Semiotics

Semiotics - This is known as the study of signs and sign systems - the social production of meaning by sign systems, how things come to have significance and meaning.

Signifier + signified = sign

There are two parts of a sign:

• Signifier: Ant symbol, image, or word that can be seen or read. 
• Signified: The particular meaning or meanings of the signifier in a particular context or situation.

There are three types of a signifier:

• Iconic: These signifiers always resemble what they signify - 'a window on the world'.
• Indexical: These signifiers act as evidence - Smoke means fire, sweat is proof of effort etc. 
• Symbolic: These are the visual signs that are arbitrarily linked to referents. The diamond hats of monarchs, crowns, symbolise monarchy. 

Denotation: signs signify or 'denote' different aspects of our experience of the world. They are the work of that part of the sign (the signifier), which is immediately recognisable to the reader and which has a direct relationship to a real world entity or referent. The colour red for example we know as a colour in the light spectrum, different from blue or pink.

Connotation: These are the meanings interpreted from a sign, which link other values to it. For example: the colour red brings up notions of love, blood, stop signs, danger, hot, roses etc.

Semiotic terms:

• Binary oppositions: sets of opposite values said to reveal the structure of media texts. These define through their opposite and chose a lesser and greater position. E.g: man/women, weak/strong.  
• Conventions: 'un-written rules' in the production of mainstream texts. Conventions are the dominants codings in any media. 
• Anchoring: written text used to control or select a specific reading of an image. 
• Mise-en-scene: literally 'putting together the scene' how we read the actions of the creative personnel in a film crew who visualise. Everything on screen.
• Mode of address: How a text 'speaks' to its audience. How the audience is positioned in relation to text.  
• Polysemic: literally 'many signed' an image in which there are several possible meanings depending on the ways in which its constituent signs are read. 
• Metonemy: literally 'substitute naming' possible meanings depending on the ways in which its constituent signs are read. 
• Index: Measures a quality not because it is identical to it but has an inherent relationship to it. 
• Symbol: an arbitrary sign in which the signifier has neither a direct nor an indexical relationship to the signified, but rather represents it through conventions.  
• Synecdoche: The idea that 'part' of a person, an object, a machine, etc can be used to represent the 'whole', and work as an emotive or suggestive shorthand for the viewer, who invests the 'part' with symbolic associations.
• Icon: A sign in which the signifer represents the signified mainly by its similarity to it, its likeness.  

Film distribution

Film distribution from isabelle humm

Hustle - Representation of gender essay

  

The clip starts off with a fairly old woman looking at some dress in the shop. David Walliams approaches her and asks her what she is looking for. When talking, Williams is seen as having a higher status compared to her and they have used a high angle shot so we look down on the older women. The use of the high angle shot forces the audience to look down on her, even though we do not as we feel sympathy for her. Also, this builds the initial sense that she is inferior and the shop if too expensive and upmarket for her. Already the clip has proved how men are above women, as we see the older lady being inferior to Walliams. Furthermore, when Walliams mentioned the price of the dress to the older women, another woman who entered the shop at the starts looks up. This implies that she is intrigued by the cost of the dress (£700), which could imply that she is only interested in money and that she is a gold digger. In contrast to this first scene, the next scene shows two men sitting at a bar. Here we can see that they are at equal height to each other which suggests how all men are at an equal status no matter what. Also in terms of editing it lacks a shot reverse shot which is generally used when two people have different opinions on something, but they have not used this because they have similar opinions as they are both men. As well as this they are both smoking and drinking which is generally shown as a manly thing in TV dramas.

Following the scene with the older lady, once Walliams finished speaking to her he noticed another lady in the shop. She is wearing very smart clothes and what looks like expensive jewellery. We can instantly see that he came over to her due to her expensive taste. This implies that he is only interested with people who can spend money in his store. The next shot is a two shot of Walliams and the lady trying on the dress. She asks how expensive it is and she says its £3000. The use of dialogue between them makes her seem like she is teasing with him and is trying to be sexual. During this scene, we can hear upbeat classy non-diegetic music playing in the background, which implies an upper-class atmosphere.

We are then brought to the next scene which I talked about in the first paragraph. Two men are sitting at a bar smoking and drinking alcohol. They both have an equal status as they are both shown at an equal height. Also between this scene and other various scenes the director has used non-diegetic sound to introduce different scenes. A swoosh sound has been used which gives the TV drama a comedic feel. Moreover, the next scene has brought us back to the shop again, but this time it has a completely different feel. Instead of upbeat classy music, we have upbeat manic jazz music, (both are non-diegetic). The style of music has changed because the lady has lost her ring, and she frantically runs around the room trying to find it. The director has purposely used a handheld camera for this section as it makes the scene seem more frantic and crazy. The music suddenly stops when Walliams suggests an idea, and as soon as that happens the music stopped with the sound of a deck spin at the end of it. All you can hear is both characters talking for a few seconds and then the manic music starts of again. We then get a mdi shot of Walliams and at this point he finds out that if he finds the ring he will be given £5000, and as soon as money is involved his mood instantly changes and he is suddenly trying hard to find the ring. This tells us like before that he is only interested in money. The younger lady talks to Walliams and as she does the camera zooms into her face. The camera stops zooming in and she talks directly to the camera, by saying ‘’I’m sure I can’’ (trust him).  She says this in quite a sarcastic way which tells us that she is up to something, and that she knows something that Walliams and the audience do not. This implies that the TV drama is saying the women are sneaky and secretive. As well as that it implies how a women uses her dependency on a man to get what she wants. She seems to play this damsel in distress character which is counter typical as she is subconsciously more powerful and dominant than Walliams.

The next scene starts off with a non-diegetic swoosh sound. As I mentioned before they put this sound at the starts of certain scenes. We then see a man trying to turn off an alarm by fiddling with the wires. He sets the alarm off and straight away the camera zooms into his face which expresses his frustration for setting of the alarm. This scene could imply that men get easily frustrated and annoyed. Non-diegetic sound is used again as we hear the swoosh as the scene changes. We are now back at the shop and Walliams is trying to find the ring. The camera pans to him searching on the floor and looking under dresses. A man then approaches Walliams and the camera follow him up from his feet to his face. Instantly we can see that this man will be have a higher status compared to Walliams because he is above him. As well as that is can imply that for women to complete their plan, they need a man to help which emphasises a woman’s dependency on a man. In addition, as soon as we see this man’s face we notice that he has his top button unbuttoned and he is also chewing gum. This connotes that he is at a higher status than Walliams because he seems more calm and cool about the situation. Also, this scene contrasts with the other scene with two men, as in this scene one is above the other (status wise), and in the other scene they both have an equal status.

The scene changes again back to the men sitting at the bar, but this time it shows an establishing shot. The scene tells us that men are represented as smoking and drinking alcohol while having important conversations. At the same time the upbeat jazz music is playing in the background as non-diegetic music. This only lasts for a few seconds until it changes back to the shop scene. Back in the shop we noticed that this whole losing the ring problem is just a scam to get money. I knew this, because the man had the ring and he pretended to find it. This shows how men can be deceiving just as well as women. Further on in the scene the dialogue is used effectively, because the man already knew what Walliams was going to say. What I mean is that the man gave Walliams a decision and he then walked away. As he walked away he started to countdown and when he got to one Walliams changed his mind. At the same time as him counting down the director zoomed the camera into his face, and when Walliams spoke he looked into the camera and smiled, which implies how he was not surprised Walliams changed his mind.

The last scene started off with a pan of the man walking into a café. We see the lady notice that she has different coloured hair, (as she wore a wig). We now defiantly know that it was all a scam. We then have a shot reverse shot of the two characters where they discuss how much money they got.

Merlin - Representation of class and status essay

The scene starts off with an establishing shot of Merlin walking along a hallway. The camera has been placed side on and pans across the hallway. The use of this is so people can get an idea of where the scene is set. Juts from looking at the shot we can already establish that he is in a castle which implies high status, but due to his clothes he seems as if he may be a servant of some sort. Due to editing the shot changed to Merlin walking into a room. We then have a pan of the room, which you could also say is an establishing shot, because it tells the audience where he is. We then have a mid-shot of Merlin placing a small jar of the desk. The director has zoomed into a closer shot of the jar which implies that it has some significance to the scene. The same thing has been done for other objects in the scene. Merlin picked it up and the director has zoomed into a close-up of the object. This happened for a book and straw doll. We can tell that Merlin is suspicious by these objects because of the way he picked them up and looked at them. A medium/long shot of a lady is shown when she enters the room. We can imply that Merlin is not meant to be in that room and looking at the object by the way she is looking and speaking to him. The use of dialogue between them shows us that Merlin is a lower class compared to her because she asks ‘’what are you doing’’. Also, eye-line match has been used in this scene. What I mean is that the camera is facing the lady and was then changed by the director of her the mirror. This was only a small glimpse of a shot, but when we saw it the lady is not who we think she is. She is wearing cheap clothes and looks like a witch. The use of special effects tells us she is in disguise and trying to hide from someone or something. Throughout this whole scene non-diegetic sound was used and this helped give the scene more tension between the characters.

The next scene starts off with another establishing shot of Merlin. He is walking down some stairs outside. Due to this establishing shot we can now see what the area is like outside the castle. We can tell that all the lower class and poor people live outside the castle. This was the typical thing in that time. The director then cut the scene to the next one which is of Merlin and Arthur. A shot reverse shot was used between them both when they were talking. The director has used a range of close ups, and over the shoulder shots when they speak. Through dialogue and mise-en-scene we can tell that Arthur is at a higher class compared to Merlin. I know this because firstly by what they are wearing. Arthur is wearing silver plated armour, whereas Merlin is wearing some old cheap clothes. This implies Arthur must live in that castle and Merlin works there. And secondly how they speak to each other. Merlin calls Arthur a prat, and Arthur mentions how he should not speak to him like that. That shows how Arthur has authority over Merlin. But Merlin is not afraid of what might happen to him is he messes with Arthur, because afterwards he tried to be funny by says 'how to be part, my lord'. This shows how Merlin is not scared of Arthur and his authority. Also during the conversation we hear diegetic sound from the characters in the background. We hear people mumbling and talking about what they both said to each other. Before Merlin calls Arthur a prat, Arthur throws Merlin a mace. Merlin does not catch the mace, and as it falls to the floor the camera follows it. This emphasises on how Merlin is not ready to fight, and is not as well trained as Arthur. They both then have their conversation and the fight starts. As soon as the fight starts, non-diegetic music starts to play in the background. I would describe this music as medieval and heroic. This type of music best suits this scene as the episode is set in medieval times. During their fight, the director has chosen to use an aerial shot, which gives us a high view of the fight. The camera then cuts to Merlin getting his mace caught in a bunch of different objects, which shows that he is not fighting material. Furthermore, within this scene we get a slow motion of Arthur hitting an object. They have used a slow motion to emphasise how the mace almost hit Merlin and how he is not safe.

While both Merlin and Arthur are fighting the scene cuts to a new setting. We see and older man, (who I think is Merlin's friend) walk towards a window and look out at it. We then see both of them fighting. The director has used an eyeline match, and i know this because we see the older man looking out the window and then we see what he sees because the camera changes to us looking out the window, Doing this implies that he has something to say about this and also that he is an important part to the scene. After that the director then changed the scene back to Merlin and Arthur fighting. Like before we get another slow motion, but this time it is of Arthur smashing his mace into some a piece of fruit. They have used slow motion to emphasise what will happen to someone if they get hit by this mace. It also links to Arthur's authority as he is the one who smashed the fruit, which implies how he is highly trained to kill. And only royals were highly trained in those times. Both characters carry on their fight by making their way into an inside part of all the markets. Merlin falls onto bags of straw or food, and this is when we find out Merlin has magical powers. Once he fell the camera cut to a shot of Merlin looking at some metal bars, (the camera has been placed to face Merlin). A pull focus has been used for this part. What I mean is that the focus was on Merlin, but then it changed to the metal bars being in focus and Merlin not. This shows how Merlin has come up with an idea. Then the director has cut to a zoomed in close up of Merlin's eye, and here we see Merlin's eye changed colour. This shows that Merlin has just used his magical powers to try beat Arthur. The director has used special effects in order for Merlin's eye to change colour. Seeing this slightly changes the hierarchy, because Merlin has powers that no one else has. I think that due to his powers Merlin would be higher up on the hierarchy, however this is not possible because no one knows he has powers, (except from his old friend). During this whole scene it looks like they have used a steadicam. I think this because some shots seem like they would need to be created by using a steadicam. Moreover, we then see Merlin use his magical powers again. The camera uses an eyeline match to show what Merlin is looking at. Merlin looks at a wooden box and then Arthur hits his leg on that wooden box. This happens again but with some rope. Merlin looks at some rope and we see the rope magically move by itself. Like before they used special effects in order to do so. The rope is pulled tight and Arthur falls over. By this part in the scene the hierarchy as completely changed. Arthur is no longer at the top as Merlin is. This is shown literally in the scene as Arthur is below him on the floor. However this completely changes and Arthur fights back and Merlin falls to the ground. This has again changed the hierarchy back to what is was before. When Arthur hits him, the hits match the beat of the non-diegetic music. This emphasises how Merlin has been beat, and that if your are poor you will never be at the top the hierarchy.  

The fight was now over and the scene was cut to a new scene. Merlin and his friend walk into the room where they live. There is a possibility that the camera might be on a dolly as it is pulled back when both characters walked in. They have done this so they can keep the size of the frame the same between the two characters. A shot reverse shot was then used when they both talk. The director has used over shoulder shots and medium close ups in the shot reverse shot. The dialogue between Merlin and his friend is quite significant, because Merlin mentions how he is nothing without his magical powers. This makes us sympathise with Merlin. Moreover, watching this clip i would say that Merlin was the protagonist and Arthur was the antagonist. I think this because compared to Merlin, Arthur has everything and Merlin has almost nothing, which makes us feel sympathy for Merlin and which makes u think we want him to win and beat Arthur.

Representatiob video - Hustle

Editing vocabulary

Action match: A shot that cuts to another continuing a piece of action or movement between the shots.

Continuity editing: An editing style that aims to present the text in chronological order to emphasize the real-time movement of the narrative and to create a seance of realism for the viewer by giving the impression of continuous filming.

Cross cutting (also known as parallel editing): When an editor cuts between two separate scenes happening in two separate locations at the same time, The narrative technique of showing two ro more scenes happening at the same time by cutting between them.

Cutaway: A brief shot that is not totally necessary but is cut into a scene to show a related action, object or person, not necessarily part of the main scene, before cutting back to the original shot.

Dissolve: When the first shot is on the screen and the second shot starts appearing on top of it more and more until all you can see if the second shot.

Ellipsis: The removal or shortening of elements of a narrative to speed up the action, (e.g. an editor might use ellipsis on a sequence about a young man taking a drink by cutting straight to him as an old man, drunk and alone).

Eyeline match: A type of editing that maintains the eyeline or level when cutting from a character to what the character sees.

Fade: A type of moving image editing where the image gradually fades and disappears, leaving a white black screen.

Graphic match: A cut from one shot to another that look visually the same. This could be possibly linked by a similar shape or colour etc.

Jump cuts: A cut that moves to a very similar part of the same scene but missing a piece of action out.

Linear narrative: A sequential narrative with a beginning, middle and an end in that order.

Long take: Each time a shot is recorded it is called a take. A long take is one that is allowed to remain on screen for long periods of time.

Montage: This is a series of shots edited together to show time passing and something happening in that time.

Short take: A short take is allowed to remain on screen fro a short time before the editor cuts it to something else.

Shot/Reverse shot: cutting between two people having a conversation can help contrast them and make the seem different.

Slow motion: When the action is slowed down.

Split screen: the cinema screen being split into two or more parts to allow the showing of events that are taking place at the same time.

Superimpose: The appearance of writing/symbols or images on top of an image so that both are visible at once, increasing the amount of information the viewer has in one shot.

Visual effects: Often it depends on what the characters reactions to those special effects are. For example: a man who has no reaction to an explosion will seem brave and masculine.

Wipe: A moving image editing technique that involves one image wiping another off the screen.

Camera vocabulary

Aerial shot (crane): A view from directly up ahead to give a clear view. ( a shot which involves a camera being lifted on a crane to get a higher shot).

Canted angle: A shot which is tilted to one side.

Crab shot: A type of shot that involves it being put into a small space. (e.g. placed in cupboard).

Deep focus: When objects both near and far from the camera are in focus.

Hand-held shot: A shot filmed by someone holding the camera in their hand.

Head-on-shot: A type of shot where the camera is coming directly to them.

High-angle: when the camera is placed above a character so you are looking down on them.

Low-angle: When the camera is placed below a character so you are looking up at them.

Loose frame: A shot where there is a lot of room around an object.

Master shot: A shot used a the beginning of a sequence to establish the component elements and relationships in such a way as to allow the audience to make sense of the action that follows.

Point of view shot: A shot taken from the position of the subject.

Pull focus: This describes a shot where one thing was in focus and then the lens is changed so that something else stops being blurry and become in focus.

Rule of thirds: This is when rather than placing a person directly in the centre of the shot they have placed him to the side.

Shallow focus: A shot when the objects nearer the camera are in focus and everything else is blurry.

Soft focus: This is the use of a special lens or filter to create a hazy light around the subject.

Subjective filming ( or POV): A type of shot in which the camera is poisoned as if looking at the world through the characters eyes.

Tilt: A camera movement that involves moving the camera vertically up and down from a fixed position.

Tracking shot: A camera shot in which the camera moves along rails to follow the subject.

Whip pan: A very fats pan between two or more characters all points of interest.

Wide shot: This can be used as an establishing shot or to set a location or to show a large crowd of people.

Zoom/Reverse zoom: The adjustment of the camera lens so we can progressively move closer or further away from the subject.

180 degree rule: When during a scene which includes two or more people, we can imagine an imaginary line joining those two people together. Adhering this rule would mean that the camera would stay on one side of that line and would never cross over to the other side.

Sound Vocabulary

Ambient Sound: The sound of the location e.g. water noises near a river.

Direct Address: Where the character talks directly to the audience.

Diegetic Sound: Sound that you would hear if YOU were one of the characters.

Non-Diegetic sound: Other sound that the characters in the scene could not hear.

Pitch: Low pitch describes a sound that is deep and low (eg thunder) and high pitch describes a sound that is higher and lighter ( eg phone ringing).

Rhythm: describes the beat of the music, whether it is fast or slow.

Voice over: the use of voice over images perhaps as an introduction, a linking narrative device for or to comment on action.

Sound effects: A sound accompanying an action, sometimes musical.

Synchronous sound: Sound that is in sync with the visuals and was filmed at the same time.

Asynchronous sound: Where the sound is either out of sync with the visuals or is unrelated to the visuals.

Contrapuntal sound: Sound or music that seems strange in comparison to the scene we are seeing.

Doctor who clip - Camera and Editing

Camera and editing doctor who clip from isabelle humm

Hotel Babylon - Representation of race Essay

5 Minute clip - Hotel Babylon

The 5 minute clip starts of with a man in the basement of a hotel. We hear the non diegetic sound of an elevator in the background. This could represent the fact that the hotel is a compact space and there is no where to go; it is like a prison. We get this idea of prison when the camera angle is changed and we see two policemen standing by an entrance. This implies that no can leave the premises, in other words everyone in the hotel is trapped. This point links to race and ethnicity, because wherever immigrants go they always have the feeling of being trapped or they will eventually get trapped. Furthermore, after hearing the elevator, non-diegetic music starts to play. This has a fast paced beat which increases the tension. After seeing the policemen you know straight away that they have high authority because they are in uniform. We then have a shot reverse shot, where the camera has been changed to a two shot of the policemen, then back to a medium close up of the man.

The next scene starts of with camera man zooming into a women at the front desk in the hotel. It went from a long shot to a medium close up. Due to what she is wearing (smart clothes all in white),  she has some importance compared to other people in the clip. The shot then cuts to the front entrance, where we see a detective and more policemen walk into the building. From seeing this we know nothing good will come out of it. When they are walking in a steadicam is used to help create the walking shot. We then get another shot reverse shot, between the lady at the front desk and the detective. The reverse shot starts of by looking at the detectives face, then the 180 degree rule is used, which changes into an over the shoulder shot to face the lady at the desk. The use of having continuous back and fourth shots between these two characters shows that this is an important part to the storyline. Just from watching the first minute, we can already tell that the detective is the antagonist. Once their conversation was finished the director cut the scene to go on to the next one. We see a man rush down the stairs to tell someone some important news. Like before, they used the 180 degree rule again when he was running down the stairs, (the camera faced him at first then turned to face his back). The scene is cut to Jackie working at her desk and the camera is slightly looking down on her which implies that her status on the hierarchy is not that high as others. The camera is moved so it can pan to the door which is where we see two men rush in to tell Jackie about the immigration.

The scene then cuts to the kitchen, which is where the majority of the immigrants are working. The camera is moved so it pans across the room. When this happens we see Jackie talking to the immigrants in different languages. We can tell by the way she is talking that everyone needs to speed up and hide. Seeing this shows us that no immigrant is safe in that hotel because it is like a cat and mouse game between the detective and the immigrants. Everyone rushes down the hall to go hide, and when they come to a room someone has zoomed into the lock, when Jackie is trying to open it. She frantically tries to put the key in the door which increases the tension as it is showing us that they have very limited time to go hide. From seeing these past clips you can tell that their life is on the line. Everyone desperately runs into the room and the door is slammed shut. Once inside the camera shows a close up of Jackie taking the key our of the locked door and then she is see counting the amount of people in the room. A cutaway is then used to show the tension on the immigrants faces. At the same time we hear the diegetic sound of heaving breathing from multiple people in the room. The camera has then been zoomed into Jackie's face when she realises one of the immigrants is not in the room. Just like before the tension increases because we know nothing good will come out of these immigrants getting caught. The scene then cross cuts to a few second clip of a man vacuuming. From what we were just told this must be the missing immigrant, Abraham. The director panned the camera up from the bottom of Abraham to the top. We saw that he was wearing an old red jumpsuit and had headphones on his head, which explains why he did not know he had to go hide. The fact the he is wearing an old red jumpsuit shows that he has not been given much respect. Following that short cross cut we are brought back to the room with all the immigrants. The shock of it all sends one of them falling to the floor and fainting. A reverse zoom is used on Jackie's face when she finds out that the lady who fainted is diabetic. A male black immigrant implies that before this he was a doctor, so he helps the lady. Knowing this implies these immigrants may have had perfectly normal lives before they moved country. This tells us that we degrading the immigrants just because they are from another country. Another cutaway is used which shows a few second clip of Abraham vacuuming. Seeing this implies that he has not got a care in the world and he does not realise what is going n around him; some people may call him stupid for doing this. The clip changes back to the immigrants in the room. We notice that the black immigrant asked for some jam to use in the lady's mouth. (After seeing that we really know he is a doctor.

From seeing the following scenes we can tell that the immigrants are the protagonist because we feel sympathy for them and we want them to be free from the detective. As well as this, the hotel is split into two levels. The top level is the ground floor of the hotel where the detective is first seen, and the other level is the basement which is where all the immigrants are. This could relate to the two levels on the hierarchy; the top level being the middle and higher classed people i.e. the detective, policemen, hotel guests, and the bottom level being the lower class people i.e. the immigrants.

The scene cuts to the detective and policemen walking out of an elevator, (this may have been the same elevator that we heard at the start). In the corner, we see a blurred image of a close up of Abrahams face. The immigrant tries to run but he falls over the vacuum cleaner ad at the same time the policemen went after him. When they did, the detective was just walking behind. Seeing this implies that he is so high up on the hierarchy that he does not need to go chase after people because of his authority. The scene cuts back to the room of immigrants ad as soon as we hear a knock on the door the cameraman zoomed into the group of people, with Jackie being in the middle. Jackie opens the door and they find out Abraham has been caught.

Jackie finally goes and talks to the detective and when she does he does not reason with her. A shot reverse shot is used during their conversation. Using that it shows that the conversation is just between them. Once their conversation was over the scene cuts, and the cameraman pans the camera to Jackie taking out Abrahams belongings from his locker. When the scene began non-diegetic music started to play, and this was very different to the first set of music which was played from the start till now. This type of music is slower and might possible be played by violins. Mainly we associate violins with sad music, which is the type of music that is being played for the scene. Once Jackie finished taking his belongings out of the locker the camera cut to a closer image of Jackie locking the locker. Showing this might imply how the immigrant is going to be locked away because of what he done. The last scene shows a pan of the different ethnicity's sitting down eating their dinner. The last table shows a black male and female praying before they ate their food. Compared to the other ethnicity's they are the only ones who are not being loud and are thankful for their food. This tells us how different ethnicity's react if different ways.

Vocabulary #2

Polysemic: This is when a sign can have more than one meaning i.e. red could connotate danger, as well as love.

Enigma: This is a puzzle or question that they audience want ot find the answer to. ''This creates an enigma where the audience are wondering...''

Juxtaposition: This is the placement of two contrasting ideas alongside each other - e.g. 'The bright colours of spiderman's costume juxtaposes the colours of the villain suggesting that...'

Binary opposites: When two ideas are the complete opposite - good/evil, light/dark, female/male, old/young. i.e. ''The use of the binary opposites of old and young suggest that there might be a conflict between...'

Protagonist: The main character that the audience want to succeed.

Antagonist: The character that opposes the protagonist, (the character that the audeince does not want to succeed).

Iconic Sign: A sign that looks like the idea that they are trying to represent. - i.e. a printer icon n word looks like a printer, the male/female toilet sign looks like the gender they are trying to represent.

Indexical sign: A sign that points to something else having happened (like an index points the page) i.e. smoke points to a fire, black eyes point to a fight, tears point to hearing bad news.

Symbolic Sign: A sign that symbolises an idea that doesn't look like what it is representing but instead is something we have come to associate with. - i.e. a dog representing family, a tie representing professionalism, purple representing royalty, pink representing femininity.

TV drama - Representation of gender

Representation of gender in tv drama from isabelle humm

Vocabulary #1

Media Consumption - The recipients of a media text, or the people who are intended to read or watch or play or listen to it. A great deal of media studies work is concerned with the effects a text may have on an audience.

Media Ownership - This is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media.

Audiences - People or market segment at whom an advertising message or campaign is aimed.

National - The nationally distributed or marketed broadcast and print products of a country, e.g. major newspapers and television programming.

Local - Newspapers and radio and TV stations in a small area of the country.

Institution - A formal organization (with its own set of rules and behaviours) that creates and distributes media texts

International - Advertising media that cover several countries and can be used to reach audiences in them.

Global - This is when certain Tv programs for examle are translated into a different language so that people can watch it in another country.

Global Institution - An organization or company, publicly or privatly owned that produces and/or distributes media products.

Hardware - The different types of data storage options.

Content - Is the information and experience(s) directed towards an end-user or audience.

Convergence - The way in which technologies and institutions come together in order to create something new. Cinema is the result of the convergence of photography, moving pictures (the kinetoscope, zoetrope etc), and sound. The iPad represents the convergence of books, TV, maps, the internet and the mobile phone.

Cross Media Convergence - Is where a media product is promoted across other media platforms.

Technological Convergence - Technological convergence is the tendency for different technological systems to evolve towards performing similar tasks.

Synergy - The relationship between different media products in which one is used to improve the exposure of another.

Proliferation -  The increase of films in a genre or the use of technology.

Issues - Those ideas that are the source of controversy and debate in a society at any given time.

Ex Machina - Film case study

Ex machina – film case study from isabelle humm

Suicide Squad - film case study

Suicide squad – film case study from isabelle humm

Representation of race in a TV drama

Representation of race in a tv shows undercover from isabelle humm

In this I talk about how the colour of you skin could affect how you were treated. I also talked about a British TV program which includes race.

Eastenders Remake

This is a remake of one of the scenes from the TV program Eastenders. Overall I think that this short clip turned out really well, and is better than what I expected.

Monarch Of the Glen - Representation of Age Essay

Age is shown within Monarch of the Glen through camera angles, Mise-en-scene, editing and sound. We can see that there is a split difference in age groups. what i mean is that you have the youth, which is represented by Amy and you have the older generation, which is represented by Paul, the headmaster and all the other adults in the clip.

You first see Mice-en-scene being used the first time we see Amy. She comes out of the house wearing a bright yellow top and some jeans. You can tell by looking at everyone else that she is not wearing the appropriate clothes to work on the farm. She is then thrown some keys and is expected to drive. At this point we think she is an mature adult. Camera is then used when Amy gets into the car. The camera slowly pans and zooms into Amy as she is trying to get the engine to start. She mutters under her breath as if she is trying to recall how to start the engine. Seeing this we must think that maybe she does not know how to start the car, which is due to her lack of experience which is then due to her age. Eventually she started the car up and she drove around the corner. The next thing you hear is the sound of the car crashing, which shows non-diagetic sound. Hearing this, Paul and Amy's friend look up and go to see what happened, and we know that Amy has crashed the car. The  Camera then panned to Amy's friend and Paul and we see their shocked faces. At this point we find out that Amy is only 16 and therefore she can't drive a car yet. Amy then tried to explain to Paul what happened, but she was interrupted by him. This could imply that teenagers of younger people don't get the say in the matter, when it comes to them being in a bad situation. We now know from seeing this scene that Amy is immature and possibly can't be trusted, and this is shows a stereotypical teenager. As well as this we find out that Amy crashed into her headmasters car. This does not bid well for Amy as her body language changes because she seems to act younger than before. We then find out that Amy has not been attending school and Paul is shocked to find out. This is why Amy's body language and facial expressions changed, she new her headmaster would bring something up about her not being in school.

The next scene is within an oak room, that is almost surrounded by book, which seems to be the headteachers office. By using Mise-en-scene we see that the Paul and the headteacher are having some alcohol as a prop. This implies that this room is for important discussions only. This relates to age because only adults can drink alcohol, therefore this room is adults only. This implies that adults have authority and have a higher ranking than people aged below them, (teenagers and children). Once Paul and the headteacher finished with their conversation the scene then cuts to another room (using editing) within the school. Amy is in this room, and as soon as the scene appears we see Paul storming out of the headteachers office and heading straight for Amy. This shows a stereotypical adult who is getting angry and a younger person. It also represents age, because it is towards Amy who was being an immature and uneducated stereotypical teenager. Once Paul finished shouting at Amy, she then raised her voice at him and stormed out.

The camera instantly cuts to the next scene of Amy in her room. From what we have seen in this scene we find out that Amy is going to run away. From having the scene in the school to Amy running away it shows that she is trying to run away from her problems, This shows a scene of immaturity and how younger people may not make the best life decisions due to their age. In this scene when Amy is in her room, non-diagetic music is used because we hear violins playing but they are not in the actual scene. Hearing this type of sad music emphasises on Amy's emotionally state and it makes us feel sympathy towards her isolation, because she is in a room alone with no one there to comfort her. In contrast when we at the scene with all the workers building in the field, we heard non-diagetic sound playing. This sound seems to be happy music which gives us the idea that the adults are happy with their work. Back to Amy in her room, when we first get to the scene the camera slowing pans around her room. At this point we see pictures of Amy with her friends and we notice that she placed letters and a teddy on the bed which is left for those who are close to her. Seeing all this makes us feel sorry for Amy because she is at a young enough age where we can feel sorry for someone running away. Also I noticed that the bedroom was pink and girly, which is quite a stereotypical teenage thing for a girl. Once Amy left we see an older lady come into Amy's room. For this part of the scene the camera is placed outside a window and it is as if we are as stranger outside looking into the bedroom through the window. The older lady noticed that Amy was missing and ran straight out. In this scene the camera was zooming into the old lady, which emphasises that she is realising Amy has run away. The zooming showed a bad connotation.

In the next scene the happy non-diagetic music is playing when the builders are doing their work. Throughout watching this i have noticed that the only time happy music plays is when the adults are working/building. This implies that maybe adults seem to be happier than teenagers. Furthermore, we then come to the scene when the older lady comes and tells Paul that Amy has run away. At this point the five minute clip ends and we are left wondering what Paul and everyone else' reaction is when he finds out Amy is gone.

In conclusion mise-en-scene, camera, editing and sound in used within this scene to represent age. We learn that some teenagers can be stereotypicalised by making us think that they are immature and do not pick the right decisions when it comes to difficult situations.

EON Productions - Film industry

British Independent Film Company


The British independent film company that I have chosen to research is Eon Production. This film company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from pinewood studios. This British independent film company is most famously known for making the bond series.
The people who started of this company was Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. This is a family corporation that has been going on since 1961. As I have said before, this film company is most famously know for the James Bond series, but when they were no longer apart, Broccoli made Chitty Chitty Band Bang, which was released on the 16th of December 1968. Broccoli had been intrigued in the bond films for many years, but his partner was never into getting them done. After a while Saltzman and broccoli stopped working together as partners, which allowed broccoli to create the bond novels into films that he has been wanting to do for years. The first bond film was released in 1962, the next in 1963, then 1964, then after that the fourth was in1665. The last Bond film that Broccoli made was released in 1966, and this was sadly before he passed away in the same year. Eon productions was then passed onto his daughter Barbara Broccoli, and his stepson and half-brother by actress Dana Wilson Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson. The production company is still owned by the broccoli family today, and the family carried on making all 24 Bond films.