Waterloo road age representation

Initially, the establishing shot of this clip is a close up low shot of some brown shoes walking past chair legs. The zoomed in approach amplifies the significance of the feet and allows the audience to establish the accentuated slow and almost suspicious walk. The clip then  cuts to a two shot of two teenage lads which connotes that these boys are being shifty and are up to no good, their actions are emphasised by the approach of  the teacher Grantly. This portrays  teenage lads as being trouble makers who are more  likely find themselves in trouble unlike the mature teachers. The close up of the teacher and students  faces in a two shot,emphasises the boy's schoolboy appearance, and results in a direct comparison to that of the teacher clearly much older.The mid shot of all three characters allows the audience to determine the body language between them and we are presented with the two boys appearing to be standing with their heads down avoiding eye contact, on the other hand  the teacher has his hands casually in his pockets whilst staring them down in an almost patronising manner. This clip indicates that age is associated with the older population having authority and control over the younger characters. The use of panning is used further in the clip when Mr Chalk is trying out a more modern clothing style and the camera pans from his trainers up to his head. The purpose of this shot is  to create temporary confusion as to whose the shoes belong to and contradicts the audiences’ preconceptions of the expected character. The trainers and clothing are items associated with that of a younger person however it is the teacher wearing them. The use of this shot highlights how strange Mr Chalk looks in his outfit, mainly due  to his age. This again indicates how it is expected by many that people should stay within their stereotypical image/clothing associated with their age category. 

Moreover the use of sound in the clip contributes to the representation of age with the use of dialogue. From the initial scene the viewer is able to establish the relationship between teacher and students with the use of the term ‘Sir’ which illustrates a level of respect between the older and younger characters and the authoritative role the adults play. Age is represented as a hierarchy, the adults having the most control and importance with the children and students least. The way in which Grantly uses the very direct order ‘Give it!’ also connotes his more powerful position because the students are forced to obey him. His subsequent tuts at the kids in a patronising way also connotes his demeaning behaviour and his lack of respect for the children, emphasised with him saying ‘Oh did he hold your hair?’ The older age group are represented at this point as being disrespectful to the young and can sometimes abuse their position as authoritative figures. The digetic noise in the corridor scene sets an environment of liveliness and busyness, reflecting the vibrant and energetic age group. There is also the introduction of non-digetic club like music in this scene, which is synchronous with the following fight that begins with two students. The upbeat and fast paced song is appropriate to the age of the characters as it is in a style associated with their age group and is also relevant to the building pace of the scene. The music also amplifies the significant of the fight and represents teenagers as being rowdy and aggressive. Slang is used by the

student’s repeatedly throughout the clip and whilst reflecting background also relates to their youth and suggests that it is common place within a younger age group (e.g.d’ya hear me/ d’know) This can connote both their ignorance and determination to break rules and be individuals, whilst wishing to separate themselves from the adults.

"Cross media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences." To what extent do you agree with this statement in relation to your media area? 


I would agree with the statement as cross media convergence and synergy are vital parts for a media product to be truly successful. An example of cross media convergence would be youtube as they offer a film viewing website in which companies can release trailers online without cost. The purpose of youtube was not originally designed for the public to view trailers of films however unintentionally it has became a cross media convergence.
Another example of convergence would be twitter as its main purpose was for the public to share their thoughts via a stream in which others can follow and re-post onto their accounts. Twitter uses a 'promoted by' tweet which appears on the public timeline which allows distributors to market and advertise their films online.
Moreover another example of cross media convergence would be Facebook as they like Twitter had a main purpose for the public to be able to share their thoughts and day to day life on a personal account which the 'friends' can view. Furthermore Facebook promotes films on the home screen newsfeed which again was not its original purpose which places it in the cross media convergence bracket.

On the other hand the opposite of cross media convergence would be synergy, this is when a film distributor uses intentionally a form of marketing such as a media magazine which's main purpose is to advertise and inform the public. An example of this would be Vice magazine who collaborated with Planet of the Apes when it first set out to market to the right audience who may view Vice. 

“Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices”.

To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?

Films success is largely bound by the distribution and marketing of a film as it plays a major part in how successful the film will be. Films must make it very clear from the beginning what age category they are advertising towards to allow them to focus maximum attention on their advertisement campaign towards this age range. In order for a film to be truly successful, they must market and advertise their films at very high profile standard. This includes marketing strategies aimed at all ages to reach maximum viewing figures and in-turn, profit. An example of a large scale distribution company would be 20th century fox, who dominate the film industry with a wide range of distribution techniques which reach global audiences around the world. Moreover they are an example of 'the big six' who do not require the levels of advertisement that smaller distribution require because of their name and brand. In addition another example of a large scale production company would be Marvel, who produced and released the hit blockbuster The Avengers. The Avengers was advertised massively through various distribution techniques, however, the majority of it advertisement came from the films prior to it; Thor, Iron Man and The incredible Hulk. The level of the films success previously created for 'The Avengers' as massive build up of excitement for Marvel fans in the public and contributed hugely to its success. The film intern generated in box-office a profit of $1.518 billion, much of its success stemmed from the films newsworthy budget of $220 million.

Furthermore an example of a film who failed due to poor marketing and distribution would be Dredd who were produced by entertainment distributors and Lionsgate production, they were operating under a small budget of $45 million which severely restricted their ability to advertise the film as they could not compete with films of a much larger budget. Dredd did advertise well however their distribution was poor as it was only available to view in 3D in most cinema's and to view it in 2D the consumer may have to travel to a larger cinema than their local cinema. This was not a massively popular choice as customers did not want to pay more for the inconvenience of the uncomfortable glasses and travelling longer distances. Although the film received mainly good reviews from film critics it did not succeed in popularity and is generally considered a 'flop'. Another reason for its apparent lack of success was due to it being released in the same calendar year as the film 'Raid', which contained a very similar storyline to Dredd which caused a large amount of consumers to split and view one than the other. This supports the statement that marketing and distribution effects a films success as much as the production practice.

An example of a film which balanced both of the factors mentioned would the 'Grand Budapest Hotel' as it incorporated various marketing techniques as follows; the production company Fox search light (Subsidiary of 20th century Fox) released the film on Ultraviolet blue ray which enabled consumers to view the film in a variety of formats such as regular DVD players as well as blue ray players. Another marketing technique they used was the sale of film memorabilia online to promote the film, items such as fake moustaches were sold on online auctions such as Ebay. Another factor they used in the distribution of the film was releasing recipes which gave the consumers step by step instructions on how to bake the famous Mendls cake which features in the film. Furthermore another technique they used was the transportation of a large scale model of the Grand Budapest Hotel around the world to theatres showing the film, this gave the consumers and idea of what the hotel looked like in real life. Finally a major factor which played a large role in the films success was the release of a website dedicated to the film to inform fans. All of the factors mentioned above were largely responsible for $172 million boxoffice profit from a 'modest' $31 million budget. The again supports the theory that if the films is marketed and distributed in the correct format it can be a success no matter what the budget. 

In conclusion when considering the audience for the film, if it appeals to a global audience the viewing figures are gonna increase massively. I overall would agree with the statement as I believe although a large scale budget will get you so far, if you market and advertise cleverly in the right places, the film will in turn be a success. 

Representation of sexuality

Representation of Sexuality

An example of sexuality in a TV drama would be Maxxie from the first 2 series in skins, he is presented as a stereotypical homosexual character who dances and is a friendly laid-back character. It is clear of his homosexuality as he continually is portrayed as a flirtacious character to other males in the series. Homosexuality is the attraction of one man to another without attraction to the opposite sex.

An example of heterosexuality in a Tv drama would be Cook from skins as he represents the stereotypical 'Lad' character who's main interest is pulling women. Heterosexuality is when opposite genders are attracted to each other.

An example of Bisexual in a TV drama would be Jack Barrowman from Torchwood, he is presented as a character who is equally attracted to both women and men.

Bisexuality is the attraction to both men and women, in the TV drama Torchwood, Jack Barrowman has relationships with male and female characters.

An example of an Asexual character in a TV drama would be the character Dexter as he is presented as a person with no attraction to either sex or indeed his wife/girlfriend. Asexuality is when someone has an attraction to neither men or women.

Grand Budapest hotel research

Task 1 research
What is Indian Paintbrush and who owns it? Indian Paintbrush production company is owned by Mr Steven M. Rales who is a US billionaire worth in excess of $3.2 billion dollars. Indian Paintbrush's main purpose is to provide financial support for films such as Fantastic Mr Fox, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Wes Anderson films are often funded by Indian Paintbrush production company.
Which company is Fox Searchlight a subsiduary of? It is a subsidiary of 20th century fox.
Which type of films do Fox Searchlight distribute?   All independent British films.
Which two countries financed the film? It was mainly financed by English and German in an even split.
What did Anderson use instead of CGI (computer generated imagery)? Anderson used stop start modelling instead of CGI to offer a more realistic setting. This is why the clips often don't look as good as a CGI equivalent. 
Where did the inspiration for the Hotel come from? The inspiration came from the The Grand Budapest Hotel came from the writings of Stefan Zweig.
Which film festival opened with The Grand Budapest Hotel? The film was opened on the 64th Berlin International film festival in Berlin. 
Alexanre Desplat wrote the score, which major Hollywood films has he worked on? Major Hollywood films that he has worked for include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1 & 2) and Godzilla.
How many awards has the film won? 5 awards and 1 more pending.
Initially how many cinemas did the film open on in the US? The film was shown in 4 US cinema's.
How much did it average per cinema? It averaged $200,000 per cinema.
The film was released on Ultraviolet BluRay, what does this enable consumers to do? It enables viewers to watch on different consoles such as Blu-ray, Xbox, Playstation. 
Which companies do not support Ultraviolet? Apple and Amazon do not support support it and neither do Disney due to them having a rival product.
What complaints did Ultraviolet encounter when it launched? It encountered a problem that Apple users could not use it on their apple products such as iPads.

Task 2 comprehension
Edward Norton (Henckles)
Owen Wilson (M. Chuck)
Ralph Feinnes (M. Gustav H)
Tony Revolori (Zero)
Jeff Goldblum (Deputy Kovacs)
Tilda Swinton (Madame D)
Adrian Brody (Dimitri)
Saoirse Ronan (Agatha)
Jason Schwartzman (M.Jean)
Willem Dafoe (Jopling)
Harvey Keitel (Ludwig)
Bill Murray (M. Ivan)
Mathieu Amalric (Serge X)
F. Murray Abraham (Mr. Moustafa)
Lea Seydoux (Clotilde)
Tom Wilkinson (Author)
Bob Balaban (M. Martin)

Part 2

Where did scouting for a hotel take place? Central Europe.
Which location did the production team eventually use? Görlitz, Germany.
Did they film on location or on a sound stage? On location.
Where were the production offices located? Top floor of the hotel.
How did they film the 60's and 30's hotel? They built the 60's set first before peeling it away revealing the 30's set.
Where did inspiration for the hotel's interior come from? Library of congress and Eastern European hotels.
How many extras did it take to fill the lobby? Over 100 extras were used.

Task 3 - Summarise 5 secrets to the films sucess

• One feature of the films success was the selling online of film memrobilia to promote the films success.
• Another feature of the films success was their unique marketing strategy of bringing a large scale replica of the hotel budapest to theatres around the world.
• Furthermore another feature which contributed to the films success was including instructional videos on how to make cakes and pastries inspired by the Mendl's success.
• In addition the release of 'Moonrise Kingdom' in 2012 caused an influx of younger people viewing Wes Anderson films.
• Finally the final secret to the films success was its accessability from around the world and to many audiances. 

 How did Anderson use the QE2 to market the film? Anderson and members of the cast did a Q&A with members of the public whilst onboard the QE2. This promoted the film.

What connects Prada to the marketing of the film? Prada created the luggage bags to be used in the film.

Task 4 - Opinion

Why would a big Six company be interested in supporting a smaller distribution company like Fox Searchlight? 
Which audience category best describes The Grand Budapest Hotel (Mainstream, Mainstream plus, officianados, ) 
Why might the use of Ultraviolet alienate the film's audience?
Why might the use of secret cinema work as viral marketing for the film?

Question that will be asked in the exam on the Avengers

• the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice; The fact that the Avengers is owned by Marvel Studios will increase its publicity as Marvel studios are re-known for making films of this Genre such as Iron man, Thor and The Incredible Hulk. Moreover the size of the studio will mean they will have a larger budget to produce the film which will result in higher quality special effects and more A-list celebrities.  

• the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing; Synergy and cross media convergence plays a large part in the marketing of the avengers as multiple films they have released prior to the Avengers have linked in, for example Iron Man and Thor. This would class as a form of marketing and advertisement for the eventual release of The Avengers.
• the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange; Technology also plays a large part in the success of The Avengers as they chose to release it in 3D, which means in certain parts of the Film certain characters or objects seem to jump out at the viewer. For example the 3D showings accounted for 52% of the opening weekends gross income. In addition the recent influx of online websites that you can view recent films on such as Netflix, Amazon instant video and Love Film means that DVD sales will no longer be as popular as purchasing the film online for convenience, resulting in more sales online than in stores.
• the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences; Viewing films online from tablets, phones and laptops has become immensely popular with the public which has lead many film companies including Marvel having to film their films with a camera which would allow access from smaller technology such as iPhones etc. This results in a large percentage of the viewing of The Avengers will have been from handheld technology and not cinemas to save money and for ease of access.
• the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences; Different variations of editing software has came in to help the film industry such as better special effects software for the films so in avengers software like this would have been used a lot. Also better quality cameras such as the IMAX cameras have been developed to improve the quality of films.

Representation of Ethnicity in Spooks

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of ethnicity using the following:

• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en scene

50 marks.



Camera
Spooks uses a variety of different camera angles, movement and composition throughout. From the start the basic close up shot is used predominately to  signify the tense situation in which the captives find themselves in and the discomfort is apparent from the women crying and the other captive Danny's grimace, this insinuates to the watcher that they may have been made to make a decision which isn't going to end happily. Furthermore when introduced to the terrorist who has taken them captive, a low angle shot is used to show the power in which he has over his prisoners from their perspective. Moreover this portrays him as a powerful figure which is supported by the inclusion of the gun in his hand. In addition the movement of the camera when focusing on the characters faces suggests that the cameraman is almost 'shaking' with the tension in the room, this is used to support the idea that the scenes unravelling in front of the camera are being filmed with a handheld camera. Once again this also signifies the lack of equipment that the terrorist has at his disposal and shows a potential weakness.

Editing
Danny the black character is portrayed as a stereotypically brave male, with shots often cutting to him with a stereotypical 'Stiff upper lip' which is associated with the idea that British people will not let it show of the sheer discomfort that they are in and will maintain this to the end. This is supported by him maintaining his composure right till the end where he shows some aggression towards the terrorist and refers to him as a facist. In comparison the Terrorist is portrayed with the stereotypical shifty untrustworthy type that is often associated with Arabs. This is supported when he reacts to Dannys taunts and switches the gun to shoot him rather than the other captive who we are not given the name of.

Sound
Throughout the clip the ambiance in the room is incredibly tense, this is supported by the tense beat of the drum and Spanish guitar playing in the back ground which signifies a foreign setting which is not British. Moreover the music playing faintly resembles 'The Call to prayer' by Muezzin which is of great significance to the Muslim community. 

Mise en scene
The room in which the scene is set is all bleached grey/dark colours to signify the atmosphere in the room, this oppressive setting is deliberately used to connote the idea of Arabic terrorism. The clothes worn by the characters differ also as the terrorist in the background with the rifle is wearing a stereotypical balaclava and dark clothing, on the other hand the terrorist who clearly holds the most power is dressed in a suit with the buttons casually undone from the top which does not represent a stereotypical Arab. Furthermore Danny is dressed in a suit also which is not the kind of clothing generally associated with a black male which suggests intelligence and importance? Moreover the inclusion of the white male and female through the phone call is also a stereotype which is associated with white people that they are well behaved and stay out of trouble, in this case, captivity.