Media Theorists

Representation
The media have "The power to represent the world in certain ways. And because there are so many different and conflicting ways in which meaning about the world can be constructed, it matters profoundly what and who gets left out, and how things, people, events and relationships and represented".
(Stuart Hall 1986)

Overall representation is the meaning in which the way things are depicted.

Richard Dyer argues that representation is a political tool:

On how social groups are treated in cultural representation is part of a parcel on how they are treated in everyday life. However he also highlights the complications in theories which focus on the negative representations of class, race and sexuality.

Our film

We have decided to create a short film in the genre of film noir detective. We know that the codes and conventions are closely similar to those of crime or detective fiction. We have already decided on our setting, actors and have recently worded our plot that would be shown on our films webpage. We have titled our film 'Marilyn' as it is common in film noir to name the film after who it is written about. It is also short enough to grab peoples attention but not give much away on the storyline.


Plot
An independant female detective takes on one of the most twisted crimes in the history of his job, that soon becomes a challenge that tests life and death to the ultimate level.
Storyline
Start of the scene is Marilyn ringing the police to say her husband has been murdered. She is the murdered.  Cut to the police ar her house, all that is visual is a chalk outline. The detective begins to ask questions, interrogates Marilyn. He doesn't suspect her to be the murder. She then finds out someone knows her secret, and kills them so it doesnt get uncovered anymore. Clues are gradually found by the detective which all piece together to show Marilyn is in fact the murderer. When he arrives at her house to arrest her she attempts to kill him but before the knive is pulled out the detectives partner enters and kills her before she gets away with anymore murders.

Thriller films

The Maltese Falcon

The film is based on Dashiell Hammett’s book (also called The Maltese Falcon) and star Humphrey Bogart in one of his best roles as private eye Sam Spade.

The story starts with the murder of Spade’s partner Miles Archer. Although he never really liked him, Spade is honor bound by his personal code of ethics to track down his killers.  Along the way he will get involved with the sultry Miss Wanderly and a group of criminals who seek a gold-encrusted falcon sculpture known as the Maltese Falcon.  As Spade gets closer and closer to discovering the identity of his partner’s killer, he gets more and more involved with the search for the priceless statue.  Is the death of his partner linked with the statue?  Why are so many people so desperate to find it?  And how is the mysterious Miss Wanderly involved?

Laura

 

'Laura' follows detective Mark McPherson as he investigates the death of famous advertising executive Laura Hunt.  Suspects include the venomous newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker, the man who promoted Laura at the start of her career, her fiancé Shelby Carpenter, her rich aunt Ann Treadwell, and her housekeeper Bessie Clary.  As he begins to interview them, he begins to realize that every one of them was in love with Laura.  Even stranger, he discovers that he is beginning to fall in love with her as well, at least until Laura shows up alive one night at her front door.  Featuring a notoriously labyrinthine plot, Laura is a devastating murder mystery.  It develops a powerful intensity as the characters delve further and further into their own neuroses and motivations.

The Killers

The Killers is a tragically brutal film that leaves an impression that lasts long after it has ended.  It starts with one of the most famous opening scenes in film noir history where two hit men invade a small town and kill Ole Anderson (aka The Swede) who puts up no resistance.  The original short story was fairly short, so The Killers takes great pleasure in extrapolating the story and exploring the characters and their pasts.  We learn that the Swede (played by Burt Lancaster) used to be a member of a gang of thieves whom he was pushed into betraying by femme fatale Kitty Collins Colfax (played by Ava Gardner).  Like so many film noir characters, the Swede is fully aware of his transgressions and knows that he cannot escape his fate.  And so he greets his punishment like a man instead of trying to escape from it, as so many other film noir characters would.  We then follow an investigator and a police detective as they struggle to track down his killers and bring them to justice.

Film Noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Classic film noir started after the second world war. Much of the fear, loss, mistrust bleakness and paranoia were put into film noir as they represented the feeling and emotions felt by many during the time. Storylines are often non-linear and twisting, typically told with flashbacks, foreboarding background music and first person voice over narration. Amnesia felt by the protagonist is often a common device used as was the downfall of an incident.

Film noir codes & conventions

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in 1946

Narrative Structure

Narrative chain of cause and effect- the plotlines in a story that are triggered by action and enigma codes (something that happens that causes something else to happen). Below is the two theories by Propp and Todorov that show the two typical structures to storylines in films and television.

Propp                          Todorov

1) Preparation                            1)Equilibrium

2) Complication                            2)Disruption

3) Transference                  3)Recognition of Disruption

4) Struggle                       4) Attempt to repair disruption

5) Return               5) A return or restoration of NEW equilibrium

6) Recognition

Below is Propp's theory of the typical seven character types seen in most forms of narrative media.

Hero, Villain, Helper, Mentor, Blocker, Prize, Dispatcher.

Narrative Codes

Enigma codes- Limit audienece information, gives them a puzzle to be solved.

Purpose- Engages audience attention, maintains curiosity and interest.

Action Codes- Often more tthe narrative on and signal that change to the audience.

Narrative Themes

Social issues which are explored within the media text e.g. family values, social class, sexuality and racial issues.

Narrative themes tend to be explored by the crime drama be more simplistic and encoded with the entertainment values.

What is narrative?

• Plot- is the narrative as it is read, seen or heard from the first to the last word or image. That is, like a signifier, it is what the reader perceives.
• Story- is the narrative in chronological order, the abstract order of events as they follow each other. That is, like a signified, story is what the reader conceives or understands.

(Tools for cultural studies, Macmillian, 1994)

More specifically, narrative is a way of orgainising spatial and temporal date into a cause and effect chain of events with a beginning, middle and end that embodies a judgement about the nature of the events as well as demonstrates how it is possible to know, and hence to narrate, the events.

(Narrative comprehension and film, Routledge, 1992)

Here me and my group have created a simple storyboard out of the pictures given to us in class.

The idea of the task was to show the rest of the class  our storyboard and let them interperet there version of the story from how we had arranged the images.

Codes & Conventions

Codes and conventions of short films on Prezi

Media questionnaire

Below is our audience questionnaire designed to find out a little bit more on our target audience; male and females 18-24. We have chosen a variety of multiple choice and written questions that will hopefully give us more of an insight on our chosen audience and what it is they like when it comes to cinema and film.

Questions as followed:

What genre film you prefer to go and watch at the cinema?
How often do you go to the cinema in a month?
Who is it you usually go to the cinema with?
Do you prefer to watch films that relate to your personal life?
What first attracts you to wanting to watch a particular film?

Would you rather watch films at home or at the cinema?

For your answer give your reasons why..
Do you prefer to watch new, upcoming films or old classics?
What is the main reason for you watching a film?
Do you prefer big blockbuster films or small british based films?

We also asked further questions in our focus group consisting of;

1. Which film magazine appeals to you the most?

• Total Film
• Empire
• Sight & Sound
• Little White Lies

2. Are you interested in independant films such as Sight & Sound or Little White Lies or the more established magazines such as Total Film and Empire? Give reasoning to back up your answer.

3. How much would you pay for a film magazine?

Our findings for these questions are indicated below

Audience Theories

Hypodermic Needle Theory

Dating from the 1920s, this theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audiences might react to mass media.  This theory suggests that, as an audience, we are manipulated by the creators of media texts, and that our behaviour and thinking might be easily changed by media-makers. It assumes that the audience are passive and heterogenous.

Two-Step Flow



This theory asserts that information from the media moves in two distinct stages. First, individuals (opinion leaders) who pay close attention to the mass media and its messages receive the information. Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content. Opinion leaders are quite influential in getting people to change their attitudes and behaviors and are quite similar to those they influence. The two-step flow theory has improved our understanding of how the mass media influence decision making.

Uses & Gratifications Theory

During the 1960s, it became increasingly apparent to media theorists that audiences made choices about what they did when consuming texts. In 1948 Lasswell suggested that media texts had the following functions for individuals and society:

• surveillance
• correlation
• entertainment
• cultural transmission

Researchers Blulmer and Katz expanded this theory and published their own in 1974, stating that individuals might choose and use a text for the following purposes (ie uses and gratifications):

Diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine.
Personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction, eg) substituting soap operas for family life
Personal Identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts
Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living eg) weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains

Since then, the list of Uses and Gratifications has been extended, particularly as new media forms have come along (eg video games, the internet)        

Reception Theory

The meaning of a "text" is not inherent within the text itself, but the audience must elicit meaning based on their individual cultural background and life experiences.  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.

My target audience

 As you can see we have taken pictures from various magazines to show what we as a group think girls 18-24 may be interested in.

We feel girls this age will be interested in film noir thrillers as they like incorporate love and romance but also show an edge of intesity with murders in the 1950's.

This mood board is to show what we think boys 18-24 enjoy doing in their spare time and what their interests include. We feel boys will be intertested in our film as they like recieving the an adrenaline rush, in things that they participate in. For example boys like things such as cars, motorbikes, war games, festivals, gigs and theme parks which all give you a massive adrenaline rush. With our film genre being male based we feel this gender would approach our film, interested to find out more about the genre.

 

Target Audience on Prezi