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Moving Image, NEA, Television

statement of intent

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Statement of intent – media 

name of film- left on read.

I intend to produce two different posters to advertise my film through including signifiers that link to the narrative I will create and introduce the central concepts, ideas and characters without explicitly revealing the details of the plot.  My movie posters will include a character that is a girl in a relationship and is dangerously obsessed with her boyfriend.. I want to produce 2 posters that translate the craziness of her transition from innocent love to stalker. The plot is inspired by a 2000s teen movie and present a very ‘normal’ life the female character lives. I want to represent her on the poster as scary and crazy. I will ensure this image is of a high resolution, so it is the main focal point on the poster. I want the background to obtain essences of a dark reality that goes on in her mind. The poster will be spooky but and psychedelic unlike more dramatic and emotionally movie posters. I like the essence of the Netflix show ‘YOU’ which has a very stalker based, but includes the narratives key objective. The text on my poster will be minimalistic as I don’t want it taking the attention of the central image. I imagine that my posters would be produced by a small, indie company who are owned by a large conglomerate such as ‘Warner Bros’, the two posters would be created for distribution by a streaming platform such as ‘Netflix’ and ‘Amazon Prime Video’. My other poster of my movie will have the same aesthetic of the first poster but from a different perspective. I had in mind maybe them walking away from the back with the chaos in the background. I want my second one to heavier and more interesting on the audience and have a more serious tone to it, she has no idea what she did to be in her position and is a story of her trying to figure out how to deal her struggles.

Exam Prep, Ghost Town, Music Video

CSp 6: The Specials – Ghost Town

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This is a targeted CSP and needs to be studied with reference to two elements of the Theoretical Framework (Media Language and Media Representation).

1 TASK 1: MAKE SOME GENERAL NOTES ON THIS MEDIA PRODUCTION: NAMES, DATES, NUMBERS, ETC

Ghost Town is a product which possesses cultural, social and historical significance. It will invite comparison with the other CSP music video allowing for an analysis of the contexts in which they are produced and consumed.

2 TASK 2 Continue your notes: WHAT IS THE CULTURAL, SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND? Use ppt from Jodie below

Music-as-Political-ProtestDownload

Ghost Town by The Specials conveys a specific moment in British social and political history while retaining a contemporary relevance. The cultural critic Dorian Lynskey has described it as ‘’a remarkable pop cultural moment’’ one that “defined an era’’. The video and song are part of a tradition of protest in popular music, in this case reflecting concern about the increased social tensions in the UK at the beginning of the 1980s. The song was number 1 post-Brixton and during the Handsworth and Toxteth riots.

The aesthetic of the music video, along with the lyrics, represents an unease about the state of the nation, one which is often linked to the politics of Thatcherism but transcends a specific political ideology in its eeriness, meaning that it has remained politically and culturally resonant.

The representations in the music video are racially diverse. This reflects its musical genre of ska, a style which could be read politically in the context of a racially divided country. This representation of Britain’s emerging multiculturalism, is reinforced through the eclectic mix of stylistic influences in both the music and the video.

3 TASK 3: Continue to build up your notes (in preparation for the unseen essay) by reading see BOTH: 1. Paul Gilroy chapter in the Mark Dixon AND 2. some of the linked articles below.

1. Media Theory for A level by Mark Dixon

Look specifically at pp. 72-73 & 77-79 – Paul Gilroy chapter in Media Theory for A level book by Mark Dixon. Think about the following key terms:

  1. racial otherness (72-73)
  2. post-colonial melancholia (72-73)
  3. the story of UK race relations post W.W. 2 (72-73)
  4. Legacy of the Empire (77-79)
  5. The Search for Albion (77-79)

2. Useful sources of information

4 TASK 4: MAKE SOME NOTES ON THE WAY IN WHICH THIS MUSIC VIDEOS CREATES AND COMMUNICATES MEANING THROUGH NARRATIVE

You should INLCUDE SOME SEMIOTIC TERMS ANALYSIS (ie the use of signs) which should specifically look at:

You should also focus on GENRE

  • Mise-en-scene – ie what can you see in each shot
  • Cinematography – ie how does the camera frame each shot & how are the shots edited together
  • How the story / narrative is constructed (this post should be helpful or this BBC Bitesize post). Put another way, how could TODOROV, LEVI-STRAUS & PROPP be applied to this music video.
  • Think about how the visuals link to the song lyrics (is it a LITERAL OR METAPHORICAL interpretation, eg the journey through a deserted landscape, or the way lyrics refer to effects of political and economic conditions)
  • Make sure you reference Neale! You may remember that we looked at Steve Neale when we looked at AS TV CSP (link here)
  • How the music video genre uses intertextuality and hybridity to establish meanings

ASSESSMENT

We will complete an unseen question in class. This question could look at either MEDIA LANGUAGE and / or REPRESENTATION. THAT MEANS THE QUESTION DOES NOT REQUIRE YOU TO TALK ABOUT INSTITUTION AND / OR AUDIENCE

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key terminologys for internal struchture analysis

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Key terminology’s

  1. Linear – one way straight line of a story or arc
  2. Chronological – in an order from start to finish
  3. Sequential – following a sequence
  4. Circular structure – where a story starts at the end and the end ends at the start
  5. Time based
  6. Narrative arc
  7. Freytag’s Pyramid
  8. exposition,
  9. inciting incident,
  10. rising action,
  11. climax,
  12. falling action,
  13. resolution,
  14. denouement 
  15. Beginning / middle / end
  16. Equilibrium
  17. Disruption
  18. Transgression – often disequilibrium is caused by societal / moral / ethical transgression (ie challenging Aristotelian virtues)
  19. New equilibrium
  20. Peripeteia – a drastic turn of events
  21. Anagnoresis – A dramatic revelation, that occurs within the main protagonist
  22. Catharsis – the idea that humans can consume emotions and feelings within a piece of media
  23. The 3 Unities: Action, Time, Place
  24. flashback / flash forward
  25. Foreshadowing
  26. Ellipsis
  27. Pathos
  28. Empathy
  29. diegetic / non-diegetic
  30. slow motion
  31. In Media Res – starting in mid-action
  32. Metanarratives – drawing attention to the process of storytelling
  33. Quest narratives

Peripeteia in Blinded by the Light – When the tickets are torn up.

Anagnoresis in Blinded by the Light – When the main characters father is severely injured

Catharsis in Blinded by the Light – At the end of the movie when Bruce Springsteen’s music is played within his father the car.

My film synopsis

within my film i will have a out going teenager who has many friends and family although feels alone within the company he has with him he feels a lack luster of emotions that over whelm him so i will have my character within a large crowded area but a spot light shining up on my character to represent loneliness and that he is in company but alone the contrast in the two will create a sense of emotional anguish and sadness within the first image(?) my character will be facing away from the crowd as my main character is by himself and the back ground characters are talking amongst themselves although around his family he is saddened. For my second image i will have my character within company but he is facing his family with new faces and he has got a happy expression in comparison to the first image his clothes will be a little bit more brighter than the ones in the image before showing that he is taking care of himself.

Todorov

Tztevan Todorov proposed the idea of a Tripartite narrative structure, which breaks down narrative structures into having a beginning, middle and end. He describes these as Equilibrium, Disruption and New Equilibrium.

Equilibrium – State of calmness, things are okay.

Disruption – When something drastic occurs and the protagonist has to reroute his actions in order to solve it.

New Equilibrium – The new state after the disruption has been solved.

Unreliable Narration – Deliberately deceiving audiences and providing plots that reveal unexpected moments.

Frame Stories – Stories told inside of other stories, testing the narrative structure by presenting nested moments of equilibrium and new equilibrium.

Multiperspective narratives – Using viewpoints of different characters and perspectives in a story, and so presenting equilibrium as disruption in another person’s eyes.

Vladimir Propp

Propp’s work suggests that stories use STOCK CHARACTERS to structure stories. This doesn’t mean that the characters are the sae every time, but all stories draw on familiar characters performing similar functions to provide familiar narrative structures. This is important because it means that the products created become reactionary, and sales are more guaranteed in a “risky business” such as the media and creative industry. Examples of stock characters are:

  1. Hero
  2. Helper
  3. Princess
  4. Villain
  5. Victim
  6. Dispatcher
  7. Father
  8. False Hero

Often there is a villain who has done something to a victim. This means that we need a hero, who (often) accompanied by a helper is sent out (by a dispatcher) to fight the villain. The dispatcher or similar donor (such as a father figure) prepares the hero in his ‘quest‘ and gives the hero some magical object. The hero generally meets the princess as part of his quest / journey which usually provides a happy ending. During the narrative we (and the princess) may be presented by a false hero.

LEVI – STRAUSS

Levi strause talks about binary oppostites as in the good and bad the positive and the negative. this  encourages students to understand narrative as a structure of key (oppositional) themes that underpin action and dialogue to develop a set of messages that the audience are able to decode and understand. this creates a dominant message (ideology) of a film, TV programme, advert, music video, animation etc. So in this way audiences are encouraged to make a judgements about characters, groups, places, history, society. texts can be seen to either support the dominant ideologies of a society, which would make it a reactionary text ,or to challenge, question or undermines the dominant ideologies of society, in which case it could be seen as a radical text.

Institution

Murdoch – Media Empire

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  • Keith Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-born American billionaire businessman who has a net worth of $22.4 billion as of 28th July 2021, leaving him the 31st richest person in the United States and the 71st richest in the world.
  • Murdoch is known for being:
  1. The Chairman and CEO of News Corporation in 1980 to 2013.
  2. Executive chairman of News Corp in 2013 to the present day.
  3. Chairman and CEO of 21st Century Fox in 2013 to 2015.
  4. Executive Co-chairman of 21st Century Fox in 2015 to 2019.
  5. Acting CEO of Fox News in 2016 to 2018.
  6. Chairman of Fox News in 2016 to 2019.
  7. Chairman of Fox Corporation in 2019 to the present day.
  • July 2011, Murdoch, along with his youngest son James, provided testimony before a British parliamentary committee regarding phone hacking.
  •  Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers informed the Leveson Inquiry that police are investigating a “network of corrupt officials” as part of their inquiries into phone hacking and police corruption and Murdoch responded with “Why are the police behaving in this way? It’s the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing.”
  • In connection with Murdoch’s testimony to the Leveson Inquiry “into the ethics of the British press”, editor of Newsweek International, Tunku Varadarajan, referred to him as “the man whose name is synonymous with unethical newspapers”.
  • Rupert appointed Albert ‘Larry’ Lamb as editor and Lamb recalled later – told him: “I want a tearaway paper with lots of tits in it”.
Feminist Critical Thinking, Representation, Theory

Feminist Critical Thinking

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  • Feminist = a political position
  • Female = a matter of biology
  • Feminine = a set of culturally defined characteristics

First wave of feminism :

  • Women’s Suffrage Committee (1867) / The international Council of women (1888) / the International Alliance of Women (1904) was the formation of the first wave of feminism.
  •  Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) – she was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women’s rights. She wrote the book, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, which argues that the educational system deliberately trained women to be frivolous and incapable and that if girls were allowed the same advantages as boys, women would be not only exceptional wives and mothers but also capable workers.

Second wave of feminism :

  • Galvanised by organisations such as, the British Women’s Suffrage Committee (1867), the International Council of Women (1888), the The International Alliance of Women (1904).
  • The Suffragettes were a organisation who fought / wanted governmental

Third Wave Feminism :

  • Third wave feminism came / begun by Naomi Wolf in the early 1990s through her book, as he had ideas and thoughts that there will be a third wave.
  • Third wave feminism is more alert and expression more, as well as having more thoughts and opinions on feminism.
  • third-wave sees women’s lives as intersectional, demonstrating a pluralism towards race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender and nationality when discussing feminism.
  • Began in the mid 90s
  • The characteristics of third wave feminism can be seen as an emphasis on the differences among women due to race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion. Individual and do-it-yourself (DIY) tactics. Fluid and multiple subject positions and identities. Cyberactivism. The reappropriation of derogatory terms such as ‘slut’ and ‘bitch’ for liberatory purposes and sex positivity.
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david Hesmondhalgh

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The creative industry has a myth making process surrounding it. There is a idea of a promise of wealth, fame and unrealistic jobs and there is a idea surrounding the fact that anyone can make it. However there is also hard work involved in this industry.

what strategy do they put in place to minimising the risks

David Hesmondhalgh talks about how the creative industry is a very risky business and how there is many risks throughout the whole process of the production, advertising and consumption. For example in the production it can be risky because whatever your creating, froe example a song could go bad because the song could be bad and not many people enjoy it. Furthermore, advertising can also be very risky because you could end up not advertising the product successfully and the whole product will fail therefore if the product is not advertised properly then the whole product can fail therefore ruining the project. Finally there can be a lot of risks in consumption. For example, the consumers may not like the product that you have put out there therefore the whole product will flop and be a waste of time and money.

There are plenty of strategy’s they can do to minimise the risk of the product failing and being a waste of money. For example within the production they can do tests to see if the product is good enough to even be released because if the product is bad and people end up releasing it then the outcome will therefore be a fail and have completely wasted their time and money.

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notes

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what you need to make a film-

camera, cast, crew, editors, script, set, film location, props,

Linear-arranged in or extending along a straight or nearly straight line

Chronological- following the order in which they occurred.

Sequential-forming or following in a logical order or sequence.

Circular structure-

Time based

Narrative arc-. It provides a backbone by providing a clear beginning, middle, and end of the story

Freytag’s Pyramid

exposition-a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory

inciting incident-the event that sets the main character or characters on the journey that will occupy them throughout the narrative.

rising action,

climax- the most intense , or important point of something

falling action,

resolution-measure used to describe the sharpness and clarity of an image or picture.

denouement-

Beginning / middle / end

Equilibrium

Disruption

New equilibrium

Peripeteia

Anagnoresis

Catharsis

The 3 Unities: Action, Time, Place

flashback / flash forward-

Foreshadowing- hints throughout the story indicating for a event later in the story

Ellipsis-where there are parts of the story missing

Pathos

Empathy

diegetic / non-diegetic

slow motion

Todorov’s narrative theory. most stories can be broken down into beginning middle and end .

flexi-narratives-long format television products deploy multiple three act structures in a similar pattern to that used by master plot/subplot sequences.

condensed equilibriums- contempary audiences, arguably, have a much lower boredom threshold, expecting products to deliver quickly

Vladimir Propp:

Vladimir Propp was a folklorist researcher interested in the relationship between characters and narrative . Propp argued that stories are character driven and that plots develop from the decisions and actions of characters and how they function in a story. He claimed characters could be classified into certain roles that progress a story

Propp identifies two types of hero’s, the seeker-hero and the victim-hero