The Relationship between audiences and films

 

22 Jump Street

 

My pre- post viewing of this film were quite mixed as I had watched the first film '21 Jump Street' which I was extremely pleased in watching as I found it very humourous. When I heard that a second film was coming out I was exited for it but after hearing the reviews of the film being quite poor then it lowered my expectations of the film. When I went to go watch the film I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would have because of the bad reviews lowering my expectations. Social networking sites like twitter, facebook, instagram and snapchat with friends saying how disappointed they were after the film were the biggest part to me having not as high hopes as I first did.

 

The reason I set out to watch 22 Jump Street is because of my fandom towards the first film, I contributed to this by telling others to watch it after I had and by sharing trailers from youtube onto other social networking sites. Pleasure can be brought to the viewer by scares, crying, reaching the viewer emotionally, sex appeal/ arousal but in this film it brings primaraly laughter as this is a comedy film.

 

It's hard to actively spectate this film as it doesn't seem like there are any hidden meanings to this film as it's pretty straight forward inm narrative, genres such as action-comedy films are usually without any parts of the narrative that makes the viewer think after they've seen it. Films like this are known as "easy watching".

 

Interactivity isn't really used in 22 jump street as I couldn't find any examples of how the viewers could have a say about any of the going ons in the film. The film makers preferred readings to the audience is to show the ups and downs of a friendship and how they come from two completely different backgrounds and how they have become such good friends. Another preferred reading in this film could be how to get through things in a partnership with all the troubles that come with relationships such as at work, friendships and relationships.

 

The audience could use frameworks of interpretation in this film as most people could have been through some of the same things the characters go through as they have to go to College in this film so some of the narrative could represent different life expirences they have been through. People who are very into their film could sometimes look for hidden meanings in films and sometimes they would find some but most the time they find and deconstruct things that were never there. This could be seen in 22 Jump Street as in some parts of the film as Schmidt and Jenko act as if they're in a relationship, this is done in a humorous way but some viewers could see this as a sign that they are actually in a homosexual relationship. 

 

This film uses intertexuality quite a lot and they refer to the first film, the next film(s) and the original series, this is obviously done on purpose.They say and do things that give hints to a film after that one to be made and at the same time they mock themselves in a humorous way as they mention how next year they could end up moving to 23 Jump Street as a building is being sold there, this hints at the fact a third film could be added to the series.

 

The conditions of reception for this film will most likely be at the cinema, illegal download and streaming sites, services such as netflix and lovefilm plus dvd and bluray. At the moment this film is quite new as it has come out this year and is still playing at cinema so this will only be able to be found pirated or at the cinema as it won't be out for sale until later this year.

Using my media literacy I would rate this film very highly as the narrative comes across very clearly. All of the audio, cuts, soundtracks or any other editing done was to a great standard and I wouldn't be able to critisize them. The charcters develop a lot throughout the film (not as much as they did in the first) they grow in personality, Schmidt gets more confidence as he meets a girl and gets compfortable around her. Jenko meets a new friend and gets close to him and this brings him out of his shell and as this charcter is a lot like him he doesn't feel like he has to hide who he is around him as they have so much in common. 

 

Bad Neighbours producers and audiences

Won the award for best TV spot and for best comedy poster, was also nominated for best comedy.

This film was produced by Brian Bell, Andrew J. Cohen, Joseph Drake, Meryl Emmerton, Evan Goldberg, Nathan Kahane, Brendan O'Brien, Seth Rogan, James Weaver.

The poster for this film shows clearly by the stars and how they are positioned who the audience will be, Seth Rogan is known for his comedy films so most men would want to watch his latest film as he is very rarely a disappointment. Seeing Seth next to Rose Byrne with a baby and how they are stood indictes maybe a serious relationship between them and this attracts people who like to watch films with romance, such as young women. Having Rose Byrne in this film creates sex appeal for the younger men so this could encourage them to come along and wach this film, the same is done by having Zac Efron and Dave Franco as this attracts young women. Zac Efron holding a beer in his hand on the poster indicates that this film will have a lot of drinking and partying and the frat shirt that he is wearing confirms it. Seth and Zac are both seen as leaders for both sides of this war that is going on between the two houses, the poster shows this well by how they are stood like they're ready for a fight. The baby secures a sense of comfort to the viewer as it is cute and innocent, the serious war like faces on everyone else makes in seem more serious but the baby is laughing which gives the viewer the feeling that they will be watching them from the baby's point of view as they will be laughing too.

 

This film was rated 7.1/10 on IMDb, directed by Nicholas Stoller, distributed by Universal pictures and released on 09/05/14 comedy film aimed for 15-24 year old males as an audience profile. The budget for this film was about £18,000,000 but it achieved $49,033,915 on opening weekend.This 97 minute long film is rated as a 15, this is because of the exesive drinking, drugs being used, sexual scenes, slight violence, bad language and nudity. The title font has the word 'bad' in bold letters and this is a hint on the word people should be looking out for as this as the charcters do very extreme things to each other. The whole poster shows romance, sex appeal, partying, humour, adorabilityand rivalry all squeezed into one picture. "The battle for the street begins" quote with the two main characters standing to attension is basically a parody of the classic war film posters, they even have the font colours as black and green which are two of the main milertry colours so this is another hint towards it. They are basically saying that it will be like war between the two houses with only one winner.

 

 

 





 

Developing countries, Idependent, Internaional co-productions

 

Developing countries is the name of the production context that Africa, Asia, and Latino Americans are included in, they are called this as they are made up of third world countries which are very poor. These places have recentely started to shoot films and get the equipment to do this in the last few years, the technology in these areas is quite underdeveloped. The narratives for these films usually run along the same kind of story idea. An advantage to this is it could bring money into these poor countries. A disadvantage to this is the quality of the film is quite bad. Small companies distribrute the films over seas. In Nigera they have a production name of Nollywood, they have an aim for this to bring more money into the country and to create more jobs, other aims of theirs can be found at http://www.projectactnollywood.com.ng/content.php?id=10

 

Independent is another production context, this is usually films done by a subcompany of a big production company, to qualify as an independent film the production can't have any more than half of the money for the film coming from a big production company, the rest is usually from other investors, examples of these are; Warner Independent Pictures, Paramount Classics, Focus Features, Think Film, Lionsgate Entertainment, Fox Searchlight, Sony Pictures Classics and Mirmax Films. The budget for an independent film is never really as big as a British or Hollywood film. Independent films should always try to have one star in their film as it will give the viewers a recognisable face, seeing this on a trailer or picture advertising the film will make more people want to watch it. Another thing to attract an auidience is to enter the independent film into competitions to win awards, being able to show these on advertisments could help the films auidience grow dramatically.

International co-productions is where two or more countries work on a film together. This helps widen the audience as the film will be realised under both/ all countries involved in making it. The budget could be quite big as they can get money from more than one source. A disadvantage to this is travel costs as cast and crew would have to travel to different countries and this would consume a lot of the budget. Having to deal with two or more goverments can also be a disadvantage as the production will have to abide by their laws. There are taxes to film and these are different depending on what country the production is happening. When these films are distributed they have different distributers in each country invloved then if they sell abroad they would use other distributers then too 

In Fear

 

The genre of this film is a thriller-horror, this is obvioous by how the tension was built up by using the music, auido, long waits, jump scares, screams and suddern changes in level of sound. The film was shot at night like mopst horrors as the dark gives a much more eerie effect as nobody knows what's in the dark so this gives the fear of the unknown.

 

The production context for this film is British, this is easy to tell by seeing the actors used to play the roles (Their acting style and their accents), locations used (farm, woodland and a typical British pub), the equipment used was quite end equipment but still not like top Hollywood equimpment. The narrative of the film had a very typical British feel, the couple in the film didn't seem to get on that greatly and the film didn't show much romance between them, this was a big difference it had to Bollywood films. The film also had a lack of CGI but brilliant jump scares, Hollywood films tend to go over the top with CGI, this for me gave the film a much more realistic feelas there was none/ barely any CGI and the narrative of this film could actually happen unlike the other two zombies films we watched (World War Z and Rise of the zombie).

 

The three stars acting in this film haven't really been in many huge films and wouldn't be too regonisable but still these actors were very good and played their roles exelently. It British films I would say it's a lot easier for great actors to do well as it seems like being a big name doesn't great someone a role straight away and actors who have never been heard of can have an equal chance getting the part.

 

The narrative was easily related to being British as the storyline was quite dark at times without going over the top and had no cheeseyness to it. The dialog used was classic for a British film as there was a bit of slang and bad language, this is very typical to see in a British film. The weather, narrative and genre helped communicate the production context as well as the dialog did.

 

The technology was at a good standard, a lot better than the standard seen in Bollywood films but just a little behind the standrad seen in Hollywood films. Hollywood films usually use so much CGI to make it more entertaining to the viewer but British and Bollywood films usually won't be able to do this as their budget wouldn't allow them to. British films don't usually need a lot of special effets as they have other ways of gettaround it. The actors used for this film were not that well known and hadn't been in much else which is a good indecation that this is British as for Hollywood and Bollywood as they like to use big stars for their films that the audience would recognise.

Rise of the zombie
 

I would put this film into the horror-romance genre, it is a little gory at times but much of the narrative relates to back to him and his ex-girlfriend and their love for each other. Some of the soundtracks used are quite eerie and there are a couple of jump scares too, this could help broaden out to two audiences at once as romance and horror are two completely different genres but they work well together.

The production context for this film is Bollywood, this explains why the narrative is quite romance driven as all Bollywood films are massively to do with romance and love. The songs in this film are written to tell the story of the film and they also last a lot longer than they would in British or Hollywood. The things that were allowed to be shot for this film were much more strict than it is in British or Hollywood films, this includes nudity, language used, violence, gore and other things like this too.

The star of this film is Luke Kenny of Italian-Irish descent, he directed and acted in this film, he is also known for starring in Rock On!! and Bombay Boys but if you're not a fan of Bollywood films it is unlikely that you will know this star who may be quite well known in India but outside of there he probably isn't well known at all.

The soundtracks used sound very typically Asian/Indian in most of the songs and tunes. The dialog seemed quite simple as only one person would speak at one time at most. It got pretty confusing when they kept switching from speaking English to their own language but in India that is common for people to do so it makes sense why they did it. They only have two locations throughout the film which is very different compared to World War Z as they used many different famous locations all over the world.

Some of the equipment used was surprisingly good like the camera quality but the sound technology was very disappointing and uneven sounding quite muffled up when it went to different cameras so it seems like they used external mics on the cameras to get the sound and not any real audio equipment or if they did they didn't use it consistently. The make-up used for the zombies was decent but it wasn't to a great standard like Hollywood zombie films as the make-up used there is much better plus they have CGI which Bollywood films don't have the budget to create great CGI to make the zombies look better, this is normal for a Bollywood film.

I think the narrative was fairly decent and a good production for this region but they could improve on the acting, make-up, locations, sound equipment and some special effects. The audio when it kept changing in quality just made it more obvious. The intro contradicts the film as it seems so happy and colourful with an up-beat soundtrack at the start and  by the end there's panic in the streets with a zombie outbreak.

 

World War Z

World War Z could fit into a horror-thriller or action-horror genre, this is because of the gore, the jump scares, the use of music, the tension built up, the guns, explosions also zombies are very well known for being in horror films. The introduction to the film communicates the genre very well as there are a lot news reports and footage of the wildlife and it shows a lot of footage about viruses, predators and prey which is a big link to the main narrative of the film. This film could be argued to be a sci-fi horror film as the virus used to create these zombies is actually science fiction which is usually  missed by viewers as most people stereotype sci-fi films as films which futuristic space ships and alien films.

This film fits into the Hollywood production context, this is because of the stars that they have who act in this film. It is easy to tell this is a Hollywood film by the budget used in this too as it looks very professional by the top quality equipment. This film being a zombie film with a lot of over the top explosions and action scenes is very common for a Hollywood film and another huge giveaway.

Having well known stars in the film is a good way to get viewers as fans of the stars in the film will want to go and see their latest film. Depending on how big this star is then it gives a hint on the budget of the film and how good the film will be. The stars used could also hint on what kind of film this will be as some actors are known for what genre they star in usually.

In this film the non-diagestic were used quite a lot throughout this production. This Hollywood film keeps the viewer on the edge of their sheet the whole way through, the budget was obviously very high for this film as a lot of CGI and make-up must have been used. In Hollywood films nowadays it is very common to see superhero films and zombie films as these have become a big hit in the last decade. The locations used were brilliant as they use famous places from the U.S and other places over the world.

The technology used relates to the production context as a Hollywood film as in this film we see CGI for example huge explosions and plane crashes. The make-up in this film used on all the zombie actors was extremely realistic looking and quite scary, I think they couldn't have done this better so I rate this film highly for that. The stars, equipment, narrative, music and shots used were also to a high standard.

I think queer theory can be related to in this film as the main male character (Brad Pitt) has long hair which sometimes could stereotype someone as being homosexual. One of the main female characters has short hair and she also happens to be in the army, this would place her into the butch or soft butch category.

I am a big fan of Hollywood films, most of the time they are much more entertaining than British or Bollywood films, this is because they have a much bigger budget and better equipment most of the time. It's also much easier for them to bring in top quality stars, get the best locations to shoot at and the CGI is much more advanced than anywhere else. The whole feel of this film is very professional. 



Silence of the lambs

 

In this film a few semiotics were used such as conotation when we see the skull looking pattern on the back of the moth, this could be seen as death. The moth being basically reborn out of the cacoon could also mean reincarnation  or birth to some people so it depends on how the viewer looks at it. Stuctualism was used when she was in the bad guy's house and she begins to connect the clues with the picture of the moth on the wall. At the start of the film the genre was communicated to the viewer by showing the main character running away into the mist with an eerie soundtrack, the font used was one that would most likely be seen in an action or horror because it was black and white and in bold, this is quite a serious looking font.

 

In this film the men all treat the main charcter differently because she is a good looking woman, this relates to feminist film theory as in this film she is a strong independant woman which goes against the stereotyping of women usually seen in film. One guy asumes she has been picked for a task simply because of her apprence and not because of her qualifications. A lot of men don't treat her fairly and see her as eye candy.

 

Queer theory is also related to in this film with the character Buffalo Bill. This character is transgender  wannabe and people who are transgender get stereotyped into being homosexual, this is because of how they usually act, dress and how they speak. This film doesn't mention anything about this characters sexuality but he is the easiest to relate to queer theory in this film but his character is portrayed  negatively.

 

One of the most memorable scenes for me was when was saw moth cocoon stuck down the dead woman's neck as this was big part of the story line and a big lead on who could be this murderer (Buffalo Bill), it was also very different to any other scene in other films so I find this almost iconic.

 

The shots used created much tension and also created an eerie and scary vibe to the film as the characters  were looking straight into the camera on midshots in one scene so this makes the viewer feel more into the story like they are there too, this can help the viewer relate and if they feel part of the film then it could be scarier for the viewer to watch.



 

Queer Film Theory

 

Queer theory was originally associated with the radical gay politics of ActUp, Outrage, and other groups which embraced “queer” as an identity label that pointed to a separatist, non-assimilationist politics. As it has come to be understood in cultural theory, however, queer theory challenges either/or, essentialist notions of homosexuality and heterosexuality within the mainstream discourse (the “binary sexual regime,” to use historian George Chauncey's phrase), and instead posits an understanding of sexuality that emphasizes shifting boundaries, ambivalences, and cultural constructions that change depending on historical and cultural context. "To queer" is to render “normal” sexuality as strange and unsettled, to challenge heterosexuality as a naturalized social-sexual norm and promote the notion of “non-straightness,” challenging the hegemony of "straight" ideology. This emphasis on non-straightness lends queer theory its assimilationist, anti-essentialist cast, for when one considers the realms of fantasy, the unconscious, repression, and denial, much that is ostensibly considered “heterosexual” easily falls within the realm of queer. The influential work of Judith Butler, particularly Gender Trouble, with its now broadly overused concept of “performative” sexuality and gender identity, seeks to reject stable categories altogether. While thoroughly disruptive of mainstream “truth regimes” of sexuality, it also challenges standard gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, and transgender politics. In Butler's conception, these terms are rendered meaningless when stripped of the institutional means that support them. Alexander Doty's notion of “queer reception,” in Making Things Perfectly Queer, is another way in which standard categories are challenged. Doty separates “reception” from “identity” and stresses the way a spectator may derive “queer pleasure” by deviating from standard categories in viewing film and television. Thus straight-identified women spectators might experience “queer pleasure” at the sexual tension generated between Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon in Thelma and Louise; straight-identified men might enjoy the exaggerated homoeroticism of Stallone's Rambo.

I found this info at - https://faculty.washington.edu/mlg/courses/definitions/queer.htm

 

 

Queer theory is about the stereotyping homosexual people in film. This can be offensive to some viewers as the stereotyping could lead to people being wrongly accused of their sexuality from what they wear, act like, speak like, look like and their general interests. This is shown in the film mean girls as one of the charcters is commonly mistaken for being a lesbian from how she acts and dresses, this is her being stereotyped.

Femanist Film Theory

 

Feminist Film Theory

Since the early eighties, the spectator has become a key centre of debate in feminist film theory. In recent critical studies the female spectator is produced variously as an absence within a mode of address that privileges masculine subject positions, the point of a specific generic address (work on 'women's' genres) and as a subject from whose position textual meaning becomes destabilised and pleasure reconceived.

These debates have keyed into studies of the figuration of the feminine within social and cultural discourses and representational forms in a larger attempt to account for the processes of feminine subjectivity; one that provides a dialogue between the rhetoric's of address in popular representation and the forms by which social life is organised and articulated. Feminist theorists have asked not only what the category 'woman' means and how it is produced, but what it means for women to take up their own position in relation to femininity. This has entailed turning away from cataloguing 'correct' or 'positive' images which are seen to voice women's 'reality', for such catalogues not only suggest that there are such final judgments to be made, but also pin down the feminine to an orthodoxy within which no struggle can be articulated. Instead, theorists have sought to find the right range of definitions inscribed within representations of sexual difference, disaggregating those categories which act to fix and polarise sexual difference. They have moved to analyse the diverse modes of subjectivity, to analyse the ways in which we may use our engagement with representational mechanisms to 'perform' the contradictory relations of gendered identities, focussing on differences between women and within the construction of femininity. The female spectator is formed in a delicate balance between the recognisable common strands of female subjectivity and the disparate particularities of her own history.

Research found from - http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/4.2/Swanson.html

In films there are shots purposely made to attract 'The Male Gaze' which is a shot where it focuses on the female body in a sexual way for example, this can also be done to the male figure but this is much less common in film.

In horror films usually the female body is used for its sex appeal, the women used are stereotypically good looking with little intelegence. In running scenes they usually have their boobs boucing up and down then they'll fall over while trying to get away. As they are getting murdered usually the weapon will be used on the chest of the women for example the woman on scream when the murderer stabs the woman in the chest area.



 

Scream opening scene

 

Scream opens with the title of the film coming together with a load slamming sound then the sound of a telephone ringing and after this the sound of a woman screaming and an evident knife sound. The writing turns red indicating blood and comes at the screen.

First time we see this character she picks up the phone is looks like quite a nice clam happy character but as doement and constant ringing happens over the phone she becomes more and more uneasy. The repeated use of the phone, the knife and the mask makes them icionic items for this film. The mask is to cover the villians identity, the knife is used as a weapon and the phone is how the villain gets hold of the victim before he comes to get them. She wears a light coloured sweater which shows that she is a good girl, quite a simple women, not educated highly, just quite average. Her being blonde is steriotypically used for them to be quite uneducated and simple minded, this is connotation.

The caller rings again and the camera comes in on the woman suggesting fear. After she hangs up again it cuts to a scene outside showing the tree swinging outside on its own, the sounds of the rope moving are quite loud with the sound of crickets and wind too. This make it seem like there is a jump scene so the viewer expects it. The next shot is on the oven as the woman turns the cooker on to cook the popcorn, the index is a flame and the popcorn. The indexical of this is the more the popcorn gets bigger the more her parania gets bigger.
At this point in the scene we can tell that this girl is starting to get annoyed that this person keeps ringing, as he rings this time she answers the phone unlike she has the other times. She seems less friendly and happy this time as it's starting to become quite creepy. Flames and knifes are being shown on camera quite frequently which builds tension and intends they will need to be used soon. He asks her what she is doing and the coversation turns but to quite polite and flirty, she tells him she is making popcorn for a scary movie. As he is asking what her favourite scary movie is, she is playing with her kitching knifes and the sound used for when she takes a kitchen knife out of this stand is applified and unrealistic but this is used a lot in horrors as it makes it much scarier and this is foreshadowing what is later to happen.
On the phone the flirting continues as shes ask him if he wants to ask her out on a date and he begins to lead her on and asks if she has a boyfriend and she says no. As this conversation is going on she is walking around the house turning lights off, shutting windows and locking doors so basically she's locking up the house before she watches her scary film.
Here the man ask for her name so she replies asking him why he wants to know and he tells her he wants to know who he's looking at which completely changes the vibe of the film and the expression on her face and tone in her voice, even the music comes on with a very eerie feel. She begins to panic and look around the garden to see if she can see himand she finally hangs up on him as she locks another door and she really begins to do all she can to prevent anyone coming into the house by rushing to all the doors to make sure this person can't come in.
He rings again and this time she sounds upset and he sounds angry that she hung up on him as he told her not to hang up on him earlier on, she tells him to bother someone else then she hangs up once more. Straight away he rings back and she answers straight away this time and screams down the phone in an agressive tone "Listen Asshole" as she gets interupted by the guy shouting at her in an even more agressive tone and this turns the tables back around on her not being in power and it makes the viewer think he is even scarier than they first think as now he seems like a physco who shouldn't be messed with. He threatens to gut her like a pig and this is very messed up but this person is obviously insane if he is willing to do that to a girl who hangs up on him let alone someone who has insulted him further. He calls it a game which suggests he finds it fun to be doing something like this, almost like a hobby.
The music becomes louder and more dramatic to build even more tension, this film builds up a lot of tension in this opening scene. She looks through the window looking out for this man, the music and the shot type makes it seem like a jump scare is about to happen so viewers get ready for this. She is now basically crying because of how scared she is as now he tells her he wants to see what her insides look like, this confirms that this man is extremely troubled mentally and this makes the girl even more scared with the abusive language she is reciving.
She starts to cry properly and the door bell rings which almost gives her a heart attack which has been caused by the man on the phone. Then he rings the phone again which also triggers her to nearly have a heart attack again, he plays with her over the phone by giving her tips how to survive almost like this is a agame now. She tries to turn it around on him by screaming at him telling him her boyfriend will come and beat him up then he replies with sarcastic comments showing that this nutcase isn't scared of anything that we know of.

 He mentions that he knows her boyfriends name in a way the he might know where he is and this shows that there isn't any hope left and this must have been planned. The sound effects come in a lot more towards the end like for when he tells the girl to turn on the patio lights suggesting that's where her boyfriend is. As she does this slowly and the music sounds tramatic it builds the shot up even more.