1B- Concept 5- Representation.

1. Who and What is being represented?
- The main focus of our music video, showing who is being represented, is the artist and the band. The artist is being represented as he is the main singer therefore he is being shown as a natural performer being spontaneous. The genre of the song is indie-rock therefore we tried to fixate this into the music video through his personality by making him flamboyant.



2. How is that representation being created?
- Our choice of micro elements helps create our representation we wanted to achieve. Using our choice of cinematography such as long shots of the main artist shows his body language of how he chooses to behave. Another form of micro elements that show this is mise-en-scene. This includes costume and colour which portrays his character because the striking red trousers.





3. Why did you create that representation in that way? what was your intention?
- We created the representation in this particular way because we felt the main focus should contrast other objects in the frame e.g the two members of the band. This was important because it attracts the viewers attention allowing the main artist to stand out.


4. What is the effect of the representation?
- The production shows which factors play which role in the music video to represent a certain figure. In our music video, the genre of the song decided what factors we had to control for example, the way the artist dressed, acted and appeared on screen.
References made in our video is a stereotype because we wanted the genre to match his onscreen appearance so we purposely made the song and artist link.
The reception encouraged us to attract a certain audience that have an interest in this genre of music which is indie/rock.

Section 1B: Genre

Do you think genres are timeless? Can we still label films?

Genres are timeless as even though nowadays they are changing they're still sticking to the main route of how movies are seen by the audience and are still seen in particular genres. Even though genres are still used to inform audiences what the movie is like, they are still adapting and expanding. 

Robert Stam suggests that genres are defined through the performer which supports that we can still label films as sometimes the performer has the same personalty in the same genre of films. 

Why do you think hybrid genres are developing so much?

Recently, there are more films that are hybrid genres than not because combining two different genres can attract different target audiences depending on what genre they like. For example, Romantic comedies would attract two types of viewers; those who like comedies and those who like romances. This allows there to be a bigger target audience overall and therefore more popular. This relates to the theorist, John Turby who said that genres are useful for purposes such as target audience and marketing because a larger audience can expand the marketing of the movie. For example the film Avatar contains the genres, romance, action and thriller therefore there is a wide target audience who can help advertise the movie and allow it to become more popular.  Hybrid genres are developing so much because genres are there to attract a specific target audience, so hybrid attract an even bigger audience because there is two genres to attract two types of people. 

Choose one of your products and determine how it does/doesn't conform to a genre.

Our thriller, Group P3-68 does conform to a particular genre as the three aspects, Setting, Theme/Topic and format have been met. The way the setting has shown thriller to be the particular genre is because the main character is shown first off in a lift accompanied by low tone music showing jump cuts to the victim. To an average audience, these features can be seen as typical expectations. The way the theme/topic shows thriller to be the genre is because the mood and emotions shown in the footage puts the audience on edge as they would think something is going to happen. The format shows a number of different shots including, jump cuts and close ups. This helps the audience predict the story-line and the issues which are to come. 

Also this thriller can be categorised into two subgenres: crime thriller and psychological. This does conform to the genre of the film because of the story line.

Janet Steiger says there are four ways of defining films. these four features can relate to our thriller because we are able to judge other thrillers with ours to know its particular genre, such as the music and camera angles. Also it could be a different cultural expectation in society because in some cultures our thriller could be very elaborate to some people while some cultures might see this is a mild thriller. 

Robert Stam believes that the performer allows the audience to define the genre that the film is given, therefore the main character in our thriller should show a dramatic, determining performance.
John Turby believes the genre is useful for purposes of marketing and target audience therefore having the audience predict the genre can be important to the film and its production. Expectations are deliberately contradicted or agreed with to help the audience, this is done by screen writers using 'genre bases'.

Usages and gratification theory.

• Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratification theory suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media.

• Users take an active part in the communication process and are goal oriented in their media use.  The theorist say that a media user seeks out a media source that best fulfills the needs of the user.  Uses and gratifications assume that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their need.

• The theory places more focus on the consumer, or audience, instead of the actual message itself by asking “what people do with media” rather than “what media does to people” 

• The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. 

Funny Games- Michael Haneke.

How does the film break expectations? 
- The Genre of this film is a thriller as certain features that would mean its a horror are not shown, such as blood, gore and other tortured related aspects.
The narrative is unusual as the actor of the film speaks to the camera occasionally to allow the audience to believe there a part of the crime/film. In a typical thriller film, the characters all have their own roles and the audience likes to believe the victim always escapes and then continues with their lives however in this film, all the characters die including the women, man and the child.

What he is trying to make the audience think about violence? 
- From the clip we watched, we get the feeling that he is trying to create a different feel for violence. It is seemed to say that if you cant see the violence happening then its portrayed as okay as you don't share the emotions that the characters would have felt (such as the mother seeing her child being killed)


Do you think it is intentional shock? 
- The way the story is told, you know that the strangers who enter the families house are intentionally going to cause a scene therefore the violence and bad behaviour is expected however audiences normally believe that the main character is going to escape and survive which challenges expectations.

Micro Element anaylsis of P3-67 Thriller video:

Sound: 

- Non Diegetic/Sound bridge.. background noise - Adds suspense

- Different tones.. loud/busy environment to quiet phone ringing - out of the ordinary, gives the impression something going on in the background which viewers cant see

- Visceral sound.. exaggerated voices, cars and phones (town) - gives sense of wariness 

Mise-en-scene: 
- each character has the appropriate costume e.g. investigator wearing a long coat, scientist wearing glasses and an apro. Screen time judges who is the main character in the film.

- Make up used for Squids effect (blood) - shows the damage that's been done

- Props e.g. forensic scientist equipment, paper, masks, microscope. Masks had riddles on them to indicate clues for the investigator to find the killer, explains the storyline better. Props make it visual and therefore easier to anaylse rather than all information given through sounds and dialogue.

- Set/Location - only a few used e.g. bathoroom and bedroom, but the sound effects make it seem like there should be more e.g. busy town.

Cinematography: 
- Long shot to show the locations and the full effects of the thriller such as the body at the beginning. Its important to see the whole incident with the set, props and actors to add effect to the thriller and show the purpose in this case its where the investigator has to figure out who killed the girl.

- Mid shots - allow you to see a lot in the frame but still focus in at a particular point.

- Close up to enhance the effect and look at a specific feature. So you can see the makeup and costumes. It mixes mise-en-scene with cinematography.

- Track shot at the very beginning, to follow actor and makes the audiences' eyes focus on what you want so they see the importance of the opening. 

Editing: 
- All similar screens.

- Flashes to and from different scenes using the titles and credits.

- Normal pace transitions 

Special Effects:

- Squids effect (Fake blood)

micro elements in Harry Brown

The micro elements are mise-en-scene, sound, cinematography, editing and sfx. An example of sound is the visceral sound of Harry Brown making tea which emphasizes his loneliness. An example of mise-en-scene is the darkness of his flat at night, lit by a single dim light which displays his isolation from the outside world. An example of cinematography is the close up on Harry Brown's face when he wakes up, indicating immediately his position as the protagonist. An example of editing is the hand held shots of the two scenes at the beginning represent point of view and make the scenes seem more authentic. And an example of SFX is the stunt double for when the bike hits the lorry, which gives the stunt more or a risk factor to it.