Media Studies Mest 1

Shots: Medium, wide, close-up  

Angles: low, high, tilt 

Connotation: e.g. red rose = pain, passion, death

Mis-en-scene: Everything placed within the frame and how they create meaning i.e. Lighting, props, costume, actors, loacation...

Mode of Address: Direct/indirect. Formal/informal

diegetic sound: coming from inside the narrative world of the film eg characters' voices.

non diegetic sound: coming from another source - eg a voice-over or a soundtrack.

iconography: signs and symbols associated with a genre eg. sci-fi = aliens, neon lights, galaxy etc.

Pace - Fast or slow?

Target audience - demographics, psychographics; mainstreamers, apirers, indvidualists, strugglers, succeders, reformers 

Uses and gratifications (blulmer & Katz)

Information: security of knowledge, self-esteem, satisfys general curiosity 

Identification: reinforcment for models of behaviour, finding yourself reflected in texts, can relate 

escapism: diversion from everyday life, relaxing, filling time, sexual arousal, cathartic?

Common cultural currency: Sense of belonging in 'community, basis for social interaction,  

Maslow's hierachy of needs: essentials at the bottom - food, water etc. Self actualization at the top 

USER GENERATED CONTENT AKA 'PROSUMERS'

media conglomerate is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the internet e.g. Walt Disney Company, Times Warner. 

Brand values - family, affordable etc. 

TNC, synergy, franchise, tie-in, production, distribution, marketing, proliferation, technology

Disney Pixar 

 Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the computer division of Lucasfilm before its spin-out as a corporation in 1986 with funding by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority shareholder. The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion, a transaction which made Jobs Disney's largest shareholder.

DreamWorks

DreamWorks began in 1994 as an attempt by media moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen (forming the SKG present on the bottom of the DreamWorks logo) to create a new Hollywood studio of which they owned 72%. In December 2005, the founders agreed to sell the studio to Viacom, parent of Paramount Pictures. The sale was completed in February 2006. In 2008, DreamWorks announced its intention to end its partnership with Paramount and signed a $1.5 billion deal to produce films with India's Reliance ADA Group.

Negative stereotype or a countertupe?

Youth - unsociable, rebelious, irresonsible 

Femininty

• beauty (within narrow conventions)
• size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)
• sexuality (as expressed by the above)
• emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
• relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)

Male Gaze

Masculinity

• Strength - physical and intellectual
• Power
• Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above)
• Physique
• Independence (of thought, action)
• isolate 'lone hero

Old age 

Grumpy, weak, slow, rude...

Barthes

Enigma codes - leaves the audience questioning e.g. trailer - what happens?

creates anticipation and curiosity - needs answering

Levi Strauss

Binary oppositions - conflicts which move the narrative along e.g. love/hate life/death 

Todorov - 5 stages of narrative 

equilibrium, disequilbrium, new equilibrium 

Propp character roles 

Hero, villain, donor, helper, father, prize etc. 

hypodermic needle theory 

suggests  that audiences passively receive the information transmitted via a media text, without any attempt on their part to process or challenge the data.

audience reception theory 

The way individuals receive and interpret a text, and how their individual circumstances (gender, class, age, ethnicity) affect their reading.

This work was based on Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model of the relationship between text and audience - the text is encoded by the producer, and decoded by the reader, and there may be major differences between two different readings of the same code. However, by using recognised codes and conventions, and by drawing upon audience expectations relating to aspects such as genre and use of stars, the producers can position the audience and thus create a certain amount of agreement on what the code means. This is known as a preferred reading.

Directed by Lee Unkrich (2010) Disney Pixar 

• Toy Story 3 became the first ever animated film in history to make over $1 billion worldwide
• Magazine(Egmont) - issue 1 
• DailMail - lego 
• Ocar campaign, billboards, posters etc. 
• aired 1 &2 on disney channels 
• released in 3D

Over The Hedge (2006) directed by Karey Kirkpatrick and Tim Johnson DREAMWORKS

• tie-in with Hp entertainment notebook Dv5000 - comercial aired on TV plus put online on youtube. 
• Video game 

Casting - Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, Bruce Willis.... attracts audiences such as parents 

Atlantis (2001) Disney 

• Atlantis was among Disney's first major attempts to utilize internet marketing.  McDonald's (which has an exclusive licensing agreement on all Disney releases) promoted the film with Happy Meal toys, food packaging and in-store decor. The McDonald's advertising campaign involved television, radio, and print advertisements beginning on the film's release date.

Bee Movie, DREAMWORKS 2007  Website: interactive audiences 

• Download 
• Para-social relationships - widget/pet bee
• Recipes to print 
• Fact about characters etc. 

Monsters Inc 2001, Pete Docter 

• Monsters Inc Manga (Tokyo Pop) 
• Mash up - Inception xMonsters Inc - Burgerphone 

www.pixarplanet.com 

• website created by four friends/fans. Forums etc. UGC - created by fans for fans - no mass media modern technology 

Franchise, Synergy, Tie-in, Convergence, Fragmented, Interactive audiences, Para social relationships, Brand values, Connotes, Denotes, Authenticity, voyeurism, humour, intertextuality 

synergy- the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Using different platforms to promote the single film (franchise).

Symbiosis- linking up of various companies to make profits of one product (promotion). Can increase film sales.

Technologies 

• Purchase films on itunes
• 3D technologies, blu-ray dvd... bringing more of a visual spectacle to homes. 
• UGC - Youtube and social media websites etc. 
• apps, print billboards integrated with social media technology
• digital printing - printing from online websites + using iPad or e-readers