Deconstrutcion of Urban Drama

Urban Drama

• Urban dramas are known for their realistic interpretation of society and their ability to express social issues.
• Urban Drama films started in the later 1980's and started hitting the mainstream in the 00's.
• Stereo-typically most urban dramas are set as 'Hood Films' which show the media's interpretation of the 'Black Culture' which explicitly involves aspects of urban such as: gangs, rap, drugs, racism, violence and profanity.

Some examples of Urban Dramas are: 

• Bullet boy
• 8 Mile
• Kidulthood
• Adulthood
• Victim 
• Straight Outta Compton

                                                         

                                                           

Common Conventions 

• Often multi racial cast (Commonly Black)
• Class, status and ethnicity is usually a theme.
• Usually located in urban areas, often rundown (Ghetto)
• Usually speak in slang.

Panic in needle park inspiration

The Panic in Needle Park

This movie is a stark portrayal of life among a group of heroin addicts who hang out in "Needle Park" in New York City. Played against this setting is a low-key love story between Bobby, a young addict and small-time hustler, and Helen, a homeless girl who finds in her relationship with Bobby the stability she craves. She becomes addicted too, and life goes downhill for them both as their addiction deepens, eventually leading to a series of betrayals. But, in spite of it all, the relationship between Bobby and Helen endures.

This film can help us and inspire us before we go on to filming and give us more ideas about how heroin is shown in the media and how it effects people in sociality.

The main thing that inspired me and that I looked out for in this film was the use of sound used in the scene where heroin was used. There where loads of different technique used to highlight key things the audience should be focussing on and also aiding the audiences hearing with the visuals. During one of the scenes no sound was heard at all. This is because of the effects of the heroin. I thought this was quite effective in what it portrayed and I came up with an idea myself. I want to experiment with sound effects to show the heroin is working on the body. I thought about using special effects like the ringing off ears to indicate to a viewer that something is happening to someone's body internally. I will look into this in a practical task I will do.Another thing I liked used in the film was the use off iritic and faced pace sounds which sped up as the main character overdosed. This was really effective and powerful as it raised the emotions of the viewers and ,make them impatient to see what will happen next. It kept me on the edge of my seat heart beating faster and this is something I want the viewers of my final piece to feel. This is another sound experiment I want to look into. This has given me very good ideas about where to go next when looking at sound. I also need to choose a track that will fit into our footage when we film it and that is polyphonic and has a melody which will aid the visuals of the piece.

Typography For Urban Dramas

The title is on a worn street sign suggests maybe a second or third movie or the fact that the rivalry along green street has late a long time. A usual urban drama is developed through violence and the bloody sign could tell the audience that this is the films main focus something in which the title want to conform to.

The title here represents the two toned situation of the film. One is easy and involves a sinister nature represented by the red writing. The writing also looks like comic sans which is commonly known for looking childish maybe representing the film or characters being comical or funny throughout. The words used are good inspirations they also tell the audience the whole film without being too long and exaggerated.

Trainspotting has a white among yellow background maybe illustrating the person's pasty face and how he may look. However, this title does not tell the audience the storyline as therefore hides its what the film is about. 

Again the title is like green street and has a degraded feeling suggesting a fight scene in the film or it is on some sort of rivalry. The title also is not in direct relation with the film just a topic about who they are. The white in the title could suggest innocence or a vulnerable person. This could be the main focal point for the film.

What I earned from all these titles is that they all don't give away anything in the film and maybe are something to do with the film like setting, stereotype or decision making. Our title idea of Grade A is very good and will fit in with what sort of Typography you may include in a an urban drama. It also tells me we may not have to create a very sophisticated title and needs to include little editing as we don't need to manipulate it like a horror film in a son serif format.

Flight Deconstruction of Heroin Scene

The druggy in flight is a women who has to do the worst jobs possible to get her fix and its about how she cannot realise the own danger she is putting herself in until she has to go to the hospital.

The pan down from the table reveals the needle as the first thing that comes out the box making the audience believe she is an addict. The non diegetic sound of the box bashing against the ground is exaggerated to display the amount of precious and maybe delicate items in there and how the needle is one of them. There is no editing as it is a continuous shot of the accident making it look more realistic. 

The POV high angle displays the dominant person in this shot which is the woman who makes the conscious decision to 'shoot up' with no other drug influence. The non diegetic music is cool and relaxed and seems like the sort of music that you would have in a drug scene. 

This then develops to another POV where you see the drugs and the person on equal levels. The whole continuation of the drug scene displays how powerful the addiction could be on the mind. The out of focus needle becomes in focus as the drop is pushed from the end. The pan displays the family photos and there of bond between daughter and mother this could be the reason why she started drugs as her mother is gone. Or subverting the common representation displaying that it also the innocent ones that succumb to the class A.

Then there is a high angle of the drug user displaying how the drugs has already taken over her body despite only administering it a couple of seconds ago. How they do this is though the eye dilating as it represents her being neurologically damaged. This could be simulated by putting a hand over someones eye and then exposing them to normal light however as this is film in the same light it has probably been edited on for dramatic effect.

The single music sound track climaxes at the point to simulate the drugs taking over the next part. The extreme close up also displays her face without revealing what the rest of the body is doing meaning you are unable to see the needle this means she is able to dump it to without revealing it.

The high angle over the drugs telling the audience the full effect is taking place as well as the fact she is reaching out to the pick up drug. However she is too late to do so and in turn passes out on the floor due to an overdose. Representing that the drugs r on the same level as her instead of her being above them.

Inspiration

As we are thinking off doing a urban drama focusing on the use of heroin we will have to get some ideas about the drug and how it is displayed in film and TV shows. As none of our group know how to use heroin or what it does to the body the only thing we can do is look online about how people use it and the effects it has. We can also look at how heroin is displayed in the media . I looked at the film "Requiem for a Dream" for inspiration and also how they display the class A drug.

 

I looked at a extract from the film called "Drug sequences from Requiem for a Dream". In this sequence the main things they looked at were: Cells in the body changing due to drug, Getting the drug, Using the drug.

 



The first thing I am going to look into is cells in the body being changed by the drug. In the extract there are a lot of shots of cells changing inside the body. These cells give a much more atomically view of heroin and its effects on the body. It is also a really interesting and effective idea to incorporate to break up shots. These are some screen shots of shots used.

 

 

Red blood cells speeding up through blood stream

Cell in pupal expanding making pupal dilate 

 

The second thing they focus on in the sequence I looked at was picking up or getting the drugs. The shots used where manly about swaps of money for drugs and breaking into car looking for money or things to sell so the addict could support his addiction. they also used am interesting close up shot of someone's eyes where the eyeball would roll from one side of the screen to the other to act like a swap between money and drugs was made. This speed up as the cuts became for fast pace to represent the addicts spiral into an addiction.

 

Drugs coming out of dealers pocket to be sold

Money switching hands as payment for drugs

 

The last important thing they looked out in the sequence was using the drugs. There where lots of little shots cut in-between the rest about how to use the drug. This included stuff like heating up the drug, sucking it up through a syringe and putting the filter in the mixture they had boiled. 

 

The filter absorbing the drug to get rid of  impurities

The sucking up of drug through the syringe before injection

 

 

This sequence has given me inspiration and a good idea about how heroin is represented badly in TV and films and also about how to use it and what to include in our film. This also shows me how scientific it is and all these ideas should be included in our final piece.  

Prop Practical

As we have now made a story board and have settled on some ideas about the genre and the story line we can do more specific practical and deconstruction tasks. as we have chosen to do an urban drama based around drugs we will have to incorporate drugs. We want to make this opening sequence look professional so we have to use realistic pros. This means I have had to look into have to make our heroin drug look realistic.

I started research into heroin online and find out how people get it and then use it. Once the Heroin is purchased the preparation starts. Firstly everything will be put out on display and placed in order. The kit includes, Heroin, syringe with needle, spoon, lighter or candle, cigarette filter, belt, citric acid and water. The Heroin is put onto the spoon with citric acid, the right amount of water will then be mixed with the Heroin and citric acid. At the same time the spoon is held over the heat source so all the three substances are mixed together. Once mixed, a cigarette filter will be placed onto the spoon, the solution will then be drawn up the syringe through the filter, and this is to filter out any impurities. It is now ready to be injected into a vein usually in the arm. The belt or similar implement such as a shoe lace is tied tightly around the arm to stop the blood flow, this will cause the veins to stand out for easier injection.

After finding this out I then made a small heroin kit so it looks like a realistic prop. I made the drugs out of kitchen stuff like flour and sugar and coco powered. It is was quite effective because it represented street heroin as it is a darker colour but when I future it in the actual piece I will need to make it more like crystals. Also the lighter looks out of place because it is a family friendly one and has a picture on it that is meant to look pretty. So when I use a lighter in the actual thing I will have to use a clipper or generic branded lighter.

 

 

 The most important thing when looking at this drug in a film is how it looks when it is being cooked up. I will have to make it look realistic when it is being heated. I did this by using honey in a spoon. When heated the honey will boil up and look good. I also have to make the syringe look real. In this picture I used a fake blood syringe and put I ball pump into it., This is good for a starting attempt as it looks quite effective and can be pushed up against the skin and look effective.

Planning Preliminary

Our group already had an idea on what to do as we wanted the film to be serious and slightly professional otherwise it would sound and look really bad. Our minds focused onto and urban genre and the crime, drugs and sexual acts came into our mind. (1)We of course could not do any sexual acts and crime would include special effects or would need to be included in somewhere like Maidstone town centre. So we decided to do a drug deal in school as it is an easy area to film. Also acting has to be brief and props are easy to create that can fit an easy story line. 

Instead of jumping straight in with the storyboard we chose to think of what we had at our disposal to use. We could create fake drugs someone could find a toy gun as a (2) real one would be impossible to get but these two props conform to common conventions. Also we used two people in our film that was in our group that way we didn’t have to rely on someone having a free. They were also black which fitted the urban drama convention of doing illegal activity, like in Kidulthood and Adulthood. We also wanted as little acting as possible so recommended that most of our camera angles were of a person walking which we could edit easily and string together.

So we had our layout and then our best drawer started making the different scenes which took a long time as we could not draw stick men. After getting the different camera angles and images in place he then handed the sheet over to me to explain what would happen in each scene through diegetic and non-diegetic sound as well as editing that would need to follow. (3)However we would have to change our plan if someone didn’t bring in a gun or the whole plan if no one brought in fake drugs.

If we were to do it again?

If we were to do it again I would use an easy to access props other than a gun, as teenage boys are not going to be able to get hold of one. As well as create alternate scenes in the scenario that someone forgets to bring the gun meaning we know what we are doing encase of thinking of something on the spot which will take up valuable filming time. Also have a lot more images as I had to merge some of the shots together in one square which could lead to some confusing moments when we don’t know what shot is happening next.

Problems

   1. We had no access to special effects meaning if we wanted to do an urban drama we would have think simple and use our resources wisely and effectively. Also we had to plan round a setting, which is not dark or full of teenage boys, which conforms to the urban drama.

   2.   The props we could find might not be realistic meaning the film looks unprofessional and make the film not serious when it should be as it is a very serious take on an illegal topic.

   3.  Someone could forget the gun or drugs, which would be disastrous. Our film was an urban drama and as we could not do the other conventions we relied on bringing in fake drugs. The gun could be disposed but would make it difficult for other options make our

filming time shorter.

Filming

Filming we followed our planning sheet very closely with all the different camera angles and shots leading up to the final piece. We had to change the end because someone in our group didn't bring in a prop gun. We started in a classroom, which would be the opening of our clip with an OTS (Over The Shoulder) shot on to someone’s phone. We wanted it to be as if looking at teenagers phone so he was playing a game and then receive a text. This took many attempts because we wanted to be as quiet as possible so took many retries.


Match-on-Action


Then we went on to try and master the match on action that we knew could be difficult to perfect. Hugo was not acting naturally by walking slowly and differently to how he does usually so I told him to just pretend he was opening a door and ignore the camera. The next part of the match on action was down a corridor however, other people were filming so we decided to miss the long shot and start filming the meeting, as that would be difficult for our group to act. Firstly we needed to get the character in the film there so further used a mixture of high angles and POV (point of view) to get him from A to B in the quickest amount of time as we didn’t want to bore the audience with him walking.

180 Degree Rule

When filming the meeting we used the 180⁰ method which included a shot reverse shot of the conversation. We filmed this outside, which meant a lot of background noise was picked up from the wind and birds so the speaking was very quiet. It was also difficult as everyone kept on moving different places meaning we had to try over and over again to get it right otherwise in the film people would teleport different places on the wall.

Action scene

After we completed the outside scene, we decided to get creative with the narrative to make an appropriate ending otherwise it would look stupid just ending on the deal. So we decided to create an action scene that we did not include in the plan. Mid shot was used to capture the escape and pursuit of actors and then pan to follow them through parkour scene. Then once reposition we practice who he would fall down. Then on filming we used a mid shot then high angle to capture the action and low angle of the dealer getting back the drugs illustrating the dealer’s ultimate superiority.

Knock out 

We found the idea of pretending to hit him really bad as we could not perfect the movement. Instead Kelechi used the camera like a fist so when we edited the footage will look like we knocked someone out.

Then we returned to complete the corridor shot which wouldn’t of taken as long but people kept on getting in the way so we ahead to redo the shots multiple times to make sure they were seamless.

What I would do Instead 

The camera we used was very poor quality meaning some of the shots could look better. My camera you can change the setting so if the setting was light I could decrease the ISO meaning less light enters the camera in-turn creating a darker shot which would help the film conform to the genre of an urban drama. Using my camera we could of also created a better quality as it is16 megapixels and can shoot a film at 1440-1080 pixels compared to the video cameras 720. It also included a light guard meaning shots won't be over exposed to the light getting a clearer image on what was a sunny day which made shooting difficult.

When filming be more aware of were the actors body was as we kept on chopping the top of his head off meaning we don’t get a true long shot. Also to not have people in the background especially people who are filming their own sequence. This would not be a problem on the real thing as we will be filming away fro each over but reflection can still show in our real thing.

Problems we encountered

People filming in the back ground of some of our shots and people being the positions were we want to film which means we have to move elsewhere or film elsewhere meaning the mise-en-scene might not match in different areas.

Bad acting meant the shots came out to look really awful and unprofessional meaning it took a while to get the right shots. To stop this to keep trying over and over again so that we can get the best out of the amount we re-tried. 

American Horror Story Opening Scene

Asylum

0.03 there is a tracking shot of someone walking down the middle of hospital beds the low key lighting hides the covers and majority of them. The high key lighting coming through the window shines on the floor which could be covered in blood due to the shiny reflection. The sound is non diegetic and parallel to the camera shots that we are seeing. The sound is distorted and sound twisted maybe reflecting the life of the asylum. The editing cuts to a person in a bed who is dead with a purple face. The editing is fast paced making sure you don't really know what you are looking at. The hospital beds are white and the window at the back is antique illustrating how old the asylum is and conforms to horrors of a trapped feeling in which a person could be placed in. This is then amplified by the dead person who looks to be staring at that window or freedom knowing that it is too far away.

0.08 The extreme close up of the eye makes you feel emotional for the person you are viewing. The bandages around the face tell the viewers serious injury which is a common convention for a horror. An eye is commonly used in horrors as you are able to see the most amount of emotion and feeling for the person through the eye. 

0.10 The title is serif suggesting a horror setting in an old gold colour. Illustrating the audience what time period the american horror story is set in. Meaning people are able to relate to what sort of situation or experimental things were going on in a asylum. 

0.29 The close up of doctors gloves being peeled off can conform to the killer not wanting to leave finger tips and wanting to be unknown and thought about through conspiracy. This is due to large amount of blood in the background which suggests a serious injury that took place over a long period and did not end well. Again the editing is fast paced meaning you are unable to jump to conclusions and figure out the plot for the episode. This is cleaver as it keeps people hooked and interested meaning they watch more.

0.42 This surgeon like operation looks very messy and un-precise on what they are looking at maybe suggesting possession of someone destroying an original body. Or a slasher where the killer is paranoid and maybe searching for something in a large body. These are both conformities of general horror and give a indication of where the story line is heading and how it is no different to any horror. This is probably why they only have it on screen for less than a second. This proves the editing is fasted paced and seems to be getting quicker. This may be illustrating a panicking mind which starts to look around very quickly and jump to conclusions quickly.

0.54 This conclusive ending displays someone solitary in a room the non diegetic music displays the morbid nature someone solitary confinement through a loud drone which drags for a couple of seconds. 

Seven Timeline

Props

Props 

The most common props used in horror movies is teddies or toys as they are easier to make sinister and can do things without special effects such as being hung. They can be manipulated and pulled apart so what originally was a nice teddy bear can look horrific in the dark with eyes that follow you round the room. 

With this in mind I went out to find a normal teddy bear an I found this one it had a love heart attached with no writing on its head. I thought that it would look awful as it would look too loving and caring however that quickly changed when I had the idea of hanging it from the dark attic.

This would make the bear look sinister as it feel with a noose around its head. If unexpected then the reaction would be very real. 

Hangman's knot hanging from ladder in the attic 

Close up of knot around its neck

However I had a problem of not knowing how to make a hangman's not and make it look good. So I looked up a youtube video of how to make one and learnt how to do it with a rope I found in the attic as well. When tied I was apprehensive to see if the bear would just break the rope as it started to thread and come loose. However, it worked and looked all too realistic.

The problems i had with this is that to adjust the lighting every time on my camera and as it was already too dark the shutter speed had to be toned down to 20 frames per second to capture the most amount of light. That is why the picture is so blurry because the bear kept on spinning round and round and combined with a high capture time can make a lot of motion blur.  

With flash on an 1/4000 frames per second

To counter this is could turn on the flash and increase the shutter speed to around 1/4000 or 1/3600 frames per second to counter the bright light from the flash however would have to change the light around again.

To film needs a spotlight to display the bear swinging in the dark this will make the scene scary and very sinister. The sound clip would need to be film with a low angle to capture the whole singing motion but needs to be close enough to hear the knot constricting as the bear falls so would need utter silence and as my camera doesn't have a pop filter you can hear sound in the background even if it is as quiet as possible.

This may mean I loose the knot sound as I cancel out the background noise.

Final Product

This is a little dark when put onto the mac even though I used to spotlights to make the bear seem illuminated in the dark.
To improve I would make the bear be seen in the dark by putting a light in front of the camera instead of next to the bear. I used a good line (low angle) of sight as I could see the bear being dropped and swinging in the air.
I would also maybe film a normal shot of it in the light and then decrease the exposure on the editing software to make everything dark thus making it more realistic something that I have never thought of doing so. Gaining a new skill in the process.