SPECIMEN Q8

Explain at least two uses and gratifications of video games using Blumer and Katz's theory. Refer to the lego movie video game to support your answer. 

Video games are very helpful in means of communication, values, relationships, surveillance and escapism. They provide a route for you to get more out of a movie you may have enjoyed or a route for you to forget about the activities that may have occurred in your day because you mind is wrapped within a game. The Lego Movie is a good example of how you can get more out of a movie. The Lego Movie video game is used for extra amplification of the movie, giving the opportunity for people to enjoy more benefits of the movie. It would also have been created for additional propaganda and promotion of the movie and therefore it has another purpose, other than just the idea of Blumer and Katz's theory. 

Video games also help you identify with certain characters. After watching the Lego Movie, you may identify with Emmet or even Lord Business and therefore having the game out there makes you want to play it as it would give you another chance to see a character you might have bonded with; whether through personal values or relationships. 

There is also a social and cultural significance of media products in the world. Nowadays media is a common focus in average conversations. Being prevented from media products, such as television and video games, could mean being isolated from conversations with friends. Lots of video games have important messages laced within them as well. Some video games show what is politically happening, whilst others show actual dangers of the war. The lego movie video game is tamer but I believe it has an important message about political issues within the government and how dangerously far they will go.   

MOJO Anaylasis

The MOJO magazine cover is very neat and packed with information. The banner, saying MOJO, is stretched across the magazine, being very bold. However, it may be eye-catching, but it is not made to be the most obvious thing on there. They do this by covering up one of the letters with the main-splash image and by making headlines almost as big. As it is the company of the magazine they want you to know who they are, so that is why they make it big.

The main-splash image is of David Bowie. They make the image of him stretch over the whole magazine and therefore someone looking at the magazine can see that he is a big feature within it.
Then, the main headline is made massive so that, if you don't know who the person on the front is, you get a good idea. They make the main headline about the main-splash and so on this magazine BOWIE is made massive and spread over the middle of the image.  What actually is in the article is put into little snippets surrounding the word 'BOWIE' which tells the reader that because they surround that particular word, the 'new interviews' are something to do with David Bowie.

There are two puffs on the cover of this magazine. One consists of three different colours, black, yellow and red and so is very bright. The other one also has three different colours, black, white and pink with an image in the centre. Those two puffs of the magazine are the only things that don't follow the colour scheme. The full magazine follows the colours of faded blue, white and black.

Other than the main image, the only other picture on there is very small and only a headshot. It is placed in the right corner of the magazine therefore seeming less important than the rest of the features on the magazine.

Magazine Cover

MUSIC VIDEO CODES AND CONVENTIONS

Wheatus Teenage Dirtbag

MUSIC VIDEO CODES AND CONVENTIONS

Sk8ter Boi (Avril Lavigne)

1. Performance - the singer / band are seen to be playing, to provide authenticity, so that followers believe in the talent and can see their star. Record labels sign stars and promote them  to ensure sales.
2. Star - use of close-ups, sometimes direct eye contact with audience, to build relationship with audience
3. The visuals (what the star and other characters are seen doing) illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics (the 'story in the words'). Illustration = the visuals play out the story more or less literally; amplify = the words in the lyrics are only the starting point and the story develops in other directions; contradiction / disjuncture = the visuals do not interpret the words of the lyrics and may even show something contradictory.
4. The narrative usually features the performer in 'real life' situations but often with experimental types of film making such as hand-held, dramatic camera angles, symbolic codes and lighting
5. The visuals are usually cut to the beat of the music; the editing is often fast-paced; there is often use of montage, ellipsis and intercutting, stylish effects
6. Refrain - repeated chorus, sometimes with variations
7. Intertextuality - references to other media, films, performances, events

Avril Lavigne is shown throughout her video, called Sk8ter Boi, singing and drawing a huge crowd around her. She is shown playing a guitar, singing music with a mike, surrounded by adoring fans, chasing her and screaming at her. She sings with a strong passion, energy and certainty. Different hand movements and facial expressions, shown well by close-ups, give off a happy almost jeering mood and feeling about her. She is performing for her fans and singing (lip-syncing) the words perfectly and confidently.

 Her clothes and actions reflect her personality in the music video. She also makes a lot of direct eye-contact with the camera often, to show a closeness with the audience. There is a moment when there is a slightly softer bit in the song, where she looks into a camera adoringly, which her boyfriend is supposedly holding, and acts all pretty and nice for him . This is  a visual that plays  out with the lyrics, showing Avril Levigne's better relationship with 'Sk8ter Boi'. There is also quite a hard beat which reflects the punk actions and fast cuts from the video. A lot of the cuts would be in time with the music, hard, jumpy and then flicking back to similar images again.

The video ends with Avril breaking a car window, with her guitar, before a helicopter is seen hovering above. The different dramatic camera angles, show her hair flying above her and her dark make-up encasing her eyes, creased with worry. There were only two glimpses of Ballet girl, the one talked about in the song, and it was more focused on the success of Avril herself.

The chorus is different, in a way that the words are altered each time Avril sings it. Each chorus has the same tune but is reflective of the last words from the last verse.

EDITING

PREP Analyse how editing is used in the extract from Cuffs to create meaning. Refer to at least two examples from the extract in your answer. (This means that a good candidate will write fully and freely, covering more than just 2 examples, as we practised in class).
Worth 5 marks: write half a side of A4 and post on your blog tonight. If you have DoE, take an extra 24 hours.

In the first episode of Cuffs, we understand that Jake and his leading officer don't get on too well. However, during a scene in the changing room the editors use a shot reverse shot to signal the sensitive moment between the two. During that moment the shot reverse shot helps the watcher see that they are starting to bond and the fact the leading officer is offering for him to join them with their training is big step for their relationship, as at first it is extremely rocky.

Another example of editing in Cuffs is when the four police officers are training together. There is a dissolve transition used as we see that they do multiple laps and so the characters begin to fade over one another. It starts off where all of them are running from cone to cone before a time laps occurs, showing a more sweaty, tired version of them, over top of the more confident version.

Mise-En-Scene

During the nudist beach scene, at the beginning of the first episode of Cuffs, we experience two nudists and five stag men having a fight. It is made clear to the watchers that the stag men were the instigators  as we can see the nudists are, almost shamefully, covering their dignity with a towel. The antagonists also hold props to show their thought of their own authority in the situation, the props consist of: A human sized play doll (which they could have just to make fun of the nudists), swords and viking helmets. Once the policeman came along, we could see who actually was in authority. we know this because of his formal uniform, having equipment at his hand and how he is telling everyone what to do.

Another example would be when we see Nathan in his house, after cutting his wrists. We see that he has some control of the situation as he is the one who is being asked whether he would open the door. However, we know that he is under an influence of possibly drugs and he doesn't seem emotionally stable, therefore it seems more likely that the policemen are going to get what they ask for.

EXAM Q1 (camera angle)

In cuffs, the camera angle is used to create emotion and meaning within the different scenes. The first episode of Cuffs begins with an establishing shot. This is used to show the audience where the action is taking place, what the type of scene we are in and in addition what the weather is like. It is usually a very wide shot or an extreme wide shot. In a lot of the chase scene a high angle shot is used as a cinematic technique to give more clarity as to what is going on. It also gives a more dramatic sense to a scene and so, during the fight scenes or tense scenes, the high angle shot is used a lot  during Cuffs.

There are also a lot of sensitive and vulnerable moments in Cuffs, such as when the dad almost commit suicide, or when the mum got her child back and when another officer slipped his number into Jake's pockets. In each of these scenes the camera angle used is a close-up. It gives a show of feelings and gives more detail to the smaller actions. A tilt pan shot is also sued quite often. Between the father and child there is a tilt pan shot used where it shows that they are somehow linked together in the story. At that point we don't know how they are linked but we do see that the girl knows this man and the man knows the girl, because of the tilt pan shot. It does this by showing the girl and then fading the camera outwards so that we see the guy staring back at the girl.

There is also the use of extreme close-ups. This is a shot that is so tight that only very certain details are shown. For example, in Cuffs, we get a close-up of Nathan's wrists (a drug addict) which have been badly slit. Another example used in Cuffs, as an extreme close-up, is when an Indian boy gets stabbed and all we can see is his head hitting the floor and blood leaking out from his body. It was such a tight close-up that we couldn't see anything more gory than the blood.

EXAM Q5

Social context influences television programmes a lot these days. Language is a big part of what defines what the TV show is like, when it was made or when it was set. In the Avengers, social context is a big clue as to what the year is (1961). The setting also gives us some clue as to the context. In the Avengers we see a squadron bunker (air force crew) which has no walls, rusted beds and scraps of photos and paperwork on the floor. This shows that the war passed a while ago during the time of this programme.

Old fashioned language is also used throughout the episodes, showing that it had to of been set somewhere between the war and a couple of decades ago. Language examples include 'old boy' and 'sugar or lemon'.

Actions are also hints at the time zone. In the Avengers there are countless actions that show the time zone without obviously saying it. The first action I noticed was that they boarded a steam train, a train that they would use in olden days before more modern technology was created. Then, whilst on the train, they had 'afternoon tea' which is something our grandparents may have but it is not common in the modern times. Another example would be Emma Peel's outfits. Whilst she is exploring the school she is wearing a shiny, black, leather bodysuit, along with a head-Shaw, she collorates it in classic black and white.

EXAM Q2

In the first scene there are three very different groups: the nudists, the criminals and the single policeman. The criminals are committing crimes by making fun of the nudists and eventually punching the policeman in the face. The group of criminals must just have seen the nudists and thought it was hilarious that people would live in that way. So, therefore, they videoed them and made fun of the nudists, showing off the bad side of them. The nudists would have seen this in a completely different way.

Following their own beliefs as nudists, the fact that they are getting insulted and practically attacked is probably very hurtful to them, however the fact that they get annoyed with the policeman for not being efficient enough, shows that they may of deserved the taunting and that they are not respectful people. The policeman, on the other hand, is the one who is really put in the light of the victim. He arrives to help a bunch of naked people, then no-one really takes much attention in him and then the criminals physically attack him before running away and then the nudists insult the policeman. It was a very strange scenario for an audience member, however it is likely that the policeman has been in stranger situations so he may not have been so surprised. However he must have been irritated that no-one seemed to car he was there and that he got punched for trying to break up a fight.

The close-up from the camera shows clear expressions of irritation and frustration from the policeman, taunting, jeering and an almost look of excitement from the criminals and a look of pure anger and slight embarrassment from the nudists. The close-ups are a good way to identify different emotions in detail.

The reason this scene depicts the police's point of view more than the criminals point of view is because we see the policeman driving in his car and then walking down the beach, proceeding to struggle with the situation. The voice-over in the background is also talking about a policeman's duties and struggles and so we look for the struggles of the policeman. Also, we can relate more to the policeman as we can understand his struggle more than the nudists and the criminals because we are, generally, more like him than the other groups. 

EXAM Q1

During a television program or a movie, sound is used to create either emotion, tension or fear for an audience member. Different types of music are used for different types of feelings, for example slow music (either low or high) would be used to create tension in a certain scene, fast, high-pitched music might be used to create terror or a nice, tuneful song might be used to show romance.

Sound is an invisible but powerful tool for generating meaning. Sight is a very powerful thing to create emotion and so the fact that we can watch things to create feelings is excellent. However, sound is also very great in creating emotion. The fact that we can combine, both audibly and visibly. our emotions is amazing.

For example, in the Avengers they use steam trains noises to keep indicating that they are on a train and headed somewhere. For the chase scene there is a racing squeaky tune that repeats itself over and over to create panic and tension.

filming and editing

Today we went outside and did some filming. We started by going through the cameras to make sure we knew how to work them, for example: we found the power buttons, the video button, the camera button, how to put the battery in and how to hold the camera (never touch the lens).

We next went outside to film our re-make of the trailer "Forrest Gump". I was in a group of three that consisted of me, Rahim and Ben. The first thing we did was search for a feather which was symbolic of a 'free soul'. The real trailer started off with a feather floating past Forrest and so we wanted to include this in our trailer. It took around five minutes to find a good enough feather for our trailer Rahim sat on a bench as I dropped the feather from above the camera. This scene took the most attempts because we kept laughing throughout! Eventually we got the footage we needed and moved onto the fight scene. Rahim and Ben did a fake fight, just like in the actual trailer and then I mimicked Jenny by yelling "Run Forrest, run!"

Then we filmed countless running scenes: across the field, down the mansion steps, in a bush, down a hill and into the media studio. The scenes involved a lot of running but the majority of them only needed one shot.

We then watched a video on how to edit using imovie. After we had learnt how to edit we downloaded our movie clips, that we had filmed, onto the computer and then we opened imovie and started editing. So far I have edited two of the clips, taking out the parts we don't need at the end and the beginning and then I put a spin transition between both of the chronological clips.

The Avengers

• Feminism is highlighted by women wearing trousers and being violent
• There were three women leads
• There is classic trademark outfits, completed by trademark accessories, such as the bowler hat. 
• It shows upper class lives (through parties and outfits)
• Everyone is different and slightly out of the ordinary (no-one is normal)
• It's more of a fantasy world. 
• There were a lot of comedy scenes 
• A lot of the scenes were ideal and not very realistic
• It was an escapist world
• Patrick would always show masculinity and charm.
• And Emma Peel would always show up in a sports car.
• The show was nine years long and started out as a male action.
• There were countless fights, but blood was never shown during them.

CUFFS

The opening scene has the job of providing the viewer with a taste of the program, without giving too much away. To make sure an opening scene is entrancing, the producer has got to give a sense of mystery to it. In Cuffs, the characters are introduced during the opening scene with small details to their backgrounds, however their full stories aren't given and so it makes the watcher carry on with the program. If the first scene gives to much away, there would be no incentive to carry on watching. 

From the beginning, it is launched straight into action. We get a contrast between Jake (the new policeman) and his coach Ryan, as they are very different people. We also, around the end of the scene, figure out that the chief is Jake's father, which forms another interesting aspect to the show. 

During the title sequence we get a sense of Brighton's diversity, going from the nudist beach to the people attacking the people on that beach, which shows that opinions are very different. 

The spread of different characters in the show also shows the diversity. It frequently shows the different lives in Brighton and what happens in them. For example, there was a little girl who was kidnapped by her own father, there was an Indian man who got stabbed, a women who led a goose chase for the police and a man on drugs. 

Cuffs is before the watershed, which means kids would be allowed to watch it. However I believe a lot of kids would find the scenes distressing because there is a lot of blood and violent acts during the show- therefore I believe it should be after the watershed. 

Television scheduling

TELEVISION SCHEDULING:

·         BBC1 Sunday 10 September 9 p.m. Strike

·         BBC1 Monday 11 September 9 p.m. Rellik

·         BBC1 Tuesday 12 September 9 p.m. Doctor Foster

·         BBC1 Wednesday 13 September 9 p.m. How to stay young

·         BBC1 Thursday 14 September 9 p.m. Ambulance

·         BBC1 Friday 15 September 9 p.m. Celebrity master chef

·         BBC1 Saturday 16 September 9 p.m. Casualty

Long form narrative seems to be a popular form.