Sunday, 6 December 2009

Analysis Of Status In Rome

Having watched a clip of Rome, I can see how status is represented. We see how the slaves are shown through them working. We also see how the higher status men in the army are portrayed by them working behind a desk, are not doing anything practical. The status of women is shown to be very low, through the only female character we see. Also, through the dialogue the soldiers use, when they talk about women, shows how low they think of women.

Camera is used in this clip to show the status of people. The clip opens with an establishing shot of the scene that pans, not only does it set the scene for the audience we see men, the soldiers seen as slaves. They are shown to be doing a service which is all they are useful for. There is also a high angle used which emphasises their low status. We also see a pan and what we presume to be a slave standing in a room doing work. We then see a mid-shot of the man being spoken to, but he never speaks back, showing that he is not to speak unless he is told to.

We see two guys having a discussion, in an office, where one is sitting behind the desk probably looking at some paperwork; this shows that he has a higher status than all the other characters. This scene opens with a two-shot, showing that they having a conversation. This is shown in a low angle, which connotes they are of a high standard. When both men are talking, we get a sense that the younger man has a higher status than the older man. Through the close-ups used of their faces, not only do we get to see their facial expressions, but through the facial expressions, status can be explained. For example, the close up of the older character is serious, however the other characters face shows that he is not bothered what he thinks, and that its up to him what he decides.

When the scene moves we see a long-shot we see a soldier, and as the shot comes closer to the character we can see that it is a female. The two characters are having sexual intercourse; however it seems to be just a “one-time” thing as it is outside, in public behind a tree. This shows that the women have low status and are not valued by any of the people. We see very little of the female character and she has no speech throughout. With the camera following the male character, adds to the sense that the female character is not important and is only there to pleasure the male character. Towards the end of the scene, the main male character addresses another character, the camera shows him in a high angle, connoting that he has a lower status to the main character, also he addresses him with “sir” adding to the sense he has a lower status. The main character addresses another character, maybe his son, by “boy”, the boy is shown in a high angle to him, stating that he also has a lower status.

To conclude status is shown through camera very well. It is easy for the audience to distinguish the different status' involved in the clip. The representation of the lower status is very stereotypical, for example the female character represents women in a stereotypical way in that time period.The representation of higher status is also stereotypical in that time period, showing that men, have a higher status. Also in the clip has a majority of male characters, this indicates the target audience.

Sunday, 29 November 2009

Analysis Of Gender In Skins

The clip I watched was (First 5 minutes) Skins Series 3 Episode 1

Having watched the clip I could see a clear difference in the way genders are portrayed. Gender is portrayed through the different characters shown, the young teenage boys, middle aged men, teenage girls, and the elderly are all depicted differently. The teenage boys are shown to be the typical teenage boy, and rebels. The middle aged man is shown to be a typical working man. The teenage girl is shown to be a normal teenage girl, although she doesn't seem bothered of what is going on around her. The elderly woman is shown to be a typical aged woman, and fragile.

From the beginning of the clip an assumption is made that the character shown in the close-up is a boy. This is because the trainers are shown and you can see the male skateboarding. In this scene there is a low angle and a long take to create anticipation within the audience because they want to see who the boy is. It then changes into a higher angle where the skills of the skater become apparent to the audience. Most of the shots are short and fast to give excitement to the clip. These cuts also help the story to move on, as we can see the skater moving towards a destination, this is known as an action code, as the audience are aware that the story is moving on. These few scenes are all matched cut, as the images match and have an invisible edit. When the character stops, he takes out his phone and reads a text message. A close-up of the text message is shown, so the audience know who said it, and what it says. The text message says "Sparking ur last spliff". This shows that the person who sent the text message is a teenager. The language used in the text which suggests it's from a teenager is "ur" and "spliff". "Ur" is shorthand, which mainly teenagers use, and "spliff" is also a word that teenagers use. We then see the characters face through a mid close-up.

In the next scene, as three teenagers are sitting down and talking they witness a car accident. The driver, a middle-aged man comes out of his car angry; we see his emotion through the close up of his face. Having a close up of the characters face, after the incident, is called a reaction shot. Also having a scene with the friends having a conversation and a scene with a car accident is called a cross-cut, as we see two narratives here. Having more than one narrative in a TV drama is usual as it creates entertainment, and makes it more interesting for the audience. The scene then goes to a long-shot which shows the middle aged man wearing a suit, which represents his age and also suggests that he works.

After the middle aged man gets out of his car he approaches an elderly woman. We see that she is frightened by that man that is approaching her, by the expression on her face. The middle aged man assumes she saw what happened which suggests that elderly people are nosey and always know what is happening. Also to represent that she is an elderly women, he asks for her mobile number, but she says that she has not got one. This portrays her age, as it is stereotyped that old people are not good with new technology.

To conclude, the clip of skins shows gender through editing. Many different types of editing were used, mainly matched cut, emotion, and story. The matched cut was used for invisible edit, which showed verisimilitude. Emotion was shown through different shot types, but mainly through close-ups. There were quite a few scenes where a mixture of long and short takes were used. Having long takes is good to create tension within the story, and having short takes creates excitement as the pace is fast. The editing used in the clip at the beginning when the character is skating and only the feet are shown, shows the age as well as the gender being a teenage boy, this scene has a polysemic effect as the audience may feel that not only teenage boys skate and wear trainers that are shown in the clip, it may have been a female character. There are two possible interpretations of this particular scene.

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Freak Analysis - Gender

In the clip the representation of gender is shown through the characteristics of the characters. The male characters are stereotyped to only be interested in girls party's and video games whereas the girls are shown to be not as important.

The character of "freak" (Lucy) is quite lonely and is not included with the rest of the characters. The conversation she has with her brother generally shows her age as he talks about her being his "little sis". This shows he is quite protective over her and also shows a stereotype that girls have to be protected and that boys do not need to be protected as much.

The character of "freak's" step brother is shown to be very cocky and only concerned about his own feelings. This shows the stereotype of boys only being interested in themselves and their social lives. He has a very negative attitude towards his step sister, he doesn't like her to be involved in anything he does as we see when they are on the bus and he says "it's invite only".

The Girls in the party show a stereotype of always being on competition with one another wanting to look better than the other and were the guy’s girlfriends comes over the other girls acts as if she hasn't done anything wrong. This is showing a negative view of girl’s relationships with one another being a competitive and jealous usually over the boys.

Overall the clip shows a clear difference between the two genders stereotyping the boys to only be interested in themselves, parties, girls and video games whereas girls are shown to be moody, easy and in competition with one another, apart from Freak(Lucy) who shows a more realistic representation of some teenage girls struggling with self confidence and not fitting in.

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Analysis Of Gender In Cold Feet

An analysis of gender in Cold Feet

After watching a clip of Cold Feet I can see a clear stereotype between males and females. One main stereotype being that females are the gender that stay at home and cook, whilst males go to work and earn money for the family.

In the first scene we see the wife in the kitchen cooking. This shows a major stereotype which states women should stay home and cook. This can be seen as both positive and negative. Most women believe they have the same rights as males to be in the workplace, so this will be seen as a negative for this type of woman. For generally old fashioned people who still believe that women should stay home and be a housewife whilst the male goes to work will see this as a positive. We then see her husband sitting on the table in a suit, as if he has just come home from work. While he sits at the table he tells his wife of an investment he has made, which didn't work out, so she gets very angry with him. As the scene progresses another stereotype comes apparent, which is that women are generally smarter than males. This is emphasised when the husband makes a very bad mistake and his wife gets very annoyed with him. They then talk about how she was never involved in investments in the past and now she will be, which shows that she believes she has to watch over everything he does. This shows another stereotype that males should not be trusted.

In the next scene we see a couple shopping for baby items. We see yet another stereotype in this scene. We see the wife walking around the shop/supermarket picking up items and putting them into the shopping basket which her husband is holding. This is part of the stereotype that men hold women's bags whilst they are shopping. We then see the husband pick up an item, but then the wife picks up the bigger, more expensive product. The husband then complains about the price of the product, insisting that there is no difference between either product. The wife then persuades her husband that it's the best product for the baby. This is a stereotype because the males are usually the ones to try to get the cheaper product, but the females always want the best products possible. Most males will see these particular stereotypes as a negative because they do not want to seem like they are controlled by women, whereas women will see it as a positive because this shows that they have control over women.

To conclude, the representation of gender is shown through mise-en-scene. The stereotypes are shown through their actions. For example the stereotype of females being a housewife is shown where the wife is cooking. The stereotype that the men are the workers is shown with the husband sitting at the table in his suit. Also the male is shown to make a lot of mistakes, which shows that he does not know what he is doing. Both representations have a polysemic effect, being either positive or negative, depending on the audiences point of view.

Fantasy Film Making Part 2

The Betrayal

Synergy


Due to the fact that me and my partner had £0 for a budget, we were unable to include any synergy in our film.

Budget Review

Synergy £0
Production Budget £250,000
Money Remaining From Stage 1 £0

Current Budget £250,000

Crew

The director that will be used in the film is Noel Clarke. He will be charging £100,000 to direct the film. A positive impact for using Noel Clarke is he has directed a film very similar to this before, which will enable him to create more verisimilitude. A negative impact is he is generally inexperienced and he is not well known, so it will be harder for people to hear about the film.

The production team that will be used is very amateur. They will be charging £10,000 to produce the film. A positive impact for using the amateur production team is that it will create more verisimilitude. A negative impact is the filming will generally be of poor quality.

The editor that will be used is a very amateur editor. They will be charging £10,000 to edit the film. A positive impact of using an amateur editor is in some ways it can create more verisimilitude because the editor does not know how to edit professionally, so it will look more realistic.

We will be using no special effects in our film because it wouldn't look like a proper street film and the reality of the film will be taken away.

The total cost for the crew is £120,000

Equipment

The camera's that will be used are Sony DSR-PD150's. We will be buying 2 cameras, at the cost of £3000. A positive effect of using these cameras are they are cheap and maneuverable. A negative effect is that the cameras don't have great quality compared to other high-tec cameras.

We will be buying 100 tapes for our camera, which costs £330. A positive effect of this is that it is very cheap. A negative effect is they are poor quality.

The computer we will be buying is a Mac Pro. This will cost £2500. A positive effect of using this computer is we will be able to edit the film. A negative effect is that it is a big loss of money.

The editing software we will be using is Final Cut Pro. This will cost £800. A positive effect of using this editing software is we will be able to edit the film. A negative effect is that it is a big loss of money.

No special effects will be used in the film. A positive effect of this is it looks more realistic.

Budget Review

Budget £250,000
Total Cost For Crew £120,000
Total Cost For Equipment £6630

Remaining Budget £123,370

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Compare and Contrast 24 Hour Party People's production to that of a Hollywood film

24 Hour Party People (Dr Michael Winterbottom, 2002) is a production of Film Four, a British independent company. The film's focus is music in Manchester between 1976 - 1992. During the film we follow the life of Tony Wilson, who interacts with the audience throughout the film.

24 Hour Party People have used one main type of synergy, which is music synergy. This is done by getting artists to create tracks for the movie. This is synergy because it helps to advertise the music soundtracks and also the film itself, because of the big name artists who are involved. In 24 Hour Party People the example of music synergy that we see are music tracks created by "Happy Mondays" and "The Sex Pistols". This is different from a Hollywood film as we would see more examples of product placement, where companies pay the producers of a film to have their product shown. When the product is shown it is then emphasised by the type of shot which is used, which is usually a close-up. An example of this is the "Apple" logo being seen on the majority of laptops and computers used in films. The reason that 24 Hour Party People used music synergy is because most companies would not want to have their products shown in the film due to the themes. The themes of 24 Hour Party People are sex, drugs and rock and roll. The companies who are likely to be involved in synergy would not like involvement in this type of film because they think it would not be successful.

Film Four production company have a very big advantage where cross media convergence is concerned. This is because they have Channel 4 as their parent company, which allows their film to be advertised on Channel 4, Film 4, More4 and E4. A few years after the release of the film it can then be broadcast on each of the channels. Neither process will cost the production company because all of the channels are owned by Channel 4. Hollywood companies also do this with their films. An example of this would be Vivendi Universal, which is the parent company of Universal Studios. It also owns many other companies, including record labels like BMG and Universal Music Group. Any subsidiaries of Vivendi Universal have easy access to many different formats of media to advertise and market their films with very little or no cost. This is more advantageous for Hollywood films rather than independent films because they are more well known, so advertising and reviews will be more beneficial.

New Media Technology used in 24 Hour Party People is editing, cinematography and sound. This is because they have a considerably low budget, and also they wanted to create a high level verisimilitude. The New Media Technology allowed the soundtracks of 24 Hour Party People to be added with great ease. Also there is a considerable amount of movement with the camera during the film which would not be possible with the cameras used around 30 years ago. Also it is very easy to make mistakes with a film like 24 Hour Party People so new advances in editing software is essential. Using a machine like a Moviola, editing for a film like 24 Hour Party People would take a very long time. Whereas Hollywood films use New Media Technology differently. They use a wide variety of special effects etc. This is because of the types of movies they make, and the large budgets they have. For example "2012" was made with a budget of around $260 million, which allows them to use many effects and perfect the film as much as possible. Editing for a Hollywood film is also important, because they can sometimes film the same scene many times and mix in parts of the scenes with each other, so new advances in editing software are also essential for Hollywood films.

New Media Technology has effected both independent and Hollywood production companies. New Media Technology has allowed both types of production companies to film and edit using cheaper methods. Although some editing and special effects software can be difficult to use, they are easier to use than a Moviola. Hollywood films receive very big budgets for their films, so they use New Media Technology as much as possible, so that audiences will stay interested in the film. New Media Technology has effected audiences, by allowing almost anyone to create their own films. This can help independent production companies because they take on actors who are not well known, so New Media Technology can help unknown actors to be realised by independent companies such as Film Four.

Sunday, 15 November 2009

Analysis Of Age In Skins


An analysis of age in Skins

From the clip we can see a clear representation of age being shown. The representation of age shows us that all of the teenagers in the clip have shown the stereotype that most teenagers are very lazy, swear, and use their phones a lot.

Tony’s character shows the same characteristics as most teenage boys. He wakes up to the noise of the alarm, works out, admires his looks and blasting his music early in the morning. But we can see from the clip that Tony differs from most teenage boys aswell, as his room is very clean and neat, he has t-shirts in his draw put out so they are colour co-ordinated. Tony has a cocky attitude when it comes to his parents as he locks the bathroom door, climbs out the window and comes back inside to the swearing of his father. Also we can see that he is willing to help out his sister, as she comes home in the morning and he distracts his parents to allow her to come in. The way that Tony does this, we can tell this is a regular job for him.

At the beginning of the clip when Tony is exercising, RnB/Hip Hop is played which shows his age because teenagers are into music from this genre. From the music that Tony plays to allow his sister to sneak into the house, we can see that he is into the same sort of music as most teenagers. This is a good example of sound perspective as it makes the audience feel like they are in the room with Tony and his father. When Tony is leaving the house, we hear a drilling noise which is foley sound. When Michelle is walking into the cafe, we see that Syd is into the same music, as music from the same genre is played. This image of Tony is then turned around, when he starts to sing choir music, we can see that most teenagers do not like this sort of music because they start to laugh at him as he sings. Shortly after Tony finishes singing, a teenage girl approaches Tony and tells him that Drum'N'Bass music would be played at her party.