Wednesday 29 September 2010

Audience Research

Audience research is important because the producers of a film or programme need to know who they are setting out to entertain otherwise they wouldn't know what their text is supposed to include.
The audience is categorized by...
  • gender
  • self image
  • age group
  • family
  • class
  • nationality
  • ethnicity
  • education
  • politics
  • religion
  • location
If they are categorized in social class then its from A-E
  • A - Upper
  • B - Middle
  • C1 - Low Middle
  • C2 - Skilled Working
  • D - Working
  • E - Lower Class - Students, pensioners, people who don't recieve an income
Key Audience Theories
  • Hypodermic Needle Effect
  • Two Step Flow
  • Uses and Gratifictaions
  • Reception Analysis
  • Effects Debate
I think Hypodermic Needle Effect best explains the audience relationship and it suggests that the media is capable of 'mass manipulation'. Its based on assumption that the audience believes what it sees. That is what actually happens because when people watched 'Paranormal Activity' and 'The Fourth Kind' they actually believed what happened in the movie.

Friday 24 September 2010

Genre?


What is Genre?
  • Genre can offer comforting reassurance in an uncontrollable way
  • It offers a set of esily recognisable conventions
  • Genre functions can be seen as a set of rules like a language
  • It was seen as a creative strategy used by producers to ensure the audiences identification and reduce the risk of a film failing
  • Genre is not static it changes over time
Genre development
  • The repertorie has expanded through the development of specific cycles.
  • Studios are associated with sepcific genre developments
Main Genres
Action
Adventure
Comedy
Crime & Gangster
Drama
Epics/Historical
Horror
Musicals (Dance)
Science Fiction ( SciFi)
War (Anti-War)
Western

Sub Genres
Biographical ( Biopics)
Chick Flicks
Detective & Mystery
Disaster
Fantasy
Film Noir
Guy Films
Melodrama's, Women's or Weeper
Road Films
Romance
Sports
Supernatural
Thriller, Suspence

Thursday 23 September 2010

Toy Story 3 Analysis


1. 'Toy Story 3' is an animation and the conventions of a animation are
  • bright colours
  • usually talking toys or fictional characters
  • there is a bad character and a good character
  • the good always defeats the bad
  • humans never know when the toys are moving
2. the key codes are the bright colours in the movie and the cheery music
3. the key signifiers are the bright colours in the movie and the music which tells you that it is an animation and not any other tyoe of movie
4. the sequence tells you that the movie is about toys and childrens fictionous characters, and you also know by knowledge that the story is going to be about good defeating the the evil guy
5. the audience that the movie is being targeted at is young children and even teenagers and adults because some like to watch cartoons no matter what age

The Last Exorcism film analysis


1. the Last Exorcism is from the horror genre and the conventions of a horror movie are
  • dark, shadowy lighing
  • an isolated location
  • usually a female victim
  • disruption of normality
  • a sub plot of male/female relationship
  • defeat of omen or monster
2. the tecnical code of the sequence is the music because it builds up the tension and makes the audience want to go and watch the film because they want to find out what is going to happen
3. the key signifier of the sequence is the title 'Last Exorcism' this tells the audience basically what the movie is going to be about, also the fact that there is a girl doing abnormal things also tells the audience that it is not just a normal horror film but about evil spirits in a body.
4. the sequence tells us that the movie is about an exorcism of a girl who has been possesed by an evil spirit and what the exorcist does to get it out of her most likely to save her life.
5. the audience that is being targeted would be teenagers and young adults because they are the kind of people that like to scare themselves and also the person that has been possesed is a young female character.

Inception Film Analysis


1. Inception is a thriller and the conventions of a thriller are
  • quick shots and camera angles music
  • music that builds up tension
  • the lighting also tends to be a lot of shadows
  • they also have a lot of surprises and twists to the storyline
  • the use of stairs if quite frequent
  • it is usually from the killers point of view
  • there are flashbacks
2. The technical code of it is that the music builds up tension and makes the audience want to know wants going to happen in the film
3. The key signifiers are the actual title INCEPTION which means beginning, so it could mean the beginning of the END or something chilling like that.
4. Whilst watching the trailer you get the sence that the film is going to be about a disaster, the film is basically another disaster film like '2012' or 'The Day After Tomorrow'.
5. The audience that this film has been targeted towards would be adults from the ages of 20 plus and who are interested in disasters or thrillers.

Thursday 16 September 2010

Denotation & Connotation of a movie poster

1. The Genre of this movie is Thriller
2. The Codes and conventions of a thriller are...

  • quick shots and camera angles music

  • music that builds up tension

  • the lighting also tends to be a lot of shadows

  • they also have a lot of surprises and twists to the storyline

  • it is usually from the killers point of view

  • there are flashbacks

  • the use of stairs is quite frequent
3. The key signifiers are the colour black used for the background of the image this shows mystery, the colour red used in the tie and the writing show that there is danger and the words at the top 'this fall daddy's home' seems kind of fishy, like something serious is up.
4. The denontative levels of the poster are the hands of a person,most likely a man, the stepfather, and he is pulling a tie with his hands.
5. The connatative levels of the poster are that the stepfather has come into the family and he trying to break the family, and the tie that he is pulling could represent family ties. 
6. The image is quite simple but if you can see the connatations of the poster then it basically tells you what the film is about; it tells you that the tie represents family bonds and relationships and whether something or someone can come into it and break it.

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Technical Code Analysis

The gun that he is pointing at the camera shows the audience that the film is most likely to be a thriller.
The background of the image is dark colours and the only colour in the image is the RED from the title.

Symbolic Code Analysis

The image shows that the character is annoyed and knowing that the name of the film is The Stepfather the audience would guess that the character is the stepfather and obviously something serious has happened that's why his facial expression looks angry.
Seeing as the film is a thriller you would see the image and expect that there is probably going to be murder or something serious like that.

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Technical Analysis of Edge of Darkness


The settings and props show that the film is a thriller or action
The costume and hair and make up show that Mel Gibson is of higher authority
The facial expressions and body language show that Mel Gibson is beating up the guy maybe becasue he has something to do with the murder of his daughter and the facial expressions of the other guy show that he is porbably in alot of pain because thers a man on him
The positioning of the characters also show that Mel gibson is in power because he is on top of the other guy and looks like he has beaten him up
The lighting and colour doesn't really say much about the character probably because you can tell in their facial expressins and body language what is going on and how they are feeling
Thank Yurz

Monday 13 September 2010

The Definition of Thriller

Thriller is a genre of literature, film and television that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. The primary subgenres of thrillers are: mystery, crime and psychological thrillers

Film from the Thriller genre

Film: Taken
Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Leland Orser
It is a French action thriller, it is about a former CIA whose daughter is kidnapped by Albanian Slave traders while she is travelling in France.


Our Group

Name: Unknown
Levinia Brady
Sameena Miah
Nasema Khanum