Film language Analysis

For this task we had to analyse the film language used in the first six minutes of the 1991 film, Boyz n the hood. There are many symbols being portrayed in the opening scene. The film starts with a grey screen and there speech being played over the top, the who are people speaking sound like they could be part of a gang and they are about to perform a drive-by, one of the speakers clarifies who it is to shoot, then the use of audio added in post adds the screech of a car wheel followed by multiple shots being fired. This is then followed by the screams of people nearby. A child is then heard saying "they shot my brother" and other phrases. This happens whilst facts are being played on screen about Black-American Male murders. This tells us that one of the films messages is teach us that the murder needs to stop, as well as a look into the life of the child and his lifestyle. We then see another use of symbolism when the screen cuts from the grey background to a zoom in on a 'Stop' sign, which could also symbolise to us that the murders need to stop. The film opening also appears to be telling us about some kids lives and how they are effected by the crime. The camera then starts to follow these children in a tracking motion The children appear to have not done their homework we can tell this by listening to the children's conversation. From this we can also tell that they are also not very well educated by the way they speak. As well as this the children are clearly exposed to the dangerous environment as they are talking about the shooting heard in the start of the opening scene. The children then investigate the crime scene, the blood on the floor is yellow and one of the kids asks why the blood is yellow, this cues the transition to the classroom scene but before this the camera cuts to some children drawings. The first drawing we see is a man in a coffin which represents the death of the man in the last scene. This is then followed with a fade transition of a black man being stopped by the police, which is then followed by a drawing of a helicopter with LAPD drawn on the side searching for a car presumably black people due to the last drawings. The camera then pans around into the classroom where a class is taking place, the teacher seems not to care about the children's education this results in the children's efforts being minimal too. One of the children makes a joke then is told to teach the class due to them being arrogant. Two of the children begin to argue, with the camera cutting from one to the other, they then start to use violent and offensive language towards each other and start to fight. This emphasises the influence their surroundings have on them, the camera cuts to a view of the fight from the back of the classroom with all of the other children cheering them on. This is a contrast to how the children will look at violence in the future.