Film Production Company Case Study

Film Production Company Case Study

Sket Overall. - Unfinished.

Gender Homework. ~ Dr Who

Homework

In this clip extract of Dr Who, the gender is shown through camera angles, sound, mise-en-scene and editing. 

To begin this clip, a medium camera shot was used upon a female character who is shown to have two male security guards behind her. This shot alone shows the audience how the masculinity is shown only with the males as they are shown to dominating and powerful over the feminine character who is shown to be captive. A tracking shot of two maids and another imprison-er was shown to be standing with another guard. Once again these three characters were shown to be vulnerable with their facial expressions whilst the guard on the other side resembled a masculine pride as he holds the gun up to them. A low angle of a medium shot was placed in straight after this shot, of a male character containing a masculine appearance and behavior. This was through the stereotypical outfit he wore e.g. the suit but also how the camera angle makes him look more dominating and fearless unlike the camera movements and shots upon the feminine characters. The tracking shot in which was used to follow the feminine women's character's movement, was used for a sense of reality to the characters but also glide and show how she becomes more feminine based on appearance with the contrasts of the obvious masculine characters but also how she walks across to the main character with a glide but also her body swinging with every movement. 

Furthering on from this, a low angle shot was used to establish the difference between the masculine characters and the feminine characters. Whilst these gender's were stereo-typically placed between both sexes, the masculinity was mainly shown through the action seen as he lean down a little with his arm out-stretched which shows commanding and authority over the victim. As he is shown to be the masculinity, he is also shown to have the power and plans as he becomes over dominating and stronger. This contrasts hugely against the female character in the background, who is shown to be more quite and less involved, who also stands there, like she's casually 'eye-candy'. She is also shown to be more vulnerable and weak to the audience as she does not take the reign of having power and domination over the victim like the masculine character does. Once again this also contrasts against another women known as the victim who's outfit through mise-en-scene shows that she may be in the lower status, but she continues to have power through her masculinity with the way she dresses which in fact can actually hide any strength or any secrets from the villain.

Continuing on from this scene, we are introduced to the masculine Doctor through a medium camera shot, who is shown to be surrounded by an extremely radiant blue light through his transformation of an old man to a younger version of himself. Even though this is shown to be a power, the masculinity of the Doctor himself is still shown to over-throw the other male character as the other character starts to become more feminine with vulnerability and fear instead of standing up for his own ground. Even the quick medium close up shot's of the feminine female character shows how weak she really is in an object manner as she joins the more masculine Doctor in the end. This only shows feminine characters as objects in which would choose who's more masculine to stand by and become protected by, as they are unable to fight for their-selves or say a word in which would cause corruption. Moving on from this as well, when both the masculine characters are shown together, they are shown to fight each other in a more sci-fi powered way. This represents how masculinity is supposedly fought over and controlled by the most powerful. 

The editing used was mainly the quick paced cut ins of each scene. By using these quick paced cut in's, the audience can quickly see the power in which ranges between the feminine character and the masculine characters through different camera angles in their own conversations but also the speed in which shows how feminine characters are usually not meant to have the 'spot light' due to being to weak and vulnerable to control it. A flash back was also shown through editing with a crosscutting of the scene of a women struggling through rough weather. This women is only shown to be masculine due to her strength and ambition of getting to the finish line in this flash back as she is shown to not back down to natural problems. She continues to show this masculinity as she is able to perceive on-wards and tell other people of all ages her own thoughts and stories as she becomes the 'spot-light' and takes control. This whole clip shown continuity through out to show how the further time moves forward, the more sex of people change from the stereotypes they are placed through at birth, into the opposite genders. This continuity also gave a sense of reality to the audience, as the clips moving forward in time show a more real outcome.

Sounds were used in this clip throughout. The non-diegetic sound was used with mood music. This mood music was used to build tension with the masculine character to show the features of being feared of, aggressive, powerful and non-stoppable. With the mood music being strong with sharp noises from the first scene which appears, the audience are easily manipulated over, into believing that there is no hope for help with the feminine characters as they're too weak whilst the other masculine side characters are shown to be so feminine against the main villain. Continuing on, diegetic sounds such as the women's laughter shows how femininity can quickly change within certain ways. This diegetic sound of the feminine women's laughter is shown to be timid at the beginning before she becomes more powerful and feared of as the confidence is shown through her loudness. This reveals that feminine characters can and sometimes will over power the masculine characters in unique ways. This also fought against stereotypes laid in media, as the feminine character should never come into more power and reach of being the villain than the masculine character.

Sexuality Homework.

In this clip, there is shown to be camera shots, Mise-en-scene, editing and sound to display the sexuality throughout.

Camera work:

In the first shot of this clip, a two shot camera shot was used to establish the two ladies shown together, relationship with one another. Following on from this the expression of the younger female character behind is shown through the close up shot, to hint towards the audience her 'emotional state' as if she was going through something extremely tense and nerving. With the close up mainly focusing on the actual expression, her hand action was also involved as she stroked the women's shoulders. This starts to suggest to the audience the curious in look of sexuality for this other character. This alone starts the questioning of the females sexuality.

Following on from the establishment of the two women, the movement of a steadi-cam was used to both capture the mise-en-scéne of the scene but also once again the expressions the women pulls. With her chest actually rising high, her posture being straight and her facial expression being near to gasping, the audience can see the frustration but yet excitement as she reads further in depth with her book. The fact that the steadi-cam is used to display the scenery and her inside as it travels around, only shows that this small secreted area, is where she is able to release the tension and frustration of her sexuality away as she is also able to curiously look further in depth about the way her sexuality has finally become, in a more private manner.

The action shot was then simply used with the movement of the zoom in and pan to follow this young women's hand in a closer view as it travels down the other women's body. By using such subtle camera movements and shots, the sexuality of this young female can be shown in a relaxed but yet positive light to the audience. This then shows no threat, as they find it easier to relate to the calm action being shown as this female goes to explore in a subtle and unknown way without being forceful. The shot then ends to the women's hand slowly falling onto this other female's leg.

After the main focus on showing the female's sexuality of becoming a 'Lesbian' is shown in such a peaceful and calm manner, the camera work is taking outside as a close up on the 'lesbian' female's concentrating face.







Following on from the moment, the audience have experienced the different sexuality in a more defined way, an asynchronous sound was used, this asynchronous sound of only a few small birds tweeting is used to reveal the time of day that this scene is taking place in but also shows how calm the atmosphere really is, creating the audience to relax more. A few close up shots were used in this scene, to show the women who is revealed as painting starring at the other female model in a gaze of interest. This gaze of interest, intrigues the audience into believing that she is in a day dream of some sort as her love for this female model becomes overwhelming. This sexuality once again is known to be lesbian. Continuing on from this, the action matches used to show both the women painting and looking towards the female model, is followed quickly by a close up of the women's breast which shows the focus point of the painter who's interest has fallen onto the body features. The atmosphere is then interrupted with anger in an extreme close up shot as the women drops the paint off her paint brush before extravagantly, exclaiming to the female model that her sexuality lies on being lesbian. Whilst this part of the clip is shown, audiences would have released that this 'Lesbian' women could have been frustrated with the 'teasing' of other women in simple situations and become so overwhelmed that they stopped keeping it secret and staying shy about this situation.

Furthering on, the next scene is shown to reveal a sexuality of a heterosexual male, in a long shot as his actions show him to be stronger as he holds a female character up against the tree, whilst trying to kiss her. With the male trying to kiss the female, the male is only trying to represent his sexuality whilst also showing the frustrated attraction towards the female. With the female moving away from this action can only create the audience to wonder on two points. Is her sexuality different or is she not interested? This is soon answered in the following scene with the lesbian women shown to be covering her body right up to her face with the quilt. This is actually a way of representing her emotion and sexuality in a prop as she actually tries to hide away and keep her own thoughts and opinions to herself, without fear of judgement. This whole clip kept the mood music of a piano playing to release tension at the beginning but also show the way sexuality is not actually extravagant enough to create loudness and tension. The only time this music becomes tense in the clip is when the heterosexual male is shown to become angry.

In this clip, every female character dis-including their sexuality is shown to be wearing dresses which actually cover their whole body. This shows how their own bodies are kept up tight to their selves until they can find someone of the sexuality preferences, who their passion also leads them too to reveal their true self. This can always lead to fascinations from those who's passion lies on them instead. The lighting was used carefully through out to set the atmosphere. This was shown specifically through the very dark setting of the scene where the female becomes to scared to show any section of her. This creates the atmosphere to look and feel mysterious and inviting to the audience as they become ever so curious.

As an overall look upon this clip, the producer represents most of the female characters sexuality to be lesbian in a stereotypical outlook, as they become scared to reveal their selves as no one actually agrees with it. The same is also shown for the heterosexual male as his character is shown through the stereotypical light of being dominant and frustrated which can always lead to anger. This heterosexual man is also revealed to be shown to not actually accept the nature of any other sexuality.

Hotel Babylon - Homework.

Hotel Babylon - Homework

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of ethnicity.

Throughout this clip, ethnicity is shown through camera angles, mise-en-scene and editing as well as sound.

The first camera angle which represented ethnicity was the long shot. To begin with, the producer of this film fights against stereotypes in society as he represents a black worker to be serving a costumer in a more formal suit but also with manners. The pan shot quickly follows with the smooth sounding non-diegetic sound of background music to show the steadiness and calmness of the worker alone. This actually leads up to the build up with what can happen next. 

Following on from this, the close up shot reverse shot is used to battle against the stereotype of society but also the reality of the ethnicity of these two dark colored men. This new character is to be seen wearing a less formal outfit with a 'less approachable' way of speaking with the shortened down words to 'blud'. This is used to show the contrast between what we actually think and what we actually see during society, whilst it also criticizes us for out judgement upon ethnicity.

Another interesting shot was also a long shot of the typical hotel cleaners in their uniform. Once a quick close up shot of the money is shown, the audience can still have an ambiguous meaning to what it's left there for. Most think for a tip. Once again the audience are pulled into shock as the two women are shown to strip in the long shot for the male customer. These two shots are only linked together to show that ethnicity can link in many ways, but especially money. Whilst this all started happening the left hand side women is shown to pause before deciding she would not proceed, this shows that even though money can be a huge ethnic problem, people in these groups have control over their own fate.

Moving onto mise-en-scene that really shone through the clip, would be the chefs uniform at the the end of the clip. This group is shown to be split between uniforms as the higher chefs are shown to wear white and the lower chefs are shown to wear black. This a very carefully thought about criticism from the producer. By showing the different levels in chefs, being shown to have split through different colours to make it understood, the clip is shown to criticize how ethnic groups are split in a very obvious way but which also stays in their own work places in society, as it has become more than just a stereotypical view the society had.

Homework - 13th February

“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 film area.

Within the film industry the importance of marketing and distribution paired with good production practices are vastly recognised and appreciated. Production and distribution can influence a film's success majorly, and this link between which is more important can sometimes vary from one film to another. So all three, Production, distribution and marketing are extremely important factors for companies to take into account when trying to create a popular film. 

An example of a large well known film company is Disney. Disney's marketing and distribution skills are known to be vast and play the key role in contributing to the success of their films. This large company was actually founded in 1923 and since this founding has happened, they have created over 158 feature films.  Once the first animated classic films Lion King and Robin Hood, Disney grew into a popular household name. Many of the animated classic films became timeless, whilst this was timeless, the target audience was young and the stories shown were suitable for children all across the world. The film Robin Hood is a clear example on how wide Disney's distribution tactics have stretched, with the film being translated into over sixteen different languages. 

The large company also used a wide variety of horizontal (A market diversified so that the products created are able to meet the needs of more than one industry.) and vertical (A group of companies which serve each other's specialised needs, but yet do not serve a broader market. The vertical market is tightly focused on meeting the needs of one specific industry.) marketing, to ensure that the distribution was wide with it's productions. With Disney owning their own studios, record labels, shops, clothing brands, radio stations and TV channel, Disney have a wide scope to advertise with, as they own these companies they are ale to distribute through them with ease. The well known example for this is the High School Musical. High School Musical was premiered on the Disney channel and also had it's own sound track released. 

Disney also use a variety of Viral Marketing (A marketing technique used by companies which involves the information about a company's goods or services is passed electronically from one internet user to another.) to appeal their audiences with an online presence. By using an online presence, the company are able to keep the young audience targeted up to date with new releases and teasers, while also keeping the company up to date with the development of technology and trends.  With the Viral Marketing being at the grips of the company's hands, the company began releasing it's own fan pages on the social networking sites e.g. Facebook. An example of this was the page for 'Loyal followers of the Red Queen.'. By creating fan groups for all the films Disney creates, the company allows for an even wider audience and are able to use these pages for spreading awareness and introducing people to the films, it creates.

In juxtaposition to how Disney markets and distributes its films, the Bedlam productions use very different tactics in marketing and distribution. As the Bedlam productions are a small independent film company founded in 2009, they manage to blow the targeted audience away with their own drama film 'The King's Speech'. Unlike many Disney films, this film only appeals to a smaller and more select target audience. This involved Bedlam taking this into account by using marketing techniques that would reach people in their target audience range. The film was advertised on posters and newspapers more so than the films directed at younger target audiences. The fact that 'The King's Speech' was shot in the same year as the Bedlam Productions was founded, while considering the succcess of the films itself and the fact that the it was not from a well known company, it leads me to wonder whether it is in fact the production practises and not the distribution that makes a film successful. Bedlam productions teamed up with another independent film company, See-Saw Films, and distributed 'The King's Speech' through Momentum Pictures.

When regarding Disney as a whole we see that it has received over two hundred Oscar nominations, but has only won just over fifty of them, when comparing this to the 'The King's Speech' alone whilst taking into account how many films Disney has made in comparison to Bedlam Productions it becomes clear that even with a vast array of marketing and distribution chains at your disposal you cannot guarantee the response to the film. Indeed marketing and distribution are highly important in getting people to want to see the film, but if the film lacks in quality then the success will be short-lived. Quality films such as 'The King's Speech' are films that become timeless through their appeal. Films such as these are living proof that although marketing and distribution is important, it can lose all of its worth once the film has left cinemas as nobody will want to see the film again or buy the DVD to a film they dislike. I therefore conclude that good production practices hold more wealth over distribution and marketing techniques as they guarantee a lasting success for a film as opposed to a short-lived one.

Part B - Homework.

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the area of media you have studied?  - Film

The digital distribution in films affects the marketing and consumption of media products. This affect shown, is actually a positive factor due to the possible outcomes and methods used. This main advantage wrapped around this is, the Internet. By using the internet, film companies are able to stream their own films through websites such as Netflix, for a long period of time which is also cost's a less amount than the cost to duplicate film prints and for the petrol/ diesel to send them to available cinemas for a small period of time. Due to the access of internet, film companies are now able to send a digitally produced film through the a 'lock email', which is shown to be a quicker release and access, private and a lot more secure.

Continuing on from this, Digital distribution attracts consumers into watching the media product by marketing the product, through many different ways. The first easy accessed way is through film trailers on many different websites with advertisement linked in. E.g. YouTube. By revealing the same trailer over many websites, the consumer themselves would become attached to the film trailer itself as they would have been pulled, by the amount of times the film has revealed itself. As well as this digital distribution through the marketing, by using the same trailer on most used internet sites or social networking sites e.g. Facebook, the consumer can become so wrapped up in the film information, that they use 'the word of mouth' to spread the information itself around, to colleagues, friends and family.

The disadvantage for using the internet for Digital Distribution, is the outcome of money after the film has been shown through cinemas has rapidly fallen. The reason for this is because that more resources are available for the consumer inwhich they can access the film through without having to leave the comfort of their own home. This could be from them having to wait till the film comes out through sites like Netflix, through DVDS soon after so they are able to keep a copy of the film or the main important problem, the film is leaked due to the 'lock email' being carefully hacked, before the film is placed on illegal sites. Once uploaded onto an illegal site, the film can be leaked further across the internet sites such as YouTube for even more easier access to those who cannot illegally download. This lowers the rate of consumers rapidly, creating the profit of money to fall rapidly down with them. This is shown to be an extreme problem amongst digital distribution.