Survey Questions Draft

These will be the draft questions for when I create my survey to identify what my audience would expect from my film, this will be me conducting primary research to apply to my script. The questions need to be generated for a close in-depth analysis of how the script and film should be laid out and what to be expected.

Draft Questions

1. What, in your own opinion, are main key factors for an action and crime film and why?
2. Would a bank robbery be a smart way to open the film as it pans out?
3. The film would be set in the late 1940's - 1950's, who would be ideal actors for main roles out of these already selected?
4. In your opinion, would you prefer the characters being highlighted or their actions?
5. Is language a huge part of an action film, is it needed?
6. "http://asmediascarratt.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/intertextuality.html" After reading the simple plot analysis, is this good enough for an opening scene? If any, what would you change?

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PXCZVQT

Intertextuality

Intertextuality

• Intertextuality is the way in which texts refer to other media texts that producers assume that their target audiences will recognise. 
• One of pleasures that audiences experience is the joy of recognition. 
• One form of this pleasure comes in recognising the reference in one media text to other media texts. 
• This process of referencing is called intertextuality.

Parody

The word parody means making a joke out of something that takes itself too seriously, or to joke about and mess with a serious film, song, person. 

Parody - 'an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.'

Pastiche
Recycling other media texts, using things and putting them together to make something completely new. For example, Kill Bill is a film by Quentin Tarantino which is is a mixture of Japanese samurai, french new wave, Hong Kong kung fu.

Pastiche - 'an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period.'

Task:

• Analyse the following videos and make comparisons. 
• How would you categorise the different features of intertextuality? Pastiche or Parody? 
• Are there any other intertextual considerations? 
• Check out who directed this and what else did he directed?

1. Michael Jackson's Thriller

Thriller is a smart, new modification to the current generation of songs at this time. It tried something completely new by mixing it with other genres, this makes it a pastiche production. It's mixed 80's music with 50's zombie horror and slight comedy. This is a new technique and a smart initiative by the producers to mix these categories together.

It was cleverly directed by John Landis who also directed Blues Brothers, Oscar and An American Werewolf in London. 

Film Plot Research

As a start for my new research I will be investigating plot summaries that are similar to the film script in which I want to write. The type of genre I will be investigating is gangster films which is what I want to base mine around.

Top grossing gangster films:
- Goodfellas*
- The Godfather*
- The Departed
- Scarface (?)
- Once Upon a Time In America
- Reservoir Dogs*
- Carlito's Way
- Inside Man*
- Pulp Fiction*

* = most applicable to my script.

My basic plot summary for the first scenes will be set around a bank robbery, a well known established bank in the middle of New York. The time of year will be around the 1950's but with a modern approach to the film, following the steps of two modern films set in late times such as Lawless and Gangster Squad. It will be a very calm and smart start to the script, with scenic views of a busy New York main street. The group of 5 men will be walking calmly down the street in very smart attire*. They will enter the bank calmly without making any fuss or bother and approach the cashier desks and draw their guns towards the bank workers but keeping control of the situation as two of the men control the security guards. The men keep on top of the situation as the scene ends. - This would be the end if the first scene.

Traditional Gangster Attire*

These are, or similar to, the clothes worn by Ryan Gosling in the film Gangster Squad. A very smart identified Gangster film.

From top left to right: Smartcare traditional Fit Dress Shirt; Vincero Light Gray Three-Piece Suit; Stitch to Size Box Patterned Maroon Tie; Borsalino Cashmere Fedora; Allen Edmonds Strand Cap-toe Lace-up Oxford Men’s Shoes.

Toy Story Two

Toy Story Two

The very start of Toy Story 2 shows binary opposition between good and evil. This is portrayed through Buzz Lightyear v Zurg being archenemies in the video game in the first sequence.

It is easily identifiable who is the good (Buzz Lightyear) and who is the bad (Zurg).

Equilibrium – Andy’s Room is exactly set out how it should be.

Disruption - Woody gets kidnapped.
Recognition - When they plan to try and save Woody.

Roland Barthes

Basic Information:

Roland Barthes was born on the 12th November 1915, he later died at the age of 64. He was a french literary theorist, philosopher, critic and semiotician. This means he studied signs and symbols. He explored a diverse range of fields and he also influenced the development of our current schools.

What his theory meant basically was:
- The text is like a tangled ball of threads and needs to be unravelled and thought out.
- Once the text is unravelled you encounter an 'absolute wide range of potential meanings.'
- You can start looking at the narrative in one way from a single viewpoint, one set of previous experience, and create one meaning for that text.
- You can continue by unravelling the narrative from a different angle and create an entirely different meaning.

Roland Barthes' five codes:
- The Hermeneutic Code (HER & the voice of truth)
This is the way a story avoids telling the truth or revealing the all the facts, in order to drop clues in through out to help create mystery.

- The Enigma/Proairetic Code (ACT & empirical voice)
The way the tension is built up and the audience is left guessing as to what happens next in the text.

- The Symbolic Code (SYM & the voice of the symbols)
This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. This is typically done in the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas.

- The Cultural Code (REF & the voice of science)
Looks at the audiences wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideology.

- The Semantic Code (SEM & the voice of the person)
The semantic code points to any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by the way of connotation* which the story suggests.

*connotation = what something means without actually saying it, hidden/underlining meaning.

Leon - 180° Rule

The film Leon uses a certain scene to break the 180 degree rule to cause tension and uneasiness between the two characters. They do this to show how much Leon, the assassin, doesn't want the young girl to be involved with his surroundings. She dresses provocatively for her age and acts more mature than she really is. These qualities along with the camera angles throughout the scene really makes it tense to show there is a message behind the scene without it being verbally said.

Age Representation

How are different age groups represented in the Media?

Age in the in the Eastenders clip is represented as:

Elderly/Disabled (60-65+):
This scene is based on the return of Jim who is an elderly disabled man and when he returns home from  being ill in the hospital is treated with the upmost respect but is also handled like a baby, for example when he's attempting to get out of the taxi and is getting helped out he doesn't seem to want to be helped. The scene is made up to benefit him such as when he comes home into the living room the house is a stereotypical house for someone elderly. Old fashioned furnishings and an LP type music playing in the background defining his age. His peers in the living room also do not know how to act when he walks in.

Middle-aged (30-60):
Jim's son, Max, is represented as a middle aged man who isn't phased by his fathers return to the Square. He treats the news by being stereotypical for his age by going to the pub and having a drink to deal with the news. His appearance is also rectified as a middle-aged man by his blatant laid back approach to his appearance with bad hair and scruffy style facial hair.

20's to 30's:
These are represented in the clip of doing activities for the Elderly and aid them to do tasks which ask too much of them, for example Stacey is asked by Dot to go and tell Bradley to help Jim out of the taxi. This shows how they are depended upon by Elderly people. At the same time their appearance is clear to show their age. Girls looking more attractive to show they're at the highest peak of their life and want to show off and Boys seem to act as if they're invincible and they're too good for doing anything they don't want to do.

Gender Objectification for Toys

Genderised Toys

This is a battery operated Quad 'Power Wheels Dune Race' clearly aimed at boys. This is a gender objectified advertisement as it doesn't show any girls in the advert so it doesn't appeal to them. It's also clear within the colours such as blue, green and black. This is clear due to the male and female stereotypical thought that females are less of a good driver than males.

This is why these types of advertisements are objectifying genders acting in this case that males are more superior than girls and that girls wouldn't enjoy this type of activity.

This is an advertisement for a girls castle and is clearly shown that it is for girls by the pink colours and the fact it's clearly based of fairytale characters. It is also indicated that girls are more prepared to make homes and make them their own. They are also stereotypically expected to maintain families and be able to look after their own. This is portrayed through doll families and how they treat them.

Gender Representation

Objectification Types

• Gender
• Age
• Disability
• Sexuality
• Ethnicity
• Regionally 

Female Representation

Sexual objectification towards women is really high in the Media, it involves women being portrayed as objects of sex rather than normal human beings. This doesn't help the cases of women feeling the need to be as 'perfect' as the girls they see on several TV advertisements. 

The different types of sexual representation can change and vary depending on what is being advertised. They mostly show half naked and/or fully naked women posing for products completely unrelated to sexual scenes. 

Adverts can also show powerful scenes of Men overpowering women and also scenes of rape and girls being abused just for sexual representation.

Here are a few examples of female objectification in the Media:

These are main examples of Women's bodies being abused just to sell a products a long with the idea of  sex. This is because it is believed that 'sex sells' worldwide.

Problems with female representation is that it leads to health and psychological problems with them leading to depression, anxiety and eating disorders etc. This is why there are lots of campaigns to remove female (and male) representation from the Media to save our generations from believing that what they see is what is right. There was a video we watched in class involving Caroline Heldman doing a lecture on why it was wrong and discussing reasons why it needs to stop.

Sports Codes and Conventions

Sports Codes and Conventions

The views of sports on the TV and magazines is backed up with professional celebrity experts commenting and analysing the matches. They also set the scene for the likes of when a match is on the television they go to the stadium the game is being played at and often even go pitch side to get more of a feeling for the game to the audience. It's easily recognisable when the sport is on the television and often grabs viewers with features before the actual game is played.

Class Notes

Tuesday 1st October

Iconography

The main picture of the magazine of Taylor Swift has a direct mode of address and is positioned in the centre of the cover. The content is easy to read and point out so it can grab the reader easily, the title of the whole magazine is easy to distinguish and recognise. It's a stereotypical girls magazine and easily aimed at girl aged in their teens.

1. Look specifically at Gender representation in Gendered magazines. How is the concept of gender constructed?

Gender is often constructed by the colours used in portraying the type of magazine. In this case the primary colours are pink to highlight that it's more of a female magazine than a boys one. It's also shown through the cover star being Taylor Swift, she is idolised by many teenage girls.

2. Are stereotyped used? Confirmed or challenged?

Stereotypes used in this magazine are shown by overusing the colour pink to attract girl readers, they also using puffs that are advertising 'BOYS. Hotter. Than. Ever.' this is clearly something that would interest either a girl or a homosexual boy. That's why these magazines are more for feminine readers.
It also has a section on 'Passion for Fashion' and shows 172 'eclectic essentials.' The magazine also advertises her home and would probably show her interior which is more of what girls are into other than boys.

Mise en scene - Positioning

1. Which characters do you think are the most important in this scene?

& 2. What gives you this impression?

The main character in this scene is the character furthest on the the right showing him speaking openly to the other characters in this scene. This shows us that he has a huge importance to the scene. He is singled out in the shot showing the other four characters listening to him, he's also made to look bigger in the shot.

3. What do the props in the foreground and background tell you about what is happening?
The props in the scene show us that it is a meeting for some kind of special forces, they