Graham Forward A2 Media Studies Blog

I have said how I looked at The Good,The Bad and The Ugly in order to allow me to create my film a sub Genre action western film, however it can also be argued that my film is an Action/Crime/Gangster film. This is due to the similarities between my short film and the feature film In Bruges. I analysed the oppening couple of minutes of the feature film to look at the similiraties and differences. This is due to a similar plotline of the feature film where a boss sends two hitmen to a city and betrays them by turning on them. My short film fits into similar codes and conventions of the action/Crime/Gangster genre. Below is an analysis of the oppening of In Bruges which I have analysed the similarities between my final production to see how it can be compared to a crime/gangster action film.

Link To the Oppening Of In bruges:(unfortunately I was not allowed to embed) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ilO75OmtUo&feature=related

Camera: The director uses a variety of mid shots and close ups to introduce the two spies and the confusion as to what they are there for In my short film I used a variety of mid shots and close ups to introduce my spies however I used a lot more longshots than In Bruges did midshots. Oppening titles are in black and white similar to my colours cheme however the Font used is of normal Arial and the titles are located at the bottom left of the screen where as my font is a bold serif style font and my titles are located on the centre of the screen. Finally the director uses a montage of images to introduce london and the location of the two hit men, in my film I have simply just oppened at a location without explaining where the film is set.

Editing: Constant cutting is used to add pace and tension to the scene particularly when the hit men are shown walking out and about in the town and whenever the two men are having a conversation. A fade in is sued to introduce the titles and the film just cuts into action once the titles have finished. In my short film I used a lot of cutting to introduce the spies and the meeting with the boos especialy where he gives them their packages. However this film focuses on the two hit men working together where as my film shows three different hit men put against each other therefore there are going to be a lot more differences in terms of editing.

Sound: The sound used in In Bruges compared to my short film is probrably the most contrasting aspects between the two types of film where In Bruges relies on very little digetic sound other than the characters speaking as well as focussing more on non digetic sound which is of a calm piano and calm music to present peace in the oppening of the film. In contrast however my short film focusses more on digetic sound and the non digetic sound that I have used is contrasting to In Bruges where I have used Rock music to represent the chaos the three spies are put into.

Mise En Scene: The mise en scene between In Bruges and my short film have a lot of noteable similarities, an example of this can be seen in the characters costumes where both hit men are in smart clothes and coats similar to my short film where I have used smart clothes and coats on my spies in an attempt to present the idea that this is a long mission. Similarlythe directors choice of location is very similar to my short film where the director of In Bruges has filmed in a more urban location, using crowds of people in a variety of shots which is what I did in my short film which was filming in an urban location and using the public in a variety of shots. Finally a contrast between the setting used in In Bruges where the director has filmed in a much older looking town such as York and has set the spies main location there. Where as in my short film I set my main location to a more up to date technological advanced town, this can be seen in In Bruges with the use of the horse and cart etc.