1- Focus on British Film Industry and use examples of BRITISH films
2- Use examples from Working Title (Warp and Hollywood are comparisons)
3- Refer back to the question, key word: IMPACT
4- Institutions and Audience is the main focus in any question, discuss these two areas where you have studied
5- Use the word 'audience' in the place of 'people/you/us' unless it's personal opinion
6- Terminology is key: processes, audience, conglomerate 7- PEE - point, evidence, explain
I will improve my essay writing by taking into consideration the targets above and mainly using the 3rd, because I substitute some terminology with other words if I can't remember, and the 6th as I tend to forget the question and go off task. The 7th target is also helpful as when I learnt this in GCSE English I had forgotten that I can still use it now, so next time I will include this in my essay as well.
Place the following genres into their correct category.
The News, EastEnders, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, Friends, Horizon, Cribs, Qi, The Bill, Holyoaks, Life On Mars, I’m A Celebrity..., House, Escape To The Country, X Factor, Coronation Street,
Information
Identity
Social Interaction
Diversion
The News
Qi
Horizon
Cribs
Escape to the country
Eastenders
Coronation Street
Friends
Life on Mars
The Bill
Hollyoaks
House
Who wants to be a millionaire?
I’m a celebrity…
X factor
Which of the above programmes might be guilty of employing the ‘Hypodermic Model’ and which therefore might also reflect Blumer’s views on audience?
Social Interaction programmes could be an example of the ‘Hypodermic Model’ as the audience get involved of the life of a soap opera character.
Task 5
Look at the opening of ‘Nanny McPhee’. Think about the way the text has been constructed through the use of codes.What has been encoded for the audience to decode?
The target audience of Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang is families, this is because the exciting story and characters appeal to children, but the storyline of having a nanny appeals to parents and older audiences. It also allows the older audience to see children act in the film and experience their childhood again. The trailer shows that the main character, the nanny, has a special power which makes the children want to see it as it seems extraordinary; the adults also want to see it but to find out the outcome and see the humour within the film. The colour green at the start of the trailer could appear a 'happy' colour to the child audience, this links to bright green generally meaning happiness rather than jealousy from a child's point of view. The actress playing the nanny is made up to look ugly and in some ways hideous as she's got witch features in the way that she has powers that normal people don't have; this can appeal to children as she looks unusual but to adults as they know the role of an ugly witch from previous films and tv programmes.
This, is Carl Fredricksen; he is one of the main characters from Disney Pixar's 'Up'.
Stereotypically old people (60 - 65+) are racist, anti-youth, narrow minded, deaf, hunchbacked, set in their ways - prefer things 'back in my day', stubborn, ill, wrinkly and keep themselves to themselves. They are often very racist and like to do things traditionally, they sleep a lot and are known for their hobbies, like knitting or tapestry, they tend to appear lonely and grumpy and we always see them as wearing flat caps and sweater vests. Usually they live in villages in small communities and there is a stereotypical idea of old women having lots of cats.
Although Mr Fredricksen comes across as being the traditional old man with his wrinkly appearance and smart clothing and glasses, he isn't old in his mind, he's still living the life of his middle-aged self. At the start of the film we see a montage of Mr Fredricksen's married life, spent with his wife, Ellie, they plan to go travelling to a Lost Land in South America together, but they don't make it there before she passes away. He is told his house must be knocked down because of buildings being built around it, he ties hundreds of balloons to his roof and takes off in his house to the Lost Land. This shows that Carl still has passion in him even though he's old and people believe old people shouldn't have the same types of dreams as young people.
I chose Mr Fredricksen as I believe he shows a non-stereotypical personality of an old man, at first he comes across anti-youth as shown at the start of the film, he seems grumpy and jealous of the fact they can still run a mile. However, once you get to know the character throughout the rest of the movie, the audience see that he has a big heart and is just too stubborn to show it - also linking to the fact old people are stubborn and like to do things their way.
As he is paired with Russell throughout the film, an 8 year old boy scout from his neighbourhood, Carl has to learn to cooperate with children's needs - this could cause him to feel emotion again (after Ellie's death) and release his 'inner child' during the rest of the film. Russell is a typical 8 year old, living in the modern world and experiencing the present day events and activities of children's lives. He relies on his parents a lot, in this case he relies on Mr Fredricksen a lot throughout the film, he can use technology and there is a particular scene in the film where he uses a satellite navigation pad. He also is experiencing the subculture groups at school and in general life, just like other young people, involving geeks, goths, townies, grebs, emos and chavs etc. - this is typical of young people in the modern day.
Claude Levi-Strauss (1908 - 2009)
Binary Opposites, e.g. Good / Evil Black / White Tall / Short Old / Young etc.
Vladmir Propp (1895 - 1970)
Character Roles, e.g. James Bond - Goldfinger
James Bond
Hero – character who seeks something
Goldfinger
Villain
Q
Donor – provides an object with some magic property
Felix Leiter
Helper – aids the hero
Pussy Galore
Princess – reward for the hero, often the object of the villain
Princess’ father – rewards the hero
M
Dispatcher – sends hero on his way
False hero – seems to be heroic, turns out evil, AKA red herring*
*Red herring: character or object introduced as seemingly important, but is then left behind/forgotten/never mentioned again, they in fact had/have no importance.
Not every character type is visible in every text.
Tzvetan Todorov (1939 - )
All stories begin with an equilibrium, this is disrupted, then restored.
A classic beginning, middle, end - narrative structure.
This is England '86 is a Channel 4 drama series, it was aired during 2010.
Directors: Shane Meadows and Tom Harper
Executive Producers: Mark Herbert and Shane Meadows
Producer: Derrin Schlesinger
Production Company: Warp Films
Funding: Screen Yorkshire Filming, EM Media
The aim of the remake series of the film This is England, was to show a new generation how life was in the 1980's, they show the mod revival rather than the skinhead culture shown in the original film. It also gives an insight to the recession that has continued to take place in the present day, which shows it has always been around. The series appeals more to older teenagers as they watched the film when it first came out in 2006 as well, so the production company will have taken this into account and made the series more teen-friendly. Shane Meadows also used the same original cast from the film, this creates a link for the audience as they know the characters already; the only difference in cast is that Lol's mum and dad are new characters. The TV series was also filmed in the same area, Sheffield, so that the links to the film are shown.
The budget for the series was higher than the film, by a lot, the film was £1.5 million whereas the series was £20 million, so this meant that they could use artificial lighting and more settings and locations, there were also a range of cameras used (not all hand-held like the film) and the editing was more advanced. One other change with the film is that Sean isn't the only main character, there are others who share the limelight in the series.
Disability – little brain activity, bow legs D.O.B – 06/06/1944 Hometown – Alabama I.Q – 75 Occupation – soldier, businessman, shrimp boat captain, football player, professional ping pong player, lawn mower
Forrest Gump’s disability is portrayed well in the film as the audience see that he is simple-minded and doesn’t think through his actions. The film is set in 1981 but there are flashbacks to different events in his life, this means Forrest Gump is 37 years old throughout most of the story, this character is played by Tom Hanks; however the scenes involving him as a child are played by Joseph Urso.
The stereotypes of a mental disability are that the person is typically ‘not right in the head’; they’re often described as crazy or a ‘freak’. The audience can’t tell visually if a character or person has a mental disability, it’s usually shown through body language or speech.
The start of the film shows Forrest Gump sitting on the famous bench waiting for a bus, talking to a woman. He begins telling her his life story, this could show abnormality within the character; this is shown as the average person wouldn’t tell a stranger their life story on a normal day. He shows a personal level to the woman, the woman doesn’t react very much and just sits and listens, this could show that she knows he’s ‘not right in the head’.
The physical disability with his ‘bowed legs’ is shown twice vividly in the film, at first when he’s younger being chased by a group of boys, the famous quote ‘Run Forrest run!’ is shouted by Jenny, Forrest’s friend. This scene is repeated later in the film, during his adult life, the same group of boys are chasing him but in a truck as they’re all older; Jenny shouts ‘Run Forrest run!’ again. His physical disability is visually stronger when he’s a child as he wears leg braces to fix it, when the character grows up and becomes an adult his physical disability disappears.
The film, ‘Tropic Thunder’ shows a clip of two characters talking about going ‘Full Retard’, they say how no one can go full retard, however as Forrest Gump has both a mental and physical disability he is verging on ‘full retard’. One of the characters in the scene mentions Forrest Gump being ‘slow’ and having braces on his legs, but he’s a professional ping pong player therefore he can’t be ‘full retard’.
As a class we listened to 'Spasticus Autisticus' by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, this was playing as the lesson started. Ian Dury had polio and therefore this illness stopped the growth in one of his legs, making him physically disabled, this song is aimed at disabilities but as he wrote it, it's accepted by the public.
We discussed our views on disabled people as a class and how we feel around them; there were mixed reactions depending on whether a student had experienced being around disabled people before or not. The ideas we came up with were that it depends on the disability, whether it's mental or physical, we all came to the conclusion that we feel comfortable around them but more uncomfortable around mental disabilities than physical. We all agreed that we feel awkward around disabled people but we don't want to patronise them so we don't stare, this is harder for younger people as they can't help it if they see someone 'different'. It's easier for people to take the mickey out of disabilities than to empathise with the person, we try to avoid them in public places as we feel intimidating to them.
We then listed famous people with disabilities;
Stephen Hawking - wheelchair
Heather Mills - one leg
Gordon Brown - one eye
Stevie Wonder - blind
Verne Troyer - Achondroplasia
Muhammad Ali - Parkisons' disease
Gary Coleman - Achondroplasia
Albert Einstein - Autism
Leonardo Da Vinci - Autism
Michael J. Fox - Parkinsons' disease
Ian Dury - Polio
Terry Pratchett - Alzheimer's
Ray Charles - blind
Mozart - deaf
We went on to looking at characters in films that have disabilities;
Rainman - Dustin Hoffman
Forrest Gump - Tom Hanks
My Left Foot - Daniel Day Lewis
I Am Sam - Sean Penn
Born on the 4th of July - Tom Cruise
Waterboy - Adam Sandler
The Ringer - Johnny Knoxville
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Brad Pitt
Unbreakable - Samuel L. Jackson
iRobot - Will Smith
Million Dollar Baby - Hilary Swank
Avatar - Sam Worthington
Four of these films feature the disabled person as being a hero in the end, proving to the audience that even with disabilities people can win over others and be successful. Seven of the films listed above were nominated and/or won Oscars for Best Film and Best Actor, this shows that the public like to see actors playing characters who are 'different' and unusual, the films usually sell well and are very successful with awards and responses are often positive.
