Assessment On Lady Killers

Assessment: Lady Killers

How Do the Filmmakers establish character, genre and narrative in the Opening?

The Filmmakers establish character, genre and narrative in the opening by using different type of camera shots. At the start of the film we get Birds eye view shot of Mrs. Wilberforce coming out of the house with an umbrella and a basket. This suggests that she might go out for picnic. Also a low angle shot is used of when the sky changing. It starts to rain. This shows that something bad is going to happen soon. Since the genre is a thriller this pathetic fallacy suggests that its thriller as well as something bad is going to happen since its thriller. Furthermore we get a long shot of Mrs. Wilberforce going back into her house also we can see she is followed by someone. This long shot was used to create mystery between Mrs. Wilberforce and the follower. It leaves a question if she knows the follower or is it someone that is out to get her. In addition this relates to the genre seeing as its Thriller it tells us that there’s mystery behind it.

The Filmmakers establish character, genre and narrative in the opening by editing. The filmmaker makes the background picture as blue flowery wallpaper with black font. This indicates that death is near for Mrs. Wilberforce and since the title is called Lady Killers it makes it more mysterious. Also the filmmakers uses shot reverse shot when Mrs. Wilberforce was talking with the super intendant. This edit was used to show the conservation between Mrs. Wilberforce and super intendant. The super intendant was speaking very slowly and quietly to Mrs. Wilberforce. Also the super intendant was trying to get rid of Mrs. Wilberforce. This tells us that they do not want to hear Mrs. Wilberforce’s story since she is old and forgetful, they may think that she maybe making up stories.

The Filmmakers establish character, genre and narrative in the opening by sound. As Mrs. Wilberforce leaves the police station a funeral car passes by then a thunder is created as well. This suggests that Mrs. Wilberforce’s death is near. This contrasts to the title as lady Killers an in the beginning with the blue flowery wallpaper and black font. Furthermore intense comes to play after the thunder and lightning strikes. This indicates something bad is going to happen. This also refers to the genre since its thriller.

Analysis of Ladykiller:

The film 'Ladykillers' starts of with an establishing shot of the old lady 'Mrs Wilberforce' house and the surrounding of were she lives. Then there is a wide shot of the shop and the people she knows. We see that she is a very well known person as everyone greets her, this tells us that she is one of the main characters in the film. there is a bit of foreshadowing creating tension, as this mysterious stranger is interested in the poster that 'Mrs Wilberforce' put up. We don't see the face of the mysterious guy, which makes it even more tension building. Who then follows her all the way to her house but she knows nothing about it. Then finally the audience sees his face when he comes in to ask about the poster.

In the beginning there is happy music to show that everyone's in happy mood. But then when it starts raining the mood changes in the atmosphere an there is a tension building music the whole time until when the mysterious guy goes and knocks on 'Mrs Wilberforce's' house.

There are many aspects of mise-en-scene used in this film. First of all it is set in a town, it looks like a close nit town this is because everyone seems to know each other , also many props and costume are used such as hats, umbrellas, kettle etc. There are many extras in the film like when she goes to the police station people standing around or in the shops.

How does the filmmaker establish character, genre and narrative in the opening?

The filmmaker uses mise-en-scene and a variety of camera shots, editing techniques and sounds to establish character, genre and narrative in the opening.

The filmmaker uses credits and titles in the film over a black background to establish the actors and the name of the film. The last title dissolves into the first camera shot. The first camera shot is a birds-eye view shot, which establishes the setting. The characters live in a small town with very few residents. An old women (Mrs. Wilberforce) is presented to the audience. There is a score of jingles, which represent the theme of that particular day. All the villagers are happy and positive. The characters costume gives the impression that the film is set in the past a long time ago because that fashion no longer exists in modern day. The Lighting is bright to symbolize the sunny day and the positive fever.

There is a High angle shot of Mrs. Wilberforce. This implies that Mrs. Wilberforce is just an ordinary woman who is going about her everyday events. However the dialogue gives a more ironic view towards Mrs. Wilberforce. Everyone on the street stops to greet her which suggests that she is well respected and has a high status in their community. There is a diegetic sound of the a baby crying in response to Mrs. Wilberforce’s presence as she approaches the police station which unsettles the mood.

There is an over the shoulder shot of the police officer signaling that Mrs. Wilberforce is approaching which suggests that this is a routine. From there it quickly cuts to a establishing shot of the officers colleagues. The shot establishes the environment of the police station and the other police officers on there typewriters and there is diegetic sound of the typing of the typewriter.

There is an action match of Mrs. Wilberforce handing a bag that she got from her home to The Superintendent. This shows that Mrs. Wilberforce is a kind and generous person. There is a shot reverse shot Mrs. Wilberforce and the Superintendent talking. The conversation continues as the camera pans with there movement towards the exit of the police station into a two man shot. This implies that there conversation is of a lot of importance.

The lighting darkens and there is a score of thunder which represents the change ion weather and mood. As Mrs. Wilberforce Heads home she stops at a stall. There is a shadow in the frame. This is to move the attention towards the shadow, which is linked the dark mood. There is a long shot of Mrs. Wilberforce being followed by the mysterious character and there is a score of scary background music which anticipates future events.

The tension grows, as there are more shadows in the frame and the diegetic sound o f the train. The anticipation and tension increase as Mrs. Wilberforce approaches the door. The door opens and the facial expression on the mysterious character is positive but this is a false expression to baffle Mrs. Wilberforce and the mysterious characters dialogue sounds devious.

The audience are now aware that he has bad intensions.

Rizwaan Khan

The reason why we chose Rizwaan to play the lead in our movie was because we thought he met the desired characteristics of the main character. Rizwaans appearance made the character come to life. He has a tall muscular physical structure therefore he looked like an athlete which made the character look more realistic and it made it believable to the audience that he was a boxer. 

However the issue that we had was Rizwaans ethnicity, the fact that he was asian. All sports movies that we have come across during our research have either a predominantly white or black cast. Therefore we were challenging the generic conventions so it was difficult to make it work.

Also Rizwaan has no acting skills or experience so the filming process was prolonged. We had to use our imagination and creativity for the choreography and the acting.

Rizwaan has previous boxing experience. This made choreographing and directing the boxing scene easier and more effective. He used his skills acquired through training and experience to make the scene look more dramatic and exciting. 

Settings:

In the opening scene we will use streets like these to show are character walking and running.
Also we will use a boxing ring were the main character and the boxing trainer will be sparring in it.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Out of picture 1 and 2 we will choose one of them to make it are main characters home, to show that his from a poor background and lives in council flats.

Boxing match



In this video you can see that the costumes and props that i have listed below are clearly evident in this video. Both fighters are using head gear, boxing gloves, boxing boots etc.

Costume and Props

These are the sort of tracksuits are main character will wear in the opening scene, also when he is running.
These are the sort of jacket are main character will wear in the opening scene, also when he is running.
These are the sort of head gear are main character will wear in the opening scene, he will wear it when he is training with his trainer.
These are the sort of boots are main character will wear in the opening scene, he will wear it when he is training with his trainer.
These are the sort of gloves he will use when he trains.

Boxing:

In the picture above you can see clearly what each fighter is wearing, similarly the main character in our opening scene will also wear props and costumes just like that.

The Fighter Vs Rocky Balboa (Analysis)

The Fighter (2011)

The Older Brother (Dickey)

The Younger Brother (Mickey)

In the opening scene we see dickey on the sofa talking to the camera as if he was doing an interview, couple minutes later mickey joins and dickey starts talking about boxing. This suggests that they are doing a documentary on them. Dickey is mostly talking while Micky is just sitting there quietly listening to his older brother. This indicates respect that mickey has respect for his older brother. We see flashbacks of Dickey training Mickey to box. Dickey trains Mickey since dickey is a professional boxer. We know his a professional boxer because we see a flashback when Dickey is fighting in a ring with an opponent with a lot of people watching. When the interview has finished we see a blank screen then we get an establishing shot of the area zooming out and point of view shot of someone sweeping the stones with the rake. Then we get an over the shoulder shot of Mickey sweeping the roads. Next we see a point of view shot again of someone practising to punch. They do not show the face. This makes it mysterious because they do not show the persons face. That’s when we see a clear shot of the camera crew was doing a point of view point. The point of view shot was done on Dickey but we didn’t see his face until Mickey punched him. This shows that film is about boxing. The establishing shot that is used tells us that the area where the boxers live in is like a ghetto area, very corrupted since we get a two shot of two guys in an alleyway selling drugs, old drunken people throwing alcohol and fighting. This shows that the boxers are not living a good life. Also further on the film Dickey starts to take drugs and ends up in prison. This also indicates that Dickey life didn’t turn out very well since he’s in that corrupted area.

Rocky Balboa (2006)

Rocky (Main Fighter)

Mason 'The Line' Dixon (The Opponent)

Starts off with yellow font saying Rocky Balboa indicates that his champion. Then we see someone walking towards a big light and the person disappearing after the guy disappears and the location changes to an arena where the colour of the screen is black and white. We see two guys boxing. Most of the camera shots that were used in that boxing match were low angle shots, on the opponent of Mason Dixon who was more superior to his opponent. When Mason gives the final punch and knocks his opponent out, they use an action match on the final punch. This indicates the power of the guy. As they start the film with boxing we immediately know this is going to be a boxing film. After the boxing match has finished we get establishing shots of different places from night to early morning. These establishing shots were used from someone through a car looking out the window. These establishing shots that were used and the person looking out of the window maybe were telling us the journey of someone new coming to the city. This makes it mysterious who it might be and how they will affect others. The Generic conventions on both films are that family involvement, an enemy, a mentor a girlfriend or a wife.

Mise en scene

Possible settings: boxing gym, the streets, home, church

Possible characters: boxer, trainer

Props and costumes: boxing shorts/trainers/head gear/gloves, tracksuit

The generic conventions of our Sports/Drama Genre

Settings
* Boxing ring 
* House
* Streets

Camera Work
* Establishing shot- sets the scene
* Close up/extreme close up showing characters emotions
* High angle-looking up at character showing power and authority
* Low angle- looking down at character showing weakness and vulnerability

Props
* Sports Equipment- Boxing gloves, boxing kit, boxing headgear

Colours
* Colours will be used to reflect upon the mood, at the current time and status.
* Bolder colours are to be used in font/text, so that it stands out clearly

Sound
* Cheering Audience both diagetic and non-diagetic.
* Impact noises

Narrative and structure
Troubled person,  uses sport to change lifestyle; by the end they have a great life, with a celebrity status.

Representations
The protagonist is weak from 1st viewing, ending with the opposite, and finishing strongly, by winning against his opposition.
One other character, is the protagonists opponent who in his dream beats him but then gets defeated in reality.


Moral and Values
Sport is represented as a method of relief. Escapism, the ability to change your life,  and can teach a person to mix with the right people, and keep them out of trouble.

Main Task

2. The Idea for our main task is that we will be doing a boxing video in the genre of sport and drama. We decided on this main idea because we think its a unique idea since no one done a boxing film also we can use range of slow paced editing as well as the setting we have chosen it fits with our story.

Feedback From The Pitches

From the feedback we have been given from our peers we have decided to go with Dilwars Pitch since many of out peers suggested that having a boxing film would have a better instead of an robbery because robbery has been done before and bring in a sport drama might have better reviews. Therefore we will be changing our genre to sport drama.

Aslam's Pitch

Dilwar's Pitch

Pitch 1

There Is Two Guys Who Will Do A Robbery At A Bank. At The Beginning of The Film We See A Two Shot Of The Two Guys In Balaclaves With Weapons In Their Hand. Credits, Sound Hear a Gun Reloads. Next Shot Is The Other Guy Smashing the door in and saying everyoneee get down on the floor !!! Then Credits Come Saying Wavey Productions Present Snitches Get Stitches ! Music - Tension Building sound. etc