Assignment 3 - Research and Planning Task

Creative Concept: Naughty Boy – Running

Sahid Khan, also known as, Naughty Boy is an English DJ, songwriter and record producer. The genres he’s known for are UK garage, R&B and pop. In this song, it features Beyoncé and Arrow Benjamin. The setting for this video is underwater ocean and there’s a male and a female chasing each other underwater. The artists weren’t in the video but there’s a choreography made for the two people underwater. From the video, it seems like the couple are trying to find each other and the male going through an obstacle course to bring his self-closer to the girl. At the end of the video, they’re seen holding each other closely and they slowly rise out of the ocean together. The visuals for the song are quite interesting and even though the song is quite upbeat, the video makes it seem relaxing.

Narrative: Katy Perry – Last Friday Night

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, also known as, Katy Perry is an American singer and songwriter. The genre she’s known for is mostly pop but she also does rock. She started to work with producers at a young age and this is how her singing career started. The video pans into a house where Katy’s at. She wakes up to the house being a complete mess and it look like she regrets going to the party. Katy is seen lip-syncing to the song and it takes us to a flashback of what happened last night at the party. She enters her house to see a massive party thrown by her friend. She looks like your typical school nerd at the start of the video but this changes when she sees typical high school jock. Not giving her any attention at all, she feels insecure and her friend takes her upstairs to give her a complete makeover. When they’re done, they head downstairs and the jock immediately stops dancing with a girl and moves on to Katy. Everyone’s seen dancing and having a good time. It then goes back to the morning when Katy woke up. Her parents arrive and ask her what happened to the house since there were cups, plates, clothes and people sleeping everywhere. The narrative for this video has been used a lot and just shows what happens at a party.

Performance Element: - Crazy in Love

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles – Carter is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. She rose to her fame by being a lead singer in a favourited group ‘Destiny’s Child’. The genres she’s known for are R&B and pop. At the start of the video there’s a view of a street and it’s speed up so it makes us seem like we’re moving with the camera. It then goes to Beyoncé walking whilst singing. She then breaks into a choreography still singing. It then moves to some sort of alleyway where there’s female backup dancers. The dance moves are all in sync and Beyoncé is in the middle seen wearing an outfit that stands out more than the other dancers in the background.

Camerawork: alt J – breezeblocks

In the first shot of the music video, one of the main characters who is a female is seen dead in a bathtub full of water with a heavy block on top of her. In the next shot there’s a male, who’s also one of the main characters, showing his emotions by burying his head into his hands. There’s then a close up of the male showing that he has a wedding ring on his finger this can help with the narrative for the video. In the next shot, there’s another close up used but this time for the woman in the bathtub. She doesn’t have a wedding ring so she can’t be the male’s wife. From this point, the whole video is reversed and even makes it look more interesting and makes the audience question a lot of things seeing the chain of events that are happening in the video. As the video goes on, the audience can tell that the woman in the bathtub can presumably be an ex and came to attack the male’s wife which their seen fighting. 

Mise-en-scene: Lady Gaga – Bad Romance

In the first slow close up shot, we can see people standing around Lady Gaga and that she’s dressed in short gold outfit with gold cups beneath her. It then opens up to a white bath house with seven white coffins and people dressed in all white with a mask coming out of them. She’s seen wearing a white costume also in the bathtub showing an innocent side of her. She’s getting held roughly by two people as one of them forcefully makes her drink some sort of liquid. It then goes to a shot where she’s wearing an outfit covered in jewels with backup dancers dancing for the men in suits around them. It quickly goes to a close up of her crying and singing. She’s then seen wearing a black outfit with a mask and jewels hanging all around her. The same men she was dancing with are now all seated around her. There’s also a computer with her name on it and a price. This can make the audience suggest that she’s getting sold to one of the men sitting around her who were also wearing black outfits. As the video progresses, she’s seen with only one man who’s sitting on the bed which she sets fire on to. After, she wears a red and black outfit showing a completely dark side to her. At the end she’s seen lying down on the bed which is all burnt up with a skeleton.

Visual effects: Zayn Malik – Pillowtalk

At the start of the video, there’s a set of lights on the ceiling and on the walls. The video rotates and then goes to a close up of Zayn Malik and a model Gigi Hadid holding each other closely. Whenever Zayn mentions “warzone” the effects will make them stretch out and go to shots of Gigi screaming and a woman with gold spikes coming out of her face. He also mentions a “paradise” which brings a completely different setting with flowers and the couple looking like they’re floating. The effects used in the video like the kaleidoscope can suggest that it’s hypnotic and the shots of Zayn with smoke coming out of his mouth slowly. There’s parts of the video here the background is completely red and where there’s blood running down their eyes. At the end, the effect used for the couple is chromatic aberration which makes them look 3D.

Planning

1. Title: Addicted.

2. Tagline: "If I can't have you, no-one else can".

3. Setting: At a High school.

4. Main Characters: A male student called Caleb. The audience may like him because he's your typical high school jock. Athletic, good-looking etc.

A female teacher called Alessia Lowe. The audience will develop a liking for this teacher since she knows what she wants and won't let anyone step in her way. They could also dislike her because she also appears as desperate and wants things her way.

A female student called Jess. She appears to be Caleb's love interest.

5. Narrative:

A teacher and a student have a brief secret relationship. The teacher, Alessia Lowe, took the relationship seriously whereas Caleb, the student, didn't and quickly moved on to the new student that arrived at the school, Jess. Caleb ends things with the teacher and moves to Jess. The teacher's jealousy get the better of her and she does everything in her power to try and get back with Caleb.

Target Audience: 15-24
I chose to make it appear on Netflix. A new episode will come out every Monday at 9pm.

Research 



Waterloo Road


Waterloo Road is a British TV drama set at a school. it broadcasts on BBC One and the target audience for this show is aimed at teenagers. It´s first episode aired in 2006. It has 10 season and has 200 episodes. The show ran for exactly 9 years and stopped in 2015.


Narrative for first episode season 1: 

The school's at a right state and the headteacher decided to quit because of all the stress that the students were giving him. We can also see some students who aren't dressed appropriately or who aren't wearing the correct uniform. This can suggest that they may be "rebels". Later on in the episode, we see a male who is up for the role of the deputy head and is determined that he can change the school around.


Narrative for episode 1 season 9:

A new teacher arrives and has troubles as the students at the school bully her for being a flight attendant. Her partner who also works at the school tries and helps get through the day. heir relationship is also put at risk since it's not allowed at school.


Audiences might of enjoyed the show because of the setting since it's based in some parts of Wales and Scotland so people on there would want to watch it for recognisable locations. They also might of enjoyed it since it was a teenage drama series and it was aimed at teenagers. They also might of liked it because they develop an attachment with some of the likeable characters in the early series.

Key conventions of TV Drama:

They have likeable characters so an audience can develop an attachment.
Interesting story lines that can relate to audience.
They have a genre that almost anyone can watch.


Doctor Who

Doctor who is a British science-fiction television programme produced by BBC since 1963. The programme shows the adventures of a time lord who calls himself "The Doctor". He explores the universe in a time travelling space ship called the TARDIS. He's accompanied by a number of companions to save people.

Narrative for "Blink"

Sally, the main character for the episode, enters an abandoned house to take photographs but instead she finds the place full of eerie statues. There's a message from the Doctor warning her about the creepy statues and how they can move incredibly fast if you blink/ take your eyes of them. They can't look at each other otherwise they'll stay permanently frozen that's why they cover their faces to form a "weeping" appearance. The angles feed on the potential time energy generated when they transport their victims into the past.


Audience Pleasures

The audience enjoys this because Doctor Who isn't about reality. It's a sci-fi full of different creatures in every episode trying to take take over his TARDIS and the world. The companions also play a big part of this since they care for the Doctor and whenever it's time for a new Doctor to come, there's sympathy for them.

Waterloo Road Video Analysis


Narrative
Character
Iconography
Setting



Narrative:
The story line shown in this short clip shows a group of older students gathered at the front of a school because a fire alarm went off. They were also teachers waiting at the front ready to introduce a new student before her and her parents come in and make an introduction for themselves.

Character:
There's different groups of teenagers around the school and there's two teachers waiting at the front. There's also an arrival of a new student who makes a different entrance whilst coming into the school. By the way she's acting, she's more of a troubled student waiting to start drama.

Iconography:
From this clip, we can see the students wearing their uniforms but some aren't which may suggest that their "rebels". The new student also arrives in a Mercedes car which can represent her wealth.

Setting:
The setting was clearly at a school showing buildings and why so many students and teachers were around it.

Narrative Theory: Moana


The trailer for Moana uses many narrative techniques typical of Disney films. Applying Propp's  character theory, we have Moana who's a one of the hero's seen in the trailer and Maui who's the sidekick that helps the hero. In many ways Moana fits the hero role more than Maui since she's seen more in the trailer leading. For instance, Moana's seen being in charge of the boat they're in and also seen helping Maui.


The film's narrative is introduced in the trailer and follows Todorov's theory of equilibrium. The state of the balance is the character of Moana trying to find a demigod that goes of the name of Maui and after she does that, they must save the pacific islands from the danger that's coming. This is where disequilibrium comes in. The intro of the trailer was tranquil, everyone was happy and it had a nice setting. After a few seconds into the trailer, the setting, weather and music changed. 


The Moana trailer is full of Barthes' enigma and action codes. This gives the trailer more suspense and makes the audience ask questions about it. The major enigma codes on this trailer would be whether Moana and Maui manage to fight off the beasts or not.

Representation of Moana blog task

The representation of gender in Moana reinforces traditional gender stereotypes. The main male in the Moana trailer is built quiet strongly and is shown to be brave and aggressive. This is a typical representation for all Disney films but it also subverts female stereotypes by using a female to be the main character and the hero of the film which isn't very common for a Disney film. Disney's film Moana also sparked controversy among Pacific Islanders over the build of Maui. Maui's character type is shown as obese and this reinforced stereotypes of Pacific Islanders being obese.

Evaluating my production work: Assignment 2




1) What typical features (conventions) of a film poster have you used? How do they help to make the poster effective in attracting an audience? (Key conventions include title, release date, institutional information, reviews, a central image etc.) 

 
I think the title of my poster would attract an audience since it's an unusual title for a horror film. The title "Polaroid" has a meaning to it where it fits in with the story line so this would make the audience want to know more about the film. The central image also looks and seems a bit different from other horror images. The central image has a girl with pictures scattered around her with a Polaroid effect and she also has one in her hand with her wearing a black and white mask.


2) What is the genre of your film? How would your target audience know this from design of your poster?


The genre I chose for my film was horror and a little bit of psychological thriller. I chose this particular genre because I personally enjoy watching horror movies and because I would enjoy editing it a bit more. The target audience would know the genre from the design of my poster since the background is quite dark and has an eerie effect to it. Also, the font I used for my title makes the title look like it's dripping in a way that it can relate to blood.


3) What institutional information have you used to try and sell the film and how does this appeal to the audience? E.g. 'From the Producers of...' / Star power / Directors / Reviews.



I used the logo from Warner Brothers since it's one of the most successful studio company of all time and it has one of the largest audience. Warner Brother's have made highly successful films like Suicide Squad, Annabelle and The Conjuring.  This would bring a large audience to my film.


4) Where are there examples of synergy between your storyboard and trailer? (Synergy is the link or interaction between two different media texts).



There's synergy between my storyboard and poster since the main character shown in the central image is the exact photo that's shown on the storyboard then fades to black. My trailer opens with the institution logo of Warner Brothers for the first two seconds then it goes to my central image from the poster and it zooms out.

5) What representations have you used in your film? E.g. gender / race / age / nationality / place)? Are these reinforcing or challenging stereotypes?


My trailer subverts gender stereotypes, I've used a female to represent a serial killer instead of using a male which is quite common for the Hollywood industry. I've also used quite a younger female so it appeals to an older/younger teenage audience. The female used in the my film is quite unique compared to other teenagers because she hasn't really grown up like the others in her class. She's obviously had a troubled past which is not bothering her and causing her to behave in such an aggressive way.