Research Three

Here is another clip which is from the movie 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley' about the IRA's struggle for independence in 1916-1921. At one point in the movie the IRA are having an internal meeting discussing their future. Some of the men want to agree to a treaty to keep 26 counties, while others want to fight on for the independence of the whole country. While the first half want the armed struggle to end, the latter half want to step up their campaign of violence and will not compromise until they have freed all of Ireland. This was a great insight into an IRA meeting which let us see the mindset of the members, and the commitment they had to the cause. This also helped us see the lengths they were prepared to go to get their message across, much like the later troubles which our project is based on.
Although this clip only shows a small part of the meeting since it is the trailer, I have watched the film many times which is the reason for my great knowledge of it. Another part of the movie that we found useful was when Damien, who is the main character, is making his allegiance to the IRA. This happens at the start of this video, and was very helpful to see the depth of commitment some men would go to in order to protect their heritage and culture.
Music is played throughout this video and changed dramatically depending on what was going on. At the start when Damien is signing up to the IRA and making his allegiance, inspirational and extremely irish sounding music is played. This is in order to show irish romanticism and almost preserve these men, who took the pledge, as heroes for fighting for their people. The music then starts to become more upbeat and tense as it shows the men training and getting ready for a war with the british army. This is to build up suspence. The music then starts to become increasingly upbeat with a dangerous sound to it, just as the footage starts to show the war kicking off, and the savage killings which take place. Once again, the music slows down and becomes very romantic as it shows Damien talking to his girlfriend which symbolises their love for eachother. By the end of the trailer, the music has become sad and depressing as Damien whispers the ironic statement 'I tried not to get into this war and did, and now i try and get out and cant.'

Movie titles were used effectively in this clip also as they capture the audience with chilling information and statements. This is something that we would like to do in our project. All the titles are in white bold writing on a black background which makes it even more striking to the viewers. The first title is 'War Has Cost Them Their Innocence' which is a very sad but true statement in every case of war, and is linked heavily to the many people who fought in the troubles. The second title says 'Freedom Will Cost Them Their Blood' which is very much also the same case as the many people who lost their lives fighting for their communities in the troubles. One last title is used at the end, saying the movie title, 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley'. The three main words 'Wind', 'Shakes' and 'Barley' are all in larger font in order to make them stand out and then the whole line is underlined. This helped us when deciding how we should emphasis our movie's name in the clip which we are creating.

Mise En Scene is very simple but cogent in the film. They are all dressed in old 1920s clothes, most wearing big coats, ruffled jackets and hats. The set is all very realistic too, which is most likely because it was filmed in very rural parts of Ireland which haven't changed much and lack modern facilities. This made the film extremely convincing to watch. We want to try and make our film as believable as this, and although our project is set in a different time period, we can still learn a lot from this clip in order to make it as authentic as physically possible.

The target audience of this clip would be people who have an interest in Irish history, the Irish Rising and the conflict in general here in Ireland. The main purpose of this film would not be to glamorise the IRA, but to try and give the viewer an understanding of why they did what they did, and what drove them to the extreme actions they took. The audience expectations of this film would be to get an insight into Irish history, and the 1916 rising in particular. They would expect to have a broader knowledge of the IRA, and see how they were able to take on the British army and free 26 counties from their empire.