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John Wick 3: In this poster we can see the dominant signifier and main character John Wick taking up most of the poster and then some sub signifiers in the background which are also characters in the movie. There is a paradigm of characters related to the movie.

The Golden Eye 007 poster (1995) is seen to have multiple dominant signifiers, these being Pierce Brosman, the two woman behind him and the explosions below him. This displays the importance of all 3 of the characters as well as the action the viewers should expect going in to see the film

Black swan The huge black swan with a women’s delicate position in the middle with red stripes on the wings tells you there is fatality as the red means blood and they way she is captured as falling also giving you more suspicion.

The Dunkirk poster shows a darker way of representing a movie. It shows 1 guy alone on a upside down boat. This shows the disaster that its foreshadowing that will happen in the movie. However it also shows on someone coming to save him on the right of the poster. Which makes the audience think what will happen next.

Jumanji The sign in this poster is the group standing in some sort of cave. The way in which they are smaller than the background tells us that they are less significant than the forest, suggesting that they are to conquer it.

The language of moving image suggests that there is a grammar or convention or set of rules. It deals with the aesthetic concepts of shape and size.

One of the most important camera tools in a movie is focus and depth of field. The focus is used to direct the audience’s eyes and prioritise the elements in a shot to present certain information.

Different MEDIA FORMS have different MEDIA LANGUAGES 

camera – the most important tool in a camera is the focus and depth of field (ie how much is in focus). The focus is used to direct and prioritise elements in a shot and therefore prioritise certain information. For example, it will determine who the audience should look at (even if we are not listening to them). It may switch our focus (known technically as a pull focus / rack focus / follow focus) between one element and another. Remember that the elements may not be people, but could be objects, spaces, shapes or colours, which may represent an idea, theme, belief etc (see the post on Semiotics)

• High angle / Low angle / bulls-eye / birds eye / canted angle
• Tracking / Panning / Craning / Tilting / Hand held / Steadicam
• Establishing Shot / Long Shot / Medium Shot / Close-up / Big Close-Up / Extreme Close Up (students often struggle with the first and the last again issues with SCALE, SIZE & SPACE, so practice is really important)
• Insert Shot

Sizes:  Establishing shot – Insert shot – Long shot – Medium shot – Close-up – Extreme close-up.

Angles: High – Low – balls-eye – Birds eye – Canted angle

Movement:  Tracking – Panning – Craning- Tilting – Hand-held – Steadicam

Distinguishing Editing from Camera work (theory)

Moving image products (like other media products: print, radio, on-line) are clearly constructed around the concept of putting one thing next to another. This can be found in both camera work and in editing. Editing is the process of manipulating separate images into a continuous piece of moving image which develops characters, themes, spaces and ideas through a series of events, interactions and occurrences. As such, it is (usually) LINEAR and SEQUENTIAL, although, it must be remembered that moving image products often parachute the audience into a particular moment (IN MEDIA RES) and usually leave them at an equally unresolved moment.

Moving from Camera to Edit, would be to compare the way that the camera can frame and position characters and thereby the audience by creating ‘subjectivity‘ and empathy. This is so important for creating a story, characters, a theme and of course COMMUNICATING MEANING. Similarly, the way in which images are edited together has a massive significance in terms of communicating an idea and of creating meaning.

Moving image products (like other media products: print, radio, on-line) are clearly constructed around the concept of putting one thing next to another. This can be found in both camera work and in editing. Editing is the process of manipulating separate images into a continuous piece of moving image which develops characters, themes, spaces and ideas through a series of events, interactions and occurrences. As such, it is (usually) LINEAR and SEQUENTIAL, although, it must be remembered that moving image products often parachute the audience into a particular moment (IN MEDIA RES) and usually leave them at an equally unresolved moment.

As such BACK STORY, FORESHADOWING, REPETITION, ELLIPSIS, DEVELOPMENT, ENIGMA, DRAMATIC IRONY and other concepts are really important to always bear in mind. As such, NARRATIVE THEORY is really important to an understanding of moving image products.

1. EDIT ON ACTION
2. EDIT ON A MATCHING SHAPE, COLOUR, THEME
3. EDIT ON A LOOK, A GLANCE, EYELINE
4. EDIT ON A SOUND BRIDGE
5. EDIT ON A CHANGE OF SHOT SIZE
6. EDIT ON A CHANGE OF SHOT CAMERA POSITION (+30′)

Shot Sequencing 4: Parallel Editing

The use of sequential editing (editing one clip to another) allows for a number of key concepts to be produced:

Montage consists of number of shots put together to inform the audience context to a character or situation.

parallel editing : two events editing together – so that they may be happening at the same time, or not?

• parallel editing: two events editing together – so that they may be happening at the same time, or not?
• flashback / flash-forward – allowing time to shift

i would use parallel editing to show the past life of the dead character

Shot sequencing 1: Montage

Editing is the process of putting one element / idea next to another. It was first conceptually theorised as the Kuleshov effect, in that adding one element / idea to another actually produces a third idea / element, which if constructed well can produce in the audience an idea that isn’t actually present! This is the basis of MONTAGE EDITING – often the connection of images / ideas to create a new meaning (1 + 2 = ?). It is often seen as an allegorical, metaphorical way of editing to create symbolism, in the same way COLLAGE and MONTAGE ART creates meaning through putting ideas and objects next to each other.

Shot sequencing 4: Shot progression

Conventional shot progression – to create VERISIMILITUDE (ie realism, believability) usually involves the following shots (although not always in the same order).

• establishing shot / ES, moving to
• wide shot / WS,
• to medium shot / MS,
• to close up / CU,
• to big close up / BCU;
• and then back out again

The use of these shots allow the audience to understand SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS between locations, people, movements etc. The length of shot will determine the drama, empathy, theme etc. The choice of how to sequence each shot will determine the AESTHETIC QUALITY of the product. The next sequence will then follow a similar pattern, which again allows the audience to understand concepts such as SPACE, TIME, DISTANCE, MOVEMENT, MOTIVATION, PLOT, THEME etc.

Shot Sequencing 5: Shot / Reverse Shot

The Shot / Reverse Shot a really good starting point for students to both think about and produce moving image products. The basic sequence runs from a wide angle master shot that is at a 90′ angle to (usually) two characters. This sets up the visual space and allows the film-maker to to then shoot separate close-ups, that if connected through an eye-line match are able to give the impression that they are opposite each other talking. The shots are usually over the shoulder. Firstly, they include both characters – which are called EXTERNAL REVERSES. As the drama increases, the framing of each shot then excludes the back of the head of the other character and moves in to a much closer over the shoulder shot – which are called INTERNAL REVERSES. Remember that these shots are not creating a direct look to camera. To look directly at the camera creates a very different relationship between the characters and the audience and is a technique that is only used for specific techniques / genres / film-makers. These type of shots are known as Point of View Shots – POV shots, or even direct address to the camera, and are quite different to over the shoulder shots, close-ups, reaction shots, internal and external reverses etc. All of which are deliberately used to create a range of subjective / objective positions for the audience as they engage with characters in the moving image products. AND NOT FOR THE CHARACTERS TO LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE AUDIENCE (ie directly into the camera)

to use a reverse shot i would create a tense conversation.

 Steve Neale – Steve Neale states that genres all contain instances of repetition and difference, difference is essential to the to the economy of the genre. Neale states that the film and it’s genre is defined by two things: How much is conforms to its genre’s individual conventions and stereotypes.

predictable expectations – something that happens that you could guess

reinforced – strengthen or support (an object or substance), especially with additional material.

amplify – enlarge upon or add detail to (a story or statement).

 repertoire of elements – Repertoire of elements is essentially features of a film that are repeated within a genre. … The audience expect to see them when watching films and they can be key in helping the audience to grasp the genre of a film.

corpus – body

verisimilitude– the appearance of being true or real.

realism – ealism, in the arts, the accurate, detailed, unembellished depiction of nature or of contemporary life. Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favour of a close observation of outward appearances. As such, realism in its broad sense has comprised many artistic currents in different civilizations.

 construction of reality – part of those observations and experiences come to us preconstructed by the media, with attitudes, interpretations, and conclusions already built in, then the media, rather than we ourselves, are constructing our reality.

historically specific – something from the past that is recognisable.

sub-genres – a subdivision of a genre of literature, music, film, etc.

 hybrid genres – A hybrid genre is a genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. Hybrid genres are not new but a longstanding element in the fictional process

Binary means 2 different things completely that can be used for comparison. This theory suggests that narratives (=myths) are structured around binary options eg: good v evil; human v alien; young v old, poor and rich As such, it 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. Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology .This theory suggests that NARRATIVES (=myths) are STRUCTURED around BINARY OPPOSITIONS eg: good v evil; human v alien; young v old etc etc. As such, it 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.

myths according to Levi Strauss, articulate a version of the world around us, generating culturally specific cues that define acceptable or unacceptable social norms.

concept	strongly agree	agree	neutral	agree	strongly disagree	concept
female					x
satisfied					x
white		x
urban	x
poor	x
mature				x
obedient					x
non-conformity	x
young	x
critical of government	x

racial otherness – Gilroy studied the importance of black representation. The ‘ There ain’t no black in the Union Jack relates back to the race relations from the Second World war. Thus where the poster-war wave of immigration from the West Indies produced a series of worries and anxieties regarding immigrant behaviour. The black community are constructed as a racial ‘other’ in the predominantly white world of 1950s Britain. There were worries that immigrant communities would swamp / take over white Britain. These fears were further noted in the news in late 1970s and 1980s and routed the black community with assaults, muggings and other violent crimes. The study was called “There Ain’t No Black In The Union Jack” where he focused on how newspapers were lurid and racist towards black people.

Post-colonial Melancholia: Racial representations were “fixed in a matrix between the imagery of squalor and that of sordid sexuality” Gilroy argued that this was gated the black community out by saying they are a “other” race in the majority white Britain. The story of UK race relations post W.W. 2 : In 1950’s, the black community such as Indians and the Caribbean came to England as ‘we’ were in desperate need of filled job spaces.

The story of UK race relations post W.W. 2: After Gilroy’s study of how black people and immigrants where being pushed aside by people instead of being included and recognised. After that, 2 decades later, Britain was flooded with “fear” that immigrants and other races were going to “swamp” Britain.

Legacy of the Empire : Gilroy suggests that we live in ‘morbid culture of a once-imperial nation that has not been able to accept its inevitable loss of prestige’. England couldn’t accept the fact that it was loosing its empire power.

the search for albion – albionic nostalgia is a representation of Englishness that id marked by nostalgia and generally produces a whitewashed version of an idealised/ imagined a rural England.

BBC information on Ghost Town “Released on 20 June 1981 against a backdrop of rising unemployment, its blend of melancholy, unease and menace took on an entirely new meaning when Britain’s streets erupted into rioting almost three weeks later – the day before Ghost Town reached number one in the charts.” sums up the idea behind Ghost Town.

Info from TheConversation.com:

Ghost Town’: a haunting 1981 protest song that still makes sense today

It was their last song before splitting up and reforming as The Special AKA and stayed at the top of the UK charts for three weeks.

The music video was directed by Barney Bubbles and filmed in the East End of London, Blackwell Tunnel and a before-hours City of London.

Key concepts:

● Cultural resistance
● Cultural hegemony
● Subcultural theory

Cultural Hegemony:

• Theorised by Antonio Gramsci, an Italian philosopher in the 1930s
• Hegemonic – dominant, ruling, most powerful
• Hegemonic Culture – the dominant culture
• Cultural Hegemony – power, rule or domination maintained by ideological or cultural means

Cultural hegemony functions by encouraging the ideologies of the dominant social group as the only legitimate ideology. Their ideologies are expresses and maintained through economic, political, moral and social institutions. These institutions surround the people in their every day life, and eventually influence their subconscious into accepting the norms, values and beliefs of the dominant social group. As a result, oppressed groups are lead to believe that the social and economic conditions of society are natural and inevitable, rather than created by the dominant group.

Context:
● Race Relations
● Thatcher’s Britain

Thatcher’s Britain

• Prime Minister 1979-90
• Militant campaigner for middle class interests
• Extreme attitude towards immigration
• British Nationality Act 1981: introduced a series of increasingly strict immigration procedure and prevented Asian people from entering Britain

Resistance and political protest:

• laws don’t necessarily equal change
• change is much more likely through culture- which is normally more subtle and isn’t always riots and big gestures.
• everyday people
• Overt political protest is uncommon. When it occurs, it often results in a backlash.- doesn’t change public’s opinion