Evaluation PART ONE - The Brief

The image above is the brief that I was working towards. There were a few key points that I had to follow which were:

• The target audience were British 16 - 24 year olds
• I had to create the first two minutes of the film to show the graphical, editing and musical style of it
• Must conform to the conventions of the BSR genre
• Must meet all of the audience expectations for this film type
• All audio and visual material incorporated must be original

TITLE CONNTATIONS

The title of my production is called "Hit List". We decided to choose this title as a "hit list" is a list of people or things that are to be attacked or opposed, connoting that the film will present the theme of violence a lot. In the film, the main character Zakir results in getting involved in a couple of fights so that he can make sure that others are feeling the pain that he is feeling. He goes after a list of people, thus being a "hit list". As my research stated that they wanted to include violence, my title connotes exactly that due to it being about attacks on another person. I  also believe that my narrative would fit this title as it depicts how Zakir does exactly what I just stated; he gets involved in fight after fight in order to gain redemption.

Other than the violence theme, some may think that "Hit List" is about music. As a "hit" is referred to as a successful song in the music industry, the title could connote that an artist is producing a "list" of "hit" songs. As it is a BSR film, it may lead to some unfortunate things such as poverty. For example, the artist could be really successful and then he loses it and must live like a typical British person in the working class background. This may fit my narrative as my narrative depicts how Zakir goes through a rough patch due to the way that he is previously treated. This previous treatment may be his loss of success, thus resulting in him wanting everyone else around him to be of the same low success that he is in. The music storyline can be explained later on in the film where he speaks to Jenna, someone that becomes close to him.

Another connotation of our chosen title is that the "hit list" can be seen as a form of gambling. Someone may be putting their life on the line (a "hit") as they gamble against a "list" of different people. This can make the audience feel that the film may be quite intense as gambling is quite an intense thing to do. I believe that this would fit my narrative as again, he lives quite an upsetting life. The reason for his distraught feelings may be because he gambled and wants to make sure that everybody else feels his pain as well.

HOW I MET THE THEMES OF BSR

Poverty - I believe that I did meet the themes of British Social Realism as my opening sequence connotes a few of the themes that we see in a typical film of this genre. One example of my film using the BSR conventions is through the costume that Zakir is wearing at 1:22. This mise-en-scene convention meets the theme of poverty as it is quite a cheap product that can be bought somewhere like a market place. This connotes to the audience that this character is not the wealthiest person and it can meet their needs due to it presenting the themes that they would typically be interested in with a BSR film.

Violence - Another time where I feel we met the themes of a BSR film is when we connoted violence during Zakir's voiceover at 0:37. We felt that a way to increase suspension but still meet the theme of violence would be to have someone hint about it in a sly manner. We did not want him to immediately say that he would get involved into a lot of fights as this would feel as if the film was moving too fast. By him speaking about it instead, a sense of enigma was created, thus engaging the audience through keeping them thinking.

Loneliness - We also incorporated the theme of loneliness as at 0:42 Zakir was speaking about how he is "making the most of [life] no matter who [he brings] down". Here he hints at how he does not exactly have many people to rely on and how no matter what happens he will not feel bad about hurting those around him, because there is nobody around him. The audience would be quite fond of this as it is meeting a theme of BSR quite well due to it connoting it so soon during the production.

HOW IT SETS UP THE REST OF THE FILM

My opening sequence sets up the rest of the film through various aspects. One of these aspects is the big impact that the second scene holds on the sequence as a whole. From the calm atmosphere demonstrated through the library scene, a very intense piece of music starts to play at 0:46, which is when the more fast paced street scene occurs. This sets up the rest of the film to be quite an intense production as the shift in atmosphere is quite impactful, thus being particularly important in terms of representing the film as a whole. The audience can get an understanding of how the film in general is quite tense due to this one scene in the opening to be so big in terms of its entrance. 

This fast paced usage is also apparent in the film "Trainspotting". Here it denotes a man running from danger so that the tenseness of the entire film can be created. This film does have some very intense moments in it and it is anchored through its opening sequence. As this sequence creates the same atmosphere, it makes the audience members watching it understand how the rest of the film is bound to pan out. I have used this in my production for the same reason; I have incorporated a tense start so that the rest of the film can be depicted in the same manner.

The rest of the film is also set up by my opening sequence through the loneliness expressed from 0:18 to 0:42 where Zakir talks about how his "life sucks" and how he wants to get away from his current lifestyle. This theme of loneliness exemplifies just how the rest of the film will run; Zakir is alone and he wants to do something about it. He aims to make sure that others feel the way he does, but it ends up turning into him gaining new company. I believe that this sets it up quite well as the theme of loneliness is exemplified through more than just the sound. The mise-en-scene exemplifies it as there is nobody around him that he associates himself with, and he is typing on a laptop in a public area, something that he could do at his home, but that place may make him feel worse. 

This typing and hurtful representation is also incorporated in "Submarine" where Lloyd speaks about his parents and the girl that he likes. This showcases to the audience how lonely he feels and I believe that as his loneliness is depicted at the start of the film, the audience remember it throughout the entirety of the production. This is exactly why I included it in my opening sequence; as I wanted the lonely aspect to be remembered throughout the entire film, having it as one of the first things that my audience sees allows them to remember it more as it's the first introduction to the character that they get.

Overall, it is clear that the opening sequence theory has been identified so that the audience members can understand the intensity and loneliness that will be incorporated throughout the entire film. Also, the themes have been incorporated so early in the production so that the audience can have a general outline of what will happen.