Representation of race in 'The Bill'

The use of editing in this extract of ‘The Bill’ presents the idea that in multicultural societies, though racism does occur, there can be equality, especially in official environments such as the police station while still being aware of and acknowledging the races of others. This is mainly conveyed through the juxtaposition and sequencing of camera shots together displaying interactions between characters of varying racial backgrounds.

The editing of shots together in the main interviewing sequence also presents the view of the law enforcement as an accepting area, and the support of equality between races. The scene begins with a close up of the Asian girl and her father, whose turban is an example of the mise-en-scene being used to clearly display racial and religious background. She is in the foreground, displaying the focus of attention on during the interview. This shot is alternated with an opposing shot of the two police officers. The shots, though of opposite sides and presenting different levels of authority, are equally levelled and therefore convey a form of impartiality towards race. The focus appears to be around the dynamic of the police officers and the girl being interviewed, even though the dialogue is discussing race.

The sequencing of the shots in the beginning of this extract juxtaposes the different positioning of the characters. An Asian young woman is positioned lower than the two police officers, which establishes her as in less of a position of authority. However, the following longer shot with more natural movement shows her standing and moving between the police officers, conveying her confidence while discussing her race. As panning, rather than cutting is used from the Asian girl to the female police officer, who is also Asian, with the white male character positioned between them, this could signify that he is unwilling to be involved. This is supported by the fact that he only speaks when the Asian girl being questioned leaves the room. This could present the idea that the two Asian female characters may be more comfortable communicating with each other; a possible suggestion that we relate to those of the same race to us a greater extent.

However, the introduction of a series of short over the shoulder shots between the Asian girl and the white male police officer become more fast paced, building the intensity of the debate between them. This creates a focus on the conflict between the two characters of different races as only they are in frame in these shots. However, the end of their argument is followed by a close up and positive reaction shot of the Asian female police officer and the pace of the shots slows again, staying on the Asian girls face as the man states that he doesn’t “do racism.” Though the girl is still visibly annoyed, the decrease in the pace of shots after their conflict reflects her acceptance that it is an equal environment.

The sound of the Asian girl’s dialogue describing racism that she has suffered is overlaid on a close up shot panning towards the Asian police officer. This clearly displays her reaction as sympathetic to the girl and the focus on her character suggests that she may relate to the girl’s situation. The juxtaposition of two close ups displaying the police officers looking to the side at each other while the white male officer says “interracial harmony” could demonstrate their acknowledgment of the difference in their races but also their continued acceptance and the equality between each other. However, it could alternatively and less positively display the separation felt between each other due to prejudice based on race, as two separate shots are used consecutively rather than one, more unified shot of them both framed together.

In conclusion, while the Asian girl in this extract frequently discusses racial prejudice, the white male character dismisses these claims, which is supported by the use of alternating shots of all characters on an equal levelled positioning. However, as the white male character is displayed as an authoritative presence (for example ending the argument successfully), his views towards race are generally presented as correct, even though his perspective may be affected by his white privilege and the white normative societal view.

Logo for film opening

This is the logo we are going to use at the beginning of our film opening, before the opening title card and credits. Production company logos always appear at the start of films, with usually multiple logos displayed (we may create more for our final draft). This will give our film opening more authenticity.

Titlecard

The titlecard from my previous post was a basic use of Microsoft paint and fonts downloaded from the internet. To make the titlecard more interesting and more engaging to the audience, I have experimented with adding some images to it.

I have added an increasing number of bullet hole images that I found on the internet to the titlecard. This could possibly be used with sound effects, with each version shown after the other to create the impression of shots fired. As the images, which I edited to improve how they looked (e.g. edited out website logos and corrected by size), are of bullet holes through glass, this relates to the presentation of the film on a screen, making the opening more interactive to the audience. It also closely relates to the genre of westerns and the red lettering used for the word 'cowboy' which has connotation of blood and violence, reflecting the aspects of horror.

This is an example of the images I found on the internet from websites such as gettyimages.com and shuttershock.com. I then edited them into my previous titlecard. This is the progression of each one:

Film Opening - Sound

We looked at a range of sund effects and techniques and we have come to a decision to use the following sounds:
. Heartbeat effect
. Breathing effect
. Zombie growl effect
. Car alarm effect
. Footsteps effect
. Ecstasy of Gold (Music)

We decided to use these effects as we studied many zombie films (EG. Shaun of the dead, Dawn of the dead, Zombieland, 28 Days Later) And we also studied some westerns (EG. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Magnificent Seven, Fistfull of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, Paint Your Wagon.) And we analysed common sound motifs used in these genres. We wanted to base our film in the modern era, and to use mostly zombie film style sound effects, however we decided on the western style music to combine the two genres. The zombie sound effects are generally used in zombie horror movies to create fear in the audience, though in our film opening the desired effect is more based around comedy due to the ridiculousness of the combined genres. These effects will build the intensity of the opening until the comedic payoff of the slow moving zombies.
We decided to use the song Ecstasy of Gold as part of our soundtrack and also looked at the differences between soundtracks and musical scores. Soundtracks are made up of various found songs from different artists and sources, while scores are originally composed for the film. The style of the score will generally be based around the genre of the film.
We decided to use our effects as sound bridges and form a soundscape over footage of the little guy running.

These sounds will work as anchorage, to inform the viewer of the modern context, while including an underlying western theme, combined will common features of a zombie film.

Sound mind map



This.

Westerns are dead. Like zombies. Oh, the irony.  

Filming schedule

Shoot film: 26th October (2pm - Summertown)

Reserve filming date: 30th October (2pm - Summertown)

Editing: 29th November (My house after school)

We managed our time effectively by creating a group thread on facebook, to see when our whole cast was available. Originally we were considering filming on 28th October, however we had to change our date due to unavailability (A father's birthday.)

We planned a reserve date for filliming incase we didn't finish filming on our in
itial date, or if we had to cancel for whatever reason. Upon uploading our footage to my computer we discovered a shot missing, so on 30th we filmed that shot and all was well.

We have each worked on individual pieces of editing/typography/music, and on 29th November we are going to combine our work and hopefully finish our film opening. :)

Location for film opening

We have taken some photos of the location that we have chosen to shoot our film opening in.

This is the road we chose to film on. It has the lamp post that we needed, some rails for zombies to swipe at the, little guy through, and our shots can be framed by the trees and buildings on either side.

These railings will be where the zombies first target the little guy.

This is where the little guy runs into a post during the zombie-chase sequence.

The area we are using is the road next to the South Site carpark. 

Props for film opening

These are some Western style items of clothing that we based our costumes on for our film opening.

We used fake blood to give a zombie-esque quality to the the make up of our cast.

Posters for mise-en-scene

These are an example of some posters that we used when filming. As our film opening was set in a zombie apocalypse setting, we used these to make the mise en scene more believable and to foreshadow to the audience what was going to happen to the Little Guy (zombie attack). We used our school as a location as we thought that using a familiar and recognisable location would make the beginning (before the comedic elements of the film) scarier and more tense, as it is a threat occurring in a place our demographic would know well.

Typography in the title card

This is a potential title card for our film opening. I used the fonts that I had experimented with in an earlier post but edited them onto Microsoft Paint. As the background is now black, similar to the title card of Dawn of the Dead, I changed the colour of the words to red, white and gray so they would be visible. I chose these colours because of the connotations with blood and the contrast white has with red. I used grey for the 'and' to make it more neutral and as close to the background while still visible as possible so the other two words would stand out more.
The other set of writing will be edited onto the film opening over shots rather than in a title card as to keep the action in the film flowing without being broken up too much by titlecards. I used the same fonts to continue the theme though different colouring to make it stand out more.

Our film opening (in reference to mark scheme and other films)

We have filmed most of the footage for our Western and horror based film opening, involving a character being attacked by zombies and rescued by another. To do this well we looked at film openings in these genres and looked at the construction section of our mark scheme so we know what we had to include:

To create a believable location for our zombie apocalypse setting, we added to the mise-en-scene. We chose to film it on the road by our school as it was easily accessible to everyone and gave us an urban setting with wide open spaces (school field) as is similarly seen in Western films. The location and mise-en-scene of John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ was influential to us, as it begins with an incredibly wide and barren landscape with an unknown threat within it. This influenced us at the start of our film opening, using long shots of our main character in the road before switching to close ups. ‘The Thing’ was influenced by Westerns (as written about in this article) in its imagery and directorial style, though it is a horror-alien film, similar to ours. 

““The Thing” is a remake of another Howard Hawks film, and while it may take place in the arctic, and may have a villain of a shape-shifting alien, it’s following once again the “Rio Bravo” structure. Tough men in a small place defending themselves from an obviously evil outside force. They may have technology at their disposal, but they use dynamite and fire as their main weapons. It’s tough and gritty in certain ways. And, knowing Carpenter, most likely influenced by the cowboys”

'The Thing' - opening location and mise en scene

We made and printed out zombie warning posters to put in the mise-en-scene to foreshadow the threat of the film before the zombies are revealed. This was an attempt the make the atmosphere more unsettling, as a paranormal threat in a familiar setting such as the school would be more unnerving and closely based in reality.

We varied between holding the camera steady and moving with it fast, depending on the action of the character. The more shaky effect as the Little Guy runs at the beginning should emphasise his need to escape the zombies quickly. We also used static shots when filming the range of close ups of the zombies at varying lengths to highlight the Western technical influence, inspired by stylised Spaghetti Westerns such as Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy. We mainly tried to stay as close to the storyboard as possible to so we would get the shots that we needed to edit it together smoothly and stick to the narrative beginning.

Closeups on poster for 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'

The most significant instance of framing the shots was when the two zombies begin to slowly move towards the Little Guy’s unconscious body because a variety of close ups on the characters had been building up to the wider shot. As the scene is based on horror style Western showdowns between two characters, the symmetry of the shot was important. Placing the Little Guy in the middle of the shot between the two zombies at the edge of the image showed that the LG is what both were aiming for.

When we have got the rest of the footage, we will focus on editing, adding typography and matching the images to music to add to the horror-Western theme.



Visual planning

Story board for the film opening by Rosie


This story board is very useful, as it clearly shows what will be in each shot (including the mise en scene) and gives a written description of which shots we should use. Sticking to this storyboard helps use get the footage we need to maintain the narrative.

Music for film opening

The music we will use has to be western themed, but become intense fairly quickly to correspond with the zombies and their battle. Ideally the music would be fairly dark to give zombie-esque qualities, and should also have a pause for the establishing shot in which the 2 zombie begin to shuffle towards each other. (But that is very specific, so it is unlikely that I will find something exactly right, and will have to make do with whatever I can find.)


I listened to many western film scores on you-tube, but I have narrowed my choices down to these two: 

The first video, "A Fistfull Of Dollars" is also by Ennio Morricone, and is much more traditionally western, however I think the second song would fit out film opening much better.

I prefer the second one as not only does it sound much more zombie-esque, while still being originally western,  but it provides a good link to the modern themes that our opening includes. Zombie films are a fairly modern concept, so using this will blend the modern zombie aspects with the old western themes much more effectively. This song was originally composed by Ennio Morricone for the film, "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", however Metallica have done a cover of it and used it extensively in their concerts. There is also a suitable pause in this song before the heavier guitar comes in, which could be used to our advantage. 

(Music research by Rosie!)