Thursday 31 March 2011

Audience Theory

In today's media lesson, we looked at "Audience theory" in relation to our final production work.

We need to look at the ways the audience receives, reads and responds to any media text. This is important for construction and distribution of our productions as well as for collective identity.
We also look at how to distribute texts in order to attract or reach our target audience. (Advertising package)

Effect Models

These are theories that explain how we take in the media all around us and the effects it has on us. How the media might influence (or not influence) our behaviour.
Some theories lead us to think we need more censorship of the media, whilst others might lead us to call for less control.
Theory helps us to work out the complexity of relationships between audience and texts.

The Hypodermic Needle Model

It assumes that the audience just sits there and gets injected with non-stop information.
Audiences are seen as passive receivers of information transmitted in the text without thinking about them or challenging them.
People began to see the power of the media to influence and communicate messages - production of propaganda to influence thinking.

The Two Step-flow

This suggests that the audience does not absorb information directly from the text but is influenced by opinion leaders. Social factors are also seen to be important in the reception of media texts.

Uses and Gratifications

Audiences were seen as being made of individuals who were active consumers. Mass is that they did the same thing but in different ways.
This theory was developed further in in 1974 by Blumer and Katz
Diversion-(escape from everyday problems and routines)
Personal relationship-(Using the media for emotional or other interaction)
Personal Identity-(Finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values for texts)
Surveillance- ( Finding information which could be useful for living) such as: weather, financial news, holiday information etc.

Reception Theory

Stuart Hall- Talk about the encoding/decoding model of relationship between audience and text.
The text is encoded by the producer (meaning inscribed). It is then decoded by the reader (in ways that the producer cannot control).

Niche Marketing

Despite the tendency to try to reach a large audience for the media text, it is important that we don't forget to look at "narrow casting". It is the opposite of " Broadcasting"

Audiences

Julian McDougall(2009)- suggests that in the online age, it is getting harder to conceive a media audience as a stable identifiable group. However, audiences still clearly makes sense and give meaning to cultural products.

An audience can be described as a "temporary collective" (McQuail 1972)

Leng Ang (1991)
"Audiences only exist as an imaginary entity" - so in other words, we create an imaginaryimage of our targeted audience before we create our product.

Hartley (1987)
Also suggests that institutions must produce "invisible fictions of audience which allow the institutions to get a sense of who they must enter into relations with"

Wednesday 30 March 2011

Magazine Publisher



Bauer Publishing is the number one seller of newsstand magazines. Because they are number one publisher and they are well known, I thought it would be good to have them as the publisher of my magazine.

Even though they publish magazines like Grazia, Heat, Closer, Kerrang and Q. I thought because they are a big company they would be prepared to broaden their traget audience to even publisher horror magazines.

Having Bauer as a publisher would also be an advantage because it would mean that people are more likely to read and buy the magazine because they would think it would be of a high quality as Bauer has a good reputation for producing the best.

Film production company



After we finished creating the trailer. We realised that most trailers normally featured which production company they used. We thought this would be something worth adding to our trailer as it would make our trailer look good and it would attract people to watching it because majority of the films produced by well known companies tend to be 'good'.
We looked at a few production companies ranging from Hollywood pictures, Touchstone pictures, Summit Entertainment to Warner Bros Pictures. We then looked at the trailer that we looked at before creating our trailer and we noticed a few where created by 'Summit Entertainment'. We decided we would use Summit Entertainment too because the trailers we looked at were of the same genre and around about the same age boundary.

We also decided on Summit Entertainment because it is a worldwide theatrical motion picture. They also handle all aspects of marketing and distribution.

Planning auxillary tasks

After creating simple drafts I needed to think about colour schemes, fonts and titles.

The title of the poster is 'The Blackberry' because after my group and I finished creating the film trailer we decided on 'The Blackberry' as the title.

I thought to use the image of one of the characters as this will make the vewier feel like they would easily recognise the actor in the film and this makes my poster more effective.

I also thought that in order to make the poster more constructive I needed to make the font also bold to stand out .

I thought to go with the colour schemes black and red because the colours look secretive and scary which would attract the target audience.

Re-Editing The Blackberry

After creating the trailer, we decided to post it on sites like Facebook in order to have the target audience to look at it and leave a comment on what they think of it and areas which could be improved.

The audience seemed to be impressed by the trailer and were not so critical, however there was a samll group of people who pointed out on areas that could have been improved. These areas were:

The running scene -where the male character was running from 'danger'. It was said to have been long and could have lost the interest of the viewer.

Cutting out music that was not needed or that was not placed at the right position. If the music was at the wrong position, it would not have got the right message across or even send out the correct genre.

Cutting the screaming scene down - where the male character was running away from 'danger'. This was a problem because when filming the character made a very loud noise when screaming that the camera captured the scream before she opened her mouth.

We needed to make the sound sync with the visuals in order for the trailer to be more effective. We made these changes in so the trailer to be more effecitve and capture the audience and make them want to see the film.


Final Blackberry Trailer

Alternative Ending

After filming the first part of the trailer, we found out that a few of our characters were not prepared to film the end scenes of the trailer for example the bathroom scene. Another problem we had is that we also could not find a suitable location to film that scene as the location we had selected was being renovated.

We decided to look that the storyline and see if there was anyway we could change the end scene.

We decided that we would film in the forest instead where we could have each of the characters all together, then slowing dissappearing. We decided we would have this as an ending because the forest was avaliable and because it was autumn, the weather made the scene look scary. We characters were also happy with this ending.

Character Profile

The attacker (main actor) - Daniel De Franca & Claudio De Franca

stereotypical ''geek''

Fighter 1 - Jake Robinson

stereotypical materialistic popular boy

Fighter 2 - Jordan Stock

stereotypical materialistic popular boy

Fighter 3 - Claudio De Franca

stereotypical materialistic popular boy

The Victims are the same characters as the fighters as the main character (actor) seeks revenge on the 'victims' as they were the people who attacked him.

The actor (main character) is the stereotypical 'nerd' who does everything he is told, while the fighters/victims are the stereotypical popular 'bad boys' who rebel and do as they wish.

Costumes for actors

The attacker (main actor) - Daniel De Franca & Claudio De Franca

This character would need to dress in dark clothing so their face and features are not seen. The when filming they would wear a black hoodie and dark/ black coloured trousers.

Fighter 1 - Jake Robinson
This character would need to dress in dark clothing too, however they need to be able to be seen, for example if they were dark trousers they would need to wear a grey hoodie or coat. This would be done so that the audience would be able to see the difference between the attacker and the fighter.

Fighter 2 - Jordan Stock
This character would also dress in dark clothing as they too would be the fighter. They wear a dark coloured hoodie - most probably dark grey, or brown. This would be done in order to differenciate between the attacker and fighter.

Fighter 3 - Claudio De Franca
This character would also dress in dark clothing as they too would be the fighter. They would wear grey or brown hoodie or jacket just like the rest of the fighters. This actor would also carry a 'baseball bat' in order to look intimidating and scary and in order to show that they are about to cause trouble.

Victim 1 - Joy Kamau
This victim would be wearing normal clothing. She will wear a white top and a black cardigan. She would would be doing her make up in the bathroom getting ready to meet her friends.

Victim 2 - Daniel Thomas
This character would be wear a grey jacket and some plain trousers in order for it to look like its a normal day for them. They would also be carrying a bag pack in order for it to look that they are on their way going somewhere.

Victim 3 - Kojo Appia
This character would also be wearing normal clothing for the same reason. They would wear dark trousers and a jacket.

Victim 4 - Silva
This character would wear dark trousers with a jacket and a scarf. This would make the scene look they were going on about their day to day issues.

Victim 5 - Claudio De Franca
This character would wear normal clothing too. They would wear dark trousers and a jacket.

Main Storyline

We decided go to with the horror genre and we decided to use 'BlackBerry' as our main focus for the trailer. We thought this would make it more effective, as 'BlackBerry' is a common phone for our target audience.

The 'BlackBerry' story is about a boy who used to get bullied for most of his life. He was isolated, had no way of getting help and was left with no choice but to fight back through a 'killing' broadcast.

One day as he walked home in the dark, he was confronted with a group of boys who had always bullied him. After they attacked him, he thought that it would be the right time to attack back.

He knew they all had a BlackBerry, he would use that as a way of revenge. He got himself a Blackberry and made each attacker pay for the pain they caused him.

Storyboarding

Below is the storyboard that we created. They are quite simple but have all the information on the angles, shots and the order for it to be put together when editing.









Schedule

These were our Filming days

23rd November 2010 - First scene (fighting scene) - characters needed: Attacker and all the fighters

26th November 2010 - Victim in the bathroom - characters needed: acttacker and one victim (Joy) - Attacker typing on the Blackberry - characters needed: acttacker

28th November 2010 - Victims walking into the forest - characters needed: all the victims

1st December 2010 - Victims in the forest - characters needed: all the victims and the attacker

4th December 2010 - Victims in the forest - characters needed: all the victims and the attacker Editing days

6th December 2010 - load everything that was filmed and put it in order according to the storyboard

8th December 2010 - delete clips that are not needed to make it easier to edit the ones needed

10th December 2010 - edit the needed clips and add sound/music

13th December 2010 - finalise the trailer

Monday 14 February 2011

Walk around school

For this media task, we had to create an un-edited short film of a tour at St.Marks. Our aim was to incorporate the information of the facilities and subjects to new students through our ideas and skill of camera shots. We got into groups and were asked to produce a film of this topic that was no longer than 10 minutes. In our group of 3, including me, we exchanged our ideas and decided on our roles for this production. It consisted of a camera-man and a interviewee/guide. This way each of us participated in a certain way and contributed for the film. We aimed our short tour at new students that we hoped they would be persuaded in approaching St.Marks as their choice. We decided to create a simple and informal film, this way we were ensured that we could get that persuasion and positive feeling for this school as those new students would feel relaxed and not pressured as other tours can make them feel. We used many camera shots such as; wide shot, dolly shot, swish pam shot, over the shoulder shot and more. This helped show our skills using a camera and to improve our professionalism we used a tripod in some scenes to get rid of any shakiness. We weren't allowed to do any editing or changes to the film but it still looked good and understandable. I'm looking forward to do some more filming and hopefully use some editing software. This will definitely improve and help us create a better video than this one.

Monday 10 January 2011

My film poster



My film magazine cover



Planning: Final Trailer Synopsis

For our final production, our group decided to produce a horror trailer based on a “Black Berry”. We were inspired to create this horror trailer by a film called “One missed call” which also included ideas similar to ours. We chose this genre as we felt it suited our skills and also appealed to our young targeted audience aged 15 and above. Our trailer consists of six characters of different ages and gender. Each one of our characters plays a unique role that helps to bring our trailer together. In relation to Goodwin’s theory, we have decided to follow the idea of the relationship between the music and the visuals. As well as this, we influenced our own ideas into the making and planning of the trailer using more of Goodwin’s Theory.

Advanced Portfolio Planning

In our lesson today, we were set our task and given guidelines and deadlines.
The guidelines included the things we could include and provide such as:

- evidence of research into similar products and potential targets
- evidence of organistaion of actors, locations, costumes and props
- provide storyboarding, scripting, drafting and layouts
- time management
- communication skills

For our advanced portfolio, we have decided to create a film trailer as we think it would be better for us as a group, because we enjoyed creating the sweded film trailer and proved to be good at it and we fell like we have the skills necessary to do so.
We have looked at a few different film genres and kept a close eye on the techniques used to show the genre and on how trailers are created to for their target audience.

Analysing Film Trailers

The first video we looked at was 'Sorority Row'. We looked at this trailer because it featured young people, which we would be using in our trailer and it was of the same genre; horror/thriller.
The trailer first began with the young people having fun and enjoying themselves, which lead to them choosing to play a game which went wrong.
The trailer first starts with equilbrium, then a problem arises, which all the characters are involved, it creates tension and excitment leaving the audience wanting to find out more.



The second trailer we looked at was 'When a stranger calls'. We looked at this trailer because it involved the use of mobile phones, of which we were planning to do for our trailer. The trailer also featured the caller using a unknown number. This was a good idea which did not identify who the attacker is.
This trailer began immediately with the danger and this was potrayed through the choice of music used for the opening.
This trailer had quick cuts to continue to keep the audience interested and wanting to find out more as it left them hanging.



Another trailer that we looked at was 'Prom Night'. We looked at this trailer because it also involved the use of young people and it had the same genre; thriller.
This trailer also began with the equilbruim and then a problem happening.
The use of music created the tension and left the audience wanting more. It also had quick cut which matched with the genre.



All the trailers used Goodwin's theory of the relationship between the music and the visuals. We also planned to use this as it seemed to work well in the trailers and help the audience understand the story line more.

"By the time I get to Phoenix" Music video/ Evaluation

For this task, we were put in to groups and asked to create a music video of a given song. My group were given the song "By the time i get to phoenix by Glen Campbell.

Before starting the production of our music video, we decided to research it further so that we could get a feel of what genre the song was in as well as the time in which the music might have been produced. Looking at the original music video, we came to a conclusion that it was too boring and olden. The original video only focused on the main character and we found that boring as well. Below is the link to the original video by Glen campbell.

Before filming our version of the video, we decided to modernise it a bit but still keep it in black and white. This would help keep the olden day age effect but have clips from our modern age. We planned our video on a story board and went through the different camrea angles we might use as well as the different effects.

Using Goodwin's theory, we decided to include shots of the main character/Artist. This ensured that the main character was clearly portrayed to the audience. Another Goodwin's theory technique that was used, was the link between the lyrics and the visual. Our music video did not only have shots of the main character but also included a story line.

Our version of the music video, included an establishing shot, zooming in and out shots, medium shots, long shots and close ups. We tried our best to include as many shots as possible to help make it look more professional and neat. As well as filming, we were then given the task to edit our finished videos. Our group included transitions and the black and white theme. We also included scenes that slowed down bits of our video.

When evaluating our music video, I would say that the stability of our shots were quite good and constant as we used a tripod for most of our shots. We also made sure we shot clips in different areas, therfore giving our video a good misce en scene. We finally posted our finished video on youtube. I have attached a link of our video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZum2JXg4VY&feature=fvsr

Social Realism

In this lesson we learnt about examples and techniques of Social Realism films in the British industry.


Social realism is the most 'typical British' genre of all their films.





  • Social realism shows us to ourselves and gives a taste of what real British film culture is like.


  • Realism carried high bow connotations of educations and seriousness.


  • In 1950's the documentary movement held sway and in the 1960's, British new wave took over.


  • New wave films tended to address issues around masculinity that would become common in British realism.


  • Descendants of the realistic flowering at BBC in the 1960's, Ken Loach and Mike Leigh assessed the impact of social realism.


Social Realism Films




Here are some social realism films over the ages;





  • Up The Junction


  • KES


  • The Full Monty


  • This Is England


  • Kidulthood/Adulthood


Techniques of Social Realism





  • Use of authentic locations



  • Actors with regional accents



  • No Hollywood stars



  • Lack of 'big' names - pool of actors well known foe appearances in T.V Dramas



  • Narratives deal with social issues such as; unemployment, divorce, family breakdowns ect.



  • Usually twist of British humour



  • Gritty



  • Naturalistic filming techniques - observational style



  • Spontaneous naturalistic action (Loach)



  • Non-professional actors



  • Lead characters are 'ordinary' working class

Importance of having a British Industry

The importance of of having a British Industry (particularly in film) is very much so to both the British public as it is to the rest of the public in the world. This importance is upholding due to the fact that its industry provides a deep insight of British culture. This allows their culture to move and be noticed around the world through the creation of film. The British industry tends to mock their culture but still makes the important and traditional values stand out to the viewers.



This quote specifically describes the main purpose of the British film industry, "British film industry is a mirror in which we see ourselves and the window through which the world sees us."

Andrew Goodwins Theory on Music Videos & Analysis of music videos

For this media lesson we discussed Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos. We took down the key features that he talked about, when giving his theory about a music video as a form;



1. There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.

2. Relationship between music and visuals (e.g. Pace of music relate to speed of visual)

3. Particular music genres may have their own music video style and iconography.

4. There will be a demand on the part of the record company for a lot of close ups of the main artist or vocalist.

5. There is likely to be a reference to voyeurism (e.g. Something your not supposed to see, looking through a key hole shot for example.)

6. There are likely to be intertextual references linking to other music videos or films.



When we finished discussing his theory we were asked to get into groups of 2 and use Andrew Goodwin's theory to analyse some music videos of different genres.



Country: Hoe down throw down, by: Miley Cyrus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlnbmZK7GxU



This video follows Goodwin's theory of the relationship between the lyrics and the visual. This is shown straight from the beginning as the beats and actions are portrayed through her words, for example " Boom Boom Clap...". So she claps.... Overall the video follows the typical country music genre that you would expect from the title of the song.



Hip-Hop/Grime: Look What The Cat Dragged In, by: Giggs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olUL10qOeR8



His theory in relation to this music video, extracts that Giggs's video demands many close-ups on the main artist and vocalist, showing emotion into what he is singing. This music video has its own iconography and video style but follows the typical Hip-Hop/Grime genre and some of its generally assets in the video. (Girls, drinking and smoking)



Pop: 3, by: Britney Spears http://www,youtube.com/watch?v=QubWKLQUrN0&ob=av2e



This music video really relates and follows Andrew Goodwin's theory of demanding close-ups of the artist, Britney Spears. We found that there was also a relationship between the music and visuals, the faster the tempo of the music, the faster the transitions were between the shots.



Boy Band/Pop: Rule The World, by: Take That http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KII1ruAfvsg



Take that's music video follows it's music genre style and iconography of a typical boy band. There were a couple of close-ups of the main artists, showing the face and emotions of the band.



Heavy Metal: Thunderstruck, by: AC/DC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1cwyc



This video's connection to Goodwin's theory is the relationship between the visuals and the music. For example, the explosions shown in the video relates to the tempo and beat of the music.

The Phone Call

For this task we were asked to get into gropus of 2 or 3 and produce a short film called "The Phone Call". We decided on the roles (Directing, acting and editing) in the production and we were then asked to use storyboards in our planning to share ideas and decide on the camera shots we would use for our short film. We decided on doing a short suspesfull film about a threatining phone call. From our done planning and basic story line, we started filming straight away and managed to do it easily.


During our filming we tried to keep a professional feel to our production by the camera angles we would use, such as a dolly shot, a swish pam shot, close-up shot and much more. Thinking on other effects such as lighting and the mise-en-scene contributed to making of the short film. When we finished our filming, we were asked to edit and tweak our film to our likeness. We did this by using the Apple Mac laptop and it's useful programme, 'imovie'. It was the first time we used this programme and found quite difficult to start. In the end we managed to add a couple of transitions and texts at the beginning and end. After we planned, filmed and edited our production, we uploaded it to Youtube on our video upload school channel.


Here is the link to our short film; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UagVO609GEQ