Textual Analysis

Media Forms

What techniques are used within this trailer to gain and keep the viewers attention?

The advert uses sex appeal to gain and keep the viewers attention as the advert shows 7 seductive angels falling from heaven, each tip toeing as they walk to represent that there superior and also elegant, this gains/keeps the viewers attention as sex is one of the most basic human needs (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) and is also one of the most tool, also voyeurism is a technique used to gain and keep the viewers attention as the men all stop and stare at these women as they descend upon the man, this gains/keeps the viewers attention as it leaves them wanting to see more as the advert continues.

 The advert also uses intertexual references as at the end of the advert it mentions that “even angels will fall” implying that if you were this deodorant you will have girl falling for you, even angels, this technique can also be seen as a reward as the reward from buying this will be that girls will fall for you where as if you wear normal deodorant it will have no effect on the opposite gender. Sound is a key part of gaining and keeping the viewers attention within this advert as it links with the angel as the soundtrack played is quite heavenly in the sense that it uses a choir, also the soundtrack that has been used implies that it is like the voices of the angels as it says “sexy boy” as the angels approach the man.

The mind blowing cinematography and editing within the advert gain/keep the attention of the viewers as the beginning of the advert where the angels fall immediately grab the attention of the viewers, also they are left wanting to see more as the editing makes the women look even more beautiful as the soundtrack alone enhances their appearance due to the harmony type soundtrack, also the use of showing the product towards the end of advertisements keeps the audience engaged with the advertisement and may persuade some people to buy the product.

Media Representations 

How are Males/Females represented in this advert?

In this advert Males are represented as superior/dominant as the advert shows angels falling from heaven to approach this man making him superior, also it conveys males in a different way also as the advert shows men stopping in the streets and staring at these women (voyeurism), showing men in a bad light as they are seen as perv’s

In contrast in this advert women are represented as angels as the advert shows this with their beautiful looks and their elegant walk, a.  However they are shown also in a bad light and can be seen as weak as they fall from heaven to surround the guy. This can be contradictory as angels are seen Gods decedents/messengers so the advert could have some ethical issues about it as people can see it in a different way, in the sense that God has sent the angels down from heaven to do this. Also represented as sex symbols

 Media Audiences 

On the basis of this advert, What target audience would be attracted to this advert

On the basis of this advert the target audience that would be attract to this advert would be young/middle aged men, purely because the man within the trailer is young himself and so are the women, therefore attracting a young audience. The Demographics being C1, C2 D, E it would attract this type of audience as they are working class/unemployed (young adults) where sex and girls are the number 1 thing on their mind, therefore appealing to them as the advert shows this by using male gaze, therefore the advert wouldn’t really appeal to upper class members as they wouldn’t really care about the sex appeal behind the deodorant.

Also on the basis of this advert, young male adults would be attracted as the meaning behind the deodorant would attract them as they want to be like the man seen in the advert where women fall to his feet because of this deodorant. Due to it being a men’s deodorant as seen in the advert it would target a male audience due to it attracting the opposite sex.

Media Institutions 

What is communicated in the advert about the lynx brand and the experience it offers?

The advert conveys the lynx brand and the experience it offers to be wild and sexual as the advert shows this through the continuous sex appeal within the advert, the experience the deodorant offers is that it’s a “chick magnet” where by wearing it gives the chance to experience new things and have girls surrounding you. The smashing of the halos, which suggests these angels are willing to give up heaven purely to be with this great smelling man, also shows the experience it offers. This builds on previous Lynx ads that suggest those who use Lynx will attract beautiful women.  The advert also communicates that any man, whether he is fat, thin, rich or poor could get a beautiful woman by wearing lynx as the second part of the advert shows.

The last scene is the man in his room with no top on spraying lynx onto himself, as he is spraying you hear a bang on the roof and a feather falls down. The lynx spray comes onto the screen and a voiceover says "New lynx excite, even angels will fall." Which reinforces my point about the advert suggesting that the product is good enough to attract angels.

BBC Three is launching a new program called “Technophobes”, following the lives of five people who are afraid of technology.

BBC Three is launching a new program called “Technophobes”, following the lives of five people who are afraid of technology.


 AUDIENCE: This type of program ‘Technophobes’ would appeal to the younger generation and would target a specific age group around 14-18 yr olds, the socio economic status it would target would be Class D/E, Both Genders Male/Female, White/Black, Any Ethnicity

INSTITUTION: The assumptions that I can make about this programme just from knowing that it will be broadcasted on BBC Three would be that it would target the younger generation as BBC Three as we know it today has been known for its teenage programmes such as ‘young dumb and living off mom’ and ‘E20’ Therefore I can presume that the programme will be about teenage technophobes.

MEDIA FORMS: The Kind of programme that I am expected to see when it is broadcasted would be Informative, with some narrative and would possibly have a narrator. From the name I would also be expected to see teenagers afraid of technology which sounds bizarre but may be true. Expected to see an Observational documentary, where life is lived and observed and how people react in different situations.

REPRESENTATION: The kind of position or opinion about these “Technophobes” that I would expect this documentary to project would be that due to these teens not being able to adapt to technology, I think it will be presented negatively, as the society we live in today is based around technology especially with the younger generation with social networking.

From watching the first episode of the programme on BBC Three it has made me think about different types of people and how people are different in various ways. Before watching the show I used to think that everybody used to know how to work a computer in some way but after watching it, it had made me think about the people who cant and are just afraid of technology, It has made me realise that not all of society/people are the same and that due to different people upbringings and norms they may be undeveloped in some way.

At the beginning of the show it was quite informative telling us the audience about how many technophobes there are and giving facts and statistics. There was a man called David who was to afraid of using a computer due to his strong dislike with technology, it was really shocking to see how he reacted when approached by a computer.

Overall the Programme sent messages to the audience, with its facts and statistics it made me think about the different types of people out there and made me think about how we are all different, it also informed me about how some people were technology illiterate and shocked me to how they reacted.

127 Hours Image Analysis

127 Hours

The image that I am analyzing is a documentary film called 127 hours. It is a film about a man who films his journey hiking across Americans canyons where he finds himself in an awkward position which leads him to making a video diary of himself, This film could be put in the observational documentary category as it  where life is lived and observed and how people react in different situations. From the image on the front of the DVD cover we the audience can clearly see that this man is in danger due to his posture and the position that he is in, We can see that he is faced with various challenges as he has to overcome a series of events such as making his way across to the other side of the canyon, whilst in the midst of the heat from the canyon. This sense of danger is also shown through colours as from the Bright Red/orange colours; we the audience can tell that already you get a sense of jeopardy and danger as those types of colours tend to represent danger/risk.

From the Image I can tell that the genre the film documentary belongs to would be action adventure, this is already hinted within the image as we can see that he has found himself in an awkward position due to him hiking in the canyons and that he has to find a way of getting himself out of it.

The slogan that has been put on the bottom of the image ‘there is no force more powerful than the will to live’ this slogan almost sends out a message to people and makes people have a rethink about life and make people think about the things they take for granted in the sense that it makes them think about how people would do anything just to be alive. Also from the caption about what the New York Times thought of the film ‘Dazzling and perpetually surprising’ would interest/almost persuade customers to go and see/buy the film as most documentary films don’t have much appeal about them however this film being ‘a triumphant true story’ and being directed by the academy award-winning director of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ This Documentary films seems to have a big appeal about itself almost selling itself to customers/potential audiences.

The type of shot used for this DVD cover would be a long shot, this is used to get everything in perspective and to show to position that he has got himself into, It also signifies/informs of us the dangers of hiking without proper supervision/equipment as the rock in between parts him from his death and may indicate a ‘stepping stone for him’ as it may infer that he has been given a second chance.

The use of natural low-key lighting gives the image more of an appeal as it makes it stand out and puts all the focus on the man being trapped between the two parting canyons. The soft lighting on the edges of the canyons make it appears as if there glowing and again putting the focus on the man trapped almost putting us the audience in the characters shoes making us think about what we would do in that situation.

Overall I think this DVD image does a great job of selling itself, it doesn’t give away too much of the film leaving the audience intrigued to find out more. It also does a good job at putting documentary films on the market as people wouldn't really tend to go watch documentary films due to escapism, People would rather hide away from true stories/events, However due to the positive feedback received from this film as we can see by the front cover with the caption from the New York Times, I can tell that there may be a gap in the movie industry for documentary type films.

Documentary

DOCUMENTARY - A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration.

1.     Poetic documentaries - is a personal abstract that emphasizes some aspects person’s life and presents these aspects via music, camera shots and angles and the editing. It can also be quite artistic in the way it is presented. 

1.    

E    Expository documentaries - Direct access to the audience. There are social issues assembled into an argumentative frame with a narration voice-over emphasizing what is happening.

2.   

          Observational documentaries - where life is lived and observed and how people react in different situations.

3.    

P    participatory documentaries - where the events and situations presented are influenced and altered by the presence of the filmmaker

4.         

      Reflective documentaries - demonstrate consciousness of the process of reading documentary, and engage actively with the issues of realism and representation, acknowledging the presence of the viewer and the modality judgements they arrive at.

      Performative documentaries - acknowledges the emotional and subjective aspects of Documentary and presents ideas as a part of a context having different meanings for different people and are often autobiographical in nature. 

Examples

 Poetic documentaries - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk_u_8ajoo0

Expository documentaries - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOJXt5R8ijE

Observational documentaries - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_9sfXIhe9U

Participatory documentaries - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWzcGXUWsI8

Reflective documentaries - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4237pS55h4

Performative documentaries - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6osXJcLg_oo&feature=related

Codes and conventions - The voice over, diegetic, non- diegetic sounds, Interviews with experts, use of texts/titles  

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Super 8 Review

Super 8 Review

The film Super 8 a collaboration between J.J Abrams and Steven Spielberg in my opinion was a very entertaining movie due to the fact of its computer graphics and special effects. The characters were all delightful and the story slowly unfolded, letting our curiosity build as we tried to figure out why people were acting as they were and what was going on as things proceeded.

The film begins in a small town in Ohio in 1979 it was about a group of teens filming a zombie movie at an abandoned train station where it just so happened that a train was passing by where ‘Charles’ the director of this film thought that it was of great production value towards the film however they happened to film a train crash, which happened to contain secret us air force property. After the train crash mysterious things started too happened around the local town which was the main focus throughout the remaining part of the movie.

Super 8 could be categorized as a sci fi adventure due to it having an extra- terrestrial character and special effects. The film is intense throughout and is made even more intense at the end when the audience gets to see what the alien/creature looks like.

The audience are constantly jumping out of there chairs and biting there nails due to the twists and turn off events throughout the movie. The movie builds up suspension as they are not aware of what is going on as they only get to see the alien right at the end. The movie not only deals with the suspense and thrills, but also strives to develop the main characters’ inner struggles, whether it’s dealing with loss, strained relationships, friendships and that first crush between Joe and Alice.

The soundtracks within the movie super 8 built up a lot of the suspension within the movie as they were a key indication to how the twist of events would turn and also showed an insight to what was happening. Personally I liked the soundtracks as I thought they went well with the movie. They were very catchy and played important roles within the movie

This film was not a let down as due to having high expectations due to the fact that Steven Spielberg played a role in producing the movie, The film doesn’t disappoint and kept the audience on the edge of their seat. 

The film allowed you to connect with the characters real well and the humour was quite hilarious

I especially enjoyed the dialog between the kids as it seemed very natural, I think that this movie wasn’t intended to be an ET Remake but instead JJ Abrams seem to be trying to make a tribute to Spielberg’s classic style.

Overall I thought that super 8 was a fantastic film as the graphics were amazing and the storyline behind it was quite meaningful and the way that Joe’s family was portrayed a lot of people can relate to those circumstances (single parent family). I would rate this film 7 out of 10 purely because it was a heart felt movie and had a lot of twist and turns, the reason it never got rated higher was because I didn’t like how the movie ended as it left many unanswered questions.