Home Grown Cinema: Shifty

Synopsis: Shifty is a fast pace film of the urban genre, about two friends who grew up on the outskirts of London. Years later shiftys life had changed dramatically now a crack cocaine dealer trying to survive, out smart rival dealers and eventually change. Chris, Shiftys childhood friend returns home years later, finally facing the mess he left behind. It's the most action packed 24hours of their lives.

The effects of sound on the moving image, to create 'meaning' through sound design

"Sound has a great power but is a conditional power. I places the image in a physical and emotional context, helping us to decide how to take image and how it integrates  itself into everything else".- Walter murch

Diegetic- narative, sound from within the scene. Non- diegetic- music to tell emotion, sound outside the scene.

Meeting Jeremy Thomas

Fortunately due to my wonderful teachers , I was given the amazing opportunity to meet, the very famous, proud to mention British film producer Jeremy Thomas! Some of the films he as produces are as follows: The Last Emperor (1987), Sexy Beast (2000), Rabbit Proof Fence (2002) and The dreamers (2003).
 Son of Gerald Thomas, so he grew up in the film industry which soon became his passion. Given a start in life, he was a rebel at school and dedicated all of his time towards film and making them. He was a very determined young boy who climbed his way to the top. He had won an Oscar for The Last Emperor, in total the film wining nine! It is a remarkable achievement one which everyone passionate about film making can only dream of!
 Listening to him speak was intriguing, simultaneously inspiring, you could almost feel his passion for films. He seemed very understanding towards being young and interested in film, he was down to earth, naturally poetic and as he said through his years of experience he was full of helpful quotes, he compared life to a journey in an air craft -" The plane takes off, you travel through the clouds where much doesn't seem clear, then finally you get through the clouds, and everything becomes clear again".Another quote he sheared with us speaking of life was as follows- "You drop a leaf into a river, and it (you) drift down the river meeting obstructions (and people) along the way".

The production chain

1. The pitch, finding someone to give money for the film.
2. Development, film scripts putting ideas together
3. Principal photography, filming, first day on set
4. Post-production, editing colouring etc
5. Sales agent, finds distributers
6. Distribution, the people who find exibeters- exaple: universal.
7. Exhibition, cinemas

Examining how light can be used to express meaning.

 " Light is everting. It expressses ideology, emotion, colour, depth, style. I can efface, narrate, describe. With lighting, the ugliest face, the most idiotic expression can radiate with beauty or intelligence." - Frederico Fellini, Director.

Today we were taight in depth about, reading lights. What we can tell from a scence by the use of lights. Light is used for the representation of ideology etc. Certain lighting aluminates the meaning of the scene and sets a particular tone, to help the audience understand the narrative of the film.

We also breifly touched upon a Feminist film theorist, Laura Mulvey.

Edgar Allen Poe

Stimuli for a horror, Poetry. This poem is a poem, about his beloved young wife who had been ill for a long time, and who had finally died from TB. The poem had clear emotion as this subject was the cause of Poe's depression and his heavy drink and drug problem, also his obsession with tainted love as he yearned for somebody to love and look after him. I beleive this would make a good starting point for a horror film!

In the greenest of our valleys
   By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace-
   Radiant palace- reared its head.
In the monarch Thought's dominion-
   It stood there!
Never seraph spread a pinion
   Over fabric half so fair!
Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
   On its roof did float and flow,
(This- all this- was in the olden
   Time long ago,)
And every gentle air that dallied,
   In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
   A winged odor went away.

Wanderers in that happy valley,
   Through two luminous windows, saw
Spirits moving musically,
   To a lute's well-tuned law,
Round about a throne where, sitting
   (Porphyrogene!)
In state his glory well-befitting,
   The ruler of the realm was seen.

And all with pearl and ruby glowing
   Was the fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,
   And sparkling evermore,
A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty
   Was but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
   The wit and wisdom of their king.

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
   Assailed the monarch's high estate.
(Ah, let us mourn!- for never morrow
   Shall dawn upon him desolate!)
And round about his home the glory
   That blushed and bloomed,
Is but a dim-remembered story
   Of the old time entombed.

And travellers, now, within that valley,
   Through the red-litten windows see
Vast forms, that move fantastically
   To a discordant melody,
While, like a ghastly rapid river,
   Through the pale door
A hideous throng rush out forever
   And laugh- but smile no more.

Méliès

The first director, also the accidental creator of film trickery. A trip to the moon, his masterpeice.