The Wolf of Wall Street

Analysing mis en scene through a moving image

Setting and props

Firstly there are empty bottles of alcohol on the window sill and table, this representing their lifestyle within the family which is stereotypical of a lower class family. Furthermore, the un-plastered walls symbolises the simplicity of their lives and how they don't care for fancy decorations; possibly because they can't afford them or because they simply just don't care. In addition, the un-matching table and chairs in their kitchen may indicate that they are unorganised and may also represent their social class, as they may have got the table and chairs cheaper through individual buying. In addition, the house is cluttered to suggest they have little rules within the house, again often stereotypical of a lower class family.

However, the man who turns up in the suit had documents and a tie to suggest that he is of a higher class and more intelligent than the lower class family due to his more formal attire. Finally, also outside, there is unwanted furniture which symbolised they're cluttered and don't care about their image along with its impact on the environment.

Mis en scene

- A French term meaning what is put into a scene or frame. It is the visual information in front of the camera, and communicates essential information to the audience.


Consists of 8 areas:

• Colour
• Costume
• Lighting
• Body language/ posture
• Framing
• Hair and makeup
• Setting and props
• Facial expressions

Gender in TV Drama

Gender is presented in TV dramas in completely different ways, depending on whether they are female or male. For example, women are often represented as being part of a context like family, friends or colleagues in order to think and work as part of a team. However, in TV dramas they tend to take the role of a helper; as a passive character rather than an active character. This therefore portrays them as an object through the eyes of the male gaze. This can often be shown through a number of camera angles such as the over the shoulder shot. When shot over the shoulder of a woman, it represents that the man is the main character as the camera is focused solely on him with the woman being a passive character with the role of supporting the male lead. Furthermore, the clothes that women wear are often deliberately provocative in an attempt to lure viewers in through the view of the male gaze and therefore the women actors also being part of the selling point, objectifying them further.

On the other hand, male characters are usually represented as isolated, as not needing to rely on others, portraying them as the lone hero. Male characters will most likely be shot in the low angle shot to give them an appearance of a more dominant figure

Beyonce - 1+1 male gaze analysis

Mis en scene 
The provocative clothing that Beyoncé wears in her 1+1 music video indicates that she wants to lure men in with her body and good looks in order to feel safer around them. This backs up Laura Mulvey’s theory that women feel they have to be admired for their appearance in order to satisfy the male audience, eventually objectifying them. Furthermore, Beyoncé appears to be covered in sweat, and with the lyrics ‘make love to me’, this would really appeal to the male eye and therefore fit into the theory of the male gaze. Finally, the dark atmosphere to the set gives it a dark and mysterious atmosphere to Beyoncé herself, which also appeals to the male gaze.


Camera angles 
An extreme close up is used in Beyoncé’s 1+1 video. This gives us a good close up view on her heavy eye make up. This represents the effort that Beyoncé went through in order to impress men through the male gaze. Also the over the shoulder shot of Beyoncé from over the male holding her is used. Combined with the lyrics ‘make love to me’ this represents her as being a secondary object, used to show how she makes the man feel.

Music
The music used in 1+1 is slow, melow music used to create a slow, sexually intense atmosphere. This suggests that Beyoncé purposely intended this in hope of attracting male attention.

Editing 
The transitions between each clip of Beyoncé is dragged out in order to allow Beyoncé’s eyes to linger on you, making the audience feel that she is directly looking at you, making it more personal and also indicates that Beyoncé is trying to sell herself to males for attention.

The Gaze: Female and Male

The gaze from Sarah Ghost

Paul Lazarsfeld - Limited Effects Theory

Paul Lazarsfeld limited effects theory from Sarah Ghost

Textual Analysis and Representation (The 4 key areas of textual analysis)

Camera Shots, Angle, Movement, Composition

Shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-shot, aerial shot, point of view shot, over the shoulder shot, and variations of these.

Angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle.

Movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom.

Composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth of field – deep and shallow focus, focus pulls.

Editing

Includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems. Cutting: shot/ reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway; insert. Other transitions; dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post-production, visual effects.

Sound

Soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound.

Diegetic and non-diegetic sound; synchronous/asynchronous sound; sound effects; sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address, sound mixing, sound perspective.

Mise-en-Scène

Production design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, properties.

Lighting; colour design.

The Seven Key Areas of Audience and Institution-Avengers Assemble Research

‘The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange; (how has the introduction of digital film, 3D, DVD, Blu Ray, internet streaming, downloadable content, home cinema influenced the types of films made, the way we watch them and the way we 'buy' them?) Research the types of technology utilised during these stages of the film production process of Avengers Assemble’

Pre-production

It was reported that in August 2010, Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios were to plan shooting The Avengers (The Avengers Assemble) in February. Simultaneously, it was decided that the film was to be shot in 3D, although Mark Ruffalo later denied

this via Twitter. By October, Grumman Studios in Bethpage, New York and Steiner Studios from Brooklyn, New York were announced as filming locations for the up and coming film. Also in October, Walt Disney Studios agreed to pay $115 million to Paramount for the worldwide distribution rights to Iron Man 3 and The Avengers. However, Paramount still retained TV rights.

Production

Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey claimed that he composed the frame with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio to cope with the varying heights of the main characters. Shooting 1.85:1 is unusual for a film like this but is necessary to capture the height in the screen in order to frame characters such as the Hulk, Captain America and Black Widow; all three having huge differences in height. Furthermore, Joss Whedon – the Director of The Avengers Assemble – knew that the final battle sequence was going to be this extravaganza in Manhattan, so the height and vertical scale of the buildings will be very important. The film was shot with a variety of digital cameras: the Arri Alexa, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the Canon EOS 7D digital SLR. However, high speed shots were captured on a 35 mm film with the Arriflex 435.

Post-Production

Joss Whedon directing Samuel L. Jackson

The film was finally announced to be converted to 3D by Disney in December 2011. When asked about the conversion, Wheldon said, "I'm not a big fan of extreme long lens, talky movies – I like to see the space I'm in and relate to it, so 3D kinda fits my aesthetic anyway. And the technology has advanced so far in the past couple years." Then in January 2012, it was reported that the film would be digitally remastered for IMAX 3D and open in IMAX theatres on May 4^th, 2012, the same day it opens in regular theatres. The film's IMAX release follows Marvel's IMAX releases of Iron Man 2 and Thor.

Finally, the film contains more than 2,000 visual effects. ILM was the lead vendor and shared responsibility for creating many of the film's key effects, including the Helicarrier, the New York cityscape, digital body doubles, Iron Man and the Hulk. In order to create the on-screen Hulk, Ruffalo was attached to a motion-capture suit on set with the other actors whilst four motion-capture HD cameras – two for his full body and two focused on his face) captured his face and body movements.

Disability and Ability - Paul Hunt 1991

Paul hunt disability from Sarah Ghost

Why Was Dredd a Flop?

The film Dredd; a futuristic irradiated waste land running from Boston to Washington DC lies Mega City One - a vast, violent metropolis where criminals are left to roam the streets and cause havoc. The only force of order left within the megalopolitan are the urban cops called “Judges”, who poses the combined powers of a judge, jury and instant executer depending on the crime. Known and feared throughout the metropolis, Dredd is the ultimate judge; respected and feared by every criminal within the super-city. Dredd is tasked by the Chief Judge to evaluate the new recruit, Cassandra Anderson; a powerful mutant-psychic who failed to aptitude tests to be a judge. The two judges respond to a multiple homicide in a 200-storey slum tower, where drug lord Madeline Madrigal (Ma-Ma) executes three rogue drug dealers by having them skinned, intoxicated by Slo-Mo and thrown down the tower block from the top floor. On their arrival, they arrest a thug named Kay, who Dredd decides to take in for questioning in which Ma-Ma decided to shut down the entire building, leaving the two judges trapped alone, with hundreds of drug barons wanting to kill them…

Pre-production

Dredd was finally released on the 7^th September 2012, after the comic – which came out in July, the same year – built up a lot of hype when it first debuted at Comic-Con. With one of the largest independently produced Brit films of all time and based on a well-loved comic (Judge Dredd) from 1974. Despite having a small budget of only $45 million, Dredd impressed both fans and critics alike. However, when the film first came out none of the hype and enthusiasm expected by critics came to light and the film became one of biggest losses of the film industry that year; taking $27.6 million from markets outside of North America and $13.4 million from North America, making a total of $41 million. Therefore this created a loss of around $14 million, after the film was marketed. It’s often seen that films with such a low budget don’t seem to do well on the box office; with very few exceptions.

However when the film came out none of the expected hype and enthusiasm that critics were predicting came to light and the film was one of the major losses to the film industry that year. But what is at blame to its downfall? Firstly, Dredd was first attempted to be made into a film in 1995 by Hollywood; starring A list stars such as Sylvester Stallone and Rob Schneider. The film received negative reviews upon its release with the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes giving the film a score of just 18% based on reviews from 51 critics and an average rating of 3.7/10. The film also picked up comments like, "Judge Dredd wants to be both a legitimate violent action flick and a parody of one, but director Danny Cannon fails to find the necessary balance to make it work." 

Furthermore, the film was considered to be a flop in the United States as it grossed only $34.7 million in the North American domestic box offices and to make it even worse, Judge Dredd picked up a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Sylvester Stallone as the worst actor. However, it did do better internationally with over $78.8 million around the world, giving it a total of $113.5 million worldwide. Therefore with the original 1995 Hollywood version being such a flop, it may have put many people off going to see the latest version of the hit comic.

Also , as Dredd is originally a British comic book character, it puts it into a niche market with competition such as The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers all being released in the same year. So with two huge Marvel franchises and another Batman from DC Comics, surely Dredd was up for a tough year. The fact that Dredd was given an 18 rating also places it into a niche market as it means that the majority of cinema goers; 7-21 would not be allowed to see this film, giving it a smaller potential market, which the other comic book films exploited with ratings of 12, giving them a wider audience and more profits.

Production

Firstly, I feel that the drug “Slow-mo” that is present in the majority of the film doesn’t help it at all as the film seems to me that director Alex Garland managed to get his hands on a few Slow motion cameras and decided to go mad with them, resulting in unconvincing special effects which was picked up a lot by the critics. Another mistake from the experienced director Alex Garland, was investing in 3D cameras where he could have used that to improve the special effects.

In comparison, The Avengers had a whopping budget of $220 million for the making of the film; almost 5 times as much as the budget for Dredd! Also, the producer of The Avengers was Kevin Feige; a well-known producer, similar to that of Dredds - Alex Garland. However, the cast of The Avengers may just skip the scales on which film you would go and see, with A list actors such as Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey JR, Scarlett Johansson and many more, whereas Dredd’s cast featured the likes of Carl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Wood Harris and Lena Headly – not quite as thrilling. Therefore, with that in mine I feel this is one of the reasons that contributed to Dredd’s failure to succeed in the box office.

Post production

The marketing side of Dredd suffered a huge blow in its bid to be successful with a very low budget of just $25 million. In comparison, the $25 million paid by DNA Films was just a fraction of what Marvel paid for the advertisement of The Avengers with $4 million just going on a 30 second advert at the Superbowl.

Finally, Dredd also didn’t do well when it came to screening it, mostly down to the fact that it was only showed in 3D with not many small cinemas having the equipment to show the small production. Only large cinemas that showed a huge variety of films in London or small independent cinemas showed the film, meaning that Dredd took very little from the cinemas.

In conclusion, I feel that Dredd failed because it decided to shoot the film in 3D. If they hadn’t of done this, they could have spent the money they spent on 3D cameras on marketing the film to get more people to watch it, or instead on improving the special effects to make them more convincing. Finally, if they hadn’t have filmed Dredd in 3D, it may have been showed in a wider variety of cinemas, increasing its potential profits and helping it to succeed.

Word count: 1,142 

Wire in the Blood – Gender Analysis

Gender is represented through a variety of ways within Wire in the Blood, such as camera angles, mis en scene, lighting, music and editing. For example, in the first scene Tony; one of the investigators is wearing a smart suit which is shown through an over the shot shoulder camera angle, focusing on Tony. This indicates that Alex is objectified by Tony through the male gaze. Furthermore, the tracking shot that follows Tony shows that he is a person of significance to the storyline and in addition, shows his dominance. Also in the first scene, Alex is shown wearing all black clothes which is not stereotypical of a woman. It also represents the job that she is placed in; a formal job which deals with dark, evil things. This is again not a stereotypical woman’s job and indicates that she’s a woman trying to fit into a man’s world.

The scene then switches to Tony in his house, working with pictures of the case he’s trying to solve. Within this scene a point of view shot is used to show an object of significance. In this case, it is his coffee mug; which represents that the coffee is the stimulant that is keeping him going, working throughout the night, trying to solve the case. This is representative of gender as it shows that men are stereotypically hard working, whereas the woman in the next scene is getting ready to go out.

Then it changes to a group of bad guys in their hideout. The violent behaviour of smashing another man’s head into a concrete wall is stereotypical of the boisterous behaviour of men. Also, the black leather gloves and black jackets are most commonly seen on gangs as they are seen as hiding in the shadows and being evil and rebelling from the rules. This is seen as a stereotypical man.

Regional Identity Representation

Regional Identity

Representations - Common Stereotypes

REPRESENTATIONS – COMMON STEREOTYPES

Moving Image Glossary

 

Fresh Meat Representation of Youth

 

Extreme long shot

In the first shot an extreme long shot is used to introduce the audience to the time and location of the scene. In this case, it allows the audience to gaze into the humorous scene in which JP is stuck clinging on to a cliff edge. I feel that this represents youth in a unique way as although most teens do not go into the country and climb rocks, but it shows the stereotypical stupidity of youth.

Long shot

The extreme long shot is then followed by a long shot, which allows us to see the two characters from head to toe and develop a relationship with the characters and their environment. This too represents youth as the beanie hate and thin, impractical jacket is also stereotypical of the youth image.

Mid shot

In addition a mid-shot is also used on Howard to give the audience a view on him from waist up. This allows us to become more familiar with him and his emotions; as we can now see his facial expressions and body language.

Two shot // high angle shot

Finally, a two shot is also used to show the relationship between the two characters in the frame. In this case, it shows Howard and Kingsley from a high angle shot which shows the venerability they both share as they are in trouble in the middle of nowhere.




The vocabulary in this short clip is also representative of youth today. Words such as “fucking”, “fuck”, “cock”, “fuckhead”, “munter” and sex noises such as “oooh” and “ahhh” connotes an aggressive nature and lack of respect which again is stereotypical of youth in today’s society.

Finally, typical teenage idiolect is also present by JP, Howard and Kingsley using words and phrases such as, “I’ll go get help”; rather than ‘I’ll go and get help’, “well”, “obviously”, “actually”, “fancy” and “munter”. These are all words that are used on a day to day basis of a teenager’s idiolect.

Representation in Media in 100 Words

All media texts are re-presentations of reality, meaning that they are composed, written, framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their produces, making them an entirely artificial version of the reality we perceive around us.

From magazines to home videos, every media form is a representation of someone's concept of existence. However, without media, our perception of reality would be much more limited and therefore we need the media to help us make sense of reality. Therefore media is a two-way process: producers position a text close to reality and audiences assess a text on its relationship to reality.

Film Production

Screenwriter 

Screenwriters or scenarists, as they are also called are people who write and come up with the ideas for a short or feature-length screenplay from which films and television programs are based on.

Producer  

Today, most films are made by production companies but most will assign an actually producer to the film. The producers’ job is to bring the movie together and will be given the role of hiring the director, screen-writers and all of the technical craft personnel who work on the film. The producer is also responsible for overseeing every mechanical detail of the films sets, costumes and locations. The producer sets up the budget, meets the payroll and does everything in order for the director to have an easy job.

 

Casting director

Casting directors are the middlemen between writers, producers, directors and studios, with talent agents and actors on the other side. Casting directors find actors for Movies, TV shows, theatrical productions, music videos, commercials and even corporate videos.

Director

A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. They will also visualise a script whilst directing actors and technical crew into fulfilling their roles.

Film finance

Film finance is the aspect of film production where they are concerned about the potential value of the proposed film they are making.

Camera operator

A camera operator is a professional operator of a film or video camera. The leading camera operator is usually called a cinematographer, while an ordinary camera operator in a video production may be known as a television camera operator. The camera operator is responsible for physically operating the camera and getting the best camera angles and shots.

Editor

The film editor works with raw footage from the shooting of the film and is given the task of selecting shots and combining them into sequences to create a finished motion picture.

Production designer

Production designers are responsible for the visual concept of a film, television or theatre production. They work closely with the director and producer to get the design style for sets, lighting, props, locations, graphics, camera angles and costumes exactly right.

Marketing

The marketing team of a film production will be responsible to promote the film as much as possible and will after be given a budget of almost half of the cost to make it.

Exhibition

Cinemas have 2 categories: national chains; and independent exhibitors. Large chains will often be filled with big blockbuster films, whereas individual independents are most involved with art-house crowds.

Skins Representation

 

7 Areas of Representation

I’m a 16 year old white, English, heterosexual male From Lutterworth, Leicester after moving here 13 years ago from Sheffield. I’d say I’m from a reasonably middle class family, a good distance off working class but too, nowhere near being upper class. Furthermore, I would say that I am a reasonably healthy lad; I play football 3 times a week for Whetstone Juniors FC and wouldn’t shy away from a run whenever I feel my fitness is diminishing. I’m a skinny lad but I feel I have good strength considering the size of me. Also, despite being christened as a 3 year old child; without my consent, I don’t believe in God or the Bible and therefore I would class myself as an atheist.

In addition, when thinking about what kind of group I would fit into, I really struggled, so I decided to take a look at the UK Tribes website. After a long, extensive research, I came to the understanding that I am actually part of a few different groups, the first being ‘Trackies’. Although I would not say this is most dominant representation in my life, I still feel that the description fits me loosely as I do enjoy gaming, eating fast food, watching football and just chilling out in general. Unfortunately I wouldn’t usually be seen out in trackies as today they are associated with chavs which I strongly believe I am not part of.

Secondly, I would place myself in the ‘Skater’ category. Despite my huge lack of interest in skating and my lack of respect for skate parks, I still wear brands such as Stussy, Vans, Nike SB and my interest in Palace.



More over, I would loosely place myself into the ‘stylers’ group as although I don’t wear much of what is in the description, I wear Nike Huaraches a lot and own 2 pairs, for this reason I feel that I would loosely fit into this group.




Nike Triple Black Huaraches

I would also slightly base myself in the ‘new casual’ group as I like brands such as Lyle & Scott, Fred Perry, Ralph Lauren and Lacoste.


Similarities to media figures



David Beckham

David Beckham - I believe that I share a similarity with David Beckham in the sense that we both share an interest in football. Furthermore, I feel that we both get bored easily; this being apparent in his career from his regular change in clubs and projects since his retirement. I also feel that we are both perfectionists and we both keep adding to our work in order to better ourselves; it's just a shame we don't share his good looks.

Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Clarkson - A car enthusiast? I wouldn't say I am an enthusiast but I do have an interest in cars; right from an early age. Also, like Clarkson I do say some controversial things, but luckily I don’t tend to get into trouble for them. In addition I also believe that we share a similar dry sense of humour, along with an interest in journalism.




My 5 Favourite Things

Top 5 Movies

• The Wolf of Wall Street – Suave, marvellous, extravagant. These are just a few words that I could use to describe Leonardo DiCaprio in the role of Jordon Belfort.
• This is The End – A brilliant movie, starring A list actors from all over the globe, This is The End had me and the cinema in stiches throughout.
• Superbad – After so many brilliant reviews I finally gave it a go and I bare no regrets accept for not watching it sooner. "I am Mclovin".
• FILTH – A film that I would go as far to say that it’s the best British film I have ever watched; after Harry Potter.
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – My favourite Harry Potter due to its indulging storyline.

 

 

Top 5 Songs

 

• I Always Knew/ The Vaccines – I think Jay Jay Pistolet should be incredibly pleased with how his voice sounded in this masterpiece.
• Mr Blue Sky/ ELO – Such a happy song, it’s beautifully sung.
• Weirdo/ The Vaccines – Once again the vocals sang in weirdo are another Jay Jay Pistolet classic.
• Boys in the Band/ The Libertines – My favourite song by the Libertines, definitely deserves a place on this list.
• Forest Gump/ Frank Ocean – Frank Oceans illustrious ‘Forest Gump’ creates a calm and relaxed atmosphere every time I listen to it.
  
  
  

 

 

Top 5 Video Games

 

• FIFA 07 – My second FIFA and the one that I still feel holds the best song – which is a huge part of a FIFA.
• FIFA 14 – The latest FIFA and one that bares brilliant graphics, gameplay and engineering.
• Call of Duty Black Ops – A Cod that I sweated for a good year surely deserves a place.
• Test Drive Unlimited 2 – Free-roaming around the islands of Ibiza and Hawaii in the world’s greatest supercars may not sound like the best game to most people, but with the introduction of online races and a casino makes it a brilliant game.
• GTA V – Although GTA V didn’t live up to expectations at first, the game has slowly improved with the installations of some new updates.
  
  
  

 

 

Top 5 TV Programmes

  

• Skins (Series 4 & 5) – “I’m Katie fucking Fitch, who the fuck are you?”
• Match of The Day – What else more could you ask for? Every Saturday night with Gary and the boys watching the highlights from the greatest league in the world, playing the game we all love. Football.
• The Office (US) – A hugely hilarious comedy starring Jim Carrel, Will Ferrel and many more, my only regret is it kept me from a lot of revision.
• How I Met Your Mother – Barney Stinson; who I absolutely idolise as a character is enough reason to watch this truly amazing series.
• Fresh Meat – A great series to watch based in the University of Manchester, the mesmerising Jack Whitehall plays a brilliant role. 

Top 5 Bands

• Oasis – I wouldn’t say I really have a favourite band, but Oasis would be up there with the unique vocals of Brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher who never fail to send chills down my spine.
• The Vaccines – Due to the alternate vocals that they bring, also with 2 of their songs in my top 5 songs; they must be near the top of the list.
• Kasabian – The best band to come out of Leicester. Kasabian have such a variety of songs, making them one of the best bands in England.
• Artic Monkeys – I was very impressed when I saw AM live last year and despite overplaying their latest album, I still believe they deserve a place on this list.
• Biffy Clyro – I’m a huge fan of Biffy Clyro with some of my favourite songs coming from the band, despite not making my top 5 list of songs.
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