London’s Burning

An Infamous Production

Plot

The film opens with a montage on Saeed walking through the streets of London, with different clips in the media speaking about prior terrorist incidents The opening revolves around a young innocent male known as Saeed, with the opening scene having him running away from officers, yet the reason at this points a mystery to the audience. This later to leads Saeed’s interrogation is what appears to be in a small location in an unknown part of London. The audience then becomes aware of the other character in the opening, detective Jones. The interrogation is later found to be due to the suspicion that Saeed is involved with terrorist activities due to be associates with Ahmed Khalif, however he is completely innocent. During the interrogation detective Jones makes several remarks about Saeed’s character, obviously enraging him. However the interrogation comes to an abrupt end where detective Jones gives Saeed an ultimatum of either working for the intelligence firm or going to jail without anyone even knowing where he is.

Target AudienceMy Target audience revolves around the age group of 16 to 35 year olds. The reason for me targeting the teenage demographic is due to the fact that through past experience many teenagers have been stopped by police, in which they feel is injustice although it can be argued that the police are simply doing their job, even at the cost of brewing tensions not only between teenagers but also different cultures and races. However my targeting of a youthful audience is also due to the use of young actors in the film, thus displaying viewpoints and ideas that a younger generation would be able to relate to. The reasoning for targeting an older demographic (20+) is due to them being alive during recent terrorist activities so they may either be able to relate to the film or may be intrigued by being able to have another insight into what may occur in the lives portrayed.

Target audience collage

Soundtrack

Death Is The Road To Awe – Clint Mansell

This is the music we are going to use at the start of out opening during a montage of real clips from news channels reporting on the Woolwich Attack which happened in London in 2013. For such a sinister act this music is ideal for the background. As it is slow and quite drowning for a person to listen to. This is partly helped by the piece being written in a minor key which will give our opening a sense of mystery and also create suspense for the audience. This will help our production follow the mise en scene of thrillers, as they usually contain music written in minor key in order to set a tone of sus

Costume

Costume Analysis

With the character Ahmed we have gone for a youthful ‘urban’ look. For example the character appears to be wearing blue Nike training which seem to be very popular amongst many teenagers in present times.

Costume Analysis

We as a group believe that this appearance will give our project the best project to present a youthful, urban on screen presence, that will contradict the presence of other characters involved within the project, who may appeal to an older audience (Detective Victor).

Our aim is to automatically give the audience a general stereotype of the character before they actually become aware of the actual subplot, with the possibility of reinforcing the audience’s stereotypes on certain groups.

Costume Analysis

We used the crime thriller ‘Training Day’ as inspiration for Ahmed’s character. For example in the film the two main characters were hardly dressed in smart attire, so we followed suit by allowing one of our characters to fulfil this role.

Costume Analysis

In order to follow the conventions of a crime thriller we have decided to dress detective Jones in a suit. We gained our inspiration from the film ‘Now You See Me’, where the detective appears to be well dressed and articulate within a suit.

Costume Analysis

Whilst the detective’s counterpart appealing to more of an urban demographic here we have detective Jones seemingly adhering to an older age demographic due to being seemingly quite mature and smartly dressed. We believe that in all this will help to contribute to the mise en scene as of the opening as the costume adds to the authenticity of the character.

Character Profile

Detective JonesOne of the main protagonists in the opening detective Smith is the chief inquirer during the investigation. From the beginning it quite apparent to the audience that Smith is quite aggressive and forward towards the character Saeed, in some circumstances showing brief flashes of ignorance, making brief references to Saeed’s character. Throughout the interrogation he appears to be biased in his questioning towards Saeed, almost forcing him into confessing a crime he merely didn’t commit. Numerous times during the investigation Smith claims to have the power and influence to put Saeed into jail, even though he had not committed to any crime. Although he is subtle with his aggression, the audience is aware that he is corrupt and wants to convict Saeed without a proper trial.

Character Profile

Saeed

Saeed is a young innocent young male who is targeted by investigators after his friend is found to be involved within terrorist activities. Although Saeed is innocent and unaware of such on goings he is targeted by police and detectives as they believe that he may hold key information for them to bear. It is apparent that Saeed is intelligent even through his use of slang terms and unusual demeanour, however his character is tested to the point where he must make a crucial decision over friendship or freedom.

Character Profile – Actor

Interview

Saeed

Concept for props

Actual Props

Why the use of these

props?

As shown in prior images these props can commonly be found in interrogation scenes, so in order to capture real authenticity we have decided to use our props within our production. As we believe it will create a real sense of tension, whilst the questioning occurs.

Shoot Schedule

•10th December: Shoot Saeed’s opening scene in the park, where he believes he’s being followed. All park scene’s must be completed during this day.

•20th December: Shoot the interrogation scene where Saeed is questioned and given an ultimatum regarding his freedom.

•4th February: Final editing

Shooting Script:

December 10th

Saeed: Yeah, seems like someone is following me.

Saeed: I don’t know what’s going on... Should I jus-

Saeed: I don’t know... I feel like someone’s following me

Saeed: I don’t even know what to do.

The reason for such little dialogue is the fact that this was a single character scene.