Anamatic-Scarred for Life Revised 11/10/10

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?
It is similar to other Gothic Horror films because it contains exaggerated character archetypes, a blue filter, eary music, a narrative of Frankenstein and lots of gore and blood. However it has no budget, the characters are younger than most in other Gothic horror films and the victim survives.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our actors are young which stereotypically represents them as mischievous however the scientist is supposed to be old which is stereotypical of age with power. We counter typically have a male victim but stereotypically have a male villain. All the characters are white and able a stereotypical representation of Britain.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
An institution such as Youtube or Facebook because they are free and we have no budget and they appeal to our teenage audience.


Who would be the audience for your media product?
15-34 male and working class because it contains lots of action and simple archetypes and beginning with the disequilibrium to present action, gore and simple narrative.


How did you attract/address your audience?
Simplifying the narrative by exaggerating the archetypes helps attract less sophisticated working class audience. Using the commutation test and not adding lots of romance and dialogue but instead action and gore attracts a male audience. The music, lighting and sound effects create an unsettling atmosphere this disequilibrium draws the audience in to the preferred reading of the situation in a frightening and interesting way.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
To make sure framing and mise en scene is clearly identifiable of the preferred reading. To record sound in the purest environment with no outside interference. The use of filters, costumes, gore and scientific mise en scene works well at creating an interesting piece but is too hard to get hold of. Repeated and copied sounds turn off the audiences interest. Make the preferred reading clearer.

Podcast Update 1 Revised 11/10/10

Film Opening Ideas Revised 11/10/10

Film Ideas a film about:
Recessions
Cloning
Bullying
Witches
Time Travel

I decided on the film about witches because ideas similar to this have been done but very few actual films about witches have. The film would relate to such movies as Harry Potter, Dracula, Time Machine and Physco. It would be a hybrid genre of Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy and Slasher. We would begin to add Sci Fi in a science laboratory possibly a biology lab where cloning is happening. It would be night and there would be a storm. A witch would appear behind the scientist in the laboratory. He would turn she would disappear and turn again and she would re-apear. She would strangle him and we hear a gasping sound. But all we see is a boiling glass of water as blood drips in it. The titles would appear with lightening sound Witches. As the lightening flickers we see the witches face laid dead. The narrative would then show the life of the scientist perhaps the next scene would be him giving a public speech. But more than one Witch this time re-apears causing disruption, suspicion and eventually most women are sent to be burnt at the stake. The witches are out to get that scientist because they are clones a science he helped create. They are only women because in the future only women need to exist sperm is simply cloned and stored. Their future is a war created by science, they can time travel so they seek to kill this person and our present to destroy scientific advancement. All the witches are killed and the scientists survives. It turns out he modifies himself to live forever because he invents this. In the war of the future he is sent back to his time because he knows of it, he disguises himself and goes back. It turns out he killed himself at the beginning of the film.

Film Opening Genral Research - Comedy Revised 10/10/10

Napoleon Dynamite by Jared Hess 2004 [IMDB]

• Made by MTV films begins with still frames of credits incorporated in the mise en scene , such as in dinner plates or on credit cards.
• The film is digital contains no big stars and is budgeted at $400,000 hence it made a loss and only grossed $116,000.
• The film uses lots of still framing this signifies that the central protagonist is gormless and therefore creates comedy.
• The protagonist wears a t shirt, is ginger with curly hair, has braces and glasses this signifies he is a geek and he is in outsider signified by his ginger hair.
• The music is non diagetic and has an upbeat tempo with a clash in alternating pitch this signifies comedy.
• The still framing created narrative enigma because the shots are polysemic their is no using the commutation test tracking, panning or tilting shots if these were in it would signify action but still framing signifies polysemy and comedy.

Where the Heart Is by Matt WIllaims 2000 [IMDB]

• A hybrid genre of film between comedy, drama and romance.
• It was produced by 20th century fox and distributed by the BBC in the UK on a budget of $15 million.
• Their are no big stars in it and this is a low budget film for Fox.
• It would appeal to teen-young adults. It begins with the logo with an audio bridge of the sound of dripping and a shot of a car to create narrative enigma because the shot is polysemic.
• The mise en scene shows a small hut like housing and an old fashioned car which signifies the characters are working class.
•  The dialogue provides exposition as the the setting and relationships of the characters.
• Theirs accents signifies southern America therefore a stereotype of this is less educated and poorer as this film represents.
• Normally you'd expect the first character seen to be the protagonist but the person we see isn't.
• He signifies he is disrespectfully because he slaps the females bum a stereotypical representation of male power.
• The use of Natalie Portman appeals to the male gaze although she was not a star before this film it made her famous. Because the film is a romance comedy the audience it appeals to is mainly female 15-35 and working to middle class.

Shaun of the Dead by Edgar Wright 2004 [IMDB]

• When we see the Universal and Working title logo's we hear the non diagetic Audio bridging sound of an American police car this appeals to an American audience and creates narrative enigma.
• We begin with a long take of a medium close up of the protagonist much like how Napoleon Dynamite begins.
• It then slowly zooms outwards their is the diagetic music this along with his gormless day dreamy look add comedy.
• The use of the diagetic bell ringing is edited to be quite and raise up in volume to signify he is coming out of a daydream.
• We then see a shot reverse shot of him having a conversation with a female this signifies they are in a relationship.
• To anchor this we see a cut away shot of them both but we also see a man in between in the background to signify that he is getting in the way.
• This person Ed isn't as smartly dressed as the protagonist played by Simon Pegg hence signifying he is lazy. The dialogue provides exposition to this.
• The use of the gambling machine, bar and diagetic music signifies they are in a pub.
• The use of the empty glasses on the table is a good way of signifying they are drunk.
• The two shot of David and Diana signifies that they are a couple but because they are sat separately from the protagonist and girlfriend this signifies that they don't get along.
• This film was made by WT2 and is rated at 15 so the audience that it appeals for would be 15-30.
• The use of the signifies of Rom Com with the two shots may also appeal to females as well as males.
• They would be between E-C2 class.

Hott Fuzz by Edgar Wright 2007 [IMDB]

• This opening begins with an establishing long shot of a police corridor this is a long take we see the protagonist walking down the corridor the length of this take because it contradicts the codes and conventions of an action film by not varying the shots it creates comedy because of the timing it is similar to Shaun of the Dead and Napoleon Dynamite.
• The uniform of the protagonist and office signifies a police office and creates verisimilitude.
• We go from a long shot to a medium shot as he sits down.
• We then juxtapose the long takes with short takes of elliptical editing of the protagonists life.
• The juxtaposition of the binary opposites of a serious voice over which provides exposition and the image of him on a bicycle adds comedy.
• There is music as we go through this story of his life of Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant which signifies that the protagonist is a Goody Two shoes this preferred reading would have only have been signified by a 25-34 year old audience.
• The audience would be mainly male because action appeals to a male audience.
• The equilibrium is signified by the exposition of his character through the elliptical editing of his life and voice over.
• The disequilibrium in this film is when he is put in a local rural police station.
• His character provides a countertypical minority ideological view that thew police force is good.
• While the main disequilibrium signifies the stereotypical dominant ideological view that the police force is useless.
• Male power is represented stereotypically.
• This film was budgeted at $16m and another of WT2's production because Shaun of the dead was so successfully they spent $12m more than Shaun of the dead. It was distributed by Studio Canal.

Anchorman by Adam McKay 2004 [IMDB]

• This film begins with the company logo of Dreamworks.
• We then see the typography of sans serif titles which are black on white this along with the voice over which we hear as we see the helicopter provide exposition.
• The protagonist Ron Burgundy could be signified by Propp as a hero he is signified as the protagonist because we only hear and see him.

Film Opening General Research - Van Helsing 10/10/10

Van Helsing 2004 Stephen Sommers [LINK]

Film Opening General Research - Film Noir Revised 10/10/10

Maltese Falcon by John Huston 1941 [LINK]

• Typically this genre involves mature adults so If I were to include this genre I would need adults not teenagers.
• This film makes good use of establishing short takes of iconic landmarks.
• We fade between each take to gradually reduce closer to the setting of the first scene.
• We then see a tilting shot inside looking outside towards the landmarks.
• We see the central protagonist first and we see stereotypes of a rough detective and an innocent maid.
• Although this scene contains only shot reverse shot it creates variety with pans and the 30 degree rule.

Clerks by Kevin Smith 1994 [LINK]

• This is a more modern black and white film.
• As we see the Miramax logo we hear the background sound of the action to create narrative enigma.
• Their is a sans typography title to anchor the meaning and signify that this is documentary style.
• Their is an audio bridge before the first shot.
• This is 1 minute in of film logo's I will have to make mine much shorter.
• They have then dressed the set to signify the protagonists character with clothes everywhere, he is on the floor, he is next to his bed, he is half in a cupboard and the room is small all which signify he is lazy, drunk, poor and messy.
• The first shot is a long take of this and unusually behind the bed to signify the small size of the room I may use this.
• Their is a cutaway shot of a dog to create humour.
• The music is then added it is pacy and speeds up the editing to be more elliptical.
• Their is a lot of close up shots to create anchorage.
• Their see a point of view shot as he looks in the car bonnet from the car.
• We are hinted the disequilibrium although as we finish this scene we enter the disequilibrium.

Film Opening General Research - Horror Films Revised 10/10/10

Halloween by John Carpenter 1978 [LINK]

• Halloween begins with credits that flash on orange fade to red then fade back to orange and fade out.
• The polysemy of having just sans serif titles on a black background creates narrative enigma.
• The piano music is high pitch rhythmical therefore unsettling it helps signify tension. T
• he logo of the pumpkin also creates narrative enigma although it also creates exposition.
• This was the beginning 2 minutes to present an opening like this would not show enough content so I would have to contain more in mine.
• The the scene begins and the film provides anchorage with the sans titles of "Hallenfeild Illanois".
• The white on black signifies it as documentary style.
• Their is an audio bridge of the sounds of children to induce the audiences imagination by creating narrative enigma.
• We then see a long shot with a blue light with shadows of trees on it. The blue light is a signifier of the cold, supernatural and the future though not the preferred reading of this text.

Touch of Evil by Orson Well 1958 [LINK]

• The beginning take is one long continuous point of view steadicam shot of a house with a blue light on it signifying the camera person is the protagonist.
•  A decent way of signifying sex like it does is by showing people going to bed then putting clothes on. Although it presents short cuts to signify action of the murder that go with the beats of the music.
• The music is rhythmical to interfere with the beats of a heart.
• The knife is a common signifier of murder and often used in horror as we see it we hear harsh high pitch violins to signify bad will be done with it.
• The mask used over the lens is a good way of signify a character behind the camera.
• We end on a cut of the boy to signify him as the person behind the mask.
• This opening scene was 7 minutes long so clearly I will have to contain mine.

Bride of Chucky by Ronnie Yu 1998 [LINK]

• We begin with the universal titles though these are modified with the sound of harsh high pitch string music and we hear a thump every time we see the titles.
• The use of this polysemy creates narrative enigma.
• In many film openings we often see the logo then the name as we do here.
• We rarely see a huge strand of credits but a short one as we also do here.
• In this is signified lots of short takes to anchor lots of detail.
• The American Flag signifies America, the blue filter signifies horror, the stonework on the building signifies a high status building, the thunder and rain signifies something is unsettling and nightmare and the camera is off axis on a dutch angle to signify something isn't right.
• All of these elements together provide exposition as to the preferred reading of the text. We see many inter textual references such as the Hockey Mask as a signifier of Friday the 13th and a Mike Myers looking mask that signifies Scream.
• The film uses a lot of shot variation to get the audiences interest. It begins with lots of Narrative enigma an doesn't establish the setting with an establishing long shot till later in the text.
• A common Horror technique is the false scare where the audience is purposely lead into fear of whats going on although nothing really happens.
•  A good way of showing gore in this film is by having the protagonist holding the blood packet to himself in order to hide it as this film does. We see a woman dressed in skimpy leather clothing to appeal to the male gaze.
• There are no long takes in this film as with most openings.
• This opening was 3.5 minutes.

Trick Or Treat by Charles Martin Smith 1986 [LINK]

• This is a teenage horror.
• Their is a voice over to provide anchorage and signify the protagonists voice as wee see the titles.
•  To signify a teenager we see the mise en scene of a rock poster, skull and dinosaur all panning and dissolving to break up the shots and create variety.
• The 1st character is the protagonist.
• We see a low angle shot of bullies to signify their power.
• He speaks though the only dialogue is that of the voice over we cannot hear him this is a good way of avoiding dialogue.
• We see a shot of the male protagonist and a medium shot of a female to signify a relationship that may occur. This was 5.3 minutes long.