Question 2 Theorists

Giroux 1997 agrues that representations of youth become an 'empty category' because the representations are created by adults and not the youth themselves.
'Stereotypes are always about power: those with power stereotype those with less power' ( Dyer 1979) 
Women are represented as passive objects for the male gaze ( Laura Mulvey 1975)
'A focus on identity requires us to pay close attention to the ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life and their consequence for social groups' David Buckingham
Antonio Gramsci and his idea of Hegemony that musch of the media is controlled by the dominant group in society and the viewpoints associated with this group become embedded in the media products.
Acland ( 1995) claims that representations of delinquent youth reinforces hegemony and  because it establishes a 'normallty ' and this is shown as unacceptable/. Also creates a 'ideology  of protection' 
Cohen ( 1972), who studied mods and rockers  (Quadrophenia),   argued that folk devils emerge in society which relflect the anxieties in the society. A 'moral panic; is generated when these folk devils become sensationalised so that politians and the police become involved. 
Gerbner (1986) says people that watch a lot of television over estimated the crime in the real world, he called that 'mean world syndrome'. Because the news and Tv drama and film contain a lot of representations of crime peoples perceptions are affected, This is "Cultivation theory' which if applied to represenataions of youth as delinquents could, over time, influence how they are perceived. 
'We now belong to a participatory culture rather than a spectatorial one' ( Henry Jenkins 1992 )

Anthony Giddens 1991 claimed that mediated experiences makes people reflect and rethink their own self-narrative in relation to others. That although we are free we are also constrained on these activities. He stated that the self is not something we are born with, but rather it is constructed by the individual and is not fixed.
David Gauntlett ( 2002) 'Ideas about lifestyle and identity that appear in the media are resources which individuals use to think through their sense of self and modes if expression

Evaluation Plan

q  In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

- Poster or Prezi

q How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

- Powerpoint, include Advert 1 & 2 along with my Sponsorship and Pop-up

q What have you learned from your audience feedback?

- Imovie video, include short clips of actually audience feedback by filming & then use text to indicate what I have learnt from the feedback.

q How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

- word document, mid map of all the technologies used in the middle 

Digital Technology Homework

 - Describe the ways in which your project work was aided by your use of digital technology and how your ability to use digital technology developed over time.

• What they mean is to cover both your AS year and A2 year. Include research and planning as well as construction in  our answer, and do not forget to state what products you are talking about.

Throughout both my foundation and advanced portfolio I have developed my skills regarding the creative use of digital technology. For both foundation & advanced portfolios there were three stages we completed: research & planning along with construction. 

Within the research & planning stage for my foundation portfolio I completed my preliminary task which was a short video that had to include specific shots, such as: an action match of a character walking through a door and then crossing the room. After that shot there needed to be a short conversation that included a master shot and over the shoulder shots to show the characters reactions. In order to this I used a Nikon D3200 camera that was placed on a tripod to keep the movements still and smooth. This allowed me to practise shots that may be included in my film opening for my foundation portfolio, main task. After I had all the shots I needed I then used iMovie to edit the clips together and cut any unnecessary footage to make the shots flow. For example: the action match shot involves the model placing her hand on the door in the first shot, which was far too long and then the model comes through the door the other side, therefore using the cutting tool I removed a small section of the clip to sped the action up and make it flow together as one shot. 

For the main task in my foundation portfolio, I constructed a horror film opening. Within research I used Web 2.0 in order to use the website 'Youtube' to analyse existing film openings. The use of YouTube allowed me to understand conventions of horror films, therefore allowing me to understand which conventions to follow, develop and/or challenge in order to make my opening appeal to my target audience(15-24 year olds). In planning I did a lot of trial runs for my opening as I was including a dream sequence I needed to know how I would make it obvious to my audience which part is the dream and what is not. Therefore with the use of digital technology I used a Nikon D3200 camera to film a dream sequence and then used the editing software Premiere Pro, this is a development in itself as for the editing process of my preliminary task I used iMovie whereas for the practise dream sequence I used Premiere Pro. In order to separate the dream and real life I went to effects, then video effects, adjust and then used the colour correction effect to make the dream shots black and white I also added a dissolve transition in between the two shots to show the link but also the separation. Within construction is when digital technology really comes in to use. During the editing process, using Premiere Pro I was able to develop my skills by learning new techniques and effects. Ad I wanted the dream sequence in my horror opening to be quick flashing shots in-between the real life scenes I used the cutting tool to split the clips in to smaller pieces and then inserted the dream sequences shots in between. I also used the effect fade to black as I needed the shots to flow together and it indicates that something new is about to happen. As part of the main task was to make titles I used Premiere Pro text tool to insert a black layer in order to insert my titles. I needed to link the text to the genre of my opening which was horror so I used Web 2.0 to research horror fonts. I then used the font effect on Premiere Pro to choose the appropriate one, the colour of the text was white. However while researching this on Youtube I found that some of the opening titles move rather than stay still, therefore I then used the software LiveType and made my titles again, I used the same black background and white writing but made the titles flicker. I also had to make a production logo to go at the beginning of my opening, therefore I used LiveType as I wanted the logo to move. The use of digital technology also came into use when I used a microphone to record sounds for my opening, such a child's laugh. 

In the second year for my advanced portfolio, I created 2 adverts for my main task along with a online pop-up and sponsorship sequence for my ancillary task. Within research and planning I used Youtube in order to look at existing adverts, this allowed me to realise that the construction of an advert is a lot different to a film opening that I did for my foundation portfolio, I realised that I needed to do a lot of practise shots as the speed of the advert is very fast. Therefore in the planning process I did a number of practise Tilts and Pan shots using a Nikon D3200 camera. I also developed my skills by including a zoom in and zoom out shot. During construction for main task, advanced portfolio, my skills with digital technology progressed as the location of my advert was in the studio rather than on location, therefore I was introduced to new lighting and new camera settings. I used a blonde light while shooting my advert rather than ordinary studio lights, however I had to adjust the setting on my D3200 camera as it made the models skin off coloured and the background to bright, therefore I changed the aperture and had the focus on manual rather than auto. When editing my adverts I used Premiere Pro. However a lot more editing techniques were used in my advanced portfolio compared to my foundation portfolio as it needed to be more slick and precise as there were more shots involving a lot of movement. I used the crop effect to erase any unwanted background (anything other than the backdrop) within the shots but also changed the scale of some of the shots to make them closer so there wasn't as much plain backdrop included in the image. I also increased the speed of the shots by using the speed duration effect as I wanted the shots to be quick to keep the audiences attention. I also reversed the speed in some shots to make the movement go the opposite way. For some shots I used the mirror effect to show the same shot and/or different shots next to each other to fill the empty space. I included a fast dip to white transition to make it look like a camera flashing. Further more using the change to colour effect I edited one shot in three different colours. At the end of my adverts I needed to show my company logo. In order to make this I used Photoshop. I created a white layer 1920 by 19080 pixels & resolution 300. I then inserted text by using the text tool. I used a fun swirly front to match the fun atmosphere of my adverts and the angle of the front was a wave shape. The company name was a larger font than the slogan as the company name is more important. 

For my ancillary task, the pop up I did a photography shoot in the studio using a studio camera. I then used photoshop to make a online pop-up template. I used a white background and inserted another layer to put my company logo at the bottom of the pop-up. I then dropped the photographs onto the pop-up, however before I did this I used the lasso tool to cut around the model as I did want any of the background included. I then added a number of text bubbles on the pop-up to promote offers and deals to the audience. Before I decided the layout of my pop-up I looked at existing pop-ups. 

Overall, my progress and development of skills with digital technology as greatly improved. I went from using iMovie to Premiere Pro and then further developed my skills using Premiere Pro as I started by using simple cutting tools and fade to black effects and then in my advanced portfolio I used more advanced editing techniques that I learnt from watching editing tutorials and experimenting with using different effects on Premiere Pro. My general skills using my Nikon D3200 camera has improved as the shots in my advert are a lot smoother and professional than in my film opening. 

Genre

In relation to genre I am going to talk about my media production, a film opening from my foundation portfolio.  The chosen genre of my film opening was horror, this allowed me to be more creative with the narrative due to the fact that there are many sub genres within horror. This links to Christine Gledhill theory from 1985 as it was said that "there are no ridged rules of inclusion and exclusion", therefore in my horror opening I was able to choose which conventions I wanted to follow, develop or challenge. It was important to follow certain conventions, such as fade to blacks in order to establish what genre my film opening is but also it is important for institutions when thinking about their target audience and wither there is a place in the market for their film, in regards to my horror opening I had to make sure I followed certain conventions in order to give the audience what they would expect to see from from a horror opening otherwise it wouldn't appeal to them. However I also had to develop and challenge some conventions to make my horror opening different from existing ones, this relates to Stephen Neale 1980 theory, he believes that genres are instances of repetitions and differences & that difference is absolutely essential. 

Mise-en-scene allows genre to be established, the location, props, make-up, costume and lighting all constitute to making the genre clear to identify. Meaning in a horror film you would expect to see a chainsaw whereas  a gun would be used in an action film. 

In my horror opening I used two children characters, this was a common convention found in horror films. However I developed this use of children characters as I didn't use them for their vulnerability, I portrayed them to be evil rather than their stereotypical sweet and innocent appearance. I also used a women for the main character as I also found that this was common in horror films. I also used a women main character as it was easier to portray her to be scared a vulnerably and make it believable for the audience. David Chandler supports this as he believes that representations always constitute reality, this relates to my opening because women are seen to be weaker in reality and I have represented women in my opening to be weak. 

Narrative Homework

• Apply theorists of narrative to one of your coursework productions.

For my foundation portfolio in my first year we had to create a film opening. We decided to choose the genre horror as we had a clear understanding of different narratives we could use. The narrative behind our horror film opening was a reoccurring nightmare.

In order to make our film opening interesting & to make our audience want to watch the rest of the film we decided to follow Todorovs Theory as within the opening we showed an equilibrium, a disruption of the equilibrium, followed by the recognition of the disruption which is the first 3 stages of Todorovs narrative structure. if we was to make the whole film we could continue with the structure by showing an attempt to repair the disruption and then finally a new equilibrium. In order to show the disruption of the equilibrium we used a number of fast straight cuts to show in between the main character sleeping to indicate the disruption. It was made clear to the audience which shots were part of the nightmare and which were of the main character sleeping as we used different lighting, different location and in the dream we had the 2 characters wearing old fashioned clothing to indicate that it was a different time period. 

In order to construct the narrative that we wanted there were certain conventions that we had to follow, challenge & develop. We decided to follow majority of the horror conventions as we needed to make the narrative believable, these conventions were: 

• dark lighting 
• location with no surroundings 
• fast cuts
• fade to blacks 
• scary music/sound effects
• tense atmosphere 

We also also challenged the stereotype of children within the narrative of our film opening as we portrayed them to be evil rather than their stereotype of sweet and innocent, this made the narrative of our film opening to be different from other existing horror openings and gave the audience something they wouldn't expect in a horror shoreline. Following this we developed the idea of the fear of the unknown throughout the narrative of our opening as normally the fear of the unknown would be shown by only reveling the evil character at the end of the film, however we developed this in our own way as we did show the audience the evil characters but within the whole of our opening there was very little information given about the nightmare (involving the evil characters) the main character was having, therefore it create fear within the narrative. 

Throughout the whole of the opening we had to make sure that the narrative was interesting for the audience. We also wanted them to have questions about the opening, this is another reason why we provided little information within the opening as we needed to create unanswered questions within the narrative so they would have to watch the rest of the film in order to find out the answers, for example 'what's going to happen next', this is known as an enigma code. This links to Barthes theory as his two narrative codes drive the narrative forward to keep the viewers watching and engaged. 

• The Hermeneutic Code- A plot of elements that raise questions that we want answered. 
• The Proairetic Code- Actions in the plot which lead to other actions.

Without our opening we also followed the narrative theory of Propp, he came up with character types when analysing a series of Russian fairy tales. For example in different narratives you have have, the hero, villain, princess ect. We followed this by having the 2 villain characters within the nightmare and we portrayed them to be evil.

overall the narrative of our film opening is shown through the help of the theorist Todorov, Barthes & Propps.