Define these words

Describe: Give an account in words of (someone or something), including all the relevant characteristics, qualities, or events

Narrative Conventions: is the term used to describe the storyline in a film. It is the sequence of events placed in the correct order to create meaning.

Explain: Make (an idea, situation, or problem) clear to someone by describing it in more detail or revealing relevant facts or ideas.

Analyse: Examine methodically and in detail the constitution or structure of (something, esp. information), typically for purposes of explanation and interpretation

Ambiguous: Open to more than one interpretation; having a double meaning.
Set up: The way in which something, esp. an organization or equipment, is organized, planned, or arranged

Expository: Intended to explain or describe something

Exposition: The part of a movement, esp. in sonata form, in which the principal themes are first presented.

Development: A specified state of growth or advancement

Plot Point: a plot point is a significant event within a plot that digs into the action and spins it around in another direction.

Epilogue: A section or speech at the end of a book or play that serves as a comment on or a conclusion to what has happened.

Closure: An act or process of closing something, esp. an institution, thoroughfare, or frontier, or of being closed

Dark moment:

Turning point: A time at which a decisive change in a situation occurs, esp. one with beneficial results.

Climax: The most intense, exciting, or important point of something; a culmination or apex.

Protagonist: The leading character or a major character in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text.

Narrative structure: Narrative structure is generally described as the structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer.

Cliff-hanger: A story or event with a strong element of suspense

Setting: The place or type of surroundings where something is positioned or where an event takes place:

Mood: A temporary state of mind or feeling.

Symbolic codes:

Atmosphere:

Technical codes:

VALS and TAGS

VALS (Values and Lifestyles)

Thinkers- is a category of people who are motivated by ideals. Order, knowledge and responsibility are important to them. They are well educated. Reasonable incomes.

Values are: Durability, functionality, value in products.

Believers- is a category of people who are motivated by ideals. Moral codes and established order are important to them.

Values are: Familiar products and tend to be loyal customers.

Achievers- Motivated by the desire to succeed and are goal orientated, they are not big TV watchers and are time savers because they are always busy.

Strivers- Want to be something, but can’t quite get there, they are active consumers (as much as allows).

Experiencers- they are motivated by self-expression. They will try anything, go out and do anything. They are people that are enthusiastic and are Avid consumers.

Makers- Motivated by self-expression, practical work is a focus, tend to be suspicious and they are people that tend to be unimpressed by material possessions. They are more comfortable with basics rather than luxury gifts.

Innovators- Large disposable income, and they are people who enjoy the finer things in life. They are successful and sophisticated.

Survivors- People with few resources are considered survivors. They will be loyal to familiar brands and are modest consumers.

TAGS (Target Audience Grouping System)

Liberal Sophisticates- Well off and informed.

(Low consumers of TV)

Young Hopefuls- Half of 15- 24 years. Low incomes.

(High TV and Radio)

Settled Seniors- 57% are over 55, low income but good savers.

They are conservative and tend to stick to well known and familiar brands.

(TV and Radio; Newspaper, but not magazines)

Struggling Young Families- Centred around family, stick to a low budget.

(Low Media Consumers)

Comfortable Full-Nesters- Higher incomes, older, family orientated.

(Low TV, high DVD; High Media Consumers)

Lonely and Dissatisfied- Primarily older, lonely, and seem to have no purpose.

(Low Media Consumers)

Affluent Acquirers- Young 15-39 age group, are active consumers in all forms.

(Low TV, High Radio; Huge Media Consumers)

The Next Generation- 10-14 age group, this category accounts for 9% of the group above the age of 10.

(TV Dominated and Very Active)

Jersey Shore

“Our ability to take any pleasure, or even interest, in shows like this- in which participants are depicted as energetic but essentially aimlessm oblivious of their own deficits, and delusional about their attractiveness and their importance in the world- hinges not on our ability to identify them but on our ability to distinguish ourselves from them.”

Are there any ways in which Jersey Shore is reflective of how teenagers really live?

• There are teenagers that live like this but generally only for a short amount of time at a time, eg Spring Break. Teenagers know it is not possible to live like that for a long period of time because it is not practical.

In what ways are their lives distorted from the truth?

• The people on the show are living a false life, due to the fact that they are now famous for the way they have been living. In a sense, they are living the real life as they have to work to be able to live in the house. But there is no way that a person can live off income from a t-shirt store and be able to party like they do.

Does this show mirror the way you live? Or is it more like you’re an anthropologist looking in on this society?

Based on what you’ve learnt so far about MTV’s relationship with its audience I want you to write a response to this question:

Analyse the relationship between a media product and its target audience.

Use the following points to focus your answer:

Techniques used to target the audience.

How/why the technique appeals to the audience.

• Specific examples and/or evidence
• Implications for the media product, target audience, and/or wider society.

MTV

MTV

1. Who are the programmes aimed at? How and why?

2. Label specifically with Values & tags

3. How do they research- methods? Why?

4. Focus/direction of programming/channel

5. Evolution of channel

MTV’s first purpose was to play music videos. The channel was launched in 1981 with the words “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll” by John Lack. The first music video ever played was Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles. Ironically, that is exactly what happened. Over the past two decades MTV has gone from music television to reality television.

The programmes played on MTV are all aimed at the demographic 14-30. Shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom are popular for the girls because it is showing them what it’s like to be pregnant. The shows do not encourage girls to go out and get pregnant but to educate them on the struggle and sacrifice they go through. Boys however are more interested in shows like Pimp My Ride and Cribs because the language and humor used on those shows are appealing to them, as well as the theme. Boys dream of having houses like the celebrities, generally rappers on the show, with the fancy equipment and the expensive cars. As well as Pimp My Ride where they think of all the drastic changes they would like to make on their own cars.

MTV make sure their shows are what the public want by interviewing people in the demographic and looking at what they’re into. Since there are such a large number of people in the age bracket, there are a lot of different things people want to see. MTV tries to cover a large variety of genres, but can’t go too far out of the popular zone or the show won’t get many views and it would be a waste. They take the time to get to know individuals; what problems they have, music they like, what’s “cool” at the moment. “Cool” plays a huge part in programming because whatever’s “cool” will be popular to the people. Of course, “cool” changes all the time so MTV has to interview people often to find out what people are into.

Research

• ‘cool’ changes
• Need to know what people want
• Teens are the most researched people
• Subconsciously buying things you see in TV
• Teenagers are unresponsive to traditional brand marketing
• Finding new products that are ‘cool’
• Promoting music because it is ‘cool’
• Advertising to different types of people
• Understanding as people not customers

Jersey Shore

Why are we interested in the characters?

• The characters are funny to watch. It is amusing to watch them do stupid things and make mistakes in relation to their stereotypical personalities.

Do we relate to them or is it escapism?

• I think it is escapism because their stereotypical personalities are nothing like people of our generation. The things they do are irrelevant to our lives.

Who is the target audience? (specifically)

• 12-34

Pace of the show?

• Some of the show is relaxed and just following the characters around, watching them get along with their day, sometimes doing individual interviews. But there is also a lot of drama where things like fighting and bitching are involved and the pace gets faster.

What form is the show?

• The form is mostly fly on the wall, but there are also individual interviews where they talk to the camera.

Sex With Mom and Dad

This show is about teens taking to their parents about sex and sexuality. It is aimed at teenagers and is supposed to give them an idea of how to talk to their parents. The show is reality and involves different teenager’s experiences with their parents and how different people can handle the situation. The audience is captured by the language used and the drama that the average teenager goes through to give them an idea of how to handle things.

Jessie J- Price Tag

What are the messages in this video clip?

• The message is that money keeps coming and there is no need to worry about it. It is saying that you should do what you want and forget about how much it costs because the money will come back.

Are the messages then same as the product(s)?

What techniques are used to convey the messages?

• At one point in the video, Jesse is sitting under a money tree showing that it is as though money grows on trees because it keeps coming.

Who is the target audience and how do you know?

• Girls that want new things, teenage-20 year old girls,

ACNielsen

ACNielsen

• Measure what people consume, and the people
• Understand how important ratings are
• All day, every day
• Strong sample design
• No two homes are alike
• All media
• If it’s measured; it has value
• Online video
• Understand buyers and sellers
• Strive for accuracy
• Able to accept change
• Always looking for next audience opportunity
• Always trying to recruit new people

• Is a worldwide headquarters in New York City
• ACNielsen is a sister company to Nielsen//NetRatings
• Nielsen measures the shopping and media consumption of an estimated 10 million consumers worldwide.

People Meter

A people meter is a devise used to record who is watching what programs at what time. It is personalized to every member of the family (age and sex). When someone in the family is watching something, they must use the provided remote and insert who is watching including guests. If the family has forgotten to identify who is there, it will flash and tell them to do so. The purpose is to measure viewing habits of TV audiences.

Target Audience

Simpsons

• Teenagers
• Parents
• Family

The comedy is subtle, not inappropriate or violent. Humor matches adults and children, with stereotypical characters in cartoon form.

WWE

• 12 year old boys

• 20-30 males
• Brook Ashton

Fighting and hurting others professionally appeals to males because it is masculine. The thought of violence without having to be hurt is a dream come true. There are merchandise like toy wrestlers and collecting cards. The girls in as little clothing as allowed appeals to the older age group.

Master Chef

• People who enjoy cooking
• Wives/mothers
• Other chefs or critics

It gives chefs a sense of what it can be like in other kitchens while giving them opinions from critics. Mothers and wives may want to experiment for their families and people who like cooking might want some new ideas.

Fear Factor

• Families
• Fathers
• Males

The sense of danger and adventure is thrilling to families, mostly men because of the risk factor. They love the suspense, the gross food and the danger.

Adverts During Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives 8.30-9.00

• TV program ad
• Pomegranate juice
• Interislander
• Rexona
• Special K
• Mascara
• Toyota

• Huggies
• Bread
• Postie
• Movie
• Girl Guides
• TV program ad.

• TV program ad
• Hyundai
• Kapiti yoghurt
• Farmers
• Dove
• Vita weat
• Hyundai
• TV program ad

The targeted audience for these adverts was women of about 30-40. Women do food and clothes shopping and they’re going to be the ones buying nappies.

Slumdog Millionaire Toilet Scene

Camera angles:

A low angle shot of Jamal coming from inside the hole its self is used to show the decision Jamal must make. He has been put on the spot and must decide whether or not to jump into the pile of feces beneath the hole. The low angle of Jamal standing over the hole, holding a photo of his favorite actor (the reason he is wanting to escape) is showing how important this actor is to Jamal. This made a huge impact on the scene by showing the struggle but determination of his final decision.

After deciding to jump through the hole and walking through a crowd covered in feces, he manages to acquire an autograph on the photo which he had kept in his pocket. A circling mid shot had been used to show the excitement and expression on Jamal’s face. The way that he is holding the photograph above his head with out stretched arms shows how much this means to him and how he looks up to the actor.

Sound:
There are clear background noises from the people and other cars while the two brothers and a man are talking. The banging of the next toilet stall over’s door shutting is clear, but quiet enough to hear the three speaking. The faint sound of helicopter propellers from throughout the scene starts to increase getting louder and louder, soon followed by a man screaming the name of Jamal’s favourite actor. After a clip of the actor’s work, the sound of the helicopter has increased immensely and you can tell by listening to the swarm of screams coming from villagers that the helicopter is about to land.

Pace:

The pace of this scene is the typical slow with a build up towards the end. It starts with Jamal and his brother Salim at the village toilets just going by their business. It speeds up the tiniest bit when Salim gets a “customer” and tries to hurry Jamal out of the toilet, which Jamal does not agree with. After realising the overcoming helicopter is carrying Jamal’s favourite actor, the pace increases. After Jamal realises his brother has locked him in the stall for “losing his customer” the pace quickens again in his struggle and hurry to get out. It then calms down a little when Jamal is trying to decide whether it is worth jumping in to the pile of faeces.

Slumdog Millionaire Camera Angles

Close up, panned up to the face, really yellow. Looks pained, tired, worried, stressed. Close up insists that he is very important.

Close up, man smoking makes him seem powerful, blows smoke in boy’s face showing weakness.

Starting the film at the end to know that you’re going to see how he got there. Instantly know money’s important, within the first minute they show money being scattered.

Birds eye view shot to show everyone’s watching him, making him look tiny amongst the audience.

Almost too nervous to answer the questions, no one understands that he’s being tortured behind the scenes.

Low angle shot showing they want something from him (to catch the ball).

Running through the slums away from cops, showing they new what they were doing and they’d done it all before. Music gets faster when they start running.

Slumdog Millionaire

In my opinion, Slumdog Millionaire was breathtakingly deep, showing a range of different emotions throughout the film. The story was about a boy along with his brother and their friend Latika and their journey through life. It was about the struggle and misfortune of the three, but also a love story.

The film is set in an investigation office after being accused of cheating on the television game show ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’. The story is about how Jamal knew all of the answers, going back in time to a part in his life when the answer occurred. This made the film unique, but if you weren’t focusing at all times, the story line would deplete and not make too much sense after a while. You have to concentrate on what’s going on to really understand it. Near the end, time catches up and the flashbacks stop, then he’s granted permission to finish his last question on the game show, completing the film smoothly and orderly with a romantic ending.

The film was rumored to be based on a true story, and although it is not specifically, director Danny Boyle said “If the story isn’t true, it should be”. The conditions of the slums in India are terrible. The things the boys went through were horrible, not to mention the additional pain the brothers caused each other. There are different kinds of sadness portrayed throughout the film. The boys were lied to and taken advantage of, they lost their mother and spent their lives fending for themselves. One brother turned against the other and stole the girl he loved, years later repeating the same thing only in the end Jamal gets his girl back.

There were features used in the film to show more depth in individual scenes, eg. lighting and camera angles. Symbolic actions were used to exaggerate thoughts and feelings of the characters throughout the film. This gave the viewer an enhanced outlook on the characters experiences and lifestyle.

All in all, I found Slumdog Millionaire to be an emotional experience, educational but also enjoyable. I would definitely watch it again.

Mise-en-scene

Setting:
Time period, physical location, economic situation are all part of the setting in a film. These factors will help you understand the situation more, fitting to the theme of the film. A reason for choosing the setting so carefully is to help you understand the mood of the film, and the character’s state of mind. When filming exterior, you must consider things like the weather, which must fit the scene and make the mood.

Props:
Props are used to show certain traits of a character. The prop may appear often to show its significance and importance to the character. For example, a regular prop for a killer is a knife; the knife may be shown before striking an attack. A busy business person may be on their cell phone all the time. These things can help portray a characters personality and give the viewer a better understanding.

Lighting:
Lighting can be used in many ways to create a scene. There are different uses of brightness, quantity, colour and direction that can create a mood in the film. Using a dark/dim coloured filter can make a film dark and mysterious, whereas a brighter or a clearer filter will make a lighter film. Shadowing with a light (lighting from a side to make a shadow on a wall) is a classic horror movie technique to make the scene darker and scarier, along with back lighting (lighting coming from behind the actor to make them appear as a dark figure, and lighting from underneath for a ‘scary story’ look). The quality and quantity of light is also used in different genres of film, less light for scary ones, more light for lighter movies.

Key elements.

Mise-en-scene:
Mise-en-scene is a phrase used to roughly describe the design that is used in theatre and film.

• Set design is the setting of a scene and objects. It can be used to amplify character emotion or the dominant mood of a film, or to establish aspects of the character.
• The intensity, direction, and quality of lighting have a profound effect on the way an image is perceived. Light can emphasise texture, shape, distance, mood, time of day or night, season, and can focus attention on particular elements of the composition.
• The depth, proximity, size, and proportions of the places and objects in a film can be manipulated through camera placement and lenses, lighting, set design.
• Costumes are specified simply to express the characters personality.
• There is enormous historical and cultural variation in performance styles in acting in the cinema.

Cinematography:

is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema.

• Film stock is photographic film on which motion pictures are shot and reproduced.
• In photography and videography, a filter is a camera accessory consisting of an optical filter that can be inserted in the optical path. Filters allow the photographer to have more control of the images being produced.
• A camera lens is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic lens or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or electronically.

Editing:

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing language, images, sound, video, or film through processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications in various media.

Sound:

Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.

Shot: A shot is a continuous piece of filming without interruption. From the time the camera is turned on and starts filming, to the time it is turned off.
Eg. While filming a conversation between people, a shot would be used of the person whom is speaking at the time, and changed to the next person when it is their turn to speak.

Edit: And edit is a break in the film where one shot finishes and the next one begins.

Scene: A scene is a collection of shots arranged through editing in a specific order.
Eg. There may be someone trying to escape some sort of trap created by villains whom while this is going on are planning further traps, swapping from the escaper to the planning villains.

Frame: The frame is literally the boarder or edge of the screen in the cinema. The physical boundary that contains what the audience sees.
Eg. Aliens may be landing on the Opera House but the frame might only include image of an office in which world leaders are sitting arguing over what to do.

Framing: Framing is the art of deciding what images the audience sees within the frame of the cinema screen and how these images are arranges within each shot.
Eg. A classic horror film technique is to frame the monster outside of the shot so the audience cannot see it. He shot shows the helpless scrambling people without showing the monster itself.

Degesis: The digesis of a film is everything contained within the world of that film. Therefore a diegetic element is an element within the world of the film, while a non diegetic element is any element outside of the world of the film.