Film Review ( Attack the Block ) - Chosen Film to Defend Task

The plot of the film : A teenage gang growing up on their local block and are hit with an alien attack , they use friendship and teamwork to defend their block . As the gang are wanted for mugging an innocent woman and being involved with drugs and guns,  they are also on the run from the police as well as the aliens.  

I believe this film is a meaningful film for study as it covers a lot of different themes and relationships  such as , Friendship, Growing up, Love, Conflict and Authority levels. These are portrayed throughout the film and are easily recognizable and are presented in a very clever way. 

I would class this film in many different genres which is why it would be a great film for study , it could be classed as any of the below:

- Sci-Fi Horror

- Black Comedy

- Thriller 

- Action and Adventure

The main characters are the gang members and at the start they fit the stereotype of a gang member as they are violent , show no remorse, cause havoc and committing crimes. But nearer the end it shows they are not just normal teenage gangsters and shouldn't just instantly fit the stereotype as when they are approached with a serious dilemma they mature and become brave soldiers and protect their families and area from the aliens which shows how characters can develop throughout a film and change their stereotypes. There is also a sub character which is the victim of a robbery who is an innocent woman who is scared of the gang but bumps into them throughout , but she then sees the bravely of the boys when confronted with real conflict and begins to respect them more. This is why I believe its a good film to study as it also portrays character development.

Cinematography Analysis ( V for Vendetta )

In the attached clip above is a clip of ''V for Vendetta'' and it first introduces Chancellor Sutler who is talking to his associates. This clip contains many different types of cinematography from different angles, shot types and focuses and they have all been used for a reason to with hold different interpretations.

The building is in focus at the start of the clip which indicates something is going to happen in the foreground which foreshadows the explosion.

A mid-shot opens the scene to show the actions of Vendetta and what he is doing , They may have used this shot to show the comparison of power between Vendetta and the world (The building) as the building is much more bigger even though its in the foreground. But then as Vendetta destroys the building another mid-shot is presented and Vendetta is bigger than the building which really enhances his power and destruction and may signify him overcoming the power and law of the world. A lot of close ups of the characters are also used to show the facial expressions and especially to emphasize the shock of Evey. Long shots are also used to display the destruction of the scenery and fireworks.

A close up shot first introduces Chancellor Sutler , this instantly indicates that he has a lot of power and is high in authority and importance. Then a mid-shot is used to introduce Mr Creedy which makes him look smaller than the chancellor this instantly tells us he is lower in authority and also the fact he appears through darkness certifies he has less power and that hes became something instead of nothing because the Chancellor has spoken, but this could also foreshadows the conflict between Sutler and Mr Creedy as he is shown through evil (Darkness). A lot of mid-shots and high angle shots are present in this scene , but are only used on the associate's.  Long shots are used to show the scenery and this actually shows how small the associates are in comparison of the Chancellors projected face , and the Chancellor is looking down on them which degrades the associates and shows they do what the Chancellor informs them to.

A two shot is used between Mr Creedy and another associate , this indicates the relationship between the two characters as they are both in focus , which tells the audience they are both in an equal position.

There are long shots used to show how the associates are arranged , they all have even spacing next to each other with tells the audience they are formal and organised.

(Juxtaposition) 2 Shots from Physcho , Deep Meaning

 I chose these two shots from the Psycho storyboard to show juxtaposition because the eye symbolizes her death and the drain represents her life going down the drain and all the emotions of the body is going down the drain to hell.

Redesign of the set of ''Alice in Wonderland - Eat me, Drink me'' in the style of ''Alien''

Final Set Design 

This is my final redesigned set design of ''Alice and Wonderland - Eat me, Drink me" scene in the style of  ''Alien'' that I drew, as you can see it is altered from my plan , but I used certain aspects from my plan to create the final piece which improved my set design overall.

Costume

As you can see , I removed the charecters costumes from the original ''Alice and wonderland'' and exchanged them with a much more darker feel to them and designed them like ''giger'' does to give off the effect and style of ''Alien''. All the claws and alien heads on the costumes gives a scarier effect to the charecters involved which also made my set as a whole have an ''Alien'' style. The costume on the charecter normally portrays the charecters personality and emotions, so to take a good, childish charecter like Alice and then associate her with dark, scary creatures like ''Alien'' was very interesting.

Props

To create an ''Alien'' style effect on the props in the scene ''Eat me, Drink me'' I changed the colour of the liquid inside the bottle with a black substance which could represent alien venom and the darkness of the substance can refer to evil and death , so by doing this it created a much more ''Alien'' styled feel to my set. Also I drew a liquid substance dripping from the food , this could represent blood with refers to danger an thriller which gave the effect of ''Alien''.  

Lighting and Scenery 

With the lighting , you can see in my plan I visualized it very dark with a hint of dark blue which is different from the original lighting from the scene ''Eat me, Drink me'' as its much more bright whereas mine is ''Alien'' styled. I chose dark colours to associate it with ''Alien'' and give a different feel to the set as a whole but I specifically chose dark blue as it could represent an alien emerging from the darkness, this is also shown through the claws coming over the top of the set, and the chandeliers is placed inbetween the claws and is sepreating them both to show that light seperates the good from evil. The light from the chandeliers is also placed above the flooring in the original set of ''Eat me, Drink me'' , but to give off the same effect of seperating good from evil I kept Alice under the light as shes a good charecter , but to make it more like ''Alien'' I placed the claws (Evil) above Alice to show that evil is in control and over ruleing Alice (Good). Also the lighting from the chandeliers and the shadow of the emerging claws gives off a great ''Alien'' style to ''Alice and Wonderland''. The face to the right gives off a good ''Alien'' feel as it looks very mysterious and the lighting is fading it out which refers to death and darkness.  

Redesign of set for Alice in Wonderland - "Eat Me, Drink Me" in the style of 'Alien' (PLAN)

This is a quick basic plan of what kind of idea we want our set to look like when it comes to redesigning the set of ''Alice in Wonderland'' in the style of ''Alien''. We may use this idea or we may tweak it a little but this is a rough base of the final redesigning of the set.