Research and anaylsis film The Dark Knight (partly done)

Research of the  trailer for the film The Dark Knight

 

Cast:
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Heath Ledger as The Joker
Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face
Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth
Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes
Gary Oldman as Lt. James Gordon
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
Monique Curnen as Det. Ramirez
Ron Dean as Det. Wuertz
Cillian Murphy as Dt. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow
Chin Han as Lau
Nestor Carbonell as the Mayor
Eric Roberts as Salvatore Maroni
Ritchie Coster as The Chechen
Anthony Michael Hall as Mike Engel
Keith Szarabajka as Det. Stephens
Colin McFarlane as Commissioner Loeb
Michael Jai White as Gambol
Melinda Mcgraw as Barbara Gordon
Nathan Gamble as James Gordon Jr.
Joshua Harto as Reese

The Dark Knight was released in 2008.

It is a superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. It is based on the DC Comics character Batman. The film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. 

In this sequel to Batman Begins, Batman played by Christian Bale comes face to face with his greatest nemesis - the dreaded ghoulish Joker, played by Heath Ledger.

As of 2010, five out of seven films Nolan directed are on the IMDB's top 250: The Dark Knight (2008), Batman Begins (2005), Memento (2000),The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010).

Director: Christopher Nolan reporting.

The director’s qotes:

 "Batman is a marvellously complex character-somebody who has absolute charm and then, just like that, can turn it into ice-cold ruthlessness. There are very few actors who can do that, and Christian is one of them."

We all wake up in the morning wanting to live our lives the way we know we should. But we usually don't, in small ways. That's what makes a character like Batman so fascinating. He plays out our conflicts on a much larger scale.

The Analysis to the Trailer of “The Dark Knight”

The trailer opens dramatically yet bleakly with Batman standing at the top of a building. It is a bird eye view shot as he jumps off a sky scraper. The top of the sky scrapers has a bluish-ting to them due to the extreme darkness of the surroundings. But the dozens of lights shining from the top of the skyscrapers and windows allows us to see the vague shape of Batman sitting perched on top of the skyscraper, like a bat perched on a tree. So there is that connective symbolism playing there, of him being batman. And then he jumps and gliding downwards, where we can see the back of his figure… its evident that it was done like this  purposefully, it wasn’t a full-on dive, like diving into the ocean as then all would have been able to see would be Batman’s shoes. Moreover, this dive stunt is done to make this shot sequence more visually aesthetic, and to awe / inspire the audience. This also reveals the spontaneity of Batman’s character, the essence of a person who will push the limits, to avenge and protect citizens of Gotham city. The mis-en-scene is filled with darkness and shadows as the sequence of shot is taken at night. This also adds a atmosphere of mysteriousness, as the night has a natural “magesticness”, which would not be present if it was shot in day-light.  The dark night setting also links to the character ‘The Dark Knight’ which also suggests this is the environment in which he is most comfortable. Additionally, darkness has the usual connotations of danger and threats and secrets. All of which clearly correlate to his character.

The buildings appear silvery grey in the artificial light of the night city lights. The sound effects added are sharp and dramatic and the camera swiftly cuts from one shot to the next for added tension. As the audience and fans of Batman, we are eager to get a close up to our superhero, but this doesn’t happen. Instead the directors cleverly engage our attention even more as Batman plunges off the sky rise building, seemingly free falling to the ground. We know he will be unharmed but for a moment the drama of the scene causes excitement and apprehension.

The logo of Warner Bros appears against a backdrop of misty clouds which part for the famous Batman and DC Comic logos, symbols which will be well known to the ‘diehard’ Batman fans. At the starting of the trailer you hear dramatic music. To create impact, dramatic music is employed which has an eerie and sharp beat. This is quite distinctive and engages the audience's attention immediately.

At 0.20 seconds into the trailer, there’s a tracking shot being done over the roof over a white quite modern but slightly tainted building… this could be a symbolic representation, of how society feels at the time.  Then there’s another tracking shot, (also known as a dolly shot or tracking shot) taken zooming slanted onto the birds-eye view of all these police standing in rows, dressed in pure black, so they stand out, but far enough so we don’t acknowledge who they are as it’s a long shot. While the jokers voice is saying ‘A year ago these cops and lawyers’ and this is what brings the connection of them men standing in the road being cops. It’s the power of suggestion. Then the joker continues saying ‘wouldn’t cross any of you,’ while, the camera cuts to a professional looking cop… with a moustache, and glasses - the stereotypical trait of a person who is thought to be smart. 

The trailer is filmed using a full variety of camera shots and angles against a backdrop of dramatic dialogues and intense music. The tempo created is upbeat and tension filled. The subgenres of the film: science-fiction-adventure, thriller, romance all feature in the trailer and therefore the trailer is successful in attracting a wide target audience of male and female aged 12 and above. The Dark Knight presents a twist from previous Batman movies as the title suggests that Batman has “darkness” within his character and implies that he is not a typical superhero with 100% positive traits. This intrigues and interests the modern day audience.

Some research and Textual analysis on Red Dragon

Red Dragon Trailer:



Red Dragon is a 2002 thriller film based on Thomas Harris' novel of the same name and featuring psychiatrist and serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. It is a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs. The film was directed by Brett Ratner and written for the screen by Ted Tally, who also wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs. It stars Edward Norton as FBI agent Will Graham and Anthony Hopkins as Lecter, a role he had played twice before in The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal.
Storyline in brief:

In this film a retired FBI agent with psychological gifts is assigned to help track down "The Tooth Fairy", a mysterious serial killer. Helping him to solve the case is the imprisoned criminal genius Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter.

Director: Brett Ratner

Writers:  Thomas Harris (novel), Ted Tally (screenplay)

Stars and director: The stars of the film were Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton and Ralph Fiennes. The film was directed by Brett Ratner and written for the screen by Ted Tally, who also wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs. It stars Edward Norton, as an FBI agent Will Graham and Anthony Hopkins  who played  the role of Lecter, a role he had, by then, played twice before in The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal.

Stars  :

                                                                     Anthony Hopkins

Edward Norton

                                                                           Ralph Fiennes


                                                                          Harvey Keitel

                                                                          Emily Watson

                                                                     Mary-Louise Parker

                                                The music was by Danny Elfman.

                                                 Cinematography was done by by Dante Spinotti.


And Editing by Mark Helfrich

The Motion Picture Rating is (MPAA) and it’s Rated R for violence, grisly images, language and some nudity and sexuality. 

Box OfficeThe box office Budget was totalled to $90,000,000 in estimation.

The amount spent on Opening Weekend’s in the USA, on the 6^th of October in 2002, amounted to $36,540,945, in a calculated 3357 screens.

Additionally, the Gross worldwide made up a sum of $107,000,000, from 16^th of Febuary 2003, except for the USA.

Company CreditsThe Production Companies that worked on the Red Dragon were  Universal Pictures, Dino De Laurentiis Company, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) 

DIRECTOR: Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. His films include The Duellists (1977), Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Legend (1985), Thelma & Louise (1991), G. I. Jane (1997), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Hannibal (2001), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), American Gangster (2007), Body of Lies (2008), and Robin Hood (2010). Scott has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Directing, as well as Golden Globe and ‘Emmy’Awards. He was knighted in the 2003 New Year honours. In 2011, Scott is set to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The genres of the film were : Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

A main Tagline: How It All Began!

Running time	124 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$78 million
Box office	$209,196,298

Hannibal Lecter  is a fictional character in a series of horror novels by Thomas Harris and in the films adapted from them:   Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs (1988), Hannibal(1999 and Hannibal Rising (2006), Lecter is the primary antagonist a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. The first film adapted from the Harris novels was Manhunter, based on Red Dragon, features Brian Cox as Lecter, spelled "Lecktor". In 2002, a second adaptation of Red Dragon was made under the original title, featuring Anthony Hopkins, who had played Lecter in the motion pictures The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. Hopkins won an Academy Award for The Silence of the Lambs in 1991. In 2003, Hannibal Lecter (as portrayed by Hopkins) was chosen by the American Film Institute as the #1 movie villain.

Hannibal Lecter

Anthony Hopkins Biography

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE is a Welsh film, stage and television actor. He is considered by many to be one of film's greatest living actors, he is arguably best known for his portrayal of cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 blockbuster The Silence of the Lambs, its sequel, Hannibal, and its prequel, Red Dragon. Other film credits include The Elephant Man, Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Remains of the Day, The Mask of Zorro, Hearts in Atlantis, Nixon and FractureHopkins was born in Margam, in Wales.

His parents were the late Richard Arthur Hopkins and Muriel Yeats, who was a distant relation of poet William Butler Yeats. He was encouraged to become an actor by Richard Burton, a famous actor, who he met aged 15. He subsequently enrolled at the College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, He graduated in 1957. After a two-year spell in the army, he moved to London where he trained at RADA, at the suggestion of Roy Marsden.

In 1965, he was spotted by Laurence Olivier, who invited him to join the National Theatre. Hopkins was given the opportunity to be Olivier's understudy, and got his chance to shine when the actor  was became ill with appendicitis during a production of August Strindberg's “The Dance of Death”. Although Hopkins continued to perform in theatre he moved away from it to become more established as a television and film actor. He has since gone on to enjoy a long career, winning many awards for his performances.

He was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987, and a Knight Bachelor in 1993. In 1996 Hopkins was awarded an honorary fellowship from the University of Wales, Lampeter.  He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003 and was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2008.

Textual Analyisis

The trailer for the film Red Dragon, starring Anthony Hopkins, begins symbolically with a pitch black shot in which the diegetic sound of an electronic prison door being opened is heard. The sound is loud and disturbing, and rather unexpected. We are only able to distinguish what this sound is in the next shot which appears after a clean cut: In a medium shot, we see a glum looking young white man waiting for a prison door to be opened. He is dressed in a typical dark formal suit which indicates that he is an official.

 The mis-en-scene in the opening shot is created by the setting of a prison, the seriousness of the man’s facial expression, the disturbing sound effects and the lighting, which is dark and dismal. The audience is able to identify from prior knowledge that this will be a dark, disturbing tale with the theme of crime running strong. 

These shot cuts sharply to show the “Universal” film production company’s logo which is a familiar sight for movie lovers and highlights the success of the company producing this film. Non-diegetic music is now added to the background. The music is eerie sounding and the following sequence of shots are dubbed with a voice over, revealing the character’s thoughts and revelations regarding a number “highly organised” attacks which at first inspection seemed like a “killing frenzy”. An atmosphere of suspense is created by snippets of information being presented as well as a bombardment of singular images, such as an extreme close up of someone’s teeth in a grimace, a close up of a porcelain doll which zooms into the expressionless eyes, and medium shots of the man walking along the prison corridor.

The shots are interlinked with clean cut shots showing a pitch black screen. This is effective in many ways: the connotations of black such as death, evil, mystery, darkness create a thrilling undertone to the trailer. It also serves to break up the sequence of shots and presents the images in a fragmented and unconventional way which keeps the audience’s eyes glued to the screen. Thinking imaginatively, the black shots also seem like blinks of an eye and the suggestion may be that we are missing out on crucial information at this stage, or missing pieces of the puzzle, which will “come into light” at a later stage.

While the screen is one of these black shots, we hear the infamous voice of Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins, asking the question in a surprisingly calm voice saying:  “you wanna know how he’s choosing them don’t you?”At this stage, the audience is led to believe that he may be willingly working with the police as an aid but the very next shot is a close up of his face expression, which displays a cunning and evil grin. This creates feelings of apprehension in the audience as we can determine how dangerous and psychopathic this man is.

 As in “Silence of the lambs” Hannibal is represented clean shaven, every hair in place, and fully composed and in control.  He is however, wearing prison attire and goes on to highlight how it is the man standing before him who caught him and hence imprisoned him. This information is cleverly provided in a dialogue between the two and serves to fill in any gaps in the audience’s knowledge and also as a reminder of the storyline beforehand. Those who have followed the earlier films will perhaps be surprised to see him so perfectly groomed. This sets the scene for the events to follow as we now understand that jail has not affected this murderer in any way and that he is still as dangerous as ever. To emphasize this even further, the man goes on to blatantly state to Hannibal face that he has a “disadvantage” as he is “insane”! Hannibal’s reaction is minimalistic: mouth slightly opened as if he going to say something and with a curious look in his eye he stares back, but before any action takes place the shot is swiftly cut away with dramatic sound effects and music. This implies perhaps that this conversation is not over but will be continued on Hannibal’s terms...

In the following sequence of shots, we hear Hannibal’s voice over as he describes the characteristics of the murderer the police are searching for. His words of experience and his advice is true as we are presented with visual evidence of the culprit fitting the description Hannibal gives: for example, he states that the person will have tattoos and have a facial disfigurement. At this stage, we are in awe, once again, of Hannibal’s insight and understanding of the criminal mind. Without wanting to, we applaud his success but are fearful of his reasons behind helping the police as we know too well from his previous actions, that nothing he does is for good!

His intenseness and mental instability is highlighted in a close-up shot where he suddenly lurches towards the police officer with his teeth, only being pulled back by the restraints holding him securely. This is a sudden and dramatic reminder of how he has killed his previous victims with his teeth as a weapon and eaten their body parts! Any miniscule respect we may have had for his actions in helping the police force now suddenly disintegrate as we are reminded of his psychopathic nature. The image of him lurching forward in an animalistic fashion is the last image we see of him and hence stays in our minds.

Next we see the red dragon imagery and the narrator’s eerie and dramatic voice reminds the audience of the previous films “Silence of the Lambs” and “Hannibal” while describing him as pure “evil” just in case we hadn’t gathered this! The film title fades into the shot, symbolically coloured with the word red appearing in red coloured capital font and dragon being presented in white font.  The connotations of red are clear: blood and danger. However, the word “dragon” appearing in white may suggest how appearances can be deceiving. I think it is symbolic of Hannibal’s character as at surface level, by appearance, he appears like a stereotypical neatly presented elderly man. Yet, we know that underneath the surface, he is an intensely intelligent yet psychopathic serial killer and cannibal.

The predominant colour in the finishing credits to the trailer is black which connotates that this is  a horror / thriller genre. The tension filled dramatic music in the background also emphasizes the suspense and this is followed by a tick-tock sound effect which on one hand creates the notion of time being crucial and ticking away, and on the other hand, sounds like a heart beat which emphasizes the dramatic nature of the film. It is interesting to note that the names of all the cast fade into the shots in white capitalised font, which is a break away from the convention as grammatically names should begin with a capital. This too is a device which reveals to the audience that this film will break away from expectations and will therefore be a film worth watching.

As the audience is presented with a full range of cast names and becomes familiar with the fading in and out of the names, a last shock is in store, when the screen is filled in a close up shot of Hannibal’s face wearing the horrific face guard, we were first introduced to in “Silence of the lambs”, used a device to stop him attacking people with his teeth. The image is bizarre and highlights that he is mentally unstable. The audience is captivated by his gaze who moves from the side to focusing straight ahead as if he can see through the screen and see the audience watching him. This is a scary thought and is an effective last shot before the simple information – the date of release “October 4” is revealed, followed by technical data.

Love Actually - PM's Love Theme and trailer

Love Actually P.M Trailer

Love Actually Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYCkFTyADJ0&playnext=1&list=PLE67B2D6FD0321130

Textual Analysis

The initial shot has a bright ‘hookers green’ back ground and then to underline the acceptable content of the ‘love actually’ it says ‘the following PREVIEW has been approved for all audiences’ this is the very first shot to reassure appropriateness for all cultural backgrounds and hence attract a vast audience.

The second caption; ‘BY MOTION PICTURES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA’ immediately establishes the location of where the film is ‘association’ or based.  So the producers of the film are therefore, giving creditability to America, both as a good setting and production company. This is positioned centrally, but slightly upwards, so that it immediately catches the audience’s eye. Furthermore, it stands strong in contrast to the background due to it being white which stands out against bright primary coloured backgrounds such as ‘green.’

The colour white has connotations of being pure and a clear-cut. Any other colour, such as ‘black, would have had a reverse effect making it look negative and serious. The audience would acknowledge that the colour white has been used for affect, and that this has important underlying symbolisms such as nature and nurture, as well as the notion of being a ‘genuinely friendly’ production, the symbolism of green representing nature. When given deeper thought could give the audience the impression that what they are about to witness is an authentic production. Also in terms of optical clarity due to the colours vividness the white font is much easier to read and comprehend, whereas grey in comparison would be more difficult to read. However, the weakness of the use of white may be that a person who has photosensitive sight may be inconvenienced by the white lettering (however this is a minority).

The film has a certificate of 17 and presents this information in a table format, this rectangular ‘table’ which has an R in the top left hand-corner which is an abbreviation for the word ‘restriction.’ The abbreviation and full word are both included in order to cater for those who are familiar with abbreviation and those who are not. It also provides information in a clear format so a person can grasp of essential information from a few seconds of scanning of this grid. Columns and rows have been used to provide simple structure and divisions to present the information clearly.  On the right side column it literally says restricted and next to it is a small flat, oval symbol that’s placed horizontally with an X shape. This is illustrated in the central core of it. There’s a symmetrical diamond shape, which in my opinion, gives implication of a solid route like something one may depict on armour, or a shield.  The second column makes it explicitly clear that some scenes may be sort of adult themed and states that are under 17 year olds should have their parents alongside them. This certification is due to the sexuality, nudity and language presented in the film. Having an adult present is seen as a device which would safeguard youngsters from miss-interpreting key parts, or the morale of the storyline.

The film scene starts with a foreign looking Caucasian couple hugging, in a warm embrace, with affection,  glee pasted all over their expression, with huge grins, wide eyes and big smiles. This positive imagery creates a “feel good” opening to the film which indicates the genre of comedy and romance to the audience. The demographic for this film would include predominately females, due to the romantic genre, but it would also be ideal as a film “couples” would watch together due to the adult humour and complex relationships portrayed.

There was a close up shot of a young cute young girl hugging an older women maybe, an older sister or a mom. It looked from the youthful complexion of her skin and her build that she may have been a sister. The older girl who looked like an older influential figure, had black hair and on the right was visible which shoulder had a two red stripes with a white striped sandwiched in the middle. The choice of colours in this representation could be interpreted as symbolising love as red connotates love and white connotates purity. The girl was wearing a light blue shirt and which was only visible from the right shoulder, and her bright blue bag. When she had reached him we could see, his, grey sleeves, and a pink bright pink which showed contrast, and how they reverse roles when they’re apart, also how they each other in remembrance in the clothes they wear.

The male is towards the right side, with the lighting dominantly being focused on him on him making his face appear luminous, giving emphasis and great detail to his facial expression. This provides the audience the impression that this is a special magical moment for the couple, and you can’t help but be happy witnessing it as deep down, this is what most people value. The concept of this priceless moment of blissful happiness draws the audience into the scene and holds their interest.

It is significant to note how the female partner came from the opposite angle and hence, only the back of the girls head and hair was visible. It was black from the back, then brownish-bronze; and then red right at the fore-front. The change in colour could signify the transition and the change in how she feels when she is back in her lover’s company and presence. The colour red again is associated with love and romance. It is a symbol of love and as a audience from this filmed angle, we get to look at a realistic embodiment of what happens to lovers every day. This is what gives the focused audience the feeling of empowerment, because of the simplicity and realism of the scene. Another point could be that the fact that the girl had her back turned towards the camera, instead of her face, highlights how the spotlight is on them, and that they are the main focus. Their meeting isn’t to please an outward audience, and they are not intentionally flaunting what they’ve got – we as the audience are witnessing a private moment.



This happens in a series of medium shots, which allows us to see, blurry faces in front, which shows us that this is a public place like somewhere in an airport. But the fact that the camera is so zoomed in, that they’re faced are blurred, shows their insignificance in this love ‘scenario.’ This could also be showing us that when in the company of the ones you ‘love’ or admire you can feel sheltered in your own little bubble, where it’s like only you and in this case that one other person exists.  Their kisses and eye contact is smooth and gentle which showed genuine happiness. This exposes the fact that spontaneity can be seen as a good positive thing, that everything doesn’t have to be planned, you can act on impulse, things can happen out of the blue, and out of destiny, and not everything has to happen according to a scheme.

Hooligans - Chelsea Headhunters by Donal MacIntyre Documentary - part 1/6

Donal MacIntyre was born on the 25^th of January 1966 in  Dublin. MacIntyre is an Irish investigative journalist. He specializes in investigations, undercover operations and television exposés. His work ‘is in the area of care homes for the elderly’ and people who are disables and are learning to live with it. ‘He has won awards in the UK, France, Spain and Ireland for his work, but his style has also brought some detractors, from traditional journalists and among some people whose activities he had revealed.’

The risks of repeatedly going undercover have meant that MacIntyre has increasingly turned to presenting on films where his colleagues have undertaken the undercover work. He has also branched out into more traditional presenting roles, on weather phenomena and wildlife documentaries on BBC TV and Five. In 2007 he directed the Sundance Film Festival premiered A Very British Gangster. From April 2010, MacIntyre presented ITV's London Tonight local news show, departing after only a few months after taking up the post.

The risks of repeatedly going undercover have meant that MacIntyre has increasingly turned to presenting on films where his colleagues have undertaken the undercover work. He has also branched out into more traditional presenting roles, on weather phenomena and wildlife documentaries on BBC TV and Five. In 2007 he directed the Sundance Film Festival premiered A Very British Gangster. From April 2010, MacIntyre presented ITV's London Tonight local news show, departing after only a few months after taking up the post.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ygdp_hooligan-chelsea-headhunters-1-of-4_sport

Hooliganism was on full display when the BBC broadcast a documentary about the notorious Chelsea Headhunters football hooligans. Over the whole of the last football season, BBC journalist Donal MacIntyre spent time in the company of some of Britain's most violent hooligans. McIntyre, and several other BBC journalists, secretly filmed football violence, the organising of fights and the boasting afterwards. More importantly perhaps, the programme gave the viewers an insight into the minds and mentally of English hooligans.

McIntyre befriended Jason Marriner, 32, a long-time hooligan and loyalist. Through Marriner, he was to meet some of the most violent hooligans around: Andy Frain, nicknamed Nightmare, who boasted while on the way up to Scotland of cutting up an off-duty policeman; the twins, David and Ian Sim, who were later to be sent to prison for attacking Spurs fans; Stuart Glass, who was filmed on camera snorting cocaine off a pub table; and Tony Covele, one of the country's best known hooligans.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3x4mq_hooligans-chelsea-v-millwall-1995_sport#rel-page-1

^Background

The Headhunters have rivalries with counterparts who follow other London teams, such as Arsenal, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham. There was widespread racism amongst the gang and links to various white supremacist organisations, such as Combat 18, and the National Front and to Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary organisations, such as the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force.

They were infiltrated by investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre for a documentary screened on the BBC on 9 November 1999, in which MacIntyre posed as a wannabe-member of the Chelsea Headhunters. He had a Chelsea tattoo applied to himself for authenticity; although the hard-core were surprised he chose the hated "Millwall lion" badge rather than the classic 1960s upright lion one. He confirmed the racist elements in the Headhunters and their links to Combat 18, including one top-ranking member who had been imprisoned on one occasion for possession of material related to the Ku Klux Klan. The programme led to arrests and several convictions. One member of the ‘Headhunters,’ Jason Marriner, who was convicted and sent to prison as a result of the show, has since written a book claiming to have been set up by MacIntyre and the BBC. He claims that footage was edited and manipulated, and 'incidents' were manufactured and they were convicted despite having no footage of them committing crimes.

A high profile member of the firm is Kevin Whitton who was sentenced to life imprisonment on 8 November 1985 for violent assault after being found guilty of involvement in an attack on a pub on Kings Road which was described as being some of the worst incidents of football hooliganism ever witnessed in England. After Chelsea lost a match, Whitton and other hooligans stormed into the pub chanting "War! War! War!” When they left a few minutes later, with one of them shouting, "You bloody Americans! Coming here taking our jobs", the bar's American manager, 29-year-old Neil Hansen, was lying on the floor, close to death. His sentence was cut to three years on appeal on 19 May 1986. The fan responsible for the actual assault, Wandsworth man Terence Matthews (aged 25 at the time) was arrested shortly after Whitton's conviction and remanded in custody to await trial. He was found guilty of taking part in the violence on 13 October 1986 and sentenced to four years in prison.

A more recent incident involving the Headhunters occurred on 13 February 2010, when members of the firm clashed with that of the Cardiff City Soul Crew at the FA Cup fifth round tie at Stamford Bridge. On 25 March 2011, 24 people were convicted of taking part in the violence, which resulted in several people being injured (including a police officer whose jaw was broken) at Isleworth Crown Court. All of those convicted receiving banning orders from all football grounds in England and Wales ranging from three years to eight years. 18 of them received prison sentences of up to two years.

The aftermath: “Chelsea thug caged”

AS a result of this documentary Donal MacIntyre was severely assaulted by a BRITISH

Chelsea fan James Wild, 47. He was found guilty of leading a brutal attack against the journalist in a bar in Surrey. Giving evidence at the trial, MacIntyre’s wife, Ameera, said: “They descended on him like a pack of wolves.
While they were kicking him they kept saying ‘get him – this is for Jason.”

                                                         In pain: MacIntyre shows bruises.

                                                                    Convicted James Wild.

Textual analysis

As the very initial shot there is a medium shot of a news reporter, the shot has a watermark look to it as if the contrast in terms of visual graphics has been purposefully tainted, but not the quality of the picture, just the saturation, and contrast. This suggests that there is News on what we are about to see and the news world is in the background of this documentary.

In the background there is violin type of news music, creating suspense, so the documentary gets the audiences full attention. This is a conventional device employed by news programmes and the use of it here provides authenticity for the audience.

Then there’s a close-up shot of Donal Macintyre’s face, to exhibit who is going to be the pivotal person, during this documentary.  There are beams of graphical lights shining diagonally towards the bottom right corner, this has been integrated in blue, as well as MacIntyre being graphically coloured blue with special effects. These two affects in combination, increase the audiences intrigue, about what is coming next…due to it adding mysteriousness and depth. Also certainly as a member of the audience I felt my expectations rose, and I was intrigued to see what would come next.

Further on, there’s a spy hole shot in which only a peep hole is visible, and through that hole, we can see hooligans in physical conflict, with each other, most likely racial conflicts… however it is a long shot and the faces are blurred so that no one can be identified and targeted from, the audiences perspective. The use of the hidden camera here suggests that the filming is done without the consent of those being filmed. This increases the engagement of the audience.

There’s  a medium shot of technology, with differential buttons and switches, showing the undercover, detective type of equipment MacIntyre has which highlights how this is a professional venture which needs to be respected for the achievements and progress made.

While there’s a close-up shot of the bottom half of MacIntyre’s face, there’s a voice over of him speaking telling us  from his prospective: ‘my name is Donal Macintyre, and I’m a BBC reporter’  Also while this shot is taken, all of his face isn’t shown, which symbolically suggests that something’s being hidden. After saying this, there’s a commencement of light shadowy, piano music. Never the less, this is a simplistic straightforward, way of telling us about him, however, instead of him just saying it to the camera, in a ‘one to one’ conversation with the audience.  he tells us in a voice over, while he appears to be search for some belongings…but the camera is in a long shot, so that what he is searching for remains hidden from the audiences eye, making him look secretive, and what he is doing seem important, and cagey. This is done purposefully to cause the audiences curiosity to grow.

Subsequently, there’s an extreme close up shot of him putting a cassette into what seems to be some sort of cassette player…but the shot is too close to see the full picture. While the camera shows us this physical view/ he informs us that ‘[he] works under cover’ this however isn’t a conventional introduction and therefore would engage, the audience further…as well as tell providing factual information the shot captivates the audience’s attention. This is also said in first person, appealing to the audience more as if he’s personally introducing himself to each member of the audience. When he as the voice over says ‘and over the past eighteen months, I have lived five different lives’ it starts to get become really fascinating, and absorbs the audience even further due to the unusualness.

While we’re being told this MacIntyre shifts, continuing fiddling with concentration, with his tools and equipment. This shot is used, to exhibit the business in his life, and causes the audience to wonder, how much excessive work and technicalities entails in what he does. Then he plugged a wire into a machine, which probably uploads some kind of data, but again, this is exhibited in a close-up shot, so the audience doesn’t get to properly scrutinize what is being used, in full view…so again there’s an element of secretively…that the audience isn’t being totally trusted with what’s being used, which also gets a little frustrating, but would keep the audience engrossed.

He continues ‘from a care-worker, to a fashion photographer’ this is all said within a couple of seconds keeping it short and snappy, so that the audience maintain in interest.

He said ‘my job is to reveal worlds that ordinary journalism could reveal’ this exposes that he has a specified special job to get information from being inside personal situations himself, in other words from being in the scene he investigates, or in his words within the ‘world. ’In all of them my only protection, is my cover story and my secret camera’ this is said while a view of him, taking of his t-shirt, and then an indirect reflected shot from the mirror on the side of a hotel wall…where we see him putting on a type of white vest ‘harness’ on. The creativity in the filming makes this interesting to watch as it adds drama and makes the subject matter appear fast paced and exciting.

MacIntyre then reveals that his ‘most dangerous assignment was to uncover to hidden world of organized football violence’ this is said to interlink with what this documentary is about the ‘chealsea headhunters’ and other hooligans. While we’re told this we get shown a snippet of him undercover, looking like an ordinary person smoking outside, standing near a range of some kind of officers or guards dressed in bright yellow glow in the jackets full, sleeved, which implies that this video was shot in cold weatherly conditions. These clips of evidence give insight into the nature of his investigation and the audience starts to build a picture of the events.

Additionally, he begins telling us a fact of how  ‘England has the worst record of football violence in Europe’  while the shot of him undercover, smoking, which portrays the stereotypical gangster image, of the type of citizens and ‘hooligan’ that would participate in gang violence. Then the camera swiftly cuts and starts panning a little to the left, in a establishing medium shot, of people standing in a football stadium, where the spectator seats are, and there’s a row of police officers, guarding and stopping offending spectators, that are getting violent and trying to move forward, to attack. The cut technique of the camera makes the next shot more dramatic and the panning movement of the camera suggests that the filming has been done casually without the knowledge of those being filmed.

While the audience are viewing this drastic harsh struggle there is a pause in his speech, which is a dramatic device to create tension. He then notifies us ‘and it’s on the increase, last year the series of assaults almost doubled in reference to the violence. Allowing the audience to digest what is visually being confirmed, that the violence in on the increase. His words, added as a voiceover makes it more believable that that the assaults are doubling up and increasing over time. He enlightens the audience that of the daunting reality, that   ‘these days assaults are likely to be more vicious’ and while he says that shots of big round shaped balls, are being thrown into the spectators…that are being violent…he continues saying ‘more likely to involve weapons, and to end in serious injury than ever before.’ Donal MacIntyre keeps using affective visual proofs, for the declarations that he makes, to verify what he’s being said, due to it being on a serious and vast topic. This is to ensure that the audience doesn’t feel that he is just making wild claims, and proving the documentary to be a truthful and dependable account.

In conclusion, I believe he uses voice overs, not just to be more affective but so he can show visual evidence, while telling us the facts. This allows the audience to use their judgment whether to believe what is being shown in the documentary. The visual evidence would be regarded by some as concrete evidence whereas others would be drawn into MacIntyre’s account of events. Thus, the documentary would cater to the needs of a diverse audience. Predominantly, male based due to the subject matter and a minority female target audience would also be attracted, as would professional people who are interested in social and political matters.