Theorists!

Audience:

Ien Ang - 'audience must be constantly attracted and lured'

Maz - 'no one if forced to go to the cinema and pay for a ticket' but if no one did then films would not be made, therefore desire for consumer to purchase ticket must be created

Blumler and Katz - 'audience is free to use or play with text meaning' uses and gratifications model

Genre:

Steve Neale - 'genre instances of repetition and difference'

Gledhill - 'There are no rigid rules of inclusion or exclusion'

Altman - 'Genre can be looked at by a Symantec approach whereby certain signifiers suggest genre such as props, characters, locations'

Representation:

Barthes - Enigma Code theory as part of narrative codes theory - 'building up tension and leaving audience with unanswered questions works to entertain audience'

Chandler - Argues that 'representation is always constructed on aspects of reality'

Baker -Argues that 'stereotyping is inaccurate and misinterprets the real world'

Media Language:

Barthes - certain signs encode particular messages and ideologies' an audience understanding of signs comes from frequently told stories and beliefs in society

Fiske - denotation is what is filmed and connotation is how it is filmed

Stuart Hall - media language - meaning is not fixed by the producer, audiences can take their own reading, preferred reading is the one which the producer hoped audience would take

Narrative:

Todorov - Five stages narrative theory - Equilibrium, Disruption, recognition, attempt to fix, new equilibrium

Barthe - enigma code theory as part of narrative codes theory - tension built up, unanswered questions, entertains audience

Propp - Narrative includes stock characters, protagonist and antagonist narrative

Collective identity theorists:

Cohen - moral panic theory, representation of youth can create moral panic

Hebdige - Youth join subcultures in order to show opposition to society

Giroux - representations of youth are an empty category in the media as are constructed by adults, reflecting anxiety's of adults

Acland 1995 - representations of delinquent youths reinforces hegemony in society

Historical = quadrophenia 1979, harry brown 2009, grange hill 1978, this is England 2006

contempory sket 2011, ill manors 2012, young apprentice 2012 eries 3, sky news London riots 2011, attack the block 2011

Question 1B: Audience

Firstly how did you take into account audience in planning and researching for your video?

Intro:

For my main project in my AS foundation portfolio I created a film opening named Only Business based in the crime genre. The basic plot follows a youth who attempts to sell some drugs at the request of his friend, however things do not quite go to plan and the plot see's a twist as the youth flees the location after he is attacked at the scene where the drug deal is supposed to take place. I will be talking about this film opening which I created in regards to audience, how I took them into account and how taking audience into account allowed me to produce an effective crime film opening.

Para 1:

Firstly it was important to establish my target audience before audience as a whole could be taken into account. I was able to identify my target audience by carrying out a short face to face questionnaire in my research stage of the task, where by I asked peoples age and gender, and whether they enjoyed watching crime genre based films. My results proved that on average the age range of people whom enjoy crime genre based films is between 16 and 40, amongst both male and female sexes. Taking audience into account meant that it would be easier to create desire as I would know exactly who to aim my film production towards, Metz's theory would suggest that this is important as he says 'no one is forced to go the the cinema' yet without ticket sales films would not be made, thus desire for consumer to visit cinema and see film must be created.

Para 2:

When looking at my film opening, I took audience into account further during research and additionally planning stage's prior to production. This is firstly evidenced by a photograph of a written tally chart which I posted on blogger showing a list of possible film titles and results of which titles my audience best liked. This resulted in the name Only Business being chosen as my film title. Such a strategy of taking audience into account should hopefully mean that the chosen film title was the one on the list that will best appeal to an audience, making them want to see the film. Additionally in the research and planning stage of my film opening, I came up with a list of possible names for my protagonist and antagonist, I then asked my audience (people aged 16-40) which names they thought would best suite these characters within my particular genre and presented the findings in a Word document. This meant that the audience also had a say over the names of the characters meaning that these names chosen should be the ones which best help audience identify the characters to the genre, whilst making the audience feel more engaged with the film opening. However Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratification's model would suggest that not all audience will associate the chosen character names or film title to the genre, as 'audience is free to use or play with the texts meaning'.

Para 3:

Additionally I have shown that I took audience into account in the production of my film opening as I have conformed to some basic conventions of my chosen genre, in order to appeal to my target audience, as they will be able to connect the action to generic conventions of crime genre making them want to keep watching and perhaps see the entire Only Business film. I was able to show the genre and thus appeal to the audience mostly through mise-en-scene, by including props such as a knife and illegal recreational drugs, not to mention deprived run down setting. I felt it was important to allow audience to identify the genre in order to make capturing their attention easier. Ien Ang's theory reinforces this idea as he said that 'audiences must be constantly attracted and lured'.

Question 1B: Media Language

Media Language

Media has its own language, for those who are involved with media it helps them talk about what they produce/consume. Media language defines the way meaning has been constructed and presented in a media text.

- The question is meant to be answered by the way meaning has been constructed

Illustrated and communicated meaning to the audience using symbols and signs, such as clothing, colour, camera angle + shots, mise-en-scene. (the media language I used in my film opening aims to connote a deprived run down area, in which the surrounding youth are involved with crime).

Barthes (1967) - Organisation of signs encodes particular messages and ideologies, an audiences understanding of a sign comes from their understanding of frequently told stories and beliefs in society - repeat showings of youth from deprived areas being violent and criminal in the media means that a signal of deprived area within a text may lead audience to believe that youth in the surrounding area are criminal and violent - shown by the blocks of flats (setting) protagonists selection of clothing (costume) camera angle shows cramped housing (shots) graffiti in underpass (setting)

Fiske (1982) - 'denotation is what is filmed and connotation is how it is filmed'

Saussure (1983) - said 'an audience can look at a media text from a syntactic point of view' or a 'symbolic point of view' where by they put meaning to that they are seeing

Stuart Hall - Argued that 'meaning is not fixed by the producer, as audiences can take different readings, the preferred reading is when the audience reads it the way the producer wanted them too.

Things to use: colour, lighting, mise-en-scene (costume, props, language) camera angle and shots, editing, mise-en-scene

When there is an object which gives a sign this is called a signifier. (denotation)

What the audience gathers from the signifier is called the signified. (connotation)

I used media language in my film opening to present:

• Deprived area through setting, location, lighting
• Deviant youth, costume, language, breaking laws
• Presented more simply - Action suggesting that this youth is fleeing from something, presents him again as delinquent as audience gathers he is anxious about something he's done

Barthes 1967 - says that 'organisation of signs encodes particular messages and ideologies' which the audience will decode, an audiences understanding of certain signs comes from frequently told stories and beliefs within society. For example a sign or signifier of a youth wearing joggers, a hoodie and trainers may lead an audience to decode that this youth is in fact a delinquent and perhaps a criminal. The media language of the mise-en-scene shows the protagonist as a dangerous character as his costume is grey with a black hat. Dark colours typically represent 'darkness', perhaps moral darkness of his personality representing him as a delinquent or criminal, and dangerous (which he proves to be as he stabs his attack and flees the scene). Furthermore I choose locations as part of the film openings mise-en-scene which were typically dark grey colours, this is a signifier which perhaps creates gloomy atmosphere and also anxiety. The signified audience interpretation may be that this is an area which is not nice to live in and perhaps is therefore deprived and underprivileged.


Within my film opening I included a scene which shows the protagonist waiting in an underpass to make a drug deal, whilst an attacker sneaks up behind him. One of the shots shows a low camera angle from the front of the protagonist at about waist level, this allows the audience to clearly see the drugs which are in his hand, whilst the attacker can be seen in the background creeping up on the protagonist from behind with a knife in his hand. These two objects between the two characters act as signifiers to being illegal, the signified meaning that the audience therefore gains from the camera angle and prop mise-en-scene in this shot is that both these youths are criminals.

Genre conventions and narrative conventions are also aspects of media language which show signs and signals in certain ways. I conformed to genre conventions by showing criminal youth in stereotypical 'yob' style clothing and making them speak with urban language these signals signified to the audience that these characters are in fact the stereotypical youth 'yob' types. I did this intentionally so that the audience could identify that these characters are delinquents as they seem to show opposition to society. Barthes theory (1967) suggests that an audiences understanding of signs comes from frequently told stories and beliefs in society, this theory reinforces the idea that my audience will view my characters in my film opening as delinquents and 'yobs', as I have conformed to accepted stereotypes using costume and urban language. Therefore the signifiers which I have used will lead audience to the connotation that these characters are delinquent yob type youths.

Shot reverse shot within editing conforms to conventions of editing used to create tension, thereby creating a denotation that these youth are holding illegal objects, the connotation is that these youths are both equally as bad as each other as both criminals, the audience gets the signified interpretation that with crime comes trouble.

Barthes 1967 - organisation of signs encodes different messages and ideologies, an audiences understanding of certain signs comes from frequently told stories and beliefs in society

Fiske 1982 - denotation is what is filmed, connotation is how it is filmed

Saussure 1983 - An audience can 'look at a media text from syntactic point of view' or a 'symbolic point of view', where by they place meaning to what they are seeing

Hall - 'meaning is not always fixed by the producer' as audiences can 'take different readings', the preferred reading is the reading what the producer hoped the audience would take.