Unit 1 - Work to Complete and Completed

ALL COMPLETED

FINISH VIDEO 2

L04 Task 5 - Ethical, Legal and regulatory issues

a) Impact and effect on the audience

Films can be represented in many different ways to the audience. Some people may see them actively; as a way to relax and get away from the working world temporarily - and others can see a film passively; as a way in which they believe it is possible to re-enact what occurs during the film. This can lead to the hypodermic syringe theory stated by Theodore Adorno in 1930. The theory states that a mass audience believe anything they see/hear and this can have a negative impact in the media industry; similar to being injected with a needle.

The media classify audiences of films in two sections; passive and active. An active audience is one in which views a film for pleasure or entertainment purposes only. This relates to the escapism theory Dennis McQuail which means for a viewer to escape the current working world, allowing recreational time for the viewer; however an active audience member would not take what happens in the film and apply it to a real life context. A passive audience member however, contrary to the word's meaning, means that the viewer will put the film's content into practice, which can lead to a negative influence on the media if the film contains violence or sex etc. 

The film contains violence through men and apes having war, which could be negative to a passive audience as a passive audience is more likely to go out and turn the films actions into the real world. This could lead to people believing violence is acceptable or potentially good.
The film also suggests about having no trust, with the humans being welcomed into the ape settlement on the condition that no guns are brought into the camp. Contrary to the decision a human brings a gun regardless which connotes being untrustworthy. This may impact upon a passive audience due to portraying no trust to be acceptable. 

The film however has positive impacts on the audience also. Overall the film shows the end of the war being brought to in a well done, civilised manor, with evil being removed and the 'good guys' taking everything right again. To the audience this shows that everything can become perfect in the end, and all wars can be defeated. This suggests living a more vigilant and active lifestyle; and also being more positive overall. 

b) Representations 

Films can easily portray stereotypes and representations which can lead to negative or positive impacts. A representation is a way that a certain group or type of person is portrayed in film or in a media product. This links to Stuart Hall's theory in 1980 about all representations being mediated. In which he used the word `mediated` to suggest the media create representations of purpose to portray their point. This can also be linked with stereotypes which can be justified as an oversimplified image or idea of a particular person or thing. Tessa Perkins in 1979 stated that not all stereotypes are false. In many films the stereotypes of people can be true of many people. For example it is stereotyped that men are more dominiant than women overall; and although this is not true in all cases, it is more common for a man to be more dominant in a household than a female.

In the film Dawn of the Planet Apes, a positive stereotype can be seen at around 1hour 31minutes in the film in which Ellie takes care of ape protagonist Caesar. This is a positive stereotype as it shows love and care towards Caesar and also provides the stereotype of women working in hospital/taking care of patients etc. Also in the film there is a negative stereotype of men causing war. It can be seen in the film that there are two men with beer and guns etc. This stereotype is negative as it perceives that men don't care about violence and see it as fun.
The film also contains a counter type. This is a feature that opposes a stereotype and counters the theory by Tessa Perkins in 1979 who stated 'not all stereotypes are false'. It also counters the binary oppositions by Levi Strauss. The counter type in the film Dawn of the Planet Apes is that Malcolm, the main protagonist, counters violence, wanting to stay peaceful compared to that of Koba, the main antagonist. Due to the stereotypes of men being violence, Malcolm is a counter type.

c) Legal and Ethical issues 

Most of the time, a film will use content such as music or locations that are not owned by the company. This means the company will require appropriate pemission to do as such without causing legal unrest. Copyright infringement is the name given to when a person or company uses content that they don't have permission from the author of said content to use. If the company or person proceeds to copyright infringe, though any way, it can be classed as stealing which can lead to being sued by the contents owner or legal prosecution. 

In the film Dawn of the Planet Apes, the location manager had to get permission from local authorities of New Orleans East to arrange three month long street closures for filming purposes. The team had to get permission for this as street closures would lead to disruption in transportation which is why the company had to pay for this. 

Also in the film Dawn of the Planet Apes, copyright would have had to be resolved for the songs played in the film. The film used the song 'The Weight' which was performed by The Band courtesty of Capitol Records, LLC. This song was licensed to be played by Universal, suggesting that money went to a close competitor of 20th Century Fox. 

The film also has a rating by the BBFC of a 12, (the BBFC being the British Board of Film Classification) which suggests that the film contains content that only a 12 year old or above can watch. This most likely will be due to violence in the film which is portrayed all throughout the film. It also could be due to some offensive language within the film however this is more common to make the film a 12a rather than a 12. A 12 or a 12a means the film may have some prolific language such as the world 'F***' however, it must not appear many times or be used acting as a common word. This is true within the film as only a few times do prolific words appear, such as 'oh s***' about half way through the film.

d) Regulatory Bodies

Film companies require a regulation board to view advertisements and films before release to suggest who the film can be watched by, or which print media is deemed acceptable. For reviewing films in the UK, the BBFC (or British Board of Film Classification) uses a set of pre-defined rules to give the film an acceptable age rating. The BBFC was an NGO (non-governmental organisation) founded by the film industry which is responsible for classification and censorship of films within the United Kingdom.

The age range of my film is a 12 which suggests that the film can only be watched if the viewer is 12 or older. This is due to moderate violence and prolific language within the film. Some of the trailers for the film were, however, classified for PG which means Parental Guidance or 8+ in age rating. Although this seems strange it is common for film pictures to have trailers this way, as overall it can attract a larger audience if the final film rating was a 12A.

Films may also not maintain the same rating over time, or within different countries which was the case for the film Dawn of the Planet apes which received a 12 rating in the UK by the BBFC, but a PG-13 rating by the MPAA which is the American film classification board, similar to the BBFC. 

The film keeps up to these guidelines set by the BBFC by only containing infrequent and small usage of prolific language, as well as only moderate violence with no major showing of blood and/or gore

Another regulations company is the ASA, which stands for the `advertising standards authority`. The ASA is a UK based company which was invented to regulate the content of advertisements through all different media. This includes monitoring adverts to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive material. The ASA also ensures every advert is responsible for being presented, which in turn protects the public to viewing unlawful material. The ASA also use third party sources such as advertising codes to provide a platform to judge adverts against. These advertising codes are used to judge non-broadcast media (such as print media) and also broadcast media (such as radio or television). Some of the advertising codes for print media include regulating misleading advertisements, preventing harm and offence in too much detail, creating relevant and appropriate advertisements for children, as well as ensuring privacy rights are kept to.

In the harm and offence section of the advertising codes for non-broadcast, harm and offence section 4.2 states that 'Marketing communications must not cause fear of distress without justifiable reason'. This suggests that no violence can be shown in the poster of the film as this violence in the film is un-justified which means that by portraying this violence in a film poster would be unnecessary as well. This links to the target audience of teenagers to young adults who have a stereotype of being quite violent. This makes the film more challenged to create content that could make teenagers more violent proving the stereotype to be true; for this reason there is a restriction harm and offence that can be shown to teenagers or young adults

Section 4.5 also states that Marketing communications, especially those addressed to a child, must not condone or encourage an unsafe practise. As the film is aimed at 12+, some may argue this is invalid although, by definition, a human remains a child until the age of 18 suggesting violence should not be shown as violence could be classified as an unsafe practise.

Section 5 for children also applies to the film as the age of 12 can still be classed as a child. Section 5.1.4 states that children must not be encouraged to copy practices that might be unsafe for a child. In the film Dawn of the Planet Apes where Koba is plotting to raid the human armoury, two men can be seen drinking alcohol and holding guns, which by definition suggests unsafe practise. The violence in the film is also an action that should be not undertaken or though of as correct by children which is hence the reason why the poster cannot portray violence or drinking or both at once.

Finally section 18 for advertising codes states about alcohol, and how it should not be used to observe dangerous aspects or encourage drinking in the poster of a film. In section 18.11 of the advertisement code, it states that marketing communications must not feature alcohol being handled or served irresponsibly. As the film Dawn of the Planet Apes contains the scene of the men drinking alcohol whilst handling guns, this falls under the handled irresponsibly section of this rule which means that and print media generated by 20th Century Fox for Dawn of the Planet Apes should not convey drinking irresponsibly as it would be seen in places aimed at a mass audience.

Thank you for listening to my fifth and final video on behalf of educational company Education Wise, which provided you the viewer/reader with a sample analysis of content in the form of and interactive style presentation or video. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and thank you for watching. I've been Matt Milan, good bye. 

L04 Task 5 - Ethical, legal and regulatory issues [Notes & WriteUp]

Ethical Issues => Representations i.e Gender, Age
Legal => Copyright (music/soundtrack), Certifiation (age rating); BBFC [British Board of Film Classification], also comes under regulation. UK has higher certificate for violence compared to America, however opposite for sex in same countries.
ASA -> Advertising Standards Authority


Active audience => Links to users and gratifications. (form of pleasure)
Passive audience => "Copycats"

a) The product's impage and effect on the audience
=: 1) passive -> hypodermic syringe (Theodo Adorno, 1930's) - media has a negative impact. Mass audience believe everything they see/hear.
\ issues about violence
\ isues about representation
\ passive may try and re-inact the above \

=: 2) active

positive impact/role model
we are able to filter and adapt to content in media (Gauntlett). We have uss and gratifications thory - people use media for their own purposes.

b) relevant issues of representation
c) relevant legal and/or ethical issues
d) role of relevant regulatory bodies


Active and passive task:
1.) Explain what the hypodermic syringe theory (Theodor Adorno 1930) is about.
2.) Define what a active audience is.
3.) Define what a passive audience is.
4.) Give two examples of how your film could have negative impacts on the audience.
5.) Give two examples of how your film could have positive impacts onthe audience (role model coluld be one example).

b) Representation.

Who is being represented?
All representations are mediated -> Done on purpose (Hall, 1980)

Is there use of stereotypes/ countertypes (Perkins 1979). Not all stereotypes are false.

Representation of women - are they objectified (Mulvey 1975). Representations of men (Earp and Katz, 1999) - `equation of masculinity with pathological control and violence.` <-- men being dominant. COMPLETE OPPOSITE IN FILM

Alvardo (1987) = ethnicity 'exotic, dangerous, humorous, pitied'.

representation questions

1) What does representation mean (Stuart Hall 'Mediation' 1980)
2) Explain Tessa Perkins (1979) theory about stereotypes
3) Give examples of your film of 1 positive, 1 negative stereotype in your film, and the effect on the audience.
4) Are there any countertypes in your film?


c) Legal and Ethical

- Legal - Copyright infringement? - main worry in film industry is illegal downloads? 

Copyright infringement - using content that you don't have the rights/permission to use.

To prevent copyright infringement, permissions are created. -> Can lead to being sued or legal prosecution for `stealing`. 

- Ethical - offensive material? Sensationalism? Censorship - has the film been censored?

-- offensive material: racism, sexual content, strong langauge, violence, drugs. }link to passive audience. Age also. 

-- Sensationalism -> treating something bad as good. (e.g sex in James Bond movies).

-- Censorship -> Removing or changing content that is deemed in-appropriate based on the content in the film. 

QUESTIONS FOR C_

1. Define what copyright infringement is.

2. Give 2 examples of things that the film would need to get permission for.

3. Is there any offensive material in your film like sex/drugs/violence/language etc). Link to the BBFC age certificate of your film. 

d) Regulatory Bodies

Questions-:

BBFC:

1. Who are they? http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
2. What is the age range of your film?
3. Did the age range get changed at any time?
4. Is it different to US? Why?
5. How does the film keep to the BBFC guidelines it has set for the film?

ASA:

1. Who are they? http://www.cap.org.uk/Advertising-Codes.aspx
2. Which CAP codes regulate print material?
3. Show the codes on your vlog – how does the marketing in a poster for your film  adhere to rules set?

ASA -: 

L03 - Task 4 : Advertising and Promotion NOTES

Advertising and Promotion - Means marketing the film to create maximum awareness to a specific target audience. 

Synergy; through owned media products
TV advertisement, Radio, Games, Sponsoring (paid for advertisements), Magazine articles. Trailers. Poster. Merchandise. Website banners. Bus Posters. Social Media. Interviews from actors. Billboards[Mass audience].  

David Gauntlett (2002) - discussed the rise of web 2.0 ; rise in prosumers (producers and consumers) - `This is the change in the internet being a static, one way form of communication to a two way interactive medium`

How can the audience interact with the marketing of the film>

L03 - Task 4

Introduction

Hi my name is Matthew and welcome back to my 3rd video on behalf of educational company Education Wise. Today I will be looking at how 20^th Century Fox distributes media (especially my chosen film ‘Dawn of the planet apes’ to its target audience and also how the company distributes its products as a whole.

The word ‘distribution’ means getting a product to its audience, but also means advertising or promoting a product. This happens with media producers to get their products to the consumer; and in recent years has become a lot more of a digital (and therefore cheaper) process.

Distribution through technological convergence

In recent years, technology has improved massively over all different products. One product that has become a lot cheaper to distribute has been film. Films were at first analogue products meaning that they were distributed using film reels – heavy disks which consisted on the film being imprinted upon it. These film reels were expensive to manufacture and distribute, costing 10’s of thousands of pounds to transport to cinemas. More recently due to the technological convergence, cinemas were installed with 4k projectors allowing transportation of films on hard drive disks (HDD’s) rather than the older film reel, being cheaper and re-useable.

Another way the film industry has been impacted by the switch between analogue and digital, was the release of web 2.0 in 2004, in which the web was revolutionised so that people of all ages could access it. This meant that the production of films could be advertised and distributed to online retailers (including online streaming sites) making for a larger audience reached and more revenue gained.

Distributed locations

The film ‘Dawn of the Planet apes’ is viewable over different platforms, allowing a wider target audience to be reached maximising its view count and therefore escalates the amount of sales, leading to the company (20^th Century Fox) earning more money overall. The film was first released in cinema (which is a form of converged technology) on July 14^th 2014 in the UK, but now has been released on multiple other platforms, including: Sky Store, iTunes, Google’s Play Store, Blu-Ray and DVD and on DVD.com (owned by Netflix).

The film being released in cinema allowed 20^th Century Fox’s subsidiary Sky, to premiere the film before its initial release. This increased the advertisement of the film through synergy (more later) and also allowed more people to know about the film’s existence which is good as the film is targeted towards a mass audience, meaning a global audience, allowing people to realise about this 20^th Century Fox Blockbuster.

The film was also released to rent on iTunes, Google Play and DVD.com all of which are a form of technological convergence; that is, because the film can therefore be downloaded and watched on any form of `smart` device, including tablets, smartphones, computers and now ever TV’s. For example, the film could be purchased to view for 7 days, and then downloaded on a smartphone to be watched whilst away from home. Upon returning home Dawn of the Planet Apes could then be downloaded on a smart TV and watched from the point the viewer ended at earlier. This new technology allows more viewers to consider watching films, as it provides more opportunities to watch the film than ever before.

The film was also released on DVD and Blu-Ray, two major forms of media distribution. This allowed people to watch the film who had missed it at cinemas, or who simply enjoyed it so much they wished to watch it again. Although the domestic box office revenue generated ~$208,545,589, the film being released on DVD increased revenue domestically by ~$22,544,899 and a further approximate $17,896,526 from Blu-ray sales. Compared to the films budget of $225,000,000 the selling of the DVD’s plus the Blu-Ray allowed just domestically for the film to break profits, allowing all international sales to be additions to the profit margin. Unfortunately no statistics were available for online sales, but this will have also been a large amount.

Advertising for `Dawn of the planet apes`

Marketing a film is almost as important as its distribution, as without correct marketing no-one would know about the film, causing minimal profits to the company and failure to the film. New forms of marketing have also allowed companies to view who is watching the adverts, allowing them to generate a mock target audience for future films, benefiting the company greatly. Due to Dawn of the Planet Apes being a blockbuster and aimed at a mass audience, 20^th Century Fox decided to take a bold approach when advertising the film; to which the advert was displayed on ITV during the half time advertisements for the semi-finals of the 2014 world cup. This huge advertisement was backed with a five day print and broadcast campaign, including a cover for the chocolate bar ‘Timeout’ and AV output to major radio stations such as KISS UK, Kerrang!, Planet Rock and Absolute radio. Furthermore the film was advertised on global social media site YouTube, showing examples of technological convergence.

20^th Century Fox really headed for advertisements on new media rather than traditional old media such as print or radio; and this could be due to the target audience selected for the film as many teenagers would prefer to sit and watch television rather than read a print advertisement. Nevertheless 20^th Century Fox did still advertise on traditional old media such as radio and print to promote the film a bit more, allowing more profits to be earned overall.

Viewing figures heavily show the success of international advertisement with an overall net worldwide gross of $710,487,433 generated for the film. This shows the success of the advertising as without worldwide distribution/marketing, the film only domestically generated $208,545,589 which put the company ~$16,500,000 down due to a huge film budget of $225,000,000. Furthermore, advertising will also generate ‘hype’ for a film, meaning more people will want to view the film upon initial release, which can be shown as successful due to $72,611,427 being generated for the film within the first week! Showing success in the marketing of the film.

Most of the time, advertisements can be more successful if partnered with a subsidiary of the company or in a joint venture/cross promotion with another company. Dawn of the Planet Apes followed this advertisement strategy and teamed up with online internet security company ‘Bulldog’ to offer a Dawn of the Planet Apes themed competition where winners could win a film themed holiday to Spain as well as one year’s Bulldog internet security. This allowed for the Dawn of the Planet Apes film to be noticed by more consumers who may not have heard of the film already, leading to a higher view count for the film therefore leading to more revenue being generated. 20^th Century Fox also took another bold move by partnering with games developer ‘Ndemic Creations’ to add purchasable downloadable content to their hit mobile game ‘Plague Inc’. The download allowed players to create their own virus to take over the world in the style of the virus in the Dawn of the Planet Apes movie. This partnership was widely successful, as a Google searching the game lead to a page for Dawn of the Planet Apes being suggested, which would in turn catch the eyes of more potential viewers. Finally 20^th Century Fox also worked with FOX TV (a subsidiary of 20^th Century Fox) to promote their film as a ‘summer blockbuster’. This is an example of cross-promotion and also a form of synergy.

Due to recent technological advancements of the internet, and release of web 2.0 in 2002, film companies have been able to benefit greatly in the means of promoting, distributing and communicating about products created by the company. Communication was one of the greatest features of this allowing the audience of films to feedback to the companies in the form of social media, film ratings and much more. 20^th Century Fox’s film Dawn of the Planet Apes was no exception to this, having multiple occurrences of marketing on the modernised web. An interactive website allows viewers to take a quiz about the film, which suggests what character in the film they are most similar to based on their answers. 
This not only allows 20^th Century Fox to survey its target audience, but also acts as an advertising technique, making people want to watch the film if they haven’t already by providing them with character information which they might not be able to relate to until they have watched the film. 20^th Century Fox also promoted the film through social media, with Dawn of the Planet Apes having a Twitter and Facebook Page, as well as a YouTube Channel. This once again does not only act as marketing technique, but also allows the audience of the film directly communicate with the people who made the film, allowing more specific target audience criteria to be input into further sequels etc. The company also uses well knows cast/crew to speak about the film as a form of indirect promotion. An example of this for Dawn of the Planet Apes comes from Matt Reeves, who is the director of the film and who posted an interview on the Dawn of the Planet Apes YouTube Page. Finally well-known film review site ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ allows users to interact with the film by providing reviews on the film that may affect sales, viewing figures or overall company reputation. It also again allows an indirect film promotion, with examples for Dawn of the Planet Apes being SciFiNow who commented ‘This is a confident sequel from Reeves and company; gripping, moving and recommended’.   

Overall this new form of marketing has proven extremely successful with film companies and many other companies as a whole. It can only be expected to be improved upon in the future, with the IoT (internet of things) soon to become a reality.

Once again I’ve been Matthew Milan and thank you for watching this educational resource.

END 

L02 - Task 3 [Writeup]

Introduction

Hello viewer/reader, I’m Matthew and today I will be showing you about how the film ‘Dawn of The Planet Apes’ is pushed towards the male audience, but also has some female reasoning in there as well. Ien Ang and John Hartley discussed (1987 & 1991) about how producers create invisible fiction or imaginary entities before creating a media product. This is important for media producers as it gives them an imaginary statistic board with estimated sales, viewers, ratings etc that their media products would generate. Reasons for doing this means a media producer can create correct advertisements and maximise net revenue for their media product. The media age for the target audience of the film is around 16-18 at around 50% of their viewers. For this I generated an imaginary entity (a randomly created person who fits the media products correct target audience.) ‘Duncan, a 16-year-old male loves to spend time with his friends whilst also playing on his games consoles. He also takes his education seriously but at the same time doesn't mind spending time with his family and friends. Duncan also spends most of his time keeping up with the latest technology and uses his small income from his job to help fund - along with the money his parents give to him - all the latest tech. He also doesn't mind splashing the cash on high end teenager clothing such as vans or converse, but also likes to keep a formal side with smart casual clothing from top-man. 

He enjoys listening to the latest pop music and spends money to have subscriptions with all the chart music playing applications, like Spotify and Apple Music. Duncan also loves playing sports like football, in which he plays on a weekend and with his friends. At this time Duncan loves to eat with his mates at McDonalds or Nando's.

Finally, he has a high social life. He is a socially high up within his friend group and a natural leader.’

Gender

I think that based on the film ‘Dawn of The Planet Apes’ the target audience between males and females would be around 90%. I say this due to the heavily male based characterisation of the film. This could be an example of John Berger (1972) as in this film men act the majority of the roles, whilst women don’t really appear except for sections in which they are stereotyped for (example includes the female nurse).

At 1:04:49 in the film planet of the apes, the men are drinking alcohol whist sitting with guns. This appeals to the male target audience as it is very stereo-typical of men to have alcohol and enjoy messing around with weaponry, without thinking of the damage that could be done to others or themselves. By mixing these two props together you get a characterization that is heavily stereotypical for males; hence challenging the ideal self-theory by Carl Rogers (1980) as the men then proceed to be shot by an Ape, as they are distorted by the alcohol putting a real life principle into a film situation. This might have a negative influence to the audience as it suggests drinking alcohol is good.

At 24:45, the male character can be seen as a leader for others. This portrays a male film as men are stereotyped as natural leaders. This once again connotes bravery and leadership, which can be seen as part of the John Berger theory (1972) in which the males are leaders and are acting to save the human settlement, women however are not seen which hence suggests that they are not appearing, backing up the theory even further. This may influence a passive audience member to become more dominant which could either be positive or negative depending on the status of the viewer.

At 1:30:46 the main protagonist can be seen on a self-generated pursuit to gather medical supplies to save Caesar, the Ape leader. In this mission the main protagonist Malcolm connotes stereotypical male traits; being courage, strength and independence. This can be linked to the Binary oppositions theory by Claude Levi Strauss of gender, as women are perceived to always require help (mostly by male characters) when conducting a mission; however male characters can carry out pursuits without the use of another individual, showing independence. This may have a negative influence by suggesting passive audience members to take more risks but may also have a positive influence by suggesting being strong and to have independence.

At 1:18:14 proof is shown towards the film being aimed at a female audience as well. As the human settlement is preparing for war the camera pans left to right showing a woman holding a gun before showing a man preparing for war. This uses the Carl Rogers (1980) theory for women to see an ideal self, as the shot connotes women independence and equality compared to males, it also shows women to be what they believe, even if it is counter stereo-typical. This also challenges the Claude Levi Strauss (1958) theory of binary oppositions for women, as the woman comes before the man in the shot type therefore connoting more bravery and strength than the male next to her. To a female audience, this may influence them to be more independent but also that to a male passive audience, women are not just sex objects which counters the Male Gaze (Laura Mulvey).

At 1:29:33 Malcolm (main protagonist) says to the Ellie that he will go and look for supplies as it is too dangerous for a woman to go back to the location. This backs up the Binary oppositions of gender suggested by Claude Levi Strauss (1958) in which the males appear more powerful and more willing to do a dangerous task; this could be seen as a stereotypical male trait. This has a negative influence on women as it suggests that the stereotypes are true and that women are too ‘weak’ to do tasks on their own. For men however this may be influential to complete more challenging tasks.

Age

At 1:14:57 in the film, Dreyfus is denoted walking to his iPad after the power had just been restored. The use of an iPad connotes knowledge of technology which appeals to the target audience of 16-18 as they might own, or be thinking about owning an iPad or tablet and also due to the fact that young people like having the best technology. In terms of the audience, the targeted audience could be classed as a digital native audience – this is due to the audience growing up within an age of technology.

At 1:18:41 in the film, the diegesis denotes the start of the war between humans and apes. This connotes action and hostility, which is targeted at 16-18 year olds as they enjoy action in their everyday lives. The audience enjoy this type of film as they have an active life which means the film can link to the audience.

At 59:40 in the film, the apes Caesar and Koba are denoted to have a fight which connotes power and aggression. This links to the target audience as 15-18 year olds are becoming more mature and are at the top of the school hierarchy in terms of school years. The audience can also relate to this as 16-18 year olds are known to get into ‘play-fights’ with their friends which furthermore makes the film link to the audience.

At 1:04:23 a man is denoted holding a M4A1 assault rifle which connotes war and action. This links to the audience of 16-18 year olds they might enjoy doing extreme sports which could include paintballing or airsofting. The film also links to the age set due to them having an active life.

At 31:08 in the film, the diegesis denotes the main protagonist (Malcolm) and his wife/girlfriend are hugging. This connotes love and care. For a 16-18 year old they may be thinking about getting into a true long term relationship and henceforth the film is aimed at these people.

Lifestyle

The NRS is an organisation specialising in demographic surveying and information. The specific lifestyle I have chosen for my film is E-Urban Ventures. I chose this as the target audience I have defined for my film is of the teenage population (16 to 18 year olds). At this age the profile decided by the NRS directly correlates to that of the target audience for the film. The film, being set in the present day/future uses technology which directly correspond to what the audience may spend their money on (further in spending power). The secondary lifestyle could also be D-Nest builders. This is where families may just begin to be developed and the film also shows Malcolm and Ellie in a (what could be classed as post-apocalyptic world) starting to build their family. This gives inspiration to new families as it connotes that through difficult times, a family can still be developed/work, which corresponds to the most likely low income they are receiving in their lifestyle. Dennis McQuail (1972) theorised that media products consumed by the audience has an impact on their lifestyle through four reasons (Surveillance, Escapism, Personal Identity and building personal relationships). This reflects the ‘urban-ventures’ and ‘nest builders’ by using the idea of escaping the real world of jobs and work, and providing a small amount of time to relax. The film also uses the idea of the protagonist’s best friend (Koba) turned antagonist to provide a talking point about the film. This helps the audience to build a personal relationship with one another hence changes a consumer’s personal identity to maybe make them more social to others or talkative. The films also contains star character cast such as Jason Clarke who plays Malcolm in the film. This associates with the Richard Dyer theory of star persona.

Spending power

I have stated that my target social grade for the film would be D or E but could also potentially be aimed at the C1, C2 section of population as well. I selected these as I previously selected ‘urban-ventures’ or ‘nest builders’ for the audience’s lifestyle. This means that as the audience is aged roughly 16-18, they may only just be getting jobs or furthering education, therefore disposable income would be little to none existent in comparison to that of someone with a grade A or B social grade. This doesn’t however mean that the teenagers have no income at all. The spending power of a teenage audience it little but due to social trending, most consumers will keep with technology of the time; the film demonstrates knowledge of this by inputting up-to-date technology such as the Apple iPad within the film, which further provides more reasoning to be socially trending technology. Spending power of the audience can also be somewhat decisive due to the extent of the film’s success. Many teenagers who enjoyed the film and are within a friend group that enjoyed the film will purchase merchandise to keep their social position. This suggests that a consumer will have money to spend on merchandise even though they may have no full-time job. Another example of the film’s audience associated spending power includes the scene in which Malcolm and his team finally gets the electricity working and are seen outside of an abandoned petrol station. Within this scene the music turns on as part of the diegesis which suggests that the target audience may spend a lot of money on the latest music, e.g. on subscription applications like Spotify or Apple Music. This also links to other applications that a teenager might use to watch the film such as Netflix or Amazon prime.

Another feature of the film which connotes the lower spending power of the target audience is the broken down landscape of the film. The technology although somewhat to today’s standards is limited within the amount of people in the film. This suggests that although many teenagers want to purchase all of this technology it may be difficult for them to afford one. The spending power of a C1, C2 is somewhat higher than the D,E ratings, however they may only be able to upgrade technology (such as a photo, or tablet) every few years due to the expensive price of up keeping the latest technology; contrasting against teenagers at the D,E rating who spend money as soon as they get it, to maintain the social profile of having a lot of money.

L02 - Task 3 [Audience Profile for Dawn Of The Planet Apes]

Audience profile For Dawn of the Planet Apes

Imaginary entity for Dawn of the Planet Apes

Duncan, a 16 year old male loves to spend time with his friends whilst also playing on his games consoles. He also takes his education seriously but at the same time doesn't mind spending time with his family and friends. Duncan also spends most of his time keeping up with the latest technology and uses his small income from his job to help fund - along with the money his parents give to him - all the latest tech. He also doesn't mind splashing the cash on high end teenager clothing such as vans or converse, but also likes to keep a formal side with smart casual clothing from top-man. 
He enjoys listening to the latest pop music and spends money to have subscriptions with all the chart music playing applications, like Spotify and Apple Music. Duncan also loves playing sports like football, in which he plays on a weekend and with his friends. At this time Duncan loves to eat with his mates at McDonalds or Nando's.
Finally he has a high social life. He is a socially high up within his friend group and a natural leader.

What does the term demographic mean? L02 Task 3

The term demographic is the splitting of a set population size into categories. It is commonly used in marketing with the categories A, B, C, D and E. Where E is unemployed and A is a high level job. Other examples include Area, Age, Gender, Lifestyle, Spending Power (Disposable income), Ethnicity, Education. 

Unit 1 L01 Task 2 - Write Up Full

Introduction

Hello everyone, it’s Matthew back again and in this episode I will be showing you film analysis of award winning film ‘Dawn of the Planet Apes’ created by 20^th Century Fox.

Purpose

The purpose of the film Dawn of the Planet Apes is to entertain the audience through action-packed, and at times quite emotional content. The action packed scenes during the middle to end of the film where the story twists around can be very entertaining to the viewer. The purpose of the film is also to provide commercial gain to the company of production; 20^th century fox which happened as the film earned $208,545,589 overall showing its overall success in the media industry.

Genre

The film could be classed as a multi-genre film as it could be classed as an action film, but also with a bit of adventure; for this adventure could be classed as a ‘sub-genre’ to the film. Barry Keith Grant – a professor and PHD holder for film studies - said that ‘All genres have a sub-genre’. This is true as most films have an adventure within them, even if at first this isn’t directly visible to the viewer. Evidence for this genre is within the middle of the film, in which the apes proceed to ruin the city and kill many humans with the lead ape Koba at large after the attempted murder of his leader Caesar. The sub-genre plays a role as there is a storyline in the film in which the protagonist must save the city from a anti-heroic ape – this could be classed as the adventure of the film.

Style and Narrative

The style of the film starts with a disequilibrium as the world is in anarchy and most human contact has been lost. This falls under ‘Narrative structures’ brought up by Todorov in 1997. In most films this order is equilibrium (where everything in the film is fine), disruption or unequilibrium (where the story takes a bad or dramatic turn) followed by a new equilibrium or resolution (which is a different resolution from the beginning). Dawn of the planet apes doesn’t follow this plot as it starts with unequilbrium (the world is in anarchy). This is then proceeded by an equilibrium (in which humans team with apes to prevent conflict) however this soon changes after a rogue ape begins war with humans, leading to another second conflict. At the end peace is established but is left on a cliff-hanger suggesting an overall equilibrium, put provides evidence to a sequel.   

Sound - Non Diegetic:

Background Music – 0:16

-The background music at this point denotes peace with a relaxing tone. Connotations of this part suggest ‘Calm before the storm’, cautiousness and concentration which links to the film by showing the state before the war between apes and humans begins. 

Non-Diegetic Voiceover – 0:44 - 0:48 (swap to diegetic) 0:48 - 0:52

 “We both have families, you want to protect yours, and I want to protect mine.” This line denotes that the main protagonist wants to protect both families. Connotations of this line include friendship, love and devotion which link to the film by showing the trust between the ape leader (Caesar) and main protagonist. The devotion suggests their leadership skills which play a huge role within the film. The voice spoken in this short belongs to the human protagonist who speaks in a peer to peer mode of address during the line.

Non-Diegetic Voiceover 1:12 – 1:14

 “If you threaten his family he will retaliate.” This line denotes that the main protagonist is foreshadowing to the others of impending danger, should the humans threaten the ape family. Connotation of this statement include retaliation, which suggests war or revenge. The word threaten suggests self-defence in terms of the apes and that they will retaliate with a war should their family be threatened, this turns out to be the case within the film where the apes feel threatened by the humans. In this line, the human protagonist speaks in teacher to pupil mode of address as he is providing instructions for other humans to follow.

Diegetic:

Door Opening – 0:13

The door opening denotes a new character being introduced. Connotations of this however suggest a new beginning or a new challenge. It could also connote thought or preparation. In the film the door opening shows the apes preparing to attack the humans therefore symbolising thought for their attack.

                       

Ape Talking – 1:04

 “Caesar love humans, more than apes.” The denotation of this line is villain (antagonist) Koba talking to the ape leader about his love to humans more than the love of his own species. It is present that Koba speaks with hatred to his leader, connoting disgust or vileness towards Caesar.  As with the previous voiceover, the main antagonist Koba speaks in a mode of address demonstrating a Teacher to pupil. This is because he is speaking to all the other apes in the form of a leader.

                       

Gun Noise – 1:33

Main antagonist Koba picks up a gun and proceeds to shoot two humans, denoting violence. Connotations of this include hatred, horror and unrest towards the shooting of humans. Connotations that also happen in the trailer include fear due to the ape pointing a gun at a human who doesn’t want to die. This shows up later in the film where Koba’s true appearance is revealed.

                       

Explosion – 1:42

An explosion at 1:42 denotes the blowing apart of some highly explosive material, which is suggested with a loud sound. Connotations towards this include war, warmth and death which play roles in the film as a huge war happens, this could be defined as the start of something bigger, as the humans and apes go to war. The factor of death could also suggest later on in the film where antagonist Koba is killed.

Mise-en-scene

Filming Location: The clip in scene is Filmed in Capilano River Regional Park (in northern Vancouver) and Golden Ears Provincial Park (east of the city), as well as a location south of Squamish. The rainforest like atmosphere is in low key which creates connotations of abandonment, nature and wildlife. It also can give connotations of tribesmen which could be what the apes connote. The locations denote abandoned areas and large forests in which the apes live. To the audience this adds verisimilitude to the scene providing a reasonably correct area for the apes to live. Therefore, affecting to audience to make the film seem more realistic. The locating links to the narrative stage by providing the setting for all of the film with a sense of abandonment and conflict.

Acting: The acting within this scene is of the CGI apes only. The apes act in a way which shows them evolved compared to nowadays using hand gestures and crafter spears to overcome an enemy. Within the scene the apes are also seen riding horses which shows their evolved nature. Connotations of this acting include self-defence (as Caesar teams up to protect his son from a bear) and Family protection which furthermore connotes emotion and kindness.

The bear in the scene also shows its power through its size and roar, which throws Caesar’s son off guard allowing him to be attacked. The bear also uses gestures such as the roar and standing on its two legs to look bigger which connotes its danger and tension in the conflict between the apes and bear. The conflict provides stereotypes of a parent child relationship due to Caesar showing power by protecting and saving his son. To the audience this adds tension as the apes haven’t yet been portrayed (as potentially antagonists) which means the audience want the apes to defeat the (at the time antagonist) bear and win. In terms of narrative stage this section of the Apes war comes before human encounter, giving the audience into the advancements of Ape technology following hundreds of years of evolution. Denotations of the apes include that they are ready for war and large in numbers.

Costume: As the apes are CGI implemented, they are (in perspective of the film) wearing nothing which connotes being natural but showing strength and also living at one with nature (proven as they are riding horses). The audience would feel these connotations as it is a war scene therefore demonstrating power and teamwork (how they work at one with nature). Caesars son also has scars across his face from the bear attack which connotes pain and also confidence as he then proceeds to stand up and continue like nothing had happened.

The costume of the bear resembles the same colour as the apes connoting the same strength as one another. The colour also resembles the colour for the area which connotes danger and cautiousness. The stereotypical colours of the apes provide verisimilitude to the film, making it seem more realistic. The costume links with the genre of action with the apes riding horses in black colour, which connotes war ready and once again team building; fore shading the war that is to come.

Props: Props used in the scene include spears made out of wood but crudely made not to human standard. These props are a form of weaponry for the apes so connote violence and war, but may also include self-defence. These connotations exist as in the clip, Caesar is trying to protect his son from a bear and which he overcomes the bear using the weaponry. The spears also connote death as one of them is used to kill the bear and almost is used to kill a deer/moose which narrowly escapes due to the bear attack. Another connotation of weaponry is protection but also a symbol of the apes. All apes possess the same or very similar weapons which shows them to be an alliance fighting against evil. The spears are iconographic to the apes as they portray their means of weaponry against fighting the humans. The crude shape and style denotes little time into making these objects and the wood style effect denotes locally sourced wood for the apes to make their spears from.

Lighting and colour: In terms of lighting in the film, the clip is low key, being dark and foggy, with colour toned down with only the dark greens of moss and leaves being visible. This might be this way to connote the danger ahead which comes in the form of a bear attack, or could also connote hidden nature in the form on that the area belongs to the apes and is worn down enough to show no human presence for many years. Connotations also include cautiousness with the silence in the scene working with the low key lighting and limited colour to connote this. Furthermore, the scene may be lit like this to make the colour of the apes stand out more connoting their strength in numbers to overpower anything thrown in their way.  Denotations of the low key lighting are due to a cloudy sky, with rain and trees blocking the sunlight. This once more provides verisimilitude to the audience making the scenes seem more realistic and provides connotations of tension which foreshadows war or the disequilibrium of the scene. These connotations link to the genre of action which stereotypically are set at night time or in cloudy weather with many greys and low key lighting. 

Camera Types.

At 16:30 there is an establishing shot of the golden gate bridge fly by which denoted the opening of the main film, but also the apes transition out of the forest for the first time. This shot therefore connotes exploration and discovery due to the shot’s angle showing the bridge in the foreground and forest in the background. The audience can relate to this verisimilitude of the scene by knowing the iconic landscape of the San Francisco golden gate bridge. The bridge also plays a role in the narrative type connoting the separation between humans and apes, and foreshadows the two sides taken throughout the film.

At 1:34:55 there is an extreme close up of Caesars’ hand along with his sons. In the digenesis this denotes Caesar reaching for his son’s hand on the verge of death (although Caesar does not die). This scene is quite iconographic as it is the turning point of the film, in which the battle begins to turn upon a civil ape war with little human input. Due to this the shot connotes hope and bravery towards his son in finding Koba and later on being partially the means of death to Koba. The audience may feel emotional at this point due to the father-son relationship which has been present throughout the film. This shot also demonstrates the ideal self of Carl Rogers (1980) although quite indirectly. The bravery and hope given shows how an individual should be in the real world.

Angles

At 27:01 there is a low angle shot denoting the ‘leader’ of the humans speaking over an intercom as a leader preparing for war. Connotations of the leader figure in this shot include power, bravery and team leadership. The theory of ‘Men act, Women appear’ by John Berger (1972) proves itself along with the stereotypical representation of men in this shot as the leader himself is a man, backing up the stereotypes of men having more power than women. Here the theory is used in a literal sense with the man ‘acting’ by preparing everyone for war whilst no women figures are present; hence not ‘appearing’. The shot links with the narrative type by showing the point at which disequilibrium is about to occur in the film.

At 1:55:09 a shot of Koba in a high angle denotes the death of Koba meaning the diegesis’ resolution of the war. The scene portrays the camera to be looking down at Koba who is clinging on to Caesar asking for mercy. The shot also portrays focus as only Koba is in the foreground, making the audience focus directly at him, whilst the background is blurred. The connotations from this include, mercy, power (in a sense that Caesar has the power of finishing the war) and also betrayal from Koba. The shot is powerful in that it makes the audience feel in power of what happens to Koba, even though the result is fixed. This creates a diverse audience emotion about what happens to Koba, giving the film a dynamic twist.

Focus

At 1:32:27 a shallow depth of field focus denotes main human protagonist Malcolm who turns around after escaping from some apes in the middle of the war to see a blurred ape holding a gun. At this point connotations of fear, shock and disbelief play as the blurred ape silhouette could mean death to the main protagonist. The audience would feel tense at this point which is what the shot type is meant to produce. The narrative type as part of the diegesis is that Malcolm is collecting supplies to save Caesar (leader of the apes) when contrary to the purpose he is in a situation where his life may be ended by an Ape. The shallow depth of field gives the slow motion of time effect in which the audience feel to be in the thoughts and position of Malcolm emphasising the danger he is in.

Camera Movement

Between 57:23 and 57:30 there is a small pan down of Koba dismounting a horse to speak to Caesars son in what in the diegesis denotes the disequilibrium’s beginning. The pan down connotes a change or something new. Along with power of Koba who takes the full camera upon dismounting his horse. In the character types, this shows Koba to be a new leader, coming to express news of Caesars ‘betrayal’. The the audience this adds hatred towards Koba due to the lies he states making the apes turn on Caesar and in the end humans aswell. Although this shot shows two male apes, the theory of John Berger ‘Men act, women appear’ plays a role as Koba is ‘acting’ as a leader figure whilst the rest of the apes listen to him as a powerful figure, hence just ‘appearing’.

Between 1:53:22 and 1:53:30, there is a tilt-pan which denotes the collapsing of a building whilst Caesar peers over the edge into a low key setting in which the camera follows and goes above Caesars head to show the danger beneath him. This combination of two movements in one connotes danger, tension and intrigue. To the audience this scene provides tension about Caesar once again battling death, connoting bravery and defiance (towards death) which proves Caesar to once again be protagonist (character type). The narrative stage in this scene is nearing ‘Climax’ and the camera emphasises this with the slow pan over.

Shot Reverse Shot/s:

Between 9:55 and 10:01 in the film, a shot reverse shot can be seen of Caesar and his wife. In the diegesis this denotes the point at which the audience finds out that Caesar’s wife is extremely ill. The shot consists of a medium close up of Caesar as he rushes to see his wife. In the shot Caesar connotes power which juxtaposes against his wife who seems powerless. The edit therefore could be seen as a binary opposition of power and weakness for males and females. The following shot consists of an extreme close up of Caesars wife reaching her hand out to Caesar. This shot creates an emotional response on the audience due to being very ill.

Between 1:47:35 and 1:47:41 Malcolm can be seen holding up a gun to Drayfus (leader of the human camp) which denotes his action to try and prevent Drayfus from exploding the tower that the Apes are fighting on. The medium close up of Malcolm holding the gun creates tension to the audience and the use of the shot reverse shot connotes fear and worry, along with the power that Malcolm has. Due to Malcolms power over Drayfus (an older man) this challenges the stereotypical power trait as in this situation the younger male is more powerful than the older male. This also links in with binary oppositions of age.

Action Match:

Between 1:18:42 and 1:18:46 an action shot denotes the beginning of the war between the apes and humans, with new leader Koba in charge. Koba now representing the authority of the apes makes the audience feel hatred towards him as the other apes do not know (unlike the audience) that the war is self-inflicted by Koba. This therefore connotes absence of peace and conflict, it also connotes unrest and hatred. The multiple shots including a wide shot of all the apes indicates power and teamwork. This could link to John Berger’s (1972) theory of ‘Men act, women appear’ as only male apes are seen going to war juxtaposing against the women who remain at the ape’s hometown off shot. The multiple camera angles denote the sheer force of the apes as a team.

Cross Cutting:

At 1:54:05 in the film a cross cut takes place from the battle between the apes to the bottom of the tower in which the holdup is occurring between Malcolm and Drayfus. The use of a cross shot denotes that two important events are occurring simultaneously to one another and provides a tautness to the audience who can see the diegesis unfold before them. The scene also demonstrates the similarity between both Malcolm and Caesar (main protagonists) who are fighting to prevent further damage of their species. The crosscut provides connotations of supportive behaviour and trust due to the shots being very similar in and out of diegesis.

Insert Shot:

At 1:14:55 an insert shot takes place zooming in on to Drayfus’ iPad to which power has just been restored. In the diegesis the iPad is iconographic as the scene follows to show Drayfus’ family and children, connoting emotion and love along with negative connotations of sadness due to Drayfus’ family being killed. To the audience this scene is quite emotional and the close up of the iPad denotes what Drayfus has been wanting to see for a long time. It also connotes the loneliness of Drayfus as he proceeds to burst into tears when he sees the photo symbolising his love to his family and discomposure without them. This challenges Laura Mulvey’s theory (1975) of the ‘Male gaze’ as if Drayfus thought as his wife as a ‘sex object’ then he wouldn’t be distraught without her juxtaposing to his true emotion.

Eyeline Match

At 1:55:11 an eyeline match takes place between Koba and Caesar. This shot denotes the turning point – or resolution for the narrative. Koba can be seen looking towards Caesars hand for assistance which connotes trust and co-operation along with belief that Caesar will trust him. As Caesar appears to originally assist Koba, (friend turned antoganist), the audience may feel angry about Caesars decision but soon realise this isn’t his actual intention. The binary oppositions theory is challenged here as previous leader Caesar is now in control of antagonist leader Koba which juxtaposes the leader figure binary opposition. 

Production Process

Pre-Production

Scouting occurred for the film Dawn of the Planet Apes, to find a suitable location that not only was iconic and many people would know about, but also a location to fit into the narrative perfectly. For this the team had to create a world that had human influence but was massively declined. For this San Francisco became the correct location for filming. Location director for the project Jason Waggenspack stated “We completely changed a downtown intersection of New Orleans into downtown San Francisco for our Human Colony Set. We found a dead section of highway that crossed over the interstate in New Orleans East and turned it into the Golden Gate Bridge, [and] we turned an abandoned power plant along the Mississippi River into several sets.”

Pre-production also most likely occurred to get ideas of the ape’s design for the CGI implementation later on. Some zoos may have been visited and also some real apes may have been used (for example the child apes) to provide vermilisitude to the film.

Production

Production was extremely important for this film to have become the success it was. CGI implementation of the Apes was essential for the film to be as realistic as it had become. This would have taken a lot of effort on the animation teams part to get all the details correct and looking as realistic as they have.

The team would have also had to record all the shots in little time. Based on the locationguide.com “We also had to find locations that could support the technical requirements for the film because 3D and motion capture work adds an element of difficulty. Remote feel but not too remote!”. The team had to arrange 3-month long street closures which meant all filming done had to be perfected as quickly as possible, adding pressure on the actors and camera/sound teams to be finished as quickly as possible. Getting the right feel to the location in the end played off however, as the finished film got all the character’s emotions and settings right.

Post Production

For post-production the editing of shots was important to provide the tense, low key atmosphere defined in the film. Without the correct shots the action scenes of the film wouldn’t have been impressive to the audience leading to a more negative outcome. The editing of transitions was also specifically important to show the live action occurring in both the human and ape settlement at the same time.

Furthermore, in post-production background (non-diegetic) music was added to provide more immersive scenes and to bring the film to the standard that it set. The music added was mainly incidental which provided the feeling of a dynamic story that continually changed and always left the audience feeling on edge. The music also adds emotion into the film through times ie near the beginning when Caesar’s wife is ill, or at the point where Drayfus sees his children on his iPad for the first time in a long while.