Sound: upbeat instrumental music at start. similar music but more frantic when mood changes.
posh accents for rich people, normal accents for the bad guys.
Mise-en-scene: expensive suits and items in shop.
editing: swift transitions (wipes) to make the clip flow. shot reverse shot to show conversations.
camera angles: two-shots, 180 degree rule.
females are opposites
shop assistant possess female charactaristics
man with alarm being powerful
women is a decoy, men do the real work.
parrallell narrative, men in bar, women in shop. use of wipe transistions connoting parrallell narrative.
men are doing more serious job, shown by frantic music for women and no music for men to hear what they have to say.
eyeline shot - close up of ring, shows what narrative is about.
at beginning, the camera is on the mans level looking down at the woman.
middle of day - women are shopping whilst men are at work.
'my husband is going to kill me' shows man is in power.

Notes:

Sound: upbeat instrumental music at start. similar music but more frantic when mood changes.
posh accents for rich people, normal accents for the bad guys.
Mise-en-scene: expensive suits and items in shop.
editing: swift transitions. shot reverse shot to show conversations.
camera angles: two-shots, 180 degree rule.

Media Terminology.

Semiotics - The science of signs. (Roland Barthes, 1964)

Denotation (What it actually is) - eg. Rose = Flower

Connotation (Meanings associated with object) - eg. Rose = Love, Romance, Desire, Rugby.


Micro                                                    Macro
Mise-en-scene -                                      Narrative
Clothing, props, lighting,                      Representation
location.                                                Audience
Sound - accents, dialect,                       Genre
music, sound effects.
Camera - angles, movement,
position.

Proximity: Where they are on the screen.

Diegetic: Sounds that are natural.
Non-Diegetic: Sounds that have been put on during editing.

Clip Analysis.

Sound: 
Mode of adress - accentuated, flirtatous.
Music - reflects the atmosphere, instrumental, seductive, flirty, fun.

Editing:
Shot reverse shot, reaction shot, continuous editing.
Length of shot/take. Indicates who to identify.

Mise-en-scene:
Silk dressing gown.
Social class - kitchen, dress pearl necklace all connote upper class.
Lingerie.
Kitchen indicates stereotypical housewife.

Camera angle:
Close ups - reactions (editing) (Housewife)
Mid shots - (blonde woman).
180 degree rule isn't broken.
Over the shoulder shots to see what the housewife is seeing.

TV Drama Characters.

Male Characters:

 Doctor Who generally follows the representations of gender as the main character is a male who makes all of the decisions and is the one who drives the narrative, whilst the female sidekick just follows what he does.

 The character of Sid from the first and second series of Skins does not follow the general representations of males in TV Dramas. Sid lives in the shadow of his best friend and is not normally the one making the decisions.

Female Characters:

 The character of Alisha in Misfits challenges the regular representations of women in TV Dramas as she is a loud, decision making character who does not need a male character to tell her what to do.

Feminism in the media.

LAURA MULVEY: The Male Gaze - Men have more active roles whilst women are more passive. Mulvey sees the representation of women in film and literature as neing dominated by a male point of view.

• Men play active roles which drive the narrative.
• Women play passive roles and are seen as erotic objects which slow the narrative.
• Men far outnumber women.
• Female roles are sidelined.
• Lead roles for women and scarce.

Stereotypes of women:

• Bimbo
• Females physical attractions such as figure and breasts overpower the male
• Easy
• Housewife
• Mother
• Intelligent yet willing to settle down

Male Gaze:
     Two distinct modes of the male gaze of this era: Voyeuristic and fetishistic.
     Women were given two character types - sexually active female and powerless female.
     Films presented images of women that were produced simply for the gratification of male viewers.

     Various studies in the 1970s found men to be the dominant characters in decision makers in film and TV. 

When women are given important roles they were more likely to be shown as:

• Frightened
• In need of protection, direction.
• Offering support to the male lead characters.
• Not independent or self driven.
• Generally weaker.
• Still objectified sexually.

                  "Women, in any fully human form, have almost completely been left out of film..." - Laura Mulvey

Changes in society:

As womens roles change so does media representation. Still objectified but also likely to be...

• Career driven
• Intelligent
• Confident
• Empowered
• Able (violent)

Remember changes may be made cynically and in order to make money rather than to change ideologies.

Misogny - Against women - really sexist.

Overview of exam

G322: Key Media Concepts Examination.

Exam: 2 Hours (including 30 minutes for watching and making notes on the moving image extract; which you will watch four times.

Questions: You are rquired to answer two compulsory questions. The unit is marked out of a total 100, with each question marked out of 50.

There are two sections to this paper:
Section A: Textual analysis and representation (50 Marks) (Textutal analysis skills)
Section B: Institutions and audiences (50 Marks) (Knowledge and understanding of media)


SECTION A:
Areas of focus:

• Camera angle, shot, movement and composition.
• Mise-en-scene.
• Editing.
• Sound.

Areas of representation:

• Age.
• Ethnicity.
• Sexuality.
• Class and status.
• Physical ability/disability.
• Regional identity.
• Gender

SECTION B:

Marking criteria:
                             Explanation/Analysis/Argument (20 Marks)
                             Use of examples (20 Marks)
                             Use of terminology (10 Marks)

More Representation

Stuart Hall (1950)
The encoding decoding theory is that you should believe everything on the radio, TV and in films.
The Yorkie advert - showed that it was 'not for girls', and girls opposed this idea so they bought the product - making their sales gigures good.

Who produced it?
What/who is represented in the text?
How is that thing presented?
Why was this particualar representation selected, and what might the alternatives have been?
What frame of reference does the audience use when understanding the representation?


WOMEN:
Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:

Beauty (withing narrow conventions)
Size/physique (again, with narrow conventions)
Sexuality (as expressed by the above)
Emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealing
Relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)

Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, collegues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of the helper.

MEN:
Representations of men across all media tend to highlight the following:

Strength - physical and intellectual
Power
Sexual Attractiveness (which may be based on the above)
Physique
Independence

Male characters are often represented as isolated and not needing to rely on others (the lone hero).

Representation of Gender:

Masculine	Feminine
Independent	Fragrant
Macho	Fragile
Strong	Maternal
Aggressive	Fashionable
Courageous	Organized
Brash	Stubborn
Attracts women	Optimistic
Cocky	Envious
Paternal	Petite
Laid Back	Influential
Lazy	Argumentative

Professions/objects associated with:
Men:	Women:
Hammer	Stilettos
Beer	Shops
Football	Accessories
Rugby	Make-up
Gardening	Shoes
Paparazzi	Nurse
Cars	Perfume
Surf Board	Gardening
Building	Teacher
DIY	Mirror

Representation: By definition, all media texts are re-presentations of reality. This means that they are intentionally composed, lit, written, framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their producers, and that they are entirely artificial versions of the reality we perceive around us. When studying the media it is vital to remember this - every media form, from a home video to a glossy magazine, is a representation of someone's concept of existence, codified into a series of signs and symbols which can be read by an audience. However, it is important to note that without the media, our perception of reality would be very limited, and that we, as an audience, need these artificial texts to mediate our view of the world, in other words we need the media to make sense of reality. Therefore representation is a fluid, two-way process: producers position a text somewhere in relation to reality and audiences assess a text on its relationship to reality.

Production Rules

180 Degree Rule:
                            The 180 Degree rule means that any two or more characters/objects in the same scene need to continue the same left/right relationship to each other. To cross the 180 degree line, the camera must physically move to keep the audience orientated whilst viewing.



Match on Action:
                           Match on action is a term in film editing when the editor cuts from one shot to another and continues the flow of the first shot from a different perspective. Although the camera moves position the action is fluid.

Continuity Editing:
                           This is a style of film editing where the editor has to ensure the clips flow smoothly without any form of breaking in the clips. For example, if in one shot a person is holding a glass in their left hand, they need to be holding it in the same hand in the next shot even if the filming is on a different day.

Shot Reverse Shot:
                              When the camera switches from person to person in a conversation.

Eyeline Match:
                       Seeing what the characters see on screen. So if the characters in a scene look at something first, then the camera cuts to a shot of what they are looking at from their perspective.

TV Drama Introduction

TV Dramas are scripted programmes that show the lives of realistic characters who are involved in everyday situations. They commonly include adult themes and as a result they are broadcast during later time slots.

TV Dramas	Genre	Narrative	Channel	Time
Desperate Housewives	Family	Relationships	Channel 4	9:00pm
90210	Teen	Rich Teenagers	E4	9:00pm
Downton Abbey	Period	WW1	ITV1	9:00pm
Misfits	Teen/Sci Fi	Superpowers	E4	9:00pm
Waterloo Road	Family	School life	BBC 1	7:30pm
Doctor Who	Sci-Fi	Time Travel	BBC	6:45pm
Eastenders	Soap	Life in a Town	ITV1	7:00pm
Emmerdale	Soap	Life in a Village	ITV1	6:20pm
Coronation Street	Soap	Life on a Street	ITV1	7:00pm
Hollyoaks	Soap	Life in a Town	Channel 4	6:30pm
Skins	Teen	Teenage Partying	E4	10:00pm

Diegetic and non-diegetic sound.

Diegetic sound is what appears to come from a recognisable source within the narrative of a film, radio or telivison. These include things such as characters voices, sounds made from objects in the story and music coming from inside the story space. Diegetic sound is sound coming from inside the films world.

Non-diegetic sound is sound coming from outside of the story space. This includes a narrators voice, mood music and sound effects for dramatic effect. Another term for non-diegetic sound is commentary sound.

Mise en scène.

Mise en scene is a french term that means 'put in the scene'. Mise en scene refers to almost everything that goes into the the shot. This usually includes set, location, actors, props, actors, costumes, make-up, gesture, extras and use of colour. Things such as camera shot, framing, angle, and movement is sometimes refered to as mise-en-shot.

Storyboards.

Storyboards are often a series of illustrations in a specific order to pre-visualize the creation of a film. Storyboards are created to help plan out an animation shot-by-shot and to determine what type of camera angles, movements, props and sounds that go into the scene.



Storyboards are crucial pieces of work that go into the pre-production of a film or animation. Most commonly, storyboards are made with a pen or pencil, however, photographic images, magazine cut-outs or computer generated images can be used.

Composition. (Depth of field)

Deep Focus: - Is a cinematic technique using a large depth of field. In deep focus, the foreground middle-ground and background are all in focus.



Shallow Focus: - Is a cinematic technique use a small depth of field. In shallow focus one plane of the image is in focus and the others are out of focus.

Camera Movement.

Pan: - Panning refers to the horizontal movement of a still or video camera.



Tilt: - Tilting is the opposite of panning in that it is the vertical movement on a fixed point.



Dolly: - A camera dolly is a specialized piece of television and film equipment that is designed to create smooth camera movements.



Crane: - The crane shot is a shot taken by a camera on a crane.




Zoom: - A zoom is the camera movement which focuses and magnifies a certain point in view.

Reverse zoom: - A reverse zoom is the camera movent which is the opposite of zoom. Where the camera moves away and expands the scene.

Camera Angles.

Camera Angles:

High angle: - When the camera is above the eyeline. Can make the subject look vulnerable.



Low angle: - When the camera is below the eyeline, looking up. Can make the subject look powerful.



Canted angle: - Used to portray physcological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed.

Camera shots.

SHOTS:

Establishing Shot: - Establishes the scene with a generally extreme long shot.

Master Shot: - It is often a longshot with all of the characters and props in the scene.

Close-up: - Displays most detail but don't include anything in the broader scene. Commonly shows expressions and objects.

Mid-shot: - Camera shot from a medium distance, normally a most of the length of a human body is considered a medium shot.

Long shot: - A long shot usually shows the length of a human body with some relation to it's surroundings.

Wide shot: - Similar to long shot but shows more of the width of the surroundings than the length.

Two-shot: - A term in the film industry to describe the shot of two people.

Aerial shot: - Usually done with a camera attached to a helicopter to show large landscapes.



Point-of-view shot: - Shows the character looking at the camera as if it is another character.



Over the shoulder: - A shot taken from the perspective of the should of another person.

Course Outline.

AS:
Term 1a: G322: Key Media Concepts - Section A, Key Textual Concepts and Representaion of TV Drama.
Term 1b: G322: Key Media Concepts - Section B, Institutions and Audiences: Music and Video Games.
Term 2a: G321: Foundation Portfolio - Magazine.
Term 2b: G321: Foundation Portfolio - Magazine.
Term 3a: G321: Foundation Portfolio - Magazine.


A2:
Term 3b: G324: A2 Advanced Portfolio - TBC.