"4321" Analysis

Representation:

The opening scene of '4 3 2 1' represents the typical teenage girls in London. However, at first we see three girls, one with a gun surrounding another girl hanging over the edge of a bridge. Relating to narrative, this is the dis-equilibrium and this is something that we would not expect of teenage girls. This representation is shown through a low-angle shot, the effect of the low angle shot is to emphasise the dominance of the three it give the effect that the three females with the power are looking down on the other less dominant and fragile girl. The lighting used in the scene further reinforces this ideology, the dark lighting and the night sky suggests that something bad that could happen later on in the film as dark lighting is usually used to connate evil and bad characters in films but this is in fact a flash forward. This scene would be seen as oppositional representation of teenage girls as we wouldn't associate crime with females. On the other hand out side the flash forward, a scene in the café follows after the gun scene enforces our views of teenage girls as they are seen to be typical teenage girls gossiping and chatting, relating to narrative this would be the equilibrium in the opening scene as this is what the audience would expect from teenage girls.

Audience:

The audience think this film would be targeted at a “teen” age bracket as they will understand and relate to the film more than adults due to its conventions and story line. The use of the American actress in this film suggest that the film is trying to appeal to a wider world wide audience, in comparison to 'Harry Brown', '4 3 2 1' would be shown in several other countries other than just England. The attempt to appeal to American audiences is further backed up by the use of an American distributer; the distributer will increase the appeal of the film as it’s a more globally known institution ‘Universal’. This film would be considered as uses and gratification theory as the audience would view this piece of media for there own enjoyment and entertainment.

Ideology:

'4 3 2 1' is made by an American production company called 'Universal' and includes an American actress with-in the film. The American actress may be recognised for being Julia Roberts’s niece, the effect of this is that people would recognise this and may want to watch the film more due to the relation between the two. The use of the American actress would not be expected in this type of film as the representation is teenage London girls; this suggests that she is used for recognition and making the film recognisable to a wider audience making the film all in all more popular.

Institution:

Right from the start of the film, there is a dis-equilibrium being created with the use of night scene of three girls surrounding another girl at gun-point. This is shown through the use of a low angle shot of the three girls with the gun; this shows authority with-in the girls and their power and dominance over the other girl they have surrounded. This is further backed with the use of mise en scene and the fact that it’s at night time and the use of the dark lighting suggests that this is dis-equilibrium as dark lighting suggests that something bad is going to happen or is actually happening. This then moves onto the equilibrium with the cafe scene. This is shown as a brightly lit room where the atmosphere is more relaxed and calm atmosphere where we see teenage girls socialising. The bright lights and bright colours emphasise the fact that this scene is more relaxed.  The dis-equilibrium right at the start of a film could suggest its in fact a flash back dis-equilibrium usually occurs at the middle of the film, this effect draws in the audience and entices them to continue with the film.

Ideology:

Dominant and oppositional ideology is shown throughout the opening scene of the film. The first and most obvious one is the representation of the teenage girls. The teenage girls are seen to be of dominant power and very criminally entwined this goes against law and order of dominant values and ideologies of the typical teenage girl. That view of the girls is then erased and they are depicted as typical teenage girls gossiping and socialising.

Narrative:

The opening scene contrasts between equilibrium and dis-equilibrium and temporal discontinuity. It begins with dis-equilibrium with the bridge scene the audience don’t expect to be seeing girls rebelling against the law. This then moves to equilibrium in the next cafe scene a much more relaxed atmosphere. The effects of both these scenes create a temporal discontinuity which means a mix up in time of events to show a dream or a flash forward for example. Its purpose is to entice the audience in to watching more and wanting to be drawn in to the narrative.

Genre:

From the opening scene, there is constant relation to social issues and teenage lifestyle. The genre of this film creates a rite of passage of teenage girls growing up and the lifestyle they uptake with friends and family. Being a teenager myself, this film shows a good representation of teenage life and the whole idea of peer pressure from friendship groups. In my main task we used the idea of starting with a flash back of someone in a high building and we managed to do it quite well