A2 Media - Exam Texts: November 2012

How typical are my chosen texts of their genre? - Fish Tank

Social Realism is the main genre in Fish Tank, and is use to give a sense of realism for the viewer. This is reinforced as early as the first scene.

The first shot we are presented with is that of the protagonist, and straight away we can determine she is of low class through her presentation. The scraped back hair, huge looped earrings and joggers are all stereotypical of the working class, and early on give a sense of the overall class of the film.

The technical conventions used are also very much typical of the Social Realism genre; the camera shots for example are in long takes with little camera movement and having very limited editing. For instance in the first scene the camera tracks Mia's movement as she goes to pick up the stones to launch at Keeley's window, this allows the film to become very realistic

To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their Genre? - Sin City

My chosen text Sin City has several Genre's, the overriding ones being Horror, Comic and Film Nior. These genre's within the film are used very typically in that they are all as you would expect. The Horror is portrayed through the gore and overall sinister plot, the Comic is foreshadowed through the use of black and white high contrast pictures with 'splashes' of colour, and finally Film Nior is furthermore shown through the high contrast black and white imagery and miserable urban settings.

Film Nior is the overriding theme within the film, and its obvious of this through the conventions used. Film Nior allows the film to be distored, skewed and uncomfortable to look at, to ultimately put the viewer at unease. This is created through the genre conventions used. For example, the urban settings set the scene allowing it to be seen as a typical 'rough' area; reinforced through the violence. The weather furthermore portrays the mood of the particular scene through the use of pathetic fallacy, overall adding to that tense, gloomy atmosphere.

The camera angles used are also typical of the Film Nior genre. Extreme close ups are used to reinforce facial expression and in contrast 'deep focus' is used to show the setting of the scene. The extreme closeup thus restricts the viewers sight around the scene, putting them on edge and tense. This can also relate to the 'Horror' genre as it creates a sense of being unaware and alone. Dutch Tilts are also used in the film, once again very typical of the Film Nior genre. These are used to create 'awkward' angles to look at, thus again create the sense of unease to the viewer.

Certain characters within the film are also typical of Film Nior. Police are portrayed as 'corrupt' making them a 'false hero' such as Bob for shooting his partner. This is shown through and supports Propps Character theory as we also see heros through Hartigan and princesses through Nancy.

Film Nior overall is very typically portrayed within the film. The voice overs, melonchony downbeat music, and non-linear editing furthermore contribute to the genre.

Horror is also a very big genre within Sin City; it once again is very typically used however through a comic style. This is shown through the over the top gore. The torture scenes are very typically 'horror' however the gore is very comicy and less typical. The gore is genrally very bright colours and seem to 'splash' overall creating very humourous scenes.

Film Nior can be incorpirated within the Horror genre. For example through the voice overs; the deep voices of the male protagonist create a very sinister feel, as a deep voice give connatations of power and authority. This is typical of males within the film as they hold the dominance over women. Secondly the pathetic fallacy of thunder and lighting furthermore create an overall sinister and horror atmophere. The weather works great with the black and white high contrast imagery as it creates shadows which typical of horror films create an overall tense feeling for the viewer.

Finally the genre of Comic is very typical in the film. The comic theme holds the film together and keeps it to what its intial aim was to be. Intertexuality is obvious in the Comic genre through the mentions to Superman and Lancelot. This comic book theme is furthermore portrayed through the over the top jumping off of buildings, dramatic sound effects, and very bright splash of colours.

In conslusion these 3 genres within the film overall allow it to become Postmodern and the film is thus very typical of its chosen Genres.

Mad Men - Audiences

"Most media texts target a range of different audiences"

How true is this for your chosen texts?

In general Madmen attracts a specific range of audience, mainly being the older more middle class generation of people.
However our particular text "The Other Women" can relate to a wider range of audiences as it contains such controversial issue such as: Racism, male dominance and the objectification of Women.
Such controversial issues can be seen through the presentation of certain characters. For example the racist attitudes of the 60s are seen through the older generation at the time. Joan's mother is a good example of this as during a conversation with Joan, she say's: "why don't you get a coloured girl in, they're used to being bossed around." Furthermore it is reinforced that these attitudes only lie with the older generation as Joan shrugs off this proposal and walks away. This therefore could split audiences opinions, with older audiences seeing it as more standard and younger being offended by the attitudes portrayed, thus an older audience would be able to gain personal identity and would take a more preferred reading.
The issues such as the objectifying of women, and the overall patriarchal society, are also easier relatable to an older general as they would get personal identity off their own real life experiences. However the information given about the 60s could also be interesting for a younger generation who didn't experience such issues.

How do your chosen texts attract their audiences - Lost?

Lost is produced to target specifically a wide range of audiences to increase it's popularity with the viewers making it a more mainstream programme. Its wide range of audiences are attracted through the ensemble cast, allowing the audiences to gain personal identity with the character's race, occupation or sexuality. The technical conventions used help to maintain these audiences through the use of: camera shots, enigma's and music.

Music in Lost plays a massive role, as it is used to set the mood of the scene, to either create tension, action or even realism through the diegetic/ambient sounds of the jungle. Music is used very well to create tension as seen in the discovery of the handcuffs scene. The non-diegetic music is firstly very quiet and progressively becomes louder; thus emphasising the mystery of the handcuffs. It is furthermore made tense through the actual sound itself, sounding very creepy, similar to that of a horror movie. This ultimately sets the audience an enigma, as the music makes them aware, and question the discovery of the handcuffs.

The camera shots used in lost, contribute a great amount to the acton and mystery of the island. During the fight scene between Jack and Sawyer, the fast pace camera shots help emphasise the aggression between the two characters, creating action and ultimately entertainment for the perhaps younger generation viewers.