Extension Task - Mr Bush (:

The history of Hollywood’s technological development is one of opportunism driven by economic motives. Many critical accounts, however, suggest that the inventions of cinemas, and its following technological development, responded to a pre-existing aesthetic. 

In the late 1920s, the sound in cinema of picture palaces incorporated all the major features of cinema technology, it was essentially creating 19^th century inventions; mechanical sound recording, an efficient film transport mechanism, the electric light. Although, a few cinemas pay much attention to the development of sound technology, the cinematic equipment is a machine of the audible as well as the visible, and more fundamental changes have taken place in the technology of electrical sound recording and transmission than in the optics and chemistry of image processing.

There are two main sounds, Parallel and contrapuntal sounds. Parallel sounds are when the music is expected with a scene, for example soft romantic music playing over a love story. Whereas, contrapuntal sounds are when the music is not expected with a scene, for example, classical music playing over a fight scene.

For contrapuntal sounds, it allows the audience to see a different light what is actually going on in the scene, following on with my example for contrapuntal, in a fight with classical music playing over it would allow the audience to relate to the emotions in the scene instead of getting the adrenaline of the up-tempo music with a fight scene, which is parallel sounds.

On extra paper, I have done a collage of contrapuntal and parallel pictures with certain songs. For parallel sound, I used images for death and war; the music accompanied was ‘Phil Collins-Against All Odds’, this is parallel sounds because the music relates to the type of pictures presented.

On the other hand, for contrapuntal sounds I used romantic pictures with a song called ‘Requiem For a Dream by Clint Mansell’, this shows an intense orchestra instrumental with romantic pictures to show the contrast and how certain photos express different emotions.

Film Ms wigley (:

Film process

• Someone has an idea for a movie.
• They create an outline and use it to promote interest in the idea.
• A studio or independent investor decides to purchase rights to the film.
• People are brought together to make the film (screenwriter, producer, director, cast, crew).
• The film is completed and sent to the studio.
• The studio makes a licensing agreement with a distribution company.
• The distribution company determines how many copies (prints) of the film to make.
• The distribution company shows the movie (screening) to prospective buyers representing the theaters.
• The buyers negotiate with the distribution company on which movies they wish to lease and the terms of the lease agreement.
• The prints are sent to the theaters a few days before the opening day.
• The theater shows the movie for a specified number of weeks (engagement).
• You buy a ticket and watch the movie.
• At the end of the engagement, the theater sends the print back to the distribution company and makes payment on the lease agreement.

A film distributor is an independent company, a subsidiary company or occasionally an individual, which acts as the final agent between a film production company or some intermediary agent, and a film exhibitor, to the end of securing placement of the producer's film.

During this period,1920s to 1950s, Hollywood film production was dominated by the studio system, which saw an ownership develop in which a handful of major studios competed with one another by signing and developing stars and using films as 'vehicles' in which to serve these stars up to the public. While some critics have argued that this resulted in highly processed, highly manufactured and highly repetitive films, it is an undeniable fact that some of the greatest Hollywood films of all time were created during this period. 'Gone with the Wind', 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Casablanca' are just three of the classics released through the studio system, and it is also clear that the decline of the studio system in the 1950's and 1960's coincided with the end of Hollywood's dominance of the American film industry.

Horizontal integration means the merger of firms at the same stage of production in the same or different industries. For example, AOL and Time Warner.

Vertical integration means the merger of firms at different stages of production and distribution in the same industry. For example, Sony and Ericsson

Film Noir (: Mr Bush

Film noir was created by French film critics, Nino Frank in 1946, who noticed the trend of how 'dark', downbeat and black the looks and themes were of many American crimes and detective films released in France to theatres following the war.

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 Film noir films, mostly shot in gloomy grey, blacks and whites, thematically showed the dark and cruel side of human nature with doomed love, and they emphasised the brutal, unhealthy, seamy, shadowy, dark and sadistic sides of the human experience. An oppressive atmosphere of menace, pessimism, anxiety, suspicion that anything can go wrong, dirty realism, futility, defeat and entrapment were stylised characteristics of film noir. 

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Film noirs films were marked visually by expressionistic lighting, deep-focus or depth of camera work, disorienting visual schemes, gloomy shadows, skewed camera angles, circling cigarette smoke and unbalanced or moody compositions, called Chiaroscuro. Usually settings often use low-key lighting, dark, claustrophobic appearance. 

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In different scenes, film noir can use either: High-key lighting or Low-Key lighting. High-Key lighting is when there a more filer lights and the shadows are more realistic, where Low-Key lighting is when it shows strong contrasts of light and creates dramatic shadows. However, the main lighting used is mainly Low-Key lighting to create the gloomy suspicion in the scene.

2)  In this scene, film noir, consists of filler light being used as you can see the shadow of the man on the women and there is a shadow on the right side of his face, Low-Key lighting as it has created dark, dramatic shadows, which could connote he is being dominated by the women’s smoke as she blows into his face. By a women smoking connote femmes’ fatales, which is when the character is mysterious and unloving and the man is allowing the women to blow in his face as his facial expression is straight. 

The clothing of both characters is: the man is wearing a suit to how high classed he is or it could be his usual look because in the 1950s people dressed in suits for their everyday life. The women however is wearing a very revealing dress to connote a side of her personality which is quite dominating and mysterious but with long formal gloves, which questions the reader on what type of person she is, because the long formal gloves connotes an elegant side to her. Her facial expressions are not clear because of the shadow because the light is hitting her face directly, creating a large dark shadow on her lower face. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLXW9qpLVic&feature=related

 

The man who wasn't there (2OO1), use film noir, as you can see when he wakes up there is Low-Key lighting with top lighting which allows the audience to see the facial expression of the protagonist. From then you can see he is in peace but as the three other men wake him up there is back lighting and also key light because you can see the facial expressions of the pope but you can vividly see the guard’s facial expressions due to the back lighting. Throughout the scene, there is a large amount of usage of top lighting which connotes they want the audience to see the protagonists facial expressions and the surrounding but when there are certain parts where the light is not there, it could connote his mixture of feelings but he keeps a constant facial expression throughout which is questionable for the audience, whether or not the lighting is reflecting his feelings or the people around him. 

His clothing is what they wear in prison, which connotes the setting and the type of person he is, but the lighting and his voice over says differently. Therefore, all these techniques used allow every individual to have their own opinion on the character.

Twentieth Century Fox- Ms Wigley

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia are a series of seven books by C.S. Lewis, telling the history from its creation to its ending of a land where animals talk. Television Serial adaptations of the first four books have all been televised by the BBC and released on DVD. They have joined with the BBC to advertise the movie by showing it and it was posted on many billboards around the country which promoted the movie a lot.

The premiere also advertised the movie because whilst the premiere was going on it was advertised on the radio and the presenters would talk about the movie, which interests the listen in directly persuading them to watch the movie; they also create an image of how many people have attended making the listeners believe the movie is really good, such as “Capital Fm”. This is not only advertising the premiere it is also adverting the radio station to show the efficiency.

The Chronicles of Narnia made several of games, depending on the story; they were produced on PS3, PS2 Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. 

Finally, The Chronicles of Narnia were also advertised in McDonald.They were toys in the happy meal and in the restaurant, there was a small section where they had, in a transparent box, all the characters in Narnia and the setting was just like the movie which promotes the movie and catches the audiences eye and allows them to have a little in site on what the movie is about.

Mise-En-Scene (: Mr Bush

The image above shows a women and a man at a restuarant. The man is wearing a blue and yellow/cream suit and the women is wearing a black dress. In the scene the men looks as if he is trying to sell something to the women or trying to make some sort of deal and in his left hand it looks like he is holding money. His facial expression could connote that he is desparate, with the eager look upon his face.

Whereas, the women in the black dress and red lipstick is looking away from the man. She looks as if she wants to ignore the man nd get on with her evening, the look upon her face could connote that she has done something that she cannot get out of and her only result was to ask this man. She looks rude and agnorant because of her body language, with the elbows on the table and raised eyebrows to connote no manners and she believes the ‘deal’ that he is purposing to her is not what she wanted to happen.

The colour of the background is red, with a red lamp on the table, which could connote anger and blood, she could of murdered someone becuase she is wearing red as well so it relates back to her. The red could also connote love, and how they are just a married couple goin through a tough time. They are also surrounded by green leaves. This could connote how different they are to the rest of the people in that restaurant. The colour green can represent nature and also symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. It could be the growth of a new relationship or start and fresh beginning; because it is a dark green colour it connotes ambition, greed, and jealousy. Green and red do not complement each other, which could connote this two people, are two completely different people but are forced to get along because of ones doing.  

In “The Devil Wears Prada”, which is a comedy drama, in the scene presented you see the protagonist first she seems to be well educated by the way she walks, sophisticated and eager to succeed but does not seem to connect with the environment she is in. she wears casual wear, jeans, scarf and jacket, nothing expensive. She looks very fragile because when she sees the buildings she looks intimidated by the size which connoted that she is frightened easily but well powered people and the environment. She seems to stand out from the crowd because she is not use to the way they are. She is judged by what she wears but it does not stop her from her interview and agrees with what is provided.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPvZlsj4nfQ

Inception is a movie that is combined with genres such as, action, crime, mystery and Sci-Fi. In this scene, he is describing what happens in this whole movie, which is also educating us about the story. The characters are dressed casually but the main characters wear simple but different clothing by wearing old school business suits. The girl she is wearing a usual outfit worn by a usual school girl. The environment has a close connection with the characters because they know what could happen and they do not look alien to the rest of the surrounding characters.

Saw 2 which consist of the genres: crime, horror, mystery and thriller. In the scene represented you can see a light ball and different types of lights around to connote what the kind of murder or torture will happen next. Then you are given a scene where a man with a neck lock around his head with only boxers on with blood dripping down his eye in a dark room with only a few lights that we saw previously. You are then represented with ‘jigsaw’ the protagonist in the movie. This connotes the horror and thriller in this scene and how it will be gruesome by knowing the key is in his eye and the only way to survive is to get the key out.

Two Film Posters (: Mr Bush

The genre of “Letters to Juliet” is romance and comedy. By the poster it portrays a picture of two loved ones on an envelope, which is held by the protagonist, Amanda Seyfried, in the movie called Sophie.  She is looking directly into the camera, which the angle is a medium close up; the envelope is covering her clothing and some of her face. This could connote that the envelope is the main object in the movie and inside that envelope it has all the secrets and information about the movie.

The envelope holds all the secrets and to find out you have to open the envelope. The picture also looks as if she is going to close the envelope to show that no one else knows but her or she could be opening it and is drawing the audience’s attention by looking directly at the audience. On the envelope, the tagline, it says “What if you has a second chance to find true love?” which could connote what the story line is about. it could mean that she is experiencing a loss of her true love and the people on the envelope is her model to show you can get together at the end or it could be a juxtaposition. 

The colours of the poster are earth colours such as beige and green. These colours can connote that movie is very peaceful, violence is not included, and the scenery that she and the picture on the envelope are surrounded by is trees to also connote peace. The colour green connotes nature. It symbolises growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility, for example the birth of a new beginning. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Light brown/beige implies realism, in context with the poster it shows that what might occur can happen and it is not a fantasy but can also be sad and wistful to show nothing last in a happy ending.

The target audience is mainly girls aged 16-24, who fantasies about meeting someone and falling in love, also being adventurous. This is shown by the name “Letters to Juliet” is shows that it will be a love movie and it seems that it will be a modern version of Romeo and Juliet but it is not and the character is not called Juliet. The movie is not a typical storyline.

The genre of “Frozen” is Action, Adventure and Thriller. The poster shows a girl/boy left on the chairlift whilst the other character is trying to get down from the chairlift. You could say that one of the protagonists has fallen but the chairlift is not titled or looks broken therefore you are left with the idea of guy trying to jump down. Further from the picture you can see another chairlift, which could connote  that they were the only ones left on the chairlift and it had got stuck or they would have been left on the chairlift without anyone knowing because if there was people stuck on a chairlift they would try to help not just leave them. You can see it is snowing which reflects back to the name “Frozen”. This connoted that they have been left p there and if they did not try to get down they would freeze to death. You can see the mountains in the background with no lights on connoting it has been abandoned for the night. 

The colours used are black, grey and white. These colours connote, white shows dirt and is therefore more difficult to keep clean than other colors, Black is the colour of the night, and of "evil" and shows intensity. They have direct white light from the moon hitting the protagonists and the chairlift to allow the picture to stand out from the rest. The Title of the movie is white on black which is the same colour as the moon and the light hitting the protagonists, connoting that they all have something in common during the movie.

 

The targeted audience for “Frozen” is male aged 16-24 because the context has some gruesome scenes and also it is an action and thriller movie. The tagline is “no one knows you’re up there’ to show that they combat unexpected obstacles, they start to question if their will to survive is strong enough to overcome the worst ways to die. The type of shot is a low angle shot, where the audience is looking up at the picture, to show how high up the ground the protagonists are. 

Out of the two movies the most effective poster is “Frozen” because it gives out many enigma codes and action codes, it also makes the audience question the poster which would increase the chances of them watching the movie. In addition the most successful poster was “Letters to Juliet” because it showed enough codes but did not give the story away. However, the drawbacks are: people stereotype the type of movie it will be but it is not what is expected.

Media Ownership Research - Ms Wigley

Media texts are profit motivated?

Media texts thrive for success, which include profit. Advertisements can be giving out false information but still being shown because that company wants as many people to buy their product, and because the competition is very high today, companies are going to an extent that they have to result in giving out false detail to get other their competitions consumers. This could lead to a majority of consumers of a specific product to target one brand because of the ‘perfect product’. Some companies contrast their products with every other and show a famous person choosing their product, implying that theirs is the best product; this literally is controlling people psychologically. Taken as a whole, media texts are profit motivated. 

Which media companies do you think could be accused of having too much power and control in our society?

They are many companies out there that can be accused of having too much power and control but the main organisation that is accused and control is the government. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) controls broadcasting frequencies, bandwidths, and content. The government have the power of what we see and by repeating the same things over and over on several channels with only a biased point people inevitably buy into it. therefore by having such power and control of our society, the government should be the main organisation to have too much power.