Key Definitions x

Capitalism :
Is an economic system in which the production and distribution of goods and services in society is organised via a free market for the purpose of maximising profits.

Hegemony :
The total cultural, economical and political dominance achievec by the ruling elite of society.

Feudal System :
The Feudal system is the people in a society are considered a system organised by a characteristic pattern of relationships.

Marxism :
Ideology derived from the writings of the sociologist Karl Marx (1818 - 83), which sees society as dominated by capitalism structures which maintain the hegemony of the ruling class and lead to the exploitation of workers.

Pluralism :
The view that where a society is comprised of a wide range of social and ethnic groups with dofferent values, political and ideological beliefs, representations by the media will naturally reflect this diversity.

High Concept films :
A film with a budget and state-of -the-art special effects, usually associated with US productions.

Post-Feminism in Contempary Film x

Post-Feminism

Post Feminism is when men are usually ‘the best’ and women are below them, however now females see males as not 'the best' and roles have switched over. Females do male jobs and are allowed to however are seen differently just because they have a more masculine side to them.
In the film 'Flight Plan' the main character plays a widow whose husband has died. She has a male job as an engineer which is a job which is maily associated with males. She and her daughter travel to where they are going to bury her husband. The film has a very twisted storyline, as the people on the plane try to convince the character Jodie that she did not board the plane with her daughter after she goes missing. As well as trying to hijak the plane and blame it on Jodie.

Jodies character is very masculine as the way she dresses is very dull and plain. She covers up which may imply that she is very self conscious. As their is no male role model for the daughter within the family, Jodie makes up for this acting as the father figure as well as her mother. We can see this in the scene when Jodie and her daughter are leaving the house, she carries all the bags and manages struggling from one point to the other.

The representation of women given off in the film is a very strong yet not so strong representation. We can see this from the way that she does not give up looking for her daughter even through people in the plan to try and convince her that she never bought her daughter on the plane with her.

Also, the plans that she comes up with are very clever in helping her find her daughter. However, she is seen as very vulneravle as the male pilots make her believe that noone else came with her. She crys and they make her think she is delusional. However they do not succeed.

In comparison, the animation film 'Mulan'. Mulan is a film about a chinese family going to war. The males within the familes in china go to war and is based around war. A the family do not have any males within the family except the father, who goes to war for the family. The father of the family falls ill and cannot go to war, therefore his daughter Mulan who has an interest in fighting and has always wanted to go to war runs away, and goes to war for the family.

Mulan is represented as very masculine as she does what most males would do for a living such as become a warrior and go to war. Also, because she stands in for her father she is seen as the male figure within her family. However, she still keeps her female character as she falls in love with the man she fights alongside. The way she dresses in the film and when she prepares to run away, she cuts her hair which implies she is determined to go to war and wants to go to war for her family.

MEST 4: Research & Production x

Transformers (2007) x

The film that i have decided to analyse and which is one of my favourite action films is Transformers. This is the first of two films of the Transformers which came out in 2007 as its a sequel. The second Transforemers: Revenge of the Fallen was Released in June 2009.

Transformers is a Michael Bay film, who was the Director of the film and Steven Speilberg the Producer of the film. The films main characters are Sam Witwicky played by the actor Shia LeBeouff and the actress Megan Fox.

A summary of the plot of the film is that theres a war between the Autobots and the evil Decepticons and they have to save the Earth. The robots can disguise therefore 'TRANSFORMING' into any machinery, mostly cars as this adds to the hype and action in the film. The war is bascially to create life of the robots on Earth.

.. Notes On Film ..


Media Representation :

• In the begginning of the film as it starts the robot are being represented. The representation of the Robots in which we get from the narrator would be an evil as they are planning war against Earth.
• Earth is also being represented as being vulnerable and underthreat as it is the one being attacked as they dont know what is coming for them.
• Army men are also being represented as being very determined and stereotypical, as in people see army men as down and doing their job and saving people. In the film they are shown as this and very determined to save the Earth. Also, the army men can be shown as normal people as in not the stereotypical army men outline. They are laughing and joking around in a scene which implies that they are just like normal people and also do the thing we do.
• The main characters are also represented. Shia LeBeouff who plays Sam Witwicky, a male character who plays a teenage boy, is stereotypically represented again as being a normal boy. Into his cars, girls and money.
• Megan Fox who plays a teenage girl called Macela also plays a stereotypical teenage girl role. She plays the 'Princess' in the narrative the one who the Hero gets in the end. Her role is represented stereotypically by playing a very popular girl, tall, pretty however she is into her cars.

The representation of the charaters are fair and accurate as it shown the personalities of what kind of characters they are playing. This connects to the whole readings theories. As the audience can connect and relate to the characters. They may be like the characters or have the same interests as what the characters have, this way connect/relating t the character they see on screen and ejoying the film.

Media Narrative :

• The use of the Sound is to get the audinece in suspence and on the edge of their seats wondering what will happen next. Also, the car plays music relates to the mood/feeling/situation in which the male character is feeling for the female character. This is to create humour. The sound of the robots and the screeching of them as they move creates a shivver up the spine, maybe to scare the audience and create awareness as the robots are coming.
• The robots speak in chinese/japanese and are evil Decpeticons. This could imply that robots that china/japan make are evil. Also, the fact that they have another language in the film as subtitles in which changes back to english as if it decodes it, tells us that the film is for evryone and anyone.
• The editing used in the film usually when there is a action scene happening is done to make it very effective and look real. The way the robots are computerised is very real and convincing.
• The genre of the film is Action.

Media Language :

• The use of showing the setting is because the places are used alot in the film they are also used and enigma and action code. For example the use of the car is because the car is a tranformer and transforms into and Autobot.
• The school is shown as the character of Shia LeBeouff - Sam is a teenager and goes to collage, therefore the audience the film is targetted at they can relate to this area as many of them may go to school.
• Dessert - The army - war against Decepticons and most action scene are located here.
• House - Family, homely feel also created, relate to it.
• Army Base - 'Helpers' in the narrative, main narrative as they are helping to solve the case. Also, robots are kept there.

Media Instituition:

• Paramount Pictures and also Dreamworks Pictures. Paramount had bought Dreamworks Pictures therefore, that is why they work very closely together.
• Dreamworks Pictures makes many childrens films such as Shrek, Shes the man, Dreamgirls, Norbit and many more.
• Paramount Pictures has produced many films such as Star Trek, Lara Croft, Pay Check, Lemony Snickets which have worked alongside Dreamworks and are very alike as they use editing.
• Distribution : Through Panasonic, Burger King and Pepsi - Games, eBay, Burger King promoted the film by giving out toys, a new burger and a contest.
• Toys - Merchandise for the film earned Hasbro (toy and board game company) £££.

Genre:

• The film is an action film.
• The use of Action codes such as the use of guns and the army imply that they will be used later on in the film and that they play a big part in the film.
• Also, the glasses and the objects the main character is selling on eBay.

Audience:

• The film is Certificated at the age of 12. This means that children aged 12 can watch the film as there is suitable scenes.

Representation on Women in 2000 x

Has the representation of women during the years changed?

Representation of women through the years i feel has changed in a way and hasnt as most adverts that feature women are either advertising household cleaning products or make-up. There are two ways in which advertising takes place through print and advertising on the TV.


TV Adverts

TV adverts nowadays that feature women are seen as objects to men, for example this can be implied from the 'Gillette' Advert, of how the lady comes and touches his face after he shaves, implying that if you use this Shaver you can get any girl. 'You will love the difference and so will we'.

Woman also advertise products within the home.

Still the homely image lives on, an example would be the 'Toilet Duck advert'. Another reason could be that the men are dominant within the household and the women work for them at home and typically are housewives. The 'Toilet Duck' advert also implies that women need men. The fact that the duck wears a top hat and tails and the lady blowing him a kiss shows that the duck is male. Therefore, the advert implies that women can do the job without men.

.. Progress Take #1 ..

Hey Guys&&Giirls =),

This is the first day when we went to start filming in Westfeild's Shopping Center. We got up at 8 on a Saturday and everyone came round to my house, to get ready and start the day with our first couple of shots of the storyboard. Although half the time we didnt follow it hehee.

Everyone came round and Gurpreet helped us get ready. We dressed up so that the custome we wore represented our personalities. We were changed by 9 - 10 ish and left the house. We drove and got dropped of to Westfeild Shopping Center. *BUT* when we got there we wernt allowed to film as we didnt have permission to film the shopping center as it is private property. So, then we had to go back out and decided to film in Hammersmith.

Hammersmith.

When we got to Hammersmith we started to film outside on the roads of us walkign across the cross ways as we needed some shots of us walking. This was hard as people mainly men LOOL kept comng in our way and doing silly faces and being dum on camera. We then filmed at the Cafes that they had there just for some extra shots if we need them in our production.
We then thought about going into the Hammersmith Shopping center and filming so we went in and asked people if we could filim in their shops but, it was a NO! .. Without caring we started to film in the shopping center and got caught, but lukily not by the actual security guards... we got caught by a man who said he worked for Sky and had a channel in which he worked for. But he seemed like a perv = LOL .. then the BIG Scary actual security man came up to us, well two of them. Lukily the 'Sky' man told them that he had just spoken to us and got away with it =D.

After trying to film in Westfeild and Filiming outside Hammersmith and walking round, (our feet were killing us (always take a spare pair of flat shoes!! LOOL Hehee =)) .. neways, we decided to go home at 4 30 ish and bussed it home back to my house to get changed out of our clothes and slip into something more comfortable.
Me, Sabrina && Meera (who isnt even in our group lol), decided toget our London Eye shots that we needed, of the scenary and BIG BEN =). The view was amazing and beautiful, seeing London all lit up .! =D This was at about 6o'clock ..
We the ran in excitement across the estminister Bridge =) to the London eye .. Felt like Little Kids =D .. !!

We got our tickets and wen tot he linein which we were in to go onto the London Eye Capsule. We shared a Capsule with an elderly couple who were sooo nicee && soo cuteee =) hehee. Anyways, we took our shots of the view from the top and at different angles as we needed them for the production. We also took extra shots just incase we needed them. However now were editing we didnt even use half of them LOOOOOL =\ .. buuh its better to do extra shots as .. you may need them during the rest of your editing process =).

To Be Continueedddddddd ... =) x

Audience x

Audience Notes.

• The audience is seen as being very easily manipulated who are persuaded into the product or buying a product.
• Also the media text can lead the audience to behave in different ways.

Historical Background:

150 years ago, photography, film, television, radio and computers were seen as fantasies. Also people before used to make their own entertainment as they did not get television or computers around that time therefore improvised in shows and creating their own media.
The majority of our time is spent on media such as watching the TV and getting really interested into the story line which makes us block out everything that us going on around us same with a mobile phone, this seems to split people up as we spend the majority of our time by ourselves or in small groups and the media splits us up in our groups and drags the audience in, such as video games and portable television screens. However you can argue against this as media does also bring us together. Such as watching a soap which maybe the rest of Britain have watched, the same series therefore brings us together as people get together and talk about what had happened as they have experienced the same media. So basically wherever you go the audience for a media text are all receiving exactly the same thing.

In the early history of the media, within less than 100 years photography, film, radio and television were all invented. Now film and television is availiable to almost everyone.

Audiences are classes in different groups to split them up, showing what they are classed as detreming what they do as a living and how old they are.

A:
Upper middle class
Top management, bankers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals

B:
Middle class
Middle management, teachers, many 'creatives' eg graphic designers,

C1:

Lower middle class
Office supervisors, junior managers, nurses, specialist clerical staff,

C2:

Skilled working class
Skilled workers, tradespersons (white collar),

D:

Working class
Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers (blue collar)

E:

People at lowest level of income
Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers

Analysis of Ugly Betty Opening Sequence x

The opening sequence of Ugly Betty when it first started. The scenes shows Betty's enterence to the drama series as she sits and waits to be called as she applys for the job to work for the successful magazine company 'MODE' owned by the Meade family. When the man calls her the way she walks up the stairs and when she falls shows that she is a clumsy character.

The costume she wears tells the audience she has a lack of style as she sits next to a well dressed stylish lady and tries to compare where she got her poncho from. However does not succeed as the stylish lady wears up market branded clothing such as D&G. This tells us that Betty is a normal ordinary lady who does not know much about fashion however wants to work for a well known clothing magazine company. It also tells the audience that she has no colour cordination as the colours she is wearing do not go. Also when she smiles in the beggining you see her braces which have blue on them which tells you about her character that she is like a child.

The lighting through out the whole of the opening sequence is bright lighting and looks un-natural. The use of the bight light tells us that it is a bubbly uplifting series and the audience feel the same and want to watch and get sucked into the series.

The camera angles in the opening sequence of Ugly Betty is that it starts of at a slightly low angle to show the person behind and to get the two characters int he shot. Also the use of the low angle is that it is at a eye to eye level so it could seem as if someone is sitting opposite them watching them.

Mis-en-scene and everything in the shot is there for a purpose such as the poncho she wears to work. It is worn purposly for people in the workbase to take the mick out of her and her clothing as that is what she wears nomally and is comfortable in it. Also int eh scene wear she has to dress and be in the photo shoot everything there int eh back is put there to be in the shot like the ladies and the background for the photoshoot.

The props such as the 'MODE' magazine is used as an action code. It is on the table and she flicks through it saying that all she ever wanted was to work for the magazine company and if she worked for the magazine it could take her places and she could work for anything in the company. This then progresses as they show us a series of action codes such as her working in the company for Daniel Meade.

The opening sequence of Ugly Betty that i am analysing has many settings in it. One setting is of her home. They use this setting to show that Betty does not have a social life and is a homey person who loves her family. Also it shows her background of her being spanish as at home her sister and father speak spanish and also through what we see in the scene the mis-en-scene. Another setting is at work they show the setting of her being at work because then the audience can see the different sides she has to juggle of being at work and at home, it also shows how she copes when at work being a new, clumsy, lack of style and clothing knowledge assisstant. They also set it outside (the real world) of the home and workplace as they want to show how it really is out there its not just a fantasy and what life like for Betty is going to end up like which is why they set it making the audience think ahead and think things however change around what the audience maybe thinking will happen to Betty.