Final Opening Sequence - Retribution

Directors Commentary

This a directors Commentary of' 'Retribution'which was undergone by Jacob Collins Brown. He gives an insight into why Certain things are done during the making of the opening sequence and deliberate's on the many juxtapositions we have added to the product to get the audience thinking. We hope you appreciate what we have done for the film and this will add to the accumulation of your enjoyment, Thank you.

Used Programms

During the editing procedure in our production, we used final cut pro due to its professional qualities and its accumulative aspect. We used this programme to upload our camera takes from our camera then eventually distributing the scenes into their allocated places. We found it relatively simple to use the programme but this was not initially the case during the preliminary stages as we were new to the craft of the programme.

This is a screen grab of 'Final cut pro' as we construct the scenes together and necessary transitions are added.

To record all events which took place during production, we used 'Blogger' . Our blog contains facts about filming locations, costumes and films we took inspiration from and also exclusive behind the scenes photographs of moments during production.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The aspects of pride and bondage in our production enhances the romance/drama genre's of the film. It demonstrates originality against films we took inspiration from such as 'Spider Man 2' and 'Hancock'. The reason why we think this, is because firstly the aspect of 'yacob' taking his best friends girlfriend is a common motive in both of the 'hollywood' blockbusters mentioned above, but our film has a variety ofshots and editing strategies which protract the production in a different light ; for example the 'Malcolm x' face pout which connotes grief and injustice upon 'yacob' and also the flash back upon which 'yacob' reflects on the few times he met up with his best friends girlfriend.This editing technique demonstrated poise and originality.We were inspired by the flashback used in 'Hancock' therefore applied this edit to our film. This married very well with the shots we had but at times required some more takes to polish the film of.

The scene to your right shows 'Hancock' conversing with his friends wife, whom he later on finds out to be in matrimony to. At that point in the film he has a flash back to seclude his previous life and to recollect his past and what had went wrong for him.

The scene to your left is when 'yacob' begins to recollect on hispast and the valued times he spent with his comrades girlfriend.

Another film we took the essance of having a flash back from was 'The Green MIle'. during the film Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) reflects on his past as the main prison officer of "E" block were towering figure of John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan).

In terms of sound, we apply a voice over onto our main film as an idle source of narration. furthermore the 1st person aspect of the narration connotes 'yacob's thoughts and feelings and this would create empathy from the audience as they witness and hear how 'yacob' constructs himself through the situation at hand.

The mise en scene is very simple in our media product but effective. the choice costumes demonstrates the thought we gave to each character, in a way that the clothing they wore would paint a picture of the type of lifestyle they led. fro example ; 'Mai' wore predominantly black attire, to instigate his roguish persona, whilst 'Yacob' wore a range of lighter colours during the media production to demonstrate his array of innocence.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product portraits young adults , but within this bracket of young adults we wanted to portrait the thug/"hoodrat" played by Mai who is an external actor and other hand we also wanted to capitulate a character who would contradict Mai's characteristics of a thug by having a poised and thoughtful boy who the girl would fall in love with. This boy was played by Jacob Collins-Brown.

This is the 'thug' we tried to replicate through the characterisation of 'mai'. The composition of shots gathered, which included 'Mai Shetima', had an essences of realism and "Retribution" through his facial manor-ism.

This shot instigates an essence of juxtaposition as 'yacob', who is seeking comfort, walks away from his faults and in hope of finding compassion in the future, where as in contrast, 'Mai' is closing down upon "yacob", for all he has done behind his

back, in search of "Retribution".

This mid-shot, to your right, depicts the certain swgger to which 'mai' has to life, it reveals his arrogance and immorality.

In contrast we have 'yacob' who contradicts the stereotype of young black males and this is partly demonstrated through his poise and calmness when it comes to challenging situations. We were inspired to base 'yacob's character on 'Carlton Banks' who was a character in 90's sitcom 'The fresh prince of Bel-air'. However the storyline consequently meant that 'yacob' would have to be stainer and some how corrosive in the essence of the word doe to his situation during the film.

The reasoning behind all of this is because we wanted to depict the the stereotypical black thug who only causes trouble and brings grief to his girlfriend, but to contradict this , We have another black male who is sophisticated and puts others before himself therefore is credited with the love of his best friends girl friend.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

If our film were to be distributed by a UK British film company, we as a group believe that the most realistic and ideal distributor would be Film4. Film4 are a

production company (owned by channel four) who produce low-budget films in the UK and the majority of them have been successful, for example: East is East, Happy go lucky and the most successful partnership, Slumdog millionaire.

If our film were to be distributed by an overseas then our group escalated the fact that 'Pathe films international' were the perfect distributors due their distribution of similar productions such as ; adulthood, whom's storyline is of a similar concept to our film. Also the prequel of 'Adulthood' ( 'kidulthood' ) was distributed by 'Revolver Entertainment , who grossed £453,876 from a preliminary budget of £600,000. This has given our group the confidence that due to the many cinema halls 'Pathe' have allocated around Europe, that our film would do well at box office as it harbours originality.

However the local aspect of the film has swayed us to choose 'Working title' as our distributor due to their connection to one of the bigge

st global conglomerates in the world, 'Universal'. This connection working title have would lead to our film being blanket released in England before its global recognition in america.

'Harry Potter' is one example of English films which has been distributed by universal and now posses global recognition around the world and these are the heights we would realistically expect our film to reach due to its originality and craft.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our film would be teenagers, with the minimum age of 12A+. The reasoning behind this decision is so that there is a minimum limitation for the film due to the concept of the storyline.

These are Rochell (top left), Teniqua (top right) , Bandoulu (bottom right) and Opra (bottom left). they are girls from liverpool and would be the idle target of our film as it reaches out to their age group more because that is the retrespecytive age at which young adults/teenagers begin to date. Also they might put them selves in 'Brea's shoes(external actor who plays 'Mai's girlfriend) and we asked them individually to give an outcome of what they'd do if they were actually in 'Brea's position ;

Rochell : " I'd be open about my newly found relationship with 'yacob' due to the way he'd care about me, and also he is a hottie".

Teniqua : "I would never do anything to jeprodize my relationship in the first so i'd neglect 'yacob' and keep strong to 'Mai' even if he is away"

Bandoulou : " I'd adore to have a boy like 'yacob' as my man because he is a real hottie and he'd be prepare to do anything for me. He'z a real sweetheart"

Opra : " The innocence of 'yacob' would drive me to him straight away ! But I'd be committed to 'Mai' as he is not really in the wrong is he?"

Furthermore, the content in our production is suitable as it does not contain any full blown romance or any physical interaction between 'yacob' and his best friends girl friend. Also there is no violence as subliminally foretold in the narrative voice over, this is because of the age restrictions with have put on the film. the . It'll mostly appeal out to the younger adults because it shows the different troubles that some of this particular audience undergo whilst going through life. The media is to show that they can relate to problems and hopefully to show people to avoid different approaches. Through our media we hope to show them that the continuous cycle could lead to people being hurt.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We attract the audience by using younger actors to relate to the younger audience to show it doesn't happen to just older age group but it can happen to any age. on the other hand, the storyline of the production would attractive an array of young adults due to the romantic connotations used in the film. Therefore anyone can be attracted by the film as it appeals to different audiences.

We also use an audible voice over, which is a first person narration of 'yacob's thoughts, is constructed to conjunct with the audience in a way that they are involved in 'yacob's scenario therefore having empathy for his predicament.If they can relate they can see themselves involved in the film. Perhaps the same situation has happened to them so they know exactly what is happening and how it attracts them, and indeed helps the audience think what they'd do in 'yacob's predicament choose the correct path.

The use of music is also key due to its cinematic feel it obtains as it sanctify's with the voice over. the piece of music used is a classical piece composed by the popular composer Karl Jenkins. this in it self should attract another aspect of audience due to the use of contemporary music.

This is a screen grab of Jacob Collins Brown applying the voice over onto the films timeline. A script was constructed for the narration which was recited until the we were satisfied with the outcome.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

As a group we en counted minor setbacks at the start of production as any other amateur production company would encounter.But with the leadership of Jacob Collins Brown and craft of Steven Reid we prevailed and overcame these minor mishaps.

When constructing our film sequence we didn't have much preparation , for example ; shot list and detail to performance (acting) during filming, but with the guile and poise of Jacob during the editing stage, we began to link our shots and bind it to bring an uphold of satisfaction. Evidently in order to bring more quality to our production, we needed a wider variety of shots , such as ; the 'mid' shot of 'yacob' walking into the woods (which was captured by our camera man Steven Reid. who was poised on top of a tree as he attained this prestigious shot). We learnt that is was hard to capture certain shots just once but need many more takes at it as an insurance for the group and also gave us more options during editing.

This is a screen grab during the editing stage of production. it is crucial in film that each shot conjuncts and compliments each other, so attention was vital in an for success.

We thought filming with the camera's would be an obstacle to the group but Steven the camera man was not phased and produced very technical shots which were accumulative to the quality of the film its self. Also the editing soft ware (final cut pro) proved to be a thorn in the side of the group due to the constant freezing of the software , but Jacob Collins Brown, the groups editor, sacrificed a lot of hours beyond college hours to ensure his groups film was completed with composure and not just being rushed. All in all that we attained some trouble during production, due to technical hitches with equipment we were assigned but the extra hours Jacob Collins Brown spent on the film has proved well and has seemed to be very productive.

7. Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt from the proggression from it to the full task?

The preliminary task was crucial for us as a group to be able to develop and build on the new skills we have attained. The world of film making we learnt new skills and filming rules such as the 180 degree rule, which eventually came into play but did not prove to be a burden for our film. If the rule was not upheld in our film then it would have consequently made our production decrepit.

This is a shot reverse shot of 'yacob' and his best friends girlfriend. Which required abiding by the 180 degree rule during the takes with an aim of attaining legislated shots.

As a group we had to learn and use a wider range of shot to make the film move exciting because we only used a limited amount of shots when filming the preliminary task therefore the preliminary was a stepping stone for us in aim of reaching bigger and better things for our final film. The preliminary task additionally showed us that something so simple as sound/music could provide a spark for a boring scene, this was because the preliminary task was dull and boring but upon experimenting with a few sounds during the editing stage, it seemed to resurrect up the scene and make the shots stimulating.

This then allowed us to spend a generous amount of time making a suitable sound track for our film which in effect meant our final film was greatly improved. If it were not for the preliminary task, where we experimented with many transitions and contrast techniques, we believe our final film would lack the craft and technical composition which it now has.

We believe that upon watching both the preliminary task and the Final film you can witness a leap of quality in contrast to one another with the final film having much higher eminence. Moreover, we made many mistakes in the making of the preliminary task, we believe that these mistakes were crucial in order for us to make a good film. This was due to the fact that upon making the mistakes and noticing them you can then make greater checks in order to make sure and avoid the previously made faults.

Key Shots (Contrast)

Poise and wholesomeness contradicted by the devious and oblique.

Contrast in Persona as one upholds the stereotype whilst the other contradicts it through each others attire and "swagger".

One walks away from his troubles whilst the other pursues his "Retribution"

Shot List

1) long shot - mai's girlfriend (brea) walking through market arch

2) shot reverse shot- brea and "yacob" talking at cafe table

3) High angle shot - "yacob" walking into Bluebell woods.

4) Track Shot-"yacob" walking to statue in St peters square (Manchester)

5) Tracking shot- used when "yacob" is walking into the woods.

6) Close up- text received by "yacob".

7) Extreme close up- on "yacob" as he is recollects the moments of affection he enjoyed with his comrade's girlfriend.

8) Mid shot- "yacob" walking in to ST Peters square.

9) eye-line match- "mai" peering at "yacob" as he sits on a bench.

10) close up- "yacob"face as he delivers the Malcolm X pout.

11) Mid shot - retrespective view as 'yacob' walks to St peters square bench

12) Point of view shot - 'Mai' observing 'yacob' in St peters square

13) Extreme Close up - 'yacob's facial expresions after recieving the text in the opening scenes

Spider Man 2

We took inspiration from "Spiderman 2", where Peter Parker (spider man) falls in love with his best friends (harry Osbourne) girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson. spider man would "go to worlds end" for Mary-Jane Watson, who he infectiously adored

and harry wanted "Retribution" for this.

Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter are not sure weather and how to commute their love to each other. His best friend Harry (James Franco) still hates Spiderman for killing his Dad. And to make matters worst there is new villain on the prowl. Otto Octavious (Alfred Molina) is a scientist and nice person on the verge of great scientific invention when something goes horribly wrong and he looses control of his mind and turns evil.

This a still picture of best friends peter Parker and harry Osborne. Best friends who's bond is separated by the love of Mary-Jane Watson, harry later on in the film seeks "Retribution" on spider man (Peter Parker) for"taking his girl".

Film Planning

As a group , we came together to allocate times when we could under go filming. Influences on this were our commitments to our other AS subjects and also the weather forecasting. We used google to gather information on the weather forecast.This proved to be of great value to us because it allowed us to plan ahead a use the days we couldn't film on planning the different aspects of the production.

Due to the prolonged research attained by Jacob Collins Brown, we gathered we had to film in our historical location of St Peters square first, this was due to the renovations that would taking place a few weeks later.

These are some photographs of the undergoing renovations at St Peters square, a few weeks after we obtained our shots from this location.

Screen Grabs

The strategic bearing upon why the films title "Retribution". This connotes "mai's" envious ways through out the film towards "yacob" who fell in love with mai's girlfriend.

The reasoning behind the white text during that exact stage of the production is to justify the peacefulness of "yacob's" mind as he has Finally come to terms with what he has done and is looking for appraisal from his comrade "mai"for his actions.

The significance of this specific expression was to create a sense of in-justification and resentment, furthermore the expression complimented the characters feelings at that exact time in the production. The director (Jacob Collins Brown) took inspiration from Malcolm Little (Malcolm X) when he introduced this specific expression. Malcolm was a man who suffered through in-justifications most of his adult life but through all this became known as "our shining black prince" for his civil rights movements. For more information click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X .

Filming Locations

Hulme Market Arch- this is was the location where we filmed "mai's" girl friend walking into McDonalds.

St Peters square (Manchester)- We wanted to capitulate on historical location, and there were none better than ST Peters square. This is where we filmed "yacob" waiting for "mai's" girl friend , this was also the date mai would return to the country.

Blue bell woods - this was the location where "mai" gets within touching distance of getting his "Retribution" on "yacob". We also gathered our "martini shot" at this location.

Retribution

"True love surrenders the affirmation that 'one' has for his comrade.The concept of love overrides a young man's heart as emotions fly due to the deception yacob has showed to his comrade Mai".

Movie Treatment
Audience -

Audience - The opening sequences of the film instigates that this production will appeal young adults between the ages of 15 to 23, for both males and females.

Resume - A mans retribution upon his best friend. Emotions fly due to the deception "yacob" instigates towards his comrade "Mai" by falling in love with his girlfriend.

Performance - "yacob" (Jacob Collins-Brown) undergoes a time of reflection as he is embarked upon by the return of his best friend "mai", who's girlfriend "yacob" has secretly being dating. "yacob" is mysteriously stalked by his former comrade who is now in search of "Retribution".

Props - The one and only significant prop used was the mobile phone device.

Costumes - The characters wear quite modern attire to conjunct with the scripting.

We wanted 'Mai Shettima', who is an external actor and plays 'yacob's best friend in the production, to wear stereotypical clothing associated with young black males. this particular attire consisted of a black hooded top and some loose jogging bottoms. this sort of attire is stereotypically associated with gangsters and this is what we wanted to bring to our film.

In contrast we have 'yacob' who contradicts the stereotype of young black males and this is partly shown through his costume and his overall persona.

Key locations - Hulme market arch, St peters Square (Manchester), Hough ends playing fields (Bluebell woods).

Recording days - All in all we frequently filmed during our prescribed lesson hours on Monday and Wednesday. As a group, we wanted to film the scene in St peters square (Manchester) first due to the sudden renovations which would take place a few weeks later , to do this we spent one of our Monday afternoon's lessons getting all the shots we needed from that particular location to match what we had initially planned. Occasionally filming was done after college hours in aim of capturing diverse shots such as the high angle of "yacob" walking into "Bluebell woods", this took time to get right so required patients in order to capture the prescribed shot.

Changes made during production - We rendered quite a few things throughout the production with an aim of improving it, such changes ranged from the initial location of the "north city library" in "Harpurhey" to numerous other contentious venues such as "St peters square" (Manchester) , "Hulme market', and the "Bluebell woods" where our "martini shot" was taken. We also made explicit changes to the storyline due to the connotations of some of our scenes, this allowed us to have more expressive shots and complimented the film much better with the flowing narration allocated over the production via voice over.

Music -

The genre of our production required a contemporary piece of classical music. One of our group members (Jacob Collins Brown) was enlightened with a piece of music composed by "Karl Jenkins" which complimented our scripting very nicely. The piece of music we used was "Palladio".Karl Jenkins who composed "Palladio" was born and raised in the Gower village of Penclawdd, in the county of Swansea, south Wales. He studied music at Cardiff university and then commenced postgraduate studies in London at the Royal Academy of Music where he also met his wife and musical collaborator, Carol Barratt.