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. 

Poster Analysis of The Avengers

The Avengers poster analysis

This is the teaser poster of The Avengers Assemble. The colors used in this poster are very dark, dull colours which shows that this film is a movie which is linked with outer space and the earth. The colours also refer to the name of the film; 'The Avengers'. The poster shows the four main characters or in fact, the four main Avengers and so, the audience gets to know what the Avengers look like and what part each of them are playing. 

The target audience of this particular teaser poster would be superhero fans whether children or adults, as all the avengers have their separate films which most people would have enjoyed. Also, fans of a particular avenger; for example, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor etc. 

There is not much information provided on this poster and it doesn't include much about the film. However, in the bottom left hand corner, there is listed three of the institutions of the film. This gives information about the institutions of this film. Also, there is a catchy tagline right at the bottom underneath the year that this film was released. 

It says; 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes', which encourages the audience to look forward to this film. This tagline also links to the image at the bottom of the poster of Planet Earth. This automatically comes to mind, that this film is about superheroes that avenge the Earth and protect it. 

This poster is the original Avengers Assemble poster in which, you get to see Action occurring by looking at it. The colors in this poster aren't dark and dull like the teaser poster, there are colors included of the costumes that the actors are wearing. This helps the audience view what the colors of the costumes will be and, they also get to see all the superheroes involved in this film.Whilst using the 'z' reading technique, the first things you see are the superheroes in Action which is the main focus of this poster. 

This poster is also more appealing than the teaser because, you can see more action going on and, you are able to see the main characters faces in their costumes. However, there is no information provided on this poster. This would possibly be because, the audience would have already known about the film release date, actors names and institutions from the previous posters and trailer. There is also no name of the film included in the poster because majority of the audience would already know the name of the film, by identifying the characters. 

This poster has been designed so that the main focus of the attention are the Avengers themselves. Lastly, by looking at the background, you can see there is a serious fight going on in which the Avengers must protect themselves, others and of course, the Earth. There is a car behind them on fire that is turned over and the atmosphere is destroyed. This suggests, the place where they are all standing will be a mess in the film as well. You can also see the Stark tower right at the back, which is also in the focus. The audience would suggest that Stark tower is also the main focus of the film, which is why it has also been shown in this poster. 

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3 Core Products

The Avengers 

The Green Hornet

  

Kick-Ass

Case- Study Outline Kick- Ass

Case- Study of Kick-Ass  

The budget: $30,000,000 (estimated)
The gross: $48,043,505
Director: Matthew Vaughn- English film producer and director of Stardust, X-Men First Class, Layer cake. 
Institution: Marv Films and Plan B Entertainment
Style of Marketing: Posters, Trailers, Online, Media and Publicity. 

This film had released many posters of the colorful characters which got the audience more intrigued in watching this super- hero film. A second batch of teaser posters were also released of the individual super-heroes. Because of all these series of posters, it got the audience focused on the upcoming film and people started to talk about it on blogs and social networking sites. This drew publicity to Kick-Ass and encouraged more and more people to look out for it. The trailer started off with a normal guy trying to jump from a building but fails to do so and it makes the audience think 'What mad man'. After him discussing with his friends if becoming a hero was possible, we then get to see his 'I'm Kick-Ass' scene in which we get to know what he plays as the individual he is. This makes the audience familiar with what part he plays in the film by the title 'Kick-Ass' being the super-hero's name. Because the movie was rated R, it was doing so well and so it had also mentioned the language used in the film and more graphic shots of people's heads being blown off. Their official website also includes links to social networking sites, buying tickets and also reviews on the website for review websites such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB. 

         

Case- Study Outline The Avengers

Case Study of The Avengers

The budget: $220,000,000 (estimated) 

The gross: $1,481,585,111 (Worldwide)

Director: Joss Whedon. Also directed Buffy the Vampire slayer, Toy Story and others.

Institution: Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures

Style of marketing: Trailers, Posters, Reviews and sharing on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other social networking sites.

The movie was pre-launched almost 2 years before its show date. They had done their research and preparations well as they had followed a clear strategy. The marketing team for The Avengers seems to know its niche, and they expand on it. With the Avengers trailer, most people thought "Wow, I am so going to watch this movie!" And with such a trailer, they made sure that customers would be overly satisfied with how great the great superhero action movie is. The marketing team had taken advantage of the Marvel superheroes' fan base. Reviews (whether good or bad) from movie critics like New York Times and trusted sites helped in making the movie reach out to its supporters more. They combined conventional promotions through TV, conventions, posters and the trailer in movie houses with a lot of modern advertising and sharing on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other social networking sites and online communities.

Best Picture Oscar Winners

Best Picture Winners

2010 - "The King's Speech"

Director: Tom Hooper

Basic story: The story of King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.

2009 - "The Hurt Locker"

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Basic story: Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.

2008 - "Slumdog Millionaire"

Director: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan

Basic story: A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers.

2007 - "No Country for Old Men"

Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Basic story: Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and more than two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.

2006 - "The Departed"

Director: Martin Scorsese

Basic story: Two men from opposite sides of the law are undercover within the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish mafia, but violence and bloodshed boil when discoveries are made, and the moles are dispatched to find out their enemy's identities.

2005 - "Crash"

Director: Paul Haggis

Basic story: Los Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption.

2004 - "Million Dollar Baby"

Director: Clint Eastwood

Basic story: A hardened trainer/manager works with a determined woman in her attempt to establish herself as a boxer.

2003 - "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

Director: Peter Jackson

Basic story: Aragorn leads the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw the dark lord's gaze from Frodo and Sam who are on the doorstep of Mount Doom with the One Ring.

2002 - "Chicago"

Director: Rob Marshall

Basic story: Murderesses Velma Kelly (a chanteuse and tease who killed her husband and sister after finding them in bed together) and Roxie Hart (who killed her boyfriend when she discovered he wasn't going to make her a star) find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.

2001 - "A Beautiful Mind"

Director: Ron Howard

Basic story: After a brilliant but asocial mathematician accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn to the nightmarish.