Preliminary Poster Analysis

The first poster i analysed was from a film called 7500. This film is about a flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo. The passengers start to experience supernatural occurrences on the flight.

I used the program Photoshop to annotate the image of the poster, this is due to fact that Photoshop is easy to work with.

The second poster i analysed was from the film Into The Storm, this is a film about a group of people who document an unforeseen onslaught of tornadoes which hit their town called Silverton. 

I used the online web tool Szoter to annotate this poster. By using the tools included with Szoter i was able to embed a link and image in HTML. This is great tool which can be used online or offline if you have the desktop app to annotate different types of documents.

http://i.szoter.com/e0e921372eb99000.jpg

Genre Explained

What Is A Genre?

A genre is a style or category of a piece of media, genre originates from the french word for type. You can also have sub-genres and hybrid genres. 

What Are Conventions?

A convention is considered an idea which we share about certain genres. It is unlikely that you will see all of the conventions in one particular piece of media. We find pleasure in knowing what might happen in media due to common conventions with particular genres of media however we are also open to the fact that our expectations may be wrong.

What Is A Sub-Genre?

A sub-genre is a more specific way of thinking about a piece of media. Music is one type of media which has a lot of sub-genres in it, for example within the genre Rock you can have the sub-genres of Alternative Rock, Heavy Metal as well as some others. 

What Is A Hybrid Genre?

A hybrid genre is a genre which blends from two or more different genres together in one particular piece of media. Film is a type of media which has a few hybrid genres in the industry. For example there is a hybrid genre know as a Rom-Com, this is a cross between a romantic film and a comedy film. Another example of a hybrid genre would be a comedy horror film.

How Do Genres Evolve Over Time?

Different genres come from everywhere for all different types of media however it is only ever truly considered a genre if a whole range of different people can recognise it. The music industry is constantly coming out with new genres. The different music genres would've evolved over time as more ways were found to produce different types of music and as musicians came up with different styles of music. This lead to influential individuals in the music industry such as artists to define there new style under a new genre, once they defined it by this genre other artists produced music which fell into that genre causing the genre to widely recognised.

What Is Iconography (Outer Form) And Thematic Categorisation (Inner Form)?

Iconography will be used to describe the visual elements of a genre. It is a important aspect of genre. We will expect to see certain objects on the screen when we know what genre of film or tv show we are watching, for example if you are watching a western you expect to see dusty roads, saloon bars, sheriffs as well as other objects which we associate with that genre. Another example is with a modern horror movie, we would expect to see young girls/boys, normal objects of the time, use of dark light, dramatic music, as well as others. Thematic Categorisation is when films have the same themes. A good example of this is teen movies which generally work around the same theme which is basically of a coming of age, sometimes there will be a prom involved. A teen movie is not the only genre which has a coming of age theme around it as there are some others. Another example is in western films where the theme is generally that justice is found. Although this theme is in other movie genres as well such as a crime film, it is used on a regular basis with western films.

How Can The Audience Use Genre?

Genre can be used by audience to categorise what films they like to watch, it helps the audience to identify what film they would like to watch next as that film would be categorised under a genre which they already know they like.

How Can Producers Use Genre?

The producers will be able to produce a film tailor made for a high grossing target audience by looking at what the popular genres are at the current time. This allows the producers to maximise their profits and also maximise their viewing figures. For example if they know that the comedy genre is more popular than the sci-fi genre then they are more likely to produce a film in the comedy genre as it is more likely to make more money due to the larger target audience for the comedy genre.

What Are The Problems With Genre Theory?

I think that one of the main problems with genre theory is that individual groups of friends can come up with their own genres to define types of media. This becomes a problem when they try to define a certain type of media to a person from a different group of people.  I think that for a genre to be truly recognised and used it has to be understood by the industry of that media as well as outsiders of that industry of media in order for it to be an effective genre.

Genre Typecasting

Genre typecasting is when an actor is cast in accordance to other films which they have been in relating to different genre. 

One example of an actor who has been typecasted a lot is Arnold Schwarzenegger. You will usually see him in action films such as the Terminator Series, Predator, The Expendables as well as others. The common thing about all of these films is that they are action films. This shows how clearly he has been type casted. Actors can become bored of playing the same roles repeatedly so sometimes they try to break free of their typecasting.
Arnold Schwarzenegger did this when he got the role for kindergarten cop. Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to play this role in order to get rid of his typecast of being an all out action film star. The fact that he was a bodybuilder before going into the film industry didn't help as the producers of action movies will be looking for some strong and tough whereas the producers of a comedy movie will be looking for someone with a totally different description. Having a role in this film did not allow Arnold to break free of his typecast. Another film where Arnold was typecast wrongly was Junior, this was a film about   a man who agrees to become pregnant for a fertility research program. This something that the audience does not expect to see in this kind of film genre. As we are so used to seeing him in action movies it will make it awkward seeing him in a totally different genre of film and come sometimes be unsatisfying for the audience.

Another Actress who is strongly typecast is Sandra Bullock. She is generally typecast in Rom-Com's. She usually just plays herself when acting and does not generally have to alter her character to much in order to fill a role. The film industry has given her the title America's Girl Next Door. Again in this case Sandra Bullock has tried to get rid of her typecast however Sandra Bullock was more successful than Arnold Schwarzenegger when doing this. Sandra was cast in the sci-fi film Gravity which is different to any film genre she has had before. So strong was her performance in gravity that she was awarded the best actress oscar award for her role in the film. This shows that although an actor is type-casted a lot of the time they will be able to fulfil a different role to a strong extent and maybe even broaden their type cast.

Semiotics Explained

Semiotics can be defined as the study of signs/symbols and how people interpret them. A sign is composed of two parts, the first being the signifier. The second part of a sign is the signified, this is the meaning we take from it. For example if the signifier is the word plane, the signified will be an image of a plane.

Types Of Sign:

We will understand visual signs in the same way in which we understand words.

If we see 5 different images of a ruler although the signifier is different the signified is the same.

Different Types Of Sign:

Iconic Sign

• This is a sign which will resemble what it is signifying, for example the use of a wheelchair would signify that something is for a disabled person.

Arbitrary Sign 

• This type of sign only signifies something because we all agree that it does. All words are arbitrary sings, for example Cheese, Fromage, Käse, Formaggio do not resemble: 

Symbolic Sign

• This is a sign which is a mixture of an iconic and arbitrary sign. It is referred to as a symbolic sign because it signifies much more than its iconic significance. For Example a road sign for a crossing, if interpreted as a iconic sign you weed see a man whereas the actual meaning is that it is a man crossing a road:

 Indexical Sign

• Indexical signs are meant to indicate something by association 

For example a picture of smoke would indicate fire, or in this case as the person is smiling (making an expression) it is an index of feeling:

Denotation And Connotation:

• Denotation is where the sign is referring to the actual meaning of the signified concept.
• Connotation is where the sign refers to the meanings associated with the signified referent or concept.

Denotation - This rose denotes that is a white rose with a green stem.

Connotation - The rose connotes purity and pure love.

Codes:

What Are Technical Codes?

All of the below are different technical codes:

• Sound
• Music
• Camera Shots
• Editing Of Movie
• Lighting
• Mise En Scene (What Is In Scene)

What Are Written Codes?

All the below are different written codes:

• Headlines
• Captions
• Speech Bubbles
• Style

What Are Symbolic Codes? 

• Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see, for example a characters actions show you how they feel.

Story And Plot

The story and the plot are two very similar subjects. The term story is quite often used as synonym for plot. These two terms are so similar that it can be hard to find any differences.

Plot can be defined as a sequence of events organised into a story with a particular structure.


A good example where you can see the differences between the two is Little Red Riding Hood.

The story is the events that occur, the little girl in the red cloak meets a wolf in the woods. The wolf later pretends to be the little girl’s grandmother and eats them both up. The hunter cuts the wolf open and both the girl and the grandmother emerge unharmed.

The plot is the way these events are told. For a fairy tale like this, the most common method is starting the story with, ‘once upon a time’, then presenting the events in chronological order and concluding with, ‘and they all lived happily ever after’.

This fairytale above is a linear narrative. This is when events unfold chronologically with a clear beginning, middle and end. The story will involve techniques such as dialogue, conflicts and obstacles for the character to overcome.

Although both the story and plot are very similar if you use an example you will be able to distinguish between them.

Propp & Todorov Trailer Example

Introduction:

In this post i am going to be analysing a movie trailer for a film which has not yet been released. I am going to highlight the different character roles which Propp states in his theory and also i am going to bring Todorovs different stages of equilibrium into it as well. I am going to be analysing the hunger games : mockingjay.

Propp:

• Hero - Katniss Everdeen
• Villain - President Snow (The Capitol)
• Donor - The Nuclear District (All Of The Left Over Nuclear Material)
• Dispatcher - President Coin (Leader Of The Rebellion)
• Helper - Gale & Other Members Of The Rebellion.
• Prince - Peeta Mellark (Her Husband)

Todorov:

Equilibrium:

Katniss is content with life after winning the hunger games however she just wants her sister Primm to be safe.

Significant Event/Disruption:

She finds out that the capitol has her husband Peeta and decides to go after him, stopping at nothing to reach him.

Climax:

After fighting with the rebellion she manages to get Peeta back from the capitol and president snow.

New Equilibrium:

She has Peeta back and returns to live a happy life in district 13.

Trailer:

Vladimir Propp Example With Images

Introduction:

In the second book of harry potter the character roles which Vladimir Propp has given us can be clearly determined upon either reading the book or seeing the film.

Character Roles:

• Hero - Harry Potter.
• Villian - Tom Riddle.
• Donor - Fawkes the phoenix, provides Harry with the sorting hat which in turn provides him with the Sword of Gryffinndor.
• Dispatcher - Moaning Myrtle.
• False Hero - Professor Gilderoy Lockhart.
• Helper - Ron Weasley and/or Hermione Granger.
• Princess - The princess is Ginny Weasley.
• Father - In this case i think that the father is Dumbledore because he rewards Harry after Ginny is rescued by Harry. Dumbledore can also be seen as a fatherly figure.

Vladmir Propp Summary

Introduction:

Vladimir Propp is a Russian critic and literary theorist. He analysed over 100 fairy tales in 1920. He believed that there was a way to define characters into clearly defined roles and different functions.

Character Roles:

• The Hero (He is seeking something)
• The Villain (He opposes the hero)
• The Donor (They help the hero by providing a magic object)
• The Dispatcher (He will send the hero on their way)
• The False Hero (They will falsely take the role of the hero)
• The Helper (They will support the hero)
• The Princess (The reward which the hero is seeking)
• The Father 

Todorovs Theory : Film

Equilibrium:

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) has been divorced from his wife for a while, however he is content with the life he has at the moment but he does not get on with his daughter very well at all.

Significant Event / Disrupton:

Whilst on holiday in Paris with her friend Bryan's daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) is kidnapped by criminals who are working within Paris.

Disequilibrium:

Bryan manages to find her by interrogating people who work for the criminal organisation in Paris and following different clues. 

Climax:

Bryan manages to get Kim back and gets her out of Paris after finding her location and overcoming some more obstacles.

New Equilibrium:

The equilibrium has been restored and Bryan and Kim have a much better relationship than they did before. This helped by the fact that Kim as an aspiring singer gets singing lessons from a pop star Bryan met whilst he was doing security work for her.

Todorovs Theory

1) Equilibrium:

This is when the story is in balance, we will get introduced to the characters and location of the story. Everyone is usually happy at this point.

Example:

A family is all happy, they are about to go on holiday together to Barbados. They are all looking forward to it. 

At this point there is equilibrium.

2) Significant Event / Disruption:

This when an event will disrupt the equilibrium to a point in which that everything is out of balance.

Example:

The families child goes missing whilst they are at the beach. 

3) Disequilibrium:

The protagonist recognises that the equilibrium has been disrupted in some way. The protagonist will then find a way to restore equilibrium.

Example:

The father starts looking across all of the beach, but the problem is that he can't speak the same language as the locals.

The language barrier is his obstacle, in order to overcome this he shows the locals a picture of his child.

4) Climax:

This is where the protagonist has a final obstacle to overcome, leaving two resolutions. This the point where the drama is highest.

Example:

The locals have said that they have seen the child on the beach and walking back towards the families hotel. The tide is coming in and the beach will be closed off. The father decides to go back to the hotel.

5) New Equilibrium:

This is when the equilibrium has been restored, usually to an equilibrium which is better than the original equilibrium. 

Example:

The father goes back to the pool at the hotel and finds the child sitting with another family who are from the same country as them, he hugs his child and then starts to speak with the family who his child was with. They become good friends and spend the rest of the holiday together.

Introduction

My name is Joel Tiley, i am 17 years old and i am studying Photography, Media and ICT at Collingham VI College. I'm interested in Graphic Design which links in quite well with media. I also enjoy taking photos in my spare time which helps toward the photography subject. London is a really good location to film and take photos as there are a diverse range of locations and shots.