American Beauty Mise En Scene

Facial Expressions            

Facial expressions are a key part to the mise en scene of a scene. The father on the right hand side of the clip is the only person that appears to be smiling, he also looks the most comfortable. Both the daughter and the mother are glaring at the father and appear to be angered or have hatred over the man on the right. The girl in the centre of the shot appears to be frustrated or angered, her overall appearance but most importantly her facial expressions give the impression that she is an ‘angsty teen’. The mother, located in the dark on the left side of the room, appears the most uncomfortable in the shot. She appears concerned and emotionless.

Hair and Makeup    

The man in the shot has short, yet informal hair, this may represent that he is the man of the house. However, he also has a slightly receding hair line, showing that he may be stressed out or has an angry personality. The child’s face is glowing, which signifies her purity and perhaps innocence, however she is also wearing very visible eyeliner, this gives off sexual, or seductive connotations. Opposite to this, the older woman, or mother on the left hand side of the photo is shown as being more worried about her appearance, her hair is very styled which may show she has a lot of spare time on her hands.

Costume            

The mum is wearing a formal looking silk shirt and multiple items of jewellery, however, opposite to this her daughter is wearing more informal clothing, showing she is less worried about how she looks, giving the  idea that she is simplistic or unique. The dad is wearing more mature clothes, showing his age and resenting that he is probably quite sensible.

Framing   

The people in the shot are all spaced out, showing the families problems and the fact that they may not all get on. The girl is framed in the centre of the photo, showing she is breaking the parents apart. The majority of the props in the shot are centred around the girl, this may also suggest that she is the centre of attention.

Lighting                                                                                                                                                                                 

The girl in the centre of the shot is the most lit in the family, the adults are in the dark which may show that their relationship isn’t very strong and the only thing keeping them together is their child. All electrical lighting in the shot are turned off and are unused, the candles are the only source of light, the light provided by the candles are temporary, representing the child and the fact she will leave when she id old enough.

Body Language  

The girl in the shot is shown as being the most relaxed by body language. This is portrayed through the fact that she is slouching whilst both of her parents are sat more formally. The man on the right hand side of the shot, or the father, is leaning in towards the table, this shows that he is trying to make an effort and feels the most comfortable around the table. In contrast to this the mother is leaning as far away as possible from the table. Her fists are clenched showing that she may be angry or frustrated. Both of the parents differ from the child as they have their elbows leant off the table, whereas the girl is using her elbows to lean on the table. This may show the girl’s disrespect for her parents.

Props/Colour                                                                                                                                                                  

Props are used to show different things about separate characters, for example the mother has a glass of wine whilst no other member of the family is drinking alcohol, this shows that she may be stressed. The majority of the colour in the shot is also centred around the girl, showing that she is the centre of attention. Both parents are wearing blue, the surrounding area is also mainly blue, such as the table cloth. The girl’s red shirt stands out against the mainly dull scene and gives connotations of love, danger, evil and possible sexual ideas.

Disability in TV Drama

Disability in TV Drama

Paul Hunt is a theorist that came up with many different theories that reflect how people with disabilities are reflected in media. He named ten stereotypes that regularly occur in TV drama.

One of these was the idea that disabled people are portrayed as being pitiful or weak. People with disabilities are often shown as being too pathetic to look after themselves and other have others in the TV drama to do this. Shots used for this stereotype tend to be high angle or level with the person in the wheel chair to show that they are somewhat pathetic and week because of the state they are in.  There are many different stereotyped characters that are represented in this way in TV drama such as Artie from glee that is shown as trying hard to fit in, as he wears the same type of clothes as other people for his age.

Disabled people are also used in TV to be seen as strange, different or something to be curious about.  These types of disabled people are presented as being unusual or odd in comparison to able bodied people, whereas they are really just the same as able people. An example of this disability is the turtle boy who has been on multiple TV programs about his disability.

Disability is also represented through the idea that they can be ‘super cripples’. The idea of a sporty and heroic disabled person is represented as being almost like a miracle and something to be astonished by, whereas in reality they have just as much chance of becoming a professional athlete as any other able bodied person.  Examples of heroic disabled sport figures are such athletes as Ellie Simmonds.

Comedic elements are also used when representing disabled people in media. In many aspects of TV and film disabled people are used to create humour. For example, the character Joe Swanson from the TV program family guy is seen as a humour element in the program by the other characters making jokes about his disability. This disability provides pleasure in someone else misfortune. Because family guy is a comedy it encourages people to laugh and take the mick out of Joe this could influence society to do the same in reality.

Disabilities are portrayed as being scary or having twisted thoughts that any normal able person wouldn’t have. It is more of a mental disability that a physical a good example of this would be the joker from batman as he is portrayed as an evil character. This is further emphasises in the dark shots with little lighting to further show that he is a sinister character.

Gravity

“Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices”. To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?

I agree with this statement as the majority of films that make a large, successful profit, have good distribution companies working with their films. A film needs distribution to make a decent profit as the largest films take advantage of the wide variety of formats that films are now available on. Large, successful distribution companies such as Twentieth Century Pictures, work alongside big blockbuster films so that both are able to make the most amount of money possible. For example 'The Avengers' was released in 2012, directed by Joss Whedon, the film was distributed by Walt Disney and Paramount Pictures. The films all A List star cast and the fact that the two distributors are some of the largest in Hollywood and in the world meant that The Avengers was able to gross over $1.5 billion. The equally as large budget of $220 million was completely overtaken. Films with smaller distribution companies, directors, budgets and actors regularly make less money than others. An example of film that didn’t make its money back is Dredd, the 2012 the remake of the British comic series only made $41 million at the worldwide box office. The film was distributed by Entertainment Film Distributors, which, in comparison to Paramount, is a small distribution company. The film was released on fewer formats and didn’t manage to make any of its $45 million budget back. As well as the distribution of the film the media productions helped in the failure of this movie. The films low budget only allowed for limited special effects, meaning visually the film wasn’t very impressive. The cast wasn’t A list and the niche audience all contributed to the low gross this film made. This goes to prove that if a film wants to make a profit, or come close to making any of its money back then it needs to get distribution from a large, famous company and allow a big enough budget to create good special effects and get an appearance rom at least one big name. An exception to the rule of fancy media productions and high budgets is the Grand Budapest Hotel. Wes Anderson’s 2014 comedy had a budget of $31 million and managed to get a gross of $59,076,019. This film succeeded due to the nature of the actors starring in the film. Wes Anderson is a renowned Hollywood director and managed to get many A list stars to feature in his film, because of this the film managed to gain a larger audience. This low budget film goes against the rules of a film having to have large special effects to gain a large gross.

The use of marketing of films works in the same ways as distribution does. A film needs to have a good marketing campaign if it wants to be able to do well at the world box office.  Films spend a lot of money on marketing to ensure that their film can do the best it possibly can and create the largest total gross possible. For example, the entire budget of the Avengers was $220 million, over $100 million of this large budget was spent purely on marketing. This is a good example of how marketing is a key factor in the success of a blockbuster movie. Even lower budget films are helped by a successful marketing scheme. For example The Grand Budapest created a very successful marketing campaign. Including extras included with the DVD and Blu Ray disks. The films trailers, posters and other marketing features were created to help sell the film to different audiences worldwide. Different forms of marketing are used by different films to attempt to draw large crowds to see the film. Social media is commonly used by marketing schemes to further advertise the movie. Sites such as twitter and Facebook are used to spread the word and share clips or trailers from the film. Marketing is a crucial part of creating a large gross for the production. If the marketing of a film is unsuccessful then the film is likely to be also. How much a film is marketed or spread around allows the film to become more successful.

I agree that distribution and the use of different media productions is a crucial part in the success of a film as without these two factors, a film would be less  advertised and less developed, meaning less people would go and see the movie.

The Street Representation of Disability through Editing

The Street Editing

Sherlock Holmes Representation of Gender

Representation of Gender - Sherlock Holmes

Gender is represented in many different ways throughout different forms of media.

In this clip mise en scene is used to represent different stereotypes of gender. The dark walls of the room represent the anger and violence that men are capable of. The only lighting in the room comes from the fire that allows Holmes to escape, this is used to foreshadow that the fire will help him when it comes to leaving. The men in the first scene are sat in a dark cart, this represents that these men are dangerous and that men as a gender are more violent and dark than women. Clothing is also used within mise en scene to represent gender. The main character in the clip wears a dirty white shirt with his sleeves rolled up. This is used to imply that Holmes gets thoroughly into his line of work and doesn't mind getting dirty hands. This is used to make Sherlock attractive to women. In this clip he is represented in a heroic manner and also as a man that doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, this is done intentionally to make him attractive to women and works similarly to Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory, except in reverse. When Sherlock gets on the boat the women hands him a towel, representing that women's purposes only lie in a motherly role, as she does nothing else to help Holmes.

The sound in this clip is used to represent gender stereotypes in a similar way to mise en scene. The sound in this clip is used to build up tension, as it gradually increases in volume. The emphasis in the sound when the males are fighting further increases the point that this is very stereotypical of a man being loud and boisterous. The only change is sound and music takes place when Sherlock gets onto the boat, with the women, showing that he feels safe when she is there. This could also further increase the idea that women are too weak to fight and get endangered as there is no threat when she is present. During the scene on the boat every character speaks, except the women, this shows that at the time the film is set women's opinions weren't seen as valid or needed, as they were also seen as being less intelligent and less important. Aside from being present on the boat the women does nothing to help rescue Sherlock, this further emphasises the idea that women are the weaker gender and don't like to get their hands dirty.

Gender is also represented through the use of editing. Different editing techniques are used in this clip, this allows different representations to be made. Editing is used to represent gender when the flashbacks take place. The scenes in the flashbacks appear dangerous and violent, this is shown through the connotations of the redish tint that the scene has, the fact no women are present in these flashbacks further represents that idea that only men get involved in dangerous and violent activity. Camera angles and shots allow the audience to get different views on different characters in the clip. A close-up shot is the only shot used when the women is present on screen, this represents the narrow minded view that many men had when this film is set and when it comes to women, which is that they are inferior and less intelligent to men.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl - Representation of Disability

Secret Diary of a Call Girl - Representation of Disability

The majority of the people in the world take disability as a serious issue. In the clip, the disabled boy is shown as weak and pitiable as he is unable to complete many simple tasks by himself, such as climbing up stairs, drinking and taking off his clothes.

In the first scene the women opens the door to her flat and the camera lowers its lens to look at the boy in the wheelchair. This gives the impression that people look down at people with disabilities and they are weaker than everyone else. As the boy enters the flat the audience can see the deep red walls which could signify love and kindness of the women. In many of the angles in this scene the dad is stood behind the boy in the wheelchair, however you cannot see the boy because the camera is too high, this represents that disabled people are often overlooked by society.

Later in the clip the boy is shown helpless as his dad has to help him get onto the bed, obviously this shows his helplessness, it also is a suggestion that the rest of people with disabilities are the same. The girl shows concern for the boy and doesn’t lock the door as she is worried the boy will be scared, this also shows a suggestion that disabled people are weak and incapable of looking after themselves.

The boy is positioned on a bed covered in multiple cushions and thick duvets, this signifies the protection that society thinks disabled people need, when it isn’t always necessary. When the boy is handed a glass of champagne he is unable to hold it and appears to be not experienced with alcohol, this may represent that disabled people don’t socialise and go out drinking as much as any other person would.