Production
What are the pre-production issues for the production company when making films?
Whose idea was the film? Did the idea start with the writer, or were writers brought in to develop a preconceived idea?
What are the issues with the genre of the film?
Where did the idea come from? Was it an original idea, or perhaps a book first, or TV series, or comic strip, or from some other source?
Who wrote the original script? Did other people become involved in the writing as the project progressed?
How easy was it to arrange the financial backing to make the film? Who were the financial backers? Why?
Casting – who were cast in the main roles and why? What other films featured the stars? What were the associations they brought with them?
Who was the producer? How did he or she become involved?
Who was the director? How did he or she become involved?
Who composed the film music and why was he or she chosen? Consider the sales of the CDs on Amazon, etc. Seek out reviews.

§What were the issues for the production company during the production phase?
Was it an easy ‘shoot’? If there were difficulties what were they? Were there tensions between any of the creative personnel, often known as ‘the talent’?
Was any part of the film shot on location? If so, where? Why were some locations chosen over others? Were costs a factor?
Where there any difficulties with casting or with acquiring the stars/actors the producer wanted?
How significant was casting to reach specific audiences?
What did the studio film cost to make? How much did the stars get? Where did the budget go? Was the film shot within budget? Was it ever in any danger of going over budget?
Were there any changes to the script during production? How many changes or re-writes? Did the same scriptwriter(s) stay ‘on board’ all the time, or were some replaced?
List some of the key people who made contributions to the production and highlight some of their individual contributions.

In what way do the institutions involved in your films try to connect with and empower their audience?

My films all have different techniques in which they use to connect and empower their audience with. I have chosen the films of Knight and Day, Skyfall and Source Code and looked into what the institutions have done to make the audience more involved.

In terms of E-Media, all of my films obviously benefit from social networking sites such as twitter and facebook. Skyfall specifically uses twitter to gain a larger fanbase and encourages audiences interactions by using quizzes and competitions. This in turn makes the audience more active. Source Codes presence on facebook (in which has over 500,000 'likes' currently includes exclusive photos of scenes, information about the actors etc. Institutions benefit from User Generated Content highly online. Knight and Day does not have an official Twitter page, but as it's a fairly low budgeted movie it comes under the Fox official twitter. There are seperate fan-made pages that have 1.5K + followers that offer additional audiences to comment and review the film. Although Source Code does not have an official website, it does in fact have many fan sites linked to it. 'Source Code fansite' being the main one, featuring more behind-the-scenes information avaliable to the audience (According to uses and gratifications for surveillance reasons). There are specific fansites for the actors in the film, Jake Gyllenhaal has a large fanbase and so all of the websites created for him feature Source Code and promote it.

In terms of print, Fox distributed only one Knight and Day official poster that featured the silhouettes of Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz both carrying weapons. This was to immediately connect with the audience; as they can identify the celebrities in the film and also the genre of action. Skyfall used the typical silhouette also of the 'James Bond' pose to catch the audiences eye and allow them to know straight away what film it is referencing.Source Code did a similar thing with the posters that they distributed. The poster featured Jake Gyllenhaal smashing through glass with a gun indicating action, danger and mystery. This would intrigue an audience and encourage them to investigate more into the film. All of the posters feature weblinks at the bottom, which helps the audience gain access to the information on the e-media platform. They all link to the institutions websites rather than any official website for the films, this helps to promote the company as much as possible and make the audience more active within the whole film franchise.

In conclusion, all three films have in some way, connected with the audience through the different platforms and allowed their films to be accessed in many more ways than just on-screen. There is a higher demand for the background of the films and for exclusive gossip and information, and the Institution must adapt to meet these needs.

Case Study MEST 1

Case Study MEST 1

Year 12 Work Wednesday and Thursday - planning a case study answer and presenting it.  A walking talking exam answer.

To do:

• Brainstorm initital thoughts on the question
• Decide your key idea in your essay.  For example:  I am going to say that the advertising industry has a huge amount of power over the media products, and that the synergy between them is completely necessary in order to drive sales and audience figures. 
• Find examples from all of your films to illustrate the question (for each platform)
• Make sure you've used Media terminology in every sentence
• Prepare a 3 minute presentation of the question and your case study to the rest of the class

More on reception theory.

At the same time that audience-centered theory was attracting the attention of U.S. empirical social researcher, British cultural studies researchers were developing a different but compatible perspective on audience activity.

 

Birmingham University Centre for Contemporary cultural studies headed by Stuart Hall is most prominent in this regard. Hall argued that the researchers should direct their attention toward:

• Analysis of that social and political context in which content is produced (encoding)
• The consumption of media content

The essence of the reception approach is to locate the attribution and construction of meaning (derived from media) with the receiver. Media messages are always open and polysemic (having multiple meanings) and are interpreted according the context and culture of receivers.
Stuart Hall emphasized the stages of transformation through which any media message passes on the way from its origins to its reception and interpretation. It drew from the basic principles of structuralism and semiology which presumed that any meaningful message is constructed from sign which can have denotative and connotative meanings, depending on the choices made by an encoder. He accepted some of the elements of semiology on these two grounds:
First, communicators choose to encode messages. For ideological and institutional communicators choose to encode messages for ideological and institutional purposes and manipulate language and media for those ends (media messages are given a preferred reading, or what might now be called spin.
Secondly, receivers (decoders) are not obliged to accept messages as sent but can and do resist ideological influence by applying variant or oppositional readings, according to their own experience and outlook
In laying out his views about decoding, Hall proposed an approach to audience research that has come to be known as reception studies or reception analysis.
A central feature of this approach is its focus on how various types of audience members make sense of the specific forms of content.
Hall drew on Semiotic theory to argue that any media content can be regarded as a text that is made up of signs , these signs are structured; that is , they are related to one another in specific ways to make sense of a text- to read a text- you have to be able to interpret the signs and their structure. Example when you read a sentence you must not only decode the individual words but you also need to interpret the over-all structure of the sentence to make sense of the sentence as a whole.
Hall argued that most texts can be read in several ways but there is generally a preferred or dominant reading that the producers of a message intend when they create a message, as a critical theorist, Hall assumed that most popular media content will have a preferred reading that reinforces the status quo.
But in addition to this dominant reading, it is possible for audience members to make alternate interpretations.
They might disagree with or misinterpret some aspects of a message and come up with an alternative or negotiated meaning that differs from the preferred reading in important ways, and…
In some cases audiences might develop interpretations that are in direct opposition to a dominant reading. In that case, they are said to engage in oppositional decoding.
So media reception research emphasized the study of audiences as sets of people with unique, though often shared, experiences as in charge of their own lives.
The main features of the culturalist tradition of audience research can be summarized as follows:- The media text has to be read through the perceptions of its audience, which constructs meanings and pleasures from the media texts offered.

Research for reception theory

Reception theory provides a means of understanding media texts by understanding how these texts are read by audiences. Theorists who analyze media through reception studies are concerned with the experience of cinema and television viewing for spectators, and how meaning is created through that experience. An important concept of reception theory is that the media text—the individual movie or television program—has no inherent meaning in and of itself. Instead, meaning is created in the interaction between spectator and text; in other words, meaning is created as the viewer watches and processes the film. Reception theory argues that contextual factors, more than textual ones, influence the way the spectator views the film or television program. Contextual factors include elements of the viewer's identity as well as circumstances of exhibition, the spectator's preconceived notions concerning the film or television program's genre and production, and even broad social, historical, and political issues. In short, reception theory places the viewer in context, taking into account all of the various factors that might influence how she or he will read and create meaning from the text.

MERCH WEBSITE

TO DO/DONE LIST

MOVIES I'M ANALYZING: SOURCE CODE, KNIGHT AND DAY, SKYFALL (last two newly added)

1) Analyse trailers -> Source code trailer analysed, Knight and Day analysed (not uploaded)

2)Analysing websites -> Most of them don't have a website apart from skyfall. Need to analyse fan sites. (Have already done for source code)

3)Find out the impact that the films have on social networking sites-> (Done for source code, need to do other two)

4)Find out about the institutions behind the films (Read about Summit Entertainment, need to read about other institutions)

5)Find sites selling merch for the films (No site for Source Code/Knight and Day, but viewed the one for James Bond and need to analyse in further detail)

6)Find out about the marketing of the film (Looked at this for Source Code only)

7)Answer practice questions about each of the films, looking at past papers and answering questions based on my films (need to do)

8)Find out who produced the film and what else they've produced- Done for source code, need to do for others

9)Look at the theories that apply to each film, linking in media language - Need to do

10)Look at the mark scheme for exam questions -  Need to do

My Mad Fat Diary

My Mad Fat Diary is a British television series that first aired on E4 on the 14th of January 2013. The show was based on a book written by Rae Earl (also the name of the protagonist of the show). It is set in Lincolnshire in 1996, and it follows the story of an overweight 16 year old girl who has recently left a psychiatric hospital after spending four months in its grasps.
She begins to re-connect with her best friend and gets introduced to the whole friend group - and these characters stay consistent throughout the whole series.

TARGET AUDIENCE AND SCHEDULING

According to socio-economic grouping, the target audience for My Mad Fat Diary would be mainly C1, C2 and D. The audience that the show was looking to target is one of the older teenage generation. This is because many of the people shown in the program are relatable to the audience - the majority of teenagers have been put into distressing situations such as the ones that Rae finds herself getting involved in. 

The audience would watch this show according to the uses and gratifications for personal identification (the characters relating to themselves), Social interaction (to talk about the show with their friends) and also possibly for diversion (to escape from every day hassles, to focus on someone elses problems instead of their own).

The series was broadcast on Monday nights at 10pm. This is appropriate for the target audience because the scenes and themes contain content that would not be suitable for children or anyone under the age of 16. My Mad Fat Diary pulled in just under 500,000 viewers per week, or a consolidated weekly average of 1.2 millions, when repeats are included.

AUDIENCE APPEALS / RESPONSES 

The main appeal for this show for the audience was that it's very different to other comedy drama programs that we normally find on television. It brings up very sensitive themes and topics that only E4 have really looked into thoroughly before. In many ways My Mad Fat Diary relates to the very popular E4 program 'Skins', as it also focuses on mental illness, dysfunctional families and sexuality.

The audience response was very positive, and with people constantly updating social networking sites talking about the show and their opinion, it's not surprising that viewing figures increased as much as they did. E4 have recently confirmed a second series because of this success.

An audience response to watching the series is the fact that the original book that the show is based on is selling out on sites such as Amazon - showing that they obviously enjoyed the series and want to read more into it.

WEBSITE

The website is extremely interactive and styled in a way to suit the target audience.It is set up in a way that makes us think that it's Rae's desk. It uses references from the program such as paper weights and sketches of her friends on the wall which would lead the audience to believe this. In the centre of the screen you immediately see Rae's diary, which allows us to explore what she actually writes in her diary and to help us reveal her character a bit more than what you see on screen. There is a small hospital band on the left, which links to websites which help with depression and any of the issues brought up in the program (many people watch the program because they can personally identify with the problems that Rae has, and so this deals with the serious side of the show). It allows the audience to catch up on any episodes that they could of missed or simply just interact more with the show. The younger generation are seen as a more active audience who like to keep up with current things particularly on the internet, and so this is a perfect way of letting them become more involved.

 

Fan Sites

SOURCE CODE FAN SITE #1 http://www.enterthesourcecode.com/

AUDIENCE

• This fansite was created for the soul purpose of the audience finding out more information about the film. According to the uses and gratifications theory it would be used for surveillance purposes - the audience could easily use this to find out who the main characters were and who created the film, and also find out more about the plot. 
• The site was created to suit the films particular target audience - It looks professional yet easy to use, giving you direct and straight information and facts (such as the box office worth and awards that it's been nominated for)
• It attracts the attention of the audience by placing a large official Source Code poster at the top of the page; initially catching your eye. The font at the top is coloured very similar to the poster, along with the the background of the navigation bar to fit in with the theme of sci-fi and to ensure the audience that it is an official fansite.
• It also allows further interaction as there is a link to a 'Sci-fi film festival' event that is very appropriate for the target audience - If people are researching Source Code, we can come to the conclusion that they enjoy Sci-fi and would like to go to such an event.

How does the site represent the film?

The site offers facts and good amounts of detail about the plot of the film. It is obvious that the fan site was made for people whom have already seen Source Code, as it contains spoilers and details that are not given away in the action-packed trailer.

The websites design is quite simplistic which doesn't particularly reflect the film and its complexity as it's more for information than escapism purposes. It's simple in design, as every tab you click on the navigation bar takes you to a new page with near enough the same layout: The image of the poster is always there along with the photo of the cast and a snapshot of the film. This keeps the website looking professional but simplistic.

PROMOTION

The site promotes Source Code in many ways. The first way is by showing the official trailer, allowing potential new audiences to see it and therefore want to watch the film. The second way is that it allows you to share the website or save it (top right), So people can easily share the website with their friends and allow them to take an interest in the film too.

My Media Project

I chose brief three for my project; which was to create the image for a new musical act and music company. I decided that I was going to use artists Kate Nash and Eliza Doolittle to inspire my products. I did research into how each of them advertised and promoted themselves, looked at their posters and websites and decided on which I could then get my ideas from. I decided that my artists name would be Rosie Day, as I feel it suited the target audience well and would create an appropriate image.

Firstly, I decided to re-create Eliza Doolittle's website for my individual artist. The website is quite complicated in design; there are many moving images and things that are different to your bog-standard website. So far I've managed to create the rough design for it and taken my own photos, trying to get them as similar to the ones on the website as possible. I'm working on trying to add scroll bars to my news page and making it look more professional; also I am going to make my own background for the home page instead of using one from the internet.

I chose a Kate Nash tour poster and based mine entirely upon it. I noticed that the ribbons and images used in the background of the poster looked hand drawn, and so I decided that I needed a hand-drawn copy too to scan onto the computer. I'd already done one photo shoot which was more focused on photos for the website; so I did another with my friend whom I'd chosen to model, so that it'd be as similar as possible to the poster that I am copying for my artist. I am currently working on editing those photos and putting the poster together. I can then start work on my album art also inspired by one of Kate Nash's designs, which can be done yet again by hand and being scanned in. 

John Lewis Christmas Advert

1) How does the advert engage the audience?

Firstly, the advert engages the audience by using a non-diegetic song right the way through which isn't particularly a Christmas song - but still links nicely to the genre of love that is portrayed. The ending lyric of the song - "make love your goal" links the video nicely as it portrays the journey of a snowman eager to get a special present for his loved one. The use of a popular song could also potentially engage the audience more.
The advert doesn't follow the usual conventions of Christmas adverts that audiences have seen before - instantly making it stand out amongst the crowd and be recognised. The use of snowmen with human-like emotions as apposed to actual people works effectively as it would be seen as abnormal and so it makes the audience want to watch it.
The many different uses of camera shots and zooming also help to keep the audiences attention. For example, after the children run inside the house there is an over the shoulder shot of the snowman looking at the snowlady in front of him, and also they use a slow zoom-in (shortly followed by the same shot, but instead looking over the snowladies shoulder at the snowman, where we see his expression change) This would engage the audience as it shows the first kind of 'magic' happening, and it also portrays their newly-formed relationship.
It also plays with the audiences emotions; the snowman leaves the snowlady on her own and this makes the audience feel particularly sympathetic for her; especially as there is no insight at this point into where the snowman has gone or why.

2) What does this advert communicate about the brand John Lewis?

The advert vaguely suggests to us that John Lewis sells perfect presents to give to loved ones. This is only communicated right at the end when we see the used wrapping paper lying on the ground and the snowlady wearing a hat, gloves and scarf. However, it is not until the last few seconds that we are told that the advert is actually John Lewis. As the advert does not give the audience much detail at all about what John Lewis actually sells, it communicates that the store is already well-known enough to provide little detail; they do not need to include specifics or any particular information as the audience is most likely to already know what the store is all about.
It also communicates to us that John Lewis is suitable for families at Christmas time. At the start we see a little girl and her brother creating the snowmen and her mother calling them inside; creating a representation of a typical family.

3) How is the genre of love represented?

The adverts strongly shows us the idea of love at first sight (When the snowmen first see each other the audience can immediately make the assumption that they are in love - this is due to the romantic genre of music and the mise-en-scene of the scene).
It's also represented as being something that you have to fight for. We see the snowman going on a difficult journey through harsh snowstorms, and according to Todorov, problems that would disrupt the equilibrium (such as a lake being in the way of his path.).


4) What techniques are used in the advert?

The advert uses a range of camera shots and angles. There are lots of long shots used, and this is to help the audience identify the location of the snowman. Panning is also used effectively, for example when the snowman is going through a dense forest the camera pans; and this is used to suggest movement and the time that this journey is taking to complete.
It as well as the advert using non-diegetic sound right the way through, we also get small pieces of diegetic sound (such as when the robin is singing and when we hear the wind whistling), which is used to make the advert seem more realistic and natural.
The advert has smooth and quick editing techniques so the transition from scene to scene looks good; or it uses subtle black-outs to round off the scene.