National/Regional Identity analysis

Pride

The representation of national identity in the Pride trailer displays the Welsh identity. The trailer mainly has two representations, negative and positive. At 1:00. the LGSM group are targeted by a woman who says "we are being backed up by perverts". The use of dialogue here represents those in Welsh small towns as small minded. Also at 1:07 during a speech by the LGSM group, several older men stand up and leave the room, this mise en scene suggests that the Welsh miners are homophobic and against LGBT people.
From around 1:00, the trailer is edited with quick cuts of people talking about "gays" in a negative way, and the lighting in these clips is mostly low key. The combination of low key lighting and swift cuts helps to present the idea that Welsh residents and miners are quick to judge negatively and fast to deny the progressive state of the world around them, representing the Welsh national identity as negative.
However, the positive representation that is displayed progresses throughout the trailer. For example, at 1:30, a miner moves towards the LGSM group threateningly, and the music drops out to silence, which adds to the threatening nature of the miner. However, the camera soon changes to show their hands in a mid shot at equal heights as they shake, with the added dialogue of "thank you". This represents Welsh miners and small town residents as kindly underneath the rough and sometimes threatening exterior. Later in the trailer, we have high key lighting as an older woman asks "where are my lesbians?" before several girls all hug her. The use of the high key lighting represents the positive outlook that the small town woman has upon the term "lesbians" rather than a negative one.

The Only Way Is Essex

In TOWIE, season 10 episode 1, there is a portrayal of regional identity of Essex. At 1:08, the music becomes very club like and party-ish. At this point, the mise en scene also changes to people with beer bottles, laughing, throwing up, showing off their bums and dancing. This portrays people from essex as party maniacs and not concerned with their 'dignity'. At 8:00, there is a part where several girls are in a pool with very tanned, slim bodies, portraying women from Essex as concerned with their looks. They go on to say that they could "totally be show girls", which portrays Essex girls as confident with their sexuality and their bodies. We also have mid shots that display the women's bodies, further representing them as sexual and concerned with their appearance.
However, one of the girls then says what exactly do you have to do?" Which seems ironic after she agrees that she could be a show girl, representing essex girls as being stupid or with low intelligence.
At 15:00, the boys begin to talk about girls and the fact that they want to "pull together", representing Essex men as confident with their sexuality and concerned about their ability to appear attractive to women. Here, the camera is at a mid shot and the men are standing above a few women. This use of positioning and camera helps to display the men's power over the women , representing men from Essex as primarily interested in women rather than anything else.
This all represents people from Essex as concerned with their appearance and sexuality, party animals and with a relatively low intelligence.

Audience Analysis

Newspaper - The Sun

The target audience for The Sun is mostly people from the C2-E bracket. This is because on this front cover, the serious story  a pilot who killed 149 people in an air crash is dominated by an article about the split of the famous boy band One Direction. This would suggests that the viewers are interested less in cultural news, and more in contemporary news. It also suggests that the target audience is mostly younger consumers between 18-25 as they are interested more in pop culture. 

The uses and gratifications that appeal to the target audience are information as the audience would be interested in the band and would want to know what has happened. Also, for social integration, as the topic has been all over social media sites and so people would read this article in order to fit in with their friendship groups who already know about the event. 

The preferred reading here is fans of One Direction, who are between the ages of 18-25 and in the C2-E socio-economic scale. The negotiated reading would be taken by One direction fans between the ages of 12-17, as these people would be interested in the band rather than the actual newspaper, and would buy it in order to see the story about the band. 

The oppositional reading would be taken by older people between the ages of 30-50 who are male and of a higher socio economic grouping as they are likely to be more interested in the more serious world news that is less focused on by The Sun.

TV Programme - The Only Way Is Essex

The target audience for TOWIE is people from the C2-E bracket and who are aged 16-25. This is because the cast are young and so a similar age to those watching. Also, the show deals with situations such as friendship, relationship and drama between these things, which would appeal to the younger generation rather than the older who are more concerned with jobs and serious relationships. 

The uses and gratifications that would appeal to the audience of TOWIE would be entertainment, as the audience can find humour in some situations, they may also experience attraction to some of the attractive cast members. They may also watch for personal identification, as they feel that they can relate to some of the characters. Also for social integration as the show is very popular among young people, and people may watch to connect with their social groups. 

The preferred audience of TOWIE would be the C2-E, 16-25 year olds who are most likely to be women. This is because the relationships and drama would appeal, as explained before. 

The negotiated reading would be taken by men aged 16-25 in the same bracket as before. This is because the attractive women in the show would provide attraction and entertainment for this audience.

The oppositional reading would be taken by older men of a higher bracket as the themes like relationships would not appeal to this generation as they have more important issues and things to be dealing with in later life.

Advertising Poster - The Avengers

The target audience of this film is 16-25 year old males in the C2-E scale. This is because the cover includes weapons such as a bow and arrow, futuristic lasers, guns and also super heroes. This, stereotypically appeals more to males than women.

The uses and gratifications would include entertainments, as the story is fictional and so people would watch to relax and as it is a blockbuster that includes high profile actors. Also, they would watch for social integration as the film is a blockbuster and so many people are likely to know what the film is in order to fit into friendship groups. Men may also watch for attraction as the film contains Scarlet Johansen, a very attractive actress.

The preferred audience is the 16-25 year old males in in the C2-E bracket as explained above. The negotiated reading would be taken by 16-25 year old girls who are fans of action and super hero films, and also by fans of any of the actors included in the film. 

The oppositional reading wold be taken by older women who perhaps are not interested in action movies or superhero films, as the themes such as violence and fantasy may not appeal to an older generation like this. 

Audience Case Studies and Theories

Pick and Mix

This theory suggests that as consumers we actively pick and mix our media choices. These choices allow us to form our own personal identities, for example reading a magazine to confirm whether our choices of clothing are okay.

A pick and mix reader suggests that texts do not just influence us, we make a conscious decision towards them. It means that gender specific statements are not harmful as the audience chooses to identify with these ideas and are valued by the producers more because of this. 

VALS

Values, attitudes and lifestyles. Depending on personality, we costume media that relates to our grouping and hierarchy, for example an innovator who earns lots of money and values image would be likely to purchase expensive clothing and watches. This applies to both marketing and media.

Paper Towns trailer

Target audience: 15-25 year old girls between C1 and E, fans of John Green and The Fault In Our Stars and fans of Cara Delevigne.
Appeal/attract: Cara Delevigne is featured, who is iconic for girls and sexualised for boys. It is also a well know book by a famous author who wrote The Fault In Our Stars, which suggests those who enjoyed the film and John Green's books would be attracted. The romance and narrative of tehe story may also appeal to the audience.
Position: Told from Q's point of view, use of non diegetic sound with Q's voice over. We are positioned using camera angles that are point of view shots where Margo look directly at the camera so that we see her from Quentin's point of view.
Response: The preferred audience (target) would be entertained (i.e. the fact that it would be relaxing) They may also find persona identification, through the fact that the characters are teenagers experiencing young love. They could also be viewing for social integration as the film is an adaptation of a book by a popular writer and also the fact that the film ism are b the same people that produced The Fault In Our Stars
. The negotiated audience may be males within the same age group who would find Cara Delevigne attractive. Finally the oppositional audience would be older men who are in a higher socio-economic grouping as they would not be able to relate to the characters or situation.

Pickpockets and Proud - Race representation

1. Pickpocketing and Proud

In the Channel 5 show, Pickpockets and Proud, the Romanian ethnicity is given a negative representation. This is constructed using miss en scene, for example when the three Romanian men are seen in their home drinking and smoking, and dressed in very cheap branded clothing. The dialogue here also says that they pickpocket up to £300 a week from people on the streets. The commentators says 'Eastern Europeans are the Kings of pickpocketing', and that they make money 'out of the UK'. This represents Romanians as criminals and people who take the UK for granted, and abuse it, creating a negative representation of the Romanian ethnicity.

There is also a section included where two young, black men are shown to be pickpockets. The lighting in one section is low key, and so connotes shadiness and seediness, which adds to the overall representation of young black men. The non diegetic sound of the voice over also says that they are addicted to heroin, and the men also go on to say that they 'don't care' about stealing a man's phone. This represents young, black men as dangerous criminals who are addicted to drugs and don't care about other people.

This program positions Romanians and young black men as criminals, and the 'bad guys', which means that the audience sides with the police, who fight this type of crime. This therefore reinforces the negative stereotype of these people.


2. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

In The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the representation of Indian people is positive. This is constructed using the mise en scene and camera angles. During one short sequence, an establishing shot is used to display the beautiful setting of Delhi. There are also shots of very happy, young Indian men and women, which is an overall positive portrayal. Also, the dialogue of one of the young, Indian men says 'I have a dream to create a home for the elderly so wonderful...', which displays him as ambitious and kind towards those who are elderly, portraying Indian people as ambitious, hardworking and kind.

Exam examples

Exam Examples

Case study 1 - Moone Boy

'Moone Boy' is a television show about a young boy who has just started secondary school and has an imaginary friend who is a much older adult.
Using dialogue and mise en scene, a general representation is formed and presented to the target audience.
At 0:44, the mise en scene displays two bullies attempt to beat up the main character Martin and give him a 'Chinese burn', a very typical thing that children threaten one another. This displays young children as argumentative, violent and as bullies, which is a negative representation of young people.
At 0:49, one of the young boys offers to help Martin but for the price of 'feeling [his] sister's boobs'. This displays that young boys are only interested in the sexual side of girls and women, which is a negative, stereotypical representation of young boys especially.
Also, the main character of Martin is represented very stereotypically as an incompetent and as someone who doesn't fit into his surroundings. This is a very typical representation of young children - often presented as 'mentally too old, physically too young.'
Adults - Imaginary friend is atypical representation. Older adult, we expect him to be someone who gives advice and wisdom but is instead very childish, at 1:20 we see the imaginary friend tell him that he needs a combination of destruction and caution. He is also wearing red high heels - something that we wouldn't expect an adult to do around a young child.
Parents - protective, typical of older generation w/ children. At 0:50 the father threatens to take things personal with anyone who bullies his son.

Case Study 2: The Inbetweeners 2


The Inbetweeners 2 is a film about a group of teenage boys on a gap year.
Age is represented in the trailer in several ways that are mostly negative. Firstly, at 0:11, the characters begin to talk about how much they purely want to just have sex whilst on the gap year. This displays young people as sex mad, which is generally a stereotype used throughout the media and is a negative portrayal.
At 0:34, there is a portrayal of young people as adventurous, we can see this through the mis en scene used where the characters are doing extreme sports. This is a fairly positive representation of young people as it displays them in a fun and youthful light.
The mise en scene at 0:37 is a large, open space that has a zip line. This suggests freedom and adventure, which adds to the representation that young people are fun and daring.
The lighting at 0:30 is particularly significant as it is high key and presents the feeling of positivity, youth and holidays, which the characters reflect within the story. This helps to create a positive representation of young people.
However at 0:16, the dialogue used contains a lot of foul language and swear words. This displays young people negatively, as it suggests that they use bad language that is almost cringeworthy.


Case Study 3: Meryl Streep 'Fairlady' magazine cover

The representation here of Meryl Streep has been created in order to suit the target audience of the magazine, 'Farilady'. This audience is women who aged between third to fifty. Because of this, the people used on the cover are usually between the same ages.
The focus is mostly on Streep's face, so a mid shot has been used to present this. The lighting is high key which suggests gentleness and purity, which adds to the representation of Streep as she is older and so is presented as 'classy.'
The main headline on the magazine supports this by labelling her as a 'class act'. This helps to create a positive light of older women as Streep displays them as classy and successful. This is a positive representation of older people as the magazine displays older women as successful and classy.

Film Magazine Article Analysis

Production Research

I studied film magazines such as Empire and Total Film in order to help decide how I wanted to create a double page spread for my own film posters.

Empire tends to choose image over article. In their double page spreads, the main image usually dominates the article. 

Space is filled using small banners containing facts and/or other little pieces of information. In other articles, the image is large enough to have the article take up the rest of the space left. Some articles also included a bold introduction paragraph. The image is also a still from the movie rather than the cover, which is something I will note. This layout appears more professional as there are less images that need to be used as enigma codes, only one needs to be used to draw in an reader. This gives the spread a less crowded look and appears more formal and official.

Magazines like Total Film use a selection of images in their double page spreads that take up the majority of the page. Much like Empire, the main image seems to spread most of the ay across both pages and the article is organised into clear columns.

Both spreads contain captions for the photographs and stills from the movies. 

Total Film contains quotes from actors that have been interviewed and enlarges them. This acts as an enigma code to draw the reader in. There is also the name of the section in the magazine in the top corner, in Total Film this is the top left and is the 'Buzz' section, and in Empire this is 'The Slate' section. There is also page dividers such as the black lines along the top and the side of the pages. The page numbers are indicated at the bottom.

The magazines have chosen the stills rom the movies because they have certain connotations. For example, the still from The Hobbit shows an image of the main character Bilbo Baggins looking frightened in a huge pile of golden coins. This has connotations of fantasy, danger and adventure which connects to the context of the film as it is a fantasy/adventure film.

The next film is Heartless, and the article describes that the character depicted is a 'demonic youth'. This image used connotes the idea of evil because he looks menacing and has an obvious physical deficiency, which is often a feature of villains in movies. 

The placement of the photos resembles a photo album. This gives the spread a more casual and informal layout as the images are oread out and scattered. The use of speech bubbles also gives a more informal aesthetic to the piece as speech bubbles are considered chatty and casual.

Using this, I will ensure that I include these typical features of the magazine articles in my own double page spread in order to meet the conventions of film magazines.

Textual Analysis - Pre-production Essay

Textual Analysis - Pre-production Essay

My research has helped my with my pre-production and with identifying my target audience in the following ways.

I conducted a survey which I sent out to the public. I asked them questions concerning the genre of films that they enjoyed and what made a film appeal to them. The results allowed me to plan out the kind of film poster I wanted to create that would appeal to my target audience. I knew which demographic I was aiming at by corroborating the information from my survey into one profile. This profile included a 16-18 year old female who sat mostly in the C2-E demographic of the socio-economic scale (as they paid less money to watch films, often downloading them or buying DVDs, suggesting they have a small amount of disposable income)  and who viewed mostly romance films (which stereotypically, women are more likely to watch as they often contain attractive male roles) or on the other end of the scale, viewed horror films (which may have also been influenced by the male survey takers). This difference in prefered genres gave me the idea to create both a horror and romance film poster, as this would show the contrast in the two genres considering that they both have very different conventions and also appeal to a secondary audience of 16-18 year old males of the same socio-economic status.

I conducted a process of textual analysis on several films from the same genres that I was focusing on, as well as two separate genres of films that were also popular amongst my target audience’s choices in the survey. I focused on several film posters that contained typical features of the genre that they aimed to meet, and analysed the conventions. This allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of how the posters are composed, what the general features are and therefore what I needed to include too.From my textual analysis of romance film posters, I learned that they are typically lit with high key lighting, as it creates a sense of happiness and purity, which romance is often associated with. I also noted that the people included on the cover are often in an intimate situation with one another, such as kissing, holding hands and commonly being in an embrace or lying down together. Most commonly mid shots are used as this allows the viewer to see the couple’s main body language as well as facial expression. In some cases long shots are used, which allows the viewer to see the entire body, allowing them to read body language more effectively. This is important because often body language plays a role in creating a romantic atmosphere, such as physical contact etc.

For horror film posters, my textual analysis revealed that often low key lighting is used as this creates an atmosphere of darkness and danger, which has connotations of fear and horror. The main image is often a close up and usually displays the face of the main antagonist in the film. The close up allows the facial expression to be seen, which is often considered scary as the image is so close to the audience physically that it can create an unnerving sense. Sometimes long shots are used which display the antagonist’s full body. This is often used to show the dress of the antagonist, commonly white against a black background. Black is used as it has connotations of darkness and fear. This creates a horror atmosphere, and is why I too will be using the same colours in my film poster.

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