Monday 19 April 2010

Critical reaction
Writing in The Guardian, Miranda Sawyer called the film "a rollicking UK youth ride, cinematically filmed, persuasively acted and bumped along by a fantastic all-British soundtrack... It's also very funny, laced with a humour of the slapped-in-the-face-with-a-kipper sort: you can't help laughing because it's so outrageous".[2] Stephen Armstrong in The Times, however, said "the only people who should be shocked by this film are people who have never been teenagers. What Kidulthood does is take all the violence, sex and intoxication experienced in a teenage year and condense it into a single day, because that's far more marketable than a film about eight kids spending four hours sitting on the swings wondering what to do".[3] The Daily Mirror described it as being "as potent as a shot of vodka before breakfast - a harrowing, uncompromisingly bleak but thoughtful look at the anguish of being young and poor in Britain"
Production, Distribution and Exhibtion





Kidulthood had a production budget of £600,000. This budget was mostly provided by director Menhaj Huda and producer friend George Issac.Why would this film have found it difficult to get finance from a production company?Menhaj Huda directed the film 'Kidulthood' aiming for the finance target of budgeting the film at £800,000. Working with his friend George Issac Menhaj was able to get the total finance up to only 650,000, but he still thought this would be enough to make and produce the film. A problem that they would probably have come across was even though they were working with the production company 'Stealth', this was going to be their first movie, and exhibition companies wouldn't know how the film was goin to turn out.Another problem that Menhaj would have come across that because his budget was lower than he thought after paying the writer's fee, the producer's fee, and some legal fees, he had to make cuts elsewhere. "We decided to shoot on 35mm and finish on High Definition, so if the film was a complete pile of rubbish we wouldn't be wasting money on getting a print". By doing this the quality of the film wouldn't be as good if they had the higher budget, but it would have been cheaper this way definately for them if the film was a flop and didn't make any money.

Friday 16 October 2009




Both of these images show destruction among America, and both give out quite shocking and Strong views about America.
An example of this is in the first image it shows the statue of liberty, which in America shows to them and also is a symbol of their independence. But then if you look in the background you see the happenings of the 9/11 attack. This in itself has a very controversial meaning as the statue shows their independence and shows that they can be a Strong country in itself, but then in the background it shows how that was taken away from then in a matter of hours. But the way the photographer has obviously emphasized the statue shows that even though these happenings went on that they are still strong, and this shall not effect them. But the natural thing about it is that they have left it so people can still see that their country always will have people trying to corrupt their country. So with all that i believe that this photograph is trying to show both independence and also a great deal of strength.
In the second picture it shows Pentagon the ministry of defense which was also hit in connection with the 9/11 attack. But then in the background they have somehow shown the White house which as we all know where the American government is. This shows two views to me. On the one hand it could be asking us a question which would be is the government a target, as they have shown the disruption of the Pentagon and shown in the background the White House.
And then this could mean a totally different view all together. Showing the Whit house in the background could tell us that who ever took this photo thinks that the Government is to blame for all of this, and almost that the Government is very corrupt in way, as to let things come to that sacrifice of your own country is very selfish in way. And also could be asking us is the Government a suspect for these happenings, and where they involved like some conspiracies are saying.
So in comparison these two images could in way show two different sides to America, as the first image is trying to show how independent, strong they are. Also how they will stick together through anything. But then in the second image it may show how the Government is corrupt and how they put themselves before the individuals in the country, which then shows a totally different side to America which is selfishness, corruption and no togetherness at all.
Both of these images include semiotics as they both seem to bring to our attention symbols of America, for example the Statue of Liberty as this is a symbol of Americas independence. Then the White House is a symbol of Americas Government and their power. And both of these semiotics are enhanced by changing the lighting around both the Statue Of Liberty and The White House.
When looking at the first photo you can see that The Statue Of Liberty has been enhanced in many other ways. For example its noticeable that this image has been changed and altered, and this could have been done by removing some of the smoke that would have been surrounding the Statue Of Liberty before.
And then in the image of the White House changes may not be so noticeable, but there may have been some alters to the actually White House. This could be to give out a message about the Government and how it could be corrupt.

Monday 12 October 2009

Academy leader - a leader placed at the head of release prints containing information for the projectionist and featuring numbers which are black on a clear background, counting from 11 to 3 at 16 frame intervals (see SMPTE leader).

Big Close-up - a shot taken very close to the subject (closer than would be necessary for a close-up), revealing extreme detail. (i.e., part of the human face)

Bridging shot - a shot (cut) used to cover a break in time, or other break in continuity.

Clapper - the sticks that are slapped together in view of the camera for the purpose of synchronizing film sound. These are usually, but not always, attached to the slate and appear at the head or tail of a sync sound take.

Close-up - a shot taken very close to the subject ( or with the subject of the shot very large in the frame), revealing a detail only. (i.e., the human face, or hands).

Coding - once the workprint and sound stock (mag) have been placed in sync, the rolls are coded with matching yellow edge numbers so they can be matched up later once they have been cut up into pieces.

Conforming - the cutting of the OCN to match the final cut of a film.

Contact print - a print made in a contact printer where the original element and duplicate element actually are pressed together at the point of expose (no lens involved). Workprints and "dirty dupes" are made this way.

Continuity of motion - the flow of action from one shot to the next as it is placed on the screen at the cut point. Placing the significant action at the end of a shot in the same area of the screen where the significant action will begin in the next shot.

Cross-cut - the intercutting of shots from two or more scenes so the fragments of each scene will be presented to the viewers attention alternately. - see parallel action

Cut - in editing, a single unbroken strip of film

Dissolve - a gradual merging of the end of one shot and beginning of another produced by the superimposition of a fade-out onto a fade-in of equal length.

Dolly shot - a shot taken while the camera is in motion on a dolly.

Dupe negative - a negative element printed from a positive print (an inter-positive). Release prints are printed from a dupe negative.

Establishing shot - a shot used near the beginning of a scene to establish the inter-relationship of details to be shown subsequently in closer shots.

Fade-in - 1 a shot which begins in total darkness and gradually lightens to full brightness. 2. (v.) To gradually bring sound from inaudibility to required volume.

Fade-out - the opposite of a fade-in.

Inter-positive print - a fine grain print made from the conformed original negative which retains the orange cast of the OCN. The IP is used to produce subsequent dupe negatives.

Jump cut - A cut which breaks the continuity of time by jumping forward from one part of an action to another.

KeyKode - an extension of the latent edge numbers whereby each frame is given a number. These numbers are recorded as a barcode on the negative and can be read by a special reader in the lab or transfer house.

Lab roll - rolls of OCN compiled by the lab for printing which may consist of several camera rolls.

Latent edge numbers - numbers that are printed onto the edge of the negative by the manufacturer. These numbers print through onto the workprint and are used by the negative matchers (conformers) to match the OCN to the final cut of the picture.

Legal effects - the lengths for fades and dissolves which can be executed by most printers (16, 24, 32, 48, 64 and 96 frames).

Library shot - a shot used in a film, but not originally taken for that film.
Long shot (abbr. LS) - a shot taken from a considerable distance. Often the LS serves as an establishing shot. (i.e., a human figure taken so it is shorter than the height of the screen)

Master shot - a shot which covers an entire piece of dramatic action (usually a long shot, or wide shot).

Medium close-up - a shot between a MS and a CU. (i.e., a human figure taken from the chest up)

Medium shot - a shot between a LS and a MCU (i.e.,. a human figure taken from the waist up)
Montage - 1) the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated shots or scenes which, when combined, achieve meaning (as in, shot A and shot B together give rise to an third idea, which is then supported by shot C, and so on), or 2) a series of related shots which lead the viewer to a desired conclusion (as in, shot A leads to shot B leads to shot C... leads to shot X; shot X being the outcome of the sequence).

Parallel action - a device of narrative construction in which the development of two pieces of action are presented simultaneously.

Sequence - a series of shots or scenes which has a beginning, middle and end (like a chapter in a book).

Shot - a recording of a single take.

Sync pop - a single frame tone placed on the sound track so as to correspond with the "2" frame on the SMPTE leader.

Tilt - to turn or rotate the camera up or down in shooting.

Timing - the process of adjusting the color balance for the printing of each scene once the negative has been conformed. (also called grading)

Thursday 24 September 2009

Thursday 17 September 2009

Media Manifesto

I would Say That I am A Positive Stundent Towards the subjects i am passionate about. but i also i feel i coud be lazt but i always try to motivate myself.In My GCSEs i got a A in photography, which i was very pleased about because i love photography. i then got a B in textiles, i was pleasantly suprised with that as i didnt think i did as well in my exam. i then got two Cs in english and i was really, really pleased because i wanted to do it in Alevel and also i wanted to prove that i could pass. i then fot all Ds, which i was quite upset about.The reason why i choose media as i am kinda unsure about what id want to do as a career and i am sure i want to do photography but i am hoping media will maybe give me ideas to what way i could go in the media. and i have always found media interesting.
The targets i am going to try and set myself is to be much more motivated when i have to do course work outside of the classroom. and to also learn mpre in the lessons i have choosen!
compared to default text.