assignment 5 redraft
TRANSCRIPT
ASSIGNMENT 5: FILM STUDY &
CONVENTIONS IN A FILM
B Y M O N A E - C O L O U R B L U E
&
N I C O L E - C O L O U R R E D
E D I T I N G D O N E T O G E T H E R
FREEDOM WRITERS
•Racial conflict
•The film is about teens
•Students going through a hard time in life
•A struggle but shows you can succeed
•Negative stereotypes
•Aspects of poverty and racism
•Can relate to troubles and stress of school
GENRE: DRAMA
• The main genre Freedom Writers falls under is
drama.
• That is because of the serious issues involved
Such as:
• Poverty
• Domestic violence
• Racism
• Death.
Subgenre Evidence
Tragedy drama • Little boy accidently shooting himself.
• Paco shot dead in the corner shop
Romance drama • Mrs Gruwell & her husband.
• Ending in divorce.
Crime drama • Gun crime.
• Growing up witnessing shootings.
Historical drama • The holocaust museum
• The woman that hid Anne Frank
The hybrids included in Freedom Writers are:
Courtroom
Historical
Domestic violence
Freedom Writers defined under
Budget based, racial identity,
the location, story content
• Ethnicity focus: the characters
of all different races (e.g. Latino,
black etc.)
• Budget: $21,000,000
(estimated)
• Well known actress Hilary
Swank seen in more serious
films
MITTELS THEORY
Mittel‟s theory is that genre is uses codes and conventions to sell
products.
I can agree because:
Racial prejudice is portrayed
Based on a true story „The Freedom Writers Diary‟
Based on a book
Examples of this genre
Dangerous Minds (ex-marine teacher struggles to connect with
her students in an inner city school)
Take the Lead (the real story of a dance teacher who believed in
the talent of a group of problem kids)
SEMANTICS
Characters White middle class character
Troubled teens
Different ethnicity groups
Story trait Teacher facing “Un-teachable, at-
risk” teenagers
Teens witnessing shootings,
murders of random people or of
friends and family
Shows different categorisation
The influence of Negative
stereotype given to them
A key to freedom
Turn their life around
SEMANTICS
Location Real-life settings of the ghetto
Shootings near a shop
At high school
Courtrooms
Jail
Balcony/home
Costume Loose, street like clothing
Teachers smartly dressed
girls dressed similar to the boys
male teenagers giving a
negative connotation
Props Weapons, such as knives and
guns (strengthen the negative
views).
Classroom props such as
tables, chairs and a board etc.
SYNTAX
• The syntax of the film is that the power of one person can
have a good impact on everyone else.
• Also that everyone has and will make the wrong decisions,
you just have to learn from them.
- In addition, the “Toast For Change” scene is very bright with all the natural lighting
involved from the outside. It also has quite bright colours in this scene grab. Blue
representing nature, calm, and fresh and yellow representing bright, happiness and
summer.
Natural lighting bounces
of Eva‟s face
Lighting creates
shadow to seem
sorrowful
Darker
background
to show
•Intensity
•Hidden
•Enclosure
This was a close up shot
to show Eva facial
expression
CONVENTIONSConventions of genre/sub/hybrid Examples from range of real films
Students disrespecting teachers The Breakfast Club. Out smarting the
teacher.
Poverty Slumdog Millionaire – The kids grew up in
poverty
Stereotypes of individuals Philadelphia – The man with aids was
stereotyped
Family loyalty My Sister‟s Keeper – Family helped her,
through her battle with cancer.
Sticking with your gangs The Godfather – You need to stick together.
Racism The Secret Life Of Bees. – The black boy
getting arrested for being with a white girl.
Racial prejudice Crash
A struggling relationship The Time Travellers Wife
Character dealing with a problem Pursuit of Happiness
CONVENTIONS ANALYSIS
Conventions of
genre/sub/hybrid
Examples from your film
(bullet points and
screen grabs)
Comparison to other
films in the same
genre/sub/hybrid?
Racial prejudice White characters
have higher authority
Eva‟s dad being
arrested
Crash – White cop shots
a black guy for reaching
into his pocket.
(Thinking he had a gun.)
…
Conventions of
genre/sub/hybrid
Examples from your
film
(bullet points and
screen grabs)
Comparison to other
films in the same
genre/sub/hybrid?
A struggling
relationship
Ms Gruwuell
relationship with her
husband
Struggling
relationship with
students at first
One of the black
characters with his
mum
The Hunger Games –
Peeta exposing his
feelings for Katniss on
national tv.
Katniss not fully
returning his feelings.
…
Conventions of
genre/sub/hybrid
Examples from your film
(bullet points and
screen grabs)
Comparison to other
films in the same
genre/sub/hybrid?
Character dealing with a
problem
Eva‟s dad in prison
Black female
character gets
beaten by her dad
Being kicked out.
Pursuit of Happiness –
The man is homeless,
broke and has a child to
look after.
CONVENTIONS ANALYSIS
Conventions of
genre/sub/hybrid
Examples from your film
(bullet points and
screen grabs)
Comparison to other
films in the same
genre/sub/hybrid?
Racism -Separated in to their
racial groups in the
classroom
-Gangs sticking to their
own race
-When the black boy
gets an insulting picture
passed around the
classroom.
The Secrete Life of
Bees.
………..Conventions of
genre/sub/hybrid
Examples from your film
(bullet points and screen
grabs)
Comparison to other films in
the same
genre/sub/hybrid?
Students disrespecting
teachers
Students stating that they will
not have respect for his
teacher just because she is a
teacher. She has to earn it.
The Breakfast Club.
Out smarting the teacher.
Ignoring his rules.
………..
Conventions of
genre/sub/hybrid
Examples from your film
(bullet points and
screen grabs)
Comparison to other
films in the same
genre/sub/hybrid?
Stereotypes of
individuals
Because they were form
the lower class, the
head of department
looked down on them.
Philadelphia – The man
with aids was
stereotyped
DOMINANT IDEOLOGY
Details of
audience
Target
audience
Secondary
Audience
Explanation of why they would be
attracted to watch the film
Age 13-19 20-40 Its about education / the star of the film.
Gender Girls Boys The violence within the film may attract
them.
Ethnicity Mixture
(Blacks,
Latinos,
Asians)
White The target audience may be attracted as its
about their backgrounds. The secondary
audience may be attracted to see how
different white people portray themselves
to other.
AudienceDetails of audience Target audience Secondary
Audience
Explanation of why they
would be attracted to
watch the film
Social class •Lower class
•working class
•lower middle class
•upper middle class
Upper class -Variety of classes shows
mixture of opinion
-Can change how different
classes think
Social group •Young boys (gang
members)
•hippies
•Chavs
•Punks
-Attracted to gangs, violence,
drugs and life
-Shows the hard way of living
-Shows you can achieve no
matter what your story was
Sexual orientation Straight •Lesbians
•Gays
•bisexuals
- May be of their interest
Profession/ Role •Students
•Teachers
• Parents
• Workers
• Historical
People
•Related to their life
•A good message from the
film
•Educate them
Reasons why people watch the film Explanation
Entertainment - In their holiday they began to make their
changes, for example:
Moving back in with the mum
Throwing the gun away
Telling the truth in court
- They are breaking free from the old
them.
- Making a better person out of
themselves to get out of the
stereotypes.
Reasons why people watch the
film
Explanation
Personal Identity - The characters are from different
backgrounds
- They all share different norms and
values within their culture
- They tend to look after their own
Reasons why people watch the
film
Explanation
Integration & social interaction • It‟s about different races.
• Those different races would most
likely come together to discuss
the film.