Task 4: Be Able to develop responses to media products

Mean girls is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters. The movie is based in a High School drama setting, re-creating how schools in America is like for young teenage girls. The plot begins with a girl named Cady Heron who was home-schooled in Africa and have returned to the United States after a 12-year research trip in Africa. While settling in her new school in Evanston, Illinois she encounters new characters (Janis and Damian) and the schools most exclusive cliques, the plastics, who was led by ‘’The queen bee’’ Regina George. The plastics take interest in Cady and invited her to have lunch with them everyday. Making Cady one of the plastics, Janis see’s this opportunity to plan a revenge against Regina, using Cady as a spy to gather information about the plastics and report back to Janis.

The demographic audiences for this film are girls aged from 16-19-years old.  Within the movie, all four girls are seen wearing stereotypically girly clothing, focusing on pastel and bright colors such as blue, pink, purple etc. The clothing is seen featuring jeweled studs when infused with stereotypical girly clothing, indicating that these characters are representing an extremely girly and feminine group of girls in society. The location of each character’s home indicates their personality and their social class; for example, Regina George is seen to be upper class because of the unnecessary belongings and the environment that she lives in. This reflects her popularity and how she is seen from the world as an ‘’innocent’’ and ‘’girly’’ character due to her clothing, immediately contrasted by the manipulative nature of her personality. Telling the audience that looks can be deceiving.

Gender itself within the film is a major theme of representation. The leading characters within the film are all female immediately giving the female sex a dominant and powerful presence within the film. In addition to this, Cady, Regina and Gretchen are all portrayed at some point strong. However, when these characters are seen as strong, it is when they are plotting against each other, presenting another teenage girl all ‘’stab’’ each others back. The character of Cady Heron is seemingly the only female who is seen with the most power by the end of the film due to her ‘’honest’’ actions.

The narrative of ‘Mean girls’ itself clearly reflects the films institution, the simple and clear plot/characters make it easy for audiences to watch and it ultimately requires little to no thinking on the audiences part. The use of Cady’s voice over at certain parts of the film also promote an actor/audience connections as it brings audiences to a more closer and personal approach to the character making her seem even more relatable. Furthermore, it reinforces the idea that being honest and good will get you wherever and whatever you want making this an ultimately ‘wholesome’ and ’mild’ representation of the teenage experience.

As the four lead characters within the film are teenagers, one can immediately expect that audiences would be those close to their age and those who can relate/identify with the characters and the experiences they are encountering, this is then furthered by the primary location of the film being a high school, immediately attracting those who are or have been in high school. In addition to this, due to the 'tongue n cheek' nature of the film along with its sexual content, younger children are uliminated from the audience as the content would be deemed as inappropriate. As the films focus is on four female character, the audience for the film would most likely be mainly female as they could relate and identify with the characters the most. The cast of the film itself also acts at indicating the intended audience, fans of lindsay lohan will most likely have seen the film, in addition to this through having Tina Fey apart of the cast older audiences are somewhat drawn into the film allowing the film itself to appeal to teenagers and adults.

Task 3: Understand how media producers create products for specific audiences

A 12-year-old boy edging into adolescence without a father, his dad having lost his life the year before in the Falkland Islands War. A gang of skinheads -- tough guys in their teens and early twenties who shave their heads, wear Ben Sherman polo shirts, and Dr. Martens boots, and listen to ska music -- walk the streets in Shaun's neighborhood, and one day they start picking on him. Shaun, however, shows he can give as good as he gets, and gang leader Woody (Joe Gilgun) takes a liking to the boy. Woody takes Shaun under his wing, and he starts hanging out with the skins, getting advice on dressing right from Woody's girlfriend,(Vicky McClure), and learning about Jamaican music from West Indian skinhead Milky (Andrew Shim). However, the gang begins to change when Combo (Stephen Graham) is released from prison and returns to the neighborhood; like many skinheads, Combo has been recruited by the National Front, an openly racist right-wing political party, and soon the gang begins to fracture, with Combo taking one faction toward violence and petty crime against blacks, Indians, and Pakistanis, while Woody and his friends follow a more benign path.

The film pays close attention to the British working classes and this comes across in the poster. This is mainly achieved through the location. Two blocks of council flats are visible over the fence and these carry connotations of a low standard of living and a real shortage of money both of which are associated with the working classes. Also the title helps to create a gritty atmosphere. Instead of having clean colours it has been given a worn effect that contributes to the overall feel of the poster.

Another major element of the film is nationalism, which is represented on the poster by the use of colour on the title. The red, white and blue creates a strong association with this theme due to the strong link to the Union Jack and Great Britain.

'' A target audience can usually be noticed by the age of the characters used for filming, however Meadows has used a various amount of different ages. Also the decision of Meadows giving different character types and personalities for instance Shaun, Combo and Woody's contrast. A lot of people could say that this film is targeted to people who grew up with this era surrounding them, which is possible as Shane Meadows has included iconic values from this era such as the music the people enjoyed listening too, games people enjoyed playing with etc. Those who grew up with this era surrounding them would find they could relate to the issues which where dealt with in this time such as violence, skin heads, racism, and would also have a background knowledge on Margret Thatcher and feel like they are apart of these issues. I also think that is is a warning for those who never grew up in this era, so this would mean it is also targeted at young adults (teenagers), this is be because it is wanted to be seen as a message or warning, as the title of the film is This Is England and not This Was England, it is Meadows way of warning the teenagers that this is still happening now. Another reason why teenagers can relate to this is because they can also link to issues with are dealt with, for example growing up without a fatherly figure can relate to Shaun's character, and how he also got involved with the wrong crowd of people. '' 

Task 2 : Choose two trailers and analyse who are the target audience

Task 1: Understand how media producers define audiences for their products

The movie 'Juno' is about a quirky, funny and optimistic teenage-mum who goes on an memorable journey of becoming a woman. She later decides to have an abortion and gives it away to a couple who was unable to conceive a child of their own. throughout her journey, the quirky pregnant teen soon realizes how little she knows about life.

The movie was predominately aimed at 'E' and 'D' categories in the NRS Social grade. In these categories most of the audiences are students, pensioners or low-payed workers. 

In which case 'Juno' is mostly aimed for teenage girls, parents and maybe some professional workers as the characters who adopted Juno's baby reflects on the life of a professional and middle class lifestyle. The film posses a great drama, laughter and romance combined together with a hint of realism.The film gives a voice to all the young mums out there, helping them explain how life really is through their eyes allowing the viewers walk a mile in a pregnant girls life,they soon get an emotional-feel towards Juno and see who she really is rather than judge her for having a child at a really young age.

'' This was a great film, probably the best I've seen so far at the festival. Ellen Page gives a wonderful performance as Juno, convincingly portraying her as a real independent free spirit. Michael Cera was good and funny, although I occasionally had trouble divorcing his character from George-Michael Bluth. J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney did a nice turn as Juno's parents. Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman were great as the adoptive parents who, while seemingly the perfect suburban couple on the outside, have their own sets of issues on the inside. Bateman especially gave a great performance as Mark, who is worried about sacrificing his own dreams as he connects with Juno over a shared love of music and the reality of the baby sinks in. '' - Richard 

Juno's Fanpage on Facebook.

Pans Labyrinth

Pan Labyrinth is a foreign spanish film that tells us a historical story of the spanish army in 1944. We follow a life of a little girl who is sent along with her pregnant mother to live with her stepfather, a ruthless captain of the spanish army. During the night, she meets a fairy who leads her to a faun in the labyrinth and tells her she is the princess to another world. He sets her 3 tasks to complete in order to prove herself that she is the princess and will reunite with her real family.

Pans Labyrinth is like ''Alice in Wonderland'' but made for grown ups from age 18-34 years old. It contains a lot of horror, history and fantasy with a spellbinding story. This movie is for everyone mostly adults from any social class or ethnicity can enjoy, something relatable when everyone is living a harsh reality but can still escape to their own imaginations and fantasy. Pans Labyrinth really illustrated that well.

''Every now and then, a movie comes along that is so extraordinary -- so breathtaking in its artistic ambition, so technically accomplished, so morally expansive, so fully realized -- that it defies the usual critical blather. Just see it, you want to tell readers. See it, and celebrate that rare occasion when a director has the audacity to commit cinema.

Such is the case with "Pan's Labyrinth," Guillermo Del Toro's visionary parable that would mark the zenith of the 42-year-old filmmaker's career were he not still so young. A visually dazzling fairy tale set in Franco-era Spain, this meditation on the costs and limits of totalitarianism combines the Gothic fantasy that has been Del Toro's signature -- from his debut, "Cronos," through comic book adaptations such as "Blade II" and "Hellboy" -- with the themes and setting of his 2001 historical drama, "The Devil's Backbone." - Ann Hornday, Top Critic

Pans Labyrinth Fanpage.

In this stunning underwater adventure, with memorable characters, humor and heartfelt emotion, Finding Nemo follows the comedic and momentous journey of an overly protective clownfish named Marlin and his son Nemo who become separated in the Great Barrier Reef when Nemo is unexpectedly taken far from his ocean home and dumped into a fish tank in a dentist's office.


''Compared with, say, "Toy Story," this may not sound like the most remarkable premise for a movie. But the madly inventive folks at Pixar may just be the most dependable storytellers now working in Hollywood. The Wachowski brothers could learn a thing or two about suspense, economy, humor and pithy characterizations from the script by director Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds, which has the wit to dream up a 12-step program for sharks trying to kick their fish-devouring habits, and the ingenuity to have Marlin accompanied on his quest by a blue tang named Dory, whose eagerness to help is canceled out by her acute case of short-term memory loss. Ellen DeGeneres, hilarious and poignant, gives a tour de force reading.''  - David Ansen

Majority of the ''Finding Nemo'' audiences are aged 4+ years old and is also suitable for families. There are no inappropriate languages or sexual contents. The incredible life of the aquatic sea keeps the audience interested in the story and characters. The cast that featured in this film created their own unique personalities for the characters in ''Finding Nemo''  using their talents through expression and voice.

Finding Nemo's fanpage on Facebook.

My ESCADA Advert

Advert Presentation

What is Advertising?

What is Advertising?
Advertising is when your selling a product on TV, Internet, billboards, radio etc.

Different forms of advertising:

• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Direct mail
• Radio
• Outdoor signs (billboards)
• TV
• Internet

Adverts have 3 basic characteristics:

1. Ability to influence the audience.
2. Adverts should be of interest to the audience.
3. Should be easy to understand and interpret by the audience as intended.

What is a USP?

USP stands for Unique Selling Point. Its a marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to understand a pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s.

An example of an USP would be a L'Oreal advert where they use celebrity endorsement (Cheryl Cole) to advertise the product. It surrounds the celebrities lifestyle and beauty with a catchy phrase ''because your worth it'' that makes women feel ''worth it'' and buy the product.


Adverts tend to follow four basic formats. They are listed down below:

Product Information format:
A style of advertising that focuses primarily on the product and stresses its utility. this includes description, characteristics and benefits.


Product Image Format:
An image of the product takes a vital role in the advert. Its often given qualities or symbolizes something in the ad.


Personalized Format:
A style of advertising that focuses on what the product could do for the user/buyer.


Lifestyle Format:
A style of advertising based on market segmentation according to the consumption style of a particular social group.



Here are some of the adverts that fall into one of these categories:

• L'Oral Paris - Personalized and lifestyle format
• Pepsi Commercial - Personalized
• Old Spice Advert - Product Image and personalized
• Dog strikes back : Volkswagen - Product information format

Watch a series of adverts and identify as accurately as possible the target audience for each:

• Coca cola ''We will rock you'' - Is for everyone because of different ethnicity in this advert including celebrities saying that celebrities drink coca cola as well, promoting the product even more. there is no limited age group to this as children were also seen in the crowd around the stadium.
  
• Lynx Excite Advert - Mainly aimed for men as the guy used the product and women (Angels) walked slowly to him. (Lifestyle fantasy).
  
• Doritos ''Goats4Sale'' - This advert is aimed at everyone with no limited age groups as the advert includes humor (Goat acting human). kids are able to watch this ad because there is no explicit scenes or bad languages involved also aimed to families as well.

What does the code say about exhorting children to buy a product?
Rules ensure that it must be followed if directing ads at children or featuring them includes rules about unsafe practices and unfair pressure, pester power and sales promotions for children.

What does the CAP code say about harm and offence towards people under the age of 18?
Rules to ensure that ads do not cause harm or serious or widespread offence. 

Includes rules relating to loudness of TV ads; Shock tactics, unsafe practice and photosensitive epilepsy.

What does the code say about the misleading advertising through exaggeration?
A key and extensive section of the code, containing rules such as substantiation (evidence to prove claim); pricing the use of the word 'free' availability of products, comparisons, testimonials and more.

 


Watch a variety of adverts and decide which technique is being used:
Flattering words - Chanel Rouge Luminous Intense Lipstick
Celebrity Endorsement - L'Oreal , Venus
Expert endorsement or statistical proof - Panasonic ''No Expert'', Colgate, Dermalogica
The New Ingredient - ''Got Milk!'' , Burger King
Nostalgia - cadbury wisps, Marathon snickers
Lifestyle Fantasy - Venus, Fereo Roche'es
Family Values - Volkswagen: ''The force'' , Weetabix golden syrup ''Dads day out''
Happy Kids - McDonalds, Toys'R'Us

Jason Mraz Music Video

Written Proposals (Music video; Nyzinga)

The Music video I will be creating is for a song called 'Use Somebody' by Kings of Leon. It begins with a narrative story of a boy who is in an unfamiliar location throughout the video. He encounters street life and an isolation of loneliness. The idea was inspired by Ed Sheeren 'A-team' of a woman who surrounds her life around drugs and homelessness which makes the audience feel sympathetic for her. In my created music video, we would include a variety of shots such as the close - up, panning, tracking shot, long shot, mid-shot, eye-level shot and tilting with a mix of one special effect of a black and white video to reflect on how he feels inside, so the audience feels the atmosphere of the video and most of all the character himself. Not a lot of CGI or graphical content will be involved because the purpose is help the viewer interpret it in there own way and make the video simple and empowering as possible.

The age ranges for my video would be any age. The location we will be recording is the whole college and the character will just have his bag as his equipment/prop and the costume is just a casual look for the video to make it seem more realistic.

Styles and Conventions of 5 Music Videos

Styles and Conventions
Music Video features loads of different kind of stytles and genres. these features help the videos to be interesting and unique compared to other music videos. There are 7 different type of genres:

• Narrative
• Interpretive
• Parody
• Pastiche
• Performance
• Impressions
• Surreal

Interpretive means something that looks like something but has a different meaning to it, they usually want the audience to interpret it in the way they think the music video is about. A prime example would be Rihanna - Russian Roulette, This video doesn't clarify a meaning and makes the audience interpret it in their own way. The video appears to show Rhianna in a special russian prison where the guards havn't been nice to her which means that the audience have to guess of why she's there and how did she get there.

Pardody is not a very popular style to choose when making a music video, however some artist have used it and became successful with it. Usually, it mocks people who are very successful/famous. An example of a parody music video would be Eminem - 'The real Slim Shady' where he's in a crazy home with other people and britney spears sitting next to him, britney acts girly and wears her school girl clothes that she wore in her own video 'hit me baby one more time', eminem does this to make it hilarious to the audience which definately grabbed their attention.

Techniques
music videos used lighting, special effects, black and white, CGI and camera shots. these help music videos to be different along with diferent genres and styles. SFX are used to stimulate the imagined events in a story and in a virtual world.Cinematography is a form of art and that is unqiue to motion pictures its consits of art and work of photography in the motion pictures.
Low key lightings are used in horror and thriller films to give that atmosphere of fear and suspension and high key lightings are used for happy and cheerful films that gives an atmosphere of happiness.

5 Purposes of a Music Video

A Music Video is mainly used for promotional purposes. It helps the artist to advertise their album/song and to show what type of genre. the lighting, Mise en scene and camera shots allows the audience to see their favourite artist as nowadays people like to visualize things as well as hearing them. For example, Jay-Z and Kanye West song 'N*ggas in Paris' Contains alot of special effects and fashing light with mirroring effect making it look more interesting to their fans. Kanye and Jay-Z are known for representing the hip hop and rap genre because of their past songs so therefore, the audience expects a catchy chorus and a phrase from a song.

Some Music Videos show a short film to tell a narrative story because the director wants to follow the lyrics and allow the audience to see it visually rather than hearing it and some videos like to make it thematic with costume and theatrical make-up with a dance sequence in it. Like Katy Perrys video ‘Extraterrestrial’ is a Sci-Fi, Alien video that the background looks out-of-space and cosmo-like with Katy looking like an extraterrestrial creature with animal legs showing that this video is based on the supernatural theme which suits the song as well.



When Artists or band wants to send an inspirational message to their fans they create a slow song/ballad that helps them relate to their audience they put on an emotional song that they like to express. For example, Michael Jackson 'I'll be there' is an emotional song  that sends off a message saying that he'll be there, trying to connect with his audience. Some music videos can make a narrative story to ballads and some just like to record the actual artist/band singing the song in a concert. Usually in a ballad song the cuts and edits of the music video are slow because it goes in time with the song and it matches the mood of it so the viewer knows that its a slow song, also it gives the artist a chance to show off their talents on screen, if their doing a narrative video, they might show off their acting skills and increases their chance of selling the album and helps to expand the artists profile. If the music video is successful as well as the song, loads of income will be made. it goes towards the artists, the music company it works for and for the director. Music videos have been a good way of a director and producer to allow their imagination come on screen and help them become recognised in the media industry if the video becomes successful. same goes to the artist and the company. the better the music video, the better the income.







Rihanna's song 'Russian Roulette' is an example of an interpretive music video. An interpretive video means to give or provide the meaning of something to interpret the hidden meaning of a parable. the audience doesn't know how she got there or why she's there all we know is that shes in a prison and seems like she's not being treated nicely. The lighting of the video is very dark and low key to show the atmosphere of the video and song, the video shots are close-ups, long shots and mid shots with fast cuts to show excitement of the song and video to keep the audience engaged in the music video.

Task 4, Video Analysis: Viral Marketing

Cadburys Gorilla Advert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzFRV1LwIo





What happens in this advert is a gorilla sitting behind the drum kit holding a wooden stick in his hand ready to play a beat that goes with the background music in the advert.  (song by Phil Collins). the target audience is very broad, it attracts both males and females of all ages because it involves an animal doing a human activity which young kids would find humorous and may be appealing to adults as well. This advert doesn't represent any stereotypical social class because its a wild animal playing the drums which means that the advert (cadbury chocolate) is for everyone no matter what status, ethnicity, gender  or age, everyone can enjoy a cadbury chocolate. the platform of this video is on youtube where everyone can watch it. The purpose of this video was to make people buy the Cadbury chocolate and showing what this chocolate can do to you for example, doing spontaneous things. The image quality and the shots of the advert is very clear.

Honda - The Cog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ve4M4UsJQo




What happens in this advert are mechanical objects rolling and pushing another object. In the end, it leads to car which explains all the mechanical machinery leading us to the car. The target audience aims to young males from the age of 20+, who is in middle class or higher class and it can be from any ethnicity because it doesn't involve any human in the advert that might represent a certain ethnicity or social class. this advert appears on a digital platform called Youtube where it is shown globally. The whole purpose of this advert was to persuade people to buy a Honda car and the fact that it shows bits of the cars machinery explains how high-tech or how modern it is making the audience think its convenient for them to use also the lighting of the extract goes well with the car because it makes the car look brand new and shiny.