Update On Filming

During our first session to film the new footage, Maddy was unavailable but we were able to film all of the other scenes and this meant we could still work on our film in the following week before we could re-film the other scenes so we were still making good progress with our work.

During our second session to film the new footage, Luke was unfortunately unavailable. This meant I had to film the rest on my own. However, filming still went well with both of our actors being able to complete the process and ready to film the final shots. We did face a couple of problems though, including the tape running out but luckily I had another tape I could use at home. Also, both of the batteries we were given for the camera hadn't been charged fully and ran out but I had managed to film the main footage I wanted to so it didn't ruin the whole thing.

Update On Filming

In today's lessons, we managed to complete our film. We still have to add finishing touches and make things more sharper and clear but we made a lot of progress today. We have still incorporated some things from our draft like shots of Maddy, as we are using them for the flashbacks which I think work effectively within the rest of our footage.

Recce Shots

These are shots of our location which is my garage. Obviously for filming we removed the car in order to make room for filming. However, I think this is a good location for us to use and has effective mise en scene that makes our footage more believable.

Gender + Ethnicity - Life On Mars

Ethnicity

• Reference to the sari that the Asian woman is wearing. The police officer refers to it as a 'nighty'. It comes across very unrespectful and some people may feel it could be seen as a racist comment.
• Representation of working class Irish man. We are shown this through his strong accent and his clothes with appear rough and dirty. This is also represented in where he lives as it seems to be a poor area. There is a reference to the work that the Irish end up doing which is the jobs that the English people don't want to do. "All our kind are good for is shovelling shit and making bombs."
• There is the assumption that the Asian man walking down the street with the T.V. has stolen it which the police officer bases purely because of his colour.
• The bar man in the pub is black and given stereotypical traits - strong accent and dreadlocks.

Sound - Defiance

The Soloist

The film, 'The Soloist' was based on LA Times columnist Steve Lopez columns about his relationship with schizophrenic Nathaniel Ayers, a former music prodigy who now lives on the streets of LA.

The director, Joe Wright, faced problems before filming as he was creating a film in America based on an American real life story yet he knew nothing about America. Before filming he spent time with people from the local community and after a week he decided he was positive about creating a film that was based on the society they came from.

Many of the extras that they hired for the film were locals from the community, living on the street, who had no experience beforehand.

The actor, portraying Nathaniel Ayers, Jamie Foxx, learned how to play the cello in preparation for the film and his character, and was taught by LA Philharmonic's Ben Hong.

The production team decided to not film in the actual setting of skid row as they had told the people who lived there that they wouldn't kick them out so they didn't want to cause more disturbances for them and push them away from their home.

Nathaniel Ayers was given a chance to watch the Los Angeles Philharmonic rehearse at the Walt Disney Concert Hall which the orchestra had never allowed anyone to do before.

The producers of the film suggested Joe Wright for the director as he has previously done films such as Atonement and Pride & Prejudice that were based on novels and a story behind it so thought he would be a good choice.

Working Titles films are moving away from their usual British films such as Hot Fuzz and The Boat That Rocked. They are introducing a new genre that they haven't generally done before, instead of their most used comedy films, so it shows how they are trying to reach wider audiences through the different films they are creating.

Target

For today's lesson, me and Luke are going to complete our logo for our film. We are hoping to create one that has the same feel to it as our film does and emphasise our film's genre.