Tuesday 21 April 2015

AUDIENCE PLEASURE THE IT CROWD

    One of the main audience pleasure in the IT is the repeated showing of classic and well known stereotypes such as the geeks, shown in form of Moss and Roy plus the audience enjoys the awkward and unique situations they get Jen into, who is their boss but has no idea about the ins and outs of technology but still tries to operate the IT department to her best ability.

Moss is a character which shows everything which we think nerds are. He's very defensive about himself, which we see in his physical representation; for example the shirt which he always buttons up fully, and he always tries to have some control over the events which happen in his life, which is shown by him trying to take care of his hair but not being to be able to do even that simple task as he has a massive afro! He's also a genius when it comes to technology, however when he tries to communicate with anything which doesn't have things like a CPU or a keyboard he's hopeless. This is due to the fact that he can't lie to anyone, which we see from the time when Jen asks him to pretend to be her husband for her school's reunion, which in the end turns into a failure, because Moss has no idea of how to be anything like a husband and simply tries to imitate, badly, a typical dad you may see in an 80's sitcom. Moss could potentially have some sort of mental disease like ADHD because he simply can't do anything about himself and the way he is, even though he understands about how socially awkward he is, which we see when he exclaims about how every time they, he and Roy, tried to do some social activity which was normal for many turned into a disaster.

Roy has a different problem to Moss. He doesn't suffer from any mental diseases or is he as not understanding when it comes to talking to people, however he is an old teenager who is too afraid to change and suit his role as a fully blown adult. He is very uncomfortable with himself, to such an extent that he was even doubting his sexuality when he and Moss sat on Jen's tail when they were invited to the theater which, as they didn't know, was running a gay musical. We also see that he's an old teenager by the way he dresses; a t-shirt with a game or movie reference, some pretty worn out jeans and All-Stars. His actions also show that because in the IT office he usually reads a comic whilst having his feet on the desk; which is filled with toys like a Rubik's cube, rubber ducklings and other things which a grown up man would never have at his workplace, like the hazard tape glued to his desk!

Jen is absolutely inept with technology, however out of the trio she's the most comfortable in a social situation, even though her 'colleagues' usually make it very difficult for her, for example when Moss thought that a guy who wanted to go out with Jen was actually asking him to go to the theater. When the guy leaves, Jen is very disgruntled, because as she says "It could've been a date". However, her tone of voice isn't very enthusiastic, which shows that it's not the first time Moss and Roy prevented her from getting a guy and that even so she still cares for them, as she tries to comfort them when they are frightened by the gay men on stage.





Friday 13 February 2015

Practice Exam Question; X-Men: Days of the Future Past

1.       The extract fits into the adventure genre because it has spectacle in it since we see epic visual effects and see everything in a way we never saw anything happen before. We see Quicksilver travel at such great speeds that the time around him slowed down, which allowed him to save his friends in an a childish-like, but effective way. This tells us that this can also be an action and adventure sci-fi hybrid. For example when he runs on the walls whilst moving bullets that were fired from the guards guns in order to save his friends.

In addition; we see other elements of for example Quicksilver are a typical action and adventure protagonist. This is because we see him being very skilled in the art of fighting with his gift, which he mastered so much that he seems to be simply playing and messing around with the objects around him, which seemed to slow to in time due to his high speeds. Also the cause for which he uses is superpowers is for the good of his friends, which shows that he’s a classic case of an AA protagonist. We also know that even one of the greatest protagonists Wolverine compliments him on his skills, whilst he saw some amazing superpowers and skills in his life.

2.       Soundtrack:
Irony is created when Quicksilver turns on the song ‘If I could put time in a bottle’, which is about how a person wished he had more time, whilst Quicksilver could simply stop time around him and have all the time he needs not to only do the essential things to save his friends, but also do some other small and random things like taking off the guards cap and placing it on his own head. This makes the whole scene ironical and comical.

Editing:

There’s a lot of CGI involved in this scene, because humans can’t travel at the such great speeds and even if they did we won’t be able to see everything from such a perspective in which 

Sunday 8 February 2015

FILM DISTRIBUTION

Who will distribute my film:
Altitude

Why do you think they'll distribute your film:
Because they are a small distribution studio which distributes indie films, like ours, with thriller/action and adventure being a major genre in many of their distributed movies. Because our production company hasn't got a name or a brand image, it is likely that they will agree to distribute our movie to the audience.

Current Distributions:
One of Altitudes current distributions is The Big Game; an action and adventure movie about a boy in the wilderness trying to save the president who is under threat from a terrorist group who shot down his plane. Unfortunately, I had no chance to see it as it is still in the post-production process and it's still not available for the regular viewer. However, from the pictures I have seen posted on Altitudes website and judging by the storyline, I presume that not only will it be an action and adventure movie, but also a thriller; due to the nature of a character of power being hunted by a group of villans.

Another movie, which is also in the post-production stage, which is similar to ours is SAS:Red Notice, which is a hybrid of action and adventure and thriller. The basic storyline is of a kidnapping of a Eurostar train by a band of professional bandits and blow the tunnel up so that they can declare economic war on the government.
 

Monday 12 January 2015

THE IT CROWD YESTERDAYS JAM



How are the characters constructed?
Jen and Denholm are presented as people who are very inept at anything computer related as both of them seem as very basic users. For example: Jen speech contains a lot of repetition within it to make it seem like she knows more than she actually does;
'The web. Using a mouse, mices, using mice. Clicking, double clicking. The computer screen, of course. The keyboard. The... bit that goes on the floor down there.'

In addition, when she talks about 'The bit that goes on the floor', she's inclining that she doesn't know what a hard-drive is, which is truly amazing as you don't need to be a nerd or a computer genius to know that! This really shows us how bad she is about dealing with computers and also why she shouldn't get the job.

However, funny thing is that she DOES get the job, which comes as a real surprise to us, as a person who doesn't know what a hard-drive is or what it looks like is really pushing the boundaries of IT ignorance! This makes us turn our gaze towards Denholm, as he is the one that accepted Jen's job application. Denholm is presented slightly differently to Jen (even though his computer knowledge is equally bad) as he seems more like a bully who tries hard to be nasty but turns out to simply being awkward. We see an example of that when he starts the conversation with Jen:
'Hope this doesn't embarrass you Jen, but I find the best thing to do with a new employee is to size them up with a long hard stare.
(Denholm stares long and hard)'.

Normally it is imitating, to be stared upon by a person with a power, however  in this situation it just seems weird and comical.

In what ways are Ross and Moss are constructed as typical nerds?

After that scene has finished, we cut to the basement where the companies IT department is situated. We start the scene with Ross speaking with one of the members of staff who has experienced a technical problem. The member of staff seems to be also very inept with computers and we see Ross trying to hammer in the real basics of what he should do. We know that Ross doesn't like doing that as he is very unenthusiastic about the whole deal which we see in his responses, for example this one:
'OK, well, the button on the side. Is it glowing?
Yeah, you need to turn it on. Err, the button turns it on.

Yeah, you do know how a button works, don't you? No, not on clothes'

His responses make him look and feel like a child, who is very bored and tired of what he's doing,  in an adults situation. This is a semi-typical trait for nerds as they are so immersed in their own world that they never learn to grow up.


Then we see Moss enter. Now he is the real soul and spirit of what a nerd should; look, sound and feel like! Moss also gets a phone call and he starts to talk about stuff that even I don't know about! (and mind you I assembled and took care of my own computer! Here is a line that in my opinion that really expresses how deeply nerdy he is:
'You see the drive hooks a function by patching the system core table so it's not safe to unload it unless another thread is about to jump in there and do its stuff. And you don't want to end up in the middle of invalid memory'.

So he's got the knowledge it takes to be a real nerd. However, he also looks like a classic nerd with his massively overgrown afro, glasses and a very straight pose. He, you'll need to see the extract for that, also sounds like a nerd as he tends to speak slightly through his nose.

Thursday 8 January 2015

Analysing Audience Pleasures the Balancing Broom Extract QI BBC

One of Steven Fry’s characteristics on the QI show is that he’s very smart and usually knows the answers, since he has the answer cards. Because of that, it is very unusual to see him wrong, which comes as a surprise to the audience when he is wrong and Alan Davies can very easily balance a broom on the palm of his hand, brush side down. The audience likes this moment of Steven Fry rip up his cards as it isn’t a thing that you see often and comes as a new experience. This then makes the programme more pleasurable as the audience can expect anything.
Another thing that was very pleasurable about that clip is the how Steven Fry makes mature men do very childish thing, which is trying to balance a broom whilst moving your hands. This makes the audience not only to relate to their childhood, but also it makes them laugh at the whole dumbness and weirdness of the situation, as if those men who should be able to do it easily are having some problems with doing that simple task.

Alan Davies’ comic relief is also very entertaining, as he is usually the child of the show, however he really proves the audience is right by doing ridiculous things like balancing the broom on his face.

Tuesday 2 December 2014

FEEDBACK ON MEDIA MOCK EXAM

Question 1.
  • How is suspense created? You need to explain it! 
  • You should identify the Doctor (and Martha) as the heroic protagonist then explain their heroic qualities and action.
  • !Or there would be no danger, surely! Are the weapons of mass destruction convincing?

Question 2.

  • Editing: Two examples of VFX? What about shot reverse shot, slomotion, monochrome lighting/tone flashbacks. 

  • Mis-en-Scene: You must support your point that the laboratory is 'very modern' by precise reference to what it has.

  • Camerawork: Master-high angle shot, Martha -low angle shot- power difference between  camerawork and editing!

Question 3.
  • The woman in the red dress?
  • You must explicitly state that it is a Gender anti-stereotype.
  • Shot 'masculine' quality attributes does Martha have?
  • How does he look masculine? 
  •  In what wat are they 'weak' looking/sounding
  • Silent, cowed, bullied, anonymous
  • Ethricity issue? 
 
SHOT REVERSE SHOT IS EDITING, NOT CAMERA WORK!
 

Friday 14 November 2014

Audience Profile

I have started planning the viewer profile for our film the HIDDEN, as it is one of the most important aspects of the planning, since this will define the target audience of this movie.

The age of our target audience should be from 15-39, as this is the audience that prefers movies which contain high tension in them, so this will be the most appropriate age group. Also, the audience will be male and female because in the age group of modern young adults, sexism rarely occurs.

The movies that they might have watched before could be Divergent, Hunger Games and Lucy as both of them are also based on the theme of suspense and jeopardy.

In their leisure time the audience will play computer/console games and visit sports clubs such as rugby, football, netball and other such team sports. If they go out they may either do something special like paintballing or if there is nothing special about their day they may meet up with their friends in coffee shops such as Starbucks or have a sandwich in Pret a Manger if they feel especially hungry.


Companies create viewer profiles so that they could identify the target market their movie will need to suite. They use the GEARS tactic; gender, ethnicity, age, region and socio-economic group, in order to classify their audience into groups.