Targets

• I hope to increase my grade by two grades from a D to a B. I must put more effort into work set.
• Increase my overall attendence in both Mr Bush and Miss Holliday's lessons
• Continue with editing production to gain best possible grade
  

Media Audience

• • It is almost impossible to go through the day without being exposed to some form of media. This means that we are part of the audience for that particular media. People have feared that media audiences are easily manipulated by mass media such as advertising and propaganda. People have also feared the effects of media texts and how it could influence people to behave.
  
  • In pre-media times people used to do things such as reading by themselves or they would involve in mixing with other people and doing things such as playing music. This leads people to believe that the media nowadays has made people less social and can seen to split people up.
  
  • The media are often experienced by people alone. (Some critics have talked about
  media audiences as atomised – cut off from other people like separate atoms). Wherever they are in the world, the audience for a media text are all receiving exactly the same thing.
  
  • These points led some early critics of the media to come up with the idea of media audiences as masses. According to many theorists, particularly in the early history of the subject, when we listen to our CDs or sit in the cinema, we become part of a mass audience in many ways like a crowd at a football match or a rock concert but at the same time very different because separated from all the other members of this mass by space and sometimes time.
  
  • Media is a powerful tool in influencing millions of people, e.g. Election Posters – These are used by leaders to influence a mass audience to vote for them using propaganda.
  
  • media producers and institutions like to consider audiences in groups. This is particularly true of advertisers, who have led the way in targeting groups of consumers.

• Audience is segmented, marketing strategies are based around these particular segments. You can classify audiences by age, gender, race and location, also you place people in terms of their class.

Film Language

I have chosen to analyse an extract form the film The Shining (1980) directed by Stanley Kubrick. A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future. The extract that I have a chosen is near the end of the film and it involves the child running away from his psychotic father in order to escape from a maze. This extract uses a lot of media techniques to create an atmosphere. The extract covers all main areas of media language and uses it to great effect. The costumes used in the scene are casual clothes, the director could have chosen this to put across the fact that they were once just a normal family, this could also relate to the audience. The father is also wearing a red jacket, as red can connote danger, this can help us distinguish that he is evil. The costumes are also typical of that time period, e.g. the jumper the child is wearing. The lighting is used very cleverly during this extract, in the shots during the maze scene the only lights are the ones at the bottom of the maze hedge. The low key lighting combine well with the setting e.g. the snow and the mist, and creates a dark and menacing atmosphere. The lights also create a under lighting effect on the father and the son, highlighting their contrasting facial expressions. As there is no natural light at all in the sequence, it helps us recognise the genre as horror. The shots with the mother are generally lighter as she is inside the hotel and is light up when she is outside by the hotel lights. This also shows us that she is the good character in comparison with the father. Actor’s expressions are a key element in this scene, shown through the use of close up’s and medium shots.

The various emotions and body language helps us understand each character better. The close up shots of the father shows us his menacing expression, whilst the close up of the child shows us a deeply worried expression. The body language of the father in particular gives us a idea of what his character is like, the way he walks with a limp dragging an axe shows us the menace whilst the mother is running around with her arms flailing and look of horror on her face which could show that she is the victim, the director uses the body language to show the audience the contrasting feelings of the characters. They also use long shots to show us the actor’s expressions and show a large amount of mise-en-scene. Things like make-up would usually be used in this type of horror film to create effects such as cuts and bruises, although in this scene this is not used. The props used in this sequence are iconic, such as the axe that the father is wielding and the knife that the mother is seen with. These props are typical for a horror film, and can be instantly associated with the horror genre. Whilst the women is inside the hotel the walls are red, connoting danger, the director added to signify to the audience that there is danger ahead, the setting adds to the eerie effect, the abandoned hotel and the deserted maze are both used to heighten the sense of atmosphere. Both settings are large in scale helping the audience understand the isolation the characters are feeling, combined with the lighting, the setting helps develop the narrative towards the climax of the child escaping from the father. As the film was made in 1980 the special effects were not as advanced as they are now, but the director makes use of the special effects in the sequence to create the look of blood flowing out of the elevator. The representations of the characters are binary oppositions, with the father being the villain and the mother and child being the victims, this film follows all the traditional codes and conventions of a horror film, this gives it a wide range of audience. The sound in this film creates an eerie atmosphere, a non-diegetic soundtrack is used which consists of high pitched screeches that are used to create suspense, as we don’t know what’s going to happen to the child. The sound is parallel to sequence, helping to create the tension for the audience. This kind of sound track would normally be used in a horror during a scene such as this, like when a killer is pursuing a victim. Diegetic sound is also used for character dialogue, with the father having a sinister tone to his voice and the mothers voice is shaky and fearful.

Film Clips From Different Eras - Cinematography

Young Frankenstein (1974)

This extract is from the film Young Frankenstein (1974). The film is directed by Mel Brooks and the cinematographer is Gerald Hirschfeld. In scene Frankenstein is saying goodbye to his wife at the train station. The first 8 seconds of the extract consists on of a long shot which pans towards a medium shot of the two characters, the use of the pan can emphasise the setting that surrounds the characters as it plays a key part in the narrative of the scene as the character is leaving by train. Through the extract medium shots are frequently used to show the actors expressions and emotions. When close ups are used on the female character the camera appears to at a high angle to show that she could be inferior to the male character as she is begging him to stay, similarly the male character is shown higher up showing he has more power. The various close ups used in the extract portray the emotions of the characters as it shows their facial expressions in detail such as the happiness of the characters compared to the sadness in previous close ups. The medium shots also show us the elements of mise-en-scene, like the costumes and setting. From their costumes we can guess that they are higher mid class. The setting is continually shown in the medium shots reminding us of the situation that the characters are in.

Film Stills - Camera Shots and Angles

Indiana Jones

This a shot from the recent film Indiana Jones : Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008). The shot used in this still is a long shot as you can see the whole of the characters body. This shot enables us to see facial expressions and body language which can give us clues as to the narrative. From this angle we can see their expressions of puzzlement, the way they are sitting can also give us clues to the narrative as you can see they are looking down somewhere at something unknown. The long shot also shows us various elements of the mise-en-scene such as the setting, lighting, costumes, props and make up. The setting makes a narrative enigma as we do know where they could be and what they are doing although from the costumes we can interpret they could be adventurers uncovering mysteries, this is supported by the use of props in the frame. This shot also emphasises the situation the characters are in whilst creating a sense of mystery.

The Shining
This is a film still from the movie The Shining (1980). They use a close up in this still to show the expression on the actor's face. From the close up we can distinctly see the emotion conveyed on his face, from his expression we can interpret that he could be evil due to his sinister smile and the menacing expression of his eyes. and the lighting also makes us believe this because of the shadows that are cast on his face. This shot does not give much away in terms of the mise-en-scene, this makes various narrative enigmas as the audience would want to know who he is and what he is doing. From this shot alone we can guess that the film could be a horror, and also imply that he could be the bad against the good.

Spiderman 3
This film still is form the film Spiderman 3 (2007). This shot could be interpreted as either a long shot or a medium shot, as one character has their whole body shown in a long shot whilst the main focused character is show in a medium shot. The use of the medium shot shows a portion of the characters body expression as we can see he is struggling. This shot also shows some elements of mise-en-scene, the most predominate are the costumes, one costume is red whilst one is black which can connote evil. The angle of the shot is also significant as its at a high angle looking down on the scene, the character in the foreground could be shown as the hero whilst the character further away in the blurred background could be the villain. This shot poses some narrative enigmas, such as what situation the protagonist could be in and what could have unfolded.

The Royal Tenenbaums
This film shot is from the film The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). This is medium shot of multiple characters through the eyes of another character in the form of a point of view shot. We can tell that its a point of view by the fact that all the characters are looking directly into the camera as if looking at the character. The expressions of the other characters faces may indicate that the character has said or done something rude or shocking. From the frame we can see many elements of mise-en-scene, props, costume, setting, make up, actors expressions and lighting. The narrative is unclear from looking at this still as nothing from the still can be interpreted to be part of the narrative form, enigmas are present as the audience wonders who these group of characters are and who is the character who is looking form the point of view. This type of shot (POV) can make the audience identify with the character and the situation.

Film Technology - 1920's

The first commercial screening of movies with fully synchronized sound took place in New York City in April 1923, they helped secure Hollywood's position as one of the world's most powerful cultural/commercial systems. It would still be seven years before talking pictures gained supremacy and finally replaced the silent era.

http://www.1920-30.com/movies/talking-pictures.html

The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson was the firsr movie with sound. Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino were tremendous movie box office draws. Walt Disney would produce his first cartoon, Alice's Wonderland. in 1926, the invention of Technicolor made movies more entertaining and memorable. Consequently, the movie industry became a major part of American industry in general.

Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation (a subsidiary of Technicolor, Inc.). Technicolor was the second major color film process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color motion picture process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952. Technicolor became known and celebrated for its hyper-realistic, saturated levels of color, and was used commonly for filming musicals (such as The Wizard of Oz and Singin' in the Rain), costume pictures (such as The Adventures of Robin Hood and Joan of Arc), and animated films (such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Fantasia).

Mise-en-scene

Costume - The costume used in this poster gives us a clue as to what genre the film is about. You can identify that it is a women that is sitting in the device as she is wearing high heeled boots, this could tell us that she may be helpless or defenseless to what happening. The use of a red cloak could connote that there is danger present and it is the thing that stands out most which could mean the idea of danger is highly significant to the movie. Her face is covered by a pig mask, which could imply that the captor could regard her as pig and gives her animalistic qualities whilst it could also be used to cover up her identity and create a sense of mystery. By analysing the costume you can tell this movie could be of the horror genre.

Lighting - The lighting in this poster is very dark as low key lighting is used. Several objects are lit up such as the mask and the contraption she is sitting in. There is a contrast of light and dark lighting which empathises whats in the poster but also gives it a dark and scary atmosphere. The lighting makes the audience focus on the character and could make the audience wonder what is going on.

Actors Expressions - The character appears to be motionless as shes its on the chair, this could show us that maybe shes not panicking or worrying. Her stance is strong as her back is straight and her legs are firmly on the floor this could show that maybe she is not a victim but she could be the captor testing out the contraption, this could also represent that she is a strong independent character, this makes several narrative enigmas that the audience would want to find out by watching the film. From knowledge of the previous films the audience know that she is an accomplice.

Make-Up - There is no visible make-up used in this poster, as her face is covered by a mask we do not know where she is wearing any. The use of a pig mask could suggest that she might be being tested as make up is tested on pigs.

Props - There are not many props used in the poster, but the main prop is highly significant as the mechanism she is sitting on is a primary focus in the poster. The audience do not know what the device does or what its for, but from the tag line in the poster "Its a trap" the audience can tell its a trap used for torture. Previous Saw film viewers would know already what the device is for. The shackles round her ankles could also show that she is helpless and that she is restrained, this also has sexual connotations.

Setting - The setting does not give much away about the film as it is not a specific location, this adds to the mysterious atmosphere and poses more narrative enigmas. The setting is dull and dark would could suggest its in a isolated place, where no one else would really go. This use of the setting is typical of the genre as horror films usually use no specific setting and are usually isolated and dark with a sense of mystery of not knowing where it is.