H/W: Representations of a film opening
What/who is being represented?
team of good guys, hero fighting bad guy
How is it being represented?
They are having a physical fist fight on the roof of a train
How is the representation made to seem 'true', 'commonsense' or 'natural'?
The acting is professional/experienced making their actions and emotions look real. The setting looks very realistic- it doesn't look like anything has been deliberately set up of the purpose of the fiction film.
Dyer theory- The audience feels sorry for the female field agent who shoots the 'hero' because she had not other options and it was unintentional.
Representations
Representation is the way people, events and ideas are presented to the audience.
Stereotypes- Media institutions use stereotypes because the audience understand them and they act as visual shortcuts (like a clue)
Archetypes- The 'ultimate' stereotype. For example, the blonde bimbo
Countertype- A representation that challenges traditional stereotypical associations of groups, people or places
The media takes something that is already there and represents it to us in a way that they choose. The representations are created by producers (the people who create the media).
Gatekeepers are the people who choose what they present to us. It is any person involved in a media production with the power to make a decision about something the audience are allowed to read, hear or see. Gatekeepers also include people such as a newspaper editor who has the final say on what goes into their newspaper, where it goes within the pages, next to what other piece, with which pictures, strap-lines and headlines etc.
The gatekeeper's job is to ensure their decisions and actions are 'transparent' or 'invisible' to the audience which is why media consumers are mostly unaware of there 'gate-keeping' decisions. However the news and perceptions on the world are often strongly influenced by the gatekeeper's decisions.
A mogul (e.g. Rupert Murdoch) is the person who would, for example, actually owns the newspaper.
When analysing representation, think about:
Who
What
Why
Where
The Male Gaze (Laura Mulvey)-
The concept of the gaze is about how an audience views the people presented visually (she created this concept in 1975). The male gaze involves:
The 'male gaze' brings women down to the status of objects. The female audience must experience the narrative through the eyes of a male.
Richard Dyer argues that how we are seen determines how we are treated and how we treat other people is based on how we seen them. This comes from our understanding of representation. He believes that stereotypes come down to power. Those who have power stereotype those who don't.
Myths- Roland Barthes theory looks quite closely at the idea of mythology, usually in regards to people and places. He suggested that the media often gives us mythic representations or a fairytale- like portrayal or a particular place/person.
Stereotypes- Media institutions use stereotypes because the audience understand them and they act as visual shortcuts (like a clue)
Archetypes- The 'ultimate' stereotype. For example, the blonde bimbo
Countertype- A representation that challenges traditional stereotypical associations of groups, people or places
The media takes something that is already there and represents it to us in a way that they choose. The representations are created by producers (the people who create the media).
Gatekeepers are the people who choose what they present to us. It is any person involved in a media production with the power to make a decision about something the audience are allowed to read, hear or see. Gatekeepers also include people such as a newspaper editor who has the final say on what goes into their newspaper, where it goes within the pages, next to what other piece, with which pictures, strap-lines and headlines etc.
The gatekeeper's job is to ensure their decisions and actions are 'transparent' or 'invisible' to the audience which is why media consumers are mostly unaware of there 'gate-keeping' decisions. However the news and perceptions on the world are often strongly influenced by the gatekeeper's decisions.
A mogul (e.g. Rupert Murdoch) is the person who would, for example, actually owns the newspaper.
When analysing representation, think about:
Who
What
Why
Where
The Male Gaze (Laura Mulvey)-The concept of the gaze is about how an audience views the people presented visually (she created this concept in 1975). The male gaze involves:
- How men look at women
- how women look at themselves
- How women look look at other women
The 'male gaze' brings women down to the status of objects. The female audience must experience the narrative through the eyes of a male.
Richard Dyer argues that how we are seen determines how we are treated and how we treat other people is based on how we seen them. This comes from our understanding of representation. He believes that stereotypes come down to power. Those who have power stereotype those who don't.Myths- Roland Barthes theory looks quite closely at the idea of mythology, usually in regards to people and places. He suggested that the media often gives us mythic representations or a fairytale- like portrayal or a particular place/person.
Prelim Task
The Lousy Teacher by Olivia, Jimmy, Issy and Tom.
This is the presentation for our prelim task where we had to create a short film containing these certain shots:- match on action
- 180 degree rule
- shot/reverse shot
- an establishing shot
- at least two close ups of the characters
- a tracking shot
- high angle shot
Presentation:
Institution logo
I sourced an imaged to use as the background of my logo. It is a picture of a pebble skinning in the sea. The ocean looks vast which can represent the vast success of my company. The pebble is travelling into the distance which can relate to the fact that my business keeps moving forward it its success, profit and popularity. This is highlighted in yellow curves making it look like the pebble is jumping, it also represents the journey that the pebble takes.
The name of my company is presented in red capitals to make it stand out but to improve my logo I would make the text bolder and larger to make it more visible.
I edited the image on Photoshop where I added colour, text and shading to improve the look of the image and to make it my own. I based my institution logo around a pebble because they are natural and shaped by the crashing of the waves which could represent my business being shaped by the large profits made from films.
Film Language
Camera
Frame- Angle-high angle (worms eye), level, low angle
Movement- tilt up
Mise en scene
costumelighting
actors
make up
props
setting
Sound
musiccontrapuntal/parallel
Diagetic/non diagetic
off screen
voiceover
emotion
dialogue
Editing
transitionorder of narrative
pace
sfx
Film Language applied to 3 opening scenes
Clueless
Mise en scene-
costume- The costumes in this scene represent that they are wealthy people because they are smartly dressed, clean and well-groomed.
lighting- The lighting in this scene is high-key because it is a relatively happy and high sprit film. It is a bright film because it is sunny and pleasant American weather.
actors-There are three actors shown in this film. There is the main character who is an American teenage girl who has a wealthy upbringing
makeup- pleasant, daily, teenage make up. Nothing excentric but enough to make look presentable and smart.
props- A healthy smoothie is shown which gives across that they lead good lifestyles.
setting- This scene is set in a wealthy part of America
Camera-
frame- medium shot, close up, long shot
angle-
movement- the camera follows her when she is driving in the car.
Editing-
transition-
order of narrative-
pace- This scece has quite a fast pace because it is happy and girly. This represents a bubbly teenage girl well.
sfx-
Sound-
Music- typical girly teenage music
Contrapuntal/parralel- The music is pparallel to the scene because it sounds like typical American teenager music.
diagetic/non diagetic- diagetic
off screen-
voiceover- there is a voice over in this scene which is a narration by the main character.
emotion- happy/ no cares/ oblivious/ nieve
Contrapuntal/parralel- The music is pparallel to the scene because it sounds like typical American teenager music.
diagetic/non diagetic- diagetic
off screen-
voiceover- there is a voice over in this scene which is a narration by the main character.
emotion- happy/ no cares/ oblivious/ nieve
Cape Fear
Mise en scene-
costume- At the beginning of the scene the main character is only wearing trousers to show off his back and arm muscles to the camera when he is doing push ups. This makes him look tough and like a frightening criminal for being in a cell. It also shows off the large tattoo he has on his back which is of a Christian cross and two weighing scales coming off it.When he is told he can leave the prison he puts on his prison shirt. When he puts this on he blends in with all of the other prisoners making them all look the same and like a unity. When the shot cuts to him outside the prison he has different clothes on making it appear like this is a new chapter of his life and making people wonder what he will do or where he will go next.
lighting-
Actors- The main character is a criminal, we know this because he is kept locked in a prison cell. Prison guards walk him out of his cell
Make-up- They use make up to make him look tough. He is not pristine clean because he is kept in a prison cell. However, we know he looks after himself and takes pride in his appearance because he cares for his hair and exercises.
Props- He is not a stereotypical criminal thug shown by the items in his room.because of Pictures and symbolic items of powerful leaders in the man characters cell which show delusions of power. .
Setting- This film scene is set in a prison. First in the cell then it cuts to outside of the prison.
Camera-
frame-
angle-
movement-The scenes starts off by tilting down and panning left/right to view pictures of powerful leaders.
Editing- There is only one cut in this scene where it cuts from inside the prison to outside. There is a graphic match
The sound and the flashing of the thunder is edited in after the filming.
transitions-
sfx- The clouds at the end of the scene are given the effect of a thunderstorm
pace- The shots are quite slow to add to the effect of
order of narrative-
Sound-
music-The sound is parallel to what is seen in the video because it is dramatic but could also be seen as a contrapuntal due to the music being slightly over exaggerated.
Up
Mise en scene-
clothing-The costumes in this scene are suitable for their ages.
actors- There are two main characters shown who are madly in love with each other.
make up-
props- Their childhood scrapbook is very symbolic of their love. They use a glass jar to hold all their spare pennies, to help save for Niagara Falls but they keep having to break into it whenever something goes wrong. They do match on action shots to show the couple putting money into the jar whenever they walk past it over a long period of time.
setting-This scene is set in a family home environment.
lighting- The colours and brightness represent the mood of parts of the scene. When there are happy parts in the scene, bright colours are used. whereas where there are sad parts in the scene the colours are quite dark, giving it a somber effect.
Camera- The camera
frame-
angle-
movement-
Editing-
transition-
order of narrative-
pace- The pace of the scene depends of the mood of the character. It quickens when they are happy and slows down when they are sad.
sfx-
Sound-
Practice editing task
This was my first attempt at film editing on Adobe Premiere. This task helped me to familiarise myself with the software and develop skills needed for future filming and editing tasks (for example, the Prelim task and the Final Task).
I used videos saved in the media drive to create this short clip. There were shots of buildings, dancing animals and James Bond. I also put audio clips with the videos.
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