Representation

Being Human
0:03 - Pizza guy at the door, woman at the door is higher than him, looking down on him as if he is a lower class. Pizza boy is considered a poor job for the lower class as its a dirty job. Wearing some old clothes and looks miserable.
0:12 - POV shot from pizza boy. His head in the foreground (over the shoulder shot), looking up at the woman as if she is a higher class.
0:29 - Sitting down on sofa, small TV which suggests a lower classs. Dirty mugs everywhere, long shot showing the whole flat.
0:38 - Eating pizza out of the box which shows a slobby characteristic. Mid/long shotof the two sitting there looking up at the woman - suggesting a higher class.
0:45 - 0:47 - Character pointing out the dirty mugs; close up of mugs with quick change between the shot of the mugs > character > and back to the mugs.
0:54 - Man on the right wearing gloves and a tracksuit jacket inside, could suggest a lower class if its cold inside > cant affored heating so have to keep warm by wearing more clothes
0:59 - Eating pizza with mouth open which backs up the idea of a slobby characterisitc. Doesn't seem to care what he looks like, which could suggest a lower class.
1:12 - Finishes pizza and just leaves pizza on table. Isn't bothered about leaving a mess in his apartment.

The Soloist

• The cast is made up of well-known actors such as Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.
• The film was directed by Joe Wright and produced by Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff.
• The film was originally a book written by Steve Lopez.
• The film cost an estimated $60 million, with a gross of $31 million, so the film ended up being a loss.
• The production companies involved in The Soloist were; Dreamworks SKG, Universal Pictures and Studio canal.
• A quote from Rolling Stones says "In the end, The Soloist isn't about BIG MOMENTS, it's about grace notes, the kind that stay with you."

Hot Fuzz and This is England Comparison Essay

Hot Fuzz and This is England are both British films. Both films use British humour and iconography to attract there target audience.

Hot Fuzz is a film written by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. It was made in 2007 and consists of what is known as stock actors. Stock actors are actors are well known and are used again and again by the same director. The film is about how a top London cop (Nicholas Angel) is ‘promoted’ by his jealous colleagues to be sergeant in a small village called Sanford – a village that has won Village of the Year Award on multiple occasions. Angel believes it will be simple and boring, but little does he know Sanford is not what it seems.

This is England was made in 2006 and written my Shane Meadows. It’s about how a young boy, Shaun, finds his comfort in a group of skinheads. He is enjoying himself until Combo arrives on the scene and Shaun is faced with numerous problems. Unlike Hot Fuzz which uses stock actors, This is England uses actors that are less known. The actors chosen were based on their personality and stereotypes used in the film as opposed to their acting skill and previous work.

Iconography is a big aspect used to attract the British audience. The opening scene and montage sequence of Hot Fuzz uses many well-known British icons to catch the attention of the audience. For example,  actor Timothy Dalton is a well-known British actor after his run at playing James Bond for a couple of years. Jim Broadbent has also appeared in many well-known British films. Also, at the start of the film, you see a few red buses and London taxis - a common sight to see in London. A less obvious example of iconography is the number for the evidence room in Sandford police station is "999".This is the phone number to call for the emergency services in England - therefore adding a bit of humor to this certain part of the film. Sgt Angel’s police number is 777 which is a holy number. Like 666 is a reference to the devil, 777 is a reference to good - which relates to his last name being "Angel".

There are also some icons in This is England to make us 'feel' British and let us know that it is going to be a British film. There are aspects of the montage sequence that help relate to it being a British film. For example, a short clip of the Queen’s coronation and Princess Diana's wedding, with the Queen being one of the main icons of Britain back in the 80s and today.

Stereotypes are linked into iconography. Both films use iconography to portray aspects of stereotypes. In Hot Fuzz uses stereotypes to create its humor. It combines a hardcore London met police officer with and unbelievable record, and a village police station full of laid back police officers. They incorporate the stereotypical view of London police officers - hard, tough, strong, fast etc, to the common view of village police officers - laid back, lazy, not bothered about their job etc. Stereotypes are also used in This is England (but not for the purpose of humor.) They are played on in the film. The main stereotype in This is England is "skinheads" - a group of rough, tough, racist people who shave their heads and cause havoc. However, the skinheads in the film are different. They 'invite' Shaun into their group when they see him walking under the bridge unhappy.

Humor is a huge aspect of Hot Fuzz with it being a comedy film, but less for This is England. Hot Fuzz use stereotypes in the film to create humor. They use the stereotypical view of a London met police officer and play on it by "promoting" him to a Sergeant position but in a small village, instead of the promotion he would have wanted which would to become Sergeant and stay at the London met. This is because the other met officers are jealous that Angel is such a good police officer, and they want to get rid of him. A different example of humor is when Danny Butterman believes that London met officers are like police officers in a police officers in a game. He backs this up by asking Sergeant Angel if he has ever "jumped through the air whilst firing 2 guns." Hot Fuzz also uses a lot of one-liners or "catchphrases" to add to the humor. There is a scene in the film where Danny is telling Nicholas that he should say a one-liner after he does something cool, and later on when Angel does something cool, he says a one-liner and then quickly rushes off to tell Danny. There is less humor in This is England as it is not a comedy film. One of the humorous parts is that throughout the film, Shaun is shown to certain ‘adult’ aspects of life, despite only being 12 years old.

Both films incorporate the same aspects into their film to attract a British audience. Although the films are different genres and set at different times, the producers still manage to attract the British audience successfully.

Rushmore – Representation of Max Fischer

The montage sequence in Rushmore tells us a lot about Max. Firstly, we can see he participates in a lot of activities and is involved in a lot of clubs, with being a president and/or founder of a few. Throughout the montage, he is wearing his school uniform in almost every scene. This could suggest that he is proud of his school uniform, or, he can’t afford any other good quality attire, which could relate the statement about him being proud about his uniform. There are bees in a few of the scenes. Bees are always busy and are seen to be very important by helping plants to pollenate. The saying “the bees knees” could be used to describe Max. Bees are used throughout the montage sequence which could relate to something later on in the film. The first scene in the montage is showing that Max is editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and the publisher – suggesting that Max likes being the ‘top dog’ in the group. Also, on the football scene, Max is more interested in getting the shoes clean than watching the match. This shows that he is very dedicated to the job in hand and doesn’t get distracted easily. In a lot of the scenes – karate scene and go karting scene - he is seen with younger, littler kids than people his own age, which could suggest he doesn’t have many friends his own age. He also has a ‘companion’ following him round and helping him get on with his jobs. Overall, I wouldn’t say Max is a stereotypical teenager as he is interested in completely different things then the average teenage boy.

Warp Films Background Information

Warp films was set up in 1999 with funding from NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts.) It’s based in Sheffield, England and has 14 full-time staff. Warp Films is a sister company of Warp Records, which, is an independant English record label which was also founded in Sheffield in 1999.

Three of Shane Meadows’ films were released on Warp Films; Dead Man’s Shoes, This Is England and Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee. Some of Warp Films other realeases consist of; My Wrongs #8245-8249 & 117 directed by Chris Morris and also Grow Your Own, directed by Richard Laxton.

Shane Meadows Background Information

Shane Meadows was born on the 26^th December 1972 in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. He left school early before completing any GCSEs. Eventually, he came to make 30 short films with friends he met in Nottingham. However, none of these films were published as there were no film festivals in the village. Meadows went to study Performing Arts at Burton college, where he and his first met friend Paddy Considine, made a band called ‘She Talks To Angels.’

His directing skills have earned him a BAFTA award. Some of his work consists of ‘Somers Town’ in 2009, and ‘Once Upon A Time In The Midlands’ in 2002. Meadows has also directed some short films like ‘Valentine’ which is a music video, and also ‘Serious’ which is another promotional music video. One of his shortest films ‘The Stairwell’ was shot using a mobile phone and only lasted 40 seconds. His most famous work includes the film ‘This Is England’ which won the award British Independant Film Award 2006. Lately, he had realeased the new tv series ‘This Is England 86’ which follows on from the award winning film.

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Hot Fuzz Storyboard

Hot Fuzz Storyboard

The Man

• Homeless
• Tramp
• Dirty
• Smelly
• Unclean
• Cheap
• Dingy
• Foul
• Lousy