Daniels-Media Blog
Thursday, 7 June 2018
Making a Nordic Noir short scene
Planning
Scene 1:
A cloudy night sky. The dark silhouettes of the trees. A woman walks slowly through the trees in the distance.
Someone is watching the woman- their POV shot someone watches the woman for few seconds.
POV shot someone feet walking quiclky
Close up shot the woman looks over her shoulder
Scene 2:
The hill in harrow- Ext. morning
Two young woman jogging up the hill in long shot. They go past the camera and out of shot. We hear them scream
The sound of Police sirens
Scene The Hill in Harrow -Ext Afternoon
POv of the dead person- A blanket is pulled off the body we see two detectives looking down into the camera; one looks shoked and sound of throwing up, the other keeps staring with an investigating look on his face
POV watching the detectives
On the soundtrack we hear someone shouting
Shot of someone running away
Mise-en-scene
-Detectives will be dresses in black or dark clothing
-Low key lighting in every scene
-Dramatic music to build up the tension
-Sound bridge between each scene for instance we hear the sound of laughter at the end of the scene 1 at the end of scenes 2.
Landscape shot cutaways, silhouettes of trees, sunset sky etc.
Thursday, 24 May 2018
Nordic Noir
Nordic Noir- is a modern version of the film noir.
-In film noir the protagonists are detectives/private eyes.
-The main character in normally a detective.
-Characters (protagonist) go down hill which lead into many bad situations. (cycle of events)
- The key things about film noir is low contract lighting and low key lighting.
Mise-en scene (Everything in the shot) of Film Noir
-Reflect the mood of the characters and the theme of the film.
-It tends to have a pessimistic world view which is the other side of comedy.
-In traditional noir we tend to have a 'Femme Fatale' meaning deadly woman. They seduce the main character and then brings him to a dangerous situations.
-Film noir started in 1940's with a post war genre (reflects pessimism after war).
Nordic Noir
-Are north European novels that have been adapted for TV
-Based on crime novels (influenced by 1940's films which have similar characters).
Mise-en scene nordic Noir
-The landscapes are covered with snow.
-There are periods where there is low light or even no light depending on the season.
- This lighting remind of the film Noir
Example of Nordic Noir- The killing (2011)
Media Institutions- BBC 4
Audiences- Global audience because of the media convergent
Representation- Goes against the Femme Fatale as in Nordic noir female characters can become protagonist in the story.
Media Language- Mise-en scnece has taken the Scandinavian landscapes and made it into film nordic noir because of the low light
-Venetien blinds are a key in Nordic noir as they create shadows. They foreshadow what will happen when the story plot evolves. This can also suggest how people are imprisoned to the place their are in.
Fact File on The Killing(Forbrydelsen)
Genre-police procedural crime drama also known now as part of the Nordic Noir genere
-Key Codes and conventions of Nordic Noir:
-Visual codes: Low key lighting a lot of snow and ice to get a high contrast look
-Though women charcters
-Bleak landscapes at night country side
-Cities rivers bridges backstreets neon lights city versus country
Insomnia
thicker than water
the bridge trapped
'The Bridge' is a very famous series that has attracted a range of audience due to its way of presenting Nordic Noir. The main element of attraction are the characters as in 'The Bridge' there are two cop characters which begin to solve a crime that has been committed on the boarder of two countries Sweden and Denmark. The visual codes such as low key lighting are also key convention to this Nordic Noir drama as it follows the traditional way of presenting a crime film by having low key lighting which creates an enigma. The second film 'The killing' also meets the audiences expectations of Nordic Noir because it also uses the enigma code to hook the viewers attention, so they will want to watch it more until the find out what happened. Both of these films 'The Bridge' and 'The killing' have similar characters which are called archetypes for example there is always a sheriff or even two that solve the mystery crime, the victim, the murderer. These archetypes are very similar to the traditional noir genre characters, but they are a little different as they also remind us of those characters in the crime films.Finally, the film 'Trapped' might meet the audiences expectation because of the bleak landscapes as the trailer shows snowy condition with low key lighting, which reflects on the genre of the Nordic Noir.
Tuesday, 15 May 2018
Revision Case Study on tabloids and broadsheet newspapers
REVISION
1) define what a tabloid newspaper is?
-Tabloid newspaper- is half the size of an average broadsheet.
- It focuses on such topics as Crimes, celebrity gossip and television.
-The layout of the newspaper has large bold font.
2) define what a broadsheet newspaper is?
-Broadsheet Newspaper- is a larger newspaper than tabloid newspaper that focuses more deeply into the topics they write about and it supports politics and shows different values.
3) Give some background information to the Daily Mirror
-The Daily Mirror is is a daily British tabloid newspaper which is owned by a company called Trinity Mirror. It was founded in 2nd November 1903 by Alfred Harmsworth. In the beginning when it was launched it was supposed to by a newspaper for woman and run by woman. It's size is much smaller than the broadsheet which is useful to those people that don't want to go into depth and are in a rush.
4) Give some background information on the Daily Telegraph
-The Daily Telegraph is a daily broadsheet newspaper which is published in London by the Telegraph media group and is accounted with the Britain's three big newspaper such as The Times, The Guardian. It was founded by Arthur B.Sleigh in 1855 and first named as Daily Telegraph & Courier.
5) Look at the front cover of the Daily Telegraph and write a paragraph on the 'messages and values' i.e use the terminology 'denotation'- then explain the 'connotations' -consider the use of the colours, layout and font.
They layout of the daily Telegraph is quite simple and and tries to create a serious feel to it. The
Tuesday, 8 May 2018
Breakfast Show (Fat File)
The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw
-Radio 1 Breakfast show is a broadcast weekdays from 6:30-10:00 am.
-Started in 1967
-Nick Grimshaw took over in 2012 he was the 15th presenter
-BBC Radio 1 is broadcast on FM,DAB, Freeview, Freesat, Virgin Sky or online via BBC Radio Player
- The media platforms BBC Radio 1 can be heard on are.....
-If people can acctes on many platforms is called distribution/ originally you will only listed on the radio/ because of the distribution and the web you can listen it.
-It is produced by BBC
-Over 40 record are chosen to repeat on the morning breakfast show which is guided by the popularity from young people.
-Many older artists are not included as the network tries to keep an under 30 audience.
-The playlist are on their website
-They try to promote British artists
- They have throwback Thursday where they play older tracks.
Ownership and Funding
-The radio 1 Breakfst Show is produced by the Brithish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and broadcast on BBC Radio 1.
-It is a Public service broadcaster
-Two types of broadcasters are commercial or public service
-commercial channels make money by selling advertising space- the adverts sponsor the products
-Public service broadcaster don't sell advertising space and the public pay through a license fee for the programmes and they get government funding.
-PSB they have a remit to 'educate, inform and entertain'
..................................................................................................................................................................
Uses and Gratifications theory- about active audiences
1) Information
2) entertainment and leisure
3) sense of identity- (copying fashions, emotional experiences, coping with different issues more sympathy to people)
4) Community-something to talk about, things to do with other people. Socialising etc.
..............................................................................................................................................................
-Radio 1 is trying to entertain and engage a broad range of young listeners with a distinctive mix of contemporary music with speech.
-Its target audience is 15-29 years
-And it should also provide some programming for younger teenagers.
-It should offer a range of new music
-Support artists especially the ones from the UK.
-Radio 1 is funded by TV licence
-Radio one has a YouTube channel with 1.4 billion views on their videos
-BBC radio 1 should provide education
-BBC have interactive forums allowing listeners to share experiences eg. phoning the radio
-The Breakfast show had 9.7 million listeners and the numbers are dropping to 5.7 million.
How dis the episode of the breakfast show that you have studied meet the remit of BBC?
Remit- is to educate, inform and entertain
The remit of the BBC is to educate inform and entertain. The BBC who produce Radio 1, is a public Service Channel. That means it does not sell advertising space and is owned by the public. The Radio 1 Breakfast show aims to support young artists from the UK, it aims to target audience between 15-30, they want to promote campaigns and have new and programmes on the radio channel that are relevant to young people. On Thursdays they have a throwback Thursday which will play retro music to appeal to a wider listeners. To reacha wider audience the channel needs to publicize across its wide range of media platforms such as YouTube, IPlayer, Virgin, Sky, Freeview, Freeset, DAB.
Now listen to the programme to complete the answer:
Introduction immediately address the essay question
Body of the essay give examples
-P,E,A/E
-Point- it aims to inform the audience throuh regular news bulletins every 30 minutes for instance
-Example
-Explain- this news topic will appeal to the target audience of 15-30 year olds.
Point-the breakfast radio show is entertaining and inter active with the audience for example.
The audience members can pick a song every half hour. Los of new artists promoted with tracks
Explain
Point:
There
How does the episode of the breakfast show that you have studied meet the remit of BBC?
Remit- is to educate, inform and entertain
The remit of the BBC is to educate inform and entertain. The BBC who produce Radio 1, is a public Service Channel. That means it does not sell advertising space and is owned by the public. The Radio 1 Breakfast show aims to support young artists from the UK, it aims to target audience between 15-30, they want to promote campaigns and have new and programmes on the radio channel that are relevant to young people. On Thursdays they have a throwback Thursday which will play retro music to appeal to a wider listeners. To reacha wider audience the channel needs to publicize across its wide range of media platforms such as YouTube, IPlayer, Virgin, Sky, Freeview, Freeset, DAB.
The remit of the BBC is to educate, inform and entertain. The episode that I have looked at was from 2017 which was broadcast on BBC Radio 1. The BBC who also have many Radio channels such as BBC Radio 4 Extra, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 1 ect. which are a PSC channels (Public Service Channel) meaning that it does not sell advertising space and it is owed by the public. So when
Thursday, 3 May 2018
Minecraft (Fact File)
Minecraft
Example Exam Questions:
Explain the impact of digitally convergent media platforms on video game production, distribution and consumption. Refer to Minecraft to support your answer.
Production
-How the games have been developed through time
-Convergent- means that you can have many things on it.
-Genre sandbox game
-Made in 2009
-Global games market is now worth in excess of US$ 100 billion and UK is 4 billion
-China is the fastest growing sector, currently enjoys US$ 24.4 billion versus America's US$23.6 billion.
-Improvement of the internet speeds has lead games to develop
-Minecraft is a sandbox game, created and developed by Swedish based Mojang Studios.
-It had started but wasent really popular as the company didn't have money fro advertising.
-The game was first placed on sites such as Penny Arcade.
-On January 2011 the beta version of the game had passed over one million purchases in just only one month.
-By April 2011 Persson estimated that US$33 million of revenue had been made.
-In November 2011.
-By 2012 it went on Xbox
-In 2013 Minecraft Pi edition meant for educational purposes for novice
-In 2014 Microsoft acquired Minecraft intellectual property for 2.5billion.
In 2015 it 121 official copies of the game have been sold across a variety of forms and platforms
Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Making an Advert (Shelter Advert)
Media Framework- Shelter Advert
-Who would be the intended audience for your advert and how is the best way to appeal to them?
- Who will be represented in the advert and why?
- Finally what media codes/ media language will you use to make the most effective advert?
a) The audience that the advert is going to be intended for is someone who has a similar problem as the characters in the advert. The audience will be shown how they became homeless just after an incident with they parents. this would make the audience feel sympathy for them and more connected will the characters.
b) Two girls will be represented in the advert which tell a story of how they became homeless after their parents got into an accident and how they got help from 'Shelter'. They would present the younger generation and how hard it is to get a house as the prices are very high especially for someone young who has a hard time finding a job.
d) Media language to use: -Different range of cinematography
- Keep the shots in dim light, so the characters look humble. - Use examples of celebrities that helped these sort of organisations to encourage people to donate and help 'Shelter'.
-The background sound should be serious and not upbeat music, more voice overs should be used.
- Statistics about the homelessness should be part of the voice over.
Planning and presenting ideas for Shelter Advert
1) Narration- telling the story of what happened to the sisters.
2) Add in Statistics about the homelessness in London
3) Ideas suggestions for music
4) Visuals- low light- to give it a serious mood
5) Range of shots to get the audience involved such as close ups.
Ideas for the advert:
-Walking past with his back to her
-She looks sad and lonely
-Representational code is good as her face is looking down and also looking down, she present someone who is down cast, that whole image plays a audience emotions
-She looks ordinary (she looks like a normal person who became homeless)
-The colour scheme was red ( it attracts peopels attension) (Connotation-what will it mean) (Denotation- description what you see)
-She is sitting against red fence which I choose to be the theme colour which connotaion suggest danger and also reminds people Shelter.
-She almost becomes invisible because she is homeless.
-It is a long shot (it works because it gives more information to the audience we get a idea of the weather which is better than a close up as it only focuses on on object/person
Media Institution
Instagram sponsored posts, Facebook,Twitter
Audience
15% of women in whole UK are homeless
we mainly see men being homeless
It would appeal to Uk people as the weather is really bad and they will feel bad how homeless people and staying in this weather all the time
When taking about audiece talk about passive audiences and active audience and talk about the hypodermic needle.
Media Frame Work
Representation
Media Language-(colors font)
Stills from the Advert:
Making a Poster for Shelter from the stills above:
The representation I choose was of a young homeless woman sitting by herself which looked better than other still as it is more appealing to the audience.
The representation I choose to use for Shelter Poster was along shot of a young homeless woman sitting by herself witch works because it gives more information to the audience, we get a idea of the weather which is better than a close up as it only focuses on one object/person.
This shot looked the best as we saw her face expression and the rest of the shot showed wet pavement, which showed how harsh it is to live on the streets in winter days. This shot also showed a person walking past her without noticing her. Also the representational code is good as her head is turned downwards which represents someone who is a down cast and almost invisible to other people just because they are homeless. This shot really plays on audience feelings, which is good because it will attract peoples attention.
Another, factor that was good about the poster was that it had many elements of red colour, which happens to be Shelters colour theme. The connotation of colour 'red' is associated with danger, blood, war etc. It this point 'red' suggests danger and also reflects characters feelings.
The reason we have chosen a young woman to play a homeless role was because now in many poster we a shown older men that are becoming homeless, but never woman especially young women. We have researched and found out that 15% of women in whole UK are homeless which is a shocking statistic. For this reason we wanted to have a younger woman in our poster to show that is doesn't matter the age or gender and that everybody can become homeless. This would make people be aware that homelessness is a serious issue and that the numbers of people getting homeless are growing throughout the years.
When making the poster I have used Photoshop to add statistics such as '1 million households are at risk of becoming homeless' and slogan 'Make a donation Save this Nation'. I have used different size front to show the importance of different words. I have also used a lot of colour 'red' to show the linkage to Shelter as it is mostly associated with red and white theme. Another, technique that I have used to get the audience to focus on the character is that I have made the whole image black and white except the character and the red fence behind her.
STATEMENT OF INTENT
Brief chosen:
Create an advertising campaign for Shelter aimed at raising awareness of homelessness amongst young people. Create a short advert for TV/online and a poster.
How do you intend to use the four areas of the media theoretical framework to communicate meaning and meet the requirements of your chosen brief?
The first area of the media framework is Media Industries. Before making our advert, we have researched about Shelters campaign and how they raise awareness about the issue of homelessness. We have looked online and managed to find Shelters official website and a YouTube channel where we found lots of their previous adverts. When researching we have found that Shelter uses social media to reach a wider audience and distribute their message about raising awareness about homeless people. Shelter uses Twitter and Instagram as it is popular among younger generation, knowing that it will get much attention through re-tweets, hashtags and shares. This is good advertising strategy, which is used by many charity campaigns. For our own advert we thought of uploading it on YouTube as this is the place where most people will see it. It could be placed on other videos and people would have to watch it before watching what their want. Another place would be Facebook as from our research I have found that there are 1.4 billion active users which visit Facebook on daily basis. This could increase the chance of people seeing the advert, who can also re-post it many times and reach an even wider audience. Another social media we would use is Instagram as it is more popular among young generation, which is our target audience. We would consider taking stills from our advert and posting them with the #donation4thenation which will link up with the poster campaign and any social media that we have used to promote our advert. Furthermore, we have considered to include a track called ‘Bridge over Troubled water’ by a famous artist Stormzy, as he spoke out about homelessness on many occasions. We could also ask him to re-tweet the advert which will grab more attention from the public because of his popularity among younger generation. The final idea about advertising our advert and poster was to display it on billboards outside Westfield shopping centre and on buses and underground in conjunction with TFL.
Additionally, it could be screened on TV, on channels such as ITV, BBC and Channel 4 between 5-6pm and in the mornings. The second area of the media framework is Audience. The target of our advert was to reach young people especially those under 25 and make them aware that homelessness is a serious and growing issue. This was not our only aim because we also wanted to show that it can happen with younger people as much as older people. The typical stereotype I advert are about old men who became homeless. As the director I wanted to change this stereotype and use younger actresses as this will appeal to our target audience and make them feel sympathy for them. We have researched that 15% of woman in whole UK is homeless. Therefore, we wanted to raise awareness about younger people who are homeless and especially woman because it is a serious issue, but not many people are concerned about it. The third area of the media framework is Representation. I chose to represent to young sisters who have lost a home due to an accident that happened with their parents. For example, we have used a long shot where the actress is sitting on the pavement, but she looks ordinary. The connotation is that she has recently became homeless, also suggesting to the audience that it can happen with anyone at any time. When filming the advert, we wanted to show that the characters looked vulnerable, which will play on people emotions and make them feel sorry of the characters. The final area of the media framework is media language. We have used a voice over in the advert to tell the story from the point of view of the characters. In the voice over we have included statistics such as ‘homeless people are 17% more likely to be attacked’. We had also used a flash back narrative in an mid eye level shot of the character talking to the camera to include with the voice over which portrayed a deeper meaning as the audience could see their face expressions and understand the terrible experience the characters went through. The main shots we have used were long shots because they gave more information about the character in the shot are their surroundings. One shot that I really liked and used it for the poster was a profile long shot of one of the actresses which was sitting on a wet pavement which connotates how harsh the conditions are on streets, which also makes the audience feel more emotive towards the character. Another key feature of this shot was that the actress was sitting next to a red fence and colour ‘red’ emphasises danger. In the beginning this shot was supposed to be used a time lapse, but we have thought that it looks good without the time lapse as you can see how people pass the character without giving her any attention. This show that people that are homeless are lonely and a considered as outcasts form that society as not pay any attention to them. Furthermore, when shooting the advert, we had poor weather which helped the shot look more grim and moody and show the reality of harsh conditions and how hard it is to survive during this kind of weather when you are homeless. Another, important element of media language we have used is adding emotive music to the background of our advert, which made it look more emotive and helped the audience understand that it is a serious issue. Finally, we have added graphics at the end of the advert such as contact number for Shelter and their website, so people would be able to fund the charity if they want.
Product 2 (Shelter Poster)
The first area of the media framework is media industries. I have used a still shot from the advert to create a poster, which was a profile long shot of the actress sitting on the pavement. The media platforms I would use to advertise my poster would be Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as they are the most popular media platform among younger generation. When posting the poster, I would use #donation4thenation as this is the hash tag I used on the poster and this will also link all the media together. Now younger people know how to use hash tags, so this will bring their attention and they might research more deeply about our advert and the issue about homelessness in UK. We also wanted to place the poster on YouTube, but it will not work as it is a still and YouTube supports videos, so instead of YouTube we would contact TFL and ask them if they can put our poster on busses and underground stations. The second media framework is audience. The audience we are aiming the poster at is younger generation as from a research we have found out that 86,000 young people have asked their local council for help because they are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. In our poster we have used a younger woman because we wanted to show that anyone can become homeless, but there are charities such as Shelter which help these kinds of people. Through using this shot people will understand the struggle these people are going through and will raise awareness about this situation. Other statistics that I have mentioned earlier was that 15% of all woman in UK are homeless, so through this poster we want to target them and show that it is not only old men that get homeless, but woman too and hope that this will make people raise money for the homeless. The third media framework is representation. We have represented a young woman in a profile long shot which looked better than other shots because it showed her facing down showing that she was lonely and isolated from the outside world. This shot also shows people walking past the actress showing the contrast between homeless people and the public and how homeless don’t get enough attention and are almost invisible. Furthermore, in the shot the actress sits next to a red fence and colour ‘red’ happens to be Shelters colour theme. The connotation of colour 'red' is associated with danger, blood, war etc. At this point 'red' suggests danger and reflects characters feelings. The colour ‘red’ will also remind the audience about the Shelters Logo.
The last media framework is media language. When making the poster I have used Photoshop to add statistics such as '1 million households are at risk of becoming homeless' and slogan 'Make a donation Save this Nation'. I have used different size front to show the importance of different words. I have also used a lot of colour 'red' to show the linkage to Shelter as it is mostly associated with red and white theme. Another, technique that I have used to get the audience to focus on the character is that I have made the whole image black and white except the character and the red fence behind her.
How do you intend to link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the digitally convergent nature of your media production?
To advertise our advert we would use social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube because this is the main and best advertising strategy. We would mainly use YouTube as this is where most people go especially young people. Our advert can be placed on videos, so when people watch something they will have to watch our advert before watching what they want. This may encourage them to help homeless people by donating money. To make the donation easy we could create a Go Fund me page where people would choose who to donate to. Also, it would be really important to place the advert on the official website of Shelter as people would see that it is not a fake advert, as it is on the official charity website.Finally, when posting our advert and poster we would include #donation4thenation on each social media platform we post on, so when people research this hash tag they wil find everything that is connected with our advert and poster. Hash tag is a really good starategy to link all media that has the same subject.
Shelter Poster:
Shelter Poster made using Photoshop |
Shelter Advert Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Thursday, 25 January 2018
Making an Advert (Inspire Advert)
Looking at Adverts
RESEARCH on ADVERTS (Looking at Examples)
Brut TV advert- with Henry cooper and Kevin Keegan 1972
- Uses of Lighting and Colour is really dim/blurry and doesn’t look good
-You cannot tell that it is a deodorant advert ( no slogan)
-Only few camera angles
Dior Homme Intense City-2016
-Retro style makes it more appealing to women and men
-Editing- fast jump cuts
-many camera shots
-Character looking at the camera –direct address which is a better style
when filming an advert
-Hyper-real referring him when in a film and in real life.
Dior Sauvage Johnny Depp-2017
-Many camera angles
-Symbolism- has city symbols which are compared to nature
What would make a good advert?
-Music which would be appropriate for the advert
-Information about the product or thing that the advert is made for
-Doesn't have to be long quick and easy to understand
-Direct address-looking at the camera
-Using a slogan if nessecery
-Having different camera shots
-Black and White scheme which appeals to both women and men
Include the following techniques (inter-textual references, binary
opposition, narrative theory)
-Inter-textual to a black and white scenery
What are the Advertising Standard Authority's
codes?
How many codes are there?- There are 32
broadcast codes
What is the new rule on gender stereotypes?- The
new rule is to ban harmful gender stereotypes
What is the new rule on portraying people under 18
in adverts? - The new rule is that advertisements
must not portray or represent anyone who is, or seems to be, under 18 in a
sexual way.
Name 2 items that are prohibited from advertisements? -All tobacco products
-Guns
Explain 2 items about causing harm and offense to viewers? - Animals not to be harmed or distrresses
-Not to encourage crime
Explain what an misleading advert is? - Has an misleading statement to misrepresent the product in a different way than it is actually is in real life e.g.- a product is actually different in size than it is shown in the advert.
Filming an Advert Process:
When starting to plan our advert we have looked at
other examples like Brut TV advert- with Henry cooper and Kevin Keegan
1972 which was one of the early adverts and Dior Homme Intense City-2016,
which was totally different not only from the quality, but also the use
different shots which looked really amazing especially the NYC views. Next, we
needed to understand what aspects of the advert make it a good advert, so we
discussed that, some of the ideas were that i should have: Information about
the product or thing that the advert is made for, Direct address etc.
It was also really
important to look at the law of advertising and what is accepted by
the Advertising Standards Authority to get an idea of what we can
put in our advert and what is illegal , so when we film our advert we stay in
the line barriers of the ASA law. Next we have planned our script including the
characters and the shots that we will be using. After we have have used a Go
Pro and a camera to take stills and some shots using the Go Pro to
get an idea of the locations we will be shooting and if the shots will look
good and will fit the story line.
Pre-Production
1)
First we have went to the locations and took stills, so we could discuss as a
group if these were good locations.
3) Filming process:
Information about the Advert
This advert was created for an aftershave called Inspire, which has inter textual reference to the famous Rocky montage sequence. We have decided to present the main character as a young male who is inspired to win a running competition and decides to train hard. The use of a younger character in the advert will appeal to a younger audience. The use of camera and different shots aims to show how the character has changed throughout the period he has decided to enter a running competition which was successful, as the different camera angles showed him training in the gym, running and his perspective. The target audience that the advert was aimed at was young people as well as everyone who wants to be inspired.
Script- Inspire Advert by Wave +Treatement
Scene 1: Int-
We see a college student (female). Mid shot spinning on a chair.
Scene 2:
Int- Mid shot of the same college student rocking from side to side. I will
film this on green screen so I can add a background when editing the footage in
Final cut Pro.
Scene 3:
Int- Mid shot of the girl who is being shouted at by the people she is surrounded
every day.
Scene 4:
Int- Long shot of the Wave girl who comes gradually comes closer to the camera,
using direct address. I will film this
shot using green screen and add background of lights, so it looks like cars are
passing by.
Scene 5:
Int- A close up shot on the college student face which will and when see looks
at the camera (direct address).
Scene 6:
Int- A long shot of the college girl
that has people around her which represent her problems. She will be crouched
holding her head showing that she is frustrated and tired. As she stands up the
people around her will fall which suggests that her problem were gone when she
was inspired by the wave girl.
Scene 7:
Credits e.g ( INSPIRE, by Wave, connecting with social media by
#inspireaimhigher).
Treatment:
Outline of the advert
The advert
shows a girl who is a college student who struggles and is not confident in
herself. The advert shows how other people that surround her are not happy with
her such as teachers and friends just like shown in the footage. This advert
will show how she will be inspired by the Wave girl and get confident.
Audience
Appeal
When making
this advert we had aimed it for teenagers and young adults from ages 15-23 to
show how you don’t have to be closed up in yourself, but try to open up to
people and to the world and then you will be much more happier and be less
affected by the problems in life. To have a wider appeal we have used a young
female character that is shown as a very unconfident person, but is helped by
the Wave girl which helps her grow from the inside. We see how she changes throughout
the advert and becomes more confident when she stands up and the people around
her fall, this represent the problems she has faced in the past.
Technical
Codes
To make my
advert emotional and inspiring I will use an upbeat music and put it as a
background track. This will make the viewer more emotional and help understand
how the main character has felt in the beginning. This also will give the
viewer hope and inspiration that anything is possible. Another element in my
advert I want to use is slow some of the footage down, for example in the
beginning when the main character spins on a chair. This will create a really
nice effect as the background music is also slower in the beginning. Finally I
would use a green screen when filming some of the footage as this will give me an
opportunity to put any background I want behind the characters.
Script- Inspire advert Advert+ Treatement
Scene 1:
Int- Mid shot going into a long shot following the main character as he is
about to leave the room.
Scene 2:
Int- Mid close up shot of the main character as he opens the door to leave the
room.
Scene 3:
Ext- Long shot of the main character walking in a crowded street.
Scene 4:
Int- Close up shot of the character looking and going through the poster that
he saw when walking in the street.
Scene 5:
Int- Extreme close up shot on the characters finger as he points to the reward
prize on the poster as this poster is a competition poster.
Scene 6:
Ext- Extreme close up shot showing the character tying shoe laces, which shows
that it’s a new day and the character is getting ready to train for the competition
that he saw on the poster because he wants to het the reward.
Scene 7:
Ext- Mid close up on the character putting his headphones in. This gives more
evidence that the character is going to train for the competition.
Scene 8:
Int- Mid shot of the character lifting weights. This gives more evidence that
he trains and getting ready for the competition.
Scene 9:
Ext- Long shot of the character running past the camera. This will be like a
training montage.
Scene 10:
Ext- The character running past the camera which will go into a long shot.
Scene 11:
Ext- Long shot of the character running.
Scene 12:
Int- A mid shot of the character doing pull ups. Shows how he trains in the
gym.
Scene 13:
Int- Close up of the same theme, the character doing pull ups, but only the
camera shows him from the side.
Scene 14:
Int- A low level shot of the character doing push ups.
Scene 15:
Int- Close up shot of the character doing push ups, but the camera will be
placed in the front. As the character looks up the shot will cut to the
credits.
Scene 16:
Credits e.g ( INSPIRE, connecting with social media by #inspireaimhigher).
Treatment:
Outline of Advert
This advert
shows a young man who is inspired to win a running competition. He starts
training and we see how he progresses from the beginning from the montage of him
running and training in the gym. The training montage an inter-textual
reference to the famous Rocky montage training scenes.
Audience
Appeal
My target audience
for this advert were teenagers and young adults from ages 15-23, so I decided
to have a theme about getting fit and healthy through doing sports, in the case
of the advert it is running. To have a wider audience appeal I have choose to
have a young male character whose age is similar to my target audience. This
will make the audience understand the character more and be interested in the story
plot.
Technical
Codes
The
technical codes that I was planning to use in the advert is to add an inspiring
up beat music on the background which will create an emotional feel toward the
viewers. I wanted the advert to have an inter-textual reference to the famous
Rocky montage sequence, so I would cut my training and running shots together
to create a montage. I was also planning to have some of my shots really dark,
so you can’t see the main characters face only the outline of his body and how
he is training. This will create a mysterious look and would be different from
my other shots as most of them I am planning to keep the same lighting.
Inspire Advert by Wave- STORYBOARD
LINK-https://drive.google.com/file/d/159VaN0chaq8HFP3ZyyrmtqLAqtrsoXmi/view?usp=sharing
LINK-https://drive.google.com/file/d/159VaN0chaq8HFP3ZyyrmtqLAqtrsoXmi/view?usp=sharing
LINK-https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a2RBJMC89LvOjDKdYGtoUCjTRU86W6fh/view?usp=sharing
Inspire Advert by Wave Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Statement of Intent
Brief Chosen: Create and advertising campaign for unisex deodorants
Media Industries:
Firstly, I have researched on other advert to have an idea
of how our advert should look like and how adverts create and advertising campaign.
I have looked online mainly on YouTube where I found most of old adverts. From
the research I understood that my adverts should be short, but it has to give a
straight message to the audience. I choose to advertise my advert on social media
such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram as these are the big industries that
are used by many advertising campaigns to get their message across. Another
reason I chose these media industries is because my target audience is young people,
mainly those form 15-23 yeas of age. And these are the most popular media
platforms among younger generation meaning that if I post a still shot form the
advert on these media platforms they will get much attention form the targeted
audience. On the other hand I can also use billboards and posters which can be
put on different transport such as busses in conjunction with TFL.
The second area of the media framework is Audience. The
target of our advert was to reach young people especially those under 25. We
also wanted to show that there are many people who struggle in everyday life,
but you must help one another and someone else would be inspired to her other
people in their time of need just like in the advert the Wave girl helped the
main character become more confident in herself. The typical stereotype I
advert are about men who are bullied or treated badly. As the director I wanted
to change this stereotype and use younger actresses as our brief is to make an
advertising campaign for unisex deodorants.
The third area of the media framework is Representation. I
choose to represent a younger woman in the advert because I wanted to have
something different as I said earlier men are mostly used in deodorant adverts
and I wanted to have a unisex appeal, so I have used a younger female actress.
The final area of the media framework is media language. I
have used an emotional, but upbeat instrumental in the background to make the audience
feel emotional and understand the struggles that the main character is going
through. This also made the track seem more pleasant to listen too as it helped
to understand the characters feeling and tell the sad, but inspirational story.
Another key element of the media framework I have used is greenscreen as it has
made the footage look better because I could choose any background I wanted for
the shot. The only problem I have faced when editing is that the lighting wasn’t
good, so some green was shown as lighting created shadow.
Product 2
Media Industries: The product 2 is the second advert I have
created and edited myself using the footage that I shot and some of my
classmates for the original inspire advert except I have made it different and
have added text and my music. The media
platforms I would use to advertise my advert would be Twitter, Instagram and
Facebook as they are the most popular media platform among younger generation.
When posting the advert on YouTube I would take a still shot form the advert
and add a hashtag #inspireaimhigher as this is the hash tag I used on the YouTube
advert and this will also link all the media together. Now younger people know
how to use hash tags, so this will bring their attention and they might
research more deeply about our advert.
Audience
As I have said previously my target audience for this advert
is under 25 years of age. Through this short advert I wanted to show that anything
is possible when you put effort into it. In the advert I have showed a young
person who get inspired to win a running competition and tries his best to get
fit and be healthy through training. The message I want to get across to my
audience is that anything is possible and encourage them to do more leisure
activities such as running.
The third media framework is representation. In my advert I
wanted to represent a young male character who is passionate about sports and
winning a competition. I have used a younger male character because my target
audience are under 25s.
The final media framework is media language. In the advert I
have used an inspiring up beat song to have an emotional effect on the audience
and understand the characters passion for sports. The background song has a
female voice, and this is because I haven’t used female characters in this short
advert, so I have decided to use a female voice in a song to have a unisex appeal.
In the end of the advert I have created font that is simple and looks old style
because it would appeal to the Inspire deodorant more than a bold title. I have
also added the #inspireaimhigher so all the media platforms that I have used
this hashtag to promote my advert will show up is you search this hashtag.
How do you intend to link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the digitally convergent nature of your media production?
For our own advert we thought of uploading it on YouTube as this is the place where most people will see it. It could be placed on other videos and people would have to watch it before watching what their want. Another place would be Facebook as from our research I have found that there are 1.4 billion active users which visit Facebook on daily basis. This could increase the chance of people seeing the advert, who can also re-post it many times and reach an even wider audience. Another social media we would use is Instagram as it is more popular among young generation, which is our target audience. We would consider taking stills from our advert and posting them with the #inspireaimhigher which will link up with the poster campaign and any social media that we have used to promote our advert.
Tuesday, 2 January 2018
Long Form TV Drama-Codes and conventions of Long Form Narrative
Long form Drama
Why did it come out?
Audiences were tiring and getting bored of 'before tn water shed' programming' PSB (Public Service Broadcasting) such as BBC has a remit to 'entertain, inform educate' the TV channel is funded by the viewers through license. Therefore viewers have got a lot of say about what programmers are on there, but the remit of the channel is basically educational.
Arrival of cable channels such as HBO
And also the arrival of the internet has meant that audiences world wire can now pick up and watch cable produced programmes and those programmes are alos bought by the streaming sites such as Netflix, Hulu and also eventually by Terrestial TV channels.
audiences prefer 'time shifting viewing' watching programmes at their own leisure and digital technology has made all this possible even for BBC for instance bbc iplayer.
Genre:
Terrestrial channels were and are genre heavy when it comes to drama
Downtown Abbey- heritage drama
Costume drama such as adaptations of Charles Dickens
#Cop shows# are another big TV drama in UK Line of Duty
Genres have fixed codes and conventions
That the audience knows very well
Was based on Binary opposites=narrative
Levi Strauss argues that all drama is made from binary opposites ie
-Good cop/ Bad cop
-Hero/Villain
-Child/Parent (soap)
-Husband /Wife conflict (soap)
Long Form Drama breaks down a lot of traditional types of story telling
Sopranos-main character Tony Soprano
Sopranos had an interesting twist in that the head of the mafia was trying to learn to be 'good' he broke down the 'good/bad' stereotype.
Breaking Bad-
Breaks down the stereo typical good/bad opposites narrative
The Walking Dead
Explores corruption and survival, families and communities.
The Wire another popular widely viewed and considered Long Form TV drama exploring life in an area that has economically collapsed Baltimore.
Long form drama has more complex portrayals of life and people.
Multi-strand narratives which means they follow many character's lives.
The length of time that the dramas cover
Many years in some cases means the characters and the stories develop deeply.
LFD as been compared to soap opera because of this
However LFD has cinematic values they are shot some times with collaboration of film studios.
Really good camera work and technical qualities
Good use of cinema language range of shots and music
High Production values
True Blood
Horror/fantasy long running series about an American town which is inhabited by shape shifters, vampires werewolf
Why has LFD developed?
1) Cable channels aren't dependent on advertisers.
2) Terrestrial commercial channel like ITV #sell advertising space in order to survive in other words advertiser can make or break a programme.
3)Public service broadcasting channel on the other hand is controlled by license fees and also having a public service remit- so this restricts the range of programming.
4)Cable channels have less restrictions and have been able to experiment with more daring and shocking and unusual drama.
Genre
Long form TV dramas are 'hybrid genres' they combine several different genres together
They use a range of visual codes and narrative conventions.
Story-telling forms of narrative is new and original in Long Form Drama-
The stories can be told from multiple points of view.
Representation of characters-
Can be in more depth
Inter-sectionality- (theory of representation) by Bell Hooks
Intersectionality looks at the ways representation combines for instance #Working class,Italian, female#
#Young man with disability#
Patriarchy- are they reflecting a world that is run by men and what is a woman's role within that?
Stereotypes- shot cut to knowledge and they are reflecting genre.
Archetypal characters- are characters types we would expect to find in different genres.
for instance Sheriff in a Western .
Homework
Watch one episode of each of these long form dramas
-The Walking Dead
-Breaking Bad
-True Blood
-The Wire
-Sopranos
Codes and conventions of Long Form Narrative
Write down definitions:
-Multi-strand narrative: is when stories have multiple plot narratives for example there could be 3 story strands that are linked at the end in the same story. (there are many plot lines this is used in e.g. Long form TV drama Soap Opera will have that).
-Cable TV: is a system in which the signals are transmitted through wires to people who are subscriber of the cable TV instead of broadcasting.
-'Water Cooler' Moments in TV: is a segment of something that was shown on TV and will be shown the next day as it is a controversial or exciting topic. Moments that people will tali about.
- VOD- 'Video on Demand': is an interactive TV technology which allows a subscriber to download programmes or anything that is shown on TV and view them later on their demand.
- SVOD- 'Subscription Video on Demand': is a service that allows a subscriber to have unlimited access to any TV programmes with full control allowing them to view anything they want at any time for a monthly subscription fee.
- Time shifting: is when you can record a program broadcast and store it in your storage which you can view it after at any time.
-Verisimilitude: The appearance of being true or real which is similar to the truth of something. (Event that has happened which is filmed in a similar place and reenacted in the same way)
-Surrealism: is an art form which combines dream like sequence.
Explain:
-Mid season break: when a Long form drama have a break throughout the season ending on a cliffhanger, this cause the build up audiences excitement and suspense.
-Easter eggs: these are hidden messages which give a deeper meaning to the Long Form drama.
Inter textual reference- is when one text refers to another.
Post Modern style is to make reference to many other art forms and Stranger Things has a clearly post modern style and refers to the 80's culture.
Narrative Arc- how a traditional narrative is portrayed throughout the story.
Ellipse- jump in time (this is uses in trailers)
Flash forward- looking into the future e.g. Breaking Bad when the first episode starts with the ending and then it shows how it got into that point throughout the film.
Narrative- the way the story is told.
In Mr.Robot- Breaks down the 'fourth wall' ( not looking at the camera) characters talks to the audience and narrates the story.
Fact file on Mr.Robot and Stranger Things
Mr. Robot Stranger Things
Date first aired: - December 13, 2017 -July 15, 2016
Channel: - USA Network -Netflix
Viewing figures: -1.210 million -14.07 million
Genre: -Drama -Science Fiction, Horror
Narrative Structure: -Direct address ( breaking the forth wall) - Uses inter textual reference of ET
Visual Codes: - - Visually referencing 80's films
Key elements of Long Form Drama (particular looking at Mr.Robot)
-Narrative- how the story is told
-Visual Codes- lighting costumes camera, mise-en scene
- Inter-textual reference- the Long form drama makes cultural references to other pop culture and art
- Can run for years the title tells us that it is Long
-Non linear narrative can start form he back and show how it has developed to this point
-Walking dead refers to 28 days later which is a low budget film
-Long Form drama tend to be hybrid genres not one clear genre (The Wire combines 'detective/drama/crime/social issue/thriller' genres .
-Influence of a style called 'neo-noir' which we see in many Long Form dramas
-Stranger Things hybrid genre- 'adventure/supernatural/thriller/horror/sci-fi
-Coming of age and Goonies film to watch
Narrative structure
-How the story is told
-Narratives traditionally are 'linear' (theorist- Todorov) who wrote that a classic narrative starts with 'equilibrium' everything is normal... Then a disruption occurs in the character's life...
-Linear- means time moves forward i.e. the story starts at 6 am and move forward continually. Also called a 'classic hollywood narrative'.
'Cause and effect' (Stranger Things)- a boy goes missing which leads to his friends searching from him, his family search.
-In Stranger Things quickly it leaves the traditional 'narrative'.
-Multi characters and multi thread narrative is typical of Long Form Drama
-Non-linear narrative (flash back,flash forward,ellipsis- jumps in time.)
-Story is also told through inter-textual referencing, if the audience understand the references they create part of the story, they interpret parts of the story.
Characters in Long Form Drama
-Game of Throne? Multi-narratives, multi-characters- complicated characters are an important feature of LFD.
-Propp argues that there are only a limited number of charcters in any drama- his character types are: hero, villain, false hero, the helper/ friend, the donor (they give the main character something important), princess character, princess's father (king character/king type character) false friend.
-In modern films you can still see the basics of these characters but sometimes they can be combined e.g. heroes helper and donor.
-Levi-Strauss argued that character and narratives were always formed from 'binary opposition' e.g. two opposite characters hero/villain. You need to have clashes/disagreements/disruptions as they make up the story.
-Characters are hybrid and more complicated in Long Form drama- the characters develop and change quite drastically.
-Long Form Drama does not follow the conventions of traditional narratives or characters.
Long Form Drama and 'Noir' style
-Long Form Drama has the style and influence of 'film noir'.
-Film noir was a low budget genre which started in the 1930's/1940's in USA.
Film noir was described in this way because of the use of lighting. Lots of dark shadows silhouettes and dramatic lighting.
-Made by the 'b' units that made 'b' movies.
-Shot on locations, shot often in the evening.
Example of film noir: The Third Man where mystery is created through lighting.
Use of the 'unreliable narrator' in film noir ( the voice over not always says the truth and plays with the audience as they can not rely on the narrative character).
Long Form Drama essay- How does Long form Drama engage to the audience with a new experience compared to traditional genre TV Drama?
Practice ESSAY
Long Form Drama engages the audience more compared to traditional genre TV drama because according to Neal audiences enjoy the repetition of genre as well as seeing new things added to extend the genre. This can be seen in the Long Form drama 'Wire' which has been going for approximately six years. From this we can conclude that audiences really enjoy sticking to one thing instead of jumping into different into different Long form dramas.
Also, Long form dramas intend to use hybrid genres where there is a combination of several genres together. This can be seen in 'Stranger Things' which has a combination of genres: sci-fi, horror fiction and supernatural. Hybrid genre also tend to use inter-textuality which attracts the audience more as according to Barthes theory 'texts that speak to each other' are more enjoyable to the audience. This means that Long form dramas that refer to other texts and have elements or other long form dramas tend to attract the audience more. This is shown in 'Stranger Things' as the main characters ride bikes in the style of 90' which has a reference to the film 'ET' where characters rode bikes as well.
Furthermore, in my opinion long form dramas engage the audience more than traditional TV dramas because people have the option of time shifting which means that you can watch any program at any time you want. This makes the audience more connected as they do not have to follow the time line of the long from drama they are watching. The option of time shifting makes viewing experience totally different and more enjoyable making the viewer more loyal throughout the years of long form drama as he can watch anything at any time at their leisure. Today there are many streaming websites that provide one these options for example Netflix uses time shifting and tends to attract audience more that traditional TV.
Besides, time shifting long form dramas use unusual narratives that are not used in traditional TV dramas, for example in 'Mr robot' the main character is the narrator of the story and speaks straight to the audience. This is called breaking the forth wall which is really interesting as the viewer feels more engaged with the character. This can be linked to Stuarts Hall's reception theory that producers encode media texts in order for the viewer to decode it and to see the hidden messages. This is similar to Mr.Robot as the main character in not really talking to the audience, but everything we hear is all in his head, but the viewer intends to think that he is talking to the audience.
In conclusion, long form dramas engage the audience more with a new experience compared to traditional genre of TV Drama as not all of them follow the linear narrative as for example the 'Braking Bad' uses a not linear narrative starting the plot of the story from the end and then showing how it got there. This tends not to follow Todorov's theory that all stories are told from linear narrative, but as an example of 'Braking Bad' non-linear narrative works great and still attracts many people.
Why did it come out?
Audiences were tiring and getting bored of 'before tn water shed' programming' PSB (Public Service Broadcasting) such as BBC has a remit to 'entertain, inform educate' the TV channel is funded by the viewers through license. Therefore viewers have got a lot of say about what programmers are on there, but the remit of the channel is basically educational.
Arrival of cable channels such as HBO
And also the arrival of the internet has meant that audiences world wire can now pick up and watch cable produced programmes and those programmes are alos bought by the streaming sites such as Netflix, Hulu and also eventually by Terrestial TV channels.
audiences prefer 'time shifting viewing' watching programmes at their own leisure and digital technology has made all this possible even for BBC for instance bbc iplayer.
Genre:
Terrestrial channels were and are genre heavy when it comes to drama
Downtown Abbey- heritage drama
Costume drama such as adaptations of Charles Dickens
#Cop shows# are another big TV drama in UK Line of Duty
Genres have fixed codes and conventions
That the audience knows very well
Was based on Binary opposites=narrative
Levi Strauss argues that all drama is made from binary opposites ie
-Good cop/ Bad cop
-Hero/Villain
-Child/Parent (soap)
-Husband /Wife conflict (soap)
Long Form Drama breaks down a lot of traditional types of story telling
Sopranos-main character Tony Soprano
Sopranos had an interesting twist in that the head of the mafia was trying to learn to be 'good' he broke down the 'good/bad' stereotype.
Breaking Bad-
Breaks down the stereo typical good/bad opposites narrative
The Walking Dead
Explores corruption and survival, families and communities.
The Wire another popular widely viewed and considered Long Form TV drama exploring life in an area that has economically collapsed Baltimore.
Long form drama has more complex portrayals of life and people.
Multi-strand narratives which means they follow many character's lives.
The length of time that the dramas cover
Many years in some cases means the characters and the stories develop deeply.
LFD as been compared to soap opera because of this
However LFD has cinematic values they are shot some times with collaboration of film studios.
Really good camera work and technical qualities
Good use of cinema language range of shots and music
High Production values
True Blood
Horror/fantasy long running series about an American town which is inhabited by shape shifters, vampires werewolf
Why has LFD developed?
1) Cable channels aren't dependent on advertisers.
2) Terrestrial commercial channel like ITV #sell advertising space in order to survive in other words advertiser can make or break a programme.
3)Public service broadcasting channel on the other hand is controlled by license fees and also having a public service remit- so this restricts the range of programming.
4)Cable channels have less restrictions and have been able to experiment with more daring and shocking and unusual drama.
Genre
Long form TV dramas are 'hybrid genres' they combine several different genres together
They use a range of visual codes and narrative conventions.
Story-telling forms of narrative is new and original in Long Form Drama-
The stories can be told from multiple points of view.
Representation of characters-
Can be in more depth
Inter-sectionality- (theory of representation) by Bell Hooks
Intersectionality looks at the ways representation combines for instance #Working class,Italian, female#
#Young man with disability#
Patriarchy- are they reflecting a world that is run by men and what is a woman's role within that?
Stereotypes- shot cut to knowledge and they are reflecting genre.
Archetypal characters- are characters types we would expect to find in different genres.
for instance Sheriff in a Western .
Homework
Watch one episode of each of these long form dramas
-The Walking Dead
-Breaking Bad
-True Blood
-The Wire
-Sopranos
Codes and conventions of Long Form Narrative
Write down definitions:
-Multi-strand narrative: is when stories have multiple plot narratives for example there could be 3 story strands that are linked at the end in the same story. (there are many plot lines this is used in e.g. Long form TV drama Soap Opera will have that).
-Cable TV: is a system in which the signals are transmitted through wires to people who are subscriber of the cable TV instead of broadcasting.
-'Water Cooler' Moments in TV: is a segment of something that was shown on TV and will be shown the next day as it is a controversial or exciting topic. Moments that people will tali about.
- VOD- 'Video on Demand': is an interactive TV technology which allows a subscriber to download programmes or anything that is shown on TV and view them later on their demand.
- SVOD- 'Subscription Video on Demand': is a service that allows a subscriber to have unlimited access to any TV programmes with full control allowing them to view anything they want at any time for a monthly subscription fee.
- Time shifting: is when you can record a program broadcast and store it in your storage which you can view it after at any time.
-Verisimilitude: The appearance of being true or real which is similar to the truth of something. (Event that has happened which is filmed in a similar place and reenacted in the same way)
-Surrealism: is an art form which combines dream like sequence.
Explain:
-Mid season break: when a Long form drama have a break throughout the season ending on a cliffhanger, this cause the build up audiences excitement and suspense.
-Easter eggs: these are hidden messages which give a deeper meaning to the Long Form drama.
Inter textual reference- is when one text refers to another.
Post Modern style is to make reference to many other art forms and Stranger Things has a clearly post modern style and refers to the 80's culture.
Narrative Arc- how a traditional narrative is portrayed throughout the story.
Ellipse- jump in time (this is uses in trailers)
Flash forward- looking into the future e.g. Breaking Bad when the first episode starts with the ending and then it shows how it got into that point throughout the film.
Narrative- the way the story is told.
In Mr.Robot- Breaks down the 'fourth wall' ( not looking at the camera) characters talks to the audience and narrates the story.
Fact file on Mr.Robot and Stranger Things
Mr. Robot Stranger Things
Date first aired: - December 13, 2017 -July 15, 2016
Channel: - USA Network -Netflix
Viewing figures: -1.210 million -14.07 million
Genre: -Drama -Science Fiction, Horror
Narrative Structure: -Direct address ( breaking the forth wall) - Uses inter textual reference of ET
Visual Codes: - - Visually referencing 80's films
Key elements of Long Form Drama (particular looking at Mr.Robot)
-Narrative- how the story is told
-Visual Codes- lighting costumes camera, mise-en scene
- Inter-textual reference- the Long form drama makes cultural references to other pop culture and art
- Can run for years the title tells us that it is Long
-Non linear narrative can start form he back and show how it has developed to this point
-Walking dead refers to 28 days later which is a low budget film
-Long Form drama tend to be hybrid genres not one clear genre (The Wire combines 'detective/drama/crime/social issue/thriller' genres .
-Influence of a style called 'neo-noir' which we see in many Long Form dramas
-Stranger Things hybrid genre- 'adventure/supernatural/thriller/horror/sci-fi
-Coming of age and Goonies film to watch
Narrative structure
-How the story is told
-Narratives traditionally are 'linear' (theorist- Todorov) who wrote that a classic narrative starts with 'equilibrium' everything is normal... Then a disruption occurs in the character's life...
-Linear- means time moves forward i.e. the story starts at 6 am and move forward continually. Also called a 'classic hollywood narrative'.
'Cause and effect' (Stranger Things)- a boy goes missing which leads to his friends searching from him, his family search.
-In Stranger Things quickly it leaves the traditional 'narrative'.
-Multi characters and multi thread narrative is typical of Long Form Drama
-Non-linear narrative (flash back,flash forward,ellipsis- jumps in time.)
-Story is also told through inter-textual referencing, if the audience understand the references they create part of the story, they interpret parts of the story.
Characters in Long Form Drama
-Game of Throne? Multi-narratives, multi-characters- complicated characters are an important feature of LFD.
-Propp argues that there are only a limited number of charcters in any drama- his character types are: hero, villain, false hero, the helper/ friend, the donor (they give the main character something important), princess character, princess's father (king character/king type character) false friend.
-In modern films you can still see the basics of these characters but sometimes they can be combined e.g. heroes helper and donor.
-Levi-Strauss argued that character and narratives were always formed from 'binary opposition' e.g. two opposite characters hero/villain. You need to have clashes/disagreements/disruptions as they make up the story.
-Characters are hybrid and more complicated in Long Form drama- the characters develop and change quite drastically.
-Long Form Drama does not follow the conventions of traditional narratives or characters.
Long Form Drama and 'Noir' style
-Long Form Drama has the style and influence of 'film noir'.
-Film noir was a low budget genre which started in the 1930's/1940's in USA.
Film noir was described in this way because of the use of lighting. Lots of dark shadows silhouettes and dramatic lighting.
-Made by the 'b' units that made 'b' movies.
-Shot on locations, shot often in the evening.
Example of film noir: The Third Man where mystery is created through lighting.
Use of the 'unreliable narrator' in film noir ( the voice over not always says the truth and plays with the audience as they can not rely on the narrative character).
Long Form Drama essay- How does Long form Drama engage to the audience with a new experience compared to traditional genre TV Drama?
Practice ESSAY
Long Form Drama engages the audience more compared to traditional genre TV drama because according to Neal audiences enjoy the repetition of genre as well as seeing new things added to extend the genre. This can be seen in the Long Form drama 'Wire' which has been going for approximately six years. From this we can conclude that audiences really enjoy sticking to one thing instead of jumping into different into different Long form dramas.
Also, Long form dramas intend to use hybrid genres where there is a combination of several genres together. This can be seen in 'Stranger Things' which has a combination of genres: sci-fi, horror fiction and supernatural. Hybrid genre also tend to use inter-textuality which attracts the audience more as according to Barthes theory 'texts that speak to each other' are more enjoyable to the audience. This means that Long form dramas that refer to other texts and have elements or other long form dramas tend to attract the audience more. This is shown in 'Stranger Things' as the main characters ride bikes in the style of 90' which has a reference to the film 'ET' where characters rode bikes as well.
Furthermore, in my opinion long form dramas engage the audience more than traditional TV dramas because people have the option of time shifting which means that you can watch any program at any time you want. This makes the audience more connected as they do not have to follow the time line of the long from drama they are watching. The option of time shifting makes viewing experience totally different and more enjoyable making the viewer more loyal throughout the years of long form drama as he can watch anything at any time at their leisure. Today there are many streaming websites that provide one these options for example Netflix uses time shifting and tends to attract audience more that traditional TV.
Besides, time shifting long form dramas use unusual narratives that are not used in traditional TV dramas, for example in 'Mr robot' the main character is the narrator of the story and speaks straight to the audience. This is called breaking the forth wall which is really interesting as the viewer feels more engaged with the character. This can be linked to Stuarts Hall's reception theory that producers encode media texts in order for the viewer to decode it and to see the hidden messages. This is similar to Mr.Robot as the main character in not really talking to the audience, but everything we hear is all in his head, but the viewer intends to think that he is talking to the audience.
In conclusion, long form dramas engage the audience more with a new experience compared to traditional genre of TV Drama as not all of them follow the linear narrative as for example the 'Braking Bad' uses a not linear narrative starting the plot of the story from the end and then showing how it got there. This tends not to follow Todorov's theory that all stories are told from linear narrative, but as an example of 'Braking Bad' non-linear narrative works great and still attracts many people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Making a Nordic Noir short scene
Planning Scene 1: A cloudy night sky. The dark silhouettes of the trees. A w...
-
Long form Drama Why did it come out? Audiences were tiring and getting bored of 'before tn water shed' progr...
-
Media Storyboard - Click to view the Link -The objective of this practice was to get an idea of what we will be doing when filming and...