Star power

Starpower 

Starpower has the ability to attract audiences by picking the top actor/actress who is very successful at the present time. This gets the audience engrossed and they would want to find out more about the actor/actress. For example, currently, Jennifer Lawrence is the number one on the Starpower chart and she won an award for Best Actress. This would make the audience want to watch the films in which she starred in to see how well she acts and if she deserved the award for her success. 

This also can benefit the producers by leading to providing a guranteed income (profit) for the movie producers by the audience who watch the films which Jennifer Lawrence stars in. They would get lots of money because more and more people would watch the films as she is almost the main character in most of her films like; The Hunger Games specifically. This is known as Opening film and Jennifer Lawrence is the lead title in which she is on her own acting out in the films- she is a very successful actress at the moment.

On the other hand, the opposite of Starpower would be Lindsay Lohan. She is not even close to having Starpower as she has not been very successful in film. Her films did not make that much money as Jennifer Lawrence's films did. They made very little profit and due to this, she won't get promoted as of yet to star in any upcoming films because those films have dragged her down. 

The Green Hornet Trailer Analysis

The Green Hornet trailer analysis

By watching the trailer for The Green Hornet movie, the audience would be able to pick up on the fact that Britt Reid is a kind of badboy player. I can say this because, in the trailer he seems to be partying and clubbing, drinking, making out with girls and just messing around. But then, it gets serious because, he finds out his Dad is dead. Britt Reid decides to team up with a Kato, a man who is close to his dad, and he wants them to be masked as villains to get close to bad guys, so that way no one would suspect them.

The institutions in this film are; Columbia Pictures and Original Film. This film failed in the box office because it only made the gross profit of $98,780,042. 

The target audience for this film would be ideally suggested as 13 year olds. This is because, there are certain scenes which are not appropriate for under aged children and, there is violence and swearing in this film which concludes that this film is not approven for children under the age of 13 as they need to be mature enough to watch it.  

Argo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w918Eh3fij0

13/02/13- Intertextuality for Kick- Ass

Intertextuality in Kick- Ass' poster

This film poster shows four superheroes on the front of the poster. This tells the audience that this film is about super- heroes in Action. This poster can relate to other films in like other super- hero action movies. The characters on the front, seem to look like other superheroes previously in other films. The superhero with the Black mask shown in the poster, is made to look like Batman. This gives the audience an identity factor as this man is supposed to be Batman in this film. The other superheroes seem to represent other heroes with special powers. This poster's representation is linked to films like; Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, by having a cartoon type comedy-like superhero action movie. Also, it can be linked to previous superhero movies like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Green Lantern etc. However, the superheroes except the Batman hero are all made up (created) to make the audience familiarize themselves with the new superheroes in the Action genre. This film has ridiculous Action in it which is just like Scott Pilgrim's film as he is a hero but the way the film has been put together is similar to Kick- Ass by adding comedy to the Genre Action. 

This poster used a Black background with Yellow writing so that it makes the characters and the title of the film stand out. The way that the characters almost look like they are appearing out of the text, creates interest towards the audience. This film links to many other previous superhero action movies and  quite a few elements have been taken from them to create this humorous Action movie. 

                                                                                              

12/02/13- Beyoncé

How do media producers use intertextuality to attract audiences to media products by broadening the possible Uses & Gratifications?

Beyoncé's video 'Countdown' shows all the elements of Uses & Gratifications but, they are not all easy to point out. The obvious Uses & Grats noticed by looking at the video would be, Personal identity because, her fans/people who watch the video would become amused by what she is wearing and it would encourage them to buy the same clothes as Beyoncé, what she wears in the video. Another element that is noticed in this video is Entertainment. This is because, audiences would have loved Beyoncé's songs and would definitely want to watch the videos to them to see what she is like in them. Lastly, Social also comes into this because, most groups of friends/people, would try and copy what she wears, how she dances and would try and be like her while others may think she is too rude the way she dresses or maybe, they are not into her kind of music as it might be a little too 'jumpy' for them. 

Beyoncé has in fact, copies the choreography from a film with Belgium dancers. She has taken this, so that the fans of those dance moves would definitely watch Beyoncé's dance moves and she would get a larger audience. Also, people would compare the two videos to see who danced better and to recognize Beyoncé. 
Beyoncé did not just 'steal' dance moves but she also stole the clothes and the colors from someone called Audrey Hepburn. As you watch the video, you can notice very bright summery colors which meant that the fashion at the time was bright colors due to the time of month when this video was out. This brings back the 50's/60's and it is recognized by many. 

An Information element has been recognized but, it was not that easy to point it out. This is because, when Beyoncé sings in the video, at one point when she sings 'I'm tryna make us 3 from that 2' and she turns halfway and shows off her baby bump which informs us that she is pregnant, but she is very clever in this way. 

The setting is also similar to the one in the film Step- Up, with the windows and the atmosphere seems really old. Beyoncé has used all the elements in different ways in her music video which brings back the 50's/60's as its tradition. 

10/02/13- Intertextuality in Film

Intertextuality in Film

• Dialogue
• Action 
• Locations
• Specific shots
• Conventions
• Narrative
• Stereotypes

- People like making links with other films, because doing this will encourage the audience to watch it by recognizing where a specific scene, location, dialogue has come from. 

Uses of e- media [new media tech]

• Websites ----> Blogs ----> Social media

Social networking sites help a film become viral all over the internet by loads of people speaking about a particular film, it gets the other audiences interested and they keep updating specific facts about the film. Once the film is released and many people have watched it, they tend to review/ rate it online- giving the people who have not watched it, a rough idea on how they liked/disliked it, and what could be improved about it. Most people tend to use social networking sites as in Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc as they are easy to use and it enables people to post pictures up of whatever they want. 

Websites are also very practical and most films nowadays, have their own official film websites such as; The Hobbit, Skyfall, The Avengers Assemble, The Amazing Spider-Man etc. This helps interact with the audience and keeping them posted about any teaser posters, trailers that they should look at to find out more about the film. Some people actually make fan sites of certain films that they had really enjoyed/ or become a fan of. For example, there are many fan pages for Harry Potter, Twilight films etc as people have become somewhat obsessed with these types of films. This helps a specific film stay on top of things by giving excellent reviews and ratings which encourages more and more people to watch it. 

• 3D- Why does it make people want to consume it?

It brings out the action that goes on in the film much more than watching it on regular definition. It amuses the audience more by watching it in 3 Dimension. The audience feels as if they are included in the movie which makes them feel excited. 

• DVD- 

If a specific film is liked, the audience can watch it over and over again especially, if they are doing a project and must watch specific scenes or analyse the film. By watching a film in the cinema, sometimes you tend to forget what happened and when the DVD of a film comes out, majority of people go and buy the DVD so they can recapture what happened. 

• Blu Ray- how it attracts the audience. 

Blu Ray is basically, when a film is shown in a High Definition (HD) experience. This attracts an audience by showing every detail in that film and so, it also makes the graphics used stand out. The audience will enjoy the movie more if it is in a higher resolution. Blu ray could also give an illusion Blu ray also provides a better sound quality i.e. surround sound, which will gives that incredible audio. Every film looks better and sharper in Blu ray form as it brings out the detailing, colors and graphics used. 

10/02/13 Media Theories

Media Theories

- Effects theory

What the Media does to audience. For example, a violent video game could cause more violence in reality amongst people who play them. 

- Uses & Gratifications theory

What audiences do with the media (why you play it, watch it, read it etc). How the media influences them, people use media to fulfill their various needs.

- Reception theory 

What audiences do to the media.

The role of role models: 

• Fashion

• Celebrity

• Association 

• Sense of group and belonging

• Makes reception easy in social context 

- Effect theories

• Mass Media/ mass communications make people powerless to resist messages the media carries. 

• Consumers are 'drugged', 'addicted' or 'hypnotized'. 

• Effects theories taken up with protection of young, link between violence and the media. 

• Rise of TV in the 50's and 60's- fear of danger to children by inappropriate content in most media.

-User Generated Content- UGC

• We may not have choice about what we watch

• Neglects any aspects of effects theories 

• Neglects socio- economic factors. 

9/02/13 The Green Hornet Poster

Poster analysis of The Green Hornet

This poster above, shows two men, who are obviously the main characters of this Action movie. It shows them dressed in black and have masks on their face which show that these faces are hidden and creates suspense for the audience. They also look quite suspicious as their clothes are dark in color and one of them is holding a gun in his hand, in fact, they look like criminals. There is also a green car behind them which seems to have green headlights which refers to the title of the film 'The Green Hornet'. This brings out the green and makes it stand out at the back. The green headlights emphasizes the two masked vigilantes in front of it, which also brings out the color Green in more detail. 

The fact that '3D' is written just beneath the main title 'The Green Hornet' hints to the audience that they should watch this film in 3D as, the graphics used, perhaps would look better in that Dimension. This assures the audience that watching in 3D shows that it would be a very good, Action criminal film and so, it persuades the audience to go and watch it. When using the 'Z' reading, the first thing that audiences will read would be the name of the actors/actresses starring in the film. Then, by reading across, we can see the image of the two men, with the car behind them. This gives the audience the background of the film, by showing two suspicious men which indicates that this film is of an Action/Crime genre. Then finally, going across again, we can read 'The Green Hornet' title and we can see 3D, also the release date last. The way that this poster has been made, reflects on how audiences will look at this poster and so, will take in a bit of information on what the film is actually about. 

At the top of this poster, there are names of the main actors, all of which are well- known like Cameron Diaz for example. The benefits of putting actors/actresses' names at the top of a poster is to assure that these specific actors are going to be in this film and so, it will get the audience more interested. At the bottom of the poster, there is the release date in Bold which makes it stand out and the audience would know exactly when the film was coming out in the cinemas. At the bottom, there are also faint colored credits which you can barely see, this shows that these credentials are not important in this poster and the rest of the additional information is important to the audience.