Key Concepts

Media Representations
Who is being represented?
There are many people from all types of backgrounds being represented in many different ways. We see Asian people, Black people, White people, People with proffesional careers, People following religion etc.The fact that I will base my independant study around people from different ethinic minorities will help me as I wil have a wider area to look at. This will benefit me in the sense that i have diffrerent backgrounds to talk about and compare them amongst each other.
In what way?
Some are represented in negative as well as others in positive. Some proffesionalist are shown as the good guys and some as the bad. The comparison of the different people will show how different people from different backgrounds have different beliefs and values. The beliefs and morals of a white person will be far different from an asian person.
By whom?
We are not shown the characters by any one specific person. But we do kind of see a lot through the a main protagonist (Eva- student) eyes as well as (Erin - Teacher). Erin is faced with hard decisions and many people feel she will side with people of her own ethnic background. She is constantly shown targeted about how she will make the wrong desicion by defending the 'wrong people.
Why is the subject being represented in this way?
As the movie is based on a true story, the director is trying to give us excatly that way for us to view the students and their struggles.
Is the representation fair and accurate?
The representation has been tried to be kept at a minimum, so no-one is really represented in a much more bad way however, the movie does constantly target the students on their race. They are always repeating the fact how important race is and constantly show them in a more negative light.
Media Languages and Forms
What are the denotative and connotative levels of meaning?
The connative meanigs are things like red for blood and killings. Most of the movie is based around racism and the fact that we see innocent people die in the beggining is literaly why the whole movie begins off. That is its starting point but every clue to the attacks leads to something else. Every clue shows how deadly dangerous it is to live in a neighbourhood where decdions are made based on your skin.
What is the significance of the text’s connotations?
The connotations are significant and play a vital role as without these it would be unclear to understand what the movie is trying to say and trying to get across to the audience. We see guns connatating violence killings and murder. Blood of those who lost the lives at the attacks and violence which was the root cause of racism.
What are the non-verbal structures of meaning in the text (e.g. gesture, facial expression, positional communication, clothing, props etc)?
Everything used in the texts literally matches up and fits in with the actual move. The actors have acted out and lead the roles extremely well which causes the movie to look as realistic as possible.The characters would all dress in an individual unique style because that is the way they would fit in to the followed role. As well as this, stereotypical roles (black people) are seen dressed in baggy jeans falling half way down their backs and long tops (the black males).
What is the significance of mise-en-scene/sets/settings?
If the mise-en-scene is not matching the narrative and what we feel should be going on on the screen the movie will totally confuse the audience and will not have no meaning at all.
What work is being done by the sound track/commentary/language of the text?
The movie contains a commentary of Eva at the start when she explains about Long Beach, the movie only contains soundtracks which kind of shows the damsel in distress type scenario,which makes you feel stressed in that specific situation as you engage and relate to the character and their situation so much.As well as the way this we also hear rap tracks which are also a big influence on the movie.
What are the dominant images and iconography, and what is their relevance to the major themes of the text?
We see how the proffesionalists have a more sense of power of authority. There job role and the way they are seen is dominant in the movie giving them a more glamouros type role.The teachers (proffesionalists) do give up on the students, this is shown in man scenes, and it makes them always look superior to teh students.
What sound and visual techniques are used to convey meaning (e.g. camera positioning, editing; the ways that images and sounds are combined to convey meaning)?
There is over a mixture of sound, the sound is diegetic at times as well as non-diegetic and parallel at others. The movie contains a lot of editing styles include fades and cuts with low angle shots making the subjects look superior to those whom have high angle shots making us as an audience look down upon them.
Narrative
How is the narrative organised and structured?
The narrative follows a non linear structure, the movie use flashback type scenes. There are scenes which talk about remembering the past, Eva remeniscing in teh scene where Erin questions them on why they hate each other so much, etc.
How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?
The audience almost once engages with the charachters on screen after the innocent man is shot infront of Eva whilst she is in a brief conversation with him and within a blink of an eye she hears gunshots and as soon as she turns back he's lying down on the floor dead. . We feel for the protagonist and see how much struggles she has to go through in order to be fair by choosing the right path.
How are characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?
Some characters are shown as postive whilst others as negative. We see some characters with proffessional superior roles accusing and assuming for the wrong cause. Yet the students have alsost an unforgiving grudge against each other, where they would rather die than mix in with the person from another cast. There are many different twists in the story by the use of barthes enigma codes and the movie always leaves you at the edge of your feet. Heroes nd villains are created simply by what they do. The character who instantly is doing good for the public and community will be know as the hero and vice cersa for the villain.
What techniques of identification and alienation are employed? What is the role of such features as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en-scene, editing etc within the narrative?
There are different techinques to identify different people. We see it is easy to identify people who look as if they have a serious role and are commited to what they do but on the other hand it is sometimes literally impossible to actually knows whst lies in the heart of another character causing us to be confused and expect the unexpected
.What are the major themes of the narrative? What values/ideologies does it embody?
The actual narrative is all based around a true story. This is the one annd only theme the entire movie follows and it is at the heart of the movie. The values and beliefes are different of each character, some feel to do good with their environment whilst others bad.
Genre
To which genre does the text belong?
The text consists of two different mived genres these include Drama and Crime
What are the major generic conventions within the text?
That the movie will be to do with crime and will include a lot of violent scenes. It is obvious from the trailer that the film will be to do with killing - hence the way characters act aginst one another. The title itself, kind of gives an impression of how they are free to write, connoting hwo they are able to tell their story without facing any kind of consequences.