Evaluation

For this project I created an opening sequence to a film named Burn In Love, on average about two-two and a half minutes long. Foe this I was part of a three people team which included Myself, Yasmeen Khalil and Carla Hosker. We all contributed in many ways, however my individual contributions were as follows: I came up with the story line/plot, I acted in the sequence, shot various scenes and made contributions in editing the sequence to reach the final result.

Our media product uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products in many ways. It is based on Honour Killing. It is an original idea and was mainly inspired by the Riaz Family Tragedy which occurred in 2005-06. It is a family/ relationship genre and the equipment used were camera, tri pod and imovie for editing. It was crucial to use the typical elements as it gave the sequence a sense of familiarity and it gave us the chance to meet the standard the target audience expects.

It was vital to do something new with a genre as it would hook the audience and the outcome would be different to what is expected from this type of genre.

I believe my innovation would be a success as the concept, theme and narrative was original, it is a sensitive subject and we approached the sensitivity in a mature manner and reflected the theme thoroughly without being biased or critical and without immaturity.

Burn In Love fulfils the requirements of an opening sequence as we have kept the duration of the sequence so that too much of the narrative is not revealed. It also fulfils the requirements of the Family / Relationship Drama Genre as it is based on the story of a mother and daughter, we see their relationship and the destruction of it, through flashbacks we visualize the events that contributed to the mother’s insanity. We see flashbacks from ’Grim’ times to ’Happy’ times and the climax of the sequence.

Burn In Love represents particular social and ethnic groups such as women, young people. These groups were represented by the use of costumes, appearance, actions, setting, use of lighting and music. Appearance played a major impact on our media product as it required specific character stereotypes, we required an Asian Mother, through costume lighting and make up we were able to achieve the look of a typical Asian mother stereotype. This stereotype is mainly like a housewife stereotype but it also consists of a mysterious veiled victim of male oppression and an uneducated foreigner.

The actions and activities carried out in the sequence represented social groups as the scene in which the daughter is with a male friend represents the social group of college students, however the mother represents the social group of a psychotic woman/mother.

The use of no speech enhanced the narrative further, it made the sequence look dynamic and functional. We have used various settings to represent various social groups such as, the mise en scene and location - the house created an sense of personalization it reflected the social group of the mother and the college reflects the group of students and young adults.

The lighting varies throughout the sequence, the clip starts off with dark lighting the effect this has is unnatural and unsettling, then as the clip evolves into the flashback, the lighting changed to natural lighting this reflected the happier times and the dark lighting reflected the dark moments in the protagonist’s life.

We intended on creating a sequence in Flashback Form this reflected the mother’s state of mind clearly and how confused she was about the situation. We used various transitions to reflect feelings and emotions that reflect the mental stability of the characters, we used the following transitions: slow/reverse/forward, Flash burn, credits, each element had a different effect which made the clip more sensitive. The editing pace varied between the shots, the flashbacks were deliberately slowed down to show that the mother is reminiscing, the present tense shots were created with normal speed which gave the shots a contemporary feel. The non-digetic sound creates an emphasis on emotion and feelings.

The most successful shots were in particular those in the dark, these made the clip more exiting yet more meaningful, in contrast to the dark shots were the natural lighting shots these were also effective as they made the sequence more complex. The editing style we incorporated was suitable to our chosen genre as it caused bewilderment and did not reveal the story straight away.As our idea was original and there was not much stereotyping on the characters, therefore we took up a challenge in order to create a realistic approach to the character of the mother, we tried to represent her in a realistic manner and fulfilled that as she does not look fake, also the audience responded as we wished as the characters looked realistic and not incompetent.

Film 4 produced a drama which entailed a similar story to Burn In Love called Yasmin. Which was produced in 2004, was about Yasmin, a British Pakistani, who lives two lives in two different worlds: in her community, she wears Muslim clothes, cooks for her father and brother and has the behaviour of a Muslim woman. Further, she has a non-consumed marriage with the illegal immigrant Faysal to facilitate the British stamp in his passport, and then divorce him. In her job, she changes her clothes and dresses like a Westerner, is considered a standard employee and has a good Caucasian friend who likes her. After the September, 11th, the prejudice in her job and the treatment of common people makes her take side and change her life.

The target audience for Burn In Love would be male and female age ranged between 16 + as anyone younger than this would not understand the narrative, it would be watch mainly by Asians as the central characters are Asian however people of any nationality could watch is as the story is straightforward. The universal themes we encountered were mainly love and revenge, these made the narrative appeal to a wider audience.

This target audience is suitable for the product financially as it relates to the lifestyle of many people therefore it would be supported throughout.

Our product gained a positive reaction from the target audience and proved a success, we gained constructive feedback and very little criticism.

Burn In Love addressed its target audience in many ways. The use of setting up equilibrium and disruption in the narrative targeted the audience as this gave an insight to the mental stability of the characters, this hooked the viewer into the sequence. The disruptive event occurs at the end of the sequence, this has a very big impact as it is the climax of the clip, here the audience wants to know what will happen next but do not know therefore want to continue watching it to find out .

The events that occur Burn In Love are not chronological, however at the start we created a sense of time and place but each event occurs in a different place hence we captured all the places individually and the time was also reflected in the sequence.

Various enigmas rose from this sequence as it is a very sensitive issue, the use of these enigmas made it more interesting and successful and made them want to watch it further, we created these enigmas in many ways starting off with the setting and location which made the narrative more understandable and appealing to the lives of the characters, finally we used cinematography in numerous ways to create various illusions, we used low angles at the end to show the mother in power in contrast to the weak daughter who was asleep.

We used binary opposition to create conflict in characters and situations, such as the difference in age of the characters which created a contrast in the roles, it also created a conflict in the lifestyles of characters and nature of the characters as there is Good vs. Evil, Honor vs. Disgrace, , Mother vs Daughter, East vs West and Past vs Present.

The ideologies Burn In Love gives an insight to the typical “Asian Family Honor”, and what honor means to these people, the effect this has on people is disturbing, the stone hearted mother’s behavior is unaccountable and not required yet her nerves take over and the consequences shock the audience, as this is so shocking the audience is kept hooked into the sequence.

We have used technology in many different ways whilst creating the sequence, we created a blog, the internet for research and YouTube. We used camcorder, tripod, imovie and music sites. In the blogs we included articles, YouTube clips, images and other information. We included all this information on our blog by embedding, copying, CDS/Pendrives, videos (old footage), external hardrive and the camera.

I have learnt many things about technology during the creation process of the clip. I learnt that shots can be edited in various ways which can give the clip a different look and gives the opportunity to visualize the narrative thoroughly, by using technology to edit the shots gives the sequence a more complex look and there are very little limitations that impose on our ambitions.

We used technology to receive feedback by creating questionnaires and asking for their point of views on the sequence, this was effective as we got various answers, the majority of the audience understood the concept and were pleased with the product overall, yet some people did not understand the concept of the flashbacks.

Since the preliminary task I have learnt a lot of things in regards to the sequence using technology, I think Burn In Love is better in a number of ways as when we shot this we knew a lot more about cinematography, lighting, mise en scene, sound and editing, also the use of using the transitions and effects also enhanced the clip which made the concept a lot more interesting. We experimented with the compositions of shots and used a various types of shots. The editing, cuts and fades were a lot more smoother and the sequence was flowing properly, the concept was more interesting and the character building was done in a better way, we created characters in a more obvious way, the titles and fonts, layout, and varied colour scheme created a more interesting and effective sequence.

Burn In Love was a very successful sequence due to the sensitivity of the genre, the key strengths of the clip are the flashbacks and the cliffhanger at the end however this clip could be improved to make it more effective. One improvement that can be made is that we could do more shots of the mother throwing petrol around the room, this would make the clip more realistic. I believe if this concept was taken further it would be a success as the idea is original and it is sensitive, therefore had to be handled with maturity or else it would not appear realistic, I think we incorporated the realism of the situation and handled the concept with maturity therefore Burn In Love was a success.

Articles on the Riaz Family.

Article 1.
Father killed family for being too western

By Nigel Bunyan
Last Updated: 1:53AM GMT 22 Feb 2007

Previous1 of 2 ImagesNext Mohammed Riaz
Clockwise from top left: Caneze Riaz with daughters Sayrah, Alisha and Sophia

A father killed his wife and four daughters in their sleep because he could not bear them adopting a more westernised lifestyle, an inquest heard yesterday.

Mohammed Riaz, 49, found it abhorrent that his eldest daughter wanted to be a fashion designer, and that she and her sisters were likely to reject the Muslim tradition of arranged marriages.

On Hallowe'en last year he sprayed petrol throughout their terraced home in Accrington, Lancs, and set it alight.

Caneze Riaz, 39, woke and tried to protect her three-year-old child, Hannah, who was sleeping with her, but was overcome by fumes. Her other daughters, Sayrah, 16, Sophia, 13, and Alisha, 10, died elsewhere in the house.

Riaz, who had spent the evening drinking, set himself on fire and died two days later.


Relatives broke the news to the couple's son, Adam, 17, as he lay terminally ill with cancer at the Christie Hospital, Manchester. He died six weeks later.

Michael Singleton, the coroner, recorded verdicts that Riaz killed himself and that his victims were unlawfully killed.

Riaz, who had spent all but the last 17 years of his life in the North West Frontier region of Pakistan, met his Anglo-Pakistani wife when her father sent her to the sub-continent to find a husband.

After an arranged marriage, she developed a career as a community leader in Accrington while he, handicapped by a lack of English, took on a series of low-paid jobs.

After Mrs Riaz's father died she "suddenly felt less beholden to Mohammed", a friend said. "She started to develop her own circle of friends and allowed the girls to express themselves in a more western way."

She began to work with women who felt suppressed by Asian culture and many saw her as a role model for young Asian women.

Article 2.
Police wait to quiz father over deaths of wife and daughters in house fire

By Nigel Bunyan
Last Updated: 2:11AM GMT 02 Nov 2006

Killed in the blaze: Sayrah, Sophia and Alisha Riaz
Detectives were last night at a hospital bedside waiting to interview a man whose wife and four daughters were killed in an arson attack within hours of a Halloween party at their home.


Mohammed Riaz, 49, suffered serious burns when the blaze spread through his end-of-terrace house in Accrington, Lancs, at what one fireman described as a "terrifying" speed.

He was resuscitated by fire crews, who smashed through the locked front door, but the rest of his family perished. All were trapped in their bedrooms.

Neighbours in the mainly Muslim community looked on in horror as firemen brought out the bodies of Caneze Riaz, 39, who was a prominent Muslim community worker, and her daughters Sayrah, 16, Sophia, 13, Alisha, 10, and Hannah, three.

The couple's son, Adam, 17, was out of the house at the time of the attack because he was staying overnight at the Christie Hospital, Manchester, where he is being treated for terminal cancer.

His mother had taken him to Manchester and returned a few hours before the blaze. Earlier in the evening the girls had been holding an impromptu Halloween party with friends. Detectives are investigating reports that one later made a desperate last mobile phone call to a friend.

Lancashire police began a murder inquiry within hours of the blaze being extinguished. The force also moved quickly to allay local concerns that the attack may have been racially motivated.

Det Supt Mick Gradwell said: "Already it is clear that there were several seats of fire and accelerants had been used. The cause of the fire is deliberate. The house was secure and locked from the inside."

It was a "priority" of the investigation for his team to speak to the sole survivor, he said. Officers at Mr Riaz's bedside at Wythenshawe Hospital will remain there until he is well enough to be interviewed.

In particular, detectives are anxious to know why the taxi driver, who was resuscitated on the pavement by a fireman, was unable to lead the rest of his family to safety. The causes of death have yet to be confirmed. Although police believe the victims died as a result of the blaze, it remains a possibility that they were killed before it began.

Mrs Riaz, who was half-English, half-Pakistani, was a highly respected community worker in the town. Her job as a project co-ordinator with the Hyndburn Cultural Association involved helping young Muslims integrate with the wider population.

She had also worked as a teaching assistant at her children's primary school, which is only a few yards from the family's home.

The three eldest children had all passed through Hyndburn Park Primary, while Alisha was due to leave next July. Hannah would have started in the school's reception class in September.

Sayrah had ambitions to be a model, while Sophia was an enthusiastic member of a local girls' football team.

Zeenat Begum, 24, who worked with Mrs Riaz and regarded her as her best friend, saw firemen bringing out the victims' bodies shortly after 2am.

"They were brought out one by one," she said. "First they brought out Alisha, then Caneze. We don't know what happened. The neighbours told me they heard knocking from the house, but no one could break down the door.

"Caneze was like my left arm. I can't believe it is real. I spoke to her a matter of hours before the fire.

"I was going to bring some tea round for all the family, but she just said, 'It's okay, I'll just see you in the morning.'

"We were out on Monday to celebrate Eid. She looked stunning, dressed all in red. We had such a fantastic time. I can't get used to the fact that I arrived here in the early hours to see her body being brought out of the house. She is irreplaceable."

Another friend, Saeeda Farouq, said: "I spoke to her yesterday and the family were so happy. I can't bear to think of what happened to them.

"The girls were so pretty. They were like angels. Hannah was so beautiful, with curly hair. She was so happy before with her black and white dress. She had been taking pictures on my children's telephones, playing earlier that night."

Anayat Mohammed, from the Hyndburn Cultural Association, described Mrs Riaz as "a warm, kind and sincere person who was respected across all sections of our community".

He added: "At a time when communities have been polarised by actions taken outside our community, Caneze was a beacon for building good relations between people of different backgrounds."

Article 3.
Marriage fears of father in death blaze

By Nigel Bunyan
Last Updated: 2:44AM GMT 03 Nov 2006

The father of four girls found murdered in their blazing home was concerned about the state of his disintegrating marriage, it emerged yesterday.

Friends said Mohammed Riaz, 49, had begun to fear that his Anglo-Pakistani wife, Caneze, was having an affair.

They are thought to have argued hours before the blaze that destroyed their terrace home in Accrington, Lancs.

Mr Riaz, already with a reputation for being moody, apparently had spoken of feeling isolated from the rest of his family. While he held low-paid jobs and centred his life on the local mosque, Mrs Riaz, 39, a "bright and bubbly" woman, was embracing an ever more westernised way of life and encouraging their children to do the same.

His depression was compounded by the knowledge that his son, Adam, 17, was seriously ill in hospital with leukaemia.

Mr Riaz was resuscitated by a fireman after the Hallowe'en night blaze and is critically ill with 60 per cent burns. Detectives were last night by his bed hoping to interview him when he regains consciousness.

Article 4.
Arson man dies from burns

By Nigel Bunyan
Last Updated: 1:04AM GMT 04 Nov 2006

Five members of the Riaz family died in the blaze
Marriage fears of father in death blaze
A teenager who lost his mother and four sisters in a Hallowe’en night arson attack learned today that his father had also died as a result of the blaze.


Adam Riaz, 17, received the news as he lay seriously ill in a hospital bed with leukaemia.

Detectives then confirmed to him the fact that his father, Mohammed, 49, had been the sole suspect in their hunt for the arsonist.

Mr Riaz, a factory worker, died at 8.33am, having sustained 60 per cent burns in the blaze at the family’s end-of-terrace home in Accrington, Lancs.

He never regained consciousness. His death has been reported to the local coroner.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: “We are not looking for anyone else in relation to the murders.”

Two days ago medical staff at the Christie Hospital, Manchester, switched off all the televisions and radios on Adam’s ward before relatives broke the news of the fatal blaze.

An uncle told him that his mother, Caneze, 39, a community worker, and sisters, Sayrah, 16, Sophia, 13, Alisha, 10, and Hannah, three, had all perished in the fireball that engulfed their home.

The five were trapped in their bedrooms as the blaze, started in a number of locations, and accelerated by the spraying of petrol, spread rapidly through the building.

Mr Riaz was found in the bathroom by firemen who had to break down the locked front door.

It emerged yesterday that he had become depressed both by Adam’s illness and the gradual disintegration of his arranged marriage.

Having mastered only a little English since coming to Lancashire with his British-born wife in the late 1980s, he felt isolated as she and the children became increasingly westernised.

Article 5.
'Tormented' husband killed Riaz family
9:04am Wednesday 21st February 2007

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By Charlotte Bradshaw »

A HUSBAND killed his wife and four daughters by setting fire to their home before throwing himself into the flames, an inquest was told.

Caneze Riaz, who was a popular community worker, died along with her four daughters in the blaze at their home in Tremellen Street, Accrington, last November.

Her husband Mohammed, who worked at a plastics factory in Blackburn, was pulled alive from the house by firefighters but died later in hospital.

The inquest was told that Mohammed had poured a line of petrol all over the house. Three seats of fire were found upstairs at the top of the stairs outside Sayrah's bedroom and outside Caneze's room.

The fire was believed to have been started by a match upstairs.

Mohammed had also poured the highly flammable liquid over Caneze while she was sleeping in the master bedroom with little Hannah, the inquest was told.

Police chiefs said Mohammed waited downstairs as he was expecting the backblast from the fire to strike him.

However when the fire didn't spread to the ground floor of the house, Mohammed walked upstairs and then threw himself into the flames, the hearing was told.

Caneze's DNA was found on one of the petrol cans left in the room. The hearing heard that this indicated that Caneze had woken and tried to get to the door holding the can, before being overcome.

The hearing heard that the motives behind the killings may never be known.

However after the case police said that distance had grown between Mohammed and Caneze and that there were also financial difficulties. Coroner Michael Singleton said Caneze, 39, and daughters Sayrah, 16, Sophia, 12, Alicia, 10, and Hannah, three, died from inhalation of products of combustion.

The coroner recorded a verdict that Mohammed, who suffered 65 per cent burns to his body, killed himself and unlawfully killed his wife and four daughters.

Mr Singleton paid tribute to the fire service for their "heroism" and to police chiefs for their thorough investigation.

He said: "Never within my 13 years as coroner have I had to deal with so many connected deaths or circumstances where the wider community has been so deeply affected by the tragedy."

Mohammed, 49, died at Wythenshawe Hospital from burns and smoke inhalation.

He was identified by his cousin Mohammed Akram.

He was found unconscious in the bathroom In the rear bedroom next to the bathroom, Sayrah's body was found.

Alicia was found on the floor of the front bedroom and Sophia was in bed in the same room.

The couple's 17-year-old son Adam was not home as he was receiving treatment for a terminal illness at the time. He died a few weeks later.

Speaking after the inquest, Det Supt Mick Gradwell said: "We are never going to know exactly why he did it but there are a number of issues.

"Adam went into Christies Hospital that day.

"There were financial difficulties, which were not huge but there was quite a bit of debt.

"Caneze's brother Barry told us about a distancing of Mohammed and Caneze.

"They wanted different things.

"Caneze didn't want her daughters to have arranged marriages but exactly why he did this, we can't give a reason.

Plot of Initial Idea.

Start - Male character throwing petrol around the house.
Flashbacks of events that occured during the day that lead to the consequences we see in the sequence. Female, with another male character coming out of a car and entering a house.
Sound of 'Flash' - Argument between husband and wife.
Sound of 'Flash' - laughter - everyone together as one happy family - Children and parents.
Sound of 'Flash' - Chaos, Children screaming and shouting over their parents arguing telling them to stop arguing.
Sound of 'Flash' Flashback into present (back to the first shot)- throwing petrol.
Then, he looks around and starts crying with regret, holding a matchstick in his hand, about to light it.
Everything flashes 'Blank' for a second.

Analysis of 'I Want My Husband Back, Please!"

We created this sequence to show continuity and flow in shots. We shot many shots, keeping in mind the 180 degree rule as well as all the different types of shots. We created close up shots, low angle shots, handheld shots and shots using the tripod. All the shots created an empowering effect.

The first shot was the shot is a long shot of the door, after this was captured the next shot is of me walking through the door this continues as a long shot, the next shot was a medium shot of Carla the a POV shot from my view. In the next shot you establish me and Carla, this is a medium shot,  then you visualize a low angle shot in which you see Carla, the final shot is a close up of my, in which you see me slapping Carla, the close up emphasizes the slap making it look more dramatic.

We then edited the sequence by putting shots together to create a continuous sequence that flowed. Over all our sequence flows well and the editing is invisible which makes the clip look more natural. 

Inspirational Video.

These videos were created especially for the Riaz Family and are vital to my chosen theme of Hounour Killing. These reflect indepth feeling and great emotion as the story i was inspired by was non-fiction. We are able to see reality through these videos which makes the chosen theme more sentimental.

Music possibilities for sequence.

In relation to our theme and chosen genre we decided to mirror the theme by listening and using slow, depressing music, that empowers feeling and emotion reflecting the state of mind the central character is in as inspiration. Songs that inspired us are as follows: 

• Evanescence- My immortal. This inspires us because of the slow music and lonesome atmosphere. The lighting in the video played a big impact on inspiring us as the use of black and white connotates the realism of life and that without happiness there is no colour in life.  
• Jon Young & J Cash - Can't make you love me. This track is inspiring because of the words and background music, it clearly reflects love and emotion. It endorses the viewer into listening to the meaning behind the words. 
• Britney Spears - Every time. This inspired us because the video shows the high class life of the celebrity but contradicts to the music as it is soft and very slow which shows that despite having everything she is still an incredibly lonely person.
• Kelly Clarkson - Because of you. This track thoroughly suits our chosen theme as it is portrays domestic violence and the effects it has on people. The music is slow and depressing however the lighting it natural, this suggests that there could be hope for everything to get better.
• Avril Lavigne - When you' re gone. This track is about loneliness and isolation. The lighting is very dark and dreary. Also, the fact that she has isolated herself from everything, in a big dark room, helps enforce the theme of loneliness. 
• Kelly Rowland - Stole. This track is about violence and bullying which ties in with our theme of Domestic Violence. The music is soft and slow reminiscent type of music and the lighting is natural because it reflects that violence is everywhere and you can't escape it.
• Delta Goodrem - Lost without you. The lighting in this video is quite dark, yet the music has a beat to it, but the words show the emotional side of the track.
• Natalie Imbruglia - Torn. This track also emphasizes on the theme of domestic violence, it is set in a house, using natural lighting.

Expectations from our genre.

The audience expects a hook in the opening sequence of our chosen genre, something that will keep them hooked into the sequence. They will expect action and enigmas.

Some people might want to be able to relate to the genre.

We will achieve this by making the sequence appear realistic not too dramatic so it appears fake. Also we can achieve this by creating situations in which enigmas rise and having enough action.