An analysis of Status in Rome

An analysis of Status in Rome.

Having watched the clip of a period TV drama, I can identify how status is represented. We see how ‘slaves’ are shown through them working. We also see how the higher status men in the army are portrayed by them working behind a desk, are not doing anything practical. The status of women is shown to be very low, through the only female character we see. Also, through the dialogue the soldiers use, when they talk about women, shows how low they think of women.
Camera is used in this clip to show the status of people. The clip opens with an establishing shot of the scene that pans, not only does it set the scene for the audience we see men, the soldiers seen as slaves, working. They are seen as slaves as the camera just shows them working from far, we don’t get a sense of personal belonging to the soldiers. They are also are shown to be doing a service and only needed for this. Furthermore, it is in a high angle, connoting their low status. We also see a slight hint of a slave working in a room, but the camera just pans so we only get to see that someone is standing doing some work, we also get a mid-shot of him, when he is being spoken to, but he never speaks back, showing the stereotypical view of slaves, that they are not allowed to speak, unless asked to.
We see two guys having a discussion, in an office, where one is sitting behind the desk probably looking at some paperwork; this shows that he has a higher status than all the other characters. This scene opens with a two-shot, showing that they having a conversation. In addition it is in a low angle shot; therefore they appear more on screen connoting they are both of a higher status. In the scene the older character is in the room looking around and discussing some issues that have risen, however even though he confronts the other character we get a sense that he has not got a higher status than him, but has a higher status than the other characters. Through the close-ups used of their faces, not only do we get to see their facial expressions, but through the facial expressions, status can be explained. For example, the close up of the older character is serious, however the other characters face shows that he is not bothered what he thinks, and that its up to him what he decides.
The scene moves, to outside scenery, and we immediately see a soldier through a long we do not get the full picture of what he is doing, but as the camera pans and moves closer to the character we see that there is a female character. The two characters are having sexual intercourse; however it seems to be just a “one-time” thing as it is outside, in public behind a tree. This shows that the women status is very low and not valued at all. We see very little of the female character and she has no speech throughout. With the camera following the male character, adds to the sense that the female character is not important and is there only to give the male character ‘pleasure’.
Towards the end of the scene, the main male character addresses another character, the camera shows him in high angle, connoting that he has a lower status to the main guy, also he addresses him with “sir” adding to the sense he has a lower status. The main character addresses another character, maybe his son, by “boy”, the boy is shown in a high angle to him, stating that he also has a lower status.
To conclude, this TV drama shows status through camera very efficiently, even though it is very straightforward. The camerawork in this clip is very clear to distinguish the representation of status, as in who has a higher status and who has a lower status. The representation of the lower status is very stereotypical, for example the female character represents women in a stereotypical way in that time period. The representation of higher status is also stereotypical in that time period, showing that men, have a higher status. Also in the clip has a majority of male characters, this indicates the target audience.

An analysis of gender in skins.

The clip I watched (FIRST 5 MINUTES): Skins Series 3 episode 1

An analysis of gender in skins.

Having watched the 5 minute clip of skins, I could see there was a clear distinguish how gender is being represented. Gender is portrayed through the different characters shown, the young teenage boys, middle aged men, teenage girls, and the elderly are all depicted differently. The young teenage boys are represented to be rebels and the typical teenager boy, the middle aged man is shown to be a usual working man, the teenage girl is represented to be a normal girl but is not bothered what is going on around her, the elderly women, is shown to the typical aged women that is quite fragile.

From the beginning of the clip, we can assume that the character being shown will be a teenage boy, this is connoted through the ‘close-up’ edit of the trainers with the character skating. Also, it is a long take to create the tension of who the character is. The shot then changes into a different angle where we see the teenage boy for the first time, this is a low angle of the teenage boy skating towards the camera. It then changes into a high angle, making us aware that the teenage boy is skilled in skating and that he has done this several times. The shot changes to a straight on angle with the boy landing. These scenes are all done by fast forwards and short takes, to make the scene faster so it creates pace and excitement. Also the cuts create a story, as we follow the character skating therefore he is going towards a destination; this is what we call an action code, as the audience know the story is moving on. These few scenes are all matched cut, as the images match and have an invisible edit. Having an invisible edit creates verisimilitude as it makes the audience forget what they are watching is not real and are taken into what they are watching. These scenes have verisimilitude, as it makes the audience believe that the character is really experienced in skating. Too add to the feeling that the character is very experienced we see a close up of his feet as he slows down and eventually stops. As he stops, he takes out his phone looking at a message that was sent to him, a close-up is used of the phone, so the audience know who sent the text message and what the text message says. This editing allows the audience to know what is going on in the story. What we read in the text message “Sparking ur last spliff” portrays that who ever sent the text message is another teenage character that has relationship with the character. The context of the message “UR” and “SPLIFF” conveys that it is a young teenager due to the language. We then get too see the characters’ face, through a mid close-up, we see that the character is not bothered about it, and just accepts it. His emotion is shown through the close up.

We then move to another scene, but still in the same area. As the three teenage friends sit down and talk, they see a car accident. The driver, a middle-aged man comes out of his car angry; we see his emotion through the close up of his face. Having a close up of the characters face, after the incident, is called a reaction shot, as the shot is used for the characters reaction to the event. Also having a scene with the friends having a conversation and a scene with a car accident is called a cross-cut, as we see two narratives here. Having more than one narrative in a TV drama is usual as it creates entertainment, and makes it more interesting for the audience. The editor then goes to use the shot where there is a long-shot of the scene. This allows the audience to see what is going on. Also, it shows that the middle aged man is in a suit representing his age, and that he is the stereotypical working man. As we hear one of the teenagers laughing at what is happening, this represents that they are teenagers and find things that are generally serious amusing.

As the middle aged man approaches the elderly women, we see that she is very frightened due to the way he approached to her. Also, as he chose to approach an elderly woman, he assumes that she knows what happened, this portrays that elderly people are the one’s who know everything that has happened as they tend to be nosey. As he continues to insist that she knows what happened and that she is his witness, it is all kept within the 180˚ rule. Also to represent that she is an elderly women, he asks for her mobile number, but she says that she has not got one. This portrays her age, and being very stereotypical that the aged population do no own a mobile phone.

To conclude, the clip of skins shows gender through the technical aspect editing. Many different types of editing were used, mainly matched cut, emotion, and story. The matched cut was used for invisible edit, in order for there to be verisimilitude. Emotion through the shot type, close-ups, was used so the audience know what the character is feeling through facial expression. Also having a cut due to emotion can create the mood/feeling the editor intended to have on the audience. There were a few scenes, especially at the beginning where a mixture of long and short takes were involved. Having long takes is good to create tension within in the story, and by having short takes creates excitement as the pace is fast. The editing used in the clip at the beginning, when the character is skating and only the feet are shown, shows the age as well as the gender being a teenage boy, however this has a polysemic effect as the audience may feel that not only teenage boys skate and wear trainers like shown in the clip, it may have been a female character. There are two possible interpretations of the image.

24 Hour Party People Essay

Compare and contrast 24 Hour Party People's production to that of a Hollywood film.

Having watched the film ‘24 Hour Party People’ (Michael Winterbottom, 2002) which is an independent film, I can compare and contrast the film to a Hollywood film. ’24 Hour Party People’ has several production companies involved, these co-productions are Baby Cow Production, Channel Four Films, Film Council, FilmFour, Revolution Films, and Wave Pictures where as Dead Man Running only had two production companies, which are Next Generation TV and Film, and P&T Productions. As ’24 Hour Party People’ had many production companies involved this indicates that it is an independent film due to this it requires more production companies to spread out the cost, as most companies don’t want to pay a lot of money in an independent film as they feel they wont make the money back, where as in Hollywood film they would only have one to two production companies as the production companies are willing to give more money to a Hollywood film that have a mainstream audience, since they feel that the film will make more money. The film breaks the fourth wall several times, for example at the beginning tony Wilson saying the scene was symbolic of what is to come on many levels. "I don't want to say too much, don't want to spoil it. I'll just say one word: 'Icarus'. If you get it, great. If you don't, that's fine too. But you should probably read more." Also at a concert, The real Devoto, portraying a janitor cleaning the bathroom sink, then turns to the camera and says "I definitely don't remember this happening." Breaking the fourth wall seems to be like something an independent film would do, as they tend to do things opposite to what is expected to do, to make the film different.

The Target audience for ’24 Hour Party People’ is a mature, yet young audience, appealing to both males and females, however the majority would be a male audience, as most of the actors are males. The audience will be between 16-30 as you see many concerts in the film with young people drinking and smoking. They would also be of a working class background.
The main synergy used in ’24 Hour Party People’ is music. Before the film starts, it opens with a song from “Happy Mondays” in the opening credits. Tony Wilson attends a concert at Manchester 1976, by the Sex Pistols, this uses synergy as the film and the band sex pistols are promoting their media product. ’24 Hour Party People’ uses this synergy to promote their film, and the sex pistols uses the synergy to make awareness of their band, both appealing to the same audience at the same time.
‘24 Hour Party People’ used new media technology in the film. The film was filmed with a Sony DSR-PD150, which has an affordable price to it but also a very professional camera, which has XLR audio inputs and produces great picture. The film is a video format, filmed in DV and printed with a 35 mm film format. 35mm film has the highest quality. Evidence of new media technology used within the film is during the scene with the birds, when the birds where falling from the sky, dead. Even though this was not real, it was shown in a very realistic way; this affects the production company in a positive way as it allows them to create a scene with verisimilitude, which helps the audience be affected positively as well, as they see it being real and believe the story. There was also another scene which shows elements of new media technology being used, there was scene where ‘space ships’ were involved, in order to create this scene sound effects for the space ship noise was used and special effects to get the space ship appear in the scene. This had a positive effect for the production company as they were able to do this using the new media technology. on top of this, towards the end of the film there was a scene where special effects were involved, this was the scene where “God” was speaking. Where as in Hollywood films they tend to use the best camera available, usually costing a lot, but due to new media technology it has got cheaper, and also the special effects in a Hollywood film is far more advanced as they use the best editing software’s and best equipment, only because they have the money to do this.
Having FilmFour and Channel four films as one of 24 Hour Party Peoples’ production company, this allows cross-media convergence, as ’24 Hour Party People’ can have trailer adverts on the TV channels, film four and channel 4 to create awareness for the film, also they could use it for home exhibition, as they could have the film played on the channels.
’24 Hour Party People’, gives a representation of Britishness, mainly Manchester, as being negative, as we see guns, drugs which results in having a drug-gang, increasing the likelihood of crime, wee see a drive-by shooting which adds to the film showing British negatively. Also, it shows Manchester as being a musical place, as there are constant concerts shown, which also shows people drinking a lot there. The film as shows huge elements of people who want to go into the music industry and the majority of people who are shown are young people who like to party, this reflects the audience.
To conclude, 24 Hour Party People and a Hollywood film have similar elements that show they use new media technology, cross media convergence, and synergy. 24 hour party people uses new media technology to create verisimilitude in their film, they use synergy and cross media convergence for mainly creating awareness of their film. Cross-media convergence is used mainly for advertising the film on TV and for home exhibition, the movie may be more successful through home exhibition than cinema exhibition, therefore having TV channels such as Film Four and Channel four, home exhibition will be useful for an independent film.

An analysis of Gender in “Cold Feet”

An analysis of Gender in “Cold Feet”

After watching the small clip of ‘Cold feet’ I can distinguish how gender has been represented. Male and female are shown very stereotypically. Women are shown to be the typical ‘housewife’ where as the men are shown to be the characteristic ‘working’ husband.
This essay will explore how gender is represented through Mise-en-scene. The first female character we see in the clip is denoted to be in the kitchen, cooking, this emphasizes what a stereotypical ‘housewife’ does. This representation of women has a polysemic effect as the audience may see it positively or negatively. If the audience were old fashioned, they would see it to be an positive, accurate representation as they agree with what is being shown, however if a younger audience was to watch this they would see it to be a wrong representation as they believe that women are not only suppose to be a ‘housewife’ and can have a career. We also see the first male sitting at the dining table that seems to just come back from work, which is portrayed through his costume, since he is wearing a suit. This signifies that he is the typical ‘working’ husband. To support the idea that he has just come back from work, the lightening in the dining room/kitchen has a low key. This conveys the time of day, which is evening.
In the next scene we see another couple at a supermarket, shopping for ‘baby materials.’ However, what we see is that the female character is the one doing the shopping and knows what the best materials are, where as the male character does not really now what he is getting and what is the best. He would rather go for the cheaper materials. This connotes how stereotypical of the two genders are seen. The female character who knows what she is doing and the male character who is confused about the whole thing. This is clearly shown when the female character picks up an expensive item which is supposed to be the best, but the male character insists they go for the cheaper one as he believes there is not a difference but the price. This representation of men also has a polysemic effect, as the audience may see this to be accurate or inaccurate. The majority, female audience would see this to accurate as it goes with what they believe in, there ideology of this representation, however the male audience will find this to be inaccurate as they feel that they are just as good at shopping for baby materials as the females are said to be. The lightening in this scene is shown to have an ambient type of lightening to create the atmosphere of it being in a natural environment.
To conclude, in this clip of Cold Feet, the representation of both genders are shown through Mise-en-scene. The female characters portray the characture representation of women, being the typical housewife, which is connoted through the actions/performance they do. The male characters are shown to be the stereotypical ‘working’ husband and also being the classic father who doesn’t know what he is doing. Both representation has a polysemic effect, being either negative or positive, depending on the audiences point of view.

Fantasy Film Making Part Two

Fantasy Film Making Part Two!

BRASSO FILMS - NO SYNERGY.

Budget Review.

Synergy: £0
Production Budget: £250,00
Money Remaining From Stage 1: £0
Current Budget: £250,000


Crew.
Director - Andrea Arnold - £200,00 -

She has a good reputation for a female director, and has won several awards, which connotes that the films have been successful.

However female directors are not taken seriously in the film industry. (there is only a 6% of female directors, which shows that female directors are not known.)

Production Team - Amatuer but trained british - £10,000 -

The director can learn more experince, and it also increases mobility in location as the production team will not be big.

The production have no experience, so they will not entirely know what they are doing.

Editor - Amatuer, Untrained British (Manisha Matharu & Shiima Sharif) - £0 -

Gives the editor an opportunity to show their skills, and how they can edit on such a small budget.

However they dont know what to do as they have no experience.

Special Effects - NONE.

Total cost for crew: £210,000

New techonology.

Camera- Canon XL-H75 Camcorder (x2 £14027.70)

We chose to have the best, top of the range cameras, as we did not have a big budget we thought it would be best to spent most of it on the best cameras.
However, we spent most of the money on cameras, and could affect us as we may not have enough money in the end.

Tripod- Manfroto 503 HDV, 525 RKIT Tripod (x2 £1078.70)
It is Lightweight, rigid and stable gives accuracy of shooting, also it allows us to do different types of shots and angles accurately.

Lighting- Laniro Gulliver Kit n.15 Fly (x2 2058.50)
This is a very good lightening equipment, which allows our film to look proffesional on a small budget.

Tapes- Sony High Definiton DV tapes 63 min (x100 £680)
As we have brought 100 tapes we can get everything we need, and be able to re-shoot scenes to make it perfect, and we can get a variety of shots
Too many tapes, some may be unused and will be a waste of money which could have been used for something else.

Computer- Mac Pro- 8 core (£2,499.00) + Screen 27inch 3.06ghz (£1,349.00)
Using the best computer there is, to get the best quality editing and it being fast.
Computer may crash, and ALL work will be lost, and will mean we have to start again and waste time and be behind.

Editing Software: Final cut studio = £799.00
Using the best Editing software. better than iMovie.

Special Effects: NONE.

Budget: £232,510.90
total cost crew: £210,000
Total cost for equipment: £22,510.90

REMAINING BUDGET: £17,489.10

TV Drama Homework

TV Drama: Hollyoaks - Episode: 12th November'09

This Episode.

Who made the show?
The show was created by Phil Redmond.

What Channel was it on?

It was on Channel 4.

What Time?
6:30pm

What sub genre?
The sub genre in today's episode was focusing on, Relationships, Friendship, and Illness Issues. These sub genres are socially realist.

Who is the target audience?
The target audience are for teenagers/young adults, aged 15-25, outgoing, that face everyday teenage problems. Also for middle,working class background.

What was the narrative?
In this episode, a character, Anita Roy tells Suzzane Ashworth that her daughter Hannah Ashworth has had a re-lapse and is anorexic again. Suzzane doesnt want to believe this, and says that Anita is a trouble-making liar, like her brother Ash Roy. Where Hannah, Nancy, Kris and darren are stuck at HCC (Hollyoaks Community College), where hannah and nancy, bestfriends who have fallen out, are constantly arguing and end up in a fight, but then they all sit down and end up talking about how they miss there bestfriend, Sarah Barnes, who tragically died a few episodes ago.

What was being represented?
- Anorexia was being represented in this episode, through Hannah, which is shown when she had her first relapse in the previous episode and is continued in this.
- Parental trust was represented this is connoted when Suzanne disagrees with Anita's accusations and says "I've only just got my daughter back because I didn't believe her last time, and I don't intend on losing her again..." This represents that she had made a mistake once in not trusting her daughter but she is now.

Cinematography and sound

Cinematography And Sound.

Cinematography Before!

Before the invention of Digital technology film was recorded on big reels of 8mm, 16mm or 35mm film. After filming, it would then be edited on a machine called a moviola, which the editor would have to cut and paste the film, frame by frame. A Moviola is a device that allows a film editor to view film while editing. It was the first machine for motion picture editing when it was invented by Iwan Serruier in 1924. The Moviola allowed editors to study individual shotsin their cutting rooms, as a result to determine more precisely where the best cut-point might be. The vertically-oriented Moviolas were the standard for film editing in the United States until 1970s when horizontal flatbed editor systems became more common. Yet, a few high-profile film makers continue to prefer the Moviola editor Michael Kahn famous for his work Steven Spielberg.

A Moviola A Flatbed Editor

Special effects had to been done by the props department, and were done very unrealistic and did not represent realism. In 1857, Oscar Gustave Fletcher Reilander, created the first "trick photograph" , by combining different regions of 32 photographs into a single image.

Producing a film is far more time consuming and expensive, as the editing equipment cost more before digital technology. The moviola cost $600 in 1920 (equivalent to $20,000 today), very few was sold. It is time consuming as the film editor had to spend alot of time cutting and pasting the frames together, also the film editor would have to be paid for the time they spent, making it very costly.

Digital Cinematography:
Digital cinematography is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images rather than on film. Digital filming/capture may be done on tape, hard disks, flash memory or other media which can record digital data. As digital technology has now improved, digital cinematography is now increasingly common. Many mainstream Hollywood movies now are shot partly or fully digitally. Such as the first Major Hollywood film to be recorded entirely digitally was Star Wars Episode II in 2002.

Digital Cinematography acceptance was done when Slumdog millionaire became the first movie shot mainly in digital to be awarded the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.




HD and 3D
Is an upgraded version of digital video which has a higher resolution (more dots per inch). HDDV is not as clear as 35mm or 70mm film. However, eventhough it is much easier to edit, it is not as clear as a 35mm or 75mm film.
There has been a resurgence in 3D in the last 10 years. where there has been new digital techniques being used.
'Avatar' a film that has been done by computer. This is an example of a computer generated film.

Beggining in the late 1980's Sony began marketing the concept of electronic cinematography making use of its analog HDTV cameras. In 1988, the introduction of HDCAM recorders and

1920 × 1080 pixel digital video cameras based on CCD technology, which is now re-branded as digital cinematogrpahy, had finally began to gain grip in the market. In May 2002 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones became the first high-profile, high-budget movie released that was shot on 24 frame-per-second high-definition digital video, using a Sony HDW-F900 camera.

Digital Vs.Film Cinematography:

Portability: Digital cameras are not massive and difficult to transport than a film camera.

Sound recording: Film cameras need sound to be recorded seperatley, which is why the clapper-boards are used to get the sound to match the visuals. Where as digital cameras can record the sound, having less equipment needed to film.

Budget: 16mm or 35mm film cameras are very expensive, as well as buying the camera and having stock (tape) to film, will cost at least $50,000. The opposite, digital tap is very cheap and can be easily shot for under $10,000 using digital methods.

Technological convergernce has revolutionised Cinematography and sound for the institutions as digital camera's are able to film the viuslas aswell as sound, and they dont have to worry about whether the sound and visuals match. New media technology has had an impact on the audience through cinematography and sound, as it allows the audience to see a sense of realism in the film, due to better new technology, films are able to have special effects that have computer gernerized images, which makes it have verisimilitude, as the audience dont see that the images have been created, where as when there was only old-media technology special effects were created via the props department and it looked unrealistic.

Digital technology, (storing and transferring data), a few examples of this in cinematography and sound is, digital cameras/video, sound technology, editing softwares used after filming (IMOVIE,Final-cut) to do this you need a PC or MAC., networked information.

-Editing. (Jamie Chandler)

-Special Effects and graphics. (Demi Caldeira)