Film Poster analysis

This poster of the film Due Date consists of earthy colours such as the blue sky, brown and green for the dirt and mountains shown behind the subject. The kind of story line portrayed by both the actors and setting give off a kind of adventure type film with an equilibrium, disequilibrium and a new equilibrium. The poster shows signs of iconography with the two easily recognisable actors in the centre of the poster from various films such as Iron Man 1&2 plus Fat Jesus AKA Zach Galifianakis from the Hangover.

The tagline also suggests comedy as if one of the characters goes out of their comfort zone in the film. The  props used in the image also suggest comedy or something out of the ordinary is going to happen from the dog wearing a medical collar (cone), to the setting which is the Grand Canyon, which the audience maybe thinking how did they end up there?.

The poster would suggest that the genre of this film is a comedy and is aimed at 14-40 year olds as it contains incredible actors who will be recognised from  their other film work, as said previously. The film will be aimed at this audience as most young adults are looking for something to cheer them up and just have a laugh with friends.

Media Ownership

Media texts are profit motivated.  What issues does this raise?

Media texts are profit motivated as they use advertisements to draw in consumers via the visuals and sounds used in the ads. Advertisements can be come misleading and could be caught up by the ASA which could cause a lot of controversy, thus leading to advertisers making more profit and giving them an edge in making the decisions of what the world consumes.

In addition if the advertisement can sell the product to the audience then the institution showing the ad will get credit by selling the product.

Too much power and control in our society?

“Possession of controlling influence”

“Power to direct or determine”

Power and control are words that you would only associate with people/ figures of a high stature e.g. The Queen (Royalty) and God. Yet these such words are being associated with media institutions as they are growing in the sense that many people rely on them as most of them advertise products that appeal to the consumers thus selling the product.

TV stations such as ITV and Channel 4 have a lot of power when it comes to power within media companies having control. Both these broadcasters rely on advertising and sponsors of products such as X Factor is sponsored by “Talk Talk” and Channel 4 advertise things for adult teens such as Clearasil cream or VO5 products, as they appeal to the audience viewing the shows on the broadcasting channels.

Media Magazine Conference

1. Chewing gum for the brain: Why do people talk such rubbish about Media Studies?
Why Media Studies is  worth studying?

Where did your inspiration come from?

An article in the Daily Mail about Homer Simpson. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1092730/Doh-Im-modern-icon-Hes-fat-yellow-moron-whos-just-won-Turner-Prize-So-DOES-world-love-Homer-Simpson.html). The independent, Tories to tackle MS Menace article by Michael Gove, talks about how schools are “dumbing down” students by showing videos of The Simpsons in lessons.

Media Studies is shit (BLOG)

Mathew Arnold, Frank and Queenie Leavis (Literature against Pop Culture (Media Studies) all suggested to study Media, not analyse Media but find out what was wrong with it.

Media studies is one of the more competitive subjects, Soft option? There is no way of comparing results. Studies have shown that more than 2/3 of students will have jobs after leaving media in University, as it provides skills in team building, speaking and most things employers want to hear when employing.

2. Online media, Cleggmania, and the Cowell Factor.
How do online media and convergence impact on the ways audiences and producers use and create media?
 

This lecture was about “Democracy Only” who Tony Ben had started a whole new debate about.

There is a YouTube video named “Media and everyday life” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWNXg7Vt-ig)

Media Studies has become “more modern & more interactive” the question is, does it make it more democratic? This came on to how convergence media is becoming more interactive from video games being developed.

“Books will die in around 10-15 years; the industry won’t be able to survive”

The lecture came to an end with a list of books for all media studiers to read, from: Dan Gilmore (We the media), Michael Vesh (Whole new democracy, online), Henry Jenkins (Convergence Culture) and many more.

3.Perfecting your production work.
How to get the most out of your practical projects. (http://petesmediablog.blogspot.com/)

Pete Fraser

Research:

-          Really Look at examples

-          Keep evidence of all research

-          Research every angle

-          Conventions, audiences & institutions

Planning:

-          Plan for all eventualities- what could possibly go wrong?

-          Record all your planning, visuals

-          Show the process of production journey

Blogging:

-          A blog allow you to link to examples, ideas

Evidence:

-          Storyboards, animations & flat panels

Ideas:

-          Have a workable concept with realistic plans

-          Try a “25 word pitch”, explain clearly

Get feedback:

-          From teachers, peers – take on board their views to help with perfecting production

-          Keep a record of all results

Dominant/Alternative Representations

Heineken Walk in Fridge Ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIutgtzwhAc&feature=fvst

Heineken produced this advertisement to promote their Heineken beverage; two groups appear in this ad, one of females (girlie girls) which form a dominant ideology of the female gender, screaming as they see a closet full of expensive clothing. The other group, males also a dominant ideology as they would be portrayed as beer chugers, also screaming yet as a giant fridge is opened to be containing a large amount of Heineken cans.

This particular representation of men was selected as it would not have been an effective advertisement if it were women being depicted as beer lovers, as a clear result of the male dominant ideology. The women lives reflect the lives of those who don’t live a glamorous life and would dream of having a big closet to keep all their flashy clothes and men would want a huge fridge full of all their favourite beer which is a typical stereotype, yet this is only a fantasy world that is being shown, on the other hand some do possess the wealth and can afford these such luxuries. The nationality of the actors in the ad is German, which is where Heineken is produced.

L'Oréal Paris Elvive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV-48hASWfo

L'Oréal Paris UK had produced this advet to sell their hair product. The subject who appears in this ad is Cheryl Cole an english hearthrob, and as the media call her, an english jewel. Cheryl Cole (the subject) is shown to have tried and tested the product on herself and is giving feed back to the audience of which are mainly females who would see her as a role model, yet towards the end of the ad  L'Oréal Paris added a line that is shown for just a short period which states “styled with some natural hair extensions”, which tells the audience who notices it which most don’t that to get hair as beautiful as hers then you may be looking at a false product which is against the ASA policy of not sending out false information.

 The representation of a long lasting ,strong  and full of life hair product is shown by figures of 73% of women agree, (out of 356) that it works and the facts that a well established women (Cheryl Cole) who is a dominant ideology in this ad, is also backing it up would also give a good name to L'Oréal Paris and would definatley sell in any store across the UK. The nationality of Cheryl Cole  plus her experience with other media also creates a huge selling point. and most of the focus is on Cheryl who is selling the product.

ASA Banned Adverts

ASA Banned Adverts

The first banned advert was a KFC ad where only one white male sat in the middle of a carnival in Africa surrounded by black people, he decided to shut them up "stuck in an awkward situation?" by holding up a bucket of KFC's chicken "too easy" he said. This was banned as a result of the public thinking it was racist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ8GbKjUkgs

The second banned ad was an Apple iphone 3 ad where the narrator stated that "helps you get the news really fast, find your way really fast and download pretty much anything really fast". This was banned as it sent misleading information to consumers about the iphone’s speed from getting the news, downloading apps or using your gps.

The third and final ad that was banned was from Nike, it showed a female undressing to go into the shower and as in a horror film she opened the mirrored cabinet and then closed to see a scary figure behind her (Michael Myers, from Halloween) with a chainsaw, she escaped by running through the woods and loosing the chainsaw maniac, as she ran it showed her wearing Nike trainers and showed the male slowing down as he was out of breath. It then quoted "why sport...you'll live longer" to then go on to show the male limp away "(Nike logo) + Just Do It". This was banned as it would have definitely given the younger audience a fright and was sure to get the producers of the Halloween film involved as well as Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Contains scary scenes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_UOVFqjay0 Contains Spoilers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OknElEusVhM

Media Awards best productions

The night of a thousand lies

This production was one of my favourite productions of the day as it made the audience know what was happening before the actors knew (enigma codes), especially who the culprit was. The production also used non-diagetic sound from the narrator, the songs and the sound of the ring dropping to the ground. The dropping of the ring suggests that the villain is seen as a lustful, greedy, and connotes a sexual scene with three separate men (heroes).

Screwed

This is my second favourite production as it was funny and witty. The type of camera shots are extreme long shots, which shows the things she was doing and showed her in centre as she is the main character. Todorov’s theory is used as well as Propps as there are three villains and one princess/hero. An enigma code used was that everyone knew the three possible fathers. The equilibrium is when they show the princess/heroes lovers, the disequilibrium is when she finds out she is pregnant and the new equilibrium is when she finds the possible father of her child.

Ninja Assassin Film Analysis

The film I am going to be analysing is “Ninja Assassin” it is an action/thriller film. This film consists of both narrative theories by Todorov and Vladimir. Ninja Assassin has a linear narrative pattern, as there is one story which is resolved at the end.

Todorvo’s theory is divided into three parts, equilibrium, disequilibrium and the new equilibrium (beginning, middle and end). 

Equilibrium

Ninja Assassin is about Raizo (Rain) the protagonist, the Hero in Propp’s case, a lethal killer who was brought up in the Ozunu Clan the villains to kill specific targets by butchering them into oblivion. When several people are murdered in the same ways a Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) the princess/helper suspects that this is the work of Ninja Assassins, she continuous to investigate digging herself into a large hole, after another murderer of another Europol agent she soon finds out that she is the next target, Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles) the donor Mika’s boss soon finds out that Raizo is wanted by everyone from internal affairs, CIA and The Martian Military.

Dis-equilibrium

When she is confronted by the Ninja assassins at her home she is saved by the hero Razio. Then the film goes back to when Raizo was a young boy and he had strong feelings for a young Kiriko (Anna Sawai) who decided to escape the Ozunu clan by climbing over the wall of the clan camp to pursue her dream of finding freedom yet failed at the attempt and was caught and executed in front of the Ozunu clan by her elder brother Takeshi the villain.

Mika is convinced that Maslow is trying to help Razio by calling a task force to capture him and keep him in a secret location, she confronts Maslow the donor and is told in secret that he is on her side and that he is trying to save the main character from the Ozunu clan, yet the clan still manage to infiltrate the location and find Razio Yet he manages to escape.

The princess/helper and the hero swap roles in a scene of when the protagonist Raizo is badly hurt and the princess/helper saves Raizo’s life from the villains the Ozunu ninja assassins. This is where they are together for the first time and introduce themselves to one another. Whilst in the car Razio Recites how he carried out his first assassination and the reason why the Ozunu clan are after him, After his assassination he confronts his master the villain and is told to execute another escapee form the clan and retaliates against the decision by slashing his masters face with a weapon consisting of a chain with a blade at the end which is one of the hero’s signature weapon. 

New-equilibrium

This consists of the last fight which starts off with the protagonist Razio fighting 3 ninjas and one of them being Takeshi the villain who killed his lover and ending in the hero winning and then to finish the last fighting scene with Razio fighting his master Ozunu “you are still Ozunu” this quote makes Razio mad and makes him even more powerful in the sense that he can create enough power for him to teleport just as only his master could perform and defeat Ozunu yet is caught and is brought down and Mika sees Razio in danger and decides to fire at the master not knowing of his power and is taken out by Ozunu with a deep sword wound to the heart region, this gives the hero an opportunity to strike and manages to defeat the villain ending in a bloody battle and a armless master.

 As the film comes to an end the hero is seen holding the princess in a dramatic way and lays her down on the floor for a medic to see, “she has a special heart” as this is said the princess is shown pointing to the left of the wound “I was born with my heart on this side”, the protagonist walks away to where the scene fades out then in to show the wall of which Kiriko climbed over to which Razio rein acts her footsteps to show his freedom for the first time, as he looks at the scenery, he smiles, and roll the credits.

LINK TO FILM TRAILER

Contains violence and blood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhYH26KTNbQ