The inspiration behind our film sequence comes mainly from the films 'This Is England' and 'Control'. We have used and developed numerous conventions that films of such a nature have utilised themselves in order to create our own product, set slightly aside from the mainstream.
One of the ways in which we have done this is through conventional representations in the narrative. For example, the character is shown to be lower class and unemployed, which is a situation that no doubt would have been prominent at the time. His social status is emphasised through typical actions such as smoking. This is reminiscent of the representations of class in 'This Is England', portraying working class characters as slightly rough around the edges. Additionally, we have included shots which portray an obvious class contrast - many real media products portraying this time period play on the issue of class, using shots which serve to juxtapose the lower class characters against the upper class in order to stress and highlight the characters place in the social hierarchy. We have included this concept in our sequence when the character is passing more upper class and modernized locations, which contrast highly against the location in which he has just been seen.
This is further emphasised through the mise-en-scene of the characters house, as the houses of the lower class in many films of this period are often gaudy and cluttered, and decorated with very drab colourings. We use the convention of low-key lighting to represent the characters social importance and class status. In 'This Is England', they used multiple clips that typically enforced the 80's association, but we chose to enforce this idea with hints through props instead. For example, when the character goes for a cigarette, his gear is seen to be laying atop a vinyl record, released around the time period we were trying to convey.
Our characters costume derives from the influence of 'Control'. The overall idea of the costume was simplicity, which could only further the implications of the characters social class. It differs slightly from the portrayal of social groups and styles in many other films, such as the stereotypical representation of skinhead culture, as seen in 'This Is England'. We felt that this was an all too common representation of the lower class at this time, and wanted to represent a different social pool.
The manipulation of the camera in our sequence was kept quite minimal - a typical convention of this genre is to focus more on the content and framing of specific shots rather than viewing the shot from a wide range of directions or angles. Additionally, it is rare that films of such as sort make use of camera movements such as pans or tracks, as these tend to convey a more modernised feel and lessen the realism of the depiction. We used a copious amount of close-ups in order to emphasise the characters emotions, his importance as a protagonist in our film, and also to begin to establish the familiarisation and bond between character and audience. We also made frequent use of long shots, in order to establish the setting and location for the piece, as well as highlight the spacial emptiness surrounding the character, highlighting the impression of isolation. This is something that can also be seen in the opening of 'Control', where the character is seen in the middle of the frame, surrounded by vast empty space.
'Control' was a completely black and white film, which is largely unconventional for films of this nature which were made in the modern day. This is a method often excluded from films of genre, and so we decided to incorporate it into our own in order to establish an unconventional element which set us apart from the mainstream. The overall editing of the film is continual and smooth, consisting solely of straight cuts, with the aim of promoting the feel of realism.
We decided to play on the conventional inclusion of a non-diegetic soundtrack, in order to re-establish the era of representation by using a song that would have been popular and recognisable amongst such a culture at the time. Following the lead of 'This Is England', we aimed for a track that was fitting to the visuals, yet contrapuntal at the same time, so as to create a more interesting viewing atmosphere.
The fonts we used were kept simple, and integrated into our sequence over the top of the visuals. A similar action was taken in the titles of 'This Is England', although we decided to make our titles a lot more subtle and discreet - less obvious or visually disruptive to the title sequence. We felt that this served better to aid the hitherto smooth and continuous flow of our piece, as well as accentuating the more artistic feel.
Additionally, the title screen made use of the typical black screen and white font ensemble, also seen in 'Control'. However, unlike our inspirations, we chose not to have a large title splayed across the centre of the screen, instead opting for a smaller title positioned in the corner. In deeper thought, this could potentially reflect details about the character and his state of mind - perhaps that he feels cornered, or insignificant. This idea of reflection is also utilised in the title screen on 'Control', when the title is made to flicker as if reflecting the characters epilepsy. The name of our film, 'Boho', is derived from a typical slang word at the time, meaning unconventional and non-conformist. Similar to both 'Control' and 'This Is England', this title served to mirror the themes and values of our film to follow.
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