Analysing-movies

Definitions:

• DECODING = understanding a media text.  
•  CODES can be visual (you can see them) or aural (you can hear them). Codes have symbolic value. For example in our society wearing a pair of glasses (glasses are the code) symbolises, or connotates, that you are clever. TV drama, magazines and videogames use these symbolic codes to generate character types and character archetypes.
• Non Diegetic sound-Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action: narrator's commentary, sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect, mood music
• Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space.  
• Diegetic sound- Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film: voices of characters, sounds made by objects in the story, music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)
• Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world   
• Shot reverse shot is when a shot goes from shot A, shot B, shot A, shot B etc. It goes continuously back and forth between the 2 shots to show there is a connection between them.
• An eyeline match is a film editing technique associated with the continuity editing system. It is based on the premise that an audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing. An eyeline match begins with a character looking at something off-screen, followed by a cut of another object or person
• cross cutting is a technique of continuously alternating 2 or more scenes that often happen simultaneously (at same time) but in different locations. As they cross, pace gradually gets faster and fast and tension builds
• 
  

Analysing the Avengers Infinity War trailer:
the trailer showed how Marvel has created a franchise, by having every marvel film leading up to this one film, having them into-link and have details you need to watch the movie. They add in the trailer important details that present the avengers and marvel franchise, like the avengers logo. The trailer also creates mystery in not fully describing what the film is about. There is also mystery in how they do a flash back to when Thanos 'adopts' Gamora, whilst she's narrating the beginning on the trailer. This creates mystery to people who haven't watched the Guardians of the Galaxy films, as they will not understand the story of how she came to turn against him. This helps the franchise by convincing the audience to watch the other films.

Textual Analysis:

Nico is presented as a tough person by the way he's holding his hands, as if he's a boxer putting on gloves ready to fight. The direct mode of address creates a intimidating figure. Nico looks rough with, dark clothing and is presented under a bridge, which presents a 'dodgey' personality and represent him doing illegal things. 

Cherry is presented as a prostitute through her very little clothing. The colour red on her clothes, lollipop and her hair creates a seductive image as the colour red presents passion and love. her strap being down and and her clothes tied up in a knot creates an unpresentable person who is inviting men into using her body.

• enigma code- refers to the mystery.

Shot compositions:

Star wars Trailer:

wide shot

full shot

mid shot

close up 

A full shot is used to establish the context and setting for the film. For example, in the full shot used above, we can tell that the person is abandoned in a desert. Normally close ups are used to show emotions and create a connection with the audience. However, in the example above,  the person is wearing a mask so there is no emotional connection crated as we cant see the details of their face or emotions.

Editing:

PART OF POST PRODUCTION PROCESS

The stage in the film-making process in which sound and images are organised to construct an overall narrative.

•        It is how a film maker puts together and considers cuts/cutting and applies transitions, special effects etc. to communicate a narrative to an audience.
•        Remember that an audience is a non-active participant who must understand a narrative through the editing, they can only see what you show them.
•        Imagine a film or even a scene from a film without any editing, it would be very interesting!

Shot reverse shot is when a shot goes from shot A, shot B, shot A, shot B etc. It goes continuously back and forth between the 2 shots to show there is a connection between them. It is often used in conversations so you see what both characters are saying. It is a form of eye-line matching if the character is looking at someone and the next shot is what they look at.

An eyeline match is a film editing technique associated with the continuity editing system. It is based on the premise that an audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing. An eyeline match begins with a character looking at something off-screen, followed by a cut of another object or person

cross cutting is a technique of continuously alternating 2 or more scenes that often happen simultaneously (at same time) but in different locations. As they cross, pace gradually gets faster and fast and tension builds

Special effects:

•B&w –often used to show memory or time period

•Contrast – to altar the lighting (or contrast = very light lights and dark darks sometimes with memories

•Colour  - to add a colour filter to show a specific mood

Example ‘The ring’ – many scenes are very blue-ish, which show sterile/coldness etc.

•Animation – titles of shows or cartoons

•CGI – computer generated images (example = avatar, planet of apes, polar express)

•Fast forward/slow motion – speeding up or slowing down footage 

•Ghost trail – see multiple actions (overlapped) to show someone drunk or on drugs 

•Blur – to show un-clarity, or fuzzy memory/flashback  

Analysing the jungle book trailer:

The Wide Shot above shows an intimidating figure behind Mowgli. The shot portrays Mowgli's frightened emotions. This creates a emotional connection between Mowgli and the audience as they begin to feel fear for Mowgli.

The Wide Shot above portrays Mowgli's frightened emotions. This creates a emotional connection between Mowgli and the audience an they feel as if they are there in that moment.

 The Mid-shot with a dark background creates a tension-filled atmosphere. The direct mode of address is used to make the audience fear King louie due to his big figure.

The close up shot shows the emotions of the tiger and creates fear amongst the audience.

Magazine Layout and Design

Masthead ideas:

• HC Gossip
• HC News
• HC Insight 
• College Catchup
• HC Babble
• Harlow College Chronicles

We had the class vote their favourite masthead for our newspaper and the highest one is Harlow College Chronicles.

Main Cover line:

Why I Chose Harlow College? 
Cover lines:

• Canteen
• Revision Techniques
• A-level results

Print Media and Advertising

Definitions.

• Denotation- the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.
• Connotation- an idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
• Semiotics- the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation.
  
  1. 
     
• Masthead- the title of a newspaper or magazine at the head of the first or editorial page.
• Main cover line-  also known as 'puffs' tell us the stories that are in the magazine.
• a header- is some combination of text and image s that can be made to appear at the top of each page when displayed or printed.
• serif- a slight projection finishing off a stroke of a letter in certain typefaces.
• sans serif-a style of type without serifs.
• A "media splash" is noticeable coverage in news media -- newspapers, TV, radio, online outlets, etc. 
• Puff - an incentive which is place on the cover to make something stand out. Usually by putting text around a shape.
• Banners – Typically found at the top or bottom of a print media text.
  •Byline - A journalist's name at the beginning of a story.
  took the image.
  
• Captions – Text below an image that describes the image or informs the audience who
• Broadsheet - Large format newspapers that report news in depth, often with a serious tone and higher level language. News is dominated by national and international events, politics, business, with less emphasis on celebrities and gossip. Examples: The Independent, The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph
• Inverted pyramid structure - Newspaper stories start with the main events. Then they give more details and eyewitness comments in short paragraphs. The paragraphs at the end of the story are less important than those at the beginning. This allows sub-editors to shorten stories by cutting paragraphs from the end. 
• Tabloid - Smaller newspapers aimed at a large audience. News is reported in less depth and emphasises human interest stories. The language level is lower, paragraphs and stories shorter, with more use of images. Content often includes more celebrities, media news and gossip. Examples: The Sun, The Mail, The Mirror, The Express
• Text to image ratio – This involves considering how weighted the print media text is with regards to text and image – you need to ask yourself why the ratio exists. 
• Typography – The collective term when considering elements of print media relating to the style of the text such as the font, colour, serif, sans serif etc. 
• Layout – How the print media text has been designed and formatted.
• The left third of the magazine cover is vital for sales in shops where the magazine is not shown full-frontage
• a tag is a keyword or term assigned to a piece of information 
• media language: how the media through their forms, codes, conventions and techniques communicate meanings
• media audiences: how media forms target, reach and address audiences, how audiences interpret and respond to them and how members of audiences become producers themselves.
• media product’ refers to media texts, such as television programmes, newspapers, radio programmes etc., as well as to online, social and participatory media platforms
• 'intertextuality’ refers to the way aspects of a particular media product relate to another and thus accrue additional significance.
• media industries: how the media industries’ processes of production, distribution and circulation affect media forms and platforms
• media representations: how the media portray events, issues, individuals and social groups
• The semantic code points to any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation which the story suggests. 
• 
  

  Verisimilitude, in a narrow sense, is the likeness or semblance of a narrative to reality, or to the truth. It comes from Latin: verum meaning truth and similis meaning similar.
• low key lighting (predominantly dull)
• High key lighting (predominantly bright) 

      = The elements of the media frame work

Direct mode of address:

   

the direct mode of address through the eye contact can be more appealing to viewers. This is because the 'model' is addressing the audience. Also if people are fans of the person they are more likely to buy it as it seems like a way on 'contact' between the people.

Describe the connotations associated with the image:

The image shows power through the way she is holding up her arms. Another female who has done this is Beyonce. The silver guards are her source of power. Wonder Women was raised on the hidden island of Themyscira, home to the Amazonian women. Amazonian women is the home of warrior women. The image could portray a targeted audience of young females to encourage and empower them.  The image could be used for Radical Feminism, to oppose how women are controlled and exploited by men. Radical feminist, want a world of separation of men and women. 

Describe the use of colour in the image and Font:

The use of the yellow headline against the non-bright colours of the image attracts readers or by passers to look at the front cover.  The way the image has been brought forward makes her look 3 dimensional. 

Semantic code:

•Lighting, how well a scene is lit in print media or a film may influence the way we see a character.

Language to use:    

low key lighting (predominantly dull) 
 High key lighting (predominantly bright)

• How colours are used in film and print media  affect the way we view a character.

Language to use:
saturated-colour saturation is used to describe the intensity of colour in the image. A saturated image has overly bright colours.
Complimentary colours-are opposite to each other on the colour wheel
Analogous colours-colours next to each other on the colour wheel "get along" and are referred to as being harmonious. Analogous colours are often used in visual design and have a soothing affect.
Muted tones-Muted colours are soft and gentle, not bright and strong

Colours and Emotions.

 Different colours present different emotions,physical things and way of behaviour. Below are different things each colour represent.

•        Red- emotionally red can mean love, passion or anger. Physical things it could represent are blood, pressure or a raisin heart rate. Behaviour that red can represent is aggressive or danger.
•         Orange- Emotionally it can mean happy, energetic or social. Physically it can mean movement or encourages.
•        Yellow-emotionally yellow can mean warm,cheerful or solitary. Physically it can mean poor skin, illness.
•        Green- emotionally presents friendly, calming and neutral. Physically presents, focus and behaviour presented is envy.
•        Blue- emotionally presents isolated, cool ,peaceful. Physically presents low blood pressure and presents a calm behaviour.
•        Purple- emotionally presents creativity and spiritual.

Use of font:

Serif typefaces are among some of the oldest modern typefaces. They are used in everything from

book publishing to newspapers and magazines to billboards and websites. 

It’s the little decorative stroke that extends from letters. It can be in the form of a tail, sharp or blunt,

decorative or plain. Each serif typeface will have a distinctive style for this mark that makes the

family identifiable. Serifs appear on both upper- and lower-case letters within a font family, as well as

on glyphs, numerals and other characters.

The mood and feelings most associated with serif typefaces are classic, elegant, formal, confident and

established. Some of the most well-known serif typefaces include Times Roman (and Times New

Roman), Rockwell, Georgia and Baskerville.

Sans serif typefaces are considered more modern and include a variety of widths and shapes. This

style of typeface lacks strokes at the ends of letters (hence “sans” serif). The type category is thought

to embody simplicity because of this lack of added detail. Sans serif typefaces have a look that is

direct and precise, although character edges may be either sharp or rounded.

The mood and feelings most associated with sans serif typefaces are modern, friendly, direct, clean

and minimal. Some of the most well-known sans serif typefaces include Helvetica, Arial, Futura and

Franklin Gothic.

Analysing the jungle book:

Health Check Answers

• Clear contrast
• serious look, neutral expression
• negative space

• looking down 
• red glare in corner, could link to danger
• child's pink blanket- could link to the pink of the children on the swings
• at risk, no roof over their head.
• contrast the MacDonald, "they are unworthy of sympathy"

• white dress suggest innocence or an angel
• very light white tones
• links to heaven
• mid shot

• upset 
• dark lightning
• lower class
• wide angle
• contrasts with the photo of the girls
• presents the stereotype that lower class are miserable

• dark and mysterious shadow, sinister
• end of a tunnel theres a light, heaven
• negative space
• Newman's theory 

• laughing and playing
• friends, not lonely
• bright tones
• oblivious to the hierarchy of society
• contrasts to Newman's theory
• 'When i lose another friend"

• homeless
• dirty 
• rough
• blurred background, focus on the character 
• creates sympathy
• close up

• dark tones
• looks scruffy, stereotype of working or underclass
• Contrasts to the lighter shot of him later on 
• "you're not gonna like me" how the upper class criticise and are disgusted by him 

• sitting on the street
• in a tracksuit, stereotypical clothes of a lower class
• depressing wide shot

• Dressed up nicely, maybe of a higher class
• prostitution implied
• red could suggest love,danger, love
• The shot looking down on her cause she's "unworthy"

• powerful
• up close shot
• shows an unhappy black man 
• "somethings gone inside me"

• blue tones suggesting sad moods
• "when i'm laying on my back"
• giving up
• darkness

• red tones link to the red dress
• negative space
• passion or anger
• "but the day it always last to long"

• "oh heaven"
• links to guy with the angel tattoo
• angel
• warm tones
• vandalism
• purity of the white wall

• camera facing upwards
• clear blue sky
• church steeple
• dressed in black 
• impure

Representation

Definitions:

• Representation-the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way.
• Representation in media- is how media texts deal with and present gender, age, ethnicity, national and regional identity, social issues and events to an audience.
• Stereotypes-These are a simplified representation of a person, groups of people or a place, through basic or obvious characteristics - which are often exaggerated.
• Counter stereotypes-Are positive stereotypes, they focus on positive elements of a group traditionally represented as bad.
• Identity- is a socially and historically constructed concept. ... Social and cultural identity is linked to issues of power, value systems, and ideology . The media uses representations—images, words, and characters or personae—to convey specific ideas and values related to culture and identity in society.
• Mediation-Every time we encounter a media text, we are not seeing reality, but someone’s version of it.
  ideology-These are ideas and beliefs, held by media producers, which are often represented in their media texts.
  Social power-In social science and politics, power is the ability to influence or outright control the behaviour of people. The term "authority" is often used for power perceived as legitimate by the social structure.
• Hegemony- leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others.
• Regional Identity refers to the part of the United Kingdom someone is from. It could refer to a general area such a “North” or “South”, a country such as “English” or “Scottish” or specific towns such as “London” or “Manchester.”
•        Working class- Those individuals engaged in manual work, often having low levels of educational achievement. The classic, traditional working class jobs include heavy labouring and factory based work. 
• Upper class- The elite class that controls the majority of wealth and power in British society.  
• Middle class-  Those individuals engaged in non-manual work, often having higher levels of educational achievement. Classic middle class jobs include everything from doctors and lawyers to clerical workers. 

Task 2:

UKIP embraces the ideology of hard Euroscepticism, also known as "Eurorejectionism". Euroscepticism means criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It can also mean opposition to and total rejection of the EU.

 The photo represents Uk migration as if the Uk has lost all its power and is 'Over-crowed' with 

immigrants. The photo is stereotyping the immigrants as mixed race or black people of a certain 

nationality and religious people. The photo also represents them to be poor or unhealthy so this could 

present that they could be coming in and taking all of the jobs.

Task 3:

you will be required to copy the common stereotypes and theories used by the media in the representation of the following groups. 

Stereotypes:

• Females: being a housewife, having lots of children, being unemployed, have to constantly be well dressed and have makeup on, be smarter than men, women are submissive to men and are lower in power.
• Males: Cannot cook, cannot clean and cannot look after children, physical work jobs,doctors not nurses,are messy, sex orientated.
• Youth : wear hoodies, have life easy, insecure, easier exams, criminals,drugs,alcohol's, no interest in politics, knifes, phone obsessed, brain dead, can't drive, moody, wear too much makeup, tracksuits.
• Black People: strong, trouble, dance, can't swim, likes chicken, violent, in gangs, 'thugs'
• Essex: fake tan, loud, short temper,short clothes, over-the-top, slang, dumb
• Scottish: alcoholics, argumentative, drug addicts, rugby, gingers, pessimistic, love haggis, always wear kilts, always say 'wee' and 'laddie', bagpipes

• In a 1999 research paper Ann Gould identified 6 key stereotypes in the media’s representation of youth. These are: Rebellious, Artificial tribe, Sexual, Nihilistic, Violent,Self-destructive
• 
  

         Hebdige- "I wrote a book about the importance of style to youth subcultures. I believe media representations of young people portray them as either fun or trouble."
  
  
  
  

The Inbetweeners series 3, episode 5- stereotypes.

In this episode, there are many stereotypes of what teenage boys think about and do. For example the boys are shown as rude, rebellious and sex orientated. This is shown through how the boys wreck the flowers in peoples gardens and the villages flower sign to change it to a rude,sexual comment. Another stereotype is when Jay is home alone and the narrator says that he is doing "what every teenage boy does when they are home alone". This presents teenage boys as having sex driven minds. This is also shown in the way they sexualised Will's mum. Firstly, they use innuendos my telling her to "bounce up and down " as a 'tip' for playing tennis. Throughout the episode they are shown as immature and reckless One way in which this is shown is how they wanted to throw a party as soon as Will's mum was out of town. Another way is through their use of language, swearing and using immature and un-polite phrases.

Representation of Women:

Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:

•beauty (within narrow conventions)

•size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)

•sexuality (as expressed by the above)

•emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings

•relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom) 

•       Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of helper (Propp) or object, passive rather than active (Mulvey).
• Often their passivity extends to victimhood. Men are still represented as TV drama characters up to 3 times more frequently than women, and tend to be the predominant focus of news stories. 

Women have often suffered from a Narrow set of representations in the media

They are often linked to the domestic situation:

Women as housewives or mothers OR as sex objects (sexualised and objectified) represented to entertain and titillate the male 

They are shown as…

•Young

•Slim

•Overwhelmingly white

•Conforming to our image of ideal beauty (perfect skin, hair and alluring gaze).


Laura Mulvey:
She was a theorist and a feminist. Mulvey, came up with the concept on male gaze in 1975.
Here Mulvey wrote a very influential essay ‘Visual pleasure and Narrative Cinema’. Stating that
women are used for visual pleasure- women are made to seem like sexual objects through
voyeurism.

She argued that women took the passive part of a film and that all men played an active part, 

in her eye the women were objects

Van Zoonen:

 Involves feminism and patriarchy. Van Zoonen believes the media portray images of

stereotypical women and this behaviour reinforces societal views.

The media does this because they believe it reflects dominant social values (what people believe

in) and male producers are influenced by this. This is a patriarchy (a society ran by men for

men) which dominates and oppresses women.

Representation of men:

'Masculinity' is a concept that is made up of more rigid stereotypes than femininity. Representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following:

•Strength - physical and intellectual

•Power

•Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above)

•Physique

•Independence (of thought, action, finances)

Male characters are often represented as isolated, as not needing to rely on others (the lone 
hero). If they submit to being part of a family, it is often part of the resolution of a 
narrative, rather than an integral factor in the initial balance. 

Task 4:

Men and women are presented differently in the same magazine. Tinie Tempah is shown
as strong as he is upright and is seen to have a higher authority. He is also seen as
powerful and smart as he is wearing a suit with a bow-tie and glasses. Lana is portrayed as
a sexual object. It could show her as the typical stereotypes of submissive, suggesting that
she's vulnerable. This could be shown through her scrunched up figure. It is also showing 
that women need to look good by having their makeup and hair done to 'attract' men and
perform to society's norms.You can also tell that they have edited her body to make her
look smooth and highlight parts of her body to look shiny. This is influencing that women
have to edit themselves to be accepted.

Regional Identity:

Definition- Regional Identity refers to the part of the United Kingdom someone is from. It
could refer to a general area such a “North” or “South”, a country such as “English” or
“Scottish” or specific towns such as “London” or “Manchester.”
How can you identify regional identity?
– Setting
– Accents
 – Dialogue
– Props
 – Make up
– Class of characters
– Costumes
– Etc.
Examples 
•Essex – often shown as being glamorous but cheap, footballer’s wives, lots of partying,
 being quite stupid

 •South England – often shown as being the centre of culture, modern, classy, clever, sunny,
richer, doing middle class jobs such as managers, etc. 

•North England – often shown as being poorer, bad weather, lower class, aggressive, less 
culture, less clever, doing working class jobs such as builders, etc.

Representation Class:

•Gramsci’s theory of hegemony can be visualised as the Middle classes (media,
Judges (rule of law), Public, Education sector and religious bodies) using their
influence to preserve the status quo. 
•The poor and working class are often represented in an unsympathetic /biased way (trouble makers, deviant as 
a means of preserving the power of the middle and upper class).
•This is illustrated in the attached images
•Hegemony (theory) does not only apply to class it is relevant to gender (patriarchy) and race…

Middle class (stereotypes):
•Presented as educated and successful as well as able to cope with problems,
•Over represented in the media due to their lifestyle
•Representation fits in with the hegemonic ideology of the dominant class in society,
•Representation justifies the existing class structure and inequalities by suggesting people
need to become more competent and successful in order to cope with life. 
Working class:
•Presented in the stereotypical context of traditional working class communities such
Eastenders and Corrie, Shameless
•Community values often praised but do not reflect reality,
•Working class communities have declined with the collapse of traditional industries such
as coal mining,
•Often presented in the context of trouble, undesirable welfare scroungers, unable to cope
with their delinquent children.
Summary of theories
Nairn (1988) – Monarchy
• “Royal Family” concept = niceness, decency, ordinariness,
• Royal family can be deemed to be “like us” but “not like us” – the queen seen as ordinary
working mother doing extraordinary things,
Upper class
• Mainly represented through the coverage of the monarchy,
• Seen as well bred and cultured,
• Represented through their accents, estates, and a taste for shooting and hunting,
• Usually represented in costume and period drama.
Representations of poverty and underclass
• Portrayal usually negative and stereotypical,
• Portrayed in the form of statistics in news bulletin such as figures of unemployment,
• Recent media interest in the labelling of the poor such as “chavs” which according to
Shildrick and MacDonald (2007) suggest that the poor are undeserving of sympathy,

 • Hayward and Yar (2006) – the term chav is used as an amusing term of abuse for young
poor people

The wording on the headline creates an image of a stereotypical working class
family who are 'vile'. 'Vile' makes them seem like rubbish and not worth our
taxes going towards them.  The photo presents them and 'chavy' by them
dressed in tracksuits and cheap clothes. This uses the theory and suggests that
the poor are undeserving of sympathy. The word 'product' suggests they are objects of the
Uk.

Shameless:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad8XPU2jaJw

The intro to the show cuts scene to scene with a voice over. Firstly, its starts with different 

camera shots of flats towers together and then shows a close up of a flat tower. This 

implies a stereotype of working or underclass people in council flats and in a tight space- 

with most story's being that they have little space with to many people. In the wide shot, 

you can see a cloudy dark sky, this creates a dark mood and shows how he place is 

miserable.  Gallagher, first is shown with his long scruffy hair and his baggy, 'trampy' 

clothes with a cigarette to show a stereotypical, underclass person who uses their money to 

smoke and buy alcohol as if they were not responsible. Throughout the episode, They are 

shown as a dysfunctional family, who are rebellious by making fires, stealing and getting 

in trouble with the police. This is shown through the shaky camera. The uses of music 

conveys how violence is normalised. 

Representations of the working class
•Newman (2006) argues that there are very few situation comedies, television or drama 
which focuses on the everyday lives of working class who constitute a significant section 
of society,
•Newman argues that when in the media working class are often depicted in a very non 
positive light dumb buffoons (Homer Simpson) and immature machos (Phil Mitchell),
•Butsch (1992) – working class portrayed as flawed individuals (benefit cheats, etc.)

Race:

•Representation of race in the media can consist of the same sort of rigid stereotypes that constitute gender portrayal.

•Stereotyping of race is seen as more harmful than stereotyping of gender, as media representation may be the only experience of contact with a particular ethnic group that an audience may have (especially children and young people)

•Racial stereotypes are often based on social myth perpetuated down the ages.