Question 2



Q2 How does your opening sequence represent particular social groups?

The key characters in our opening title sequence consist of four compelling youths who are visually similar but diverge in personality. The audience is immediately introduced to James/ Mc Don (played by Yasin) a 17 year old boy with an ambitious demeanour. He has dreams of becoming a successful rap/hip-hop artist despite coming from a deprived and broken home; where he struggles to cope living with only is mother and siblings. Although he is not very academic, he aims to succeed in life hoping to change for the better. However, he is surrounded by naive friends who although support his dream, there optimistic and manipulating attitudes prevent Yasin from knowing the harsh reality of being a talentless adolescent. To portray this character is our opening title sequence my group included several technical aspects when making our film. For instance we ensured our main character ‘Yasin’ was clearly presented in each shot. 

This ensured the audience that the narrative of the film was mainly focused on him. To emphasis this idea further, my group ensured that Yasin’s body language and gestures were captured clearly in each shot. This is important because it allows the audience an insight to the characters personality. A specific example is the mid-shot we used to capture the way Yasin greets his friends. Also, throughout our title sequence we used a range of camera angles to portray the personality of our primary charters: Shaharyar, Aaron and Mahad.  For example we used both a long-shot and mid-shot when capturing the comical dance scene. We also specifically focused on Shaharyar when dancing; this ensured his energetic and fun personality came across to the audience.

When filming each shot are group ensured is a strong sense of Mise-en scene was integrated throughout the title sequence. For example the use of bright lighting projects the morning atmosphere we needed to present the time of day. We used high key lighting to emphasises the characters friendly and youthful nature, and projects that the film is a family comedy. This is accompanied by non-diegetic sound, a sequence of classical music plays at the begging of the film, which later develops into upbeat/hip-hop music. The classical music adds a calming and welcoming presence to the film, while the hip-hop music adds an entertaining quality to the title sequence, and continues to engage the audience. There is a contrast with the appearance and behaviour of our characters, they are dressed to portray rough adolescents but they behave immaturely and ridiculously. This is Comparable to characters from ‘Attack of the block’, ‘Green Street’ and ‘Drill bet Taylor’ in terms of appearance.



 The practicality of casting the roles to each actor was discussed by my group members and I. We decided to cast ‘Yasin’ as our main charter as we thought his appearance and voice strongly portrayed the independent and ambitious leader we required for John/Mc Don. Despite the expectancy of dedication and reliability, we looked for enthusiasm when delivering there lines. We also had high expectations of teamwork and listening skills from each cast member. This was to ensure that each line was clearly delivered. We needed consistency in terms of performing their lines and actions in every take as continuity was key. Apart for the cast, our team also expected equality in terms of the work load and participation.  

 To ensure the representations of the characters were met our team members and I carefully directed are cast to the appropriate character. For example, we discussed that each cast member should dress in a particular way. In order to illustrate a hip and youthful assemble of teenagers we told them to dress in: hoodies, track-suit bottoms, jumpers, caps, and coats. Apart from the visual representation of the characters, we ensured them they needed to portray ‘cool’ individuals. This idea was to be delivered through the casts body language, hand gestures and movement.