Mise en Scene: Riot Research

Costume

This is a picture of the considered costume for our main character laid out. We will be conforming to our research into the outfits of young females in British dramas by styling our character in shorts and a loose top. 

Frayed denim shorts: denim is a common material worn by most people; this shows how 'normal' she really is the frays around the edges suggest rebellious undertones, reflecting her personality and foreboding her actions later in the film.

T-shirt: a loose fitting t-shirt would be a common item to be worn by a teenager. The print of a unicorn on this particular tshirt would be related with fantasy and childness, suggesting her innocence.

Boots: These show she is young and edgy. Also, chunky boots may be associated with being rebellious but could also be seen as fashionable and are a common item worn by teenagers, again showing her normality.

Hoody:The hoody that the character puts on about half way through shows that she is trying to hide her identity. For this, we are conforming to the
'hoody culture' of rioters and styling the main character in a dark, plain typical kind of hoody. Using a branded hoody may suggest that she is better off than others even when taking bad actions and being part of a group.

Costume Inspiration

The main protagonist in our film is a young girl so we have taken inspiration for outfits from young female charachters in British dramas such as Effy from Skins and Alisha from Misfits. We aim to acheive a look not as grunge, punky and rebellious as Effy but showing more personality than the costume shown in the picture of Alisha.

We do not want our styling to give a particular rebellious look. Although the character is rioting, it is important that we give the impression she is well mannered and from a middle class stable family. She is rioting to follow the crowd, not to intentionally be rebellious.
It is important that this is shown through costume as it is a main feature in the opening that gives an impression of the character.


                                     

Acting Research

                                        


Our film opening will focus mainly on a female protagonist. In the opening we will follow her journey and watch her from the outset of things. 

We have chosen Cally as our actress as we feel she fits well with the character and could be similar to Laura Johnson who we have based the narrative on.

As Cally is a white female this subverts the convention that gang members are typically male, as well as going against the view that black males were mainly featured in the London riots.  

This photograph of Cally shows clearly her eyes which we are thinking of having as a close up in our opening before a montage of riot footage. Cally has blue eyes and possible connotations of blue are tranquillity and calmness, these qualities contrast with the scenes of violence which will be seen in our montage.

  

Cally is interested in Drama and has been involved in various acting projects so is a competent actress. This is great for our film opening and hopefully would make it appear much more professional and polished. Cally is well suited to the role and we look forward to filming with her.

 

Amy F

Sound Research

After researching the effective use of sound in urban dramas, I have found samples to demonstrate the various examples of sound:

Green Street Trailer (2005)

• fast-paced, tense music for chase scenes or those containing violence
• violence sound effects – punches, kicks, grunting, shouting, gangs, chanting, smashing (aggressive, animalistic, harsh)
• rock music
• voice over - intro (focus on character)
• crime - police cells closing, alarms
• dialect/accent - reflects location/lifestyle

Top Boy (Channel 4, 2011)

This trailer has a good example of R&B soundtrack and voiceover as introduction

Other information I found:

• violence sound effects – screaming, crying, swearing, gun shots
• orchestral/classical music
• need music to enhance emotions but not overcome action/ploy
• dubstep/grime/R&B -  modern/relatable/English/tense/lifestyle/ethnic
• riots - fire, smashing, violence
• gritty sounds e.g. running, footsteps, heavy breathing
• heavy metal music
• voice over to describe others
• course dialogue
• ambient noise of urban setting   à housing estates/roads/stations
• various sources of music ((non)-diegetic, headphones, through wall, open doorway
• conflicting music
• lyrics relate to story
• characters music relate to personality
• Brit pop (Trainspotting - themes = squalor)
• emotionally haunting but hard-hitting music dramatic, emotional scenes e.g. You Me At Six – When We Were Younger

Daisy