Media Audiences:
What techniques does the opening sequence use to appeal to a weekday mainstream audience?
At the start of this sequence there is slow eerie music combined with a slow motion effect. This makes the audience have the feeling that something big/dramatic will stop this eerie peace. This creates an enigma code as it leaves the audience wondering what the disturbance to this suburban town might be. Although later in the sequence we realise that it may be the couple in the car who create this disturbance, further enigma codes are created through their use of foreign language, the reason why the couple want to wreck a seemingly ordinary couple and how the couple in the cars world was destroyed.
Furthermore, binary oppositions are used to draw in the audience to make them continue watching more. The serious, unerving couple inside the car contrast with the happy, carefree couple inside the house. This makes the audience fully aware of who is likely to be the main antagonists of the show. However the audience can also infer from the dialect between the two characters that they cannot be simply defined as "bad" and that perhaps there are deeper reasons for why the couple are going to do whatever there demeanors seem to suggest they are about to do.
What does this text tell us about the media institutions involved?
The opening sequence of this clip shows us the BBC logo. A government funded TV channel whose goals are to educate, inform and entertain. Through the use of music and drama we can infer that this text may be slightly more towards the entertainment part of the BBC's goals. Although this may be the case it is beileved that most BBC shows offer us some form of way to educate and inform us an example from another show could be "Mock The Week" which gives us a humouros detail of the weeks events by a panel of comedians. Spooks is a well known show that produces episodes centred around serious matter such as terrorism, rape etc so although it is an entertaining show other elemts of the BBC's policy can be put into the show because of this some may view it as slightly higher brow TV.
Media Forms: How does the extract follow the codes and convention of an opening sequence?
Many conventions of modern day dramas are shown within this extract of spooks. For instance, thee use of enigma codes thorughout the opening scenes keep the audience wanting to watch it for longer periods of time and many dramas such as The wire, CSI, Doctor Who etc use this as a means of 'hooking' the audience into the programme. Showing the BBC logo is also common in most BBC dramas and is most famously done in the programme life on mars in which they swap the bbc logo for an older version of it in order to illustrate that the show is set in the 70s ( the show was made in 2005.
By cutting at the end of a dramatic conversation also leaves the major enigma code for this episode and is done in most programmes in orger to generate further interest in other enigma codes. We also have numerous action codes such as the fcat that the couple in the car seem to have high tech equipment when spying on the couple in the house. This makes the audience aware that this isnt an ordinary couple and makes them want to carry on watching the show.
Media Representation: How are people and places represented in this opening sequence?
As i have mentioned before there is a clear binary oppoistion between the two couples of the opening extract. The couple in the car are more serious and the dialect suggests they be sinister although the girls remorseful tone suggest they may not be enitrely evil/bad we can suggest them to be the main antagonists.
whilst the couple inside the house are shown to be happy and carefree their seems to be a lack of focus on them to suggest they could be protaginists. Instead they are viewed as the victims and perhaps even the disequillibrium for our true heroes/protaginists to overcome.
The setting of the scene is in a surburban town presumably in the city of London although the surburbs are traditionally seen as a happy, safe place this time it is seen as having an underlying evil. This is hown best in the music and the slow motion start. Although the direct denotation of a girl playing is pleasant when it is added towards the sinister music and slow motion, close up camera shots it makes it seem a lot more sinister.
Tuesday 21 April 2009
Friday 6 February 2009
Black Hole Sun-Soundgarden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiSkyEyBczU
Analysing music video
The music video for black hole sun is very surreal and this is parallel to the music of the song. It features people in a suburban town with distorted images surrounding them.
The most striking image of the music video is when the housewife’s face stretches out from a close up angle. This showcases perfectly the surreal aspect of the music video.
Another interesting image is that of the hurricane. This scene is very dramatic and features many of the characters destruction. You could infer that this is parallel to the song’s lyrics
“Black hole sun wont you come wash away the rain”
All in all the music video for black hole sun is a successful portrayal of the song. Its surrealistic video is memorable and orginal.
Analysing music video
The music video for black hole sun is very surreal and this is parallel to the music of the song. It features people in a suburban town with distorted images surrounding them.
The most striking image of the music video is when the housewife’s face stretches out from a close up angle. This showcases perfectly the surreal aspect of the music video.
Another interesting image is that of the hurricane. This scene is very dramatic and features many of the characters destruction. You could infer that this is parallel to the song’s lyrics
“Black hole sun wont you come wash away the rain”
All in all the music video for black hole sun is a successful portrayal of the song. Its surrealistic video is memorable and orginal.
Tuesday 27 January 2009
superbad clip
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kxk0862ozC4
This is my favourite scene from the high school teen comedy Superbad. The scene depicts it humour from the goofiness of the characters seth and evan. It relies heavily on sexual humour and is fairly slpastick.
This is my favourite scene from the high school teen comedy Superbad. The scene depicts it humour from the goofiness of the characters seth and evan. It relies heavily on sexual humour and is fairly slpastick.
Bullet Boy
Lighting:
The film trailer generally has low key lighting this connotes the dark subject matter in the film such as violence. However there are seen when high key light are shown such as when he is with his girlfriend. This shows that the character may not be as dark as his surroundings seem to suggest. It offers us more empathy for what he is going through i.e. violence
Props:
Due to the clothing of the characters and the use of guns we can suggest that the film is going to be about crime specifically that amongst young black males. The way the characters interact with these props in the trailer also suggest to us that these characters are not really bad but are however a product of there environment (more in which will be explored in settings)
Narrative/Characters:
The film trailer shows that the films narrative will be based primarily on young adolescents of black descent in Britain. The narrative shows violence and the general stereotype of young black males in Britain. However by having one of the protagonists seen to be in love (or in a relationship) changes the audience view on what the film is about. This is a film not criticising these people but trying to understand them
Setting:
The setting of the film seems to be in a deprived area of London (as shown at the start of the movie when there are flats/poor housing conditions) this setting shows us that the surroundings of these individuals and the conditions that they live in may have a connection to who they are as people. Comparing the setting of bullet boy to another movie using adolescents such as Clueless or Superbad shows us generally what to expect from the movie for example the teenagers in clueless live in big suburban houses and the characters are more superficial, the teenagers in Superbad live in a middle class suburb in America and they seem more mischievous while the teenagers in Bullet Boy live in working class environment and are seen as more violent than these other films.
The film trailer generally has low key lighting this connotes the dark subject matter in the film such as violence. However there are seen when high key light are shown such as when he is with his girlfriend. This shows that the character may not be as dark as his surroundings seem to suggest. It offers us more empathy for what he is going through i.e. violence
Props:
Due to the clothing of the characters and the use of guns we can suggest that the film is going to be about crime specifically that amongst young black males. The way the characters interact with these props in the trailer also suggest to us that these characters are not really bad but are however a product of there environment (more in which will be explored in settings)
Narrative/Characters:
The film trailer shows that the films narrative will be based primarily on young adolescents of black descent in Britain. The narrative shows violence and the general stereotype of young black males in Britain. However by having one of the protagonists seen to be in love (or in a relationship) changes the audience view on what the film is about. This is a film not criticising these people but trying to understand them
Setting:
The setting of the film seems to be in a deprived area of London (as shown at the start of the movie when there are flats/poor housing conditions) this setting shows us that the surroundings of these individuals and the conditions that they live in may have a connection to who they are as people. Comparing the setting of bullet boy to another movie using adolescents such as Clueless or Superbad shows us generally what to expect from the movie for example the teenagers in clueless live in big suburban houses and the characters are more superficial, the teenagers in Superbad live in a middle class suburb in America and they seem more mischievous while the teenagers in Bullet Boy live in working class environment and are seen as more violent than these other films.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)