Channel 4 Remit

1) One similarity between Channel 4 and an independent film production company is that they demonstrate innovation, and they experiment with different narratives. Also both companies appeal to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society by showing media which a lot of people would like to watch.

2) One Channel 4 gained the ability to sell their own advertising space I think they started to change the programmes on the channel and started to become very different. More acquisitioned programmes have been introduced, such as Friends and ER.

3) Channel 4 lead to innovations because they started showing documentaries, now all the British Terrestrial TV Channels have some form of a documentary showed. Also they showed programmes with scenes of homosexuality which was very controversial, this lead to other channels showing programmes of similar material.

4) Channel 4 has strayed from the remit by not including programmes of an educational nature or value. Although they show documentaries they do not have any educational values due to the nature of the programmes, such as "The World's Biggest Penis."

5) I think Channel 4's factual programmes do not have the same educational value as the educational programmes from 25 years ago. 25 years ago programmes were shown which had some form of educational value but these days there is hardly any shows with any educational value.

6) I think Channel 4 does still keep to some aspects of the remit. They have some programmes which show innovation, creativity and experiment. Programmes that show this are "Scrapheap Challenge, Wife Swap and Friends."

7) Channel 4's ownership of Film 4 Productions is an example of vertical integration. This is because Channel 4 does not produce any of it's own shows, they either pay for a company to produce the shows (commission) or pay a company for the rights to broadcast the programme (acquisition).

Fantasy Film Making Part 1

The Betrayal

In the lesson, each group was told to pick a piece of paper from each category, and my group picked out the production company of Brasso Films + Partners, the budget of £0 and a scenario of. "A rough drama about a young African immigrant growing up in London's gang culture.

Synopsis

A young boy comes from Africa for a better life, but it isn't as he expected. Shortly after he arrives he finds out where his uncle lives. A little while after moving into his uncle's house, his uncle starts to abuse him which drives him to leave, and with nowhere else to stay, live on the streets.

He starts shoplifting so that he can survive, a local gang witness his shoplifting and decide that the could have him in their gang. To initiate him into the gang, the gang members challenge the boy to stab someone. With the amount of peer pressure building up, he agrees to stab a person. A month after the stabbing, the gang set up a robbery, where the young African immigrant is betrayed by the gang.

Location/Sets

The first location that will be used in the film is my garage. This will be used as the bedroom in the uncle's house. Only the garage will be seen as part of the uncle's house, this is to give the viewer a feel of what the rest of the house could be.
The second location will be Nisa Local/Grove. This will be used to stage the shoplifting scene where gang confronts him. This is a shop which is owned by a friend's dad.
The third location will be Goodmayes Park. This will be used for the scene where the stabbing takes place.
The fourth location will be Amanveer's house. This is where the robbery is going to take place.
The fifth location will be at the end of Amanveer's road. This is just after the gang betray the young boy, and where he is caught by a police officer.
The total costs for sets and locations are £0.

Characters and Actors

The main character in the film is David, he is the young immigrant from Africa trying to survive on London but gets caught up in the gang life. He will be played by a friend called Alex.
David's uncle is called Trevor, he abuses David when he comes to stay at his house. He will be played by a friend called Dami.
One member of the gang that approaches David is called Sean. He is the leader of the gang. He will be played by a friend called Orlstyne.
Another member of the gang is called Paul. He will be played by a friend called Dilip.
The police officer that arrests David is called Pc Phillipson. He will be played by Mr Phillipson.
The total costs for the actors are £0.

Music

The theme music for the opening sequence of the film are African drums. The artists of this are me and Amanveer.
When David arrives at his uncle's house African drums will also be played. The artists of this are me and Amanveer.
A competition will be held for 3 other pieces of music which will be involved in the film. One piece of the music held when the gang approach David outside the shop and another when the robbery is taking place. The last piece of music will be played when David gets arrested, but sirens will also be used in the background. The artists of these pieces of music will be the competition winners.
The total costs for music are £0

Budget Review

The budget for the film is £0
The total cost for sets and locations are £0
The total costs for actors are £0
The total costs for music is £0
The remaining budget is £0

Target Audience

The age range of the target audience is 13-20. This is because these are the main ages for gang crime and I think if young people can understand why they shouldn't go into gangs, this can help.
The main gender for this film are males. This is because the majority of gang members are males.
The interests/film consumption I will be aiming my films at are teenagers who watch films such as Kidulthood and Adulthood. These are good examples because they also look at the negatives of gang crime.
There is so main ethnicity that my film is aimed at because gang members are from many different cultures.
The location which I would like to aim my film at is London. This is because there is a huge number of gangs in London, and if the consequences of gang crime are publicised more, I think teenagers will think twice before the go into a gang.

I think my film will represent Britishness by showing the culture of gang crime, and the consequences of being in a gang. Also the majority of the actors involved are British, which also brings the aspect of Britishness into it.

The Handover

Comparative Analysis

Introduction

The two films that I will be looking at are Four Brothers and Kill Bill: Vol.1. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is the independent film of the two. The director of the film is Quentin Tarantino, who is known to make/direct films using actors and actresses that would not usually work together. One of the main companies involved in the production is Miramax Films. In this essay I will be looking for the differences or similarities between the two films using these factors:
Actors/Characters
Sound (Dialogue and Music)
Camerawork
Editing
Mise-en-scene (Location, props etc.)

Actors/Characters

In Four Brothers, the actors/characters involved in the film were chosen very carefully. The stereotype of brothers is that the youngest never gets to do what the older brothers are doing, and in this film it is shown like this as the younger brother doesn't get to use guns like the older brothers. In Kill Bill: Vol.1, Uma Thurman the main character known as "The Bride" plays the character of a lady looking for revenge as she is beaten up close to death. Although the two stories of revenge are different, the characters in each film play with similarities as they do not have any limits until they get their revenge.

Sound

In Kill Bill Vol.1, most of the music used is very dramatic because the scenes involve a lot of action, and the music increases the atmosphere for the person watching the film. Also there are some moments in the film where slow music is played where "The Bride" is injured and in hospital. In Four Brothers there is a variety of music that is used. When the mother is murdered, there is slow music that is played to help the person watching the film to feel the atmosphere, which is very similar to Kill Bill. There is also music used in some parts of the action scenes which is also similar to Kill Bill. There are many similarities in sound because both films are in the same genre and the storyline of revenge ensures this.

Camerawork

In Four Brothers the camerawork is very complex because there are scenes which would be hard to film. For example there is a scene in the film where there is a car chase, and with it being very slippery due to snow it must have been very hard for them to film. In Kill Bill, there are also some complex scenes that have been filmed. For example, the scene where "The Bride" comes to find O-Ren Ishii and then her gang The Crazy 88's try to fight her off but do not succeed. This is a complex scene to film as the fight is filmed on many different levels. There are similarities of the camerawork from both films as they both have very complex scenes throughout each film.

Editing

The editing involved in Kill Bill Vol. 1 is not complex at all. The only main part of editing involved is where The Crazy 88's and "The Bride" have their battle. There is so much blood in the scene that the editors decided to turn the battle into a black and white scene. In Four Brothers there are no editing effects which are added to the film, this makes it look more real and gives the person watching the film a better feeling of the film.

Mise-En-Scene

In Four Brothers the locations used in the film are mainly based around Detroit, USA. This is because this is a city which has a high gun crime rate, which brings reality into the film once again. Also the producers used another reality factor, where "Victor Sweet" dominates the majority of the city, which also happens in a lot of cities in USA. The main props being used in Four Brothers are guns, this is due to the nature of the film. Also there are a lot of cars being used in the film too, which shows a high budget involved in the production of the film. In Kill Bill Vol. 1 the main location is Japan, this is where O-Ren Ishii is located and the battle dominates the majority of the film. The main props that are used are swords, this is because "The Bride" and O-Ren Ishii are trained sword fighters when they meet each other. Another main prop that is used are costumes. Most of the characters involved in the film have their own costume, apart from The Crazy 88's, this helps the viewer to distinguish each character.

Conclusion

To conclude this essay, I can see that between both films, there are similarities, and although Miramax (Producers of Kill Bill Vol. 1) had a bigger budget, I believe that Paramount (Producers of Four Brothers) were the better producers and put their budget to good use. I think looking back at the factors which I have stated in the introduction, Four Brothers was the better film, because of the difficult situations in the film and how the producers coped with it.