King's Speech

The king’s speech case study final powerpoint

View more presentations from kelger

Group Revision - Grace Keogh (Audience Theory)

Audience Theory’s

The effects/hypodermic model

The original model for audience was the effects/hypodermic model which stressed the effects of the mass media on their audiences. This model owes much to the supposed power of the mass media - in particular film - to inject their audiences with ideas and meanings. Such was the thinking behind much of the Nazi propaganda that was evident in Triumph of the Will and similar films. It is worth noting that totalitarian states and dictatorships are similar in their desire to have complete control over the media, usually in the belief that strict regulation of the media will help in controlling entire populations. The effects model has several variants and despite the fact that it is an outdated model it continues to exert influence in present debates about censorship and control in the media.

Advantages of hypodermic needle:

-          Can make a wide range of audience more interested in the film being advertised

-          Makes the film stand out more from other films

Disadvantages of hypodermic needle:

-          Can cause mass panic, like with the film 2012, where there was billboards up saying the world was going to end. People did not realise that the billboard was actually advertising a film

Reception Theory

Extending the concept of an active audience still further, in the 1980s and 1990s a lot of work was done on the way individuals received and interpreted a text, and how their individual circumstances (gender, class, age, ethnicity) affected their reading.

This work was based on Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model of the relationship between text and audience - the text is encoded by the producer, and decoded by the reader, and there may be major differences between two different readings of the same code. However, by using recognised codes and conventions, and by drawing upon audience expectations relating to aspects such as genre and use of stars, the producers can position the audience and thus create a certain amount of agreement on what the code means. This is known as a preferred reading.

New Technology - Revision Stuff

New Technology

Working Title – Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, Paul

Working Title can afford to use minimal new technology such as HD recording and 3D, for example Paul is coming out in HD on February 14^th 2011; and Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang came out during 2010 in 3D and was their first 3D film, it was very successful which means they may continue to produce 3D films in future.

Warp Films don’t have the funding to use new technology yet but as their name becomes more popular they may be able to use 3D or better editing quality such as HD.

Hollywood – Saw 3D, Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, Toy Story 3, Shrek 4

Hollywood upcoming – Cars 2, Happy Feet 2

Hollywood can afford to use any types of new technology because they have larger budgets than working title and warp films. For example the editing software used for Avatar took up a large percentage of the budget and 24 programmes were used to create the Avatar world.

Film4 – 127 hours, Never Let Me Go

Both the Film4 films listed above only use HD from the new technology as Film4 work with Working Title for ‘Paul’ by promoting it and by doing this they receive some of the profit.

Advantages: The use of new technology makes the film more appealing to the audience; for example, 3D makes the audience feel more involved, CGI makes the animated characters clearer and the quality better for the audience. The production company receive more money for the film if it includes new technology.
Disadvantages: People have complained about getting headaches from wearing the glasses, the cost of the film becomes more expensive and the quality of the 2D version may be poorer if originally filmed in 3D.

Ed and Jess

Research of Case Studies

Research of Case Studies

Working Title Timeline

WT Timeline

What is the impact of New Technologies on the Film Industry?

What is the Impact of New Technologies on the Film Industry

Essay Targets:

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.

Task 4 & 5

 Task 4

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.

Theories -

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.

3 part narrative structure
1) Equilibrium

2) Disruption of equilibrium

3) Restoration of equilibrium or new equilibrium

Animoto - Audience Theory - Reception Theory

Flowchart of Production

Flowchart of Production

View more presentations from jessspardoe.

The Gaze (Katy Perry music video)

Marjorie Ferguson -
Chocolate Box: half or full-smile, lips together or slightly parted, teeth barely visible, full or three-quarter face to camera. Projected mood: blandly pleasing, warm bath warmth, where uniformity of features in their smooth perfection is devoid of uniqueness or of individuality.Invitational: emphasis on the eyes, mouth shut or with only a hint of a smile, head to one side or looking back to camera.
Projected mood: suggestive of mischief or mystery, the hint of contact potential rather than sexual promise, the cover equivalent of advertising’s soft sell.Super-smiler: full face, wide open toothy smile, head thrust forward or chin thrown back, hair often wind-blown.Projected mood: aggressive, ‘look-at-me’ demanding, the hard sell, ‘big come-on’ approach.Romantic or Sexual: a fourth and more general classification devised to include male and female ‘two-somes’; or the dreamy, heavy-lidded, unsmiling big-heads, or the overtly sensual or sexual. Projected moods: possible ‘available’ and definitely ‘available’.

Trevor Millum - 

Seductive: similar to the cool/level look in many respects - the eyes are less wide, perhaps shaded, the expression is less reserved but still self-sufficient and confident; milder versions may include a slight smile.Carefree: nymphlike, active, healthy, gay, vibrant, outdoor girl; long unrestrained outward-flowing hair, more outward-going than the above, often smiling or grinning.Practical: concentrating, engaged on the business in hand, mouth closed, eyes object-directed, sometimes a slight frown; hair often short or tied back.Comic: deliberately ridiculous, exaggerated, acting the fool, pulling faces for the benefit of a real or imaginary audience, sometimes close to a sort of archness.Catalogue: a neutral look as of a dummy, artificial, waxlike; features may be in any position, but most likely to be with eyes open wide and a smile, but the look remains vacant and empty; personality has been removed.

Music Video -
Our chosen music video is Katy Perry – Teenage Dream, we chose this because it shows a good example of all forms of the gaze.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98WtmW-lfeE&ob=av2e (embedding was disabled by request on YouTube)

This video shows the voyeuristic gaze as the audience like looking at the video, because of the fetishistic aspect. Laura Mulvey says ‘women as image’ and ‘men as bearers of the look’ this is shown through the video as the artist Katy Perry strips, and the men all look at her longingly.  However Mulvey’s theory fails to account for the female audience as she focuses on the average heterosexual male. Another criticism of her theory is that since the 1980s the public have become more accepting of sexualisation within the media of male bodies; this is shown in the video as there are a variety of shots showing the main man topless. This is also shown when all actors strip in the sea and play fight.
Marjorie Fergusons theories also apply in Katy Perry’s video, for example the chocolate box is shown throughout, with many full and half smiles. During many clips of the video there are romantic and sexual gazes, this accentuates the fact that she’s definitely ‘available’.
This video also uses the care free gaze by Trevor Millum, this is shown at the very start when the two main characters are in the car, the girls hair is flowing in the wind this gives the impression she is an ‘outdoor girl’. The seductive gaze is also applied during a particular slow part of the song involving a sexual scene; the darkness of the room links to why their eyes are half open, the mood of the scene is also shown through their body language.

Representations

The Gaze:

The gaze was described in the 1970's as the way viewers look at images of people in any visual medium. The 'male gaze' is the feminists usual response to the voyeuristic way in which men look at women, as though they're there to look at and not to contribute. In 1998 Jonathan Schroeder said, "the gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze." He is literally saying that there are always meanings behind a gaze whether it's at another person or aimlessly into the distance, there is always a power within it.

Forms of the gaze - 
Spectator: the viewer
Intra-diegetic: longingly
Direct address: from within
Camera: usually in place of the other character
Bystander: glance of a passer by
Audience within a text: advert (audience gaze)
The camera gaze means that there is use of the fourth wall (the audience), the actor literally looking or talking to the camera engages a personal audience response.

Direction of gaze - 
Towards... others
                   oneself
                   object(s)
                   reader/camera
                   middle distance (not direct/beyond the audience)


Laura Mulvey talks about the 'male gaze' and the "visual pleasure and narrative cinema"  this means the active male or the passive female. 'Woman as image' and 'man as "bearer of the look."' She also brings the idea of voyeuristic, which means to enjoy looking at the gaze and fetishistic which is the idea that 'sex sells' and if the picture is sexy or appealing then it will receive more responses.
Criticisms of Mulvey are that she has failed to account for the female spectator within her research, she typically looks at the spectator being only a hetrosexual male which in itself ignores all ideas of diversity. Lastly, since the 1980's there have been an increasing display and sexualisation of the male body in mainstream cinema, television and adverts. This is because the modern generation have learnt to accept the theory that 'sex sells' and they know this is the main source of advertisement.

As a class we looked at underwear adverts by Calvin Klein, firstly a menswear one, of Freddie Ljungberg, who is a well known Arsenal player from Sweden. 
We were asked to comment on everything within the photographic advert. I said that his hair looked masculine as it's a short, practical cut; his abs and general body shape also looked masculine and toned causing the audience to jump to the conclusion that his sexuality is straight. The 'look' in his eyes and faces shows determined, intense thoughts and his eyes look very inviting as though he's looking directly at the viewer; Ljungberg's jawline is also very chiselled which makes him look like a 'pretty boy' but all of his other features seem masculine. His lips look slightly pouted and posed for the photograph, this suggests a seductive image; the stubble on his face also looks manly and rugged. The background of the photo is a firey red colour, therefore this comes across as dangerous, sexual, romantic and hot, we also discussed that it reflects his football team colour, Arsenal. The bar his right hand is holding onto above him looks like a pull-up bar which highlights that he could have been working out, his arm is also tensed making him look manly and toned. The tattoo on the right side of his body is of a wild black cat, this could come across to the audience as daring and that he can take pain 'like a man', it is also in a sexual place on his body which is appealing to some women. The underwear he's modelling for the advert is plain black with the Calvin Klein logo on the waistband of them, they are a tight fit which is also appealing to women. From what you can see of the pubic area where his fist pulls his underwear down a little, we can see his tan line and that he's shaven, which suggests cleanliness. The hand in a fist position holding his underwear has a lot of inflamed veins which could also mean he was working out beforehand. He is wearing a necklace which could be a religious thing, or a personal and sensitive necklace with a meaning behind it. His necklace rests on his chest, which looks sweaty and shiny, this could suggest a post coital image, again using the idea that 'sex sells'. The general look in his eyes engages the reader and attracts attention to him, the focal point of the advert is him as a whole, there is nothing that particularly stands out. 


We then went on to look at a girl version of the advert, featuring Eva Mendes, a famous actress known for being in 'Hitch'.
 
The 'look' in her face and eyes, I believe, shows that she knows she looks good, it also suggests that she's distracted and disinterested in anyone else's thoughts. Her fair is long which shows femininity, it's wet and messy which could mean she'd been in the shower or swimming pool beforehand. He legs are long, tanned, toned and slim which attracts a man's eyes from a voyeuristic point of view and attracts women's attention from a jealous point of view. Her stance is confident in both images, in the first one, one of her legs is turned outwards revealing more of her body and showing off the underwear, the second he has her hands on her hips and has a wide stance with her feet - standing her ground. Her arms look too thin from some angles but again show confidence within her stance, her body could be described as 'the perfect body' by some people but by others she looks 'too skinny'. The lingerie she's modelling isn't particularly attractive or sexy so Calvin Klein have tried to make it more appealing by the way they've captured the photographs. She's wearing high-heeled shoes with lingerie which makes no sense in the real world, but this also adds to confidence and causes her legs to look longer and slimmer, the shoes aren't the main focus so they are plain. The confidence that Mendes has in these images suggests that she's trying to make other women feel confident in their underwear, her legs are dominant in the picture so the viewer would look at her long legs and the way she's standing and immediately think that she's a confident and dominant woman. In contrast to this, her stance could simply mean that she knows she looks amazing and her body is slim and perfect.

The three images as a whole show good examples of fetishistic aspects and how 'sex sells' is definitely true as more and more adverts are becoming sex oriented. 

Media Essay - Film Production

Media Essay - Film Production