it’s clear that the main character (The woman) is a happy and content person, the day ends and the couple are preparing for bed. They get into bed as the woman faces the ceiling, and the camera focuses on the women as she closes her eyes. A slight smile upon her face, as she slowly drifts off you begin to hear a slight beeping slowly, almost like the sound of a heart rate monitor. The scenes fade to black as other sounds begin. The sucking sound of a respirator and various other machines, the next shot is of a woman, middle aged. She lies in a hospital bed. Greying hair spread out behind her on the pillow, her eyes begin to flutter open and it is clear she has been in the bed for some time. She looks weak; all of a sudden a doctor would enter and remark in surprise that she is awake before quickly running off to find his superiors.

The rest of the film entails her attempting to get her life back together. She finds out that she has been in a coma for 20-something years, and that the previous events of her and her family where nothing but a figment of her imagination. There would be a constant grey filter, making everything look depressing. As she struggles to learn to walk properly again and to grasp the concept that this fake life she envisioned wasn’t real. The short film would end after a lengthy fight for her to get her life back together. The final sequence being her sobbing in a dingy apartment as the camera draws out of the apartment we here a bang and the scene fades to black and all of a sudden the starting sequence would play again. The colourful palette returning as she spends the day with her family once more briefly before the films ends. The audience is unsure of her condition after the ending.

Rain Man Airport Scene Extract

The scene opens with a wide shot of Raymond, he is sitting in a chair watching television. The director uses a wide shot to establish the scene and show the current location, the audio is that of Charlie talking with one of his employees. The camera then moves to an over the shoulder shot from Raymond’s perspective, we see him watching the television on a little screen on his chair and in the background we see Charlie standing by a pay phone, arguing with his employee; telling him to be more forceful with the clients. The camera then changes to a close up of Charlie on the phone, is brow is furrowed and he looks distressed as he continues to argue. It then would switch to another over the shoulder shot but this time from the perspective of Charlie, the camera faces towards Raymond as Charlie covers his face with his palm, Raymond on the other hand is calm as he sits there peacefully. This is a clever juxtaposition as we see Charlie clearly exasperated at the situation and Ray calmly sitting there unaware of the situation but perfectly content to just sit there.

From there it switches to another Wide shot as Charlie puts down the phone and picks up his bag, Ray meanwhile is still calmly sitting there watching the television, the camera does not follow Charlie as he walks towards Ray and begins to click his finger to get his attention, the camera then Cuts in with a focus of Ray as Charlie continues to attempt to get his attention till finally Ray would jump having noticed Charlie. It isn’t until Charlie pulls Ray’s bag that he gets to his feet, the Camera transitioning to a wide shot as both characters walk off frame, all the while Charlie is asks Ray what he is watching and Ray responds familiarly with “I don’t know”. The next shot is another wide shot from behind the subjects as they walk towards their gate, Ray’s bag between them as he is almost pulled a long by his brother, this is clever because it shows that at this point of the film Charlie thinks little of Ray; treating him almost like a dog as he pulls him about and clicks his fingers at him. At this point Charlie doesn’t seem to see him as a person yet but rather keeps him with him due to necessity and treats him poorly as a result.

The next shot is a close up of Ray as he is being pulled along by Charlie, he would bend down a moment as he sees the aeroplanes, he displays a worried expression as he exclaims “Oh, oh”, stating that there is an airplane out there. The camera then transitions to a two shot of the pair as Ray worriedly exclaims his disdain for aeroplanes, and Charlie attempts to coax him into getting on one. The director uses this shot for the scene as he is trying to show us the contrasting emotions on the subject’s faces, one a look of exasperation and the other a look of panic. There is then a long sequence of Dialog as Ray tells Charlie about a list of airline accidents as he tries to explain to him why he will not get on a plane. The next shot is a close up of Ray’s face as he is being pulled by Charlie, he looks scared. Charlie then comes into frame as he questions Ray about his specific objections. The shot then changes to another wide shot facing Charlie’s back but showing Ray, the camera follows Ray as he moves over to the flight information board and begins telling ray about the various flights, only to be interrupted by ray for various crash information. The Camera focuses on Ray with a close up as he tells Charlie about the crashes, his face contorted with worry. The next shot is of Charlie whom is staring at Ray, his face a look of calm annoyance and his brother’s supposed ineptitude at doing common and easy things. As Charlie turns back towards the flight information board there is a cut in of the boards showing us a list of the flights.