'Fighting' Deconstruction

The film I will be deconstructing is 'Fighting', a 2009 urban drama film.


Conventions of urban dramas:

• Set in cities or towns (usually in rough areas)
• Portrays a realistic view on society and societal problems
• Explores issues with violence, gangs and drugs
• Situations involving money sometimes central part of the plot (ties in with previous convention)
• Central characters usually 'young' e.g. aged between 15 and late 20's
• Protagonist usually male, struggling with problematic life
• Characters portrayed as products of their environment
• Tracking shots often used e.g. to show a police chase
• POV and eye line shots used to immerse audience in action and create tension
• Closeup and medium shots used to convey character's emotions, invokes response from audience
• Characters will usually wear dark, outdoorsy clothes e.g. jeans, hoodies etc, shows status in society
• Typical props include weapons (guns, knives, etc) and vehicles

How 'Fighting' conforms to these conventions:

• Explores issues with violence and money- protagonist is paid to win fights 
• Protagonist male, young (in his 20's), struggling 

• Urban setting (New York), many scenes take place in 'rough' areas, ties in with convention of portraying realistic outlook on society and its issues
• Establishing shots used to show different areas of New York throughout film, establishes different characters' locations

• Protagonist wears casual clothes like jeans and hoodies throughout film, young male characters also wear these kinds of clothes- establishes age and social standing to audience

Typography

The typography used is very brightly coloured (the colours used range from blue to pink to stark white) and is eye catching as a result. The font is interesting in its shape and irregular capitalisation, and is clearly modern so it is established that the film is contemporary as opposed to being set in a later time period. The modernity of the font ties in with setting of the film, as it is very urban and contemporary.

Use of Sound

• Diegetic sound: most of the sound in the film was to diegetic to realistically 'set the scene'. These sounds were typical noises you'd hear in a busy urban setting such as traffic and car horns, people talking in a busy street and music playing in restaurants and shops.
• The most interesting use of diegetic sound was the sounds added to the fight scenes in the film. These sounds included the fighters' heavy breathing and grunting and the sound of their punches landing on the other's skin. Other notable sounds included the fighters hitting a wall or the floor during the fight. These sounds immerse the audience in the action and make the scene more intense and enjoyable because it's made so vivid.
• Non diegetic sound: this was made up of background music. The music was mostly hip hop and soul, which reinforced the urban genre of the film and was also parallel to the scenes the music played in.
• The interesting use of non diegetic sound was in the background music used during fight scenes because it was so varied. In one scene, the music is comprised of plucky, upbeat string instruments that are contrapuntal to the action of the scene, making it interesting and also somewhat light hearted to watch. However, in another fight scene later on in the film the music is comprised of of intense drums and bass with a heavy beat, making the scene feel dark and tense. It also reflects the protagonist's worried and scared emotions in the scene, immersing the audience in the action.

Choice of title

The title 'Fighting' is very short and harsh sounding. It's a simple title that is memorable and it immediately sets audience expectations of violence and struggles in the film (in this case, the protagonist's financial and moral struggles). The word 'fighting' also sounds blunt and hard when spoken, conveying the general mood and gritty subject matter of the film clearly to the audience.

Practical Source of Inspiration

Location Inspiration.

Cabin in the Woods Inspiration.

When watching cabin in the woods I was inspired to image what it would be like to try and use a location similar to the one used in the film, e.g. a woodland area. I considered a few areas near to me to go and photograph in different ways and came up with a few different images to show how this location could be used when making a film opening.





I went to a wooded area in Eltham and walked around to get a feel for the area before deciding where and what to take pictures of which would be affective.

I took a few pictures of more open areas which I thought would be good if there was a chase scene happening or a long, establishing shot was needed to show the audience where the whole sequence was set.

I also took some pictures of area which were of paths and overgrown areas which I though could be used as hiding places and places where tension could be built for the audience.





















AdULTHOOD.



 I was also inspired by the film adulthood, which is an urban drama, because of the varied locations that were used in the film to portray the different types of areas the characters can live, work and play in during the film.

I tried to think of areas of the film that I could try to recreate in some way with the devices that I had available to myself. I managed to organise an evening to go out and photograph certain areas of interest such as underpasses, alley ways, bridges, flat buildings, etc.

I believe that these locations could be used in many different days and at any time during a day as in the day time or with sunlight these would be good to show the audience the area the characters are in. But they would also be appropriate for at night time or evening too as it gives the area a sense of tension and mystery.

 Alley Way       

Alley Way         

Office BuildingAlley Way           

Alley way/ bridge

Bridge              

Bridge/train tack

Bridge          

Block of Flats

Underpass

Office Building

Underneath flats

My Strengths

I believe that my strengths that could help us with our film opening are organisation and creativity as I can come up with ideas for the story or the film opening on a whole and I can also organise dates and people who are needed for each day so that everything runs to plan and we are able to meet the correct deadlines for all of our work, e.g. I can make sure we don't run overtime on certain parts of the project.



Genre Investigation: Urban Drama

AdULTHOOD

How does it contribute to urban drama conventions?

Sam Peel, the Main character in 'AdULTHOOD' is a typical character of an urban drama film.

He is in a situation where is has just been released from prison after a six year sentence for killing another young, male with a baseball bat from trouble with gang violence.

The location in which the film is located at is also that of a typical urban drama. It is set in a run down London estate where the main character lives in a flat with his mother and brother. The surrounding area is also run down, including the train stations and shops that are shown in the film.

All the characters are also dressed in a hooded jacket, coat or hoodie, jeans or tracksuit bottoms and typically trainers. This is seen with every character who is involved in gang violence or one of the issues the film is showing throughout.

Title of the Film.

The title to the film is to me very interesting as because the characters in the film speak with a very colloquial dialogue and tend to shorten words like 'init' and 'ain't' it almost sound like the title is written in the way that the characters would say it because of the D in the title being small and all the other letter are in capitals.

The graphology of the title is very bold and strong with the white text on top of the dark colours of the background.





Use of Sound in the Film.

Throughout the film there is a constant sound of diegetic, colloquial dialogue between the characters and also non-diegetic music being played in the background of scenes to build tension for the audience.

There is also a part where non-diegetic music is playing in the background at the end of a scene and then continues as a sound being played as an under tone to a conversation between characters on a radio. This shows me that situations can flow from one scene to another and therefore does not only affect the people in one scene but it can affect other characters in the plot line of the story.

Editing Used in the Film.

Throughout the film split screens are used in AdULTHOOD to show two or more different scenes or characters to the audience. This allows the audience to see different emotions of the characters and how they may be affecting each other or how one situation may be affecting or enhancing another. It also allows he view to get two or more different perceptions of the film and the characters and breaks them down so that we can see them all at once and can link them together instead of having to watch two or more different sequences, one at a time.












Also Sam, the main character, has many flashbacks in the film to when he was in prison. When these happen the colour from the picture fades to an almost grey-scale look to show the difference between what is a memory and what is happening then. In some cases when the memory stops and when the present day begins again Sam is in the same position, allowing us to see how his memories are affecting him in the present day.

Genre Investigation: Urban Drama

Typical Conventions of an Urban Drama.

In every urban drama film there are always a collection of conventions that are shown through the films that fall under this genre.

General Conventions.
Urban dramas include, on a general note, situations that have a realistic outlook on life and society when the film was made. This may include issues such as gun and knife crime, gang violence, drug and alcohol abuse and relationships between characters.

The location in which the film is based in will be typically that of a run down, urban area, including London estates where most of the characters will live.

The main character in the film will typically be a young, male character (usually between the ages of fifteen to late twenties) who has a troubled background and a dysfunctional family. This character will also be put in situations which are displayed throughout the film like drugs, gang violence, relationships, crime and alcohol abuse.

Cinematography and Mise-en-scene.
Camera angles that are commonly used in urban dramas include tracking shots to follow a subject, a car or police chase or a chase on foot between two of the characters. There are also a lot of Point Of View (POV) shots and eye line shots used to immerse the audience and create tension.

Close up shots and medium shots are also typically used in urban dramas to convey the characters' emotions and evoke an emotional response from the audience.

The leading characters in urban dramas usually wear dark, outdoor clothing such as jeans, hoodies, trainers etc. and props such as guns and knives are typically used as weapons for the characters.

Sound and Editing.
Diegetic sounds in urban dramas are mainly colloquial dialect spoken by the characters to one another and non-diegetic sounds that are included music played in the background with genres such as rap and hip hop music genres.

Editing techniques in urban dramas use mainly transitions of fade used as memories or flashback either with or without character voice overs. Cross cutting and jump cuts are also used to vary the flow of the scene and editing sound in a scene is used to enhance the tension.