Research: Openings

I chose to research Moonrise Kingdom as one of my openings to study. The reason I chose Moonrise Kingdom is mostly for the editing work, cinematography, directing and lack of dialogue yet maximum effectiveness. The whole four minute opening tells the audience a lot about the main characters backstory, interests and life. It does this in a series of two shots, while having many characters and room changes. The opening focusses not on the main character of the twelve year old Suzy, but on her three brothers. In the very beginning the camera focusses on a painting of the local lighthouse. This first scene is foreshadowing for one of the final scenes in the movie. The camera then pans along the house to reveal the rest of the family.

The fact that none of the family are seen together accept the brothers is explaining the disconnect between the parents with each other and with their daughter. The mother is scene smoking and washing alone. Whereas in all the rooms the father is seen reading the newspaper. This showing the repetitive life their family is stuck in. Suzy is seen carrying around her binoculars, these are a key part of the opening and continue to be important as a symbol for Suzy’s identity throughout the film. They are described as her “super power”. Showing her love for the unrealistic and fantasy rather than reality, this is also shown by her book. He whole opening is shot in an uncomfortably warm overtone and colouring, this is to highlight the lack of warmth in Suzy’s life. And the way everyone around her is building up a fake warm home.

Throughout the opening there is no dialogue between any characters in the film. This is to show the lack of communication in her family but also to highlight the camera work and acting instead. There is instead a voice over of a boy explaining how a symphony’s structure can be pulled apart into sections. These sections represent how the lives of this family are separate and not sounding put together.

The mummy returns

Mise-en sene

The use of mise-en scene is shown through the old fashioned Egyptian landscapes. They are shown as vast, exotic and ancient therefore showing the great power of the Egyptian rulers. The architecture looks regal and majestic as if a great king lived there.  Another use of mise-en sene is the house of the family, it is huge, detailed and intercut. This shows the wealth of the family, in the house it is filled with literature and paintings showing their culture and appreciation for arts. For example the detailed expensive portrait of napoleon.

Editing

During the opening scene fight battle the editing speeds up, cross-cutting is used continually to help emphasise the emersion of the audience into the fight and the fast editing builds up tension. The other use of editing is when Anubis the sun god is edited into the scene killing and rampaging the castle. This editing it used to bring fear into the audience as this muscly, tall, terrifying god is sene. This is used to help the audience later understand the fear of the characters.

Camera work

When the god Anubis is first seen fighting the army of the people all we see is a low angle shot of him. This emphasises his vastness and makes him seem bigger and therefor more menacing. Another use of camera work is when the hero protagonist is fighting the people at the British museum there are many point of view shots, this forces you to spend time with the character and see the film from their view. Causing you to build up a relationship with the hero.

Soundtrack

There is music is used during the fighting scene of the warriors to intensify the tension and suspense. This makes the audience feel more amused into the action and worried at what the music may be building to! Another use of soundtrack is when there is a voice over near the beginning of the piece to give a background story, so the audience then feel they know more than the antagonists, therefore they are hooked to the screen as they want to see them understand what you do.  

Media Revision

Film Posters

Aims

·       To analyse the conventions and design of film posters

·       Focus on the action and adventure culture

·       Use media terminology

Design and conventions

·       Film title is always prominent and usually near the bottom

·       Text is stylised to suit the genre of film

·       Actors names top of the poster

·       Main image can show the basis of film

·       Tag line, teases the audience, raises questions clues of sub-genre e.g. action thriller

·       Release date

·       List of cast and crew if you like the director

·       Expert witnesses mostly newspapers saying positive

·       Age classifications

Media terminology for posters

·       Genre, type of film

·       Audience and demographic, who the film is aimed at

·       Connotation, what images and colours can mean

·       Protagonist, hero

·       Antagonist, villain

·       Narrative, story (tag line can show)

·       Representation, the way anything is presented

·       Stereotype, for comedic effect

·       Unique selling point, standing out or the different  

Unconventional posters

·       Differences, the Truman show has lots of images creating one thing

·       No main image, clues of genre

·       Very little information 

   Why we watch TV?

·       

          Amusing interesting. Escapism

·        Relationships. Repeat people like there qualities. Celebs

·        Surveillance, questions. Like to know the answers

·        Values. People watch what supports their ideology   

   Discredited

·        Hyperaemic syringe model, watching violent games makes violence. Passive will take and use

   We use media to gratify our needs 

Action and adventure 

Think carefully about how the protagonists are constructed: are they conventional heroic figures?

They are conventional A&A protagonists in the fact they have the convention of being typically good looking, they are also intelligent as they can plan a heist. this shows their skills 

they also show courage and bravery in escaping after a heist. however they are committing a crime but due to these conventions they are almost forgiven. 

Identify the two main nationalities represented and make judgements about how the audience's responses towards them are shaped. There are no superheroes in this extract  but there are definite gender representations, such as a 'father' figure. Also, how is the ‘big city’ represented in this extract?

two main nationality represented are the Italians, who are not doing their jobs as security guards, watching football and smoking instead. this shows laziness. the other nationality is the Americans who are represented. they are shown as handsome, heroic and more intelligent than the Italians. they are therefor the protagonist. we are more likely therefore to side with the Americans.  the father figure in this extract is represented as the older of the men. he praises the men when they do well ans refer to the with "kid". the city is represented very delicate and beautiful. this makes the heist seem bigger and more intense. 

First Ideas

What went well?

• Good background for the setting, a Cyprian beach to show exotics. 
• The colours matched well and fitted with the vibrant theme 
• The girl was placed in a good position leaving space for bottle 

What did not go  well? 

• There was not a lot of substance in the photo
• There was nothing artsy or interesting about it
• It was very simple with not much theme 
• 

Johnny English

Johnny English 

 

Johnny is an anti-hero, we can see this from his serious attitude and go getting ways yet instead of succeeding brilliantly in a normal spy movie for example James bond he fails and often hurts himself. This creates a relationship with the audience as we can relate to the normal human like tendency. The audience also gets to watch and laugh at him which is entertaining and funny. 

He is commanding to the female character and seemingly brave, we can see this by the large building he is attempting to get into. He is courageous as he is willing to in in though a sewage pipe. He seems to be attempting an amazing stunt of going into a tall building. 

The female character stays behind as the so called more powerful man checks for safety, she tells him to "be careful out there". He replies in a smooth brave tone assuring her he will. But after he hits his head very hard on the pipe. This is funny as it is showing his clumsy attitude and failure to be smooth. 

Vogue

Vogue

I would want to place my advert in vogue, vogue is a high fashion magazine fitting the style of my first advertisement. Vogue has many fashion advertisements and perfume advertisements making it ideal to show my advert. My advert is going to be high fashion and very simple and professional looking. This is a perfect fil for placing it in vogue. A lot of vogues funds and pages are filled with adverts, as it is one of the most famous magazines in the world I can be sure my advert is seen. 

 

American Dad!

Comedy in American Dad

American Dad! Is an American adult animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker, and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Unlike similar shows, Family Guy and The Cleveland Show, American Dad! Does not lean as heavily on the use of cutaway gags, and is less concerned with conventional "setup-punchline" jokes, instead sourcing its humour mostly from the characters, the relationships between family members, and the relatable plots. While the core issues and resolutions are relatable in most episodes it is the bold characters that bring the show to life.  There are five main family members each with their own quirky jokes.

Stan- Stan Smith is the exaggeratedly masculine husband of Francine and father of Steve and Hayley. Stan is an agent for the CIA. Tending to take extreme measures with no regard for others nor potentially disastrous consequences, Stan is portrayed as insanely drastic. He is one of the main sources of comedy within the family, this is due to his crazy accusations and extreme stubbornness.

Francine- Francine Smith is Stan's housewife and mother of Hayley and Steve. Francine is often seen indignant, nagging and scolding her family (mostly Stan) over wrongdoings, sometimes even becoming berserk in these moments. Seemingly a voice of reason, Francine also nags at her family to uphold certain virtues. She is a traditional house wife, Francine’s main source of comedy is her idiocy.

Hayley- Hayley Smith is Stan and Francine's new-age hippie daughter. Despite being a married adult for much of the series, she still lives under her parents' roof along with her husband, Jeff. In mentality, she's portrayed as a far-left liberal. Hayley’s main comedy comes from the strong contrast between her far right father and her.

 Steve- Steve Smith is the baby of the family, Stan and Francine's high-school aged son. He attends Pearl Bailey High School. Steve is portrayed as an enthusiastic, ambitious, and wimpy nerd. The comedy created by Steve’s character revolves around the relatable awkward teenage stage, most people can relate to.

Roger- Roger is the Smith family's very zany alien. Blithely so, he is depraved, devious, and cruel. Roger typically displays a light hearted, carefree temperament while at the same time engaging in his freakish grossness. Many regard roger as the funniest character in the series. He has many personas who he fully commits to. Making him not only one funny character but many.

Audience pleasures include to laugh at the perils of the cast members, the random scenes and stupid ideas bring pleasure to the viewer when comparing themselves to the character as they are much more intelligent. Also the use of an aliens means there is a slight comparison to the family but the audience are positioned as omniscient to the characters.  

Ricky Spanish

Ricky Spanish is a famous sketch in American dad, Ricky is one of Rogers (the alien) forgotten personas. The thing he forgets is that Ricky is the worst person alive. This is in comprehendible to the audience and sounds ludicrous, but as the episode goes on every time the name Ricky Spanish is said there is a cut jump to an image of Ricky doing something horrible. There is also a voice over whispering the words Ricky Spanish. Making a funny fake intensity. One of the scenes in the episode is Ricky defending himself to someone for killing there wife. Ricky says “you know how I get when I drink champagne”. The audience they expects a jump cut of Ricky being tipsy and doing something by accident. Instead the scene is a two second clip of Ricky quite on purposely stabbing the wife with a samurai sword. This sudden random outburst, makes a joke out of the shock of the situation. This technique is used a lot in many American dad episodes.