daniel bretherton CHCHS A Level Media Studies 17-19: November 2017

Thursday, 30 November 2017

film industry

Films are produced by film producers and they can fill a variety of roles depending on the producer. There are two ways that film producers are employed:

1- Producers can be employed by a production companies

2- Producers can be employed by independent companies

Film production companies

Warner Bros- Wonder Woman, Fantastic beasts and where to find them

BBC films- An adventure in space and time, Hawking

Aardman animations- Shaun the sheep movie, flushed away

Lionsgate- Jigsaw

Distribution of films

Film distribution describes everything that happens in between a production and exhibition. Film distribution also involves all the deals to get the film shown including the promotion

What film distribution involves

1- Acquiring legal rights to show a film

2- Distribution is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place

3- Marketing and releasing the film

4- Making and distribution of prints and flies to cinemas

5- Marketing and distribution of DVD and Blu-ray to stores

Vertical integration

The three stages are seen as part of the same larger process, under the control of one company e.g. warner Bros, Disney…

Horizontal integration

Distribution is a collaborative process, for example independent companies will depend on other companies to distribute their films

British vs Hollywood film industry

The average critic’s score for Hollywood films is 5 out of 10

The average critic’s score for low budget British films is 6.5 out of 10.

Across all films, British films get higher audience ratings than American ones

Broadly, audiences and critics agree on the ‘quality’ of a film

British films that critics loved but audiences hated include The Deep Blue Sea (2011), Coriolanus (2011) and The Arbor (2010)

British films that audiences loved but critics hated include Tideland (2005), Revolver (2005) and The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

Common themes in British films

Drugs/alcohol

Less known actors

Gangs/violence

Day-to-day life

Different cultures

Urban areas or fantastical locations

Poverty/financial hardship

I, Daniel Blake- contextualisation

The film depicts the hardships a joiner and a Single mother must endure when facing the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of the benefits System and its draconian sanctions regime

Daniel Blake is a 59-year-old widowed carpenter who must rely on welfare after a recent heart attack leaves him unable to work. Despite his doctor's diagnosis, British authorities deny Blake's benefits and tell him to return to his job. As Daniel navigates his way through an agonizing appeal process, he begins to develop a strong bond with a destitute, single mother who's struggling to take care of her two children.

Straight Outta Compton- contextualisation

In 1988, a ground-breaking new group revolutionizes music and pop culture, changing and influencing hip-hop forever. N.W.A's first studio album, "Straight Outta Compton," stirs controversy with its brutally honest depiction of life in Southern Los Angeles.

Marketing campaign for I Daniel Blake

Back of the DVD

Blu-Ray release for I Daniel Blake

Book release for I Daniel Blake

Poster for I Daniel Blake

Poster for I Daniel Blake

Trailer for I Daniel Blake

Marketing campaign for Straight Outta Compton

Blu-Ray release for Straight Outta Compton

DVD release

Posters for Straight Outta Compton

Cinema poster for Straight Outta Compton

Merchandise for Straight Outta Compton

Trailer for Straight Outta Compton

Contextual details for Straight Outta Compton

During the production of the film, Tomica Woods-Wright, Ice Cube and Dr Dre were set to produce the film. This is significant as they could tell the truth about what it was like at that time through the film as they were the ones who lives were affected by the events that took place in the film. Also in the person who portrayed Ice Cube in the film was the son of Ice Cube. This is significant also as it would be an ideal portray of Ice Cube. On August 12, 2014, TMZ reported that just seven days into filming in Compton, a drive-by shooting took place directly in front of the cast and crew members while they were on the set. A group of men standing outside the Compton Courthouse flashed gang signs at a passing car and passengers in the car opened fire on the group. No one affiliated with the film was injured or hurt, but one civilian near the set was shot.

Contextual details for I Daniel Blake

There has been a wide variety of both praise and criticism of the film from politicians. Former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith referred to the film as unfair, aiming particular criticism at its portrayal of Jobcentre staff, saying: "This idea that everybody is out to crunch you, I think it has really hurt Jobcentre staff who don’t see themselves as that. Producer Rebecca O'Brien responded by stating that Duncan Smith "is living in cloud cuckoo land.”

Similarly, on an episode of BBC's topical debate programme Question Time broadcast on 27 October 2016, which featured Ken Loach as a panellist, Business Secretary Greg Clark described the film as "a fictional film”, saying "It’s a difficult job administering a benefits system...Department of Work and Pensions staff have to make incredibly difficult decisions and I think they should have our support in making those decisions."[16] Loach responded to this by criticizing the pressure that DWP staff are placed under.

Conversely, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appeared at the film's London premiere with the director, then subsequently praised the film on his Facebook page. In a session of Prime Minister's Questions on 2 November 2016, he advised Prime Minister Theresa May to watch the film, as he criticised the fairness of the welfare system.

Monday, 27 November 2017

theorists

Media work

Roland Barthes- Semiotics

Roland Barthes’s theory of semiotics contains these main points:

The idea that texts communicate their meanings through a process of signification. This means that the meaning of the piece media through the size, style and colour of the text can be picked up easily by the audience.

The idea that signs can function at the level of denotation, which involves the literal or common-sense meaning of the sign, and at the level of connotation, which involves the meanings associated with or suggested by the sign. This means that when the audience sees the sign, they can pick out the clear message that the sign is giving them, but they could also pick out other messages that the sign could be trying to send out to the audience but in a very subtle way.

The idea that constructed meanings can come to seem self-evident, achieving the status of myth through a process of naturalisation.

This theory links into the album cover by Adele and Kendrick Lamar. If we look at the album cover of Adele’s 25 we can clearly see by the number 25 being in red that this album is going to be about love as the colour red has the connotation of love. On the other hand, the album could be about finding love but then having your heart broken by them and how to cope with this heart break. It could also symbolise that the album could be about losing a loved one and having to say goodbye to them. If we look at the Kendrick Lamar album cover Good Kid in a Mad City, all over the title of the album are marks. The denotation of this is that he has had a bad life which has left him with marks mentally and physically but he pulled through them all. The marks all over the title of the album cover could connote that his journey to fame was tough and the message that could be given out to the audience is the journey to fame isn’t as easy as it’s made to look.

Narratology- Tzvetan Todorov

The idea that all narratives share a basic structure that involves a movement from one state of equilibrium to another

The idea that these two states of equilibrium are separated by a period of imbalance or disequilibrium.

The idea that the way in which narratives are resolved can have particular ideological significance

This theory of narratology links to the water aid audio visual advert. Firstly the equilibrium of the advert is the children walking miles to go and collect dirty water and then we see them drinking the dirty water and the effects it has on the health. Then we see the disequilibrium which is the charity installing wells for the community and giving them an education also. The way that this narratology is resolved is by seeing the effect that installing these wells has on the people living in the community and we can see them smiling and drinking the clean water and basically seeing lives being saved.

Genre Theory- Steve Neale

The idea that genres may be dominated by repetition, but are also marked by difference, variation and change

The idea than genres change, develop and vary, as they borrow from and overlap with one another.

The idea that the way genres exist within specific economic, institutional and industrial contexts

This theory links to the horror time line because in the 1980s Ghost Busters was released, which saw the genres of horror and comedy overlap with each other to try and develop the horror franchise for the younger generation. Another reason that this links to the horror time line and the Ghost Busters poster is because there is a variation as the movie is a variation from other horror movies as they are usually dark and scary and on the edge of your seat, whereas with Ghost Busters it’s a lighter way to show horror and a funny and creative way to also portray the genre of horror.

Structuralism- Claude Levi-Strauss

The idea that texts can be best understood through an examination of their underlying structure

The idea that meaning is dependent upon (and produced through) pairs of opposites

The idea that the way these binary opposites are resolved can have particular ideological significance.

This theory links to the Kiss of the Vampire poster as there are binary opposites included on the poster. For example we have the binary opposite of good vs evil, young vs old, male vs female. Another way that this poster links to this theory is because the way that the binary opposites are resolved has a particular ideological significance e.g. good conquers evil.

Postmodernism- Jean Baudrillard

The idea that in postmodernism culture the boundaries between the real world and the world of media have collapsed and that it is no longer possible to distinguish between reality and simulation.

The idea that in a postmodern age of simulacra we are immersed in a world of images which no longer refer to anything real

The idea that media images have come to seem more real than the reality they supposedly represent (hyperreality)

This theory links to the Tide poster as the image of the woman on the poster became more real for the audience as the women wanted to be the woman on the front of the poster and the men wanted the wives to be like the woman on the front of the poster. Another reason that the Tide poster links to this theory is because the colour of the background is white which represents purity and a brighter future as the poster is from post WWII so the audience believe to be a brighter future for them all.