Film Language in analysis

Homework

For this task I'm going to be analysing the first clip of 'Boyz n the Hood', to do this i will be using Mise en scene, camera work, sound and editing, these four aspects of analysing are known as film language. 

                  

The film starts with the production company's logo, in the background we can hear non-diegetic off screen voiceovers of men talking as they are trying to find another man. The language used is quite slang and rough as they use swear words and use the N word suggesting that these men are black. All of a sudden the sound of talking men is disrupted by a series of loud gun shots indicating violence and that someone's has been seriously hurt. A statistic figure is then shown on the screen stating that 'one out of twenty- one Black American males will be shot in their lifetime' this gives the audience an impression of what that film is going to be about, e.g. some sort of black gang violence. We then hear voice of a younger boy crying out 'he shot my brother' this creates an emotional atmosphere, which allows the audience to become involved within the story and question the events of that has happened and reflect on the statistics which were just show.    

The first visual imagery we see is of a sign STOP, in the backgrounded the effected music builds up to the sign and creates a tense atmosphere as it gets louder and louder we then hear another gunshot as the sign stop instantly flashes up. The camera slowly zooms in to the sign, this could be seen a hidden meaning to the audience suggesting that its about time we put a stop to violence, however it could also symbolise a lack of security and safety in the predominately black neighbourhood. We then see a landscape shot of four young black children walking down a pavement in daylight, the camera stays in the landscape shot and tracks them as they continue on walking along the street there are rubbish bags and stray dogs. The children appear to be well dressed, and are having a casual conversation about a shooting which happened last night suggesting that its quite a normal occurrence, also suggesting that their neighbourhood is unsafe and full of crime. The camera angle then changes and does a slow half way panning of the street and the children from a birds-eye view this shows the vulnerability of the children and gives an effect that they are being watched. The lighting is mixture between natural day light and high key light. The children also walk past a sign that says 'wrong way' this could be seen as another hidden meaning, and perhaps foreshadowing their future and that they are going to make the wrong choices in life which could have fatal consequences.

The children are walking towards the crime scene when the camera then focuses upon some posters of the president which has been vandalised with gunshots this could indicate that there is political problems within this part of the country. As the posters are shown gunshot sound effects are edited into the background. The camera then shows the yellow crime scene tape up close with the children standing behind it, the music then becomes slow and dramatic which contrasts with the gunshot sounds as they notice blood. Every now and then the camera focuses close up on the children faces to portray their youth and innocence. The imagery of the blood then fades to transition into a new scene of child drawn pictures of crime and death, which shows how the children are mentally effected by the violence in which they are surrounded by. The camera then zooms out from these pictures which are on the wall and does a steady pan of a classroom which show young black children seated, and a white teacher standing at the front of the class. The shot then changes to a medium shot of the female teacher who is well dressed in a long skirt and blouse wearing big glasses.  

The previous black boy is shown in an extreme close-up, as he come to the front of the class with the teacher the camera angle changes from him to her and back him as they talk to one another. The boy gets into an altercation with another student in the class, the other boy gets out of his chair and stands to confront him, he says that he will get his brother to shot him.  This shows how violence is started and how it can escalate, also showing how young boys are influenced by others and how they are exposed to violence. The camera then then shows a wide shot angle from the back of the class with the two children hitting one another.

The transition instantly changes to show the child walking home from school from a straight on portrait angle, on the pavement there is a group of older boys fighting this shows how the behaviour of young boys stays the same and becomes even more violence. These boys are suppose to be role models but instead they portray a message to younger boys that this type of violent behaviour is normal and acceptable. A man in a car is see to be smiling and nodding at the boy as if to say well done. In a mid-shot his mother is shown to be on the phone to the teacher. The whole of the opening clip shows the impact on young children who live in unsafe areas and are surrounded by violence and gun crime.